Sims, Abraham
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Sims, Abraham
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Freed slave and family servant of James C. Furman
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Abraham Sims was the freed slave and family servant of James Clements Furman, the first president of Furman University. Sims was born in Fairfield Country, South Carolina, in August 1844 to Richard Sims and Effie Davis. Little is known about Sims’ life until 1900 when he first appeared in Census Bureau records. By 1900, Sims had learned to read and write and served as a cook at Greenville Woman’s College for many years. Sims was married to a woman named Madora, known as Dora, with whom he shared seven sons and two daughters. His children's names are T. C. Sims, Wm. S. Sims, James S. Sims, John Henry Sims, Glenn Sims, Arthur Sims, Laura Smith, and Ruth May Sims. Sims owned a home on Paris Mountain Road in the historically African-American neighborhood of Brutontown near downtown Greenville. He died on January 31, 1918, at the age of 74. Sims is buried in the Brutontown cemetery. Sims is shown in an 1890 photograph of James C. Furman’s home Cherrydale, on the back of which is written, “Abraham, an ex-slave, for many years a family servant, shown between bushes below the porch.” The photograph is preserved in Furman’s Special Collection and University Archives.
Despite Sims’ limited presence in historic records, his legacy at Furman University is significant. Sims is the namesake of the University’s 2018 “Seeking Abraham” report on slavery and justice, representing the countless servants and enslaved laborers whose contributions to Furman far exceed their historic visibility.
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August 1844
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January 31, 1918
Position: 10847 (8 views)
