Chester Genealogical Society Records - Accession 257 - M113 (145)

The Chester Genealogical Society Records consist of typescript material of writings and publications that covers mainly Chester County, SC history and genealogy from the 18th century to the 20th century. The collection includes information on covenanters, lists of Chester county American Civil War soldiers, Obadiah Hardin, Revolutionary War Lieut. Col. John R. Culp, Rev. Samuel McCreary, Mrs. M.A. Smith and the Smithton Lumber Co in Smithton, Arkansas, the Kulp family, Matthew Elder, Jr., Rev. Josiah Henson, the Gaston family, the Murphy family, Confederate Capt. G.L. Strait’s Company-6th regiment, Company B during the American Civil War, the McClure family and Revolutionary War Capt. John McClure, and recollections of Chester, South Carolina.

Fishing Creek Presbyterian Church of Chester County Records

The Fishing Creek Presbyterian Church of Chester County Records include an historical statement (1839) on its origin and development by one of its pastors Rev. John B. Davies, and copies of entries for various sessions containing information on how the church handled misconduct of its members.

Arthur Cornwall Papers - Accession 289

The Arthur Cornwall Papers consist of personal, professional, genealogical and reference files of writer, musician, and historian Arthur Cornwall. The collection contains correspondence, radio scripts, feature articles, genealogical research notes, photographs, scrapbooks, and newspaper clippings. Of particular value are the genealogical files which contain exhaustive research relating to the Cornwall-Cornwell and Colvin families of Chester County. The collection includes genealogical research on many other Chester County families, such as Bennett, Coleman, Feaster, Hardin, Loving, Tims, Wylie, and Yongue. Included are many community histories.

Lucia B. Bell Papers - Accession 255

The Lucia B. Bell Papers consist of historical and family history information pertaining to the Bell family of South Carolina. Most of the material relates to the Bell Family and other allies clans such as the Gaston, Coln, and Stinson Families. The earliest dated material includes notes on the Bell family’s coat-of-arms and a listing of land grants from 1770-1848. Information on the Chester County Covenanters along with reprinted historical sketches concerning the area’s general history and a biographical sketch on Reverend William Martin, the first Chester County Covenanter preacher. A brief history of Fishing Creek Presbyterian Church is provided with listing of former church elders and deacons from 1895-1958.

Frances Anderson Gilmer Papers - Accession 247 - M104 (133-134)

The Frances Anderson Gilmer Papers consists of electrostatic photocopies of the following: genealogical records; biographical sketches; Records relating to the Sons of the American Revolution (SAR) and Daughters of the American Revolution (DAR); copy of the “The Revolutionary Soldiers of Catholic Presbyterian Church of Chester County, South Carolina" by Mary Wylie Strange; Diary of S. T. Anderson: Confederate Prisoner of War 1864-1865 by Margaret Anderson Harden (1908). Lt. Samuel Thompson of Anderson (1838-1894) was a Confederate soldier during the American Civil War in Co. D 1st South Carolina Cavalry. The genealogical records relate to the following families: Anderson, Wylie. McCalla, McKown, Yeamans, Moore (i.e., Governor James Moore) and Adair.

Jessie Huey Laurence Papers - Accession 5

The Jessie Huey Laurence Papers primarily consist of correspondence, but also included are speeches, program notes, minutes, financial records, photographs, clippings, and scrapbooks relating to her role in the South Carolina Federation of Women’s Clubs (1928-1937); her promotion of a compulsory school attendance bill for South Carolina (1934-1936); the formation of the South Carolina Council for the Common Good (1935); Works Progress Administration (WPA) and Public Works Administration (PWA) projects in South Carolina; and her interest in the Catawba Indians of York County, as chairman of Indian Affairs Committee for the Catawba Chapter of the Daughters of the American Revolution. Subjects include literacy, Santee-Cooper Dam, Winthrop College, World War II, York County Historical Society, York, Chester, and Lancaster Counties and family history material including: Adams, Craig, Jackson, Lesslie, Lessly, Mull, Muehl, Robinson, Taylor, Weidner, Witherspoon, and Wylie families.

Joe Azer Photograph Collection - Accession 792

The Joe Azer Photograph Collection consists of more than 6500 photographs taken by Joe Azer, Rock Hill, South Carolina photographer. Included are photographs of beauty pageants, parades, women, families, fashion, local history, Winthrop students and events such as May Day, public school events, plays, sports, weddings, and Azer’s family. These photographs were taken in York, Chester, Lancaster, Cherokee, Kershaw, Chesterfield, Horry and other South Carolina counties. Also included are negatives, newspaper clippings, scrapbooks, photograph albums, and photographic equipment, and photographs arranged by subject.

Knox-Wise Family Papers - Accession 591

The Knox-Wise Family Papers includes a land grant issued to John Knox in 1768; diaries written by Dr. John Knox [1792-1859] covering the 1840s and 1850s; James N. Knox [1806-1880] covering 1859-1880; and William D. Knox [1847-1928] covering 1869-1928; indentures, deeds, receipts, court summonses and other papers of Hugh Knox [1757-1821], sheriff and justice of the peace in Chester County, South Carolina (ca. 1780s and 1790s); correspondence of James N. Knox, correspondence, and other professional papers of Dr. John Knox; correspondence, and other papers of William D. Knox, Superintendent of Education in Chester County from 1896-1928. Papers of various other members of the Knox and Wise families including Hugh Boyd Knox [1814-1886], Robert Knox [1796-1879], Sally Knox Wallace [1803-1901], Alexander Walker Wise, and Emmie R. Knox [1885-1969]; family histories of the Knox, Wise, Dunlap, Gaston, and Wilks families; church histories, photographs, and newspaper clippings. Also included are three published volumes of the United Confederate Veterans Minutes of the 21st (1911) and 25th (1915) Annual Meeting and Reunion; and the minutes of the annual reunion of the South Carolina Division of the United Confederate Veterans (1921-1927).

Jimmie E. Nunnery Family Papers - Accession 404

The Jimmie E. Nunnery Papers consist of personal correspondence, legal papers, financial papers, compositions of Iva Jordan Nunnery, genealogical papers, historical sketches of Landsford Canal, of General W.R. Davie and of Fort Lawn, papers relating to South Carolina Volunteers of the Confederate Army and Revolutionary soldiers, newspaper clippings, photographs and various papers relating to members of the Nunnery family of Chester County.

Janie Rice Papers - Accession 37 - M12 (22)

The Janie Rice Papers consists of correspondence, newspaper clippings, letters of appreciation, and certificates of awards concerning her career as a teacher at the Winthrop Training School, her work with the Baptist Church in Chester, SC and her establishment of a Janie Carroll Rice scholarship at Winthrop.

Jean C. Agee Papers - Accession 263

The Jean C. Agee Papers consists of electrostatic copies of genealogical information, correspondence, legal records, publications, and other papers relating to the following families: Bratton, Clawson, Erwin, Kee (Key), Stroud, Crook, Gillespie, Watson, Hunter, McKinney, Moffatt and Williams. Descendants of these families have settled in Chester County and other regions of the S.C. piedmont district. The collection also includes church histories and/or cemetery records for Fishing Creek church, Hopewell Baptist Church, Bethesda Presbyterian Church, and Purity Church; and an autobiography of Reverend A. M. Cartledge who served as minister of many churches in central and western S.C. The collection represents an excellent reference source for genealogical information concerning the aforementioned families, providing information as far back as the pre-revolutionary

Samuel Avon Smith Diary- Accession 284 - M121 (154)

The Samuel Avon Smith Diary is a journal written Samuel Avon Smith who was a Confederate soldier during the American Civil War (Company H, 5th Regiment, SC) and a doctor. The journal was written from ca. 1830-1876 or beyond (some pages have been destroyed). The first part is a reminiscence of his life from 1830 to ca. 1873 and from that point on he gives a monthly account of life in Bullock’s Creek, SC. Subjects covered in the journal are the battles of Manassas and Seven Pines, Confederate Troops at Leesburg, the reorganization of the Confederate Army, the march to Richmond, the conditions of the troops, wounds received at the battle of Seven Pines and his medical treatment at the Confederate hospital in Manchester, Virginia, his education at the Ebenezer Academy and the Medical College of SC in Charleston; his life, practice, and health conditions in Gaston County, NC, Lincoln County, NC, and in Bullock’s Creek, SC; and sentiments towards the reconstruction government and Ku Klux Klan. There is also mention of a conflict between Blacks and Whites in Chester County, SC in 1871.

Walter Caswell Sullivan Papers - Accession 201 - M88 (112)

The Walter Caswell Sullivan Papers consist of correspondence; bills of sale; a biographical sketch of Edward Walter Hall (1859-1949), pioneer educator of Rock Hill; a journal (1912-1915) of the Eats Club in Rock Hill; and war ration books. Most of the correspondence concerns a John H. Allen of Chester and subjects include the health and financial affairs, the shooting of a doctor, Hall family genealogy, and business transactions. The Eats Club's members were Julia Cork, Eva Fewell, Josie Hall, Anne Claire Hutchison, and Susan Steele.

Boulware Family Papers - Accession 102

The Boulware Family Papers consist of photocopies of a plantation journal (302 pages) kept by Thomas McCullough Boulware I (1829-1889) and a genealogy of the Boulware family written by James Richmond Boulware II of Lakeland, Florida, in 1948. The journal concerns the Blackstocks Plantation in Chester County, South Carolina and subjects include the planting of crops and farming of land; family events, such as deaths, births and marriages; family travel and vacations; church affairs, including the local temperance league; land sales; free black and northerners in Chester County after the Civil War.