WILLIAM ASHMEAD COURTENAY Elected mayor December 9, 1879, succeeding William W. Sale. Re-elected December 11, 1883. Succeeded by George D. Bryan, December 1887.
Born 1831, died March 17, 1908, buried at Magnolia Cemetery.
Son of Edward Smith Courtenay and Elizabeth Storer Wade, married Julia Ann Francis, 1854.
Educated at Dr. J. C. Faber's academy, left school at fifteen.
Owned a bookselling and publishing business on Broad Street, 1850-1860; then worked as business manager of the Charleston Mercury. 1866-1887 shipping and commission merchant.
1893 established Courtenay Manufacturing Company and built a cotton mill and village he named "Newry" in Oconee County, South Carolina.
Civil War service as lieutenant in Company B, 8th South Carolina Infantry, fighting at Manassas, Fredericksburg, Chickamauga, and Gettysburg. "Captain Wm A. Courtenay is Dead." News and Courier, March 18, 1908.
"The Last Meetings of the City Council of 1883-1887." Year Book, City of Charleston, 1887. Charleston, 1888.
"Newry Historic District." National Register of Historic Places Inventory-Nomination Form, South Carolina Department of Archives and History, 1981. (www.nationalregister.sc.gov/oconee/S10817737008)
Photos
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New York Public Library Digital Gallery (http://digitalgallery.nypl.org/)
William A. Courtenay, 1892 |
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Preservation Society of Charleston
95 Ashley Avenue, residence of Mayor William A. Courtenay. The house was built by carpenter Albert Elfe, who bought a double lot (part of the estate of former mayor Edward W. North) in 1845, erected the dwelling, and sold it in 1852 to Theodore Dehon Jervey for $8,250. W. A. Courtenay paid $7,000 for the property in June, 1870. The façade was remodeled during repairs after the earthquake of 1886. |
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R. P. Bridgens & Robt. Allen, "An Original Map of the City of Charleston"
Then known as "19 Lynch Street," 95 Ashley Avenue and its outbuildings were depicted on this 1852 map. |
95Ashley1872BirdsEye_500x500.jpg) |
C. Drie, Bird's Eye View of the City of Charleston, South Carolina, 1872 (http://memory.loc.gov/ammem/browse/ListSome.php?category=Maps)
The property purchased by W. A. Courtenay in 1870 was described as a lot measuring 147' on Montagu Street, and 125' on Lynch [Ashley Avenue], with buildings. This 1872 map depicts the east façade of 95 Ashley Avenue. |
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City of Charleston Block Plats, 1882
By 1882, a three-story hyphen connected the main house [shown as brick construction] and the kitchen house. |
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Sanborn Company Fire Insurance map, 1902.
By 1902, Courtenay's double lot had been subdivided, and 91 Ashley Avenue stood on the south parcel. |
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