Nov 27, 2016 · Is this your ancestor? Explore genealogy for Robert Smalls born 1839 Beaufort, South Carolina, United States died 1915 Beaufort, South Carolina, United States including mother + descendants + 1 photos + 3 genealogist comments + more in the free family tree community.

With his first wife Hannah Jones Smalls, whom he married on December 24, 1856, Robert Smalls had three children: Elizabeth Lydia (1858–1959; m. Samuel Jones Bampfield, nine living children); Robert Jr., who was born in 1861, and died at age two; and Sarah Voorhies (1863–1920).

On the night of May 12, 1862, the white crewmembers of the Planter went ashore in Charleston, leaving Smalls and the enslaved crewmembers unattended. Around 3 am, Smalls and his fellow freedom seekers fired up the ship’s boilers and sailed …

Family. At age 17, Smalls married Hannah Jones, an enslaved hotel maid, in Charleston on December 24, 1856. She was five years his senior and already had two daughters. Their own first child, Elizabeth Lydia Smalls, was born in February 1858. Three years later they had a son, Robert Jr., who later died at age two.

Feb 21, 2013 · Here is what Helen and Michael Boulware Moore, the great-great grandson and the great granddaughter of Robert Smalls, had to say about the joys and burdens of bearing a famous ancestor’s...

Feb 17, 2021 · Robert Smalls was born on April 5, 1839 into the institution of slavery in Beaufort, South Carolina, located just south of Charleston on the coastal Sea Islands. His mother was an enslaved woman, Lydia Polite .

From daring Civil War hero to Reconstruction-era political pioneer, the life of former slave Robert Smalls was as amazing as it was significant. In the early morning of May 13, 1862, several enslaved crewmembers of the Confederate steamer …

Jun 13, 2017 · Like so many enslaved people, Smalls was haunted by the idea that his family—his wife, Hannah; their four-year-old daughter, Elizabeth; and their infant son, Robert, Jr.—would be sold. And...

Robert Smalls was born into slavery in Beaufort, South Carolina on April 5, 1839. His mother, Lydia Polite, was a slave owned by Henry McKee, who may have been Smalls’ father.

Oct 8, 2023 · Robert Smalls (April 5, 1839–February 23, 1915) was an enslaved African American who, during and after the American Civil War, became a ship's pilot, sea captain, and politician. He freed himself and his family from slavery on May 13, 1862, by commandeering a Confederate transport ship, the Planter, to freedom in Charleston harbor.