South Carolina from A to Z

“L” is for Lining, John (1708-1760). Physician, scientist. A native of Scotland, Lining studied medicine in Scotland and probably at Leyden University in the Netherlands. He immigrated to Charleston in 1728

“H” is for Heyward, James (1764-1796) and Nathaniel Heyward (1766-1851). Rice planters.

“G” is for Gist, William Henry (1807-1874). Governor. An ardent secessionist, Gist was elected governor in 1858. As sectional tensions reached their climax in 1860, he did his best to hasten the final push to secession.

“F’ is for Fort Watson. Fort Watson, named for Colonel John Watson, was one of a series of supply depots between Charleston and Camden during the Revolutionary War.

“E” is for Elmore v. Rice (1947). In 1946 George Elmore, an African American who was eligible to vote in general elections, was denied the right to vote in the Democratic Party in Richland County.

“J” is for Jehu Jones (ca. 1769-1833). Free Black entrepreneur. Born into slavery, Jones was emancipated in 1798 and established himself as a successful tailor. He invested in real estate and purchased enslaved persons to assist with his business enterprises.

“H” is for Hawks, Esther Hill (1833-1906). Teacher, physician. A native of New Hampshire, Hawks was committed to women’s rights and abolition.

"G” is for Goose Creek Men. The Goose Creek Men were primarily English Barbadians who immigrated to South Carolina in the seventeenth century seeking land and economic advancement.

“F” is for Freed, Arthur (1894-1973). Film producer, songwriter. Freed became best known for his musicals with MGM as he helped to fashion and energize the studio’s popular musicals, including: Meet Me in St. Louis, Annie Get Your Gun, Singin’ in the Rain, An American in Paris, and GiGi.

“E” is for Esquerita (ca. 1935-1986). Musician. Born Eskew Reeder, Jr., in Greenville, Esquerita was among the wildest musical acts to grace the formative years of rock and roll.

“D” is for Dixon, Dorsey (1897-1968) and Howard Dixon (1903-1961). Musicians. The Dixon Brothers, popular in the mid-to-late 1930s, composed many original songs on diverse subjects, including the life and labors of textile mill workers.

“C” is for Cayce (Lexington County; 2020 population 13,768).

“B” is for Berkeley County (1,098 square miles; 2020 population 235,987).

“A” is for Audubon, John James (1785-1851). Artist, naturalist, ornithologist.

“W” is for Wigg, James (born ca. 1850). Legislator. Wigg was born an enslaved person in Beaufort County.

“T” is for Tuscarora War (1711-1713). In the first decade of the eighteenth century the Tuscaroras, an Iroquoian tribe, inhabited eastern North Carolina in fifteen towns with 1,200 warriors and a population of about 4,800 people.

“S” is for Saxe-Gotha Township. Originally laid out in 1733 as Congaree Township, Saxe-Gotha Township was located southwest of the confluence of the Broad and Saluda Rivers.

“R” is for Ripley, Clements (1892-1954) and Katharine Ball Ripley (1898-1955). Between 1923 and 1953 Clements Ripley and Katharine Ball Ripley published ten books—including novels and memoirs—and dozens of short stories and nonfiction pieces.

“P” is for Phoenix Riot. The Phoenix Riot is best understood as an exaggerated example of the everyday violence that faced late nineteenth-century African Americans in South Carolina.

“M” is for McCray, Carrie Allen (1913-2008). Poet, author. McCray did not start to think of herself as a professional writer until she was seventy-three—about the same time she took up residence in Columbia.

“L” is for Lindo, Moses (d. 1774). Indigo promoter, entrepreneur. Lindo was a major force in turning South Carolina’s fledgling indigo trade into the region’s second-leading agricultural industry in the middle years of the eighteenth century.

“H” is for Hemphill, Robert Witherspoon, Sr. (1915-1983). Congressman, jurist. A native of Chester, Hemphill graduated from the University of South Carolina and its law school.

“G” is for Gonzales, William Elliott (1866-1937). Editor. Born in Charleston, Gonzales is best known as the editor of the State newspaper and was the youngest of the three Gonzales brothers to run the publication.

“F” is for Free persons of color. Also known as free Blacks, free persons of color occupied an anomalous position in the race-based slave society of antebellum South Carolina.

“E” is for Erskine College. In 1836 the General Synod of the Associate Reformed Presbyterian Church organized an academy in Due West.