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Online Exhibitions
Online Exhibition
Collection Spotlight: William Turpin Bible (1815)
Online Exhibition

Collection Spotlight: William Turpin Bible (1815)

Enjoy a quick, in-depth look at a recently acquired object in the museum's collection: a Bible owned by William Turpin, a Charleston merchant and enslaver turned abolitionist. The Bible will go on display in the new exhibition, The Story of Us, opening Sat., Nov. 4, but until then you can learn more and explore this important historical object online.

A man and woman bend down towards a table to examine a large, old leather bound book

Close up image of page from Turpin's Bible with list of names.

Rare Object Reveals Story of Enslavement and Emancipation

The South Carolina State Museum recently acquired a 1815 Bible owned by William Turpin, a Charleston merchant and enslaver turned abolitionist. The most remarkable aspect of this rare piece lies within its front cover: a handwritten list of dozens of enslaved people he freed, illustrating the activities of a small, yet vibrant abolitionist community in South Carolina.

Between 1789 and 1799, William Turpin, a Rhode Island native whose family moved to South Carolina before the Revolution, and Thomas Wadsworth, a former state senator, acquired nearly two dozen slaves in the South Carolina upcountry as part of a business partnership. The two men may have purchased these persons for labor or accepted them as payment for customers’ debts, but soon their actions became part of a concerted effort to free those in bondage.

Large open, antique Bible with Title Page Showing includes black lettering and the words "Holy Bible"

(SC2023.18) M. Carey Publishing. “Holy Bible owned by William Turpin, Charleston, SC, merchant, politician, and abolitionist,” 1815. Leather, ink, paper. Museum purchase.

Man sits in front of computer with Bible on a table in front of him ready to be photographed.

Handwritten list of enslaved persons left by Thomas Wadsworth who were freed according to his final wishes by his son, Benjamin, and William Turpin in January 1800. The list outlines family relationships and notes that the freedpeople were placed under the protection of the Bush River Society of Friends.

Before his death in 1799, Wadsworth would free twenty-one bondspeople living in Newberry, Abbeville, and Laurens counties, claiming he was “induced from notion of humanity to set free and emancipate all the negro slaves that have been intrusted [sic]...” to his care. Additionally, he granted each family fifty acres of land, a cow, and farming tools–and placed them under the guardianship of the Bush River Society of Friends, a community of Quakers who opposed slavery.

This page shows a handwritten list of enslaved persons left by Thomas Wadsworth who were freed according to Wadsworth's final wishes by his son, Benjamin, and William Turpin in January 1800. The list outlines family relationships and notes that the freedpeople were placed under the protection of the Bush River Society of Friends.

William Turpin was equally committed to the abolitionist cause, freeing thirty-one people between 1807 and 1826 and then writing their names in this Bible, which is now in the collection of the State Museum.

SC2023.16.1 of Untitled Pitcher

On one of the first pages in the Bible, William Turpin kept a handwritten list of names and details of dozens of enslaved people he freed between 1807 and 1826. All but one of those listed remained free in either in South Carolina or New Rochelle, New York, a station on the Underground Railroad.

However, one individual named Boston, freed by Turpin in May 1820, was kidnapped from his home by slave catchers seven years after gaining his freedom. His guardian, John Glen, purchased ads offering a reward for the “restoration of said fellow to his liberty.” Boston’s fate is unknown; Turpin records his death in 1833 but makes no assertion as to whether he died free.

Turpin’s bible not only names and offers details about the lives of the enslaved, but it also deepens our understanding of how ideas about slavery, emancipation and freedom developed in South Carolina in the early and mid-18th century. Their names, recorded by Turpin’s hand, are powerful ways for us to connect with the past. It gives names and power to those recorded, helping us better understand their lives and struggles.

Yellowed page from old book with handwritten text that reads "Slaves Set Free by William Turpin" followed by a list of names for persons emancipated by Turpin.

Title page from the Turpin Bible.

A man and woman bend down towards a table to examine a large, old leather bound book

Close up image of page from Turpin's Bible with list of names.

Yellowed page from old book with handwritten text that reads "Slaves Set Free by William Turpin" followed by a list of names for persons emancipated by Turpin.

Turpin Bible open to reveal lock of hair that was pressed between its pages.

Large open Bible with aged pages and lock of brown hair resting on them

Printed sketch of the "Van Assche Pear," date unknown.

Yellowed page from old book with handwritten text that reads "List of Slaves Left by Thomas Wadsworth set free by Wm Turpin" followed by a list of names for persons emancipated.

State Museum Collections Staff photographs Turpin Bible.

SC2006.43.1- Cropped Image of Untitled [Canges-sur-Mer]

State Museum staff examine Turpin Bible.

Turpin Bible Q & A

State Museum Curator of African American History and Culture, Ramon Jackson, and Dr. David Dangerfield, from the University of South Carolina Salkehatchie, discuss the significance of a rare Bible owned by William Turpin, a white South Carolina merchant and enslaver turned abolitionist.