St. Stephen’s Parish Church was established in 1754. This photograph of the churchyard was taken in 1970.
Editor’s Note: At the request of his readers and in memory of Warner M. Montgomery, Ph. D, we will continue to publish his Adventure Travel stories for the time being.
Show me your cemeteries, and I will tell you what kind of people you have. —Benjamin Franklin
St. Stephen’s Parish was established in 1754. A 4.59-acre churchyard was laid out, and a wooden chapel was built. The churchyard contained a cemetery. A brick Georgian style church was completed in 1769 by architects Francis Villepontoux and A. Howard, who also provided the brick. William Axson was the master mason.
The Pineville Chapel was established in 1810 as a chapel of ease for the Episcopal Church in St. Stephen, nine miles away, but the Episcopalians of Pineville always considered the St. Stephen’s cemetery as their family burial place.
St. Stephen’s cemetery contains the graves of many residents of Pineville from the late 1700s to the present. Two of the most well-known are Theodore Gourdin II (1764-1826), a planter and congressman (1813-1815) who, it was said, “could walk from Nelson’s Ferry to Georgetown and never leave his own land,” and modern-day Congressman L. Mendel Rivers.
Rivers (1905-1970) was born in Gumville and when asked where that was, said, “It’s near Hell Hole Swamp.” He practiced law in Charleston and served in the U.S. House of Representatives from 1941 to 1970. Rivers controlled the House Armed Services Committee for decades.
The founder of Pineville, Col. James Sinkler (1760-1800), is buried in the cemetery along with many of his descendants including his son, William Sinkler (1787-1853), and his grandson, Col. James Sinkler (1810-1851). Dr. Seaman Deas Sinkler died in 1847 at the age of 30 “after great suffering and anguish which were borne without murmuring.”
Some of the Gourdins buried in St. Stephen’s are
• Theodore Gourdin II’s children: John G.K. Gourdin (1801-1834), Samuel T. Gourdin (1807-1854), and Theodore’s brother, Samuel Gourdin (1766-1821).
• Theodore T. Gourdin MD (1829-1863), his wife, Harriet P. Gourdin (1831-1921); his daughter, Susan Gourdin (1862-1866); and his two infant sons, Thomas and Louis.
• Two Confederate veterans: John Gaillard Keith Gourdin (1834-1903) and Peter Gaillard Gourdin MD (1830-1876). Peter G., my great-grandfather, is buried alongside his wife, Ella Maria Gourdin (1842-1918).
• Peter G. and Ella’s son, my grandfather, John Keith ( J.K.) Gourdin III (1865-1936) is buried in St. Stephen, but his first wife, my grandmother, Mary Palmer Gourdin, was buried in The Rocks Cemetery which is now covered by Lake Marion.
• J.K. III’s brothers: Clarence Palmer Gourdin (1863-1947) and Charles Drake Gourdin (1875-1958).
• The children of J.K. III and Mary: Eljule Gourdin Everett (1903-1992) and her husband, James C. Everett (1900-1945); Peter Palmer Gourdin (1902-1964) and his wife, Myriam Turner Gourdin (1907-1957). Their third child, my mother, Mary Gourdin Montgomery (1909-1992), is buried in Columbia.
• The child of J.K. III and his second wife, Irene Schmidt Gourdin (1891-1978), J.K. Gourdin IV (1926-2002), is buried alongside his first two wives, Barbara Ann Edmondson Gourdin (1932-1960) and Patricia O. Graham Gourdin (1925-1995).
The Gourdins and Marions have been intertwined as neighbors and relatives since the Swamp Fox roamed the Santee Swamp. Gen. Francis Marion had no children; therefore, he had no direct descendants, but his brothers, Job and Gabriel, who also settled in the Pineville area, did leave progeny. Through the years, Marions intermarried with the Cordes, Bonneaus, Porchers, Sinklers, DuBoses, Palmers, and Gourdins. Prior to 1900, many of the Marions were buried at Belle Isle Cemetery near the general.
Some of the Marions buried in St. Stephen are
• The sons of Theodore and Margaret Marion: Francis Marion (1857-1912); Theodore S. Marion (1858-1929); and Robert Marion (1862-1920) and his wife, Ella Gourdin Marion (1871-1931)
• The sons of Robert and Ella Marion: Edward Saint Julien Marion (1896-1947) and his wife, Frances “Frank” Dantzler Marion (1905-1998); Robert Marion II (1897-1963) and his wife, May Evelyn Marion (1905- 1985); Charles Gourdin Marion (1908-1970) and his second wife, Elizabeth “Little Two” Parker Marion (1914-1991).
In addition to the Sinklers, Gourdins, and Marions, there are many other family names etched in granite in the St. Stephen’s churchyard. Each gravestone can be considered a page in the history of a town that began as a place of refuge from swamp fever, became a recreation center for wealthy plantation owners, suffered the horror of Civil War and Reconstruction, and then, after recovering during the early 20th century, saw much of the land flooded by Santee-Cooper.
The village is not lost. People still live and work in Pineville. Fields are still farmed. Families still gather to hunt, fish, celebrate, and worship. It is a happy place with a rich history and a promising future.
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