Housing refugees from the Lowcountry….
City Directories and History: 1958 – Charles R. Gilliam, 1966 – Vacant
One of the oldest houses, probably built by the Lowry family as a cottage on the edge of town in the 1840’s, the house is atypical of houses in Yorkville at that time. The structure is situated over a large basement room once heated by two fireplaces. The house is not a true raised cottage due to the unusual height of the roof. The front stoop was a Victorian addition, probably added during the 1870s. In addition to the sensitive restoration of the house, the picket fence, once a local landmark, has been replaced.
Legend has it that the house was used as a refuge for people fleeing Charleston during the siege in 1862. There is a secret trap door leading to the basement. The house was named “The Lilacs” for the extensive flower gardens which surrounded the property when it was occupied by the Gillams. The second story was finished as living space in the 1970’s, when Steve McCrae restored the property. [Courtesy of the Yorkville Historical Society – 2002]
This simple raised cottage is reflective of the homes being constructed by artisans in the 1840’s and 1850’s and not much earlier. The downstairs rooms were used for domestic work, while the family lived comfortably on the main level. The home is very similar to several in Chester County having been documented with a construction date of circa 1855. Also referred to as the Snyder House….
*** Note in 1910 this address was #204 Jefferson Street.
Yorkville Enquirer, Wednesday, July 15, 1863: Refugee Letter in response to YE editor
A letter from “Refugee” was sent to the YE. The writer expressed regret that the Editor, in his “Help me, Cassius” editorial, “attacked refugees, the Parishes, and the low country negro. I know not what the latter may have done to offend you: at home he is at least respectful, and his average standard of decency and morality is quite as high as that of his race anywhere else. But let that pass, Cuffee cares very little about newspaper abuse. Not so with his owners; we feel the sting of unjust assault. We have always believed that a S. Carolinian would be regarded as a brother in every part of the State, especially so when in distress.” Refugees from the sea-coast “have not been kindly treated in certain localities; but these are exceptions, and exceptions in which Yorkville is certainly not included, for we have received nothing but uniform kindness here.” The writer and his friends should find another place to refugee if a number of persons have sentiments similar to those of the editor. No area of the state had sent as many soldiers to war, in proportion, as the coast. “You insinuate that the whole work of fortifying the sea-coast should be done by low country labor. Here we differ. It is obvious, if the enemy get possession of the coast, Charleston included, the whole State must suffer; it may be entirely overrun, or, at least, indispensable supplies – salt, for instance – cut off. The heaviest work has already been done by Parish labor, and a great deal of it without pay or rations. You propose to fight our battles whilst we labor. We decline this, and prefer, as we have heretofore done, to do our part in the battlefield, as well as in the trenches. You are displeased at the sale of so many negroes. But what is the unfortunate refugee to do in the terrible emergence? Many of them are not only driven from their plantations, and their products destroyed for the good of the country, but have no possible way of maintaining their families than that of disposing of such property as may be left in their possession.
“Mr. Editor, let there be peace, good will and forbearance, within the borders.”
Yorkville Enquirer, Wednesday, July 15, 1863: Editor explained “Refugee” editorial
The use of the term refugee was made regarding one situation, but a different meaning may be made of the term. “We complained of the call on the upper Districts for slave labor, while there were so many unemployed, and occupying the auction marts on the coast, because we thought the provisioning of the Army almost as necessary as its fortifications.” The editor did not intend “to spare the negroes, although $25 a month and provision was offered, as transportation would be saved by employing those on the spot, and already acclimated – because Orders were issued for companies to be organized for coast defence. . . .” “The ‘Refugees,’ however, who we intended in our remarks, were those liable to and capable of military service in the field; and we repel the insinuation that our people have ever been charged with a want of hospitality, which would certainly be the case, if they did not welcome to their hearts and homes their less fortunate neighbors and friends.” The “Refugee” must have written under the same motivation that caused the editor to write the first article and so, “when all should be hand in hand to drive the invader from our State, there should be ‘peace, good will and forbearance within the borders.’”
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