The Colburn Family Legacy

For my “Old Charlestonian” project for my beyond the grave class, I chose to research Mary Rebecca Colburn and her family. One of the main reasons that I chose this family to research was because one of my good friends from Ohio is distantly related to this family which I thought was really cool. Mary was born on March 9, 1860 in Charleston, South Carolina. Her parents, Jane D. Colburn and John Henry Colburn, moved to Charleston in 1850 from Boston, Massachusetts. The Colburn family resided on Queen Street with her parents in addition to three other siblings, Sarah, James, and Thomas. While her father worked as a fire insurance agent for the city, Mary’s mother worked at home which was quite common for women to do back in the 1800’s.

The gravemarker of Mary Rebecca Colburn in the Unitarian Churchyeard 

Public library card for Mary Rebecca Colburn 

Unfortunately, Mary’s life was cut short on September 17, 1860 at six months old. She died as a result of congestion in her brain. Throughout her short life, her parents vigorously tried to find a doctor on the east coast of the United States that could perform a surgery to save their daughter. Mary was the first Colburn to parish and the first Colburn to be buried in the Unitarian Church Cemetery in Charleston, South Carolina. Later on, her family members were buried alongside her in the Unitarian Church Cemetery. However, a few of the Colburn of later generations were laid to rest in magnolia cemetery which I found rather odd as there was no explanation as to why. On Mary’s headstone, her mother insisted that the words, “suffer little children to come unto me. And forbid them not” were present. I was able to find a majority of my information from the Charleston County Public Library and familysearch.org.