By now, most of you will have received the Spring Edition 2022 of the Dataw Historic Foundation’s Tabby Times. This is the “live” version of the beautiful cover article written…
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Our History Afternoon The history sessions, created to celebrate our 40th Anniversary, began at 1:00 PM and ran to 6:00 PM, including breaks. These were all held in the Dataw…
The music of the Antebellum Era expressed the feelings of the two classes of people on Sea Island Plantations: the white plantation owners and the enslaved people. Listen to their…
This issue featured an article about Victoria A. Smalls, a Gullah native of St. Helena Island. She is our guest speaker at the January 2024 Fireside Chat. This event, an…
It’s fascinating to trace the wild turkey’s journey from being domesticated by Native Americans a thousand years ago to its role in the antebellum era at Elizabeth and Berners Barnwell…
Thursday, November 19, 1863, at about 3 PM, as the sun broke through the clouds, President Abraham Lincoln gave his two-minute address to the 15,000 gathered for the dedication of the National Cemetery at Gettysburg, PA. We’ve all read it, studied it, and seen it (on the wall at the Lincoln Memorial in Washington D.C.) I’m going to discuss the Gettysburg Address in a moment. The most interesting part of his speech is often skimmed over, “..of the people, by the people, and for the people..” First, I thought a summary of the Sams family members who served in the Confederate States of America army would provide some interesting context for you.
The theme this week is MY FATHER’S LIFE. Elizabeth Exima Sams (1831 – 1906) was born March 16th, 1831, to Elizabeth Fripp and Dr. Berners Barnwell Sams. Her mother was 17 when she married Dr. Sams and bore him eleven children before she died in childbirth with daughter Elizabeth. Fortunately, Elizabeth E. Sams lives a long life in South Carolina. A year before her death, she travels from Beaufort, South Carolina to Norfolk, Virginia, to visit her nephew, Conway Whittle Sams (1864 – 1935). While there, Elizabeth tells her nephew all about his grandfather, her father, Dr. BB Sams. We have no similar first-person accounts of any of the other six brothers (i.e., William and Elizabeth Sams sons).
Disaster – The Story of One Family -Disaster is relative and can mean many different things to many people. And of course, the period of the conflict between the states is rife with stories of disaster. The SAMS family had several members die in that conflict. But today I’m going to concentrate on just one Sams family; James Edings Lawrence Fripp (1816 – 1864) and his wife Evelina Edings Sams (1822 – 1861), who last so many, so young.
In response to an article about Northern Datha Island, a resident who has lived here thirty years (!) commented, “I have always questioned why ALCOA did not call the Island by its real name: Datha?”
Researching this question took me on a fascinating journey from a Muskogean Indian Chief to the King of Spain to the U.S. Board on Geographic Names. In the end, I can provide this answer; Dataw Island is the name of our development on a sea island in South Carolina called Datha Island.
What’s left for this journey is to explain why our sea island is called Datha Island and why our development is called Dataw Island.
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The DHF is proud that we have artifacts found on Datha Island in the early ALCOA days that date back thousands of years. For example, in the display on the southwest wall of the History & Learning Center is a Paleo Indian Point that dates to 10,000 B.C. However, many have explored our area over the centuries. I recently learned from a young lady in Massachusetts that Charles Upham Shepard found an older and much larger item on St Helena Island in the 1800s; an American mastodon (Mammoth americanum) from the late Pleistocene era! This intact skeleton, found next door, pushes back our knowledge of this area by several thousand years, to at least 12,000 B.C.
This week’s theme is HEIRLOOMS. The Dataw Historic Foundation is fortunate because the Sams descendants have entrusted us with several family heirlooms. This week features the story of two other items donated to the Foundation, a green silk taffeta Victorian gown and a shawl circa 1860. Ginny Hall-Apicella and BIll Riski recently presented the history of the dress to our Dataw Island residents.
Water in motion is beautiful—most of the time. But once in a while, it grows from a rising tide into a boiling hurricane. Water indeed defines much of the character of our Lowcountry. It flushes and nurtures the marsh. Defines the borders of our island. And pushes us away when a hurricane approaches.Most of you reading this know about the beauty of the waters around Dataw. It’s a contributing reason I live here. The “beast face” of water is fortunately seen less often. This week I’m going to tell you about, by far, the most massive hurricane this area has ever experienced—the hurricane of 1893. And I’m going to tell you a little know story of Ting Sams Colquhoun’s ancestors that met their death in that hurricane.
William Sams fled with his family to the Beaufort area from Charleston in 1783. He left Charleston because of the Confiscation Acts of early 1782. They likely picked Beaufort due to family connections. As our past DHF president John Colgan might say, it was the second time the Sams were on the wrong side of history. But similar to the first time, this move was a blessing in disguise. The following 80 years would bring great wealth to Beaufort, South Carolina, and the Sams. This short article is about how we won our independence from Great Britain, seen through the lens of local South Carolina’s concerns and consequences.
Related posts: Robert Oswald Sams (1841 – 1930) April holds a special place in the history of the United States. From where I sit today, in the heart of the…
Everyone has heard that William Sams and his wife Elizabeth Hext Sams bought Dataw Island in 1783. Both William’s paternal and maternal grandfathers emigrated from England to territory in or near “Charles Towne in the colony of Carolina” in the late 17th century. They both were seeking a fresh start, but their circumstances could not have been more different. Bonham (Bonum) Sams II came as an indentured servant; he is the subject of this week’s article. On the other hand, Colonel John Barnwell was Irish, came from a long line of government officials, and was not an indentured servant. More on him next week.
Barnwell was born in Dublin, Ireland, the son of Alderman Matthew Barnwell and Margaret Carberry. Matthew Barnwell was killed in the Siege of Derry in 1690 as a captain in James II’s Irish Army, which attempted to restore the last Stuart king to the English throne. The family seat, Archerstown in County Meath, was forfeited as a consequence of these events. John eventually took flight for North America in 1701. (Rowland) He became a colonist in the territory then called Charles Towne in the colony of Carolina. His timing coincided with the emergence of the rice culture and the associated prosperity.
Dr. Berners Barnwell Sams, M.D. (1787 – 1855) – BB Sams is named after his Great Grandmother Elizabeth Anne (Berners) Barnwell and his Grandmother Bridgett (Barnwell) Sams, according to Sams’ family descendants. Berners Barnwell Sams was the son of William Sams (1741-1798) and Elizabeth (Hext) Sams (1746-1813). He inherited one-third of his father’s Dataw Island plantation in 1808 when he came of age. We know a fair amount about Dr. BB Sams. However, today we have a much more colorful understanding of the man. In 2019 we were given a copy of an unpublished family history penned in the early 1900s by Conway Whittle Sams (grandson of BB Sams). This unpublished work contains a first-person description of Dr. BB Sams provided by his daughter, Elizabeth Exima Sams in 1905.
The people in this single image above span 184 years of Sams descendants; from today back to the working plantation days when B.B. Sams was growing Sea Island cotton here on Dataw Island.
You are looking at the faces of a family deeply affected by the Civil War and looking for a brighter future. This photo is dated 16th October 1866. On the back are the words, ‘Picture taken just as family was leaving S.C. for Galveston, Texas.’ Dr. Lewis Reeve Sams, Jr. (1810 – 1888) took his family ”so far away” from Beaufort, SC.
We are compiling a list of the “Grande Dames of Datha Island” and adding each tree’s location and approximate age to the map below. We’d love to have residents participate by going to the Google Form at this link and entering data on whichever tree you wish.
Women’s History Month was ‘born’ in 1987, though its roots go back to 1911. So many Sams women, and we don’t know enough about them. It seems reasonable to assume they all were strong to survive the circumstances of their southern antebellum era. For most women, their role in the family in the 19th century was still defined by the husband [Hussung, 2015.]
Here are four particular women who persevered, even excelled, despite the challenges they encountered back then: Elizabeth Fripp Sams, Sarah Stanyarne Sams Sams, Ma Lilly, and Kate Gleason.
The Sams family’s success and prosperity could not have been achieved without the hundreds of enslaved men, women, and children who worked silently tilling the land, harvesting the sea island cotton, building the structures, and serving their Sams masters in many ways. Datha’s enslaved peoples were an undeniable and vital part of this island’s plantation era history. Their lives and work on plantations on Datha Island, Ladys Island, and St. Helena Island spanned three generations of the Sams family.
April holds a special place in the history of the United States. From where I sit today, in the heart of the South, its significance cannot be overlooked. On Friday, April 12, 1861, the Battle of Fort Sumter began the Civil War. In addition, April events bookend the American Civil War. On April 9, 1865, “the surrender of the Army of Northern Virginia in the McLean House in the village of Appomattox Court House, Virginia signaled the end of the nation’s largest war.” We are fortunate to have some first-person insights into both ends of the war. They come from Robert Oswald Sams, the grandson of “our” Lewis Reeve Sams.
Horace Hann Sams (1829-1865) is one of the four Beaufort men I wrote about earlier who died in the Civil War. Today I dig deeper into Major HH Sams life and legacy. It becomes clear from contemporary accounts about him what drove this southern soldier in our American Civil War. Those he left behind were deeply affected by their loss. To paraphrase novelist Mitch Albom, his death ended a life, not a relationship. His older brother Rev. James Julius Sams, carries his sorrow into the memoir he wrote 40 years later.
Sometimes taking a long view of history provides an insightful perspective on the lives of others. A few years ago, I compiled a timeline of U.S. Presidents who were in office during the antebellum era of the Sams of South Carolina. I focused on William Sams and two particular sons, Lewis Reeve Sams and Dr. Berners Barnwell Sams, M.D. The timeline starts in 1783, when William Sams, at 42, left Wadmalaw Island and moved his family to Beaufort and Datha Island. It ends with the Great Gun Shoot / Big Skedaddle of 1861. The graphic integrates the lives of William, Elizabeth, Lewis Reeve Sams, and his brother Dr. Berners Barnwell Sams, M.D. — with — the terms of our first 16 presidents
Water in motion is beautiful—most of the time. But once in a while, it grows from a rising tide into a boiling hurricane. Water indeed defines much of the character of our Lowcountry. It flushes and nurtures the marsh. Defines the borders of our island. And pushes us away when a hurricane approaches.Most of you reading this know about the beauty of the waters around Dataw. It’s a contributing reason I live here. The “beast face” of water is fortunately seen less often. This week I’m going to tell you about, by far, the most massive hurricane this area has ever experienced—the hurricane of 1893. And I’m going to tell you a little know story of Ting Sams Colquhoun’s ancestors that met their death in that hurricane.
The Event Natasha Boyd, the author of Indigo Girl, was the guest speaker at the Dataw Historic Foundation Author’s Luncheon in early April organized by Rosemary Patterson, DHF Publicity…
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Sarah Stanyarne Sams Sams (1840-1902) was the daughter, and last child, of Dr. Berners Barnwell Sams (1787 – 1855) and his second wife Martha Edwards (1799-1857). Married her 1C1R John Hanahan Sams (1839-1924) in 1865 and had 8 children. They stayed in the Charleston area for a while after the war, but eventually started new lives in Brevard County, FL.
Christmas in the Lowcountry of South Carolina will be celebrated this week, as it has been for centuries. However, back in the antebellum days, the planters celebrated one way, and the enslaved in a much different way. Like the plantation system, which was imported from Britain, the Christmas traditions when the Reverend James Julius Sams (1826 – 1918) reflected on his childhood around 1835 – 1840 on Datha Island were probably more British-inspired than German. Julius begins his reflections about Christmas this way,
“Christmas was the merriest and saddest time. The merriest, because we were all together. The saddest, because the time was coming for us to part again.”
This photo is of Brutus on Palawana Island, SC, circa early 1900s. The image is from Face of an Island: Leigh Richmond Miner’s Photographs of Saint Helena Island, compilation by…
I told you recently about the tripartite plantation house of BB Sams and his wife Elizabeth (Fripp) Sams. These ruins are always the highlight of the DHF docents’ tours to residents and visitors. The other site of interest is the Sams Family Cemetery, a short distance from the ruins. I wrote about this 200-year-old cemetery on Datha Island just two years ago, and there has been an exciting development. Synthesizing the research Teresa (Winters) Bridges (Sams descendant) has done in the last two years with the results of the ground-penetrating radar survey performed in 2005, I can say with confidence that her ancestor John Sams (1769-1798) is buried here on Datha.
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The theme this week is ‘gone too soon.’ Through Week 43-Spooky, I’ve told you about 188 ancestors or descendants of William Sams and Elizabeth Hext. Nearly all are in their direct lineage, though there are a few distant cousins in the mix. I’ve told you about all seven sons of William & Elizabeth, but not all their families. Three sons never married (Robert, William, Jr., and Francis), and I have not told you much about the families of John and Edward Hext. Maybe I will someday, but I just have not had time to do the research necessary to ‘bring them to life.’ However, several children of our Sams brothers, Lewis Reeve and Berners Barnwell, I’ve not mentioned either. This week I’ll speak of the children that left us too early.
Several years ago (2006 – 2009), DHF had some preservation work done to the brick wall around the Sams Family Cemetery near the plantation house tabby ruins. We discovered several buried pieces of marble, and the adventure began. This is the story of the final resting place of Sarah (Fripp) Sams (1789 – 1825), the first wife of Lewis Reeve Sams (1784 – 1856).
This week in my 52 Sams in 52 Weeks series the theme is TRAVEL. Several weeks ago, I happened to bump into a Sams that had moved to Japan. So I penciled him into Week 20 – TRAVEL, suspecting he might be an exciting story. Miles Stanhope Sams (1860 – 1933) was the grandson of Lewis Reeve Sams and his first wife, Sarah Fripp.
This week’s theme is UNCERTAINTY. Take, for example, who is buried in the Cotton Dike Cemetery? This story begins in 2004 with an interview with two brothers, then wanders through monuments, ground-penetrating radar, a rededication ceremony, and the British territory of Saint Helena Island. It ends with the recent graveside service of Andrew Robinson. We are grateful to Andrew, his brothers, and his nephew for bringing a measure of certainty to our Cotton Dike cemetery.
Virginia B. Bartels summarizes the history of education in South Carolina very well. “Much of the 300-year history of our public schools is a tragic tale of fits and starts, marked at times by inspired leaders, but too often mired by problems of class, race, war, poverty, and geography.”
I believe receiving a good education is a primary reason so many Sams could rebuild their lives after the Civil War’s devastation. However, they received this education because they were lucky enough to be born into a family that could afford to pay for a good education in a time and in a place where this was not common. The sad state of childhood education in Beaufort in the antebellum era was not just about money. You may be surprised to learn that British tradition also played a vital, negative role.
Winter 2011 – National Honors for Sams Plantation Complex Tabby Ruins, Sams Descendents Gather, Camp Dataw History Day, and more…
This presentation on the Sams of Florida was given by Joe Roney in June of 2019. He tells the fascinating story of how Sams descendant M. Seabrook Sams and 3 of his step-cousins walked from Wadmalaw Island, SC to Merritt Island, FL, a distance of over 400 miles, in the 1870’s to start new lives.
Throughout 2020 I’ve taken or accumulated images that have not made it into this 52 Sams in 52 Weeks series – but they deserve some attention. Here are pictures which span about 150 years, each with their own short story. Most have never been published. Many came from the storage bin in Miss Ting’s home in Beaufort. This week I present a collection of pictures from our DHF shoebox, with short stories.
52 Sams in 52 Weeks is now on its final approach. We are about to put the landing gear down (week 50), land (week 51), and taxi to the terminal (week 52). These last three posts have a lot of variety. Week 50 – Listen to History. Today you’ll hear a story of recent history. Week 51 – An Antebellum Christmas. On December 22nd, I’ll tell you what we know about Christmas on Datha in the mid 1800s and about antebellum Christmases in general. Week 52 – Reflections and Resolutions. On December 29th, I’ll reflect on 2020 and talk about what comes next in 2021.
Listen to History: The first recording below is of a Dataw Island resident that spent two years building the Sams Plantation House model, prominently displayed in your History & Learning Center. The second recording is an excerpt from an original letter written by Sarah Sams to her husband, Dr. Robert Randolph Sams, while he was away in the Civil War. Her distant cousin reads the excerpt.
Like all of the United States, the Lowcountry was inhabited by indigenous peoples when Bonum Sams II (1663 ~ 1743) and John Barnwell (1771 – 1724) immigrated here in 1681 and 1701, respectively. Long before William Sams (1747 – 1798) bought Datha Island in 1783, the conflicts between Europeans and American Indians had played out here in the Lowcountry. The American Indians were gone from this corner of South Carolina. It may surprise you to know that nineteen American Indian tribes lived in our area at one time. We are reminded of the American Indians by the river/estuary names even today.
We have often told you how the events of Nov 7, 1861, led to the immediate evacuation of all plantation owners from Beaufort District. And you’ve heard most lost everything as a result. The Federal government, of course, fully intended to shut the door on the old South. A war was going on, and both sides needed to fund their war efforts. For the Federal government, the legal steps started with the Direct Tax Act of August 1861, which levied taxes on all states and was amended in June 1862 to include the rebellious states as well. This led to Federally appointed tax commissioners arriving in Beaufort later that year. Foreclosures on South Carolina homes and land followed. This included all of the Sams real estate in the Beaufort District. However, there is more to the story. Thirty years later, the Federal Government compensated the Sams heirs and others for their confiscated real estate.
The theme this week is a SMALL WORLD. In the years leading up to our Declaration of Independence from Great Britain, Beaufort was a thriving shipping port. One of the prominent merchants operating along the bay in Beaufort was Peter Lavien (1746 – 1781). He moved to the town in 1765 from Sankt Croix, then under Danish rule. (Today St. Croix is part of the US Virgin Islands.) The small world connection I discovered involves his younger half-brother. The brother eventually also moved to the Colonies from Sankt Croix but landed in Boston in 1772. Today, I’m going to tell you a bit more about the families of both brothers.
This article is in honor of our 19th Amendment, which changed our country dramatically.
The Amendment’s journey from Seneca, New York, to our U.S. Constitution was long and torturous. Dataw Island has four people connected to the Women’s Suffrage Movement: Sarah Barnwell Elliott, Kate Gleason, Fanny Sams Bell, and Conway Whittle Sams. Sarah was a women’s suffrage movement leader at the state and national levels. Kate was the great industrialist who purchased Dataw Island in 1927. Fanny was one of the millions of women across the nation who proactively worked for women’s rights. Conway, a lawyer in Virginia, was vehemently against giving women the right to vote!
Peaceful Retreat plantation home of Robert Gibbes and his wife Sarah (Reeve) Gibbes. On the Stono River, John’s Island, SC. There is so much to say about this woman. She…
For centuries the ultimate enabler of an individual’s wealth was land ownership. This was certainly true in the Lowcountry, as rice, lumber, indigo, cattle, and cotton crops created tensions over land. One of the early and successful indigo plantation owners on a sea island was Robert Sams (~1706 – 1760), father of “our” William Sams (1741 – 1798). Robert was a planter up on Wadmalaw Island. As the American Revolution took a toll on the sale of indigo dye cakes to the British, a new sea island-compatible crop was arriving. Sea island cotton’s exceptional quality and world events in France and England drove Europe’s demand. It was first grown commercially on Hilton Head in 1795, and by 1810 nearly all the suitable cotton land in our area was spoken for. This brings us on a fast trip to the Datha Island plantation brothers, Lewis Reeve Sams (1784 – 1856) and Berners Barnwell Sams (1787 – 1855). They inherited Datha Island from their father and mother once they came of age, in 1805 and 1808, respectively. LR Sams had Datha Point plantation on the north, and BB Sams had Datha Inlet plantation on the south.
As Dr. Rowland tells us in his first volume of The History of Beaufort County, South Carolina (1514 – 1861) by 1850:
“Dr. Berners Barnwell Sams had 2,097 acres and 174 enslaved people on Datha and Lady’s Island…His brother Lewis Reeve Sams had 1,467 acres and 166 enslaved people on adjoining property…”
It wasn’t Datha alone that afforded the brothers, and their children, the luxury of elegant homes in Beaufort. It was the totality of their holdings.
Sometimes luck is due to your hard work. Other times it comes from factors that cannot be explained or are beyond your control. Wars have a way of stringing together events that leave in their wake both the fortunate and unfortunate. This week I identify four Sams who died on the eve of, or during, the Civil War. They range in age from 16 to 36. There were many more Sams who served and came home to live another day. These four did not.
Reproduction of a circa 1858 ambrotype of Sarah Jane Graham (Sams) Sams (1835 – 1920), courtesy of Teresa Bridges. Sarah Jane Graham Sams married Dr.Robert Randolph Sams (1827 – 1910),…
For the Sams of Datha Island (19th century name), there is a particular source of their prosperity; Sea Island cotton.
Recently, tour requests have begun to pick up. So I thought it would be a good time to introduce you to the winter home of Dr. BB Sams (1787-1855) and his family. Their tripartite house is one of several tabby structures in the Sams Plantation Complex Tabby Ruins, accepted on the National Register of Historic Places on March 4, 2011. In the antebellum period, and the sea islands of Beaufort in particular, nearly all planters had a summer home and winter home. The summer home is where they lived in the hot months to get away from their plantation(s) and the diseases associated with heat, humidity, and bugs. In summer, they went to their homes in Beaufort or St Helenaville. Summer was also the prime time of the year for socializing and for children to be tutored. In winter, the planters lived in their plantation homes. So the ruins you see today on Dataw Island are of Dr. BB Sams winter home and yard.
In my recent post on Sarah J Sams, you saw restored photographs of her and her husband, Dr. R Randolph Sams. Large reprints are hanging in the Dataw Island History & Learning Center through the generosity of Teresa (Winters) Bridges. Sarah’s original image (i.e., ambrotype) holding their daughter Phoebe was taken in about 1858 when Sarah was in her early 20s. Randolph’s image (i.e., daguerreotype) shows a handsome young man upon graduation from college in 1849, also in his early 20s. What’s most interesting about Dr. R. Randolph Sams is his role in the earliest days of modern dentistry.
Download Related posts: Tabby Times Spring 2021 Download… Tabby Times 2020 Fall Tabby Times – Fall 2020 – The Dataw Historic Foundation is fortunate that Sams’s descendants have entrusted us…
Download Related posts: Tabby Times Fall 2021 Download… Tabby Times 2020 Spring President’s Report: We have a newly designed website that is much easier to navigate and features a beautiful…
Presentation by Bill Riski, of the Dataw Historic Society, on the history of sea island cotton. He explains why plantations came to the sea islands, why this crop was unique to the sea islands, why it was so desirable, and why it disappeared. This presentation adds to the body of knowledge of the Sams of South Carolina. Though sea island cotton generated enormous wealth for a few, it required great suffering by many.
Tabby Times – Fall 2020 – The Dataw Historic Foundation is fortunate that Sams’s descendants have entrusted us with several family heirlooms. One such item is a green taffeta silk gown. This gown has been in possession of the DHF since 1998, when the owners, Norman Ralph Pippin, Jr. and his sister Pauline Sams Pippin Sanders, donated it to us. This year we discovered its secrets.
Fire – Dangerous Necessity
We are fortunate to have in our Sams Plantation Complex Tabby the ruins of several chimneys. Here’s an easy question. How many pre-1820 chimneys can you see on Dataw Island today? The answer is 12!
Almost Forgotten – Of the seven sons of William and Elizabeth, four belong on our ‘almost forgotten’ list. Robert and William because they never married, and we are not sure where they are buried; maybe Datha. Francis also never married. So little is known about him, but he does have a headstone in the Sams Family Cemetery on Datha. And lastly, the wanderer, Edward. With your help, maybe someday their stories will be told.
My theme this week is “oldest”; the Sams direct descendant that lived the longest. Martha “Mattie” Sophia Hallonquist LaRoche lived to celebrate her 101st birthday. There are several distinctive aspects of Mattie’s life. She was born near Charleston, S.C on Wadmalaw Island, was married at age 16, to a man 23 years her senior, and raised a family in Merritt Island, Florida area – long before air-conditioning. You can get a sense of their new “neighborhood” in the photo above.
Dataw Historic Foundation members and visitors to our History and Learning Center know of the Reverend James Julius Sams. His memoir, written I believe at the request of nephew Conway W. Sams in about 1905, is unique. No one else has written such an intimate first-person account of growing up on Dataw Island, SC. And his recollection of details about the family and his father’s (Berners Barnwell Sams) house on Dataw has been quoted by acknowledged experts in their fields such as Lawrence Rowland and Colin Brooker. This week I have included J. Julius Sams’ memoir in its entirety in the Sources section below. Enjoy reading about Dataw & Oak Islands circa 1840 thru the adventures of two boys, Julius and Horace Sams. In the meantime, let me tell you a bit more about Reverend J. Julius Sams, the man.
download Related posts: Reverend J. Julius Sams Dataw Historic Foundation members and visitors to our History and Learning Center know of the Reverend James Julius Sams. His memoir, written I…
The theme this week is SPOOKY. Since Halloween is this week, I thought it would be fun to dig up (ugh!) a few of the scary stories Reverend James Julius Sams included in his memoir about being a kid on Datha Island. So today, I’ll tell you a few spooky stories from the early 1800s. One happened in the Big Woods on Datha Island, one on St. Helena Island, another on Oak Island, and the last in the BB Sams plantation house.
This week I focus on the history of the north half of our island. Datha Island has been inhabited continually from the Late Archaic period (3,000 – 1,000 B.C.) up to the present. I’ll address the prehistoric periods, the Lewis Reeve Sams ownership years, and farming after the Civil War. I am indebted to archaeologist Larry Lepionka and his team for their work back in 1987-1988 to investigate and document the historic sites on Dataw Island. The island would be covered in a forest if left to nature. This is one factor that distinguishes the northern from the southern half of Datha Island. The north half was plowed and cultivated continuously from the mid-1700s to 1960; the southern half was not. The northern half is also where the preponderance of evidence was found for Native American habitation as far back as 3000 B.C. Therefore, where the Native Americans once lived was also the area most disturbed by farming in the 19th and 20th centuries. Kudos go to Lepionka and other archeologists for rediscovering their presence thousands of years before. I’ll explore middens, and then I’ll show you Domino.
This week is about what NAMES can reveal. As an amateur genealogist, I know that names can provide clues to a person’s past but can also present a brick wall. Discovering the ancestors of William Artman Riski is much easier than John Smith. Sometimes a naming pattern can provide us leads that we might otherwise overlook. This week I investigated the names of the seven sons born to William and Elizabeth Sams and found several surprises, including a British tradition.
The theme this week is “This Old House – a Photo,” not related to that great PBS program, but the Dr. B.B. Sams house. In my week 12 and week 15 articles, I described the Sams Tabby Complex, with an emphasis on the house, the most distinctive feature of the ruins on Dataw Island. One of the world’s foremost experts on tabby construction, Colin Brooker, has just published the definitive book on tabby architecture in Beaufort, South Carolina and the Sea Islands [Brooker]. The Dataw Historic Foundation will be writing a book review soon, but in anticipation of that, I thought you might be interested in seeing the earliest image ever taken of the BB Sams house.
The theme this week is “Products of Dataw Island.” Some time back, the Dataw Historic Foundation published a series of short articles about our history. I’ve republished two of these below that address what was grown on Dataw, as early as the mid 1700’s
The theme this week is “On the Map.” I am starting my journey to find places named after SAMS descendants of William and Elizabeth SAMS of Dataw Island (i.e., toponyms.) The name SAMS presents the familiar genealogist’s challenge, so generic it’s easy to find, but hard to determine if it’s the SAMS you want. Therefore, I started local, where we have some certainty of places named after ‘our’ SAMS and began working my way around the Southeastern U.S. I discovered some unexpected places ‘in the family,’ so to speak, and one place with a heavy SAMS fingerprint on it right here in Beaufort, SC.
It was 237 years ago that William Sams and his wife Elizabeth Hext bought Datha Island and started the journey that led to Alcoa South Carolina Inc. and the residential community we know as Dataw Island. I’ve really enjoyed writing the 52 Sams in 52 Weeks series this year. It has been a labor of exploration and discovery from the Dataw Historic Foundation for the island residents and Sams descendants. Now it’s time for a break. Rather than continue the weekly rhythm, I plan to cut back to ‘whenever.’ History comes from memories, from experience, from events both personal and public. I will be following the truth of these, and I will write again as the stories inspire me. [1]
From my experience this year and your feedback, it is clear that “history matters to people on this island.”
The theme this week is MIDDLE. We are at week 26 and half-way through 2020. This gave me an idea for a new historical perspective on the Sams. Just imagine, when Dr. Lewis Reeve Sams, Jr. and his brother Miles Brewton Sams were in their teens – so were Abraham Lincoln, Ralph Waldo Emerson, and Harriet Beecher Stowe. What these have in common is 1822. The Sams era on Datha Island started in 1783 and ended abruptly in 1861. The middle of that period was 1822.
May 16, 2020, is Armed Forces Day. It’s a day to honor Americans serving on active duty in the five U.S. military branches of our Department of Defense. As a retired United States Air Force officer myself, I couldn’t resist focusing this week’s theme of SERVICE on telling you about Sams descendants that spent a career in the USAF or its predecessor, the Army Air Corps.
Every year the Historic Beaufort Foundation gives its Historic Preservation Honor Award to celebrate successful and exemplary historic preservation projects around Beaufort County. This March the Dataw Historic Foundation received a 2011 Preservation Award from the HBF, at its Annual Meeting, for its preservation and stewardship of the Sams Plantation Ruins.
The Dataw Historic Foundation has received a major preservation award from Historic Beaufort Foundation in recognition of its work in preserving the Sams Plantation historic site and creation of an interpretive center, both located centrally on the 867-acre community of Dataw Island. Historic Beaufort Foundation Trustee Rob Montgomery and Executive Director, Maxine Lutz, presented the “Preservation Honor Award” to the Dataw Historic Foundation, accepted on the group’s behalf by their president, Marilyn Peck.
Francis William ‘Frank’ Sams, Jr. (1846-1921) was one of four children born to Dr. Frank Sams and his wife, but the only one to live to adulthood. He was born in Palatka, Florida and died in New Smyrna Beach, Florida – where he was “discovered” last year by Joe and Diane Roney on their road trip. From the research Joe Roney and I have done, it’s clear he was a very successful man; Confederate soldier at 15, State senator in Florida at 53.
The theme this week is UNEXPECTED. For a long time now, we’ve had beautiful copies of portraits of Dr. Berners Barnwell Sams and his first wife, Elizabeth Fripp. Yet, as you can see in this article, the same is not true for his older brother Lewis Reeve Sams or his first wife Sarah Fripp. All we have are poor quality black and white portraits. I’ve always hoped we would someday find better portraits. A few weeks ago, I had a eureka moment.
The theme this week is WIDOWS. Since June 23rd is International Widow’s Day, I decided to do some analysis on our Sams genealogy database and see what it reveals about widows in the Sams families of the 19th century. Our genealogy database contains over 2500 people. That’s way too many people to sift through and find the widows. The area I’ll be focusing on is a family tree with William & Elizabeth Sams at the top. The second and third generations below them are mostly complete. Still, for about one-third of the women, we have insufficient information to determine if they lived to adulthood and married. I’m going to identify the WIDOWS who are direct descendants in these first three generations of SAMS, counting William & Elizabeth as the first generation.
The theme this week is LONG LINE. Many of the ‘Datha Sams’ followed a journey over the generations away from Beaufort. Some left to pursue their dreams elsewhere (e.g., Edward Sams to GA and FL), others were pushed out by the Civil War and chose not to return. A few returned after the war and stayed, creating a long line of living in Beaufort. The long line in South Carolina began before William and Elizabeth’s purchase of Datha Island in 1783. It extends back to ancestors born in the U.S. in the 17th Century.
Related posts: Sams Plantation Complex Ruins circa 1930 … Sams Plantation Complex Ruins circa 2010 … Membership …
The Sams Plantation Complex Tabby Ruins is now listed on the National Register of Historic Places.
The theme this week is NEWSWORTHY. In Week 7, I told you about the Sams descendants that the Roney’s discovered on a trip to Florida. I ended that article with this statement,
“A Sams descendant owned a controversial painting claimed to be the only portrait Eva Perón posed for in her life! Yes, that Evita!” A newsworthy mystery for sure. The man behind this story is Anderson Childe Bouchelle (1908 – 1993).
Bylaws of the Dataw Historic Foundation. Updated in January 2020 and approved by the Board of Directors.
From prehistoric times to present day, an island rich in history, mystery, and stunning natural beauty. Experience the beauty and history of Dataw Island, South Carolina in this exquisite, limited edition, historical, coffee table book. With over 200 images – from archaeological findings to Dataw’s ruins and its breathtaking natural vistas, you will enjoy and learn the depth of history that makes Dataw the special place that it is today.
The Rev. James Julius Sams Memoirs of Datha. Written circa 1905, they tell about his life as a child on Dataw. His reflections reveal how close he felt to his brother Horace Hann Sams, and why Horace’s death in the Civil War cut him so deeply.
The legend of a giant Indian named King Datha, the source of Dataw Island’s name.
Acres of orange groves on Dataw? Was this one of the earliest commercially produced oranges in the United States?
From an Indigo plantation to a highly successful Sea Island Cotton plantation.
More information about the 15 children and where they are buried. CLement Charles Sams is buried in Chester, SC.
A story about how ice was harvested in New England and shipped to Dataw Island.
A story about the Dairy/Blade house in the Sams Family Plantation ruins complex.
The early owners of Dataw from 1755 through 1861, the beginning of the Civil War.
The early owners of Dataw from 1680 through 1755.
BB Sams had a curious way of naming his 15 children.
download Related posts: The Sams Family of South Carolina; South Carolina Historical Magazine 1963 This two-part article from the South Carolina Historical Magazine is one of the finest genealogical sources…
download Related posts: Dataw Island Chain of Title (1682 – 1983) The following Chain of Title lists all of the documented owners of Dataw Island from 1682 up…
President’s Report: We have a newly designed website that is much easier to navigate and features a beautiful new color palette. This issue debuts the new name Tabby Times and a fresh new look. I also want to congratulate Peter and Anna Pearks for becoming a Lifetime Members of DHF.
Related posts: Sams Plantation Complex Ruins circa 2010 … Video Tour of Sams Plantation Complex Tabby Ruins … Robert Oswald Sams (1841 – 1930) …
The tabby ruins at the Sams Plantation Complex stand as mute evidence of a bygone era. There were two distinct ways of life which coexisted in the antebellum South. The Plantation Owner and his family were White, European-American, educated, affluent and engaged, politically, socially and culturally, in the wider community. The Slaves, on the other hand, were captured by European slavers who forcibly removed them to North and South America from all over West Africa.
download Related posts: Tabby Tattler 2003 Fall download… Tabby Tattler 2013 Spring DHF Outreach Program, DHF’s Annual Oyster Roast, Delving into Dataw‘s Past Defines the Present . . . and…
download Related posts: Tabby Tattler 2013 Spring DHF Outreach Program, DHF’s Annual Oyster Roast, Delving into Dataw‘s Past Defines the Present . . . and Directs our Future, DHF 2013…
download Related posts: Tabby Tattler 2009 Winter download… Tabby Tattler 2013 Spring DHF Outreach Program, DHF’s Annual Oyster Roast, Delving into Dataw‘s Past Defines the Present . . . and…
download Related posts: Tabby Tattler 2009 Spring download… Tabby Tattler 2011 Winter Winter 2011 – National Honors for Sams Plantation Complex Tabby Ruins, Sams Descendents Gather, Camp Dataw History Day,…
download Related posts: Tabby Tattler 2017 Spring download… Tabby Tattler 2018 Fall Family Reunion of the Sams Family, President’s Report, DHF 20th Anniversary Celebration Honors its Members, Visitors to the…
download Related posts: Tabby Tattler 2017 Fall download… Tabby Tattler 2013 Spring DHF Outreach Program, DHF’s Annual Oyster Roast, Delving into Dataw‘s Past Defines the Present . . . and…
download Related posts: Tabby Tattler 2016 Spring Spring 2016 – Grand Opening Ribbon Cutting Ceremony of the Dataw Island History & Learning Center, More Luminaries at the Sams Plantation Complex…
download Related posts: Tabby Tattler 2015 Winter Winter 2015 – History & Learning Center Progress; Special Tours: Beaufort Rotary Club, USC OLLI Ruins Tour Class, Sun City Luncheon Ladies; Barbara…
download Related posts: Tabby Tattler 2014 Spring Tours of Tabby Ruins, DHF Holiday Card, Major New Archeological Project, Another Outstanding Oyster Roast, Dataw Heritage Walk, DHF 2014 Members, DHF Board…
download Related posts: Tabby Tattler 2004 Spring download… Tabby Tattler 2018 Fall Family Reunion of the Sams Family, President’s Report, DHF 20th Anniversary Celebration Honors its Members, Visitors to the…
download Related posts: Tabby Tattler 2005 Fall download… Tabby Tattler 2013 Spring DHF Outreach Program, DHF’s Annual Oyster Roast, Delving into Dataw‘s Past Defines the Present . . . and…
download Related posts: Tabby Tattler 2006 Fall download… Tabby Tattler 2013 Spring DHF Outreach Program, DHF’s Annual Oyster Roast, Delving into Dataw‘s Past Defines the Present . . . and…
download Related posts: Tabby Tattler 2004 Fall download… Tabby Tattler 2013 Spring DHF Outreach Program, DHF’s Annual Oyster Roast, Delving into Dataw‘s Past Defines the Present . . . and…
download Related posts: Tabby Tattler 2005 Spring download… Tabby Tattler 2018 Fall Family Reunion of the Sams Family, President’s Report, DHF 20th Anniversary Celebration Honors its Members, Visitors to the…
download Related posts: Tabby Tattler 2007 Fall download… Tabby Tattler 2013 Spring DHF Outreach Program, DHF’s Annual Oyster Roast, Delving into Dataw‘s Past Defines the Present . . . and…
download Related posts: Tabby Tattler 2007 Spring download… Tabby Tattler 2018 Fall Family Reunion of the Sams Family, President’s Report, DHF 20th Anniversary Celebration Honors its Members, Visitors to the…
download Related posts: Tabby Tattler 2006 Spring download… Tabby Tattler 2018 Fall Family Reunion of the Sams Family, President’s Report, DHF 20th Anniversary Celebration Honors its Members, Visitors to the…
download Related posts: Tabby Tattler 2003 Spring download… Tabby Tattler 2018 Fall Family Reunion of the Sams Family, President’s Report, DHF 20th Anniversary Celebration Honors its Members, Visitors to the…
December 2012 – NRHP plaque installed at the Sams Plantation Complex Tabby Ruins, Special Tours: Beaufort Senior Leadership, Penn Center Children, American Assoc. of Preservation Technology, USC OLLI Dataw History and Ruins Tour Class, New Fall Event – Lowcountry Boil, and more…
Spring 2011 – DHF Annual Oyster Roast, Dairy-Cold Room Preservation, National Register Listing, HBF preservation award, and more…
Winter 2015 – History & Learning Center Progress; Special Tours: Beaufort Rotary Club, USC OLLI Ruins Tour Class, Sun City Luncheon Ladies; Barbara Titus retires as Recording Secretary; Lowcountry Boil; and more…
Spring 2016 – Grand Opening Ribbon Cutting Ceremony of the Dataw Island History & Learning Center, More Luminaries at the Sams Plantation Complex Tabby Ruins, Jeanne Sams Birthday, Best Oyster Roast, Learning about Dataw History, and more…
Spring 2018 – President’s Report, Did You know?, Spear Point Found, Sams Family History Talk, DHF Wins Preservation Award, Christmas on Sams Plantation, DHF/VAC Competition Winners, and more…
Family Reunion of the Sams Family, President’s Report, DHF 20th Anniversary Celebration Honors its Members, Visitors to the History & Learning Center, VAC Holiday Boutique, DHF Board 2018, Members 2018, Dataw Heritage Walk form.
download Related posts: Tabby Tattler 2019 Fall download… Tabby Tattler 2013 Spring DHF Outreach Program, DHF’s Annual Oyster Roast, Delving into Dataw‘s Past Defines the Present . . . and…
download Related posts: Tabby Tattler 2019 Spring download… Tabby Tattler 2017 Fall download… Tabby Tattler 2007 Fall download…
Related posts: Sea Island Cotton of South Carolina Presentation by Bill Riski, of the Dataw Historic Society, on the history of sea island cotton. He explains why plantations came to…
Related posts: Hurricane of 1893 Tom Watkins of the Dataw Historic Foundation gave this presentation January 15th, 2019 at the Community Center on Dataw Island, SC…. Sams Plantation Complex Ruins…
In early 2009 the Dataw Historic Foundation began the development of the Dataw Heritage Walk as a living legacy to those who have made Dataw the very special place it is today.
Related posts: Sams Plantation Complex Ruins circa 1930 … Video Tour of Sams Plantation Complex Tabby Ruins … Datha by Reverend James Julius Sams circa 1905 download…
Summer 2010 – Ann Craigmile Retires from DHF, Photo Displays, Lewis Reeve Plantation Ruins Project, Grave Markers are Proudly Upright, Dataw Heritage Walk, 2010 DHF Members, Notes from the Board of Directors, DHF 2010 Leadership.
Fall 2010 – 25th Anniversary, DHF Fish Fry, 12,000 Years of Dataw History in 20 minutes, National Register of Historic Places, and more…
From the President, Preserving Our Past: Restoring a Puzzling Crypt, Opening of Dataw Histroy Display at Welcome Center.
Winter 2014 – Luminaries at the Sams Plantation Complex Tabby Ruins, Special Tours: Sams Family Descendants, Senior Leadership, Historic Beaufort Foundation Docents, USC OLLI Dataw History and Ruins Tour Class, Camp Dataw, and more…
This is a copy of the wall display you see when visiting our History & Learning Center on Dataw Island.
This is a copy of the wall display you see when visiting our History & Learning Center on Dataw Island.
This is a copy of the wall display you see when visiting our History & Learning Center on Dataw Island.
This is a copy of the wall display you see when visiting our History & Learning Center on Dataw Island.
This is a copy of the wall display you see when visiting our History & Learning Center on Dataw Island.
On Mar 4, 2019, John Colgan of the Dataw Historic Foundation presented highlights of the original development of Dataw Island by Alcoa. In the 1980’s, Alcoa South Carolina, a subsidiary…
Tom Watkins of the Dataw Historic Foundation gave this presentation January 15th, 2019 at the Community Center on Dataw Island, SC.
THE HISTORICAL DEVELOPMENT OF DATAW ISLAND ARCHITECTURAL AND ARCHAEOLOGICAL INVESTIGATIONS AT THE SAMS PLANTATION COMPLEX This report documents architectural and archaeological data recovery that has been conducted at five historic…
THE HISTORICAL DEVELOPMENT OF DATAW ISLAND ARCHITECTURAL AND ARCHAEOLOGICAL INVESTIGATIONS AT THE SAMS PLANTATION COMPLEX This report documents architectural and archaeological data recovery that has been conducted at five historic…
THE HISTORICAL DEVELOPMENT OF DATAW ISLAND ARCHITECTURAL AND ARCHAEOLOGICAL INVESTIGATIONS AT THE SAMS PLANTATION COMPLEX This report documents architectural and archaeological data recovery that has been conducted at five historic…
THE HISTORICAL DEVELOPMENT OF DATAW ISLAND ARCHITECTURAL AND ARCHAEOLOGICAL INVESTIGATIONS AT THE SAMS PLANTATION COMPLEX This report documents architectural and archaeological data recovery that has been conducted at five historic…
THE HISTORICAL DEVELOPMENT OF DATAW ISLAND ARCHITECTURAL AND ARCHAEOLOGICAL INVESTIGATIONS AT THE SAMS PLANTATION COMPLEX This report documents architectural and archaeological data recovery that has been conducted at five historic…
DHF Outreach Program, DHF’s Annual Oyster Roast, Delving into Dataw‘s Past Defines the Present . . . and Directs our Future, DHF 2013 Officers, Board Committees Chairmen, Directors, 2013 DHF Members, Notes from the Board, Special insert: the Heritage Walk and DHF Membership Form
Tours of Tabby Ruins, DHF Holiday Card, Major New Archeological Project, Another Outstanding Oyster Roast, Dataw Heritage Walk,
DHF 2014 Members, DHF Board Notes
The following Chain of Title lists all of the documented owners of Dataw Island from 1682 up through the purchase of Dataw Island by ALCOA South Carolina, Inc. in 1983.
This paper was written long ago and never finished, but it’s interesting none the less. Every wonder how Island Circle East & West got their names? Did you know when you cross the entry bridge to Dataw you go over Curisha Creek? And guess where Pee Dee Point has its origins? In the Blue Ridge Mountains of North Carolina!
These are just some of the interesting facts you’ll discover in the attached document. And if you can help clarify any of this, please contact any of your DHF board members.
Reporter N.L. Willet begins her article thusly, “Restoration work appeals to my soul and in the doing of it, I am having the time of my life.” So said Miss Kate Gleason of Rochester, New York (and of Beaufort) to Miss Elizabeth Sanders of Montclair, N. J., and myself, who were her guests for the day, as we were all sitting on the top of the cabin of the “Blanche.” This short article goes on to outline the dreams of Miss Kate Gleason for Dataw (today’s spelling) Island some 90 years ago.
This short news article by Chlotilde R. Martin in 1930 for The News and Courier, Charleston, SC captures the public’s fascination with this dynamic woman. “For three years the people of Beaufort have watched the doings of Miss Kate Gleason with curiosity. If there were no other reason except that one of the world’s multi-millionaires had come to live among them, that fact would be sufficient to hold their interest. But…”
“Having passed the half century mark, I now can look back with more complete understanding and appreciation for the noble, kind, generous, understanding gentleman of the old school whom through the graciousness of Heaven I have the privilege of calling my father.”
Written by Mrs. Travis Johnson (Katie Lucia Sams), great great granddaughter of William and Elizabeth Sams.
This two-part article from the South Carolina Historical Magazine is one of the finest genealogical sources on the Sams Family. It was published in 1963 and authored by two of William Sams’ gggranddaughters. It begins,
“Bonham Sams, II, the progenitor of the Sams family of South Carolina, was baptized 2 February, 1663, in St. Mary’s Parish Church, North Petherton Parish, County of Somerset, England, as “Bonham Sam, son of Thomas Sam” and his wife, Mary Bagge, also of this parish. He was the third generation of his family known to have worshiped here in the faith of the Established Church of England. In St. Mary’s ancient church- yard are buried his parents, also his grandparents—Bonham Samme, I, and his wife, Mary Shutte.
Bonham Sams, II, was the only one of his father’s sons to leave for the New World. His brothers, Thomas, Edward, Daniel, William, and Roger, are buried in England; and from available records it appears that
the male line of descent died out in England by 1735.”
Kate Gleason’s Adventures in a Man’s Job, This American Magazine, by Helen Christine Bennett, 1928. “She wished she had been born a boy, so she decided to do a man’s work—and this is the story of Kate Gleason’s adventures in a man’s job.”