Oliver Perry Earle Records
Collection
Identifier: Mss-0052
These account books, daybooks, ledgers, and journals record economic data as well as provide a roster of names of customers, suppliers, and banks in Greenville, South Carolina. This collection includes fourteen original volumes. Seven of these volumes were transcribed under the auspices of the Historical Records Survey, Division of Women's and Professional Projects, Works Progress Administration, at the University of South Carolina, in 1938. Carbon copies of the transcripts are with this collection. The names of the firms used several different forms of spelling, such as: "Earlle," "Bevins," "Bevens," "Bewins," "Earles and Woodin." There are records of transactions with other Earle establishments, including Earle and Henning, Robinson and Earle, Theron Earle.
These volumes document the purchasing population in Greenville from 1834-1893. They include not only the individual transactions, but also accounts with other business firms of the period. The prices for goods and services are also interesting aspects of thfs collection.
For genealogical purposes these volumes can he helpful. There are many transactions with members of the Earle family and other prominent Greenville families and establishments.
The volumes are in poor condition. Use the transcripts when possible.
Greenville County was officially opened to settlers in 1784. The settlers came principally from more northern states, sometimes having moved several times in search of cheaper and more fertile lands. From the beginning, Greenville was recognized as a desirable summer resort. Mansions, hotels, and boarding houses soon filled Greenville with the well-to-do of the coast. The first store was built by A. McBeth on leased land in 1794. In 1805, Captain Jeremiah Cleveland erected a small general mercantile shop, Erwin, Patton, and Cleveland, which expanded until Cleveland made a fortune while Greenville was still a village. Vardry McBee, in 1815, became another prominent land owner even though he was a resident of North Carolina. In 1819 the Greenville Male and Female Academies were established and by 1821 buildings were built and occupied. Slave ownership was slow to come to Greenville but by 1830 wealth, slaves, and cotton had emerged. By 1853 the first railroad was operative which caused land values to rise and small industries to flourish along major streams and falls.
The Earle family from Virginia was one of the first families of Greenville. Members were involved in the early settlement, development, and political life of Greenville and the state. The more prominent members were Samuel, Elias, Baylis J. (Judge and father of Samuel), George W., John, Thomas John, Joseph H. (father of Dr. Baylis H.), T.T., Wilton H., C.B., and Robinson Earle. Thomas John Earle was the father of Oliver Perry Earle, the subject of this collection, and five other sons and four daughters. Their home, "White Columns" in Landrum, South Carolina, was a large mansion modeled after Georgian plantations of Charleston and Virginia. Three of Oliver Perry Earle's brothers, Theron,Joe, and Sam, became well-known citizens in the Greenville-Anderson area.
Except for internal evidence and cemetery records little is known about Oliver Perry and his business. He was born September 25, 1816 and died November 4, 1894. He was married to Rachel Catherine (last name unknown) who was born in 1833 and died May 19, 1905. One daughter was born June 25, 1863 but died July 12, 1864. Internal evidence places this general mercantile establishment on Greenville's Rutherford Road.
3.6 Cubic Feet
English
The provenance of these records is unknown, but the Earle family extended from Landrum to Greenville, Anderson, Pendleton, Clemson, and Walhalla, South Carolina. Dr. Samuel Earle (1878-1978), a descendent, Clemson professor and acting president of Clemson on several occasions, may have been the donor of these business records.
This collection was formerly cataloged BC1/+12.
This collection was prepared by Berniece Holt, Manuscript Curator Specialist, in 1984.
Part of the Clemson University Libraries Special Collections and Archives Repository