Don’t forget to swing by the Magnolia Street Depot to see the museum in person, too! It’s open 10:00-2:00 on Wednesdays and 8:00-2:00 on Saturdays.

If you’re passionate about trains and their associated industries, they can always use volunteers!

New 317 page book on the Brice Family of Fairfield County, SC who came over
from Ireland ca 1785 and related families: Boyce, Brice, Caldwell, Clowney,
Douglass, Gaston, Simonton, Strong, etc. Genealogy goes back to Robert the
Bruce 1065 in Scotland. Many pictures in color with history of Brice’s
Crossroads Civil War Battle.

Available in printed form, soft cover with spiral binding: $35.00
postpaid.
CD $20.00 in PDF format (Adobe Reader) postpaid.

Betty J. Carson
368 Sease Hill Road
Lexington, SC 29073
bcarson1@sc.rr.com

Greetings!

I am excited to invite you to the first meeting of the Spartanburg History Hub. In my role as Executive Director of the Spartanburg County Historical Association, I am asked to speak to groups and attend meetings about Spartanburg history. We have so many dedicated organizations and individuals preserving and promoting Spartanburg history, but I have heard over and over again people remarking that they didn’t know various groups existed, they don’t know what those groups do, or they don’t know who to contact when they have a question or opportunity for their own group or project. These discussions have been the catalyst for the formation of the Spartanburg History Hub.

Our first meeting is scheduled for Thursday, January 28, at 7:00 pm in the Barrett Room of the Spartanburg Public Library’s Headquarters on Church Street in Spartanburg. This Hub is designed to bring people and organizations with a commitment to Spartanburg County history together to share what they’re doing, hear what others are doing, and facilitate learning and collaboration. The Hub won’t work if you don’t come!

There is no charge for attending meetings of the Spartanburg History Hub and we’ll try to wrap up by 8:00 pm. There will be the opportunity for announcements, but we need to keep them brief. Feel free to bring fliers or brochures for events so you can give a short announcement and interested parties can pick up the detailed information afterwards. We’ll also have brief introductions, but the main focus of this inaugural meeting will be to get a sense of what we all would like the Hub to accomplish and how often it is beneficial for it to meet. Each of us involved with history has a unique set of skills, experiences, and resources related to preserving and promoting history. If we combine our strengths, we will take Spartanburg County’s history community to the next level which will benefit us as well as our communities at large.

Please feel free to forward this email to anyone you think may be interested or send me their contact information and I will send an invitation. Also, if you would prefer not to be included in the Spartanburg History Hub email list, just let me know.

I look forward to seeing you on the 28th!

Sincerely,
Becky Slayton, Executive Director
Spartanburg County Historical Association, 864-278-9664

I’ve said it many times genealogy is changing – the internet is making SOOOOOO many good things possible. At one time, you had to spend money traveling to the place your ancestors lived and research there on site. These days the possibilities are tremendous though. I think it’s especially exciting to see special collections such as these digitized.

I know at Pack Library there are special collections that are available for browsing, but it’s a labor intensive thing. You don’t feel as though you should just ask to browse on a whim due to the high “maintenance” factor of the media. The fragile photos, the need to have a librarian assist each individual that’s browsing the special collection, etc.

Good job Georgetown County!

The area was sparsely settled when he established the mill here, they needed to bring in quite a bit to support the operation, but “On June 14, 1894, water first turned one of the mill power wheels. The mill was in full operation by the end of that year. The plant was originally operated by hydro power, but c.1905, steam engines and boilers increased production.”

A town with simple houses was built around the mill to support the workers that were needed to keep operations going. By the time things were completed there were 115 houses. (Most of these had been designed to host two families each.)

The Banjo, Fiddle and Guitar competition will be at 2PM the afternoon of June 14th. More information should be available from the Oconee Heritage Center.

These plantations were in the United States (including South Carolina) and in Barbados. From the site…

Working side by side with known descendants of Drayton family freedmen, we have documented the lineages of known descendants, and gathered more than 10,000 pages of archival records, census and other public records, and extracted the names of more than 1,600 enslaved people who lived and worked on Drayton family plantations over time.

They have compiled the known lineages of those that worked on Magnolia Plantation between 1724 and 1790.

This site will be a MUST bookmark for those researching African American Genealogy in South Carolina. It looks like with the information they have to start with it already is a MUST see site.

Of course, one of the challenges of researching African American genealogy has been access to privately held records and it looks like they are essentially opening up many of these privately held records for public use.

2 p.m. “Learn About Your Family Tree Under the Trees — A Genealogy Presentation.” Winnie Walsh of the Spartanburg County Public Libraries will give a one-hour presentation on genealogy and the many sources stored in the Library’s Kennedy Room of Local History and the Cleveland Genealogical Collection. We will meet on the Observation Deck at Hatcher Garden. To register, call the Kennedy Room at 596-3508.

The summary of information from Spartanburg County Public Libraries goes on with a bit more information on the Kennedy Room of Local History and the staffs assistance in finding obituary and death notices….

We list dead people

Genealogists already know how important dead people can be. The Kennedy Room staff goes to great lengths to find mention of dead people in the local newspaper and have gone back to the first issue of the Carolina Spartan in 1849.

Of course, obituaries as we know them today did not exist back then, so the Kennedy Room staff looks for mention of deaths in columns and probate notices. Sometimes there will be an article about the death of a person. The death indexes cover 1849 to 1915, 1916-1929 and 1930 to the present. If published, the person’s name, age, location of residence, spouse and date and page number of the newspaper are given in the index.

At the same time, the Kennedy Room staff has been working on a news index. The years 1960 through today are indexed. Items are regional and include happenings in Spartanburg, Cherokee and Union counties in South Carolina and Rutherford and Polk counties in North Carolina. The years 1930-1936 are also completed.

The deaths indexes are on the Web and searchable by name. To order a copy of the obituary, send $1.25 per photocopied page and a self-addressed, stamped envelope. For news items, it’s 25 cents per page and a $2 service charge and a SASE is required.

The website for the Kennedy Room, including some online resources can be found here.

REVOLUTIONARY WAR LECTURE: 7 p.m., Friday, Christine Swager, “The Valiant Died: The Battle of Eutaw Springs.” Church of the Epiphany Ministry Center, Corner of S.C. Route 6 and 45, Eutawville. (803) 854-3629, (803) 492-7644.

REVOLUTIONARY WAR ENCAMPMENT: 10 a.m.-5 p.m., Saturday, Sunday. War re-enactments, 4:30 p.m. Saturday; 1:30 p.m. Sunday. Bring lawn chairs, blankets, picnics, water. $5 Parking. Torrington St., Eutawville. (803) 854-3629, (803) 492-7644.

These encampments from either Revolutionary/Civil War periods can really give a fascinating insight into “what life was like” at the time. This sounds like a great event preceeded by the lecture on the Battle of Eutaw Springs.

This notice was published today so I assume that the lecture is this evening and the encampment tomorrow and Sunday.

BEGINNING GENEALOGY: 7 p.m. Thursday. Explore family history. Free, Irmo Branch of Lexington County Public Library System, 6251 St. Andrews Rd., (803) 798-7880, ext. 2.

GERMAN CULTURE GENEALOGY: 10 a.m.-12 p.m. Sept. 9. Workshop about German culture in South Carolina. $15, members, $25 public. Lunch provided. State Archives and History Center, 8301 Parklane Road. To register, (803) 896-5729.