South Carolina from A to Z

“L” is for Lunz, George Robert, Jr. (1909-1969). Museum curator, marine biologist. Born in Charleston, Luntz graduated from the College of Charleston and in 1933 joined the staff of the Charleston Museum. He worked primarily on invertebrates and published papers, mainly on crustaceans. In 1945 the museum's board of trustees agreed to develop a laboratory for research on the cultivation of oysters,...

“H” is for Hunter-Gault, Charlayne (b.1942). Journalist, civil rights activist. Born in Due West, South Carolina, Hunter-Gault attended  the University of Georgia and was the first African American woman to graduate from the school. It was the first of many firsts for one of the nation’s groundbreaking minority journalists. In 1968 she joined the reporting staff of the New York Times . She joined...

“G” is for Gridley, Mary Putnam (1850-1939). Civic leader, businesswoman. Born in Boston, Mary Putnam moved to Greenville where her father was active in the development of cotton mills. In 1876 she married Isaac Gridley, but after his death, Mary Gridley went to work for her father at Batesville Mill. Following his death, she assumed the position of mill president. In 1889 Gridley was co-founder o...

“C” is for Colleton, Sir John (1608-1666). Proprietor. Born in England, Colleton was a soldier and a courtier to King Charles I. Following the king's execution, Colleton and his family fled to Barbados. He returned to England in 1659 and welcomed Charles II to the throne. Colleton was knighted in 1661 for his service and loyalty to the crown. Until his death he was the foremost leader of the Lord...

“C” is for Chapman, Martha Marshall, II (b. 1949). Musician. Chapman was born in Spartanburg. After graduating from Vanderbilt, she settled in Nashville and began her career as a songwriter and performer. In 2003, Chapman published Goodbye, Little Rock and Roller, an autobiographical account woven around twelve of her songs and including reminiscences of her early days in South Carolina. In 2010 s...

“C” is for Colhoun, John Ewing (ca.1749-1802). U.S. senator. Born in Virginia, Colhoun moved with his family to the Long Canes region of the South Carolina backcountry in what is now Abbeville County. He was a captain in the militia during the Revolutionary War. He entered the General Assembly in 1779 and remained a fixture in the S.C. House of Representatives over the next two decades. In Decembe...

“C” is for College of Charleston. In 1785 the General Assembly passed an act creating a college “in or near the city of Charleston.” The institution struggled and in the early nineteenth century functioned as a college preparatory school. In 1837 the institution became a publicly funded city college. The college barely survived the Civil War, but in the first decades of the twentieth century a mod...

“C” is for Coker’s Pedigreed Seed Company. Coker's Pedigreed Seed Company had its origins in the efforts of David R. Coker to develop and market a highly productive variety of upland cotton that yielded fiber of superior quality and length. Over the years the company maintained a staff of talented plant breeders and became a major supplier of improved seeds for field crops. By the mid-1960's the c...

“C” is for Coker University. Founded in 1908 Coker is an independent liberal arts school located in Hartsville. Named for James Lide Coker, the school is the product of his philanthropic efforts to improve the state's educational opportunities. The burgeoning business enterprises of the Coker family provided funds to support the new institution. Until 1969 Coker was an all-women’s college. From it...

“S” is for Smith, Nell Whitley (1929-2011). Legislator, educator, businesswoman. Born in North Carolina, Nell married Harris Paige Smith and moved to Easley, South Carolina. Harris Smith, a state senator from Pickens County, died in July 1981. The following November voters in Senate District No.1 (Abbeville, Anderson, Oconee, and Pickens) elected Nell Smith to serve out his unexpired term. As a re...

“S” is for Smith, Benjamin (1717-1770). Merchant, politician, planter. Born in South Carolina, in 1735 Smith began a twenty-seven year mercantile career with several partners in both Charleston and London. His heavy involvement in the lucrative trade in slaves and furs made him one of the wealthiest factors in South Carolina by midcentury. In 1746 St. Philip's Parish elected him to the Commons Hou...

“S” is for Smith, Ellison Durant (1864-1944). U.S. senator. Born in Sumter District (later Lee County) Smith represented Sumter County in the state legislature from 1897 to 1901. In 1905, as an executive committee member of the Southern Cotton Association, Smith traveled the southeast organizing cotton growers and polishing his oratorical skills. In 1908 he stunned the political establishment by w...

“S” is for Smith, Arthur (1921-2014). Musician. Thanks to the widespread popularity of his instrumental hit “Guitar Boogie,” Arthur Smith became one of the best known guitarists in country music. Like many other South Carolina musicians, Smith was a product of the textile mills. He started a Dixieland jazz band and played at WSPA Spartanburg, but the group had little success until switching to cou...

“S” is for Smith, Alice Ravenel Huger (1876-1958). Artist. Born in Charleston, Smith emerged as the leading artist of the Charleston Renaissance. Through her writings and art she helped to disseminate the history and charm of her native lowcountry to a national audience. Through her evocative imagery, especially in watercolor, Smith fueled the Charleston Renaissance, the cultural and economic revi...

“H” is for Hunter, John (d. 1802). Congressman, U.S. senator. Little is known about Hunter’s early life, but he pursued agricultural interests near the present-day town of Newberry and owned considerable real estate. In 1785 he won election to the General Assembly from Little River District (modern Laurens County).  In 1788 he was a delegate to the state convention to ratify the U.S. Constitution...

“G” is for Grimké, Archibald Henry (1849-1930). Activist, scholar. Grimké was born in 1849, the son of Henry Grimké, a planter and an enslaved woman Nancy Weston. He was also the nephew of Henry's abolitionist sisters, Sarah and Angelina Grimké. After the Civil War, Archibald attended Lincoln University. His aunt Angelina acknowledged kinship and became his patron. Grimké graduated from Harvard La...

“C” is for Coker, David Robert (1870-1938). Businessman, plant breeder, philanthropist. An illness in 1897 led Coker to withdraw from the management of J. L. Coker and Company and to focus on his first experiments with plant breeding. He saw a need not only for  better seed to provide more productive crops but also for a change in attitude from traditional to more modern methods of farming. Coker'...

“C” is for Coker, Charles Westfield (1879-1931). Businessman, philanthropist, social reformer. At an early age Coker became involved with his family’s various business enterprises. When the Southern Novelty Company was organized in 1899, Coker was treasurer and in 1918 he became president. It was Charles Coker who brought modern industrial and managerial practice to the family controlled business,...

“C” is for Cofitachiqui. Cofitachiqui is the name of a sixteenth-and seventeenth-century Native American chiefdom as well as one of the principal towns of that chiefdom. The towns of Cofitachiqui and neighboring Talimeco were located on a bank of the Wateree River below the fall line near Camden.  In 1540 the chief of Cofitachiqui was a woman. The  chiefdom included the central portion of South Ca...

“B” is for Boyce, James Pettigru (1827-1888). Minister, educator. A native of Charleston, Boyce graduated from Brown University and attended Princeton Theological Seminary.  In 1851 he became a pastor at the Baptist Church in Columbia. Boyce soon returned to the academy, accepting a position at Furman. In1855 he convinced the South Carolina Baptist Convention to support the creation of a separate...

“W “is for Woodrow, James (1828-1907). Scientist, educator, college president. Born in England, Woodrow's family moved to Ohio in 1837. After graduating from Jefferson College and receiving a Ph. D. from Heidelberg University, he became a professor at Oglethorpe University in Georgia and an ordained Presbyterian minister. During the Civil War, Woodrow was chief of the Confederacy's chemical labora...

“W “is for Woodmason, Charles (ca.1720?). Clergyman. Woodmason arrived in Charleston around 1752 and for ten years lived in Prince Frederick's Parish. In 1756 he applied for the position of itinerant Anglican minister in St. Mark's Parish in the South Carolina backcountry. He had to go to England for ordination and returned to South Carolina as an ordained Anglican priest and licensed to work in S...

“S” is for Smalls, Robert (1839-1915.) Legislator, congressman. Born into slavery in Beaufort, in 1851 Smalls was hired out as a laborer in Charleston where he worked on coastal vessels. At the start of the Civil War, he was employed as a pilot on a cotton steamer, the Planter , which was impressed into Confederate service. On May 13, 1862, Smalls led the takeover of the Planter by its slave crew,...

“R” is for Russell's Magazine (1857-1860). Russell's Magazine was the last of the southern antebellum literary magazines and arguably the best. Supported by Charleston literary groups, the magazine should be credited for a desire to keep politics out of literary assessments--although in practice this objectivity applied only as long as slavery was not in any way attacked or “falsely” portrayed. It...

“P” is for Poppenheim, Mary Barnett (1866-1936) and Louisa Bouknight Poppenheim (1868-1957). Club women, social reformers. Born in Charleston Mary and Louisa attended Vassar College. They returned to Charleston with leadership skills and a desire to promote women's education. The Poppenheims helped bring the burgeoning women's club movement to Charleston, as founding members and officers of numero...