Fife Plantation, South Carolina

10/27/2016

Recently, @GenealogyJen tweeted about an opportunity to transcribe documents contained in the American National Archives. Being perpetually curious about new resources I skipped over to the website and found a treasure trove of material. The first document that caught my eye was from the Freedmans Bureau from the Rice Hope Plantation Office (1865-1868) in South Carolina. It listed 4 orphans from the Fife Plantation. The Fife Plantation was located 6 miles from Savannah in Beaufort County, South Carolina

Elisa Brant, age 12, a girl
Adrian Freagare?, age 10, a girl
Charlotte Freagare?, age 6, a girl
Judy Small, age 6, a girl

All 4 childrens' parents are described as 'lost in the War.' The document gives no indication as to what became of these little girls after their names were recorded. I wonder did they survive, were they taken in by other family members or did their parents return to find them? If you know of these little girls or what became of them, please post in the comments below.

Elsa, Adrian, Charlotte and Judy, were all born into slavery, and their former owner is noted as Y? H Hayman/Hayward? However, a researcher who contributed to rootsweb named Tom Blake, identifies the owners of Fife Plantation at that time, as William Henry Heyward and James B Heyward. William Henry Heyward is listed in the 1860 Slave Schedule as a slave owner in St. Peter's Parish, Beaufort County, South Carolina.

This research has been undertaken as a contribution to the #SlaveNameRollProject.

Sources
slavenamerollproject.blogspot.ie/
https://catalog.archives.gov/id/4688424
www.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~afamerpl/plantations_usa/SC/fife.html

9 Comments

Eleanor Harrison Bregman

6/21/2019 01:10:14 pm

My family owns Fife and Rice Hope now. My great great grandfather started leasing them in the 1890's and bought them in the early 20th century. I am involved in conversations about the legacy of slavery, healing, reparations, my family's connection to the land...I would love to be in contact with people who may be descendants of people who were enslaved at Fife, Rice Hope and Kingstree who are trying to locate their ancestors and remember them. Please contact me at [email protected].

Henry James Heyward III

2/14/2021 06:36:13 pm

Hello sorry to bother you but I ran across your name online doing some family research. My name is Henry James Heyward III. I am the great grandson of Christopher Heyward and Elizabeth Brant. If this info rings a bell please contact me.

Martine Brennan link

2/16/2021 09:14:13 am

Hi Henry James, many thanks for making contact. I have emailed you this morning. Martine

Nancy C Kabir

2/21/2021 11:42:58 pm

Hi Martine,
I have been doing research on my great grandmother's (Bing Young's) ancestors and found a Social Security application filed in 1937 on behalf of David Young who was born around 1868. It says he is the son of Joe Young and Comba Moultrie and was born on Fife Plantation in South Carolina. One of David's descendants is a close DNA match to me so this is why I am so interested in his family tree. I knew that both my great grandparents had connections to the Yemassee/Beaufort area but as of yet I have been unable to find the family connection between David and Bina and was hitting some deadends. If you have any information that might help me find out the names of the slaves that worked on this plantation or any of the neighboring plantations, I would be very grateful. Thank you. Best wishes,
Nancy Kabir

2/22/2021 10:15:34 pm

Dear Nancy, Thank you for making contact. I have found a list of enslaved people at Fife Plantation 1851/2 here https://lcdl.library.cofc.edu/lcdl/catalog/lcdl:38985 It might be worthwhile contacting the library to see if they have digitised more documents in the collection. Freedmens Bureau records may give you further information. If you find more record sets which might be helpful to others I would be grateful if you posted them here. Many thanks, Martine

2/24/2021 07:07:50 pm

Thank you, Martine. I will do that and I was able to look at the list of slaves on the Fife Plantation. I will be turning over my reserach to a professional genealogist and if he finds anything of value that I can share I will be happy to do that. Thank you again.
Nancy

3/9/2021 11:38:24 am

Best of luck Nancy and I look forward to hearing back from you.
Martine

Valerie Pratt

11/8/2024 02:25:09 pm

I'm trying to find information about my great great grandparents Eve Hiers Simmons and Adam Simmons. They were at the Fife plantation, but I cannot find any information that will help me. I was told that my great great grandfather Adam was sold and do not know where. I found some information on the 1880 Census but nothing concrete. I hope it's not too late to reach out to you for information.

11/20/2024 08:28:39 am

Dear Valerie, thanks for making contact. I live in Ireland and unfortunately don't have access to physical documents. Maybe you could contact the College of Charleston Libraries here to see the 1851 list of enslaved families https://lcdl.library.cofc.edu/lcdl/catalog/lcdl:38985
and the family who own Fife & Hope have kindly left their email address here as well [email protected]
Wishing you every success in your search. Martine

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Fife Plantation, South Carolina

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