Biographies
Matilda Brown
Matilda Brown was likely born in South Carolina to enslaved parents, Sharper and Caroline Calhoun, in 1857. She often recalled the end of the Civil War as the time “when freedom come.” After Emancipation, her father replaced the family’s Calhoun surname with Brown when they moved to Abbeville County, South Carolina. She worked as a farm laborer, nurse, and laundress, married Billy Williams, and had three children. She died at the age of 78 in Anderson County, South Carolina, in 1935.
Thomas Fruster & Frances Benson Fruster
Thomas “Tom” Fruster and Frances “Fannie” Benson, also known as “Annie,” were both likely born enslaved, possibly at Fort Hill. Thomas Fruster was born circa 1821, and Fannie Benson was born in 1831. After Emancipation, the Frusters were employed by Thomas G. Clemson at Fort Hill; they were photographed outside Fort Hill by Joseph H. Anderson in a stereopticon slide. Tom Fruster died on November 14, 1902, and Fannie Fruster died on April 26, 1907; both were buried in the Abel Baptist Church Cemetery in Clemson, S.C.
William “Bill” Greenlee
William “Bill” Greenlee, likely the son of Jim Greenlee of N.C. and Emily Hill of S.C., was born after Emancipation in 1877. As a child, he worked at Fort Hill for Thomas Clemson, shining his boots. Bill Greenlee was employed by Clemson College and made bricks for the Main Building. He retired in 1948; sculpturer A. Wolfe Davidson cast a plaster bust of him. Bill Greenlee married Annie Reid, the daughter of Butler Reid, circa 1898. William “Bill” Greenlee died in 1972 and is buried in the Abel Baptist Church Cemetery in Clemson, S.C.
Nancy Washington Legree
Nancy Washington Legree was born enslaved on the Fort Hill Plantation to Jack and Leah Washington. Her birthdate has not been confirmed. In freedom, she continued to work at Fort Hill for Thomas Green Clemson as a cook and a domestic, married John Legree, and bore eight children. She died in Calhoun (now Clemson), South Carolina, in 1941.
Easter Reid
Easter Reid was born enslaved between 1835-1840. She bore her enslaver’s children but did not reveal the identity of their father to them. She never married and was a midwife in enslavement and freedom. She lived in the Calhoun (now Clemson), South Carolina, area all of her life and is believed to be buried in the Abel Baptist Church Cemetery.
Susan Clemson Richardson
Susan Richardson was likely born enslaved on the Fort Hill Plantation in 1835. When Susan was a young girl, John C. Calhoun gifted her to his daughter, Anna Calhoun Clemson, as a house servant. She slept in the small room adjoining the Clemsons’ bedroom with a string tied around her wrist so that Anna Clemson could summon her at will. In freedom, she married Dick Richardson, had at least five children, and worked as a domestic until she died in Aiken, South Carolina in 1910.
Marie Elizabeth Venning
Marie Elizabeth Venning was likely born enslaved on Fort Hill Plantation on December 29, 1842. Marie Venning was likely retained by Floride Calhoun 1854 and moved into MiCasa. In 1869, Marie Venning moved to Carmel, NY and employed by Floride Clemson Lee, caring for young Floride Isabella Lee until 1879. Fluent in French and a seamstress, she was bequeathed funds in Anna Calhoun Clemson and Gideon Lee’s estates. Marie Venning died on March 18, 1915; she was buried in Magnolia Cemetery in Mobile, AL.
Jackson Washington
Jackson Washington was likely born enslaved on the Fort Hill Plantation ca. 1830. Jack Washington was retained by Floride Calhoun in 1854, moving to MiCasa. Jack was an accomplished fiddler and cobbler. The 1870 Census listed J. Washington, a Violinist, as head of household with a wife Katherine Lewis and five children. He performed as Jack Calhoun and The Slabtown String Band, and he later worked at the Woodburn Farm. He died in 1910 and was buried in Kings Chapel AME Church in Pendleton, S.C.