The Talbird Oak: The Making of a Hilton Head Legend

This study investigates the legend of the Talbird Oak on Hilton Head Island, South Carolina, by testing the claims of the modern historical marker against primary sources. The investigation begins with an 1888 family history written by Rev. Henry Talbird and reconstructs the Revolutionary history of Hilton Head Island and Daufuskie Island necessary to evaluate his account. Deeds, wills, parish records, judgment rolls, contemporary newspapers, family records, and nineteenth-century surveys reveal a closely connected network of Talbirds, Ladsons, Martinangeles, Leacrafts, Dohertys, and Pendarvises divided by the American Revolution. The resulting violence included the killing of James Doherty, the deaths of Richard Pendarvis and others, and the Bloody Legion’s murder of Philip Martinangele Jr. The study also traces how Talbird’s late and self-qualified family recollection was expanded by twentieth-century writers into a precise story involving a named British officer, a fixed date, and a specific surviving oak. Finally, an 1855 survey of Thomas Currell’s tract is registered against the modern landscape to examine whether the marked oak can be connected to John Talbird’s property in 1781. The surviving evidence does not establish that connection.