St. Helenas Parish, South Carolina

United States South Carolina  St. Helena's Parish

History
From about 1740 to 1886, St. Helena's Parish also had a chapel of ease on Lands End Road.

Before the American Revolution, the state church of South Carolina was the Church of England (the Anglican Church, or Protestant Episcopal Church). Besides keeping parish registers, the church kept many records of a civil nature in their vestry books. The Vestry was as much a political body as a religious one. The wardens and commissioners were responsible for the roads, education, the poor and orphans, voting and collecting taxes in addition to their church duties.

Founded
St. Helena's Parish (Beaufort, Beaufort, SC) was created in 1712 on islands at the eastern tip ofGranville County.

Boundary
Borders: St. Bartholomew's, the Atlantic Ocean, and since 1745 Prince William, from 1747 to 1767 St. Peter's, and since 1767 St. Luke's parishes. For a map, see: Early parishes in South Carolina. An overlay of districts is available at Carolana.com.

Areas Served: St. Helena's Parish served:


 * part of Granville County 1712-1768
 * part of Beaufort District 1768-1800
 * Granville (1785-1791) County 1785-1791
 * part of Beaufort County 1800 to the present.

Modern equivalents: The original parish covered part of what is present-day Beaufort County.

Cemetery

 * "Inscriptions from St. Helena Churchyard, Beaufort, South Carolina," The South Carolina Historical and Genealogical Magazine, Vol. 32, No. 2 (Apr., 1931):131-147; Vol. 32, No. 3 (Jul. 1931):205-237. ; digital version at JSTOR ($).

Hundreds of graves at St. Helena's are described at Find A Grave. Includes transcripts and select photographs.

Parish History

 * Baumhofer, Hermine Munz, "Economic Changes in St. Helena's Parish, 1860-1870," The South Carolina Historical and Genealogical Magazine, Vol. 50, No. 1 (Jan., 1949):1-13. Digital version at JSTOR ($).
 * History Committee, St. Helena's Episcopal Church. The History of the Parish Church of St. Helena, Beaufort, South Carolina. Beaufort, S.C.: The History Committee and the Vestry of St. Helena's Episcopal Church, 1990.

For an early history of the parish, see Chapter 22, St. Helena's Parish, Beaufort, pages 375-381, in:


 * Dalcho, Frederick. An Historical Account of the Protestant Episcopal Church in South Carolina from the First Settlement of the Province, to the War of the Revolution; with Notices of the Present State of the Church in Each Parish and Some Account of the Early Civil History of Carolina, Never Before Published. Charleston: E. Thayer, 1820. ; digital versions at Google Books; Internet Archive.

Parish Registers
"An explanation of the way in which this register was saved during the Confederate War, may be of interest. Capt. Edward Barnwell for many years warden of St. Helena's Parish had it in his possession when he died in 1860. When Beaufort was evacuated in November 1861, his widow, Mrs. Sarah Caroline Barnwell (born Richardson) took it with her, preserved it during the war, and after it was over sent it to Mr. Robert Barnwell Rhett, Editor of the Charleston Mercury at his request, to allow him to obtain certain information about his family. He kept it until he removed to Huntsville, Ala., and left it with the Charleston Library Society. Some years afterwards, at the request of the Vestry, it was returned to them."

In 1951, FamilySearch microfilmed a typescript of the parish register: Abstracts have been published:


 * Barnwell, Joseph W. and Mabel L. Webber. "St. Helena's Parish Register," [1752-year], The South Carolina Historical and Genealogical Magazine, Vol. 23, No. 1 (Jan. 1922):8-25; Vol. 23, No. 2 (Apr. 1922):46-71; Vol. 23, No. 3 (Jul. 1922):102-151; Vol. 23, No. 4 (Oct. 1922):171-204. Digital version at JSTOR - free.

Barnwell and Webber's reading of the marriage register was also reprinted:


 * Holcomb, Brent H. and Thomas L. Hollowak. South Carolina Marriages, 1688-1799. Baltimore, Md.: Genealogical Publishing Co., 1980.
 * Holcomb, Brent H. and Thomas L. Hollowak. South Carolina Marriages, 1800-1820. Baltimore, Md.: Genealogical Publishing Co., 1981.

The following registers have been indexed in the International Genealogical Index:

South Carolina Historical Society holdings: "St. Helena’s (Episcopal) Church. Beaufort. Records, 1710-1818. 2 vols."


 * "Alphabetical register with frequent marginal notations emending or clarifying entries; inside cover bears elaborate rendering of the coat of arms of George II. The index was compiled in 1875-1888. Typescript vestry minutes (1729-1812) include correspondence with the Society for the Propagation of the Gospel in Foreign Parts re securing missionaries, complaints re ministers’ deficiencies, references (1860) to donations and bequests for the education of the poor, a 1778 sumons and trial in magistrate’s court of a parishioner unwilling to pay his poor tax, an 1806 “Report from the several officiating minister’s… throughout the state…” on the general conditions of the church, and an 1806 list of theological and biblical books purchased. Among the family names in the records are Barnwell, Bond, Chaplin, Cuthbert, de Saussure, Elliott, Grayson, Hazzard, Heyward, Stuart, Talbird, Verdier, and Wigg."

Vestry Books
St. Helena's vestry books have been published:


 * Salley, A.S. Minutes of the Vestry of St. Helena's Parish, South Carolina, 1726-1812. Columbia, S.C.: Historical Commission of South Carolina, 1919. ; digital versions at Google Books; Internet Archive.

Websites

 * St. Helenas 1712 (official website)
 * St. Helena's Church Marker, The Historical Marker Database
 * St. Helena's Episcopal Church Marker, The Historical Marker Database
 * Chapel of Ease Marker, The Historical Marker Database