Historical Sketch: The Age of Robert Sing (Literally)

Thirteen weeks following the bombardment of Fort Sumter in Charleston Harbor and following the Confederate victory at Manassas, Robert W. Sing of Bucksville, South Carolina, traveled to Conway to enlist. Robert W. Sing lived his entire life in the South Carolina river community of Bucksville, then known as Kingston Parish in the Horry District of South Carolina. The Waccamaw River flowed past Bucksville and provided a highway to Georgetown’s for timber mills to the south.

The exact year of Robert’s birth is not so easy to pin down, as there are no reliable birth records for this period. Relying on the decennial census rolls, Robert first appears on the 1850 survey as 8 years old, giving him a birth year of 1842 with the month unknown. In the 1860 survey, Robert is listed as 16, giving him a birth year of 1844—a two-year discrepancy.  This places Robert’s age as either 17 or 19 when the war started in April 1861.

The 1850 Census. Robert (line 27) is age 8, making his birth year approximately 1842. Source: U.S. Census Bureau

The 1860 Census roll for Kingston Parish listing the Sing Family. Robert  (line 4) is listed as being 16 years of age at the time. His birth year would be 1844, not 1842, and making him 17 when he enlisted. Source: U.S. Census Bureau

By the 1870 census, Robert’s age is 28, not the 26 you would expect ten years after the previous census. In 1880, he is 48. There are no records for 1890. The 1900 census asked for the month as well as the year of birth. In this census he is listed as 56 years old and with a birthdate of December 1842. His obituary, written by his son, Calvin Lowrimore (my great grandfather), mentions Robert as having just turned 65 at the time of his death in January 1907. This would seemingly confirm the year and month of his birth as December 1841. By adjusting all of the census records of ages by six months (June to December), this confirms Robert’s birthdate and age except for the census records of 1860 and 1890.

The 1900 Census. Robert’s birthdate is recorded as December 1843, making him 19 and not 17 when he enlisted. Or does it? Source: U.S. Census Bureau

Robert Sing's age from his obituary. Source: Horry Herald

Why this recurring two-year difference in his age? That will have to be answered later, along with the identity his parents. For now, Robert, at either the age of 17 or 19, joined the cause of Southern independence by enlisting in Company A of the Tenth South Carolina Volunteer Infantry Regiment during a recruiting visit by company commander Capt. Plowden C.J. Weston to Conway, the seat of the District (county) of Horry. The wealthy planter with a reputation for largess to his men found little trouble in his recruitment drive to fill out his 120-man roster. Robert was only too happy to oblige given the patriotic fervor and the imperative nature of protecting his country—South Carolina—from the Yankees. This was the beginning of his four-year, 3000-mile odyssey through six states of the southern Confederacy for Robert as he participates as an infantry private in the bloodiest conflict ever fought in North America. 

Sources: Emanuel; Horry Herald, 1907; U.S. Census Bureau.
July 28, 2011