BIOGRAPHICAL INFORMATION
David Gavin was born November 15, 1811 in St.
George's Parish,
Colleton District, South Carolina, the first of four sons born to John
Gavin of Lower Orangeburg District, and Anne Hughes (Hughs) of
St.
George's Parish. He lived most of his life in St. George,
South Carolina, where he was an attorney by profession and farmed
(Texas
Plantation). He died January 17, 1874, and, along with
other
family members, is buried at Buck
Springs Plantation
Link to the Last
Will and Testament of David Gavin.
Although he never had a family of his own, David Gavin
managed the
estates and properties of his three brothers and was involved in the
lives
of their children. Perhaps his most important legacy is his
meticulous
record of the people and events of his community from September 1855
until
his death in January 1874.
The first years are almost daily entries,
describing life in
St. George and surrounding communities, people and events,
weather,
slave stories, the abolitionist and secessionist movements, and the
Civil
War. The last years include some daily entries, legal documents,
expenses, and the recording of deaths, marriages and births of people
he
knew.
Here is a link to the University of North Carolina,
Chapel Hill's
excellent summary of the diary:
http://www.lib.unc.edu/mss/inv/g/Gavin,David
The Upper
Dorchester County
Historical
Society has published the original David Gavin diaries, 1855-1874,
including also his "trip diary"
of his 1845 journey from St. George, South Carolina to
Mississippi.
David Gavin Diary - Alphabetical
Name Index
© 2001 Judy Ballard
Slaves
by Name
Surnames Indexed Alphabetically
A-C
| D-H
| I-O
| P-R
| S-Z
Marriages,
Births, Deaths
as recorded in separate manuscript (a work in progress)
Slaves
Listed by Owner
Also a work in progress!
Texas
Plantation
BROTHERS OF DAVID
GAVIN
Charles
Gavin was born in 1815 and married Martha Louise
Tatum of Orangeburg County. The family migrated to Alachua
County,
Florida in the 1850's where his wife and infant daughter died in
1859.
His surviving daughter, Anna Murray Gavin, was returned to South
Carolina
to be raised by her mother's sister. After the war, Charles
Gavin migrated to Brazil and remained there until his death in
approximately
1886.
John Gavin was born in 1820. He married,
first, Mildred
Connor who died in 1843 giving birth to their daughter, Lucilla.
About 1848 he married Mary M. Shuler, with whom he had six
children.
John died in 1858. On November 9, 1866, Mary Shuler Gavin and her
young daughter, Ida E. Gavin, were murdered in Orangeburg. The
surviving
children are mentioned frequently in the diary.
Dr. William Gavin was born in 1829. He
married Martha
Susan L. Moorer. They had three children, their youngest
daughter,
Ida William Gavin, born three months after her father's death in
November
1861.
