COLUMBIA, S.C. - The name of Strom Thurmond's biracial daughter was added Thursday to his monument on the south side of the Statehouse grounds.

It took two hours to engrave "Essie Mae" on its own line, under the names of the late senator's four children with his second wife, Nancy.

"We are excited to no end, and we are so grateful that it moves one to tears of joy and gratitude," said Frank Wheaton, the attorney for Essie Mae Washington Williams. "I'm sure Mrs. Williams will be elated."

Williams was not available for comment, Wheaton said.

The General Assembly passed legislation in May to add Williams' name to Thurmond's statue, which shows the one-time segregationist around age 60 at the peak of his political career. The monument was built in the late 1990s with $850,000 in private donations.

There still is work to be done on the monument after the threat of rain postponed work Thursday, said Mike Sponhour, spokesman for the state Budget and Control Board.

The monument says Thurmond was "the father of four children." Sponhour said after workers fill in the letters of "four" and let it dry, they will engrave the number "five." A darkening agent also will be added to "Essie Mae" to make it look like the other names, which are no longer in the order of the children's birth.

The cost of the changes, expected to be less than $1,000, will come from private funds, Sponhour said.

Thurmond was 22 when Williams, now 78, was born to a 16-year-old black maid working at his family's Edgefield home.

Williams knew Thurmond was her father for decades, but kept silent until after his death in June out of respect for the former senator's career. Thurmond met with Williams throughout her life, giving her money to go to school and helping out her family when her husband died.