Letters from Edgar
1887 - an application for employment at UNC, Chapel Hill NC
1910 (circa) - an Easter card with portrait, to Dr Joynes at USC, Columbia SC

 10 March 1887 - The following letter was written by Great Grandfather Edgar to the President of the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, offering his services as an instructor. Shown at 75% of actual size, it is transcribed more legibly immediately below, with additional annotation. An abstract of the letter was posted to the internet and I am thankful to Assistant Professor / Archivist Aaron D Purcell of the University of Tennessee, Knoxville, for sending me a photocopy from the UTK O P Temple Collection.
   
Transcription of above letter (both pages):

Jacksonville, Fla. March the 10th/87
Pres. S. B. Crawford
Univ. of N.C. Chapel Hill, N.C.
The undersigned hereby offers you his services as instructor in the Modern Languages & Latin, should there be any vacancy in your University now or hereafter. The undersigned is a native of Germany & a Graduate of the University of Rome & the Roman College, Rome, Ity. He is the holder of 3 Diplomas from these Institutions. - For the past 12 years he has been engaged as a teacher in the above stated branches in the following institutions:
S.C. College, (Latin). Columbia S.C.
Columbia Female Coll, Columbia S.C.
Columbia Male & Fem. Academies, Columbia, S.C.
Adger College, Walhalla, S.C.
He has also been employed as instructor in Latin & Italian in the Round Lake (N.Y.) Summer Schools (Dr. J.H. Worman, Director) the past summer and has been reengaged for the coming season. For the last 2 years he has held the position of Principal of the City Schools of Greenville S.C. - His references are:
Rev. Ellison Capers, Greenville, S.C.
Rev. Dr. Woodrow, Univ. of S.C. Columbia
Hon. Porcher Miles, Ex-Pres. Univ. of S.C. Columbia, New Orleans, La.
Hon. Wade Hampton (U.S. Sen) Columbia, S.C.
Ex Gov. Hugh S. Thompson, Washington, D.C.
Rev. R.H. Weller, D.D., Jacksonville, Fla.
Prof. J.H. Worman, Th.D., Troy, N.Y.
Prof. B. Sloan, Univ. of S.C. Columbia
and many others.
His P.O. is Greenville, S.C.

Very respectfuly,
E. von Fingerlin

P.S.
I speak fluently the English, German, French, Italian, & Latin Langs, and teach the Spanish also but can not speak it.

Annotation to above letter:

SOURCE:
O. P. Temple Collection Relating to the University of Tennessee, 1896-1907, Letterbook 3, page 44, University Archives, University of Tennessee, Knoxville. Mailed to JMC 4/10/2002 from Aaron D Purcell, Asst. Professor and University Archivist. I don't know how a letter written to the UNC-Chapel Hill in 1887 became archived with material at UT-Knoxville, dated 1896-1907.

WRITING:
The writing appears to be in the hand of my great grandfather, Edgar Maximilian von Fingerlin-Büsching. His writing seems to be influenced by the German practice of capitalizing nouns. I am surprised at the number of abbreviations; perhaps it was to conserve paper. Except for the postscript, he refers to himself in the third person.

THE REFERENCES:
Rev Ellison Capers - 1837-1908. Teacher, Confederate States Brigadier General, elected South Carolina Secretary of the State, Episcopal Bishop of South Carolina
Rev Dr James Woodrow - 1828-1907. Received his PhD from Heidelberg University, was uncle of future US President Woodrow Wilson, was forced from the Southern Presbyterian seminary for teaching evolution, was President of the University of South Carolina at Columbia.
William Porcher Miles - 1822-1899. Lawyer, Mayor of Charleston SC, US Congressional Representative, Confederate States Congressional Representative, President of the University of South Carolina at Columbia (1880-82).
Senator Wade Hampton - 1818-1902. Confederate States Brigadier General, 2-term Governor of the state of South Carolina, one of the wealthiest men in the South, advocate for Federal aid to education and said to be very hospitable. Hampton's sister Annie was the namesake for EMvFB's daughter, Natalie Annie Hampton von Fingerlin, who was born on the Hampton plantation outside of Columbia SC in 1875.
Governor Hugh S Thompson - 1836-1898. South Carolina State Superintendent of Education, South Carolina Governor (1882-1886), Assistant Secretary of the US Treasury.
Rev R H Weller -
Prof J H Worman - Pubisher and Professor of German language.
Prof B Sloan - Benjamin Sloan, also a Major, President of Adger College, Professor of Mathematics and Natural Philosophy at the University of South Carolina.

 

 1910 (circa) - The photograph on the left was mailed to Edgar's friend and former colleague at South Carolina College, Columbia SC, with the following inscription on the reverse:

"From an old friend as he looks now - to Dr E S Joynes with Easter Greetings."

A photograph of the front and photocopy of the reverse (along with copies of Prof von Fingerlin's term grade reports) were sent to me by Elizabeth Cassidy West, curator at the USC archives. The card was found in the archived papers of Dr Edward Southy Joynes. In a telephone conversation, Ms West was kind enough to share information relevant to the times during which my great grandfather taught at the University, then called South Carolina College. Edgar first joined the faculty during Reconstruction (he was there, for sure, in 1876, and taught at least 3 quarters), that period following the Civil War when blacks were, for the first time, allowed to attend the college. At South Carolina College, the Reconstruction period lasted from November 1873 to July 1877. Having worked in New York as a translator (1868+), Prof Von Fingerlin might have been a "carpetbagger," the name given to Northerners who came into the South during that period. The college closed in 1877 and when it reopened in 1880, faculty who had taught the blacks were not rehired. However, our Edgar did continue on, in a special capacity. According to "History of the University,"

"Professor Von Fingerlin and Professor J C Faber were licensed to teach ancient and modern languages and allowed to use the college's rooms for such purposes. Those who studied with them paid such fees as they demanded."

On the reverse of the card, written by the hand of 3 different college personnel, "Professor Von Fingerlin" - "1876 with the negroes, 1880-82 licentiate" - "[to teach ancient & modern languages in the buildings of the USC but not a member of the faculty]"

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