New Hopewell Baptist Church, Darlington, Darlington County, SC: Founded 1865. Many churches split after the Civil War. Photographer: A. R. Bostic, All Rights Reserved.
On the 1813 Estate Inventory for Captain William DeWitt, Benjamin DeWitt (b. 1805) is listed as "Negro Boy $400." Record Courtesy of scottwilds.com
World War I Draft Card reveals that African American Willie Lee Dunbar's eyes were blue which provides clues to the ethnicity of his parents and grandparents. (ancestry.com)
John Onail's Last Will (1836) provides a hint that his woman servant Esther is from the Western Country. ((Darlington County Historical Commission (SC USA))
Descendants of Rena O. Lincoln (b. 1852) were able to trace her father through the 1880 US Census. William and daughter Rena are living in Dwelling 20. (ancestry.com)
Local archivists did not understand why a family bible stated that the ethnicity of William O'neal was "white" until they saw the 1910 US Census Record. (ancestry.com)
John Dunbar's (1842-1906) tombstone inscription of Morman temples provide a hint to John's ethnicity. Photographer: R. H. Bostic, All Rights Reserved.
Family Holidays are a BIG deal for the O'Neal, Lincoln, Dunbar, Edwards, DeWitt, Hodge, Bostic Families. Photographer: A. R. Bostic, All Rights Reserved
By the mid-1950s, supermarkets accounted for 60% of all the grocery sales in the United States; and this impacted mom and pop stores such as Dewitt's Grocery. [The Mom & Pop Store: True Stories from the Heart of America by Robert Spector] Photographer: A. R. Bostic, All Rights Reserved.
The McDonald Furman Papers may provide insight into Mamie Chavis' lineage and the Portuguese lineage of the Hodge's of Bennettsville, SC. [USCS Newsletter Spring 1997]

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A Sense of the Era


In the photo gallery above, these records and citations provide a glimpse into the family history of the O'Neal, Dunbar, Lincoln, Edwards, DeWitt, Hodge, Bostic families, primarily of Darlington, Florence, Marion, Lee, Chesterfield, and Marlboro Counties in South Carolina, USA.  We have found when we are transparent; other family historians, regardless of race, begin to share similar stories--cousin marriages, age differences of spouses, and mixed race families to name a few.  In turn, we inspire each other to reach deeper into family lineage.  As research continues, the Christian Children's song, "Jesus Loves the Little Children" comes to mind.