Hi, I stand corrected. What I have ia a 4 column article, with picture, dealing with Dr. Henry Ellison. Just before he passed from cancer, he said "it was time to talk about his great-grandfather." It goes on to talk about Willian Ellison who was born April Ellison, a slave. It mentions that April learned to build cotton gins and became the best gin maker in the first district of South Carolina, how he went to court to change his name to William and bought himself a pew so that he could sit on the main floor of the white church that they attended and then of course, the letters that were found which were the impetus for the book. In his life here, Dr. Ellison sat on many boards, was highly respected and the article billed him as the first black doctor (in my research, I have found one or two before him)
but he definately opened doors for African Americans here. I have to find my birth certificate, but I believe he was the one that delivered me and countless other children in this city. Since the article is so lengthy, I cannot transcribe it and I do not have a scanner. If anyone is interested, you can contact me at ess-ay4@webtv.net and I will send the article and his obit (once I find it) to you. Prior to the article appearing in the paper, few if any here, knew of his ancestor's history.