Portrait History by TMD

The portrait is of two beautiful little blonde boys and a pony. The boys are George Edward Ellison Kaigler (born April 3, 1852 and died October 20, 1855) and his younger brother Henry Asbury Gamewell Kaigler (born September 17, 1854 and died July 8, 1856). They had lost a brother earlier and he was John William Kaigler (born June 11, 1846 and died May 23, 1847). Their sister was Sarah Elizabeth Kaigler (born November 11, 1842 and died March 29, 1912) who married in 1862 her third cousin John Kinsler Davis (Grandmaa and Grandpaa Davis). They were all the children of George Kaigler (born March 16, 1803 and died September 17, 1887) and his wife Catherine Kinsler (born September 28, 1815 and died October 29, 1905) and known in the family as "Maa". They lived at Sandy Run, S.C. In a beautiful home on a high brick basement. The home was known as "Pineland Park" and it was built by George Kaigler in 1842 and accidentally burned in 1952.

They are all buried in the Kaigler-Davis Cemetery at the "old place" (the home of George Kaigler’s parents) George Kaigler the first and his wife Elizabeth Geiger Kaigler). The home was burned by Sherman’s army on February 15, 1865 when he camped in the Sandy Run community before moving on and burning Columbia, S.C. 17 miles north on February 17, 1865. The "Old Place" was not rebuilt and was later turned into our family cemetery (I will write a short history of this in the near future).

My grandfather (Thomas Root Davis (born November 5, 1865 and died may 18, 1948)) told me that the 3 little Kaigler boys (his uncles) died of typhoid fever. Their parents sent their oldest and only surviving child, "Sally" [sic] (Sarah Elizabeth), to live with her grandmother at the "Old Place" to protect her from contracting the lethal disease that had killed her 3 brothers. She lived with her grandmother (Elizabeth Geiger Kaigler) until the old lady died on April 19, 1856 when Sally [sic] was 14 years old. Sally then returned to her parents at Pineland Park to live. The 3 little Kaigler boys and at least 6 or 8 slaves died with the typhoid fever during this same period of time. Probably because there was a carrier for typhoid fever on the place and the privy was too close to the well. The well at the "Old "Place" was 86 feet deep and encased in a circular column of brick all the way to the bottom, probably making the water, there, safe.

The Davis portraits were: #107, Ms. John Davis (Christina Root). The mother of Colonel Thomas Root Davis. The grandmother of John Kinsler Davis, and the great-grandmother of my grandfather Thomas Root Davis of Sandy Run. She came to America with her Family on the ship "Isabella" and her daughter Isabelle Davis was born in Charleston Harbor at the conclusion of the journey. Her husband built the first building at the asylum (the Robert Mills Building) in 1828. His son Thomas Root Davis was an apprentice (age 17 years I think). The approximate size of the canvas is 25 by 50 inches. The portrait is of an elderly lady wearing ruched bonnet tied under the chin. She has brown hair and eyes. There is a red chair in the background. This was painted in the late 1850's (born May 20, 1745 and died April 25, 1873). She had a striking likeness to her great-granddaughter, "Aunt Hun." (Mrs. John Skottowe Bellinger). The portrait is now owned by my brother, Dr. William McAlhaney Davis of Spartanburg, S.C.. The other Scarborough portrait of the Davis family was Colonel Thomas Root Davis (1808 to 1874). Mr. Davis came from Kent County England directly to South Carolina with his father at the age of 14. He was a prominent builder of masonry buildings in Columbia in his early years. He lived at the corner of laurel and Marion Street in Columbia. His home was burned by Sherman’s army on February 17, 1865. The portraits and the family silver were buried in the ground in the garden by the butler and survived the fire. His two old maid sisters were living with him at the time, they were Aunt Harriett and Aunt Caroline. All the Davises of this generation are buried at trinity Episcopal Cathedral churchyard in Columbia. John Kinsler Davis had a sister, Julia Davis Marshall (Mrs. Charles Marshall in Columbia). I am told that the Marshall family of Columbia have two Scarborough portraits of john Kinsler and Julia Davis when they were children. I have never seen these particular portraits. Colonel T. R. Davis married Ellen Ann Kinsler.

To further describe the Colonel Thomas Root Davis portrait: canvas 25 by 30 inches. This is a man in his 40's. He had brown hair, eyes were hazel. One hand holds a riding whip, black suit, white shirt, white collar and high black stock, clean shaven with sideburns. Woodland scene in the background, red curtain to the right. He is seated in a red leather chair. This was painted in the late 1850's. Cut from the frame to save it from Sherman’s army. I own this particular portrait and it hangs over the fireplace in my parlor in Manning, S.C..

The 4th portrait from the parlor walls of Pineland Park was a full length painting of Mrs. George Kaigler (Catherine Kinsler Kaigler). This was painted in 1842 shortly after the birth of her only surviving child (Sarah Elizabeth Kaigler Davis, Mrs. J.K. Davis). This portrait was not by Scarborough but was by a painter known as William K. Brown. The Pineland Park house was finished the same year (1842). The Yankees stabbed the portrait 3 times with bayonets while it was hanging on the wall. Once in each breast and one in the abdomen. The portrait was never repaired and is owned by our cousin (Mrs. Henry Livingston (ne Blanche Nelson) of St. Matthews, S.C.). Blanche is William Kinsler Nelson’s daughter, his mother was Mrs. Theodore McFadden Nelson (ne Catherine Kinsler Davis, "Aunt Kate") born June 7, 1864 and died February 11, 1934. The portrait is on loan to the Calhoun County museum in St. Matthews and can be seen there.

Granddaddy Davis (Roots) always said that the hands in this portrait were not of Catherine Kinsler Kaigler but the hands of her sister, Mary Ann Kinsler who married, first John D. Arthur and second Andrew h. Homes. Her daughter was cousin Mary Ann Chambers. Cousin Mary Ann chambers died about 1923 and was near 102 years old. She is buried in Kinsler county at Congaree Creek in Lexington county near the site of the old William Kinsler place. Maa (Catherine Kinsler Kaigler) felt that her hands were to large and her fingers too short. She wanted her sister to sit for the hands because "sister had aristocratic hands", narrow with tapering fingers. I always heard this story.