Links to the Past

Links to the Past. . , During the late-18th through mid-19th centuries, most wealthy Columbians enslaved Africans and African Americans for work on properties like this one (outlined in red). The relationship of main residences in size and location to smaller buildings, kitchen houses, carriage houses and stables, barns, and even greenhouses (outlined in yellow), helped reinforce social relationship between property owners and enslaved workers before the Civil War. As the last structure of its kind in Columbia, this circa-1830 kitchen house is a rare link to Columbia's enslaved community., [Captions:] , Above , The 1860 population census, lists Ann B[onner] Seibels [1796-1867], widow of John. T. Seibels, as head of a household along with daughters, Laura Jane and Charlotte Temple, and two grandsons, John Temple and Robert Emmet., Above , According to the 1860 Slave Schedule, Ann B. Seibels owned four people (a 45-year-old female and three males, ages 40, 42 and 21) years of age). Due to the nature of the Federal Slave Schedule, neither the enslaved woman's nor the enslaved men's names were recorded. Any relationship of these formerly enslaved persons with the family in 1865 following the Civil War remains unknown. , 1860 Federal Census and 1860 Slave Schedule, National Archives and Records Administration, Left , Detail from C. Drie, Bird's Eye View of the City of Columbia, South Carolina, 1872. , Image courtesy of the Library of Congress