Robert Oswald Sams (1841 – 1930)
I went to Gaffney, SC, in late March when Robert O. Sams’ descendants extended an invitation to the Dataw Historic Foundation. They shared a collection of family archives with my…
Many former slaves remained on the island as free men and women. The northern portion of Dataw was sold to William Irwin of New York. He divided the land into small parcels and entered into crop-lien agreements with at least eight African American farmers. In those hard times, none o f these families was able to fulfill its liens. Some families likely stayed on, paying rent and working for themselves. The tenant period came to an end in 1928 when Kate Gleason, a New York entrepreneur, banker, and engineer, purchased the island from Samuel Stoney.
Articles from this era address the period 1865 to 1983.
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 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.
Reflections
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.”
Short Stories
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.
Northern Datha Island
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.
On the Map
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.
Products of Datha Island
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
This Old House – a Photo
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.
Martha Sophia Hallonquist LaRoche (1874-1975)
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.
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 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.
Long Line
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.
Newsworthy – Anderson Childe Bouchelle (1908 – 1993)
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).