"Black Resistance:" Antebellum Style : Mary Heuston's Story

One of the things that I like most about working in the Research Room is learning new "stuff" from BDC customers. One recent inquiry just so happens to fall into the "Black Resistance" theme for this year's Black History Month celebration.

 
The initial inquiry from Professor Eben Miller came through the Library's general email address in early January and was forwarded to me. That said:

I am a historian (Southern Maine Community College, South Portland, Maine) researching the life of Mary Heuston. She explains in a 1912 interview in a Maine newspaper that she was born into slavery during the 1820s. Her first enslaver was David Turner, of Beaufort, South Carolina. Using digitized resources, including records available through familysearch.org and ancestry.com, I've learned that Turner owned property on St. Helena Island. He was also customs collector and postmaster in Beaufort during the 1830s. He seems to have died in 1845.

Sometime before or after his death, possession of Mary turned over to Turner's daughter, Louisa Tupper. She and her husband, Frederick Tupper, lived in Savannah. In the summer of 1850, the Tuppers brought Mary with them to Bath, Maine. Mary freed herself by escaping with the assistance of Black women and men who lived in the Bath area. She was never recaptured and lived the rest of her life in Maine.

I'm trying to piece together as much of her story as possible. I'm reaching out to you for suggestions for finding any further leads on David Turner available through the library's Beaufort District Collection. I've never conducted research in South Carolina and would be grateful for any guidance.

If you have any thoughts on resources I could utilize, I'd be grateful.

The back-and-forth went on for almost a month. He sent along clippings of the article from the Lewiston [ME] Journal, Illustrated Magazine Section, 23 August 1912, pp. 1-2. [If you want to see the article go to digital page image 18 and digital page image 19 of the online link]. 

Here's the article:  

Very intriguing, isn't it? I was indeed hooked - and very grateful for the clues Mary gave in the newspaper article -  particularly since I already knew what the Black History Month theme for 2023 was [i.e. "Black Resistance"]  and hoped that perhaps I could use research time not only to help the off-site customer, but to help me with social media. So, I did a little research along and along and reported back to him about 10 days later: 

I regret that my investigation into other potential records that might include David Turner had little results. Beaufort is considered a burned county because of the loss of many pre-Civil War era records.

• No mention of David Turner in the indexes to that bible of Beaufort District history, The History of Beaufort County South Carolina, 1514 – 2006 by Lawrence S. Rowland, et al. (3 vols).
• No mention of him in a Sea Island Diary by Edith Dabbs about the history of St. Helena Island.  
• He is not listed in the History of Pharmacy in South Carolina (1951) that covers the colonial period through 1950. [ I looked in here because my NewsBank research in the historic Charleston SC newspapers showed him offering new stocks of drugs and tonics for a number of years on a rather regular basis.] 

Because you thought that David Turner likely died before 1845, I checked Marriage and Death Notices from the Charleston Observer, 1827 – 1845 by Brent Holcomb (1980) and found a marriage notice for Mary and Frederick’s wedding:

Issue of December 7, 1833

    On the 28^th ult. , at Beaufort, S.C., by the Rev. Daniel Bythewood, Frederick A. Tupper, Merchant, Savannah, Ga. , to Miss Louisa W., daughter of David Turner, Esq., Post Master of said place. (p. 79)

There was no further reference to David Turner in this book. However, I knew that Rev. Bythewood was a Baptist minister – and we have a church history, A Lamp Unto the Lowcountry: The Baptist Church of Beaufort 1804-2004 by Annette Milliken Maddox (2004) that I checked for David Turner. All that I gleaned from pages 76, 78-80, 87, and 260 was:

                Turner served on the 1842 building committee as he was among 19 male members of the Church to evaluate the condition of the original tabby church structure and encourage building a new, much larger facility. Turner was Chairman of the building committee. He was thanked for his role during the new Church dedication service in September 1845.  (p. 76 -80, 87)

                Turner paid $25 to rent a pew box on the first row on the north side in the new building. “Turner was an affluent man without slaves, and he chaired the committee to build a new church after first arguing to save the old one.” The configuration inside the church has since changed. (p. 260) – Which sort of begs the question about when and how he may have stopped owning others.

                The author refers to “Church Book C, 1840 - 1911“ from the Baptist Church of Beaufort’s own archive as a key source for these tidbits of information....

He is not listed in Burials in the Baptist Church of Beaufort Cemetery as of 24 March 2003, an unpublished document hand-delivered to me by its compiler in 2004.  

I used my personal State Library library card to gain access to back issues of the Charleston Courier and came across notices that refer to David Turner as the Port Collector to find land for a light house (1837); a runaway slave notice that mentions Jim as a former slave of David Turner of Beaufort (1829); administering estates of others (1810s); and as a wholesale agent for various tonics (1810s-1830s). He lost the 1831 election to the Beaufort Town Council, coming in at #7. There were 6 seats at the time. I found no mention of his death in these back files.

Also, I suggested that the professor contact the Baptist Church regarding “Church Book C” and to check with the Live Oak Public Library’s local history room in Savannah to see what it had about the  Tuppers.

He was not disappointed after all:

My gosh, Grace, I am humbled at your effort to assist me--thank you very much!

Despite Beaufort being in a burned county, I'm intrigued by some of these details you mention, like the description you found of Turner from 1845 as "an affluent man without slaves." My guess is that at some point he gave possession to his daughter(s). Tax records from Savannah, for instance, show that Louisa Tupper (nee Turner) possessed more than a dozen slaves during the 1840s.

From other records, I've learned that Turner was customs collector and postmaster in Beaufort during the Andrew Jackson and Martin Van Buren presidencies. South Carolina tax records indicate that he owned 300 acres in Prince William Parish, as well as property in St. Helena Parish. But after reading histories of St. Helena Island and not seeing him mentioned, I'm left to wonder if he lived in the city of Beaufort, rather than on a farm/plantation. I've also squinted at this 1825 map of the Beaufort District from the Library of Congress searching without success for "Turner."

If it's no trouble, could you let me know the date of the issue of the Charleston Courier in which you saw a runaway ad for Jim? I'd love to have a copy of this ad. I don't know if I'll be able to track this down through my own local library, but having the specific date from 1829 might be of help in that quest.

Many thanks, again, I'm so appreciative of your assistance! 

I sent him the citation - Charleston Courier, 11 December 1829, p. 1 - and a cellphone picture of the printout I made of the entry. 

About 2 weeks later, the professor sent me an update. He had found - if not a smoking gun, at least a little whiff of smoke in the air towards - confirmation of Mary Heuston's story:

Thanks again for your help, Grace. I've heard back from the South Carolina Department of Archives and History and thought you might appreciate an update. The sole document they could find is a marriage settlement between Louisa Turner and Frederick Tupper. It was photocopied and mailed to me. It's a little difficult to read the handwriting, but I've transcribed it as best I can and have copied below some of the most helpful information. Because Mary Heuston explained in her 1912 interview that she was known as Clara when enslaved, my attention is drawn to the names of three individuals named Clara and can't help but wonder if one of them was her.

whereas Louisa W Turner is entitled unto an estate both real and personal in a moiety of the trust Estate of Eliza and Louisa W Turner children of David and Mary Turner to wit One Home and Lot in the town of Beaufort known on the plot of this said town as number (116) One Hundred sixteen [Batting?] and [B--?] to the north on a lane thirty feet wide, on the east on the lot number (115) one hundred and fifteen on which is erected a place of worship called the Tabernacle on the south by Craven Street and in the west by Charles Street together with the [lot buildings?] Helena state + [--] attached also one tract of land in Prince William Parish containing three hundred and thirty acres more or less bounded on the east by land of the trust estate of Henry J Nichols and Eliza W Nichols formerly belonging to Philip [Givens?] to the west on land of John B. Givens to the North on land of William [Johnson?] and to the south by a small island called B(?) John or Browns Island with all the buildings improvements that houses appertaining + there unto belonging also to forty negroes herein named to wit Jack Amy + Jane(?) also Venus Yellow Jack, Cassandra, Ben Sharper, Alick Hector + Clara also Croessia(?) Thomas Harry Richard Jackson + Ned also old(?) Charlotte, Minty Daphney Tom Charlotte Abram + Jacob also to Clara Joe(?) Saturday Rachel Mariah Mary also [--] Robert Hilliard John Clara Isabella, children of Bets(?) and to the following single negroes Bram Long Peter Abe + [--] together with the increase of the females of the above mentioned negroes

I think that the Professor has a plausible case that one of the three females named Clara might indeed be the woman telling her story of escape from enslavement as one of David Turner's former chattel.  She had made a run for it - and succeeded! 

The BDC also now has two new vertical files: TURNER FAMILY and FUGITIVE SLAVES as a result of my inquiry for present and future customers of the Research Room to consult long after I am no longer in charge. To my way of thinking this inquiry was a win-win all around.   

Just in case you're wondering, I used my customer's name and institution with his expressed permission. The American Library Association Code of Ethics states the values to which we are committed, and embodies the ethical responsibilities of the profession in this changing information environment.  Number 3 is : "We protect each library user's right to privacy and confidentiality with respect to information sought or received and resources consulted, borrowed, acquired or transmitted." I would have never told you his name or why he contacted the Beaufort County Library otherwise.