For the past two years, Lowcountry Africana has been compiling the results of the research on enslaved communities on Drayton family plantations. The project has drawn together more than 35,000 pages of historical documents which contain more than three thousand mentions of individual slaves on Drayton family plantations. We are now posting research updates on our blog at http://lowcountryafricana.net/blog.asp.

Drayton Family Research Update: African Americans in Grimke Family Records

The histories of the Drayton and Grimke families of Charleston are closely intertwined. The connection began with the marriage of Thomas Smith Grimke (1786-1834), son of John Faucheraud Grimke (1752-1819) and Sarah Smith (1764-1839), to Sarah Daniel Drayton (1794-1867), daughter of Thomas Drayton (1758-1825 ) and Mary Wilson of Magnolia Plantation. Having no male heirs to leave his estate to, Thomas Drayton bequeathed Magnolia Plantation successively to grandsons Thomas Grimke and John Grimke, sons of his daughter Sarah Drayton Grimke. The bequest was made on the condition that his grandsons would adopt the surname Drayton... http://lowcountryafricana.net/research-update-john-paul-grim.asp

Friends, as Rico mentioned, LowCountry Africana can be found at http://LowCountryAfricana.net, as well as on Twitter at http://twitter.com/LCAfricana

Drayton Family Research Update: Adam Frost, Former House Servant of Governor John Drayton

The life story of Adam Frost, formerly enslaved by Governor John Drayton, continues to unfold and is a wonderful example of the genealogy research community working together to solve a research problem.

http://lowcountryafricana.net/adam_frost_spartanburg_sc.asp

Efforts to Emancipate Abigail, Mahala, Rebecca and Abba

Rebecca Perry Drayton's efforts to emancipate four slaves during a time was manumission was against the law. Her petitions to the House and Senate and how she used her last will and testament to accomplish partial emancipation for Abba... http://lowcountryafricana.net/abby-cripps-free-african-ameri.asp

Saying hello to this group. BTW I featured LowCountry Africana about 2 weeks ago in my weekly podcast. (africanrootspodcast.com)

Hi Angela! I'm Luckie Daniels, moderator for the LCA Forum. Thanks for supporting LCA & for the phenomenal work you are doing via the African Roots Podcast!:-)

Luckie.

Welcome to our new members!

LCA Crew

If any of you have family connections with either the Draytons or the Grimkes and have not yet joined "The Drayton Fellowship" on facebook, may I encourage you to do so? We're now up to 170 members worldwide - with connections to South Carolina or Barbados or both throughout the world - even as far as Helsinki and New Caledonia in the Pacific. Most are of African descent, although some of my SC cousins are also members. I've posted some old photos on the DF site, and details of a forthcoming visit by members of the DF to Charleston over the Labor Day Weekend, including visits to Drayton Hall and Magnolia Gardens.

Thanks Bill! We too will make sure to keep up with The Drayton Fellowship on Facebook! Please make sure to let your FB cousins know LCA is here & would welcome their participation in the community!

LCA
www.LowCountryAfricana.com

Hi Everyone,
A big welcome to Bill Grimke Drayton and the Drayton Fellowship! Here is more information on Bill's family and deep connection to Magnolia Plantation. As Bill has mentioned, you can read more here: http://lowcountryafricana.net/research-update-john-paul-grim.asp

The histories of the Drayton and Grimke families of Charleston are closely intertwined. The connection began with the marriage of Thomas Smith Grimke (1786-1834), son of John Faucheraud Grimke (1752-1819) and Sarah Smith (1764-1839), to Sarah Daniel Drayton (1794-1867), daughter of Thomas Drayton (1758-1825 ) and Mary Wilson of Magnolia Plantation.

Having no male heirs to leave his estate to, Thomas Drayton bequeathed Magnolia Plantation successively to grandsons Thomas Grimke and John Grimke, sons of his daughter Sarah Drayton Grimke. The bequest was made on the condition that his grandsons would adopt the surname Drayton.

In the event of Thomas Grimke's death, Magnolia plantation was to pass to John Grimke. Thomas died in a tragic hunting accident in 1836 and his brother John Grimke, barely into his twenties, adopted the surname Drayton and inherited Magnolia Plantation.

Toni :)

Thanks Toni! Bill has been busy contributing VERY valuable content across the GWise forum! So glad that we have connected!:-)

P.S. I still can't get emails through AOL?

LCA

The long URL for the Grimke family page did not come out well on the wall post so here is a shorter version that might work better: http://tinyurl.com/kpr5op

Best,
toni :)

Welcome to the new members of LowCountry Africana!:-)

LCA

I am seeking records of the families living on James Island, SC....

Family names – Washington, Chisolm, Scott

Land owners (abt. 1870): Croskeys Royall Jr., Elias L. Rivers, W.B. Seabrook, Joseph T. Dill, G.W. Hills, E.M. Clark, Dr. R. Lebby Sr., James Frampton, J.P. Lawton, or W.G. Hinson

Thanks!

Hi Catrina! Welcome!:-)

I ran a search at LowCountry Africana for "James Island" & it returned 2 pages of data - http://tinyurl.com/n4crup

Take a look to see if any of this data meshes with your Ancestors.

LowCountry Africana is a GREAT repository of LowCounty slave data. Please "poke" around while there.

Good luck,

LCA

Hi Catrina,
Have you searched the SC Death Records on Ancestry for the names you list here? If not I will be happy to. ---toni :0)

Thanks to Joyce for inviting me to join this group.

I am looking forward to sharing information with everyone. My Great-Great Grandmother, Leah Ruth-Warner, was enslaved from Guinea at the age of twelve. She was Kidnapped and sold in 1830, after it was illegal to sale African Slaves in America. Many of those enslaved during that period were taken to the Islands and then resold in America. After her seasoning in Bermuda, Grandmother Leah was purchased by a man named Robert Ruth, who is the father of my Great Grandfather, Samuel Ruth. Her children saw their mother sold on an Auction Block, by their father. She was sold to Hilton Head, and her Light-Skinned children were sold to Savannah Georgia as House Servants. This was in 1857, and Leah would not know her children's father until after the Civil War.

Living on Hilton Head had its' perks, for one thing she was no longer bothered by Robert Ruth. She was also married to the love of her life, Jack Warner. Grandmother Leah called him, Mr. Warner, assigning him a title denied most enslaved African men. They had at least three children together, one of whom a boy was sold away. The other two lived with Leah and Jack at Hilton Head during and after the Civil War. Leah was a part of the Gullah culture there, and it may be why she did not leave until after the death of her husband and son. By that time her daughter had left for Savannah, and Leah was alone. That is when Great Grandfather, Samuel Ruth went to get his mother, and took her to Pennsylvania.

She lived until the ripe old age of ninety-seven, as a Griot to her offspring and family members. She spoke about her life in Guinea, and her desire to return there. She spoke of the whippings she endured and the pain of seeing her children sold away from her. Those stories were passed down orally for several generations. That is what keeps the ancestors alive, not just writing them down, but telling the stories to our young folk. There is something about the spoken word, that no book can duplicate.

I look forward to sharing with everyone.

Anita Wills