Researching Your Baptist Ancestor in South Carolina

Following his vision of religious freedom in 1696, "William Screven of Kittery, Maine uprooted a small congregation and moved them to South Carolina's Low Country. From that move came the First Baptist Church of Charleston, the mother of Baptist churches in the South." Later, Richard Furman and Oliver Hart broke away from the Anglican Church, and Furman's vision led Baptist churches statewide to work together to establish missions and to educate. See South Carolina Baptist History. A wealth of resources await the researchers with Baptist ancestors. Learn about the types of resources that exist and how to access them.

African American Baptist Resources

If your ancestor was of African descent, begin researching the most recent records for African American Baptist churches. The guide "African American Baptist Reference Materials" is a great starting point for researching your Baptist South Carolina ancestor.

After you reach 1865 and your ancestor was formerly enslaved, research the church records that coincide with the denomination of the family who enslaved your ancestor. If the family was Baptist, use the resources below.

Church records

One of the ways you might find information on your ancestor is by looking through church records. Furman University has church records on microfilm that you can search by church name, county, or date organized. The Ashley River congregation was organized in 1736 in Charleston. According to the catalog, records go up to 1769. Two important things to remember would be:

1. Be sure you know the correct boundary where your ancestor lived so that you do not choose to research churches in the wrong area. Use available map collections among the Baptist resources at Furman to locate the church or other sites.
2. If you do not know the name of the church your ancestor attended, research the churches in the area.

Other record types

After researching church records, you may want to turn to records that mention Baptist ancestors. These resources may be found in their original form or preserved on microfilm. Some of what you need may be digitized and available in online collections. Furman University has these resources in each of the mentioned formats. See SC Baptist Resources. Other resources besides church records that may mention your ancestor are:

• newspapers and periodicals
• books from the time period
• manuscripts
• biographies

Microfilm at Furman University

You can borrow microfilmed newspapers through your local university or public library. Learn about the Furman's Baptist newspaper collection. Copies of books from the 18th and 19th centuries on microfilm in Special Collections and Archives are also available for you to borrow. Among the early manuscripts which you can review on site is "Furman, Richard, Correspondence, 1777-1825." You can see a complete list of manuscripts here.

Online resources

The Richard Furman and James C. Furman Collection was given to Furman's Special Collections by Alester G. Furman, Jr. (1895-1980), great-great grandson of Richard Furman, “on indefinite loan” on April 1, 1960. You can browse the collection by following the link above. This is the index for the Richard Furman Collection.

Once you find a digital collection, be sure to widen your search past the scope of Baptist records. For example, a search for an early Baptist pioneer in South Carolina, Oliver Hart, brought up these manuscripts:

1. Oliver Hart Collection - Pastor of the First Baptist Church in Charleston 1750-1780; founded Charleston Baptist Assoc in 1751.
2. James C. Furman Collection - This collection includes professional correspondence during the time Furman lived in Charleston.
3. William G. Whilden Collection
4. James and Nellie Hoyt Family Scrapbook

Be sure to check university and public libraries in the area where your ancestor lived. Do not assume one collection has complete resources. Being a good sleuth means you leave no stone unturned.

Read Full Story...

Piecing Together the Past with Delayed Birth Certificates

In one sitting today, I was able to clear up several research challenges that I have struggled with for several years.  I had a few minutes after helping a patron during my shift at the Greenwood County Library, Lawrence Room, so I searched the Ancestry.com collection, South Carolina Delayed Births, 1766-1900 and City of Charleston, South Carolina Births, 1877-1901 to glean what I could to help me resolve the following challenges:

1.  I have been unable to locate some of the children of my 2nd great grandparents, Andrew Johnson and Jane Smith Johnson of Abbeville County, South Carolina.  I supposed they had moved away since they never turned up on any censuses that I searched after 1900.  One of the children I have searched for was Robert Johnson.

2.  The couple, Lewis Johnson and Arianna Vance Johnson, are both related to me.  Being my great uncle and great aunt, their parents were my 2nd great grandparents, Andrew and Jane (above) and Beverley Vance and Matilda Dunlap Vance.  In order for me to be learn more about my ancestors, I must research their children.  The problem is that most were born between 1880 and 1900 leaving no available census to access.  

3.  Julius L. Talley of Union County, South Carolina was the son of my 2nd great grandmother, Martha Talley.  He was married to  Frances Elizabeth Chick, and they moved away sometime after the 1920 or 1930 US Census was taken.  Consequently, I could not find a record of death for Frances or Julius.

Delayed birth records helped to resolve these challenges for me. Over the next couple of posts I will proceed to explain how.

Robert E. Johnson

You can imagine how difficult it must be to locate someone with such a common name as Robert Johnson. I had pretty much lost all hope of doing so because I did not have any idea where he settled down.  I never found him on the census along with other family members living in South Carolina in either Abbeville or Greenwood County. This also made finding a death certificate impossible as well.

Since I knew he was born before 1900, I hoped I would find a delayed birth record for him.  I decided not even to attempt to search for him using his name.  I only used the first and last names of his parents and the locality, South Carolina.

Delayed Birth Certificate of Robert E. Johnson¹

I never expected to find him documented in Detroit, Wayne County, Michigan.  That seems like a far trek away from family for a man born in the South in 1879.  The birth certificate gives his exact birth, August, 19, 1879.  It says that his parents, Andrew and Jane were born in Lawrence County (actually Laurens County).  Since they would have been born in the 1820's or 1830's, this is a helpful clue in researching their origins.

I discovered Robert must have kept the family bible from South Carolina.  He still had it when he applied for a delayed birth certificate from South Carolina. The Warren County Michigan Deputy County Clerk says he personally examined it and that it looked like an original record.

Perhaps this record is still attached to the original certificate held locally in Columbia, or perhaps there is a copy in Warren County.  I can hardly wait  to see if it gives information about the births of any of his other siblings.  Robert was up in age. Maybe he needed this certificate to apply for Social Security.  

Now, since I know the whereabouts of Robert from this record taken in 1941, I can search for this family on the 1940 Census.  Who knows what I will discover from there.

In the next post, I will share what I learned from a search on parents, Lewis Johnson and Arianna Vance Johnson. Put your e-mail in the box above (top left) to connect so that you can be among the first to receive my next article. 

_________________________________________________________________________________

^1.        "South Carolina Delayed Births, 1766-1900 and City of Charleston, South Carolina Births, 1877-1901," images, Ancestry.com  [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations Inc, 2007. Original data: South Carolina Department of Archives and History, Columbia, South Carolina. (https://search.ancestrylibrary.com/cgi-bin/sse.dll?indiv=1&db=SCbirths&h=2443 : accessed 11 Dec 2013).

    See also:

Read Full Story...

Brought Home By a Story

Interstate 85 Business (Spartanburg, South Carolina) (Photo credit: Wikipedia)Brought Home By a Story won the "Best of Story Award in 2007." I remember my grandfather spending a lot of
 time at the kitchen table writing letters to his family members. I was amazed he knew so many people. After he passed away, my mom, my grandmother, and her siblings used to call to mind the days they spent in South Carolina. Read more:

Read Full Story...

Help the Threatened South Carolina Department of Archives and History

Photo of SCDAH by Robin Foster

It is a sad day to see history and access to documentation threatened.  We need to let the South Carolina legislature know that the South Carolina Department of Archives and History is important to us! I was there and signed their petition yesterday. If we do NOTHING, it will cease to exist as we know it:


"In June 2010 severe state budget cuts forced SCDAH to eliminate 11 full-time positions. The agency has lost two thirds of its work force in the past two decades, and yet has continued to perform it's core missions. Further significant reduction in FY 2011-2012 will force SCDAH to reduce those services that ensure the protection of South Carolina's historic resources. The end result of this pattern of budget cuts will be the destruction of this agency and the elimination of its mission."

At the time this article was written, no online petition existed.  Please let your voice be heard! Visit SC.GOV  to let them know how important it is that we protect this state agency whose mission it is to preserve 325 years of documentation and history (buildings, sites, education, records management, and records conservation) for South Carolina.   Let them know they need to "retain the funding for SCDAH in the FY2011-2012 budget."


We welcome any helpful ideas or feedback.

Read Full Story...

Family: The Magic of "Make Them Hear You"

Alex Boyé is "hands down" my favorite artist.  When I came across this performance in Jerusalem of  "Make Them Hear You,"  I became curious about the origins of the song.  I discovered it was included in Act II of "Ragtime."  It has historical significance to Eastern Europeans and African Americans, but I believe there is a message that can apply to the whole human family.

In the production, "Ragtime,"  Coalhouse seeks justice through violence and revenge.  Others join him and many who are innocent are killed.  Booker T. Washington is sent to reason with him, and he eventually surrenders after telling his men to continue to seek justice through peaceful means.

My intent here is not to debate the topics of violence or non-violence.  There is great magic in living above taking offense.  This does not rob justice.  When I think about all the things I have personally faced in my life and all the things African Americans have gone through, I can honestly say that my own wounds have not festered.  I know healing.

To me, "Make Them Hear You," means that you are not silent nor do you turn a blind eye to injustice. It means that you do what is in your power to bring change.  For me that equates to helping the whole human family to know who they are and where they come from through saving stories.

In 2011, I spent all my energies in this pursuit.  One of the things I did has put me in the midst of experiencing some huge magic right now.  I can hardly contain myself.  I built personal Facebook Fan Pages for counties in South Carolina in hopes that my family searching in other parts of the country would find me.

I allowed Bernice Bennett to advertise her great shows on these pages, and I linked them to Twitter:  Research at the National Archives & Beyond.  I invited everyone with ancestry from these areas to join.
Last night, I stopped to respond to a question from someone on the Abbeville, Edgefield, Greenwood, South Carolina African Americans page, and I discovered a whole branch of my extended family that I have longed to find.  I will now have access to more history and more photos and more pieces of the puzzle of the past.

See also:
Richland County, South Carolina African American Genealogy
Newberry and Union County, South Carolina African American Genealogy
Clarendon County, South Carolina African American Genealogy


We have so many ways to be heard now.  When "Make Them Hear You" was written, the pen was one of the main means to be heard.  I can imagine the day when I am able to identify every living extended family member and  capture the history, photos and stories they have to share.  This is what brings me healing and joy. This will be the closure that I seek.

In the wee hours after this discovery, I looked for the first time into the faces of people that I could tell were my family.  I discovered a photograph of my great uncle, Ernest Aaron Vance, and I remembered a conversation between Uncle Ernest and his brother, Grandfather Emory Wallace Vance long ago.

I was not even school age, but I remember they talked of gardening and family.  I realized where I found my love of family and writing and gardening.  While they used pens to communicate with each family member, I have added on a few different tools, and I am feeling the magic of making people hear me.  This stands supreme among the many rewards for giving back this year.

Read Full Story...