AIKEN - Isabel Vandervelde's version of history wasn't written by the winners.
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Isabel Vandervelde, the author of a history book on Aiken County, sits at her writing station at her home in Aiken.
Ron Cockerille/Augusta Chronicle
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When none of her six children could name Aiken County's founders after graduating from its public schools, Mrs. Vandervelde set forth to find the answer herself.
The result was the 1999 publication of her book Aiken County: The Only South Carolina County Founded During Reconstruction.
What her children and many others didn't know was that Aiken County was founded in 1871 by three black legislators: Prince Rivers, Samuel Lee and Charles Hayne.
It was a detail that had been swept under the rug, obscured or forgotten after decades of discrimination toward blacks. It wasn't an easy truth for some to swallow, and not everyone recognizes her work.
"Some people are only interested in what I call the 'chamber of commerce history,'" said Mrs. Vandervelde, who moved to Aiken in 1954 from her native South Dakota. "They didn't think this group of people had anything to do with the history of Aiken County."
There was little modern information for Mrs. Vandervelde to pull from. Though the names of the county's principal founders were recorded in state annals, history texts did little to explain what the men had done, Mrs. Vandervelde said.
She turned to public records, including those from Freedmen's Bureaus in Augusta and Beaufort.
The bureaus provided relief and educational opportunities to freedmen and refugees starting in 1865 and served as a savings and loans bank.
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Some of the books and articles Mrs. Vandervelde has written on South Carolina and Georgia lie on her desk.
Ron Cockerille/Augusta Chronicle
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She found information on all three men. Mr. Rivers was a former slave who fought for the Union. Mr. Lee and Mr. Hayne were free men and fought for the Confederacy, Mrs. Vandervelde said.
She also scoured newspaper clippings and land records to patch together details about the men's lives. She found that stories about them started to fade from print toward the end of the 1870s and the enactment of Jim Crow segregation laws.
In many ways, their full story stayed hidden throughout much of the 20th century and the civil rights era.
Despite the skepticism, her book is regularly used by patrons at the Aiken County Public Library and is stocked in reference rooms across the state.
Leaders in the black community have thanked Mrs. Vandervelde for her research, and she has become an unofficial adviser to organizers who are pushing for a black history and cultural center in Aiken.
"I congratulate her for informing us, not just black people but people in general, about the true history of Aiken County," said the Rev. Nathaniel Irvin, of North Augusta. "She brought it to our attention."
Mrs. Vandervelde said she has always been fascinated with history, a passion she shares with her family. Many nights at her dinner table have been spent debating details of the Civil War, and she and her husband used to vacation with their children at old battlegrounds, she said.
With such subject matter come gray areas, and people tend to fill in the voids with romanticized details, she added.
Take Union Gen. William Tecumseh Sherman, who is reviled by many in the South whose ancestors fought for the Confederacy or suffered because of its defeat. Mrs. Vandervelde has a son-in-law from Georgia who grew up hearing about how the general "burnt everybody's house down and stole people's food."
Though true to some extent, she said, people should get both sides of the story.
"He may not be likable, but at least you should know him," she said.
It's that motto that led to her book on Aiken County's history.
"I don't think you should live in a place where you don't know the history," she said. "It helps you understand yourself."
Reach Josh Gelinas at (803) 648-1395, ext. 110, or josh.gelinas@augustachronicle.com.
ISABEL VANDERVELDE
Age: 74
Family: Husband, Vance; six children; six grandchildren
Interests: History and writing
Quote: "I don't think you should live in a place where you don't know the history. It helps you understand yourself."
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