SO...a real challenge lay ahead of me as I try to find out more about the 24 victims of the mass drowning of May 5th, 1860...as I said I want to find the burial places of as many as I can...it has turned into quite a search...
The old Sumter Watchman article listed the names of the dead..but as small communities are, the list caused more confusion for me than clarity!!
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| the Boykin Mill Pond |
this is the exact transcription from the old Watchman article that came out 2 days later with the list of the dead:
Miss Lizzie McKagen, a lovely sister of Mr. Isaac McKagen, of our town, Willie McKagen, a young brother of the same; Luke (Lucius) and William LeGrand, brothers, one of them a brother-in-law of Mr. McKagen above mentioned. Miss Sarah Nettles, two Misses McCowns, Miss Minnie Alexander (daughter of Mr. Isaac Alexander, of Camden). Miss Howell, Miss Crosby, Miss Henson, two Misses Yound and one brother, Miss Mary Jenkins, Mr. Hocott, Mr. Huggins, Mr. Jery McLeod, Mr. John Oaks, Miss Kelly, little Alice Robinson (a sweet little girl), Mr. S.S. Richburg (surveyor, formerly of this place). Mr. Richburg, with noble devotion, lost his life as we understand attempting to save another. These, with two negroes, complete the melancholy list.
SO my work was cut out for me, with that very incomplete list of names....Miss Howell, Miss Crosby? Two negroes? How can I find people with only a last name to go on? SO needless to say I had little to go on in some cases so I started to spend my entire Saturday in the archieves in Camden looking into what info was available about this tragedy...Google will only take one so far and then you have to jump into the trenches and leave your living room to research..Microfilm, city census reports, death indexes, cemetery surveys...documents, family histories---old newspapers, ETC.
IT took me about one week to find out that two Misses Yound (mentioned above) and one brother was actually a misprint and the name was really YOUNG..once I found that out it really helped me to search for them....
I found the Youngs by searching for Mr Jery McLeod (he was related) and I found this out through another person's research of their McLeod Family Lineage!! (...and great great uncle Jerimiah who drowned in Boykin Mill Pond...etc) GREAT Break for me...he was buried at the very old Methodist church in Rembert a nearby small community, south of the Boykin Mill Pond.
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| Rembert Methodist Church Cemetery founded in late 1780 |
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| Jerry McLeod a would be hero |
SO I turned to the Lee County Cemetery Survey done in 1993, and there he was-- AND I found not just
Jerimiah R "Jerry" McLeod
who gave his life trying to save others, also the Young Children, 2 sisters, a brother, and a cousin of theirs who was in attendance of that celebrative day in May...a birthday celebration for Miss Hollie, who would have turned 20 the very next day but she drowned the day before....
Miss Hollie Adele Young, 19 yo Mary Ann Young age 11
May 6, 1841- May 5, 1860 Jul 10, 1849 - May 5, 1860
at only 8 yrs old....
Young Mr Sameul Henry Young
Sept 29, 1852 - May 5, 1860
all three of the afore mentioned were the children of
Samuel Henry Young (1817-1881)
and Mary Ann McLeod Young (1818-1864)
Young Mr Sameul Henry Young
Sept 29, 1852 - May 5, 1860
all three of the afore mentioned were the children of
Samuel Henry Young (1817-1881)
and Mary Ann McLeod Young (1818-1864)
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| reads drowned in Boykin Mill Pond |
and What a great surprise to find their Cousin
Miss Mary Eliza Jenkins buried alongside .
1846 - May 5, 1860
in the 14th yr of her life
in the 14th yr of her life
so sad all these young and energetic lads and lassies snuffed out so quickly...like Hamlet said "Out Out Swift Candle"
SO I did the dixxedoodles I had found 5 more of the 24 victims burials in the same cemetery..well I may not find them all but I had 7 located so far....17 to go!!! More to come.....for next week.
PEACE
