Do You Know What You Have?

Again I share significant words of genealogical wisdom from Michael John Neill. He is ever so right that you must document what you find fully and understand the context of the document. (This applies to all types of documents, including images as well).


Do You Know What You Have?

For help in writing those citations, visit our Research Room to review the following bibliographical citation manuals:

SC  929.3 JON 2013 Mastering Genealogical Proof by Thomas W. Jones, (Arlington, VA: National Genealogical Society, 2013.)

SC 907.12 MIL 2015 Evidence Explained: Citing History Sources from Artifacts to Cyberspace by Elizabeth Shown Mills (Baltimore, MD: Genealogical Publishing, 2015.) 

It's All in How You Take Care of Things ...

It's Preservation Week! Join Amanda, Adam and me at Bluffton Branch on April 25th from 10 am until 1 pm. We'll be handing out free and good advice on how to take care of your family treasures. No fees; no reservations; just drop-by our table in the Bluffton Branch Lobby.

And if we don't know the answer to your question, we'll do some research for you and let you know later what we found out.

Preservation Drop-In on April 25, BDC@ Bluffton Branch

As sincere and trained stewards of cultural heritage, Beaufort District Collection staff believe that memories and treasures should last a lifetime and be passed on to future generations, either within a family or via reputable institutions. And we want to help you preserve your own treasures.

In 2005 the cultural heritage community got an electrifying shock! Publication of The Heritage Health Index survey  that year revealed disquieting statistics about the dire state of preservation of cultural heritage in the United States. A key conclusion of the survey was that people at all levels of government and the private sector must take responsibility for the survival of these collections. And an essential first step is strengthening everyone’s awareness of the importance and scope of preservation needs. The American Library Association and partner organizations responded to the call for action with Preservation Week, seven days dedicated to heightening awareness of practical practices and techniques to insure that memories and treasures will last a lifetime and will be passed on to future generations in better condition because of those behaviors.  In accordance, the BDC has marked Preservation Week with local programs each year since.  

As the Library system’s special local history collection and archives, we preserve materials in the BDC each and every day. Our highest priority is to be good stewards of the cultural heritage materials entrusted to us for the community. Therefore we must be up-to-date on preservation thought, practices, and techniques. Part of being a good cultural heritage materials steward is sharing our knowledge about preservation practices with the community in order to empower you to better protect your own treasures. Preservation Week lets us share some general principles of preservation that can mitigate a host of potential problems.
In other words, Preservation Week inspires actions to preserve personal, family, and community collections in addition to library, museum, and archive collections. It also raises awareness of the role libraries and other cultural institutions play in providing ongoing preservation education and information. The Beaufort District Collection promotes Preservation Week to highlight what we can do, individually and together, to preserve our personal and shared collections.

For 2018 we're holding a "Preservation Drop-In" in the lobby of the Bluffton Branch Library at 120 Palmetto Way. Amanda and I will be on hand, 10 am to 1 pm on Wednesday, April 25th, to answer questions and distribute hand-outs to folks interested in learning how to better take care of their own family treasures. This year we have an extra special helper: Adam of the Bluffton Branch staff will answer questions about the equipment and services provided in the lab to help you you digitize family photographs or record family histories. He'll provide expertise and practical technical knowledge to help you make good decisions about digital approaches to the LOCKSS (which means "lots of copies keep stuff safe") strategy.

Like all BDC programs this is an opportunity to learn something on a specific topic offered at no charge to anyone interested in dropping by with their questions about how to take good care of their "stuff." Join us to learn what we can do, individually and together, to preserve our personal and shared collections.Together we can save our personal history for those who will come after us.

Please share far and wide!

Beaufort County Library is Closed April 18, 2018

All units of the Beaufort County Library are closed for Staff Development on Wed., April 18, 2018. Regular hours resume Thursday, April 19, 2018.

Reviews of Two Books about Henry Woodward

Latest update: 20 August 2024 - gmc

Way back in 2000, I wrote book reviews for the Palmetto Dunes newsletter. In one issue, I reviewed Hilton Head by Josephine Pinckney (New York: Farrar, Rinehart, 1941) and Dr. Henry Woodward: Forgotten Man in History by Effie Leland Wilder (Columbia, SC: Sandlapper, 1970) that I repeat here with some updates to reflect more recent historical research as well as to be more politically and gender correct:

As drawn for Leland’s Dr. Henry Woodward: Forgotten Man in History, (1970)

The facts of a person's life are usually very genealogical [pun intended]. A person is born, parented by two people, and lives until s/he dies. It is what a person accomplishes and how a person treats other people between their birth and death that measures the mettle of a human being. By any one's measure, Henry Woodward was quite a man.

The early facts of his life are sketchy. Historians offer Barbados or Nevis or England as his probable birthplace sometime around 1646. He married at least twice, appears to have been given an Indian concubine who produced no progeny, and fathered at least two children with his second wife Mary Godfrey Browne, a widow. [Some sources indicate that he had three legitimate children.] From his loins arose numerous and talented descendants. Among the Beaufort District luminaries who count Henry Woodward among their ancestors are Stephen Elliott, Robert Barnwell Rhett, Rev. Richard Fuller, the Gonzales brothers, Ambrose and Narciso, and Robert Y. Hayne.

Woodward has two unique distinctions. On the one hand, he is considered the first permanent settler of South Carolina. On the other hand, he is falsely credited with the introduction of rice culture to America. While it makes for an entertaining story that a slave-running sea captain happened to have a few rice seeds left over from his oceanic crossing that he gave to Dr. Woodward, historians generally agree that he was not personally responsible for the introduction of rice culture in the Lowcountry. Instead they credit the slaves from rice producing areas in Africa for the introduction of rice in South Carolina or like Dr. Richard Porcher, Jr. in Market Preparation of Carolina Rice: An Illustrated History of Innovations in the Lowcountry Rice Kingdom, they credit Col. Hezekiah Maham (1739 - 1789) with Carolina Gold. However, even if Woodward did not bring rice to Carolina, his accomplishments with the Indian trade make him one of the key figures in the early Proprietary Period of South Carolina history.

Dr. Henry Woodward: Forgotten Man in History: A Sketch of South Carolina's Intrepid Pioneer by Effie Leland Wilder addresses the significance of her ancestor to the successful English settlement in South Carolina at Charles Towne. Leland emphasizes the facts of Woodward's life that can be supported by written documentation. By all accounts, it was a rather short life. Woodward died around age 40 having put excitement in his 20 years of adulthood than most people can hope to experience in 100!

Although much of his early life is in shadow, we know that by 1664, Woodward was a settler at Cape Fear in what is now North Carolina. In 1665 around age 20 Woodward joins the Carolina expedition of sea captain Robert Sandford to explore coastal Carolina around Port Royal Sound. As a surgeon, Woodward is chosen to go along on the expedition and to provide medical treatment when it should come necessary. Sandford sails his ships up the Broad River to the Tullifinny and Coosawhatchie Rivers and around Daufuskie and Hilton Head Islands, befriends the Escamacu and Edisto Indians of the area, and intends to provide a beach head for further English settlement of what became South Carolina.

From South Carolina Indian Lore …, edited by Bert W. Bierer,  (Self-published, 1972), p. 139

As Wilder states, and Pinckney describes in her novel Hilton Head, Woodward was quite the explorer and pioneer. He volunteered to stay behind with the Escamacu Indians in order to learn their language and culture and to conduct espionage for the Lords Proprietors when Sandford returns to Cape Fear. By forging personal relationships with the leaders of some of the Indian tribes in the area, Niquesalla of the Escamacu, the Edistos, and the Cassique of Kiawah, Woodward learns much about the geopolitics of the Southeast. In a sense, then, Woodward is the first English spy in Carolina. He actively gathers intelligence for his employers, the Lords Proprietors of Carolina, about the area's Native Americans, geography, potential sources of profit, and how to wrest control of what becomes the southeastern United States from the Spanish Crown.

It is not long before word reaches Spanish Florida about the resident Englishman of the Sea Islands. Such a man cannot be left alone. Spaniards go ashore at Port Royal, capture Woodward and imprison him in their fortress at St. Augustine. Among his many adventures are conversion to Catholicism, appointment as official surgeon at St. Augustine, a raid by pirates (this time of the English variety) and freedom, and surviving a shipwreck near Nevis. He finally returns to the Carolina colony with the 1669-1670 English expedition to establish what became Charles Towne. All these adrenaline producing experiences in the space of less than five years!

Woodward is considered the first English settler of South Carolina since he used what became South Carolina as his home base from approximately 1665 until his death about 1686. What made him so special? Pinckney, the novelist, maintains that the key to Woodward's success was his openness to change and his adaptability to the situation of the moment. Wilder, the descendant historian, says that the key to Woodward's success was his interpersonal skills. His involvement with the various Native American tribes throughout the Southeast allowed him to smooth the path for trading relationships thereby making him critical to the early economic life of the colony.

I must confess that I adore sweeping historical novels. Josephine Pinckney captures the essence of the frontier environment that was early Carolina in her 1941 novel, Hilton Head.  It was a very unsettled time. Numerous small tribes of Native Americans were roaming the area, the Spanish had claims to Carolina and missionary settlements to back up those claims, and the English appeared unprepared to meet the challenges. Then enters Dr. Woodward. Hilton Head makes a very satisfying read because Pinckney is a deft creator of characterization. Dr. Woodward is shown to be part master negotiator, part political bungler, part capitalist, and something of a religious chameleon.

If you'd like to know even more about Henry Woodward and his work among the Indians tribes of the Southeast, review our "Henry Woodward, ca 1646 - ca. 1686" list of links and materials in the BDC's Wordpress blog.

Please note: All units of the Beaufort County Library will be closed Wed., April 18, 2018 for staff development. Regular hours resume on Thurs., April 19. 

Beep! Beep! It's National Bookmobile Day

Wednesday, April 11 is National Bookmobile Day. Beaufort County Library provided bookmobile services from 1962 until 1993 and reconstituted the service in 2017. 

During the first year of renewed service (June 2017 - March 2018), the Beaufort County Library bookmobile staff has greeted over 6,700 people, circulated over 15,500 items, answered 1,100 reference questions, issued 233 new library cards, and attended 18 community events. According to Amanda Brewer-Dickson, the bookmobile librarian: "The Bookmobile in on the road 121.5 hours each month. Of those, 64 hours are in operation for the public and the remaining 57.5 hours are getting to and from the 40 locations were the bookmobile stops for customers to come aboard. On average the Bookmobile is on the road 30.25 hours per week and circulated an average of 1700 items per month."  

The bookmobile service locations include 16 Senior communities; 11 School-age childcare facilities; 4 preschool centers; 4 low-income housing neighborhoods, 2 special needs programs, and 1 health clinic. 

Here's a short history of bookmobile services in Beaufort County: 

Beaufort County Bookmobile Timeline

Compiled by Amanda Brewer, MLS, Bookmobile Librarian, December 2016 

1956          Operating out of the Laura Towne Library at Penn Community Center, Mrs. Wilhelmina Barnwell and Mrs. Ethel Bailey delivered books in their personal vehicles to children on St. Helena Island and Lady’s Island.   

1958         Two years later, Mrs. Barnwell and Mrs. Bailey had more demand than their vehicles could accommodate. The AKA Sorority at S.C. State College awarded a $400 grant towards the purchase of a bookmobile. A used bookmobile from Richland County Public Library was acquired for $450 (including taxes, a new paint job, and repairs).  Mrs. Barnwell drove this bookmobile around St. Helena Island and Lady’s Island for 9 years. Approximately 1,000 books circulated each month through her 15 “Book Outposts”.

Uncited.

[We know that it’s not from the Beaufort Gazette in 1958 or 1959. Amanda read microfilm of the 1958 and 1959 Beaufort Gazette issues looking for the image and article.]

1962          The Beaufort Township Library and the Laura Towne Library at Penn Community Center merged to form the Beaufort County Library system. The fully integrated Beaufort County Library system consisted of the Laura Towne and Washington branch libraries.  The Laura Towne library bookmobile continued operation to St. Helena Island and Lady’s Island.

 

1963          A second bookmobile was purchased from Barnwell County Library. This 1952 model bookmobile had shelves that opened on the outside and held 1,000 books. With two vehicles in operation, the Beaufort County Library bookmobiles traveled 1,000 miles per month and circulated 3,000 books.  Also in 1963, Beaufort County Library was awarded the Dorothy Canfield Fisher award as the nation’s outstanding small library.

 1966         Senator James M. Waddell Jr. helped procure funding for a new bookmobile. Both of the old bookmobiles were traded in for a new walk-in model purchased from the Boyertown Company for $10,096. This bookmobile had the capacity to house 1,500 books.

1973         In 1973, the “new” bookmobile had 65,000 miles and was plagued by repairs.  It was sold to Georgetown Memorial Library and a new bookmobile was purchased. The new model had the capacity to hold 3,000 books.  During its operation, this bookmobile ran a schedule of 57 stops in 35 communities.

(Beaufort County Library Records, Beaufort District Collection)

  1983        At 78,275 miles, brake failure, and a broken transmission, the bookmobile was retired and a new vehicle was ordered from the Black River Bookmobile Company in Camden, SC. This $41,000 bookmobile was equipped with a wheel chair lift and had the capacity to store 2,500 books.

(Beaufort County Library Records, Beaufort District Collection) 

1985         After several delays, the new Blackriver Bookmobile arrived in March 1985. 

1993      Engine failure and a broken crankshaft in June 1993 suspended bookmobile service indefinitely.  According to archives of Library Board of Trustees Minutes from June 1993, the repair costs ($6,000) exceeded the following year’s allotted repairs budget.  Decrease in demand for bookmobile service and increase maintenance costs led to the proposal to sell the bookmobile and use the money generated from the sale to purchase a van or station wagon for library use.

2016          Beaufort County Library ordered a new bookmobile from Farber Specialty Vehicles and hires Amanda Brewer as Bookmobile Librarian.

2017          Beaufort County Library bookmobile services begins delivery of materials and services in June.

Beaufort County Bookmobile Librarians

Using their personal vehicles, Mrs. Wilhelmina Barnwell and Mrs. Ethel Bailey were the first librarians to offer book delivery service in Beaufort County. They traveled St. Helena Island and Lady’s Island delivering books from the Laura Towne Library at Penn Community Center to African-American residents.

Mrs. Olive Fordham (from 1962-1965) a Winthrop college graduate and native of Mullins, SC was the first bookmobile librarian for the Beaufort County Library system. A former Beaufort Elementary School teacher and wife of a businessman, Mrs. Fordham took the job seeking a way to “keep busy” and remained in the job until she retired in 1965.

The second bookmobile librarians were Mrs. Maisie Pugh (from 1965-1970) replacing Mrs. Fordham  and Mrs. Agnes Sherman (1965-1973) who worked at the Laura Towne Library and continued bookmobile service on St. Helena.

Natalie Lane manned the bookmobile from 1970-1981. Rosa Cummings teamed up with Natalie Lane in 1973.  Lane maintained the southern Beaufort County route while Cummings maintained the northern Beaufort County route. 

(Beaufort Gazette, 22 April 1977)

Paul Sayers was hired in 1981 to replace Natalie Lane.  

In 1983, Paul Sayers resigned and Rosa Cummings was promoted to another position. Jeanette Parker, a children’s librarian, and Sharon Mosley staffed the bookmobile from 1983 until bookmobile service was suspended in 1993.  

In 2016, Amanda Brewer was hired as bookmobile librarian.

Sources used by Brewer: 

Barnwell, Hillary S. "'Book Outposts' became Bookmobile." Beaufort Gazette [Beaufort, SC] 19 Apr. 1985: no page.

Beaufort County Library Corporate Archives, Beaufort District Collection, Beaufort County Library. 

Beaufort District Collection, Beaufort County Library (SC), vertical files: "Beaufort County Library - Bookmobile Services" and "Beaufort County Library - History." 

"Beaufort Pleased with Bookmobile." News and Courier [Charleston, SC] 10 July 1962: no page. Print.

"Bookmobile Achieves Tremendous Response in its Early Stages." Beaufort Gazette [Beaufort, SC] 16 Aug. 1962: no page. Print.

"Library gets new Bookmobile Unit." Beaufort Gazette [Beaufort, SC] 1 Dec. 1966: Sec. A, no page.  Print.

Newcomb, Ralph Jr. “The Library will even come to you.” Illustration. Beaufort Gazette [Beaufort, SC] 22 April 1977: Sec. B, no page. Print.

Nolen, E. C. "Bookmobile Librarian Job is one she wouldn't trade." Beaufort Gazette [Beaufort, SC] 22 Apr. 1965: no page. Print.

Zachowski, Julie. “Bookmobile and Book Money Status”. Memo to Library Board Members. Beaufort County Library Corporate Archives, Beaufort District Collection.  Beaufort, SC. 11 June  1993. Print.

All units of the Beaufort County Library will be closed on Wednesday, April 18, 2018 for Staff Development. Regular hours resume on Thursday, April 19, 2018.

Beaufort County Library Records Finding Aid

In honor of National Library Week, we just posted a Finding Aid to the Beaufort County Library Records under our stewardship here in the Beaufort District Collection. Since Amanda Forbes came on staff in late June 2017, she has concentrated on organizing the archives portion of the Beaufort District Collection. She  finished an inventory begun by Ashley Sylva and has begun compiling Finding Aids to our holdings. The Beaufort County Library Records, 1862 - 2018 Finding Aid will begin a series of Finding Aid posts in our BDC Wordpress Blog until such time as we can add Finding Aids into the SCLENDS consortium catalog. 

 

We have more than 150 Finding Aids yet to post to cover all the archival collections of records and papers that we steward so this is definitely a work in progress. 

Q: What's a "Finding Aid?" 

 

A: A finding aid, in the context of archival science, is a document containing detailed information about a specific collection of papers or records within an archive. A finding aid is a tool that facilitates discovery of information within a collection of records. This single document places the materials in context by consolidating information about the collection, such as acquisition and processing; provenance, including administrative history or biographical note; scope of the collection, including size, subjects, media; organization and arrangement; and an inventory of the series and the folders.

 

This description of records gives the repository physical and intellectual control over the materials and assists users to gain access to and understand the materials. Finding aids are used by researchers to determine whether information within a collection is relevant to their research. 

 

Read the Beaufort County Library Records on our Wordpress blog. Researchers can access the records described in the Finding Aid during the Beaufort District Collections customary hours of operation.  

National Library Week, April 8 - 14, 2018

National Library Week is an observance sponsored by the American Library Association (ALA) and libraries across the country usually during the second week in April. The first National Library Week was observed in 1958 with the theme "Wake Up and Read!" This year's theme is "Libraries Lead!"

National Library Week allows everyone to celebrate the contributions of our nation's libraries and  library workers and to promote library use and support. All types of libraries - school, public, academic and special - participate. This year we beat the drum for libraries April 8 - 14. If you haven't visited one or more of our buildings lately, drop by and sign up for a library card.

On Monday, April 9, the State of America's Libraries Report is released, including a list of the Top Ten Frequently Challenged Books of 2017. (Note: The link should be live by Noon on Monday).

Tuesday, April 10 is National Library Workers Day when the focus is on all those who keep libraries up and running, that is, professional and paraprofessional library staff, Friends groups, Library boards, and the administrative units that help pay each library's bills.

On Wednesday, April 11 we celebrate National Bookmobile Day.  There will be a Connections post about how the reconstituted bookmobile service is going on Wednesday so stay tuned.

Also stayed tuned for an announcement about our own Library's history.

And since April also happens to be National Poetry Month, we share "Library Poem" by Julia Donaldson with you:

https://www.poemsearcher.com/topic/library

In Memoriam: Walter Dennis, 1937-2010, Poet, Chef, and Man about Town

April is National Poetry Month. Among the many local poets featured in the Beaufort District Collection is Walter Dennis. 

It is fitting that Walter's body is resting among his fellow veterans at the Beaufort National Cemetery. David Lauderdale, columnist for the Island Packet/Beaufort Gazette writes far more eloquently than I can about Walter's contributions to our community. (You can read his article in our Research Room either on microfilm or through our vertical files.)  I just know that through the years, Walter and I spent more than a few convivial hours talking about his research documenting African-American history, his love of cooking, and poetry.

Over the years, Walter was very generous in donating copies of his work to the Library. Because Walter wrote non-fiction about the people, places, food, and culture of our area, many of his works qualified for inclusion in the library's "Forever Collection." Therefore we have more than 20 titles of his poetry volumes and cookbooks. A few also circulate through our Local History sections, including I don't like Oatmeal; Fried Grits; and Stone Soup Cook Book.

Here's one of my favorite poems that he wrote:

Lamentation: To the Tired Oak

No longer do you stand proud ...

The once-mighty oak with head unbowed.

With moss whispering amongst your leaves.

Now you stand alone; looking like firewood ...

Amputation and mutation cursed you!

Time has come and gone; no more leaves; 

Even the moss is no longer worn.

You have seen the mysteries of life and death ...

Swing low on the chopping block, come to carry you home. 

Weep no more, sweet willow, weep no more --

Time has spoke ...

So long, you tired oak.

You can read his obituary on the Marshel's Wright-Donaldson Home for Funerals, Inc.website. (Accessed 1 March 2018)

Walter Dennis, 1937 - 2010 (Marshel's)

"At Easter Dawn" by Samuel Henry Rodgers

In honor of National Poetry Month, we share "At Easter Dawn" by Samuel Henry Rodgers.

Rodgers (1845 - 1919) spent his early years in Charleston. He served in the 23rd South Carolina Regiment in Charleston, at the Battle of Gettysburg, and returned to South Carolina to participate in the defense of Charleston. He was awarded the Confederate Gold Medal by the Sons of the Confederate Veterans. His journalism career began with the Charleston News and Courier. In 1878 he moved his young family to Beaufort in order to found a newspaper called the Beaufort Crescent. Three years later he moved to Port Royal to found the Palmetto Post. (We have copies of the Palmetto Post on microfilm 1882 - 1906.) He moved back to Beaufort in 1904. Two years later the Palmetto Post was consolidated with the Beaufort Gazette as Rodgers was a part owner of the Beaufort Gazette Publishing Company. Rodgers remained a Beaufort resident until his death on 12 December 1919. His body is interred in the St. Helena's Episcopal Churchyard. "At Easter Dawn" was composed on 20 April 1905.

At Easter Dawn

Sweetly the birds are singing
              At Easter dawn;
Sweetly the bells are ringing;
              On Easter morn.
And the words that they say,
               On this Easter day,
Are, "Christ the Lord is risen."

Birds! forget not your singing
            At Easter dawn;
Bells! be ye ever ringing
            On Easter morn.
In the spring of the year,
            When Easter is here,
Sing, "Christ the Lord has risen."

Buds! ye will soon be flowers
            Cheery and white;
Snowstorms are changing to showers,
            Darkness to light.
With the awakening of spring,
            Oh, sweetly sing,
"Lo! Christ the Lord has risen."

Easter buds were growing
            Ages ago!
Easter lilies were blowing
            By the water's flow.
All nature was glad,
            Not a creature was sad,
For Christ the Lord had risen.

(We have copies of Beaufort Gazette newspaper backfiles from 1903 - March 2015 on microfilm in our Research Room.)

You can read more of Rodgers's poems in The Palmetto Poet: Samuel Henry Rodgers by Walter Ioor Rodgers, Sr. (Self-published, 1985). There's one circulating copy in Local History as well.