"Tide of Death" returns to Beaufort Branch

Oh the wind did blow so high 
And de storm was all abroad
But yet we recognize in it
The wonderful power of God.

Beaufort County experienced a lot of damage last October but Hurricane Matthew was a baby storm in comparison with the most devastating natural disaster to ever befall Beaufort District. 

On a single terrifying night in late August 1893 a cataclysmic hurricane ripped through the islands and lowlands of South Carolina and Georgia drowning thousands and leaving tens of thousands more destitute. Although largely unknown outside our region,  the Great Sea Island Storm of 1893 still remains the fifth most deadly hurricane in US history. The Library’s Beaufort District Collection Manager, Grace Cordial, will share photographs, diary accounts and other rare materials about the night that death came to call in the final program in the pilot Beaufort History Museum/Beaufort County Library local history series. Space is limited. Closed when full. Registration required at https://beauforthistorymuseum.wildapricot.org/event-2516200 Update: April 14, 2017 - ALL seats have been taken! On the day of the event, walk-ins will be accommodated first come, first serve for any reserved seats not occupied by the reservation holder at 1:55 pm. No one will be admitted once the program begins at 2 pm. 

Please note: This program concludes the pilot season of the Beaufort History Museum/Beaufort County Library local history series. There will be no BHM/BCL programs during the Summer months.

Every Hero Has a Story: Rachel C. Mather

[This entry was last updated 20 August 2021. - gmc]

An unsung heroine who confronted the suffering left in the wake of that "Tide of Death," the Great Sea Island Storm of 1893, was Rachel Crane Mather. 

Mather tapped into her religious, educational, and philanthropic circles writing letters to solicit donations to ease some of the hardships she saw around her. With those donations, she distributed food, clothing, and occasionally a few coins to the endless stream of sufferers arriving at the Mather School doors, a boarding school she had founded in 1867 with support from the American Missionary Association to educate formerly enslaved girls. According to The Reconstruction Era in Beaufort County Local Initiative for National Designation Report (2003), Mather School "actually served as more of a social agency that provided Biblical instruction and lessons in home economics" than as a general educational facility for African-American women. She felt deeply for the people she served.  From the start, she used her payment from teaching to buy food for the freedmen as "she could not 'send away these pitiful cadaverous looking people without giving them a few qts. or pints of grits.'" Her actions foreordained her reaction to the survivors of the hurricane.

Much of what we know of the personal tragedies caused by the hurricane comes from the accounts she published at a cost of $120 in 1894.  Storm Swept Coast is replete with personal accounts of what transpired during and in the immediate aftermath of the deadliest natural disaster in Beaufort District's long history. However, Palmetto Post newspaper editor Samuel H. Rodgers criticized the expense.

 

Yet Rodgers retracted his criticism in the next week's edition of the newspaper: "We did her an injustice with the lights now before us, and hasten to remedy the evil. The book is to be sold.” He goes on to say that “Miss Mather pays a tribute to the Red Cross which many think it in no way deserves.  Why, with an amount not over $10,000 Miss Mather did more real good work among the sufferers than the vaunted Red Cross with four times the amount." 

Read some contemporary newspaper accounts of her activities and see a list of materials that we have here in the Research Room about her life. 

That you can find a digital version of Storm Swept Coast and our small collection of hurricane of 1893 photographs online is due to our long partnership with the Lowcountry Digital Library. This way anyone with an internet connection anywhere in the world can learn about Mrs. Mather's role in helping alleviate the suffering caused by the most devastating natural disaster to ever befall this area.

BDC@ STH: The Local "Big One"

I'm doing the last minute brushing up of the BDC presentation "Sea Island Hurricane: Tide of Death" for St. Helena Branch tomorrow.  I've been in and out of the archives stacks choosing "spiffy stuff"  to talk about during the presentation - and to display in the community room for an hour or so after the presentation.  (The special collections materials have to be back in their usual spaces in our archives climate controlled facility by 4:30.)  Meet me at 6355 Jonathan Francis Senior Road, St. Helena Island to learn more about Beaufort County's Local "Big One:"

Casualty List - 1893 Great Sea Island Storm

The Casualty list of names of 294 people whose deaths were attributed to the Great Sea Island Storm of 1893 in Beaufort County Coroner’s Inquisition Records is posted at http://bdcbcl.wordpress.com/2012/10/31/storm-of-1893-death-list/.

BDC Celebrates Archives Month (Continued)

Weren't able to join us for a “Behind-the-Scenes” Tour?  While a "Behind-the-Scenes" Tour is the best way to understand what it is we do in the Library system's special collections and archives unit, we try to share facets of our work via social media and our Research Room displays.   

You will have noticed that this blog has included entries about some of our own local natural disasters.  Check out the entries behind the "earthquakes," "Great Sea Island Storm of 1893," and "hurricanes" labels.  We just encouraged participation in the Great SouthEast ShakeOut to learn some protection strategies during an earthquake.  We've posted a revised list of materials on the topic of the Sea Island Storm.  We've loaded  the Research Room display case with materials from our holdings on hurricanes, floods, fires, and earthquakes.  We've put a few images of these events online via Facebook and this blog. 

Be sure to keeping reading Connections and become our Facebook friend to make certain you see some of the “good stuff” about the bad natural disasters that have befallen Beaufort District throughout its long history. 

To see everything we have on a particular topic, you'd need to make an appointment and come to the Research Room for a research consultation.  Many of the items are fragile. 

 

Trivia - but not Trivial

Based on her Civil War experience, who established the Red Cross?
1. Clara Barton
2. Florence Nightingale
3. Margaret Sanger
4. Elizabeth Ann Seton

Of course, the answer is 1. Clara Barton.

Clara Barton was a crucial mover-and-shaker during the disaster relief efforts after the "Sea Island Hurricane" of 1893. For an overview of the resources available on her life, take a peek at the list of "Recommended Reading" material on her within the "Local Notables" series.

On the Road Again ... to Bluffton Branch

The BDC heads south of the Broad on October 29th, November 1st and November 7th.

I'll be the third lecturer in the 2011 Thomas Heyward series sponsored by the Bluffton Historical Preservation Society on Sat., Oct. 29th at 11 am. The series is held in the Community Room at the Bluffton Branch Library. My topic is “Wonders in the Beaufort District Collection.” The presentation provides an overview of BDC services for all people and parts of Beaufort County, highlighting materials about the Bluffton and Hilton Head Island areas. (There are more than you might think!)


Tues., Nov. 1st - BDC@ Bluffton Branch, 2:00 pm
Review of the book and documents from the BDC re: Great Sea Island Storm of 1893.

We'll be showing some of the special collection materials we house about the 1893 Hurricane to the Bluffton Branch's History Book Club meeting. There is no need to register. Everyone is welcome! (If you would like more information about the Bluffton Branch History Book Club, please contact Bratton at (843) 255-6503.)

We kick off our local commemoration of the Civil War as it happened here in the old Beaufort District on:

Mon., Nov. 7th - BDC@ Bluffton Branch 2:00 pm
"Battle of Port Royal" with author/archivist Mike Coker.

March is American Red Cross Month

President Obama signed a proclamation making March American Red Cross Month today as has each president since Franklin Delano Roosevelt established the special commemoration in 1943.

Given that Clara Barton was the founder of the American Red Cross and that she worked in our area during the Civil War and again after the Great Sea Island Hurricane of 1893, here are a few links to additional information about Barton and the Red Cross that the Library has posted to the web:

Our Information Services Coordinator and "Answer Man" newspaper columnist, Dennis Adams, MA, MLS, wrote a fictional interview with Ms. Barton, about her service after the destruction caused in late August 1893.

The BDC staff prepared a short list of materials about Clara Barton found within our Library's holdings.

Read More: The Great Sea Island Storm of 1893

BDC Reading Suggestions:
The Great Sea Island Storm of 1893

B BARTON.   A Story of the Red Cross by Clara Barton

551.5 HAM.  Storm Center by Elizabeth Verner Hamilton
This title is also available at the Hilton Head Branch Library.

551.5 MAR.  The Great Sea Island Storm of 1893 by Bill and Fran Marscher
Check-out this book at any Beaufort County Branch Library.

551.5 MAR.  Living in the Danger Zone: Realities about Hurricanes by Bill and Fran Marscher
Check-out or request this book today from your local Beaufort County Branch Library.

551.55 JOR.  A History of Storms on the South Carolina Coast by Laylon Wayne Jordan
This title is also available at the Hilton Head Branch Library.

551.552 HAR.  The Sea Island Hurricanes (reprint from Scribners Magazine, February 1894) by Joel Chandler Harris

551.552 LAN.  The Hurricane of August 28, 1893 by Remer Y. Lane
This title is also available at the Hilton Head Branch Library.

551.552 MAT.  The Storm Swept Coast of South Carolina by Rachel C. Mather

551.55257 FRA.  Lowcountry Hurricanes:  Three Centuries of Storms at Sea and Ashore by Walter J. Fraser Jr.
Check-out or request this book today from your local Beaufort County Branch Library.

551.55257 RUB.  Hurricane Destruction in South Carolina:  Hell and High Water by Tom Rubillo
Check-out or request this book today from your local Beaufort County Branch Library.

975.799 GAT.  Gathering Voices:  Living Off the Land by Beaufort Middle School, Eighth Grade Humanities Class 2005
Check-out or request this book today from your local Beaufort County Branch Library.

Hurricane Losses Too Hard to Absorb

Many people died as the result of the surging waters and fierce winds that came ashore when the Sea Island Storm struck Beaufort County. Among the dead, was Susan Hazel Rice's beloved brother, Dr. Gowan Hazel.

Tues. Aug. 29, 1893

Bright & warm About 3 o'clock yesterday I got a note from Dr. Stuart saying my own Brother was drowned. I cannot believe it & cannot bear it if it is true. Mr. Holmes went down in a rowboat & brought this(sic) remains of the loving brother, getting home about one o'clock this morn. He does not look natural but is a small comfort to be able to look upon his poor discolored face once more, but to think I never shall hear him speak again is too much for me to bear. We buried him at 11 A.M. & I have come to my home where he will never more come. Mr. Wilkins had a very appropriate service & Lewis made the prayer.

The Beaufort District Collection is a division of the Beaufort County Library, a department of Beaufort County Government of South Carolina.

The Storm Approaches

Susan Hazel Rice, local Beaufort resident since childhood, describes the Great Sea Island Storm of 1893 in her diary:

What a gale we had all night Every room soaking wet, sashes blowing in & Mr. W & Lewis were all night nailing doors & sashes We all lay on pallets in the sitting room but got no sleep until 4 A.M. When day light came what a scene of desolation. The tin is taken completely off our shed room & blinds blown off & sashes broken. not a dry room in the house & the lower story in dreadful condition. But we are better off than many others. My cow was drowned & most of the chickens. Can't make fire in stove as chimney is broken in & stove full of salt water. Our cistern ruined.

The Beaufort District Collection is a division of the Beaufort County Library, a department of Beaufort County Government of South Carolina.

Susan Rice's diary entry for 27 August 1893

Continuing our series on the entries of Susan Hazel Rice about the coming storm in late August 1893:

The wind blew all night & is still blowing as I fear we may get the gale yet. My head aches too. We went to church in morn & was pleased with Lewis sermon from Luke 17-11 "And these are in the world". He is to preach again tonight if it does not storm. Mr W took dinner with us & it rained & blew so hard that he could not go to Port Royal. About 4 oclock the wind rose and at bed time it was a gale so he staid & a blessing he did for the tide was 2 ft deep in our lower story & plastering falling & rain beating in everything.

The Beaufort District Collection is a division of the Beaufort County Library, a department of Beaufort County Government of South Carolina.

115th Anniversary of the Great Sea Island Storm

We remember the 115th Anniversary of the Great Sea Island Storm of 1893 at the end of August. It hit at high tide on the morning of August 28, 1893 and raged for hours. Sources debate exactly how many people died as a result of its fury, but the dead numbered into the thousands.

Over the next couple of days, we will share snippets from the diaries of Susan Hazel Rice who wrote about the storm and its impact on her life. Here's what she wrote on 26 August 1893:

We were very busy all morn. Mr Wilkins took Lewis to ride to the Chemical works in the morn. At 4 o'clock I went to Mr. Emmons funeral. The services were at the house & the interment at the Baptist church. A large number out. I went from there to Julies & then on Bay & bought collars ties & handkerchiefs Stopped in at the Givens but only found Mrs. Baynard(sic) at home. Mr. W. took Lewis walking & then staid to tea with us. Lewis is to preach for us tomorrow. Very stormy & a gale outside. Had a postal from Mr W- saying come to the Worlds Fair.

The Beaufort District Collection is a division of the Beaufort County Library, a department of Beaufort County Government of South Carolina.