William Sams

Dawtaw Island-

1774 - Reeve began to plant indigo on Dataw, but was interrupted by the Revolutionary War. After the war, Reeve sold the island to his cousin, William Sams, grandson of Beaufort's founder, Colonel John "Tuscarora Jack" Barnwell. Dataw was now under ownership by one of Beaufort's most prominent planter families, and for the next one hundred years plantation life would dominate the island.

1786 - The "Golden Age" (Post Revolutionary War up to the Civil War) is inseparably entwined with the story of one man and his family - William Sams introduced the cultivating of long, staple cotton, the famous Sea Island variety. With the development of the famed Sea Island cotton, Beaufort soon prospered as never before. A noted historian characterized pre-Civil War Beaufort as "the wealthiest, most aristocratic, most cultivated town of its size in America."

1790 - Sams built a tabby house the ruins of which remain today on the south shore of Dataw. His son added two large wings to the house. A chapel and family graveyard were also built during the period.

1798 - After establishing one of the most successful Sea Island cotton plantations in the entire state, William Sams died and was the first to be buried in the family graveyard.