How to Research your
South Carolina Foster Family

South Carolina:

South Carolina firsts:

• First ship built in America to cross the Atlantic Ocean - Port Royal, 1562

• First indigo planted, 1671

• First free library established - Charleston, 1698

• First Black Baptist Church established - Silver Bluff, 1773

• First mutual fire insurance company - Friendly Society for the Mutual Insurance of Houses Against Fire, 1735

• First opera performed in America - Charleston, February 18, 1735

• First slave insurrection - Stono area near Charleston, 1739

• First public museum - Charleston Museum, organized January 12, 1773

• First building to be used solely as a theater - Dock Street Theatre in Charleston, constructed in 1736

• First cotton exported to England, 1764

• First business publication - South Carolina Price Current in Charleston, 1774

• First independent government formed among American colonies, March 1776

• First cotton mill built - James Island, 1789

• First tea planted - Middleton Barony, 1802.

• First fireproof building built - Charleston, 1822

• First steam locomotive built in the United States to be used for regular railroad service - "Best Friend of Charleston", 1830

• First municipal college - College of Charleston, opened April 1, 1838

• First free-standing college library in the nation - South Carolinian Library at USC, 1840

• First state to secede from the Union, December 20, 1860

• First shot fired in Civil War on Fort Sumter in Charleston Harbor, April 12, 1861

• First Medal of Honor awarded to a Black recipient- W. H. Carney (Army), July 18, 1863

• First Black Associate Justice of a state supreme court - J. J. Wright, February 2, 1870

• First commercial tea farm - Summerville, 1890

• First textile school established in a college - Clemson, 1899

• First U.S. Senator elected by a write-in vote - Strom Thurmond, November 2, 1954

History - The colony of Carolina was settled by English settlers, mostly from Barbados, sent by the Lords Proprietors in 1670, followed by French Huguenots. Most immigrants in the colonial period were African slaves, who constituted a majority of the colony's population throughout the period. The Carolina upcountry was settled largely by Scots-Irish migrants from Pennsylvania and Virginia, following the Great Wagon Road. The formal colony of "The Carolinas" split into two in 1712.

Between 1715-1717 the Yamasee War, between colonial South Carolina and several Indian tribes, was one of America’s bloodiest Indian Wars, which for over a year seriously threatened the continued existence of South Carolina. South Carolina became a royal colony in 1719. The state declared its independence from Great Britain and set up its own government on March 15, 1776. On February 5, 1778, South Carolina became the first state to ratify the first constitution of the United States - the Articles of Confederation. The current United States Constitution was proposed for adoption by the States on September 17, 1787, and South Carolina was the 8th state to ratify it, on May 23, 1788.

The American Revolution caused a shock to slavery in the South. Tens of thousands of slaves escaped to British lines and fought with them and Loyalist troops; others secured their freedom by escaping. Estimates are that 25,000 slaves (30 percent of those in South Carolina) fled, migrated or died during the disruption of the war.

Research coordinator
William L. Foster Jr., e-mail
Foster DNA Group 7
Participant #109
McFarlan, North Carolina

Personal Website

Guide to
Southern Vocabulary

I was born and raised in the Smoky Mountains and foot hills of the
Appalachian Mountains of North Carolina & South Carolina.

My Ancestors are the Pioneers who settled the Carolinas: North Carolina
Counties such as Anson, Caswell, Davie, Davidson, Rowan, Forsyth,
Iredell & Surry.  First Immigrating to Colonial Maryland, Pennsylvania & Virginia.

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