Founding Mothers
GREENWOOD METHODIST CHURCH GREENWOOD, SOUTH CAROLINA, 1858
BY JOYCE M. BOWDEN
Founding Mothers: Greenwood Methodist Church Greenwood, South Carolina, 1858
Founding Mothers GREENWOOD METHODIST CHURCH GREENWOOD, SOUTH CAROLINA, 1858
B y J oyce M. B owden
WHITE POPPY PRESS Amherst, Massachusetts
F ounding M others : G reenwood M ethodist C hurch , G reenwood , S outh C arolina , 1858 © 2023 Adam M. Lutynski All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means—electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise—without prior written consent of the copyright owner. The thoughts, reflections, and opinions expressed in this book are those of the author, based upon her research. The copyright holder takes full and sole responsibility for all of the contents, including text and images, and regrets any aspect of the content that might be construed as injurious to a party mentioned, implied, or referred to. The copyright holder has made every attempt to locate rights holders for material contained in this book and regrets any inadvertent oversights. If alerted of any omissions or errors, the copyright holder will make corrections in any future printings. The church that appears in the cover art and frontispiece is based on artist Virginia Wiggins’ drawing of the first building of the Greenwood Methodist Church, appearing on page 29 of The History of Main Street United Methodist Church, Greenwood, South Carolina by Harry R. Mays, Providence House Publishers, 1992. Virginia Wiggins’ art, in turn, was based upon a sketch in a notebook of Mrs. C.W. Tribble. Cover design by Nicole Miller Printed and bound in the U.S.A. PRINTED EDITION ISBN: 978-0-9997705-7-3 DIGITAL EDITION ISBN: 979-8-9875878-0-5
WHITE POPPY PRESS 417 West Street, Suite 104 Amherst, Massachusetts 01002 413-253-2353 www.modernmemoirs.com An imprint of Modern Memoirs, Inc.
CONTENTS
Foreword
vii
Introduction Dedication
1 5
Draft of Map of Selected Families and Streets, 1856-1865, Greenwood Village, Abbeville, SC
6-7
Chapter 1, Elizabeth (Cooksey) Parks Byrd 9 Photo: Daughter, Elizabeth Catherine (Parks) Barratt Upton Photo: Grandson, William Parks Barratt
Chapter 2, Emily Osborn
23
Photo: Nephew, Leonard Augustus “Gus” or “L.A.” Osborn
Chapter 3, Eliza (Redmond) Osborn
35
Photo: Son, Leonard Augustus “Gus” or “L.A.” Osborn,
Daughter-in-law, Mary Elizabeth (Pinson) Osborn, and Pinson family
Photo: Son, Leonard Augustus “Gus” or “L.A.” Osborn
Chapter 4, Louisa Jane (Clinkscales) Merriman
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Photo: Grandniece and first cousin twice removed, Nina (Pratt) Carter Photo: First cousin twice removed, Gertrude Clinkscales Photo: Nephew, John G. Clinkscales Chapter 5, Caroline Rebecca (Redmond) Mounce Photo: Daughter, Tallulah Rebecca (Mounce) McCants Photo: Son, John Lee Mounce Sr.
67
Chapter 6, Anna M. “Ann” (Daniel) Turpin
79
Photo: Sister, Jane Beverly (Daniel) Evans Photo: Nephew, General Nathan George Evans
Chapter 7, Mary Ann Dorothy (Hodges) Bailey
93
Photo: Mother, Mary Ann Dorothy (Connor) Hodges Photo: Father, Samuel Anderson Hodges Photo: Niece, Harriet “Hattie” Hodges, and sister-in-law, Harriet Louise (Bailey) Hodges Photo: Nephew, Arthur Lee
Chapter 8, Anna Eliza “Annie” (Turpin) Calhoun
111
Photo: Husband’s cousin, John J. Calhoun. Husband, Frank R. Calhoun, M.D.
Appendix B, A Church of Their Own: The Fuller Institute Story
121 125 127 133 135 137
Acknowledgments
Glossary Sources
Images Source List About the Author
Foreword I start to practice my trade at the point where the satisfactions of the official story break down. 1 —Hilary Mantel
In 2014 Joyce M. Bowden, my wife, published a 354-page genealogical book entitled Four Connor Generations in South Carolina 1790–1920, demonstrating her prowess as a scrupulous and relentless researcher. During that research, she became acquainted with several key figures in this book, Founding Mothers: Greenwood Methodist Church, Greenwood, South Carolina, 1858 , and wanted to tell their story. Then, Joyce died unexpectedly on June 12, 2022 at a vigorous and energetic age 83. This is her unvarnished draft, a work interrupted, which I have presented here so that others might benefit from Joyce’s efforts. As she researched and wrote, Joyce felt handcuffed. One cuff was the limitation of strict genealogical research. Its product is often “X and Y begat W,” repeated over and over. Other than statistical and chronological data, Joyce discovered an almost complete absence of mid-19th century, publicly available material about the eight founders of the Greenwood Methodist Church to supplement the information she had about their ancestry. Social norms of the day explain the dearth of information Joyce faced, since convention held that a woman’s name should appear in a newspaper only at three times: her birth, her marriage, and her death. Otherwise, she was to be invisible, with no recognized role in public life beyond motherhood and its spin- offs: the nurturing and care-giving roles of homemaker, teacher, and nurse. Joyce’s research discovered no diaries, no letters, no notebooks, no local newspaper stories about the creation of the church. She discovered not one photo or portrait of any of the eight women! The unfortunate result is that the women in the draft are stick figures—no flesh, no blood, no hopes, no aspirations, no longings. The second cuff was that these women were dealing with a large Christian church in which white men occupied all positions of power and authority. If women were invisible in the American public arena
1 “Enriching the Record,” “Appreciation: Hilary Mantel, 1952–2022” by Boyd Tonkin, The Wall Street Journal, Review, October 1-2, 2022, p. C10.
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of the mid-19th century, they were totally absent from positions of power in the Methodist Church. The obvious question is: How did the official Methodist Church react to this unprecedented drive by women to establish a church? Were these women not self-willed, upstart, renegade trespassers? Why weren’t they told to go home, care for their children, and prepare dinner for their husbands? Joyce used all of her research and investigative skills to coax answers from the church. Each effort was apparently ignored. Two potential explanations come to mind: 1. The archives contain no records about the founders, or the church’s first minister, Reverend William Lawton; or 2. Records do exist but shine an unflattering light on the Methodist Church and will not be circulated. Although stymied, Joyce’s meticulous research, at the very least, makes visible those who were relegated to invisibility. We are now, in writer Hilary Mantel’s words, “where the satisfactions of the official story break down.” The traditional genealogical records have been exhausted, and they do not contain the raw materials of the human interactions that shape a captivating and satisfying story. Official Methodism refuses to disclose whether it possesses those materials, and it seems that no earthly power can make it relent. Nothing would please Joyce more than to see other researchers unearth new factual discoveries about the founding mothers. However, if this is, in Hilary Mantel’s words, “the point where the satisfactions of the official story break down,” Joyce would be delighted to see an imaginative writer, having the highest regard for the indisputable historical facts, tell the enriched story of how these eight resolute women, generations ahead of their time, achieved their formidable goal. Adam Lutynski Boston, Massachusetts October 2022
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Founding Mothers: Greenwood Methodist Church Greenwood, South Carolina, 1858
Founding Mothers: Greenwood Methodist Church Greenwood, South Carolina, 1858 INTRODUCTION 28 November 2021
Eight Methodist women founded a Methodist church in a South Carolina village in the mid 19 th century. They had moved to the village for different reasons and at different times. The earliest to arrive had moved when the village was no more than a hamlet. Most did not know each other when they arrived. To them the village was not just a place on the way to some place else, they moved to put down roots. This book is about who the founders were, what they did to better the lives of Methodist women and children in the village and what in their own lives motivated them to organize and push for these changes. This book presents a different picture of a Methodist church than the customary one in which male itinerant and local preachers built the church. It shows the women had an entirely different view of the mission of the church. To them, the central question was “What does faith mean for parents, husbands and children?” The South’s demographic reality among white people was different from the rest of the country. Southern men died early and left behind them young widows with minor children to support. “[white] Women in the South needed to keep estates together for the good of the family. In New England, for example, wives were usually widowed at middle age or later. They could depend on grown children for financial assistance.” Widowhood affected all economic classes of South Carolina white women negatively, even well to do and upper-class women, because slaves and other personal property were not part of dower. 1 The founders were a socio-economically diverse group of white women. Some women were well to do, others were working women. They represented different generations; 38 years separated them in age. Two were widows, four were married and two were single when they founded the church. Four were daughters of widows. Only two founders’ fathers were living when they founded the church. Three grew up in villages, the others were raised in rural locations. The school record of only one founder was discovered but four founders probably had formal schooling.
1 Marylynn Salmon, Women and the Law of Property in Early America (Chapel Hill and London: The University of North Carolina Press, 1986), 160.
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Here from oldest to youngest are demographic details. One founder was twice widowed, with five children from her first marriage. Her second husband from his first marriage had a child disabled from birth. The next founder’s father died when she was age eight. She was raised by her mother. She herself was widowed at age 34 with two children. The next founder, the oldest of six children, was a parent to her siblings after her mother died and before her father remarried. The next founder and her siblings were caregivers to their youngest sister who was disabled. Her father died when she was age 14; her mother remarried immediately. Siblings and step siblings numbered two boys and eight girls. The next founder’s mother died when she was three years old. She was raised by her father and stepmother. She married at age 17. Two of six children did not reach maturity. The next founder’s father died before she was age two leaving her mother with as many as 10 children from 2 marriages. She married at age 14 and had seven children. The next founder was age two when her father died. She was raised by her mother, an aunt and uncle. The final founder married at age 19. Two children were born disabled and two others died by age five. “Methodism was comprehensively shaped by women in ways we still do not fully understand,” wrote David Hempton in 2005. 2 Readers today, because of the pandemic, can understand the founders’ goals better than even five years ago. How the founders shaped the church that succeeded theirs and its members may be so obvious that it cannot yet be completely seen. The author hopes this book adds clarity to the founders’ contributions. These eight women have long since been forgotten. Even some of their descendants are unaware of them. The name of the church they founded and the church building itself died with them. Members of the successor church also may be unaware of them. The author hopes this book helps recreate the founders and gives them their proper place in our memories. These women were outside the Methodist power structure. Readers should know that “. . . the Methodist Episcopal Church, South, did not permit women to be Stewards or Trustees or Sunday School Superintendents in a
2 David Hempton, Methodism: Empire of the Spirit (New Haven and London: Yale University Press, 2005), 149.
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local church until well into the twentieth century. . . .” 3 A church historian likened their activity to that of a class meeting which was part of local Methodist structure. Classes were limited to members in good standing. They met weekly on Friday night under a class leader. Top on the agenda was each other’s spiritual welfare. Members then prayed for and sought to win the unsaved and backslidden. Members also cared for the sick and needy and donated money to support the Gospel. 4 Although some of the founders’ activities may have looked like those of a class meeting, the founders were not a class meeting. As a result, they probably pursued their goals in unconventional as well as conventional Methodist ways. Customarily, organizing Methodist churches was a years’-long process that began with societies. Chapels or meeting houses, generally one-room log buildings, were the next step in church formation. If sufficiently supported by members and clergy, some chapels and meeting houses became churches. 5 Preaching places also were a steppingstone to church formation. The South Carolina Methodist church eventually designated the village where the eight women lived a preaching place. Preaching places did not have church buildings or organized congregations but were locations where circuit riders visited to conduct services. Those who regularly attended these services thought themselves Methodists even though no local church structure existed. 6 So compelling was the founders’ case for a church in the village that the church founding leapfrogged the customary Methodist church formation process. The local structure went straight from a preaching place to a church. Another possible way to look at these circumstances is that a Methodist church in the village was long overdue. 3 Harry R. Mays, The History of Main Street United Methodist Church, Greenwood, South Carolina (Franklin, Tennessee: Providence House Publishers, 1992), 27. 4 Mays, History , 28. Also, Albert Deems Betts, History of South Carolina Methodism (Columbia: The Advocate Press, 1952), 122, 159. 5 Betts, South Carolina Methodism , 159. 6 Mays, History , 26. Also, W.K. Charles, Sr., History of Main Street Methodist Church, Greenwood, South Carolina, 1858-1958 (Greenwood: privately printed, 1958), 5-6. Also, S.H. McGhee, “Shadowy Memories and Traditions of Methodism in Greenwood,” Southern Christian Advocate, October 22, 1931, 4-5.
3
Chapters appear in the order in which the founders organized their work, beginning with the first conversation about unmet needs and ending with the tragedy that clinched the founding. Founders were buried in Methodist cemeteries, a Presbyterian cemetery and a former Methodist cemetery. Regrettably, the burial place of one founder was not found. Greenwood was the name of the village; Woodville, the name of the hamlet. Church historians called the church Greenwood Methodist Episcopal Church, South. Because I did not write a church history, I call it simply Greenwood Methodist Church.
4
Dedication 11 September 2020
To my Connor ancestors who were members of Greenwood Methodist Church, great-grandmother Caroline Lucinda (McCants) Connor, grandfather Jefferson McCants Connor, great uncle Edward Clarence Connor, great aunt Katherine (Meyer) Connor and cousin (?) Alice Connor, I dedicate this book with remembrance and affection.
5
6
7
1 Elizabeth (Cooksey) Parks Byrd
Daughter, Elizabeth Catherine (Parks) Barratt Upton
Grandson, William Parks Barratt
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CHAPTER ONE Elizabeth (Cooksey) Parks Byrd Founder, Greenwood Methodist Church Greenwood, South Carolina 24 April 2022
I. Who Elizabeth Was and What She Did
Elizabeth (Cooksey) Parks Byrd may have been the founder all others turned to for guidance. She had traveled far to her second home from her first and traveled again to her third home. She grew to womanhood on the frontier and by age 20 had married. She was widowed twice and one child predeceased her. For all her adult life she managed Methodist households. From firsthand experience, she understood the value of spiritual and other support the church could provide families. Hezekiah Cooksey and Eliza Grey, also spelled Gray, were Elizabeth’s parents. Hezekiah was born about 1750 in C HARLES C OUNTY , M ARYLAND , where his ancestors had lived since the 17 th century. 1 In the 1770s, he still lived in that county. 2 He enlisted 9 July 1776 in the Maryland militia. 3 At the end of the decade he and Eliza Grey married. Eliza was born in 1752 in Charles County where her father’s ancestors had lived since the early part of the century. 4 1 Hezekiah Cooksey, ID 1018499, Early Colonial Settlers of Southern Maryland and Virginia’s North Neck Counties (http://www.colonial-settlers-md-va.us/index.php) : 2 April 2019). Also, Elizabeth Gray, ID 1018502, Early Colonial Settlers of Southern Maryland and Virginia’s North Neck Counties (http://www.colonial-settlers-md-va.us/index.php) : 2 April 2019). 2 “Maryland, Compiled Census and Census Substitutes Index, 1772-1890,” database, Ancestry.com (access through participating libraries : 28 March 2019), abstract, Hezekiah Cooksey, 1775; citing Maryland Early Census Index. Also, “Maryland, Compiled Census and Census Substitutes Index, 1772-1890,” database, Ancestry.com (access through participating libraries : 28 March 2019), abstract, fidelity oath of Hezekiah Cooksey, 1778; citing Maryland Early Census Index. 3 Archives of Maryland: Muster Rolls and Other Records of Service of Maryland Troops in American Revolution, 1775-1783 , v. 18 (Baltimore: Maryland Historical Society, 1900), 32; digital image, Internet Archive (https://archive.org : 31 March 2019). 4 “Maryland Marriages, 1666-1970,” database, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:F4] FMG : 31 March 2019), entry for Hezekiah Cooksey-Eliza Grey, 13 July 1780; citing “Charles County; FHL microfilm 13,148.” Also, Elizabeth Gray, Early Colonial Settlers.
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Elizabeth was born in 1800. 5 That year, in her father’s Port Tobacco Parish household in Charles County, she probably appeared by gender and age range, the sole female under age 10. Discounting a possible uncle and overseer, the number of boys and girls in this household matched the children named in her father’s will. 6 This Cooksey household had expanded to 23 members including 14 slaves from 14 members including seven slaves in 1790. 7 Departing Maryland after 1800, Elizabeth and her family were part of the massive migration that exploded after the American Revolution ended and peace was restored. They traveled to Georgia from Maryland via Virginia, seeking more and better land at lower cost and the benefits offered veterans. They followed a route due south through Greensville County, Virginia, then southwest to Warren County, Georgia. The enumerator of the 1810 U.S. census of Greensville County mistook Hezekiah’s age and noted he did not own slaves. 8 Hezekiah was not age 26- 44 but age 60. To persevere in his journey at this advanced age, he probably was thinking about his children’s future. The state of Georgia offered free land to veterans. All he had to do was show up and make a claim. The family arrived in Georgia after 1810. Within a few years, Hezekiah had acquired land and reacquired slaves to work it. In Georgia, Hezekiah lived in District 158, a M ILITIA D ISTRICT , in the northern part of Warren County. He owned land there and in nearby Wilkes County. In 1817, he paid tax on three tracts in the county where he lived and one tract in Wilkes County. In Warren County, two tracts were on or near 5 Greenwood County, South Carolina, Cemetery Records , 3 vols. (Greenwood: Old Ninety Six District Chapter, South Carolina Genealogical Society, 1996, 2008, 2010), 2:63. 6 1800 U.S. census, Port Tobacco Parish, Charles County, Maryland, p. 84, Hezekiah Cooksey; digital image, Ancestry.com (access through participating libraries : 28 March 2019), citing NARA microfilm publication M32, roll 10. Also, Hezekiah Cooksey will in documentation file supporting membership application of Reba Bradley Hicks, National no. 592046, on Hezekiah Cooksey, approved December 1974; National Society Daughters of the American Revolution, Office of the Registrar General, Washington, D.C. 7 1790 U.S. census, Charles County, Maryland, p. 551 (penned), Hezekiah Cooksey; digital image, Ancestry.com (access through participating libraries : 28 March 2019), citing NARA microfilm publication M637, roll 3. 8 1810 U.S. census, Greensville County, Virginia, p. 447, Hezekiah Cooksey; digital image, Ancestry.com (access through participating libraries : 28 March 2019), citing NARA microfilm publication M252, roll 68. By gender and age in this household, Elizabeth was among three females under age 15.
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Williams Creek and the other tract was on or near Beaverdam. The Wilkes County tract was on or near Harding Creek. In 1818, Hezekiah added another tract on or near Williams Creek. In each year, he paid for one poll, himself, and owned 13 slaves. 9 Hezekiah made his will in 1817. He did not mention Eliza probably because she had already died. When she died and where she died and was buried are not known. In the will, Hezekiah identified Elizabeth as his daughter. She was single. She had two married sisters and two brothers. Elizabeth’s dowry- like legacy was: “I give and bequeath to my beloved daughter Elizabeth Cooksey, one Negro fellow Stephen, one Negro Wench Ester, and her two children Davy and Sudy, one Negro Wench Bet, one Negro [fellow] Harry and their increase; four Milch Cows, one Horse, also one Bed & furniture, and her Saddle and Bridle, which are already in her pofsession; together with all her clothing or apparel; to her heirs and afsigns, forever.” 10 In 1820 Elizabeth no longer lived with her father. 11 Instead, she lived in the William Parks household in nearby Lincoln County. She was enumerated as female age 16-25 and William, male age 26-44. The other household members possibly were an overseer and William’s child from an earlier marriage. William Parks owned 14 slaves. 12 Add probably was his wife. Hezekiah died in Warren County before 3 January 1825, the date witnesses swore they had watched him years earlier make his mark. 13 His place of burial is not known. 9 “Georgia, Property Tax Digests, 1793-1892,” database, Ancestry.com (access through participating libraries : 10 April 2019), images, Hezekiah Cooksey in Capt. Griers District No. 158, 1817 & 1818; citing unpaginated Warren County, Georgia, Tax Digests, 1817 & 1818, Cooksey image 66 of 78 (1817) and image 77 of 87 (1818). Also, Paul K. Graham, Atlas of East and Coastal Georgia Watercourses and Militia Districts (Decatur, Georgia: The Genealogy Company, 2010), 49. 10 Hezekiah Cooksey will, DAR documentation file, Reba Bradley Hicks, National no. 592046. 11 1820 U.S. census, Captain Robert Hills District, Warren County, Georgia, p. 298, Hezekiah Cooksey Senior; digital image, Ancestry.com (access through participating libraries : 27 February 2019), citing NARA microfilm publication M33, roll 7. 12 1820 U.S. census, Lincoln County, Georgia, p. 165, William Parks; digital image, Ancestry.com (access through participating libraries : 27 February 2019), citing NARA microfilm publication M 33, roll 7. 13 Oath of witnesses to Hezekiah Cooksey will, 3 January 1825, in documentation file supporting membership application of Reba Bradley Hicks, National no. 592046, on Hezekiah Cooksey, approved December 1974; National Society Daughters of the American Revolution, Office of the Registrar General, Washington, D.C.
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In 1830, the William Parks household still lived in Lincoln County, in District 186, a M ILITIA D ISTRICT . William was age 40-49 and a female probably Elizabeth was age 30-39. They now had four children plus William’s child. William owned 15 slaves. 14 Map, Graham, “Lincoln County, Georgia, Watercourses and Militia Districts” In 1840 the William Parks household had seven members: William, Elizabeth and their five children, four boys and one girl. William and Elizabeth were ages 50-59 and 40-49 respectively; William owned 31 slaves. 15 William was ill and probably feared he would not recover. In his will signed 9 September 1840, he named wife Elizabeth and children Lewis, James, William, John and Elizabeth. William gave the executor authority to divide and distribute his property. Debts may have been considerable because he wanted 400 acres and an interest in a “Gold lot” sold to satisfy creditors before property was divided and distributed. Also, to help raise any needed cash, he wanted five male slaves hired out, that is, rented. William wanted his family and slaves to stay together where they currently lived until his property was divided and distributed. While Elizabeth was a widow, after debts were paid, she had “entire control and ownership of the family residence.” But, if she remarried, the executor was to: sell the home and land; divide the proceeds six ways among family members; place slaves in six equal lots; and allocate slaves among the members by drawing lots. William’s fears were well founded. He died at age 58 2 January 1841 near Goshen in Lincoln County. When he died, William had been a Methodist for more than 20 years. 16 14 1830 U.S. census, Lincoln County, Georgia, District 186 (James McMillon Capt.), p. 60 (penned), Wm [William] Parks; digital image, Ancestry.com (access through participating libraries : 22 February 2019); citing NARA microfilm publication M19, roll 19. The Ancestry abstracter mistakenly interpreted the Parks household location as District 185. It was the first household enumerated in District 186. 15 1840 U.S. census, Lincoln County, Georgia, p. 220 (printed), William Porks [Parks]; digital image, Ancestry.com (access through participating libraries : 22 February 2019); citing FHL microfilm 0007045. 16 “Georgia Wills and Probate Records, 1742-1992,” database with images, Ancestry.com (access through participating libraries: 25 April 2019), image, William Parks will, 9 September 1840, 1 February 1841; citing Georgia, Court of Ordinary, Lincoln County, Wills,
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Across the river in South Carolina, Mary Clopton (Perrin) Hearst Byrd, Thomas B. Byrd’s first wife, died a year after William Parks. The Perrin and Hearst families were among the elite families of Abbeville District. 17 Thomas was Mary’s second husband. Her first, was Joseph Hearst, Jr. with whom she had three children. 18 Elizabeth (Cooksey) Parks and Thomas B. Byrd married in late 1843 in Lincoln County. 19 Rev. Henry P. Pitchford, a traveling Methodist preacher, performed the ceremony. Pitchford served the Georgia Methodist Conference for 30 years and was stationed in Lincolnton, the Lincoln County seat, in Augusta District when he married Elizabeth and Thomas. 20 Elizabeth and Thomas may have known or known of each other for years. Although they lived in different states, their counties abutted the Savannah River and had connections dating to the 18 th century. A major long-standing connection between the two states was a ferry that crossed the river upstream from Augusta. The Georgia landing of this ferry was in the militia district where Elizabeth and William lived. The road meeting this ferry on the Vol. B-E, 1796-1877, pp. 51-53. Also, William Parks obituary, Southern Christian Advocate (Charleston, South Carolina) , 12 February 1841, p. 140, col. 1, South Carolina United Methodist Collection, Wofford College, Spartanburg. 17 William Perrin and Mary Clopton (https://liveasfreepeople.com : 20 January 2019. Also, Thomas Perrin Harrison, Jr., The Honorable Thomas Chiles Perrin of Abbeville, South Carolina: Forebears and Descendants (Greenville: A Press, 1983), viii, 10. Also, Larry S. Bell and Marvin L. Cann, “Silver Spoons and Spyglasses: The Lifestyle of the Abbeville Gentry, 1820-1860,” The South Carolina Historical Magazine 115 (October 2014), 304-324, especially 306; image copy, JSTOR (http://www.jstor.org/stable/43666004 : 15 August 2019). 18 Alabama Surname File Expanded, 1702-1981,” database, Ancestry.com (access through participating libraries :18 April 2019), image, “Hearst Table of Descent,” image 45 of 424; citing Alabama Department of Archives and History, Montgomery, Alabama, Alabama Surname Files; Film M85.0588. Also, Watson, Greenwood Co. Sketches , 254. 19 Byrd-Parks marriage record in documentation file supporting membership application of Reba Bradley Hicks, National no. 592046, on Hezekiah Cooksey, approved December 1974; National Society Daughters of the American Revolution, Office of the Registrar General, Washington, D.C. They married 6 December 1843. The marriage was recorded 20 December 1843. 20 Minutes of the Annual Conference of the Methodist Episcopal Church South for the Year 1882 (Nashville: Southern Methodist Publishing House, 1883), 131-132; digital images, HathiTrust Digital Library (https://www.hathitrust.org : 31 March 2019). Also, Minutes of the Annual Conferen ces of the Methodist Episcopal Church for the Years 1839-1845, vol. III (New York: T. Mason and G. Lane, 1840), 325; digital images, Google Books (http://books.google.com : 6 April 2019).
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South Carolina side was the chief east-west route connecting middle Georgia and points west with Abbeville District. Eastbound, a branch of this road passed through Greenwood village. A chance encounter at Market Day in Vienna or Hamburg could have been how they met. During their lifetimes, these South Carolina towns were important trading centers. Their markets served both states and parts of others. 21 Perhaps they also met at a Methodist event. The South Carolina Methodist Conference had had Georgia districts, 22 one of which may have included Elizabeth’s home. The event could have been camp meeting or a district or conference meeting. Map, Hudson, “Georgia, Lincoln County Militia District Companies, 1807- 1830” Elizabeth and Thomas combined households. Elizabeth’s children John T. Parks, age 22, and Elizabeth Parks, age 15, were members as were Thomas’s children Dudley, age 28, and Fanny, age 17. Twelve adolescents ranging in age from 14 to 18 made this household unusually large. These boys and girls probably boarded with the Byrd household while attending nearby schools. The location of the Byrd home between Elm and Willowdale courts on Main Street, now East Cambridge Avenue, was near Fuller Institute and Hodges Institute, Baptist schools that had gotten underway a few years earlier, and schools G REENWOOD A SSOCIATION FOR THE P ROMOTION OF E DUCATION had operated since the 1830s. 23 Emily Osborn lived in the Byrd household too. 24 She probably worked as housemother for the students and caregiver for Dudley Byrd who was 21 Watson, Greenwood Co. Sketches 40, 51, 58, 60. Also, Frank Parker Hudson, An 1800 Census for Lincoln County, Georgia (Atlanta: R.J. Taylor Foundation, 1972), 11-13. Also, Paul K. Graham, Atlas of East and Coastal Georgia Watercourses and Militia Districts (Decatur, Georgia: The Genealogy Company, 2010), 34. 22 Albert M. Shipp, The History of Methodism in South Carolina (1884; reprint, Spartanburg: The Reprint Company, 1972), 599-600. 23 1850 U.S. census, Abbeville District, South Carolina, population schedule, p. 116A, dwelling 1785, family 1788, Thomas B. Bird [Byrd]; digital image, Ancestry.com (access through participating libraries : 20 December 2018); citing NARA microfilm publication M432, roll 848. Also, “Village had Post Office 20 Years ahead of Charter,” The (Greenwood, South Carolina) Index Journal , 14 September 1957, online archives (https://www.newspapers.com) : accessed 8 February 2018), p. 33, cols. 1-5. Also, Ann Herd Bowen, Greenwood County: A History (Greenwood, South Carolina: The Museum, 1992), 119-122. 24 1850 U.S. census, Abbeville District, South Carolina, population schedule, p. 116A, dwelling 1785, family 1788, Emily Orsborn [Osborn] in Thomas B. Bird [Byrd] household;
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intellectually disabled. Emily, her brother and sister and their spouses had lived in Greenwood since before 1840. Methodists among them probably had already talked about church members especially the sick, widows, mothers with young children and young mothers needing more spiritual support from traveling preachers. But it probably was just talk. Nothing may have stirred among Greenwood Methodist women until Elizabeth arrived. Elizabeth and Emily probably formed the nucleus of the Methodist women’s group who founded Greenwood Methodist Church. Their informal conversations about day-to-day matters of running a household expanded as they learned more about each other and what they had in common. Two things stood out right away: both were Methodists with disabled family members. Emily’s younger sister was disabled. See Elizabeth’s stepson mentioned above. Topics they discussed grew when Elizabeth probably talked about her widowhood when she did not have to depend on her children for support and when Emily probably talked about her twice- widowed mother who had to depend entirely on her children and stepchildren for support. Likely, Elizabeth and Emily’s conversations expanded to include a typical question, “What can we Methodist women do to help each other?” Then, Emily surely suggested they invite her sister-in-law Eliza to join them. The three probably met in Elizabeth’s home. As they explored what they had in common, subjects probably ranged from widows, widows with young children, young mothers, to disabled children. When Louisa Jane Merriman moved to Main Street in Greenwood from Cokesbury, she became Elizabeth’s neighbor. Elizabeth and Louisa Jane promptly discovered their common C HARLES C OUNTY , M ARYLAND roots. As they got to know each other, Elizabeth probably disclosed her first marriage to an older man was much like Louisa Jane’s marriage. She also quickly recognized Louisa Jane, as a “woman of strong positive convictions,” could bolster the conversations she, Emily and Eliza were having and sharpen their focus. Elizabeth invited Louisa Jane to join them. Then, one more common experience emerged. Eliza and Louisa Jane discovered their mothers died when they were both very young, so young that they may have had no recollections of them.
digital image, Ancestry.com (access through participating libraries : 20 December 2018); citing NARA microfilm publication M432, roll 848.
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These four women were the first members of the Methodist women’s group who founded Greenwood Methodist Church. During the 1850s, they would add four more women and formally organize themselves. Socio-economically Elizabeth and Emily set the tone for the entire group as it expanded. Elizabeth, a well-off woman, and Emily, a working woman, discovered what they had in common outweighed their differences. As the group expanded, membership probably was self-selecting. Women comfortable with a broad-based group may have wanted to be a part of it, whereas women comfortable only with their own were not interested. Ultimately, a broad-based membership probably was one of the group’s strengths as it pushed Methodist decision-makers to expand in Greenwood. Elizabeth and Thomas had been married nearly 14 years when Thomas died 9 February 1857 at age 58. His grave marker indicated he had been a Methodist for the last 25 years of his life. 25 After Thomas died, Elizabeth’s youngest son and daughter-in-law moved in with her. She probably still lived in the Main Street home where she had lived since moving to Greenwood. She no longer boarded students. She had inherited property from Thomas and probably still owned property inherited from William. 26 Greenwood Methodist Church was the first church founded in the village proper. In its infancy, Elizabeth likely continued to nurture the women’s group and financially backed the Church. Re the latter, she almost certainly put-up part of the property needed to buy the Fuller Institute building and land. In addition, she with others probably oversaw planning and renovating the building to convert it for use as a church. Rev. William H. Lawton, the organizing pastor of the Church, was so pleased with the renovation that he called the building “a neat brick church.” 27 25 Greenwood Co., S.C., Cemetery Records , 3:250-51. 26 1860 U.S. census, Abbeville District, South Carolina, population schedule, Greenwood, p. 110 (penned), dwelling 805, family 780, Eliza [Elizabeth] Byrd; digital image, Ancestry.com (access through participating libraries : 20 December 2018); citing NARA microfilm publication M653, roll 1212. Also, Abbeville District, South Carolina, Court of Ordinary, Thomas B. Byrd will, Thomas B. Byrd Estate; Box 144, Pkg. 4051, Abbeville County Probate Court, Abbeville. 27 “Brother James A. Bailey,” obituary, Southern Christian Advocate (Macon, Georgia) , 14 February 1872, p. 24, col. 5, South Carolina United Methodist Collection, Wofford College, Spartanburg.
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Elizabeth died in 1864. She was among the earliest buried in the cemetery behind Greenwood Methodist Church. Known then as Methodist Cemetery and now as Greenwood Cemetery, it was the first cemetery in the village. 28 II. Other Family Information Elizabeth and William’s children (Elizabeth and Thomas did not have children.) Lewis, the oldest, was born about 1821 and died after 7 June 1880. 29 His date of death and place of death and burial are not known. He married Sarah Ann Griffin 22 September 1842 in Lincoln County. 30 Her date and place of birth are not known. Lewis, Sarah and children moved to Greenwood in the 1850s. Their household was family #781 in the 1860 U.S. census and Elizabeth’s household was family #780. 31 In the Civil War, Lewis served in Co. B, 5 th Regiment, South Carolina Reserves and in Co. F, 1 st Regiment, South Carolina State Troops. 32 28 Greenwood Co., S.C., Cemetery Records , 2:57, 2:63. 29 1880 U.S. census, Abbeville County, South Carolina, population schedule, Ninety Six Township, p. 330A, enumeration district (ED) 014, dwelling 119, family 125, Louis [Lewis] C. Parks; digital image, Ancestry.com (access through participating libraries : 2 August 2019), citing NARA microfilm publication T9, roll 1217. 30 “Georgia, Marriage Records from Select Counties, 1828-1978,” database with images, Ancestry.com (access through participating libraries : 2 August 2019), image, Lewis C. Parks-Sarah Ann Griffin; citing Georgia, Lincoln County, Marriages (White), Book H (2), 1829-1849, p. 91. 31 1860 U.S. census, Abbeville District, South Carolina, population schedule, Greenwood, p. 110 (penned), dwelling 806, family 781, Lewis C. Parks; digital image, Ancestry.com (access through participating libraries : 20 December 2018); citing NARA microfilm publication M653, roll 1212. Also, 1860 U.S. census, Abbeville Dist., S.C., pop. sch., Greenwood, p. 110 (penned), dwell. 805, fam. 780, Eliza [Elizabeth] Byrd. 32 Compiled service record, Lewis C. Parks, 1st Lt./Capt., Co. B., 5 Regiment, South Carolina Reserves, (90 Days, 1862-3), Civil War; digital images, Fold3 (access through participating libraries : 2 August 2019), citing NARA microfilm publication M267, roll 0201. Also, Compiled service record, Lewis C. Parks, 3rd Lt./Jr. 2nd Lt., Co. F, 1 Regiment, South Carolina State Troops (6 Months, 1863-4), Civil War; digital images, Fold3 (access through participating libraries : 2 August 2019), citing NARA microfilm publication M267, roll 0148.
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Sarah died before 1880. In that year’s U.S. census of Abbeville County Lewis was a widower. He lived with three adult children and a farmhand. 33 Sarah’s place of burial is not known. James, the second son, was living when Thomas wrote his will in 1856. After that, nothing more is known about James. William, the third son, had died in Texas before Thomas wrote his will. 34 John was the youngest son. The 1830 census enumerated him by gender and age range, male under age five. 35 He was born in 1829 and died in 1904 in Greenwood. Anna Mary was John’s wife. Her family’s name is not known. She was born 25 April 1829 and died 25 September 1874 in Greenwood. John and Anna Mary were buried in Elizabeth’s plot in Greenwood Cemetery with son John Cooksey Parks and an infant daughter. 36 John served in the Civil War, in Co. F, 2 Regiment, South Carolina Infantry. 37 Elizabeth was the youngest child. She was born 26 January 1835 in Lincoln County and died 8 February 1908 in Madisonville, Monroe County, Tennessee. She and first husband J.G. Barratt married in 1854 in Greenwood and had four children. He came from a well-known local family. He served in the Civil War and died 17 September 1862 at the Battle of Antietam. His
33 1880 U.S. census, Abbeville Co., South Carolina, pop. sch., p. 330A, dwell. 119, fam. 125, Louis [Lewis] C. Parks. 34 Abbeville Dist., S.C., Court of Ordinary, Thomas B. Byrd will, Thomas B. Byrd Estate. 35 1830 U.S. census, Lincoln Co., Georgia, Dist. 186 (James McMillon Capt.), p. 60 (penned), Wm [William] Parks. 36 Greenwood Co., S.C., Cemetery Records , 2:63. 37 Compiled service record, John T. Parks, 2nd Lt., Co. F, 2 Regiment, South Carolina Infantry, Civil War; digital images, Fold3 (access through participating libraries : 2 August 2019), citing NARA microfilm publication M267, roll 0158. John W. Parks was an alternate name in service records.
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place of burial is not known. 38 Elizabeth later married W.A. Upton. They had three children. 39 Elizabeth was buried in Madisonville Cemetery. 40 Tree, Elizabeth Cooksey and William Parks Photos: Elizabeth (Cooksey) Parks Byrd’s daughter, Elizabeth Catherine (Parks) Barratt Upton, and grandson, William Parks Barratt, M.D.
38 Watson, Greenwood Co. Sketches , 152-55. Also, Compiled service record, John G. Barratt, Private, Co. F, 2 Regiment, South Carolina Infantry, Civil War; digital images, Fold3 (access through participating libraries : 7 August 2019), citing NARA microfilm publication M267, roll 0153. 39 Membership application, Reba Bradley Hicks, National no. 592046, on Hezekiah Cooksey, approved December 1974; National Society Daughters of the American Revolution, Office of the Registrar General, Washington, D.C. Also, “Georgia Wills and Probate Records, 1742- 1992,” database with images, Ancestry.com , image, William Parks will, 9 September 1840, 1 February 1841. Also, 1850 U.S. census, Abbeville District, South Carolina, population schedule, p. 116A, dwelling 1785, family 1788, Elizabeth Parks in Thomas B. Bird [Byrd] household; digital image, Ancestry.com (access through participating libraries : 20 December 2018); citing NARA microfilm publication M432, roll 848. Also, “Death of Mrs. W.A. Upton,” obituary, in documentation file supporting membership application of Reba Bradley Hicks, National no. 592046, on Hezekiah Cooksey, approved December 1974; National Society Daughters of the American Revolution, Office of the Registrar General, Washington, D.C. 40 Ancestry, Find A Grave , database with images (http://www.findagrave.com : 5 August 2019), memorial 35351934, Elizabeth [Catherine (Parks)] Barratt Upton, Madisonville Cemetery, Madisonville, Monroe County, Tennessee; gravestone photograph by TennGirl.
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2 Emily Osborn
Nephew, Leonard Augustus “Gus” or “L.A.” Osborn
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CHAPTER TWO Emily Osborn Founder, Greenwood Methodist Church Greenwood, South Carolina 22 May 2022
I. Who Emily Was and What She Did “It might seem strange to many that Greenwood never had an organized church until about the commencement of the war, and although the Baptists and Presbyterians were numerically and financially stronger than the Methodists, yet it was left for the latter to organize and dedicate the first house of worship. . . . new comers . . . first conceived the idea of forming a church. . . . The first members were Mrs. Annie Turpin, Mrs. Annie Calhoun, R.H. Mounce and wife, Miss Emily Osborn and probably Mr. and Mrs. Milton Osborn.” 1 Photo: Emily Osborn’s nephew, Leonard Augustus “Gus” or “L.A.” Osborn Courtesy: L. Brabham Dukes, Jr. Others who wrote about founders of Greenwood Methodist Church generally agreed with the women on the author’s list, except one, Emily Osborn. The author was the only one to name Emily a founder. But consider this. When the author wrote about Emily and other founders, he wrote about women he knew. Mrs. Annie Calhoun was his sister-in-law. Mrs. Annie Turpin was Annie Calhoun’s mother. She lived with her daughter. 2 Emily lived and worked near where the author’s sister-in-law lived. Also, she was postmaster Milton Osborn’s sister. Their family name was well-known because the postmaster position put him in regular contact with most residents. The Osborn and Mounce families operated businesses near the railroad depot, which became the village center. Wives in the families were working women, active in business and visible in the everyday life of the village.
1 C.M. Calhoun, History of Greenwood and History of Greenwood County (n.p.: privately printed, 1903), 40. 2 Margaret Watson, Greenwood County Sketches: Old Roads and Early Families (Greenwood, South Carolina: The Attic Press, Inc., 1970), 176. Also, “Turpin,” obituary, Southern Christian Advocate (Charleston, South Carolina) , 26 June 1880, p. 7, col. 2, South Carolina United Methodist Collection, Wofford College, Spartanburg.
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Emily was born about 1813 probably in the part of the county that was William Black’s enumeration responsibility in the 1810 U.S. census. 3 Her parents, Samuel Osborn and Elizabeth Holliday, did not have children at the time. 4 Ten years later they had three. Emily, the middle child, was enumerated by gender and age range. Her father was age 45 or older and owned five slaves. Her mother was in age range 26-44. 5 Emily’s father died before 17 January 1827. Abbeville District Court of Ordinary published his estate CITATION at Mount Moriah Meeting House 21 January 1827. 6 Where and when he was born are not known. He probably lived near where the meetinghouse was located. Because her father did not leave a will, his last wishes were not known. The administrator of his estate kept it open for several years until two children and the husband of a third child had turned 21. Waiting until the fourth child came of age would have required keeping the estate open for more years. However, if this child were disabled as she probably was, the administrator may have concluded she would never be able to live independently and asked the Ordinary for permission to distribute her portion of the estate when the widow’s portion was paid. When the administrator paid Emily’s mother her portion of the estate he named her Elizabeth Redmond not Elizabeth Osborn because she had remarried right away. The administrator also named Emily’s brother Milton 3 Abbeville District, South Carolina, Court of Ordinary, Receipts & Expenditures, 5 May 1834, Samuel Osborn Estate; Box 71, Pkg. 1748, Abbeville County Probate Court, Abbeville. Also, 1810 U.S. census, Abbeville District, South Carolina, p. 491 (penned), William Black, Assistant to William W. Mosely, 1 January 1811; digital image, Ancestry.com (access through participating libraries : 1 May 2018); citing NARA microfilm publication M252, roll 60. 4 Membership application, Tallulah R. McCants, National no. 93762, on Andrew Redmond, approved May 1912; National Society Daughters of the American, Office of the Registrar General, Washington, D.C. Also, Coralee Walker, Fort Worth, Texas, to Margaret P. Motes, Newburyport, Massachusetts, Mounce family group record, 9 May 1992; privately held by Margaret P. Motes, Newburyport, Massachusetts, 2018. Also, 1810 U.S. census, Abbeville District, South Carolina, p. 486 (penned), Samuel Osbourn [Osborn]; digital image, Ancestry.com (access through participating libraries : 28 March 2018); citing NARA microfilm publication M252, roll 60. 5 1820 U.S. census, Abbeville District, South Carolina, p. 3, Samuel Ausburn [Osborn]; digital image, Ancestry.com (access through participating libraries : 10 April 2019), citing NARA microfilm publication M33, roll 118. 6 Abbeville District, South Carolina, Court of Ordinary, Citation, 17 January 1827, Samuel Osborn Estate; Box 71, Pkg. 1748, Abbeville County Probate Court, Abbeville.
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and sister Parthena when he paid their portions of the estate. Elizabeth, the youngest child, did not appear in the probate file. By the time the inventory was complete and all of the creditors had come forward, Emily’s father very nearly owed more then he owned. Then, the process of converting all assets to cash and paying creditors began. This process stretched over seven years. When it ended, her father was a net debtor. 7 What little is known about Emily’s youngest sister suggested she was disabled. Her father owned a special chair, see below. No records showed her living outside the family. She never married. In 1850, she and her mother lived with her half-sister. 8 She did not appear in any 1860 census although her mother did. 9 She died at age 47. Her grave marker is joint with her mother who had died less than a year earlier. She and her mother were among the earliest interred in Greenwood Cemetery, Greenwood Methodist Church’s cemetery and the city’s oldest. 10 Emily’s father probably was a harness maker. He owned a RIDING CHAIR , a vehicle popular in the 18 th century. Riding chairs “. . . typically had two wheels and seated one or two people. ‘Riding chairs were more comfortable than riding on a horse,’ a Colonial Williamsburg riding chair maker and vehicle body specialist, explained. ‘In a riding chair, you could move a bit, shift your weight. You did not have to sit on the back of a sweaty horse in August.’” The skills of a wheelwright, a blacksmith and a woodworker were 7 Abbeville District, South Carolina, Court of Ordinary, Inventory & Appraisement, 7 February 1827, Bill of Sale, 8 February 1827, Receipts & Expenditures, 11 May 1828, 31 March 1829, 5 May 1834, Samuel Osborn Estate; Box 71, Pkg. 1748, Abbeville County Probate Court, Abbeville. 8 1850 U.S. census, Newberry District, South Carolina, population schedule, p. 193B, dwelling 146, family 146, Elizabeth Osborne [Osborn] and Elizabeth Redman [Redmond] in R.H. Mounce household; digital image, Ancestry.com (access through participating libraries : 16 September 2015); citing NARA microfilm publication M432, roll 856. 9 1860 U.S. census, Abbeville District, South Carolina, population schedule, Greenwood, p. 104 (penned), dwelling 767, family 762, Eliza [Elizabeth] Redmond in Robt. H. Mounce household; digital image, Ancestry.com (access through participating libraries : 16 September 2015); citing NARA microfilm publication M653, roll 1212. 10 Greenwood Cemetery (503 East Cambridge Avenue, Greenwood, Greenwood County, South Carolina), Elizabeth N. Osborn and Elizabeth Redman [Redmond] joint marker (broken); personally read, 2018. Also, Greenwood County, South Carolina, Cemetery Records , 3 vols. (Greenwood: Old Ninety Six District Chapter, South Carolina Genealogical Society, 1996, 2008, 2010), 2:60.
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