The prep students of the Radical University: Beverly Nash

Beverly Nathan Nash (b. Abt. 1860)

South Carolina.  Born enslaved. Black.

Occupation: farmer.

Father's occupation: farmer, state senator.

Beverly Nash was born in South Carolina around 1860 to William B. and Dorcas Nash. Beverly was born into slavery. Little is known about the mother Dorcus, but the father William was enslaved by local South Carolina politician W. C. Preston. Preston had William apprenticed as a barber in Columbia, SC and then employed at a hotel (Hunt's Hotel). During the Civil War, he was the body servant of Tom Prior, a Colonel in Hampton's Legion.  

After the Civil War, the father William became active in politics. He was a delegate to the 1868 state Constitutional Convention and then served as a state senator from 1868 to 1877. He was also a Presidential Elector in 1876. 

The son Beverly enrolled in the preparatory school at the University of South Carolina at some point between February, 1875 and January, 1876. The university closed before he completed the program.

After the university closed, Beverly remained in Columbia and helped out on the family farm. 

Beverly last appears in the historical record in 1883. That year he ran into legal trouble. He was charged with committing assault and battery and highway robbery. In December of that year, an African American woman claimed that she came across Beverly in downtown Columbia (at the intersection of Lady and Main streets). She claimed that he knocked her down and stole her purse.

A trial justice determined that there was sufficient to send the case to a higher court, and Beverly was released on bond. A record of the ultimate outcome of legal proceedings has not yet been found. 

Sources Cited

1) 1870; Census Place: Columbia, Richland, South Carolina; Roll: M593_1507; Page: 152A; Family History Library Film: 553006

2) 1880; Census Place: Columbia, Richland, South Carolina; Roll: 1238; Page: 304B; Enumeration District: 166

3) "Assault and Battery and Highway Robbery." The weekly Union times, December 14, 1883, p. 4.

4) "Timely Warning to Citizens who Lend Their Influence in Voting Away Other People's Property." The Abbeville press and banner, January 25, 1888, p. 4.