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| Historical marker for the John Craig House Photo courtesy of author |
A major challenge in researching the history of Reconstruction-era Chesterfield County is the lack of records of Black people. The entire county was largely poor and rural with the only major economic center being Cheraw, so the people who appear in extent records are largely white political leaders who lived there. (An important exception is records of the Southern Claims Commission which includes testimony from formerly enslaved people about their experiences during the Civil War. Their accounts were discussed in the post "Unionists in a Confederate stronghold.")
Here we take a look at a source of information about formerly enslaved people in the town of Chesterfield. The source is a photocopy of a typewritten essay titled, "The Craig House -- Home of Soldiers." The essay can be found in the local history room of the Matheson Library in Cheraw, specifically in a file labeled, "85. Towns Other Than Cheraw Chesterfield County." There is no date or author listed, but the essay is similar to one that appears in the book Historic Houses of South Carolina. That book was published in 1921, so the essay likely dates to around that time.
The Craig Home
The essay discusses The Craig House, a historic home in the town of Chesterfield. The house plays a significant role in the local history. It physically occupies a central location in the town. Chesterfield is a small town (the population is about 1,300 today, but it was only a few hundred in the nineteenth century) centered around a small business district that is anchored by the county courthouse.
The Craig House is a large, beautiful house located across the street from the courthouse. It naturally attracts the attention of visitors, even unwelcome ones. General Sherman made the home his headquarters when he passed through.
The house is the oldest one in town, and it was built for the early settler, John Craig. Craig was an Irish immigrant who ran both a general store and a mill. He likely also farmed as he enslaved a large workforce (thirty-two people in 1820), and there would have been little for them to do besides farm.
John Craig's sons played a prominent role in the town. His son, Hugh, was a Methodist minister who served three terms as state congressman. Hugh's brother brother, William E., lived in the Craig House and farmed. William E. did not hold major elected office, but he played a role in county politics as he would host many of local politicians when they visited the town. The prominent Cheraw politician and lawyer, M. J. Hough, was staying with him when the Civil War broke out.
Unexpectedly, the essay on the history of the house includes an intriguing paragraph about a Black member of the household:
London, a colored boy who had been discovered in a huckleberry patch when he was about five years old, was taken care of by William E. Craig. He lived in the house as a house boy until he was old enough to join the United States Army. He is supposed to have been the first colored man from this section to join the Army. This abandoned slave boy became a worthwhile citizen who was highly respected by both white and colored races.
The paragraph appears right after a discussion of the Craig family's service in the Confederate Army ("[William E.'s son] received three Minie balls."). In context, it appears to serve as a defense of the Craig family, and by extension Confederate South Carolinians. The Craig family strongly supported the Confederacy, the author seems to argue, but they should not be condemned for fighting for slavery as they were very kind to a "colored boy."
Certainly, a modern reader wishes the author had written more about London. We can flesh out this account by drawing on other records.
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| The Craig House Photo courtesy of author |
The life of London Craig
London did not know when he was born, but he estimated his birth year to be 1865, the year that the Civil War ended. On his death certificate, his mother is listed as "unknown," but his father is intriguingly listed as one "Richard Norwood." The fact that the father has a last name is significant as enslaved people rarely used last names. His father could have adopted his enslaver's family name, but the lack of information suggests that London may have been the son of an enslaved woman and her white enslaver, or another white man in the household. One possible candidate is a white miller named "Richard Norwood" who was living in nearby Union County, North Carolina and in Chester County, South Carolina around the time of London's birth. Richard was twenty-five years in 1865, so he certainly could have fathered London. Ultimately, we can only speculate who his parents were and why he ended up abandoned in a huckleberry patch as a young child.
I haven't find records explicitly confirming London's presence in the Craig household, but there is strong circumstantial evidence. As an adult, London adopted the "Craig" family name, calling himself "London Craig" or "London C. Craig." The account about the Craig House invites us to take this as evidence of the close and friendly relationship between London and William C., but of course, this should be taken with a grain of salt. The use of the "Craig" family name connected London to a prominent local family, an important thing in small town South Carolina, and using a different last name risked offended them.
London is said to have joined the Craig household at age five. This would date his arrival in the Craig household to 1870. The timeline makes sense. That year was during Reconstruction, a time when the plantation system was in chaos and life was generally disrupted. Everyone in the Craig household was regularly reminded of this state of things as the courthouse, just across the street, had been left in ruins by Union troops. Lacking the resources to rebuild, judicial and legislative proceedings were held in the Methodist church, the most suitable building still standing.
The Craig House was right at the center of some of the most impactful local political events. Not only was 1870 an election year, but it was the year that conservatives overthrew the county Republican government, a result that was preceded by Republican ballot stuffing and conservative voter suppression. Both the actual ballot counting and the legal proceedings took place just down the street from the Craig House.
Whatever his motivations, William E.'s decision to have London live with him saved London from tremendous hardship. With the planation economy in shambles and racial tensions at a high, without powerful guardians like the Craig family, London would have been exposed to poverty, starvation, and violence.
The account of the Craig House states that London lived in the house until he was old enough to join the army. This would have been around 1883, the year that London turned eighteen. William E. died in 1872, and from that time until 1883, the house was run by William's daughter, Sarah, and her husband, W. J. Hanna. London is not listed among the people living with them in the 1880 census or anywhere else that I've looked. This could be a simple oversight on the part of the census-taker, or London could have already left the area.
Unfortunately, I have not been able to find any records of London's miliary service. As with his absence from the 1880 census, this could simply be an error with the record-keeping, or it could indicate something more significant such as the fact that the Craig House account is simply wrong.
The next recorded date we have is 1891. That is the date of his marriage to a young Black woman named Theresa. While I can't verify London's military service, such service is consistent with the timeline. The period when London appears to have left Chesterfield is approximately an eight-year period, a reasonable length for military service.
After marrying Theresa, London remained in the town of Chesterfield. In 1900, he was working as a farmer. Whatever he did for work during the 1880s and 1890s, he was good at it as he had earned enough money to own his own house. This was a rare achievement for Black man in Jim Crow South Carolina.
The 1900 census did not record the addresses of homes, so it is unclear where exactly London was living. They likely were living near downtown Chesterfield since the records show that they were living near many professionals and local officials such as the town constable and the county treasurer. A comparison of London with his Black neighbors highlights his personal achievements. Most Black families rented their houses and were headed by men working as farm or day laborers.
At some point in the 1910s, London found work as a mail carrier. This was a plum job for a Black man during Jim Crow. As a federal job, it offered better wages and stronger job security than almost any other job available to a Black man. The position suggests that he was held in high regard by local white community leaders (who exerted strong control over federal appointments). They would have been concerned about giving such a good, public-facing job to an "uppity" Black man.
In 1910, London and Theresa were living on Church St., a street off Main Street. The area was similar to the one where they were living in 1900: the neighborhood was a mixture of Black and White families with the Black families being largely working-class families. It was still the case that most families were headed by a men who earned a living in a menial job like farm laborer or house servant. The only other middle-class family was headed by the Methodist preacher, Caeser C. Robertson, who presumably preached at a nearby church.
In 1920, the street London and Theresa were living on was renamed "Railroad Street," but otherwise their living arrangements were the same. London died of natural causes on June 4 of that year. Theresa lived for more than twenty more years, passing away on October 11, 1943. While she gave birth to three children, none of them lived to adulthood, so this brought the family to an end.
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| View of Main Street from Chesterfield Courthouse The stoplight in the upper right-hand corner is the intersection of Main and Page Photo courtesy of author |
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| Modern map of Chesterfield From Google Maps |
Sources
1) Fourth Census of the United States, 1820; Census Place: Chesterfield, South Carolina; Page: 122; NARA Roll: M33_119; Image: 252
2) Year: 1910; Census Place: Court House, Chesterfield, South Carolina; Roll: T624_1455; Page: 4a; Enumeration District: 0036; FHL microfilm: 1375468
3) Year: 1900; Census Place: Court House, Chesterfield, South Carolina; Roll: 1523; Page: 3; Enumeration District: 0021
4) South Carolina Department of Archives and History; Columbia, South Carolina; South Carolina Death Records; Year Range: 1900-1924; Death County or Certificate Range: Chesterfield. Certificate Number 013004, Volume Number 22.
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