Find A Grave - Camden

Benton, Brook b. September 19, 1931 d. April 9, 1988
Rhythm and Blues Musician. A native of Camden, South Carolina, he was born Benjamin Franklin Peay. Known for his baritone voice, he is best remembered for his hit recording of the song, ‘Rainy Night In Georgia,' which also became a hit for other recording artists. Also a noted songwriter with writer and producer Clyde Otis, he began his recording career in the early 1950s while touring the gospel circuit. In 1953, he began a recording session with the Okeh Record Label, and that lasted until he...[Read More] (Bio by: K)
Unity Family Life Center Cemetery, Camden, Kershaw County, South Carolina, USA
Brevard, Joseph b. July 19, 1766 d. October 11, 1821
US Congressman. Elected to represent South Carolina's 9th District in the United States House of Representative, serving from 1818 to 1821. He was defeated in 1821. Also served as a Member of the South Carolina State House of Representatives from 1796 to 1799, and Justice of the South Carolina State Supreme Court from 1801 to 1815. He also served in the Continental Army during the Revolutionary War. (Bio by: K)
Quaker Cemetery, Camden, Kershaw County, South Carolina, USA
Chesnut Jr., James b. January 18, 1815 d. February 1, 1885
Confederate Brigadier General. Husband of author Mary Chesnut. James Chestnut, Jr. He was elected to the US Senate in 1858 but resigned before the Secession Convention, which took South Carolina out of the Union and started the war. He served as aide to General Beauregard, a member of the Provisional Confederate Congress, as well as member President Jefferson Davis' staff. 1835 Princeton graduate.
Knights Hill Cemetery, Camden, Kershaw County, South Carolina, USA
Chesnut, Mary Boykin b. March 31, 1823 d. November 22, 1886
Diarist. Born Mary Boykin Miller at Pleasant Hill in Stateboro, South Carolina, the eldest child of Mary Boykin and Senator Stephen Decatur Miller. She was educated home before she was sent to Madame Talvande's French School for Young Ladies, a boarding school in Charleston, at the age of about 13. She met James Chestnut, Jr. for the first time shortly thereafter. Her father died in 1838, and she left school to return home. At the age of 17, she married Chestnut, and settled on his family's...[Read More] (Bio by: Iola)
Knights Hill Cemetery, Camden, Kershaw County, South Carolina, USA
Plot: Private property
DeKalb, Johann b. June 29, 1721 d. August 16, 1780
Revolutionary War General. Born in Huettendorf, Bavaria, the son of a peasant farmer, he attended school at Kriegenbronn before leaving home at age sixteen. He received military training in a German regiment of the French infantry in 1743. He served in the War of the Austrian Succession and the Seven Years' War. In 1763, at the battle of Wilhelmstahl, he won the Order of Military Merit. In 1768 the head of the French Foreign Ministry sent DeKalb to America on a secret mission for France to...[Read More] (Bio by: Iola)
Bethesda Presbyterian Churchyard, Camden, Kershaw County, South Carolina, USA
Hilton, Richmond Hobson b. 1898 d. 1933
Co. M 118th Infantry, 30th Division AEF. Department Commander American Legion SC. He was awarded the Congressional Medal of Honor and Purple Heart, also the Distinguished Conduct Medal by Great Britain, Medaille Militaire and Croix de Guerre with Palm by France, Croce di Guerre by Italy, War Cross by Portugal and Bravery Medal by Montenegro.
Quaker Cemetery, Camden, Kershaw County, South Carolina, USA
Holland, Donald Harry b. August 19, 1928 d. October 5, 2003
Noted Politician. Born on a farm in rural Kershaw county. World War II veteran. Earned a law degree from the University of South Carolina. Senator of South Carolina. At the time of his death, Holland was the longest-serving lawmaker in South Carolina. In South Carolina’s post-colonial history, only three persons have provided more years of combined House and Senate service than Holland. Holland sought election to the South Carolina House of Representatives for Kershaw County. His election in...[Read More] (Bio by: Tombstoner)
Beulah United Methodist Church Cemetery, Camden, Kershaw County, South Carolina, USA
Kennedy, John Doby b. January 5, 1840 d. April 14, 1896
Lawyer, CSA Brigadier General, South Carolina Legislator, South Carolina Lieutenant Governor, Consul General Shanghai. He was born in Camden, South Carolina and attended South Carolina College. He then studied law and was admitted to the bar in January 1861, one month after his state seceded. Forgetting his law practice, he became a Captain in the 2nd South Carolina Infantry in April 1861. In July of that year, his regiment, under Colonel Joseph B. Kershaw, was engaged along the Confederate...[Read More] (Bio by: Ugaalltheway)
Cause of death: Stroke
Quaker Cemetery, Camden, Kershaw County, South Carolina, USA
Kershaw, John b. September 12, 1765 d. August 4, 1829
US Congressman. The son of one of Camden's founders, he attended England's Oxford College, studied law, and became an attorney in Camden, also operating a plantation, a grain mill, a store and other businesses. He served in local offices including Tobacco Inspector and County Judge, and in 1790 he was a Delegate to the state convention held to consider ratification of the new US Constitution. Kershaw served in the South Carolina House of Representatives from 1792 to 1794 and 1800 to 1801, and...[Read More] (Bio by: Bill McKern)
Kershaw Family Cemetery (Cornwallis House), Camden, Kershaw County, South Carolina, USA
Kershaw, Joseph Brevard b. January 5, 1822 d. April 12, 1894
Civil War Major General, a third generation South Carolinian. Kershaw County in South Carolina was named for his family. His maternal grandfather served on Francis Marion's staff. His father was mayor of Camden, a Judge, Legislator, and a member of Congress. He joined the Palmetto Regiment in the Mexican War and was elected First Lieutenant in the DeKalb Rifle Guards. He contracted a fever and returned home to Camden a very sick man. He resigned his commission and his wife, Lucretia...[Read More] (Bio by: Janet Greentree)
Quaker Cemetery, Camden, Kershaw County, South Carolina, USA
Kirkland, Richard Rowland b. August, 1843 d. September 20, 1863
Civil War Confederate Army Officer. After a frontal charge on December 13, 1862 at Fredericksburg, Virginia, thousands of men from the armed forces of Union General Ambrose Everett Burnside’s Army of the Potomac lay dead and dying on the ice-covered slope of Marye’s Heights. The pleas for water from the wounded men echoed for all to perceive. However, no one from either side dared to render aid for fear of them becoming a target as Union and Confederate marksmen were willing and able to fell...[Read More] (Bio by: Stonewall)
Cause of death: Killed in Action at the Battle Of Chickamauga
Quaker Cemetery, Camden, Kershaw County, South Carolina, USA
Richardson, John P. b. September 25, 1831 d. July 6, 1899
Governor of South Carolina, 1886-1890.
Quaker Cemetery, Camden, Kershaw County, South Carolina, USA
Villepigue, John Bordenave b. July 10, 1830 d. November 9, 1862
Civil War Confederate Brigadier General. He graduated 2nd in the West Point class of 1854 and was commissioned an officer in the 2nd Dragoons. He served on the frontier in Kansas, Nebraska, the Sioux Expedition in the Dakota Territory and the Utah Expedition. After the secession of the South from the Union in 1861, he resigned and was commissioned Colonel of the 36th Georgia Regiment. In November 1861, he was appointed chief of engineers and artillery on the staff of General Braxton Bragg...[Read More] (Bio by: John "J-Cat" Griffith)
Cause of death: Fever
Quaker Cemetery, Camden, Kershaw County, South Carolina, USA
Villepigue, John Cantey b. March 29, 1896 d. April 18, 1943
Congressional Medal of Honor recipient. Rank and Organization: Corporal, U.S. Army, Company M, 118th Infantry, 30th Division. Place and Date: At Vaux-Andigny, France, 15 October 1918. Entered Service At: Camden, S.C. Born: 29 March 1896, Camden, S.C. G. O. No.: 16, W.D., 1919. Citation: Having been sent out with 2 other soldiers to scout through the village of Vaux-Andigny, he met with strong resistance from enemy machinegun fire, which killed 1 of his men and wounded the other. Continuing...[Read More]
Quaker Cemetery, Camden, Kershaw County, South Carolina, USA
West, John Carl b. August 27, 1922 d. March 21, 2004
South Carolina Governor, US Diplomat. West served as the Governor of South Carolina from 1971 to 1975. He also served as a Member of the South Carolina State Senate from Kershaw County from 1954 to 1966, Lieutenant Governor of South Carolina from 1967 to 1970, and as United States Ambassador to Saudi Arabia from 1977 to 1981. He was also a veteran of the Second World War, having served in the United States Army. (Bio by: K)
Forest Lawn Memorial Park, Camden, Kershaw County, South Carolina, USA

15 records found