Bolger, Henry Hattan (1831-1893)
Bolger, Henry Hattan
County Wexford, Ireland, then Charleston, South Carolina, USA; cabinet maker, dealer of furniture, undertaker and slave owner (fl.1831-1893)
Henry Bolger was born in County Wexford c.1819. In 1832 he was serving an apprenticeship with Joshua Neville, a cabinet maker from Lisburn, County Down, Ireland (b.1768-d.1851). Evidently of great prowess at an early age, on 1 February 1832, he was awarded a silver medal 'for the best specimen of Cabinet Work by the Apprentices Library Society:
He presented a miniature columned mahogany veneered sideboard (illustrated below), which he made the previous year (1831):
On 1 January 1845 he was married to Rosamond Constantia Quinby of Charleston. In 1850 the couple had three children (aged 4, 2 and 7 months) and were living with Henry's sister, Mary and two of Rosamond's sisters, Martha and Isabel, in King Street in Charleston's 10th Ward. The federal slave census for 1850 records Henry owning seven slaves, described by age, gender and colour: Female (60) black; Female (35), black; Male (8) mulatto; Female (3), mulatto; Male (8 months), mulatto; Male (40), mulatto; Male (35), mulatto.
The Bolgers lived at 432 King Street with various relatives from both his and his wife's families living with them, off and on, over the years.
In 1859 the business was listed at 398 King Street and by 1866 had relocated to 456 King Street. In 1874 Henry was also running an undertaker business at 456 King Street.
One of Henry's sons joined the company in the mid-1880s, it then renamed 'H.H. Bolger & Son'.
Henry Bolger died at his home at 432 King Street on 8 November 1893 at 80 years of age. His death certificate states that his wife survived him. He was buried the following day at St. Laurence Cemetery.
Sources: United States Federal Census, 1850, 1860, 1870, 1880, 1890; U.S. Federal Census Slave Schedules (1850); On the Eve of the Civil War: Charleston, South Carolina Directories for the Years 1859 and 1860; Charleston, South Carolina, City Directory (1859, 1860, 1866, 1872, 1874, 1875, 1877, 1879, 1880, 1882, 1883, 1892; MESDA Craftsman ID 76084; South Carolina. South Carolina death records. Columbia, SC, 8 November 1893.