About the Collection
The Pringle-Garden Family Papers, 1701-1882, collection contains loose papers written by or belonging to the Pringle-Garden family. When Robert Pringle (1755-1811) married his second wife, Amelia Ann Garden (1770-1801), the lives and property of these South Carolina Lowcountry families became intertwined. Robert Pringle, a physician and later a merchant, was the son of Robert Pringle (1702-1776), who came to Charleston from Scotland in 1725. Amelia Ann Garden was the daughter of Benjamin Garden (1736-1789), a planter in Prince William Parish who fought in the Revolution and served in the South Carolina House of Representatives. Her mother, Amelia Godin, was the granddaughter of Isaac Mazyck (1639-1736). Benjamin Garden’s father was Alexander Garden (1686-1756), rector of St. Philip’s Parish and Commissary of the Province.
Loose papers consist of inventories for enslaved persons at Chessey, Richfield and Bluefield Plantations, and the last wills and testaments of Benjamin Garden and Robert Pringle. These wills include the emancipation of various enslaved persons, and the division of enslaved persons among family members or sold to others such as “the Spaniards or at the Bay of Honduras.”
