The White-Bourquin family
A Carolina Day tribute from the Society staff.
“I therefore donate this painting to the nation to be kept in perpetuity, that the sons may know how their fathers fought to secure the precious boon of liberty.”
Many will gather at 11:30am on Saturday, Carolina Day, for a parade down Meeting Street to celebrate the patriot victory at Ft. Sullivan on June 28, 1776. Once the parade reaches White Point Garden, a program will be delivered near the monument to William Gilmore Simms (1806-1870). Simms was a native of Charleston and renowned poet, novelist, politician and historian. However, Mr. Simms is not the subject of our story.
As attendees enjoy the program on Saturday and view the bust of Simms, it would be easy not to make the connection we provide here today. But, as we often say, behind so many good stories, there is a Huguenot story.
We begin with a patriot, Blake Leay White
In 1776, Blake Leay White was living near Eutaw Springs at Whitehall Plantation and was married to Huguenot descendant Elisabeth Bourquin, daughter of Abraham Bourquin and Marie Elisabet (Elizabeth) Timothy. Born in 1748, Blake Leay White would have been 28 years old at the time of the battle. We can see from a Plat of 1774 (see image 1) that among his neighbors at Whitehall were fellow Huguenot descendants Thomas Legare, Peter Porcher, Phillip Porcher, Daniel Ravenel, Henry Ravenel, and Jonathan Sarrazin.
Image 1: Courtesy of SC Archives: Porcher, Peter, Plat Of A Plantation Of Land In St. Johns Parish, Charleston District, Containing 3,500 Acres, Surveyed By John Diamond. (B.4, P.106) Date: 7/2/1774. Property for Blake Leay White noted.
Portion of a map drawn by J.P. Gaillard (1942) from the Society archives indicating White Hall next to Orphir and Hanover.
Image 2: Stub Entries to Indent, Book 1, p 17.
Blake Leay White joined the South Carolina militia and was present at Ft. Sullivan (Ft. Moultrie) for the battle while serving under Francis Marion. Further service appears in Stub Entries to Indents, Book 1, issued in August 1784 for payment for wagon hire for militia use and later sundries (see image 2).
As to his service on Carolina Day, it is recorded in the painting The Battle of Fort Moultrie (see image 3), where he is depicted along the palmetto logs in front of The Friendship. Blake Leay White died in 1796 and is presumed buried near his home at Whitehall which now rests in perpetuity under the waters of Lake Moultrie (see image 3).
This brings us to the painter of the battle scene…John Blake White, one of the earliest American historical artists
John Blake White (1781-1859) was born at Whitehall Plantation when his father was thirty-three years old. John Blake was educated as an artist. Early in the year of 1800 he went to England and attended the Royal Academy where he studied art under Benjamin West. He returned to the United States in November 1803 and shortly thereafter lost his mother on December 18th. In July of 1804, he proceeded to Boston to determine if he could earn a living with his art and while there met his bride to be, Elizabeth Allston (1779-1817). The two courted and enjoyed time in Boston and Newport. They sailed together to Charleston in November 1804, and in March 1805 they were married. John Blake, having accepted an offer extended over dinner with Mr. Timothy Ford in Boston, began his law studies in the Charleston office of deSaussure and Ford. Blake wrote in his journal: “January 1808 was duly admitted a practitioner of Law in the Courts of Common Pleas &c in this State.” Sadly he could not make a successful earning career with his painting and playwriting, but he continued to enjoy these activities for many years, noting in his journal he enjoyed painting in the summers during leisure time.
Image 3: John Blake White, The Battle of Fort Moultrie, 1806. Collection of the United States Senate. http://www.senate.gov/artandhistory/art/common/collection_list/Painting.js
Generosity preserves the artist’s work
White painted numerous portraits and historical scenes, one of which being the Battle of Fort Moultrie. The artist’s son, Dr. Octavius White, donated the painting to the United States Senate in the 125th anniversary year of the battle. On January 8, 1901, the painting was presented in Washington and reported in the Evening Post on January 10, as being by “his father, John Blake White, one of the earliest American historical artists…The artist’s father being one of the volunteers who went from Charleston to aid Colonel Moultrie.”
In a letter to the U.S. Senate upon the donation, Dr. White wrote:
“His masterful treatment of epoch-making events, during the arduous years of the nation’s birth, has done much and may yet do more to foster the spirit of pure patriotism which achieved our independence.” He goes on to write “The faces of the chief actors are carefully executed portraits, drawn from likenesses in the possession of their families, aided by personal recollections of the artist.” Later he concludes with this moving statement, “I therefore donate this painting to the nation to be kept in perpetuity, that the sons may know how their fathers fought to secure the precious boon of liberty.”
By 1901, Dr. White had already donated three other paintings by his father to the Senate. These paintings were: Battle of Eutaw Springs, Marion inviting the British Officer to Dinner (also known as the sweet potato dinner) and Mrs. Motte presenting the Arrows. The artist recorded among his heroic scenes numerous other Huguenot descendants whom he likely knew personally. For example, the White family were close friends of Francis Marion and the artist would have visited with Marion as a small child. Marion died when the artist was 14 years old and a year before his father, Blake Leay, died. Dr. White would die not too long after the donation in his seventy-seventh year in 1903.
Our story concludes at White Point
Our story concludes at the monument to Simms in White Point. The bust of Simms in White Point Garden was designed in 1878 by sculptor John Quincy Adams Ward and architect Col. Edward B. White (E.B.), another son of the artist. It was dedicated on June 11, 1879. As reported in the Charleston News and Courier, June 12, 1879, “the pedestal upon which the bust rests was from drawings by Mr. E.B. White of New York, formerly of Charleston, and is of Winnsboro granite.” Architectural studies of Charleston provide more information on the various buildings E.B. White designed, one of which was the French Protestant (Huguenot) Church at the corner of Church and Queen Streets, tying this family even tighter to its Huguenot heritage.
The stern English Cavalier and venturous French Huguenot
In his memoirs, John Blake White describes his parents as: “the combination of British and French chivalry in the descendant from the polished, though stern English Cavalier, and venturous French Huguenot.”
On Carolina Day, let us pause to remember these generations of the White-Bouquin family and their contributions to both our nation’s independence and the preservation of the memory of that great event. We have much more to come in 2026 as to the service of the White family, as we join the nation in celebrating the 250th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence. Our Huguenot heritage is rich in the fight for Liberty, and we are grateful to our ancestors who fought for our independence.