The Name Rhett and All it's Houses in South Carolina

What started as a post on the Rhett House Inn, through various internet links and searches ended up expanding into a sort of history of the surname Rhett and it's history in South Carolina.  Everything seemed to live up to the 6 degrees of separation theory.  So I shall begin with the Inn, and wander to where it led me too.

Thomas Rhett House

The Thomas Rhett house is located in Beaufort, South Carolina and is now The Rhett House Inn.  The Inn provides a nice history of the house, including how it came to be built and how it is associated with Rhett Butler in  Gone with the Wind,  "While many assume the name of the inn comes from the famous character Rhett Butler in the quintessential Southern film “Gone with the Wind”, the opposite is actually true. Margaret Mitchell, author of “Gone With the Wind”, named the character after the prominent Rhetts of Beaufort and Charleston and the Butlers of Atlanta. Thomas Smith Rhett and his wife Caroline Barnwell (one of the South’s most prominent families – a county in S. C. is named for them) Rhett raised their children under the main house’s roof, and lived here until the Civil War. However, Thomas was originally a Smith. As his uncle with the last name of Rhett neared death, the uncle promised to bequeath his fortune to any male nephews who would carry on the last name. Thomas Smith was happy to oblige, and so became Thomas Rhett."    They provide a longer history in PDF, "A Brief History of the Rhett House Inn, The Town of Beaufort, and the South Carolina Low Countries", if you want to read more.  This article includes flags, maps, and a brief history of the Rhett families in South Carolina, whom all seem to be inter-related.  Thomas Smith Rhett's married Caroline Branwell. The Branwells were another prominent South Carolina family.  "A Brief History" also mentions Margaret Mitchell's use of the name Rhett Butler.  The Rhett House Inn appears to be a lovely place to stay and Beaufort seems like it would be fun to visit for a history and/or Gone with the Wind fan. 

Robert Branwell Rhett House

Rhett seems to be a common name in South Carolina.  The Robert Branwell Rhett House is in Charleston, South Carolina.  It was built by James Legare who sold it to Robert Branwell Rhett. Robert was a seccessionist, and like Thomas Rhett, his last name was originally Smith, but Robert changed it to Rhett, after Colonel William Rhett, a famous ancestor.  Given Robert's middle name one wonders if he might not be related to the Branwells, and possibly to Thomas Rhett's wife Caroline Branwell.  Robert eventually sold the house in 1863 to George Trenholm.  Ship-wreck explorer E. Lee Spence claims Rhett Butler was based on a combination of George, a blockade runner and one of the wealthiest men in the south, and George's son who fell in love and pursued a young woman, Ruby Senac, across several continents.  The son's love was never returned as Ruby married someone else.  George and his wife Anna Helen Holmes had thirteen children.  Their daughter, Georgiana died as an infant, and later George named one of his steamships after her. The SS Georgiana was sunk by Union ships.  I've always wondered what the name of Rhett's blockade ships were.

Colonel William Rhett House

Colonel William Rhett, the ancestor of Robert Branwell Rhett, came over from England with his wife, Sarah and became a wealthy rice planter.  He also led flotilla's to fight off attacks on Charles Town, and later had 2 ships that were pirate hunters.  His house, the William Rhett House still stands in Charleston.  It was sold out of the Rhett family.  Wade Hampton III,  Charles Hamilton's Commander and whom Wade Hampton Hamilton was named after, was born in this house.  The South Carolina Historical and Genealogical Magazine, published an article, "The Descendants of Col. William Rhett of South Carolina."  It's about 80 pages long.

The Aiken-Rhett House Museum

The Aiken-Rhett house, was not built by a Rhett and was not occupied by a member of that family till nearly 1900.  It does have a long history in South Carolina and is currently a museum.  Major Andrew Burnet Rhett, who married Henrietta Aiken, was Robert Barnwell Rhett's son.    The stairway in the Aiken-Rhett house looks familiar. One wonders if any of Selznick's staff or set-designers ever visited it.

Stair case in the grand hall of Aiken-Rhett house.

I always wonder if Rhett King Butlers', first and middle names came from family surnames.  When Cathleen Calvert relates Rhett Butler's sordid past to Scarlett, she says Caro Rhett, no relation to Rhett, told her all about the girl, and the stuff at West Point.  It seems Margaret Mitchell chose one of the most prominent South Carolina family surnames for her engimatic Rhett.  Which is in line with his character being from an old, revered, and proper family.