Starke, William Pinckney, -1886

Starke was writing a biography of John C. Calhoun and was staying with Thomas Green Clemson at Fort Hill, SC. The letter is to Salley (Sarah Calhoun Noble, Mrs. Ezekiel Pickens Noble) whose husband's mother (Elizabeth Bonneau Pickens) was the daughter of Ezekiel Pickens and Elizabeth Bonneau, sister of Mrs. Floride Bonneau Calhoun.

From the description of Starke letter to Salley (Sarah Calhoun Noble) August 28, 1885. (Clemson University Libraries). WorldCat record id: 23453184

Thomas Green Clemson wanted a Calhoun biography written and employed William Pinckney Starke of Beech Island, S.C. to write it. Starke was a friend of the Calhouns, Rions, Hamptons and Hammonds and spent time at Fort Hill as guest of Clemson. When Starke died in 1886 he left an aborted biography written in his private shorthand. Theodore F. Shuey, United States Senate stenographer and shorthand expert, transcribed 105 pages. J. Franklin Jameson, for the American Historical Association's edition of Calhoun's letters, prepared an account of Calhoun's early life, abridged from the manuscript of Colonel W. Pinckney Starke. The whereabouts of the original shorthand notes is unknown. A photocopy of the Starke biography (transcription) and copy of an envelope from Senator B.R. Tillman, Washington, D.C. April 21, [1898?] addressed to Dr. P.H.E. Sloan, Clemson College, S.C., was taken October 13, 1978 by J.W.G. Gourlay to Dr. Clyde Wilson, c/o E.L. Inabinet, Librarian, South Caroliniana Library.

From the description of Biography of John C. Calhoun typescripts. 1733-1978, 1733-1811. (Clemson University Libraries). WorldCat record id: 20371678