SCHOLARSHIP is often said to be a lonely enterprise, and there is enough truth to the observation to justify the appearance of authors’ names on title pages. However, even the most reclusive writer works in a social context. Writing this book has been less lonely than usual because we have collaborated from the very beginning and because we have constantly (and shamelessly) depended on family, friends, colleagues, archivists, publishers, and funding agencies for advice, ideas, support, encouragement, and patience. Aid has flowed in one direction—from them to us. Only the telephone company has demanded punctual repayment. We know this book bears the mark of all the favors we have received, and we hope all those who helped us will recognize it as a statement of our indebtedness.
Although we did not know it at the time, the book began to take shape at a picnic table in the back yard of Bill and Hilma Wire in Richmond, California, where we spent two April days trying to decipher certain passages of the Ellison family letters that had remained inscrutable to us for almost a year. At that time each of us was involved in another, independent project, and neither of us intended to do much more than read and understand the Ellison letters. Over the next several months, as we stole time from other matters to locate a clue or track down a lead, we realized that we needed to spend some time together in the archives in Columbia, South Carolina, where, if anywhere, we might find answers to questions that would not go away. With the help of John G. Sproat we settled into a spacious apartment near the University of South Carolina campus in the summer of 1980 and began to work in earnest on the history of William Ellison. In a few days we had stumbled across enough information to begin to joke, after a pitcher of beer, that we could write a book about Ellison. The interest and encouragement of James L. Mairs persuaded us that we should and helped us decide we would.
Our research in South Carolina benefited from the expert guidance and shrewd advice of numerous archivists and librarians. Marion Chandler and Joel Shirley aided our search through the labyrinth of state records in the South Carolina Department of Archives and History and, along with other members of the staff, helped refine our ill-informed questions into a sensible research strategy. Again and again, Allen Stokes steered us into the right collections in the rich holdings of the South Caroliniana Library and, more than anyone else, became a co-collaborator in our search for information about William Ellison. E. L. Inabinett and the staff of the Caroliniana provided congenial surroundings and ready access to the unparalleled resources of the library. Tom Terrill, Walter Edgar, Lacy Ford, David Carlton, Peter Colcanis, Debra Busbie, and Cynthia Miller included us in the community of historians in Columbia and gave us a sounding board for our ideas plus tips on everything from the best archival materials to the best barbeque.
For help with the Charleston side of the Ellison story we are indebted to Gene Waddell and David Moltke-Hansen of the South Carolina Historical Society and to Ralph Melnick, director of Special Collections of the Robert Scott Small Library at the College of Charleston. Our work in Charleston also benefited from the advice of Robert L. Harris, Jr., Nan Woodruff, Richard Coté, Lee Drago, and Susan Bowler. Rector Benjamin Bosworth Smith and Barney Snowden gave us access to the parish records and other items at Grace Episcopal Church. The staffs of the Charleston City Archives, the Charleston Library Society, the City Hall, and the Courthouse were invariably helpful in trying to make indexes and documents yield their secrets.
Nothing did more to bring the Ellison story to life than a trip to Ellison’s former home in Stateburg. Captain Richard and Mrs. Mary Anderson and their son Will welcomed two strangers into “Borough House,” their magnificent home. They encouraged us with their recollections of people and events related to the Ellisons, permitted us to roam over the former Ellison property and visit the Ellison family graveyard, introduced us to other knowledgeable Stateburgians, and showed us items from their family archives. They also let us examine a cotton gin similar to, if not one of, those built by William Ellison and his sons, as well as several gin saws definitely manufactured in Ellison’s shop. We were also the recipients of the generous hospitality of Mrs. Julia Simons Talbert and of Mrs. Emma Fraser, each of whom recounted memories of members of the Ellison family. Former Stateburg residents Mrs. Gery Leffelman Ballou and her mother Mrs. Pauline Leffelman told us about the discovery of the Ellison family letters and their life in the former home of the Ellisons during the 1930s. In nearby Sumter, Esmond Howell permitted us access to valuable materials in the Sumter County Historical Society and made arrangements for us to examine old court records in the attic of the Sumter County Courthouse.
While we were in South Carolina we began to piece together the information we had gathered. Evidence from each day’s research served as the beginning point of intense conversations that continued late into the night. Our notes on those conversations became the first draft of the book and the agenda for subsequent research and rewriting over the next three years. During the course of that work we received aid from many archivists and librarians whose willing and prompt answers to our queries we have acknowledged in the notes.
We received financial support from the Weldon Spring Endowment of the University of Missouri, a Regents Faculty Fellowship and a Humanities Faculty Fellowship from the University of California, Irvine, and—most important of all—Research Fellowships from the National Endowment for the Humanities. Although each of us received the NEH fellowship for an independent project that got pushed aside by the accelerating momentum of our Ellison research, officials of the Endowment raised no objection, for which—in addition to the grants—they have our everlasting gratitude.
Colleagues gave us essential intellectual support, including the invaluable resource of informed skepticism. Ira Berlin, Carl Degler, Barbara Fields, George Fredrickson, Gary Mills, Spencer Olin, George Rawick, and Theodore Rosengarten read portions of our work and gave us helpful comments. Dan T. Carter, John P. Diggins, Jonathan Prude, and David C. Rankin took time away from their own studies to read the entire manuscript and suggest revisions. Jonathan Wiener provided a constant source of good historical judgment and practical wisdom about word processing. Charles Aiken, Theodore Hershberg, William Hine, Anna Rutledge, Loren Schweninger, and Lee Soltow generously shared the results of their own research. At a critical moment, C. Vann Woodward gave us renewed direction and a spiritual boost.
Although our efforts to compile a complete genealogy of the Ellison family were foiled by incomplete evidence, the accuracy of what we have been able to reconstruct has been aided enormously by Ralph Ellison, Stewart Lillard, and Dr. Henry S. Ellison, the only direct descendant of the Stateburg Ellisons whom we have been able to locate. We feel certain that additional information about the Stateburg Ellisons exists, though we have been unable to find it. Perhaps this book will spur someone to open a trunk or rummage through an attic and discover fresh evidence of William Ellison and his family. We hope so, for although we have learned what we can from the extant evidence, we are eager to learn more.
Harold H. Norvell, Charles Gay, George Terry, and Chris Kolbe made photographs of people, places, and things associated with the Ellisons. Karin Christensen skillfully transformed confusing sketches and contemporary maps into clear guides to the physical and social geography of Stateburg and the High Hills.
From the beginning, this book has received the steadfast support of James L. Mairs. His insightful reading challenged emphases, illuminated blind spots, and questioned obscure formulations. His colleagues at W. W. Norton, Robert Kehoe and Steven Forman, have also encouraged us by their enthusiasm for the project, and Janet Byrne gave us the benefit of her superb red pencil.
Finally, we are grateful to our families for their patience, which frayed but endured.