City Directories and History: DAVID RAMSAY HOUSE
Constructed before 1750; altered circa 1816
“This mid-eighteenth-century double-pile house was originally built for the Congregational merchant Solomon Legare or his daughter Mary and her husband Thomas Ellis. Around 1784 the physician, patriot, and historian Dr. David Ramsay and his wife Martha Laurens purchased the house; they spent the rest of their lives at this address. Ramsay was a native of Lancaster, Pennsylvania, and graduate of the College of New Jersey (Princeton) and the College of Philadelphia, where he received his medical training under the noted Dr. Benjamin Rush. Ramsay moved to Charleston in 1773 and served in the South Carolina Assembly and later in the Continental Congress. Originally an opponent of slavery, he later came to accept the institution. He was most noted as the author of the first history of the American Revolution (1789) and an important history of South Carolina. His wife, daughter of the leading merchant Henry Laurens, was an important intellectual figure in Charleston in her own right. Martha died in 1811, while Dr. Ramsay was killed in 1815 by a patient whom he had determined to be insane.
As in the case of other remaining large houses built before 1750, the floor plan is slightly asymmetrical with a rear stair hall and a front room reserved for business. Up stairs a front drawing room adjoins a smaller withdrawing room. The house retains much of its original woodwork including several fully paneled rooms. Originally a two-story building with a front second-floor balcony, it was changed circa 1816-20 to three stories with a hip roof and a double-tiered front portico. A third story was added to the portico sometime after 1920.”
Information from: The Buildings of Charleston – J.H. Poston for the Historic Charleston Foundation, 1997
” Dr. David Ramsay’s House is so called because it was the home of Ramsay, a physician and historian. He purchased it in 1783. Dr. Ramsay
(1749-1815) was born in Pennsylvania and graduated from the College of New Jersey (now Princeton) in 1765 and from the Medical School of the College of Pennsylvania in 1772. He studied under Dr. Benjamin Rush of Philadelphia, who is credited with introducing the smallpox vaccination to the United States. Dr. Ramsay is credited with introducing the vaccination method to South Carolina. He moved to South Carolina in 1773 and married, as his third wife, Martha Laurens, daughter of Henry Laurens, later president of the Continental Congress. Ramsay served in the General Assembly, 1776-81, and as an army surgeon at the siege of Savannah. Captured at the fall of Charles Town in 1780, he was exiled to St. Augustine. He served in the Continental Congress, 1782-85 and was president pro-tempore of that body. He was president of the S.C. Senate, in which he served, 1801-15. Several works on U.S. and South Carolina history were written while Dr. Ramsay lived at 92 Broad. Ramsay died in 1815 when he was shot by a deranged patient. The house is believed to have been built c. 1740, by Solomon Legare or by his daughter Mary who married Thomas Ellis. lt was originally a two story house. Structural changes revealed during a 1984 restoration indicate the upper floor and garret were added about 1820. The front piazza was probably added about the same time. The house is attributed to a Mr. Miller, a sometime partner with John Fullerton in the building trade, working in the city from the mid-to-late 18th century. The house has an asymmetrical floor plan typical of pre-1750 Charleston houses. The Georgian interior details exhibit high quality as well as variety and interest.” (Stockton, unpub. MS; Green, unpub. notes; Ravenel, Architects, 40; Rogers, Charleston in the Age of the Pinckneys 103-108; Thomas, DYKYC, Aug 26, 1968; Stoney, This is Charleston, 14.) – CCPL
Other sources: Charleston Tax Payers of Charleston, SC in 1860-61, Dwelling Houses of Charleston by Alice R.H. Smith – 1917, Charleston 1861 Census Schedule, and a 1872 Bird’s Eye View of Charleston, S.C. The Hist. Charleston Foundation may also have additional data at: Past Perfect
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