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The Witherspoon Project

The Witherspoon Project is a collaborative initiative dedicated to discovering and sharing the stories of one enslaved community located in Darlington County, South Carolina. Using archival research, archaeology, and oral histories, the Witherspoon Project attempts to uncover the histories of 37 enslaved families and their descendants from the antebellum period into the early 20th century.

The Families
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Family Group 1
Lowthers Lake Plantation
“I went to the plantation on Monday & drove into the field beyond the Barn, where I had never been before. The cotton & corn both look well. Will says it is the best crop he ever saw on the land.”
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Family Group 2
Lowther's Lake Plantation
London, Phyllis, Elias, Maryanne, Daniel, Hester, and London (younger)
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Family Group 3
Lowther's Lake Plantation
Joe, Ann, and Betsy-Ann
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Family Group 4
Lowther's Lake Plantation
Francis, Paris, Juliet (Julia), and Paris