Name/Title
136 King Street / 138 King Street (Jacob Schirmer Home / Quaker Cemetery)Entry/Object ID
KING.136.1Tags
Further researchScope and Content
Built 1838; iron fence erected 1856. Home of Jacob Schirmer on the grounds of the Quaker Meetinghouse burial site at 136 King Street. The house was torn down to make way for the new Mills House hotel and the parking garage at King and Queen Street parking garage. The only thing remaining is the old iron fence. (Source: Information from descendant; see Note tab).
Folder contains house history from Information for Guides of Historic Charleston; newspaper article about the Quaker burial ground (1967 DYKYC); correspondence to Frances Edmunds regarding concern for proposed multi-level parking structure on the site (1968); copy of 1788 plat showing the Quaker Meeting House and another house and kitchen building; copy of Loutrel Briggs "Sketch Plan for a Small Park on the Site of the Quaker Meeting House and Graveyard (1967).
Needs further research.Collection
Historic Charleston Foundation Property RecordsAcquisition
Accession
KING.136.Source or Donor
136 King Street (Quaker Graveyard / Jacob Schirmer's House)Acquisition Method
Collected by StaffLexicon
LOC Thesaurus for Graphic Materials
Gates, IronworkSearch Terms
King Street, Demolished buildings, lost buildings, Lost architecture--South Carolina--Charleston, Historic buildings--South Carolina--CharlestonArchive Details
Archive Notes
Associated Material: Schirmer family journals and registers, 1806-1929, SC Historical Society.Location
Location
Room
Margaretta P. Childs ArchivesBuilding
Missroon HouseCategory
PermanentDate
February 7, 2023Location
Container
PF Box 52Room
Margaretta P. Childs ArchivesBuilding
Missroon HouseCategory
PermanentLocation
Container
2Room
Margaretta P. Childs ArchivesBuilding
Missroon HouseCategory
PermanentRelationships
Related Entries
Notes
2013.001.11, KING.136.3Related Publications
Notes
Buildings of Charleston, pp. 190-191Provenance
Notes
Custodial History: Newspaper article, FRE correspondence, plat, and Briggs drawing photocopied from file in Frances Edmunds Papers, HCF.FRE.03, Box 39.General Notes
Note
Tag Date: 2010-02-11 11:38:14.999000
Notes: See Multimedia tab for 1913 image (#1).
Email of 2/9/2010: "I am a direct descendent of Jacob Schirmer and have a picture of his home on the grounds of the Quaker Site burial site at 138 King Street (see attached image) ... John and Louisa Fletcher lived in the house until it was torn down and they have both passed away. Louisa Tovey Fletcher was the direct descendent of Jacob Schirmer. One of Jacob Schirmer's daughters married a Tovey. Their children do not know of any other existing pictures. Even though the image is very faded, I’m assuming that the house was white or off-white with Charleston green shutters. I visited the house often as a child in the 1940s, but only remember it as a very dilapidated structure badly in need of repair, where we were not even allowed to go onto the second storey piazza for fear it would cave in." Sent on 2/10/2010 from Hermeine Tovey; 1021 Dominion Dr.; Hanahan, SC 29410; Phone 843-744-2860; Cell 843-729-3004.
Email of 2/11/2010: Also found through excerpts of his diary that he built the house in 1838 and erected the iron fence in 1856 - so it was indeed his fence and not the Quaker's as has been assumed. After the earthquake of 1886, he petitioned the city to help repair the damage that it sustained, but was turned down.
The Tovey connection is that Jacob Schirmer's daughter, Emma, married a Tovey, they ended up living in the house. It was occupied by Tovey's for another generation until an elder daughter, Louisa, married John Fletcher. They remained in the house until I think they finally abandoned it as it was falling down. Some of the Schirmer descendants are still in the area, but for some reason, either don't know anything, or aren't interested in sharing.Created By
admin@catalogit.appCreate Date
February 10, 2010Updated By
sferguson@historiccharleston.orgUpdate Date
May 24, 2023