Lewis and Vanderhorst families
The 1870 Charleston census reveals where my great-grandmother Sarah Lewis and her family were living five years after the Civil War. (Sarah married Samuel McGowan Simkins in 1887. She was known as “Miss Sally” to my family.)
Sarah Lewis lived in the second ward with her siblings and three Black servants (formerly enslaved). Ward 2 was on the bay, just west of the Battery. Here’s the census of residents on that property, with their ages:
Ann Lewis 18
Helen Lewis 17
Sabina Lewis 14
Vanderhorst Lewis 13
Sarah Lewis 11
Raven Lewis 7
Frank P. Lewis 26
Susan Sebels 67 – Nurse
Delia Richardson 65 – Cook
Lucius Richardson 80 – Laborer
Frank is Francis Porcher Lewis, son of John Williams Lewis from his first marriage, which was to Julia Porcher. (The census entry erroneously says Frank is female.) The six younger residents are the children of John Williams Lewis and Anna Raven Vanderhorst Lewis, who died in childbirth in Columbia in 1865, shortly after Sherman’s attack on that city. (Two of their other girls died as children in the 1850s.) In 1870 John Lewis was apparently not a resident of Charleston. He was managing farms "Ravenwood" near Charleston and "Zahara" near Aiken.
Perhaps Susan Sebels is the woman in the c. 1861 charcoal portrait with Sarah (Sallie) and Vanderhorst (Vander).
Sarah’s maternal grandparents are listed in the fifth ward, which was some distance away, north of Calhoun Street and east of King Street. They lived in the family mansion at 28 Chapel Street, which still stands today.
Here’s the census list of residents on that property, with their ages:
Elias Vanderhorst 78
Ann Vanderhorst 76
Arnoldus Vanderhorst 35
Adell Vanderhorst 29
Adelle P. Vanderhorst 4
Anna M. Vanderhorst 3
Elias Vanderhorst Jr. 1
Jane Hamilton 22
Arnoldus is the son of Elias and Ann, Adell is his wife (Adele Petigru Allston, niece of James Louis Petigru*), and Adelle, Anna, and Elias Jr. are their children. The Black resident Jane Hamilton must be a servant.
NOTES
On this census page Elias Vanderhorst’s place of birth is given as Prussia! This is possible, since his father Arnoldus Vanderhorst II served in the Revolutionary War (1775-1783) and as governor of South Carolina (1794-1796). Elias was born in 1791, and Prussia was an ally of the United States in the war. But I haven’t found any evidence that Arnoldus visited Prussia. Moreover, the genealogy site findagrave.com list Elias' birthplace as Charleston SC.
The next property in the fifth ward census lists six African Americans. Perhaps they are servants (formerly enslaved) of the Vanderhorst family. The plain-looking building still standing next door at 30 Chapel Street may be the servants’ quarters.
Variable spelling of names: Sallie can be Sally; Adell can be Adelle or Adele; Ann can be Anne or Anna; Petigru can be Pettigrew. Perhaps Sebels could also be Seibels.
*Famous quote of James Louis Petigru after SC seceeded from the Union: "South Carolina is too small for a republic and too large for an insane asylum."