THE

CAROLINA HERALD

OFFICIAL PUBLICATION OF THE SOUTH CAROLINA GENEALOGICAL SOCIETY

NUMBER 6

NEW CHAPTERS
 

At its regular meeting on November 13, 1973, the South Carolina Genealogical Society adopted a revised set of by-laws which had been recommended by the Board of Directors.  The new by-laws were worked out in a series of Board meetings, some of which included representatives of the Greenville Genealogical Society.  The most important provision is that which allows the formation of Society chapters throughout the state.  Subsequently, two chapters of the Society, one in Columbia and one in Greenville, have been formed, and several inquiries have been received from other areas.  The Greenville Genealogical Society, whose President is Dr. Eugene Sneary, will be formerly installed as a chapter of the Society at their monthly meeting on February 7th.

SCGS MEMBERS SPEAK

Two of our members, both active in the affairs of the Society, have been asked to address other organizations on the subject of genealogical research.  Lawrence Fanning, Past-President, spoke to the Society of Mayflower Descendants in November, and Mrs. Theresa Hicks conducted a 2-day seminar in Charleston on January 11-12 of this year, sponsored by the South Carolina Historical Society.  Mr. Fanning has been selected to make arrangements for our Society's 3rd annual workshop which will be held, as usual, during the summer.  Mrs. Hicks, who conducted a highly-successful course in Genealogical Research at the University of South Carolina last fall, has been asked to conduct a follow-up course at a later time.

SOCIETY ELECTS NEW OFFICERS

New officers for 1974 were elected at the November meeting of the Society, and they assumed office on January 1st.  They are: President - James L. Haynsworth; 1st V. P. - Mrs. Theresa Hicks; 2nd V. P. - Rev. Maurice Moxley; Treasurer - Miss Melba Shealy; Recording Secretary - Miss Barrett Smith; Corresponding Secretary - Mrs. Martha Guerard, Historian - Archivist - Alfred Rawlinson.  The Board of Directors consists of the officers, plus Lawrence Fanning, retiring President, William B. Wall, Harold S. Tate, and Mrs. H. B. Shealy.  Another Director, a representative of the new Greenville chapter, will be elected at the chapter meeting on February 7th.  Mrs. Hicks and Mrs. Moxley are ex officio Chairmen of the Projects and Publications Committees respectively, and Mr. Fanning has been appointed Chairman of the Workshop Committee.

By a unanimous vote of the Board of Directors, Mr. Fanning was presented with a copy of a resolution thanking him for his outstanding services during the first three years of the Society's life, and awarding him a life-time membership in the Society.

FALL CEMETERY SURVEY

Sixteen members of the Society participated in a cemetery survey-field trip on Saturday, September 8th.  Four cemeteries, all in the northern part of Sumter County were visited. To say the very least, the venture was highly productive and great fun, and the inconvenience of one brief shower was more than offset by wonderful epitaphs, puzzling inscriptions, and watermelon under the moss-hung oaks in the beautiful High Hills of Santee.

THE CAROLINA HERALD

Volume 2 Number 4 Fall 1973

THE CAROLINA HERALD is the quarterly newsletter of the
South Carolina Genealogical Society
P.O. Box 11353, Columbia, S. C. 29211
President: James L. Haynsworth

Annual Subscription: $2
Single Copy: 75¢
Free to members of the South Carolina Genealogical Society
Editor: James L. Haynsworth
Co-editor: Theresa M. Hicks
 

THERE'S THE HIGHLAND DUTCH, AND THE LOWLAND DUTCH...

The third most numerous group of settlers who came into South Carolina were the Germans and German-Swiss (outnumbered only by the English an Scotch-Irish).  A large number of them chose to settle in an area between the Broad and Saluda Rivers which later became known as the "Dutch Fork".  The name, derived from "Deutsch Fork" or possibly, "Deutsch Volk", was, until fairly recent times, a remote section, inhabited by small farmers, among whom traces of their German heritage lingered long.

In the years following the Revolution, a number of German families attained social and financial prominence.  Among the largest slave owners in the state in 1850 we find the names Hane, Kinard, Stroman, Dorn, Taber, Wannamaker, Hanckel, and others.  In Charleston, the families of Horlbeck, Sass, Lehre, Tidyman, Beekman, Wehman, and Schirmer have been well-known for generations.

The Dutch Fork, now a suburb of Columbia, is booming, and in one of those curious ironies of history, the largest shopping center in the area has chosen as its symbol a Dutch windmill-even though there probably wasn't a Dutch settler in the entire area!

In an effort to help our readers understand just who those "Deutsch Volk" were and where they settled, we have devoted this issue of THE CAROLINA HERALD to that subject.

STATE-SUPPORTED GENEALOGY

Should there be any doubt about the role of the S. C. Department of Archives and History in promoting genealogical studies, a quick look at that agency's Annual Report for the fiscal year 1972-73 reveals that 74% of all visitors doing research there were working in genealogy!  Another 23% were working in "history", and 3% in "legal and miscellaneous".  In addition, over 2800 queries were answered by mail.

A few more interesting statistics: In the Search Room last year, some 786 reels of microfilm were made available for research, plus 155 books added to the reference library.  The Search Room had over 4800 daytime visitors, and 3700 came at night.  Where did they come from?  Mostly from South Carolina, next from Georgia.  And in South Carolina, most of them from Columbia, followed by West Columbia and Charleston.

A substantial percentage of the agency's total budget goes toward maintaining and staffing the Search Room.  When we consider the many other monumental projects in which the Department is involved, it is indeed gratifying to know that the State of South Carolina is officially cognizant of the importance of genealogy and provides the Search Room and a trained staff of experts for our use.

Anne Gilbert, a member of this Society, will conduct a 6-week Genealogy Work Shop at Midlands Tech, February 7 through March 14.  Classes from 7:30 -9:30 PM; fee - $10.

Theresa Hicks will conduct a short course in Genealogy at USC from February 27 through April 26 in two sections.  Section I meets Wednesdays, 7;30-9:30 PM; Section II on Fridays, 9:30-11:30 AM.  At Carolina Coliseum, Room 3020-C. Fee - $22 single or $37 for a couple.

GERMAN SETTLEMENTS IN SOUTH CAROLINA

The German migrations to America began in the early years of the 18th century and were prompted by destructive wars, religious persecutions, and extravagant accounts of the promised land in America.  During the cruel winter of 16898-89, nearly a half-million Germans were driven from their homes into the snow, and another war in 1707 renewed the destruction.  Germans began immigrating to Pennsylvania in 1683 and arrived in large numbers after 1702.  A few of the Pennsylvania Germans subsequently drifted south, but the vast majority of the German immigrants to South Carolina came directly from Europe, usually to improve their economic condition, but also because of religious pressure.  Others came because of their desire, as they said, to live in a free country.  During the years 1732-1765, about 7500 or 8000 Germans and German Swiss arrived in South Carolina, and 3600 or more came between the years 1748 and 1759.  Before 1750, most were Swiss.  They settled principally in the areas shown below.

ORANGEBURG AND LEXINGTON RECORDS
By Theresa M. Hicks

Contrary to popular belief, there are some early, valuable records available in the so-called "burned-out" counties.  Also, as is customary in searching an area in which the records have been lost, the surrounding counties must also be searched.

Details on the development of this area are found in the various state and county histories, such as Salley's History of Orangeburg County, from articles in such publications as Names in South Carolina, the National Genealogical Society Quarterly, a map booklet available at the S. C. Archives, Mills Statistics, and the Inventories of County Archives.  Details of the changing county boundaries are found the the Statutes at Large.  This area includes two counties which no longer exist; Lewisburgh and Winton.  Records for the period prior to the formation of counties in 1785 are found in the Charleston Records, which really include the whole state.  These counties should be included in your search of this area: Abbeville, Aiken, Bamberg, Barnwell, Calhoun, Edgefield, Greenwood, Lexington, Newberry, Orangeburg, Richland, and Saluda.  Allendale, Hampton, Colleton and Dorchester also offer possibilities.  Your search, however, should be concentrated in the particular area in which you identify the family.  The search may have to extend into the Georgia records.  A survey should be made of extant county records available at the Archives from WPA typescripts, film on the shelf , and records filmed by the Archives.  Some records may be available only in the court houses.

In addition to these records, a survey should be made of printed sources for the area including compilations which may exist only in manuscript form.  Check the card indexes at the South Caroliniana Library.

Numerous church records are available there.  Start with the bibliographies, such as John Hammond Moore's Research Materials in South Carolina.

PRINTED SOURCES

For persons interested in researching German family names, the following reference might prove helpful:

The Proceedings of the Evangelical Lutheran Synod of S. C. and Adjacent States, 1825.

Diary of the Rev. Thadeus S. Boinest, Newberry County (1852-1870). wpa typescript.

George J. Gongaware, The History of the German Friendly Society of Charleston, S. C.

S. T. Hallman (Ed.), History of the Evangelical Lutheran Synod of S. C. (1824-1924).

G. D. Bernheim, History of the German Settlements and of the Lutheran Church in North and South Carolina.

Claude H. Neuffer (Ed.), The Christopher Happoldt Journal: His European Tour With The Rev. John Bachman in 1838.

The Minutes and Records of St. John's Lutheran Church, Charleston, SC.

The Jacob Frederic Schirmer Diary (1803-1880). Published in installments in the S. C. Historical Magazine.

Edna Anderson Manning, Our Kin (Barnwell County).

Cecil F. Outlaw, After a Century to Whom.

Elizabeth W. Thomas, S. C. Genealogical Records.

St. Matthew's Church Book (Orangeburg).

D. G. Copeland, Many Years After.

Edwin L. Green, A History of Richland County.

Edwin J. Scott, Random Recollections of a Long Life (Richland and Lexington Counties, 1805-1867).

THE GIESENDANNER RECORD

Perhaps the single most valuable source of genealogical information for the Orangeburg Germans is the so-called "Giesendanner Record", an account of birth, marriages, and deaths between the years of 1737 and 1760.  It was begun in the former year by Rev. John Ulrick Giesendanner, a Swiss silversmith who became a preacher among the settlers on the Edisto.  He died in 1738 and was succeeded by his nephew, also named John Giesendanner.  The nephew continued the record in German, and later switched to English. He journeyed to London in 1749 and received ordination in the Church of England, the returned to Orangeburg as a minister of the established church.  He died in 1761.

On Thursday, March 9th (1758) died and on Saturday March 11 was Enterred on the plantation of Melchior Otte of Orangeburgh Township the Body of the said Melchior Otte a native of Switzerland aged about 60 years.

On Monday, June 18 (1759) died of an apoplectick Fit and the day after was interred in the Church yard of Orangeburgh the body of John Friday Senr, a native of Switzerland and a settler of the Township since the year 1735 aged about 69 years.

On Tuesday December 26th (1752) in Orangeburgh Church. By Banns, Christopher Monheim to Catherine Fry; both lately arrived from Germany in Orangeburg Township.  Being present: John Shaumloffel, John Friday Jun., Jacob Roth.

ANOTHER VALUABLE CHURCH RECORD

In 1946, Paul Quattlebaum deciphered and published in the S. C. Historical Magazine (Vol. 47, pages 195-204) a petition of 1788 for the incorporation of 15 German churches in Orangeburg, Camden, Ninety-Six and Charleston Districts.  This was the first attempt to organize some kind of ecclesiastical body that should have the supervision of all the German churches in the interior of the state.  Of the 15 churches, 9 were Lutheran and the others Reformed.  Only two other German churches - 1 in Charleston and 1 on the Congaree - are known to have been in existence in 1788.  More than 300 signatures of church members are included in the document.

HOW TO PRONOUNCE THOSE NAMES

ST. JOHN'S LUTHERAN CHURCH, CHARLESTON, SOUTH CAROLINA
By Claude Henry Neuffer
Professor of English, University of South Carolina
By Theresa M. Hicks

 St. John's Lutheran Church on the corner of Archdale Street and Clifford Street (formerly Dutch Church Alley) is the oldest Lutheran Congregation in Charleston, having been organized in 1743.  However, the first church building was completed in 1764 and dedicated on St. John the Baptist's Day, the 24th of June, 1764, with Rev. John Nicholas Martin as its minister.

During the British occupation of Charleston in 1780, the Rev. Mr. Martin was removed from his church by the British authorities for his refusal to pray for the King.

From St. John's Church came the members of the original German Fusiliers, organized in 1755, by Michael Kalteisen, Alexander Gillon, and Peter Bocquet.  In 1779 this military company served gallantly at the siege of Savannah.

In the Centennial Address, delivered on March 24, 1918, commemorating the construction of the present-day St. John's Church building, John F. Ficken, a former mayor of Charleston and for many years President of the Board of Vestry and Wardens of St. John's, spoke of the membership of the Fusiliers:

"When the company was organized in 1755, the roll was signed by each member; among those appear the following familiar names: Henry Timrod, Daniel Strobel, Joseph Kimmel, Jacob Sass, John Horlbeck, Charles Burkmier, Andres Muckenfuss, Jacob Warley, Casimer Patrick, Adam Hildebrand, Philip Naser, Florian Charles Mey, Christian Belser, Adam Petsch, Charles Gruber, and Philip Mintzing".

The German Friendly Society, a charitable and social organization, was organized in 1766 by Michael Kalteisen, a member of the Board of Vestry of St. John's, and its original membership came from this congregation.  St. John's was always closely associated with the German Friendly Society in its educational, philanthropic, and social activities.  A roll call of the members of the German Friendly presents a valuable record of the old Charleston German families - too numerous to be recorded here.  The Society is still thriving today with a membership of 250.  However, the presidents of the Society from 1766 to 1800 are an excellent representation of these early German citizens: Michael Kalteisen, 1766-1772; Paul Smiser, 1773; Michael Kalteisen, 1774; Alexander Gillon, 1775; Peter Bocquet, 1776; Peter Meyer, 1777; G. E. Hahnbaum, 1778; Jacob Willeman, 1779; Henry Timrod, 1780; Daniel Strobel, 1783; Christian Willeman, 1784; Leonard Martin, 1785; Peter Bocquet, 1786; Michael Kalteisen, 1787; George Dener, 1788; Jacob Sass, 1789; Francis Cobia, 1790; Abraham Markley, 1791; Christian Belser, 1792; Joseph Bieller, 1793; Charles G. Corre, 1794 and 1795; William Lehre, 1796; Thomas Lehre, 1797; Jacob Strobel, 1798; Daniel Cruger, 1799; J. Horlbeck, Jr., 1800.

It is also significant to note that three of South Carolina's literary greats fo descended from members of St. John's and the German Friendly Society; Henry Timrod from Henry Timrod (or Dimrod); Herbert Ravenel Sass from Colonel Jacob Sass; and Julia Mood Peterkin from Peter Mood.

St. John's had a leading position in the development of the Lutheran Church in the South, particularly during the ministry of the Rev. John Bachman, whose pastorship was confirmed on January 12, 1815.  Under his leadership the present-day church edifice with its massive columns, plain white glass windows, and tall iron-work fence was completed in 1818 and stand today as firm as Doctor Luther.

Besides his arduous work as minister of St. John's, Doctor Bachman was also a natural scientist of a high order; and these pursuits became particularly significant after his first meeting with John James Audubon in 1831, when the great ornithologist spent a month at Bachman's home studying the birds of the South.  This led to a life-long friendship and to Bachman's assistance on Audubon's Birds of America and to his collaboration with Audubon on The Quadrupeds of North America. In Audubon's Ornithological Biography, appear 104 references to Bachman's aid.

However, despite these scientific pursuits Bachman always considered it his first duty to serve God and his Church; and as President of the South Carolina Synod of the Lutheran Church, he labored diligently for its success.  He became an active member of the German Friendly Society in 1815, and gave especial attention to the schools sponsored by this organization.  Through the years the minutes of the Society record, "at the Annual Dinner Doctor Bachman was requested to deliver a discourse".

For those interested in looking up family names of German origin, the Minutes of the German Friendly Society or The History of the German Friendly Society in Charleston, (1766-1916) by the late Rev. George J. Gongaware are indispensable.

In 1838 Doctor Bachman's health became poor and his physicians suggested that he take a six-months trip to Europe.  He decided this would be beneficial to his health and would enable him to visit Audubon, who was then in Edinburgh preparing to publish his Birds of America.  Since he would need a youthful traveling companion, he chose one of his parishioners, young Christopher Happoldt, then just fourteen but extremely precocious.  The trip was enjoyable and allowed Bachman to visit the great zoological museums of Europe and to have a private two-week's visit with Audubon.

Young Christopher Happoldt later graduated from the Medical College of South Carolina with first honors and also spent two years of study at the medical College of the Universities of Paris and Berlin.  Soon after his return to America in 1854, he became the editor of the Charleston Medical Journal & Review, which had been founded in 1848 by Dr. P. C. Gaillard and Dr. H. W. DeSaussure.  Under Dr. Happoldt's direction the journal became one of the most outstanding Medical Journals in the South.

Through the long years of his ministry, John Bachman was closely associated with Colonel Jacob Sass, President of the Vestry for many years, with whom he made his home until January 23, 1916, when the young pastor married Harriett, granddaughter of the beloved Rev. John Nicholas Martin, minister at St. John's during the American Revolution.  St. John's used Episcopal or Anglican titles for its church officers because in the early years of the church it was often impossible to secure a Lutheran minister and the Episcopal clergymen in Charleston often occupied the pulpit.  St. John's still uses these titles today.  In the enforced absence of Doctor Bachman, the Rt. Rev. Theodore Dehon, Bishop of the Episcopal Church of South Carolina, officiated at the laying of the cornerstone of the present-day St. John's Church on August 28, 1815.

John Bachman's association with Audubon cannot be overlooked since it gives the whole picture of the pastor-naturalist.  There was also another indestructible bond between the two men since two of Bachman's daughters married two of Audubon's sons.

As the years passed on and the tragic era of the Civil War approached, Bachman had become a zealous and devoted South Carolinian.  His daughter Eva married William Elnathan Haskell and another daughter Helen Lynch wedded Robert T. Chisolm.

And ironically enough, Dr. Bachman, a native of New York State, was chosen to offer the opening prayer at the meeting in the Institute Hall in Charleston when South Carolina's Ordinance of Secession was signed and ratified on December 20,1 1860.

In the War Between the States, his son, Captain William K. Bachman, commanded Bachman's Battery of South Carolina's incomparable Hampton Legion.  His other son, Samuel Wilson Bachman, M. D., was in the medical department of the Confederate army.

John Bachman was truly an adopted South Carolinian of the highest order; and at his death of February 24, 1874, his body was fittingly interred in a vault beneath the altar of the church he had served for almost sixty years.  And on the day of his funeral rites, Charleston paid tribute to her revered citizen by tolling the bells of St. Michael's Episcopal Church and closing the doors of the College of Charleston for the day.

CAROLINA HERALDRY

Baron Christopher de Graffenreid of Bern, Switzerland, was of an ancient and illustrious family.  In order to relieve the suffering of a number of his countrymen, and also to improve his own fortune, he brought over a colony of Swiss and Palatine Germans to Carolina in 1709, founded the city of New Bern, and was created a Landgrave by the Lord Proprietors.  His oldest son, Christopher, born in 1691, accompanied his father to America and remained there, becoming the ancestor of most of the de Graffenreids, now living in the United States.  This representation of the arms shows that the bearer is a Landgrave of Carolina, and the shield is placed upon a sunburst as prescribed by the (original) Carolina Herald.  Description (translated from Reitstap):

Or, on a hillock vert, a tree trunk sable in pale, the upper end enflamed gules, between 2 estoiles of the same.

Cr: The charges of the shield, without estoiles.

ORTHOGRAPHICAL CHANGES IN
SOUTH CAROLINA GERMAN NAMES

SHEALY

The first Shely who came to South Carolina seems to have been John Shely.  He arrived in October, 1752 at Charleston.  No records have been found as to the name of his wife or his complete name, if John Shely was not his complete name.

In his Petition for Land, signed at Charleston, South Carolina on the 26th day of October, 1752 (Council Journal Vol. 20, page 452), he states that he had a wife and six children, namely: 1. Barbara, 14 years old (b. ca 1738); 2. Elizabeth, 12 years old (b. ca 1740); 3. Ursula, about 9 years old (b. ca 1742); 4. Mary Ann, about 8 years ofld (b. ca 1743); 5. John Windle, about 7 years old (b. ca 1744); and 6. Margaret, about 6 years old (b. ca 1745).  John Shely was granted 400 acres of land on Crim's Creek butting and bounding northeastward on a tract laid out for Henry Werts and a tract laid out for Catherine Werts and vacant land to the southwest, northwest and southeast.  The grant was signed September 4, 1753.

The name has been spelled many was: Shely, Sheley, Shealy, Sheely, Shealey, Sheeley, Scheele, and more.  Oftentimes, more than one spelling of the name will be found among the members of an immediate family.  Many have speculated as to the true spelling of the name in German.  However, I too, can only speculate.  This summer while tracing the whereabouts of a great uncle in the Staunton, Virginia area, I found a book on the history of a Lutheran congregation which had been served by this great uncle and it was stated that around 1890 he had changed his spelling of his name from Shealy back to the German spelling "Scheele" and that is the way it appears on his tombstone.

No family cemetery has been found for the original John Shealy and his only son, John Windle Shealy.  It is believed that they lie buried under the waters of Lake Murray.  It is believed that John Shealy died about 1768 because courthouse records show that his son, John Wendle (another spelling for his name) sold some of the 400 acre tract, which was originally granted to John Sheley in 1752, in the year 1769.

Records on file at the Veterans Bureau in Washington, D. C. indicate that there was only one soldier with the surname Sheely (Conrad Sheely) who served in the Revolutionary War.  This Sheely was born October 15, 1752 in New York and served as a private in the New York troops.  On his application for a pension, he stated that he married Elizabeth Hoornbeck of New York on November 28, 17777.  No records have been located to connect this Conrad Sheely with the Shealy clan of South Carolina.

The original John Shely had only one son among his six children listed when he arrived in this country.  However, from that one son sprang many descendants for South Carolina - not all of them staying in South Carolina but migrating to other states.

By Melba Shealy

Editor's Note:  Miss Shealy has constructed a detailed chart of the descendants of John Shely, but because of the prolificacy of the family and our own space limitations, we were only able to show the first four generations.

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