Memorable May 5, 1860 part V

for Taphophile Tragics
Boykin Mill Pond Tragedy Part V
May 5, 1860

.... this is the last Memorable May 5th post about the  Boykin Mill Pond Tragedy at least for now....due to a couple of reasons:

• firstly, you are now up to date (after reading this) with what Ive uncovered,
• secondly,  I'm running out of steam and its SPRING.... time to dig in the garden, hike, and get out of digging in the archieves every weekend for a while
• thirdly, because I'm at a wide spot in the road with my findings!! The leads I have now are many but they are vague and it will take me a while to connect all these dots.....

One victims name was listed as R J Huggins.  NOW this was a real stroke of luck...as most of you may know I am a volunteer photographer for Find A Grave.  I get requests to go photograph headstones up to a 20 mile radius of where i live. About 3 weeks ago I got a request for a grave in a cemetery near Bishopsville, SC.(a few miles away)  So off I went to get that photo. The deceased one I hunted was William James Barrett.  When I got there and found the grave it was a double headstone he and his wife... check out the wife's maiden name.

OF course the minute I saw this stone I saw that name HUGGINS the same last name of one of the Boykin Pond victims...when I uploaded the photo to Find A Grave for Mr. Barrett  the wife's headstone had not been requested, but as I normally do with a double stone,  I uploaded it to her memorial page also...and when I got to her memorial page I noticed there was a link to her Mother's  (who was a Huggins) memorial page....and that link took me to Mt Elon Baptist Chruch and I saw lots of Huggins listed in that cemetery! I had read that my Mr. R J Huggins was from Sumter county and MT Elon was in Darlington County...so I figured it was no use looking but I did....I clicked "show me all Huggins in Mt Elon cemetery" and there was a half page long list, I scrolled down only checking the death dates and ILL BE DAMNED IF I DIDNT SEE

 

To the Memory of
ROBERT JOSEY HUGGINS

Who died on the 5th of May, 1860  in the 20th year of his age,

one of the unfortunate number
drowned near Camden!!!

I couldnt believe my eyes!!

...with  more reasearch I learned this part of Darlington County, where he was buried, used to be part of what was called the OLD SUMTER DISTRICT but years later was divided  into different counties ...SO thats why my Sumter County search was in vain...as the old records had him listed in Sumter Co. but he was actually now in Darlington County!!

 SO thats number 13 found!! And in this case 13 is a lucky number as it takes me over the halfway mark!!

After many trips to the Archieves one fellow asked me "have you checked  a book called
 The History of Camden,  (Kirkland and Kennedy c-1905)?"
NO I hadnt!!!.....so I did and in Volume II Chapter 23, I found a COMPLETE LIST OF THE NAMES with a short passage about the tragedy and all the lives too soon taken from this Earth.
As you know I have already found 12 of long forgotten...and  without the aide of this remarkable list of names which it appears came from an official inquiry and the testimony of two of the Rail Road workers...one who was a hero and saved several people....
SO here are the ones I have YET TO FIND:

1. Selena Crobsy, of Camden (born in England)
2. Mary E. Hinson, of Camden
3. Benjamin F. Hocott, of Arkansas (student at McCandless School)
4. Sarah Ann Howell, of Camden
5. Jane Kelley, of Boykins (she may be in Rembert the others from Boykins were)
6. Louise McKeown, of Camden
7. Margaret McKeown, of Camden
8. John Oaks, of Camden
9. T. S. S. Richbourg, of Sumter (maybe he is in Darlington Co also?)
10. DORCAS PAGE, a free negro
11. PENDER CIPLES, a negro slave

AND I know you nearly died as I did when I saw the names of the 2 negroes! Finally a name to put to their watery fate.  I was told that Dorcas is probably a female name. There was a plantation here at that time owned by the Ciples family...called White Oak Plantation and many slaves took the  last names of their owners.  Hot lead to follow here is to find out if there  is a Ciples family cemetery, and if so were slaves  buried there? Most times when slaves were buried  the graves were marked only with a small field stone that could be carried and placed by hand...with no inscription since most slaves were illiterate--Ive been warned by other researchers not to have ANY hopes of finding the negroes burials or even a written mention in documents of any kind...:o( 

SO as I continue to follow the many leads-- too many to list here and bore you with, I close with this part V, but I promise to update with each one that I find...until then I leave you with this passage from the old Sumter Watchman article...

"Camden is shrouded in gloom, and many of its citizens overwhelmed by the most severe affliction and bereavement"

PEACE