Post # 3 ~ The Jeffers Family in Hamburg, SC

Brand New Town ~ Brand New Opportunity

My question: what was the background of the Jeffers brothers who wrote the Civil War letters? Before diving into the letters written during the war, I want to set the stage with whatever I can gather about the environment that shaped the young men. 

There are no more family letters to be found, but there are other ways of understanding their early years. I trawled through old newspapers, but newspaper articles and advertisements give only pin-hole pictures of a moment in time. I also needed books with historical context. There are several informative books on upstate history; for me the most helpful is Planting a Capitalist South: Masters, Merchants, and Manufacturers in the Southern Interior, 1790-1860, by Tom Downey, LSU Press, 2006. Mr. Downey identified Henry L. Jeffers as a successful merchant, a leader among merchants who were catalysts in the transition of South Carolina from a feudal agrarian society to one “becoming” open to both economic and political transformation. The history laid out in Downey’s book gave me a great framework to understand the blizzard of newspaper clippings written by or about Henry L. Jeffers. 

 Henry Langford Jeffers c 1888

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Post # 4 ~ Hamburg Rising

Hamburg's Day in the Sun

This post looks at Hamburg itself, a place we might describe today as a boom town, built to ship cotton on the Savannah River.

Shipping cotton, from Frank Leslie's Illustrated Newspaper, 1862. LOC.

In my last, I introduced Henry Schultz, the colorful, self-promoting merchant who vowed revenge on his enemies in Augusta, Georgia, and set out to build a rival market-town that would pull in all the trade of back-country SC, GA, TN, and NC. Shultz named his new place after his hometown of Hamburg, Germany. His town grew rapidly for about three decades. An 1891 article in The Atlanta Journal recorded the memories of elderly Augusta merchant William C. Sibley, a contemporary of Henry L. Jeffers. 

Post # 5 ~ Quality of Life in Hamburg

Building a Better Hamburg

Though busy earning a living, H. L. Jeffers’ involvement in local civic affairs kept apace. The first example I found was his participation, in 1831 at age 23, with other church members in a petition to the State Legislature for land to build a Baptist Church in Hamburg. 

Detail of 1831 Petition to the South Carolina General Assembly,

for land in Hamburg to build a Baptist Church. SC Archives

Post # 6 ~ Henry L. Jeffers Elected a Warden of Hamburg

Inauguration of Hamburg's First Elected Town Council

~ Church Bells Ringing! ~

On Saturday, February 20, 1836, the newly elected councilmen of the newly incorporated Hamburg, SC, were solemnly sworn in. Clipped from The Charleston Daily Courier, 1836-03-03, LOC.

TEXT TRANSCRIPTION BELOW

Post # 8 ~ How Hamburg Dealt with Trouble, Part 1

Friends are Confirmed, and Enemies are Confounded

This post continues looking at life in Hamburg, SC, the town in which the Jeffers family lived 1830-1855. The material covered centers on Henry Shultz, Hamburg's Founder and fervent Defender. The Jeffers family's father, Henry Langford Jeffers, had staked his livelihood and career in Hamburg, and would have been completely involved in all the efforts touched on below. 

Henry Shultz, Founder and Proprietor of Hamburg, SC, was born too early - he would have loved social media. He was a salesman and a showman; he poured his soul into proclaiming the greatness of his town. Shultz did not take sides politically - his sole passion was to crush Augusta, GA, and establish Hamburg as the best place to live and to trade. In the early years he pushed for this goal by lobbying South Carolina’s state government to lend him money for building Hamburg. But in 1838 an article in a North Carolina newspaper galvanized him into using the printed word for his purposes.

In March of 1838, a reporter from North Carolina traveled by Railroad to Augusta, GA, to attend the Commercial Convention. He wrote in the 1838-04-04 Fayetteville (NC) Weekly Observer: 

The country through which we passed, is exceedingly poor and uninteresting...Hamburg may be called the suburb of Augusta, [and is] scattered and shabby. Augusta is beautifully situated, and as far as I have seen, handsomely built up, with the widest streets in the country...Every thing about [Augusta] has the appearance of active and prosperous business.

The "Best Friend," early passenger train in South Carolina. LOC.

Shocked by the negative comparison, Shultz and his fellow Hamburg-loyalists

Post # 9 ~ How Hamburg Dealt with Trouble, Part 2

Cry Victory for Hamburg!

In defending his Town, Henry Shultz, Founder and Proprietor of Hamburg, SC, was never shy. In the previous post we saw him declare (1840-03-12 Edgefield Advertiser): 

Happy, thrice happy, must he [Shultz] be. The gloom which so long has overspread his energies, has disappeared - friends are confirmed, and enemies are confounded...The course of Hamburg is onward, onward, and still onward, until her name shall be respected among the cities of the earth.

But those outsiders, those confounded naysayers (like the Camden Journal) couldn’t give it a rest. The very next month their editor put out a sarcastic piece about the unhealthy environment of this railroad town carved out of swampland. The Camden Journal 1840-04-25: 

But we are assured that at this time, and throughout nearly every season which has passed since the road has been in constant use, the people living along it have had excellent health, and at no time has any sickness of an epidemic character appeared among them. Large bodies of the land are under water the longer portion of the year; indeed, the great part of the country in sight from the cars, presents the appearance of a sickly, miasmatic region; and now, the wonder is, what blessed agent has converted a country so much exposed to the blighting effects of the malaria arising from miles of standing water into the very home of health?

South Carolina swampland LOC

Post # 10 ~ Savannah River Rising

Fifteen Feet in One Night
~ Dealing with the Freshet on the Savannah River ~

The NY Evening Post published a report written by a Hamburg train depot manager. Clipped and transcribed from The Evening Post, New York, New York. Tuesday, 1840-06-02, Page 2:

TEXT TRANSCRIPTION:

From the Charleston Mercury, May 29.

DISASTROUS FLOOD. - We scarcely know in what terms to report the terrible freshet that has just visited Augusta and Hamburg. This much is certain, that

Post # 14 ~ Wait, WHAT?

The Edgefield Advertiser Said That?

The Hamburg loyalists were indefatigable in defending their town, praising her to the hilt. Reporting on an anniversary celebration of Hamburg's founding, chief promoter Henry Shultz, under one of his pseudonyms, "An Observer," rhapsodized:

The Edgefield Advertiser, 1839-07-13:

Eighteen years, this day, have passed since the foundation of Hamburg was laid and as a full grown child, these years have secured a populous and extraordinary town...Feeble man may talk to his weak and unversed fellow creature, and lay schemes for a paper annihilation [of Hamburg] - but all their plans will be useless as their own weakness. She speaks for herself. Her imports and exports are sufficient proof of their stability.

"Observer" gave fulsome praise to the beauty of Hamburg, as he awaited the big celebration: 

The hour at length arrived...The fine band of Hamburg enlivened the scene...the whole presenting one of the most splendid and delightful exhibitions I ever witnessed.

 Militia Band Music Cover, 1836. LOC.

The enchanting scenery was sufficiently beautiful to induce the gods and goddesses to abandon their sylvan retreats, and select this spot for their evening revels. Indeed, who could believe himself among mortals in this fairy grove, lit up so tastefully and so beautifully decorated by the ready hand of the founder of Hamburg; and who would not, that witnessed this scene, desire that this could always be, and who among the throng there gathered, was not proud of being a citizen of Hamburg? 

Post # 17 ~ Drawing Down the Curtain on Mr. Shultz

No End To His Zeal

~ Undaunted to the Last ~

The histories of Hamburg and its founder Henry Shultz are nearly inextricable. If I am interested in Hamburg, I am interested in Mr. Shultz. Before moving on with the Jeffers story, I have a few more Shultz-findings to share. 

Henry Shultz tirelessly promoted Hamburg, proclaiming its importance and success; and he defended himself with equal fervor. (I wish I had time to compile a collection of his writings, with notes about the context. Several historians have been intrigued by Mr. Shultz: Wikipedia has a well-done Henry Shultz article; and searches have turned up several blogs and articles about the man and his town.)

Shultz published many accounts of his woes; here is one: See the transcription of the whole article here. Below are some excerpts: 

The Edgefield Advertiser, 1839-08-15. LOC

INQUIRIES IN A CASE OF BANKRUPTCY.