In my last column I asked for help identifying some photos from the Georgetown County Digital Library’s Photo Collection.
I received only one response about the photo of three unidentified men standing in a corn field. Good friend and avid historian Sammy Crayton thought that the man on the left could have been William Doyle Morgan, Mayor of Georgetown from 1893 – 1905.
I agree that the man looks like W.D. Morgan, but the photo was cropped by the newspaper so that you could only see the men from the waist up.
The full-length photo shows the man on the left with both hands intact, whereas Mayor Morgan had only one hand.
I knew that Mayor Morgan had lost his left hand as a young man, but didn’t know how.
I called another good friend who loves history, Ed Carter, and he referred me to an account from the book “A View of Our Past”, published by the Georgetown County Library System in 1993.
According to the book, on Thanksgiving Day in 1878 Morgan was duck hunting in Winyah Bay when his gun accidentally discharged, striking his left hand.
The injury was so severe that it had to be amputated at the wrist.
After that, Morgan wore a black prosthetic hand.
The other photo, of the unidentified house, brought more responses. Rhett Long thought it might be an early photo of the Harrietta Plantation home.
The chimneys are similar, but I think it could be Harrietta only if the photo was taken from the back of the house.
Another friend, Jane Burkette, thought it might be a photo of the old Stamper home on Farr Avenue in Andrews. Mr. Stamper owned a car dealership, Stamper Chevrolet.
I called the director of the Old Town Hall Museum in Andrews, Melissa Moskow, to get her opinion.
Melissa loves history, especially the history of Andrews. Guess it runs in the family ... we’re cousins.
Melissa had seen the photo and said that there is a house on South Magnolia Avenue that is similar to the one in the photo.
When I have the time, I’m going to Andrews to see for myself.
Finally, I emailed the photo to Jim Moody, who grew up in Andrews and whose mother, the late Eleanor Parsons Moody, could have told us in a minute if the house was in Andrews, if it is still standing, and who lived in it. Jim said that it looks like the “...old house in Old Morrisville.”
He said that would put it in Williamsburg County.
Okay, I’ve just planned my next road trip.
When I can afford the time and a tank of gas, I’m going to start in Andrews, then head toward Rhems, where I think Old Morrisville is located.
Maybe I should get some directions first?
I’ve just recently turned sixty-three and I guess it’s time to start paring down what’s left of my personal photo collection.
I’m not talking about my family photographs ... just the photos of people I don’t know.
The two photos you see here I acquired when I bought part of the St. Germain estate.
I think the people are Georgetonians, but don’t know for sure.
I hope someone can identify these people and if you can, you can have the original photographs.
You see the cropped version here, but the originals are full-length shots.
I have them sitting on my great-aunt Maggie Carraway’s Hoosier kitchen cabinet.
I’ll miss them. Please give them good homes.
To all vintage photographs everywhere ... thanks for the memories.
I may be reached at (843) 446-4777 or email at djsummey@gmail.com.