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Funding from the Watson-Brown Foundation, Inc., supported the encoding of this finding aid and microfilming of this collection.
Size | 4.5 feet of linear shelf space (approximately 2000 items) |
Abstract | John Hamilton Cornish (1815-1878) was an Episcopal minister of Aiken, S.C. Cornish left his home in Michigan Territory in 1833 to attend Washington College, Hartford, Conn., from which he graduated in 1839. He then studied at the General Theological Seminary in New York City but did not complete his education. He became a tutor on an Edisto Island, S.C., plantation and later ran an academy there. He was ordained in 1843 and thereafter served in many Sea Island and Low Country churches before becoming rector of Saint Thaddeus in Aiken in 1846. He married Martha Jenkins of Edisto Island and had several children, including Rhoda Cornish, Mattie Cornish, Mary Cornish, Sadie Cornish, Ernest Cornish, and Joseph Cornish, who also attended the General Theological Seminary. The collection consists of John Hamilton Cornish's diary, 1833-1877, and family papers. The diary describes his education, his experiences teaching and preaching in the South Carolina Low Country, plantation life, and the treatment of slaves. The extensive family and church correspondence augments the diary and includes letters from John's brother, Andrew Cornish, who was a minister at Pendleton, S.C., and letters from the various Cornish children at schools and colleges in the North and South. The courtship of Joseph Cornish and Mary Tuttle, which ended abruptly and without an engagement, is documented in a three-year exchange of letters. Also included are scattered sermons and writings; record books of church observances and memoranda; a register of African American members of an Episcopal church on the North Santee River, 1843; Cornish's manuscript history of ritual music at the Episcopal Church on Sullivan's Island, 1846; and a history of Saint Thaddeus Church, Aiken, S.C., 1842-1966. |
Creator | Cornish, John Hamilton, 1815-1878. |
Curatorial Unit | University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Library. Southern Historical Collection. |
Language | English |
Processed by: SHC Staff, 1962-1979
Encoded by: Nancy Kaiser, August 2005
Updated by: Nancy Kaiser, March 2021
Funding from the Watson-Brown Foundation, Inc., supported the encoding of this finding aid and microfilming of this collection.
Back to TopThe following terms from Library of Congress Subject Headings suggest topics, persons, geography, etc. interspersed through the entire collection; the terms do not usually represent discrete and easily identifiable portions of the collection--such as folders or items.
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John Hamilton Cornish (1815-1878) was an Episcopal minister of Aiken, S.C. Cornish left his home in Michigan Territory in 1833 to attend Washington College, Hartford, Conn., from which he graduated in 1839. He then studied at the General Theological Seminary in New York City but did not complete his education. He became a tutor on an Edisto Island, S.C., plantation and later ran an academy there. He was ordained in 1843 and thereafter served in many Sea Island and Low Country churches before becoming rector of Saint Thaddeus Church in Aiken in 1846. He married Martha Jenkins of Edisto Island and had several children, including Rhoda, Mattie, Mary, Sadie, Ernest, and Joseph, who also attended the General Theological Seminary.
Back to TopThe collection consists of John Hamilton Cornish's diary, 1833-1877, and Cornish family papers, 1833-1966. The diary describes Cornish's education, experiences teaching and preaching in the South Carolina Low Country, plantation life, and the treatment of slaves. The extensive family and church correspondence augments the diary. Letters from the 1830s and early 1840s are from John at Washington College in Hartford, Conn., and later at General Theological Seminary in New York; from his brother, Andrew Cornish, who also studied at General Theological Seminary; and from another brother, Jonas Cornish. Letters from the mid 1840s and 1850s document the Cornish brothers at work as Episcopal preachers in South Carolina, John at Saint Thaddeus Church in Aiken, S.C., and Andrew at Pendleton, S.C.
The volume of letters drops off in the 1860s, and these chiefly came from the various Cornish children at schools and colleges in the North and South, although some church business is included. Letters from the early 1870s, mostly from daughters Rhoda Cornish, Mattie Cornish, and Mary Cornish, indicate that John Cornish traveled extensively up and down the east coast at this time. There are also a number of 1870s letters pertaining to church business, especially from merchants selling church equipment. Beginning in 1871, there are letters from Joseph Cornish, first at prep school in Charleston, S.C., then at the University of the South in Sewanee, Tenn., and finally at the General Theological Seminary in New York. In addition, there are letters from his sister, Sadie Cornish, who attended Saint Mary's School in Raleigh, N.C., and from his brother, Ernest Cornish, who also studied at University of the South. From 1883 to 1886 Joseph Cornish corresponded faithfully with Mary Tuttle, the daughter of Bishop Tuttle, though the two were never engaged. The courtship exchange ended abruptly in 1886 with no explanation. Letters through the 1890s are chiefly among family members, Joseph, Ernest, Mattie, and Rhoda.
From 1900 on the family of correspondents expands and becomes quite complex. There are letters, often unsigned, to "Dear Cousin," and "Dear Daughter," who evidently are members of the family of Mrs. Joseph J. Cornish.
Also included are scattered sermons and writings, some from John Cornish's time at Washington College; record books of church observances and memoranda; a register of African American members of the Church of the Messiah, an Episcopal church on the North Santee River, 1843; John Cornish's manuscript history of ritual music at the Episcopal Church on Sullivan's Island, S.C., 1846; and a history of Saint Thaddeus Church, Aiken, S.C., 1842-1966.
Back to TopArrangement: chronological.
The original deposit of papers and manuscript volumes are found in folders 1 and 72 through 113. The addition of 1956 is filed in folder 71b. The addition of 1965 comprises folders 2 through 71a. The addition of 1967 is filed in folder 114. The addition of 1978 is filed in folder 7.