The 18th and 19th Century came to life through Ruth Miller

Last Monday it was a late night, I had been tired from my day but Ruth Miller spoke and ran the tiredness away. As she talked about the 18th and 19th century in Charleston I couldn't help but be interested in all the facts I had never heard of about Charleston.  Mr. Harwood came up in front of the class to introduce Ruth saying, "Ruth is a consultant for All Things Charleston and the Lowcountry". He also stated Ruth used to be a tour guide for Charleston, an educator, and historian. She wrote the books "A Short History of Charleston" and "The Old Dog".

Ruth Miller, the fascinating tour guide and book author

Ruth captivated the whole class during her hour-long presentation on the history of Charleston during new colonization. Ruth is very intrigued by graves, as she would like to say "Graveyards can be pictures of history". She talked about many themes in history from different centuries. 

Ruth spoke on how there was lots of sand down in Charleston therefore, it was harder for graves to be made. This caused the Charlestonian people to buy their graves from New England. Ruth said that back then "New England had the nicest headstones" because there is a lot of rock up in that area.  She may be biased though because she is from New England. 

Ruth engrossed the class with some background about how the College of Charleston came about. She said that boys were sent over to England to be educated but when the war started in England the boys could not be sent over, thus creating The College. 

Ruth then went on to talk about all the churches that were created in Charleston saying, "only 7 people are needed to establish a religion". She went into incredible detail over each of the new religions that had been established at this time. Some are Huguenots (French Protestants), Presbyterians, Methodists, Congregationalists, and many more. Some churches that still are located in Charleston from these original religions are Bethel Methodist Church, Circular Congregational Church, First Baptist Church, St. Mary's Roman Catholic Church, Unitarian Church. 

It was a delightful and educational experience having Ruth come and talk to the class. I enjoyed the new information she shared and the knowledge that she brought. I would definitely recommend her as a personal tour guide if you wanted an incredibly knowledgeable woman to walk you around Charleston. 

The Fear of The Living Over The Dead

The sun went down and our class went out on the hunt to travel to where the dead lay in rest. We stopped at two beautiful churches with graveyards on their side. Our class browsed around the dead to look at their gravestones and all the different varieties that they possessed. 

Our first destination of the dead was to Cathedral Church of St. Luke and St. Paul which was then followed by St. Patrick Catholic Church. There were many different types of graves at the church, with lots of space for most of these graves, where they were in all different conditions. 

Lynwood and Marie Magee

To my the left is a picture of two die in socket graves where a husband and his wife lay. Lynwood Cresse Magee lies on the left. He was born in 1921 and died in 2003, he died at the age of 83. After research on Mr. Magee I found that he was drafted for WWII and also found out that city directories showed he had traveled to Pittsburg, Washington D.C., and in three different areas of California. He had also been talked about in many different newspapers all over the United States probably about the war.

Marie Cannon Magee is found on the right die in socket grave. She was born on march 23, 1923 in Charleston and died on November 2, 2009 at the age of 86 in Charleston. She went to Winthrop and Mary Washington College. She has one son and two daughters, through them she has seven grandchildren. She had a sister who also lived in Charleston and a brother who lived in Hartsville, SC.

Mary Toomer

This next grave stone was also found in Cathedral Church of St. Luke and St. Paul graveyard. In the picture to the right lies Mary Eleanor Toomer under a ledger gravestone. She was born in January 21, 1821 in Charleston. She died on June 12, 1900 in Charleston at the age of 79. She was married to a John Laurens Toomer who died in 1851. She had three sisters and two brothers of which have all passed. Mary had a daughter in 1841 who has also passed. Her daughter married but it appears as though Mary never had any grandchildren.

James Kennedy

This grave is in the graveyard at St. Patrick Catholic Church. The grave in the picture is a headstone where James Kennedy lies. He was born in 1823 in Ireland and died on September 15, 1858 at around the age of 34. He was born in Townland of Gothamer in the Parish of Maghera Co of Derry, Ireland. He left Ireland at the age of 13, probably with his family. He became a resident in Charleston at the age of 16.

Henrietta M Heyward

This grave can be found at the Cathedral church, her grave is a Cross on a pedestal. Henrietta Heyward lies here. She was born in 1867 and died December 30, 1880 at the age of around 12 in Charleston. Her parents both died after her. She had two sisters, one of which was born after she died. 

Ethel Wohlfeil

This is a lawn marker grave found at Cathedral Church cemetery. Ethel Rhodes Wohlfeil rests here. She was born December 29, 1919 in  Florence, SC and died May 20, 2016. She died around the age of 96 and lived in Mt. Pleasant. She was married to Carl Wohlfeil and they had a son that also died in 2016. Carl was in the army and spent lots of time with her children. She graduated from University of South Carolina. She had two sons and a daughter and she also has eight grandchildren. 

Harley Ingraham Pickens

This grave can be found at Cathedral Church cemetery. Harley Ingraham Pickens lies here with a bevel marker grave. Harley was born on January 9, 1889 and died on October 23, 1962 at the age of 73. There is no information about his family or history of being married.

Lewis and Ann Simons 

This is a Cradle grave that belongs to Lewis Simons and Ann Waring Simons found at the Cathedral Church cemetery. Lewis Simons was born on April 28, 1824 and died July 29, 1872 at the age of 48. Ann Waring Simons was Lewis's wife and was born on March 10, 1831 in South Carolina and died on February 9, 1905 at the age of 73 in Summerville, SC. Lewis had six brothers and Ann had two brothers and a sister. Together the Simons had nine children, which have all passed by now.

Rev. Daniel J. Quigley

This grave is called a die, base and cap and can be found at St. Patrick Catholic Church. Here lies Rev. Daniel J. Quigley. He was born August 1835 in Ireland and died November 27, 1903 at the age of 68 in Charleston, SC. The grave says "In memory of Rt. Rev. D.J. Quigley, V.G. who erected this church of which he was the beloved pastor for 19 years. His grateful people have erected this monument. "

Mary Lucia Lowndes

This is an Obelisk and it is over Mary Lucia Lowndes.
Mary was born in 1838 and died October 31, 1882 around the age of 43. Her obelisk says "Daughter of Edward Rutledge and Mary Lucia Lowndes, in the 45th year of her age."

John Stanford Coussons

John Stanford Coussons has a die on base grave. This grave can be found in the Cathedral Church Cematry.  John Coussons was born January 13, 1931 in Minden, Louisiana and died December 31, 2009 in Newberry, SC. He got his baccalaureate degree from Louisiana College. He then went and go his PhD at Louisiana State University then joined the faculty at The Citadel military college as a history professor for forty-one years. He received the Algernon Sydney Sullivan Award and became the Head of the History Department. He then got called back to war for a year due to the Berlin Wall issue and retired as a Captain. He had a brother and sister and has several nephews and nieces.

The Mystery of Elizabeth Hutchinson Jackson Solved

Elizabeth Jackson memorial in Lancaster, SC

Elizabeth Jackson was buried somewhere in Charleston, SC away from her family. She was the mother of the 7th U.S. president, Andrew Jackson. Her family does not know where her body remains and it has been unsolved as to where the could have been buried and why.

I think I can clarify this for some people. My theory is that Elizabeth was buried in Charleston on a hill somewhere which is now known as Magnolia Cemetery. 

It is another possibility that I think is more likely, they dropped her remains in the Harbor. She was helping the prisoners with illness. They probably put her body where they put the prisoners. Which would explain why the remains were never found and why all the monuments were put around Charleston because she deserved a grave even though she was not there.

She sacrificed her life to help save other lives and that needed to be memorialized especially after Andrew became president because he had the power to make those things happen.

Elizabeth Jackson grave on
College of Charleston Campus

Elizabeth Jackson's grave on College of Charleston Campus states "Mother of President Andrew Jackson. She gave her life cheerfully for the independence of her country for the independence of her country on an unrecorded date in Nov, 1781, and to her son Andy this advice: 'Andy, never tell a lie, nor take what is not your own, nor sue for slander, settle those cases yourself.'" 

She is memorialized in many places in Charleston such as: on the College of Charleston Campus (as seen to the left), in Washington Square as seen below, and others.

Elizabeth Jackson grave in Washington Square

I walk by this grave everyday never looking down to notice it. Around the College of Charleston campus people walk past the die in socket grave all times of day everyday of the week. Most people pass by it but never know what it is, why it is here, or how it got here.  The answer to those questions are not completely answered and the story is long. 

The story begins when the war began in 1780, but first some briefly history on Elizabeth to how she got to America.

Elizabeth Jackson was born in Carrickfergus, Ireland around 1740. Elizabeth married Andrew Jackson Sr. around 1761 in Carrickfergus. They had two sons together named Hugh and Robert, the family later moved to the US in 1765. They left Ireland due to religious restrictions from the Anglican fraction. They settled in the upper state of South Carolina in an area with barely anything.


Elizabeth got pregnant with her third boy, right before the baby boy was born Andrew died suddenly on March 15, 1767. Elizabeth named the baby Andrew Jackson II who grew up to become the 7th President of the United States.

They remained  here until Charleston was captured by the British on May 12, 1780. Her sons joined a patriot regiment to help fight when Hugh died in a battle. Andrew, and Robert then became prisoners in Camden but contracted the smallpox but got transferred back home by their mother. Robert died and after weeks Andrew got well and Elizabeth left him at the age of 14 to go to help prisoners in Charleston.

Elizabeth got word that two of her nephews were being held prisoner on a ship in the Charleston harbor and went to go help them. She was helping many sick people on the ship when she then contracted cholera.  She was buried somewhere in Charleston but her remains have never been found. Andrew Jackson came down to Charleston when he had grown up to find her remains but never could.

Sources Used

Behre, Robert. “BEHRE COLUMN: This History Is a Mystery.” Post and Courier, 18 Dec. 2011, www.postandcourier.com/columnists/behre-column-this-history-is-a-mystery/article_f0a6388f-dac2-5f25-ab58-2246049e150d.html.

“Elizabeth Hutchinson Jackson.” History of American Women, 2 Apr. 2017, www.womenhistoryblog.com/2008/12/elizabeth-hutchinson-jackson.html.