What to Expect in August 2025

It's hard to believe that we are now in the 8th month of the year 2025. 

Traditionally, August is hot and muggy - and often comes with a tropical system or two. In fact as I was updating my "Hurricanes of Beaufort District's Past" talk for the Palmetto Bluff Conservancy, I was repeatedly struck by how often the date of one of the storms impacting here fell into the final week of August. That happened in 1813, 1881, 1885, 1893, 1898, 1911 and 1952. I see a pattern. Do you? 

I have my fingers - and toes and legs -- crossed that I will be able to retire without having to do a hurricane disaster recovery effort to save as much of the BDC's materials as possible. We're as ready as we can be; but I'd really rather not have to put that training into use. 

As of this writing there are no scheduled closures of the Library system during August. But - and it's a big but -- we are entering the most active phase of Hurricane Season so be sure to monitor weather conditions. Any changes to the Library's schedule will be posted in a red banner along each and every page of the Library's website. 

Update: 9:30 AM - Unfortunately the West Point cadets working on the Fort Fremont Digital Project experienced travel delays so they had to cancel their visit to the Research Room this afternoon. We'll have to save the presentation we made for them about customary special collection and archival protocols and a brief tour of some of the BDC’s Fort Fremont related resources during their visit for another time. As of this writing, the Panel Discussion scheduled for Sunday, August 3, is still "on." 

The BDC is "On the Road" a lot during August. We hope that you can join us for: 

Sunday, August 3, 2025 – Panel Discussion about Fort Fremont Findings by West Point Cadets with Dr. James Shinn as moderator. This rare-for-the-BDC Sunday event is brought to you by the Friends of Fort Fremont, United States Military Academy, the Beaufort County Historical Society and the BDC. Meet us at St. Mark’s Episcopal Church in Port Royal at 3 PM. 

Thursday, August 7, 2025 –In honor of National Lighthouse Day, local author Ted Panayotoff will share his book about the Hunting Island Lighthouse at St. Helena Branch Library at 2 PM.

Wednesday, August 27, 2025 - "In the Eye of the Storm” will feature personal accounts left behind by the survivors of the Hurricane of 1893. Session 1 is at Hilton Head Branch Library at 1 PM.  Hilton Head has a big meeting space and can seat up to 120 people. One does not need to register for Session 1.  

Thursday, August 28, 2025 – I will repeat “In the Eye of the Storm” at Port Royal Branch Library at 5 PM – but because of the small size of the Port Royal Branch Library, folks should register to attend. Registration will open August 14, 2025.

Two of the local history programs will impact our Research Room schedule this month as staff will have to be other places delivering services. Accordingly, the BDC will close at Noon on Thursday, August 7th so that we can present the Lighthouse program at St. Helena Branch Library. Because traveling to and from Hilton Head Branch requires more time, the Research Room will be closed  beginning at 10:45 AM on Wednesday, August 27th. 

The Fort Fremont panel discussion is on a Sunday - which shouldn't affect the public facing Research Room schedule. Nor should session 2 of "In the Eye of the Storm" as it starts at 5 pm. The Port Royal Branch is only a few miles away from the BDC's Research Room. It has a very small meeting room so there won't be a lot of room arrangement. Thus, I'll leave my staff to woman the Research Room while I set up, deliver, and put everything back to rights at Port Royal Branch on August 28th.

Local history programs are mere flashes in a pan whereas preservation of historic materials is meant to last for a century. When I started offering Local History programs, I intentionally designed them to highlight and complement resources we make available through the Library's special local history collection and archives unit in hopes that the unit's reputation within the community at large and with potential researchers would be raised. That goal has been a constant throughout my career here. It will remain my goal until I turn in my County badge. 

While I like to coordinate local history programs, doing so takes up a lot of time. Sometimes I have to remind myself and others that the primary responsibility of the BDC is to acquire, protect and share resources related to the long and storied history of Beaufort District's people, places, events and themes so that researchers can find useful materials inside our facility. BDC staff  do our best to practice good stewardship, describe and prepare materials for use by humans, and support historical investigations into the past inside the Research Room - and coordinate local history programs of the highest quality to highlight those materials when possible. We would love to tell you more about how to do research in our facility. Please reach out to us: bdc@bcgov.net; 843-255-6468 to discuss.

"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. 

Mrs. Potter's Memorial Monument

As the calendar neared the end of October and because Olivia was doing well getting up to speed and could now sit comfortably with our researchers while I stayed in the bowels of the BDC doing other tasks, I decided to work a bit on the Finding Aids backlog one afternoon in October while we were still officially in Archives Month.

Both Amanda Forbes and Samantha Perkins had done fine jobs with helping me get intellectual control over the archival material here in the Research Room during their respective tenures as my Library Assistants IV but I had only been able to finalize a few of their Finding Aids for the BDC's Links, Lists and Finding Aids blog over the past 4-5 years. That fact has weighed heavily on my heart and my mind as I get ever closer to retirement.

I wanted to change that situation at least a little bit during Archives Month 2022.

I thought that I would start small for quick results. Thus, I chose to begin with a Finding Aid for one archival item: an ink drawing on paper of one of the monuments at the Beaufort National Cemetery.

You can enlarge the illustration to follow along with me and test my transcriptions. Note: The "white hole" in the upper right was actually caused by my cellphone's flash reflecting on the encapsulation plastic. I assure you that the sketch is completely intact. 

At the far bottom left are three lines of handwritten text that I cannot read. If you can figure it out, please email what you think it says to me: gracec@bcgov.net. Neither Olivia nor I can translate the script into something intelligible. I hope that it may indicate the artist's identity. 

The text in the enclosed area on the left of the drawing reads: "On the reverse side a tablet containing the names of 176 soldiers who died at the hospital at the "Racecourse" near Charleston, S.C." 

In the center is a sketch of the monument inscribed "Immortality to Hundreds of Defenders of American Liberty Against the Great Rebellion." 

To the right are these words: "Monument to be erected at the National Cemetery at Beaufort, S.C. under the supervision of Mrs. L. T. Potter of Charleston, S.C. to the memory of the soldiers, who died at the "Racecourse" near Charleston, S.C., and are now removed to Beaufort, S.C. May 2nd, 1868." 

Analyzing the document, I can see that the Union men were re-interred on 2 May 1868 but that the monument was not installed at that point in time as it was "to be erected." According to the Beaufort National Cemetery website under the "Historical Information" section that monument "was erected during the 1880s." Thus my search window for the monument's installation was 1868 to 1890. I also had three potential lines of inquiry to investigate just from the textual notes on the sketch: the history of the Cemetery; What was the life story of  Mrs. L.T. Potter and why was she going to all this expense and trouble for the dead Union soldiers?; and the history of the Civil War prison camp at the Charleston Racecourse from which the soldiers' bodies were brought to Beaufort. Researching for more information about these topics would enhance the Historical Note for the Finding Aid for this particular item from the BDC's archives. 

I did a little Google searching about Mrs. Potter and the prisoner camp in Charleston at the Racecourse to get some context. Most of what I discovered in that pursuit now resides in the BDC vertical files. 

By using the Library's Ancestry Library Edition database, I uncovered a few key biographical facts about Mrs. L.T. Potter: Mrs. Potter's first name was Eliza; she was an immigrant to the United States; she married Lorenzo T. Potter, a man 13 years her senior in Richmond County, Georgia in 1856; They were living in Charleston, SC by 1860 and appeared to have owned 8 slaves; she gave birth to 10 children, though only 3 were still alive in 1900; her husband died in 1872; and she died in 1907 in Boston, MA at the ripe old age of 79.   

I decided to do some newspaper research in hopes of discovering appeals for donations; requests for monument design proposals; notices of fundraising success, etc. Although the Research Room has some local 19th Century newspapers on microfilm, we have no indexes to them. Therefore, I tend to use the digitized issues of the following local newspapers on the Chronicling America newspaper website instead: 

19^th Century Newspapers in the BDC Research Room on Microfilm:

Palmetto Herald (March 17, 1864 -December 29, 1864)                https://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/lccn/sn84-27012

Free South (January 17, 1863 - November 19, 1864) https://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/lccn/sn84026962/

New South (March 15, 1861 - September 29, 1866) https://historicnewspapers.sc.edu/lccn/sn83025760/

Port Royal Standard and Commercial (1874-1876) http://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/lccn/sn85026954/

Beaufort Republican and Sea Island Chronicle (1869 - 1871) http://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/lccn/sn92061879/  

Beaufort Republican (October 12, 1871 - October 16, 1873) http://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/lccn/sn84026857/

Port Royal Commercial and Beaufort County Republican (October 23, 1873 – April 30, 1874)   http://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/lccn/sn92065401/

 Beaufort Tribune (1874-1876) is online only                     http://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/lccn/sn85042623/. 

Alas, nothing came up in these newspapers about Mrs. Potter or her monument at the National Cemetery. 

Then I tried using my personal South Carolina State Library (SCSL) card to access the historical South Carolina newspapers available through the SCSL's subscription to the NewsBank database. I checked the back files of the Charleston Courier, 1803-1872 and the Charleston News and Courier, 1873- 1991 concentrating on the period between 1865 and 1890 to cover the years between the fall of South Carolina as a Confederate entity and the entire 1880s timeframe for the installation of the monument.

I had to wade through several hundred hits across the three topics to learn only a few facts. For example, I  learned that General John P. Hatch, 1822 - 1901 agreed to support "a monument to the Martyrs of the Race Course" in the April 3, 1865 issue of the Charleston Courier but there was no additional information in the Charleston Courier about fundraising efforts. I also learned that there was a merchant sailing vessel named the Eliza Potter that was owned by L.T. Potter plied the east coast after the Civil War years. There were a lot of shipping news notices to review. However, I was sorely disappointed to find nothing more about the fund raising for the monument or the removal of the Union soldiers' bodies to the Beaufort National Cemetery in the surviving issues of the Charleston Courier or the Charleston News and Courier.    

Obviously, I needed to cast a larger net. I hoped that recent additions to the Chronicling America newspaper database for the period 1865 - 1890 might mention activities in Charleston and Beaufort, South Carolina. 

I hit pay dirt with an article about "A National Cemetery" from the Charleston Daily News on August 25, 1869. The heading has a tone of disapproval: "A National Cemetery. Confederates and Negro Children Buried and Paid for as Federal Soldiers. How the Yankee Speculates in the Bones of the Dead -- Mrs. Potter's $5000 Monument -- What It Cost".  The article continues and the bulk of the description provided is attributed to James R. Randall, the editor of the Augusta Constitutionalist newspaper in Georgia "who has just returned from a summer excursion to Port Royal Island."  Randall takes a tour of the National Cemetery, sees the monument, and hears a bit about how much it cost from his unnamed guide - who tells Randall that he installed the monument. 

The final three paragraphs of this article is attributed to an unnamed New York Tribune reporter who had also visited the Beaufort National Cemetery, saw the monument and the marble tablet listing out the Union soldiers who had died during their incarcerations at the Confederate Prisoner of War camp at the Washington Racecourse. He wrote that Rev. Henry Ward Beecher's church contributed $1800 to the project. "The monument was intended for Charleston, but government requested that it should be placed in the National Cemetery at Beaufort." 

Alas, there is so specific date of installation of the monument nor tablet. But based on the re-interment date on the sketch and the Charleston Daily News article, I conclude that Mrs. Potter's Memorial Monument was erected at some point between May 3, 1868 and August 25, 1869, a window of 15 months rather than the 120 months (the decade of the 1880s) that we had before I began the research. 

Beaufort National Cemetery is located in Beaufort, South Carolina at 1601 Boundary Street and is open daily for self-guided tours. It was placed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1977.

For more information about Eliza Potter (Mrs. L.T. Potter), I recommend: 

Remembering the Civil War Fallen at Beaufort, S.C. : Eliza Potter's Story: A Lesson Plan for Middle School Students, National Cemetery Administration, Veterans Legacy Program, no date.     

“Mrs. Eliza Potter,” The Grand Army of the Republic Almanac for 1879. 64-72. Web. 

"Mrs. Eliza Potter" in Heroines of the Rebellion: Or, Woman's Work in the Civil War; A record of heroism, patriotism and patience by L. P. Brockett ... and Mrs. Mary C. Vaughan. With an introduction by Henry W. Bellows (Philadelphia: Hubbard Brothers, 1888), pp. 93-110. 

Though she put in a claim for $40,000 for medical services and supplies rendered to the Union prisoners under her care during the Civil War, she ultimately received half that amount from the Federal government in 1876. 

 For more information about the Racecourse prison camp, I recommend: 

"Memorial Day Uncovered: Charleston's 'Martyrs of the Racecourse'" by Amanda Kerr, 29 May 2017 The College Today blog post, College of Charleston website. 

"79. Washington Race Track 1792-1900," Alfred O. Halsey Map, 1949 by the Preservation Society of Charleston (SC). 

"Martyrs of the Race-Course : Union Prisoners' Cemetery at Charleston, S.C." digital image from Harper's Weekly (May 18, 1867) on the New York Public Library that confirms the bodies are still in Charleston in 1867. 

You can read the entire May 18, 1867 Harper's Weekly issue on the Internet Archive website. A short paragraph about the prison camp will be found on page 318 of the issue.

Note: "A National Cemetery" Charleston Daily News (Charleston, SC), 1865-1873, August 25, 1869, image 1 is on the Chronicling America website, 

https://chroniclingamerica.loc/lccn/sn84026994/1869-08-25/ed-2/seq-1/ [ Column 2]. 

Update: 16 November 2022 - While searching computer files for something entirely unrelated, I came across an intriguing office file folder heading, Archives Donor Relations. Within that was information about this particular monument. I discovered that Former Library Director Julie Zachowski reported to the Veterans Service Organizations Meeting of March 27, 1996 that the item would be on display at the Beaufort County Library and that she hoped to be able to purchase the drawing for $375.00 in donations. There's a handwritten note in Zachowski's hand that are potential clues to expand the Finding Aid. 

The plot thickens.

Beaufort County Council Minutes, 1888 - 1970

As frequent Connections blog post readers are aware, responses to customer inquiries received by the BDC sometimes end up as catalysts behind certain blog posts. (No customer identification provided because the Library Bill of Rights and the Code of Ethics prohibits us from doing that - unless presented with a warrant from law enforcement.) Today's post arises from just such an inquiry. 

An off-site customer (who shall remain nameless for the reasons outlined above) was interested in an ancestor who sat on a local commission during the late Reconstruction period. I checked a few printed sources in the Research Room for the man's name. We did have an obituary for the man of interest which gave some clues such as his life span dates of 1850 to 1934 and the man's former slave-owner's name. But what other potential sources did we have to share? Hmmm..... 

The Martin Index inside the Research Room is a rudimentary article title index to selected items found in the Palmetto Post, Beaufort Gazette, and a few News & Courier articles for the period 1882 - 1936.  The Martin Index approach is more categorical than specific. For example, the category headings are "Civic Improvements; County Agents; Public Works," etc. rather than "Green, Mary" or "Water Department." The customer's person of interest died in 1934 so I decided that it was better to leave no stone unturned just in case something jumped out at me. I didn't expect to find anything particular to the former Commissioner and I did not. 

I pondered what else that we have that might provide more information. I then pulled the earliest of the County Council Minutes that we have on microfilm in the Research Room to determine how best to advise him on his next steps. While I was surveying the Minutes for the Board of County Commissioners, I decided to "quickly" survey the entire reel even though Minutes Books outside the period in which his person of interest lived were on it. The "quick review" turned into about 45 minutes worth of fast-forwarding and inching through the reel to determine precisely which Minutes book covered precisely which time spans. 

As it turned out, there are precisely 2561 pages worth of Minutes of the Board of County Commissioners, i.e. "County Council" for the period from December 1888 through December 1970. 8 years worth of minutes, through covering January 1910 through December 1918 were not extant at the time that the minutes were microfilmed. To my knowledge those missing minutes have not been found in the intervening 50 years. 

Margin notes made in the manuscript Minutes from 1888 - August 1935 serve as a rudimentary index of sorts to the content of the meetings. However, the margin notes disappear when the Minutes are submitted as typed documents beginning on 3 September 1935. If the customer wants to review the Minutes only during his ancestor's time span, he'll have to look at over 1000 pages of hand-written documents. These Minutes, like the local newspapers on microfilm, are discovered best by what I term the "read and roll"-with-no-guarantee-of-success method: an image by image, page by page, human eyeball and mind engaged search. 

The BDC has the following microfilmed Minutes books for the period 1888 - 1970 to share with our Research Room customers: 

• 4 December 1888 - 31 December 1894 (355 pp.) 
• 23 January 1895 - 23 December 1909 (343 pp.)
• 7 January 1919 - 5 November 1929 (200 pp.)
• 2 December 1929 - 6 August 1935 (192 pp.) 
• 3 September 1935 - 6 June 1944 (240 pp.) 
• 11 July 1944 - 14 June 1949 (136 pp.) 
• 12 July 1949 - 14 December 1954 (151 pp.) 
• 11 January 1955 - 8 December 1959 (172 pp.)
• 12 January 1960 - 12 December 1966 (260 pp.) 
• 3 January 1967 - July 28, 1969 (292 pp.) 
• 11 August 1969 - December 14, 1970 (211 pp.) 

The customer can also "read and roll" through microfilm covering his ancestor's life span in the following newspapers that we make available inside the Research Room. Note: Those that are accessible free of charge online through the Chronicling America website are linked below:  

• Port Royal Standard and Commercial (1874-1876)
• Beaufort Republican and Sea Island Chronicle (1869-1871) - of which only the 21 May 1870 issue is digitized on the Chronicling America website we have considerably more issues on microfilm than that
• Beaufort Republican (12 October 1871 - 16 October 1873)
• Port Royal Commercial and Beaufort County Republican (23 October 1873 - April 1874) 
• Beaufort Tribune (1874-1876) 
• Palmetto Post (15 January 1882 - 27 December 1906)
• Beaufort Gazette (16 July 1903 - 31 March 2015)
• County Democrat (20 July 1910 - 1 December 1911) 

I notified the customer that we had these sources available inside the Research Room and that BDC staff would be happy to set up an appointment for him to do his research. We'll do the same for you. 

Now that the BDC staff is a staff of one, an appointment is a must. Contact bdc@bcgov.net or call 843-255-6446 to make the arrangements. Be sure to allow up to 72 hours before getting a response. Please note: BDC staff does not monitor business communications when the Library is closed or when staff is out of the building.

Getting Started on Property Research in the Research Room by Cassandra Knoppel

Today's post was written by Cassandra Knoppel, the BDC's part-time assistant. Questions about how to research one's property come up fairly regularly in the Research Room. She agreed to extensively update the "Tracing the History of Your House" brochure (created 2014; latest update August 2021) for a broader public. It goes without saying that I have more to say about how to research property in Beaufort County than she could put on a trifold 8" X 11" piece of paper. You'll see my 2 cents inserted in mossy green Arial font. We can send you an e-brochure that just hits on the highlights of the entry below if you let us know that you would like one. Contact us: bdc@bcgov.net or 843-255-6468-- Grace Cordial 

The Beaufort District Collection often gets visits from customers who wish to research the history of their property. Property research can also lead to genealogical research on the families who once dwelled in your house or owned that land. The BDC has multiple resources to aid you in your search for information. 

Just be aware that we understand - and you should understand as well - that the BDC isn't the end all to be all of research facilities. We can guide you about how to perform the research inside the Research Room or offer suggestions about other agencies that may contain useful information about a specific property. We are seldom a one-stop shop when it comes to property histories. And most importantly, Library Staff do not track property titles for customers. That said though, we can almost always help customers get further along their research paths through our materials and knowledge of resources here and elsewhere.

· Directories 

Directories list addresses of individuals alongside other pertinent information. City Directories can be especially helpful in learning who lived in your house or on your street during the mid to late 20th century.

o Beaufort Telephone Directories (Starting in 1954)

o Beaufort City Directories (Starting in 1961)

o Hilton Head - Beaufort Cross Reference Directories (Starting in 1986)

· City and County Maps

Historic and contemporary maps can show how land has changed over time. While not every area was mapped out and not every parcel had its boundaries defined on a map, these can be helpful to get a better idea of the area. Maps in the BDC are listed in the SCLENDS catalog. I just wish that there was some way to eliminate all the hits for electronic media in the State Library from the results list. There is not. Inside the Research Room we have a BDC Map Index spreadsheet that former docent Susan Keener prepared that help us help you narrow down which maps may be most helpful to your research. 

· Newspapers

Newspapers would sometimes publish real estate information, especially if it was part of legal proceedings where a newspaper announcement would be necessary. If you know a date when the title of your land was transferred, you can check the BDC’s Beaufort Gazette, Island Packet or other newspaper copies on microfilm to see if there were any related articles or announcements around that time. Newspapers can also have information related to the homeowners, especially if they were prominent members of society. 

          Ask to see the Martin Guide to selective newspaper article titles 1882 - 1936 in the                 Research Room.  

           Local historian Gerhard Spieler wrote columns for many years about the people, places,           and structures inside Beaufort County. Ask us about the index that docent Laura Lewis           created for his articles.  

When you find names of former owners of your property, you should check to see if any of the them just so happen to also be included in our Online Obituary Index files. Obituaries are often wonderful sources of information about former residents of particular properties. The time frame of the obituaries file is now 1862 - 1987, with the bulk of those obituaries beginning in 1882 and the Palmetto Post newspaper back files Please note: To see the obituaries, you'll need to contact us. (The Obituary Index file continues to grow due to Beloved BDC Docent Kathy Mitchell who added 2223 new names to the index during 2021.) 

· Vertical Files 

Vertical files are folders of newspaper clippings, images, photocopies, and more on a specific topic. We have vertical files on certain properties, but not every property has a file. Ask the BDC about our lists. Among those must likely to be helpful are the ones titled "Historic Districts", "Historic Houses", "Historic Structures", or a specific address, such as "509 Carteret Street : Beaufort, SC."  

Also we have some family files, usually because one of the family members gave the BDC a copy of their research to share with others. However, the family files do not include every family who once lived in Beaufort District or its subsequent counties. In fact we encourage donations of materials about any family residing in Beaufort District for 2 or more generations. . 

Please note: Creating and maintaining vertical files is a dynamic process. The content is often updated. We have lists of the vertical files about properties and family surnames inside the Research Room. You can also search on addresses and family surnames in the SCLENDS catalog, limiting the format to "Serials and magazines" and the location to BDC to get the list - but here again there is no way for us to eliminate the hits for e-serials and magazines held at the State Library within the SCLENDS software. 

The results were 177 hits but probably about 150 are actually Family surname vertical files in the BDC. 

· Books and Other Written Materials

o Memoirs, Diaries, and Oral Histories - The BDC has a number of memoirs and diaries inside the Research Room. You might get lucky and find one written by or about a former owner of your property. This is, however, a long shot. You can search the SCLENDS catalog for people and places - but it never hurts to ask about what we have.  

o Historic District Guides and Historic Resources Surveys such as 

            South Carolina : A Guide to the Palmetto State (1941)  

   Historic Resources of the Lowcountry (1990, 1979) 

            Beaufort County Above Ground Historic Resources Survey (1998)  [also online]

            Beaufort Historic Landmark District : Beaufort, South Carolina National Historic Landmark Documentation (2000)  [BDC only]  

            A Guide to Historic Beaufort County Carolina (2006)

            Beaufort Historic District : National Historic Landmarks Survey : March 23, 2012 [BDC only]

            The Official Guide to the Historic Houses, Churches and Other Points of Interest of Beaufort, South Carolina, 10th ed., rev. (2014)

o Beaufort County Historical Society Papers that discuss historic structures in the area are: Beaufort District Landmarks and Early Historical Sites; The Catholic Church and the Houses on New Street and Vicinity; Old Houses on the Bluff;           Eight Beaufort Homes; Thoughts and Recommendations Concerning the Preservation of Beaufort's Cultural and Historical Resources; Bay Street and Beaufort in the 1920s as I Remember It; The Point; Robertville; Old Families of Beaufort : The Stuarts and the Bulls; Old Families of Beaufort : The Talbirds, the Barnwells, and the Chaplins of St. Helena; Purrysburg; Bluffton and the Okatie; and Grahamville. 

            

o Beaufort County zoning maps, plans, and city planning reports

o South Carolina Historical and Genealogical Magazine

o Archaeological Reports The greatest value to property researchers lies in the "Historical Context" narrative and illustrations in many an archaeological report. We have several hundreds of archaeological reports in the Research Room. 

Perhaps some of these materials will have information related to your property. Consult with BDC Staff other potential resources that may help you.

Online Resources

The Beaufort County Library provides online access to the Ancestry Library Edition database on public access computers inside our buildings. ALE contains more than 10,800 databases of genealogical material including 

o Census Records (United States: 1790-1880, 1900-1940; 1950 will be released on 1 April 2022 - expect it to be fully indexed within 6 to 9 months)

o Directories

o Wills, Probates, Land, & Tax Records

· BCL @ Lowcountry Digital Library

o The Beaufort District Collection has digitized a small segment of its photographs and postcards collections. Sometimes these images depict homes and properties, giving customers a view of what the property may have looked like in the past. 

o These images are hosted on the Lowcountry Digital Library website.

o You can search with specific keywords or browse our 8 digital collections on the Lowcountry Digital Library.  

· Sanborn Maps 

o If your property is in Downtown Beaufort, there is a chance that it will be depicted on the Sanborn Fire Insurance Maps for the Town of Beaufort. These maps began in 1884 and were updated sporadically until 1924, with revisions being added into the 1950’s. However, these maps very rarely show property outside of the downtown area.

o The Town of Port Royal is featured on the Beaufort maps of 1899, 1905, 1912, and 1924-1958. Bluffton has an unpublished map for a small portion of the town done in 1929. Yemassee has two unpublished Sanborn Maps from 1939 and 1940 that cover small, very specific areas.

o The Sanborn Insurance maps can be accessed online. Select Beaufort County in their drop-down menu to find maps for this area.

· Deeds and Plats

o The Beaufort District Collection does not hold any deeds of property, although this is one of our most common requests. The Beaufort County’s Register of Deeds Office is the official repository of documents relating to property. Some of the County's deed books and plats have been digitized on their website as browse files. [Browse in this sense means "to look over or through an aggregate of things casually especially in search of something of interest". In other words, you might not be able to search these records as efficiently as you might like to do.]

The BDC does however provide other types of information about land such as South Carolina Council Journal Petitions, 1734 - 1774; South Carolina Deed Abstracts, 1719 - 1788; Abstracts of Land Titles; South Carolina's Royal Grants, 1732 - 1775; South Carolina's State Grants, 1784 - 1791 and several microfilmed series of land related records from the South Carolina Department of Archives and History in our Research Room by appointment. 

· County GIS and Real Property Search

o The County GIS Map and Real Property Search function are also helpful tools for finding tax and title-related information.

o The GIS Map 

o The Real Property Search page

 o The Real Property (Archive) function is also helpful to find more information dating back to the mid-1990’s. 

· Historic American Building Survey

o The Historic American Building Survey reports and photographs have been digitized by the Library of Congress. Depending on the age of your building, it could have been documented by the surveyors. Search the HABS database.  

· The South Carolina Historic Properties Record (SCHPR)

o The South Carolina State Historic Preservation Office has a searchable online database of digitized records relating to historic properties, named The South Carolina Historic Properties Record (SCHPR). This includes South Carolina’s National Register nominations, the South Carolina Statewide Survey of Historic Properties, and other reports. 

Here are the most important points made in all of the above: 

1) BDC Staff will do our best to share what we have with you and suggest additional resources to you but you have to do the grunt work. Our job is to acquire and share appropriate materials and guide you regarding those materials and guide you to other resources staff know about from our experience that might be found other places. 

2) It can never be stated too many times: Beaufort is a "burned county" which means that almost all of the area's pre-Civil War records were destroyed in 1865 and record-keeping in the late 19th and early 20th centuries had considerable flaws as well.