Week 9 of 52 Sams in 52 Weeks

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Disaster-TheStoryofOneSouthernFamily(1838–1864)

Disaster is relative and can mean many different things to many people. And of course, the period of the conflict between the states is rife with stories of disaster. The SAMS family had several members die in that conflict. But that is not the focus this week. I’m going to concentrate on just one Sams family; that of James Edings Lawrence Fripp (1816 - 1864) and his wife Evelina Edings Sams (1822 - 1861), who lost so many, so young.

Crypts of the four Fripp children. Their mother and father are buried to the left of these crypts in unmarked graves; confirmed by a grand-penetrating radar survey. Sams Family Cemetery, Dataw Island, SC.

Week 9 of 52 Sams in 52 Weeks

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BBSams-KeepingitintheFamily

Evelina Edings Sams was the oldest daughter of BB Sams (1787 - 1855) and his first wife,

Elizabeth Hann Fripp (1795 - 1831). They had another daughter born four years before

Evelina, but Ariana Adeline Sams died before her first birthday. I’m going to address the

family Evelina and JEL started in a minute, but first, let me talk about some familial

relationships.

Mrs. Elizabeth Sams had a brother, William Edings Fripp, who was, therefore, Evelina’s

uncle. And Uncle W. Edings Fripp (he went by his middle name) was married to Aunt

Martha F. Edwards. From birth, Evelina had an Uncle Edings & Aunt Martha. Since the

Fripp family had many holdings on St. Helena Island, the Sams probably knew them well.

At age nine, Evelina’s mother Elizabeth, dies, and her Father marries Aunt Martha. Her

husband, Uncle Edings, had died five years earlier.

At this point, you can see that from Evelina’s perspective, while she’s lost a mother, much

is right with the world cause she’s known her Father’s new wife all her life as Aunt Martha.

EvelinaSamsmarriesLawrenceFripp

In September 1838, Evelina Sams married James Edings Lawrence Fripp. Guess who his

parents are? Uncle Edings (who died in 1826) and Mother/Aunt Martha! But before I can

really say Evelina and Lawrence were cousins, more research is needed. There’s also

evidence that suggests Lawrence Fripp’s parents were actually James Fripp & Mary

Pope. (See my note in the sources section for more on this.)

Evelina and Lawrence married soon after he graduated from South Carolina College

(now University of South Carolina). He was one of only 43 graduates in 1837. I found

obituaries for both Lawrence and Evelina, hoping to learn a bit more about their lives

together. Their obits didn’t help; to hard to separate fact from fiction. For instance, it

says. “..[Lawrence graduated] in the year 1837, and was a very creditable classical and

general scholar.” Not quite sure what that means. It goes on to give this glowing

comment on his next phase of life “..he selected the quiet and secluded pursuit of

conducting his patrimonial estate.” I believe this is another way of saying he was a

plantation owner. His plantation on St. Helena Island is identified on pages 324-325 of

Week 9 of 52 Sams in 52 Weeks

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the Rosengarten source.

I don’t know exactly where they lived once married, but it was in the Beaufort area, at

least until the Civil War started. In the 1840, 1850, and 1860 Federal Census, they are in

the St Helena Parish, District of Beaufort records. According to Rosengarten’s map of

plantations on St Helena Island, we can assume they lived part of the year on his

plantation identified on the map. That classic source about Thomas B. Chaplin mentions

Lawrence Fripp often. He appears to have been a modestly successful planter and

responsible business man.

But they lived in an unfortunate time. Married 1838 + Battle of Port Royal 1861 = you

might have sons about to be thrown into war and a family into exile. It’s worse than that.

In their case, the sorrow began much earlier.

TheHardshipBegins.

Evelina and Lawrence’s first child is a son Berners Edings Fripp, born about 1840 (Census

records are a bit cloudy on his age, give or take two years). He serves in the Civil War,

survives, marries, and dies in 1883 in Chester County, South Carolina.

Two years after Berners was born, in the winter of 1842, Evelina and Lawrence have twin

boys. Neither make it to their second birthday, passing away in the summer of 1843.

William Oliver and James Hann are buried in the Sams Family Cemetery on Dataw Island.

Each crypt has a beautiful inscription, revealing deep sorrow. The words on the James

Hann crypt read,

❖

In the morning of life, this infant soul

To the bosom of Jesus, did speed

Ere sorrow was known, or life’s dark surge

Had roll’d over his spirit pure.

But dead tho’ he be, in Jesus he’ll rest

And living with him he’ll ever be blest.

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That same year of sorrow, their fourth son is born, Melvin James Fripp. He also served in

the war, survived, married, and died in 1915 at the age of 72 in Colleton County, South

Carolina. Next son Julius came along in 1847, and I believe he served in the war also

(according to Lawrence Fripp’s obituary), though I don’t know when he died. He

disappears from the records after the 1860 Federal Census. I suspect he died in or soon

after the war.

Crypt of twins boys William Oliver Fripp (1842 - 1843) and James Hann Fripp (1842 - 1843). Sams Family Cemetery, Dataw Island, SC

TheHardshipContinues

I’ve mentioned the death of the two infant sons, and the fact that three others who

survived into adulthood went into the war. Before the war came, some modicum of

happiness may have returned to the family with the birth of two daughters. Eveline

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Edings Fripp was born in 1849 and Anna R Fripp in 1852. Since JEL Fripp’s obituary from

1864 mentions only one daughter, it appears one died young. Two more sons come

along, Lawrence in 1854 and Joseph Pope in 1855. Neither survives more than a few

months. They also are buried on Dataw Island, next to the twins who were buried about

ten years earlier.

Crypt for Lawrence Fripp (1854 - 1855) and Joseph Pope Fripp (1855 - 1855), buried in the Sams Family Cemetery on Dataw Island, SC

In the Spring of 1861, a mere five weeks before the Civil War starts, Evelina Edings Sams

FRIPP passes away, probably on Dataw Island. Her obituary tells us almost nothing about

her. It’s long, flowing, and devoid of any mention of names or events in her life. Sad. Her

only good fortune at the end is that family and friends surround her, and she did not live

to see the outbreak of the Civil War, nor her three sons go off to war.

It appears her husband, as a result of the evacuation of Beaufort after the Battle of Port

Week 9 of 52 Sams in 52 Weeks

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Royal in November of 1861, evacuated with the family to Barnwell Court House, since

that is where he died in 1864. We have evidence that several prominent Beaufort

plantation families left for Barnwell C.H.

ClosetotheSamsinLifeandDeath

We have records that say Lawrence Fripp and his wife Evelina are both buried next to

their four infant children on Dataw Island. The parents have no headstones, probably

due to the war. A ground-penetrating radar survey of the cemetery was done in 2005

(see source below dated February 2006). It did indeed find two graves next to the small

crypts of the four children. And I can’t help but wonder if one of the several mystery

graves also discovered back then belong to the daughter who died young. Evelina’s

parents are also buried in the Sams Family Cemetery on Dataw Island, as well as her

step-mother. In the course of 25 years, nine members of a family of eleven have died.

Surely a disaster by anyone’s measure.

❖

From Evelina’s obituary (1861)

They are now enjoying the blissful communion in that “Better Land” where the wicked cease from troubling and the weary are at rest.

❖

From Lawrence’s obituary (1864)

Our friend goes to the tomb where not many years ago he conveyed his amiable wife. He was weary, and he is at rest - at rest with her.

Sources

Find-A-Grave, accessed Mar 1, 2020

Family Tree for Sams of Dataw, maintained by Bill Riski and Joel Holden, accessed Mar

1, 2020.

Poplin, Eric C., Burns, Gwendolyn, and Agha, Andrew - Recent Archaeological

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Investigations on Dataw Island, Beaufort County, South Carolina, February 2006

Rosengarten, Theodore -Tombee: Portrait of a Cotton Planter, 1986

Riski note: there is some discrepancy about who Lawrence Fripp’s parents were. Some

sources say James Fripp & Mary Pope; our genealogy information says William Edings

Fripp & Martha Fripp Edwards Sams. The 1820 and 1830 Federal Census seem to

support William & Martha. But the middle names of two young children imply otherwise.

Note that Lawrence and Evelina name one son James Hann Fripp, honoring his maternal

grandmother. And they name another son Joseph Pope Fripp. Doesn't it seem

reasonable that this could be in honor of his paternal grandmother, Mary Pope? A

mystery for a reader to explore further, please!

#52Sams Week 9