The Several Commodities that Carolina Produceth are as Followeth…

In 1700 Edward Hyrne, about forty years old, arrived in the Carolina colony. His wife joined him there the following year and they purchased Medway Plantation in Berkeley County, South Carolina.   Letters from Elizabeth Hyrne to her brother Burrell Massingberd describe life on the frontier of English empire, including the loss of their house to fire in 1704.[1] This previously unpublished letter from Edward to his brother-in-law describes the Colony’s lack of tradesmen, the necessity of acquiring from England all household goods “except wood-work,” and the importation of Logwood from the Bay of Campeche.

[1] Schmidt, Albert J. “Hyrne Family Letters.” The South Carolina Historical Magazine 63, no. 3 (July 1, 1962): 150–157; Loven, Pauline M. “Hyrne Family Letters, 1699-1757.” The South Carolina Historical Magazine 102, no. 1 (January 1, 2001): 27–46.