Lincolnville: An Untold Story of the Gullah Geechee Cultural Heritage Corridor

The Lincolnville Preservation & Historical Society

Help secure and restore the eroding culture and historical treasures of Lincolnville »

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“The Town of Lincolnville is a historical gem. The International African American Museum is proud to partner with the Lincolnville Preservation & Historical Society, Inc. to ensure the legacy and contributions of one of the oldest African American towns in South

Lincolnville

Carolina is never lost or forgotten”.

Dr. Tonya M. Matthews President & Chief Executive Officer, The International African American Museum

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Located just inside Charleston County across the Dorchester County line from and adjacent to the town of Summerville, the town of Lincolnville is approximately 20 miles northwest of Charleston and 90 miles south of Columbia. Lincolnville is witnessing development pressures with Charleston’s continuous housing boom, specifically with the expansion and development of neighboring Summerville to the northwest and Ladson to its southeast. As a result, the untold history and stories of families from the sea islands and other places, who bought land, settled, made “home” and built community are being eroded by what some may call “progress” and others may call “erasing”. www.lincolnvillesc.org

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info@lincolnville.org

John and James Islands

Enock Dickerson Mayor of Lincolnville, SC

The Lincolnville Preservation & Historical Society

Welc0me! I am very proud, honored, and humbled to be the great-granddaughter of Charles and Martha Seele, one of the early settlers of Lincolnville. My life is a culmination of the rich culture and high expectations of moral standards and achievements which were planted into the essence of my soul by the early settlers of Lincolnville. Led by Rev. Richard H. Cain, the early settlers ushered in a new era of possibilities for Black people. The Lincolnville Preservation & Historical Society, Inc. honors the vision, commitment, and intentional focus of the founders and early settlers to educate and empower Black children, women, and men to be all they can be – regardless of the scars of slavery or past and present Jim Crow Laws on their backs.

The Lincolnville Preservation & Historical Society, Inc. is requesting your support to secure and restore the eroding culture and historical treasures of Lincolnville. With your support and partnership, we desire to bring Gullah Geechee public programming to Lincolnville and continue to follow the trail of the Gullah Geechee people and their descendants.

Abiding Faith!

Dr. Pernessa C. Seele Founder/President/Visionary The Lincolnville Preservation & Historical Society, Inc.

Founding Board Members of the Lincolnville Preservation & Historical Society, Inc.

— Pernessa Seele

Tyrone Aiken Former Mayor of Lincolnville

Pernessa Charlise Seele, a native of Lincolnville, SC, is also the founder and CEO of The Balm In Gilead, Inc., a not-for-profit organization, celebrating three decades of providing technical training and services that strengthen the capacity of faith institutions in the USA and Africa to promote health education, disease management services which contribute to the elimination of human suffering. Dr. Seele is also the visionary of Healthy Churches 2030 Conference & Initiative, The National Brain Health Center for African Americans and The Southeast Diabetes Faith Initiative. She was named by TIME Magazine as One of the Most Influential Persons in the World. Essence Magazine, in its 35 Anniversary, selected her as one of 35 Most Beautiful and Remarkable Women in the World. Ebony Magazine named her one of its Power 150. She was selected by Women’s E-News as one of its 21 Leaders for the 21st Century. In October 2017, His Eminence, Timothy Michael Cardinal Dolan, Archbishop of New York, bestowed the Pierre Toussaint Medallion upon Dr. Seele. Recently, Dr. Seele’s work was recognized in the 2021 PBS Special: The Black Church: This Is Our Story. This Is Our Song. She is an Honorary Member of Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, Inc.

The Lincolnville Preservation & Historical Society

Dr. Lionel Sabb, Service Coordinator, Department of Social Service, Orangeburg, SC Josephine Jenkins RetiredTransportation Specialist, Lincolnville, SC Yolanda Reed, President & CEO, Credential America Inc., Mechanicsville, VA Jeff Marlow, Marlow Financial Services, Richmond, VA

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One of the early homes built and standing on Smith Street.

The Lincolnville Preservation & Historical Society

and wood stop for the railroad. After the purchase, the area was renamed Lincolnville after President Abraham Lincoln. The early settlers included former slaves from areas that make up today’s the legacy of Black men and women who brought and owned Gullah Geechee Corridor, notably Johns and James Islands. A land during the reconstruction era so that Black families could “praise house” was among the first structure to be built, which be free to pursue and secure the blessings and rights of freedom became Ebenezer AME Church. As many settlers migrated from for themselves and their posterity. The Town of Lincolnville was the Sea Islands and other places, they brought their culture and founded in 1867 and incorporated in 1889. The town is rich in traditions with them. Rice and grits were staple foods, along with history and legacy. With an intentional focus, okra, field peas, and yams. The settlers farmed The Lincolnville Preservation & Historical their land, grew their own livestock, and lived Society, a 501.c3, not-for-profit organization, off the land. The settlers (and present-day) got works to enrich and preserve the cultural their fresh seafood from daily fishing in nearby heritage and intangible attributes of Lincolnville, fresh waterways (Ashley River extension) as well one of the oldest African American towns in the as weekend trips to the Sea Islands for shrimp, State of South Carolina. The organization offers crabs, and oysters. The soil of Lincolnville is rich community development activities designed with indigo plants, sassafras, and other plants to improve the health, economic and social well-known to the Gullah Geechee Corridor. determinates of residents living in Lincolnville Quilting is a traditional art that has been passed today. down from the early settlers to the present day.

For the past 155 years, the mayor and Lincolnville, SC is an untold story town council of Lincolnville have remained of the Gullah Geechee Cultural Rev. Richard H. Cain predominately African American. However, Heritage Corridor.

Lincolnville, located in Charleston County, has been intentionally In 1867, Rev. Richard H. Cain, Pastor of Emmanuel AME overlooked over the years. The town has not benefited from Church and elected to the 43rd US House of Representatives, led the economic development and resources as its neighboring seven men approximately twenty miles west of Charleston and towns. The town’s rich history and the remaining structures purchased 620 acres of land for $1000 from the Southern Railroad of the founding settlers, including buildings, burial grounds, Company. Rev. Cain and his followers designed their “Negro marshlands, and majestic, oak trees, are unknown to the majority town” to be a perfect circle around the railroad tracks. Pump of people living in the Lowcountry, Charleston County, South Carolina, and the United States.

Pond was the original name of the area because it was a water

The Lincolnville Preservation & Historical Society Inc. aims to grasp and preserve

The Lincolnville Preservation & Historical Society

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The Genealogy of a Gullah Geechee Family in Lincolnville

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Charles Seele Jr., Born abt 1835, was from Prussia. He was a stowaway on a ship that docked somewhere on the sea islands. As the story goes, he met and fell in love with an enslaved woman, Martha Brown, born on James Island abt 1856. Because interracial marriage was against the law, Charles was living with his “house servant” on James Island when his first son, William, was born on June 10, 1875. By the late 1890s, Charles and Martha (wife), along with William, their eldest son, and their other six children (all born on the sea islands of James or John’s Island) were living in Lincolnville, SC.

Charles Augustine Seele, the sixth son of Charles and Martha, served as the 11th Mayor of the Town of Lincolnville. He married Edna Williamson, born in 1898 in Charleston, SC, and lived to be 104. They had two children: Charles Edward and Helene.

Charles Edward Seele served on Town Council and his wife, Luella Doris Sabb Seele, who also grew up in Lincolnville, served as Town Clerk for many years. Luella Seele, a schoolteacher at the Lincolnville Elementary School, wrote A Study of Lincolnville, SC: A Negro Community, the first definitive history of the Martha Seele in Lincolnville, SC William Seele, Sr. married Isabella McNeil, town as a requirement for her Master Thesis in born September 16, 1879, on James Island, SC. She was 1955 from Atlanta University in Atlanta, GA. the daughter of enslaved Daniel McNeil and Maria Prayleau, both born abt 1849 on James Island, SC. To Charles and Luella were the parents of one Children of Charles and Martha Seele this union, nine children were born in Lincolnville, daughter, Pernessa Charlise Seele, who appeared SC. on the cover of TIME Magazine as a TIME 100 William Most Influential Person in the World (1996) and is Edward John Henry William Seele, Sr. became the longest-serving President & Founder of The Lincolnville Preservation Mary Mayor of the Town of Lincolnville. He won three (3) & Historical Society Inc. Johanna non-consecutive, unlimited terms totaling about Charles Augustine 41 years as Mayor. His son, William Seele Jr., born Martha in Lincolnville in 1909, also served as Mayor of Lincolnville for one term.

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William Seele, Sr. with wife Isabella

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Edna Williamson Seele Charles E. and his baby girl, Pernessa Charlise

Mayor William Seele, Sr. (seated) with Ruth Ross (clerk); Standing left to Right: Councilmen: Samuel Keller, Edmund Edwards, Christopher E. Williams

Picture of the gravesite of Charles and Martha Seele along with two of their children, Mary and Johanna. All their children, except their youngest child, Martha, is buried in Bible Sojourn Cemetery in Lincolnville, SC.

Two Hidden Figures from Lincolnville

The contributions of individuals from Lincolnville, South Carolina is long and vast. In areas of political and social discourse, journalism, religion, academics, arts and culture, education, and public health, persons from Lincolnville carry within their DNA, it seems, a calling to civic activism.

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The Reverend Mrs. Charlotte S. Riley has been recognized as the first Black woman (perhaps of any race) preacher in the South. Born in slavery on August 26, 1836, in Charleston, SC, she was the only daughter of enslaved parents, John and Sarah Levy. At age fourteen, Charlotte S. Riley left the Presbyterian Church and joined the African Methodist Episcopal Church under the leadership of Rev. Richard H. Cain, the founder of Lincolnville, SC. Mrs. Riley rose up through the ranks of the AME Church, enduring the disadvantages against women in a predominately patriarchal church. She became a licensed preacher in 1871.

As she traveled across the South and beyond to teach literacy classes and to preach, Rev. Mrs. Riley played a role in organizing sharecroppers; assisted in the newly formed Colored National Labor Union; and supported the Honorable Robert Brown Elliott, the first African American commanding general of South Carolina National Guard. In 1883, Rev. Mrs. Riley bought land and made Lincolnville her home and headquarters.

The Christian Messenger, a weekly newspaper published by the Jenkins Orphanage, printed: “She was introduced as “Rev. C.S Riley of Lincolnville, SC as being one of the greatest powers in society among women, and the only woman preacher in South Carolina. Mrs. Riley is the strongest and most forcible lady orator that has appeared before an audience in this state”.

On September 8, 1885, Rev. Mrs. C. S. Riley executed a bond and took the oath of office of postmaster at Lincolnville. Her oath was administered by William F. Vilas, Postmaster General of the United States of America under President Grover Cleveland from 1885 to 1888.

As Postmaster of Lincolnville and learning President Theodore Roosevelt was coming to the Charleston Exposition in 1902, she wrote a letter of invitation requesting him to travel to Lincolnville, twenty miles from Charleston, and have his train slow down and allow the people of Lincolnville to “behold your god-like person, as we are unable to see our President otherwise.” Postmaster Riley received a

The Lincolnville Preservation & Historical Society

response from Washington. President Roosevelt did, in fact, travel through Lincolnville on his way to Summerville, one mile further west of Charleston. As the trained slowed down, the President of the United States appeared on the rear platform while “doffing his handsome silk beaver to those assembled.” Mrs. Riley led the townspeople in singing a song she had written.

Rev. Mrs. C.S. Riley adopted son, David Riley Hill, became the first black principal of a public school in the United States in 1919 – Burke High School in Charleston, SC. David married Mattie Elizabeth Seabrook, who was the first teacher of Lincolnville’s Williams Graded School.

The Rev. Charlotte S. Riley is laid to rest in Lincolnville’s Bible Sojourn Cemetery.

Rev. Mrs. C. S. Riley’s autobiography, A Mysterious Life & Calling: From Slavery to Ministry in South Carolina, was originally published by the Jenkins Orphanage Printing Press owned by Daniel J. Jenkins, pastor and business owner who founded the Orphan Aid Society. Crystal J. Lucky, an associate professor of English and the director of the Africana Studies Program at Villanova University in Philadelphia, discovered Riley’s forgotten book in the library archives at Wilberforce University in Ohio.

In January 2016, A Mysterious Life & Calling: From Slavery to Ministry in South Carolina was published by the University of Wisconsin Press and edited by Professor Lucky, who also wrote the introduction. The book is available for purchase on Amazon, Barnes and Noble, and others.

John Henry McCray The National Park Service recently awarded students at Allen University in Columbia, SC a three-year grant to investigate John Henry McCray’s life and extraordinary achievements as a journalist and civil rights activist.

John H. McCray (August 25, 1910 – September 15, 1987) moved to Lincolnville, SC at the age of six with his parents, Donald McCray and Rachel R. Montgomery (from Charleston). McCray graduated head of his class at Lincolnville (Williams) Graded School and was valedictorian of the class of 1931 at Avery Institute in Charleston, SC. In 1935, McCray earned a chemistry degree from Talladega College in Talladega, Alabama.

Among McCray’s most noted accomplishments is the publisher of Lighthouse and Informer in 1941. By 1954, the Lighthouse and Informer was South Carolina’s largest and most political Black weekly. With its motto: “Shedding Light for a Growing Race”, McCray’s publication provided news about Black people from across the United States and the World. McCray, through his newspaper, aggressively took on South Carolina’s White Power Structure. With a fearless persona, McCray was the co-founder of the Progressive Democratic Party, the first Black Democratic Party in the South in 1944. McCray was a forceful voice in the protest against the national Democratic Party’s unfair treatment of Blacks in South Carolina.

The Lincolnville Preservation & Historical Society

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A Rosenwald School in Lincolnville

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A friend of Booker T. Washington, Julius Rosenwald, supported the growth of public education for rural southern Blacks by assisting Washington on a program administered by the Tuskegee Institute from 1913 to 1920 for the construction of school facilities for African American children in the South. One of the largest programs administered by the Rosenwald Fund was the rural school building program, which provided money for the construction of over 5000 schools and teachers’ homes, which became known as “Rosenwald Schools.” In 1924, a Rosenwald School was built on Board Street. The original wooden Rosenwald School was remolded with brick in 1953.

The new school replaced the Williams Graded School builtin 1899, which was placed on the National Register of Historic Places but burned down in 1982. The Williams Graded School was built by A. Tony Williams, who became the third Mayor of Lincolnville.

As the Black segregated school in the area, a private bus company owned by Civil rights activist, Esau Jenkins of Johns Island, was contracted to transport Black students from surrounding areas to Lincolnville for their education.

Upon completion of 7th grade, Black students were transported to Bonds-Wilson High School in North Charleston. Integration of Charleston County Schools resulted in Lincolnville Elementary School

closing in 1969.

The school was deeded to the town on July 17, 1979, under the leadership of Mayor Charles Ross. Today, the once known Rosenwald School is now the Charles Ross Municipal Complex, the seat of government for the Town of Lincolnville.

The Williams Graded School

Historical Structures One of the primary goals of the Lincolnville Preservation & Historical Society is to secure historical markers to commemorate the lives of fearless Black men and women who dared to create “home” in the midst of the daily reality of unthinkable terror. The early settlers actualized their vision of a place where their children and their children’s children would be safe to grow and learn about their extraordinary African heritage and bloodline. They poured into their children a vision that they would one day become world leaders and master the language of their oppressor. Each child in Lincolnville would learn and come to understand that their history did not begin as enslaved individuals. However, the survival of the most violent, inhumane conditions set upon a people in human history would propel them to greatness for the betterment of all mankind.

Several residents and landowners today are descendants of Lincolnville’s original settlers. The town has not seen widespread development, therefore there are several historic homes, churches, cemeteries, and undeveloped land within the original town boundaries. Lincolnville residents would benefit from heritage preservation for education purposes as well as tax incentives for historic preservation & rehabilitation of buildings and homes. Listed here are a few of the several historic structures that remain in the Town of Lincolnville.

9 Bible Sojourn Cemetery, located off Greenwood Street, dates back to July 31, 1989. It was originally part of the Mary Eden farmland. Mrs. Eden was one of the earlier settlers and owner of large parcels of land in Lincolnville. Bible Sojourn Cemetery was organized and operated by the ladies of Ebenezer AME Church. Over time, the cemetery was left unattended and overtaken by nature. Many cornerstones represent World War I and II, and Korean War Veterans. Each tombstone tells a story.

The Lincolnville Preservation & Historical Society

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Ebenezer African Methodist Episcopal Church is the cornerstone of the founding and history of Lincolnville, SC. It is located at 124 East Pinckney Street. Rev. Richard H. Cain, then the pastor of Emmanuel AME Church in Charleston, assembled a meeting house for prayer, bible classes, and town organizing meetings. Built in 1878 under the leadership of Rev. Cain, the original structure was remolded in 1903, with a cornerstone being laid by Pastor C. W. McQueen. In the 1960s, under the leadership of Rev. Josh Gadson, the church was brick veneered.

William Seele, Sr. gave permission to use an area of his land to the men and women of Wesley Methodist Church in 1887. Wesley Methodist Church is located on Front Street.

Wesley was organized by men and women from Centenary Methodist Episcopal Church in Charleston. In the later 1960s, the congregation merged with Wesley United Methodist Church in Summerville. The original pews remain in the building, as well as the chandelier, which was originally illuminated by kerosene before being converted to electricity. Much of the history of Wesley Methodist Church was lost in a house fire.

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The Old Jail, one of the original structures built by the earlier settlers around 1900 is a stuccoed masonry building with a gabled roof with a parapet façade.

The twostory frame, lateral gable dwelling with weatherboard siding, original windows of the home of Charles A. and Edna Seele on the main road (Lincoln Ave.) continues to tell the story of the Seele family migration from the Sea Islands of the Gullah Geechee Corridor.

11 Built-in 1890, this is the home of the descendants of the Keller Family, early settlers of Lincolnville. The original structure of this Victorian home still stands majestically on Meeting Street.

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Near the railroad tracks on Dunmeyer Hill Road, in the area of the home of Rev. Mrs. Charlotte S. Riley, stands the Bishop Richard H. Cain Community Garden. In an effort to re-kindle community synergy of working together to plant, grow and harvest, Pernessa Seele, now owner of the land, donated the clearing and use of the parcel to Ebenezer AME Church as the community organizer of the community garden.

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Under the oversight of Rev. Andre Thornhill, pastor of Ebenezer AME Church, the community garden launched on April 10, 2021. Attending the launch and the first planting were Bishop Samuel Green, Sr., Presiding Prelate of the 7th Episcopal District of the AME Church; Rev. Dr. Kylon Middleton Charleston County Councilman, District #6; Rev. George E. McKain, Director of Public Affairs & Social Concerns, of the AME Zion Church and many participating faith leaders from across the state; political leaders and members of the Town of Lincolnville who came to join hands to plant the first seeds of the Bishop Richard Harvey Cain Community Garden.

The first harvest of 2021 was spectacular! The community gardeners are preparing for spring planting 2022. Because of the outpouring of excitement and success, the Bishop Richard H. Cain Community Garden is expanding to include a classic greenhouse and a hydroponic gardening system in 2022.

The community garden began as a national model of The Balm In Gilead, Inc., a national organization based in Richmond, VA working to strengthen the collective power of congregations of various denominations to establish an equitable food system for their local communities across the state of SC. To date, 17 congregations participate in the Balm In Gilead’s African American Church Community Garden and Food Security Project. The Black Church Security Food Network and The Mayo Clinic are partners with the Balm In Gilead community garden project.

The community garden launched a new focus on health and wellness among Lincolnville residents. A recent study conducted by the Lincolnville Preservation and Historical Society with doctoral students from Georgia State University revealed the highest rates of hypertension in the Lowcountry are among Lincolnville residents. The Lincolnville Preservation & Historical Society, The Balm In Gilead, and The Mayo Clinic are joining forces in 2022 to conduct a broader, comprehensive study regarding the health and wellbeing of Lincolnville residents. This will be the first time a comprehensive, community based participatory, public health study will be undertaken in Lincolnville.

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Rev. Dr. Kylon Middleton

Bishop Green and Dr. Seele

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www.lincolnvillesc.org

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info@lincolnville.org

The Lincolnville Preservation & Historical Society