Calvary Episcopal Church, Charleston, South Carolina Records - Accession 804

This collection consists of microfiche copies of records of the Calvary Episcopal Church in Charleston, South Carolina. Calvary Episcopal Church was founded in 1847 to give free blacks and slaves a separate Episcopal congregation of their own. The original records are housed at the South Carolina Historical Society as SCHS 329 and consist of a Baptismal Register (1832-1978), Register of Confirmations and Communicants, 1849-1975 (with gaps), Marriages, 1848-1977 (with gaps), and Burials, 1853-1978. Antebellum records give data on slave or free status with name of owner often supplied. Records after the Civil War supply varying amounts of information. BAPTISMAL REGISTER, 1832-1978. 1 vol. Contains Rev. Paul Trapier’s (1806-1872) application to Charleston, SC Mayor Thomas Leger Hutchinson (1812-1883) for continuance of existing custom of holding services “for my colored people of Calvary Church,” meetings always to end “before drum beat,” and “Sentence of Consecration” signed by Episcopal Bishop of South Carolina, Christopher Edwards Gadsden (1785-1852), 1849. REGISTER OF CONFIRMATIONS AND COMMUNICANTS, 1849-1975 (with gaps). 1 vol. Confirmations, 1849-1860. Gives names of owners and only forenames of confirmands. List of Communicants, 1883-1935. Notes occasional transfers, removals and burials to 1975. MARRIAGES, 1848-1977 (with gaps). 1 vol. Names of owners of both spouses from 1849-1858. Forenames only provided for slaves, except in marriages of three free women (3 out of 62). BURIALS, 1853-1978. 1 vol. Surnames during the years 1848-1858 available for a few free people. In Addition to “Calvary Ground” most often mentioned as the place of burials, there are references to “Baptist Ground,” “Methodist Ground,” “Colored Fellowship Society,” “Mazpelah, St. Michael’s Ground,” “St. Peter’s Ground,” on Line St., “Scotch Church,” “in the country,” and potter’s field.https://digitalcommons.winthrop.edu/manuscriptcollection_findingaids/1831/thumbnail.jp