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| Three generations of the Thorne line. |
Philip M. Thorne was born in Charleston to John Stocks and Rebecca Thorne around 1813. His middle initial "M" stands for "Manuel," sometimes spelled "Manual." I wondered for a long time about the origin of Philip's middle name, and then on a visit to the Avery Research Center, I found the listing of early members of the Brown Fellowship Society (BFS) that included the name "Philip Manuel." Admitted to the BFS on 2 Oct 1800, Manuel is identified in several early Charleston city directories as a Free Person of Color and a tailor. By the time the BFS member listing was compiled in 1844, he had passed away. So "Philip Manuel, F.P.C., tailor, at 8 Clifford's Alley" is on my list of Charlestonians to look up.
At some point, Philip M. married Elizabeth Weston. As persons of color in the South before the Civil War, there could be no civil marriage between them, but their union may well have nevertheless been formalized by a minister. As St. Phillip's Episcopal was the church of choice for many of Charleston's elite FPC, I hope to look through the St. Phillip's parish registers at some point.
Elizabeth Weston's family is remarkable in its own right. First of all, the Weston family name is one of the most well-known in Charleston's history of persons of color. Most if not all of them have some relationship to the wealthy rice planter (read "plantation owner") Plowden Weston.
Anthony (Toney) Weston and Lydia Weston were both freed through the terms of Plowden Weston's will. Anthony's brothers (maybe half-brothers) Samuel Weston and Jacob Weston became well known tailors in Charleston with a shop on Queen Street. Anthony himself had a considerable reputation for being a machinist. His work enabled him and his wife Maria to live quite comfortably: the 1860 census shows that Maria's personal worth was around $40,000, making her the richest woman of color in Charleston. (There are complicated reasons why their wealth was in her name.)
Lydia Weston became the common-law wife of Isaac Cardozo, a Portuguese Jew who worked in Charleston's Custom House. They produced six children, among them Francis Cardozo, who after graduating from the University of Glasgow (Scotland) was elected South Carolina Secretary of State during Reconstruction. As Jim Crow laws emerged, Cardozo was hounded from office and even imprisoned. Ultimately pardoned, he moved to Washington DC where he became principal of the M Street School, the predecessor to the old Dunbar High School, one of the most academically distinguished high schools in the U.S. Francis Cardozo Senior High School at 13th and Clifton, NW, in Washington is named for him.
So where does Elizabeth Weston fit in? Her father was John Weston, a butcher (another artisanal occupation favored by free men of color) who was admitted to the Brown Fellowship Society as member number 63 in 1817. John Weston was at least a generation older than Anthony, Jacob, and Samuel and is not mentioned in any of the accounts of the relationships between the other Westons.
So we don't yet know where he fits in. Plowden had several sons, including a son named John Weston to whom Plowden refers in his will as "my unfortunate son". Plowden's first wife was named Alice Hollybush; the 1794 Charleston city directory shows an attorney named John Hollybush Weston practicing law at 37 Queen Street, where his father Plowden had an office. Whether John Hollybush Weston was FPC John Weston's father is just speculation—which is hard to avoid considering that his surname is, after all, "Weston."
John Weston FPC died in 1830. The default presumption would be that as member #63 of the Brown Fellowship Society, he will have been buried in the original Brown Fellowship Cemetery at 52 Pitt Street, now the grounds of the Addlestone Library of the College of Charleston. I haven't found any documentation of his burial yet.
John Weston FPC left an unexpected bequest in his will, through which we know that Elizabeth Weston (Thorne) was his daughter:
The salient part reads:
"First I give devise and bequeath the lot which I own situate in Henrietta Street in the City and State aforesaid, which I purchased of Jehu Jones Sr and which is more particularly described in the deed of Sale, duly recorded, with all and singular its appurtenances, unto my Children, begotten on a certain Mary Furman a free woman of Colour, namely Furman, Elizabeth, and Sarah Weston, to them their heirs and assigns on the express condition that the said premises shall not be sold but be retained as a residence for my said Children and in case either of my said Children decline residing..."[emphasis added]It's not clear what kind of relationship John Weston had with Mary Furman beyond having fathered three children by her. He doesn't call Mary Furman his wife; instead he names his "present wife" as "Sarah Weston," leaving her the property "in Hampstead" where he lives with her. This may well be the property on Amherst Street where other sources repeatedly find "Sarah Weston" living.
In any event, John Weston's will was probated upon his death in 1830. By 1861, Philip Thorne was identified as the owner/occupant of a property on Henrietta—7 Henrietta, to be specific—where he lived with his wife, Elizabeth Weston Thorne. 7 Henrietta seems to have been at least a part of the property identified in John Weston's bequest. There are hints in the land records that the title may have remained in Elizabeth's name, notwithstanding Philip's identification as owner in the census.
Philip's mother-in-law, Mary Furman, lived next door as the owner/occupant of 9 Henrietta; she is recorded in the 1861 Charleston census as owning 1 Henrietta as well. And brother-in-law Furman Weston was living across the street at 10 Henrietta. On my next trip to Charleston, I'm hoping to visit the wonderfully named Register of Mesne Conveyance office (the office of the Register of Deeds) to get a clearer picture of the history of the ownership of these properties.
Philip was not a member of the Brown Fellowship Society. He was, however, a principal in one of the other prominent social/benevolent organizations for the "brown elite" of Charleston, the Friendly Moralist Society. (Hmmm....I can see that I'm going to need to post further on these societies, as they were important in the lives of Charleston's Free Persons of Color.) His occupation is identified most frequently as a carpenter, although one Charleston city directory identifies him as an "undertaker." Elizabeth's occupation is "dressmaker" or "mantua-maker."
They raised their family—six sons (John S., W. Miller, Philip M. Jr., Francis (Frank), Weston, and Thomas) and two daughters (Rebecca and Harriett "Hattie")—mostly at 7 Henrietta Street in Charleston. We'll take looks at some of their children's adventures/careers a few posts hence.
Philip M. Thorne died on 24 June 1883 at 7 Henrietta Street at age 69. He was buried in the Friendly Union Cemetery on Cunnington Avenue, near the Magnolia Cemetery. Elizabeth Weston Thorne died on 18 Dec 1885 at 9 Henrietta, her mother's home. She was buried alongside her husband Philip in the Friendly Union Cemetery on Cunnington Avenue.
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| Phillip and Elizabeth Weston Thorne's headstone Friendly Union Cemetery Cunnington Ave., Charleston, SC Photo by yours truly |
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Source: Drago, Edmund L. Charleston's Avery Center: From Education and Civil Rights to Preserving the African American Experience. (History Presss: 2006)
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