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The Separate Baptist Movement
– The Story Of The Early Beginnings Of The Fairforest Baptist Church In Union District

FIRST BAPTIST CHURCH IN UPPER SOUTH CAROLINA

By ROBERT A. IVEY

First Baptist Preacher In The United States
ROGER WILLIAMS

Roger Williams established the first Baptist Church in America at Providence Rhode Island in 1639. Jesse L. Boyd in his, A History of Baptists in America, page 26 states: “The church in the establishment of which Roger Williams led at the Providence Plantations was originally a Six-Principle Church, based upon Hebrews 6:1-2: (1) Repentance, (2) Faith in God, (3) Baptism, (4) Laying on of Hands, (5) Resurrection, (6) Judgment.”

 The current web page of the First Baptist Church of Providence Baptist Church states: “The First Baptist Church in America has been on College Hill in downtown Providence since 1638, sharing the good news, with Christ-centered enthusiasm, biblical preaching, dynamic caring ministries, advocating the separate and complementary relationship between church and state, and the vitality of traditional worship. What Roger Williams established is still worth standing for.”

 Roger Williams, son of James and Alice Pemberton Williams, was born December 21, 1603, in Long Lane, Middlesex, London, England. He married Mary Barnard, daughter of Richard Barnard, on December 15, 1629, in Highlaver Church, Essex, England.

 Professor J. Stanley Lemons wrote: “Even though Williams did not remain a member of the First Baptist Church long, he never put aside his belief in “baptistic principles.”

 John Callender in his, Century Sermon, speaks of Roger Williams keeping a trading post in North Kingstown, which he had on lease from Richard Smith of Cocumscussoc.

“From his trading post he carried on Christian proselytizing and trade with the native Indian inhabitants and with the steadily increasing number of white settlers as well. These settlers, doubtless with Williams’ advice and blessing, formed the North Kingstown Baptist Congregation about 1664. At first they had neither a meeting house nor a pastor of their own.” (National Register of Historic Places)

John Komar wrote: “Williams used the Post as a mission to preach to the natives. He held public worship once a month at Smith’s for many years.” John Winthrop Jr., Governor of Connecticut stated, “Mr. Williams doeth exaceys amongst us and sayeth he will contuny itt. He precheth well and abel, and much pepell comes to hear him to theyr satisfaction.”

Roger and Mary had four daughters and three sons. Mary died in Providence, Rhode Island, in 1676, and Roger died in Providence on April 1, 1683.

 

THOMAS BAKER
First Pastor Of The North Kingstown Baptist Church

“By 1666, the needs of the Baptists on the west-side of Narragansett Bay induced Elder Thomas Baker to leave Newport and take charge of the North Kingstown congregation. The congregation apparently continued, for some years, to use Cocumscussoc for their gatherings.

The first mention of a building for the Six-Principle Baptist group was a deed of 1703. On August 12th of that year North Kingston resident Alexander Huling conveyed to representatives of the church ‘for love and good will … half an acre of land to make use of for building a meeting house for the worship and service of God.’” (National Register of Historic Places)

Thomas Baker was born in Dedham, Essex County, England, in 1638. He was ordained to the gospel ministry by the First Newport Baptist Church of Rhode Island in 1655. The Reverend Obadiah Holmes was pastor at this time.   In 1656, he joined twenty other members of the First Newport Baptist Church, and together they established the Second Newport Baptist Church.

David Benedict states that these seceders had several objections to the mother church: (1) Her use of psalmody. (2) Undue restraints upon the liberty of prophesying, as they termed it. (3) Particular Redemption. (4) Her holding the laying on of hands as a matter of indifference.

Thomas Baker was the second pastor of the Second Baptist Church of Newport, Rhode Island. John Komar in his Baker Genealogy wrote: “In 1659 (1664), at the insistence of Roger Williams, Baker removed to Kingstown and gathered a church together, the first ‘Six Principal” Baptist Church at Stoney Lane, near Davisville, of which he became the pastor, officiating for many years in that capacity until his death in 1710. He was buried in the North Kingstown Baptist Church cemetery in a marked grave.

Thomas Baker married Sarah circa 1774. She was born in 1741. They had three sons and two daughters. By trade he was a tailor.

 

VALENTINE WIGHTMAN
First Pastor Of The Groton Baptist Church

 During his pastorate in North Kingstown he ordained the Reverend Valentine Wightman to the gospel ministry circa 1705.

On the current web page of the North Kingstown Baptist Church is found the following: “Six Principle Baptist Church (also known as Stony Lane Baptist Church, Stony Lane Six Principle Baptist Church, Stony Lane Six Principle Baptist Church, Old Baptist Meeting House) is an historic church at 921 Old Baptist Road in North Kingstown, Rhode Island. As of 2014, it was the last surviving historical congregation of the Six Principle Baptist denomination and one of the oldest churches in the United States.”

The Reverend Wrightman, son of George and Elizabeth Updyke Wightman, was born April 16, 1681, in Quidnessett, situated in that part of Kingstown, which is now called North Kingstown in Washington County, Rhode Island. On February 1, 1703, he married Susannah Holmes, daughter of the Reverend John and Mary Sayles Holmes. Her father was pastor of the First Baptist Church of Newport, Rhode Island.

Susannah Holmes was the granddaughter of the Reverend Obadiah Holmes, second pastor of the First Baptist Church of Newport, Rhode Island, and through her mother, Mary Sayles, she was the great-granddaughter of the Reverend Roger Williams. She was born in 1682, in Newport, Rhode Island.

Valentine’s great-grandfather, Edward Wightman, was an English radical Anabaptist, executed at Lichfield on charges of heresy. He was the last person to be burned at the stake for heresy in England.

On August 12, 1703, Capt. Alexander Huling, Valentine’s brother-in-law, deeded “for the love and goodwill to my loving friends Jeremiah Wilkie and Valentine Wightman of the Baptist Church in the Narragansett Country land to make use of for building a meeting house for the worship and service of God.”

He was ordained to the gospel ministry by the Reverend Thomas Baker circa 1704, and moved in 1705, to Groton, Connecticut, where he led in the constitution of the Groton Baptist Church the same year.

 “William Stark, the first deacon of the church, deeded to his pastor (Valentine Wightman) a house and twenty acres of land ‘in consideration of the love, goodwill and affection, which I Have and do bear towards my loving friend.’” In a deed made March 23, 1717-1718, Sergeant William Stark, in consideration of six pounds, current money of New England, gave to Valentine Wightman (and others) one and one-half acres of land ‘at the burying placed where the meeting house frame standeth etc.’”

 (From the book, Groton, Connecticut, 1705-1905, by Charles Rathbone Stark, Chapter VII, p. 127)  

 

Valentine’s wife, Susannah, died on April 7, 1726, in Groton, Connecticut. They had eight sons and three daughters. He next married Joanna Avery Stoddard, the widow of Mark Stoddard, in 1728, in Groton. She was born November 21, 1700, to Edward and Joanna Rose Avery. She had a daughter, Mary, by her husband, Mark Stoddard, and two daughters by Valentine Wightman. His son, Timothy, married his step-sister, Mary, as his second wife.

Valentine Wightman was very much a part of the Great Awakening. “On July 23, 1741, one thousand listeners traveled to Groton to hear George Whitefield preach, and the following day one hundred people from the town of Stonington claimed to have experienced an outward conversion.” (Sarah Valkenburg’s historical paper)

The Groton Baptist Church established a mission at North Stonington, Connecticut, in 1743. The Reverend Valentine Wightman baptized the first converts. This church was established two years after the Reverend George Whitefield conducted a revival campaign in the Connecticut Valley. The Reverend Wait Palmer was ordained and became the first pastor of the North Stonington Baptist Church in 1743.

The Reverend Valentine Wightman died June 7, 1747, and was buried at Groton. In 1887, at a meeting of the Wightman Burial Ground Association, a committee was appointed ‘to locate the graves of Valentine Wightman and his first wife and to secure a suitable memorial.’ The site of the graves were located and the following monument was erected to the Reverend Wightman:

“Rev. Valentine Wightman

1747

Pioneer of Religious Liberty
Founder in 1705 and 42 years Pastor
First Baptist Church Groton
The first in the State
Erected 1890
By heirs of the Freedom for which
He faithfully labored”

(RootsWeb’s WorldConnect Project: Blodgett and Hugeback Families, pages 4-5)

 

Valentine, his son, Timothy, and his grandson, John Gano Wightman, except for the pastorate of the Reverend Daniel Fisk, served the church until 1841. The grandson of John Gano Wightman, the Reverend Palmer G. Wightman, served as pastor of the church from 1864 until 1876. Valentine’s second wife, Joanna, died at Groton in June of 1754.

The Groton Baptist Church is known today as the Old Mystic Baptist Church and is still a viable church.

 

WAIT PALMER
Pastor Of The First Baptist Church In Stonington, Connecticut

 (Information on the First Baptist Church of Stonington, Connecticut, is given by Cyrus Henry Brown in his article, The Three Baptist Churches of North Stonington.)

“Its house of worship was located eight miles from Pawcatuck Bridge and two miles south of Pendleton Hill. Ten years after it was built a road was surveyed and laid out from Pawcatuck Bridge to Voluntown line, which passed this church. Daniel Brown and Thomas Holmes gave the land for the meeting house.

Elder Wait Palmer received no support from the church. He owned a farm of ninety acres. He was a plain man, common education, yet of strong, vigorous intellect, of sound practical sense. Elder Palmer was an active patriot of the Revolutionary War.”

From the web site of the First Baptist Church of North Stonington is found the following: “Our church, erected in 1743, was known as the First Baptist Church of Stonington.   North Stonington wasn’t established until 1807. The original building was at a site just south of our current church building. The congregation soon outgrew the original church, however, and in 1830, a new meeting house was built at the top of Pendleton Hill. The building still serves the members today.”

Wait Palmer, son of William and Grace Miner Palmer, was born May 27, 1711, in Stonington, Connecticut, New London County.   He married Mary Brown, daughter of Eleazer and Ann Pendleton Brown, in 1727, in Stonington, Connecticut. She was born November 28, 1703, in Stonington. They had six sons and two daughters.

One of Wait Palmer’s greatest contributions was in his baptism and ordination of the Reverend Shubal Stearns.

Shubal Stearns heard the Reverend George Whitefield preach when he was in Connecticut in 1741.   He withdrew from the Congregation Church circa 1745, and organized a Separate Congregational Church. After becoming convinced that infant baptism was not scriptural, he was baptized by the Reverend Wait Palmer in 1751.

He was baptized at night in the Willimantic River due to the great opposition to his views.   (The Separate Baptist Revival and Its Influence in the South by Dr. James H. Sightler)

Morgan Edwards wrote: “Shubal Stearns was ordained to the gospel ministry by the Reverends Wait Palmer and Joshua Morse at Tolland, Connecticut, on March 20, 1751.”   After his ordination he established a Baptist church in Tolland.

The Reverend Wait Palmer was a cousin of Joseph Breed, who later joined with the Shubal Stearns group in what is Frederick County,Virginia. Joseph Breed, whose mother was a Palmer, was also born in Stonington, Connecticut.

 

JOSHUA MORSE JR. Assisted In The Ordination Of Shubal Stearns IV

Joshua Morse Jr. married Susannah Babcock, daughter of Joshua Babcock. She was born April 7, 1730, in Westerly, Washington County, Rhode Island. He was born April 10, 1726, in North Kingston, Washington County, Rhode Island. They were married in Westerly, Rhode Island, in 1750.

“His grandfather (John Morse) came from the west of England to Rhode Island, in the early part of the settlement of the colony, and served as a chaplain in the first war in which this country was engaged against the French.” (David Benedict’s General History of the Baptist Denomination, Vol. II)

Joshua was ordained to the gospel ministry in 1750, in Rhode Island, and moved to New London (Montville), Connecticut, where he was pastor of the New London Baptist Church.   He was acquainted with George Whitefield, and caught much of the zeal of that famous itinerate.

Most of their children were born in New London. They had six daughters and five sons. He later moved to Sandisfield, Massachusetts, where he died in July of 1795.

“About four weeks before he (Joshua Morse) died, he called his church together, and gave them his last advice and benediction. He had composed a hymn to be sung at his funeral, and he now made a choice of a passage to be preached from on the solemn occasion, which was, ‘This is a faithful saying, and worthy of all acceptation, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners, of whom I am chief.’

The sermon was preached by Elder Rufus Babcock, of Colebrook (Connecticut).” Elder Babcock was baptized by the Reverend Joshua Morse. (General History of the Baptist Denomination, Vol. II, by David Benedict)

His wife (Susannah Babcock) died in Sandisfield, Berkshire County, Massachusetts, in 1810. Their youngest son, Asahel, was a Baptist preacher and pastor of a Baptist Church in Suffield, Connecticut. “He (Joshua Morse) was honored in every relation he sustained, and his usefulness as a minister of the word was exceeded by few in his day.” (David Benedict)

 

Wait Palmer’s Latter Years Preaching In South Carolina And Troubles With His Church At Stonington Connecticut

 Charges were brought against the Reverend Wait Palmer of the North Stonington Baptist Church on October 17, 1764. Records state: “Charges against him were as follows: ‘First, that he had given occasion to the people to think that he was actuated by a hireling spirit, in demanding a stated salary for his service; Second, that he professed to have an internal dismission from the church, and in virtue thereof pronounced the church dissolved.’”

“In the early 1770s, the Reverend Wait Palmer apparently embarked on a preaching tour of the South. In 1773, Palmer working with emancipated slave and newly-converted George Leile (who would become the first ordained African Baptist pastor in Georgia) assisted in the formation of an African congregation in Silver Bluff, South Carolina, on the Galphin Plantation, located near Savannah, Georgia.” (Baptist and the American Civil War—civilwarbaptists.com)

“Brother Palmer (Wait), who was pastor at some distance from Silver Bluff, came and preached to a large congregation at a mill of Mr. Galphin’s. He was a powerful preacher. Brother Palmer (Wait) came again and wished us to beg Master to let him preach to us, and he came frequently. There were eight of us now, who had found the great blessing and mercy from the Lord, and my wife was one of them, and Brother Jesse (Peter) Galphin.

Brother Palmer (Wait) appointed Saturday evening to hear what the Lord had done for us, and next day, he baptized us in the mill stream. Brother Palmer (Wait) formed us into a church, and gave us the Lord’s Supper at Silver Bluff. Then I (David George) began to exhort in the Church and learned to sing hymns. Afterwards the church advised with Brother Palmer (Wait) about my speaking to them, and keeping them together.

So I (David George) was appointed to the office of an elder, and received instruction from Brother Palmer how to conduct myself. I proceeded in this way till the American War was coming on, when the Ministers were not allowed to come amongst us, lest they should furnish us with too much knowledge. I (David George) continued preaching at Silver Bluff, till the church, constituted with eight, increased to thirty or more, and ‘till the British came to the city of Savannah and took it.” (Letters of the Reverend David George, published in London, England, during the period 1790-1793)

On January 9, 1776, the Stonington Baptist Church sent a letter to the Reverend Wait Palmer in which, after reviewing the course of discipline, they proceeded to say: “And now in covenant faithfulness to you our once beloved elder, and in honor to the laws of God’s house, we exclude you from our fellowship; and depose you from the pastoral office committed to you at your ordination.”   (A Discourse Delivered at the One Hundredth Anniversary of the Organization of the North Stonington Baptist Church by the Reverend Albert G. Palmer, pastor of the church)

The Reverend Wait Palmer died in North Stonington, Connecticut, on October 19, 1785, and his wife, Mary Brown Palmer, died in North Stonington on June 10, 1793. He and his wife were buried half a mile from Pendleton Hill Meeting House in unmarked graves in the Palmer Cemetery.

The graves were located on Col. Elias Sanford Palmer’s farm about ½ mile south of Pendleton Hill Meeting House and were later marked. Elias Sanford Palmer was a Patriot Colonel in the Battle of Saratoga when Burgoyne surrendered.

 

SHUBAL STEARNS

PASTOR OF THE FIRST SEPARATE BAPTIST CHURCH IN TOLLAND, CONNECTICUT

 After hearing the Reverend George Whitfield in 1745, Shubal Stearns IV separated from the Old Light Congregationalist Church and started a New Light Congregationalist Church. Many fervent New Lights concluded that it was impossible to reform established churches from within. They resolved to start new churches.

Their favorite verse of scripture was II Cor. 6:17—‘Come out from among them, and be ye separate’ from which they received the stigma of ‘come-outers’ or ‘Separates’. (Shubal Stearns and the Separate Baptist Tradition by Dr. Tom Nettles)

 Shubal Stearns church in Tolland, Connecticut, was a Separate Baptist Church. His brother, Isaac, married his wife’s sister, Rebecca Johnson. Isaac was born March 22, 1713, at Reading, Middlesex County, Massachusetts.   He married Rebecca on November 27, 1734, in Tolland, Connecticut. She was born circa 1710.

 

DANIEL MARSHALL

 MISSIONARY TO THE INDIANS WITH HIS FRIEND, JOSEPH BREED

“Before Shubal Stearns was saved, Daniel Marshall hopefully had been saved at the age of about twenty, and joined the Congregational church in his native place, where he served as a deacon for about twenty years. At the age of thirty-nine, he heard George Whitefield preach, caught his glowing spirit, and fully believed with many others, including his friend, Joseph Breed, who had also been affected by the ministry of the Reverend Whitefield.

Daniel Marshall, ninth child of Thomas and Mary Drake Marshall, was born August 24, 1706, in Windsor, Hartford County, Connecticut. He first married Hannah Drake, daughter of Enoch Drake II, and his wife, Elizabeth Barber Drake, on November 11, 1742. She was born in Windsor on March 29, 1717. Hannah died in 1746, giving birth to their son, Daniel.

Marshall next married Martha Stearns, daughter of Shubal Stearns III and his wife, Rebecca Lariby Stearns, on June 23, 1747.

In 1751-1752, “without purse or scrip, he and (Joseph Breed) with their families, rushed to the head of the Susquehanna, and settled in a place called Onnaquaggy, among the Mohawk Indians, with a view to their conversion to Christianity.” (Annals of the American Baptist Pulpit by William B. Sprague, page 59)

Traveling with Daniel Marshall’s family were: his wife, Martha, and children, Daniel, Abraham and John. Traveling with Joseph Breed’s family were: his wife, Priscilla, and children, Joseph, Avery, Priscilla Nathan, Prudence and Phebe.

Marshall and Breed remained in Onnaquaggy, east central New York, for eighteen months and then were forced to move to a place in Pennsylvania called Conococheague for a short stay. The move was caused by the strife among the Indians caused by the French and English struggle and attempts to gain the support of various tribes. This disrupted their work and threatened their families.

IN 1753, they moved to Berkeley County, Virginia, and attended a Particular Baptist Church called the Mill Creek Baptist Church. The community, where this church was located, is today called Gerrardstown, West Virginia.

 

SAMUEL HEATON

 PASTOR OF THE MILL CREEK BAPTIST CHURCH IN BERKELEY COUNTY,VIRGINIA

The Mill Creek Baptist Church was the first Baptist church west of the Blue Ridge Mountains and was a member of the Philadelphia Baptist Association. This church was established in 1743, and a meeting house was built in that year by John Hays. Mill Creek Baptist Church became the 24th oldest Baptist Church in America.

“In 1743, Samuel Heaton and three of his brothers, went to Morris County, New Jersey, where they entered into the iron foraging business. They erected a forge near the Black River. After depleting the forest around their forge, they gave up on the venture.

Samuel had been raised a Presbyterian, however his wife, Abby (Tuttle) was a staunch Baptist. Samuel had desired that their first child be baptized in the Presbyterian Church, but Abby was not in agreement. She desired him to show her one passage in the Bible that advocated infant baptism. Samuel consulted a minister who admitted that no such passage existed.

After Samuel had studied the Bible so carefully to prove his point he became interested in the ministry, and went to Kingwood to study under a Baptist clergyman. He was ordained and began to preach at a Baptist church on Schooleys Mountain. The Reverend Samuel Heaton became pastor of the Mill Creek Baptist Church in 1751.

He left the Mill Creek Baptist Church in 1754, and founded another church in Konoloway, Pennsylvania.” (Ancestors of Heather Ellen Ross—Internet)

 

DANIEL MARSHALL & JOSEPH BREED
THEIR BAPTISM & LICENSE TO PREACH

In 1753, Daniel Marshall and his wife, Martha Stearns Marshall and Joseph Breed and his wife, Priscilla Avery Breed were baptized as members of the Mill Creek Baptist Church in Berkeley County, Virginia, by the pastor, the Reverend Samuel Heaton. This church also gave a license to preach to Marshall and Breed.

Daniel Marshall was 47 and his wife was 27, and Joseph Breed was 45 and his wife was 38.

Mill Creek Baptist Church no longer exists, but became the grandparent of the First Baptist Church of Martinsburg, West Virginia.

Daniel Marshall and Joseph Breed and their families moved to Frederick County, Virginia, the early part of 1754.

According to Groton deeds, Joseph Breed was living in Frederick County, Virginia, on April 10, 1754, when he sold his Groton, Connecticut, land.

Breed was living in Frederick County, Virginia, on June 15, 1755, when he was granted a patent to 149 acres of land lying in Frederick County, by the Hon. Thomas, Lord Fairfax, Proprietor of the Northern Neck of Virginia.

 

SHUBAL STEARNS

AND FAMILY MEMBERS IN VIRGINIA AND NORTH CAROLINA

In the fall of 1754, the Reverend Shubal Stearns IV and five couples related to him by blood or marriage, left Tolland, Connecticut, and joined the Daniel Marshall and Joseph Breed families in Frederick County, Virginia, at a place called Opequon.

 The Reverend Shubal Stearns and his family members and the Marshalls & Breeds moved to Hampshire County, Virginia, to a place called Cacapon, and established a church there (1754-1755).

The Reverend Shubal Stearns wrote a letter to the Reverend Noah Alden, who had just been ordained to the gospel ministry a few days before the letter was written. Noah Alden was a direct descendent of the famous John Alden of Plymouth, Mass.

“The letter was written from Hampshire County, Virginia, on June 13, 1755. Stearns informed Alden “that some of their company were then settled in North Carolina, who said to him in a letter, ‘that there was no established meeting within one hundred miles of them, and that the people were so eager to hear, that they often came forty miles each way, when they could have an opportunity to hear a sermon.’” (Isaac Backus’ A Church History of New-England, Vol. III, pp. 274-275)

Sometime after this, Joseph Breed with Daniel Marshall and their families left Hampshire County, Virginia, with the Baptist Missionary group led by the Reverend Shubal Stearns IV, and went to that part of Orange County, North Carolina, which now lies in Randolph County, N. C.

Morgan Edwards wrote: “The fall after Braddock’s Defeat, November 22, 1755, the following persons came from Cacapon in Virginia, and settled in the neighborhood of Sandy Creek, viz.: Rev. Shubal Stearns and wife (Sarah Johnson), Daniel Marshall and wife (Martha Stearns—2nd wife), Joseph Breed and wife (Priscilla Avery), Shubal Stearns III and wife (Rebecca Lariby), Ebenezer Stearns and wife (Anna Field), Eneas Stimson and wife (Elizabeth Stearns), Peter Stearns and wife (Hannah Stimson), Jonathan Paulk and wife (Rebecca Ruth Stearns).

The same year they built a little meeting house. Soon after, the neighborhood was alarmed, and the Spirit of God listed to blow as a mighty rushing wind in so much that in three years time they had increased to three churches and upwards of 900 communicants, viz.: Sandy Creek, Abbot’s Creek and Deep River.

It is a mother church, nay a grandmother and a great grandmother. All the Separate Baptists sprang hence: not only eastward towards the sea, but westward toward the great river Mississippi, northward to Virginia and southward to South Carolina and Georgia. The word went forth from this Sion, and great was the company of them who published it, in so much that her converts were as drops of morning dew.”

“They established the Sandy Creek Baptist Church on land that is now the corner of Sandy Creek Church Road and Ramseur Julian Road, overlooking Sandy Creek.

As soon as the little group of sixteen persons arrived at Sandy Creek from Virginia, they chose Shubal Stearns as pastor, and he had at that time for his assistants, Daniel Marshall and Joseph Breed, neither of whom were ordained.

Seymour York, a native of England, gave the land for the construction of their first church building. He died in 1783, and was buried in the Sandy Creek Baptist Church Cemetery.

The church soon swelled to six hundred and six members.

CONSTITUTIONAL MEMBERS OF SANDY CREEK BAPTIST CHURCH

(1). Shubal Stearns III, son of Shubal Stearns II and Mary Upton Stearns, was born August 19, 1683, in Lynn, Essex County, Massachusetts. He married Rebecca Sanford Lariby, daughter of Greenfield and Alice Parke Lariby in Kittery, York County, Maine, on December 28, 1704. She was born February 4, 1714, in Boston, Suffolk County, Massachusetts.

He was one of the original grantees of Tolland, Connecticut, serving as selectman for two years and was the second Town Clerk.

He and his wife, Rebecca, moved with their son, Shubal IV, first to Virginia, and then to Sandy Creek, Orange County, North Carolina, and were constitutional members of the Sandy Creek Baptist Church.

He died in Orange County, North Carolina, in 1760. Date given for his wife’s death is 1780. This may not be an accurate date. They had eleven children, four sons and seven daughters. They were buried in the Sandy Creek Baptist Church Cemetery.

(2). Shubal Stearns IV, son of Shubal Stearns and Rebecca Sandford Lariby Stearns, was born January 28, 1706, in Boston, Suffolk County, Massachusetts. At the age of nine he moved with his family to Tolland, Massachusetts. The family was members of the Congregational Church in Tolland.

He married Sarah Johnson, daughter of John and Mary Carley Johnson, on March 6, 1726, in Tolland, Connecticut. She was born September 15, 1703, in Lexington, Middlesex County, Massachusetts. They had one child, Hepzibah, born June 27, 1729, and died February 4, 1730.

After moving to the Sandy Creek area of Orange County, North Carolina, and establishing a church, Stearns immediately went to work and between November 1755, and January 1758, had baptized over 900 people, 590 of whom became members of Sandy Creek Baptist Church itself. Before Stearns’ death in 1771, 42 churches and 125 ministers had branched out from his parent church.

Shubal Stearns organized the Sandy Creek Baptist Association on June 2nd Monday of 1758, at Sandy Creek Baptist Church.

The Reverend James Read, baptized by the Reverend Daniel Marshall, recorded the events of the first meeting of the Sandy Creek Baptist Association: “We continued together three or four days. Great crowds of people attended, mostly through curiosity. The great power of God was among us. The preaching every day seemed to be attended with God’s blessing.”

“Because some gave credit to disturbing reports about these ecclesiastical kin, John Gano, who had been commissioned to his work in North Carolina by the Philadelphia Association, attended the 1759 meeting of the Sandy Creek Association. ‘He was sent, it seems, to inquire into the state of these New Light Baptists’”. (Shubal Stearns and the Separate Baptist Tradition by Dr. Tim Nettles)

“He was received by Stearns with great affection. But the young and illiterate preachers were afraid of him, and kept at a distance. They even refused to invite him into their Association. All this he bore patiently, sitting by while they transacted their business. He preached also every day. His preaching was in the Spirit of the Gospel. Their hearts were opened, so that before he left they were greatly attached to him. This Association was also conducted in love, peace and harmony.

When Mr. Gano returned to his own country, being asked what he thought of these Baptists, he replied that ‘doubtless the power of God was among them; that although they were rather immethodical, they certainly had the root of the matter at heart.’” (History of the Rise and Progress of the Baptists in Virginia, by Robert B. Semple)

Morgan Edwards gave the following characterization of the Reverend Shubal St;earns: “His voice was musical and strong, which he managed in such a manner as to make soft impressions on the heart, and fetch tears from the eyes.”

William and Joseph Murphy were awakened and led to Christ by the Reverend Shubal Stearns. He baptized William and Joseph in 1757, and they both joined the Deep River Baptist Church in North Carolina. They were born in Spotsylvania County, Virginia.

In 1758, the Reverend Stearns baptized Dutton Lane and assisted in the ordination of his brother-in-law, Daniel Marshall. He also assisted in the ordination of Joseph Murphy in 1760.

William Murphy became pastor of the Staunton Baptist Church and was ordained in 1763. The Reverend Shubal Stearns assisted in his ordination. He assisted in the ordination of Dutton Lane of Virginia on October 22, 1764. Lane became the pastor of the Dan River Baptist Church in Virginia, first Separate Baptist Church in Virginia.

Shubal Stearns was opposed to the Regulator Movement and he and the Sandy Creek Baptist Association threatened to excommunicate members who were Baptists, who were involved in this movement that later resulted in the Battle of Alamance.

Many Baptists, along with their Quaker neighbors, became involved in the War of the Regulation, led in part by Stearns’ one-time friend, Herman Husband. In 1771, after the Battle of Alamance had ended in the Regulator’s defeat, Sandy Creek Baptist Church membership fell from 606 to 15. Shubal Stearns died after the Battle of Alamance.

“When first confined to his bed, the Reverend Stearns’ mind was depressed, but the darkness was of short duration.   He was made to suffer much, and protractedly, in body, but his soul was joyful in the God of his salvation. Having preached to others the Savior of sinners, he found Him, in the trying hour, precious to his soul.

On the 20th of November 1771, his happy spirit was dismissed, to take its place among the holy and good in a better world. His body was interred near the meeting-house in which he had so often spoken the Word of God.”

James B. Taylor wrote: “In the midst of this church, Mr. Stearns closed his valuable life. He had traveled extensively in North Carolina and Virginia and been instrumental in doing much good, when his Master called him to his reward in Heaven.”

Tidence Lane was converted under the preaching of the Reverend Shubal Stearns and was baptized by him. Date of his ordination has not been preserved, but Stearns assisted in his ordination. He was the executor of the will of the Reverend Shubal Stearns, and was the older brother of the Reverend Dutton Lane.

Tidence was the first minister to preach regularly to a Tennessee congregation. The Reverend Tidence Lane was a chaplain in the Revolutionary War and was at the Battle of King’s Mountain in 1780. He was the honored father of Lieutenant Isaac Lane, who was a Patriot soldier at the Battle of Kings’ Mountain and fought under Col. John Sevier.

Isaac and Rebecca Johnson Stearns are not listed as constitutional members of the Sandy Creek Baptist Church, but must have moved to the area later. Isaac, brother of the Reverend Shubal Stearns, was born March 22, 1713, at Reading, Middlesex County, Massachusetts.

He married Rebecca Johnson, sister of the Reverend Shubal Stearns wife, Sarah, on November 27, 1734, at Tolland, Connecticut. She was born April 22, 1712, in Lexington, Middlesex County, Massachusetts. They had one child, a daughter, Hepzibah, who was born in 1737, in Tolland.

Historians tell us that the Reverend Shubal Stearns was caring for his brother, who had both physical and mental problems. When the Reverend Shubal Steans died in 1771, he left all of his clothing to his “beloved brother” Isaac. The date of Rebecca’s death is not given. Isaac died at Sandy Creek, in Orange County, N. C., in 1791.

Isaac & Rebecca’s daughter, Hepzibah, was born circa 1737, and later married William Welborn in 1757. He was a private in the North Carolina Militia and was at the surrender of Cornwallis at Yorktown, Virginia.

George Pascal on page 385, of his, History of North Carolina Baptists, wrote: “Members from Sandy Creek and several other Separate Baptist churches went to South Carolina, as a result of Regulator troubles.

In general, it may be said that while the Baptist from parts of North Carolina to the north of Sandy Creek went to Tennessee, those from Little River and the southeastern parts of the Province went rather to South Carolina, when they despaired of being protected in their rights by the Government of North Carolina.”

Twelve of the sixteen constituent members of the Sandy Creek Baptist Church went to South Carolina.

In 1835, the Sandy Creek Baptist Church split, between members supporting the missionary movement, and members who were non-missionary. Members supporting the missionary movement left and established a church near a school known as Shady Grove.

“In 1905, some of the descendants of those who had left, representing the ‘missionary side’, returned to the original location and built the present Sandy Creek Baptist Church, just slightly west and down the hill from the old building. Today the two churches, Primitive Baptist and Missionary Baptist, stand alongside the site of the original church and share ownership and maintenance of the grave of Shubal Stearns.” (Sandy Creek Separate Baptist Church by Warren Dixon)

Two of Shubal Stearns disciples: the Reverend Philip Mulkey and the Reverend Daniel Marshal were the first two Baptist ministers to move into the backcountry of South Carolina.

(3). DANIEL MARSHALL’s wife, Hannah Drake, died giving birth to their son, Daniel Marshal Jr., born in 1746.

Later, Daniel Jr. married Mary ? . She was born in 1749, in Virginia. With his stepmother, he executed his father’s will in 1784, in Richmond/Columbia County, Georgia. He was living in 1807, when he served as executor of his half-bother, Levi’s, will in Columbia County, Georgia. The 1808-1812 Tax List showed that he owned 700 acres in Columbia and Washington counties of Georgia. He “joined the church in 1811”.

Daniel Marshall secondly married Martha Stearns, daughter of Shubal and Rebecca Sanford Lariby Stearns. “She spread the Gospel alongside her husband, Daniel. She was once jailed in Virginia, for refusing to stop preaching the Gospel, although she was three months pregnant at the time.

Her preaching was powerful enough to convince a man named Cartledge to become a preacher. She also converted her arresting constable and magistrate. She often stood alongside her brother, Shubal Stearns IV, and spoke at Baptist meetings. Martha also assisted her husband, Daniel, in his churches and preached to his congregations.” (Martha Stearns Marshall from Wikipedia—Internet)

In 1810, Virginia Baptist historian Robert Semple wrote of Marshall’s contributions to Baptist Work: “Mr. Marshall had a rare felicity of finding in this lady, a Priscilla, a helper in the Gospel. In fact, it should not be concealed that his extraordinary success in the ministry, is ascribable in no small degree to Mrs. Marshall’s unwearied and zealous cooperation.

James B. Taylor wrote: “Without the shadow of usurped authority over the other sex, Mrs. Marshall, being a lady of good sense, singular piety, and surprising elocution, has, in countless instances melted a whole concourse into tears by her prayers and exhortations!”

George Paschal, in his History of North Carolina Baptists, wrote of Daniel and Martha: “As a result of the labors of this earnest and fervent evangelist, in which he doubtless had the assistance of his saintly and gifted wife, Mrs. Martha Stearns Marshall, great numbers turned to the Lord.”

They were both constitutional members of the Sandy Creek Baptist Church, where he assisted the Reverend Shubal Stearns.   He founded the Abbott’s Creek Baptist Church in 1756, and they soon had a membership of 240 members.

He was ordained to the Gospel Ministry by the Reverends Shubal Stearns IV, and Henry Ledbetter at the Sandy Creek Baptist Church in 1757. He then assumed the pastorate of Abbott’s Creek Baptist Church.

In August of 1760, the Reverend Daniel Marshall led in constituting the first Separate Baptist Church in Virginia, Dan River Baptist Church, in Halifax County, which called the Reverend Dutton Lane as pastor.

The Reverend Abraham Marshall, son of the Reverend Daniel Marshall Sr., wrote: “In one of his evangelical journies into Virginia, my father had the singular happiness to baptize Col. Samuel Harris, with whom he immediately afterwards made several tours, preached and planted the gospel in several places, as far as James-river.”

“From his base at Abbott’s Creek he launched into Virginia preaching, establishing churches and baptizing hundreds of converts. Marshall is credited with helping lay the foundation that produced the phenomenal growth of the Virginia Baptists.” (The One-Talent Man Who Produced Five-Talent Results—Internet)

In the course of their marriage, Martha Stearns Marshall gave birth to ten children, eight sons and two daughters.

(4). Joseph Breed, and his wife, Priscilla Avery Breed.

(5). Jonathan Paulk, son of Samuel and Sarah Brabrook Paulk, was born September 3, 1703, in Concord, Middlesex County, Massachusetts.   He married Rebecca Ruth Stearns, daughter of Shubal Stearns III and Rebecca Lariby Stearns in Tolland, Connecticut in 1729. Rebecca, his wife, was born on November 19, 1707, in Lynn, Essex County, Massachusetts.

Jonathan’s father, Samuel, died in 1710, and he and his mother, Sarah, moved to Tolland, Connecticut. He purchased sixty-seven acres in 1720, and four and one-half acres in 1729, in Tolland.

Sarah, his mother, stayed with her son, Jonathan, until she died on May 3, 1744. Along with his wife’s two brothers, Shubal and Ebenezer, Jonathan signed a petition in 1746, asking permission of the Connecticut Assembly to establish “a separate church from the inhabitants of Mansfield, Windham, Tolland and Coventry.” The request was denied.

In 1754, he and his wife moved with the Reverend Shubal Stearns, his brother-in-law, to Virginia. He purchased one hundred fifty acres of land and two hundred forty-four acres on North River in Hampton County, Virginia (which then included what is now all of Mineral and the western part of Morgan counties, West Virginia).

He and his wife, Rebecca, moved to Orange County, North Carolina, with his brother-in-law, Shubal Stearns, in 1755, and became charter members of the Sandy Creek Baptist Church. He purchased two hundred seventy-five acres in 1763, in Orange County, North Carolina (now Randolph County), where it is said to have been “located almost due west of Sandy Creek Church and midway between it and Walker’s Mill, which had been built in 1756.

He sold this land in 1766, and moved with his son, Micajah to what became Union District, South Carolina, where his son obtained property on “waters of Fairforest”. They joined the Fairforest Baptist Church, where the Reverend Philip Mulkey was pastor.

Jonathan died while living in what later became Union District, S. C., in March of 1773, before the beginning of the American Revolutionary War.

After his father’s death, Micajah moved to Richmond County, Georgia, where he served as a Patriot soldier during the American Revolutionary War (D. A. R. Application No. 557788). His mother moved there with her son, where she lived close to her sister, Martha Stearns Marshall.

Jonathan’s sons, Uriah and Jacob, served in the militia under Col. Thomas Brandon, after the fall of Charleston. Jacob married Jean Howard, daughter of Obadiah and Priscill Avery Breed, and Uriah married Rachel E. Collins, daughter of the Rachel Collins, who came to Craven County (Union District), S. C., with the Reverend Philip Mulkey.

Micajah first married Sarah Stearns, daughter of Ebenezer and Martha Burnap Stearns in Sutton, Massachuttes. Ebenezer was the brother of the Reverend Shubal Stearns’ father. Micajah’s second wife was Patience Thomas.

Micajah obtained land in 1784, which adjoined land previously owned by Rev. Daniel Marshall.   His mother, Rebecca, died in Richmond County, Georgia, in 1786. His wife, Sarah, died in Jefferson County, Georgia, in 1803, and he died in Jefferson County in 1812.   Micajah was not the Primitive Baptist preacher.

(6). Peter Stearns, son of Shubal Stearns III and Rebecca Lariby Stearns, was born April 2, 1710, in Reading, Essex County, Massachusetts. He first married Hannah Stimson, daughter of Dr. James Stimson Sr. and his wife, Hannah Stearns, on January 12, 1736, in Tolland, Connecticut. She was his first cousin.

Hannah Stearns was the sister of Shubal Stearns III, and her husband, Dr. James Stimson, was the first physician in Tolland, Connecticut.

They traveled with the Reverend Shubal Stearns from Connecticut to Virginia. From there they moved to Orange County, North Carolina, where they were charter members of the Sandy Creek Baptist Church.

They moved to what became Fairfield County, South Carolina, in 1759, and joined the Reverend Philip Mulkey’s church.

South Carolina was fighting a war with the Cherokee Indians in 1760-61, and Peter took his family to Tobler’s Fort, Camden District (present day Aiken County), for the protection of his family during the uprising. Hannah died in 1760, while residing in the fort. He and his first wife had four sons and two daughters.

When Mulkey and his members moved to what became Union District, South Carolina, Peter, and his children did not join them.

Peter was married a second time to Margaret Wright Parr, sister of Richard Wright, and widow of Arthur Parr, son of John and Mary ? Parr, circa 1765. Margaret was born circa 1730.

Her first husband was killed while transporting prisoners for the Sheriff of Orange County, North Carolina. He was stabbed by a prisoner and died in 1763. Orange County Commissioner William Wiley paid for the funeral and all outstanding debts of Arthur Parr on February 7, 1764.

In 1768, Jacob Gibson gave land to build a meeting house, and the Little River Baptist Church, in what later became Fairfield District, South Carolina, was constituted February 26, 1771, from members remaining from the church that the Reverend Philip Mulkey had moved to what became Union District, S. C. Peter Stearns, his second wife, Margaret, and their family were members of this church.

Peter and Margaret had two sons, Joshua and Peter.

On July 2, 1771, Peter Stearns purchased 600 acres in Craven County, and on July 22, an additional 386 acres.

Peter served seven hundred six days as a Patriot soldier in the militia from March 3, 1779, to October 4, 1781, under Capt. Anderson Thomas during the American Revolutionary War.

Peter’s sons, Levi and Ebenezer, both served as Patriot soldiers in the American Revolutionary War, after the Fall of Charleston. Levi fought under Col. Leroy Hammond.

Peter Stearns died in 1791, in Fairfield District, S. C., and his will was probated September 13, 1791. His second wife, Margaret, died after 1807.

(7). Ebenezer Stearns Sr., son of Shubal Stearns III and Rebecca Lariby Stearns, was born April 23, 1722, in Tolland, Connecticut. He married Anna Field, daughter of John and Anna ? Field, on August 26, 1743, in Tolland, Connecticut. Anna was born circa 1724, in Tolland.

Ebenezer and his family traveled from Connecticut to Virginia and then to Orange County, North Carolina. They were charter members of the Sandy Creek Baptist Church, in N. C., in 1755.

He and Eneas Stimson became close friends with Aaron Pinson of Orange County, N. C.

Ebenezer and his brother-in-law, Eneas Stimson, moved to what became Laurens District, S. C., before the Reverend Shubal Stearns died in 1771, probably after the Battle of Alamance, which took place on May 16, 1771.

They joined Orange County friends, brothers: Aaron and Joseph Pinson, and their families. The Pinsons had moved to this area of South Carolina in 1765.

 

AARON PINSON, FRIENDS AND PASTOR OF EBENEZER AND ENEAS STIMSON

Aaron Pinson and his brother, Joseph, moved from Fairfex County, Virginia, to Orange County, N. C. They were early converts of the Reverend Shubal Stearns.

Aaron had four tracts of land surveyed for him in late 1753. On one of these tracts was the Pinson Mill in operation at the High Rock of the Haw River in the extreme southeast corner of present day Rockingham County, N. C. He was a Lieutenant in Orange County in the North Carolina Regiment on January 20, 1755.

Aaron Pinson received a grant of 250 acres of land on the Saluda River in May of 1767. He may have received a license to preach by the Reverend Shubal Stearns before moving to what later became Laurens District, S. C.

On August 10, 1770, the Little River of Saluda Baptist Church was constituted by the Reverends Samuel Harris and James Child of Virginia, and Aaron Pinson was interim pastor of this church for a short period of time.

In September of 1771, the Reverends Daniel Marshall and Thomas Norris constituted the Raeburn Creek Baptist Church in what later became Laurens District, South Carolina. The Reverend Daniel Marshall was pastor of the Stephen’s Creek Baptist Church and the Reverend Thomas Norris was pastor of the Bush River Baptist Church at this time.

Ebenezer Stearns and his wife, Anna Field; Eneas Stimson and his wife, Sarah Stearns; Aaron Pinson and his wife, Elizabeth; and Joseph Pinson (brother of Aaron) and his wife, Omahundro; were constitutional members of Raeburn Creek Baptist Church.

Aaron Pinson was first the interim pastor of Raeburn Creek Baptist Church. He was ordained to the Gospel Ministry shortly after the Raeburn Creek Baptist Church was constituted in September of 1771, and became pastor of the church.

By the late summer of 1775, the Reverend Aaron Pinson with his family and various other members of several South Carolina churches settled in the Watauga colonies of present day North East Tennessee.

The Reverend Aaron Pinson was named a justice of the Peace for the Washington District of North Carolina. “They formed their own government, built forts and established a militia to confront the British and Indian raids. They prepared to protect their community from attacks as the revolution began.” (RootsWeb’s WorldConnect Project: Gooch Family Tree)

The sons and sons-in-law of the Rev. Aaron Pinson served the cause by bearing arms or giving material aid or both. He moved to
Wilkes County, N. C., in 1782, and he and his family returned to Laurens District by 1784, where he resumed the pastorate of the Raeburn Creek Baptist Church until his death.

Aaron Pinson died between 1794 and 1800, in Laurens District, S. C., and his wife, Elizabeth ? , died in 1803, in Laurens.

Their daughter married Thomas Shirley. He was a Patriot soldier, serving, while a resident of North Carolina. Some sources state that her name was Ruth.   Their grandson, Aaron Shirley, married a daughter of Francis and Nancy March Ward. She was his second wife. A record of her name was not been preserved.

She was a half-sister to Nancy Ward, daughter of Tame Doe and Francis Ward. Nancy was given the title of Beloved Woman. This title was one given the principal woman in the female councils and endowed her with power to speak in the council of the Chiefs. Her badge of authority was a swan’s wing.

Speaking of Nancy, Pat Alderman in his book, THE OVERMOUNTAIN MEN, on page 7, wrote: “Without the timely warning by Nancy Ward, most of the settlers of the Watauga, Holston and Carter’s Valleys could have been surprised by the Indians and killed. Without these settlements, there would not have been an OVERMOUNTAIN MEN’S ARMY to defeat Ferguson at King’s Mountain. Without that victory the story of America could have been different.”

Leah Townsend wrote: “In 1794 the church (Raeburn’s Creek) was said to be rapidly disintegrating because of its peculiarities. It probably disappeared in the next few years.”

MORE ON EBENEZER STEARNS
Ebenezer Stearns Sr. had a survey on Long Lick Creek waters of Saluda River in 1771. They were called “Starnes” in Laurens District, S. C.

Their son, Aaron, was a Patriot soldier in South Carolina, in the American Revolutionary War.

Ebenezer died in Laurens District, South Carolina, on November 4, 1789, and Anna Field Stearns died there on October 1, 1803. They had three sons and five daughters.

(8). Eneas Stimson, son of Dr. James Stimson (first physician in Tolland, Connecticut) and Hannah Stearns Stimson, was born May 14, 1714, in Lynn, Essex County, Massachusetts.

He married Elizabeth Stearns, daughter of Shubal Stearns III and his wife, Rebecca Lariby, on November 5, 1741. She was born August 30, 1715, in Tolland, Connecticut.

He and his wife were related. Hannah’s mother was the sister of the father of the Reverend Shubal Stearns.

They traveled with the Reverend Shubal Stearns from Connecticut to Virginia and then to Orange County, North Carolina. They were constitutional members of the Sandy Creek Baptist Church in 1755.

Eneas and Elizabeth moved to what became Laurens District, S. C., with Eneas’ brother-in-law, Ebenezer Stearns, in 1771. Eneas had a survey on Aaron Pinson’s land on waters of the Reedy River in 1771.

Elizabeth Stearns Stimson died before August 30, 1788, in Laurens District, S. C. and Eneas died in the same county in December of 1800. Eneas indicated in his will that they had adopted a girl named, Mary.

**Ten of the original sixteen constitutional members of the Sandy Creek Baptist Church in North Carolina, died in South Carolina, four died in North Carolina and two died in Georgia.

 

DANIEL MARSHALL AND HIS SOUTH CAROLINA CONNECTION

Sensing the Holy Spirit’s direction, Daniel Marshall left his Virginia and North Carolina labors and moved to South Carolina. He moved with a group of his followers from the Abbotts Creek Baptist Church in North Carolina, in 1760, to the Beaver Creek near Broad River in South Carolina, and established the Beaver Creek Baptist Church in what later became Fairfield District.

In 1762, he moved to Big Stephens Creek and established a church there near North Augusta, S. C., in Edgefield County. It was constituted in 1766, and a Meeting House thirty by twenty-six feet was erected about ten miles from Augusta, Georgia. He was assisted by his son, Abraham Marshall, and by Benjamin Harry, Saunders Walker, John Herndon.

At this time Big Stephens Creek Baptist Church was a member of the Congaree Baptist Association, having just been dismissed from the Sandy Creek Baptist Association.

Leah Townsend in her book, South Carolina Baptists, page 159, states that Big Stephens Creek Baptist Church became the center of the Reverend Marshall’s activities, which extended to two branch churches in Georgia, and the group left behind at Beaver Creek.

“Around 1770, Daniel Marshall began making excursions across the Savannah River into Georgia. It was on one of these tours that he was arrested for illegally conducting a religious service. When he appeared before the magistrate, Col. Barnard, he forbade him to reenter Georgia to hold religious services.

An interesting result of this encounter was that Samuel Cartledge, the man who arrested Marshall was later converted and became a faithful Baptist pastor for over fifty years, and the magistrate, Col. Barnard, became a zealous and effective Christian.

On January 1, 1771, Marshall choosing to obey God rather than man, moved his family into Georgia.” (The Reapers, The One Talent Man Who Produced Five-Talent Results)

In 1771, John Pittman, His wife, Mary (Polly) Rowe, and his ten children joined the colony of Baptists headed by the celebrated preacher, the Reverend Daniel Marshall. This colony settled in Georgia on Kiokee Creek, St. Paul’s Parish, which became Richmond County and later Columbia County.

Dr. Bobby Gilmer Moss in his book, Roster of South Carolina Patriots, page 775, states: “John Pittman (1726-1785), served as a matross in the Fourth Regiment from 18 December to 1 July 1781, and was at sometime in the militia.”

In 1772, the Reverend Daniel Marshall founded Kiokee, the first Baptist church, established in Georgia. He was the only pastor to remain in Georgia during the American Revolutionary War.

“On one occasion, when a party of Tories demanded of him, where he had concealed his horses, he sullenly refused to utter a word, although repeatedly threatened with death. This scene continued, until his wife could bear the suspense no longer, and undertook herself to make the disclosure.”

During the last thirteen years of his life he was able to organize several churches and at least fourteen ministers were either called or influenced by his ministry.

Morgan Edwards, the pastor-historian, revealed the secret of Marshall’s success when he added that his only qualities were ‘piety, earnestness and honesty’. “We would add to those qualities a deep abiding love for Christ and the souls of men, prayerfulness, steadfastness, a commitment to personal evangelism and an untiring zeal that has seldom been equaled.” (The Reapers, The One Talent Man Who Produced Five-Talent Results)

“During the American Revolutionary War, Daniel Marshall was an American Patriot, and after the war, he and others fought for legislation favoring religious liberty. Just before his death he acted as moderator of the Georgia Baptist Association, founded in 1784, at Kiokee Church.”

On November 2, 1784, he addressed the congregation on the day of his death.

Abraham Marshall wrote: “The following, taken by me in the presence of a few deeply affected friends and relatives, as he delivered them, were his last words:

‘Dear Brethren and Sisters, I am just gone. This night I shall, probably expire. But I have nothing to fear. I have fought a good fight, I have finished my course, I have kept the faith. And henceforth there is laid up for me a crown of righteousness. God has shown me that he is my God, that I am His son, and that an eternal weight of glory is mine!’

‘The venerable partner of his cares, and I may add, faithful assistant in all his labors, sitting bedewed with tears, by his side, he proceeded: ‘Go on, my dear wife, to serve the Lord. Hold out to the end. Eternal glory is before us.’

‘After a silence of some minutes, he called me, and said, ‘My breath is almost gone. I have been praying that I may go home tonight. I had great happiness in our worship this morning, particularly in singing, which will make a part of my exercises in a blessed eternity.’

‘Now, gently closing his eyes, he cheerfully gave up his soul to God, with whom, I doubt not, he walks, ‘high in salvation and the climes of bliss.’”

A suitable discourse to his memory was delivered from II Timothy 4:7-8 by the Rev. Charles Buffey.

He was buried in the Marshall Cemetery in Appling, Columbia County, Georgia, and his grave was later marked. His wife, Martha, died in 1793, and was buried beside her husband, but her grave was not marked.

Daniel Marshall (1772-1784) was succeeded as pastor of Kiokee Baptist Church by his son, Abraham Marshall (1784-1819), and Abraham was succeeded by his son, Jabez Marshall (1819-1832). These men served as pastors of Kiokee for a period of sixty years of its history.

His son, Abraham, was converted at the age of 19 at the Big Stephen’s Creek Baptist Church and was baptized by his father in the Savannah River. He was ordained by the Kiokee Baptist Church in 1775.

Abraham preached to thousands on his New England tours in 1786 and 1792.   A biographer wrote: “His voice was one of great power, melody and flexibility. In nothing, perhaps was he more remarkable than the power of description.

He would portray the glories of heaven with such matchless force and breadth, that his hearers could scarcely remain upon their seats; and he would depict the miseries of the lost in such terrible, burning language, as almost to make the hair stand erect upon your head.”

“He constituted or reconstituted about 39 churches, including the First Africa Baptist Churches in Savannah & Augusta, Georgia, & the First Baptist Church of Augusta. He was affectionately called the Friend of Black People.

He was a trustee of Franklin College (now the University of Georgia). He was also moderator of the Georgia Baptist Association for 19 years.” (Rev. Abraham Marshall, 1748-1819, Find a Grave Memorial—Internet)

The ministry of Jabez Marshall was cut short due to his death by measles on March 29, 1832.

Big Stephens Creek Baptist Church in Edgefield County, S. C. and the Kiokee Baptist Church in Appling, Georgia, are still viable churches today, ministering to the needs of their people.

 

PHILIP MULKEY AND HIS SOUTH CAROLINA CONNECTION

Philip Mulkey was born in Edgecomb Precinct (in the section that later became Halifax County), North Carolina, on May 14, 1732. He was the son of David Mulkey and an unknown wife. David was born circa 1714, and died before 1750.

His grandfather was Philip Mulkey Sr., born circa 1690, in Edgecomb Prencinct, North Carolina. Philip Mulkey Sr. was the son of John Mulkey. He had a brother named Jonathan Mulkey.   His will mentions a “deceased brother” possibly John.

Philip Mulkey Sr. married Sarah Tapley, daughter of John Tapley and Elizabeth Henderson. She was born circa 1695.

Sarah was first married to ? Lewis. He was born circa 1690. They married circa 1710, and had a son, George Lewis, born circa 1711. Her husband died shortly after his son’s birth, and she married Philip Mulkey Sr. circa 1712.

Philip Mulkey Sr. and Sarah Tapley Mulkey had children: David, Philip, Jane, Eve, Elizabeth, Scarborough and Judith Mulkey. Philip died in 1737, in Edgecomb Precinct, North Carolina.

Sarah Tapley Mulkey, after the death of her husband, Philip, married John Patterson circa 1738, in Chatham County, N. C. He was born circa 1695, probably in Bertie Precinct, North Carolina. His first wife was Mary Couch. Sarah died in Orange County, N. C., in 1775. John Patterson also died in Orange County, N. C.

Philip Mulkey, son of David, was first a member of the Episcopal Church. He married Ann Ellis, daughter of Jeremiah and Priscilla Hicks Ellis, circa 1750, probably in Edgecomb Precinct, N. C. She was born circa 1730, possibly in Mecklenburg County, Virginia.

Philip and Ann had six children, four sons and two daughters.   David (1751), Jonathan (1752), Sarah (1754), Martha—Patty (1756), and Philip (1756) were all born in North Carolina before they moved to S. C. Their last child, Robert, was born in what later became Union District, S. C., in (1763).

Philip Mulkey told Morgan Edwards in detail the story of his spectacular conversion:

“One night as I was going home from the house where I had been playing the fiddle to dancers, a hideous specter presented itself before me just as I opened the door: the effect was, fainting, and continuing as dead for the space of about 10 minutes as the people about me report the matter; when I recovered, I found an uncommon dread on my spirits, from an apprehension that the shocking figure, I had seen was the Devil, and that he would have me.

 However, I mounted my horse and went homewards. My fears had so disordered my understanding that I fancied the first tree I came to bowed its head to strike at me, which made me start from it. Happening to look up, I fancied that the stars cast a frowning and malignant aspect upon me. When I came home, I went to bed and endeavored to conceal the matter from my wife; but it could not be; for thenceforth I could neither eat, nor sleep nor rest for some days; but continued to roar out, I am damned! I shall soon be in hell!

 Her attempts to comfort me were vain; and my emaciated body and ghastly visage terrified her. All the while my heart was murmuring against God for making me to no other purpose than to burn me, amongst which murmurings this thought came, My burning in hell will be a display of God’s justice and so far I shall be to his praise and glory.  

 It is hardly credible that such a thought should relieve; but so it was, that I found myself much easier when I perceived that God had any use for me, or that I should be any way profitable to him and the he made me for his glory. I strove to please him by reformation and obedience (for some space of love came in with the forced mentioned thought), but yet was I a wretched man.

 As I was reading these words (If ye have not been faithful in that which is another mans who will give you that which is your own?) the following thought started in my mind, That God would not trust me until I had proved that I was faithful to another master. Upon this I resolved to serve the devil faithfully. Mean while a benighted stranger (Rev. John Newton) came to my house who read a chapter (33rd of Isaiah) and prayed; and thereby turned by thoughts to Christ, and Salvation by him, for the time.

 The novelty of this matter and the possibility it introduced, that my sins had been laid on Christ and that God had stricken and smitten Christ for them so that he could spare me without falsifying his threatenings or violate his justice) affected me in such a manner as exceeds description.

 I found an inclination to adore the stranger, and to question whether he was an angel or man? But made no discovery there of (nor of my thoughts) to him. The next day he departed, and as he was going this thought came in my mind, There is Lot going out of Sodom as soon as he disappears fire will come down and burn me and mine!

 I ran after him, and kept my eye upon him; but the wood presently intercepted the sight; upon which I threw my self with my face to the ground expecting fire and brimstone. I continued in this posture for some time almost dead with terror. Finding the fire did not come immediately I began to hope that it would not come at all; and thereupon prayed that God would spare me. I received comfort; and was running to tell my wife of it; but before I reached the house I lost all comfort and my distress came on again.

 In my agony I said many a time, O that John Newton had said! O that I was as good as John Newton! Upon which this text crowded into my head, The Spirit of Elijah doth rest on Elisha. I could not discern how this text concerned me; or why it bore so on my mind? At last I said, Who knows but it may mean, that the spirit of John Newton shall rest on Philip Mulkey.

 I persuade myself this was the signification; and, blessed be God, my hope was not disappointed: the spirit of God came whom I found to be a spirit of liberty, or comfort, and of adoption. My wife saw a surprising change in my countenance. I told the whole matter; and began to preach up conversion to her. She understood me not, though I persuaded myself I was able to make everyone sensible what the newbirth means.

 I took my Bible and hastened to my neighbor Campbell; when I came in I opened it at the third ch. of John and, putting my finger on the 3rd verse, said, see here, neighbor Campbell, what Jesus Christ saith; he saith we must be born again or not see the kingdom of God! My neighbor swore at me most desperately, adding, What devilish project are you now upon with the Word of God in your hand?

 Upon which he stripped, and sprang out of doors, challenging me to fight! I sat down in the house and began to weep. He sprang in and (skipping and bounding about the floor spitting on his hands and clenching his fists) dared me to fight. I replied, You know, my dear neighbor, that I am able to beat you; but now you may beat me if you will; I shall not hinder you! Hearing this and seeing me all in tears made him look as a man astonished! He put on his shirt, and sat by me, and we both wept.

 But my talk of the new birth was not understood by him any more than by my wife. Soon after I made myself known to Shubal Stearns and church, and was surprised to find that they understood the new birth, and had knowledge of the tribulations attending it which I had fancied were peculiar to my own cast, etc.”   (Morgan Edwards, Material Towards A History of the Baptists in the Province of South Carolina, Vol. 5, Furman Manuscript)

Apparently, Mulkey received salvation for he was baptized into the fellowship of the Sandy Creek Baptist Church in Orange County, North Carolina, on December 25, 1756. He was called to preach in the Sandy Creek church in February of 1757, and ordained by the Reverend Shubal Stearns in October of 1757. He became pastor of the Deep River Baptist Church, North Carolina, after his ordination.

According to Robert Semple, Philip Mulkey and William Murphy established a new Baptist Church near Abbeyville on the Staunton River, Mecklenburg County, Virginia, in 1758 or 1759.

Philip Mulkey led a group of thirteen members from the Deep River Baptist Church in North Carolina and established a Baptist church in Fairfield County in August of 1759, at the site, where later was built a meeting house for the Little River Baptist Church. They soon increased to over one hundred members.

 

PHILIP MULKEY AND HIS DEEP RIVER MEMBERS AND THEIR MOVE TO LATER FAIRFIELD
AND UNION DISTRICTS

The company composing the organized church, which left Deep River for South Carolina, and moved from Fairfield District to what is now Union District, S. C., included: the Reverend Philip Mulkey; his wife, Ann Ellis; Benjamin Gist; his wife, Mary Jarrett; Thomas Thompson; Charles Thompson; Joseph Breed; wife, Priscilla Avery; Stephen Howard; wife, Mary Powell; Obadiah Howard; wife, Priscilla Avery Breed; Rachel Collins.

In December of 1762, the Reverend Philip Mulkey moved the original church, constituted in 1759, in Fairfield District, to Fairforest Creek, a tract lying between the fork of Fairforest Creek and the Tyger River.

 

CONTRIBUTOR OF LAND IN CRAVEN COUNTY (UNION DISTRICT) BENJAMIN HOLCOMBE

Benjamin Holcombe was born in Prince Edward County, Virginia, in 1718, the son of Richard and Sarah Neville Holcomb.

He and Alice Bogan, daughter of John and Hannah Jane Griest Bogan, were married in Prince Edward County, Virginia, in 1751. Alice was born in Prince Edward County in 1731.

The Holcombe family moved from Prince Edward County, Virginia, to Granville County, N. C., in the mid 1700s.

Benjamin had land in Bute County, N. C., in 1760, and signed a paper in 1765, for land “where I now live in Bute County.”

He received a grant for land September 17, 1770, on Dining Creek, a branch of Fairforest Creek. The land was in Berkley, Craven and later Union District, S. C. His land was bounded by lands of Ralph Jackson Sr., Solomon Smith, Thomas Greer Sr. and William Vaughan.

Benjamin Holcombe gave the church (under the leadership of the Reverend Philip Mulkey) two acres of land for a meeting house.

Their sons, Philip, Nevill and Jesse were all Patriot soldiers in the American Revolutionary War. They all served under Col. Thomas Brandon.

Benjamin and Alice had seven children, five sons and two daughters. He made his will on August 13, 1796, which was probated October 17, 1798. He died in Union District, S. C., and Alice died in Union District after 1798.

They probably remained members of the Fairforest Baptist Church, but several of their children joined the Padgett’s Creek Baptist Church.

 

BIOGRAPHIES OF THE ORIGINAL THIRTEEN IN CRAVEN COUNTY (UNION DISTRICT), S. C.

BENJAMIN GIST

(1-2). Benjamin Gist, son of Nathaniel Gist and Mary Howard, was born in Baltimore, Maryland, on September 2, 1729.

“Benjamin was the nephew of Christopher Gist, the frontiersman who surveyed the Ohio Territory and fought with George Washington in the French and Indian War. Christopher Gist is credited with saving George Washington’s life on two separate occasions.

This Christopher Gist had a son, Nathaniel Gist, who was the father of George Gist, the Cherokee half-breed, whose Indian name was Sequoyah. It was this Sequoyah who invented the Cherokee alphabet and enabled the Cherokee to write in their language.” (Profiles of Patriots by Moria Ann Jacobs)

He married Mary Jarrett, daughter of Thomas Jarratt and his wife, Rebecca ? , in Lunenburg County, Virginia, in 1750. She was born in Lunenburg in 1732. Their first two children, Joseph and Mary, were born in Lunenburg County.

 

 CHILDREN OF BENJAMIN AND MARY

JARRETT GIST

(a). Joseph Gist was born August 27, 1751. His family moved first to Orange County, N. C., then to what is now called Fairfield County, S. C., and then to Craven County (Union District) South Carolina, in 1762.

He first married Hannah Gist, daughter of Joseph and Priscilla Avery Breed, on January 25, 1773, in Craven County. She was born in 1755.   He moved with his wife, Hannah, his daughter, Sarah, and his son, William, and his father and mother, to Washington County, North Carolina (Tennessee), in 1775.

Joseph and Hannah moved with his parents to Barren County, Kentucky, in 1799. He and Hannah were members of the Mill Creek Baptist Church. She died in Barren County on May 14, 1815. They had two sons and five daughters.

Joseph married Elizabeth Belew Springer on January 7, 1816 in Barren County.   She was the daugher of Zachariah and Mary Bullington Belew. Her father was a Patriot soldier in the American Revolutionary War and fought under Col. Thomas Brandon. He received several wounds.

Elizabeth Belew was first married to John Springer, son of Ezekiel and Rebecca Collins Springer. They had three sons and two daughters. John died in 1815, in Barren County, Kentucky. She and Joseph had two sons and a daughter.

Joseph Gist died August 31, 1844, in Barren County, Kentucky. He and his first wife, Hannah, were buried in the Old Mulkey Church Cemetery.

 

 BENJAMIN SR. AND MARY GIST

Following the birth of their second child, Mary, Benjamin and Mary Gist moved to the Sandy Creek section of Orange County, North Carolina. Here he petitioned to build a gristmill, was appointed a road overseer and a constable.

They were members of the Sandy Creek Baptist Church, whose pastor was the Reverend Shubael Stearns.

He and his wife attended the Deep River Baptist Church in North Carolina, in 1757. The Reverend Philip Mulkey was pastor at this time. The church was located about ten miles upstream from the Deep-Haw confluence near present-day Lockville, N. C.

(b). Mary Gist was born on May 30, 1755, in Lunenburg County, Virginia. She moved with her parents to Orange County, N. C., in 1755, to Craven County (Union District), S. C.) in 1762, and then to Washington County, North Carolina (Tennessee) in 1775.

Mary married James Stevenson in 1776, several months after their move to Washington County. He was born December 10, 1754, in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania. They had seven daughters and four sons.

They moved to Wayne County, Indiana, where Mary died at Connersville, on December 2, 1822, and James died at Milton, on May 24, 1845. The writer was unable to obtain names of James parents.

(c). John Gist was born in North Carolina on November 23, 1757. He moved with his parents to Craven County, S. C., in 1762. He was a Patriot soldier in the American Revolution War, serving in the counties of Washington and Sullivan in what later became Tennessee.

He was a magistrate with his father, Benjamin, in Greene County, Tennessee, and when the county was organized under the state of Franklin, served as a Justice of the Peace.

He married Hannah Geron, daughter of Hiram and Susannah ? Geron, in 1789, in Knox County, Tennessee. She was born in 1765, in Virginia. They moved with his parents to Barren County, Kentucky, circa 1799. They had five sons and one daughter.

Hannah died in Barren County, Kentucky, in 1794, and John died in Barren County, on June 9, 1820.

 

 BENJAMIN SR. AND MARY GIST

In 1759, Benjamin and Mary, and their family moved with their pastor, the Reverend Philip Mulkey, to what later became Fairfield County, South Carolina. They moved their constituted church, to Craven County (Union District), S. C. in December of 1762.

On March 5, 1768, he and his wife, received a grant of 500 acres of land in Craven County (later Union District) at the mouth of Sugar Creek. He was a deacon in the Fairforest Baptist Church.

(d). William Breed Gist Sr. was born in 1759, in North Carolina. He first married Rebecca Wood in 1780, in Greene County, Tennessee. She was born in 1764, in Greene County, Tennessee.

She and William had at least two sons and two daughters. They lived in Barren County, Kentucky, for several years.

William Gist Sr. died in 1728, in Tennessee. There is no record of the death of his wife.

(e). Thomas Gist was born in Craven County (Union District), S. C., on October 10, 1764, and moved with his parents to Washington County, Tennessee, in 1776. He married Elizabeth Russell, daughter of John Russell, in 1783, in Grassy Cove, Tennessee.

They moved with his parents, Benjamin and Mary, to Barren County, Kentucky, circa 1799. He was a member of the Mill Creek Baptist Church. They had seven sons and three daughters.

He moved his family to Calfkiller River, White County, Tennessee, in 1811. His wife, Elizabeth, died in White County, after 1812, and he died there March 22, 1837.

(f). Amie Gist was born in Craven County (Union District) S. C., on January 30, 1767. She moved with her parents to Washington County, Tennessee, in 1776, and from there to Greene County, Tennessee.

She married Alexander Lowry, son of James and Susannah Patterson Lowry, on May 25, 1790, in Greene County, Tennessee. He was born on January 30, 1767, in Augusta County, Virginia.

They moved to White County, Tennessee, where most of their children were born. They had four sons and two daughters. She died in White County on August 4, 1832, and her husband died there August 20, 1846. They were buried in Old Cemetery near Sparta, White County, Tennessee.

(g). Annie Gist was born in Craven County (Union District), S. C., in 1771. She moved with her parents to Washington County, Tennessee, in 1775, and from there to Greene County, Tennessee.

She married James McClain. He was born in 1767, in Greene County, Tennessee. They had one son and two daughters. She died in Hardin County, Tennessee, before 1820.

James next married Kizziah Hardin, daughter of James W. and Elinor Goodin Hardin, circa 1820, in Hardin County, Tennessee. They had a son named William.

James died in Hardin County in 1837. His second wife, Kizziah, died in 1843, in Hardin County.

(g). Benjamin Gist, their youngest child, was born in Craven County (Union District), S. C., on September 15, 1773. He moved with his parents to Washington County, Tennessee, in 1775. He first married Rebecca Watson, probably in Washington County, Tennessee. She died April 24, 1793, in Knox County, Tennessee.

He next married Rhoda Bayliss Hinds, daughter of Levi and Sarah ? Hinds, in Knox County, Tennessee, in 1793. She was born on July 19, 1773, at in Fort Defiance, Caldwell County, N. C.

He moved his family with the family of his father, Benjamin Gist Sr., and mother Mary Jarrett Gist, to Barren County, Kentucky, circa 1799.

He was listed as a member of the Mill Creek Baptist Church, in Barren County, Kentucky, in 1804. He witnessed a deed made by his father, Benjamin Sr., in Jackson County, Tennessee, in 1808. At this time, he and his father had already moved their families to Jackson County, Tennessee.

He served in the War of 1812. He was commissioned Captain of the 48th Regiment, Jackson County, Tennessee, January 31, 1814. He and his second wife, Rhoda, had four sons and four daughters and another adopted son.

On June 16, 1818, Benjamin Gist, Jr. received a grant of one hundred aces on the waters of Trace Creek, Jackson County, Tennessee. He was mentioned in the will of his brother, Joseph Gist of Monroe County, Kentucky, in 1843. It was sixty miles from Barren County, to Jackson County.

Benjamin Gist Jr. died in Jackson County, Tennessee April 1, 1844.

 

 BENJAMIN SR. AND MARY GIST

 Benjamin Sr. and Mary, their son, Joseph, his wife, Hannah, and other family members moved from South Carolina, to Washington County, North Carolina (now Tennessee) in late 1775. He was a loyalist, while he lived in South Carolina, and moved to Washington County, N. C., with his pastor, the Reverend Philip Mulkey.

Benjamin Sr. was a supporter of the state of Franklin.

“In 1778, he was a Justice of the Peace of the newly formed Washington County, North Carolina (Tennessee), was appointed collector of his district and served as both Sheriff and Assessor of Roan Creek District.

He served as Captain of Militia in the North Carolina Regiment of Colonel John Carter and was also under Colonel John Sevier. He was one of “The King’s (Overmountain) men who was at the Battle of King’s Mountain, October 7, 1780, under Colonel John Sevier.

He also fought at Boyd’s Bridge, shortly after the Battle of King’s Mountain.” (Profiles of Patriots—Benjamin Gist by Gloria McPherson Clark, pgs. 43-45)

“Captains Russell and Gist were sent by (Col.) Sevier (John) to head off an Indian uprising and thus give time for the expedition to get home.” (King’s Mountian Men by K. K. White, pgs. 176-177)

Benjamin Sr. and his sons, Joseph and John, were Patriot soldiers in the American Revolutionary War, serving under Col. John Sevier.

Benjamin Sr. and Mary moved to Knox County, Tennessee, after 1792. They moved to Smith County, Tennessee, in the fall of 1798. They were living in Barren County, Kentucky, in 1799, when he joined the Mill Creek Baptist Church. In May of 1800, Benjamin Sr. was elected an elder of this church.

Benjamin Sr. was listed on the Mill Creek Baptist Church records from 1800 to 1806. They moved to Jackson County, Tennessee, in 1808, or before. Benjamin Sr. and his wife, Mary, died in Jackson County in 1810.

 

 STEPHEN HOWARD

(3-4). Stephen Howard, son of Stephen and Sarah Sanders Howard, was born in Onslow County, N. C., circa 1725. He married Mary Powell circa 1747, in N. C. She was born circa 1729, in N. C. Names of her parents may have been John and Alice Murrell Powell.

Stephen was a Patriot soldier in the American Revolutionary War and fought after the Siege of Charleston in 1780, with Col. Thomas Brandon. His will was dated December 24, 1777, and was recorded in Union District, S. C., after the county was formed in 1785. His wife, Mary, died circa 1786, in Union District, S. C. They had four sons and three daughters.

 

 OBEDIAH HOWARD

(5-6). Obediah Howard, son of Stephen and Sarah Sanders Howard, and younger brother of Stephen Howard, was born March 3, 1737, in Onslow County, N. C.   He was only eight years old when his father and mother died in 1745.

He married Priscilla Avery Breed, daughter of Joseph and Priscilla Avery Breed, circa 1757, in Orange County, N. C. She was born in New London, Connecticut, on October 14, 1742. They moved with the Reverend Philip Mulkey from Deep River Baptist Church in N. C., to what later became Fairfield District, S. C., in 1759. The original church moved with Mulkey to what later became Union District, S. C., in 1762.

Obediah received a land grant of 450 acres on the branches of Fairforest and Sugar Creeks on February 17, 1773. (Colonial Plats XVIII, 113)

Philip Mulkey and his son, Jonathan, also an ordained minister, moved to what later became Tennessee, in 1775, because of Philip’s loyalists views.

Obediah Howard moved with the only remaining ordained minister capable of administering the affairs of the church, the Reverend Alexander McDougal, and the Patriot membership of the church moved to a part of the McDougal land, where the church established by the Rev. Philip Mulkey was continued.

Obediah Howard was a Patriot soldier and served before and after the fall of Charleston as a private in the local militia in Col. Thomas Brandon’s Regiment. Capt. John McCool was the commander of his company.

His son, Joseph, was also a Patriot soldier and fought under Col. Thomas Brandon after the fall of Charleston.

“On June 26, 1786, Obediah Howard of County of Union, for love, good will, and esteem to my son, Joseph Howard, of same, planter, tract of land on a branch of Fairforest called Shoaly Creek, 100 acres, being the south end of a survey granted to said Obediah Howard, 12 June 1774, of 450 acres.” (Union County Deed Abstracts, Vol. I, Deed Books A-F, page 12)

Joseph Howard took his own life in Union District, S. C., on April 21, 1821, and his wife, Mary Keyes, moved to Lauderdale County, Alabama, where she died circa 1828.

“On April 2, 1787, Obediah Howard and Priscilla, his wife, of Union County to Jacob Paulk of same for #33 sterling, 150 acres, part of 450 acres granted to said Obediah Howard 2 Feb 1773 on a branch of Fairforest Creek called Shoaly Creek.” (Union County Deed Abstracts, Vol. I, Deed Books A-F, page 33)

Jacob Paulk was the son of Jonathan Paulk and Rebecca Ruth Stearns, and married Jean Howard, possible sister of Obediah.   This relationship is not fully established. Jean was born circa 1740.

Obediah Howard was a messenger to the Bethel Baptist Associational meetings in 1794 and 1799 from the Fairforest Baptist Church.   He and the Reverend Alexander McDougal attended the 1799 meeting. He was also elected a deacon of this church.

After the 1800 census of Union District, S. C., Obediah Howard moved a portion of his family to Barren County, Kentucky, in 1801, with the Reverend Alexander McDougal, and joined the Mill Creek Baptist Church, where the Reverend John Mulkey, his grandson, was pastor.

Their daughter, Nancy, married the Reverend Jonathan Mulkey, son of Philip and Ann Ellis Mulkey and had moved with her husband to Washington County, North Carolina, in 1775. This area later became a part of Tennessee. Nancy and her husband had three sons who were preachers, John, Philip and Isaac, and a grandson, John Newton Mulkey, who was also a minister.

Sarah Howard, daughter of Obediah and Priscilla, remained in Union District, S. C., and married Zachariah Gibbs. They had a son, John Gibbs, a well-known pastor in Union District.

Traveling with Obediah was his wife, Priscilla Breed Howard; his son, Stephen, and his wife, Elizabeth Hart Howard; his son, William, and his wife, Jane Hart Howard; his son, Christopher, and his wife,
Rebecca Hayes Howard; and his daughter, Mary Howard, and her husband, James Chism, along with younger members of their families.

The two Hart wives were sisters and daughters of Aaron Hart, who served as a Patriot soldier under Col. Thomas Brandon in the American Revolutionary War.

Others traveling with this group were: the Reverend Alexander McDougal and his wife, Hannah Done McDougal; Nathan Breed and his wife, Mary Harlan Breed; Avery Breed; Prudence Breed Wood and her husband, James Wood; Phebe Breed Wood and her husband John Wood; William Wood and his wife, Sarah; and other family members.

William Wood and his wife, Sarah, joined the Mill Creek Baptist Church on September 9, 1801.

The Rev. Alexander McDougal and his family moved from Barren County to Hardin County, Kentucky, where they settled.

Records of the Mill Creek Baptist Church on January 9, 1802, state:
“Brother Obediah Howard call (sic) to the work of a Deacon in this Church, being previously a Deacon.” He was listed as a messenger from the Mill Creek Baptist Church to the Green River Baptist Associational meeting in 1802.

Obediah Howard died October 4, 1804, in Tompkinsville, Monroe County, Kentucky, and Priscilla Breed Howard died there in 1808. They were both buried in the Old Mulkey Church Cemetery in Barren County, Kentucky.   They had seven sons and seven daughters.

“In April of 1804, a committee of seven men were appointed by the Mill Creek Baptist Church to make plans for building a new meetinghouse: John Wood, Nathan Breed, James Harlin, Ephraim Ellis, Francis Baxter, Joseph Gist and Thomas Sullivan. A man named Jiles Thompson and his agents were to build the meetinghouse.” (A History of Mill Creek Baptist Church in Barren County, Kentucky—Internet)

Obediah & Priscilla’s son, Jesse, married Hannah Harlan, daughter of George and Rebecca Bogan in 1798. He died in Union District, S. C. in 1803, at the age of 23. His widow, Hannah, married John Curtis after 1803, and they were living in Barren County, Kentucky, in 1806, and were members of the Mill Creek Baptist Church.

Obediah and Priscilla Howard were deceased when their grandson, the Reverend John Mulkey, began to subscribe to the reform theology of the Christian Church.

“The Mill Creek Baptist Church became divided over the teachings of Mulkey and his followers. In a dramatic service on “a chilly Saturday morning, November 18, 1809, a division of the congregation took place.” (Old Mulkey Meeting House History—Internet)

“The group that continued as the Mill Creek Baptist Church built their new meeting house just a short distance from the older meeting place, the same size and shape as the Mulkey building. Their log structure was eventually encased by weather boarding and then bricked as the congregation continued into modern times. Mill Creek Baptist Church still meets in this building today.” (History of Mill Creek Baptist Church—Internet)


JOSEPH BREED SR.

(7-8). Joseph Breed Sr., the eight child of John and Mercy Palmer Breed, was born in Stonington, New London County, Connecticut, on October 4, 1708. He was Christened in January of 1709, at the First Congregational Church in Stonington, Connecticut.

On June 2, 1737, he married Priscilla Avery, daughter of Christopher and Prudence Payson Avery, in Groton, Connecticut. She was born April 29, 1715, in Groton.

His marriage to Priscilla Avery at Groton, Connecticut, was performed by Justice Luke Perkins, and was witnessed by John and Gershom Breed, brothers of Joseph.   He and his wife lived near her parents in Groton until after August 11, 1746, as evident by deeds executed during this time. (The Perry-Poole Family Tree)

After assisting Daniel Marshall in a ministry to the Mohawks (1752-1753), he and his family moved with the Marshalls to Frederick County, Virginia, in 1754. After Shubal Stearns and his family arrived, they joined together and moved to Cacapon in Hampshire County, where they established a church.

From Hampshire County, the little group moved to Sandy Creek, N. C., (now Randolph County) and established the Sandy Creek Baptist Church on November 22,1755.

He and his wife became charter members of the Sandy Creek Baptist Church in Orange County, North Carolina, where he served with Daniel Marshall as an assistant to the Reverend Shubael Stearns.

Joseph Breed was interim pastor of the Little River Baptist Church in Anson (now Montgomery) County, North Carolina, in 1758.

The Breed’s daughter, Priscilla Avery Breed, born in Groton, Connecticut, married Obediah Howard, son of Stephen and Sarah Saunders Howard, in 1758. They traveled with the Reverend Philip Mulkey and their daughter, Priscilla’s family, to Fairfield District, South Carolina, in 1759. He was fifty-one years old at this time.

Joseph and Priscilla Breed moved their family to what later became Union District, S. C., with the Reverend Philip Mulkey and the original thirteen constitutional members in 1762.

 

CHILDREN OF JOSEPH AND PRISCILLA

AVERY BREED

 (a). Their son, Joseph, was born in Groton, Connecticut, on April 8, 1738. Apparently, Joseph married Catherine Lee, daughter of Willim and Sarah ? Lee, circa 1772, after his father and mother had moved to Craven County (Union District), S. C.   Margaret Catherine Lee was born in Meherrin Parish, Brunswick County, Virginia, circa 1757.

On June 23, 1774, Joseph Breed and his wife, Catherine, were granted 150 acres of land on a small branch of waters of the Fairforest Creek in Craven County (Union District), S. C.   He was a Patriot soldier in the American Revolutionary War and fought under Col. Thomas Brandon.   He and his wife sold this land to his brother, Avery Breed, on May 27, 1783.

Joseph Breed Jr. received a land grant from the state of Georgia for 200 acres in Wilkes County on July 15, 1784. He and his wife, Catherine, were living in Wilkes County on November 25, 1786, when they sold 100 acres of land to Jordan Jackson of Union District, S. C.

He died in April of 1807, in Warren County, Georgia, and was predeceased by his wife, Catherine. They had four sons and four daughters.

Joseph Breed Jr.’s daughter, Priscilla, married Richard George, a Patriot soldier in the American Revolution, who fought under General Francis Marion, the Swamp Fox. Richard George was a son of James and Judith ? George.

(b). Their son, Avery Breed, was born in Groton, Connecticut, November 21, 1739. He purchased his brother, Joseph’s, land in Union District, S. C. He sold 200 acres of land in Union District to Aaron Harlan on March 25, 1787. Avery purchased this land in February of 1775, from Bryan White.

There is no record of his marriage. He traveled with his sister, Priscilla Breed Howard and her husband, Obediah, to Barren County, Kentucky, and died shortly after they arrived. His brother, Nathan, was administrator of his will.

(c) Their daughter, Priscilla, was born October 14, 1742. She married Obediah Howard and traveled with him to Barren County, Kentucky, and died there in 1808.

(d). Their son, Nathan Breed, was born on October 14, 1742, in Groton, Connecticut. He was a twin brother of Priscilla. He married Mary Harlan, daughter of Aaron and his wife, Sarah Hollingsworth, in Craven County (Union District), S. C., on April 25, 1778. She was born August 10, 1748, in Kennet, Chester County, Pennsylvania. Her parents were Quakers.

He was a Patriot soldier in the American Revolutionary War and served under Col. Thomas Brandon with his brother, Joseph.

He and his wife, Mary Harlan Breed, traveled with his sister, Priscilla, and her husband, Obediah Howard, to Barren County, Kentucky.

Nathan died in Barren County, Kentucky, on October 28, 1825, and his wife, Mary, died in Barren (Monroe) County, Kentucky, on September 2, 1831. They were buried in the Old Mulkey Church Cemetery in Barren County, Kentucky. Two sons and five daughters were born to their union.

(e) Their daughter, Prudence Breed, was born in Groton, Connecticut, on December 7, 1744. She married James Wood, probably in what became Union District, S. C. They traveled with Priscilla Breed Howard, her sister, to Barren County, Kentucky, and were connected to the Mill Creek Baptist Church. Both died in Barren County. No further information exists on this couple.

(f). Their daughter, Phebe Breed, was born in Groton, Connecticut, on August 11, 1746. She married John Wood after her father and mother moved to what is now Union County, S. C. They traveled with Priscilla Breed, her sister, to Barren County, Kentucky, and were connected with the Mill Creek Baptist Church. They both died in Barren County, Kentucky. The writer was unable to obtain additional information on this couple.

(g). Their daughter, Sarah Breed, was born in Groton, Connecticut, in 1748. She married Samuel Harlan, son of Aaron and Sarah Hollingsworth Harlan, circa 1782, in Craven County (Union District), S. C. He was born circa 1753, in Chatham County, North Carolina.

They had three daughters and two sons. She died in Union District, S. C., in 1794.

Samuel married Sarah Belew, daughter of Zachariah and Sarah Hollingsworth Belew circa 1800. Sarah Belew was born in Craven County (Union District), S. C., circa 1781. They had five sons and five daughters.

Samuel Harlan died in Union District, S. C., on November 1, 1831, and Sarah Belew Harlan died June 2, 1848, in Union District, S. C.

Samuel’s father and mother were Quakers.

(h). Their daughter, Hannah Breed, was born in circa 1754, in Frederick County, Virginia. She married Joseph Gist, son of Benjamin and Mary Jarrett Gist, in Craven County (Union District), South Carolina, on January 25, 1773.

He and his wife, Hannah, moved to Washington County, Tennessee, with his father and mother in 1776. He was a Patriot soldier in the American Revolutionary War and fought with Col. John Sevier at the Battle of Kings Mountain.

Joseph and Hannah Gist moved from Knox County, Tennessee, to Barren County, Kentucky, in 1801, to be near Hannah’s sister, Priscilla Breed Howard, and her brothers Avery and Nathan Breed.

Hannah Breed Gist died on May 14, 1815, in Barren County, Kentucky, where she and her husband were members of the Mill Creek Baptist Church. Both were both buried in the Old Mulkey Church Cemetery. They had five daughters and three sons

After the death of Hannah, Joseph Gist, married the widow, Elizabeth Belew Springer, on January 7, 1816, in Barren County.   Elizabeth was the daughter of Zachariah and Mary Bullington Belew and was born in Union District, S. C., on December 14, 1787. Her father was a Patriot soldier in the American Revolutionary War and fought under Col. Thomas Brandon.

She first married John Springer, son of Ezekiel and Rebecca Collins Springer, in 1803, in Union District, S. C. He was born in 1784, in Union District. Their children: Jesse and Ruth were also born in Union District.

Before 1810, they had moved to Barren County, Kentucky. Their last three children: John, Susannah and Thomas Springer were born in Barren County. John Springer died in Barren County in 1815.

Elizabeth Belew Springer Gist and Joseph Gist had two sons and one daughter, all born in Barren County, Kentucky. She died in Barren County in 1864.

(i). Their youngest child and daughter, Anna Breed, was born in Orange County, North Carolina, in 1756. She married George Harlan, son of Aaron and Sarah Hollingsworth Harlan, circa 1776, in Craven County, S. C. (Union District). He was born circa 1756, in Chatham County, N. C. They had five daughters and one son.

George Harlan died November 26, 1813, in Union District, S. C., and Anna Breed Harlan died circa 1814, in Union District. George’s father and mother were Quakers.

Joseph Breed Sr. received land patents in Craven County (Union District), South Carolina, from June 17, 1763, to 1774, totaling 385 acres. On the 4th of July 1768, Joseph granted a Power of Attorney to his friend, John Hayes of Frederick County, Virginia, to sell the land that he still owned in Frederick County.

Joseph Breed Sr. died in Craven County (Union District), S. C., in 1777. Priscilla Avery Breed, his wife, received payment after the American Revolutionary War for beef she gave to the Rebels in 1782. His wife, Priscilla Avery Breed, died in May of 1792, in Union District, S. C.

 

THOMAS THOMPSON

(9). Thomas Thompson was born in 1715, in Ireland. Name of his wife has not been preserved. She was probably deceased before he moved to South Carolina. On October 21, 1772, he received a Colonial Plat for 150 acres of land on the north side of Tyger River, touching Charles Thompson’s land.

He died in Craven County (Union District) S. C., after 1772. He had moved to this county with his son, Charles, in 1762.   Charles was not married when they first moved to Craven County.

We do not have an exact date of the demise of Thomas Thompson, but know that he left his 150 acres near the Blackstock Ford to his son, Charles.


CHARLES THOMPSON

(10). Charles Thompson Sr., son of Thomas Thompson, was born in 1746, in Orange County, North Carolina.

He married Elizabeth ? circa 1764, in Craven County (Union District). She was born in 1750. He received a Colonial Plat for 200 acres of land on the North side of the Tyger River on October 12, 1765.

Charles and Elizabeth ? Thompson had four sons and one daughter. All of their children were born in Craven County (Union District), S. C.

Dr. Bobby Gilmer Moss in his book, Roster of South Carolina Patriots in the American Revolution, page 927, wrote: “Charles Thompson served in the light dragoons under Capt. Philemon Waters, Lt. Col. John Thomas Jr. and General Thomas Sumter during 1781. At sometime he was in the militia under Col. Thomas Brandon.”

Charles Sr. died on March 17, 1795, in Union District, S. C. Elizabeth was still living when her husband died, but her death date has not been recorded.

His son, Seaborn (born 1766), was already deceased when his father died. Susannah (born 1768), William (born 1770), John (born 1772) and Charles (born June 10, 1774) were all mentioned in his will.

William Thompson inherited his grandfather’s 150 acres of land at Blackstock’s Ford when his father, Charles, Sr. died. He sold this land to Tilman Bobo on June 10, 1795.

Charles Thompson, Jr. married Margaret Clark, daughter of William and Elizabeth ? Clark circa 1804. She was born in 1788, in Union District, S. C.   They had nine sons and four daughters.

They moved to Washington County, Georgia, to Morgan County, Georgia, and to the Morgan/Walton Counties of Georgia.

John, Charles Jr.’s brother, moved to the Morgan/Walton counties of Georgia in 1820, accompanied by Elizabeth ? , the widow of Charles Thompson Sr.

Charles Thompson Jr. died in Claiborne Parish, Louisiana, in November of 1851, and his wife, Margaret, died there in 1860. They were buried in the Thompson Cemetery, in Claiborne Parish, Louisiana.

 

RACHEL COLLINS

(11). Rachel Collins was born between 1730 and 1740. She married Adam Moses Collins (The author is not positive that this is his right name.)   He was born in the 1730s.   They traveled from Deep River Baptist Church, North Carolina, to South Carolina, with the Reverend Philip Mulkey. Apparently, Adam, was not a member of this church.

They were in what later became Fairfield District, S. C., from 1759 to 1762. In 1762, they moved to Craven County (Union District), S. C.

 

KNOWN CHILDREN OF RACHEL COLLINS AND HER HUSBAND

(a). Rachel E. Collins, their daughter, was born circa 1755, in Orange County, North Carolina.

Rachel E. Collins married Uriah Paulk, son of Jonathan and Rebecca Ruth Stearns Paulk, circa 1775, in Craven County (Union District), S. C. He was born in 1746, in Tolland, Connecticut.

Uriah was a Patriot soldier in the American Revolutionary War and fought after the Siege of Charleston, S. C., with Col. Thomas Brandon.

He died in Union District, S. C., in 1789. Rachel and Uriah had three sons and two daughters.

She moved to Chambers County, Alabama, and lived with her son, William Uriah, and his wife, Henrietta Buckholts Paulk, untll her death.   She died in Chambers County in November of 1815. She was buried in the Paulk Cemetery, Waverly, Chambers County, Alabama.

(b). Rebecca Collins, daughter of Adam Moses and Rachel Collins, was born 1768, in Craven County (Union District), S. C. She married Ezekiel Springer, son of Charles James Springer and Mary Ball Springer, circa 1782, in Union District, S. C.

Rebecca and Ezekiel Collins moved to Barren County, Kentucky, circa 1798. He was granted a parcel of land near Tompkinsville that later became known as the old Jordan White farm.

He and Rebecca joined the Mill Creek Baptist Church on January 9, 1799. He was a church leader and was ordained to the office of deacon on May 3, 1820.

Their son, John, and his wife, Elizabeth Belew, belonged to the Mill Creek Baptist Church in Barren County, Kentucky. Their daughter, Rachel, first married Benjamin Rush and secondly, William Belew Chism. They were also members of Mill Creek Baptist Church.

A Rachel and Mary Collins were listed on the membership list of the Mill Creek Baptist Church. Rachel was probably the widow of Adam Moses Collins. Mary could have been her daughter.

Ezekiel and Rebecca obtained their letters from this church in August of 1828, and moved to the state of Illinois.

Rebecca Collins Springer died in Macoupin County, Illinois, in 1830, and Ezekiel died there in 1838.

(12). Philip Mulkey was the first pastor of the Fairforest Baptist Church. Morgan Edwards wrote: “Here laying on of hands, ruling elders, feasts of charity, washing feet, anointing the sick, devoting children, etc. are admitted.”

Edwards further wrote: “The principle things that may be said of this church are: (1) That it is the offspring of Shubal Stearn’s church (2) That it is most lively & zealous (3) That it is the first in the province of this distinction of Separate-Baptist, and the mother of the rest, except that of (Daniel) Marshall.”

 

OLIVER HART’S LETTER CONCERNING PHILIP MULKEY

In 1767, the Reverend Oliver Hart wrote a letter to Dr. James Manning, president of the newly founded Brown University.

He wrote: “The greatest appearance we have had, for some years pass, has been among the Separatists: and especially under one Philip Mulkey. But He, poor Man, has sadly fallen, having become the Father of a spurious Child by a widow woman, a member of his own church. On account of which religion has suffered much, especially in those parts; and among that People.”

CHARLES WOODMASON AND PHILIP MULKEY

Charles Woodmason, the Anglican Bishop in Charleston, had been reared a gentleman in London society and found the frontiersmen, and especially the Separate Baptists, unbearably crude.

In 1766, he set about to win back these backcountry Baptists to the Anglican Church, but he underestimated his task. “One of my strongest Endeavors,” he wrote, “must, and will be, to disperse these Wretches Which will not be a hard task, as they will fly before Him as Chaff.”

Three years later (1769), Woodmason gave this assessment of these frontier people, and, more particularly of their leader, Philip Mulkey:

“Would any Mortal three years past have dream’d or imagin’d that such a Person as the infamous Mulchey, who came here lately in Rags, hungry, and barefoot, can now, at his beck, or Nod, or motion of his finger lead out four hundred men in the Wilderness in a moment at his speaking the Word—without asking any questions or making the least Enquiry for what or for why—and yet twelve months past most of these People were very zealous members of our Church.”

(The Carolina Backcountry on the Eve of the Revolution by Charles Woodmason)

 

A MORGAN EDWARDS CHARACTERIZATION OF PHILIP MULKEY IN 1772

“Mr. Mulkey’s acquirements entitle him to no higher degree than that of an English scholar; neither is there any thing extraordinary in his natural endowments, except a very sweet voice, and a smiling aspect; that voice he manages in such a manner as to make soft impressions on the heart and fetch down tears from the eyes in a mechanical way.

Mr. Garrickis said to have learned a solemn pronunciation of the interjection O from Dr. Fordice; but, if I mistake not, both might learn from Mulkey to spin that sound & mix it with awe, distress, solicitude, many other affections.”

Edwards then makes reference to Mulkey’s fall (previously mentioned in the Reverend Oliver Hart’s letter to Dr. James Manning). “His success has been such as to hazzard being exalted above measure in his own esteem and in the esteem of his converts; but a thorn was put in his flesh about 4 years ago which will keep him humble while he lives, and teach his votaries that he is but a man.”

 

DEEP RIVER MEMBERS WHO CAME LATER TO FAIRFOREST BAPTIST CHURCH

LUKE B. SMITH’S FAMILY

“He was the son of Obediah and Mary Cocke Smith, and was born in Charles City County, Virginia, in 1709.

Luke B. Smith was an early teacher in Virginia. Tradition states that he was a teacher in Prince Edward County, Virginia, which later became Hampden-Sidney College. He married Judith Farris, daughter of Henry and Alicia McGuiver Farris, in 1732, in Virginia. She was born in Richmond County, Virginia, in 1715.

They were residing in Lunenburg County, Virginia, as early as 1745, where he was listed as a vestryman of Cumberland Parish from 1745-1755.

Luke B. Smith moved his family to Orange County, North Carolina, by 1747, for in that year he gave his son, Luke Smith, Jr. and his wife, Martha, for ‘love and Affection,’ 250 acres of land lying on the south side of the Dan River. In 1761, he deeded land to Nehemiah Howard, who had married his daughter, Edith Smith.

On April 5, 1770, he had a plantation ‘measured and laid out’ in Craven County (Union District), S. C., situated on the north side of Tyger River, bounded south by said River, and on the north by Philip Mulkey’s land and west by vacant lands. This grant was certified on May 15, 1770, by James Wofford, District Surveyor.

Luke and Judith had the following children: Luke Smith, Jr., Edith Smith, Sarah Smith, Martha Smith, Archer Smith, Phoebe Smith and James Smith.

Edith Smith married Nehemiah Howard, brother of Obediah Howard.

Sarah Smith married Thomas Greer. Their grandsons were the Reverends Thomas S. Greer and Joshua Greer .

Their daughter, Phebe Smith, first married Hosea Holcombe. After the death of her husband, Hosea Holcombe, Phoebe Smith Holcombe married William Wilbanks.

Their grandson, Hosea Lot Holcombe, joined the Padgett’s Creek Baptist Church by experience on September 20, 1800.

He was licensed to preach by the Padgett’s Creek Baptist Church on May 16, 1803, and ordained to the gospel ministry by the above church on August 16, 1805.

Hosea Lot Holcombe was a Baptist preacher, well–known evangelist and church planter in Alabama. He was author of A History of the Rise and Progress of the Baptist in Alabama.

The Reverend Hosea Holcombe married his first cousin, Cassandra Jackson, and three of their eleven children became Baptist preachers. Cassandra’s mother, Martha Smith, was a sister of Hosea Holcombe’s mother, Phebe Smith Holcombe.

Luke B. Smith’s son, Archer was paid for patriotic service during the Revolutionary War years. On August 15, 1785, he was paid ‘for a horse, bridle and saddle, provisions and forage for the State Troops and Militia in 1781-1782.’

Luke B. Smith died in Craven County (Union District), S. C., in 1783. His wife, Judith, died in Union District (Cross Keys), S. C., in March of 1811.” (Internet)


NEHEMIAH HOWARD’S FAMILY

“He was the son of Stephen and Sarah Sanders Howard, and was born in 1735, in Onslow County, N. C.   He spent his childhood in Onslow County near New River. His parents died, when he was probably 10 years old, and he was raised in a neighbor’s house.

He married Edith Smith, daughter of Luke B. and Judith Farris Smith circa 1757. She was born circa 1740, in Henrico County, Virginia. They had eight sons and six daughters.

Luke B. Smith gave Nehemiah Howard 90 acres of land in Orange County, N. C., in 1761.   He was living in the Haw River community of North Carolina, when the Haw River Baptist Church was organzied in 1764, “on the last Saturday in October.” He signed the Regulators Advertisement No. 9 in North Carolina.

Nehemiah and Edith Smith Howard probably came to South Carolina, with the Smiths in 1770.

Nehemiah and Edith were members of the Deep River Baptist Church in Orange County, North Carolina.

On June 23, 1774, Nehemiah Howard received two Royal Land Grants in Craven County (Union District), S. C. One of the grants was for 150 acres on Fairforest Creek, and the other was for 150 acres on Sugar Creek in South Carolina. Nehemiah’s land adjoined land belonging to Benjamin Gist.

Here they built their house, which they called “Cross Keys”. Leonidas Howard reported that Nehemiah, due to an injury to one of his limbs, could not join in the fighting, but that his sympathies were with the men struggling for his country’s freedom. Nehemiah did smith work for the army and furnished supplies.

During the Revolutionary War, a leading Tory in the vicinity called a meeting to stir up for the Tories. Nehemiah attended and although a simple farmer with no particular schooling and not accustomed to speaking publically, rose and convinced his neighbors not to throw their lot with the Tories.

Shortly thereafter, some Tories and several British officers came to his house and one of the officers attacked him with a sword.   Nehemiah fended him off with a walking cane. His house was later burned by Tories.

Nehemiah and Edith’s eldest son, John Howard, was a Patriot Soldier, and enlisted as a Private under Capt. John Putnam in the South Carolina Militia. John rose to the rank of Major by the end of the war, serving with General Thomas Sumter and General Francis Marion.

Major John Howard married Jane Vivian, daughter of the Reverend Thacker Smith Vivian and Mary Brock Vivian.

Nehemiah Howard was later paid for Smiths Work and provisions for the public use in 1778, during the American Revolutionary War.

Their oldest daughter, Sarah, was born in Orange County, N. C., circa 1758. She married the Reverend John Putman, son of Thomas and Elizabeth Barnett Putman, circa 1782, in Craven County (Union District), S. C.   He was born on June 29, 1751, in Culpepper County, Virginia.

John Putman moved to North Carolina with his parents at an early age. He was listed on the rolls of Captain Jodin Harper in the North Carolina Militia in 1772. They moved to Craven County (Union District), S. C., just before the beginning of the American Revolutionary War.

John Putman was a Patriot Soldier and served as a captain on foot and on horseback in the militia under Col. Thomas Brandon from June 22, 1780, to January 1, 1782. His brother, Barnett Putman, served as a horseman under Col. Thomas Brandon.

John Putman was ordained as a minister of the gospel in the Padgett’s Creek Baptist Church in 1794, and became pastor of the church. He later founded the Union Meeting House on Mitchell’s waters of Fairforest Creek. This church was later named the Putman Baptist Church.

In 1784, Nehemiah Howard began selling his land in Union District, S. C. He sold 150 acres on waters of Fairforest Creek to Archer Smith, his brother-in-law in 1785. He moved his family to Elbert County, Georgia, circa 1787. He died in Elbert County, Georgia, before April of 1798, and was buried there. His wife, died on January 27, 1829, in Milledgeville, Georgia


THOMAS GREER’S FAMILY

Brent Holcomb, a researcher and author of Greer and Related Families, 1986, shows that Thomas Greer was the son of Thomas Greer, born about 1710, in Ireland and his second wife, Susanna Carver. Holcomb states that the information about the older Thomas Greer is based on a letter from J. C. Cooper to his son in 1856.

According to Holcomb, there was a Thomas Greer, who left a will in April of 1783, in Cumberland County, North Carolina.   He feels that this is the Thomas Greer, father of Thomas Greer, who married Sarah Smith.

Thomas Greer was born in 1740, in Deep River, Guilford, N. C. He married Sarah (Sallie) Smith, daughter of Luke B. Smith and his wife, Judith Farris.

Sarah Smith was born in 1745, in Halifax County, North Carolina. They were married in 1768, in Deep River, Cumberland County, North Carolina. Thomas Greer and his bride, Sarah Smith, probably came to Craven County (Union District), South Carolina, in 1770, with his wife’s parents.

They were members of the Deep River Baptist Church in North Carolina, and joined the Fairforest Baptist Church after moving to South Carolina.

In 1775, William Henry Drayton mobilized a band of patriots to overawe the Tory opposition.   The result was the open opposition of two armed camps, each prepared for battle. Open warfare, however was forstalled by a truce, the so-called Treaty of Ninety Six District.

The following is a quotation from this treaty: “Wherefore, for the clearing up of the said misunderstanding and for the manifestation of the wish and desire aforesaid, Col. Thomas Fletchall, Capt. John Ford, Capt. Thomas Greer, Capt. Evan McLaurin, the Rev. Philip Mulkey, Mr. Robert Merrick and Capt. Benjamin Wofford, deputies for, and sent by the part of the people aforesaid, have repaired to the camp of the Hon. William Henry Drayton, Esq., acting under the authority of the Council of Safety for this colony; and for the purposes aforesaid, it is hereby contracted, agreed and declare by the Hon. William H. Drayton…on the one part, and the deputies aforesaid…on the other part…” (R. W. Gibbs, Documentary History of the American Revolution, 1764-1776, 1855, p. 186)

The reader will see that the pastor of the Fairforest Baptist Church, the Reverend Philip Mulkey, and at least one of his members, Capt. Thomas Greer, and perhaps other members, were deputies of the Loyalist Militia. Capt. Thomas Greer signed the Treaty on September 15, 1775. The Reverend Philip Mulkey did not sign the document.

Before the Revolutionary War was over, Capt. Thomas Greer switched sides and joined with the Patriots. Thomas Greer on July 19, 1787, was paid by the state of South Carolina, for ‘wagon service, two horses, and 300 pounds of pork supplied the Militia in 1782 and 1783.’

His son, William Greer, served as a horseman under Capt. Robert Thompson and General Thomas Sumter during 1780, and as a horseman under Capt. Henderson and General Sumter during 1781. His son, Robert, served in the militia during 1781 and 1782, and his son, James, served in the militia during 1778, 1780 and 1782.

Thomas Greer Sr. made a will on January 16, 1810, and the will was probated in Union District, South Carolina, March 9, 1811. He named his wife, Sarah Smith Greer, and children: (1) Reverend Thomas Jr.; (2) John; (3) Robert; (4) William; (5) Caleb; (6) Carlton; (7) Jacob; (8) James; (9) Joshua; (10) Jason; (11) Theophilus; (12) Mary Greer Jackson; (13) Susannah Greer Cooper Simmons; (14) Edith Greer, wife of Thomas Moore

Two of his sons, Thomas S. Greer Jr., and Joshua Greer were Baptist pastors.

Thomas Jr. was born April 20, 1768, in North Carolina. He joined the Padgett’s Creek Baptist Church by experience on May 31, 1788.   He was licensed to preach by this church November 10, 1798.

On November 9, 1799, Spencer Bobo and Thomas Greer were ordained to the gospel ministry by Elders Joshua Palmer and Frederick Crowder.

He married Sarah Elizabeth Murphy, daughter of Simon and Sarah Duke Murphy. She was born in 1767. They had three sons and eight daughters. He died August 23, 1837, and his wife, Sarah, died February 5, 1823

Joshua Greer was ordained to the gospel ministry at Padgett’s Creek on August 16, 1805, along with Hosea Holcombe, Jeremiah Burns and Thomas Ray. He married Mary Bobo, daughter of Spencer Bobo of Spartanburg County, S. C.   They had three sons. He died in Union District, S. C., in 1843.

Thomas Greer Sr. and his wife, Sarah Smith Greer were both buried in the old Fairforest Baptist Church cemetery. He died in 1811, and his wife, Sarah, died January 14, 1817. Their son, Thomas Jr. and his wife, Sarah Murphy Geer, were also buried in the old Fairforest Baptist Church cemetery.

 

MORGAN EDWARDS LIST OF THE BRANCHES OF FAIRFOREST BAPTIST CHURCH

(1). Morgan Edwards counts the Fairforest Baptist Church as one of the branches. In the Crozier Manuscript he refers to “one near the meeting house”. The Reverend J. D. Bailey thought that this may have been the Friendship Baptist Church, but he was mistaken.

In the Furman Manuscript is found the following: “One in Fairforest, where is a meeting house 40 feet by 26, built this year. On the same lot is the old house.” The new building was constructed of bricks.

(2). Lawson’s Fork Baptist Church was one of the branches. “Another at Lawson’s Fork, where is a little house erected this year.” It was constituted circa 1772, and was 35 miles from the Fairforest Meeting House. The Reverend Joseph Burson, Mulkey’s assistant, was first pastor of this little group.

The Reverend Joseph Burson, son of Joseph and Rachel Potts Burson, married Mary Shaw in Bucks County, Pennsylvania, circa 1749, and by 1750, he and his wife, Mary, had moved with his father to Fairfax County, Virginia. They were originally Quakers.

Joseph was born in Gilberts Manor, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, in September of 1730, and Mary was born in Bucks County in 1732. He was listed as a trooper in the Virginia Colonial Militia in March of 1756.

He moved to Berkley County (later Union District, S. C.) where he

received a grant for a tract of land containing one hundred and fifty acres in the fork between Broad and Saluda rivers on a small branch of Fairforest Creek called Buffalo Creek on April 29, 1768.

He joined the Fairforest Baptist Church and was soon ordained to the gospel ministry by the Reverend Philip Mulkey. He and Mary had five sons and eight daughters. Their sons, Jonathan and Isaac were Patriot soldiers in the American Revolutionary War, while they lived in South Carolina.

The Reverends Joseph Burson and John Webb ordained John Cole to the gospel ministry on March 9, 1783. The Reverend Joseph Burson and his wife, Mary, sold their land grant of 150 acres to Even Thomas on December 18, 1783.

The Burson men took advantage of the Congressional Act for the opening of a Land Office in the State of Georgia, whereby soldiers of the Revolution could receive bounty land for service in the war.

Joseph received a bounty land grant for service in the Colonial Militia and Jonathan and Isaac received Privateer grants for their service in the Revolution of two hundred acres in Wilkes County, Georgia. Joseph Burson’s grant was dated September 29, 1784, and Jonathan and Isaac’s were dated July 29, 1785.

After moving to Georgia, the Reverend Joseph Burson became pastor of Brier Creek Baptist Church in Wilkes County, with Isaac and Jonathan, his sons, serving as associate pastors. Joseph Burson died on October 28, 1801, in Warren County, Georgia, and his wife, Mary, died December 29, 1810, in Warren County.

During the American Revolutionary War, the Reverend Joseph Reese left his pastorate at Congaree Baptist Church and moved to Lawson’s Fort.   He probably preached in the Lawson’s Fork Baptist Church during this time. Dr. Richard Furman in this letter to the Reverend Oliver Hart on April 14, 1792, states that the Reverend Joseph Reese returned to his church in 1786.

The Lawson’s Fork Baptist Church today is the First Baptist Church of Boiling Springs, S. C.

(3). “One at Catawba 100 miles to the north, northwest.” Bailey wrote: “We are reliably informed that this church is still in existence.” This area would have been in proximity to a North Carolina town called Catawba.

(4). “One at Enoree, where is a meeting house built in 1770, distant 25 miles, the southeast (of the Fairforest Baptist Church).” William Wood, one of the Reverend Philip Mulkey’s assistants, was the first to preach in this branch of Fairforest. The church was constituted in 1768.

Several writers suggest that this church was probably located at Littleton’s Ferry on the Major Jesse Maybin’s plantation during the American Revolution. It was called Littleton’s Meeting House.

William Wood had a survey of 250 acres in 1772, “in the fork between Broad and Saluda rivers on the northeast side of the Enoree River.”

Capt. William Wood was a Patriot soldier and a member of Col. Benjamin Roebuck’s regiment. He was paid for duty on September 2, 1786.

William Wood purchased “one negro woman of yellow complexion about seventeen years old named Clarisey”, on October 2, 1797, from Christopher Degraffenreed and Hannah Sartor for 75 pounds sterling.

William Wood and Sarah, his wife, of Union County, for $7800.00 sold Richard Farr of Union County, two tracts of land, 350 acres on north side of Enoree River in Union County adjacent to Rose Proctor;

And 250 acres granted to William Wood January 23, 1773, and 100 acres granted to Martha Boyes on November 9, 1774, and conveyed by her and her husband, Abraham Miller, to William Wood. This transaction was recorded March 20, 1798.

He and his wife, Sarah, traveled to Kentucky with the Reverend Alexander McDougal in 1801, and joined the Mill Creek Baptist Church in September of that year.

The Reverend J. D. Bailey wrote: “This point was twenty-five miles from the ‘main church’. Though the direction given by Edwards does not fit exactly, we are quite sure that this is Bethel, now Woodruff.”   This was an incorrect supposition by Bailey.

Leah Townsend, in her book, South Carolina Baptists, 1670-1805, wrote: “Bailey makes the suggestion that Enoree branch of Fairforest was the precursor of Bethel Church on Jameys Creek, but the location given for Enoree by Edwards does not coincide with that of Bethel, while it does with that of the Enoree Church (located in what became Newberry County, S. C.), which existed contemporaneously with Bethel.

Asplund’s Register, 5th edition, confirms 1768, as the date of organization or beginning of Enoree and calls it Enoree River Church, as does Bethel Baptist Associational Minutes, 1793.”

Townsend on pages 131-132, wrote: “This church retained its original name and probably approximately its original location for many years. It emerged from the obscurity of the Revolution in 1790; in 1791, Jacob King was pastor and continued to serve the church with the help of Rev. Jesse Owen after 1794.”

**This church, is now called the Enoree Baptist Church, with a constitutional date of 1768, and is a member of the Reedy River Baptist Association. Its address is: 5101 Jollystreet Road, Newberry, South Carolina.

(5). One at Thicketty, where is also a place of worship, twenty-nine miles to the northeast. This church was established in the William Marchbanks and William Sims Meeting House, which they built for the Baptists, Methodists and Presbyterians in 1767.

The Meeting House was located just above where the Asbury Road and Highway 18 converge. The church became an “arm” of the Fairforest Baptist Church in 1770, and was probably constituted in 1772.

Richard Kelly was their first pastor. He was the son of James Kelly and his wife ? Nelson. He was born in 1736. He had two wives. He was first married to Martha Gibbs in 1753, and they had two sons.

He next married Susannah ? in 1755, and they had seven sons and two daughters.   His wife, Susannah ? was born in 1739. He had two surveys in what became Union District, S.C., one for 150 acres on the Enoree River in 1756, and one on Padgett’s Creek in 1769.

Richard Kelly was anointed in a fever at the Fairforest Baptist Church and recovered the very hour.

Richard died in Union District, S. C., in 1800, and his wife, Susannah ? , died several years after her husband.

His son, Joel Kelly, born in 1774, moved to Tennessee, where he died in 1870.

The writer has obtained the following information on Richard Kelly from the Vera Smith Spears book, The Fairforest Story, pages 18-19, “When Daniel Morgan was camped at Grindal Shoals on Pacolet River before the Battle of Cowpens, Richard Kelly furnished Morgan’s Army ‘Sundrys.’ Mr. Kelly received pay for these supplies September 29, 1785.

My father, Joseph A. Smith, inherited land that had once belonged to the Nevil Holcombe Estate, and there was an old house known by the name of ‘Rich Kelly House,’ which was used as a tenant house for many years. It was a large one room with stairs leading to the top floor, a ‘lean-to’ on the west- side and a small room on the porch that had once run the entire front of the house. This location was not far from Tyger River.”

After several years the church name was changed from Thicketty Baptist Church to Gosher Baptist Church following its removal to a new location near Gosher Creek.

“On August 6, 1789, Philip Martin (Spartanburg) to William Wilkins, Erin Davis, Charles Littlejohn and John Headen: for 1s SC money sold 1 acre on S side of Gosher Cr., where old meeting house stood and where new one is to stand. Witness: Charles Littlejohn, John Humphrey and Edmund Ellis. Signed: Philemon Martin. Wit. Oath Aug. 7, 1889, Charles Littlejohn to Obadiah Trimmier.” (Spartanburg County/District, South Carolina, Deed Abstracts A-T, page 36)

The Headens were members of this church, and it is possible that James (Horseshoe) Robertson and James Turner, both Patriot soldiers in the American Revolutionary War, who married daughters of William Headen, at least attended the church.

William (Tailor) Poole, of Poole’s Bend, was an early member and leader of this church.

Solomon Crocker, of Poole’s Bend, was also an early member as was Obediah Trimmier who lived nearer the church.

In 1794, the Reverend Thomas Burgess was pastor of Gosher Baptist Church.

The church in several associational minutes was called Goshen, but this was simply a mis-reading of the word, Gosher. Today the church is called Goucher Baptist Church.

 

OTHER DAUGHTERS OF FAIRFOREST BAPTIST CHURCH

 

CONGAREE BAPTIST CHURCH

In 1764, the Reverend Philip Mulkey conducted a revival meeting in the CONGAREE area and baptized several converts—William Tucker, Jean Curry, Martha Goodwin and Isaac Rayford. This was some twelve to fifteen miles below Columbia, S. C.

In 1766, the Reverend Daniel Marshall preached in a revival in this area and baptized Joseph Reese, Thomas Norris, Benjamin Ryan, Timothy Dargan, Nathan Ellis, John Gill, William Dargan and twenty- one others.

These members were constituted into the CONGAREE BAPTIST CHURCH on November 30, 1766, with the help of the Reverends Joseph Murphy and Philip Mulkey.

Joseph Reese was converted under the preaching of the Reverend Philip Mulkey and baptized by the Reverend Daniel Marshall. He was ordained to the gospel ministry in February of 1768, by the Reverends Oliver Hart and Evan Pugh, and became pastor of the CONGAREE BAPTIST CHURCH. His assistant was the Reverend John Newton.

In 1769, CONGAREE BAPTIST CHURCH established a branch at the High Hills of Santee, and the Reverend Joseph Reese baptized quite a number of converts, and among them in 1771, were Richard Furman and his mother.

The Reverends Evan Pugh and Joseph Reese ordained Richard Furman to the gospel ministry on May 16, 1774, and in November, Furman became pastor of the High Hills Baptist Church.

In his “Biography of Richard Furman” Professor H. T. Cook, wrote: “It can be safely claimed that Mr. Reese’s preaching gave to the denomination the man who started the schooling of, and the school for prospective ministers, which, eventually, became Furman University, and then surrendered its theological department that it might develop the Southern Baptist Seminary.”

The Reverend J. D. Bailley, in his booklet on the Reverend Philip Mulkey, wrote: “Under God, Philip Mulkey gave to the denomination Fairforest church. Philip Mulkey and Fairforest gave us Joseph Reese and Congaree church, and that son and daughter of Fairforest gave us Richard Furman.”

 

THE REVEREND JOHN NEWTON, JOSEPH REESE’S FIRST AND EARLY PRIMARY ASSISTANT, WHO LED THE REVEREND PHILIP MULKEY TO THE LORD

 In the book, HISTORY OF NORTH CAROLINA BAPTISTS by GEORGE WASHINGTON PASCHAL, page 322, he writes:

“Black River is on the list of churches given by Semple as having delegates at the Sandy Creek Association in the year of its organization in 1758. This church seems to have been situated somewhere on Black River in the present county of Duplin (North Carolina), and was probably in some way connected with the church on Bull Tail, which is a creek emptying into Black River.

On March 7, 1757, Rev. John Newton was ordained as its pastor, and probably served it in that capacity until his departure for South Carolina in 1765.

This John Newton, according to Morgan Edwards was born in Kent County, Pennsylvania, August 7, 1732; was baptized in 1752 by Rev. Isaac Potts in Southampton County, Virginia; was instrumental in the conversion of Rev. Philip Mulkey near Roanoke in Halifax County, North Carolina, about 1756; was ordained in 1757; and after going to South Carolina, he was again ordained as colleague of Rev. Joseph Reese in the ministry of the Congaree church in 1768.

Both he and Reese got into trouble because they had accepted this ordination at the hands of two Particular Baptist ministers, Rev. Oliver Hart and Rev. Evan Pugh, and were silenced by the Sandy Creek Association.

Reese making proper acknowledgments was restored, but Newton refusing was forced to leave off in the midst of a useful and successful work.”

The association through its moderator, Shubal Stearns, responded by issuing an order for Congaree Church to silence John Newton from preaching. Morgan Edwards tells us that Congaree Chuch obeyed the order of their association and forbade Newton from preaching, ‘while he was in the midst of a useful and successful work’.

Morgan Edwards says that Newton’s labors in North Carolina were much blest.

John Newton married Keziah Dorsett on October 2, 1753, in Pennsylvania. She was born circa 1735. They had four sons (all Patriot soldiers) and three daughters all born before 1774

Their son, John Newton, born July 5, 1755, was a patriot soldier and enlisted in the Second South Carolina Continentals as a sergeant, serving under Col. Francis Marion. He and Sergeant William Jasper served together, and their escapades are included in the book, THE LIFE OF GENERAL FRANCIS MARION, by Brig. Gen. P Horry of Marion’s Brigade.

Sgt. Jasper and Sgt. Newton served in the Siege of Savannah in   1779, where Sgt. Jasper was killed. Sgt. Newton and his brother, Moses, were both in the Siege of Charleston in 1780, and were imprisoned by the British. Moses escaped but his brother, John, died of small pox aboard a prison ship in June or July of 1780.

John Newton’s brothers, Philip, born January 17, 1760, his brother James, born January 25, 1763, and his brother, Moses, born August 14, 1766, also served in the 2nd South Carolina Continentals. Moses was young and served as a fifer.

The Reverend John Newton moved from Colleton District, to Jefferson County, Georgia, soon after the war closed in 1783. He resided near Fennis Bridge on the Ogeechee, until his death on November 20, 1790. His wife, Keziah, died in 1791. (Newspaper Article dated October 9, 1779, and published in the Savannah News)

The Congaree Baptist Church is Richland County’s oldest church. In 1972, Congaree Baptist Church became an independent Baptist Church. It continues to maintain an orthodox doctrinal position in the tradition of conservative Baptists theology.

 

LITTLE RIVER OF BROAD RIVER BAPTIST CHURCH

The distance from Fairforest Baptist Church to the Congaree Baptist Church was at least one hundred miles.

The Reverend J. D. Bailey wrote: “According to tradition, on his journeys between these two points, Mr. Mulkey had regular places to stop over for the night, and whenever possible, the neighbors would gather in, and he would preach to them. One of these stopping places was the home of Jacob Gibson, in what is now Fairfield County. The preaching there resulted in the organizing of a branch of Fairforest, which, on February 26, 1770, was constituted a regular church.

Mr. Gibson embraced the Baptist Faith, was ordained at Little River, November 7, 1771, by the Reverends Daniel Marshall and Philip Mulkey, and thus became the first pastor of the church, which was originated in his own house.

The first house of worship was built of crude logs, 24×20, in 1768, on land given by Mr. Gibson; hence it was known in the neighborhood as Gibson’s Meeting House, but its real name was Little River.”

Gibson’s Meeting House (Little River Baptist Church) was the site of a 1780 battle in which a Patriot Militia led by Capt. Richard Winn attacked the Loyalists, who had been using the meeting house as a place to gather. Eight Loyalists were killed and sixteen captured.

The present church building was constructed in 1845, and placed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1972. The church is located 3.8 miles from Jenkinsville, S. C. It is still a viable Southern Baptist Church with a present address of: 343 Little River Church Road, Jenkinsville, S. C. 29065.

 

BUSH RIVER BAPTIST CHURCH

This church was on a small river by the same name, about twelve miles southeast from Newberry.

Morgan Edwards wrote: “They began in June, 1771, in this manner…Mr. Marshall kept a meeting in his house and baptized Samuel Newman, William Crow and wife. Afterwards Iriah Gary. These were constituted into a church in June of 1771, by the Reverends Daniel Marshall and Philip Mulkey. The first minister was Rev. Samuel Newman.

It appears that a goodly number of the members going into this organization were dismissed from Fairforest, for Morgan Edwards states: “The character the same with Fairforest.”

The Reverend J. D. Bailey wrote: “Mr. Newman lived only four or five months after assuming the pastorate and was succeeded by Thomas Norris. Norris was baptized by the Reverend Philip Mulkey at Congaree, but into the fellowship of Fairforest, and was ordained in October of 1771, by the Reverends Daniel Marshall and Philip Mulkey, at which time he took on him the care of the church.”

  1. B. O’Neall wrote: “Thomas Norris was pastor during the Revolution. He taught the doctrine of ‘non-resistance’ and for this boldness in preaching he was shut up in the old prison of Ninety-Six. He was offered his liberty many times provided he would cease to teach and preach as he did, but he refused release on any such terms. Finally, he was released without condition and continued to preach until he passed away in 1780.

This church is still a strong Southern Baptist Church today.

 

LITTLE RIVER OF SALUDA

The Crozier manuscript of Morgan Edwards states that this church was a branch of Fairforest Baptist Church. The location was in “the parish of St. Marks in Craven County, two hundred and fifteen miles northwest from Charlestown and seven hundred and seventy-six miles southwest from Philadelphia.”

Leah Townsend wrote: “Little River of Saluda Church was made up of immigrants from Virginia and New Jersey. Eleven of them were constituted into a church on August 10, 1770, by Colonel Samuel Harris and Mr. James Child.

Their meeting house was forty by twenty-five feet, built in 1771, on ‘land given by John Bailey,’ who had two surveys in 1767, on ‘waters of Little River’. Though they had no minister in 1772, their congregation included fifty families, ‘whereof 35 persons are baptized and in communion which is administered here the third Lords-day,’ in January, April, July and October.

The church was a constituent of Congaree Association in 1771, at which time Mr. Aaron Pinson, also connected with Raeburn’s Creek Church, may have had charge of it. It was in this neighborhood that Rev. Oliver Hart and Rev. William Tennent stopped in September, 1775, on their journey to convert the back country to the American cause.

Mr. Tennent thought it ‘providential that we came here, as some opposers had collected, who would have brow beat Mr. Oliver. Took the Storm to myself and did some good.’

It is probable that the Revolution broke up this congregation, or that Raeburn’s Creek Church absorbed it, and that Friendship Church absorbed both, as an Aaron Pinson is listed as an early member of Friendship. No further record and no modern successor have been found.”

 

SANDY RIVER BAPIST CHURCH

A clerk of the Pacolet (Scull Shoals) Baptist Church has written a detailed account of a “meeting of delegates at Fairforest meeting-house held (he states) on September, 1776, from the following churches, viz: Lynche’s Creek Church, Rev. Jeptha Vinning, delegate; Bush River Church, Rev. Thomas Norris, delegate; Little River church, Rev. Jacob Gibson, delegate; Buffalo church, Rev. Joseph Camp, delegate; Fairforest church, Rev. Philip Mulkey, delegate, which then being the only orderly constituted churches existing in the upper part of the Province of South Carolina.”

This writer has had the privilege of reading this statement in the Scull Shoals records. However, the clerk wrote about this meeting several years after it happened, and it is the writer’s judgment that he was incorrect as to the year. It should have been 1775.

The Reverend Philip Mulkey could not have been a delegate of the Fairforest Baptist Church in 1776, for he had fled to Washington County, N. C., because of his loyalist views. They would not have welcomed him back a year later and certainly not as a delegate. Their member, Nehemiah Howard, had his house burned by the loyalists.

Leah Townsend wrote: “Sandy River originated from a group of Virginia and North Carolina Baptists who settled on Sandy River and invited ministers from Buffalo, Little River, Fairforest and Congaree Churches to preach to them. They built Flat Rock meeting house somewhere near Turkey Creek and had members living on Pacolet, Turkey Creek and Sandy River, besides adjacent members of Fairforest and Little River churches

This group requested the 1776 (1775) meeting of Congaree Association (at Fairforest) to constitute them a church. Rev. Messrs. Ralph Jones, Joseph Camp and Joseph Logan met with them at Flat Rock meeting house, December 23, 1776 (1775), assisted in drawing up the covenant, constituted the church, and at its request examined and ordained Rev. James Fowler.

Rev. Ralph Jones delivered the sermon and Rev. Joseph Camp the charge.”   It appears that the Reverend Philip Mulkey had fled to Washington County at this time. The Reverend James Fowler had been licensed to preach by the Fairforest Baptist Church in 1774.

“The following names were the first constituents of the church on Sandy River: James Fowler; Samuel McBrayer; William McBrayer; Thomas Morris; Garret Morris; John Morris; Russell Rutledge; Elizabeth Rutledge, his wife; and Winnifred McMillon of Turkey Creek; John and Mary Cole, his wife; Samuel Lamb and Hannah, his wife; Moses Collins and Susannah, his wife; Joseph Jolly and his wife; of Pacolet and Thickety; Edward Henderson and Annie, his wife; Catherine Jenkins; William Roden; Sarah Kennedy; Samarian Taylor; and Mary Allen of Sandy River.”

“They were by their ministering brethren declared to be a church of Jesus Christ capable of exercising the power and authority of a Gospel church in maintaining and defending the principles of the Gospel, the worship, doctrine and discipline of a church.”

The Reverend James Fowler was pastor of the church from its beginning though 1800. In 1791-1792, he was assisted by the Reverend William Woodward. In 1791, Sandy River joined the Bethel Baptist Association. The minutes of 1803, refer to the church as Upper Sandy River Baptist Church.

The Reverend James Fowler, son of Robert and Anne McGill Fowler, was born in Augusta County, Virginia, in 1741. He married Mary Stephenson, daughter of David and Annas ? Stephenson, on January 6, 1764, in Augusta County, Virginia. She was born in 1736, in Augusta County, Virginia. They had children: William, Robert and Stephenson.

Their son, William, born November 18, 1764, was a Patriot Soldier and enlisted in 1781, under Capt. John Chambers and Col. William Bratton in York District, S. C.

William married Hannah Tindall, daughter of Robert K. Tindall, in York County, S. C., on March 6, 1788. She was born in February of 1768, in York County, S. C. They had two sons and two daughters. They were liviing in Randolph, Illinois, when they died. He died April 18, 1846, and Hannah died on April 1, 1851.

Mary Stephenson Fowler died in York County, S. C., on July 2, 1790, and the Reverend James Fowler died in York County in 1802.

 

THE REVEREND PHIILIP MULKEY’S PRINCIPAL PASTORAL ASSISTANT, THE REVEREND THACKER VIVIAN

 Thacker Vivian, son of John and Jane Smith Vivian, was born in Spotsylvania County, Virginia, in 1745. He married Mary Brock, daughter of Col. Joseph Brock and his wife, Mary Beverly Chew, in 1765, in Spotsylvania, Virginia. She was born in Spotsylvania, Viriginia, in 1749.

Thacker and his wife, Mary, were still living in Spotsylvania, Virginia, in 1767, when they became guardians for two sons and one daughter, orphans of his brother-in-law, William Brock, and sister-in-law, Mary ? . The children’s names were: Joseph, William and Mary Brock.

Thacker Vivian was a member of Fairforest Baptist Church, Craven County (Union District), S. C., and had probably been ordained to the gospel ministry by 1772, when Morgan Edwards visited the church.

Lt. Governor William Bull of South Carolina, granted Thacker Vivian 200 acres of land on August 1, 1774. The land was on the north side of Tyger River.

He was a Patriot and received pay July 20, 1786, for “Provisions for public use in 1781 and 1782.”

He sold his original grant of land in 1786, to Stephen Layton of Greenville County, S. C., and moved his family to Jefferson County, Georgia. While living in Georgia, he sold 400 acres of land to Edward Williams in 1796. The land was on the north side of Tyger River.

Thacker Vivian and Mary Brock Vivian had the following children: (1) Sarah married Benjamin Skrine; (2) Jane married Major John Howard, son of Nehemiah and Edith Smith Howard; (3) Molly married William Walker; (4) Elizabeth married ? Greenleaf; (5) Nancy; (6) John; (7) Colonel Thacker Vivian Jr.; (8) Virgil married Selina Mary Ann McCall, daughter of Thomas and Henrietta Fall McCall; (9) Ann.

Thacker Vivian was on the Grand Jury list for Jefferson County, Georgia, on July 3, 1797.

The Reverend Thacker Vivian died on November 6, 1801, in Jefferson County, Georgia. One source states that his wife, Mary, died in 1844, but the writer cannot confirm this date of death.

 

THE SOUTH CAROLINA COUNCIL OF SAFETY WILLIAM HENRY DRAYTON, OLIVER HART AND WILLIAM TENNENT

COMMITTEE OF SAFETY

The committee selected William Henry Drayton from Drayton Hall, Oliver Hart, pastor of the First Baptist Church (1750-1780) and William Tennent, a Presbyterian minister, pastor of the Independent (Congregational) Church of Charleston (1771-1777). They were to visit the backcountry to encourage the settlers to go to war against Great Britain.

William Tennent’s parents were the Reverend William Tennent and his wife, Catherine Van Burgh Noble (widow of John Noble). His father was pastor of the Old Tennent Presbyterian Church in Freehold, New Jersey.

The year after the death of Mr. Tennent, on Sunday, June 28, 1778, General George Washington was about one hundred yards beyond the church door (Old Tennent Presbyterian Church), when he met the first straggler, who told him that General Charles Lee had retreated before the British.

During the battle of Monmouth, New Jersey, wounded soldiers were carried to the Old Tennent church, where members of the congregation tended them.

 

EXCERPTS FROM THE JOURNAL OF OLIVER HART

This journal is part of the Oliver Hart manuscript collection found in the South Carolinaiana Library at the University of South Carolina.

Thursday Aug.t 10 (1775) Crossed Enoree (River), and rode about a Mile or little better & breakfasted with one Mr. Waddleton, where we had some Coffee, set off from thence and missed our way twice, once before and once after we crossed Pagets Creek.

Came down to one Mr. Potts on Tyger River, we took up this River to Finchers Ford, where we crossed the River, and then traveled on to Rev’d Mr. Mulkey’s, was kindly received; Mrs. Mulkey was ill, the rest of the Family was well. Found myself a good deal fatigued; but sat up till after midnight, and then lay down to rest.

Upon discoursing with Mr. Mulkey, found that he rather sides withministerial Measures, and is against most adopted by the Country. Altho’ he professes Himself difficulted about these Things; The People, in general, are certainly (as they say) for the King: ie, for the Minister, & his Measures; one Man, with whom we conversed, fairly trembled through Madness (anger).

Friday Aug’t ye 11th: Rose in Health, but somewhat fatigued; Some of the Neighbors came to see us, with whom we had much Conversation about the present State of the Times; found them so fix’d on the Side of the Ministry, that no argument on the contrary Side, seemed to have any Weight with them; they generally acknowledge that they know but little about the Matter, and yet are fixed; generally they have signed Col. Fletchal’s Association; which is a jejune incoherent Piece; but serves to delude the People into Measures, which I fear will prove of bad Consequence.

A Meeting was appointed for Sermon this evening; 20 or 30 came together, altho’ it had rained most of the afternoon; it being put upon me to preach. I treated on Cant. 5. Ult. He is altogether lovely; (Song of Solomon 5:16). I had some freedom but the people seem’d but little affected.

After Sermon, Mr. Rees (Joseph Reese) conversed with several about ye State of our national concerns, who seem’d to be extremely obstinate, on the Minister’s side; one of them wish’d 1000 Bostonians might be killed in Battle.   One wish’d there was not a grain of Salt in any of the sea Coast Towns on the Continent. On the whole, they appear to be obstinate and irritated to an Extreme.

Saturday Aug’t 12th: Rose refreshed; about 11 o’clock went to Meeting. Br. Rees (Joseph) preached from Isaiah 17:7 At that Day a Man shall look to his Maker & after Sermon had some Conversation with Col. Fletchal, who declar’d that he had no intention of fighting against his countrymen, but at the Same time highly disapproved of the Measures fallen upon to preserve our Rights, and complain’d of sundry Threats, which He says are given out against Himself, and the Inhabitants of the Frontiers.

A number of People gathered round us, while we were conversing together, who seem’d almost universally, by Words & actions to applaud everything the Col. Said.   Upon the Whole there appears but little reason, as yet, to hope that these People will be brought to have a suitable Regard to ye Interest of America. I wish their Eyes may be opened before it is too late. Rode Home with Mr. Mulkey, lodged there.

Lord’s Day Aug’t: 13th: Went to Meeting at the usual Time, preach’d from I Col: 3.11, had much Freedom in Preaching, and there People seemed to hear with much attention. After Sermon, met with Br. Newton, was much rejoiced to see Him. After a proper Intermission, Br. Rees (Joseph) preached from Isaiah 2?.37. He was exceeding warm and held out near two Hours, when Mr. Rees had finished, one Mary Ray, one of the Sisters, got up and gave us a Prayer, Mr. Rees (Joseph) then sung and dismissed the assembly.

Went Home with Mr. Mulkey, Mr. Newton in Company, who gave us an account of the distracted State of the frontier Inhabitants, which at present wears the most alarming Face; insomuch that there is the greatest appearance of a civil War; unless God, by some remarkable Interposition of Providence prevent.

Monday Aug’t 14: This Day attended a Meeting of Number of Inhabitants, which Meeting was appointed by Mr. Mulkey Yesterday. Here one Major Robertson Read a ministerial Piece, called ‘an address to the People of America.’ It is wrote in opposition to the congress, and well calculated to fix the Minds of all disaffected Persons.

With Sorrow I saw Marks of approbation sit almost on every Countenance. I find that…(Here, mid-sentence, Oliver Hart begins using a letter substitution coded in his writing as it is apparent that he may run into those, whose position is counter to his and who might wish to take some action against him.)

Translated, the entry continues:

I find that Col. Fletchall has all those people at his beck, and reigns amongst them like a little King. This magic Robertson had been with the Governor, and no doubt has brought proper instructions to Col. Fletchall.

Robertson brings word that fifteen sail of men of war were lying off Charles Town, when he left town; If this be true, perhaps that devoted town may now be reduced to ashes; and God knows how it fares with my dear wife and Family. I hope they are safe, having left them in the hands of a good God & hold, shield and defend them from all Evil for thy great Nane’s Sake, amen.

In this meeting Col. Fletchall intimated that the people wanted them to go down and assist them against the Negroes, but he would be a Fool that would go, to which one answered they will not get a man from here.

Query: Doth not this contradict the Col.’s association, in which it is declared that one part of their purpose is to suppress insurrection of Negroes?

This evening before we lay down to rest, Brother Mulkey, requested that he might wash my feet; with some reluctance I consented, after declaring that I did not believe that it to be an ordinance of Christ, he than, being girded with a towel, and having water in a basin with great humility and affection, proceeded to wash my feet,

Talking religiously and affectionately all the time; he than washed Br. Newton’s feet and then Br. (Newton ) washed his; afterwards we went to rest.

Wednesday Aug’t 15th: Lay by this Day at Brother Mulkey’s. Nothing material happened, save that I heard that Mr. Drayton and Br. Tennent were expected to be up at Col. Fletchall’s Tomorrow. I wish they would come, for I am tired doing nothing.

Wednesday Aug’t 16th: This morning Br. Mulkey went out on a preaching excursion. I tarried at his house until evening, and then rode home with Mr. Nehemiah Howard (in company with Mr. Rees)   (Joseph) where I tarried all night. This man seems to be sensible of our oppressions and of the necessity of resisting ministerial measures. I wish all the inhabitants were like minded.

Thursday Aug’t 17th: Hearing this morning that Messrs: Drayton and Tennent were at Col. Fletchall’s, we went thither, and found them surrounded with a number of people, who had come together to hear them talk; here were Captain Cunningham (a bitter enemy to the province) and merchant Brown (who had been lately tarred and feathered for his opposition, here was my good friend Col. Richardson, and many others).

We were informed of a late engagement; or battle, in which (it is said) that the Regulars had lost 9000 men and the Provincials 4000, that General Gage was taken prisoner, and General Washington wounded in the arm, etc. In the evening returned to Nehemiah Howard’s and lodged there. Good bed.

Friday Aug’t 18th: Went this morning to Mr. Mulkey’s, took breadfast, rode to Col. Fletchall’s to see Mr. Tennent, who was gone a few minutes before we arrived. We then took up into the country, for Lawson’s Fork, came in the evening to Captain John Woods, were kindly received, and rested in a good bed. This Captain and his men are on the side of liberty, and have signed the association, altho’ he belongs to Fletchall’s regiment. The people are in general on the Congress side.”

 

FLETCHALL FOR THE KING

“To counteract the influence of those gentlemen and, if possible, to obliterate the impressions made by them, Col. Fletchall engaged the services of a man by the name of Robinson. This Robinson was a young man of classical education and respectable talents.

He had been educated in Virginia for the ministry to the Presbyterian Church, but rendered himself peculiarly odious to that denomination by an attempt to obtain orders in the established church in the Province by fraud for one Cotton, an illiterate and abandoned wretch. The nature of the transaction was reported to the proper authority and Cotton and Robinson fled from the country.

Robinson was sent by Fletchall to Charlotte to confer with Lord William Campbell, the Royal Governor, as to the best means of keeping the people in a quiet and loyal state. Campbell sent a parcel of pamphlets, called cutters, to Fletchall for distribution among the people.

The scope of these pamphlets was to show the sin of resisting the laws and policy of the Lord’s anointed, the evils, which would result, and to offer encouragement to support the measures of the British Crown. On his return Fletchall called public meetings in different parts and put up Robinson to address the people in support of those measures which he wished to see triumphant. (Memoirs of Major Joseph McJunkin by Rev, James Hodge Saye, page 5)

 

THE DINING CREEK MEETING (FAIRFOREST BAPTIST CHURCH)

 One of these took place at the Dining Creek meeting house. The assemblage was larger than could be accommodated in the building. Robinson therefore took his stand upon a rock in the woods, read one of the cutters and was commenting on its contents.

He alluded to the case of Saul and David to show the miseries, which result from rebellion. He heaped abusive epithets upon the Continental Congress, George Washington, and the principles they advocated. He stated that when the rascals had involved the people in inextricable difficulties they would run away to the Indians, Spaniards and Islands.

When this last sentence was uttered Samuel McJunkin remarked: ‘I wonder where Preachers Joe Robinson and Cotton will then be.’ At this remark Robinson was overwhelmed with shame, descended abruptly from his rostrum and went off. As he was going he was heard to say: ‘I would have carried my point if it had not been for that old Irish Presbyterian, but he has defeated me.’

Fletchall, however, continued his efforts to lull the apprehensions of the people as to the measures of the Royal Government, and to induce the belief that their interests and loyalty were identical. And it is not surprising that His success was considerable.” (Memoirs of Major Joseph McJunkin by Rev. James Hodge Saye, pages 5-6)

 

THE REVEREND WILLIAM TENNENT’S PAPERS

“The Reverend Tennent in his diary told of one meeting in the Fairforest region; his audience consisted of ‘some of the most obstinate opposers of the Congress…They seemed much affected towards the close, but afterwards aided by two gain-saying Baptist preachers (Philip Mulkey & Joseph Robinson), they all refused to sign the Association, but ten.’”

“A few days later Tennent made note of the fact that he had talked to a Mr. Muchels (Philip Mulkey).” The mission of the three revolutionary agents was unsuccessful so far as the Fairforest region was concern.

“Rode 13 miles…to a Meeting House…on Thicketty (Creek) where found…(Dr. Joseph Alexander) preaching…When he had done I mounted the Pulpit & spoke near two hours…Refreshed myself & drank out of a Cow bell…they signed the Association.”

This Meeting House built by William Sims and William Marchbanks was hosting the Presbyterians at this time. This group later established the Salem Presbyterian Church. Thicketty Baptist Church, former mission of Fairforest Baptist Church, was also utilizing this Meeting House during this period.

“Concluded to go (to) Little River Meeting House, where Mr. (Oliver Hart) had appointed a sermon & did some good.” (Fragment of a Journal Kept by Rev. William Tennent in Charleston Year Book, 1894, page 300)

 

REV. PHILIP MULKEY’S LAST YEAR AT FAIRFOREST

In the earlier part of the year, he had participated in the ordination of his son, Jonathan Mulkey, to the gospel ministry as well as one of his members, Alexander McDougal.

From the Oliver Hart diary, it is apparent that the Reverend Joseph Reese, after closing the Congree Baptist Church, and his assistant, John Newton, visited and ministered with Mulkey for a brief period.

Mulkey’s close relationship with his member, Col. Thomas Fletchall, led him to declare himself a Loyalist.

The split in the congregation between the Patriots and the Loyalists, probably came after the meeting of the Congaree Baptist Association, which the writer believes was in 1775.

There was such a strong reaction between the patriot and loyalist members that they all refused to go back to the original meeting house. Neither loyalist nor patriot would have gone into the Fairforest Meeting House in 1776.

Two organized Loyalist groups were organized in the Fairforest area: Plummers Regiment of Loyalists led by Major
Daniel Plummer and the Fairforest Loyalist Militia led by Capt. Shadrick Lantry. Some said that there were more Loyalists than Patriots in this area.

Just before leaving, Mulkey sold his plantation of 400 acres on Fairforest Creek on the south side of Tyger River to Col. Thomas Fletchall. Fletchall’s mansion and lands joined the lands of the Fairforest Church. Later, Fletchall’s lands were confiscated and sold, and William Brandon purchased the former Mulkey plantation.

Philip Mulkey and his family along with the family of Benjamin Gist were forced to flee to Washington County, N. C. Benjamin Gist later switched sides, but there are no records to indicate that the Reverend Philip Mulkey ever took up arms against his King.

Members Benjamin Gist and Thomas Greer remained Loyalists during the early part of the Revolutionary War years, but both later switched sides. The rest of the constitutional members remained with the Patriots.

After the departure of the Mulkeys, the Fairforest Church did not have any preachers siding with the Loyalists.

The Reverend Alexander McDougal became pastor of the church and moved its Patriot membership to his lands near the mouth of Rocky Creek on the eastside of Fairforest Creek.

 

ALEXANDER MCDOUGAL 2ND PASTOR OF FAIRFOREST BAPTIST CHURCH

Alexander McDougal, son of John and Charity Alexander McDougal, was born in Dublin, Ireland, May 12, 1738. He immigrated to America in 1757. He arrived aboard the Admiral Hawk and was listed as being from Londonderry.

His residence in August of 1762, was in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. In early 1766, he moved to Wilmington in Brunswick County, North Carolina. He married Hannah Done in 1766, in Wilmington, N. C. She was born in 1747, in New Hanover County, N. C. Unfortunately, the writer has been unable to locate names of her parents.

“He and his wife were Presbyterians, but circa 1770, Alexander became convinced that he was without Christ. He was deeply convicted of sin. When he found peace in Jesus he united with a Baptist Church and soon began to exhort.”

He moved to South Carolina circa 1773, and the Baptist Church he joined was probably the Fairforest Baptist Church in Craven County (Union District), S. C. He was ordained by this church in 1775, by the Reverend Philip Mulkey.

He was a Patriot Soldier and served, while a resident of what later became Union District, S. C.

Dr. Bobby Moss in his book, Roster of South Carolina Patriots in the American Revolution, page 617, wrote: “He (Alexander McDougal) enlisted in the Third Regiment on February 6, 1777. He enlisted during June of 1777 under Captain Thomas Blessingham and Colonel William Farr. In September 1778, he was under Lieutenant John Blessngham and Colonel Samuel Hammond. In the summer of 1780, he served as a Lieutenant under Capt. Thomas Blessingham and Colonel James Steen.

From October 1781 until sometime in 1782, he served as Lieutenant under Captain Thomas Blessingham and Colonel Thomas Brandon and was in charge of a blockhouse near his home.”

His commission was signed by Thomas Pinckney, governor of South Carolina.

An article on Rev. Alexander McDougal in the Baptist Encyclopedia, Vol. 2, page 770, states: “Warmly espousing the cause of the colonies, he divided his time, during the war, between cultivating his farm, preaching the gospel, and fighting the Tories.”

Alexander McDougal acquried over 700 acres of land in what became Union District, S. C. On June 26, 1785, “The Worshipful Court of Union County met according to law and by appointment at the house of Alexander McDougal.

The court was made up of the following justices: Zachariah Bullock, John Henderson, William Kennedy, Charles Sims, James Harrison, Thomas Brandon and John Birdsong, Esq., with John Hail, Clerk.” This was the first court held for Union County, South Carolina.

The Fairforest Baptist Church was meeting on Alexander McDougal’s land during and after the war years.

“During the conflict between the Whigs and Tories that emerged during the American Revolution, some of the members scattered, while the main body of the congregation moved further north on Fairforest Creek, close to Rocky Creek near the Ben Black estate.

By 1794-1799, the Fairforest Baptist Church was located near Duck Pond.” (Philip Mulkey & Charles Thompson NC & SC by Charles Thompson—Internet)

The church was first a member of the Sandy Creek Baptist Association, a constituent member of the short-lived Congaree Baptist Association and a constituent member of the Bethel Baptist Association (1789).

David Benedict in his General History of the Baptist Denomination in America, Vol. II, published in 1813, page 155, stated: “The Fairforest church, now belonging to the Bethel Association, was founded by him (Philip Mulkey), and it is the oldest of the Separate Baptists in the State, and became the mother of many others.”

The Reverend Alexander McDougal was pastor of the Fairforest Baptist Church from 1775 through 1800.

 

THE REVEREND ALEXANDER MCDOUGAL’S ASSISTANTS

His assistants included Joseph Burson, William Wood, Richard Kelly and Thacker Vivian. The writer has already given data on these men.

John Webb was also an assistant to the Reverend McDougal, but information is scarce on this minister. Leah Townsend in her book listed him as a Patriot soldier, receiving pay for varying periods of militia duty.

John Cole, in 1783, was ordained by two ministers from the Fairforest Baptist Church, the Reverend Joseph Burson and the Reverend John Webb and became a pastor of the Bush River Baptist Church.

In 1794, the Church of Christ on Tyger River, renamed Padgett’s Creek Baptist Church, was constituted with the help of the Reverends John Webb and John Cole.

Leah Townsend wrote: “ A conference of Padgetts Creek members met at the Durbin Creek Baptist Church in Laurens County, S. C., on September 1, 1788, and took under consideration the Acting of Jacob Roberts & his Church in their dealing with their Members & Excommunicating them for not hearing the Church concerning the Matter of John Webbs transgression…

It was the unanimous voice of the Conference that Roberts & his Church was wrong in their acting with their Members—for which cause we had as a Conference to declare against them and their acting.”

 

CHILDREN OF THE REVEREND ALEXANDER MCDOUGAL AND HIS WIFE, HANNAH DONE MCDOUGAL WERE:

(1). Hezekiah McDougal was born October 3, 1767, in Wilmington, Brunswick County, North Carolina. He married Martha Mathis, daughter of William Mathis, in South Carolina. She was born in 1768. He was a blacksmith and a Baptist preacher.

When his father left for Kentucky, he gave his son, Hezekiah his 728 acres of land on both sides of Rocky Creek, a branch of Fairforest Creek, in Union District, S. C.

Hezekiah McDougal was pastor at times of the Fairforest Baptist Church, the Cedar Springs Baptist Church and the Gilead Baptist Church.

Hezekiah moved closer to the Grindal Shoals area circa 1821, and joined the Gilead Baptist Church.

Hezekiah and Martha had six sons and four daughters. She died on September 2, 1847, in Union District, S. C. He died December 18, 1847, in Gibson County, Tennessee. One source states that he was buried in Poplar Springs Baptist Church cemetery

(2). Alexander MeDougal was born in Wilmington, Brunswick County, North Carolina, on November 5, 1769. He died in his youth.

(3). Sarah McDougal was born on December 25, 1770, in Wilmington, Brunswick County, North Carolina. She married ? Mayfield.

(4). Nelly McDougal was born October 20, 1773, in Craven County (Union District), S. C. She died before 1830.

(5). Hannah Ann McDougal was born June 2, 1776, in Craven County (Union District), S. C.   She died unmarried in 1833, in what became Larue County, Kentucky. She was buried in the Nolynn Baptist Church cemetery in Hodgenville, Kentucky.

(6). Martha Patsy McDougal was born August 3, 1778, in Craven County (Union District), S. C. She was married to ? Ward. She died in Elizabethtown, Hardin County, Kentucky.

(7). Mary McDougal was born on February 23, 1781, in Craven County (Union District), S. C. She was married to Squire LaRue, son of John and Mary Brooks LaRue, on August 8, 1804, in Hardin County, Kentucky, by her father.

Squire was born March 23, 1785, in what later became Larue County, Kentucky.

They had three sons and five daughters. Their son, Alexander W. LaRue, was a noted Baptist preacher.

Squire LaRue died August 30, 1859, and his wife, Mary, died June 24, 1862. They were buried in the Nolynn Baptist Church cemetery.

(8). Elizabeth McDougal was born June 14, 1783, in Craven County (Union District), S. C. She married Charles Middleton on March 18, 1820, in Kentucky.   He was born circa 1765.

She was his second wife. His first wife was Susannah Bayne, daughter of Thomas Bayne. He married Susannah Bayne on August 17, 1797, in Nelson County, Kentucky

Charles and Elizabeth McDougal Middleton had two sons, William and James.

(9). Robert McDougal was born July 14, 1785, in Union District, S. C. He died September 15, 1787, in Union District.

(10). John McDougal was born September 9, 1787, in Union District, S. C.   He married Mary Elizabeth Willett, daughter of Griffin and Rody ? Willett on April 22, 1839, in Nelson County, Kentucky.

He was a farmer in Larue County, Kentucky. He and Mary had three sons and three daughters.   Mary died August 13, 1853, and John died June 20, 1875. Both died in Larue County, Kentucky, and were buried in the Nolynn Baptist Church cemetery in Hodgenville.

(11). Isabella McDougal was born on May 17, 1790, in Union District, S. C. She was married in Kentucky to William Harrison and to ? Lewis. She died in Kentucky before 1845

(12). Dorcas Melissa McDougal was born August 24, 1792, in Union District, S. C. She married George Whitehead.

She died November 11, 1877, in Larue County, Kentucky. She was buried in the Nolynn Baptist Church cemetery in Hodgenville, Kentucky.

 

THE FIRST MEETING AT THE OLD FAIRFOREST MEETING HOUSE AFTER THE WAR

 In 1794, the Bethel Baptist Association gathered “at the old meeting house on Fairforest, near Col. Brandon’s, in Union County.” This was the first recording of any groups or churches going back to the old abandoned brick meeting house, built under the leadership of the Reverend Philip Mulkey.

 

THE REVEREND ISAAC EDWARDS, THE REVEREND ALEXANDER MCDOUGAL’S FAVORED ASSISTANT AT FAIRFOREST BAPTIST CHURCH

The Reverend Isaac Edwards was his assistant for about four years.

The Reverend Isaac Edwards was probably the son of Edward Edwards. He was born in Virginia in 1750.

He and wife, Judith ? , were members of the Meherrin Baptist Church in Brunswick County, Va. He was on the Lunenburg County Tax List of 1774-1776.

While living in Brunswick County, Virginia, Isaac purchased 300 acres on both sides of Sandy Run in Craven County (Union District), S. C., from William Sims in 1771.

He moved to Craven County (Union District), in 1777. He had two brothers who also moved to South Carolina: William and John.

He was probably ordained to the gospel ministry by the Fairforest Baptist Church.

In 1784, Isaac Edwards had a survey of 50 acres touching Enoree River on the south below the Indian boundary.

William Addington, Patriot Soldier of the American Revolution, and Delilah Duncan of Newberry County, S. C., were married by the Reverend Isaac Edwards, a Baptist minister, on December 23, 1784, on Duncan Creek about three miles from Enoree River in Newberry County.

On May 20, 1787, the Reverends Isaac Edwards of the Fairforest Baptist Church, and James Fowler of Sandy River Baptist Church, led twenty- one members in the constitution of the Pacolet (Scull Shoals) Baptist Church.

The Reverend Isaac Edwards assisted the Reverend Alexander McDougal as co-pastor of the Fairforest Baptist Church for the years 1787-1792. Isaac Edwards was excluded from the fellowship of the Fairforest Baptist Church in 1793, for “immorality”.

Isaac Edwards and Judith ? had the following children: Reps, Martha Ann, William, Isaac, Joseph, Milly, Nancy, Georgia and Newman Edwards. Their daughter, Nancy, married the Reverend Miles Rainwater.

He moved to Franklin County, Georgia, where he died in 1809. Dates of his wife, Judith’s birth and death, have not been preserved.   Her parents names also have not been recorded.

 

ALEXANDER MCDOUGAL’S REMOVAL TRIP TO KENTUCKY

 In 1801, Alexander left Union District, S. C., in a large caravan for Barren County, Kentucky.   He had been pastor of Fairforest Baptist Church and the Cedar Springs Baptist Church.

He and his wife, Hannah, traveled with at least a dozen or more of his members and their families. Traveling with him was his deacon and special friend, Obediah Howard, and his wife, Priscilla.

All of his members joined the Mill Creek Baptist Church, in Barren County, Ky. Alexander and his wife, Hannah, joined the Dripping Spring Baptist Church also in Barren County. Here, he assisted the pastor, the Reverend Robert Stockton.

The Reverend Robert Stockston assisted in the constitution of the Nolynn Baptist Church on April 3, 1803, and recommended the Reverend Alexander McDougal, and he became the first pastor of this new church. Nolynn Baptist Church had been an “arm” of the Severns Valley Baptist Church.

He probably first moved to Elizabethtown, Hardin County, Kentucky, from Barren County, Kentucky, where he remained for several years. His daughter, Martha Patsy McDougal Ward, died in Elizabethtown.

Alexander McDougal became pastor of Severns Valley church in May of 1803. He moved to what is now LaRue County and settled on Nolin River. It was in Hardin County at this time. J. H. Spencer wrote: “Here he labored faithfully and earnestly for more than thirty years in the churches.

He was pastor of Severns Valley Baptist Church when the first church building was erected.   Alexander McDougal was paator of this church thorough 1819.

Records state that his last house was about four miles southeast of Hodgenville. Hodgenville was in Hardin County, Kentucky, until 1843. The Nolynn Baptist Church, which he served until his retirement was in this area.

He applied for a pension in Hardin County, Kentucky, at the age of 94 years on January 21, 1833, for services rendered as a Patriot Soldier in the American Revolution.

In his request for a pension in 1833, in Hardin County, Kentucky, he mentions that he was drafted for two months to go in pursuit of a notorious Tory called Bill Cunningham. Hezekiah McDougal, his son, and the Reverend Thomas S. Greer were his South Carolina witnesses. He received a pension.    

His wife, Hannah Done, died in Hardin County, Kentucky in 1830. Alexander resigned his charges at 95 years of age and died in this county on March 3, 1841, aged 102 years (almost 103). He and his wife were buried in the Nolynn Baptist Church Cemetery.


EVENTS THAT OCCURRED IN FAIRFOREST BAPTIST CHURCH AND THE SURROUNDING CHURCHES SHORTLY AFTER THE REVEREND ALEXANDER MCDOUGAL LEFT FOR KENTUCKY

The Fairforest Baptist Church was still searching for a pastor the latter part of 1801. Records of the Padgett’s Creek Baptist Church state: “Received a letter from the Fairforest Church, craving Br. Thomas Greer to be their Minister, but we could not accept the letter upon them terms, but send it back, and agreed to let him attend them once a month or as long as God in his Providence makes it duty.”

Christopher Johnson, father of David Johnson (later governor of S. C.) was a messenger to the Bethel Baptist Association in 1800, from the Fairforest Baptist Church. He later became a Baptist pastor.

Hezekiah McDougal, son of the Reverend Alexander McDougal, was a messenger to the 1802 and 1803 sessions of the Bethel Baptist Association. He was listed as a licensed preacher at this time.   He was pastor of the church in 1805-1806.

Padgett’s Creek Baptist Church held the following business sessions in the old Fairforest Baptist Church meeting house: October 5, 1802; April 25, 1803; July 23, 1803; August 27, 1803; September 16, 1803.

Members of Padgett’s Creek, living near the Brick Meeting House (old Fairforest Church building) were formed into “an arm of Padgett’s Creek.”

“Clerk Records of the Lower Fairforest Baptist Church on February 24, 1810, speak of a unanimous request for a Constitution of their church. They sent Joshua Greer and William White to lay the request before the Padgett’s Creek Baptist Church.”

Padgett’s Creek Baptist Church Clerk records of March 17, 1810, state: “Received a petition (verbal) from the arm at the Brick Meeting House wanting a consent to become a Constitution. Their request granted.”

Padgett’s Creek Baptist Church Clerk records April 14, 1810, state: “Received a petition from the Arm at the Brick Meeting House, wanted Ministerial helps to constitute said Church & their request granted. And appointed Brethren Thomas Greer & Thomas Ray to attend them.”

Claude Sparks in his, A HISTORY OF PADGETT’S CREEK BAPTIST CHURCH, page 15, states: “In April 1810, Padgett’s Creek Church received a petition from the Arm at the Fairforest Brick Meeting House, wanting help to Constitute said church, and their request was granted.

Then on Saturday, May 26, 1810, the Arm was duly and legally constituted as a Baptist Church to be known, thereafter by the name of Lower Fairforest.”

The Lower Fairforest Baptist Church became a newly constituted church with a constitutional date of May 26, 1810.

They did inhabit the abandoned Brick Church building (built under the leadership of the Reverend Philip Mulkey), but inhabiting the building does not make them the original Fairforest Baptist Church.

After the departure of the Reverend Philip Mulkey in 1775, the Reverend Alexander McDougal simply moved the original church organization to his land, and the original Mulkey church was continued and is continued until this day with its original name of Fairforest Baptist Church.

 

THE REVEREND PHILIP MULKEY’S REMOVAL TO WASHINGTON COUNTY, NORTH CAROLINA, AND BEYOND

Philip Mulkey was a Loyalist and had to flee from the Fairforest area of South Carolina, the latter part of 1775. One historian records an appearance of four men—“Mr. Kincaid; Mr. Long; Mr. Love and Mr. Mulkey, a Baptist preacher”—in eastern Tennessee, in the autumn of 1775.

CHILDREN OF THE REVEREND PHILIP MULKEY AND HIS WIFE, ANN ELLIS MULKEY

(1). David Mulkey was born in 1751, in Halifax, Edgecomb County, North Carolina. He married ? White. They had a child named, Ellis. He moved to the Natchez area sometime after his brother, Philip.   He was listed in the 1792 Spanish Census. He was living there when his father visited between 1795-1797.

(2). Jonathan Mulkey was born In Halifax, Edgecomb County, North Carolina, on October 16, 1752. In 1772, in Craven County, (Union District), S. C., he was married to Nancy Howard, daughter of Obediah and Priscilla Breed Howard. His father, the Reverend Philip Mulkey, performed the ceremony.   Nancy was born October 16, 1754, in Orange County, N. C.

Jonathan was ordained as a Baptist preacher by his father in 1775, at the Fairforest Baptist Church.

In 1775, he fled to Washington County, N. C., (Tennessee) with his father and other members of his family. The Benjamin Gist family also traveled with them.

The Reverend Jonathan Mulkey became pastor of Kendrick’s Creek; Buffalo Ridge; Cherokee; Sinking Creek; Muddy Creek and others. He was a leader in the Holston Baptist Association for many years.   He was moderator of the association for seven years.

Jonathan Mulkey and his wife, Nancy’s, three sons, were at least in the beginning of their ministries, Baptist preachers: John, Philip and Isaac. They also had five daughters.

Nancy Howard Mulkey died circa 1795, in Tennessee. Jonathan married Sarah ? circa 1795-1796. Sarah ? was born in 1750, and died in April of 1813.

On March 3, 1818, he married Anna Denton Lacey in Washington County, Tennessee. Anna Denton was first married to John Lacey. They had a daughter, Phebe Lacey, who was born in Shennadoah County, Virginia. Anna Denton Lacey was born in 1786.

Jonathan and Anna were married March 3, 1818, in Washington County, Tennessee.

  1. J. Burnett in his Sketches of Tennessee’s Pioneer Baptist Preachers, pages 390-391, wrote: “They would go from seven to ten miles, about every Sunday, to hear ‘Father Mulkey’ preach.

He was pastor of Buffalo Ridge as long as he lived, and when too old and too feeble to preach standing, the church, it is said, made him a suitable and easy pulpit-chair, that he might sit down and pour out his soul in melting exhortations to a devoted people who would listen to every word.”

The Reverend Jonathan Mulkey died on September 5, 1826, in Washington County, Tennessee. He was buried in the Buffalo Ridge Baptist Church cemetery. His wife, Nancy, and his wife, Anna, were also buried in Buffalo Ridge, but their graves were not marked.

(3). Sarah Mulkey was born in 1754, in Orange County, North Carolina.

(4). Phllip Mulkey was born in 1756, in Orange County, North Carolina. He and his father served in the Virginia Militia to assist in fighting the Indians.

“As a Loyalist he moved to the Natchez District, in Mississippi, in 1781, or before. He was an instigator in an insurrection against the Spanish. After he escaped to South Carolina, repeated threats of his contemplated return with troops were reported.” (The Natchez Court Records 1767-1805, Abstracts of Early Records)

He married Mary Polly Chastain, on November 16, 1790. She was 25 years old at her marriage. Mary was born in North Carolina, in 1765. John E. Mulkey, William Mulkey, Mary Lou Mulkey, James C. Mulkey, Mark and four others were their children.

In 1790, Philip Mulkey Jr. and his wife, Mary, lived in Pendleton District in South Carolina.

Tax records prove that there was a Philip Mulkey Jr. in Franklin County, Georgia, in 1802.

“In April of 1811, Philip Mulkey and his wife, Mary, joined the Mountain Creek Baptist church with letters of good standing from their former church. But by July rumors had begun to swirl about Mulkey, bringing him under scrutiny of his new church brethren.

This man was probably the son of Philip Mulkey, the famous evangelist who was baptized by Shubal Stearns and carried the New light doctrine to South Carolina.

Mulkey the elder in 1790, was excommunicated ‘for adultery, perfidy and falsehood long continued in’. In 1795, South Carolina churches were warned that he was ‘still engaged in the Practice of Crimes and Enormities at which humanity Shudders.’

Philip Mulkey (Jr.) was haunted by his father’s reputation, and blamed Pendleton District’s James Chastain for digging up the ghost. Chastian, it turns out had also traveled through Tennessee and the Carolinas during the 1790s as a Separate evangelist, and knew the elder Mulkey quite well. (Mulkey witnessed a deed when Chastain purchased upcountry property in 1797. Greenville Deed book I, p. 355-6).

Mountain Creek had no jurisdiction over Chastain and his slanderous talk, but they did over Mulkey and his ill will toward Chastain, so when Mulkey confessed to being angry with and using bad language toward Chastain, the case was taken up by the church.

After restoring Mulkey in December 1812, Mountain Creek excommunicated him in September 1826, when he acknowledged his wrong at a Mountain Creek meeting. Although Mulkey took communion with a New Light congregation, he could not overcome the stigma of his father’s sins.”

(Taken from an article written by Kim Wilson on Philip Mulkey (1756-1842) and Rev. James Chastain (1740-1820), Internet.)

The Mountain Creek Baptist Church was seven miles southwest of Anderson, S. C. Name changed to Bethesda in 1821.

Philip Mullkey Jr. died in Gilmer County, Georgia, on January 31, 1842,. His body was interred in Ebenezer Baptist Church Cemetery. Mary Polly Mulkey died in 1843, at age 78, in Gilmer County, Georgia.

(5). Martha (Patty) Mulkey was born in 1756, in Halifax, Edgecomb County, North Carolina.

(6). Robert Mulkey was born in 1763, in Craven County (Union District), S. C. and died in 1778, probably in Washington County, N. C. (later Tennessee).

 

PHILIP MULKEY SR.

In January of 1782, Philiip Mulkey Sr. was one of four preachers, who constituted a new Baptist Church in Cheraw Hill, South Carolina.

His later years were sadly clouded. In 1790, he was excommunicated by the Charleston Baptist Association, and the churches warned against him for adultery, perfidy and falsehood long continued in.”

In 1795, Richard Furman wrote the following as a footnote in the Morgan Edwards (Furman Manuscript). “Oh! Lamentable. This Philip Mulkey who appeared so eminent as a Christian and minister and has appeared to be the instrument of converting a number of souls; has been now for a course of years in the practice of crimes and enormities at which humanity shudders.”

David Benedict in his A General History of the Baptist Denomination, 1856, page 707, wrote: “He began to stumble, and soon fell into many heinous sins, and remained, when an old man, an outcast from the church, and a disgrace to the precious cause of which he had been such an eminent champion.”

Ann Elllis Mulkey died in 1795. Some writers state that she died in South Carolina.

Floyd Mulkey in his article entitled, REV. PHILIP MULKEY, PIONEER BAPTIST PREACHER IN UPPER SOUTH CAROLINA, wrote: “Shortly after 1795, he (the Reverend Philip Mulkey) visited the Natchez region along the Mississippi, where his son, David, was living.

There far away from the Baptist church authorities, who had excommunicated him, he had a chance to resume his preaching a short time. The Rev. Richard Curtis, pastor of the Baptist Church in the Natchez region, had been forced to flee because of his difficulties with the Spanish authorities.

The church remained closed until it was reopened by ‘Elder Mulkey’. Orders were promptly given for the arrest of Mulkey, but the congregation resisted and proceeded to the fort to demand immunity for him and his preaching. Apparently, he was permitted to continue his service. In 1797, the territory was ceded to the United States; shortly thereafter the regular pastor returned to his parish.”

After his visit in the Natchez region, Philip Mulkey spent some time in eastern Tennessee, where his son, Jonathan, was pastor of the Buffalo Ridge Baptist Church. There is a story that he helped to celebrate the observance of a memorial service in honor of Ex-Pesident George Washington, immediately after his death on December 14, 1799.

According to this account he appeared on the same platform with his son, Jonathan, and his grandson, John, on which occasion Jonathan preached the sermon.”

Sometime after the death of his wife, Ann, he was remarried to Fanny ? . He and his second wife lived near his son, Philip Jr., in Franklin County, Georgia, in the early 1800s .

Philip Mulkey Sr. purchased 225 acres near Eastanolle and Tom’s creeks from John Roberts Jr. in 1803. Deed Book 000, pages 52-53, Franklin County, Georgia, records)

On October 10, 1803, he gave his grandson, Mark, 50 acres from the 225 acre tract. In 1809, He and his wife, Fanny, sold the remaining 175 acres of their land. (Deed Book RRR, pg. 159-160).

He probably died during the year 1810, or shortly thereafter in Franklin County, Georgia, before his son, Philip Jr., moved back to South Carolina by 1811.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

        

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

    

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

    

 

 

 

 

 

 

 PART TWO: BY ROBERT A. IVEY

ELIZABETH HENDERSON, daughter of Samuel and Elizabeth Williams Henderson, married JOHN (JACK) BECKHAM, son of William Benjamin and Phyllis Mackey Beckham, on August 12, 1761, in Oxford, Granville County, North Carolina.  (RootsWeb’sWorldConnect Project: AWT—Beckham—Ela by Timothy Beckham)

William Williams was bondsman at John Beckham’s marriage to Elizabeth Henderson.  Bond was dated August 12, 1761, and consent was given by Elizabeth Henderson, her mother.

Elizabeth was born on February 19, 1738, in Hanover County, Virginia.  John was born in Orange County, Virginia, on December 1, 1735.  (RootsWeb’s WorldConect Project: A Goode American Family—David Goode; Elizabeth “Libby” “Betty” Henderson Beckham (1738-1831)—Find a Grave Memorial—Elretta Weathers)

William Benjamin Beckham, son of William and Phillis Randolph Beckham, was born in Essex County, Virginia, January 9, 1708.  (RootsWeb’s WorldConnect Project, Entries 333301, Contact–Joann Sovelenko)

He married Phillis Mackey, daughter of John Mackey, in Essex County, Virginia, in 1725.  (RootsWeb’s WorldConnect Project: Southern Families and Beyond, Contact–Theresa Buchanan; RootsWeb’s WorldConnect Project: Compton’s Place of Georgia Connections, Contact–William Kerr)

She was born on Turkey Island, Virginia, in 1709.  (RootsWeb’s World Connect Project: Stevenson—Koenig Family Tree by Walter Stevenson)

She had a brother, John Mackey, Jr., who was a Patriot soldier during the American Revolutionary War.  (The Beginning of Beckham Families—page 10—Google)

William and Phyllis moved their family to Hanover County, Virginia, where their first child, Simon Beckham, was born in 1728, and their second child, Thomas, was born in 1729.

They were living in Orange County, Virginia, in 1730, when their son, William Beckham, Jr., was born.  Their other children: Phyllis, John and Mary were also born in this county.  (The Beginning of Beckham Families—pages 14-15—Google)

He moved his family to Granville County, North Carolina, in 1746, the year the county was formed.  He settled on Beckham’s Pigpen Branch of Fishing Creek.  (The Beginning of Beckham Families—page 12—Google)

On October 8, 1754, William Benjamin Beckham was a private in the Granville County, N. C. Militia.  The Regiment was commanded by Colonel William Eaton, and the Company was commanded by Captain Sugar Jones.  His sons, Simon, Thomas and William Jr. also served in this militia.  (The Beginning of Beckham Families—page 10—Google)

In 1760, he gave to his sons, Simon and John Beckham, 350 acres of land in Granville County, N. C., at the head of Fishing Creek.  It was part of a tract granted to him by the Earl of Granville, August 26, 1760.    Simon received 150 acres of the tract and John received 200 acres on both sides of Long Branch.  (The Beginning of Beckham Families—page 12—Google)

On June 13, 1763, William Beckham and his son, John, sold John’s 200 acres to Benjamin Kimball.  It was the tract of land in Granville County on the Long Branch that included William’s old Plantation of 200 acres.  The land was granted to William by Lord Granville on the 25 of August 1760.  (The Beginning of Beckham Families—page 13—Google)

William Benjamin’s will was signed June 4, 1776, and proven at the November court of 1777, in Granville County, N. C.  (The Beginning of Beckham Families—pages 13-14—Google)  He died in 1777, in Granville County, N. C.  (RootsWeb’s WorldConnect Project: Ashley Jo West Family Tree, Contact–Ashley West)

After the death of his wife, Phyllis, John, his son, was to receive the slave, Peter.  She died after 1777, in Granville County, N. C. (RootsWeb’s WorldConnect Project: Compton’s Place of Georgia Connections, Contact–William Kerr)

John Beckham received a grant of 400 acres of land from North Carolina in the Grindal Shoals area of what later became Union District, S. C., circa 1765.   His land was adjacent to the 300 acre grant on both sides of Pacolet River, above Carroll Shoals, that Joab Mitchell received from Mecklenburg County, N. C., on February 20, 1767.  (North Carolina Land Grants in South Carolina by Brent Holcomb, page 95)  John Beckham was a chain bearer when the plat for the above land was drawn on April 27, 1767.

John and Elizabeth’s first two children: Nathaniel and Mary Leah Beckham were born in Granville County, N. C.

Nathaniel died in 1771, while they lived on the 400 acre tract at Pacolet River.  Thus was born the Beckham cemetery that later became known as the Hodge cemetery.  John Beckham, Jr. was born in 1766, after they had moved to Pacolet River in the Carroll (Grindal) Shoals area.  (Elizabeth Henderson Beckham “1738-1831”—Find a Grave Memorial, Created by Elreeta Weathers; Alan Ray’s Genealogy Page No. 113, Generated by Personal Ancestral File)

Richard Henderson, son of Samuel and Elizabeth Williams Henderson, received grants for 1200 acres of land in the Carroll (Grindal) Shoals section of what later became Union District, S. C., in 1767 and 1768.  (North Carolina Land Grants in South Carolina by Brent Holcomb, pages 70, 140 and 156)

By 1771, or before William Henderson, brother of Elizabeth Beckham, had purchased his brother, Richard Henderson’s grants in the Carroll (Grindal) Shoals area.  (South Carolina Historical and Genealogical Magazine, Vol. 28, No. 1, April, 1927, pages 108-111, Article by B. F. Taylor on General William Henderson)

According to John H. Logan, he lived for awhile with his sister, Elizabeth, and her husband, John Beckham, while they lived on John’s 400 acre grant on both sides of the Pacolet River.  He was single at this time.  (A History of the Upper Country of South Carolina, Vol. II, page 38, by John H. Logan)

By 1775, John Beckham sold his land on the Pacolet River to William Hodge and moved to land owned by his brother-in-law, William Henderson.

An article on William Henderson, in the Twentieth Century Biographical Dictionary of Notable Americans, states that William was a merchant.  He may have established a store on his land that was later run by John Beckham Sr.   Rev. J. D. Bailey states in his History of Grindal Shoals that Beckham operated a store.

Rev. J. D. Bailey wrote: “He engaged in hunting and trapping as game was plentiful.  As a horse trainer, he was considered an expert, and paid a good deal of attention to horse racing.”

Rev. J. D. Bailey also wrote: “A short distance above the Shoals (Grindal) on the west side of the river, a spring may be seen, that is yet known as the Chisholm spring.  Here John Chisholm obtained a tract of land and settled prior to the beginning of the nineteenth century.   He was a devotee to race-horses and horse-racing.  His race tracts were long seen in the level field in front of the residence of Major Starke Sims.”

Elretta Weathers wrote: “John Beckham never wore the uniform of an American military man, but performed invaluable service in the process of winning our freedom from the British.  John was an effective scout and spy for the Colonies in South Carolina.”  None of the Patriot Militia wore a uniform.  They simply wore their hunting clothes.

During the Revolutionary War, Wade Hampton I was a member of the First South Carolina Continental Regiment.  He became a lieutenant and paymaster during 1776.  He was engaged in the Battle of Fort Sullivan at Sullivan’s Island on June 28, 1776.

Two days later the Indians attacked his family near present day Greer, S. C., and killed his father, Anthony Hampton, his mother, Anne Elizabeth Preston Hampton, his brother, Preston, and their grandson, Anthony, son of their daughter, Elizabeth Hampton, wife of James Mason Harrison Jr.  (The Venturers, The Hampton, Harrison and Earles Families of Virginia, South Carolina and Texas by Virginia Meynard, published by Southern Historical Press, 1981)

Rev. J. D. Bailey in his History of Grindal Shoals, page 47, wrote, “The marauding expeditions of the Indians began in July 1776.  They (the Indians) visited the house of Anthony Hampton and as they came up, old Mr. Hampton gave the chief a friendly grasp of the hand, but had not more than done this, when he saw his son, Preston, who was standing in the yard, fall from the fire of a gun.

The same hand that he had grasped only a moment before sent a tomahawk through his skull and immediately his wife met the same fate.  An infant grandson was dashed against the wall of the home, which was spattered with its blood and brains.  The house was set on fire and burned.  When the savages were gone the murdered Hamptons were buried in one grave near the yard.”

A History of the Jefferies Family found in the Cherokee County Library states that Nathaniel Jefferies and Wade Hampton were in the same regiment.  Though records are limited, it is possible that they both fought in the Battle of Fort Sullivan.

The story states that Nathaniel Jefferies was with Wade when he received word that his parents, brother and nephew had been killed.  Nathaniel then went with Wade to assist him in the burial of his mother, father, brother and their infant grandson.  Nathaniel offered Wade his home as a place of residence, when he was not engaged in the army.

It was not long before Wade Hampton I learned about John Beckham’s ability to train race horses.  Wade had an early love for these fine animals.  After he met Beckham, he was invited to live with him and his wife between his days in the army.

In his History of Grindal Shoals, pages 46, Rev. J. D. Bailey wrote: “Wade Hampton made his home at Beckham’s for quite a while, and figured prominently in the Grindal (Shoals) society.”

Miss S. A. Sims, in her history of Grindal Shoals on the Pacolet wrote: “Wade and John Hampton in their early youth were familiar characters about Grindal, where they came to hunt and trap for animals.  These youths were always the guests of Mrs. Beckham (Elizabeth) and her husband, John Beckham, being also fond of hunting.” (Published in the Carolina Spartan, December 1, 1894, and the Gaffney Ledger, June 2, 1918)

John H. Logan in his History of the Upper Country of South Carolina, Volume II, pages 38-30, wrote: “John Beckham was a most active Whig and fearless scout.  While Morgan (General Daniel) was encamped on Grindal’s Shoals, he kept him in constant motion, and he did valuable service.”

The Reverend James D. Bailey in his book, History of Grindal Shoals, page 54, wrote: “After the battle of Blackstock, in November, 1780, Sumter retreated towards King’s Mountain by way of Grindal Shoals. Tarleton followed in pursuit, encamping for a night at the house of Jack Beckham on Sandy Run.”

Elizabeth Ellet in her book, The Women of the American Revolution,  Vol. I, pages 295-296, wrote: “John Beckham’s wife was the sister of Colonel Henderson (William) of the continental army.  Mrs. Beckham saw for the first time this renowned officer while standing in her yard, and ordering his men to catch her poultry for supper.  She spoke civily to him, and hastened to prepare supper for him and his suite, as if they had been honored guests.

When about to leave in the morning, he ordered the house to be burnt, after being given up to pillage, but on her remonstrance, recalled the order.  All her bedding was taken, except one quilt, which would soon share the same fate.”

Rev. J. D. Bailey wrote in his, History of Grindal Shoals, page 54: “The next morning a little after sunrise he (Tarleton) and his army came to Hodge’s (William’s) house and made him a prisoner.  His provender was seized, his stock shot down and his house and fences burned to the ground.

John Beckham, the noted scout, was sitting on his horse, eating breakfast from a widow (at William Hodge’s) when Tarleton came up.”

Logan wrote: “When closely pressed by the Light Horse of Tarleton (Col. Banastre), he plunged headlong down a fearful bank into the river, and made his escape.

The spot is still well known, and often pointed out.  It was on the plantation of old William Hodge, who was also a true Whig.  A comrade named Easterwood (Lawrence), from whom the shoals take their name, was with him in this race.  Easterwood rode a big clumsy horse and was big and heavy himself.  His horse striking his foot against a log, Easterwood fell sprawling and was made a prisoner.

Beckham’s mare, a magnificent animal, soon left them in the rear.  He could have got off easier, but stopping at Hodge’s to light his pipe, (he was an incessant smoker), the British were close upon him, while he was holding the fire.  He swore he would light it before he budged a foot.  After gaining the opposite side of the Pacolet (River), he slapped his thigh, and looking back at his pursuers, ‘Shoot and be d____d,’ he cried, his pipe still in his mouth.  He is said to have done all his scouting and fighting with his pipe in his mouth.”

The house that Tarleton burned was the cabin that John Beckham had built, and where his family had lived until he sold the land to William Hodge in 1775.  In the Union County Will Abstracts book by Brent Holcomb, page 17, August 27, 1784, is found the following:

“Personally appeared John Hodge and John Grindal Senr. Before J. Thompson, J. P. and state that they saw John Beckham of Ninety Six District in the year 1775 or 76 deliver to William Hodge of Pacolet River and said district, a lease and release for 400 acres, being the plantation whereon William Hodge now lives.”

William Hodge had lost the title to his property when Tarleton burned his house.  The lease and release prove that Hodge was living in the house that John Beckham had built.

Elizabeth Ellet, in her Women of the American Revolution, Vol. I, page 296, wrote: “At another time Mrs. Beckham went to Granby, eighty miles distant, for a bushel of salt, which she brought home on the saddle under her.  The guinea appropriated for the purchase, was concealed in the hair braided on the top of her head.”

A biographical account of Elizabeth Beckham was written in the American Monthly Magazine, Vol. 19, p. 67.  The magazine was produced by the Daughters of the American Revolution.  The names of four of her children were mentioned: John, Susan, Elizabeth, and Henrietta.

The Reverend J. D. Bailey, in his History of Grindal Shoals, page 24, wrote that when the war was over “Wade Hampton I, who had spent much time in the Beckham home, gave him employment as a trainer of (his) race horses.”

On June 18, 1785, Lawrence Easterwood of Ninety Six District (now Union County, S. C.) sold John Beckham 200 acres of land on the south side of Pacolet River for 100 pounds sterling.  It was above the place where Zachariah Bullock was then living.  He sold this property to Robert Thompson on May 13, 1787.  (Union County, South Carolina, Deed Abstracts, Vol. I, pages 19 & 48, by Brent Holcomb)

He and his wife, Elizabeth, sold a plantation originally belonging to William Marchbanks to Moses Wright on April 29, 1789.  (Union County, South Carolina, Deed Abstracts, Vol. I, page 69, by Brent Holcomb)

John Beckham Sr. sold a 50 acre tract of land, on the north side of Pacolet River, to Joseph Cowen on July 9, 1791.  The land was originally granted to Joab Mitchell and was conveyed by him to John Beckham.  (Union County, South Carolina, Deed Abstracts, Vol. I, page 114, by Brent Holcomb)

There is no deed abstract recorded that refers to William Henderson giving any land to the Beckhams.  Apparently, there must have been a document written before the will was made, giving title to the Beckhams for 200 acres.  It was never recorded but was made a part of the settlement of William Henderson’s estate.  John Beckham must have sought the sale of the land, which his son purchased.

In Union County, South Carolina, Deed Abstracts, Vol. 4, pages 167-168, by Brent Holcomb, is found the following: John Henderson and Douglas Stark, executors of William Henderson, deceased, one of Ninety Six District, and the other in the District of Camden, for 100 pounds sterling, on December 14, 1791, sold John Beckham Jr. of Ninety Six District, a 200 acre tract on Big Sandy Run, a branch of Pacolet River.

The property was opposite to the mouth of Beckham’s Spring Branch, and included the plantation “whereon John Beckham Sr. now lives”.  The transaction was witnessed by John Haile and John Sanders.  It was proven by the oath of John Sanders in a court in Claeborn County, Tennessee, on August 2, 1825.”

The writer does not fully understand the statement that appeared in the Union County, South Carolina, Deed Abstracts, Vol. I, page 208, by Brent Holcomb:

“John Henderson Esq’r. of Union County, executor of William Henderson deceased, bound to Susannah Beckham, Nancy Beckham, Henrietta Beckham and Terese Beckham, daughters of John Beckham Senr., in the penal sum of 500 pounds sterling, 5 Sept 1797, never to claim any part of the land given by William Henderson deceased, 200 acres, ‘whereon John Beckham now lives’.  Witnessed by Stephen Heard and Adam Potter.”

This was probably written and made a part of the settlement to keep the daughters from making any claims to the land given to the Beckhams by William Henderson.

According to Union Country, South Carolina, Deed Abstracts, Vol. II, page 164, John Beckham Sr. was still living on March 17, 1807.  Henry Fernandes sold a tract of 44 acres granted to him on May 3, 1802, to John Jefferies.  This transaction took place in March of 1807, and the land was adjacent to land belonging to John Beckham.  This indicates that Beckham was still living at this time.

In John Haile Sr.’s will he left an old tract to his sons, Samuel and John, that was adjacent to Mrs. Beckham’s.  The will was written

on August 15th of 1807, and this indicates that John Beckham was deceased at this time.  (Union County Will Abstracts, page 96, by Brent Holcomb, Will of John Haile)

On October 8, 1808, Elizabeth, John Beckham’s widow, purchased 200 acres on Little Sandy Run, waters of Pacolet River, from Peter Howard of Greenville, S. C., for $100.00.  It was known by the name of Peter Howard’s old place.  (Union County, South Carolina, Deed Abstracts, Vol. 2, page 211, by Brent Holcomb)

The tract of land was originally settled by Peter Howard and his wife, Sarah Ann Portman.  Peter was the son of Alexander Howard and Joanna Trippels and was born in 1738, in Spotsylvania County, Virginia.  (RootsWeb’s WorldConnect Project: Hendricks and Related Families, Contact–Timothy Hendricks)

He married Sarah Ann, daughter of John and Hannah Sheffield Portman, circa 1759.  She was born circa 1740.  (RootsWeb’s World Connect Project: Descendants of Richard Bray of New England, Contact–Mary Foster Ludvigsen)

John Portman Sr., son of Richard and Elinour Rice Portman, was born May 9, 1703, in Bromyard, Herefordshire, England.  He married  Hannah Sheffield, daughter of William and Margaret ? Sheffield.  She was born in 1706, in Stoke Lacey, Herefordshire, England.   (RootsWeb’s WorldConnect Project: Carter To Charlemagne; RootsWeb’s World Connect Project: James Jones and Sons, Bootmakers of Alfrick)

John Portman Sr. received a 200-acre grant of land from Mecklenburg County, N. C., on both sides of the Pacolet River on March 15, 1765.  He received another grant for 200 acres on March 15, 1766, on Island Creek. (North Carolina Land Grants in South Carolina, page 103, by Brent Holcomb)

He, his wife and family were among the early settlers of Carroll (Grindal) Shoals community.    He moved to South Carolina from Pennsylvania.  (A History of Kentucky Baptists, Vol. II, by J. H. Spencer, page 583)

His son, John Portman Jr., married Sarah McWhorter, daughter of John McWhorter Sr. and his wife, Eleanor Brevard McWhorter, circa 1770.  (RootsWeb’s World Connect Project: Geer Ancestry, Contact– Samuel Taylor Geer)

He was a Patriot soldier in the American Revolutionary War and fought in the Battle of Kings Mountain.  He served under Col. John Thomas.  (Roster of South Carolina Patriots in the American Revolution, page 780, by Bobby Gilmer Moss; A History of Kentucky Baptists, Vol. II, by J. H. Spencer, page 583)

He, with his father, moved their families to Christian County, Kentucky, in the latter 1790s.  His grandson, Jesse Coffee Portman, was “one of the most popular and efficient preachers that ever labored in his part of the state (Kentucky).”  Jesse Coffee preached in the South Kentucky Baptist Association.  (A History of Kentucky Baptists by J. H. Spencer, Vol. 2, page 583)

John Portman Jr. was the brother of Peter Howard’s wife, Sarah Ann Portman.

Peter Howard knew the settlers of old Carroll (Grindal) Shoals and purchased land on Tyger River from Nicholas Jasper of Grindal Shoals on September 17, 1786.  (Spartanburg County/District South Carolina, Deed Abstracts, 1785-1827, page 7, by Albert Bruce Pruitt)

His wife was related to the Portmans of the Sandy Run area of Union District, S. C.  They were living in Greenville District, S. C. in 1790.  (1790 federal census of South Carolina)

Peter’s son, Thomas, served as a Patriot soldier in the American Revolutionary War, serving under Col. Benjamin Roebuck.  (Roster of South Carolina Patriots in the American Revolution, page 466, by Bobby Gilmer Moss)

Peter’s brother, John Howard, was born in 1728, in Spotsylvania County, Virginia.  He left Virginia, with his brothers, Peter and Alexander, and traveled to Granville County, N. C. (John Howard—Find A Grave Memorial—Google)

He married Avis ? in 1758, in Amelia County, Virginia.  They left Amelia County, moved to North Carolina, and then to South Carolina.

“While in a wagon train from North Carolina to South Carolina, they were attacked by Indians and many of the settlers were killed.  Avis was scalped, but the Indian, in pulling up her long hair, cut only the hair and the skin of the scalp, and did not break the skull.  She lived, but always had a bald spot on the top of her head, which she covered with a cap.”  (Family History & Genealogy Messages: Who was Avis, wife of John Howard—Amelia—Google)

John inherited land from his brother, Alexander Howard Jr., in Granville County, N. C., and sold it on May 14, 1768.  He moved from Granville County to Craven County, S. C., prior to February 11, 1767.  He received a grant for 350 acres of land on July 2, 1768, in Craven County, S. C.  It was “situated, lying & being on a branch of Enoree River”.  This land was in what later became Laurens District, S. C.  (John Howard–1728-1818—Find a Grave Memorial—Google)

He was a Patriot soldier in the Amercian Revolutionary War and was the great, great, great, great grandfather of the writer.  He enlisted during August of 1775 in the Charleston, S. C., Volunteer Militia and fought under Captain Charles Drayton (Patriot Index Supplement).

(Roster of South Carolina Patriots in the American Revolution, page 466, by Bobby Gilmer Moss.

He was a private in Lt. McCullough’s Company and was in Col. Archibald McDonald’s Light Dragoons.  He fought in the Battle of Fort Sullivan and was at the Fall of Charleston for 75 days.  (American Revolution Roster, Fort Sullivan—1776-1780—Fort Sullivan Chapter, Daughters of the American Revolution, page 184)

“He moved his family from Laurens District to Greenville District in South Carolina, and was living in Greenville District by 1790, or before.  (1790 federal census of South Carolina)

John Howard lived in the Simpsonville area of Greenville District, S. C.  He received a land grant for 100 acres in Simpsonville, Greenville District in 1793.  “He was a very prosperous planter, owning over 2,000 acres of land in and around what is now Simpsonville, S. C., during his life time.

John and Avis were on the roll of Brushy Creek Baptist Church, Greenville District, in 1800.  In 1804, John and Avis were on the roll of the Clear Spring Baptist Church in Greenville District.”  (John Howard–1728-1818–Find a Grave Memorial—Google)

John and Peter were sons of Alexander and Johanna Trepples Howard.

John H. Logan, in his book, A History of the Upper Country of South Carolina, Vol. II, pages 38-39, wrote: “He (John Beckham) lies buried on Hodge’s plantation.”  William Rice Feaster, in his book, Union County, S. C., page 18, states that he died in the Santuc section of Union District.  There was no Santuc community until circa 1891, so this area could have been considered a part of the Brown’s Creek section.

John Beckham and his wife, Elizabeth, may have been visiting with their daughter, Molly, and her husband, James Clayton Stribling, when he died in 1807.

“She died on August 17, 1831, and was buried by her husband (and children) in the Hodge graveyard.  (RootsWeb’s WorldConnect Project: Russell-Jones-Wallace-Tressler-Olmsted, Contact—Linda Smith; Elizabeth “Libby” “Betty” Henderson Beckham—1738-1831—Find A Grave Memorial, Contact–Elreeta Weathers, Google)

The Beckham’s only (living) son (John Beckham Jr.) removed to Kentucky and his daughters (those who lived to maturity) married and moved to the west.”  (A History of the Upper Country of South Carolina, Vol. II, page 39, by John H. Logan)

A couple of writers speak of John Beckham as “a ne’er-do-well”.

This writer does not agree with this statement.  Let’s ask General William Henderson, his brother-in-law, who was given a place to stay by Beckham in his younger unmarried days, if he thought Beckham was “a ne’er-do-well”.

Let’s ask Colonel Wade Hampton who was given a place to live at the Beckhams after his parents’ untimely deaths, if he thought John Beckham was “a ne’er-do-well”.

Let’s ask General Daniel Morgan who was dependant on Beckham’s information about the movements of Col. Banaster Tarleton, if he thought John Beckham was “a ne’er-do-well”.

Bailey wrote: “Some time after her husband’s death she (Elizabeth), in looking over his accounts, found that something was due her from Wade Hampton.  She resolved to visit him and see what he would do for her.

Her family and friends advised against it; that Hampton was now a very rich and distinguished man living in grand style in Columbia (S. C.).  The old lady said, ‘she would trust him,’ that she had known Wade in his youth; her house was then open to him, and she could not believe that he would forsake her now.

So mounting ‘Derrick’, her faithful old horse, she set off to Columbia all alone.  She made the trip and returned safely.  The family, eager to hear the result of her visit, gathered around her.

Mrs. Beckham was delighted.  ‘How did he receive you?’ she was asked.  ‘Receive me! he received me as if I had been a queen; nothing in his grand house was too good for Mrs. Beckham.  Child, I was put in a fine chamber with a great mahogany bedstead covered with a canopy, and so high that there were steps to climb into it, and they were carpeted.  He paid me, and more than paid me.’

It is probable that this heroic old lady returned with more money in her pocket than she had had in many a day.  (History of Grindal  Shoals, pages 25-26, by Rev. J. D. Bailey)

According to Elreeta Weathers, the Beckhams had fifteen children, five sons and ten daughters:

(1). Nathaniel Beckham was born July 10, 1762; Died March 24, 1771.

(2). Mary Leah Beckham was born December 28, 1763; Died November 23, 1777.

(3). John Beckham Jr. was born June 6, 1766; Died 1849.

(4). Mary (Molly) Beckham was born June 10, 1768; Died May 26, 1859.

(5). Elizabeth Beckham was born June 24, 1771.

(6). Phyllis Beckham was born April 24, 1773; Died June 9, 1779.

(7). Susanna (Susan) Beckham was born April 13, 1775; Still living in 1797.

(8). Ann Beckham was born December 2, 1777.

(9). Henrietta Beckham was born October 10, 1779; Not married until after 1797.  Died January 12, 1862.

(10). Theresa (Trecy) Beckham was born October 5, 1781.  She was still living in 1797, and unmarried at this time.

Children with no dates given, nor order of birth:

(11). Sarah Beckham.

(12). Nancy Beckham.  Still living in 1797.

(13). Simon Beckham.

(14). Thomas Beckham.

(15). William Beckham.

(Elizabeth “Libby” “Betty” Henderson Beckham–1738-1831—Find A Grave Memorial—Created by: Elreeta Weathers, Google)

Children still living in 1797:

John Beckham Jr., Mary (Molly) Beckham, Susanna (Susan) Beckham, Henrietta Beckham, Theresa Beckham and Nancy Beckham.

Four sons and five daughters had already been buried in the Beckham-Hodge cemetery at this time: Nathaniel, Mary Leah, Elizabeth, Phyllis, Ann, Sarah, Simon, Thomas and William.

Mary (Molly) Beckham and John Beckham, Jr. were married before 1797.

Susanna, Henrietta, Theresa and Nancy were mentioned in 1797, in a deed abstract.  These daughters were not married at this time.  (Union County, South Carolina, Deed Abstracts, Vol. I, page 208)

The writer has marriage records of only one of these daughters.  No additional information was available from the databases.

All but six of their children died very early and were buried in the Beckham-Hodge cemetery.   The writer believes that the rocked walled section of the Hodge cemetery probably contains the Beckham burials and early Hodges.  It was first known as the Beckham cemetery for several Beckhams were buried there before John Beckham sold the property to William Hodge.

JOHN BECKHAM JR., son of John and Elizabeth Henderson Beckham, was born at Carroll (Grindal) Shoals June 6, 1766.

(Alan Ray’s Genealogy, page 113, generated by Personal
Ancestral File, Google)

He married Rachel Susan Moseley, daughter of John and Ann Abernathy Moseley, in 1791, at Grindal Shoals.  She was born circa 1776, in Union District, S. C.  (Susan was born too early to be the child of Baxter and Henrietta Fowler Moseley; RootsWeb’s WorldConnect Project: Dr.)

Her family had originally lived in Ninety Six District, (later Union District, S. C.) but sold their property in January of 1776, and several months later moved to Chester District, S. C.  They had returned to what was later called Union District, possibly by 1780.  (Union County Deed Book A, pp. 322-323; Union County Deed Book E, pp. 107-111; James Moseley’s Pension Application No. S9421)

In RootsWeb: BECKHAM-L ARCHIVES, Jack Beckham Jr.: Jack Duke wrote: “In 1791, John Jr. began operating a store at Grindal Shoals in partnership with Monecrieff & MacBeth.  This store may have been first run by his father.  By 1793, John Jr. and his partners were having trouble.  They brought a suit against John in 1793, which lasted for a number of years, and stated that he refused to keep proper accounts, and that he was planning to run out on them.” 

 

The official name of his business was: Beckham and Company. (Union County, South Carolina, Minutes of the County Court, page 472)

ALEXANDER MACBETH AND COMPANY

John Beckham Jr.’s partners were merchants: Alexander Macbeth, a merchant in Union District, S. C., and John Moncrieff, a merchant in Charleston, S. C.  (Union County, South Carolina, Will Abstracts,

1787-1849, page 102)

Their firm name was: Alexander Macbeth and Company.  (Union County, South Carolina, Deed Abstracts, Vol. I, page 77 (B, 315-317)

Alexander Macbeth was born in Drumduan, Auldearn, Nairn, Scotland on December 10, 1749.  He arrived in Charleston, S. C., on the Ship Olive Branch from London, December 21, 1784.  He made several trips to London.  On October 29, 1785, he proposed a plan for the Santee Canal.  (RootsWeb’s WorldConnect Project, Alexander Macbeth, Contact—Mary Megeaski)

He was living in Union District, S. C., in 1789, or before, where he established his company.  On January 12, 1789, his company purchased a ½ acre lot in Union Court House from John McCool

and Jane, his wife.  (Union County, South Carolina, Deed Abstracts, Vol. I, page 77)

On Monday, December 28, 1789, his company made an application to the Union District Court for a retail license to sell Spiritous Liquors.    Macbeth and Company received their license to retail Spirituous Liquors from the Court.  Their Tavern was on lot No. 45 in the city of Unionville S. C.  (Union County, South Carolina, Minutes of the County Court, December 28, 1789, pages 234-235; Union County, South Carolina, Deed Abstracts, Vol. I., page 155, by Brent Holcomb)

 

Macbeth and Company also had retail outlets in Spartanburg and Greenville, S. C.  In an internet article on Descendants of William Grant, it states that he built a two story frame house and other buildings in Rutherfordton, N. C., which he financed with a mortgage from Alexander Macbeth and Company, merchant, in Spartanburg, S. C. (Family Tree Maker’s Genealogy Site: User Home Page, Genealogy Report Descendants, page 2, Google)

The Macbeth Company lent money to the farmers in the area for their farming operations.  They also assisted small business and became their partners.  The Hernandis’ and Beckham’s stores in Grindal Shoals area were two such places of business that had their assistance.

Alexander Macbeth and John Moncrieff purchased nine lots in the city of Union from Capt. Nicholas Jasper on November 11, 1795.  Each lot contained ½ acre.   The lots were originally granted to John McCool and conveyed  to said Nicholas Jasper by deed.  (Union County, South Carolina, Deed Abstracts, Vol. I, pages 181-182, by Brent Holcomb)

Alexander’s brother, John, who also lived in Union District, S. C., assisted his brother in his enterprises.  There is an Alexander Macbeth store ledger for 1794, in the Greenville County Library System’s South Carolina Room.

Since John married Martha Townes, daughter of William B. and Obedience Allen Townes of Greenville, S. C., it is possible that he married her while overseeing their operation in Greenville.  They lived in Union District, S. C., after their marriage.  (RootsWeb’s WorldConnect Project, Martha Townes, Contact—Mary Megeaski)

Their son, Col. Robert Macbeth, served as sheriff of Union District, S. C., four different five year terms and one 13 year term for a total of thirty three years.  He was a Confederate veteran.  He died May 6, 1891, and was buried beside his uncle, Alexander, in the Presbyterian cemetery of Union, S. C., in a marked grave.

(RootsWeb’s World Connect Project: Robert Macbeth, Contact—Mary Megeaski; Union County Sheriffs by Mrs. Rae Hawkins from Union County Jail Books, Google;  Union County Cemeteries, compiled and edited by Mrs. E. D. Whaley Sr., page 150)

John’s wife, Martha Townes, died in May of 1809, in Union, S. C., and was buried in the Village Cemetery.   After the death of his first wife, John married Rachel Young.

John died August 16, 1843, in Unionville, S. C.  (RootsWeb’s WorldConnect Project: Martha Townes, Contact—Mary Megeaski; RootsWeb’s WorldConnect Project, John Macbeth, Contact–Mary Megeaski; Union County, South Carolina, Will Abstracts, 1787-1840, page 149)

Alexander’s brother, James, remained in Charleston, S. C., and had a partnership with Robert Henry and Henry Ker, merchants in that city.  They made several loans in Union District, S. C.  (Union County, South Carolina, Deed Abstracts, Vol. II, page 35)

James married Catherine Johnston, daughter of Charles and Mary Mackenzie Johnston, on April 3, 1798, in Charleston, S. C.  He was a Director of the S. C. Insurance Company and was a member of a Committee on Education of the St. Andrews Society.  (RootsWeb’s WorldConnect Project, James Macbeth, Contact–Mary Megeaski; RootsWeb’s WorldConnect Project: Catherine Johnston, Contact—Mary Megeaski)

Their son, James, married Mary Vanderhorst Barksdale, eldest daughter of Thomas and Serena Payne Barksdale.  James and Mary inherited Youghal plantation in Mount Pleasant, S. C.  James changed the name to Oakland.  He was a cotton broker at Exchange Warf and a merchant at Vanderhorst Warf.  He died on December 17, 1872, and was buried at Youghall (Oakland) plantation.

(RootsWeb’s WorldConnect Project: James Macbeth Jr., Contact—Mary Megeaski; RootsWeb’s WorldConnect Project: Mary Vanderhorst Barksdale, Contact—Mary Megeaski; South Carolina Plantation—Mount Pleasant, Charleston County, S.C., page 2, Google)

James Sr. died on June 26, 1821, and was buried at the First Scots Presbyterian cemetery in Charleston, S. C.  (RootsWeb’s WorldConnect Project: James Macbeth Sr., Contact—Mary Megeaski)

John Moncrieff, Alexander’s partner, was born in Scotland.  He was

a merchant from Perthshire, who settled in Charleston, S. C., in 1772.  He was a Loyalist in 1775, during the American Revolutionary War.  He died on May 12, 1821, in Charleston and was buried in the Old Scots Church cemetery.  (Scots in the Carolinas, 1680-1830, Vol. II, by David Dobson)

Alexander Macbeth, son of Alexander and Isabel Isobel Peterkin Macbeth, was never married. (RootsWeb’s WorldConnect Project: Ray Stephens–1107, page 1)

He died June 1, 1819, in Charleston, S. C.  His will was written on April 10, 1819, and probated in Union District, S. C.  He was buried in the Presbyterian cemetery in the city of Union, S. C., and his grave was marked.

He left his plantation on each side of the Fairforest Creek, with the mills, to his brother, John.  He left several slaves to children of John.

“The residue of my estate both real and personal, that in my own private name, and that in which I am one half concerned with John Moncrieff of Charleston, to my brothers, James and John, both of South Carolina, and four sisters: Elizabeth, Jennett, Mary and Henrietta, all in that part of Great Britain called Scotland.” 

He left his gold watch “to my friend Alexander Hay”.  James Macbeth of Charleston, S. C., and John Macbeth and Alexander Hay of Union District, were selected as his executors.  William White, James Berry and John Macbeth, were witnesses to his will.  (Union County, South Carolina, Will Abstracts, 1787-1849, page 102)

Alexander Hay was born in the Parish of Aubdearn, Nairnshire, Scotland, on December 14, 1770.  He and Henry Fernandis witnessed a transaction between John McDonald and Alexander Macbeth and Company, on May 7, 1796.  The land mortgaged was 100 acres on the branches of Brown’s Creek.  (Union County, South Carolina, Deed Abstracts, Vol. I, pages 182-183, by Brent Holcomb)

Hay probably married after coming to Union District, S. C.  His son, Alexander Jr., was born on October 1, 1806.  His gravestone states that the son was born in Scotland, but this is probably inaccurate.  (Directory of Scots in the Carolinas, 1680-1830, by David Dobson, Google Books)

Name of his wife is unknown to this writer.  He was naturalized and became a citizen of this country on March 12, 1810.  (Naturalization, Union County, South Carolina, Genealogy Trails, page 1)

Alexander established a post office in Cedar Grove of Union District, S. C., on March 20, 1824, and was its first postmaster.  (All Known SC Post Offices, 1785-1971, Google)

Alexander died on August 16, 1837, and his son, Alexander Jr., died August 28, 1838.  They were both buried in the Holcombe Cemetery in Union District, S. C., and their graves were marked.  (Union Country Cemeteries, compiled and edited by Mrs. E. D. Whaley Sr., Holcombe Cemetery, page 77; South Carolina Historical Society, Macbeth Family Papers, 1810-1854, SCHS 1066.00, Container 11/272)

 

(The South Carolina Historical Society has a collection of letters regarding the Macbeth and Hay families.  There are letters of James Macbeth of Charleston to Alexander Hay and John Macbeth of Union District.  There are also letters regarding the Hay family.)

JOHN BECKHAM JR.’S FIRST COUSIN, BETSY HENDERSON

John Beckham Jr.’s first cousin, Betsy Henderson, married Henry Fernandis.  Fernandis also opened a store at Grindal Shoals.  J. D. Bailey in his History of Grindal Shoals, page 33, wrote:  “Alexander Macbeth, discovering that Fernandis possessed high qualifications as a business man, set him up in a mercantile business.  Hard times and reverses came on, and he failed.  Prosperous times having come, he reopened the store at the Shoals.”

 

John Beckham Jr. purchased a slave, named Peter, on April 4, 1791, for 65 guineas from his father.  Peter was about 30 years of age at the time.  This was the slave that William Beckham had left to his wife, Phillis.  Peter was to be given to John Beckham Sr. following the death of his mother.

This transaction was proven by Benjamin Haile on January 17, 1802, before B. Birdsong, J. P.  (Union County, South Carolina, Deed Abstracts, Vol. II, pages 26-27, by Brent Holcomb)

He bought 385 acres of land on the south side of the Pacolet River from Nicholas Murry on January 11, 1793.  This land was adjacent to lands owned by William Hames, John Foster and William Gossett.

He purchased a sorrel steed horse named, Kimmas, from Nicholas Murry for 30 pounds sterling on June 1, 1793.  (Union County, South Carolina, Deed Abstracts, Vol. I, page 125, by Brent Holcomb)

On May 3, 1794, he bought 93 acres of land on the north side of the Pacolet River from Benajah Thompson  for 40 pounds.  The land was adjacent to lands belonging to: Robert Chesney, John Watson and Benajah Thompson.  (Union County, South Carolina, Deed Abstracts, Vol. II, page 36, by Brent Holcomb)

John Watson sold him 13 acres on the north side of Pacolet River on December 10, 1794, for 13 pounds sterling.  (Union County, South Carolina, Deed Abstracts, Vol. II, page 37, by Brent Holcomb)

Robert Chesney Jr. sold John Beckham Jr. 350 acres on Pacolet River, part of a tract granted to Robert Chesney Sr.  It was the part where Robert Chesney Jr. lived and was adjacent to land owned by Alexander Purdy.  (Union County, South Carolina, Deed Abstracts, Vol. II, pages 37-38, by Brent Holcomb)

He bought 150 acres of land from Thomas Hobson Thompson on October 5, 1795, on the north side of Pacolet River.  (Union County South Carolina, Deed Abstracts, Vol. II, page 38, by Brent Holcomb)

John Beckham Sr., Ellis Fowler and Capt. John Pridmore were appointed to appraise the Estate of John Jasper Sr. on November 16, 1799.  (Union County, South Carolina, Minutes of the County Court, page 522, by Brent Holcomb)

John Jr. purchased a tract of land originally granted to John Thompson.  The property, 560 acres, was conveyed to him on April 26, 1798, by John Henderson, Sheriff.  He sold this land to Henry Fernandis on October 30, 1799.  (Union County, South Carolina, Deed Abstracts, Vol. II, page 260, by Brent Holcomb)

He sold 200 acres of land granted to him on October 6, 1794, on the north side of Pacolet River, to Dr. Thomas Hancock, February 4, 1804.  The property was on the dividing ridge between Pacolet River and Thicketty Creek and was adjacent to lands belonging to Thomas Cook.  (Union County, South Carolina, Deed Abstracts, Vol. II, page 110, by Brent Holcomb)

John Jr. moved his family to Warren County, Kentucky, in 1805.  While a resident of this state, he sold 679 acres in Union District, S. C., to Thomas Murray on June 1, 1805.   The land was granted to him and James Phillips on February 26, 1805.  The transaction was witnessed by Elijah Dawkins and Samuel Stone.  (Union County, South Carolina, Deed Abstracts, Vol. II, page 112, by Brent Holcomb)

John Beckham Jr. was a Surveyor and Civil Engineer in Kentucky.  He engaged in farming and surveying, laying out both roads from Bowling Green to Glasgow.  (RootsWeb’s WorldConnect Project: Toth Covell History, Contact—Timothy Toth; Alan Ray’s Genealogy Page No. 113, Generated by Personal Ancestral File # 3380)

John Jr. and his family lived in both Warren and Barren counties in Kentucky.  (Allan Ray’s Genealogy, Page 113, Generated by Ancestral File, Google)

They had ten children, five sons and five daughters.  Their first three children: William M.; John; and Nathaniel Henderson Beckham were born at Grindal Shoals.  (RootsWeb’s WorldConnect Project: Hoosier Pioneers)

Their last seven children were born in Kentucky: Elizabeth; Cayton Stribling; Samuel Henderson; Pleasant Henderson; Teressa; Arrency; and Susan Beckham.  (Alan Ray’s Genealogy Page No. 113, Generated by Personal Ancestral File)

John Beckham Jr. sold 280 acres of land to Aaron McCollum of Union District, S. C., on both sides of Big Sandy Run, opposite the mouth of Beckham’s Spring Branch, October 14, 1825. Purchase price was $1400.00.  He was living in Warren County, Kentucky, at the time of the sale.  This sale included his father’s home place. (Union County, South Carolina, Deed Abstracts, Vol. IV, page 178, by Brent Holcomb)

John Jr. died in Harrison, Warren County, Kentucky, in October of 1849, and Rachel Susan Moseley Beckham died in Warren County, Kentucky, in 1850.  (RootsWeb’s WorldConnect Project: A Goode American Family, Contact—David Goode)

MARY (MOLLY) BECKHAM, daughter of John and Elizabeth Henderson Beckham, was born on July 10, 1768, at Carroll (Grindal) Shoals, S. C., in Ninety Six District.  She married James Clayton Stribling, son of Thomas and Ann Kincheloe Stribling, on November 11, 1787, in Union District, S. C.   (Mary “Molly” Beckham Stribling, 1768-1859, Find A Grave Memorial, Google)

James Clayton Stribling was born January 9, 1762, in Prince William County, Virginia, and was the third child of Thomas and Ann Kincheloe Stribling.  (RootsWeb’s WorldConnect Project: My Family Branches, Contact—Ed Elam; Nancy Ann Kincheloe Stribling, 1731-1822, Find A Grave Memorial, Contact—Jeanette Lea)

His parents moved from Virginia to the Sandy Run area of Grindal Shoals, S. C., circa 1778.  They were living at Berryville, Frederick County, Virginia, when they moved to South Carolina.  Their youngest daughter, Nancy Ann, was born in the Grindal Shoals area of what later became Union District, S. C. (Stribling Genealogy, Google; Thomas Stribling II, Google; RootsWeb’s WorldConnect Project: Forrester & Watts, VA>TN>AR>TX>OK>CA, Contact—Bob Foster)

On April 9th and 10th of 1785, Thomas Stribling II of Ninety Six District purchased 300 acres of land on a small branch of Broad River called Brown’s Creek from Samuel Farrow of the same district.  His son, Clayton, probably lived on his Brown’s Creek lands.  (Union County, South Carolina, Deed Abstracts, Vol. I, page 2, by Brent Holcomb)

At a Union County Court on June 26, 1786, Thomas Stribling II petitioned the court for a License to keep a Tavern or public House and offered Joseph Hughes and William Johnson, as his Securities.  It was approved by the court, and he obtained a License.  (Union County, South Carolina, Minutes of the County Court, 1785-1799, page 52, by Brent Holcomb)

He lived on the eastside of Sandy Run Creek and received a grant for this land on June 6, 1791.  (Union County, South Carolina, Deed Abstracts, Vol. I, page 252, by Brent Holcomb)

Thomas Stribling II, and his, wife, Nancy Ann Kincheloe Stribling, moved with their son, Thomas Stribling III, and his family to Old

Pendleton District, S. C.

Thomas II died in Old Pendleton District on March 17, 1819.  He wrote his will on September 24, 1818, and it was proved June 7, 1819.  He left a portion of his estate to his son, Clayton.  His wife, Nancy, died in Old Pendleton District, S. C., December 2, 1822.  (Stribling Genealogy, Google; Thomas Stribling II, 1730-1819, Find A Grave Memorial, Google)

Clayton was a Patriot soldier in the American Revolutionary War.  He served one tour of duty in Virginia, before moving to South Carolina, and several tours of duty in South Carolina.  He enlisted in S. C., on February 3, 1779, and served under Capts. Joshua Palmer, Benjamin Jolly, Joseph Hughes and Col. Thomas Brandon.  (Taliaferro: Message RE “Taliaferro” James Clayton Stribling, Google; Roster of South Carolina Patriots in the American Revolution, page 903, by Bobby Gilmer Moss)

William E. Cox in his book, Battle of King’s Mountain Participants,

King’s Mountain Military Park, 1972, states that Clayton Stribling fought in the Battle of Kings Mountain.

Dr. Bobby Moss in his book, The Patriots of Cowpens, page 223, states that Clayton fought in the battle of Cowpens.

“Clayton made application for a pension in Union District on December 5, 1828.  In a part of his testimony he stated that: “In an engagement near Stidhouse Mill at Brandon’s Defeat, while in the service of my country, I was wounded in the head by a ball, which said wound deprived me of my senses for a considerable time and destroyed the organ of hearing in one ear from that day to the present moment.”

“He also spoke of the loss of ‘his horse, saddle, bridle and a good rifle gun, worth about eighty to one hundred dollars.’  He stated that he had four slaves, some land, stock and some kitchen and household goods, but was unable because of his advanced age and the suffering from his war injuries, to work.

John Rogers certified that ‘Mr. Clayton Stribling was a Gentleman of high respectablity and entitled to the fullest confidence.’  He offered affidavits from William Sartor, E. Y. Farr and Elizabeth Young concerning services rendered.” (Taliaferro: Message RE “Taliaferro” James Clayton Stribling, Google)

Clayton and Mary (Molly) Beckham Stribling had twelve children: six sons and six daughters.  (Mary “Molly” Beckham Stribling, “1768-1859”, Find a Grave Memorial, Google)

Clayton died at his residence in Brown’s Creek of Union District, S. C., on March 11, 1831.  (My Griffin Family “Past and Present” Information about James Clayton Stribling, Google)

Molly applied for a widow’s pension on October 22, 1840, in Union District (W6208), S. C., while living on Brown’s Creek and was granted a pension on her application.

“Personally appeared Major Joseph McJunkin of the District & State aforesaid before me and made oath that he knew Clayton Stribling, deceased, in the service of his country in the time of the revolution, that he continued to know him from the close of the war until the day of his death.

On March 1, 1841, while living in Neshoba County, Mississippi, the widow (Molly) filed for the transfer of her pension benefit to the Mississippi agency stating that she has moved to Mississippi because the greater part of her children had moved West and more particularly on account of her youngest daughter having removed to the state of Mississippi, and she broke up house and came with her daughter.”

She actually moved to Mississippi with her next to youngest daughter, Mary Leah Stribling, and Mary’s husband and cousin, James Madison Stribling.  (RootsWeb’s WorldConnect Project: Fisher and Grimes Ancestors, Contact—John Merrill Fisher; RootsWeb’s WorldConnect Project: Alleys, Striblings and Thousands of Others, Contact—Suzanne Alley Wilson)

Molly was granted a pension at the rate of $34.88 per annum commencing March 4, 1848.

“On April 26, 1855, while living in Neshoba County, Mississippi, the widow (Molly), giving her age as 87, filed for her bounty land entitlement as the widow of Clayton Stribling.”  She was granted 160 acres.”  (Southern Campaign American Revolution Pension Statements & Roster, Transcribed by Will Graves)

“Mary (Molly) Beckham Stribling died August 26, 1859, aged 91 years, 1 month and 16 days.  ‘She was a faithful member of the
Baptist Church for 57 years.’  Burial was in New Harmony Baptist  Church Cemetery, Philadelphia, Neshoba County, Mississippi.”  (Mary Molly Beckham Stribling-Photo-McKleroy/McElroy/MackKleroy Web Site, pages 1-2, Google)

James Clayton Stribling and his brother, Thomas III, were third cousins of President James Madison. (Capt. Thomas Stribling III, “1763-1825”—Find A Grave Memorial, Google)

Clayton’s brother, Thomas Stribling III, was born April 9, 1763, in  William County, Virginia.  (RootsWeb’s WorldConnect Project: McCollum Family, Contact—Davis McCollum)

He served as a Patriot soldier in the American Revolutionary War from April 1, 1782, to June 29, 1782, under the command of Capt. Joseph Hughes and Col. Thomas Brandon. (Roster of South Carolina Patriots in the American Revolution, page 903, by Bobby Gilmer Moss)

He married Elizabeth Haile, daughter of Capt. John Haile, and his wife, Ruth Mitchell Haile in 1789.  (RootsWeb’s WorldConnect Project: Blick’s Family Workbook, Contact—Phyllis Blickensderfer)

Thomas Stribling III married Elizabeth Haile, daughter of John and Ruth Mitchell Haile, in 1789, in the Grindal Shoals area of Union District.  She was born January 24, 1772, at Grindal Shoals. RootsWeb WorldConnect Project: The Porter Family Forest, Contact—David Porter)

Databases are incorrect about the place of Elizabeth Haile’s birth.  She was born in Grindal Shoals, Union District, S. C., for that’s where her father and mother lived.  (Check Union County, South Carolina, Deed Abstracts.)

Elizabeth’s father, John Haile, was a Patriot soldier in the American Revolution.  In the book, Roster of South Carolina Patriots in the American Revolution, page 399, by Bobby Gilmer Moss, is found the following: “John Haile was a horseman and quartermaster under Capt. John Thompson and was a captain under Col. Thomas Brandon.  He lost a horse in service during 1779.”

John Haile was the first clerk of court in Union District, S. C., having been appointed to the office in 1785.    He resigned the office in 1793, and His son, Benjamin, replaced his father as clerk, April 1, 1793.  (Union County SCGenWeb Project “H” Queries, Google; Union County, South Carolina, Deed Abstracts, Vol. I, page 122, by Brent Holcomb)

Benjamin Haile married Sarah “Sally” Henderson, daughter of John and Sarah Hinton Alston Henderson.  (RootsWeb’s WorldConnect Project: Gatlin, Poynor, Sweeney, Contact—Julia Baldy; RootsWeb’s WorldConnect Project: Tangled Web)

They were related on the Henderson side.  Benjamin’s mother, Ruth, was the daughter of Mary Henderson Mitchell.  Mary was John Henderson’s sister. (RootsWeb’s WorldConnect Project: New Updated Family Tree For Seaver/Sanders, Contact—David Weaver; RootsWeb’s WorldConnect Project: Ancestors and Descendants of Harold and Jeanne Rarden, Contact—Harold W. Rarden)

Thomas Stribling III  purchased 337 acres of land on the branches of Buffalo and Brown’s Creek from the Reverend Alexander McDougal on September 20, 1789.  He sold this land to Charles Webb on June 10, 1794.  (Union County, South Carolina, Deed Abstracts, Vol. I, page 74 & 141, by Brent Holcomb)

He was sheriff of Union District, S. C., from 1791 to 1795.  (Union County Sheriff’s Office, Union County, South Carolina, List of Sheriffs compiled by Mrs. Rae Hawkins from Union County Jail Books)

On July 30, 1791, Thomas Stripling III sold 603 acres of land on branches of Sandy Run to Robert Gibson.  The property was adjacent to lands owned by Daniel Huger and John Haile(Union County, South Carolina, Deed Abstracts, Vol. I, pages 97-98, by Brent Holcomb)

On August 11, 1792, Daniel Huger of Fairfield District, S. C., sold Thomas Stripling III, 540 acres of land on waters of Brown’s Creek and Rocky Creek.  (Union County, South Carolina, Deed Abstracts, Vol. I, page 109, by Brent Holcomb)

On March 2, 1796, Thomas Stribling III, mortgaged 540 acres of land (Brown’s Creek area) to Alexander Macbeth and John Moncrieffe of the Alexander Macbeth and Company.   (Union County, South Carolina, Deed Abstracts, Vol. I, page 183, by Brent Holcomb)

Thomas and his wife, Elizabeth, sold this 540 acres of land to Alexander Macbeth and John Moncrieffe under the firm of Alexander Macbeth and Company on January 7, 1797.  The Reverend Christopher Johnson, father of David Johnson (later Governor) lived on the land at this time.  Thomas Stripling III was living in Pendleton District, S. C., when this transaction was made.  (Union County, South Carolina, Deed Abstracts, Vol. I, page 194, by Brent Holcomb)

They lived in the Brown’s Creek area of Union District, S. C., before moving to Pendleton District, S. C., circa 1797.  They settled on Deep Creek near Seneca River on 800 acres of land.  (Capt Thomas Stribling III, 1763-1825, Find a Grave Memorial, Google)

“Their son, Cornelius Kincheloe Stribling, joined the United States Navy on June 18, 1812, as a Midshipman and was assigned to the captured British frigate,  Macedonian, at New York City.  On July 1, 1850, he was appointed Superintendent of the United States Naval School.

On October 14, 1864, he became Acting Rear Admiral of the Eastern Gulf Blockading Squadron, which covered the Florida coast from Cape Canaveral to Pensacola, Florida.  He retired on August 6, 1865. (Adm. Cornelius Kincheloe Stribling “1796-1880”—Find A Grave, Google)

Thomas and Elizabeth had four sons and three daughters.  She died on April 29, 1807, in Old Pendleton District.  (RootsWeb’s WorldConnect Project: The Porter Family Forest, Contact—David Porter)

He was married a second time to Catherine Hamilton, daughter of James and Catherine ? Hamilton.   Her father was born in Scotland.  (RootsWeb’s WorldConnect Project: Carolina Kin and Beyond, Contact—Joyce Sammons)

Thomas III was one of the founders of the (Old) Pendleton District, S. C., Farmers Society in 1815.  He was Executor of his father’s estate in 1819, for which he received a double portion.  He died in Pendleton District, S. C., on April 8, 1825.  (Capt. Thomas Stribling III, 1763-1825, Find A Grave Memorial, Google)

Lucy Stribling, sister of James Clayton Stribling and daughter of Thomas II and Nancy Ann Kincheloe Stribling, was born July 1, 1767, in Prince William County, Virginia.  (Databases are incorrect concerning her place of birth.  She was born in Virginia, where her parents lived before moving to Ninety Six District, S. C., now Union District, S. C.; RootsWeb’s WorldConnect Project: Arkansas Is the Center of the Universe)

She married Obadiah Trimmier, son of William and Lucy Watson Trimmier, on November 24, 1786.  (RootsWeb’s WorldConnect Project: Canternury’s of West Virginia, Contact—Gordon K. Lacy; Obediah Trimmier m. Lucy Stribling—Stribling—Family History & Genealogy Message Board; Descendants of William Trimyear, Google)

Lucy’s mother and father moved to the Grindal Shoals area of Union District, S. C., circa 1778.  (Stribling Genealogy, Google)

Obadiah Trimmier was born in Louisa County, Virginia, on November 1, 1759.  At an early age, he became a Patriot soldier in the American Revolutionary War.  (RootsWeb’s WorldConnect Project: Canternury’s of West Virginia, Contact—Gordon K. Lacy; Obadiah Trimmier m. Lucy Stribling—Stribling—Family History & Genealogy Message Board)

His father, William, died in 1773, in Louisa County, and in his will, left the land and plantation, where he lived to his wife, Lucy.  It was to go to his son, Obadiah, after the death of his mother, Lucy.  Obadiah was fourteen years of age when his father died.  His mother served as an executrix to the will, but must have died shortly after the settling of the estate.  (RootsWeb’s World Connect Project: Chaffin, Contact—Lane Chaffin)

“He was a member of the Louisa County Militia and was appointed Ensign February 12, 1781, and participated in the battles of Kings Mountain and Cowpens.”  (Reference: Historical Record of Virginians in the Revolution by John Gwathmey, 1987, page 782)

He registered to paid taxes in Louisa County, Virginia, in 1882. These taxes were on the house that had belonged to his father and mother and was now his by right of inheritance.  (Camp/Evans Venturers Into NC, TN and GA: Information about Obadiah Trimmier)

In 1786, he served as a Justice of the Peace, performing marriages, while residing in Spartanburg District, S. C., and was elected State Representative from Spartanburg District in the South Carolina General Assemblies of 1792 and 1794.

He served as Lieutenant Colonel of the 10th Regiment, 3rd Brigade, 1st Division of the South Carolina Militia, commencing in 1792.  (Camp/Evans Venturers Into NC, TN, and GA.: Information about Obediah Trimmier)

After moving to Pendleton District, S. C., in 1800, he again served in the South Carolina Legislature in 1814.  He was elected to the Senate for the 21st South Carolina General Assembly.  He served on the banking, religion, roads, bridges, ferries and military committees.

He was elected Senator from Pendleton District, S. C., in 1816, and 1818.  He served on the rules committee. (Camp/Evans Venturers Into NC, TN, and GA.: Information about Obadiah Trimmier)

He and Lucy were neighbors to James (Horseshoe) Robertson and his wife, Sarah Morris Headen Robertson, while living in Spartanburg District and after moving to Pendleton District.  (Rootsweb’s WorldConnect Project: Wall Family Tree, Contact—Eric Wall)

It was at the residence of Obadiah Trimmier that John Pendleton Kennedy received stories from James “Horseshoe” Robertson about some of his exploits in the war years.  These stories, Kennedy incorporated into a book he wrote entitled, Horseshoe Robinson, and published in 1835.

Kennedy visited his home in the winter of 1818.  The following is taken from the book, History of Spartanburg County, page 459, by Dr. J. B. O. Landrum:  “In Mr. Kennedy’s famous novel, ‘Horse-Shoe Robinson’, the colonel referred to is Obadiah Trimmier, father of William, who was the father of Colonel T. G. Trimmier.

The absent lady referred to was Lucy Trimmier, wife of Obadiah.  She was a Stribling.  Her (his) grandfather was a Watson.  The violin boy was William Trimmier mentioned herein; the boy thrown from the horse was Thomas, brother of William.  The two small boys mentioned were Obadiah Watson and Marcus Tullias, sons of Obadiah and Lucy Trimmier, who were living on Toxaway.  ‘Horse-Shoe’ Robinson (Robertson) lived on Chauga, in Pickens county, S. C.”

Lucy was living at the time, but must have died shortly after the visit of John Pendleton Kennedy and James ‘Horseshoe’ Robertson.

(Horse-Shoe Robinson, pages 5-10, by John Pendleton Kennedy)

They had five sons and seven daughters.  Lucy Died in Pendleton District, S. C., on November 25, 1818, and Obadiah died in the same district on January 22, 1829.  They were buried in the Toxaway Creek Baptist Church cemetery, now called Poole’s cemetery.   (RootsWeb’s World Connect Project: Bothast/Warstler Family Tree, Contact—Raquel Bothast; My Genealogy Home Page: Information About Lucy Stribling; Obadiah Trimmier “1759-1829” –Find a Grave Memorial)

HENRIETTA BECKHAM, daughter of John and Elizabeth Henderson Beckham,  was born October 10, 1779, in what later became Union District, S. C.  She married Nicholas Aquilla Cavenah, son of Aquilla and Joyce Wooten Cavenah.  He was born August 29, 1777, in Chatham County, North Carolina.  (Alan Ray’s Genealogy Page No. 113, Generated by Personal Ancestral File, page 2, Google; RootsWeb’s WorldConnect Project: Cavanaugh, Contact—Wendy Marani)

On January 12, 1810, Elias Drake of Chatham County, N. C., sold 200 acres of land to Aquilla Cavenah on both sides of Gilkies Creek in Union District, S. C.  The property was near the wagon road that led from Smith’s Ford to Grindal Shoals.  (Union County, South Carolina, Deed Abstracts, Vol. II, page 272, by Brent Holcomb)

They had seven children: Aquilla, William Beckham, John William, Elizabeth Henderson, James Henry, Susan Henrietta and Mary Alzira Cavenah.  Their four sons and three daughters were all born in Union District, S. C.  (Alan Ray’s Genealogy Page No. 113, Generated by Personal Ancestral File, Google)

The land on which they lived is today in Cherokee County, S. C. Aquilla moved his family to Fayette County, Alabama, in 1824.  After Aquilla died in 1837, in Fayette County, his wife, Henrietta, moved to Lowndes County, Mississippi, where she died January 12, 1862.

(RootsWeb: Alfayett-L-“Alfayett-L”–Roll Call, Google; Henrietta Beckham Cavenah Profile, Google)

She was 84 years of age and was buried in Oaklimb Cemetery.  (Oaklimb Cemetery, Lowndes County, Mississippi, Google)

SIMON BECKHAM was JOHN BECKHAM’S oldest brother.  He was born in Hanover County, Virginia, in 1728.  He married Susannah McMillan, daughter of Alexander and Phoebe ? McMillan, on January 2, 1759, in Granville County, N. C.  She was born circa 1730, in Granville County.  (The Beginning of Beckham Families, Google; RootsWeb’s WorldConnect Project: Garner-Becham ancestors plus many peripheral lines; Susannah McMillan Beckham (1730-1790)—Find a Grave Memorial, Google)

In 1754, he was a member of the Granville County, North Carolina, Militia and served under Col. William Eaton and Capt. Sugar Jones.

(Colonial and State Records of North Carolina, Muster Roll for the Granville County Militia, William Eaton, October 8, 1754, Vol. 22, Pages 370-380, Google)

Information from the Beckham Family Tree on the Internet: “He was residing in St. George’s Parish, later Columbia County, Georgia, during the Revolutionary War.  He provided quarters at his plantation on Germany’s Creek for a company of infantry known as Clark’s Riflemen, commanded by his son, Capt. Samuel Beckham.

For his services in assisting the Revolutionary cause, Simon Beckham was granted 284 acres of land in Washington County, Georgia, Certificate of Colonel Greenbury Lee, 25 February 25, 1784.  Three of his sons served in the Revolutionary War: Solomon, Samuel and Allen.  They were attached to Col. Elijah Clark’s Regiment.  (Prepared by: Mrs. Anne Stevens Parker, Fort Frederica Chapter National Society of the Daughters of the American Revolution.  Copy at the Washington Memorial Library, Macon, Bibb County, Georgia.)

Simon and Susannah had eight sons and four daughters.  He died in Washington County, Georgia, on December 29, 1785.  She died in 1790, in Sandersville, Washington County, Georgia.  (Simon Beckham, Beckham Family Tree, Google; Susannah McMillan Beckham (1730-1790)—Find A Grave Memorial, Google)

THOMAS BECKHAM was one of John Beckham’s older brothers.   He was born in Hanover County, Virginia, in 1729.  He married Mary Hughs, daughter of Dempsey Hughs, circa 1746, in Granville County, North Carolina.

She was born circa 1730, in Hanover County, Virginia.  Her father was born circa 1700.  (Ancestry.com, Mary Hughes, page 1, Google)

On October 8, 1754, Thomas was serving in the Granville County Militia under Colonel William Eaton and Capt. Sugar Jones.  (Colonial and State Records of North Carolina, Muster Roll of the Granville County Militia, William Eaton, October 8, 1754, Vol. 22, Pages 370-380)

He was a resident of South Carolina by 1778.  Bobby Gilmer Moss gives the following description of his services as a Patriot soldier in his book, Roster of South Carolina Patriots in the American Revolution:

“He served as a lieutenant under Col. LeRoy Hammond during 1778 and 1779, and was at the Siege of Savannah.  When Charleston fell (in 1780), he was imprisoned.

He was a first lieutenant under Capt. John Martin and Col. Samuel Hammond and was at the Siege of Augusta, the taking of Brown’s Fort and the taking of Grearson’s Fort.

Although Col. LeRoy Hammond was released from patrol and resummed the command of a militia unit, he remained with Col. Samuel Hammond as a light dragoon.  This unit joined General Andrew Pickens to march north of the Broad River, where they joined General Nathaniel Greene.   He was at the Battle of Eutaw Springs.”

His son, Thomas Beckham Jr. served in General Andrew Pickens Brigade.  (Roster of South Carolina Patriots in the American Revolution, page 57, Bobby Gilmer Moss)

Thomas Sr. lived on Stevens Creek in Edgefield County, South Carolina, where he received a grant for 100 acres.  He and his wife, Mary, had nine children: six sons and three daughters.  (Thomas Beckham Jr., Beckham Family Tree, Google; Ancestry. com, Thomas Beckham, Google)

He died in Edgefield County on October 10, 1796.  His wife, Mary, was living in Washington County, Georgia, in 1820.  (Alan Ray’s Genealogy Page No. 123, Generated by Personal Ancestral File, Page 1, Google)

WILLIAM BECKHAM was also an older brother of John Beckham.  He was born in 1730, in Orange County, Virginia.  He married Ann Green circa 1751, in Granville County, N. C.  She was born in Granville, N. C., circa 1732, the daughter of James Randolf and Malinda Green. (Genealogical Data Page 221, Google; RootsWeb’s WorldConnect Project: The Family of Joseph Alston and Caroline, page 2, Contact—Jean Hirsch; Ancestry.com, Nancy Ann Green, Google)

He was listed as a member of the Granville County Militia Regiment commanded by Col. William Eaton on October 8, 1754.  His company was commanded by Capt. Sugar Jones.  (Colonial and State Records of North Carolina, Muster Roll for the Granville County Militia, William Eaton, October 8, 1754, Volume 22, Pages 370-380)

He served as a Patriot soldier while residing in North Carolina.  He was paid for services rendered by a voucher in 1781, at Halifax, and in 1786, by a voucher from Warrenton, North Carolina.  (RootsWeb’s WorldConnect Project: The Family of Joseph Alston and Caroline, Contact—Jean Hirsch)

He and Ann had thirteen children, eight sons and five daughters, all born in Granville County, North Carolina.  (Ancestry.com, Nancy Ann Green, Google)

He and most of his family moved to South Carolina after the Revolutionary War.   They were living in Ninety Six District, S. C., when the 1790 federal census was taken.  (RootsWeb’s WorldConnect Project: Janet Ariciu Family Bush, Contact—Janet Ariciu)

His wife, Ann, died at Beaver Creek, in Kershaw County, S. C., before 1796, and William died at Beaver Creek, in Kershaw County before  August 7, 1799.   (RootsWeb’s WorldConnect, Project: The Howe Family Tree—Illinois, Contact—Bill Howe; RootsWeb’s WorldConnect Project: The Family of Joseph Alston and Caroline, Contact–Jean Hirsch)

PHILLIS BECKHAM, sister of JOHN BECKHAM, was born in Orange

County, Virginia, in 1737.  (RootsWeb’s WorldConnect Project: Dr.; RootsWeb’s WorldConnect Project: My North Carolina Roots, Contact–Deloris Williams)

She first married William Williams, son of John and Mary Womack Williams, circa 1755, in Granville County, N. C.  He was born March 11, 1733, in Hanover County, Virginia.  He received a commission as “captain in the Granville (North Carolina) Regiment of Militia” on January 18, 1769. (RootsWeb’s WorldConnect Project: My North Carolina Roots, Contact—Deloris Williams)

He and Phillis had five children: John (died unmarried), Samuel Farrar, Mary, Salley and Betsy.  (RootsWeb’s WorldConnect Project: Branching Out)

He was killed in Boonesboro on December 27, 1775, during an attack by the Cherokee Indians.  He lived long enough to write a will on his deathbed of which one of his witnesses was his brother, Charles Williams.  He was buried at Boonesboro, Kentucky.   His will was probated in Granville County, North Carolina, in 1777.  (RootsWeb’s WorldConnect Project: My North Carolina Roots, Contact—Deloris Williams)

Phillis next married John Mitchell, son of James and Amy Ann Davis Mitchell, on December 22, 1777, in Granville County, N. C.  He was born in 1727, in Lunenburg County, Virginia.  John died in May of 1787, in Granville County, N. C. (RootsWeb’s WorldConnect Project: Dr.)

Phillis’ will was written on January 10, 1791.  She died 1791/1792, in Granville County, N. C.  She gave her son, Sam, a slave named, Anthony.  She gave her daughter, Elizabeth Yancey, a slave named, Sarah.  She gave her daughter, Sally, slaves named: George, Phan, Billy and Easter.  (Granville County, North Carolina, Will Book 2, Pages 318-319)

MARY MUSGROVE AND HER FATHER, EDWARD MUSGROVE’S FAMILY

This is a study in process that must be read, corrected and re-examined especially in years to come.  The author offers his special thanks to the individuals who have made an effort to preserve the memory of this family’s earthly pilgrimage.

By ROBERT A. IVEY

 Cuthbert and Dorothy ? Musgrove were Edward’s grandparents.  Cuthbert, son of William and Dorothy ?, was a mariner in England and a tobacco farmer in Maryland.

Cuthbert’s father was born in 1629, in Brooksdale Close, Kettering, Northamptonshire, England, and died in Broomfield, Somerset, England, in 1664.  His mother, Dorothy, was born in 1614, in England, and died there in 1664.

Cuthbert was born in Crooksdale County, Cumberland, England, June 1, 1644.  He died in Prince George County, Maryland, in 1687, at age 43.

John I was their oldest child and was born in 1683, in Prince George County, Maryland.  He inherited his father’s property.  He appeared  in 1701, on a Militia List in Stafford County, Virginia.  He died in 1746, in Fairfax County, Virginia.  At least one source states that his wife was a Parendler, born in 1686.

John had sisters: Anne, Mary and Dorothy Musgrove.

Edward Musgrove and his brother-in-law, Donald Moseley, were executors of John’s estate in 1746.

CHILDREN OF JOHN MUSGROVE I AND WIFE

(1). Edward Musgrove was the oldest child.  Edward Musgrove was born circa 1716, in Fairfax County, Virginia.  John I willed his father’s property to Edward who sold it.

(2). John Musgrove II, a noted Tory Colonel, lived in Berkley County, South Carolina.  It became Ninety Six District in 1769, and Newberry County in 1785.

John Belton O’Neall, in his Annals of Newberry, wrote: “At his place, the Regulators and Scofelites, in 1764, met in battle array; happily however, no actual battle occurred; flags were exchanged, and they agreed to separate, and petition the governor to redress their grievances.  This was done, and the result was, that after the great delay of five years the Circuit Court act of 1769 was passed.” 

John was born in Fairfax County, Virginia, circa 1718.  He brought wild horse stock with him from Virginia, when he moved to South Carolina.  He was a horse breeder and trader.

His wife’s name was Araminta (Minty).  She was born circa 1730.  Several sources state that she was a Gordon.  They lived where the Bush River flows into the Saluda River near the Philemon Waters plantation.

He and his wife had three sons and one daughter.  Two of his sons, John and William Trapnel, fought as teenagers with the Ninety Six Brigade of Loyalists.  Jane was born circa 1768.  She married Charles Lester.  Philip, born circa 1777, was too young to fight in the war.  The name of Philip’s wife is unknown.

John was born circa 1763.  He moved to Baker County, Georgia, where he served as a volunteer soldier in the militia in 1791-1792.  He was attached to Cpl. Lewis Company in the 1st Regiment and also served under Lt. Col. Darke.  He died there circa 1842.  The name of his wife is unknown.  They had two children: Larkin C. and William W. Musgrove.

William Trapnel was born circa 1765.  He married Nancy Tate and first moved to Georgia, then to Tennessee, and finally to Blount County, Alabama, where he died in 1850.  They had four sons and three daughters.  He was the father of John Tate Musgrove and grandfather of Philip M. Musgrove.

Ann S. Grainger of Huntsville, Alabama, wrote: “In the late 1790’s, William T. Musgrove and family moved to Hancock County, Georgia.  He is on the Tax Lists, etc.   In 1801, he and his brother-in-law, Nathan Tate, had been sentenced to hang in that county for forgery.  They managed to escape the jail, and the Sheriff was advertising a reward for their recapture.

His older brother, John Musgrove III, was in Warren & Jefferson County, Georgia, at the time and his younger brother, Phillip Musgrove, was believed to be in Emanuel County, Georgia.   They probably helped in the escape.  William T. Musgrove and family fled back to South Carolina, and then to Cocke County, Tennessee, where they stayed for a few years.”

He was one of Walker County, Alabama’s first Court Clerks, and his name is on records issuing liquor licenses, etc.

One of William T. Musgrove’s children was born in Georgia, two in Tennessee and the rest in South Carolina.

Col. Philemon Waters once took John Musgrove’s plantation at the point of a gun.

John Musgrove II was a refugee to Charleston, S. C., and died there in September 1781.  The state legislature confiscated his estate in 1782, but in 1783, his legatees appealed, and the decision was overturned. The land was returned to his wife, Minty.

Araminta had remarried a Wilson by 1784, when she was appointed administrator of her husband’s estate.  A sale was held June 10, 1784, and she and her sons, John and William, purchased all of the items except one, which was purchased by Thomas Waters.

John Musgrove III sold 150 acres of his father’s land to Philemon Waters, Sr. on the north side of the Saluda River on July 2, 1785.  John II had received a grant for this acreage on August 26, 1772.  John III was heir at law of John Musgrove II, deceased.  Waters paid 100 pounds in South Carolina money for the purchase.

Araminta’s second husband was deceased before the U. S. Census was taken in 1790.  She was living in Newberry County beside her son, William and his family, at this time.  She died after the census of 1790, at their farm in Newberry County.  The land they owned is now under the waters of Lake Greenwood.

O’Neal wrote: “For many years after the revolution, a large number of horses called ‘heretics’ were wild in the Stone Hills and were said to be the issue of his (John’s) stock, turned lose in the range.”   

(3). Mary Musgrove was born circa 1720.  “She had a liason with a man by the name of Jackson circa 1746, and had a daughter with him called ‘Rachel Jackson’.  She married Christopher Columbus Cunningham circa 1750, and was his second wife.”

(4). Ann Musgrove was born circa 1722.  She married Donald Moseley circa 1740, and they had two sons and a daughter.  Her father left her the plantation on which he lived, a Negro girl named Judy and some cows, horses and sheep in his will.

(5). Margaret Musgrove was born circa 1724.  There is no record of her marriage.

(6). William Musgrove was born circa 1726.  He married Verlinda, born circa 1728.  He died in 1778, in Loudon County, Virginia.  One source states that he was a soldier in the Revolutionary War.  The writer has no confirmation of this.  They had two sons and one daughter.

(7). Cuthbert Musgrove was born circa 1728.  His father left him two plantations: Serido River Plantation and Wilson’s Plantation.  Cuthbert had a riding horse, stabled at his father’s farm, and was given possession of the horse “Shaver”  in his father’s will.  He was also given one half of his father’s stock of horses and cattle.  Cuthbert died in Frederick County, Virginia, and had at least one son, Samuel.

REMOVAL TO SOUTH CAROLINE

Edward and his brother, John II, moved to Berkley County circa 1754, in what later became the Ninety Six District of South Carolina, and were among the early settlers in the Backcountry.

Abraham Beeks Jr., son of Abraham and Susannah  ? Beeks, and his wife, Sarah ? , traveled with the Musgroves.  He was the brother of Edward Musgrove’s wife.

Abraham Pennington petitioned for land on Indian Creek, a branch of the Enoree River in South Carolina, on February 4, 1752, and may have joined the Musgroves on their trip south.

He was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, on October 6, 1694, and was an Indian Trader on Catoctin Creek near Brunswick, Maryland.  He was issued a land patent in Orange County, Virginia, in 1734.  He lost his first wife, Katrina, in the early 1740s and was married to Catherine Williams by 1743.

He brought his family to the area of Indian Creek and was living there when he wrote his will in Berkley County, S. C., on July 21, 1755.  He mentions sons: Isaac, Jacob, Abraham and John in his will.  He also had a daughter, Abigail, and referred to a boy, Thomas Laragent, “which I brought up.”  His will was probated on May 29, 1756.

Isaac Pennington, Abraham and Katarina Weister Pennington’s oldest son was executor of his father’s estate.  He married Mary Williams on December 8, 1733, in Cecil County, Maryland.  She was born circa 1717.

He and his wife, Mary Williams, brought their seven daughters and two sons with them to the Enoree settlement.

Isaac was born in Maryland on May 16, 1715.   He was a captain in the militia and died at their Enoree River settlement in 1760.  He wrote his will on March 3, 1760, which was proved before John Pearson by virtue of Peter Lewis Dedimus on September 17, 1760.  His wife served as executrix of his estate.

Charles King, son of Jacob and Keziah Butler King, and his wife, Charity Pennington, daughter of Isaac and Mary Pennington, traveled with her parents to the Enoree settlement.  They were married in Virginia in 1752.  He was born circa 1720, in Maryland, and she was born circa 1734.

When her father died, he left her the 350 acres of land on which they resided.  They had eight daughters and three sons.

Charles King and Isaac Pennington petitioned for land near the Santee River as new settlers in South Carolina on April 1, 1754.  Charles King was a Patriot soldier in the American Revolutionary War and served as a captain under Colonel John Lindsay.  He went on an expedition against the Cherokee Indians during 1775.

Charity died circa 1786, in Newberry District, and Charles died there January 21, 1789.

Another family that was among the early Enoree River settlers was the John Cannon family.  He was born in 1712, in Kent County, Dover, England.  He married Ann Mary Ellison, circa 1730.  She was born circa 1714.

He attended the Quaker meetings at Bush River in Newberry District.

They had four daughters and three sons.

Ann Mary died after 1758, and John died October 4, 1762, in South Carolina.  In his will he also named, but did not call them daughters: Susannah, who married John Dalrymple, and Elizabeth, who married John McClure.

Samuel Cannon, son of John and Ann Mary Ellison Cannon, married Lydia Pennington, daughter of Isaac and Mary Williams Pennington.  He was born in 1735, and she was born circa 1740.  They had four daughters and four sons.  He died before 1790, for his wife, Lydia, was listed as head of the household in the 1790 census of Newberry District, and she died there between 1793 and 1800.

His son, John Cannon, married Rebecca Musgrove, daughter of Edward and Rebecca Beeks Musgrove, and his sister, Mary Cannon, married Jacob Pennington, son of Abraham and Katrina Weister Pennington.

John H. Logan, in his History of the Upper Country of South Carolina, wrote the following biography of Edward Musgrove:

“He had been bred to the law; was a man of education and fine abilities; was famous for hospitality and benevolence.  He was the surveyor and counselor of law to all the surrounding country before the war (Revolutionary War) and in these departments was exceedingly useful. 

His personal appearance was remarkable, a little above the ordinary size.  He was a little above the medium height, slender, venerably gray even at 30, and possessed a magnificent head.  He was in character, of great firmness and decision.  As counselor and magistrate, he married a great number of the old settlers.  He bore the title of Major.” 

Edward built Musgrove’s Fort in the 1750s for protection against the Indians.  He was a militia captain during the Cherokee War and served as commander of Fort William Henry Lyttelton on the Enoree.

He was a deputy surveyor and in 1762, became a justice of the peace, his commission being renewed in 1765 and 1767.  He was tax inquirer and collector for the north side of Broad River and a commissioner for the Cannon’s Creek-Gordon’s Fort road in 1765.

Robert Stevens wrote:

“In 1768, he was granted land, which became the site of Musgrove’s Mill.  William Berry first obtained a warrant for the land and held it until Edward could act on it.  The land was surveyed by William Gist, his brother-in-law. 

He borrowed the money from his brother, John Musgrove, and Charles King with which to build the mill and constructed it in 1769.  He defaulted on the loan, so was sued in Charleston by John and Charles, who won the verdict and a lien was placed on the mill property.  He managed to pay the debt and nullify the mortgage.”     

Thomas H. Pope wrote:

“His brother, John, was the object of special hatred by some of the Regulators and was roughly handled by them and driven from his home in the winter of 1769.  Edward took his brother’s side and was himself then indicted as a ‘very bad person, and encourager and conniver of thieves and robbers.’”

He had Tory leanings during the first part of the Revolutionary War, but did not participate in the conflict.  He wrote a letter to William Henry Drayton on October 14, 1775, indicating his neutrality.  In 1778-79, he was on the grand jury list for Ninety Six District.

The writer of an article in The Piedmont Headlight, Spartanburg, S. C., December 10, 1897, pages 3 & 6, stated:

“The original Musgrove house did not stand on the hill, but on an incline near the valley.”  An unpublished source states that the first Musgrove house was burned by the Tories after Edward and his son, Beeks, joined with the Patriots.  The family was forced to find resting places with their friends until Edward could have the house rebuilt.

Lyman C. Draper in his book, King’s Mountain and its Heroes, stated:

“He had passed the period of active life when the Revolutionary war commenced, and was then living with his third wife—too old to take any part in the bloody strife; but with trembling lips, he plead each night for a speedy return of peace and good will among men.  He lived to see his prayers answered, dying in 1792, in the seventy-sixth year of his age, and was buried in the little graveyard, just behind the site of his house, near the old mill.”

The Battle of Musgrove’s Mill was fought in parts of present day Union and Spartanburg counties.  The left and center of the patriot line was in Union County.  The battle took place on August 19, 1780, just across the river from Edward Musgrove’s plantation.

Patriots assumed a defensive position on the north side of the Enoree River.  Colonel Elijah Clark’s command was on the left, Col. James Williams command was placed in the center and Col. Isaac Shelby’s command was on the right.  A flanking party of twenty-four men under the direction of Josiah Culbertson was sent from Shelby’s command.

P. M. Waters wrote:

“The British officers, Col. Cruger and Major Innis, called a council of war in the house of Edward Musgrove, in the presence of his family.  Their headquarters was in one of the rooms of the house.”

At his request, Capt. Shadrach Inman, with sixteen mounted marksmen, skirmished with the Loyalists and provoked them to cross the ford.

Waters wrote:

“Williams and Shelby ordered that not a gun should be fired till they were within a few yards, in full exposure to the American riflemen.  At this point, just before the American fire was delivered Inman wheeled to take his position in the center between the two wings, when a musket ball through the forehead laid him dead, near the root of a Spanish oak that stood a few paces above the point where the new road now leaves the old mill road.” 

The patriots repelled an assault by the Loyalist under Col. Alexander Innes, whose troops forded the river and charged with fixed bayonets.  After exchanging several musket volleys Innes’ troops were forced back with heavy losses.  Col. Innes was shot from his horse but survived.  He was shot in the neck and “left with a stiffness”.

In his Encyclopedia of The American Revolution, Mark M. Boatner III wrote:

“They repulsed an attack in which 63 Loyalists were killed, 90 wounded and 70 captured. Only four rebels were killed and eight wounded.”  The Loyalists had 300 more men in the engagement than the Patriots.    

Philemon M. Waters, Edward Musgrove’s grandson, later purchased property between the ford and battleground.

In his History of the Upper Country of South Carolina, John H. Logan quotes from Capt. P. M. Waters article on The Battle of Musgrove’s Mill:

Sixteen Tories are said to have been buried in one pit near the mouth of the creek (Cedar Shoals).  Others were buried in a grave-yard just below Musgrove’s house.  Several graves are still discernible on the spot where the Tories fell in such numbers at the first fire.  The spot is a stone’s throw below George Gordon’s house, on the west-side of the old road.”   

Logan wrote:

“Many were buried in the yard of Capt. Philemon Waters (grandson of Edward Musgrove and son of Landon), who lived midway between the Ford and the battleground.  The table, on which the dead were laid out, was preserved by the family of Capt. Waters.”

It appears that Edward died in 1790, instead of 1792, Lyman C. Draper’s death date.  Edward made his will August 25, 1790, and probably died shortly after this.  Ann was listed as head of the household in the 1790 U. S. Census of Laurens District.  She received two grants of land in 1791, one for 65 acres and the other for 75 acres.

In his will, he left his son, Edward Beeks, fifty pounds sterling; his son, William, a dwelling and land; his daughter, Rebecca, twenty pounds sterling; his daughter, Mary, twenty pounds sterling; his wife, Ann, his plantation and mill “with the profits during her life to raise and maintain herself and her children”.

He gave Ann his slaves: Tom, Phillis, Judy, Kizey, Matt during her lifetime and “after her decease the slaves are to be divided among her children: William, Margaret, Ann, Hannah, Leah, Rachel, Liney”.

He appointed his wife and Thomas Crosby executors of his estate.  Thomas was possibly the nephew of Nancy Ann, his third wife.  Benjamin Adair was one of the appraisers of his estate and George Gordon was a witness to the will.

I. HE WAS FIRST MARRIED TO REBECCA BEEKS.

Robert Stevens wrote:

“She was the daughter of Abraham and Susannah ? Beakes of Philadelphia.  She was born in July of 1728 and her only sibling, Abraham Beakes, Jr., was born in January of 1732.  Their father died the year of his son’s birth. 

On May 30, 1734, Susannah Beeks remarried Edward Southwood of Bristol, Pennsylvania.  He became the guardian of her two children and moved the family to Frederick County, Virginia.  He died in 1749 and Rebecca and her brother petitioned the Orphans Court of Bucks County, Pennsylvania, for permission to choose new guardians.  They selected William Biles and Thomas Yeardly.  Susannah was a widow in 1755, but later married  ?  Roberts.   

Edward Musgrove owned and operated a gristmill at what is now Harper’s Ferry and married Rebecca in the early 1750’s.  She was listed as Edward’s wife on a Frederick County, Virginia, deed on July 27, 1754.   

In 1754, they moved to South Carolina, accompanied by her brother, Abraham and his wife.  Abraham had an infant son, Samuel, and bought 100 acres of land from Margaret Reinger (widow) on the Tyger River in what is now Union County, S. C., on March 9, 1758.  

On November 7, 1759, he applied for a grant of 150 acres, but the transaction was never consummated.  Here his history ends.  Abraham, his wife and sister, Rebecca, simply vanished.  I can only guess that they became victims of a Cherokee Indian attack. 

Edward took little Samuel and made him a part of his family.  He continued to pay the quit rent on the land inherited by Samuel until he reached maturity.  The land was originally granted to Margaret Reinger so a memorial had to be paid annually.  

Samuel, born circa 1752, in Frederick County, Virginia, died in November of 1816, in Laurens County, S. C.  His wife, Sarah Davenport, was born in 1764, and died August 1, 1844.  She was buried in the Poplar Springs Baptist Church cemetery, Laurens County, S. C.”

Judy Douglas, in Footprints In Time, states that Samuel Beeks mother was Sary ? (Sarah).

Samuel’s wife, Sarah, was a daughter of Francis Davenport and his wife, Ann Wyley.  They had six children: two sons and four daughters. Their son, Abraham Beakes, born 1782, moved to Aberdeen, Monroe County, Mississippi.   They also had a son, Francis Marion Beeks (1786-1861), who married Mary Neal (1787-1861).  He died in Laurens County, S. C.

Samuel Beeks served as a Patriot soldier in Col. Andrew Pickens Brigade during the American Revolutionary War.

EDWARD AND REBECCA BEEKS MUSGROVE’S CHILDREN

1. Abraham Musgrove.  He was probably a child of Edward and Rebecca and was born circa 1753, in Virginia.  He signed a legal document with Edward and Hannah Musgrove on August 17, 1767.  No further records exist on him.

2. Edward Beeks Musgrove.

Robert Stevens wrote:

“He was born circa 1755.  In early adulthood he frequently lived with his Uncle John Musgrove.  Before and during the Revolutionary War he spent a great deal of time there.  He apparently was closer to him than his own father.  This accounts for Beeks involvement with the Tories or Loyalists for John was a British sympathizer and held the rank of Colonel in their army.”    

Inspired by the Cunninghams and Col. Ferguson, Beeks first joined with the Loyalists.

John H. Logan, in his History of The Upper Country of South Carolina, wrote:

“Mrs. Sims (Sybella, wife of Capt. Charles) continued to reproach and remonstrate with Lee for his villainy, in order to detain them as long as possible from the attack on her friends higher up the creek.  While this was going on, B. Musgrove, one of Lee’s men, went up to the bed on which Mrs. McDaniel’s (Nancy, daughter of Capt. Charles) children were sleeping and took from it one of the two blankets that covered them.  It was an exceedingly cold evening and raining. 

As Musgrove went out of the door with the blanket, Mrs. McDaniel said to him: ‘Beeks Musgrove, you will answer for that at the day of judgment.’  ‘By D—d, Madame,’ he replied, ‘if I am to have that long credit, I’ll take the other.’  And returning to the bed took that also.”    

Paddy Carr, an Indian trader on the frontier, was a member of Col. Elijah Clark’s Regiment and was very much incensed that Beeks Musgrove had joined with the Tories and swore that he would kill him on sight.

John H. Logan, in his History of the Upper Country of South Carolina, wrote:

“Paddy Carr, once hunting for Beeks, caught him in his father’s house at the mill.  He had come in to change his clothing, and get some refreshment; Mary was preparing him a meal; he had leaned his sword against the door lintel.  Paddy came suddenly upon him, and took him before he could think of escape 

Paddy said‘Are you Beeks Musgrove?’   ‘I am, sir.’ ‘You are the man, sir, I have long sought.’  Mary seeing the drawn sword of her brother in Carr’s hand, said: ‘Are you Paddy Carr?’  ‘I am Mary Musgrove, Mr. Carr; and you must not kill my brother,’ at the time throwing herself between them.

An interview now took place between Carr and Musgrove.  Carr was struck with his manly beauty, and said: ‘Musgrove, you look like a man that would fight.’  ‘Yes, said Musgrove, ‘there are circumstances under which I would fight.’ ‘If I had come upon you alone,’ said Carr, ‘in possession of your arms, would you have fought me?’  ‘Yes, sword in hand.’ 

Carr was so taken with Musgrove that he proposed to him to become a member of his scout and go with him on the spot, and swear never to bear arms against the American cause. 

His men had been stationed in the cedars some distance from the house, and had by this time come up to the scene. 

Mary seeing her brother disposed to accede to Carr’s proposition, her fears for his safety being still awake, challenged Carr for his motives.  ‘Mr. Carr,’ she said, ‘you do not design to persuade my brother to leave me, and then, when the presence of his sisters is no longer a restraint, butcher him in cold blood; pledge me, sir, that such is not your design.’  ‘I’ll swear it,’ said Carr. 

Musgrove joined his party, continued some time with them still gaining upon the confidence of Carr, and never afterwards bore arms against his country.”

In his book, Roster of South Carolina Patriots, Bobby G. Moss stated:

“Edward B. Musgrove served as a horseman in the militia.”

He was listed in the Index Book of Revolutionary Claims in South Carolina between August 20, 1783, and August 31, 1786.

The 1790 U. S. Census for Laurens County, South Carolina, listed him with a wife, two sons and two daughters.  He married Sarah Waters, daughter of Bordroyne Waters and his first wife (name unknown) circa 1782.  She was born circa 1765.

He purchased property in Laurens County, South Carolina, from Robert Ellison of Fairfield on February 29, 1792.  Their living children were: Elizabeth, John C., Loveberry, Monsieur and Edward W. Musgrove.  He had a disagreement with his father and moved into the Duncan Creek area of Laurens County, S. C.

He was one of Capt. Bill Lee’s men and was involved in the killing of a patriot while serving with the Loyalists during the Revolutionary War.  They killed Colonel Joseph Hughes’ father, Thomas, in 1779.

John H. Logan wrote:

“He was murdered by the Tories while in search of his hogs.  His body was pierced by seven wounds.  He lived on the road from Unionville to Chesterville at McCool’s Ferry on Broad River.  Joseph (Hughes) after looking at the mangled corpse of his father, raised his gun, and swore he would kill every Tory he met.” 

Robert Stevens wrote:

“After the war Hughes tracked down and killed about seven of Lee’s men.”  

Beeks Musgrove was murdered by Col. Hughes, possibly in early 1800.  He was deceased when the 1800 U. S. Census was taken for his wife, Sarah, was listed as head of the household.  She had twin sons born in 1800.

John H. Logan wrote:

“Some time after the war, a case was pending in Chester Court in which it became necessary to ascertain whether a certain notorious marauding Tory by the name of M——e (Beeks Musgrove) was dead or alive; and if dead, at what time did he die. 

It being supposed that Hughes (Col. Joseph) knew something of him, he was examined on commission, when he fearlessly acknowledged that he had shot the said M——e since the war as one of the miscreants against whom he had sworn eternal vengeance.  He later in life removed with his family and son-in-law, Jack Mabry, to the western edge of Alabama.”

Beeks Musgrove’s widow, Sarah, moved from the Duncan’s Creek settlement to Cross Anchor, S. C.  She lived with her daughter, Elizabeth, and her husband, Mordecai Chandler, after her husband’s death.  About 1816, she moved with the Chandler’s from Spartanburg County to Union County and died at their residence on Cook’s Bridge Road.

She wrote her will on September 21, 1839, and it was recorded September 4, 1841, in Union County.  She left her son, Loveberry, “one feather bed and furniture and the rest to be divided between all my children with the exception of John C. Musgrove for he has had more of my estate than his part.”  She named her son, Loveberry, as executor.

Revis Leonard wrote:

“Edward W. was made administrator of his mother’s will after Loveberry refused to serve.  He then disposed of all the property, took the proceeds and left South Carolina.” 

Sarah was buried in the New Hope Baptist Church cemetery in Cross Anchor, S. C.

(1). Elizabeth, her daughter, was born circa 1783, and married Mordecai Chandler, son of Robert and Sarah Chandler.  He was born May 1, 1762, in Culpepper, Virginia.

While residing in Newberry District, he served under Capt. James Liles and Col. John Liles.  He was taken prisoner and sent to Ninety Six and  thereafter put on a prison ship.

Next, he joined Capt. James Williams.  He was in the battles of Cedar Springs, Musgrove’s Mill and Stono.

At one time, he served under Capt. Benjamin Roebuck and Cols. John Thomas, Philemon Waters and Thomas Brandon.

Robert Stevens wrote:

“Mordecai was a close personal friend of the Reverend Spencer Bobo.  They were members of the Padgett’s Creek Baptist Church.  In 1784, Spencer sold Chandler 84 acres on Cedar Shoals Creek so they could live side-by-side.  He helped the Reverend Bobo establish the New Hope Baptist Church at Cross Anchor in 1804.

After the death of the Rev. Spencer Bobo in 1816, Mordecai moved to the 112 acres of land on Cook’s Bridge Road in Union County, willed to him by his father, and there helped to establish the Hebron Baptist Church.”    

Mordecai married the granddaughter of Edward Musgrove, and Spencer and Judith Foster Bobo’s son, Absalom, married the daughter of Edward.

Mordecai and Elizabeth had two sons and three daughters.  He died May 23, 1846, and she died May 11, 1852.  They were buried in the New Hope Baptist Church cemetery, Cross Anchor, S. C.

(2). John H. Logan wrote: “He had a son, a Baptist preacher, who displayed much of the eccentricity and acuteness of Lorenzo Dow.”

Mary Ann Strickland Granger of Huntsville, Alabama, has researched and written much about the Reverend Edward William Musgrove and recorded it on the Internet.  The author is indebted to her for her contributions to this article.

He was born circa 1785, in Laurens County, South Carolina.  “His military service included fighting with Andrew Jackson on the Coosa River in Alabama.  He later served as a substitute for someone else.”

“He married at least four times if not more.  It appears he abandoned all of them and was likely a bigamist.

He first married Nancy Stout on June 12, 1819, in Roane County, Tennessee.  She is the only wife he ever acknowledged both in his application for a land grant and in a request for a War of 1812 pension, when he stated that his military papers were lost in a house fire.

He married Nancy Daniels on February 12, 1825, in Roane County, Tennessee.  He apparently had several children by her.

He attended a small academy in Tennessee for a semester between marriages to the Nancys.”

He returned to South Carolina, in 1841, when his mother, Sarah, died, served as administrator of her estate, sold her land and left with the proceeds.”

He moved to Anderson County, S. C., and attended the Big Creek Baptist Church.  Brian Scott of Greenville, S. C., has written a sketch of the church in which he states:

“In September 1842, one Edward W. Musgrove, a hard-shell Baptist preacher, came into the neighborhood and was frequently invited to occupy the pulpit (Big Creek Baptist Church).

In August 1843, he was received by letter into the church.  He had already succeeded in sowing the seeds of discord, which were so soon to yield an abundant harvest of bitter fruit.  At the next meeting, after being admitted to membership, he objected to a missionary deacon serving the church (Miles Ellison).

The storm, which had been gathering force, now burst upon the church in all its fury.  The meeting broke up in confusion.  This was in September (1843).  There was no meeting held after this until January 1844, when confusion and disorder still prevailed.

The crash came, and the church was torn into fragments.  The Musgrove party withdrew and shortly afterward held a meeting and called Elder Nathaniel Gaines to preach for them.  This party took the name Big Creek Primitive Church.”

He was next married to Nancy Johnson, daughter of Reuben Johnson and Nancy Carolina Greenless Johnson, on September 3, 1844, by John Harper, Esquire in Anderson County, S. C.  She was born in Pendleton District.

The Reverend E. W. Musgrove performed the marriage ceremony for Baylis Kelly and Jane, daughter of Mrs. Sarah Wilson, on the same date of his marriage.

He and his wife moved from Anderson County, S. C., to Gwinnett County, Georgia, ‘where he received a land grant for his War of 1812 service, but lost the land, which was sold by the Sheriff circa 1854, to cover a debt.’

After this, he left Nancy Johnson in Gwinnett County, Georgia, and she was remarried to Major Warbinger.

He reappeared in Giles County, Tennessee, in 1870, although his age was shown as much younger.  He married fourthly, Sarah Kelly, on April 15, 1870, in the above county.

Shortly afterwards, he appeared in Winston County, Alabama, where he applied for a War of 1812 pension, without Sarah, repeating much of the information he provided when he applied for a land grant from Gwinnett County, Georgia.  He stated that his wife was Nancy Stout (his first marriage) and did not indicate that she was deceased or provide any mention of his other wives.

He moved to Florence, Lauderdale County, Alabama, and from there to Madison County, Alabama, near the Tennessee line where his last address was in care of a store in Tennessee just across the State Line.

He wrote an irate letter to the President of the United States because the New Orleans office, who paid the pension, was slow in getting his address changed.”

In his booklet, A Brief Sketch of the Musgrove Brothers and Their Descendants, Philip M. Musgrove wrote:

“He was married in his early years to a young lady named Stout but there were no children that our branch of the family have ever heard of.  I had the honor of entertaining him at my home soon after the Civil War.  He was then eighty years old, was a classically educated man, spoke a number of languages, and prided himself on his thorough knowledge of the Greek and Hebrew languages.

 

He was a member of the Anti-Missionary Baptist order, and while at my home in Blountsville, Alabama, he delivered several sermons.  So excellent and profound was his knowledge that it was a delight to listen to his discourses. 

 

Ten years later, I read in a newspaper the notice of the death of a very aged preacher in West Tennessee by the name of Musgrove, but no particulars were given and I was never able to trace for certainty that he was the Edward Musgrove, whom I had once entertained.  One of his idiosyncrasies was to travel on foot and preach.” 

*This Philip M. Musgrove was a son of John Tate and Penelope McCarty Musgrove and a great grandson of John and Araminta Musgrove.  He was a farmer, a teacher, a Southern Baptist preacher and missionary, a physician, a druggist, a lawyer and a Captain of Co. C, 12th Battalion in the Alabama Calvary during the War Between the States.  He married Louisa White.

(3). John C. Musgrove was born in 1787, and married circa 1830.  His wife was deceased before 1840, and her name is unknown.  He had moved to another state before his mother died and was listed in the 1850 Census of Dekalb County, Alabama, with children David, Rebecca and Beeks.

(4). Loveberry Musgrove was born circa 1800.  He never married and was living with his sister, Elizabeth Chandler, in 1850, according to the Census of Union County, S. C.

Robert Stevens wrote:

“They lived near Hebron Baptist Church until she died in 1752.  He then lived with his niece, Margaret Ann Frances Chandler James (Mrs. William Walton) in the town of Union, S. C.  He was a carpenter and was associated with W. W. James.  They built some of the finer houses in the city of Union.  His partner, William Walton James, died in 1864, in Madison, Florida, in the CSA (Orderly Sgt., Co. A, 18th SCV). 

 

William W. James (1821-1864) was born in Wilkes County, N. C., a son of Joseph Warren and Hylie James.   He married Margaret Chandler in 1845.” 

Loveberry was buried in the James plot in the Presbyterian cemetery, and his grave marker states that he was a member of 1st SC Inf., Co. E, CSA.

Robert Stevens wrote:

“He served as a Confederate soldier but was sent home for being too old.  He joined another company but was again discharged because of his age.  He died in 1864, at the home of his niece, Margaret Chandler James.”   

(5). Monsieur Nowell Musgrove was born circa 1800.  He married Nancy Cooksey, daughter of William Cooksey, in 1824.  She was born in 1806.  Her father, William, was a miller at the Gordon Mills.  Her father was born circa 1788, and died after 1850.  Name of her mother is not known.

He and his wife lived on the old Thomas Waters tract on Elisha Creek, waters of the Enoree River.  He sold a tract of land “containing 37 and 1/5 acres on the waters of Elisha Creek, where I now live” to Philemon W. Head (Spartanburg District) in January 1832.  His plantation was in the corner of Union, Spartanburg and Laurens counties.

Robert Stevens wrote:

“He was named for his father’s Frenchman friend, Noel, who lived close to John Musgrove.”   

They were listed in the 1850 Census of Union County, South Carolina, and in the 1860 Census of Neshoba County, Mississippi.  They had three sons and seven daughters.  She died in Neshoba County, Mississippi, in September of 1870, and he died there in 1880.

3. Rebecca Musgrove.  She was born circa 1757, and married John Cannon, son of Samuel Cannon and Lydia Pennington Cannon.  He was born in 1755.  They sold 100 acres of land on the north side of Enoree River to Thomas Springfield of Laurens County on February 6, 1792.

This included the dwelling where they were living.  Rebecca and her husband, John, received this property from her father, Edward.  They sold 50 acres of land on the north side of Enoree River to Benjamin Couch of Spartanburg County on November 8, 1798.  It was part of a tract that Cannon purchased from Adam Garman.  The land was bounded by Edward Lynch’s spring branch.

They had three sons and two daughters.  He died July 7, 1828, in Newberry District.  Date of Rebecca’s death is unknown to this writer.

She was still living in the early 1800s.

II. EDWARD MUSGROVE’S SECOND WIFE, HANNAH FINCHER, AND THEIR CHILDREN.

They were married circa 1761.  She was a daughter of Francis and Hannah Shewin Fincher, and a granddaughter of John and Martha Taylor Fincher and William Shewin of Chester County, Pennsylvania.   The Fincher’s came to this country from England.

Her father and mother were married at London Grove Friends Meeting in Chester County, Pennsylvania on May 31, 1731.  Francis, her father, sold 150 acres on Armel’s Branch of Tyger River to his son, John, on October 4, 1784.  His granddaughter, Mary Musgrove, witnessed the transaction.  He sold 100 acres to his son, John, on Fincher’s Branch on the same date, and Mary was also a witness to this sale.

On March 24, 1786, Aaron Fincher and his wife, Mary Parker, sold 100 acres on a small branch of Fairforest to Moses Collins, and Mary Musgrove, niece of Aaron, was a witness.

Hannah Fincher Musgrove’s sister, Sarah Frances, married William Gist on February 28, 1774.   He was a Loyalist during the Revolutionary War.

Francis Fincher was still living in Union County, S. C. in 1786, and called “an old man” by Margaret Cook, a Quaker Minister, in her journal.

EDWARD MUSGROVE AND HIS WIFE, HANNAH, WERE PARENTS OF MARY AND SUSAN.

Edward was Deputy Surveyor of Berkley County, when he purchased 100 acres on Rocky Creek, branch of Broad River, in Craven County from Jacob Cannamore on December 22, 1761.  Francis Fincher and his wife, Hannah, witnessed the transaction.

He and his wife, Hannah, of Berkley County, sold 200 acres of land at Fish Dam Farm on Sandy River to Thomas Fletchall of Craven County for 100 pounds currency.  This transaction took place on February 13, 1764.

In the book, Petitions For Land From The South Carolina Council Journals, edited by Brent H. Holcomb, the minutes of the Council state:

“The clerk read the petition of Edward Musgrove in behalf of Francis Fincher setting forth that the said Francis Fincher was disabled from traveling by a fall from his horse and praying for a Warrant for 150 acres of Land on the Fork of Broad and Saludy Rivers.”  This meeting took place Tuesday, March 5, 1765.

 

4. Mary Musgrove.  She was born circa 1763, and named for her father’s sister.  She has been immortalized by the pen of John Pendleton Kennedy in his book, Horseshoe Robinson.  “Mary Musgrove’s name is high on the list of the immortal names of women of South Carolina, whose fame was won by daring and devotion to the cause of American Independence.”

“Like many brave girls of ’76 and with all the tenderness of a woman she ministered to the sick, the wounded and fed the hungry, and like the beautiful young heroine of France, Joan of Arc, knew no fear in her heart.  The ‘miller’s pretty daughter’ as she was often called did many brave and noble things and would always say she was for ‘General Washington and the Congress’.

Logan wrote: “Mary Musgrove was not only a woman of rare beauty, but of extraordinary mind and energy.”

John Kennedy wrote that while Mary was visiting with her father’s sister-in-law, Peggy Crosby Adair, in what is now Cherokee County, she warned Horseshoe Robinson and Major Butler not to go by Dogwood Springs (owned by Vardey McBee, Sr. at the time and now known as Limestone Springs) because of impending danger from the Tories.

Mary referred to Peggy (may not have been her real first name) as her aunt.  She was her father’s third wife’s sister.  According to Kennedy, Horseshoe and Major Butler were captured at Grindal’s Ford.

Traditional accounts state that after Horseshoe escaped from Christie’s Tavern, Mary hid him in the cavern to the left of the falls of Cedar Shoals Creek, feeding him and furnishing him with information concerning the activities of the Tories.  She may not have hidden him in the cavern, but undoubtedly did hid him for his protection from the Tories.

The book, Horseshoe Robinson, states that Mary was engaged to John Ramsay, who lost his life at the hands of the British for the part he played in the successful escape of Major Arthur Butler.

When Kennedy lacked information about the name of a character in his book, he gave them a name.  He referred to Edward Musgrove as Allen Musgrove and to James (Horseshoe) Robertson as Galbraith Roberson.

In The Laurens County Sketchbook, Edna Riddle Foy wrote:

“Mary Musgrove made possible the escape of two Whigs who were imprisoned in her home, which was used at intervals as headquarters for the British maneuvers. 

 

At a time when the prisoners’ captors were having their evening meal, the two men were helped through a window above the first floor roof from which they hoisted themselves into the branches of a huge oak tree.  One man was slightly injured in a fall to the ground, but the two managed to join a rescue party on the other side of Enoree River, which had signaled by flares the hour for the escape.”

 

“Mention is made of war casualties being carried to the Musgrove house during and after the Battle of Musgrove’s Mill in August 1780.  A Doctor Ross (George) was in attendance and Mary Musgrove helped to nurse the sick and wounded men from both sides.” 

 

John H. Logan in A History Of The Upper Country Of South Carolina, wrote:

“Among the American wounded left at Musgrove’s was one named Miller—shoe through the body, and believed to be mortal, and had to draw a silk handkerchief through his body to cleanse the wound; his parents were from the lower part of Laurens, and got a physician, old Dr. (George) Ross, to attend to him, though it is believed the British surgeons were quite attentive.  He recovered.”

After the war, Mary married George Berry circa 1788.  George was the son of William and Usley Berry.  One source states that his father, William, sold the mill site to Edward Musgrove.

GEORGE AND MARY HAD CHILDREN: a. Rebecca; b. Lurana Phillips; c. Elizabeth; d. William; e. Mary Musgrove; and f. Robert Goodloe Harper Berry.  Mary died circa 1803, following the birth of Robert.

After Mary’s death, George married Edith Ligon, daughter of Robert and Edith Watkins Ligon.  George and Edith had one child, Edith, who was listed as deceased by 1806, the year that her father died.  John Hutchinson, husband of George and Mary’s daughter, REBECCA, was administrator of George Berry’s estate.

The Laurens County Guardian Returns indicate that Edith Berry was appointed guardian for Polly M. and Robert G. H. Berry and filed a return on April 25, 1812.  She filed her final return on June 5, 1815.

Edith married Andrew Wray after George’s death.  They moved to the Cherokee Springs area of South Carolina, and took Mary’s two youngest children with them.

They lived near James and Margaret Headen Turner.  James father, George, had moved his family from the Thicketty Creek area of present day Cherokee County to Pacolet River near Coulter’s Ford in Spartanburg County circa 1788, about the year that James married Margaret Headen.  James was the brother-in-law of James (Horseshoe) Robertson.

These families attended the Buck Creek Baptist church, where James served as deacon.

MARY MUSGROVE BERRY, daughter of George and Mary Musgrove Berry, married Henry Hines, son of William and Sarah Whitney Hines, and her brother, ROBERT, married Nancy Hines, her husband’s sister.

In the 1850 Census of Spartanburg County, Robert and his wife, Nancy, had three sons and five daughters living with them.  They were listed in the 1860 Census of Spartanburg County with three of their daughters.  Two of their daughters were named MARY and EDITH.

Henry Hines was born in 1790, and died April 6, 1861, and Mary Musgrove Berry Hines was born in 1801, and died September 27, 1861.  Mary and her husband, Henry, had five boys and two girls.  They were buried in the Turner-Hines family cemetery about four miles from Cherokee Springs.

Their daughter, Edith, married James Turner, Jr., son of James and Margaret Headen Turner.  James Turner Jr. was born March 11, 1811, and died September 7, 1858.  Edith was born in 1814, and died June 2, 1888.  They were married September 7, 1828, when he was seventeen and she was fourteen.

They had ten girls and four boys.  James and Edith were also buried in the Turner-Hines cemetery, but Edith’s grave was not marked.

Edith was the granddaughter of George and Mary Musgrove Berry and James Turner Jr. was the nephew of James (Horseshoe) Robertson.

George and Mary Musgrove Berry’s daughter, Rebecca, married John Hutcheson and their daughter, Lurana Phillips Berry married John Brown.

5. Susan Musgrove.  She was born circa 1765.  John H. Logan has Mary confused with her sister, Susan.  It was Susan who died early and not Mary.

Logan wrote:

 

“The following incident occurred at her death: She requested that Mary Farrow, Mary Puckett, Sarah Musgrove, and a Miss George, should be her pall-bearers.  The body being very light, they bore it to the grave on silk handkerchiefs.

 

Just as they were lowering it into the grave, a kind-hearted old lady present, but who was the wife of a Tory, came forward to assist, when a member of the family interposed and prevented it.”

 

Both Mary and Susan were devoted Whigs in principle.  Susan died circa 1784 of consumption.

Hannah Fincher Musgrove was still living on August 17, 1767, when she witnessed a transaction to sell land in Virginia.  Her husband, Edward, and Abraham Musgrove, possible son of Edward by his first wife, also signed the document.     

 

III. ACCORDING TO JOHN H. LOGAN, EDWARD MUSGROVE’S THIRD WIFE WAS NANCY ANN CROSBY.

Logan wrote:

“His third wife was alive when the battle of the mills was fought—her name was Nancy Crosby, from near the Fish Dam Ford of Broad River.  She survived till 1824, to a very advanced age—the grandmother of Capt. P. M. Waters and Dr. E. M. Bobo.”  Edward’s third marriage took place circa 1768.

In the book, Horseshoe Robinson, Horseshoe refers to Peggy Crosby Adair and to her mother as Mrs. Crosby.  Mrs. Crosby was supposed to be about 80 years of age.  Her name has not been recorded.  Edward Musgrove had owned a farm near the Crosbys, which he called Fish Dam Farm, and he was well acquainted with this family.  He sold the farm after he married Hannah Fincher.

Nancy Ann, Peggy (may not have been her real first name), Dennis and William Crosby were possible brothers and sisters.  They grew up in the Fish Dam Ford area.

They were possible children of William Crosby and his wife,  ?  ?  Crosby.  Their mother is listed in the databases as having been born in 1700.  That is the year that the book, Horse Shoe Robinson, gives for “old Mrs. Crosby’s birth date”.

Mrs. Crosoby and her husband, William, were married circa 1722/1723.  William was born in 1696, in Berkley County, S. C.   Thomas is listed as the father of William.

Dennis Crosby, possible brother of Nancy Ann, was born December 11, 1724.  He married Hannah Revels in 1748.  She was born in 1728.  They had four sons and two daughters.

He was granted 300 acres of land on Thicketty Creek on August 18, 1763, in what later became Ninety Six District.  Dennis died October 11, 1771.  Hannah furnished supplies for the Continental and Militia use during the American Revolutionary War.  She died August 12, 1785.

Richard Crosby, son of Dennis and Hannah Revels Crosby, was born in 1749.  He married Rhoda Davis.  She was born in 1756.  They had four sons and four daughters.  He furnished materials for the use of the militia in 1780, 1781, 1782, and 1783.  He died in 1798.

Thomas Crosby, son of Dennis and Hannah Revels Crosby, was born in 1751, in what was then called Berkley County, S. C.   He married Margaret Davis in 1770.  She was born on December 17, 1751.

He was a patriot soldier in the Revolutionary War and served under General Andrew Pickens, after the fall of Charleston, S. C.  They had six sons and two daughters.  He died March 7, 1791, and his wife died February 18, 1825.

William Crosby was the son of Dennis and Hannah Revels and was born in 1755.  He married Mary Polly Davis in 1778, in Camden District.  She was born in 1758.   He served in the militia as a sergeant on horseback and on foot from 1779 to 1783.

The skirmish at Fish Dam was fought in Camden District (later Chester County) in the flat on Broad River, between the ford and the ferry according to John H. Logan.  The battle took place on the plantation of William and Polly Crosby.  Mrs. Crosby reported as many as twenty (British) killed and many others wounded.  She nursed some of the wounded and buried two of the dead British soldiers on the hill near her house.

William and Polly had two sons and three daughters.  He died in 1797, and she died on February 27, 1824.  Just before her death she sold 70 acres to Joseph Crosby that included the house where she lived.

The three Davis girls who married Crosby brothers were probably sisters.

William Crosby, possible brother of Dennis, married Susannah Benton.  A grant of 600 acres on Silver Springs made circa October 2, 1767, was probably his land.

He was a patriot soldier during the Revolutionary War and served as a Continental soldier under Capt. Robert Maysfield and Col. John Thomas.  He served from February 1779 to July 1783 under Capt. William Baskin and General Andrew Pickens.

Edward Musgrove listed Thomas Crosby, son of Dennis, as one of the executors of his will.  Thomas died in 1791, and was unable to fulfill his responsibilities as administrator of Edward’s estate.

Before the ending of the Revolutionary War, Edward gave up his position of neutrality and become a supporter in the fight for independence.  He was possibly influenced by his third wife, Nancy Ann, for she came from a very patriotic family.

Traditional accounts state that Edward’s house was burned after the family switched their allegiance.

CHILDREN OF EDWARD AND ANN CROSBY MUSGROVE WERE: WILLIAM, MARGARET, LEAH, ANN, RACHEL, LINEY AND HANNAH.

He and his wife, Ann, sold 100 acres of land in Union County, S. C., to Robert Crenshaw of Union County, S. C., on February 17, 1787, for 50 pounds sterling.  This land had been granted to Edward on August 13, 1766.

6. Margaret Musgrove.  According to Logan, Margaret was 12 years old when the Battle of Musgrove’s Mill was fought.  This means that she was born circa 1768 or 1769.

P. M. Waters wrote about his mother’s perceptions of the battle:

“Margaret said that it was the grandest sight she ever saw as they came at full speed down the steep hill along which the old road ran to the east of the present house occupied by Dr. Bobo—their uniforms and rake ? blades flashing in the sun just risen in full splendor above the lofty hill under which her father’s house stood. 

 

They dashed up and the commanding officer (Loyalist) asked what had happened.  The account of the battle was given him in a few words, on which rising in his stirrups and uttering several deep and loud imprecations, he commanded his men to cross the river. 

 

They dashed at full speed into the water, which Margaret told afterwards played in rainbows around their horses.  The enemy, however, were far out of their reach, and they were left nothing but the melancholy duty of burying the dead, and conveying the wounded to the hospital at Musgrove’s.”

She married Landon Waters in 1792.  He was the son of Bordroyne and his wife, Elizabeth.  He was the grandson of Philemon and Sarah Bordroyne Waters.  Landon was born in 1764.

The Waters came to South Carolina from Prince William County, Virginia.

Robert Stevens wrote:

“The Waters who came to South Carolina were: Col. Philemon Waters (m. Mary Berry), Capt. Bordroyne Waters, Rosannah Waters Farrow (m. John), Sarah Waters Head (m. John) and Col. Thomas Waters, the notorious Tory active in South Carolina and Georgia.”

Bordroyne was the brother of Col. Philemon Waters and served as captain under him.

P. M. Waters (son of Landon) wrote:

“Bordroyne Waters had occasion to go down to Dutch Ford on business, after times became troublesome; and on his return found to his surprise one of his neighbors, together with the grocery keeper and two others—who were in favor of the King. 

This neighbor, under the influence of liquor, insisted on B. Waters subscribing an oath of allegiance to the King, which he refused to do, upon which they came to words.  Waters in the act of starting for home walked out of the grocery, when this neighbor seized a loaded rifle, which stood in the corner of the grocery, and pursued Waters, and presenting the gun, saying: ‘I will kill you unless you subscribe to the oath.’

 

Waters then commenced parleying with him, and by stratagem snatched the gun from him, and turned it upon him.  When the fellow seized a stick and turned upon Waters, who gave back and bid him stand off or he would kill him, and finally shot him and he died immediately.

Consulting with his brother, Col. Phil Waters, B. Waters, surrendered himself to the civil authorities, and was put in Ninety Six jail.  Not long after, Col. P. Waters and friends liberated him by cutting down the door in a dark night, upon which B. Waters left immediately and took refuge in the North, and there joined the American army, and returning South with Green, fought at Eutau Springs.” 

Robert Stevens wrote:

“The man that Capt. Bordroyne Waters killed was Benjamin Morrow.  He was convicted of murder and sentenced to be hung at Charleston.  Proof of this is in Union County Deed Book SS, pages 318-319.  It contains the record of a pardon granted to Capt. Waters by South Carolina Governor John Rutledge on December 15, 1779.”      

Bordroyne was killed by Ned Turner, a Loyalist associated with Bloody Bill Cunningham, on September 15, 1782.  He was trying to rescue his son, Landon, and John Clark, captives of Turner.  John Clark was a brother of Col. Elijah Clark.

After killing him, Turner released Landon to bury his father.  He buried him near the place where he was killed and four years later moved him to the Bush River Baptist Church cemetery.  His grave was not marked.

Bordroyne’s brother, Thomas, was a Colonel and fought with the Loyalists.  Thomas and his wife, Mary, traveled from South Carolina to Georgia with Elijah Clark in 1773.

Bordroyne’s sister, Rosanna, was the twin sister of Philemon and married John Thomas Farrow. They had at least four sons who fought with the patriots during the Revolutionary War.  In 1776, John was stricken with smallpox after a business trip to Virginia, and died in North Carolina.

During the war, Rosanna heard news of the capture of three of her sons and that they were scheduled to be executed.  Col. Cruger offered to trade them for six British soldiers so she went to Col. James Williams’ camp and carried six of his prisoners to Ninety Six and exchanged them for her sons.   Her parting words to Col. Cruger were: “I have given you two for one, but understand that I consider it the best trade I have ever made for rest assured that hereafter the Farrow boys will whip you four to one.”

Her son Samuel served as a captain under Col. James Williams at the Battle of Musgrove’s Mill and was wounded in the face by a saber.

Landon served in the Patriot militia under Capt. Philemon Waters (later Col. Waters) from June 5 through September 15, 1781.

He died in 1822, and his wife died in 1824.  They were parents of five sons and two daughters.  Landon M. Waters and Philemon M. Waters were their sons.  Landon M. owned property on the Tyger River adjacent to land once owned by Golden Tinsley and William Blackstock.

7. Ann Musgrove.  She was born May 25, 1773, and married Absalom Bobo August 1, 1790.  He was the son of Simpson and Judith Foster Bobo and was born in Virginia, March 13, 1765.  He was drafted during February or March 1781, while residing in Ninety Six District and served in the Revolutionary War under Col. Benjamin Roebuck and Capt. George Roebuck.  He guarded prisoners at the Orangeburg jail.

Ann and Absalom Bobo had the following children: Edward Musgrove Bobo; Jane Bobo; Levinia Bobo; and Sampson Bobo.  Ann died circa 1807, after the birth of her son Sampson.  They were living in Cross Anchor, S. C., at this time.  Most of their children grew up on Two Mile Creek, near Woodruff, S. C.

Edward Musgrove Bobo was born on December 22, 1792, and married Elizabeth Murphy in 1816.  She was born on November 21, 1796.  He died October 15, 1858, and her death occurred on May 17, 1862.  They were buried in the Presbyterian cemetery in Union, S. C.

He was a physician, and he and his wife had two boys and two girls.  William Musgrove, his mother’s brother, in 1848, left him 443 acres of land in his will, which included the Musgrove house and mills.  In the August freshet of 1852, he lost the grist and saw mills.

His daughter, Susan Jane, married the wealthy Richard Austin Springs of Springsteen Plantation in York County.   Edward Musgrove Bobo owned a great deal of real estate in Union County.

In 1859, Lewis Lawrence purchased 500 acres from his estate, which included the Musgrove house and mills tract.

Jane Bobo was born December 8, 1798, and married Alfred Dean, son of Joel and Mary Brockman Dean, in 1842.  Joel Dean was a patriot soldier in the Revolutionary War and fought in North Carolina under General Griffith Rutherford in his Rowan County Brigade.

Alfred was born September 19, 1798.  They had four boys and three girls.  He died May 7, 1877, and she died October 8, 1884.  They were members of the Abner Creek Baptist Church.  She moved her membership from the Bethel Baptist Church in Woodruff, S. C., to Abner Creek.  Their sons, Alvin and Dean, were both Confederate soldiers and attained the rank of captain in the War Between the States.

Levinia Bobo was born in 1804, and married Amos P. Woodruff, son of Samuel H. and Nancy Pilgrim Woodruff, circa 1824.  He was born in 1801.  They had seven boys and five girls.  He died circa 1882, and she died in 1889.  They were living in Lamar County, Texas, when they died.

Sampson Bobo was born in 1807, and married Rebecca Woodruff, daughter of Samuel and Nancy Pilgrim Woodruff, in 1825.  She was born September 10, 1806, and died January 19, 1846.  They had four girls and two boys.  Their son, Biram, died December 21, 1845, in the second year of his age.

Biram and his mother are buried in Bethel Baptist Cemetery, Woodruff, S. C.  After Rebecca’s death, Sampson married Elizabeth Pearson on September 14, 1848.  She was born August 2, 1814.  They moved to Panola County, Mississippi, where he died on December 2, 1884, and she died there on September 3, 1899.

Absalom Bobo’s second wife was Mary (Polly) Bobo, his first cousin.  She was the daughter of Sampson and Sarah
Simpson Bobo and was born May 25, 1773.  They married circa 1808, and lived on Two Mile Creek near Woodruff, S. C.

Her father, Sampson Bobo, while residing in Ninety Six District, served in the militia under Col. Thomas Brandon.

Two children were born to this couple: Aseneath Bobo, born April 24, 1810, and George Washington Bobo, born November 5, 1812.

By 1825, or before, Absalom Bobo acquired some of Edward and Ann Musgrove’s slaves possibly from their daughter, Hannah, or from the will of Edward and gave them to his son, Edward M. and daughter Jane Dean, children of his first wife, Ann Musgrove.  Ann was deceased at this time.

George Washington Bobo married Permelia Frances Todd, daughter of James and Elizabeth Jane Spencer Todd in 1839.  She was born March 21, 1819.  He and his wife were members of the Bethel Baptist Church in Woodruff, S. C., and had two sons.

George died August 20, 1848, and his widow moved her membership to the Lower Fairforest Baptist Church in Union County, September 20, 1848.  She later married a Hartsfield and moved to Panola County, Mississippi, where she died on January 28, 1878.

Aseneath Bobo married William Winder Hitch, son of John and Katherine Hanna Hitch.  She was his second wife.  They were married September 2, 1847.  They had two sons and a daughter and moved to Mississippi, in November of 1860.  He died in Panola County, Mississippi, on June 9, 1870, and she died there December 14, 1887.

Absalom Bobo died December 1, 1846.  Mary (Polly), his widow, was living with her daughter, Aseneath and son-in-law, William Hitch, in 1850, and died November 10, 1857, while residing in their house.  He and his 2nd wife and George were buried in the Bethel Baptist Church cemetery in Woodruff, S. C., and their graves have inscribed stones.

8.  Leah Musgrove.  One source states that she married a Glenn.

9. Rachel Musgrove.  On June 1, 1800, she married George Ross Adair, son of James and Rebecca Montgomery Adair, and grandson of Joseph Alexander and Sarah Lafferty Adair.  He was born December 15, 1779.

His father was a patriot soldier and served under General Francis Marion in 1780 and 1781.  His grandfather was also a patriot soldier and a commissary of the Little River Regiment under Col. Levi Casey.  He also served under Col. William Washington.

James Adair was named for his uncle, James, who received a tract of land from King George II on Duncan’s Creek in Laurens County, S. C., and had his father and brothers move from Pennsylvania to South Carolina to settle on this land.

He was an Indian trader and published a book on a History of the American Indians.  He attempted to trace the descent of the Indians from the Jews based upon resemblances between the customs of the two races.  When he went to London, England, in 1775, to have his book published, he appealed to members of the British Cabinet to reconcile with the American Colonies and settle matters peacefully.

George Ross and Rachel had two sons and a daughter.  Their son, Isaac, born in 1807, and died in 1866, married Nancy Farrow, daughter of William and Rhoda Waters Farrow.  They belonged to Hurricane Shoals Baptist Church in Laurens County, S. C.  They moved to Indiana, but returned to Laurens County within a year.

George moved with his second wife, Anna Kay, to Gwinnett County, Georgia.  They named their Georgia settlement “Maryville”.  His third wife was Mary Keziah Bennett.  He died September 30, 1850, in Russell County, Alabama.

10. Liney Musgrove.  One source states that she married a West.

11. Hannah Musgrove.  Her mother, Ann Crosby Musgrove Smith, and her step-father, David Smith, sold three slaves, beds, pots and tables to her on July 4, 1794, for 30 pounds sterling.  She was not married at this time.

12. William Musgrove.  In 1790, his father’s will left him the dwelling, land and mill after his mother’s death.  After he became of age, the court gave him back his father’s land.  While living in Laurens District, S. C., he purchased 114 acres of land for $700.00 on November 1833, from Thomas and Isabella Fraser of Spartanburg District.  He died in 1848, and left the mill and Musgrove house to his nephew, Dr. Edward Musgrove Bobo.  There was an inscribed stone over his grave, but it has been removed.

*Nancy Ann Crosby Musgrove married David Smith of Union County, S. C., after the death of her husband, Edward Musgrove.  They lived in the Padgett’s Creek community.

Robert Stevens and Linda Stevens Crissinger in their article, The Founding of a South Carolina Backcountry Society Union County, Historical and Genealogical, wrote:

“On May 20, 1794, David Smith, Sr., sold to David Smith Jr., a set of blacksmith tools.  At the same time, he sold all of his furniture and cattle to his daughter, Mary Smith.  On July 4, 1794, David Smith Sr. and wife, Ann, of Union County, sold her life estate share of three slaves to her daughter, Hannah Musgrove.  On the same day, they sold another slave to Landon Waters, husband of her daughter, Margaret, who lived just across the Enoree River in Spartanburg County.”

Due to her debts, Ann lost two grants she had received in 1791, totaling 140 acres and also one of her slaves.

Robert Stevens and Linda Crissinger wrote:

“If Ann Musgrove Smith had collected any of the more than five hundred pounds due the estate of her late husband, she certainly hadn’t acknowledged it to the Laurens County Probate Court.  In 1795, Charles Sims sued the estate of Edward Musgrove for a debt.  The case went to District Court in Ninety Six and Sims was awarded a judgment.  Musgrove’s  Mill, including the 150 acres was seized and sold at public auction to George Gordon for twenty-seven pounds to satisfy the debt.”

Hannah, who was living in her father’s house, had to vacate the property.  Ann had a right under the law to demand at least a one-third share of her husband’s estate for her dower.  Her right of dower was not included in the property sold by the court.

In the book, Some South Carolina Genealogical Records, compiled by Janie Revill, was found a record of the following transaction:

“David Smith and his wife, Ann, formerly wife of Edward Musgrove, sold her land (right of dower) on the Enoree known as Musgrove’s Mill, a tract of 150 acres to Thomas Lee on January 13, 1796.  Both parties were residents of Union County at this time.”  George Gordon found himself with an unwanted partner in the mill operation.

William S. Glenn, in his article, The Battle of Musgrove’s Mill, published in The Spartanburg Herald on April 18, 1926, wrote:

“William Musgrove, Ann’s son, to whom the mill and property had been willed after her death, sued and reclaimed the property after he had reached maturity.”        

In 1811, Ann was sued for the debts of her husband, David Smith.  She died circa 1824.

**David Smith, son of William and Mercy Croasdale Smith, was born on April 25, 1736, in Bucks County, Pennsylvania.  His first wife was Hannah Hibbs.  She was the daughter of Jeremiah and Hannah Jones Hibbs.  Her mother probably died in childbirth for she was raised by Sarah Hibbs Cooper.

They married on April 11, 1761, at Dutch Reformed church of North and South Hampton, at what is now Churchville, Bucks County, Pennsylvania.  She agreed to become a Quaker after her marriage.  They were parents of six boys and five girls.  He moved to South Carolina with the Quakers in 1768.  He was a member of Bush River MM.

Quaker records indicate that he was a patriot soldier the latter part of the Revolutionary War (1783).  He was disowned by his church for his participation, but was later restored to fellowship.

Ralph Smith, who served under Gen. Thomas Sumter, was his brother.  Ralph married Mary Penquite.

David and Hannah’s son, George, born January 21, 1777, was a Methodist minister in Indianapolis, Indiana.  He married Sarah Kennedy on January 1, 1797, in Union County, S. C.

David’s first wife died in 1785.  He died in 1801, and left Ann Crosby Musgrove Smith, a widow again.  He was buried in the Quaker cemetery at Sedalia, S. C.

SOURCES CONSULTED

The Annals of Newberry by John Belton O’Neall; Roster of South Carolina Patriots by Bobby Gilmer Moss; Encyclopedia of the American Revolution by Mark M. Boatner III; Some South Carolina Genealogical Records by Janie Revill; A History Of The Upper Country Of South Carolina by John H. Logan;

Will of Absalom Bobo, Will Book D, Box 3, Package 19, page 124, Spartanburg County Courthouse, Spartanburg County, S. C.; Laurens County newspaper, 1852;

Spartanburg County Cemetery Survey, Vols. I & II, Bethel Baptist Church cemetery, Woodruff, S. C., & Hines and Turner cemetery near Cherokee Springs, S. C.; Records from Pinckney District Chapter of S. C. Genealogical Society; The History of Newberry County, Vol. I, 1749-1860, by Thomas H. Pope;

Fincher In The USA, 1683-1900, by Evelyn Davis Fincher and Ann Wilson Fincher; Abstracts of Early Records of Laurens County, 1765-1820 by Sara M. Nash; Bobo Cousins By The Dozens by Robert M. Newell, Jr. and Jeanie Patterson Newell; Kings Mountain And Its Heroes by Lyman C. Draper; Laurens County South Carolina Wills by Colleen Ellliott;

The History Of South Carolina In The Revolution by Edward McCrady; Petitions For Land from The South Carolina Council Journals, Vol. VI, 1766-1770, Vol. VII, 1771-1774, by Brent H. Holcomb; Union County, South Carolina Minutes Of The County Court, 1785-1799, by Brent H. Holcomb;

South Carolina’s Distinguished Women Of Laurens County by Marguerite Tolbert, Irene Dillard Elliott and Dr. Wil Lou Gray; Roster of Revolutionary Soldiers in Georgia And Other States by Mrs. Howard H. McCall;

Women Of The Revolution, Piedmont Headlight, Spartanburg, South Carolina, December 10, 1897, Vol. V., pgs. 3 & 6; Carolyn Waters’ Application For Membership To The National Society Of The Children Of The American Revolution;

Letter from Lorene Barnett; Letter from Myra Lake Howell; Documentary History Of The American Revolution by R. W. Gibbes; 1810 Equity Petitions of Laurens County, S. C., Package 8, Box 27;

Musgrove’s Mill by Sam P. Manning; Laurens and Newberry Counties South Carolina: Saluda and Little River Settlements, 1749-1775, by Jesse Hogan Motes III and Margaret Peckham Motes; Laurens County Advertiser Articles on September 3rd & 8th by Jim Kluttz and Tom Priddy; Unpublished Manuscript on Philemon Waters Family; South Carolina Deed Abstracts, 1719-1772, Vol. III, by Clara A. Langley;

Petitions For Land From The South Carolina Council Journals, Vol. V, 1757-1765, by Brent H. Holcomb; Will of Edward Musgrove, Recorded in Book A, Pg. 28, Laurens County Courthouse; Andrews Almanac for 1765;

The Jury Lists Of South Carolina for 96 District in 1778-1779, by Ge Lee Corley Hendrix and Morn McKoy Lindsay; Spartanburg County South Carolina Minutes Of The County Court, 1785-1799, by Brent H. Holcomb;

Union County, South Carolina, Will Abstracts by Brent H. Holcomb; South Carolina Marriages, 1749-1867, Implied In South Carolina Equity Reports by Barbara R. Langdon; South Carolina Deed Abstracts, 1773-1778, Books F-4 through X-4—Books I-5 through Z-5 by Brent H. Holcomb;

Marriage And Death Notices From The Up-Country Of South Carolina, 1826-1863, by Brent H. Holcomb; Internet—Musgrove Genealogy Family Forum;

Pinckney District, South Carolina, Common Pleas Minute Book, 1792-1794, by Lucille Hendrick Gardner; Genealogical Articles on the Families from rootsweb.com and from gencircles.com; Adair History and Genealogy by James Barnett Adair, M. D.; Union County, South Carolina, Deed Abstracts Vols. 1-4 by Brent H. Holcomb;

Bessie Poole Lamb’s Files on the Musgrove Family; Spartanburg County Deed Abstracts, Vols. 1-4; U. S. Census records; Memoirs of Major Joseph McJunkin by Rev. James Hodge Saye; Touring South Carolina’s Revolutionary War Sites by Daniel W. Barefoot; Emails from Brian L. Robson, Interpretive Ranger of Musgrove Mill State Park; Emails from Robert J. Stevens, 415 N. Main St., 6-E Darlington, S. C., 29532-2245;

A Brief Sketch of the Musgrove Brothers and their Descendants by Phillip M. Musgrove; South Carolina State Plats (Charleston Series) Vol. 27, pg. 496; Vol. 28, pg. 25; Laurens County Deed Books, Vol. D, pgs. 452-453; Vol. DB C, pgs. 35-36; DB E, pgs. 7-8; DB G, pg. 570; Vol. E. pg. 308-309; Vol. F, pgs. 57-58; 109-110; Vol. K, pg. 19; Vol. Q, pgs. 307-308;

South Carolina State Plats (Columbia Series) Vol. 52, pg. 410; Laurens Estate Papers, Box 104, pkg. 1;

Abstracts of Old Ninety-Six and Abbeville District Wills and Bonds compiled by Willie Pauline Young.  The Founding of a South Carolina Backcountry Society, Union County, Historical and Genealogical by

Robert J. Stevens and Linda Stevens Crissinger;  “The Battle of Musgrove’s Mill” by William S. Glenn, published in Spartanburg Herald, April 18, 1926; Union County, S. C. Deed Book SS, pgs. 318-319.

Articles on Internet by Mary Ann Strickland Grainger, 3301 Ohara Road, Huntsville, Alabama, 35801; William Musgrove Descendants In England, Tennessee and Alabama by J. T. Smith, Internet.)

Part One: BY ROBERT A. IVEY

The surname of Henderson is derived from Henry–Henry’s son, which in time became Henrison, Hendrickson, Henderson.  The name is Scottish, the family having lived there since the fifteenth century with the chief seat being at Fordell, County Fife. 

(People Family Search, Our Family History, the Barnard Family Story, Introduction to the Henderson Chronicles, Internet.)        

Sir James Henderson of “Fordell”, Scotland, was one of the progenitor of the Hendersons in the Ninety Six District of South Carolina.  He married Jean Murray and had four sons: Sir John, his heir,
Robert, James and Francis.  The last three were Colonels and brave officers in Danish, Swedish and French wars.

(RootsWeb’s WorldConnect Project: Carrie’s Family Tree, ID: 107579, Sir James Henderson, Contact R. C. Karnes.)

Thomas Henderson was born in Virginia circa 1653.  He married Ursula Keeling, daughter of George and Ursula Fleming Keeling, in 1676, in Hanover County, Virginia. 

She was born in New Kent County, Virginia, circa 1660, and had two brothers and a sister.  Her sister, Mary, was born September 26, 1664, in York County, Virginia.

George Keeling was born circa 1635.  He married Ursula Fleming, circa 1658.  She was possibly the daughter of Thomas and Judith Ursula Tarleton Fleming, and was born circa 1639. 

George was elected Captain of the Militia on July 4, 1702, and Sheriff of New Kent County, on April 28, 1708.  He was a Justice of the Peace in New Kent County, Virginia, and served as a member of the Vestry of St. Peter’s Parish.  Ursula Fleming Keeling died circa 1700, in New Kent County, Virginia, and her husband, George, died circa 1720, in Granville County, North Carolina.    

(RootsWeb’s World Connect Project: My Family, Past & Present, ID: 11589, Thomas Henderson, Contact Jennifer; RootsWeb’s WorldConnect Project: Carrie’s Family Tree, ID: 107579,108482 &108483, George and Ursula Keeling Henderson, Contact R. C. Karnes.)

(The Ancestry and Family History of Louise Ann Booth at Grand Forks, North Dakota, Some Descendants of Capt. George Keeling, Internet; Genealogy.com—GenForum, George Keeling/Ursula Fleming, Posted by Hewitt Ryan, Internet; Family Tree Maker’s Genealogy Site: Genealogy Report: Ancestors of Richard Anthony McKoin Cos…Internet.)  

Thomas and Ursula had the following children: John, Richard, Thomas, Edward, James and Sarah Henderson.  Their son, Richard, was born circa 1674.   Ursula died in 1697, and he married Sarah Wilkinson, daughter of Thomas and Judith Fleming Wilkinson, on November 16, 1698.

Thomas and Sarah had the following children: William, Samuel, Jane, Susannah and Ursula Henderson.  He was a parish collector for St. Paul’s Parish and their neighbor.

He died in February of 1711.  Date of the death of Sarah Wilkinson Henderson is not known to this writer.

(GenCircles, Carrie’s Family Tree, Thomas Henderson, Contact R. C. Karnes; RootsWeb’s World Connect Project: Dave’s Bohemian, Canadian, and Southern Kin, ID: 134393, Thomas Henderson, Contact David V. Hughey.)   

(RootsWeb’s World Connect Project: Mostly Southern, ID: 106491, Thomas Henderson, Contact Mark Freeman; RootsWeb’s WorldConnect Project: Carrie’s Family Tree, ID: 108482, George Keeling,  Contact R.C. Karnes; Genealogy. Com, Thomas Henderson/Ursula Keeling, Starting New, Internet.)

Richard Henderson married Mary (Polly) Washer.  She was born circa 1655, at Lawnes Plantation, Isle of Wight, Virginia, the daughter of Thomas and Mary Bruce Washer.   Her father was born circa 1625, and her mother was born circa 1629.  Her parents died in Hanover County, Virginia.

(RootsWeb’s Worldconnect Project: David E. Leleux Family Tree, ID: 1033118, Thomas Washer, Contact David E. LeLeux; RootsWeb’s WorldConnect Project: Louisiana Melting Pot, ID: 1035136, Thomas and Mary Bruce Washer, Contact Jody M. Larousse.)

They had six sons and two daughters: Joseph, Edward, Leonard, Richard, Samuel, Nathaniel, Christian and Jane.  Their son, Samuel, was born March 17, 1700.   

Richard owned a plantation in Hanover County, Virginia, where he served as a Judge and Sheriff.  Mary died in Hanover County, Virginia, in 1714, and he died June 21, 1749, in Goochland County, Virginia.   

(Genealogy.Com, Family Tree Maker Online, Richard (the Sheriff) Henderson, Internet; RootsWeb’s WorldConnect Project: A Goode American Family, ID: 132156, Richard Henderson, Contact David Goode.)

(RootsWeb’s WorldConnect Project, Carrie’s Family Tree, ID: 11936, Richard Henderson, Contact R. C. Karnes; RootsWeb’s WorldConnect Project: Carrie’s Family Tree, ID: 11937 & 107578, Mary Polly Washer, Contact R. C. Karnes.)

Samuel Henderson married Elizabeth Williams on November 14, 1732, in Hanover County, Virginia.  She was the daughter of Lt. Col. John and Mary ? Williams and was born on September 14, 1714, in York County, Virginia.

(Some Descendants of Samuel Henderson & Elizabeth Williams of Granville County, North Carolina, Internet; RootsWeb’s WorldConnect Project, Family of Legends, ID: 1255265, John Williams, Contact David A. Blocher; John Williams (1679-1735) – Genealogy, Internet.)

John Williams, Elizabeth’s father, was born in Llangollen, Wales.  He was the son of John Williams II and his wife, Ann Whitley.  He emigrated to America in the 1690s, and appears to have first settled on Queens’ Creek in York County, Virginia.  He married Mary ? on July 26, 1704, in York County, Virginia, where she was born. 

 The following was written by J. E. Williams and entitled, A Williams Line.  He wrote: “JOHN WILLIAMS, a native of Wales, came to Virginia, about the beginning of the eighteenth century, and settled in Hanover County.  He was born January 26, 1679, and died about 1735.  The court records of Hanover County show that John Tyler, with Thomas Prosser, as his bondsman, qualified as administrators of his estate on June 5, 1735.  His wife, Mary, whose maiden name is not known, was born September 26, 1684.”           

John later moved to Hanover County, Virginia, and built his ancestral home, Studley, before 1712.   He was a member of the Colonial Militia and served as a Lt. Col. and was referred to in some databases as a judge. 

They had four sons and four daughters: John, Mary, Ann, Daniel, Nathaniel, Elizabeth, Sarah, and Joseph.  Their daughter, Elizabeth, and her husband, Samuel Henderson, were the direct progenitors of the Carroll (Grindal) Shoals Hendersons.       

Mary ? Williams died in 1730, in Hanover County, Virginia, and John,  her husband, was married a second time to Ann  ? .  He died in Bertie County, North Carolina, on January 11, 1741.

(RootsWeb’s WorldConnect Project: ID: 159538100, John II Williams, Contact Dave; John Williams (1679-1735)–-Genealogy, Internet.)

(RootsWeb’s WorldConnect Project: The McMillin & Williams and Allied Families, ID: 105865, Mary Keeling, Contact Deb; Early Descendants of John Williams, “The Wealthy Welshman” of Hanover County, Virginia, Born 1679, Llangollen, Wales, Internet.)

(RootsWeb’s World Connect Project: Charles McDonald, ID: 1532085360, Mary Keeling, Contact Charles McDonald; RootsWeb’s World Connect Project: Family of Legends, ID:1255265, John Williams, Contact David A. Blocker; RootsWeb’s WorldConnect Project: Family 2010 Tree, ID: P2170662786, John Williams III, Contact Gary W. Wood.) 

Samuel Henderson was first a High Sheriff of Hanover County, Virginia.  Before 1740, he and his wife, Elizabeth, moved to Granville County, North Carolina, to lands on Nutbush Creek.  He built Ashland Plantation in 1740.  He became Sheriff of that county in 1754.  He was one of the Justices of the County Court from 1747-1758.   

The Ashland Plantation is still standing on Satterwhite Point Road and now houses the Vance County Historical Museum.

Samuel and Elizabeth Williams Henderson had the following children: Mary Ann, Richard, Nathaniel, Elizabeth, Anna, Susanna, John, Samuel Jr., William, Pleasant and Thomas Henderson. 

Samuel died at his Ashland plantation August 25, 1783, and was buried at Williamsboro, N. C.  Elizabeth, his wife, died in Rockingham County, North Carolina, on September 5, 1794, at one of her son’s houses.  She was buried at Williamsboro, N. C. 

(Samuel Henderson (1700-1783)—Genealogy, Internet; RootsWeb’s WorldConnect Project: VOLZKAI, ID:155219, Elizabeth Williams, Contact Denise Volzka; RootsWeb’s WorldConnect Project: Persephone’s Prize, ID: 13689, Elizabeth Williams, Contact Terri Miles.)

(RootsWeb’s WorldConnect Project: OUR FAMILIES, ID: 103107, Samuel Henderson, Sheriff, Contact Fletcher; NC Vance/Local, Vance Co. Contacts, Internet; Vance County, NCGenWeb Project, Internet; RootsWeb’s WorldConnect Project: Fisher and Grimes Ancesters, ID: 134144, Elizabeth Williams, Contact John Merrill Fisher.)

THE CARROLL (GRINDAL) SHOALS OR PACOLET RIVER

SETTLEMENT OF THE HENDERSONS, WILLIAMS AND CONNECTING FAMILIES 

By September of 1766 or before, several families from the Granville County, North Carolina, area came to the Carroll (Grindal) Shoals section of what later became the Ninety Six District of South Carolina, and received grants of land from what was then believed to be Mecklenburg or Tryon Counties in North Carolina.

Zachariah Bullock, son of Richard and Ann Henley Bullock, from Granville, N. C., moved to the area and surveyed a lot of grants in the Carroll (Grindal) Shoals area.  Two of his sisters lived at least for awhile in the area: Agatha and her husband, John Nuckolls Sr., and Agnes and her husband, John Williams.  Their husbands were both Patriot officers during the American Revolutionary War.

(North Carolina Land Grants in South Carolina by Brent Holcomb, p.95; RootsWeb’s WorldConnect Project: My Family Tree and Twigs, ID: 114078, Richard Bullock, Contact Leonard Turnbull;  RootsWeb’s World Connect Project: The Ridner and Bender Families, ID: 15497, Agatha Bullock, Contact David A. Ridner.)

(Rootsweb’s WorldConnect Project: The McMillin & Williams and Allied Families, ID: 108443, Agness Bullock, Contact Deb; Roster of South Carolina Patriots in the American Revolution by Bobby Gilmer Moss, p. 121.)

His brother, Leonard Henley Bullock Sr., owned property in Carroll (Grindal) Shoals as did Leonard’s daughter, Susannah.  Leonard was High Sheriff in Granville County, N. C. in 1769; Commander of Governor Tryon’s Calvary Unit in 1771; Manager of the Translvania Land Company in 1775; and was a Major with the Patriot or Continental Forces during the American Revolutionary War.

(Union County, South Carolina, Deed Abstracts, Vol. I, by Brent Holcomb, pp 59, 119, 259; RootsWeb’s World Connect Project: My Family Tree and Twigs, ID: 114080, Leonard Henley Bullock, Contact Leonard Turnbull.)  

Zachariah Bullock owned a great deal of land in the Carroll (Grindal) Shoals area and served as a Major with the Continental forces under Col. Benjamin Roebuck.  Angelica Mitchell Nott wrote: “The place on which he lived was settled by one Pacolet, after whom the river was named.”

(Union County, South Carolina, Deed Abstracts, Vol. I, by Brent Holcomb, p. 17; History of Grindal Shoals by Rev. J. D. Bailey, p. 74.)

He died unmarried in 1791, and left his estate to his brother, Len, and Len’s four daughters: Lyne, Lucy, Agnes and Nancy.  He was a friend and neighbor to the Williams, Hendersons and Mitchells.

(Union County, South Carolina, Will Abstracts, 1787-1849, pp. 15-16.) 

John Beckham apparently received one of the early grants in Mecklenburg County circa 1765 or 1766.  Beckham’s land or grant was mentioned in the survey that Joab Mitchell had made on September 27, 1766, for one of his grants. 

Beckham had a 400 acre tract on both sides of the Pacolet River that he sold to William Hodge in 1775 or 1776.  He had probably built his cabin here and lived in it until several years after his brother-in-law, William Henderson, moved to the area in 1771 or before.  From records it appears that Beckham moved his family to the William Henderson lands circa 1774.

(North Carolina Land Grants in South Carolina by Brent Holcomb, p. 95; South Carolina Historical and Genealogical Magazine, Vol. XXVIII, pp. 108-111, Article on General William Henderson compiled by B. F. Taylor; History of Grindal Shoals by Rev. J. D. Bailey, p. 24.)

During the Revolutionary War, Lieut. Col. Banastre Tarleton of the British army visited the William Hodge cabin in November of 1780, and had his men set the torch to it.  This was probably the house that Beckham had constructed.  He carried William Hodge to Camden, S. C., where he remained a prisoner until he and Daniel McJunkin escaped in April of 1781.  

In his History of Grindal Shoals, the Reverend J. D. Bailey wrote: “When twelve, or fourteen years of age, the writer passing this ancient settlement one beautiful summer evening, in company with Frank Hodge, he pointed out to us three black rocks standing at right angles near the roadside, and said, ‘There are the pillars of great—grand-father’s house, which was burnt during the Revolution.’  The site was about one hundred and fifty yards a little south of west from the old graveyard.  They are not to be seen there now.”  

(History of Grindal Shoals, Article on William Hodge, by Rev. J. D. Bailey, pp. 53-56.)

All of Hodge’s personal papers were burnt and on August 27, 1784, he had John Hodge and John Grindal Sr. appear before J. Thompson, J. P. and they stated that they saw John Beckham of the Ninety Six District in the year 1775 or 76 deliver to William Hodge of Pacolet River a lease and release for 400 acres, being the plantation  whereon the said William Hodge now lives.”

(Union County, South Carolina, Will Abstracts, 1787-1849, by Brent Howard Holcomb, p. 17.)

Joab Mitchell received four separate grants totaling 1300 acres in September of 1766, in what was then thought to be Mecklenburg County, North Carolina.  He received a later grant for 1888 acres on February 10, 1775, “on the Mill Creek at the mouth of School house branch.”

(North Carolina Land Grants in South Carolina by Brent Holcomb, p. 95; Union County, South Carolina, Deed Abstracts, Vol. I: Deed Books A-F, 1785-1800 (1752-1800) by Brent Holcomb, p. 51.)

Richard Henderson, his brother-in-law, received six grants in 1767 and 1768, for a total of 2100 acres of land in the Pacolet River area.  The land was thought to be a part of Mecklenburg and Tryon Counties in North Carolina.  He never lived on the land.  By 1771, William Henderson had purchased his brother, Richard Henderson’s lands, and had moved there to oversee the property.

(North Carolina Land Grants in South Carolina by Brent Holcomb, pp. 70, 71, 140, 156.)

In a History of the Upper Country of South Carolina, Vol. II, p. 38, by John H. Logan, is found the following: “Col. William Henderson settled, a single man on the Pacolet, and lived there with his sister, Mrs. John Beckham.” 

He lived for several years with his sister until he constructed his own cabin.  He allowed the Beckham’s to settled on his land just off Sandy Run Creek in possibly a cabin that had already been built by “squatters”.  In his will, William Henderson gave the land (200 acres) to the Beckhams and his brother, John, an executor of the estate, deeded the land to the daughters of Beckham. 

(Union County, South Carolina, Deed Abstracts, Vol. I: Deed Books A-F, 1785-1800 (1752-1800) by Brent Holcomb, p. 208.)         

John Williams, son of Daniel Williams Sr. and Ursula Henderson Williams, and his wife, Mary Atwood Williams, were living (squatting) in a cabin in 1768 or before, on land that was later granted to John Kirconnell on the north side of Pacolet, the upper side of John Portman’s land.  Kirconnell received the grant in 1771, in what was then regarded as in Tryon County, North Carolina.

John Williams received a 300 acre grant on the Pacolet River in 1768.  This land was then thought to be a part of Mecklenburg County, North Carolina.  He received an additional grant of 500 acres that included “Clark’s Old Field” in 1770.  This land was in Tryon County, North Carolina.  A part of John Clark’s (father of Col. Elijah Clark) land was re-granted.

(North Carolina Land Grants in South Carolina by Brent Holcomb, pp. 121, 125, 141, 154, 158.)

John Williams probably moved to the area with his brother, Daniel Williams Jr., and his wife, Ann.  Two of Ann’s sisters had also moved there in the 1760s.  Daniel may have purchased John’s property on the Pacolet River after his brother moved to what later became Laurens County, S. C. 

Their brother, James Williams, in 1773, moved to the Little River section of what became Laurens County, and John later joined him there circa 1775.  John moved to Edgefield County, S. C., circa 1785. 

Some of his brother, Daniel’s children, later moved there.  Davis, a son of Daniel and Ann Henderson Williams, sold land in Edgefield District, S. C., in 1801.  Daniel’s wife, Ann, lived in Edgefield after the death of her second husband, Adam Potter, in 1801.  She died in Edgefield County.   

(James Williams, An American Patriot in the Carolina Backcountry, by William T. Graves, p. 6; SCC-Template, South Carolina Connections, Disk5Chp68, Internet, pp. 1-2; RootsWeb’s World Connect Project, SCSALUDA-L Archives, Ancestry.com, Internet; RootsWeb’s WorldConnect Project: Norris/Verbois Family Tree, ID: 1533945254, Anne Henderson, Contact Toni Verbois.)

John Williams Jr., son of John and Mary Womack Williams, from  Granville County, N. C., received a 300 acre tract on both sides of the south fork of Pacolet River in 1767, and a 600 acre tract on both sides of the south fork of the Pacolet River in 1768.  This land was thought to be in Tryon County, North Carolina, at the time.  There is no record of John Jr. living on these grants. He may have sold his land to his brother-in-law, Zachariah Bullock. 

His wife was Agness Bullock Keeling, widow of George Keeling, and sister of Zachariah.  Her first husband was the grandson of George and Ursula Fleming Keeling. 

(RootsWeb’s WorldConnect Project: Ancestors and Cousins, ID: 148323, George Keeling, Contact Karen Higgins.)

 “Along with his cousin, Richard Henderson, Williams (John Jr.) organized the Louisa  (later the Transylvania) Company in 1774, in order to develop and sell land between the Cumberland and Kentucky rivers.” 

(North Carolina Land Grants in South Carolina, by Brent Holcomb, pp. 154-155; RootsWeb’s World Connect: Family of Legends and The Unknown, ID: 1255007, George Keeling, Contact David A. Blocher.)

(RootsWeb’s WorldConnect Project: The McMillin & Williams and Allied Families, ID: 116309, Southern Historical Collection, Col. John Williams, Contact Deb.)     

John Haile moved to this area in 1766, and served as a chain bearer for Joab Mitchell when he was receiving his grants.  He received a grant for a 289 acre tract of land on Mill Creek of Pacolet River “about one mile above the fair forrest path…” on October 27, 1767.

Zachariah Bullock had surveyed the tract on February 17, 1767.   William Coleman and Joab Mitchell were his chain bearers.  He married Ruth Mitchell, daughter of Joab Mitchell, circa 1770.

(North Carolina Land Grants in South Carolina by Brent Holcomb, pp. 52, 53, 67, 95, 128, 152; RootsWeb’s WorldConnect Project: Blick’s Family Workbook, ID: 13242, John Haile, Capt., Contact Phyllis Blickensderfer.)

Joab Mitchell apparently received a part of the John Clark land when he was receiving his grants and in 1769, sold land on Mill Creek to David Robertson, father of James (Horseshoe) Robertson.  “The land Joab Mitchell sold him contained a grist mill, which he operated until three days before he made his will.”  His will was written on July 8, 1771. 

This area was first called Clark’s Mill Creek, and the mill was originally constructed by John Clark, Col. Elijah Clark’s father.

On February 20, 1767, Charles Robertson, David Robertson’s brother, carried the surveyor’s chain for Joab Mitchell near the Pacolet River and on August 12, 1767, Charles and his brother, David, carried the chain for James Hanna on the south fork of Fishing Creek.  

Charles carried the chain for James Bridges for a grant on both sides of Thicketty Creek also on August 12, 1767.  He did not receive a grant for himself.  His brother, David, sought to protect Charles assets in his will, but the state rejected the will.

(North Carolina Land Grants in South Carolina by Brent Holcomb, p. 51; The Robertsons of Tennessee: Myth and Reality, by Tom Robertson, pp. 5-7; Union County, S. C., Deed Abstracts, Vol. I, p. 54.)

 

CHILDREN OF SAMUEL AND ELIZABETH WILLIAMS HENDERSON 

PART 1 

1. Mary Ann Henderson was born January 10, 1734, in Hanover County, Virginia.  She married Joab Mitchell on October 14, 1751, in Granville County, North Carolina.  He was born February 13, 1721, in Henrico County, Virginia.  He was Christened on September 16, 1722, in Bristol Parish, Henrico County, Virginia. 

He was the son of Thomas and Hannah ? Mitchell.  Thomas was born circa 1698, and Hannah was born circa 1700.  Thomas’ will was filed on October 5, 1767, in Amherst County, Virginia.
He listed Charles, Joab, Elizabeth and Nancy as his children. 

(Genealogy.com: My Genealogy Home Page: Information about Mary Henderson, Internet; Mitchell Family Records of Hawkins County, Tennessee, by Willie Blount Mitchell, 1847, Internet; Family: Joab Mitchell and Mary Henderson (1) – Genealogy, Internet.)

(RootsWeb’s WorldConnect Project: OUR FAMILIES, Swallow, Schaeck, Bond, Henwood, Kortum and Allied Families, ID: 104319, Joab Mitchell, Contact Joseph; Person: Thomas Mitchell (2) – Genealogy, Internet; Amherst County, Virginia, Abstracts of Wills Before 1799, Internet.)

“Joab Mitchell was listed as a soldier on the Granville County Muster Roll of a Company of Foot in the Regiment of Granville, N.C.—September 6,1755.”

On March 3, 1757, “Mary Stuart, 13 years old, was bound to Joab Mitchell to learn housewifery and to get 1 Years schooling after 15 years.”

(RootsWeb’s WorldConnect Project: Spirit Walking, ID: 1114595, Joab Mitchell, Contact Sandra; From ORPHAN BONDS OF GRANVILLE COUNTY, N. C., 1749-1786.)

Joab and Mary probably had at least six of their children while living in Granville County, North Carolina, and at least four of their children while living in the Carroll (Grindal) Shoals area of what later became South Carolina.

Joab Mitchell sold 150 acres of land to Peter Copland of the Province of Virginia, on May 13, 1773.  It was a part of a 450 acre grant to Joab by North Carolina on October 26, 1767.  

He sold 300 acres on both sides of the Pacolet River near Carrol Shoals to Susannah Bullock, daughter of Len Henley Bullock, brother of Zachariah Bullock, on October 2, 1773.

On May 12-13, 1775, he and his wife, Mary, sold 300 acres of land on Mill Creek to Richard Hawkins. 

He and his family were still living at Grindal Shoals on December 18-19, 1775, when he sold 300 acres of land on Clarks Mill Creek   to Thomas Draper.  The land was granted to him on September 6, 1774. 

(Union County South Carolina Deed Abstracts, Vol. I, by Brent Holcomb, pp. 2, 54, 59, 78.)

The Battle of Lexington occurred on April 18, 1775, and the Snow Campaign in South Carolina, occurred in November of 1775.  Apparently, Joab had not enlisted and was not involved in the early skirmishes and battles of the first year of the American Revolutionary War. 

It is speculative, but the writer doubts that Joab started for Tennessee before early spring of 1776.  Mary was expecting a child, and they probably remained at Grindal Shoals until after the birth of Polly Mitchell on April 6, 1776.  So there could have been five children born in South Carolina.

There seems to have been a problem for the traveling party, perhaps one of illness, or Joab would not have left one of his younger children with his wife’s sister, Ann, who was at that time married to Daniel Williams Jr.  Their daughter, Angelica, remained and was raised by her Aunt Ann. 

Joab moved to Hawkins County, Tennessee, near the village of Rogersville.  Joab and his son, Mark, signed the Watauga Association petition, and the new Washington District was officially accepted by North Carolina on August 22, 1776.  “All the men signing the petition were frontier soldiers.” 

(Kings Mountain Men by K. K. White, pp. 7-8.)

Davy Crockett’s grandparents, David and Elizabeth Hedge Crockett, lived in what today is downtown Rogersville, near a spring that bears their name.  David and Elizabeth were massacred in August of 1777, by a group of Indians led by “Dragging Canoe”.

Davy Crockett wrote: “The Indians wounded Joseph Crockett, a  brother to my father, by a ball, which broke his arm; and took James a prisoner, who was still a younger brother than Joseph, and who, from natural defects, was less able to make his escape, as he was both deaf and dumb.  He remained with them for seventeen years and nine months, when he was discovered and recollected by my father and his eldest brother, William Crockett; and was purchased by them from an Indian trader.”   

(David the Elder Crockett, 1 (c. 1730-1777)—Genealogy, Internet; Davy Crockett’s Own Story p. 17.)

The remaining Crocketts sold their property to a French Huguenot, named Colonel Thomas Amis.  He built a fort at Big Creek in 1780, with the assistance of fellow settler and Scots-Irish John Carter, on the outskirts of Rogersville.  Colonel Amis erected a fort-like stone house, around which, he built a palisade for protection against the Indians.

(Rogersville, Tennessee—Wikipedia, the Free Encyclopedia, Internet.)

The last child of Joab and Mary, Susannah, was born in Hawkins County, Tennessee, on November 18, 1779, just a few months before the death of her father.

(Family: Joab Mitchell and Mary Henderson (1)—Genealogy, Internet.)

On one occasion several families were gathered at the fort called Big Creek, and because they were greatly in need of salt, Joab Mitchell, volunteered to go and secure it. 

“He had procured a supply of salt and had nearly reached his friends in safety, when he was suddenly fired upon by some Indians concealed in the hollow.  His left arm was shattered by a (musket) ball.  In a few minutes he was with his friends in the fort.  There being no skilled surgeon present, and the weather being excessively warm, mortification and death ensued in about 3 days.” 

His remains were interred in a depression, which has since borne the name of “Mitchell’s Hollow”.  He died on March 13, 1780, almost three years after the Crockett’s lost their lives.

(RAMBLIN—pfg. 273—Generated by Personal Ancestral File, Internet; Goodspeed’s History of Hawkins County, Tennessee; Sketches of Hawkins County by James W. Rogan—1859.)

(RootsWeb’s WorldConnect Project: Swallow, Schaeck, Bond, Henwood, Kortum and Allied Families, ID: 108011, Joab Mitchell Jr., Contact Joseph G. Swallow.) 

From, Watauga and Its Records, is found the following in the May term of 1780: “Ordered that Mary Mitchell have leave of administration on the Estate of Joab Mitchell.  Mark Mitchell and George Russell her security.”

(Kings Mountain Men by K. K. White, p. 33.)

Mary Henderson Mitchell died in Hawkins County, Tennessee, on August 25, 1803. 

(RootsWeb’s WorldConnect Project: VOLZKAI, ID: 155216, Contact Denise Volzka, Mary Henderson, Contact Joseph G. Swallow.)

Children of Joab and Mary Henderson Mitchell 

(a). Ruth M. Mitchell was born on August 1, 1753, in Granville County, North Carolina.  She married John Haile, son of John and Elizabeth  ?  Haile, circa 1770, in Carroll (Grindal) Shoals.  He was born in 1746, in Virginia. 

(RootsWeb World Connect Project: from the present to the beginning, ID: P210344164, Ruth Mitchell, Contact Richard Finch; RootsWeb World Connect Project: Reaves-Wilson Family, ID: 1101, John Haile, Contact William Reaves.)

(RootsWeb World Connect  Project: Blick’s Family Workbook, ID: 13242, John Haile Capt., Contact, Phyllis Blickensderfer.)

He was a Patriot soldier in the American Revolutionary War and served as a horseman and quartermaster under Capt. John Thompson.  He “lost a horse in service during 1779”.  He was a Captain under Col. Thomas Brandon, and was listed in several databases as Capt. John Haile Sr.

(South Carolina Patriots in the American Revolution by Bobby Gilmer Moss, p. 399.) 

They had five daughters and five sons.  Her husband was the first Clerk of Court in Union County, S. C., in 1785.

(Ramblin-pafg274—Generated by Ancestral File, The Tangled Web, Internet; GenCircles, Global Tree, The White Family & Other Connections by Carol Robertson White, John Haile.)

His obituary appeared in the Saturday, June 29th Issue of the Marion Star, Marion, S. C., in 1816: 

“Died, at his residence in Union District on Monday the 17 th, inst. JOHN HAILE, Esq. in the 70th year of his age..he was a parent to a numerous offspring, a valuable citizen, generous neighbor, a sincere friend.  His door was never shut against the poor and indigent, and by repeated acts of benevolence he has gained the esteem of all who knew him..His associations in life, only knew how to appreciate his worth.”

 Ruth Mitchell Haile died May 9, 1840, in Pendleton District, Anderson, S. C.

(RootsWeb’s WorldConnect Project: from the present to the beginning, ID: P-210344164, Ruth Mitchell, Contact Richard Finch.)

Their daughter, Elizabeth, born January 24, 1772, married a Patriot Revolutionary War veteran, Thomas Stribling.  “He served in the militia from 1 April to 29 June 1782 under Capt. Joseph Hughes and Col. Thomas Brandon.”

(RootsWeb’s WorldConnect Project: The Stribling Family in America, ID: 111632, Thomas Stribling, Contact Barbara Beers; South Carolina Patriots in the American Revolution by Bobby Gilmer Moss, p. 903.)  

Their son, Benjamin, born October 23, 1774, married Sally  Henderson, the daughter of John and Sarah Alston Henderson. 

(RootsWeb’s WorldConnect Project: Reaves-Wilson Family, ID:1101, John Haile, Contact William Reaves; History of Grindal Shoals by Rev. J. D. Bailey, p. 52.)

Their daughter, Mary (Polly) Haile, born December 29, 1783, married Richard Thomson, son of William (Gentleman) Thomson and his wife, Sarah Hatton Thomson.  Polly Haile was his second wife. 

William and Sarah Thomson were both born in England.  They first settled in Williamsburg, Virginia, after moving to this country. 

(Rootsweb’s WorldConnect Project: Reaves-Wilson Family, ID: 1101, John Haile, Contact William Reaves; Thomson/Thompson from the Ragland Genealogy, Internet.)

Richard was first married to Mary (Polly) Hopson, daughter of Neville and Sarah Ragland Hopson, on November 8, 1802, in Rutherford County, North Carolina.  She was born July 10, 1780, in Halifax County, Virginia.  They had four sons and two daughters.  Mary Hopson Thomson died circa 1813.

(RootsWebs WorldConnect Project: Sexton, Basil, Roller, Walden and Related Families, ID: 111234, Neville Hopson, Contact Teresa Sexton; Richard Thomson and Mary Hopson, Internet.)

Mary (Polly) Haile and Richard Thomson married circa 1814, and had two sons and two daughters.  She was living in 1837, when she relinquished her dower rights to Joshua Tapp, Justice of the Quorum, on May 8th.  Her husband had sold 37 acres of land west of the Village of Spartanburg, S. C., to Thomas Poole.

(Spartanburg District, South Carolina Deed Abstracts, Books U-W (1827-1839), p. 394; York County, South Carolina, Will Abstracts, 1787-1862 (1770-1862), by Brent Holcomb, pp. 145-146.)

William (Gentleman) Thomson fought as a horseman under Capt. John Mapp and Col. Benjamin Roebuck during the Revolutionary War.  He may have fought in the Battles of Kings Mountain and Cowpens. 

(South Carolina Patriots in the American Revolution by Bobby Gilmer Moss, p.930; The Patriots at Kings Mountain by Bobby Gilmer Moss, p. 290.)

“Col. (William) Washington was at Wofford’s Iron Works, on Lawson’s Fork, having his horses shod.  Receiving the message delivered by Major (Joseph) McJunkin, Gen.  (Daniel) Morgan called out to a little Frenchman, who had just come in from the Iron Works, but was then asleep: ‘Barron, get up and go back to the iron works and tell Billy, that Benny is approaching, and tell him to meet me tomorrow evening at Gentleman Thomson’s on the east side of Thickety Creek.’

William (Gentleman) Thomson, lived where Thickety station on the Southern Railway now is (was), and is buried in an unmarked grave on the old homestead.”

(History of Grindal Shoals by Rev. J. D. Bailey, pp. 18-19.)

In William (Gentleman) Thomson’s obituary, published in the Yorkville Pioneer, Yorkville, S. C., September 27, 1823, is given the following account of his life:

“Died on the 14th inst. at his residence on the Beauty Spot, in this District, Mr. William Thompson, in the 73rd year of his age.

He was among the first, who resisted the arbitrary measures of Great Britain.  Under the celebrated Patrick Henry, he assisted in expelling Lord Dunmore from Virginia, and from thence to the close of the struggle he continued to present his breast to the shafts of battle.”

The oldest street now in the city of Gaffney, S. C., is named for William (Gentleman) Thomson (Thompson Street).  He and William Lipscomb owned a tract of land that faced the street later called “Thompson Street”.  It had “lime on it” he stated.  In his will he wrote: “He (William Lipscomb), now deceased, willed it (his share) to me.”  The street was called “Thompson Street” after his death in 1823. 

(York County, South Carolina, Will Abstracts, 1787-1862 (1770-1862), by Brent H. Holcomb.) 

His son, Richard Thomson, applied for Letters Testamentary on September 22, 1823.)

 

Richard, surveyed and drew a plat of the land that Michael Gaffney used for the construction of a race tract near Limestone Springs, S. C., in 1837.

(150th Anniversary Souvenir Program, Gaffney, S. C., The Gaffney Story Through the Years, 1837; A History of Limestone College by Montague McMillan, p. 4.)

John and Ruth Haile’s daughter, Ruth, married George McKnight.  McKnight gave to the Gilead Baptist Church trustees: Robert Coleman, John Hames, John Gibson, Nathaniel Gist and William Henderson a tract of land containing 2.35 acres on October 15, 1819.  Charles Jones and Hiram Coleman witnessed the transaction.

(RootsWeb’s WorldConnect Project: Blick’s Family Workbook, ID: 13473, George McKnight, Contact Phyllis Blickensderfer; Union County Deed Abstracts, Vol. III, Deed Books L-P, by Brent Holcomb, pp. 244-245, P-355-356.)

(b). Mark Mitchell was born on January 17, 1756, in Granville County, North Carolina.  He was a frontier soldier in what later became Hawkins County, Tennessee. 

He sold 200 acres of his father’s property in the Grindal Shoals area on branches of Mill Creek to Maharshalhasbaz Lile of Union County, January 2nd  & 3rd , 1786.  The property was part of a grant of 300 acres to his father, Joab Mitchell, on September 6, 1775.  He received the property from his father’s estate.

The land was adjacent to lands owned by Thomas Draper and Edward Pickett.  Witnesses to the transaction were: John Haile, Adam Potter, and Philip Saunders.  He was living in Washington County, North Carolina, at the time.  The area, where he was living, later became the state of Tennessee.     

He was married but the name of his wife is unknown to this writer.  They had five sons and three daughters.  His first child, Thomas, was born November 21, 1794, and his son, Mark, was born January 17, 1800.  Date of his death is not known to this writer.   

(RootsWeb’s WorldConnect Project: Tangled Web, ID: 18070, Mark Mitchell, Contact Judith Ramblin; Union County, South Carolina, Deed Abstracts, Vol. I, Deed Books A-F, 1785-1800, p. 17.)

(c). Elizabeth M. Mitchell was born on March 14, 1758, in Granville County, North Carolina.  She married Jesse Bean, son of Capt. William and Lydia Russell Bean, in 1778, in Washington County, North Carolina, later a part of Tennessee.

(Jesse Bean and Elizabeth Mitchell (1)—Genealogy. Internet.)

Jesse’s father, William Bean, was a Captain in the Virginia Militia. While living in Pittsylvania County, Virginia, he traveled to Holston Country on hunting expeditions with Daniel Boone numerous times.  During the American Revolution, he was a Captain with the Watauga Riflemen.

(Generations Gone By, Captain William Bean, St. Stephens Parish, North Cumberland County, Virginia, Internet; My Genealogy Home Page: Information about Capt. William Bean, Internet.)

George, Jesse, John and Robert were all Watauga riflemen under Col. John Sevier.  Draper calls them the “sharpshooters from Watauga”.

(King’s Mountain Men by K. K. White, p. 146.)

In his book, The Overmountain Men, page 34, Pat Alderman wrote:

“Jesse’s mother, Lydia Russell, daughter of George and Mary Henley Russell, was captured by a group of Cherokee Indians, while hurrying on horseback to the safety of the Watauga Fort.  She was taken to their camp on the Nolichucky River, where Indian warriors threatened to kill her.

 Mrs. Bean was taken to Togue, where she was condemned to be burned.  She had given up all hope as she was bound to the stake and the fire lighted, when suddenly Nancy Ward appeared and scattered the burning embers and stomped out the fire. 

After untying Mrs. Bean, Nancy turned to the subdued warriors and remarked: ‘It revolts my soul that the Cherokee warrior stoops so low as to torture a squaw.’” 

“Nancy took Mrs. Bean into her own home to nurse her back to health.  Mrs. Bean, like most ‘settler women’, wove her own cloth.  She taught Ward how to set up a loom, spin thread or yarn, and weave cloth.  This skill would make the Cherokee people less dependent on traders, but it also Europeanized the Cherokee in terms of gender roles. 

Women came to be expected to do the weaving and house chores; as men became farmers in the changing society, women became ‘housewives”.  Another aspect of Cherokee life that changed when
Ward saved the life of Mrs. Bean was that of raising animals.  Lydia owned dairy cattle, which she took to Ward’s house.  Ward learned to prepare and use dairy foods, which provided some nourishment even when hunting was bad.

However, because of Ward’s introduction of dairy farming to the Cherokee, they would begin to amass large herds and farms, which required even more manual labor.  This would soon lead the Cherokees into using slave labor.  In fact, Ward herself had been ‘awarded’ the black slave of a felled Creek warrior after her victory at the Battle of Taliwa and thus became the first Cherokee slave owner.”

(Bean Notables and Anecdotes, Bean Genealogy, Lydia (Russell) Bean, Internet, pp. 1-2.)

Pat Alderman in, The Overmountain Men, p. 7, wrote: “ Without the timely warning by Nancy Ward, most of the settlers of the Watagua, Holston and Carter’s Valley could have been surprised by the Indians and killed.  Without these settlements there would not have been an Overmountain Men’s Army to defeat Ferguson at King’s Mountain.  Without that victory the story of America could have been different.”      

Nancy’s mother, Catherine Tame Doe Raven, was an Indian, the sister of Chief Oconostota, and her father, Francis Ward, son of Edmond Bryan and Abigail Ferrell Ward, was an English Indian trader, who lived for awhile in Chota, a Cherokee Indian Village, with his wife, Tame Doe.   Francis Ward was born in Ireland in 1710.

(Edmond Bryan Ward (1675-1770)—Genealogy, Internet.)

Tame Doe was born circa 1712.  Francis and Tame Doe were married in 1728, and had two children: Longfellow, born circa 1729, and Nancy, born circa 1731.

(Sisney Legacy: Information about Catherine Tame Doe Raven, Genealogy. Com, Family Tree Maker Online; My Mother is Cherokee and so was her Mother and Her Mother before, (17.) Nancy of the WolfClan; Abigail Ward Ferrell (1675-1739)—Genealogy, p. 1, Internet.)

Francis Ward was banished from Chota before the birth of his  daughter, Nancy.

He moved back to the Tyger River area, where he and his brother, Edmond, had originally settled.  He was a civil engineer by occupation. This area is in Spartanburg County, S. C., near Walnut Grove where there is still a Ward Creek. 

He married two more times.  His second wife was a Ward, possibly the widow of his brother, Edmond Ward.  One source lists Edmond Ward’s wife as Ann ?  .  His third wife was Nancy March Ward, daughter of Patrick March. 

(The Wards of Ireland by Robert G. Adams, Covenant College, Lookout Mountain, Tennessee; RootsWeb’s World Connect Project: Boles, Johnson, Wright, Ladd, Houser, Ward, ID: 1239, Francis Bryan Ward, Contact Rhonda McCulley.)

Migrations into Spartanburg County, S. C., by Frank Scott, p. 3; Spartanburg County/District, South Carolina, Deed Abstracts, Books A-T, 1785-1827 by Albert Bruce Pruitt, p. 395.)

He was the writer’s wife, Elizabeth Reeves Ivey’s, great, great, great, great, great, grandfather through his second wife, and the writer’s great, great, great, great, great, grandfather through his  third wife.  Thus, the writer and his wife are related to Nancy Ward through her father, Francis Ward.  

“Lydia’s brother, George Russell, husband of Elizabeth Bean, was killed by Indians, while on a hunting trip to Grainger County, Tennessee, in 1796, and her daughter, Jane Bean, was killed in 1798, by Indians, while working her loom outside the wall of Bean’s
Station.”  Both Lydia and her husband, William, were deceased at this time.  

(Bean Notables and Anecdotes, Bean Genealogy, Internet.)

Jesse Bean was born in Pittsylvania County, Virginia, in 1756.  He served as a Captain in a North Carolina Militia Unit under the command of Lt. Col. John Sevier and fought under him at the Battle of Kings Mountain.

(The Patriots at Kings Mountain by Bobby Gilmer Moss, p. 16.)

He and his family settled in the Mulberry Valley (present day Pleasant Hill, Crawford County, Arkansas) before the Indians were driven out.  He was living in Pleasant Hill in 1818 or before.  He organized the first Sunday School (possibly Baptist) in Pleasant Hill.

All whites were driven out of the valley except Jesse and Judge Reuben Saunders, who were allowed to remain because they were blacksmiths. 

(Jesse Bean and Elizabeth Mitchell (1) Genealogy, Internet.)

Capt. William Russell Jr., husband of Jesse’s daughter, Lydia, also later moved his family to Crawford County, Arkansas.   He fought in the War of 1812, with his father, Major William Russell Sr., who fought in battles during the Revolutionary War and in the War of 1812.  The Russells were included in the book written by Davy Crockett.  President Andrew Jackson wrote a personal letter to Capt. William Russell Jr.     

(Major William Russell Sr., Internet article; Davy Crockett’s Own Story as written by Himself; The Patriots at Kings Mountain by Bobby Gilmer Moss, p. 220.)

Jesse and Elizabeth had five sons and four daughters.  Jesse died in Independence County, Arkansas, on September 10, 1829, and Elizabeth Mitchell Bean died September 10, 1837, in Independence County, Arkansas.

(Rootsweb’s WorldConnect Project: Jordan and Allied Families, ID. 1407, Jesse Bean, Contact Amy Stier; Rootweb’s WorldConnect Project: Julieo Wollard Trout’s GEDCOM Files, ID: 112828, Elizabeth Mitchell, Contact Julie Wollard.)

(d). Joab Mitchell was born on May 28, 1760, in Granville County, North Carolina.  He apparently did not marry.  One database article stated that he died in April of 1779, in Rogersville, Tennessee.

(RootsWeb’s WorldConnect Project: Ryan A. & Kellie W’s Family Tree, ID: 11511, Joab Mitchell, Contact Ryan.)

(e). Richard Mitchell was born on September 11, 1762, in Granville County, North Carolina.  He was with his father, Joab, when he died from the Indian attack.    

He was with Daniel Boone at his fort in Kentucky for more than twelve months.  He married Elizabeth Sanders, daughter of William and Elizabeth Jordan Sanders, on January 9, 1794.  She was born on October 13, 1772.   

He was a Hawkins County Court Clerk for 20 years and a Collector of the Revenue in 1813, 1814 and 1815.  He was in one of the battles against the Indians in Tennessee and was a member of the First Tennessee Constitutional Convention. 

He and his wife had nine children: five daughters and four sons.  He died March 16, 1853, in Pearl River, Mississippi, and his wife, Elizabeth, died in Hawkins County, Tennessee, November 1857. 

(GenCircles, Global Tree, Richard Mitchell; RootsWeb’s WorldConnect Project: Swallow, Schaeck, Bond, Henwood, Kortum and Allied Families, ID:100821, Richard Mitchell, Contact Joseph G. Swallow.)

(RootsWeb’s WorldConnect Project: Brown Family of Cove, Polk County, Arkansas, ID: 1072747, Elizabeth Sanders, Contact Sandra Hunter.)

(f). Samuel Mitchell was born on April 13, 1765, in Granville County, North Carolina.  Samuel was a lawyer and was appointed by Thomas Jefferson, President, Agent of the Chickasaw and Choctaw nation of Indians, which post he held to the time of his death.

(Descendants of James Logan Colbert: Third Generation, 11. Delilah ‘Liley’ Love.)

He first married Mary (Molly) Folsom, daughter of Nathaniel and Iahnecha Folsom, in 1798.  Nathaniel was white, but married two full blooded Choctaw sisters:  Aiahnechaohoyo and Iahnecha. 

Molly was born circa 1780.  She and Samuel had two children: Alzira and Sophia. She died circa 1802, after the birth of Sophia.

(RootsWeb’s WorldConnect Project: Mary Jane Wilson–Indian Connecton, ID: 11711904018, Nathaniel Folsom; RootsWeb’s WorldConnect Project, Johnston Family, ID: 111508, Mary (Molly) Folsom, Contact Ian Johnston.) 

Samuel was engaged to Margaret (Peggy) Allen in the Chickasaw Nation of Mississippi, circa 1804.  He proposed and was promptly turned down by Peggy.  “Samuel carried his suit to her grandmother, a dominating dowager Colbert.  Th old lady considered it an excellent match.  Pre-emptorily, she sent Peggy off to the agency, where Mitchell presided with a string of well-loaded packhorses and ten Negro slaves as her dowry. 

The lovely Peggy, whose mother had been only one-eight part Indian, was as determined as her grandmother.  Peggy made the trip to Mitchell’s house.  That was as far as she would go.  She stubbornly refused him, saying, according to Claiborne, that she ‘would never marry a drinking man white or Indian.’  She married instead Simon Burney.”  Peggy and Simon had two sons and four daughters.

(Descendants of James Logan Colbert: Third Generation, 11. Delilah ‘Liley’ Love.)

Samuel married secondly, Delilah (Liley) Love, daughter of Thomas and Sally Colbert (House of Incunnomar) circa 1807.  They had two children: Joseph Greer Mitchell and Catherine (Kitty) Mitchell.  Samuel died circa 1811, in Mississippi.

(ramblin—pafg275—Generated by Ancestral File—Samuel Mitchell;

RootsWeb’s WorldConnect Project: Swallow, Schaeck, Bond, Henwood, Kortum and Allied Families, ID: 102144, Samuel Mitchell, Contact Joseph.)

His widow, Delilah, married John Basset Moore circa 1813.  They had two sons and five daughters.  She died before 1847, at Fort Washita, Chickasaw Nation, Oklahoma. 

(RootsWeb’s WorldConnect Project: Jones/Johnson Ancestors, ID: 113446, Delilah Love, Contact Lissa Johnston.) 

(g). Thomas Mitchell was born on September 19, 1767, on lands of the Pacolet River in what later became South Carolina.  He was an early settler of Tennessee and led a volunteer expedition against the Cherokee Indians. 

He married Frances Dyer, daughter of Joel Henry and Sophia Weston Dyer, April 10, 1794, in Tennessee. 

(RootsWeb’s WorldConnect Project: Schaeck-Kortum Family, ID: 104345, Thomas Mitchell, Contact Joseph Swallow.)

Frances’ father was born in Prince Edward County, Virginia, and her mother was born in Yatesbury, Witshire, England.  She was born in 1771. 

(RootsWeb’s WorldConnect Project: Ancestors and Descendants of Larry and Jan Sroufe, ID: 11895, Joel Henry Dyer, Contact Jan Sroufe.)

(RootsWeb’s WorldConnect Project: ID: 1588, Sophia Weston, Contact Denise Carpenter Gregory.)

Joel moved to Tennessee circa 1792, and settled on Poor Valley Creek, near Mooresburg, in Hawkins County.  He was a member of the Senate, of the 2nd General Assembly, 1797-99, representing Hawkins County, Tennessee. 

On October 4, 1796, Joel received his commission in the Tennessee State Militia.  He was appointed Major in the Hawkins County Militia.  In 1800, he removed to Rutherford County.  He possibly was a soldier in the War of 1812. 

He moved to Madison County in 1821.  He helped to form the new government of this county and was one of the first Commissioners.  

Major Dyer died, June 11, 1825, and his obituary was in the first newspaper for the new county.

“Died at his residence in this county (Madison) on Saturday morning last, Major Joel Dyer, aged seventy-one, one of the few surviving soldiers of the Revolutionary War.   He was a man much respected for his benevolence of character and esteemed by all who knew him, as a good Citizen and an honest man.  He has left an affectionate wife, and upwards of 100 descendants.

Thus, we see the soldiers of the Revolution falling around us like the leaves of the majestic oak, before an autumnal blast; but although they are consigned to their mother dust, their deeds of valor and the glorious result of their patriotic devotion to their country, will live in our recollections, and their names be handed down to the latest generation.”

Major Dyer owned land in the area that was to become Dyer County, and had the county named in honor of his son, Robert Henry.

(ramblin—pafg—Generated by Personal Ancestral File, Internet; Major Joel Henry Dyer, First Settler of Crockett County, Tennessee, Internet.)

Thomas and Frances moved to Middle Tennessee and became the parents of three sons and five daughters.  He died in 1812, in Middle Tennessee. 

(RootsWeb’s WorldConnect Project: Schaeck-Kortum Family, ID: 104345, Thomas Mitchell, Contact Joseph Swallow.)

(RootsWeb’s WorldConnect Project: Cracker Crumbs, Thomas Mitchell, Contact Lisa Bowman; ramblin-pafg274-Generated by Personal Ancestral File, Internet.)

Frances was married a second time to John P. Byrne circa 1813.  Date of her death is unknown to this writer.   

(RootsWeb’s WorldConnect Project: Ancestors and Descendants of Larry and Jan Sroufe, ID: 110448, Frances Dyer, Contact Jan Sroufe.)

(h). Edward Mitchell was born on December 3, 1769, on lands of the Pacolet River in what later became South Carolina.  He married Betsy Smith in May of 1794, in Hawkins County, Tennessee.  He was an agent to the Choctaw Indians.

(ramblin- pafg-Generated by Personal Ancestral File, Internet.)

They had four sons and two daughters.  Their first child was named Angelica Mitchell, for the sister who remained in South Carolina. 

(RootsWeb’s WorldConnect Project: Tangled Web, ID: 18076, Edward Mitchell, Contact Judith.)

Edward died in Pearl River, Mississippi, date unknown.  Betsy’s date of death is also unknown to this writer. 

(RootsWeb’s WorldConnect Project: Jennifer Steelman Family Feb 27 2006, Edward Mitchell, Contact Jennifer Steelman.

(i). Angelica Mitchell was born December 22, 1771, in what later became South Carolina.   She was four years old when her father moved his family to Hawkins County, Tennessee, in 1776, but stayed behind with her Aunt Ann, and Uncle Daniel Williams.

(RootsWeb’s WorldConnect Project: Jennifer Steelman Family Feb 27 2006, ID: 12206, Angelica Mitchell, Contact Jennifer Steelman.)

Additional information will be included on Angelica under Ann Henderson Williams Potter.  

(j). William Mitchell was born on February 4, 1774, in what later became South Carolina.  He married Nancy Dyer, sister of Frances Dyer Mitchell and daughter of Major Joel and Sophia Weston Dyer in 1798, in Hawkins County, Tennessee.

He was in the War of 1812.  He was a Private in Coffee’s Brigade, Calvary & Mounted Gunman, in Tennessee Volunteers.  He attained the rank of Major in 1818.  He fought in the Seminole Indian War in Florida, and was a member of Company I, Volunteer Mounted Gunman, Western Tennessee, and rose to the rank of Lt. Col. 

(RootsWeb’s WorldConnect Project: Jennifer Steelman Family Feb 27 2006, ID: 10513, William Mitchell, Contact Jennifer Steelman.)

He and his wife, Nancy, had three sons and two daughters.  Nancy died in Sparta, White County, Tennessee, in 1807, and he died there in September of 1827. 

(RootsWeb’s WorldConnect Project: Jennifer Steelman Family Feb 27 2006, ID: 10524, Nancy Dyer, Contact Jennifer Steelman.)     

(k). Polly Mitchell was born on April 6, 1776, possibly in the area near Pacolet River that later became South Carolina.  She married John Hall, son of John and Priscilla Fanning Hall. 

(RootsWeb’s WorldConnect Project: New Updated  Family Tree For Weaver/Sanders, ID: 1125863, Polly Mitchell, Contact David Weaver.)

John was born in Staunton, Virginia.  His father was born in Sunbury, Northumberland, Pennsylvania, and his mother was born in Canandaigua,  Ontario, New York.

(RootsWeb’s WorldConnect Project: Lareau Family Master File, ID: 19977, John Hall, Contact Paul.)

John and Polly Mitchell Hall had two children: Langley Swan Hall and Edward Park Hall.  Their son, Edward, was a Presbyterian preacher and taught school in Newport, Kentucky.  Edward later moved to Ohio.

(RootsWeb’s WorldConnect Project: Spirit Walking, ID: 1115246, Edward Park Hall, Contact Sandra.)

The writer has been unable to secure any dates that relate to this couple except Polly’s date of birth.

(l). Susannah M. Mitchell was born November 18, 1779, in Hawkins County, Tennessee.  Her father was killed several months later.   She married Robert Henry Dyer, son of Major Joel and Sophia Weston Dyer, on June 27, 1799, in Rogersville, Hawkins County, Tennessee.  He was the brother of Thomas Mitchell’s wife, Frances, and

William Mitchell’s wife, Nancy.

(RootsWeb’s World Connect Project: Ancestors and Descendants of Larry and Jan Sroufe, ID: 111983, Susannah M. Mitchell, Contact Jan Sroufe.)

Robert Henry Dyer was born in Halifax County, North Carolina, in 1774, but grew up near the Holston River in Tennessee.  He was commissioned as a Lieutenant in the cavalry regiment of the 5th Tennessee Brigade by 1807. 

“He was promoted to Captain in 1812, before being elevated to the rank of Lt. Colonel the following year.  It was in that year that he went with General Andrew Jackson on the Natchez Expedition.”

“He was Col. Commandant of the 2nd Regiment of Tenn. Volunteers and was in the celebrated night attack on the British lines below New Orleans the 23rd December 1814, under Gen. Coffee, where his horse was killed under him, and he was wounded in the leg.”  

He was in the Battle of New Orleans on January 8, 1815, and was recommended for a promotion by General Andrew Jackson.

He ended his military career with General Jackson’s expedition against the Seminoles in North Florida, where he commanded the 1st Regiment of Tennessee Volunteers.

When West Tennessee was opened up for settlement, he became a Justice of the Peace and opened up a saloon and register’s office on his North Forked Deer settlement in Madison County.  

His father was one of the first lawyers in the same county.   When the neighboring county of Dyer was established in his honor, he moved there and became its first Postmaster and served on the first County Court.

Robert and his wife, Susannah Mitchell Dyer, were parents of two sons and seven daughters. 

At Robert’s death in May of 1826, the following obituary was run in the Jackson Gazette.  “Departed this life, on May 11th instant at his residence in this county, after a short illness, Col. Robert H. Dyer, a distinguished hero in the service of his country, under General Jackson, during the late war.  His remains were interred at his late residence, on yesterday with military honors.”

His wife, Susannah, died after 1830, in possibly Gibson County, Tennessee.

(RootsWeb’s WorldConnect Project: Vaughn and Hood Family Heritage, ID: 106378, Robert Henry Dyer, Contact Sherry Parks.) 

(RootsWeb’s WorldConnect Project: Kortum-Swallow, ID: 110292, Robert Henry Dyer, Contact Joseph.)

(GenealogyForum, Genealogy.com, Dyer co. TN….Robert Henry Dyer, son of Joel H. Dyer, ID: 7036, Posted by Larry M. Stegall.)                

BY ROBERT A. IVEY

According to tradition, the first meeting-house in the Grindal Shoals community was built in the Littlejohn and Nuckolls settlement as early as 1767.  This building, constructed by William Marchbanks and William Sims, was used for a number of years as a place of worship for all denominations.  The Goucher Baptist Church, the Salem Presbyterian Church and the Asbury United Methodist Church had their early meetings in this place.

The 1805 minutes of the Bethel Baptist Association state that the Gilead Baptist Church was constituted September 27, 1804.  Seventeen members were dismissed from the Fairforest Baptist Church in order to establish this new church.  Gilead Baptist Church was the second church constituted in the Grindal Shoals community.  The Goucher Baptist Church, first called Thicketty, was the first.

The Gilead Baptist Church was established through the efforts of a group of Revolutionary War veterans.  Six of the following constitutional members of the Gilead church served as Patriot soldiers in the Revolutionary War: Robert Coleman, Sherod James, James McWhirter, John Gibson, John Coleman and Abner Coleman.  Abner Coleman was with the Loyalist Militia at first, but joined with the Patriots in the latter months of the war.

 A list of possible constitutional members is given as follows: Robert Coleman and his wife, Elizabeth (Trecy) Smith Coleman; Sherod James, and his wife, Mary (Polly)  ?   James; James McWhirter and his wife, Trecy  ?  McWhirter; John Gibson; John Coleman and his wife, Betty  ?  Coleman; Abner Coleman, Sr. and his wife, Susannah  ?  Coleman; John Hames and his wife, Sarah Liles Hames; John Stovall and his wife, Dorcas Abigail Poole Stovall; and Hugh Moore.  John Gibson’s wife was probably a constitutional member, but the writer has been unable to locate her name in any of the early documents.

 Robert Coleman was a son of Christopher Coleman and a grandson of Robert Coleman, Sr.  His father operated Christie’s Tavern mentioned in the book, Horse-Shoe Robinson, written by John P. Kennedy.  Christopher Coleman was a Justice of the Peace for the Grindal Shoals area several years before the Revolutionary War.

Robert’s father and grandfather first fought under Col. Brandon with the Patriots until 1779.  Then, they joined the Loyalists and fought with them until they were forced to refugee to Charleston S. C.   Robert Coleman, Sr. died there in 1781.

Robert Coleman, son of Christopher, served as a Patriot soldier under Col. Thomas Brandon.

Sherod James came to the Grindal Shoals community after the Revolutionary War.  The Reverend J. D. Bailey in his book, History of Grindal Shoals, states that Sherod James served as a Patriot soldier while residing in North Carolina.  Traditional accounts state that he lived to be 108 years of age and was buried in the Gilead cemetery in an unmarked grave.  His first wife was a Miss  ?  Johnson.  His second wife was Mary  ?  .  Sherod and Mary (Polly) seemed to have alternated their membership between Gilead Baptist Church and Pacolet (Scull Shoals) Baptist Church through the years.  They were members of the Gilead church at least three times and the Pacolet church at least twice.

He had a son, Jessie (Buck) James, who married Susan Hodge, daughter of Samuel and Martha Wright Hodge.  Jessie James belonged to Major Elijah Dawkins’ command and served at Charleston during the War of 1812.  This information was taken from the Reverend J. D. Bailey’s History of Grindal Shoals.   There was a funeral for a child of Sherod James at the El Bethel Baptist Church on April 5, 1845.  Dr. F. W. Littlejohn conducted the services.  This Sherod James was probably a son of the above Sherod James.

Shadrack James, was buried in the Gilead Baptist Church cemetery, but there is no record of his membership in the church.  His grave is marked.  He served as a Patriot soldier while residing in North Carolina.  David James, member of Gilead was his son.

James McWhirter served as a Patriot soldier while residing in Union District.  Dr. Bobby Moss, in his book, Roster of South Carolina Patriots, states: “He was born in Rockfish Creek, Virginia.  After enlisting while residing in Union District, he served under a Captain Thompson and Col. James Steen.  In addition, he served under Capt. Nicholas Jasper, Maj. Jolly and Gen. Sumter.  He was in the battle at Blackstock’s Plantation.  During 1782, he served as a sergeant under Col. McFarr in the Indian Nation.”  

 John Gibson was a Patriot soldier in the Revolutionary War.  He fought while residing in the state of Virginia.  He was the son of John Gibson, Sr. and Elizabeth Call Gibson and was born in Frederick County, Virginia, November 28, 1748.   He moved to Union District after 1783 and died in Union County, South Carolina, September 16, 1837.  John Gibson, III and Herod Gibson were John Gibson, Jr.’s sons.

According to Dr. Moss, John Coleman, son of Christopher Coleman, served thirty-four days as a Patriot soldier in the South Carolina militia during 1782.

Abner Coleman served with the British Loyalists and the American Patriots.  Dr. Bobby Moss, in his notes on South Carolina Loyalists, states: “Abner Coleman served from 14 June 1780 under Capt. Shadrack Lantrey and Maj. Daniel Plummer in the Fair Forest Militia.  He was in the battle of Kings Mountain.  Coleman evacuated Fort Ninety Six with Lt. Col. John H. Cruger.  Prior to 13 April 1782, he deserted to the Patriots.”  Abner Coleman was a son of Robert Coleman, Sr.

John Hames was the son of Randolph and Faithful Coleman Hames.  His father first fought as a Patriot soldier under Col. Thomas Brandon, but switched sides and became a British Loyalist in 1779.  He was executed by the Patriots.  There is no record of John Hames having fought as a soldier on either side.  John Hames’ mother was a daughter of Robert Coleman, Sr.

John Stovall purchased two tracts of land on Mill Creek from Thomas Draper, Sr. on the south side of Pacolet River on August 7, 1786.  The land he purchased was in the Grindal Shoals section of Union County, South Carolina.  He married Dorcas Abigail Poole, daughter of William and Elizabeth Stovall Poole.  She was born in North Carolina on November 3, 1770, and was probably her husband’s first cousin.

Thomas Draper, Sr. married Lucy Coleman, daughter of Robert Coleman, Sr.  In sentiment he was a loyalist, but there is no record of his membership in the Gilead church.  A part of the Draper family belonged to the Goucher Creek Baptist Church.

 Most of the members in the early years came from the Grindal Shoals community, a pre-Revolutionary War settlement.  The land that contains the shoals was part of the property first granted to Richard Carroll in 1752.  He named the shoals, Carroll Shoals, but the name was changed to Grindal Shoals several years after John Grindal acquired the property.  The shoals were first called Grindal Shoals in 1773.

 II.  THE FIRST TWENTY YEARS (1804-1823). 

During this period the church was disbanded and re-established, and did not attain a membership of higher than 28.

Gilead’s First Pastor

 Hugh Moore was selected as first pastor of the church and served through 1810.  He and his family lived in the Thicketty Creek section of Spartanburg County (now Cherokee County), in the Goucher Creek community, a pre-Revolutionary War settlement.  They lived on waters of Goucher Creek.

He was the son of Patrick and Anne  ?  Moore.  Captain Patrick Moore was a noted officer with the Loyalists during the Revolutionary War and was in charge of Fort Thickety (Anderson).

John Jefferies, Esq. in his, Reminiscences of the Revolutionary War, states: “Patrick Moore’s Tory bands went out and plundered Whig families in every direction, stole horses and everything else they could & desired.  They plundered my father’s house, stole his horse, drove off his cattle, built up a fire on the door, and abused my mother as the meanest of all rebels.”   

He further states: “Col. Patrick More had a son-Hugh More, who was a Baptist preacher.  He was put in the penitentiary for forgery.” 

J. B. O. Landrum, in his book, Colonial and Revolutionary History, states: “Patrick Moore was born within a few miles of the present town of Lincolnton, North Carolina, a son of another noted Loyalist of that region and a brother of Lieutenant-Colonel John Moore of Colonel Hampton’s North Carolina regiment of Loyalists.   It was from Thicketty Fort that Moore and his Tory associates would sally forth to plunder Whig families in the surrounding country.” 

 Patrick Moore, son of the Reverend Hugh Moore and grandson of Captain Patrick Moore, in a letter written to Lyman C. Draper, January 10, 1881, states that his grandfather was born in Virginia, before they moved to North Carolina.  Patrick Moore was living in Cartersville, Georgia, at this time and was 85 years of age.

 Lyman C. Draper, in his book, King’s Mountain and Its Heroes, states: “Moses Moore, the father of Colonel John Moore (also Patrick and Hugh), was a native of Carlisle, England, whence he migrated to Virginia in 1745, and married a Miss Winston, near Jamestown, in that Province, and in 1753 settled in what is now Gaston County, North Carolina, eight miles west of Lincolnton.” 

 Draper states: “Patrick Moore was captured by a party of Americans, according to the tradition in his family, near Ninety Six and was supposed to have been killed (probably hanged) by his captors, as his remains were afterwards found, and recognized by his great height, six feet and seven inches.  His death probably occurred in 1781.”

Tradition states that his remains were re-interred in a church cemetery in Ninety Six, South Carolina.  Inventory on his estate was made June 20, 1783, by William Thompson, David Allen and George Taylor.  Anne Moore, his wife, and William Tate were administrators of the estate.

Hugh Moore, son of John and Levicy Petty Moore and great grandson of Captain Patrick Moore, in a letter written from Gaffney, South Carolina, to Lyman C. Draper on November 21, 1880, stated that Captain Patrick Moore and his wife, Anne  ?  , had one son, Hugh, and three daughters: Polly, Betsy and Patsy Moore.

This Hugh Moore was an outside man for the Curtises when they had charge of Limestone College.   Hugh Moore was a 2nd Lieutenant in Co. I, 6th S C V, in 1861.  He was a 1st Lieutenant in Co. H., 7th S C Reserves, from 1862 to 1863, and a private in Co. H., PSS, from 1864 to 1865.  He died April 1, 1904, and was buried in the Petty Family Cemetery in Gaffney, South Carolina.

The Reverend Hugh Moore (son of Patrick) was born January 31, 1775.  This information was obtained from a note on the margin of a copy of the 1805 minutes of the Bethel Baptist Association, which was reported to the Gaffney Ledger and printed in the October 30th 1903 edition of the paper.  Dr. Bobby Moss included the above statement in his book, “Cherokee County Calendar (1897-1906).  

He married Elizabeth (Betsy) Low, daughter of John and Jane  ?  Low.  His father-in-law was a Patriot soldier.  Hugh and Elizabeth were members of the Goucher Creek Baptist Church (now Goucher).  He  was ordained to the gospel ministry by this church circa 1803, while the Reverend Joshua Richards was pastor.

  Hugh Moore was pastor of Goucher Creek Baptist Church in 1820 and continued in this position until the fall of 1822.  He had the Reverend Joshua Richards arrested by a constable the latter part of October 1822, charging him with “publishing and sending a false scandalous letter to him”.  He had Jane Low, Dicea Sherbet and Nancy Low, members of Macedonia Baptist Church, indicted, charging them with the writing of the letter known by the name of “the Sinner’s Letter”.

On November 16, 1822, Joshua Richards, in a church business session, cited the above circumstances to members of the Goucher church and brought charges against Hugh Moore.  Richards also accused him of taking a pair of overalls from Thomas Betterton for “swearing against Moore”.

The church in that early day did not look favorably upon Christians taking Christians to law, but Moore would not rescind his charges against Richards and the ladies from Macedonia.  Goucher Creek church tried him and determined that he was guilty of acting improperly in this matter.  He was excommunicated from their fellowship in November of 1822.  Abraham Hembree was appointed to visit Hugh Moore and request him to give up his preaching credentials, but Moore refused to surrender them.

Hugh Moore, Sr. made a contribution of $2.00 to the Goucher Creek church in 1829, and his son, John Moore, was excluded from the fellowship of Goucher Creek in 1830.

From August 22, 1828, to June 4, 1832, Hugh Moore was engaged in suits and counter suits with John Low, Sr. until Low died and then with Jane Low, wife of John, and her family.  His 1,451 acres of land on which he had resided was auctioned and sold on June 4, 1832, while he was in prison.  Henry Griffin purchased the land for $141.00.

The federal government indicted Hugh Moore for forgery (counterfeiting).  Tennessee Prison Records, RG, Roll No. 23, page 97, state: “Hugh was received in the Penitentiary the Sixteenth of September eighteen hundred and thirty one.  He is Six feet 2 ½ inches high, weighs one hundred & Sixty one pounds but is now in bad health.  His common weight is two hundred and twenty pounds.  Grey hair, blue eyes, fair skin, thin beard, a small mole on the chin, no scars perceivable.” 

 “Born and raised in Spartanburg district, South Carolina on Thicketty creek waters of Broad River, ten miles from the Court House & three miles from Pacolet Springs where his family now lives consisting of a wife, five sons and two daughters.  Also a son Married lives in the same neighborhood.  He is fifty-eight years old.  He has no trade but is a farmer and has preached for thirty years of the Baptist persuasion.  Found guilty of forgery at the Circuit Court of the United States at Nashville for the district of West Tennessee, and sentenced to five years imprisonment in the Jail and Penitentiary house of the State of Tennessee.  Hugh Moore died of Cholera on the 15th day of June 1833.”

 Patrick Moore was administrator of the Rev. Hugh Moore’s estate, and his bond was dated March 12, 1835.  John Moore was attorney for the administrator.  A sale was conducted on May 13, 1837, and the purchaser was Elizabeth Moore, his wife.  Patrick and John Moore were children of Hugh and Elizabeth.  Other children were: Jenny, Robert, Hugh, Davis, William and Elizabeth (Betsy).     

 He was not pastor of a church for thirty years, but kept his credentials and preached at times during these years.

Church Activities

 Gilead joined the Bethel Baptist Association at its 1805 session that met with the Fellowship Meeting-House near Cambridge (Greenwood County) on Saturday before the first Sunday in October.  Delegates from Gilead were Robert Coleman and John Hames.  The church reported a total of seventeen members at this meeting.

 Robert Coleman was selected as the first church clerk; John Hames was appointed  first treasurer; and Sherod James and Abner Coleman were ordained to serve as the first deacons.  All but one of these men had served as Patriot soldiers in the Revolutionary War.

The church building was called “Coleman’s Meeting House” in the early years.

Delegates from Gilead church to the Bethel Association in 1806 were Hugh Moore and John Stovall.  Eighteen members constituted the church body at this time.

Susannah Hames Eison was an early member of the Gilead church.  She was the daughter of Randolph and Faithful Coleman Hames, 2nd wife of John Eison, Esq. and daughter-in-law of John Eison, Sr. and Mary Swink Eison. She married John Eison in 1813.  Her mother was the daughter of Robert Coleman, Sr., and her husband was the grandson of Frederick Eison and his wife, Kathy  ?  Eison.  Fredrick Eison moved his family to Union District from Pennsylvania.

The church had increased to 32 members by 1809.  Robert Coleman and his brother, John Coleman, were delegates to the 1809 Bethel Baptist Associational meeting.

Hugh Moore resigned as pastor of Gilead and ended his ministry with the church in 1810, after serving for seven years.

A Period of Supply Pastors 1811-1821

 In 1811, Gilead had no regular pastoral leadership, and church membership declined to 12.  For several years, Gilead used supply pastors to conduct their services.

According to a history of the church written circa 1838, the church was dissolved in the early part of 1817.  The history states that the remaining members joined other churches.  Date given for the reorganization of the church was November 13, 1817, the “second Lord’s Day”.

A committee composed of the Reverends Thomas Greer, Hezekiah McDougal and Elias Mitchell, Sr. was formed, and the Reverend Thomas Greer was chosen to preside over the re-organizational meeting.  The conclusion of the committee and those attending was to re-establish the church, and the scattered members were accepted back into the fellowship of Gilead once again.  Robert Coleman was listed as the clerk of this special meeting.

James Kirby and his wife, Sarah Harrison Kirby, joined Gilead Baptist Church shortly after the reorganization in 1817.  James Kirby was the son of Bolin and Millie Campbell Kirby.  Others joining during this period were: Mary Reeves, daughter of John and Mary  ?  Reeves; Nancy Little; Susannah Berry; and Anne Jackson.  Mary Reeves was a distant relative of the writer’s wife and of present-day member John Carroll Morris.

Gilead’s first tract of land, containing 2.35 acres, was given to the church by George McKnight on October 15, 1819.  The land was given “for the purpose of building a Meeting House and for a Burying Ground.”  This property was adjacent to land belonging to Ruth Haile, widow of John Haile, and land belonging to Womack Fowler, son of Ellis Fowler.  The church building was probably already constructed on this lot.

Water rights were also given with the land.  This probably included rights to the spring across the road from the church.  The congregation used the spring for many years, and a baptistry was later constructed there.  The first church building erected was a long rectangular log building.  Godfrey Fowler and Charles Jones both owned land near this property.

Gilead’s First Trustees

 Trustees for the Gilead Baptist Church were listed as Robert Coleman, John Hames, John Gibson, Nathaniel Gist and William Henderson.

Charles Jones and Hiram Coleman witnessed the transaction.  These men were also members of Gilead church.

Nathaniel Gist built a house between what is now known as Pacolet and Jonesville in 1815, and called it Wyoming.  During the days of controversy over the Nullification Movement, he and his wife, Elizabeth McDaniel Gist, stalwart believers in state sovereignty, gave birth to a son in 1831, their seventh child, and named him, States Rights Gist.

Nathaniel moved his membership from Gilead church in the latter 1850’s and joined the Fairforest Presbyterian Church. He died during the War Between the States in 1861, three years before the death of his son, General States Rights Gist, who was killed during the Battle of Franklin on November 30, 1864.

William Henderson was the son of John Henderson and his wife, Sarah Alston Henderson.  His mother was the widow of Solomon Alston, Jr. from Halifax, North Carolina.  His father was a son of Samuel and Elizabeth Williams Henderson, and a Patriot soldier in the Revolutionary War.

Dr. Bobby Moss in his book, Roster of South Carolina Patriots, states: “John Henderson served as a lieutenant colonel in the militia and was wounded at Eutaw Springs on 8 September 1781.”    J. D. Bailey, in his book, History of Grindal Shoals, refers to John Hendersonas Major Henderson and states that William (his son) was familiarly called by his neighbors the ‘Commodore’.

William, a lawyer in his younger years, never married.  His sister, Betsy, married Henry Fernandis and his sister, Sallie, married Benjamin Haile.  He had a half-brother, Lemuel James Alston, who graduated from William and Mary College and, after living with his stepfather and mother for several years, moved to Greenville, South Carolina, and was living there in 1893.  He acquired several thousand acres of land and built a large mansion in the area.  Theodosia Burr Alston, daughter of Aaron Burr, and wife of Joseph Alston, spent a summer in the Lemuel Alston mansion in Greenville, S. C.  Lemuel Alston sold his house and lands to Vardry McBee, Jr. and moved to Alabama.

William’s father, John, purchased the property on which they lived from his brother, William, circa 1784.  John Henderson was appointed Judge of the County Court in Union County, South Carolina, in 1791 and became sheriff of Union County in 1795, continuing in this position through 1799.  John’s son-in-law, Henry Fernandis, assisted his father-in-law while he served as sheriff.  John Henderson died in 1824 and left most of his estate to William.  With his inheritance, he became a wealthy farmer.  William also served as a Justice of the Quorum.

The Jones’ brothers, John and Charles, and their wives, joined Gilead Baptist Church after the reorganization.  They came to Grindal Shoals from Newberry County, South Carolina, where they married sisters, the daughters of Captain John Floyd and his wife, Nancy Andrews Floyd.  John Jones married Eustacia (Stacey) Floyd, and Charles Jones married Rebecca Floyd.

Stacey and Rebecca’s father, John Floyd, was a Patriot soldier in the Revolutionary War.  He fought first with the militia from Cumberland County, North Carolina, and then moved with his father to the Beaver Dam Creek waters of Thicketty Creek in Union District near the Grindal Shoals area.  Here he fought with Colonel Thomas Brandon.

Before the war was over, John Floyd had moved back to Lunenburg County, Virginia, his birth state, and fought with the militia there. He was at the battle of Guilford Courthouse.  He married in Virginia, just after the war, and moved to Newberry County, South Carolina, and became a wealthy farmer.  He died in 1834 and left slaves, Delcy, Reny and Rebecca, to John and Stacy Jones, and slaves, Dicy and Hanner, to Charles and Rebecca Jones.

Charles Jones built a two-story brick house, called the Wayside Inn, about one mile north of present day Jonesville in 1811.  In addition to running the inn, he was a schoolteacher and also the first postmaster in the area.  Members of the Gilead church built a small log school building on church grounds where Jones taught for several years.   William Meng, his son-in-law, also taught in this school.  Charles Jones received rights to establish a post office, which was called Jonesville on May 9, 1828.  He operated the post office from the Wayside Inn.  W. F. Eison succeeded him as postmaster.

 John Jones was a delegate to the Bethel Baptist Association from Gilead church in 1820.  The church reported a membership of 22 at this session of the association.  John Jones’ land was in the Grindal Shoals area.

Gilead’s Second Pastor

 Hezekiah McDougal was the second pastor of Gilead.  He was the son of the Reverend Alexander McDougal (one of the pastors at Fairforest Baptist Church).  He was pastor of Fairforest when the seventeen members were dismissed to form the Gilead church.

The Reverend Alexander McDougal, assumed the pastoral leadership of the Fairforest Baptist Church after the Reverend Philip Mulkey, a Tory, refugeed to Tennessee circa 1775.  He continued as pastor through a part of 1803.  The Fairforest church was a Separate Baptist Church and was the first of its kind in the Back Country (Upper South Carolina).

Dr. Bobby Moss, in his book, Roster of South Carolina Patriots, gives the following accountof the Reverend Alexander McDougal: “He was born 1 May 1742 in Ireland (Dublin).  He enlisted in the Third Regiment on 6 February 1777.  He enlisted during June 1777 under Capt. Thomas Blessingham and Col. William Farr.” 

 “In September 1778, Alexander McDougal was under Lt. John Blessingham and Col. Hammond.  In the summer of 1780, he served as a lieutenant under Capt. Thomas Blessingham and Colonel Steen.  From October 1781 until sometime in 1782, he served as a lieutenant under Capt. Blessingham and Colonel Brandon and was in charge of a blockhouse near his home.” 

Alexander McDougal moved to Elizabethtown, Kentucky, in 1803, and became pastor of the Nolin and Severns Valley Baptist churches, serving them for a number of years.  He died March 3, 1841, aged 98.

Hezikiah McDougal moved closer to the Grindal Shoals community circa 1821, and joined the Gilead Baptist Church.  In 1822, he was selected to serve as their pastor.  He served jointly with the Reverend Elias Mitchell as pastor for three years (1823-25).

Previously, Hezekiah McDougal had served the Fairforest Baptist Church from 1802 through 1820.  During part of this time he shared pastoral duties with his father and the Reverend Willis Walker.

His biographical sketch in the book, Sketches of the Broad River and Kings Mountain Baptist Associations, by John R. Logan, states: “Elder Hezekiah McDougal was said  to be of Scotch descent.  He was a good pious brother, but possessed no extraordinary preaching talent; was somewhat formal in his religious exercises.” 

 Elder Barnett, speaking of Elder McDougal in his, Sketches of the Broad River Association, wrote: ‘I remember  the benediction of old Bro. Hezekiah McDougal, who was  a long time pastor of Cedar Springs church, which, though it was very affectionate, seemed to me to be a very unnecessary circumlocution.  It ran about this way: Now may the rich and saving grace of our once humbled, but now highly exalted Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, the love of God, His and our Heavenly Father, and the comfortable communion of the Holy Spirit, rest, remain and abide with you and all the Israel of God, now, henceforth and forever more.  Amen.’”

 Hezekiah McDougal was pastor of the Cedar Springs Baptist Church from 1814-1815; 1822-1823; and 1825-1829.  He served jointly with Thomas Weathers for two of these years (1822-23).

Hezekiah McDougal’s father, Alexander McDougal, was pastor of the Cedar Spring Baptist Church, Spartanburg County, from 1701-1800, though he served jointly with other pastors during all but one of these years.

The Reverend Hezekiah McDougal was also a blacksmith.  He submitted a bill for blacksmith work to the estate of John Reeves who died in 1814.  John Reeves lived near the Grindal Shoals community.  Hezekiah’s wife, Martha Mathis, daughter of William Mathis, died September 2, 1847, and was buried in the old Goucher Creek Baptist Church cemetery.  After his wife’s death he moved to Gibson County, Tennessee, and died there in December 1847.

Church Activities

 John Hames and Hezekiah McDougal were delegates to the Bethel Baptist Association from Gilead in 1822.  The church reported a membership of 23 at this session of the association.

Gilead’s Two Pastors

Elias Mitchell, Sr. moved to the outskirts of the Grindal Shoals area circa 1822 and joined the Gilead Baptist Church.  He and Hezekiah McDougal served jointly as pastors of the church from 1823 through 1825.

 They both served as delegates from Gilead church to the Bethel Baptist Association during these years.  The church maintained an average membership of 28 while these two preachers served the church jointly.

Robert Coleman, first church clerk, died June 18, 1823, and was buried in an unmarked grave in the Gilead cemetery.

 III.  THE SECOND TWENTY YEARS (1824-1843).

 Gilead’s Third Pastor

 From 1826-1834, Elias Mitchell, Sr. served as pastor.  Elias Mitchell, Sr. was born circa 1759 and married Milly Hill who was born in 1760.  They lived in Chester District, South Carolina, until 1822.  While living in Chester District, he was pastor of Unity (Brown’s Creek) Baptist Church and the Hebron Baptist Church.  Both of these churches are in Union County, South Carolina.

After moving into the area of Grindal Shoals circa 1822, he began to serve as pastor of Gilead.  He had been invited to return to the Chester District on November 30, 1834, for the purpose of preaching in a protracted meeting and died instantly on that date after singing and praying at a stand set up for the services.  His death left the Gilead church without a pastor.

His estate was settled May 14, 1841, and eleven legatees were listed.  Col. Elias Mitchell, Davidson Mitchell and John Mitchell were children of the Reverend Elias and Milly Hill Mitchell.

Church Activities

 John Hames and Elias Mitchell, Sr. served as delegates from Gilead to the associational meeting in 1825.  The church reported a membership of 30 for the year.

The post office address for the church in 1828 was Hancockville.  Thomas Hancock received a commission to establish this post office on January 22, 1814.  It was located in a store building on the Elijah Dawkins farm in present day Cherokee County.  General Elijah Dawkins, who married Nancy Nuckolls, youngest daughter of John and Agatha Bullock Nuckolls, built the house that still stands (now called Goudelocks).

Elias Mitchell, Sr. and John Jones were delegates to the Bethel Baptist Associational meeting for the Gilead church in 1830.  Church membership was 37.

John Haile and John Jones served as delegates from Gilead church to the Bethel Baptist Associational meeting in 1832.  Membership had dropped to 35 at this time.  John Haile was a grandson of John and Ruth  ?  Haile.

John Haile, grandfather of the above John, was a Patriot soldier.  He was an early settler and built the “block house” in what later became the town of Jonesville, designing the house so that it could offer protection against the Indians.  The house was later sold to John Long, Jr.  The Jonesville Baptist Church was started in this house.

During Elias Mitchell, Sr.’s pastorate, the controversy over nullification led the newly elected governor of South Carolina, Robert Y. Hayne, to issue a proclamation calling for volunteers to defend the state.  Many armed camps were created throughout South Carolina.

One of these camps, established at Grindal Shoals, was commanded by Major Joseph Starke Sims and called the Pacolet Blues.  Several members and other men who later became members of Gilead were numbered among the volunteers including: William Ward, Reubin Coleman, John Gibson, John Hodge and John Hames Eison.

Zachariah Reeves, Sr. and his wife, Cynthia Hodge Reeves, joined Gilead in the early 1830’s.  Zachariah was the son of John and Mary  ?  Reeves and Cynthia was the daughter of John Hodge.  They were the great, great grandparents of the writer’s wife, Elizabeth Reeves Ivey, and present-day member John Carroll Morris.

Gilead’s Fourth Pastor

 The Reverend Hezekiah McDougal, member of Gilead, again served as their pastor for the years 1835-1837.

Church Activities

 Joining the Gilead church in the mid 1830’s were: Fredrick William Eison (son of John Eison, Esq. and Susannah Hames Eison), Caroline Jones Eison, (wife of F. W. Eison and daughter of Charles and Rebecca Floyd Jones), John Hames Eison (brother of F. W. Eison), Eliza H. Jones (wife of John H. Eison and daughter of John and Eustacia Floyd Jones), Sarah Jones Meng (daughter of Charles and Rebecca Floyd Jones), Lemuel Hames (son of Edmund and Nancy Foster Hames) and Nancy Jones Hames (wife of Lemuel Hames and daughter of John and Eustacia Floyd Jones).  Lemuel Hames was the nephew of Randolph Hames.

 Gilead’s Fifth Pastor

 The Reverend Ambrose Ray was selected as pastor of Gilead in 1837.  Claude Ezell Sparks in his book, A History of Padgett’s Creek Baptist Church, stated: “Ambrose Ray, was the eldest son of Hosea Ray and Mary Lamb Ray and was born in the Cross Keys section of Union County, South Carolina, October 17, 1798.  On February 2, 1819, Ambrose Ray married Mary Garrett, born September 21, 1800.  To this union thirteen sons and daughters were born. 

 His wife joined the church on June 20, 1829.  On September 15, 1832, during a great revival in the church, Ambrose Ray and his brother, Elijah, were called forward and ordained to preach the gospel.  The presbytery was composed of the Reverends Nathan Langston and Thomas Ray.” 

 Gilead Baptist Church records state that the Reverend Ambrose Ray preached his farewell sermon on December 8, 1844.  He had served as pastor of the church for seven and one-half years.  Eighty members joined Gilead by letter and by experience during his pastorate, most of them by experience.

Church Activities

 Herod Gibson, son of John Gibson, joined the church by letter on June 16, 1838.  His wife, Patsy  ?  Gibson, was already a member of Gilead.  Absalom Ward joined by experience and Bartley Coleman and his wife, Elizabeth Poole Coleman, also joined by experience at this time.

Absolem Ward, son of Nathaniel Ward and Susannah Trail Ward, was the great, great, great grandfather of the writer’s wife, Elizabeth Reeves Ivey, and present day member John Carroll Morris.  He was the grandson of James Ward and his wife, Susannah  ?  Ward and great grandson of Francis Ward.

Absolem Ward married Nancy Coleman, daughter of Robert and Elizabeth (Trecy) Smith Coleman.  His father, Nathaniel, was a Patriot soldier and according to Dr. Moss in his book, Roster of South Carolina Patriots, served as a horseman under Col. Henderson and Gen. Sumter.

Bartley Coleman was the son of Robert and Elizabeth (Trecy) Smith Coleman, and Bartley’s wife, Elizabeth Poole Coleman, was the daughter of William and Elizabeth Stovall Poole.  He was a veteran of the War of 1812.

Bartholomew Stovall (son of John), his wife, Kiziah, and their daughter, Susannah Stovall, joined Gilead by letters from the Goucher Creek Baptist Church on July 14, 1838.  Mary Alberson, Betsy Knight, Nancy Ward, Barbara Gibson, Mary Kirby and Polly Coleman joined by experience at this time.

Nancy Ward was the wife of Absolem Ward and the daughter of Robert and Elizabeth (Trecy) Smith Coleman.  Nancy Coleman Ward was the great, great, great grandmother of the writer’s wife, Elizabeth Reeves Ivey, and of present day member John Carroll Morris.

Bartholomew Stovall was elected church clerk shortly after joining the Gilead church in 1838.

Elizabeth (Trecy) Smith Coleman wife, of Robert Coleman, died on July 15, 1838, and was buried in an unmarked grave in the Gilead Baptist Church cemetery.  Robert Coleman and Elizabeth (Trecy) Smith Coleman were the great, great, great, great grandparents of the writer’s wife, Elizabeth Reeves Ivey, and present day member John Carroll Morris.

On August 17, 1838, Josiah Sparks joined Gilead by letter from the Pacolet (Scull Shoals) Baptist Church.  He was a distant relative of the writer’s wife.  Elizabeth McCafferty joined Gilead by letter at this time.  Her son, George, was either killed or died of disease during the War Between the States.  Both are buried in marked graves in Gilead cemetery.

The Fowler’s began to join Gilead in September of 1838.  They were descendants of Ellis and Catherine Puckett Fowler.  Ellis Fowler was from Virginia and fought as a Patriot soldier in the militia, while living in Virginia.  His sons: Mark, Godfrey and Womac, were the progenitors of most of the Gilead Fowlers.  Womac and Mark fought with General Andrew Jackson in the Battle of New Orleans during the War of 1812.

On September 8, 1838, Sarah James, joined Gilead by experience.  She was the wife of David James, and daughter-in-law of Shadrack James, who served as a Patriot soldier during the Revolutionary War.  Shadrack was living in North Carolina at this time.

Delegates to the Bethel Baptist Association from Gilead in the fall of 1838 were John Hames and Bartley Coleman.  The church had 51 members (36 whites and 15 blacks) at this time.

Nancy Jackson joined the Gilead church by letter on December 15, 1838, and James Jackson joined by letter on January 12, 1839.  Hannah and Mary Jackson joined Gilead by letter on March 9, 1839.  James Jackson was ordained as a deacon of Gilead on May 11, 1839.

The Reverend Willis Walker and the Reverend James Huett supplied at Gilead for the Reverend Ambrose Ray on July 10, 1839.  William Ward and his wife, Nancy  ?  Ward, joined Gilead by experience on the above date.  William Ward was a brother of Absolem Ward.

On July 15, 1839, Emmanuel Kirby and Jeremiah Kirby, sons of Bolin and Milley Campbell Kirby, joined Gilead church by experience.  They were grandsons of John and Jemima  ?  Kirby, who came to Union County, South Carolina, from Pittsylvania County, Virginia, circa 1790.  John Kirby‘s daughters married into the Draper and Easterwood families.

Frances Kirby, wife of Terry Kirby (son of Bolin and Milley Campbell Kirby), and Levicy Kirby, daughter of James and Sarah Harrison Kirby, were received by experience July 15, 1839.

James Means, son of Hugh Means, Sr. and Hannah  ?  Means, and grandson of James and Mary  ?  Means, was received by experience into the Gilead church on September 7, 1839.

His father, Hugh, was a Patriot soldier in the Revolutionary War.  Dr. Bobby Moss in his book, Roster of South Carolina Patriots, states: “Hugh Means served in the militia during 1779 and 1780 as a lieutenant under Capt. Matthew Patton and Col. Brandon.  From 8 June to 17 December 1780, he served as a captain.”   Hugh Means operated a sawmill and gristmill on Fairforest Creek before his death in 1825 and had previously been a merchant in Chester County, South Carolina.

The following joined Gilead church by experience on October 12, 1839: Terry Kirby, husband of Frances, and (son of Bolin and Milley Campbell Kirby); his brother, Goolspring Kirby; Davidson Mitchell (son of the Reverend Elias Mitchell and Milly Hill Mitchell), his wife, Elizabeth  ?  ; Anne Jackson, Nancy Gordan; Frances Michael, Nelly Dillard; W. Thompson’s black male servant, Buck; and Jane Thompson’s black male servant, Dennis.  Buck later was permitted to preach in the Gilead church.

James Jackson and Bartley Coleman were delegates to the Bethel Baptist Association in the fall of 1839.  A report from Gilead to the association revealed that the church had 72 members on their roll.

David McCullom was excluded for disorder on January 11, 1840.

Eli Mitchell (son of the Reverend Elias Mitchell) and his wife, Sophia  ?  , joined the Gilead church by letter February 7, 1840, and Dr. Moore’s, black servant, Sarah, joined by experience.

Abram Nott, lawyer, had a black servant, Ben, who joined Gilead by experience July 11, 1840.  Abram Nott was never a member of Gilead, but his wife, Anglica Mitchell Nott, was a first cousin to member, William Henderson.

Preachers for the Protracted Meeting at Gilead in August of 1840 were the Reverends Felix Littlejohn, Edward McBee, Landrum Brooks and Ambrose Ray. The following joined Gilead by experience during August of this year: James Thompson’s black servants, Annie and Rose; Reubin Coleman; and the Easterwoods’ black servant, Teney.  Reubin Coleman was the son of Robert and Elizabeth (Trecy) Smith Coleman.

The revival seems to have continued into September of 1840 as the following joined by experience at this time: Alfred Ward, (son of Absalom and Nancy Coleman Ward); Trecy Ward; David James (son of Shadrack James); Christopher Coleman (son of Bartley Coleman and grandson of Robert Coleman); and James Coan.  Levina Littlejohn joined by letter.

Reubin Coleman was elected church clerk in place of Bathomew Stovall on September 12, 1840.

Nearly all of the Littlejohns, who have affiliated with Gilead through the years, are descendants of Samuel Littlejohn through his son, Thomas Littlejohn, and his grandson, William Littlejohn (son of Thomas).  Both Samuel and Thomas Littlejohn were Patriot soldiers during the Revolutionary War.

Absolem Ward and James Kirby were delegates from Gilead to the Bethel Baptist Associational meeting in the fall of 1840.  The report to the association from Gilead disclosed that the church had 93 members (43 whites and 50 blacks).

In October of 1840, Ransom, the black servant of Thomas Littlejohn (son of Samuel) joined Gilead by experience and Nathaniel Gist’s black servant, Tom, joined by experience.  During the business service in November of 1840, Levicy Kirby was excluded from the fellowship of the church.

William Ward made an acknowledgement of “wrong doing” to the church in January of 1841 and was forgiven.  In February of 1841, Anne Jackson was granted a letter of dismission, and charges were brought against Dennis, black servant of James Thompson.   James Jackson began to exercise his gifts of praying, singing and exhorting in 1841.

Davidson Mitchell, son of the Reverend Elias Mitchell, Sr., was ordained as a deacon in the Gilead church on April 10, 184l.  The Reverend Felix Littlejohn preached the ordination sermon.

Mary Scott (widow) and Mary Moseley were baptized on May 9, 1841.  Mary Moseley was the daughter of John B. Moseley and his first wife, Annie  ?  ,  and the granddaughter of James (High-Key) Moseley and his wife, Nancy Jasper Moseley.  James Moseley was a Patriot soldier in the Revolutionary War, and a blacksmith and tooth-extractor by profession.  James and Nancy Moseley were the great, great, great grandparents of Elizabeth Ivey and present member, John Carroll Morris.

The church, in compliance with the request of the Bethel Baptist Association, voted to join the State Baptist Convention in August of 1841.

M.C. Barnett, Felix Littlejohn, Spencer Morgan, E. J. Underwood and the Reverend Whilden were the preachers for the Protracted Meeting at Gilead in August and September of 1841.  Anne Jackson was again received into the fellowship of Gilead by letter.

Received by experience were: Phena, black servant of William Norris; Nancy Stovall; Armenta Stovall; Annie  ?  Moseley (wife of John B. Moseley); Annie Horn; Rutha Ann Jackson; and Peter, black servant of Susan Hames Eison, widow of John Eison, Esq..  Annie  ?  Moseley was the great, great grandmother of the writer’s wife, Elizabeth Reeves Ivey, and present member, John Carroll Morris.

Delegates to the 1841 fall associational meeting of the Bethel Baptist Association were: James Jackson and Davidson Mitchell.  The report to the association disclosed that the church had 103 members (70 whites and 33 blacks).

Reubin Coleman was re-elected church clerk on March 12, 1842.

Ellis Palmer, son of John Palmer and Martha (Patsy) Williams Palmer, joined Gilead by letter in August of 1842.  He married Nancy Long, daughter of William and Betsy Whitlock Long in 1815.  During the business session in August, the church voted to let “stand their open door policy to all ministers in good standing”.

Delegates to the associational meeting of the Bethel Baptist Association in 1842 were: James Jackson and Reubin Coleman (son of Robert and Elizabeth Coleman).  The church reported a total membership to the association of 112 members (78 whites and 34 blacks) at this meeting.

James McWhirter died October 23, 1842, and funeral services were held on January 7, 1843, at the Gilead church.  The Reverend Elijah Ray, brother of Ambrose Ray (pastor of Gilead), preached the funeral sermon “to a large collection of people”.  He was the last living member of the church to serve as a Patriot soldier in the Revolutionary War.

James Jackson gave an exhortation to the congregation at Gilead on March 11, 1843.  Davidson Mitchell resigned as deacon on May 13, 1843.

Peter and Milly, black servants of Trecy McWhirter, widow of James McWhirter, joined Gilead by experience, June 10, 1843.  Nancy (Long) Palmer, wife of Ellis Palmer, joined Gilead by letter on September 9, 1843.

On this same date, the church dismissed by letter  “our beloved Bro. Eli Mitchell and wife, Sophia Mitchell”.

Ellis Palmer and Reubin Coleman served as delegates from the Gilead church to the Bethel Baptist Associational fall meeting in 1843.  Membership of the church at this time was reported to be 117 (81 whites and 36 blacks).

In a business session December 9, 1843, letters of dismission were granted to: James Jackson; Hannah Jackson; Mary Coan;  ?  McCollum; Susannah Stovall; and Ben and Jesse, black servants of Dr. Abram Notts.  This was about the time that Abram Notts moved his family from Grindal Shoals to Columbia, South Carolina.

Reubin Coleman was elected deacon of the Gilead church on February 10, 1844.  His ordination took place on April 13, 1844.  The Reverends Ambrose Ray and John Kindrick and deacons: M. Wilkins, Isaac Going and James Spears were members of the ordaining council.

John Hames, a constitutional member and treasurer of Gilead, died March 1, 1844.  He was buried in the Gilead cemetery.  His funeral services were conducted by the Reverends Ambrose Ray and John Kindrick on April 14, 1844.  Ambrose Ray read I Corinthians the 15th chapter and made his remarks from this text.

Absolem Ward received a letter of dismission from Gilead on April 13, 1844.     On May 9, 1844, Alfred Ward (son of Absalom), Nancy Coleman Ward (Absolem’s wife), William Ward (Absolem’s brother); and Nancy  ?  Ward (William’s wife) received letters of dismission from the church.

A. Lackey was elected deacon on September 7, 1844, but church records on November 9, 1844, state that he was not ordained because of his plans to move his membership.  He and his wife were dismissed by letter on December 7, 1844.  Herod Gibson was elected deacon to fill the vacancy left by A. Lackey’s departure.

Gilead’s Sixth Pastor

 Drury Scruggs served as pastor of Gilead in 1845.  J. R. Logan in his, History of the Broad River Baptist Association states: “Elder Drury Scruggs, native of Spartanburg, S. C., was born about the year 1806.  He was converted in early life, and joined the church at State Line.  He appeared as a lay delegate in the sessions of the Broad River Association  at Cedar Spring church in 1830, and then again at other sessions in 1831 and 1832.  He was licensed the latter  year to preach the Gospel, and in 1833, he was ordained by a presbytery, to the full work of the ministry.  He became a popular minister in the Broad River Association, and in 1842, was elected clerk, and  in 1845-1849, and in 1851, was chosen  to preside over the deliberations of the Association as moderator, and again in 1854-1853, and 1857.” 

He married Elizabeth Price Wilkins and they had thirteen children.  He was pastor of  State Line Baptist Church for twenty-five years.

 Church Activities

 Herod Gibson was ordained deacon on May 23, 1845.  The presbytery was made up of the Reverends Drury Scruggs, Ambrose Ray, M. C. Barnett and deacons: Isaac Going, James Spears and  ?  Draper.

Nancy Jackson and Susannah Lemaster were granted letters of dismission from Gilead on May 23-24, 1845.

Jack and his wife, Flora, (black servants of Charles Jones), were dismissed by letter on August 23, 1845.  This was the year that Charles Jones moved his family to Lauderdale County, Tennessee.

On September 27, 1845, a letter of dismission was granted to Dina, black servant of John Hames Eison.  John Hames Eison with his wife, Eliza M. Jones Eison, (daughter of Charles and Rebecca Floyd Jones) and their black servants moved to Dyer City, Tennessee, at this time.  There are no records of the dismissal of members of the above Jones and Eison families.  They probably had been dismissed prior to 1838.

Delegates to the Bethel Baptist Associational meeting in the fall of 1845 were Davidson Mitchell (son of the Reverend Elias Mitchell) and James Kirby (son of Boling Kirby).  On behalf of the church at Gilead, the delegates called for a letter of dismission from Bethel in order to join the Broad River Baptist Association.  The church reported a total membership of 96 at this meeting (66 whites and 30 blacks).

 IV. THE THIRD TWENTY YEARS (1844-1863).

 Gilead’s Seventh Pastor

 Ambrose Ray returned to serve as pastor of the church for the year 1846.  He moved his family to Tippah County, Mississippi, in 1850, and was pastor of churches in that area until his death on August 12, 1873.

The author of the book, Long Road Home, states: “Ambrose was ingenious, turning his Mississippi estate into a financially successful operation.  It is thought that his land in Mississippi was actually at one time a part of Washington County, Georgia, when Georgia boundaries stretched to the Mississippi River.

 Through wise management, hard toil and effort, the farmer-preacher exerted influence over much of northeast Mississippi, where he delivered on Sunday, sermons prepared largely between plow handles during the week.  Ambrose Ray’s home was destroyed by fire and valuable Bible records lost at the time.  He again built and that house eventually became the home of his son, Hosea.

 During the War Between the States, Yankees were planning to take away some 500 bales of his cotton.  Ambrose quickly summoned his sons and in moments they had the cotton ablaze.”

 Claude Sparks in his book, The History of Padgett’s Creek Baptist Church, states:  “He was a man of great power but his power lay in his retentive memory, his largeness of vision, his kindness of heart, and genuineness.  He was above average as financier; his  family discipline was unexcelled, his personal walk and conversation was unimpeachable; promptness and accuracy were his watchwords.  Religious controversies were settled by his ready and accurate Bible quotations.”   

 Church Activities

 Thomas Dixon (father of the Reverend Amzi Clarence Dixon and Thomas Dixon, writer) preached at the Gilead church on May 9, 1846.

Sarah Hail joined the Gilead church by letter on September 13, 1846.

Gilead church made application to the Broad River Baptist Association for membership in the fall of 1846 and was received as a member.  This session of the association was convened at the Macedonia Baptist Church, Spartanburg District, on October 16, 1846.  Ambrose Ray was listed as pastor of Gilead and Ellis Palmer and Davidson Mitchell were listed as delegates from the church.  Gilead reported a total membership of 71 at this time.

Thomas Dixon was elected pastor of Gilead in November of 1846, and was to serve for the year 1847, but declined.

 Gilead’s Eighth Pastor

 T. K. Pursley accepted the pastorate of Gilead and served for one year (1847).  John R. Logan wrote: “Elder Thomas King Pursely was a native of York county, S. C.  Born about the year 1814.  Professed conversion about 1836, and was licensed to preach soon after- ward.  He was ordained to the full work of the ministry about the year 1838.  Joined the Antioch church by letter, and was chosen pastor that year, and was sent as one of her delegates to the Broad River Association at Green River church.  He married the daughter of Elder Spencer Morgan about 1840, and transferred his membership to Providence church, where he labored as joint pastor of the church with his father-in-law. 

 He afterwards joined Corinth church, and still continued a member of the Association from Corinth until 1850.  He then moved to the State of Georgia, and connected himself with the Baptist brotherhood of that State, where, after laboring in the ministry for a time, had the misfortune to lose the use of one of his arms, which finally withered away. 

 Elder Pursely was an uneducated minister, and of moderate preaching talent.  In the first, or early part of his ministry, he manifested a great deal of zeal in the discharge of his ministerial duties, and sometimes succeeded in waking up a good deal of interest in the cause of religion, and he baptized a number of converts into the fellowship of the churches where he labored.”      

Dr. William Curtis of Limestone Springs Female High School and the Reverend Thomas Dixon preached several times at Gilead in 1847.

 Church Activities

 On May 22, 1847, Dr. W. Smith Howell and his wife, Sarah, joined Gilead by letter.  At this business session of the church, Buck, a black member of the congregation, was given liberty to preach.

The Gilead church appointed a building committee for the purpose of building an addition to the church on June 25, 1847.  The committee was composed of: Reubin Coleman, William Cooper, Herod Gibson, Dr. W. Smith Howell, and Ellis Palmer.  The addition became a necessity because of the increasing number of black members.

David James, son of Shadrack James, agreed to build the seats for the new addition.  He was to closely duplicate the seats already made.  The seats were to be completed by September of 1847, and he was to be paid for his labor by “Christmas next”.

Gilead on July 23,1847, resolved to allow “Buck, the property of W. Thompson, to preach this month at the church in consideration of his master.”

In the business session of August 21, 1847, the church voted to have a camp meeting in September.  Preachers were: the Reverends John Kindrick, M. C. Barnett, Alanson Padgett, Felix Littlejohn, T. K. Pursley, Thomas Dixon, and Spencer Morgan.  As a result of the camp meetings the following were baptized on September 28th: Elizabeth Coleman, Caroline Coleman, and Ben, the property of Richard Thompson.

Delegates for the 1847 session of the Broad River Baptist Association were Ellis Palmer and W. K. Cooper.  The church reported a total membership of 79 at this meeting.

Gilead voted on October 23, 1847, to call Dr. Felix Littlejohn as pastor for the year 1848, and he accepted.

Church records tell of a missionary meeting to be held on December 25, 1847.  This is the first time a missions meeting is mentioned in the church book.

 Gilead’s Ninth Pastor

 Dr. Felix Littlejohn served as pastor of the church in 1848.  John R. Logan wrote: “Elder Felix W. Littlejohn, a native of Spartanburg county, S. C., appeared in the Broad River Association as a licensed preacher and delegate from Goucher Creek church, in 1840, at the session held that year at Concord church, Rutherford county, N. C.  He was ordained in 1841, to the full work of the ministry, and represented Goucher Creek almost consecutively until about 1855, when his health failing, he did not afterwards attend the sessions as formerly.  After having served as pastor of Goucher Creek church many years, he died of apoplexy, on the 10th of October, 1860, being about 55 years of age.”

The Broad River Association, at its session in 1861, adopted the following notice: “Brother F. W. Littlejohn was ordained to the work of the ministry in the Goucher Creek church, about twenty years ago, and for a long time labored zealously and successfully in the Gospel.  For some time past, owing to the infirmities of the body, he refused to take the pastoral charge of any church, still unto the day of his death he never threw off the mantle of his calling.”  

 Logan wrote: “We knew Dr. Littlejohn, who had the reputation, not only of being a good preacher, but a good physician as well.  In early life he had the appearance of being an athletic, hale, hearty and healthy man, being of round heavy build, large chest and good lungs.  His health, however, from some cause failed and for a few years previous to his death, he rapidly declined.  Dr. Littlejohn was bout five feet ten inches in height, dark hair, and eyes, and visage somewhat rounded like his body, with a playful and sprightly countenance ornamenting his entire physique.  We feel that the Broad River Association sustained a great loss in the death of one so popular and useful.”   

 Church Activities

 On May 13, 1848, Elias Lipscomb and his wife, Artimisse Lipscomb, joined Gilead by letters.

W. K. Cooper and James Kirby represented Gilead church at the 1848 associational meeting of the Broad River Baptist Association.  Gilead reported a total of 80 members at this meeting.

Susan Stovall and her mother requested letters of dismission from the Gilead church on October 7, 1848, and letters were granted.  Elias Lipscomb, his wife, Artimisse, and Levnia Littlejohn received letters of dismission on December 9, 1848, and Martha, property of James Thompson, was received by experience at this time.

 Gilead’s Tenth Pastor

 John G. Kindrick served as pastor of the church in 1849 and 1850.   John R. Logan wrote: “He traveled in company with Elder Wade Hill and others as a missionary in the bounds of the Broad River Baptist Association.  His education was limited, but having much native power of thought, blest with a logical mind and Presbyterian training, he became an able and fearless defender of the faith, once delivered to the saints. 

 At the meeting of this Assocation, at Providence church, a few years ago, he closed the services on Sunday afternoon with an earnest exhortation, in which he worked in his description of Satan.  And in speaking of the power of Satan to deceive the people, he remarked that ‘The Devil would feed them on soft corn, and choke them to death on the cobs.’  He had the facility of changing suddenly from these currents of humor to the most solid and serious discourse.

 Elder Kindrick was tall and straight, somewhat raw-boned; had a massive head, thickly covered with dark hair, eyes blue, countenance rather stern or serious.” 

 M. C. Barnett, the associational historian, in speaking of him said: “I have thought he performed the ordinance of baptism with as much dignity and solemnity as any man that ever came under my observation.  Imagine yourself at the Scull Shoals, on Pacolet river, near the church, on the 2d Sunday in September.  Both banks of the river are lined with hundreds of people (the public road crossing here).  You see others coming on both sides; two or three canoes are loaded with persons crossing the river, some going one way and some the other; at the same time the river is being forded by twenty at the time, in carriages, in buggies, and on horseback; the people commence singing on the opposite bank from the church, and everything begins to get still. 

 Bro. Kindrick has about twenty to baptize this morning.  After prayer he leads one down into the water, and with one hand lifted up he said: ‘In obedience to the command of God, and after the example of Jesus Christ, I baptize thee,’ etc.  As they came up out of the water he made some apt quotation from Scripture—such as, ‘We are buried with Him in baptism, wherein also ye are risen with Him from the dead;’ and then another in like manner, until his work was done.”

 Logan wrote: “He preached his last sermon at Upper Fair Forest (Fairforest) church on the Sunday before his death.  He died at the home of Thomas Kelly the following Thursday.  The funeral discourse was preached at Pacolet church by Elder M. C. Barnett, to a large congregation.  His body lies in the grave-yard of Pacolet church.”  

 Church Activities

 The church on February 11, 1849, extended a unanimous call to Dr. William Curtis, but he declined, and John Kindrick agreed to supply the church.

Martin Coleman (son of Bartley) and his wife, Emaline, joined by letter June 9th 1849.  The Gilead church on June 10, 1849, baptized Drawdy, property of William Norris, and Milly, property of William Littlejohn.

On August 10, 1849, the Reverends John S. Ezell, John Kindrick, Felix Littlejohn and James Webb began preaching in revival services at Gilead.  Charlotte, property of John Wright, was received by experience.

Delegates to the 1849 fall session of the Broad River Baptist Association were: Reubin Coleman, W. K. Cooper and Terry Kirby.  The church reported a total of 86 members at this meeting.

Catherine Hodge joined the church by experience on October 13, 1849, and Phylis, the property of Col. Nathaniel Gist, and Kizzia, the property of Joseph Stark Sims, were received by experience on November 10, 1849.  Terry Kirby’s daughter, Adaline Kirby, joined by experience on November 13, 1849, and Caroline Hodge joined by experienced on December 8, 1849.

Nancy Ward joined Gilead by letter March 9th, 1850.  The church forgave Sansberry Goforth for his use of “too much spirits” April 13th 1850, and Aley, property of B. Kennedy, was received by experience.

Spencer Morgan and John G. Kindrick preached to the congregation on May 11th 1850, and Isabella, property of W. W. Meng, was received by experience.

Revival preachers in August of 1850 were: Ambrose Ray, T. K. Pursely, John Kindrick, Drury Scruggs and John Durham.  Milla (property of W. F. Eison) and Mary Fowler were received by experience.  Terry Kirby’s wife’s funeral was preached by John G. Kindrick.

On September 7th 1850, the church elected Ellis Palmer and Reubin Coleman, delegates to the Broad River Associational meeting.  In case of failure, Terry Kirby was chosen to serve as an alternate.   The report to the association indicated that the church received seven by experience; four by letter; excluded one; and two died.  Total membership at this time was 93.

Sisley, property of Isaac Thompson, was received by experience on November 9, 1850, and Nancy Gordan and Terry Kirby received letters of dismission.  Elizabeth Burgess was dismissed by letter on December 7th  of this year.

 Gilead’s Eleventh Pastor

Drury Scruggs was pastor of the church in 1851 and continued in this position through 1855.  State Line Baptist Church charged Scruggs in 1863 with “immorality of lewdness” and excluded him from their fellowship.  Through the agency of a council, the church deposed him from the ministry.  From a small group at State Line, he managed to secure a letter of dismission in full fellowship and refused to relinquish his credentials.  He continued to preach in Tennessee and organized the Concord Baptist Church, which he served from 1864 to 1873.  He was buried in the cemetery of this church.

On July 25, 1851, the following delegates were elected to represent the church at the associational meeting: Ellis Palmer, James Kirby, Reubin Coleman and Dr. W. S. Howell (probably the only medical doctor to ever belong to Gilead).  John W. Darwin was received by letter at this meeting.

The report to the association stated that the church had received: two by baptism; two by letter; excluded two; and had a membership of 92.

John James was excluded and his wife granted a letter of dismission on October 25, 1851.  Frances Meng, Sarah Eison, Mary Fowler, Caroline Hodge, Caroline James and Elizabeth Gibson were received by experience during the fall revival.

W. J. Sherbert, Sarah Ann Sherbert, William Coleman, Fincher Gossett, Consada James and Manerva Hodge were baptized on November 22, 1851.

David James was appointed to take charge of the table implements on March 28, 1852, and on May 22nd  John G. Kindrick preached.  Elizabeth Kindrick received a letter of dismission and joined Pacolet church (Scull Shoals) on June 25th.

On September 25, 1852, Gilead elected John Darwin, Terry Kirby and Ellis Palmer as delegates to the association and appointed Reubin Coleman and W. S. Howell to write the letter.  For the year the church received nine by baptism; one by letter; restored one; and lost one by death.

Richard Woodruff preached for the church on September 30, 1852, and Sansberry Gossett was restored to full fellowship.

A baptismal service was held on October 1, 1852, and the following baptized:  Newton Brown & wife, William Whitlock, Nancy Ward, Harriet Moseley, Susan Kirby and Elizabeth Gibson.

On October 23, 1852, Hiram Kirby and Absolem Ward’s black girl, Mary, were received by experience.

John S. Ezell preached at Gilead on April 23, 1853, and T. W. Scott presented his letter  from a church in Alabama.  Ellis Palmer, James Mabry and W. S. Howell served on the church disciplinary committee and recommended the exclusion of D. Mitchell on June 25th.

Elizabeth Gaston Carter joined Gilead by letter on July 23, 1853.  She was daughter of William and Ann Porter Gaston and was born in Chester County, S. C.; widow of Churchill Carter, Jr; and mother of the Reverend John Gaston Carter and Vandyne S. Carter.  Elizabeth Gaston Carter was the great, great, great grandmother of Elizabeth Reeves Ivey and present member, John Carroll Morris.  She moved her family to Union County in 1836, after the death of her husband.

Ellis Palmer, W. Whitlock and James Kirby were elected delegates to the association on August 27, 1853.  David James was elected as alternate delegate.  Gilead made the following report to the association: baptized three; received by letter two; dismissed by letter three; excluded three; three deceased; and membership 111.

Elizabeth Bishop brought her letter to Gilead, September 24, 1853, and Spencer Morgan preached on October 22nd.  Cindy, property of widow Clowney, was received by experience on October 23rd.

Madison Mullinax, ordained by the Pacolet (Scull Shoals) church, preached to the Gilead congregation on April 8, 1854.  Buck, “a colored man”, was given liberty to preach once every two months.

John Gaston Carter, son of Churchill Carter, Jr. and Elizabeth Gaston Carter, joined the Gilead church by letter on May 15, 1854.  He brought his letter from the Cane Creek (Salem) Baptist Church.  He was baptized by the Reverend D. Duncan on July 18, 1842.  He  married Mary C. Page, daughter of Nathaniel and Lydia Page, on April 27, 1846.  He was later licensed to preach by Unity Baptist Church (Brown’s Creek) and ordained by this church on August 2, 1862.

His brother, Vandyne S. Carter, joined Gilead church several months later.  Vandyne married Elizabeth Ward, a member of Gilead and daughter of Absolem and Nancy Coleman Ward.   He was the great, great grandfather of Elizabeth Reeves Ivey and of present member, John Carroll Morris.

Frances  Meng was dismissed by letter from the fellowship of Gilead church on May 15, 1854.  Spencer Morgan preached to the congregation on June 10, 1854.

At the business session on July 8, 1854, the church agreed to have a protracted (revival)  meeting in August and to invite eight preachers to assist in the services.

Drury Scruggs and John S. Ezell were apparently the only preachers the congregation was able to secure.  Bennett and Nancy Whitlock joined the church by letter on August 12, 1854, and Ison, property of B. Kennedy, joined by experience.  Henry Ward joined by experience on August 15th.

Gilead’s report to the association for the year included: three by baptism; four by letter; five by dismission; two deceased; and membership 111.

On October 7, 1854, the church received by letter Martha Fowler and dismissed by letters Caroline Gossett, Pinckney Gossett, Henry Ward and wife, Vatina Ward and Thomas Scott.

William Lee preached to the Gilead congregation on February 10, 1855, and W. S. Howell requested letters for himself and wife, which were granted.

Delegates from the church to the associational meeting in 1855, were B. Whitlock and John Gaston Carter.   For a number of years the 2nd Sunday was the day of worship at Gilead.  The church letter to the association reported: received by letter one; dismissed  by letter two; total membership 110.

 Gilead’s Twelfth Pastor

 Bryant Bonner served as pastor of Gilead in 1856 and continued in this capacity through 1859.  John R. Logan wrote: “Elder Bryant Bonner  was a native of Spartanburg county, S. C., born February 4th, 1817.  Intermarried with Miss Hannah Foster, April 7th, 1836, in the 19th year of his age, and settled in his native county.” The Reverend James Webb baptized him into the fellowship of Buck Creek Baptist Church in 1842.  “In 1848 He made his first appearance in the Broad River Association at the session held at Buffalo church; and was then a lay delegate, and continued to represent the Buck Creek church for several sessions.

 In 1855 he was ordained to the Gospel ministry, and preached acceptably to several churches within the bounds of the Broad River and King’s Mountain Associations.  At  the session of the Broad River in 1872 he was chosen Moderator and presided with dignity over the deliberations of the body. 

 He was above the ordinary size of men in weight and stature, inclining somewhat to corpulency; was near-sighted, and consequently always wore spectacles, but had a genial and pleasant face.  He was in the early part of his ministerial career quite lively and humorous and a great mimic.” 

 His granddaughter, Irene Snead, wrote: “One of Bro. Bonner’s brothers-in-law felt that he was wasting his talents in the ministry.  The brother-in-law made him a proposition, ‘If you’ll quit this preaching business, I will give you a load of corn every year.’  Bro. Bonner answered, ‘Thanks, I’ll raise my own corn and preach the Gospel.’”      

In Bonner’s obituary, published in the Baptist Courier, W. L. Brown wrote: “At the time of his death he was serving the Limestone Church in Gaffney.  Elder Bonner died in great pain, but triumphant in the Lord Jesus Christ, exclaiming in his own peculiar  way—‘It’s a powerful thing to go to Heaven in a storm.’”

Bryant Bonner and John G. Landrum were closest of friends and had made a mutual promise to visit each other at least once a year, while life should last.  This promise was kept faithfully until Bonner received the summons to “come up higher” on April 7, 1879, in the 62nd year of his age.  He was soon to be followed by him he had loved so much for Landrum died January 19, 1882.

The Reverend John G. Landrum conducted his funeral services at the Grassy Pond Baptist Church.  At the funeral, Landrum said, “I had expected brother Bonner to preach my funeral.” At his request Bonner was buried in the flower garden of his home. Later, Landrum said, “He was a large man, with a large heart, large desires, large affections and a large soul.” 

 Church Activities

 There are no extant minutes of the Broad River Baptist Association in 1856 and no church minutes.

R. Palmer and David James were delegates to the association from Gilead in 1857.  The letter to the association reported: two members received by baptism; one by letter; one deceased; 108 members.

Gilead’s delegates to the 1858 meeting of Broad River association were: David James, Reubin Coleman and W. T. Bryant.  Minutes from this meeting record the following statistics: baptized three; received by letter two; restored one; dismissed by letter two; excluded two; 110 members.

A resolution was passed at this meeting that read: “That our next association be held with Gilead church, ten miles north of Union Court House, and three miles southwest of Grindal Shoals on Pacolet River (near the railroad).” 

 On September 3, 1859, Sarah Jones Meng, widow of William Meng, “for and in consideration of the good will I have toward Gilead church, have this day given, granted and conveyed one acre of land unto F. W. Eison in trust for the use and convenience of said church”.  This was probably the land on which the log school building was constructed.  The deed was witnessed by: Franklin W. Coleman and John Edmund Hames.

Sarah Jones Meng was a daughter of Charles and Rebecca Floyd Jones, and Frederick W. Eison’s first wife, Caroline, was her sister.  Franklin W. Coleman was a son of Reubin and Letitia Faucett Coleman, and John Edmund Hames was a son of Edmund and Nancy Jones Hames (daughter of John and Eustacia Floyd Jones).

The Broad River Baptist Association met with the Gilead church on October 14, 1859, and days following.  Members were responsible for housing and feeding the delegates who lived too far to return to their homes each day.   Delegates from Gilead were: Ellis Palmer; D. Moseley; and Terry Kirby.  Report to the association from the church read: one received by letter; one dismissed; two deceased; 108 members.

 Gilead’s Thirteenth Pastor

Philip Ramsour Elam served as pastor of the Gilead church in 1860, and in 1861, joined the Confederate army with several members of the church.

Logan wrote: “Elder Philip Ramsour Elam was born in Rutherford county (now Cleveland), N. C., March 12th, 1833; converted and joined the church in 1848, in the 15th year of his age.  Licensed to preach by the new Bethel church, September 15th, 1854, and was chosen a delegate to represent said church in the sessions of the King’s Mountain Association in 1855-1860.  Elder Elam was a hard-working tiller of the soil, and did a great deal of pastoral, missionary and Sunday School work.  His opportunities for acquiring an education were very limited, but with a close application to Bible study and other good books as helpers, he became an acceptable preacher and successful pastor.

He volunteered in South Carolina, and was with Col. Anderson’s surrender of Fort Sumter.  He afterwards volunteered in Col. Conley’s 55th N. C. Regiment, and in the engagement at Gettysburg was wounded and captured by the enemy and was imprisoned nine months at Johnson’s Island, Ohio.  He was a Lieutenant of his company, and was wounded in front of Petersburg, Va., August 5th, 1864, after  which  he returned home and represented his church in the sessions of the Association in 1866-1867, and in 1868 was pastor of the Bethlehem church.  He married Mrs. Mary J. Crawford, nee Miss M. J. Barber.  At the session of 1866, he preached the introductory sermon before the body with much acceptance.”

 Church Activities

 Gilead chose Terry Kirby and David James as their delegates to the 1860 meeting of Broad River association.  The church letter read: baptized two; received by letter one; dismissed by letter two; 111 members.

 Gilead’s Fourteenth Pastor

 William Lee, who had first preached at Gilead in 1855, served as pastor of the church in 1861 and 1862.  J. D. Bailey, who wrote a History of the Bethesda Baptist Church, tells us that William Lee was the brother of the Reverend J. K. Lee.  Both men were ordained to the Gospel ministry by the Bethesda Baptist Church.  Bailey wrote: “When on a visit to his old home, the writer heard him preach once.  He was more robust in his physique, had a stronger voice, and appeared to be a much better preacher than his brother.”   William Lee moved to North Carolina where most of his ministerial career was spent.

 Church ActivitiesThe Sixty-First Anniversary of the Broad River Baptist Association was held with the Gilead Baptist Church on October18, 1861, and days following.   The introductory sermon was preached by Dr. William Curtis from Romans 6:3-4.  “A number of the Churches were not represented at this time on account of the previous unfavorable state of the weather.”  M. C. Barnett preached the missionary sermon.

 The following resolutions were adopted: “Resolved, That the thanks of this Association be tendered to the brethren and friends of this community, for their kindness in the entertainment of this body during their stay with them.” 

 “Whereas, since the last meeting of our body, the Southern states have withdrawn from the Federal government of the United States, and formed a new Government, styled the Southern Confederacy, we as a religious body enjoying the benefit and protection thereof, feel it our privilege and duty to express our sentiments with regard to this momentous event.

 Therefore be it resolved, That we do fully acquiesce and heartily concur in the action of the Southern States, and extend to our rulers and soldiers and officers of the army, our best wishes for their success, accompanied with our earnest appeal at a throne of Grace for their guidance and protection, commending at the same time our country to the Almighty God, that He may direct all things for the advancement of His kingdom and glory of His name.”  The Circular Letter included a historical discourse on the history of the association.  After singing and prayer by Drury Scruggs the association adjourned.

J. H. Coleman, Christopher Coleman and W. Vaughan were Gilead’s delegates to this meeting.  Report to the association indicated that the church had: eleven baptisms; two received by letter; three dismissed by letter; 123 members.

Thomas Fowler, a Confederate soldier and member of the Pea Ridge Co., S. C. V., was killed at Manassas in 1861.

George McCafferty and M. S. Kendrick (Co. F), Confederate soldiers in the 15th Reg.  both died in 1862.  Kendrick died in Richmond.

Tom Long, a Confederate soldier in the Pea Ridge Co., died in Centreville in 1862.

Charles Lipscomb Coleman (son of Reubin Coleman), a Confederate soldier in Co. B, 18th Reg., died in 1862.

While Lee was pastor, the two Hames’ brothers, Capt. John E. Hames and Sgt. Charles Asbury Hames, and Henry M. Foster, were killed in the Battle of Second Manassas, August 30, 1862.  They were members of Co. B., 18th Reg.  Lieutenant N. B. Eison traveled to Virginia on a train and had the bodies of his wife’s brothers and Henry M. Foster disinterred and brought them back to Gilead for reburial.  He also brought the body of Col. James Gadberry to Union, S. C.

The Hames brothers’ father, Lemuel, also fought in the Confederate army.  He received a government pardon dated September 27, 1865, signed by President Andrew Johnson.

Edmund Hames, his wife, Nancy Jones Hames, and their children belonged to the Gilead church.

There are no extant associational minutes for the year 1862 and no church minutes.

The Reverend William Lee was an effective evangelist during his tenure with the church.

 Gilead’s Fifteenth Pastor

 Micajah Cicero Barnett was pastor of the church in 1863 and continued in this capacity through 1866.  He was ordained to the gospel ministry by the Cedar Spring Baptist Church in Spartanburg County, S. C., on December 24, 1842.   Drury Scruggs, Simpson Drummond, John G. Landrum, Felix W. Littlejohn and Elias Rogers constituted the presbytery.  Examination was by Felix Littlejohn and the ordination prayer was by Elias Rogers.  John G. Landrum, moderator of the presbytery, delivered the charge to the candidate.

 He married Nazareth Lipscomb, daughter of Edward Lipscomb, deacon of Goucher Creek Church.  He was pastor of the following churches: Cedar Spring, Philadelphia, Sulphur Springs, Gilead, Limestone, Pacolet, Shelby, Bethel at Woodruff, S. C., and at the time of his death was a member of El Bethel Baptist Church where he had been preaching for three years.  He was moderator of the Broad River Baptist Association from 1860 through 1867 and wrote a History of the Broad River Baptist Association, which was published in 1871.

H. P. Griffith in his Life of Rev. John G. Landrum stated: “He was no revivalist, no exhorter, and hardly ever attempted to take the lead in a protracted meeting.  He preached the gospel truth as he understood it in the most pointed and eloquent language the he could command, and then took his seat, having said more in thirty minutes than most men say in an hour.  When once speaking of the prayer of a certain woman, which was answered by our Savior, he said: ‘she laid hold of the key that unlocks heaven and moved the mind that moves all things.’  Barnett died early, when at the zenith of his power and usefulness, and the churches mourned for him as for ‘a prince and a great man in Israel’.”  

M. C. Barnett, nephew of Joroyal Barnett, was born May 20, 1818, and departed this life September 20, 1872, at Shelby, N. C.  John G. Landrum delivered his funeral discourse to a large and sympathizing congregation.  He was buried in the El Bethel Baptist Church cemetery with Masonic honors.  Nazareth Barnett was born September 4, 1819, and died December 27, 1889.  She was buried at Bethel cemetery in Woodruff, S. C., where she had moved after the death of her husband.  She lived with her daughter, Martha S. Barnett Ezell, wife of the Reverend Landrum C. Ezell.

 Church Activities

Gilead’s associational delegates in 1863 were: David James, Christopher Coleman and W. Vaughan.  Their Church Letter read: baptized three; deceased four; and 112 members.

Corporal Zachariah Reeves, Jr. was seriously wounded in the leg at the Battle of Gettysburg, Pa. on July 3, 1863.  He married Sarah Moseley, daughter of John B. and Annie  ?  Moseley and granddaughter of James (High Key) Moseley.  He was the great grandfather of Elizabeth Reeves Ivey and of present member, John Carroll Morris.

Vandyne  S. Carter, was killed at the Battle of Campbell’s Station in Tennessee  on November 18, 1863, and was buried in Tennessee.

The summary chart of the 1864 Broad River minutes is missing and the church records for this period are also missing.

D. P. Boulware was a Confederate soldier in Co. B, 17th Reg. and was killed in 1864.  John Long, Confederate soldier, was killed at the Battle of Riddle’s Shop in Virginia in 1864.

W. Vaughan and David James were elected to serve as delegates to the association from Gilead in 1865.  The report from the church was given as follows: three baptized; four received by letter; one restored; two excluded; and 116 members.

William Long was a Confederate soldier in McKissick’s Rangers and died in 1865.

The following is an additional list of Confederate soldiers who were either killed or died of disease in the War Between the States.  They were members of Gilead or had family connections in the church:  John Fowler, William Griffin, Berry Bearden, James H. Fowler and Thomas S. Burgess.  Sergeant Burgess was a member of Co. F, S. C. V. Artillery.

Over eighty veterans of the War Between the States were buried in the Gilead Baptist Church cemetery in marked and unmarked graves.

The Southern States had withdrawn from the union in accordance with what they believed to be their constitutional rights.  They were not rebels, rebelling against constituted rights, but patriots demanding and defending those rights.

The battles of the Confederacy were fought not only on the battlefield, they were also fought by the women of the homes through heroic efforts to provide for their families, and through sublime self-sacrifice for the sake of our soldiers.  They did not fight, but at home they labored earnestly, endured hardships and prayed fervently for the soldiers’ safe return.

After the cruel war was over the men came home, some on horseback, and many on foot all the way from Virginia.  And the pastors provided comfort to those, whose loved ones had been lost in the battles, and encouragement for those who returned with emotional scars and physical wounds.  The Heavenly Father sent M. C. Barnett to the Gilead church for such a time as this.

”And to those who bore the storm and stress and tragedy of those dark days, it is good to remember that the sun which set in blood and ashes over the hills of Appomattox has risen again in splendor on the smiling prospects of a New South.  Its because the foundation of its success was laid in the courage, steadfastness and hopefulness of a generation who in the darkest days of disaster did not despair of their country.”

Family of Robert Coleman Sr.

 BY ROBERT A. IVEY

 Robert was the son of William and Faith Godfrey Coleman and was born in Amelia County, Virginia, in 1710.  He had five brothers and one sister.

His first wife was Susanne Phillips.  Susanne was a member of the Huguenot Colony, Manakin of Virginia.  They had two children, Lucy and Frances, both born in Amelia County, Virginia, in the 1730s.  Susanne was deceased by 1739.

Robert was married a second time in 1740, to Ann Hinton, daughter of Christopher and Margaret Jones Hinton.  They first lived in Amelia County, Virginia.

William Coleman Sr., Robert’s father, died in Amelia County in 1743, and Robert was made executor of his will.  His father left him two hundred acres of land on the upper side of Wintocomake Creek.

Robert moved his family to Lunenburg County, Virginia, in 1754.  His daughter Lucy, married Thomas Draper while they lived in this county.

He moved his family from Virginia to within twelve miles of what later became Unionville, S. C., circa 1765. His land was just off Mill Creek, a tributary that flows into the Pacolet River.  This creek was first called Clark’s Mill Creek in honor of John Clark, Sr., father of General Elijah Clark.

A traditional story states that Robert Coleman, Sr. had intended to move his family to Charleston, S. C., but Christopher’s wagon broke down while crossing Mill Creek, and they decided to settle right there.

He and some of his family members received North Carolina land grants in 1766 and 1767.  Robert had six hundred acres surveyed on both sides of Mill Creek on January 1, 1766. Zachariah Bullock surveyed the land.  He received a grant for this land from Mecklenburg County, N. C., on April 29, 1768.

When boundary lines were changed in 1772, the grant became part of Ninety Six District, and in 1785, a part of Union District.

Robert Coleman Sr. first served as a Patriot soldier under Col. Thomas Brandon at the beginning of the Revolutionary War.  He deserted to the British and was named an outlaw in the proclamation of December 16, 1779.

He fought with the South Carolina Royalists and was an ensign on half pay at Savannah, Georgia, in 1780.  By the time the British evacuated Fort Ninety Six, Robert, his wife, and most of his children had refugeed to Charleston, S. C.  He died in Charleston in 1781.

Ann Hinton Coleman was issued a coffin for her stepdaughter on December 15, 1781, and for her husband on December 17, 1781.  The coffin for the stepdaughter was for Frances, wife of Zacharias Gibbs, who died of small pox along with a son and 23 slaves.  It is possible that Robert Coleman Sr. also died of this disease.

In the settling of Robert Coleman, Sr.’s estate, administrative bond was signed by Thomas Draper and John Haile before John Thomas Jr., Ordinary, on August 15, 1783.  Administrators of the estate were Thomas and Lucy Coleman Draper.  Major Zachariah Bullock, John Tollison and Adam Potter made an inventory of his estate on December 20, 1783.  His lands were not confiscated.

 

 Children Of Robert Coleman Sr. And His Wife, Susanne Phillips

1. Lucy Coleman.  She was born before 1740, in Amelia County, Virginia, and by 1758, had married Thomas Draper, son of Thomas and Sarah ? Draper.  They were living in Lunenburg County, Virginia at the time of their marriage.  Thomas was born September 2, 1733, in Richmond County, Virginia.

She and her husband came with her father to South Carolina.  They had eleven children: James, Sarah, William, Anne, Thomas, Philip, Catherine, Daniel, Travis, William and Joshua.

Several events possibly indicate that Thomas and Lucy refugeed to Charleston, S. C.

(a). A Traditional family account relates, that their slaves were transported to Charleston by the British (probably by other refugeeing Loyalist members of the family who had already gone to Charleston).  The story states that Thomas went to Charleston to get his slaves.

(b). Lucy and her Husband became administrators of Robert Coleman Sr.’s estate after he died in Charleston in 1781, possibly because they were there with Robert when he died and had access to his will.

(c). One of the daughters of Frances Gibbs, Martha, was brought to her relatives (Lucy and Thomas) in Charleston.  Lucy and Thomas are the relatives who took Martha to their house in the upstate.

Lucy died before her husband after 1803, and Thomas died circa 1811.  In his will, Thomas Draper mentioned that his daughter, Catherine Burgess, wife of John, could keep Hannah and her children (already in her possession) if she paid into the estate the value of the slaves.

2. Frances Coleman.  She was born before 1740, in Amelia County, Virginia.  She married Zacharias Gibbs, son of John and Susanne Phillipe Gibbs, after the family had moved to what later became South Carolina.  Zacharias was born in Virginia circa 1741.

Gibbs was a true Loyalist during the Revolutionary War.  He moved with his family to South Carolina circa 1763, a little ahead of the Coleman’s.  According to the writings of Dr. Bobby Moss, he owned a large plantation about four miles from the residence of Alexander Chesney.

In 1775, he marched with his Loyalist friends against the Patriots.  He next served as a captain under Col. J. Robinson and was in the skirmish against Maj. Andrew Williamson on November 18, 1775.  The Loyalist captured a fort in this encounter.  He was captured in July of 1776, but quickly escaped.

He was later captured again and made a prisoner by Col. Thomas Brandon.  When he signed a document stating that he would be executed if he took up arms against the Patriots again, he was permitted to return to his house.

After the battle of Savannah, he assisted in recruiting and organizing the Spartan Militia.  On February 7, 1779, he fought with this unit and was captured in the battle of Kettle Creek.  He was marched from Augusta, Georgia, and imprisoned at Ninety Six, where he received a sentence of execution.

The gallows were erected for the hanging of Gibbs and others, and their graves were dug.  Each man was required to sign his own death warrant in April of 1779.  However, Gov. Rutledge ordered their removal from Ninety-Six for security reasons, and only five were actually hanged.

Charles Draper, a relative of Thomas Draper, and (according to Alfred Jones) Randolph Hames, were two of the five hanged.  Later accounts leave out Randolph Hames.

Later in the month Gibbs, with the other Loyalists, was released after signing an agreement that the sentence would be carried out if he took up arms against the Patriots again.  He went to Virginia where he stayed for about two months.

He was commissioned major at Camden on July 6, 1779, and returned to Ninety Six District to recruit for the Spartan Militia.  They joined their forces with Ferguson.  He was on his way to Ferguson with new recruits when he received word that Ferguson had been killed at Kings Mountain.

He returned to Lt. Col. John H. Cruger at Ninety Six and served under him until the fort was evacuated in July of 1781.  During this time he rose in rank and was made Lieutenant Colonel.  He was a refugee in Charles Town from July 20, 1781, until the evacuation.  He had sent his family and slaves to Charles Town by 1780, for his daughter, Susanne, tells of remembering the “second burning of Charles Town”.  This was a reference to the “Siege of Charles Town” when the British captured the city.

While in Charles Town, his wife, Frances, a son and 23 slaves died of small pox in 1781.  Frances’ stepmother, Ann Hinton Coleman, who was also living in Charles Town, S. C., applied for a coffin for her stepdaughter on December 15, 1781.

Zacharias married Jane Downes, widow of Major William Downes, after the death of his first wife.  One of Jane’s daughters married Robert Cooper, a planter from Georgetown, S. C.

Gibbs and his 2nd wife, after leaving Charles Town, S. C., first went to East Florida and then to Jamaica.  In September of 1785, Jane Downes Gibbs was living with her children at Springfield, in County Down, Ireland, and was supposed to join her husband soon in Nova Scotia, but according to a preserved document she was still living in Ireland in 1789.  She had seven children by her two husbands.

He had received a grant for 1000 acres in Rawdon, Nova Scotia, and had settled there in 1784, alongside fifty-five other South Carolina Loyalists.  Colonel Gibbs was very anxious about his separation from his wife and concerned about the welfare of his two little children by his first wife, Frances.

He unsuccessfully attempted to obtain his children.  On one occasion he requested that a Loyalist friend, who was making a visit to South Carolina, make an inquiry about the girls.  On his arrival there he was “maltreated and much abused” because of his war crimes.

He possibly went to the David and Mary Gibbs Cook family, who were keeping Susanne, for though this family had Loyalists’ connections they changed their allegiance and seemed to have nothing but contempt for Zacharias because of his loyalty to the king.  The James Gibbs family also shared these feelings.

Letters to South Carolina were also not effective in securing them.  A deposition taken in the 1850’s from Ann Withrow in Nova Scotia, stated that Zacharias talked a great deal about his first wife and the little girls, worried about them and expressed to Mrs. Withrow that he dreamed one night that he was talking to his first wife and how consoling it was to him.

Just before or after Frances Gibbs died of small pox in Charleston, S. C., in December of 1781, her daughters, Susanne and Martha, were sent to other relatives who were also living in the area.  Martha was sent to live with the Thomas and Lucy Draper family, and Susanne was sent to live with the David and Mary Cook family.

David Cook, who married Zacharias’ sister, was probably a son of James Cook.   He was first a Loyalist soldier and served sixty-six days after June 14, 1780, under Capt. James Gibbs, his brother-in-law, in the Spartan Militia.  He was in the battle of Kings Mountain.

He evacuated Fort Ninety Six in July 1781, and was with his family in Charleston, S. C., when Zacharias Gibbs wife, Frances, died.  In returning to the upstate, he had to sign an agreement that he would no longer bear arms against the Patriots.

Traditional family accounts state that James Gibbs was a Patriot when the war ended, but he is not listed in Dr. Moss’ Patriot Book.   He probably also signed an agreement with the Patriots.

When these families went back to their homes in the upstate, the girls were carried with them.  The Cooks lived in Spartanburg District and the Drapers lived in Union District.  After living with the Cooks for several years, Susanne left them and traveled about 14 miles on foot to the Thomas Drapers where she lived until after she married.

Susanne married Daniel Draper, son of Thomas and Lucy Draper, her first cousin in 1798.  She and her sister, Martha, were able to recover  450 acres of their father’s property in Spartanburg District on Kelso’s Creek and sold this land to David Cook and his son, John Cook, on November 16, 1799, for $300.00.

David and John Cook sold this land to Joseph Barnett on March 5, 1800, for $500.00.  This land was called “the meeting house tract”.  Sarah, wife of John Cook, relinquished her dower rights.

Martha moved to Smith County, Tennessee, with her sister and her husband, circa 1800.  She married Henry Huddleston circa 1802.

Zacharias died at sea with companions, William Meek and John Law, circa 1793.  He had sold his 1000 acres in Rawdon, Nova Scotia, and was hoping to be reunited with his wife in Ireland.

 

Children Of Robert Coleman And His Wife, Ann Hinton

1. Christopher Coleman.  He was born circa 1741, and was named for his maternal grandfather, Christopher Hinton.  He married Mary Marshall circa 1759, in Lunenburg County, Virginia.

He had 200 acres on Mill Creek of Pacolet River surveyed on December 15, 1766.  Zachariah Bullock was the Surveyor, and Randolph Hames and Abner Coleman were chain bearers.  He received a grant for this land from Mecklenburg County, N. C., on April 29, 1768.

On June 8, 1767, he had an additional 200 acres surveyed on Mill Creek.  Zachariah Bullock was the Surveyor, and Thomas Draper and Randolph Hames were the chain bearers.  He received a grant for this land from Mecklenburg County, N. C., on April 29, 1768.

This land became a part of Ninety Six District, S. C., in 1772, and a part of Union District in 1785.

The following were children of this couple: Robert, Prince, Stephen, Nancy, John, Hiram, Richard and possibly others.

He built a house on his property and from it operated a tavern before and during the Revolutionary War.   It was called Christie’s Tavern.  The article on Colemans in the Union County Heritage Book states: “It was said that he would turn no man away, even during the American Revolution. If the Tories were coming to rest and water their horses, the Whigs would scamper down a ramp built over the creek and hide in the woods.” 
This is what he wrote in his diary: “I took quarters at Mr. Coleman’s, a quarter of a Mile from Camp.  Mrs. Coleman is a very warm Tory.  She has two Sons in Col. Innes’s Corps (Prince and Stephen).  She has a family of small children and has been Mother of five in two Years. They have been greatly distressed by the rebels for their Loyalty.  The House stripped of all the Beds and other furniture, and the Children of all their Cloaths (clothes).”After James (Horseshoe) Robinson was captured at Grindal’s Ford, he was carried about three miles to Christie’s Tavern the next day.  Here he made his escape.  Dr. Uzal Johnson, noted Tory Physician, on September 5, 1780, spent the night there.

The Reverend J. D. Bailey in his, History of Grindal Shoals, states: “According to a lingering tradition, Mrs. Coleman went out one dark rainy night, and near the house, buried a quantity of gold in a pot, and she never did unearth it, or tell where the deposit was made.  It has been much hunted for.”  She probably recovered the gold when they returned from Charleston.    

The tavern stood until the lower to mid 1990’s.  The remains of the house and chimney can still be seen where it stood just off Park Farm Road.  The little branch that comes down the side and in front of where the old house stood is still called Coleman’s branch and flows into Mill Creek.   It is approximately one mile from highway 18, after turning onto Robinson’s Farm Road.

Ruins of Christies Tavern as they appeared in 2009 (Photos by Greg Foster.  Guide: Robert Ivey)

(1). Robert Coleman, son of Christopher, was born circa 1760.  He probably refugeed to Charleston, S C. with his parents, and returned after the death of his aunt, Frances.  After returning to the upstate he served with the Patriots under Col. Thomas Brandon during the latter part of the Revolutionary War.  He had no Loyalist record.He and his wife, refugeed to Charleston, S. C., and probably returned to their property in what is now Union County, S. C., after the death of his half sister, Frances Coleman Gibbs.Christopher served under Col. Brandon before deserting to the British.  He joined the British and was named an outlaw in the proclamation of December 16, 1779.  He served as a major with the South Carolina Royalists and was listed on half-pay at Savannah, Georgia, in 1780.

He married Elizabeth (Trecy) Smith, who was born circa 1765.  They had five boys and five girls.  Deed abstracts indicate that Robert Coleman received the original 600 acre tract from his grandfather, Robert Coleman Sr., “by decent as heir at law” (primogeniture).

He sold 300 acres of this land to his uncle, Abner Coleman, Sr., on July 29-30, 1786.  The 300 acres was all on the “north side of Clarks Mill Creek including Coleman’s old fields”.  The land was bounded by land belonging to Peter Coplin, William Hodge, Abner Coleman Sr., Thomas Draper and Robert Coleman.

Dio Cleason Robertson at age 12 was bonded through the Newberry County Court to Robert Coleman of Union County following the death of his father, John B. Robertson, in late 1816.

He was to remain with Robert Coleman until age 21 at which time he was to receive a horse, saddle, bridle and $21.00.  Robert Coleman died on June 18, 1823, and Dio Cleason (age 19) with two of his older sisters and two younger brothers moved to Sevier County, Tennessee.

Dio married Elizabeth Carr.  They named their last son, Robert Coleman Robertson.  Their son, Robert, became a Methodist Minister.

One source states that James Robertson, made famous when John Pendleton Kennedy of Virginia wrote a book about him entitled, Horseshoe Robinson, was Dio Cleason’s uncle and his father’s brother.

David Robertson and his wife, Frances Burchfield, first settled on Thicketty Creek in what is now Cherokee County, S. C., and were parents of James and John B. Robertson.

Robert Coleman died in 1823, and his wife, Elizabeth (Trecy), died July 15, 1838.  She and her husband were buried in the Gilead Baptist Church cemetery in unmarked graves near the marked graves of their son, Bartley Coleman, and his wife, Elizabeth Poole Coleman.

(2). Nancy, married William White Sr., son of Isaac and Mary White.  Their first child was named Coleman White.  William White owned property on Sandy Run Creek, which was very near the area of the Coleman’s.

William was a Loyalist soldier and served from June 14, 1780, under Lt. Samuel Young and Maj. Zacharias Gibbs in the Spartan Militia.  He was in the battle of Kings Mountain.

He last served under Col. Thomas Pearson in the Little River Militia.  He evacuated Fort Ninety Six with Lt. Col. John H. Cruger and was a refugee with his wife and two children in Charleston, S. C., during late 1781.

He received charitable donations as a refugee from Ninety Six District in Charleston during 1781, February 8, 1782, and August 10, 1782.  He and his family returned to their land in what is now Union County, S. C., after the death of Frances.

William White died January 23, 1819, in Union District, S. C.

*Isaac White was the great, great, great, great, great grandfather of the writer.  Samuel Smith, a Patriot soldier, married Sarah White, sister of the above William White.  The Whites and Smiths were from Pennsylvania.

(3). Prince Coleman first served as a Loyalist soldier under Col. Alexander Innes in 1780 according to Dr. Uzal Johnson’s diary.  He was mustered February 24, 1781, at Camden and October 24, 1781, (while in the General Hospital) under Capt. Alexander Campbell in the S. C. Royalists.

He was mustered April 24, 1782, at James Island under Capt. Charles Stewart Lindsay in the same unit.  On April 24, 1783, he was mustered at St. Augustine, Florida, under Capt. Alexander Campbell.  There is no record of Patriot service.

(4). Stephen Coleman served with the South Carolina Royalists as a sergeant under Captain Faight Risinger’s Company and was in Savannah, Georgia, on December 1, 1779.  According to Dr. Uzal Johnson’s diary, he was serving with Col. Alexander Innes in 1780.  There is no record of Patriot service.

(5). John Coleman probably refugeed to Charleston with his parents and returned after the death of his aunt, Frances.  He served thirty-four days in the militia during the latter part of the Revolutionary War as a Patriot soldier.

John Coleman sold a part of Christopher Coleman’s land to Patsy (Patty) Coleman, daughter of William Coleman, Sr. on December 15, 1809.  Betty, John’s wife, relinquished her dower rights.  He moved his family to Davies Co., Indiana, in 1811.

He married Mary Hart on June 18, 1825, and died in Indiana within six months after his second marriage.  He and his first wife had four sons and five daughters.

(6). Hiram Coleman probably refugeed to Charleston.  He was not old enough to participate in the War for Independence.

He is found several times witnessing land transactions with his friend, Charles Jones.  He witnessed two land transactions of Nathaniel Gist in 1818, and he and Nathaniel Gist witnessed a deed made by William Harvey to John Jones, brother of Charles, in 1819.

Hiram purchased 150 acres on waters of Rocky Creek from Daniel A. Mitchell, Sheriff, on May 29, 1820.  The property was known as the Jesse Liles’ old plantation.

John and Herod Gibson borrowed $157.00 from Hiram in 1821 and mortgaged their land, cattle and household goods to him.  Charles Jones witnessed the transaction.

He witnessed a land transaction between Nathaniel Gist and William T. Kirby on October 7, 1822, in Spartanburg County, S. C.

On August 5, 1823, Hiram Coleman purchased a tract of 200 acres on waters of Pacolet River from Daniel A. Mitchell, Sheriff.

Hiram and his nephew, Bartley Coleman, witnessed a deed conveyed by John Coleman, son of Robert and grandson of Christopher, to his mother, Trecy Coleman, on January 11, 1825.   Isabel Coleman, John’s wife, relinquished her dower rights.

Hiram sold 150 acres to Henry Gault on January 10, 1825.  The land was adjacent to “Ison’s old place”.  He probably lived near the Nathaniel Gist’s and the Charles Jones’ families.

Charles Jones taught in a school erected on the grounds of the Gilead Baptist Church and was also a postmaster before he moved to the state of Tennessee.  Nathaniel Gist was the father of General States Rights Gist who was killed in the War Between the States.

At the time of the writing of this sketch, the homes of Nathaniel Gist and Charles Jones were still standing.

Christopher died in 1784 and the administrative papers state that he lived in Ninety Six District.  William White, his son-in-law, was administrator of his estate.  Signers of the administrative bond were: William White, Abner Coleman and William Coleman.  It was signed before John Thomas, Ordinary.

An Inventory of his property was made on December 8, 1784, by Adam Potter, Thomas Draper and Charles Hames.  A sale was held on December 28, 1784, and buyers were John White, William Coleman Jr., Isaac Samson and Thomas Palmer.

On September 6, 1788, William White sold three slaves: woman, Pheby, and her increase; Dick (about 15 years of age); and Ned (about 13 years of age) to Thomas Stribling Jr. for 200 pounds sterling.  Claybon Stribling witnessed the transaction.  They had been the property of Christopher Coleman and were recovered by Thomas Stribling, Jr.

(7) Richard Coleman, possibly refugeed with his family, to Charleston, S. C.  He was not old enough to participate in the Revolutionary War and was listed in the 1800 and 1810 U. S. Censuses with a wife and several children.

In the 1800 census, there was a female 45 and up living with his family, who may have been his mother, Mary Marshall Coleman.  It appears that he and his family left South Carolina before 1820.

2. Philip Coleman.   He fought with his neighbor, Capt. John Nuckolls, in the war against the Cherokee Indians on February 9, 1771.  He was a sergeant.  Fighting with him in this skirmish was his brother, William. He witnessed a deed transaction between Joab Mitchell and Thomas Draper on May 2, 1776, before his brother, Christopher Coleman, Justice of the Peace.

He served under Col. Thomas Brandon with the Patriots before deserting to the British.  He was probably at the battle of Kettle Creek for he was accused of sedition and held in the Ninety Six jail.  From here he was taken to Orangeburg, S. C., for trial in 1779.

He served as a Loyalist under Col. Daniel Plummer in the Fairforest Militia.  He was under Ferguson from June 14 to October 1780 and was in the battle of Kings Mountain.  He probably refugeed to Charleston, S. C., and returned to his house in the upstate after the death of his sister, Frances.

He died in 1785, and John Haile, Adam Potter, and his brother, William Coleman, signed the administrative bond before John Thomas, Jr., Ordinary.  On August 4, 1785, his Negro slave, a boy named Sam, was appraised in Union County, S. C., by Adam Potter, Samuel Littlejohn, and Lawrence Easterwood.

3. Abner Coleman, Sr. was born circa 1755.  He was a Loyalist soldier and served from June 14, 1780, under Capt. Shadrack Lantrey and Maj. Daniel Plummer in the Fair Forest Militia.  He was in the battle of Kings Mountain.

Abner evacuated Fort Ninety Six with Lt. Col. John H. Cruger.  He probably refugeed to Charleston, S. C., and returned to his house in the Upstate after the death of his sister, Frances.

Prior to April 13, 1782, he deserted to the Patriots.  His Loyalist’s pay was issued to Mrs. Elizabeth Nixon, for her son, Thomas Nixon, who served in the same regiment.

Abner Coleman and his wife, Susannah (Ann), and his brother, William Coleman, sold land to Nathaniel Gordan in 1788.  No records now exist indicating how the brothers received this land.  It was probably though their father’s will, but the copy of this will has been lost.

Abner Coleman Sr. gave 90 acres of land to his son Hezekiah, on the north side of Mill Creek on September 13, 1811.  The deed transaction mentions their son, Abner, Jr.

Hezekiah sold his land to Philip Coleman, son of William, on December 26, 1811.  His cousin, Richard, witnessed the transaction.  Hezekiah’s wife, Elizabeth Belue, relinquished her right of dower.  They moved their family to Gwinnett County, Georgia.

Abner Coleman Sr. sold 90 acres to Thomas Little on December 25, 1816.  The land was on the north side of Mill Creek and was part of a tract granted to Robert Coleman (Sr.).

He moved his wife and the remainder of his family to Georgia before 1820, to be near his son and died there in 1825.

4. Mary (Margaret) Coleman.  She married William Meeks, son of John and Elizabeth Mitchell Meeks.  He was born in Ireland in 1750.  His father died in Ireland in 1765, and his mother, Elizabeth, brought her six children to this country circa 1768.

Elizabeth and her son, John, settled in Ninety Six District, later (Laurens District) and William settled in Ninety Six District (later Union District).

William was a Loyalist soldier and was with Cunningham in the 1775 encounter at Ninety Six.  He kept himself in concealment until Campbell arrived in Georgia.  He attempted to join Campbell but was captured.

After giving security for his good behavior, and because of his youth, he was allowed to go back to his family.  He remained there until Charleston fell to the British.  Once again he joined Campbell and served in the militia until the evacuation of Charleston.

He served as a wagon master and was in that capacity under Lt. Col. John H. Cruger at the siege of Fort Ninety Six.  William Meek and Mary, his wife, refugeed to Charleston, S. C.

From there they moved to Rawdon, Nova Scotia.  His land was confiscated, and he lost two hundred fifty acres.    They left behind two sons and a daughter who became Patriots.  The children were probably left with William’s mother, Elizabeth, who lived with her son, John.  John was a Patriot soldier and fought under General Francis Marion.

Col. Thomas Pearson testified that he saw the will of Robert Coleman, Sr. and that he had left his daughter, Mary, 150 acres and two slaves.  William received a grant for 500 acres in Nova Scotia but sold 250 acres in October of 1792.

William’s brother, Samuel, was also a Loyalist, and he and his wife, Leslie, also refugeed to Nova Scotia.  They had nine sons.

William wrote to his brother, Samuel, and told him that he, Zacharias Gibbs and John Law were sailing to England.  They intended to go on to Ireland.   The ship left port at Halifax in 1792 or 1793, and was lost at sea.

Mary Coleman Meek, wife of William, lived on in Rawdon and died there circa 1824.

5.  Faithful Coleman.  She married Randolph Hames, son of William and Winifred Fann Hames.  He was born January 22, 1743.  He served as a Patriot soldier under Col. Thomas Brandon before deserting to the British.

He was named in the proclamation of December 16, 1779, as an outlaw.  E. Alfred Jones, of London, England, states that he was executed at Ninety-Six for his Loyalist activities.  This would mean that he fought in the battle of Kettle’s Creek and was captured with his brother-in-law, Zacharias Gibbs, and others after that battle.

He and his wife had three children: John, Winifred (Susannah) and Nancy.

John married Sarah Liles, daughter of Jesse and Susan Belue Liles.   He was born October 31, 1767, and died March 1, 1844.  Sarah was born October 28, 1768, and died October 24, 1845.  Their only child, Susannah, married John Eison, Esq. on July 20, 1813.

John Eison died circa 1826.  He had two sons by his second wife, Susannah Hames: John and William.

Winifred married Green Burrough.  On July 15, 1805, Green Burrough sold John Coleman, son of Christopher, 99 acres of land, which he had purchased from John Gibson.  This land was adjacent to lands owned by the Hailes, Pooles, Hames and Robert Coleman.

Faithful (Faithey) Coleman Hames died in 1801, in Union County, S. C.  She left her son, John, a Negro girl now in his possession and half the value of negro Jude.  She left her son-in-law, Green Burrough, half the value of Jude.

To her daughter, Winifred, she left a Negro girl, Edy, now in her possession.   Her daughter, Nancy, received five Negro children.  John and Nancy were executors of her estate.

Family members still live on the original grant of land that Randolph Hames received.

6. William Coleman.  He and his wife, Mary Randolph Coleman,  refugeed to Charleston, S. C., probably traveling with his mother and father.  He was recommended on August 1780, by the commandant of Charles Town to be restored to  the privileges of a British subject.

He signed an oath to the King on August 28, 1780.  He possibly fought with the Patriots with his father and brothers, Philip and Christopher, but is not listed in Dr. Moss’s book.  He may not have joined with the Loyalists until they moved to Charleston.

After the death of his sister, Frances, and his return to the upstate, he served as a Patriot soldier under Col. Thomas Brandon.  William Sr. may have been married twice and his son, William Coleman Jr., was possibly a child by a first wife.  This son also fought under Col. Brandon.

William and his wife, Mary, sold 197 acres of land to Nicholas Harris on June 21-22, 1787.  In 1800, he owned 17 slaves.

On November 2, 1801, William Coleman gave eleven slaves to his son, Philip Coleman: Morgin, York, Dick, Moses, Mark, Ned, Wiley, Fillis, Anica, Peg and Hager.  He also gave him some cattle, sheep, hogs, and household furniture.  William White and Robert Gibson witnessed the transaction.

Philip Coleman, son of William, and his brother, Robert, were business partners in 1809 and 1810, and made loans to some of the farmers in their neighborhood.

William Coleman died in 1808.  On January 16, 1811, part of his children purchased 121 acres from Robert Coleman, their brother.  It was part of a tract of land on which he lived.

The children were listed as: Patsy Coleman, Philip Coleman, Elizabeth Coleman, John Guyton (husband of Mary Coleman), Thomas Lantrip (husband of Rebecca Coleman), Ann Thompson, Francis Coleman and Charlotte Coleman.

Apparently, William Jr. had already moved out of the bounds of the state of South Carolina at this time.  Abner Coleman, as a Loyalist, served under Capt. Shadrack Lantrip, father of the above Thomas Lantrip.

Philip Coleman purchased an additional 211 acres from his brother, Robert, on January 21, 1811, for $470.00.  Robert recorded in the deed that it was the “plantation where I now live”.

Philip Coleman sold 90 acres to Thomas Little on April 19, 1816, on waters of Mill Creek and stated that it was part of a tract granted to Robert Coleman.  Martha C. Coleman, wife of Philip, relinquished her dower rights to the above property before William Henderson, one of the Justices of the Quorum, on May 8, 1817.  He had purchased the property from Hezekiah Coleman, son of Abner Coleman Sr.

Philip sold 120 acres on November 24, 1817, to Robert Coleman, his brother.  Martha, wife of Philip, relinquished her dower rights.  The deed stated that the land had been granted to Robert Coleman Sr.

Robert Coleman, son of William, was born circa 1784.  He was first married to Judith Saxon Guyton, daughter of Moses and Tabitha Saxon Guyton, circa 1810.  One genealogical source states that Judith was first married to John Herron.  The writer has no confirmation of this union.  They had four children: two sons and two daughters.

He sold 118 ½ acres of land to Charles Petty for $150.00 on February 2, 1819.  This was land he had received from the will of his wife’s father.  It was bounded by property owned by John Amos, Amos Austell and William Bostick.  The transaction was witnessed by Michael Gaffney and Drury Wood.

He and his wife operated Coleman’s Tavern in what is now the Goucher Creek community.  Robert Mills shows its location on his map of Spartanburg County, S. C. in 1820.

He married Polly Benton in Bibb County, Georgia, on October 9, 1827, and died in Forsyth County, Georgia, circa 1840.  They had a son, Robert Coleman, born in Indian Springs, Georgia, circa 1834.

Most of William’s children appear to have left the state before 1820 or shortly after this.  His daughter, Frances, was listed in the 1830 U. S. Census of Union County, S. C.

*A Robert Coleman is on some lists of the children of Robert and Ann Hinton Coleman.  There are no court, census or military records of this Robert Coleman in South Carolina.   Perhaps a mistake was made because Robert Coleman, the elder, was sometimes referred to as Robert Coleman Sr. and Robert Coleman, son of Christopher, was referred to as Robert Coleman Jr.

 

ADDENDA

In the addenda, the writer is seeking to project some possible reasons for the drastic actions taken by the Coleman family.

It appears to this writer that there were three traumatic events that affected the conduct of this family.

1. The execution of a son-in-law, Randolph Hames, by the Patriots.  The writer has chosen to accept Alfred Jones statement that the brother-in-law of Zacharias Gibbs was one of the five executed at Ninety-Six following the Battle of Kettle Creek.  He was a British writer and had access to British records of Revolutionary War events.  It is true that later articles leave Randolph Hames off the list of five.  Whether the execution took place at this time or not, it still appears that this is what happened to Hames.

Gen. Andrew Pickens, who married Rebecca Calhoun, was involved in numerous Revolutionary War battles, and wrote that Kettle Creek was the “severest chastisement” for the Loyalists in South Carolina and Georgia.

Robert Coleman Sr., and his sons, Christopher and Philip Coleman, first fought with the Patriots commanded by Col. Thomas Brandon.

Randolph Hames, son-in-law of Robert Coleman, first fought with the Patriots.  Robert’s son-in-laws, Zacharias Gibbs and William Meek fought only with the Loyalists.

Abner fought at first with the Loyalists because he was not old enough to engage in the conflict when his family was fighting with Col. Brandon.

Anger over the death of Randolph Hames must have been the catalyst that turned the Coleman’s from loyalty to the cause of freedom to allegiance to the crown.

2. Fighting with the Loyalists and fleeing for their lives.  The Loyalists were defeated at Fort Ninety Six, and many of the Coleman family refugeed to Charleston.

Records indicate that Robert Coleman Sr. and his wife, Ann; his son-in-law, Zacharias Gibbs and his wife, Frances; his son, William and his wife, Mary; Thomas Draper and his wife, Lucy; Christopher and his wife, Mary Marshall; and William Meek and his wife, Mary, were in Charleston at varied times.

Philip and Abner were probably there.  Children of the above families were also possibly with their families.   Faithful Coleman may have remained in the upstate for her husband, Randolph Hames, had already been killed.

3. The death of Frances Coleman Gibbs.  Frances, her son and numerous slaves died with small pox.   It is possible that Robert Coleman Sr. also died with this disease.  Dr. Bobby Moss told the writer that the colonists feared small pox more than they feared the muzzle of a gun.

It is apparent that after the death of Frances, the Coleman family began to quickly move back to the upstate.   William Coleman Sr. and his son, William Jr.; Abner Coleman; and Robert Coleman and John, sons of Christopher; all joined with the Patriots and fought with them after they moved back from Charleston.

The others: Christopher, Philip and William White, son-in-law of Christopher Coleman, and Thomas Draper, son-in-law of Robert Coleman Sr., had to sign statements before a Justice of the Peace that they would never bear arms against the Patriots again.  William Meek and Zacharias Gibbs fled from Charleston and eventually settled in Nova Scotia.

William Meek’s children probably remained with his mother in Laurens S. C., and Zacharias Gibbs girls: Susanne and Martha, moved to the upstate from Charleston and lived with the David Cook and Thomas Draper families.

The death of Frances also affected the Gibbs family.  David Cook, who married Mary Gibbs, and Mary’s brother, James, came back to the upstate and signed agreements not to fight against the Patriots.

Thus all but Zacharias Gibbs and William Meek had associated themselves with the Patriots’ cause before the Revolutionary War was over.   Only Gibbs and Meek had their properties confiscated.  Robert Coleman Sr.’s property was spared because of the will he made in Charleston.  All of his will’s recipients, except Mary Coleman Meek, had joined in the cause for freedom by the war’s end.

 

Gilead Baptist Church And The Colemans

Robert Coleman, son of Christopher, helped to establish the Gilead Baptist Church in 1804 and served as its first clerk.  The church was regarded as a part of the Grindal Shoals community at this time and was on the Grindal Shoals road.

It was early referred to as Coleman’s Meeting House because the Colemans were the prime contributors to the construction of a place for worship.  Robert Coleman helped members of the Coleman family and his neighbors’ children.

Robert Coleman was a delegate from Gilead when the church joined the Bethel Association in 1805.  He was a delegate to several associational meetings.

The church was dissolved in 1817, and re-established the latter part of that year.  Robert Coleman was clerk of the special meeting that recommended its continuance.  He was also elected as one of the church’s first trustees.

He was still church clerk when he died on June 18, 1823.   His funeral services were conducted at the Gilead church.  The Reverends Elias Mitchell and Hezekiah McDougal, co-pastors from 1823-1825, were probably the participating ministers.

John (son of Christopher) and his first wife, Betty, were members of Gilead Baptist Church when it was constituted.  He was elected delegate to several associational meetings.

Abner Coleman (son of Robert Coleman) and his wife, Susannah, were constitutional members of the Gilead Baptist Church, and he served as one of its first deacons.

John Hames (son of Randolph) and his wife, Sarah Liles, were constitutional members of the Gilead Baptist Church.  John served as first treasurer of the church and as one of its first trustees.  He was a delegate to several associational meetings.

John’s only child, Susannah Hames Eison, was also an early member.

Both of her sons, John Hames Eison and Fredrick William Eison, were early members of the Gilead church.  Fredrick W. first married Caroline Jones, daughter of Charles and Rebecca Floyd Jones, and John H. married Eliza H. Jones, daughter of John and Eustacia Floyd Jones.  The Jones families were also members of Gilead.

Ed Aycock, great grandson of F. W., furnished the following information about his great grandfather:

“F. W. Eison rode into the wagon yard of a group of Confederate soldiers encamped near the Grindal Shoals Presbyterian Church on Saturday morning, April 29, 1865, mounted on his ‘fine horse’.”

Major Job Morgan wrote a letter to N. B. Eison on February 7, 1913, in which he wrote: “I was sitting on a log writing a Confederate voucher for him (F. W. Eison).

Suddenly a man rode up to the citizen (F. W.) and said I am Capt. Williams, I am gong to the Trans Mississippi, I am going to have that horse, get off him or I will kill you.”  (Williams was a part of Wheeler’s Brigade of the 9th Kentucky Calvary.)

“He seemed to be very intoxicated.  I think he grabbed the citizen’s horse by the bridle and about the same time struck the citizen a hard blow on the head with a colt’s navy—the edge of the cylinder cut the flesh at the top of his head, and the blood tricked down over his face.

At that juncture the citizen said to me, ‘Capt. I am on business with you.  I claim your protection.’”

In a letter written to N. B. Eison on September 10, 1910, he wrote: “Eison sat unmoved eyeing the drunk Captain.  And as I stepped between them, the Capt. (Williams) cocked his pistol and presented it at the citizen’s breast.

I reached for the Capt.’s navy with my right hand.  He raised it suddenly, and I missed it.  He instantly leveled it again at the citizen’s breast and I made a quick grab and caught the pistol around the cylinder and bore it down, and it fired into the citizen’s horse’s flank.

The fingers of my left hand were grasping the cylinder and my little finger stung like it might be shot off, but it was not hurt.  At this time I ran out from between them, the citizen dropped to the ground on his feet, instantly drew a small pistol from a back pocket and with lightning like swiftness fired two shots into the Capt.’s body near the navel.

He sure put it off to the very last minute of time to save himself.  I whispered to the citizen to get away from there, and he went—left his wounded horse.”

Ed Aycock said that the horse ran to Sandy Run Creek and died.  He further stated that his great grandfather escaped to the Cedar Grove section of Union County, where he stayed with Mr. James Fernandis for awhile.”

F. W. received a pardon issued on September 27, 1865, signed by President Andrew Johnson and Acting Secretary of State, William Seward.  The family still has the original pardon.  He was the great grandson of Faithful Coleman Hames.

Napoleon B. Eison, son of F. W. Eison, was an officer in the Confederate army and acted as a courier and scout for Gen. M. C. Butler.  While at home on furlough for recruiting purposes, he learned of the deaths of Capt. John E. Hames, his brother, Sgt. Charles Hames, and Henry Foster at the Battle of Second Manassas on August 30, 1862.

John and Charles were sons of Lemuel and Nancy Jones Hames and his wife, Ann’s brothers.  John bled to death from a thigh wound, Charles was killed by a shell and Henry, his cousin, son of John and Jane Foster, was shot in the stomach.

He had John Rogers of Union make several zinc-lined coffins and two weeks after the battle he traveled from Jonesville to Manassas Junction by train with a servant and exhumed the Hames’ bodies and the body of his cousin, Henry Foster.  The coffins were soldered shut at Manassas.  He brought the bodies back to the Gilead church where they were interred.

He also brought back the body of Col. James Gadberry and carried it to Union, S. C.  Gadberry was buried in the Presbyterian cemetery.

He brought his horse, Henry, home with him from the war and when the animal died he had him buried in the front lawn at his house in Jonesville, S. C.

William Coleman (son of Robert) and his family could have had early involvement in the Gilead church, but it is difficult to establish because of the gap in church records.

Hiram Coleman, son of Christopher, witnessed a deed made by George McKnight to the Gilead Baptist Church in 1819.  He was a member of Gilead.

Robert Coleman’s son, Absolem, and his family were probably members at Gilead.  Absolem sold his property (240 acres on Mill Creek) to Thomas Walker on August 17, 1832, and moved his wife, Martha, and family to Attala County, Mississippi, where he died in 1839.

The Nullification movement in the 1830s affected the Gilead church. Two of its members, Reubin Coleman and John Hames Eison, were members of the Pacolet Blues, commanded by Capt. Joseph Starke Sims.

Robert Coleman’s wife, Elizabeth (Trecy) Smith Coleman, died July 15, 1838, and her funeral services were held at the Gilead church. The Reverend Ambrose Ray, pastor from 1837-1844, probably conducted the services.

Absolem Ward, son of Nathaniel, married Nancy Ann Coleman, daughter of Robert, and they joined Gilead by experience in 1838.  He was a delegate to several associational meetings.

Bartley Coleman (son of Robert) and his wife, Elizabeth Stovall Poole, joined Gilead in 1838.  Mary (Polly) Coleman (Bartley’s sister & oldest daughter of Robert) also joined at this time.  He was delegate to the associational meeting in 1839.

Reubin Coleman, son of Robert, and his wife, Letitia Faucett, joined Gilead in 1840.  He was elected church clerk after joining the church and continued in this capacity until his death in February of 1859.   He was ordained a deacon at Gilead on April 13, 1844, and served as delegate to several associational meetings.  He also served as Justice of the Peace in his community.

Christopher, son of Bartley and Elizabeth Coleman, joined Gilead in 1840.  He was elected church clerk after the death of his uncle Reubin, and served from 1859 through 1865, and was also a delegate to several associational meetings.

Elizabeth Coleman (daughter of Robert) married Ralph Lemaster and they were members of Gilead for several years.

John Hames, son of Randolph and Faithful Coleman, died March 1, 1844.  His funeral services were conducted at Gilead by the Reverends Ambrose Ray and John Kendrick.  He was buried in Gilead cemetery in a marked grave.  His wife, Sarah, died October 24, 1845.  She was the last of the constitutional members.

On June 10, 1849, Martin (son of Bartley) and his wife, Emaline ?  Coleman, joined Gilead by letter.

Six Colemans from Union County, S. C., fought with the Confederacy: Charles Lipscomb Coleman (son of Reubin), William G. Coleman (son of Reubin), Thomas Coleman, Thomson Coleman, James H. Coleman (son of Reubin) and Robert D. Coleman.  Charles L. Coleman died of disease while serving.  Several of these men were buried in the Gilead Baptist Church Cemetery.

James Henry Coleman (son of Reubin and grandson of Robert) became church clerk in 1866 and was delegate to several associational meetings. He remained as clerk until 1876, when he resigned to help establish the Jonesville Baptist Church.

He was a constitutional member of the Jonesville church and one of its first deacons.  He gave lumber to help build the first church building.  He was married twice and his wives were: Elvira Harmon and Pamelia Percilia Walker.  He died in 1890 and was buried in Gilead cemetery.  He was a Confederate Veteran.

Bartley Coleman, son of Robert, died on December 24, 1870, and his funeral services were conducted at the Gilead church, probably by the Reverend Bryant Bonner, pastor from 1868-1871.  He was a veteran of the War of 1812.

 

SOURCES

Uzal Johnson, Loyalist Surgeon, by Bobby Gilmer Moss; The Loyalists At Kings Mountain by Bobby Gilmer Moss; The Loyalists In The Siege of Fort Ninety Six by Bobby Gilmer Moss; Roster of South Carolina Patriots in the American Revolution by Bobby Gilmer Moss; Journal of Capt. Alexander Chesney, Edited by Bobby Gilmer Moss; Unpublished Manuscript on South Carolina Loyalists in the American Revolution by Bobby Gilmer Moss.

Union County Heritage, Edited by Mannie Lee Mabry; Union County Cemeteries by Mrs. E. D. Whaley, Sr.; History of Grindal Shoals by the Rev. J. D. Bailey; Union County, South Carolina, Deed Abstracts, Vols. 1-3, by Brent H. Holcomb; A History of Union County, South Carolina, by Union County Historical Foundation; Union County, South Carolina, Marriage Records Compiled by Tommy J. Vaughan & Michael Becknell.

The Narrative History of Union County, South Carolina, by Allan D. Charles; Union County, South Carolina, Will Abstracts, 1787-1849, by Brent Howard Holcomb; Union County, South Carolina, Death Notices Compiled by Tommy J. Vaughan; Horseshoe Robinson by John Pendleton Kennedy; Union County, South Carolina Minutes of the County Court, 1785-1799, by Brent H. Holcomb; Court Records of Union County (Probate and Land Conveyances), South Carolina Archives.

North Carolina Land Grants in South Carolina by Brent Holcomb; South Carolina Bible Records, Edited by Dorothy Harris Phifer; Loyalists in the Southern Campaign, Vol. 1, by Murtie June Clark; The Journal of Alexander Chesney, a South Carolina Loyalist in the Revolution and After, Edited by E. Alfred Jones of London, England.   Recollections and Reminiscences, 1861-1865, South Carolina Division, United Daughters of the Confederacy, 1990.

Spartanburg County/ District, South Carolina, Deed Abstracts, Books A-T, 1785-1827, by Albert Bruce Pruitt; Spartanburg District, S. C., Deed Abstracts, Books U-W, 1827-1839, by Larry Vehorn; Spartanburg County, South Carolina, Will Abstracts, 1787-1840, Compiled by Brent H. Holcomb; Spartanburg County, South Carolina, Minutes of the County Court, 1785-1799, by Brent H. Holcomb; The History of Pacolet, Vol. 2, Edited by Willie Fleming and Annie B. Blackwell. The Union Daily Times, Monday, July 27, 1998, Strange Death by the Pacolet River, by James Reed Eison, page 1 and back of the page of this paper.

The Bluff Springs Colemans, a 350 Year Journey, 1656-2004, by Brooks P. Coleman, Jr.; The Robert Coleman Family, From Virginia to Texas, 1652-1965, by J. P. Coleman; Laurens County, South Carolina, Wills, 1784-1840, by Colleen Elliott; The South Carolina Historical Magazine, Vol. LXXX, No. 2, April 1979, pg. 172-181, Loyalists Trials At Ninety Six, 1779, by Robert Scott Davis, Jr.; Descendants of John and Nancy Floyd by Mary Fay Campbell Schertz.

Unpublished Manuscript on Robertson Family; Letters from Gary Hunt (Coleman and Draper); Letter from Robert S. Allen, Sevierville, Tennessee, (Dio Cleason Robertson); Coleman and Associated Families, Gencircles.com & Coleman Family Data published in RootsWeb’s World Connect Project.

Unpublished Manuscripts on Coleman and Draper Families by Suzanne W. Watt; Huddleston Family by Roy Huddleston, posted on GenForum of Ancestry.com; Coleman Family Data in Gilead Baptist Church Clerk’s Records; Bethel Baptist Association Minutes; Broad River Baptist Association Minutes.

*The writer is deeply indebted to Dr. Bobby Moss for his devotion and dedication to the task of preserving the military history of many of the Patriots and Loyalists who engaged in a conflict that produced the liberties we now enjoy.  He has been of great assistance in the writing of this article.

The John Jasper Family

BY ROBERT A. IVEY.

The statue of Sergeant William Jasper, located in the center of Madison Square at the corner of Bull and Charlton Streets in Savannah, Georgia, has a plaque on the statue which reads: “To the heroic memory of Sergeant William Jasper, who though mortally wounded rescued the colors of his regiment in the assault on the British lines about this city October 9th, 1779.  A century has not dimmed the glory of the Irish American Soldier whose last tribute to the civil liberty was his noble life, 1779-1879.”

(Sergeant William Jasper—Savannah, GA—Irish American Historic Places on Waymarking.com.)
Seargant William Jasper statue - Madison Square, Savanna Georgia, 2013. Photo: Greg Foster

Sargent William Jasper statue – Madison Square, Savanna Georgia, 2013. Photo: Greg Foster

 

Sergeant Jasper’s father, John, was not Irish; neither was he German as some contend.  There are some genealogists who have identified John as the son of Thomas and Sarah Taylor Jasper from Richmond County, Virginia.  This Jasper line is from Suffolk, England.

(RootsWeb’s WorldConnect Project: Scheuerman/Willson Family Trees—ID: 117021—John Jasper Sr.; Our Jasper Family—Sherry’s Genealogy Home Page–Internet.)

 

Thomas did have a son, John Jasper, listed in his will, but this son was born April 6, 1721, and died in Richmond County, Virginia, on September 3, 1764.

(RootsWeb’s WorldConnect Project: Rhonda Tink Albright—ID: P-339047610–John Jasper, son of Thomas.)

 

“John Andrew Jasper was born at Cavermarthen (Carmarthen) in Wales.”  His birth date is given in most of the databases as 1722.  “Carmarthen is a community and the country town of Carmarthenshire, Wales.  It is sited on the river Towy and lays claim to being the oldest town in Wales.”

(Pulaski County Kentucky, A Part of KY GenWeb, Fact Book II, Chapter 9; RootsWeb’s WorldConnect Project: Spears and Allied Families—ID: 100670–John Andrew Jasper; Carmarthen, Wikipedia, the free encylopedia–Internet.)

 

The writer believes that this is the most plausible explanation for John Jasper Sr.’s place of birth and that he was Welsh.  There seems to be no other direct family connection in this country to John thus indicating that he may have sailed to this country alone.

However, the Kentucky descendants have used an alias or an assumed name “Abraham” for his middle name.  The writer has a copy of a legal document written by Mary, his wife, in which she refers to her husband as John Andrew Jasper.

(Root’sWeb WorldConnect Project: James Ralston Pace Ancestors—ID: 1245–John Andrew Jasper; Copy of Mary’s unrecorded document sent to writer by Loubeth Hames, State University, Arkansas, 1981.)

 

John Jasper Sr.’s oldest son’s name was Abraham, and two grandsons were named Abraham.  Nicholas had a son, Abraham, and Rachel Covenhoven, had a son, Abraham.

(Pulaski County Kentucky, A Part of KY GenWeb, Fact Book II, Chapter 9; RootsWeb’s WorldConnect Project: Winter—ID: 1346–Nicholas Jasper; RootsWeb’s WorldConnect Project: Rhonda Tink Albright–ID: P-135021407–Rachel Covenhoven.)

 

In the Internet article, Welsh American, in Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia, is found the following: “In the late seventeenth century, there was a large emigration of Welsh Quakers to Pennsylvania, where a Welsh Tract was established.”  It was probably to this tract that John Andrew Jasper came in the early 1740s.

John Jasper possibly met Mary, daughter of Jacob and Hannah Jones Herrington, after her father moved to York County, Pennsylvania.  Her father, Jacob, was born in Baltimore County, Maryland, circa 1701, the son of Cornelius and Rachel Jones Herrington.

(RootsWeb’s WorldConnect Project: Vandiver, Neal, Atherton, Pyland, Settle, Stavely, Lynn, Gish, Rust, Abner, McHood, Tayloe, Outlaw, Atherton—ID: 1630012589–Jacob Herrington.)

 

Cornelius was born circa 1675, and lived in the neighborhood of Gunpowder River, Baltimore County, Maryland, as early as 1695.  He owned three tracts of land in this locality and paid taxes in 1700, 1702, 1703, 1704, 1705 and 1706, on the North Side, Gunpowder District.

(RootsWeb’s World Connect Project: Kristi Anne McKenzie’s Family Web—ID: 149692—Cornelius Herrington.)

 

Cornelius married Rachel Jones, daughter of Thomas and Mary Harrison Jones, on April 25, 1701, in Baltimore County, Maryland. Rachel was born December 1, 1677, in Baltimore County.

Her father, Thomas Jones, was an Indian trader in Baltimore County.  His wife, Mary Harrison Herrington, married Thomas Staley after the death of Thomas.  Thomas and Mary had three children: Charles, Cadwaller and Rachel.

(Internet—Erin J. Ellis Family Tree: Information about Mary Harrison.)

 

Cornelius and Rachel Jones Herrington had the following children:

Jacob Herrrington, born circa 1701, married Hannah Jones; Katherine, born January 1702, married Samuel Sicklemore, September 12, 1716, died 1764 (2nd wife); and Isaac, born May 5, 1705.  Rachel died July 11, 1716, in Maryland.

(RootsWeb’s WorldConnect Project: Soher, Iversen, Gammon, Beal, Carson, Spalding, Bevan—ID: 102854—Katherine (Katterne) Herrington.)

 

Cornelius second marriage was to Elizabeth  ? , in 1717.  She was born in 1680, and they had one daughter: Wealthy Herrington, born August 17, 1718.  Cornelius died in 1767, in Maryland. (Not sure if this is correct death date.)

(RootsWeb’s WorldConnect Project: Huppe—Wealthy Herrington; RootsWeb’s WorldConnect Project: Kristi Anne McKenzie’s Family Web & Taber, Fleming, Restine, Buhler, Liddle, Yarber, Ricks, Prather, Wait, etc. —Cornelius Herrington.)

 

Jacob Herrington married Hannah Jones, October 26, 1720, at St. George’s Parish, Harford County, Maryland.  Hannah Jones Herrington was born in Harford County, Maryland, June 6, 1705.

(RootsWeb’s WorldConnect Project: Goin Family of San Diego—Hannah Jones.

 

Jacob and Hannah Jones Herrington had the following children: Frances, born circa 1721; Hannah, born March 31, 1723; Mary, born November 30, 1724; Isaac, born November 30, 1727; Ann, born May 13, 1729; Jacob, born August 20, 1730; Thomas, born February 18, 1732; Sarah, born April 2, 1735; John, born circa 1736; and Rachel, born circa 1737.

(RootsWeb’s WorldConnect, Project: Soher, Iversen, Gammon, Beal, Carson, Spalding, Bevan—Jacob Herrington.)

 

Hannah died before 1750; Mary died after 1811; Isaac died 1768; Ann died 1765; Jacob died March 21, 1770; Thomas died 1762; and John died after 1783.

(RootsWeb’s WorldConnect Project: Kirch, Baker, Kilbreath, Briggs, Bannes, Kuettel & Related Families—Hannah HerringtonIsaac HerringtonJacob HerringtonJohn Herrington; RootsWeb’s WorldConnect Project: Taber, Fleming, Restine, Buhler, Liddle, Yarber, Ricks, Prather, Wait, etc.—Thomas Herrington; Union County, S. C., Will Book A, pp. 171-172—Mary Herrington Jasper.)

 

Hannah Herrington married William Morton, son of Richard and Mercy Massey Sanford Morton, circa 1740.  He was born circa 1723, and died March 28, 1751.  They had two sons and two daughters.

(RootsWeb’s WorldConnect Project: Scheuerman/Wilson family—Hannah Herrington; RootsWeb’s WorldConnect Project: Neuman, Smith, Goodale Family and Ancestors—William Morton.)

 

Mary Herrington married John Andrew Jasper circa 1742.  They had four sons and seven daughters.  John Jasper died in 1799.

(RootsWeb’s WorldConnect Project: Rhonda Tink Albright—Mary Herrington Jasper; Union County, S. C., Will Book A, pp. 119-120.)

 

Isaac Herrington married Jane or Jeanne  ?  .  Jane died after 1765. They had three sons and one daughter.

(RootsWeb’s WorldConnect Project: Kirch, Baker, Kilbreath, Briggs, Bannes, Kuettel & Related Families—Jane  ? Herrington.)

 

Ann Herrington married Thomas Lawson, son of John and Frances Davis Lawson.  He was born in England circa 1718, and died October 20,1796, at Ft. Ashby, Mineral County, West Virginia.  They had six sons and one daughter.

(RootsWeb’s WorldConnect Project: Soher, Iversen, Gammon, Beal, Carson, Spalding, Bevan—Thomas LawsonAnn Herrington Lawson.)

Jacob Herrington married Mary  ?  .  They had three sons and one daughter.  (RootsWeb’s WorldConnect Project: Kirch, Baker, Kilbreath, Briggs, Bannes, Kuettel & Related Families—Jacob Herrington.)

 

Thomas Herrington married Sarah Moody, daughter of Hugh and Sarah  ?  Moody.  They had at least one son, John.  They were killed in 1762, during an Indian attack in York County, Pennsylvania.  John was raised by his maternal grandparents, Hugh and Sarah Moody.

“Revolutionary War Payroll records show that this John Herrington (son of Thomas) was paid the sum of $33.30 in 1786 for his 2 years of service in the 11th Pennsylvania Regiment during the Revolutionary War.  Oral history says that he once took General Washington’s horse to water.”  John lived to be 103 years of age.

(RootsWeb WorldConnect Project: Kirch, Baker, Kilbreath, Briggs, Bannes, Kuettel & Related Familes—Thomas Herrington & John Herrington.)

 

John Herrington married Martha Berkley.  Martha was born in 1738, and died in 1760.  Dying at the same time was her husband, John.

(RootsWeb’s WorldConnect Project: Kirch, Baker, Kilbreath, Briggs, Bannes, Kuettel & Related Families—Martha Berkley Herrington.)

 

Rachel Herrington married John Freeparty.  He was born in Baltimore County, Maryland, in 1733.  (RootsWeb’s WorldConnect Project: Scheuerman, Wilson Family Trees—Rachel Herrington.)

The writer has been unable to secure the names of Hannah Jones Herrington’s parents and her death date.  Hannah was not included in Jacob Herrington’s will and may have died shortly after the birth of her last child, Rachel, in 1737.  She was only 32 years old when Rachel was born and possibly could have had other children if she had lived.

She certainly was deceased when her husband made his will.  Hannah, her daughter, was deceased before 1750, and was also not included in the will.

(RootsWeb’s WorldConnect Project: Kirch, Baker, Kilbreath, Briggs, Bannes, Kuettel & Related Families—Jacob Herrington.)

 

Mary’s father, Jacob, died in 1754 in Windsor Township, York County, Pennsylvania.  Several years before his death, he moved just across the line from Baltimore County into York County, Pennsylvania, possibly after his wife, Hannah, died.

His children: Isaac, Ann, Jacob, Thomas and John are known to have died in York County, Pennsylvania.

(RootsWeb’s WorldConnect Project: Kirch, Baker, Kilbreath, Briggs, Bannes, Kuettel & Related FamiliesThomas Herrington, John Herrington, Jacob Herrington; RootsWeb’s WorldConnect Project: Soher, Iversen Gammon, Beal, Carson, Spalding, Bevan—Ann Herrington.)

 

“Papers in the estate of Jacob Herrington were filed in the York County (PA) Courthouse with bond to Isaac Herrington, Thomas Berwick & Thomas Minschell (and) dated 11 Dec 1754.  Distribution was filed 25 Apr 1757, listing: Mary the Wife of John Jasper; Isaac Herrington; Ann the Wife of Thos. Lawson; Jacob Herrington; Thomas Herrington; Frances Herrington; Rachel the Wife of John Freeparty; Sarah Herrington; John Herrington.  All shared equally in the estate with the exception of Isaac who received a double portion.”

(RootsWeb’s WorldConnect Project: Kirch, Baker, Kilbreath, Briggs, Bannes, Kuettel & Related Families—Jacob Herrington.)

 

Mary was born November 30, 1724, in Baltimore County, Maryland.  John Jasper probably married Mary circa 1742, in York County, Pennsylvania.  Their oldest son, Abraham, was born circa 1743.  Her mother may have been deceased when she married.

(RootsWeb’s WorldConnect Project: Vandiver, Neal, Atherton, Pyland, Settle, Stavely, Lynn, Gish, Rust, Abner, Mchood, Tayloe, Outlaw, Atherton—Mary Herrington Jasper; Obituary of Dr. Francis Marion Jasper, Nicholasville Democrate, Nicholasville, Kentucky, July 8, 1892.)

 

Mary’s mother was not “Hannah Johnson, who was the wife of Thomas Cresap”, nor was she “Mary Herndon” as some genealogists suggest.

(RootsWeb’s WorldConnect Project: Hooker, Herrington, Treadaway, Francis, Lewis—Hannah Johnson; RootsWeb’s WorldConnect Project: Kirch, Baker, Kilbreath, Briggs, Bannes, Kuettel & Related Families—Mary Herndon.)

 

John and Mary Jasper may have lived in York County, Pennsylvania, until the settling of the estate of her father in 1757, or they may have moved to Virginia before his death.

If they moved to Frederick County, Virginia, in the 1757s or before, their children William, Hannah, Nancy Anna, Charity and Lydda would have been born in Virginia.

Some genealogists have suggested that the William Jasper who lived in Frederick County, Virginia, was the father of John Jasper Sr.

In his will he left land to his son, Henry, that adjoined land of Isaac Thomas and said that he was to provide for his mother from the land.  He mentioned his wife, Ann, and daughters, Elizabeth and Sarah.  There was no reference made to a son, John.

(William Jasper’s will was dated August 27, 1746, and proved May 5, 1747.  It was recorded at Frederick County Courthouse in Deed Book I, p. 118.)

 

On December 5, 1770, John Jasper purchased land in Augusta County, Virginia, from Alexander Lackey.  The deed read: “John Jasper, late of Frederick County…”

(Mrs. D. W. Ritenour, Genealogist, Winchester, Virginia; Unpublished manuscript on Jasper Family by Nancy R. Roy, La Mesa, California.)

 

Abraham; Nicholas and his wife, Elizabeth Wyatt; Mary and her husband John McWhorter; Elizabeth and her husband John George; Rachel and her husband, Benjamin Covenhoven; and William appear to have moved to Carroll Shoals (later Grindal Shoals) in North Carolina, in 1771.  This area became a part of South Carolina in 1772.

It is impossible to know how John’s children met and married their spouses.   They all came from different locales.

Elizabeth Wyatt married Nicholas Jasper.  They married in Wytheville, Va., Wythe County, circa 1767.

(RootsWeb’s WorldConnect Project: My Kentucky Family (Shannon)—Elizabeth Wyatt.)

 

Susannah McElfresh married John Jasper Jr.  She was from Hagerstown, Washington County, Maryland.

(RootsWeb WorldConnect Project: Ogle, Colvin, Jones, Wunder—Susannah McElfresh.)

 

John McWhorter married Mary Jasper.  He was from Albemarle County, Virginia.

(RootsWeb’s WorldConnect Project: a 2010 Geer Family Master File—John McWhorter.)

 

John George married Elizabeth Jasper.  He was probably from Lancaster County, Virginia.

(RootsWeb’s WorldConnect Project: Kerr and Related Families—John George.)

 

Benjamin Covenhoven married Rachel Jasper.  He was from Monmouth County, New Jersey.

(RootsWeb’s WorldConnect Project: Melia 72006—Benjamin Covenhoven.”

 

Mary Wheatley married William Jasper.  She was from Pennsylvania (possibly Philadelphia).

(RootsWeb’s WorldConnect Project—R. K. West’s Master List—Mary Wheatley.)

 

William Cheney married Hannah Jasper.  He was from Frederick County, Maryland.

(RootsWeb’s WorldConnect Project: Deckard-Hollowell–William Cheney.)

 

James Moseley married Nancy Anna Jasper.  He was from Brunswick County, Virginia.

(RootsWeb’s WorldConnect Project: Spears and Allied Families—James Moseley.)

 

John Hames married Charity Jasper.  He was from Mecklenburg County, Virginia.

(RootsWeb’s WorldConnect Project: My Haymes—Popp Family—John Hames.)

 

The key factor in the first removal to what later became South Carolina, was John McWhorter’s marriage to Mary Jasper.  After John’s father, John, Sr., died in 1757, his mother, Eleanor, applied for and received a grant of 300 acres on September 26, 1766, from Mecklenburg County, North Carolina.  The land was on both sides of Pacolet River.  The McWhorters were from Albemarle County, Virginia.

(North Carolina Land Grants in South Carolina,(McWhorter) by Brent Holcomb, p. 90, File No. 743 (1471), Gr. No. 314, Book 17, p. 377 (Mecklenburg County); RootsWeb’s WorldConnect Project: Brummitt, Dismang, McWhorter, Burger–John McWhorter.)

 

A part of the Jasper family settled on Eleanor Brevard McWhorter’s land, and a part on John Portman Sr. and Jr.’s land.  John Portman Jr. married John McWhorter Jr.’s sister, Sarah. The Portman lands were also granted in the 1760s.

(North Carolina Land Grants in South Carolina (John Portmans), by Brent Holcomb, pp. 103-104, (Mecklenburg County); RootsWeb’s WorldConnect Project, Goin Family of San Diego—John Portman.)

 

They were “squatters” on the land that later was granted to John Kirkconnell from North Carolina.  Most of the land was on the north side of Pacolet River.

(North Carolina Land Grants in South Carolina (Kirkconnell), by Brent Holcomb, p. 141, Tryon County).

 

The boundary line between North and South Carolina was changed in 1772, and the land became a part of South Carolina.

(North Carolina—South Carolina Border Surveys 1730-1815 (1772)–Internet.)

 

John Jasper, Sr. and his wife, Mary Herrington Jasper; John Jasper, Jr. and his wife, Susannah McElfresh; Hannah Jasper; Nancy Anna Jasper; Charity Jasper and Lydda Jasper remained in Augusta or Berkley County, Virginia.  John Jr. lived on his father’s land in Augusta County.

John Jasper Sr. purchased a tract of 256 acres in Augusta County, Virginia, from Samuel and Rachel Love February 6, 1775, for 400 pounds.  It was part of a tract of 300 acres conveyed to Samuel Love by deed of August 17-18, 1759.  The Loves were living in Orange County, North Carolina, at the time of the sale.

(Augusta (County, Virginia, Deed Book 21, p. 110; Unpublished Manuscript on Jasper Family by Nancy R. Roy of La Mesa, California.)

 

He sold this land to Manoah Singleton on April 26, 1779, for 1400 pounds.  It bordered Christian’s Creek.

(Augusta County, Virginia, Deed Book 23, p. 16; Unpublished manuscript on Jasper Family by Nancy R. Roy.)

 

The rest of the family that remained in Augusta or Berkley County, Virginia, except John Jr. and his wife, Susannah, moved to South Carolina, to be near the other children circa 1779.  They probably moved after they sold their land to Manoah Singleton or after they learned of the death of their son, William, in Savannah, October 9th, 1779.

John Jasper Sr. was purchasing land in S. C., in 1781, and his two daughters, Nancy Anna and Charity, were courting and marrying in this state by 1781.

In the book, Horry and Parson Weems’ Life of Francis Marion, pp. 68-69, there are these words concerning the death of William Jasper: “You see that sword?—It is the one which governor Rutledge presented to me for my services at Fort Moultrie—give that sword to my father, and tell him I never dishonored it.  If he should weep for me, tell him his son died in hope of a better life.”

The sword was given to his wife, Mary, and she gave it to their son, William, and after his death it was given to their daughter, Elizabeth.

In 1888, a monument was unveiled in Savannah, Georgia, to Sgt. William Jasper on Washington’s Birthday.  President and Mrs. Grover Cleveland were in town on that occasion.

“William Jasper Dibble of South Carolina, was said to be the grandson of Sergeant Jasper’s widow by her second marriage to Christopher Wagner (through their son, Samuel Jasper Wagner).  (He was present for the unveiling of the statue of Sgt. Jasper.)

As the question has often been asked, what became of the sword that President John Rutledge gave to Sergeant Jasper, it is of interest to note that Dibble stated that the sword, on the death of Sergeant Jasper’s daughter (Elizabeth), had been coined into spoons and apportioned as heirlooms.”

(William Jasper by Thomas Gamble–Savannah, Georgia, Morning News: Sunday, February 21, 1932.)

 

John Jr. stayed in Augusta County, Virginia, and farmed his father’s remaining land purchased from Alexander Lackey.  It is possible that John Jr. served as a Patriot soldier and fought in Virginia for the independence of his country.  The Kentucky records indicate that he did.

(Obituary of Dr. Francis Marion Jasper, Nicholasville Democrat, Nicholasville, Kentucky, July 8, 1892.)

 

John Sr.’s daughter, Nancy Anna, married James Moseley and his daughter, Charity, married John Hames in 1781.  Moseley probably learned his blacksmithing trade from his father-in-law.

(RootsWeb’s WorldConnect Project: Dodge Family—Nancy Anna Jasper Moseley; Rootsweb’s WorldConnect Project: James Ralston Pace Ancestors—Charity Jasper Hames.)

 

John Sr.’s daughter, Lydda Jasper, died before her father, probably after they moved to South Carolina, and may have been buried in the Jasper cemetery.   By 1790, all of his children were married except Lydda.  In the 1790 Federal Census there is a female child listed as living with John Jasper, Sr., so this may have been Lydda.

On August 13, 1781, John McWhorter Jr. sold 121 acres on both sides of the Pacolet River to John Jasper Sr.  It was part of a tract of 200 acres that was originally granted to John Portman Sr. on October 13, 1765, and sold by him to John McWhorter Jr. on September 20, 1773.  It was the land that John McWhorter Jr. lived on.

(Union County, S. C., Deed Book B, pp. 409-412.)

 

Stub Entries To Indents, Book X, Part II, p. 188, by A. S. Salley, show that John Jasper Sr. was reimbursed for corn and for long-time military use of a wagon during the Revolutionary War.  He probably did blacksmith work for the Patriot troops also.  “The blacksmiths shod the horses of the Militia enabling them to keep pace with the trained British army.”

(Sgt. William Jasper and His Kith and Kin by Jane H. Owen, published in The Genealogical Society Bulletin of Old Tryon County in August 1980, No. 3, pp. 120-133, Forest City, N. C.; The Life of a Colonial Blacksmith—eHow.com, Internet.)

 

Two of John Jasper Sr.’s sons fought under Col. and Gen. Francis Marion.  Sgt. William Jasper fought in the Second South Carolina Continentals under Marion before the Fall of Charleston, and Nicholas Jasper fought under Marion after the Fall of Charleston.

(The Life of Gen. Francis Marion by Brig. Gen. P. Horry and M. L. Weems, p. 41; General Francis Marion’s Men compiled by William Willis Boddie, p. 22.)

 

John Sr. and Mary visited John Jr. and his wife, Susannah, in 1783, after the end of the Revolutionary War, and stayed with them for awhile.  During this time Mary Jasper visited the Augusta County Courthouse on October 2, 1783, and relinquished her dower rights to the 256 acres of land sold to Manoah Singleton.

(Augusta County, Virginia, Order Book No. XVIII, p. 131.)

 

The writer has a copy of a letter written by John Jasper Jr. from Augusta County, Virginia, to his parents in South Carolina, September 17, 1786.  He tells his father that James Davis says that he is to give him fifty pounds if he is to sue Capt. Riddle.  He also tells of a fire that destroyed his shop, tools, wagon and a saddle.  Asks to be remembered to his brothers and sisters and to all their husbands and wives and to John Foster and Molley.  Molley was a sister of John Jr.’s wife, Susannah.

(Copy of letter & wills sent to the writer by Loubeth Hames, State University, Arkansas, 1981.)

 

Augusta County Tax Records show that John Jasper, Sr., Blacksmith, continued to pay taxes on his remaining land until 1788, when John Jr. moved to South Carolina to be near his father and mother.  John Jr. was listed as a resident of Union County, South Carolina, when the 1790 Federal Census was taken.

(Ref. Mrs. Emma Matheny, Genealogist, Richmond, Virginia; Unpublished manuscript of Jasper Family by Nancy R. Roy.)

 

On September 23, 1788, John Henderson of Union County, South Carolina, sold John Jasper, Blacksmith, 214 acres of land on the eastside of Big Sandy Run Creek.  This tract was on the southside of Pacolet River and was the land on which the Jasper Cemetery was eventually located.

At this time, Nicholas Jasper and Charles Hames owned lands adjacent to this tract.  John Jr. built his cabin on his father’s Sandy Run Creek land.

(Union County, S. C., Deed Book B, p. 226.)

 

John McWhorter sold John Jasper Sr. 45 acres of land on the south- side of Pacolet River on December 28, 1790.  It was part of the land that had been granted to John McWhorter on May 3, 1790.

(Union County, S. C., Deed Book, pp. 408-409.)

 

Benjamin Covenhoven purchased a tract of 200 acres on June 26-27, 1788, from Peter Johnston of Rutherford County, North Carolina, executor of the estate of John Kirkconnell.  It was originally granted to John Kirkconnell December 6, 1771.

(North Carolina Land Grants in South Carolina, Tryon County, by Brent Holcomb, p. 141.)

 

At this time, Covenhoven was living on the land and probably had lived there since 1771, before it was granted to Kirkconnell.  The land was on the northside of Pacolet River.

(Union County, S. C., Deed Book B, pp. 169-171.)

 

Lemuel James Alston of Greenville, S. C., step-son of John Henderson, sold John Jasper “one negro girl named Let between the ages of 10 and 11 years of age”, on April 1, 1793, for 40 pounds sterling.

(Union County, S. C., Deed Book C, p. 244.)

 

Robert Powell was an out-of-wedlock child of John Jasper Sr.  Two letters have been preserved that he wrote to John Jasper.  The writer has copies.  He lived in Berkley County, now in West Virginia.

He addressed one of the letters: “Dear Father and Mother”.

He tells of receiving a letter from his father.  He spoke of the difficulty of selling his place and of visiting South Carolina.  He may have lived on the land in Berkley County, Virginia, given to Benjamin Covenhoven by his father.  The land was possibly purchased by John Jasper Sr. and given to his out-of-wedlock son.

He spoke of William and Hannah Chaney visiting him and listed his children in another letter as: Polly, Patty, John, Hannah and Lydia.  He signed the letters “Your Loving Son”.  The letters were written in 1793 and 1795.

(Copy of the letters were sent to the writer by Loubeth R. Hames, State University, Arkansas, in 1981.)

 

John Jasper Sr. possibly lived on the Covenhoven land in Berkley County, Virginia, for a period of time before moving to South Carolina.

John Jasper Sr. purchased a tract of 54 acres from Benjamin and Rachel Covenhover on September 1, 1794.  The land was on waters of Pacolet River and included the mill and plantation on which John Jasper was living.  It was a part of the Kirkconnell grant and was on the northside of the river.

(Union County, S. C., Deed Book C, pp. 387-388.)

 

Robert Gault sold a 100 acre tract of land on waters of Pacolet to John Jasper Sr. on June 16, 1794.  The transaction was witnessed by John Jasper, Jr.

(Union County, S.C., Deed Book C, pp. 379-380.)

 

This land was purchased by Gault from John Hames on September 4-5, 1787, and was described as lying between John’s Creek and Pacolet River.  It was on the northside of Pacolet River.  The original tract of 200 acres was granted to John Hames on January 21, 1785.

(Union County, S. C., Deed Book B, pp. 27-29.)

 

John Jasper Sr. died in October of 1799.  His will was written September 29, 1799.

(It was recorded in Union County, S. C., Will Book No. 1, pp. 119-120, Nov. 16, 1799.)

 

“September the twenty ninth in the year of our Lord, 1799…I, John Jasper of Union County and State of South Carolina do make this my Last Will and Testament to wit: I leave to my beloved wife all my Reale Estate to gather with my Goods and Chattles to gather for her maintenance During her Life of Widowhood with a proviso that N C property be made way with but Sutch as is necessary for her support, then to be Divided Equally amongst my children which are Living to wit: Nicholas  John  Rachel  Anna or Nancy  Hannah  and Charity.

Item to those of my children that are dead I give and bequeath to each of their heirs, five Shillings and I appoint and approve of my son John Jasper and my Son-in-law Benjamin Covenhoven as my Executors as witness my hand and Seal this twenty ninth Day of September 1799.”  Witnesses to the will were John Foster and Benjamin Covenhoven.

“The Last Will and testament of John Jasper, Senr.  Proven in Open Court by the Oath of John Foster, the 16th of November 1799.  John Jasper and Benjamin Covenhoven qualified as Executors.”

(This statement was recorded in Union County, S. C., Will Book 1, pp. 199-120.)

 

“In 1803, Mary Jasper for the sum of one dollar paid by her son, John Jasper, “granted, bargained, sold and released unto the said John Jasper my just right and title to all the lands whereof John Andrew Jasper was in possession of at his Decease or the third part thereof and shall be bounded as follows (viz)

Beginning at a stake by or on the Bank of Pacolet River joining Land Now held by John Foster and running Southeast one hundred and eighty poles to a poplar and shall extend eastward in such shape and form as shall include the building wherein I now am in possession of and dwell and contain one third of the Land as above mentioned.”

Witnesses to the document were Robert Martin, John George and John Crownover.  It was signed by Mary Jasper’s mark.

(Copy provided to the writer by Loubeth R. Hames, State University, Arkansas, 1981.  It was never recorded.)

 

John Jasper’s will restricted the sale of his property during the lifetime of his wife.  “This provision sent his children into court and resulted in the will being set aside and the property sold.”

(Sgt. William Jasper and His Kith and Kin by Jane H. Owen, p. 124; Union County, S. C., Common Pleas Minutes, Oct. and Nov., 1804.)

 

Following is an abstract of a deed of Mary Jasper dated November 20, 1807, and attested to by George Foster:

“Mary Jasper of Union District being deprived of the privilege of enjoying the portion of property left me by my husband John Jasper decd., which said act was done by the legatees to the said John Jasper’s estate, breaking & making void the will of said John Jasper on consequence of which I, Mary Jasper, claimed my share of said estate both real & personal as law directs in that case, & my son John Jasper by virtue of a power of attorney from myself to him,

If he the said John Jasper does by himself causes me to be decently & sufficiently clothed & supported during life Y&at death to bury me as a Christian ought to be, I give to my son all my estate real and personal, being one third of tract of land whereon I now live, one bed and furniture, one chest & my wearing apparel, 30 Nov 1807.”

Witnesses to the document were: George Foster, William Hames and James Lane.  It was signed by Mary Jasper’s mark.

(It is recorded in Union County, S. C., Deed Book I, pp. 384-385.)

 

“Joseph Hughes, Esquire, Sheriff of Union District, Jan. 30,1808, to John Jasper of same, whereas John Jasper died intestate & he being seized of three tracts of land, one containing 120 acres, part of 200 acres granted to John Portman 30 October 1765 by Gov. Tryon (North Carolina), on both sides of Pacolet River, conveyed by said Portman to John McWhorter to said John Jasper Senr;

One other tract of 45 acres on said Jasper’s line; also one other tract on waters of Pacolet, 100 acres, which by virtue of a writ of partition from the court of Union district on the third Monday I October 1807, directed the sheriff to sell to the highest bidder on a credit of 12 months, and sold to John Jasper for $621.00.”

“Jos’h Hughes, S. U. D., Wit. Isaac Gowing (Going), James W. Darby.  Proved in Union District by the oath of Isaac Gowing (Going) 1 February before Jer’h Lucas, J. Q.  Recorded 1 Feb 1808.”

(Union County, S. C., Deed Book I, pp. 383-384.)

 

“John Jasper of Union District bound to Joseph Hughes of same in the sum of $1500, 16 Jan 1809, to keep said Joseph Hughes harmless in delivering to said John Jasper a note of hand for $621, the purchase money for three tracts of land sold by order of court as the property of John Jasper Sen’r deceased.  John Jasper—Wit. James W. Darby.  Recorded 16 Jan 1809.”  John Jr. was under a $1500.00 bond and payment for the land was $621.00.

(Union County, S. C., Deed Book I, p. 542.)

 

John Jasper Sr. had two other tracts of land: one for 214 acres on Sandy Run and one for 54 acres on the north side of Pacolet River.

It appears that John Sr. sold or gave the 54 acres back to Benjamin Covenhoven.  John Jr. seems to have acquired the Sandy Run property, where he had built his cabin, from his father or mother.

William C. Lake wrote an unpublished article entitled: “Jasper Born In Union County”.  Though Sgt. William Jasper was not born in Union County, S. C., but probably in Virginia, he does give an adequate description of the place where John Jasper Sr. lived.

He stated that he lived “at the old Jasper place, about one and one half miles opposite the mouth of Mill’s creek, in what is now Cherokee County, then a part of this County (Union).  The house stood beyond the old John Hames place, on the right hand side of the new road leading from Union to Gaffney.”

After the death of her husband, Mary Herrington Jasper lived with her son, John, on the property that her husband had purchased from John Henderson on Sandy Run Creek.  It was also the property that contained the Jasper Cemetery.

(Union County, S. C., Will Book A, pp. 171-172; Union County, S. C., Deed Book 0, pp. 177-178.)

Photos: Greg Foster 2006

Some records speak of the cemetery being washed away by the Pacolet River flood of 1903, but only the field stones that marked the graves were washed away.  Sometime after the flood, a government marker was placed at the grave of James Moseley in the Jasper Cemetery and can still be seen today.

The roadway into this old cemetery is located .6 of a mile on the left of Tump Road (off of Bobby Faucett Road).  The cemetery was on the left of the end of this roadway in the wooded area.

Entrance to the site of JAmes Moseley Headstone (Jasper family cemetery) off Tump Smith Road 2006 Photo: Greg Foster

 

The writer believes that John and Mary Herrington Jasper were possibly buried in the Jasper Cemetery as were: John Jr. and his wife, Susannah McElfresh Jasper; Nancy Anna Jasper Moseley and her husband James (High-Key) Moseley.  Also, possibly Lydda Jasper, John Sr.’s daughter.

John, Jr. died in 1811, and Mary Jasper was still living with her daughter-in-law, Susannah McElfresh Jasper.  Mary died after the death of her son and before the death of her daughter-in-law, Susannah (1829).

(Union County, S. C., Will Book A, pp. 171-172; Union County, S. C., Will Book B, pp. 139-140.)

 

When Nicholas Jasper left South Carolina and moved to Kentucky, he took with him valuable information concerning the John Andrew Jasper family.  This writer believes that the Kentucky list of John and Mary’s children is correct.

(Union County, S. C., Deed Abstracts Book H, p. 374.)

 

These Kentucky Jaspers insisted through the years that Abraham Jasper, the Tory, and Sgt. William Jasper of Sullivan’s Island were part of their family.

(Obituary of Dr. Francis Marion Jasper, Nicholasville Democrat, Nicholasville, Kentucky, July 8, 1892.)

 

John Hames, Patriot Revolutionary War soldier, who settled in  Georgia, declared that his wife was the sister of Sgt. William Jasper.

Mary Polly Moseley, daughter of Nancy Anna Jasper, and wife of John Long Sr., insisted that her mother was the sister of Sgt. William Jasper, and this information was added to the Long family genealogy over 100 years ago.

(Georgia’s Landmarks, Memorials and Legends by Lucian Lamar Knight, Byrd Printing Co., 1913, p. 463; Unpublished Manuscript of Jasper Born in Union County, by William C. Lake.)

 

Elizabeth Moseley Fowler, oldest child of James and Nancy Anna Jasper Moseley, and wife of Mark Fowler, was born November 30, 1782, and died March 4, 1883, living over 100 years.   With a clear mind until the end, she possibly told the Reverend J. D. Bailey that her mother was Sgt. William Jasper’s sister.  Bailey attended her 100th birthday celebration.

(History of Grindal Shoals by Rev. J. D. Bailey, pp. 37-38, 70.)

 

The story of Abraham Jasper’s loyalty to the King concurs with the story of Sgt. William Jasper’s visits with his Tory brother at the British camp called Ebenezer.  This occurred during the American Revolutionary War.

(The Life of Gen. Francis Marion by Brig. Gen. P. Horry and M. L. Weems, pp. 53-56.)

 

Kentucky records state that before Nicholas Jasper died on May 14, 1827, he named his grandson, Francis Marion Jasper, after his old commander.  His grandson became a medical doctor.

(A History of Jessamine County, Kentucky by Bennett H. Young, pp. 240-242; General Francis Marion’s Men, Privates and Non-commissioned Officers, compiled by William Willis Boddie, p. 22.)

 

The writer believes that the Kentucky descendants story of the birth of John Jasper Sr. at Caevmarthen (Carmarthen), Wales, is a true story.

(Obituary of Dr. James Marion Jasper, Nicholasville Democrat, Nicholasville, Kentucky, July 8, 1892.)

 

However, as this material passed through the hands of his descendants they became confused at times with dates; about the place where John Jasper Sr. originally settled in South Carolina; and about his middle name.

They were confused about the place of settlement because they were given information about Sgt. William Jasper’s settlement in South Carolina, and thought it also referred to his father, mother and their children.

William did live at one time at Haddrell’s Point on the Cooper River, while they were building the fort on Sullivan’s Island.  When he married Elizabeth Wheatley, they lived in a small house on Sullivan’s Island.  The house later was converted into a building for the Episcopal Church, probably a mission of Grace Church parish.

(Swamp Fox, by Robert Bass, pp. 15; Jasper’s Heroic Deeds Live in the Memorials in Bronze and Granite That Have Been Erected by a Grateful People by Thomas Gamble—Savannah, Georgia Morning News: Sunday, February 21, 1932.)

 

On June 23, 1777, Sgt. William Jasper was living in Charleston, S. C., at “the new barracks”.  After his death, Mary and her children lived in Charleston, S. C.

(Swamp Fox by Robert Bass, p. 21; Obituary of Dr. Francis Marion Jasper, Nicholasville Democrat, Nicolasville, Kentucky, July 8, 1892; William Jasper by Thomas Gamble–Savannah, Georgia, Morning News, Sunday, February 21, 1932.)

 

Sgt. William Jasper’s son, William Jr., was given a grant of 200 acres in the District of Georgetown on March 26, 1784, on the northeast side of the Little Pedee River on Treadwell Swamp.

(Obituary of Dr. Francis Marion Jasper, Nicolasville Democrat, Nicholasville, Kentucky, July 8, 1892; William Jasper by Thomas Gamble–Savannah, Georgia, Morning News, Sunday, February 21, 1932.)

 

William’s father and mother did not leave Augusta County, Virginia, or Berkley County, Virginia, and come to South Carolina until the middle of the war years, and they settled on the Pacolet River in what is now Cherokee County, S. C.

(Unpublished manuscript on Jasper Born in Union County, S. C. by William C. Lake; Union County, S. C., Deed Book B, pp. 409-412.)

 

Mary Herrington Jasper, wife of John Andrew Jasper, did not conform to the colonial custom of naming the first born for oneself or one’s spouse.  She probably named her first born for her husband’s father.

Some of the Kentucky relatives thought that Abraham Jasper was given this name because it was a middle name of John, his father, but this was not true.  John’s middle name was Andrew.  Nicholas Jasper knew this and named one of his sons, Andrew.

(Rootsweb’s World Connect Project: R. K. West’s Master List—Andrew Jasper.)

 

All of the Jasper family originally lived on the north side of Pacolet River in what is now Cherokee County.  Later, John Jasper Jr.’s family and Nicholas Jasper’s family lived on Sandy Run Creek on the south side of Pacolet River.  Nancy Anna Jasper moved to the south side of the river after she married James Moseley.

 

The Children Of John Andrew And Mary Herrington Jasper

The writer has carefully researched the names of their children.  All resources available were used to make this determination.  However, the birth dates of these children may not be absolutely correct or the names of their spouses’ parents.  Family information has come largely from Rootsweb’s WorldConnect Projects on the Internet.  Other sources are properly marked.

1. Abraham Jasper.  He was born circa 1743.  The Kentucky records tell us that he was the oldest son and also a Tory.  Records are silent as to his marital statis.  No one seems to know if he had a wife and family.

(A history of Jessamine County, Kentucky, by Bennett H. Young, Louisville, Kentucky, pp. 240-242.)

 

The writer believes that he came to South Carolina with his brothers and sisters, possibly by 1771.  The recurrence of the name, Abraham, seems to indicate that he may have been named for his grandfather in England.

The only additional source that mentions Sgt. William Jasper’s brother does not record his name.  From the book, The Life of Gen. Francis Marion, by Brig. Gen. P. Horry and M. L. Weems, p. 53, is found the following:

“Jasper (Sgt. William) had a brother who had joined the British, and held the rank of sergeant in their garrison at Ebenezer.  Never man was truer to his country than Jasper, yet was his heart so warm that he loved his brother, though a tory, and actually went over to see him.”

Sgt. William Jasper made a second trip to Ebenezer to see his brother, but after this there is no mentioning of him.  Since he was not included in his father’s will in 1799, it is presumed that he either died or was killed during the American Revolutionary War.

2. Nicholas Jasper.  He was born October 1, 1744.  He came to South Carolina with other members of his family circa 1771.  He brought with him his wife, Elizabeth Wyatt.  She was born circa 1750.  The writer has been unable to secure the names of her parents.  Databases suggest that they were married in Wytheville,
Virginia, in 1767.  She was not the daughter of Francis and Lucy Mary Rowe Wyatt as some suggest.

At the beginning of the American Revolutionary War, Nicholas Jasper is said to have fought under Colonel William Moultrie and Major William Richardson Davie as a continental soldier.

(A Sketch of Nicholas Jasper, Pioneer of Pulaski County, Kentucky by William J. Moore, p. 1—Internet.)

 

Dr. Bobby Moss in his book, Roster of South Carolina Patriots in the American Revolution, p. 495, states: “He served as a sergeant, lieutenant and captain in the militia under Col. Thomas Brandon before and after the Fall of Charleston.”

He witnessed a real estate transaction in Union District, S. C., between John McWhorter and John George on February 12, 1778.

(Union County, S. C., Deed Abstracts, Vol. I, by Brent H. Holcomb, p. 1.)

 

According to the book, General Francis Marion’s Men, compiled by William Willis Boddie, p. 22, he served at various times as a non-commissioned officer of General Francis Marion.   He was paid for the loss of a horse in action, 1780.

(Receipt Book for S. C. Revolutionary Soldiers, pp. 74, 75, 112—Posted by Marsha O’dell Young—Internet.)

 

He sold Peter Howard of Spartanburg County, S. C., 200 acres on both sides of Tyger River on September 17, 1786.  He had received this land as a grant from Gov. Benjamin Guerrard on January 21, 1785, probably for his services to his country.

(Spartanburg County/ District, South Carolina Deed Abstracts Books A-T, 1785-1827, by Albert Bruce Pruitt pp. 7, 108.)

 

He purchased 93 acres on waters of Pacolet River (Sandy Run Creek) from Theodorous Pridmore, adjacent to lands owned by Robert Gault, Nicholas Jasper and Charles Hames on January 24, 1789.  It was part of a grant of 393 acres to Theodorous Pridmore on January 17, 1788.

(Union County, S. C., Deed Book B, pp. 135-137.)

 

Though it is not recorded it appears that he had received a 200 acre grant on waters of Sandy Run that joined this 93 acres circa 1785, probably for his services as an officer in the American Revolutionary War.

He purchased nine lots on the north side of Main Street in Union, S. C., from John McCool of Chester County, on January 17, 1795.  He sold these nine lots of one half acre each to Alexander Macbeth & John Moncrieffe, merchants of Union, S. C., November 11, 1795.

(Union County, S. C., Deed Book D, pp. 87-89; 413-415.)

 

Before moving to Kentucky he agreed on November 12, 1795, to sell John Foster his remaining 293 acres on Sandy Run that joined lands of John Jasper, Sr. and Charles Hames.  John Foster was to pay $500.00 for the land on March 10, 1800.  He was living in Kentucky in 1800, when he had a deed recorded in Union County, S. C., to John Foster for the land.

(Union County, S. C., Deed Book H, p. 374.)

 

He disposed of his lands the latter part of 1795, anticipating a move to Kentucky.  He moved to Kentucky in 1796.  Mary, Nicholas’ daughter, married William Spears in Lincoln County, Kentucky, on October 1, 1798.

Nicholas had a land entry listed by the Filson Club, Kentucky Land Grants, p. 34, “Nicholas Jasper, 200 acres, Lincoln County, January 14, 1799, Little Sinking Creek.”

In A Sketch of Nicholas Jasper, Pioneer of Pulaski County, Kentucky, by William J. Moore, p. 1, is found the following: “Nicholas Jasper is acknowledged to be a very instrumental person in the founding of Pulaski County, Kentucky.  He is said to have named the county for Count Casmir Pulaski.  His brother, William Jasper, was killed during the Battle of Savannah in 1779, along with Count Pulaski.”

Nicholas may possibly have fought in this battle for he seems to have either known the Count personally or known about him.

He was elected Justice of the Peace in Pulaski County, June 25, 1799.

“On December 24th, 1799, ordered that it be entered on records that this court will meet at Nicholas Jasper’s Esquire on the second Friday in next month for the purpose of viewing the different proposal’s made to the Court for the purpose of fixing the seat of Justice of the County.”

He was appointed County Commissioner in 1801.

March Court 1805–“Nicholas Jasper Esquire, produced a commission from his Excellency the Governor of Kentucky, appointing him Sheriff of the County, who took the necessary oaths, and Entered into and acknowledged bond with security conditioned as the law directs.”

“Nicholas Jasper was one of the noble pioneers of Kentucky.  As a soldier, senior justice or sheriff, his character seems to have been faultless, and his intercourse with his fellowmen was always marked with integrity and honor.”

(A Sketch of Nicholas Jasper, Pioneer of Pulaski County, Kentucky, by William J. Moore, pp. 1-7—Internet.)

 

His first wife, Elizabeth Wyatt died before 1810.  Some databases say that she died as early as 1803.  He did not marry Rebecca Hames.  This was his son, John’s wife.

He married Martha Irving in Fayette County, Kentucky, on January 2, 1810.  They later legally separated.  A son, Martin Jasper, was born to this union in 1812.

Databases suggest that a second son named John Jasper was born to Martha Irving on June 17, 1817.  This John died November 4, 1849.  The writer is uncertain about this because Nicholas already had a son, John, by his first wife, Elizabeth, and he was still living at this time.

However, John, son of Elizabeth, does mention a brother, John, in one of his letters.

(Letter of John and Rebecca Jasper to Charles Hames; copy sent to Robert A. Ivey by Loubeth E. Hames, State University, Arkansas, 1981.)

 

Nicholas died at his son, Thomas’s house, at Fishing Creek, on May 14, 1827, and was buried in the family plot at Sinking Creek Baptist Church Cemetery.  Thomas was his youngest child.

“Somerset Baptist Church (originally called Sinking Creek) is located in the town from which it derives its present name, in Pulaski County.  It was the second church organized in the large county, and was constituted of twenty-one members by Isaac Newland, Peter Woods, Henry Brooks and John Turner, June 8th, 1798.

During the revival of 1801, it enjoyed a precious season, and its membership increased to one hundred.  Thomas Hansford was its first pastor.”

(A History of Kentucky Baptists, Vol. I, by J. H. Spencer, p. 418.)

Martha Irving Jasper was born circa 1780, and died in 1843.

 

Nicholas and Elizabeth Wyatt Jasper’s Children

(1). John Jasper.  He was born February 5, 1768, before they moved to South Carolina.  He was named for his grandfather.  He did not marry Rebecca McWhorter, but Rebecca Hames, daughter of Charles and Catherine Krugg Hames, circa 1791, in South Carolina.  She was born July 5, 1776.

Three of the letters he wrote to South Carolina were preserved.   He wrote a letter from Pulaski County, Kentucky, to his wife’s parents, Charles and Catherine Krugg Hames, August 22, 1802.  It was a spiritual letter in which he refers to: “walking humbly with thy God”.  He speaks of “sinners coming to Christ”.  He wants to be remembered to his relations and acquaintances.  The letter was signed “Your Loving Son and Daughter till Death–John and Rebecca Jasper”.

Another letter was written to his brother-in-law, Edmond Hames, from Somerset, Kentucky, on October 7, 1834.  He speaks of the possibility of Edmond’s coming to visit them “in the country”.  He writes about the “religious awakening” in their area.  It was signed “John Jasper”.

He wrote again to Edmond and his wife.  He wants to know if Daniel Mabry has ever returned.  Speaks again of the “revival of religion” and states that if they never see each other again, “we shall meet in a better land”.  He signed the letter, “Your affectionate brother until death—John Jasper.”

(Copy of letters sent to Robert A. Ivey by Loubeth Hames, State University, Arkansas, 1981.)

 

They had at least eight children, five sons and three daughters.  His wife died in Pulaski County before her husband.  He died April 28, 1849, also in Pulaski County, Kentucky.  They were buried in the Sinking Creek Baptist Church Cemetery.

(2). Elizabeth Jasper.  She was born in South Carolina, January 13, 1772.  She was named for her father’s sister.  She married John Chesney, son of Robert and Elizabeth Purdy Chesney, on August 26, 1791.  He was born in Dunclug, County Antrim, Ireland, on March 17, 1769.  He was the brother of the noted Tory, Capt. Alexander Chesney.

“Robert Chesney Sr. for love, good will and affection to my son, John Chesney of Union County, 50 acres with the use of my household furniture as long as I now live, also a bay mare, two cows and calves, two cows with calf, also all the labouring utensels as ploughs, hoes, axes, etc. 4 August 1791.”

(Union County, S. C., Deed Book C, p. 23.)

 

John wrote the following and had it recorded in Miscellaneous Records: “In consequence of my father, Robert Chesney, leaving me by deed of gift his remaining landed property and also several horses, cows, calves, etc. I do promise to support him in his old age…August 4, 1791.”  It was witnessed by John Haile and recorded March 2, 1793.

(Miscellaneous Record Book 1-2, pp. 142-143.)

 

They moved to Kentucky in 1796.  His father and mother stayed in Union District, S. C.  John and Elizabeth had eight daughters and four sons.  Two of the children were born in South Carolina.  Elizabeth died March 7, 1816, in Pulaski County, Kentucky.

After the death of his wife, Elizabeth Jasper, he married Elizabeth Roseau.  He died in September of 1840, in Pulaski County, Kentucky.

(3). Andrew Jasper.  He was named for his grandfather, John Andrew Jasper.  He was born circa 1774, in South Carolina.  He married Martha Cowan circa 1794, in South Carolina.  She was born circa 1778.

He was in Capt. Dollerhide’s 3rd Company, Renick’s Battalion, September 18, 1812, in the Kentucky Mounted Militia.

(RootsWeb’s WorldConnect Project: Pioneers of Benton County, Oregon—Andrew Jasper.)

 

He and Martha had eight sons and one daughter.  She died before 1836.

He next married Elsey  ?   before 1836.  She was born circa 1808.  They had two sons.  She died before 1845.  His third wife was Elizabeth Trimble.  She was born circa 1807.  They married January 8, 1845.  He died circa 1858, in DeKalb County, Missouri.

(4). Mary Jasper.  She was born April 2, 1777, in South Carolina.  She was named for her father’s sister and her grandmother, Mary Herrington Jasper.  She married William Spears, son of William and Delilah  ?  Spears, in Stanford, Lincoln County, Kentucky, October 1, 1798.

He was born June 28, 1774, in North Carolina.  They had six sons and six daughters.  He died January 16, 1838, and she died September 24, 1838.  Both died in Somerset, Pulaski County, Kentucky.

(5). Achilles Jasper.  He was born circa 1779, in South Carolina.  He married Sally Paine in Pulaski County, Kentucky, circa 1810.

He and Sally had four daughters and three sons.

He emigrated to Hinds County, Mississippi, where he died in 1855.

(6). Sarah Jasper.  She was born in South Carolina in 1782.  She married William Hargrove on February 7, 1799, in Lincoln County, Kentucky.  He was born in 1773, in Pulaski County, Kentucky.

He fought as a captain under General William Henry Harrison in his campaign against the Indians in the autumn of 1811, at the Battle of Tippecanoe, which terminated in the overthrow of the Confederacy and the destruction of the Prophets’ Town.

(The Battle of Tippecanoe, Chapter XI, Roll of Companies, p. 1–Internet.)

 

They had five sons and four daughters.  They both died in 1846, and were buried in Columbia Township, Gibson County, Indiana, in the Hargrove Cemetery.

(7). Rachel Jasper.  She was named for her father’s sister.  She was born in South Carolina in 1785.  She married Thomas Hinton in Pulaski County, Kentucky, on April 7, 1810.  He was born circa 1780.  She died on August 9, 1810, in Pulaski County.

(8).  Nicholas Jasper.  He was born in South Carolina on 1786.  He was named for his father.   He married Polly Ann  ?  in Pulaski County, Kentucky.

(9). Abraham Jasper.  He was born in South Carolina on February 6, 1789.  He was named for his father’s brother.  He married Elizabeth Baker, daughter of Jacob and Annie Turner Baker, on September 19, 1808, in Pulaski County, Kentucky.  She was born May 31, 1791, in Madison County, Kentucky.

They had eight sons and four daughters.  He died in 1860, at Sommerset, Pulaski County, Kentucky, and his wife died in Somerset in 1863.

(10). Thomas Jasper was born August 21, 1792, in South Carolina.

“Thomas Jasper bore his part as a brave soldier in the company commanded by Captain Harry James.  He was at the Battle of the Thames, when Tecumseh lost his life, also at the Siege of Fort Harrison and witnessed the fight on Lake Erie when Commodore Perry destroyed the British fleet, September 10, 1813.”

(A Sketch of Nicholas Jasper, Pioneer of Pulaski County, Kentucky, by Wiliam J. Moore, p. 2—Internet.)

 

He married Elizabeth Betsy Denham in Pulaski County, Kentucky.  She was born September 9, 1796.  They were married January 17, 1817. Thomas later became a Colonel in the Kentucky Militia.

(Pulaski County, Kentucky, Fact Book II, Chapter 9, Biographical Sketches, p. 2–Internet.)

 

They had three sons and two daughters.  One of their sons, Francis Marion Jasper, was named by his grandfather for his old commander during the American Revolution War and was a physician in Jessamine County, Kentucky.

(Obituary of Dr. Francis Marion Jasper, in the Nicholasville Democarat, Nicholasville, Kentucky, July 8, 1892.)

 

He was elected a Representative of Pulaski County in the Legislatures of 1833, 1834 and 1835.

(Pulaski County Kentucky, Fact Book II, Chapter 9, Biographical Sketches, p. 2—Internet.)

 

He died in Pulaski County, Kentucky, in July 1838.  His wife died in Pulaski County, Kentucky, January 9, 1866.

2.  John Jasper, Jr. was born June 18, 1746.  He married Susannah McElfresh from Hagerstown, Washington County, Maryland.  She was born circa 1750, and was named for her mother.

Her parents were Richard and Susannah Green McElfresh.  They were married circa 1745, in Montgomery County, Maryland.  Richard was born on June 28, 1724, at All Hallows Parish, Anne Arundel, Maryland, and died in February of 1808, in Fayette County, Pennsylvania.

Susannah was born on September 6, 1723, in St. Paul’s Parish, Baltimore, Maryland, and died in 1810, in Fayette County, Pennsylvania.

Richard was the son of David Jr. and Mary Alice Leeke.  David Jr. was the son of David Sr. and Alice Jones.

(Richard McElfresh Family History Wiki and Susannah Green Family History Wiki—Internet; The Third Generation; Richard McElfresh (1724-1808), Beginnings of Western Migration by Charles E. Moylan—Internet.)

 

John Jasper Jr. and Susannah McElfesh Jasper lived for several years in Augusta County, Virginia, before moving to South Carolina.  They lived in Virginia during the Revolutionary War years.

Kentucky records state that John was a Patriot soldier in the war, but the writer lacks Virginia sources to confirm this.

John Jr. remained in Augusta County, Virginia, when his father and mother moved to lands on the Pacolet River in South Carolina, and farmed his father’s land there.

He wrote to his father and mother on the Pacolet River in 1786, while he was living in Augusta County, Virginia.  In the letter he indicated his appreciation to “God and His mercies which we daily receive”.  He talked about the loss of his shop, tools, wagon and saddle by fire.

He expressed “Thanks to God” that he now had a better shop and  bellows.  He may have been a blacksmith like his father.

(Copy of letter to John and Mary Herrington Jasper by John Jasper Jr. sent to Robert A. Ivey by Loubeth Hames, State University, Arkansas, 1981.)

 

John Jr. and his wife, Susannah, moved to South Carolina circa 1788.  He seemed to be close to his father and mother.  His mother lived with him after her husband died.

When the other children went to court to have the will broken, he took no part in the litigation but sided with his mother.  She expressed her appreciation by deeding all of her property and household furnishings to her son, John Jr.

When his father’s property was sold by the sheriff, John Jr. purchased the lands.

John Jr. made his will on August 11, 1805.  In his will he left his wearing apparel to his brother, Nicholas.  He left his rifle to John Jasper, son of Nicholas.  He left the remainder of his estate to his wife, Susannah.  He called her “Sukie”.

One of his slaves called Jack, he left to his nephew, John George, at his wife’s decease.  John George was the son of John and Elizabeth Jasper George.  It was his desire to allow his slaves, Ann, Peter and George to be taught to read.

Ann was to be liberated at age 18, and the boys were to be liberated at age 21.  There is no indication that his wife ever set them free, but sold them to Edmund Hames.  She did not abide by terms of her husband’s will to free Anny, Peter and George.

His wife was to “maintain and support his mother”.  “Sukie” was to be the executrix of his will.  The will was recorded May 16, 1811.

(Union County, S. C. Will Book A, pp. 171-172.)

 

Susannah wrote two wills.  The first was never recorded.

(a). The first will was written August 23, 1820.  Funeral expenses were to be paid out of the estate.  Sukie requested that they bury her beside her husband.  Graves were to be enclosed with stone wall.

Nancy (McElfresh) Bright, her sister, was to have $300.00.  Sister, Massy (McElfresh) Fitch was to have $100.00.  Molley (McElfresh) Foster, sister, was to have $100.00.  Sister-in-law, Nancy Moseley, was to have $100.00.  Sophia Gault, daughter of Henry Gault, was to have $100.00.  Niece, Sukey Hames, was to have $100.00.

John Martin was to have $75.00.  Robert Martin was to have $75.00.  John Fitch was to have my “big walnut chest”.

Edmund Hames to have “all my land except one acre for the family burying ground”.  He married Nancy Foster, Susannah’s niece.

Edmund Hames was the son of Charles and Catherine Krugg Hames.  His wife was the daughter of John and Mary (Mollie) McElfresh Foster.  They had four children, two daughters and two sons.

Edmund was born February 18, 1777 and died October 21, 1840.  Nancy was born in Hagerstown, Maryland, in 1774, and died July 17, 1867.  They were buried in the Hames—Gault Cemetery near Flat Rock, Union District, S. C.

Henry Farnandis Sr. was to have the privilege of purchasing her slaves for $5,000.00.  Slaves listed: Letty, Anny, Peter, George, Judy, Beckey, Daniel, Ben, James Lucindy and Cassey.  Slaves: Anny, Letty and Judy to have my wearing apparel and other slaves to have suit of clothes from estate.  “This I give them (my slaves) for their great attention to me.”

Rest of estate to go toward building a School House for the poor children.  Abraham Nott and Henry Farnandis were to serve as executors of will.  Will not recorded.

(Copy of first will sent to Robert A. Ivey by Loubeth Hames, State University, Arkansas, 1981.)

 

Nancy McElfresh Bright was the sister of Sukie McElfresh Jasper.  Mollie Foster and Massey Fitch were also Sukie’s sisters.  Mary (Mollie) McElfresh Foster, was the wife of John Foster.  Massey McElfresh Fitch was the wife of John Fitch.

(Copy of material sent to Robert A. Ivey by Loubeth Hames, State University, Arkansas, 1981.)

 

Nancy McElfresh Bright married Thomas Bright.  They were living in Sullivan County, Tennessee, when she wrote to John Jasper Jr., May 9, 1805.

Nancy speaks of John Jr. writing a letter telling them that they had found a church, but she says he neglected to tell them what denomination.   “We hope to meet you in heaven where we shall part no more.”

“Four of our daughters are married: namely Polly, Rachel, James and Sucky.  They have moved to the state of Kentucky (and live) in Livingston County, nearly four hundred miles from us.  Last November our little son, Toney, died with fever.  Living with us are: Jasper, Betsey, Nancy, Anna and Michael.  John Fitch is living within one mile distance from us and is well.”  Thomas and Nancy Bright lived at Bluntville, Tennessee.

There were only a few Churches in the Grindal Shoals area at the time.  John Jasper Jr.’s letter appears to have been written to Thomas and Nancy Bright in December of 1803.

(Copy of letter sent to Robert A. Ivey by Loubeth Hames, State University, Arkansas, 1981.)

 

At this time there was in the Grindal Shoals area: the Sims-Marchbanks Meeting House, the Flat Rock Meeting House, the Fairforest Presbyterian Church, the Fairforest Baptist Church, the Scull Shoals Baptist Church and the Goucher Baptist Church.  Several denominations met in the Meetinghouses usually Baptists, Methodists and Presbyterians.

Gilead Baptist Church was constituted September 27, 1804, near what later became Jonesville, S. C.  A part of the James Moseley family had connections with the Gilead Baptist Church.  At first the Gilead Baptist Church served the Grindal Shoals community.

(Records of Church Clerk, Gilead Baptist Church.)

 

Nancy Anna Moseley was John Jasper Jr.’s sister and wife of James Moseley.  She was Sukie’s sister-in-law.

Sophia Gault was the daughter of Henry and Mary (Polly) Foster Gault.  Mary, her mother, was the daughter of John and Mary (Mollie) McElfresh Foster.

Sukie Hames, Susannah Jasper’s niece, was probably the daughter of Charles and Martha ?  Hames.  Martha could possibly have been a daughter of John and Mary (Mollie) Foster, but the writer lacks decided proof.  There was a Susannah Hames, daughter of Charles and Martha, and she seems to be the only Susannah Hames in the Charles and Catherine Krugg Hames family.

The writer has been unable to find a family connection between Sukie Jasper, widow of John Jasper Jr., and John Martin and Robert Martin.

(Copy of materials sent to Robert A. Ivey by Loubeth Hames, State University, Arkansas, 1981.)

The following is a copy of a deed from Susannah Jasper to Edmund Hames:  “Susannah Jasper of district (Union) aforesaid for love and affection for my friend Edmund Hames and for $2000.00, one negro woman named Letty aged 40, another named Anny aged 22, a negro boy named Peter aged 20, another boy named George aged 18, another girl named Judy aged 15, another girl named Rebecca aged 8, another boy named Daniel aged 6, another one named Ben aged 5, another boy named James aged 4, another girl named Lucinda aged 3, another girl named Cassey, aged one, 4 Feb. 1821.”  Susannah Jasper.

Wit: Joseph Gault, Charles Gault, William W. Johnson.  Proved by the oath of Charles Gault, 4 Feb. 1822, before J. Rogers, Q. U.”

(Recorded 4 Feb 1822, in Union County, S. C., Deed Book Q, pp. 420-421.)

 

Susannah Jasper confirmed the sale of her slaves to Edmund Hames in the publishing of her final will.

(b). Sukie’s next and final will was written August 15, 1823.  She requested that she be buried in a Christian manner and that all her debts be paid.  Left 155 acres of land to Edmond Hames.  Rest of land (one hundred acres more or less, stocks, household furniture, etc. to be sold and money to be equally divided between my two sisters, Mollie Foster and Massey Fitch.  “I bequeath unto Edmond Hames the twelve following negroes—Let, Anne, Peter, George, Jude, Beck, Daniel, Ben, Linda, James, Cassey and Lila.”

“I give the negroe Jack or the amount for which he has been sold unto the children of John George in case of his death before mine.   If John George is living, then the said negroe or his value goes to him under the will of my husband.

Sisters, Mollie and Massey, to have one dress each.  Rest of wearing apparel to be divided equally among the above mentioned negroes.  Isaac J. Foster and Edmund Hames are to serve as my executors.”

(Recorded in Union County, S. C., Will Book B, pp. 139-140, May 25, 1829.)

 

John Jasper Jr., son of John and Mary Herrington Jasper, died in Union County, S. C., in 1811, and his wife, Susannah McElfresh Jasper, died in Union County, S. C., in 1829.  They were buried in the Jasper Cemetery near Sandy Run Creek.  Mary Herrington Jasper, John Jr.’s mother, died shortly after her son, and was probably buried beside her husband in the Jasper Cemetery.

4. Mary Jasper.  She was born March 13, 1748.  She married John McWhorter Jr., son of John and Eleanor Brevard McWhorter, circa 1766.  He was born in 1749, in Albemarle County, Virginia.

In Union County, S. C., Deed Abstracts Book B, pp. 409-412, is found proof that John McWhorter Jr. married Mary Jasper.  Mary signed the deed when her husband, John Jr., sold 121 acres of land to her father, John Jasper Sr., on August 13, 1781.

John Jr. did not marry Elizabeth Jasper as some have claimed.  Elizabeth married John George.  Elizabeth was the name of John McWhorter Jr.’s second wife.

John McWhorter Jr.’s father, John, was born in Ireland on April 28, 1720.  He gave an acre of his land on or near Rockfish River to construct the Presbyterian Meetinghouse.  He died in 1757, and his wife, Eleanor, and son, James, sold his remaining land in Albemarle County, Virginia, in 1758.

Eleanor remained in Albemarle County after the death of her husband.  Her oldest son, James, died there in 1763, unmarried.

That part of Albemarle County in which the McWhorters settled became part of Amherst County in 1761, and is now Nelson County, Virginia.  Albemarle and Augusta counties joined each other.

In 1766, Eleanor received a grant of land on both sides of Pacolet River in what later became South Carolina.  Eleanor brought her remaining family to the Pacolet River grant in 1767-1768.

Robert McWhorter married Sarah ? circa 1759; John Jr. married Mary Jasper circa 1765; Sarah was not married; and George had not yet married.

Sarah McWhorter married John Portman Jr., son of John Portman Sr., in 1770, in what was then regarded as Mecklenburg County, North Carolina.

She and her husband were both born in 1750.  The Portman’s emigrated from Pennsylvania to Mecklenburg County, N. C. (later South Carolina) in the latter 1760s.

John Portman Jr. and his wife, Sarah McWhorter, had three children: George, John III and Margaret Portman, all born in Union District, S. C.

John Portman Jr. was a Patriot soldier in the American Revolutionary War.  Dr. Bobby Moss in his book on South Carolina Patriots, p. 780, states: “He served as a horseman in the militia under Col. John Thomas from 1 November 1780 to September 1781.”

In the book, A History of Kentucky Baptists, Vol. II, by J. H. Spencer, p. 583, he states: “John Portman Jr., son of a Venerable Patriarch, was a soldier in the Revolutionary War, and fought in the battle of Kings Mountain.”

John Portman Jr. and his father, John Sr., moved to Kentucky with the Nicholas Jaspers and the John McWhorters (his brother-in-law) in 1796.  His father died in Christian County, Kentucky, in 1799.  Date of death of John Portman Jr. and his wife, Sarah, is not known to this writer.

John Jr.’s son, John III, moved to Mississippi, where he died circa 1855.  His son, George, married Patsy Riffe on April 11, 1803, in Lincoln County, Kentucky.  George and Patsy had a son, Jesse Coffee Portman, who was a popular Baptist preacher in Kentucky.  George died in Casey County, Kentucky on June 12, 1857.

(A History of Kentucky Baptists, Vol. II, by J. H. Spencer, p. 583.)

 

John Jr.’s daughter, Margaret, married Samuel Simpson on November 9, 1802, in Lincoln County, Kentucky.

Robert McWhorter and Sarah ? had one child, James Robert McWhorter, born circa 1760.  James was born near the Rockfish River, in Albemarle County, Virginia.

Robert was a private in the French and Indian War and received a Land Grant Certificate for land in Albemarle County, Virginia.  He was administrator of his brother, James’ estate, in March of 1763.

(Family Tree Maker.com—Descendants of Hugh McWhorter.)

 

He moved with his mother, Eleanor, to her Pacolet River lands in Mecklenburg County, N. C., in 1767.  By 1772, the land became a part of South Carolina.  He purchased 200 acres from John Portman Jr. on both sides of the Pacolet River and sold it to his brother, George, on November 3, 1778.

(Union County, S. C., Deed Abstracts, Vol. I, Deed Books A-F, 1785-1800, by Brent Holcomb, pg. 25.)

 

He received a grant of 500 acres on the south side of Pacolet River on August 19, 1774, and sold it to James Wood of Lawson’s Fork in September of 1774.

(Union County, S. C., Deed Book A, pp. 364-367.)

 

He died in Union District, S. C., before June 14, 1783.  Death of his wife is unknown.  She remained in Union District, S. C., after her husband’s death.

Their son, James Robert, married Winifred Hames, daughter of Charles and Catherine Krugg Hames, in 1779, in Union District, S. C.  She was born April 9, 1762, in Richmond County, Virginia.

He was a Patriot soldier in the American Revolution.   Dr. Bobby Moss in his book, Roster of South Carolina Patriots in the American Revolution, p. 644, states: “After enlisting during 1778, while residing in Union District, he served under Captain John Thompson and Col. James Steen.

In addition, he served under Capt. Nicholas Jasper, Maj. Benjamin Jolly and General Thomas Sumter.  He was in the Battle at Blackstock’s Plantation.  During 1782, he served as a sergeant under Col.

William Farr.”

James and his first wife were constitutional members of Gilead Baptist Church, Union District, S. C., constituted September 27, 1804.  This church is 2.8 miles from the Jerusalem Road and on the left just before entering the Town of Jonesville, S. C.

(A History of the Gilead Baptist Church by Robert A. Ivey, published in 2006, in the Reeves Family Cookbook.)

 

They had four sons and four daughters.  She died in Union District, S. C., on April 3, 1828.

He next married Treacy Coleman, daughter of Robert and Elizabeth Treacy Smith Coleman, circa 1829.  She was born November 29, 1794.

He died in Union District, S. C., October 23, 1842.  His funeral was conducted at the Gilead Baptist Church.  Date of Treacy Coleman McWhorter’s death is not known to this writer.

(Church Clerk Records of Gilead Baptist Church, Jonesville, S. C.)

George McWhorter, son of John and Eleanor Brevard McWhorter, was born February 9, 1752, in St. Anne’s Parish, Albemarle County, Virginia.  He married Elizabeth  ?  , in Union District, S. C., circa 1773.  They had two sons and two daughters born in Union District, S. C.

He had a son, Frank McWhorter, by his slave, Juda, born in Union District, S. C., in 1777.  He sold his property in Union District in 1795, and moved with other members of the McWhorter family to Kentucky in 1796.  He died in Lincoln County, Kentucky, before August 10, 1815.  Date of the death of his wife is not known to this writer.

Eleanor McWhorter had 300 acres on both sides of Pacolet River surveyed for a grant on September 5, 1765.  John Portman Sr. and her son, George McWhorter, were the chain bearers.  She received the grant on September 26, 1766.

(North Carolina Land Grants in South Carolina by Brent Holcomb, p. 90.)

 

John Portman Sr. received a survey for 200 acres on both sides of the Pacolet River on September 3, 1765.

(North Carolina Land Grants in South Carolina by Brent Holcomb, p. 103.)

 

John Portman Jr. received a 200 acre grant on April 27, 1767, on both sides of the Pacolet River that was adjacent to the Widow (Eleanor) McWhorter’s corner.

(North Carolina Land Grants in South Carolina by Brent Holcomb, p.104.)

 

John Kirkconnell received a 200 acre grant on the north side of Pacolet River on April 25, 1771.  It was adjacent to the upper side of John Portman’s land.  John Williams had built a cabin on this land and was living in it at the time.

(North Carolina Land Grants in South Carolina by Brent Holcomb, p.141.)

 

After Sarah McWhorter married John Portman Jr., this opened up the McWhorter and Portman lands for family settlement.  Their friendship with John Kirkconnell also provided other land they could “squat on”.

Mary Jasper McWhorter probably wrote to her family in Augusta or Berkley County, Virginia, to join them on the Pacolet River.  So Abraham Jasper; Nicholas Jasper and Elizabeth Wyatt, his wife; Elizabeth Jasper and her husband, John George; Rachel Jasper and her husband Benjamin Covenhoven; and William Jasper joined her  and her husband, John McWhorter Jr., in 1771.

(Estimated date of their arrival in what later became South Carolina.)

 

At first they all lived on the north side of Pacolet River in what is now Cherokee County, S. C.  All lived on the McWhorter or the Portman grants except Benjamin and Rachel Jasper Covenhoven.  They “squatted” on the Kirkconnell grant possibly living in the cabin that had been constructed by John Williams.

On September 20, 1773, John McWhorter Jr. purchased the grant of 200 acres that John Portman Sr. had received on both sides of the Pacolet River.  Portman received the grant on October 30, 1765, from William Tryon, Governor of North Carolina.

(Union County, S. C., Deed Book A, p.1-3.)

 

John McWhorter Jr. sold 83 acres of this purchase to John George on February 12-13, 1778.  The transaction was witnessed by Adam Potter, Nicholas Jasper and John Portman Sr.

(Union County, S. C., Deed Book A, p. 1-3.)

 

John McWhorter Jr. was a Patriot soldier in the American Revolution.  According to his pension application, which he filed on July 27, 1832, in Casey County, Kentucky (W9560), he served in the following battles or skirmishes:

(1).  He was in the Snow Campaign December of 1775, and probably fought under Col. Thomas Neal of the New Acquisition and Capt. Robert Thomson.

He served at various times under Cols. Thomas Brandon, William Farr and Capt. John Thompson.  Mentions fighting under General Francis Marion.

(2).  He was in the Bush River Campaign in 1781.  This skirmish occurred May 1, in Newberry County, S. C.  Col. John Thomas and his troops killed three Tories and captured a dozen.  They took four wagons of supplies.

(3).  He fought under General Nathanael Green at the Siege of Ninety Six, the latter part of May in 1781.

(4).  Was in the Battle of Bacon’s Bridge.  This bridge was across the Ashley River.

He served as a guard at Wofford’s Iron Works, Cherokee Fort on the Reedy River and Fortainbury Station on Congaree River.  He received a pension.

(Pension Statement in Casey County, Kentucky; South Carolina Patriots in the American Revolutionary War by Dr. Bobby Moss, p. 644.)

 

John Jasper Sr. purchased 121 acres of the tract John McWhorter Jr. had purchased from John Portman Sr. on August 13, 1781.  It was on both sides of the Pacolet River.  It was the land McWhorter was living on at the time on the north side of the river.

(Union County, S. C., Deed Book B, pp. 409-412.)

 

Eleanor McWhorter sold her son, John McWhorter Jr., 100 acres of her grant of 300 acres on the south side of Pacolet River on August 28-29, 1786.  Her grant was received December 20, 1766, and was “deemed to be in Mecklenburg County, North Carolina”.  This was the last listed transaction for Eleanor McWhorter.  She probably died in Union District shortly after this.

(Union County, S. C., Deed Book A, pp. 269-272.)

 

John McWhorter Jr. sold 10 acres of land on the south side of Pacolet River to John George on October 17-18, 1786.  It was from a part of his mother’s original grant.  The transaction was witnessed by Nicholas Jasper, John George Jr., and John Pridmore.

(Union County, S. C., Deed Book A, pp. 332-334.)

 

Charles Hames purchased 100 acres on the south side of Pacolet River from John McWhorter Jr. on September 22, 1788.

(Union County, S. C., Deed Book B, p. 212.)

 

John Jasper Sr. purchased 45 acres on the south side of Pacolet River from his former son-in-law, John McWhorter Jr., on December 28, 1790.  The land was granted to McWhorter on May 3, 1790.  It was part of a grant of 225 acres.  George Wells purchased 180 acres of the grant.

(Union County, S. C., Deed Book B, pp. 408-409; Deed Book C, pp. 229-230.)

 

As John McWhorter Jr. began to make preparations for his move to Kentucky, he sold 300 acres to Joshua Wilborn October 26, 1795.  A portion of this land was a part of the grant to his mother, Eleanor, part was land he had purchased from William Steen and part was from his own grant.  It was signed by John McWhorter Jr. and his second wife, Elizabeth.

(Union County, S. C., Deed Book D, pp. 293-294.)

 

On October 27, 1795, John Jr. sold Cushman Rugles Edson part of two tracts containing 30 acres.  One was a portion of the grant to Eleanor, his mother, and the other was from John McWhorter Jr.’s grant, containing a mill seat on Portman’s Creek.

(Union County, S. C., Deed Book D, p. 309.)

 

He was still living in Union District as late as March 29, 1796.

 

Children of John and Mary Jasper McWhorter Jr.

(a). George McWhorter was born in 1775, in Ninety Six District, South Carolina (later Union District, S. C.).  He married Agnes Anne Simpson, daughter of Reuben and Sarah Sherill Simpson.  She was born January 8, 1773, in Tuttle, North Carolina.

They were married in Lincoln County, Kentucky, on February 23, 1799.  They had three sons and two daughters.  He died in 1840, in Henry County, Tennessee.  She died circa 1855.

(b). Jesse McWhorter.  He was born in Ninety Six District (later Union District, S. C.), circa 1778.  Date of death unknown.

“Jesse never married.  He lived with his brother Robert (half-brother).  He was a soldier in the War of 1812.  He enlisted September 1, 1812.  He served until October 1, 1812, in the company of Captain Henry James, 2nd Regiment Militia.  He was mustered on August 26, 1813, and served until November 9, 1813, in Captain Jesse Coffee’s Company, Kentucky Mounted Militia.

He enlisted on November 10, 1814, and served six months in the Kentucky Detached Militia commanded by Lt. Col. Gabriel Slaughter.  He was captured by Indians and crippled for life when forced to run a gauntlet on ice.”

(RootsWeb’s WorldConnect Project: Goin Family of San Diego—Jesse McWhorter.)

 

(c). James W. McWhorter.  He was born circa 1782, in Ninety Six District (later Union District, S. C.).  He married Nancy Pigg, daughter of William D. and Mary (Polly) Fields Pigg on June 4, 1804, in Lincoln County, Kentucky.

They had three children, two sons and a daughter.  The daughter apparently died in infancy.  Nancy, his wife, died in Clay County, Kentucky in 1810, the year that her daughter died.  James W. McWhorter died in Clay County, Kentucky, before 1815.

Mary Jasper McWhorter, wife of John McWhorter, died circa 1783, in Ninety Six District (later Union District, S. C.).  She was probably buried in a single grave on the McWhorter property.  The Jasper Cemetery had not been established at this time.

 

John McWhorter Jr.’s Second Wife and Family

John McWhorter Jr. was remarried April 14, 1784, in Ninety Six District to Elizabeth McClure.  She was born in 1763, and this was her first marriage.  She was not married to Thomas George as some have asserted.  Thomas married Elizabeth Haney.

John Jr. and Elizabeth had four children born to this union while living in Union District, S. C.  They were:

(a). Sarah, born January 23, 1786, in Union District, S. C.; died, November 15, 1857, Ray Co. Mo.; married, Lewis Pigg, son of William and Mary Fields Pigg, June 21, 1805, Lincoln Co., Ky.  He was born February 8, 1783, in Pittsylvania Co., Va.; died April 15, 1845, Ray Co., Mo.  They had five sons and four daughters.

(b). Elijah, born in 1790, Union District, S. C.; died, circa 1866, in Benge, Clay County, Kentucky; married, Mary Polly Pigg, daughter of William D. and Mary Polly Fields Pigg, on June 13, 1811, in Clay County, Kentucky; died circa 1872, in Benge, Clay County, Kentucky.  They had four sons and six daughters.

(c). William “Buck” Thomas, born July 8, 1791, Union District, S. C.; died July 4, 1877, in Collins, Texas; married Mary E. Moore, August 18, 1819.  She was born September 4, 1798, in Kentucky; died in 1890, in Collins, Texas.  They had five sons and three daughters.

(d). Mary Jensey, born December 20, 1792, Union District, S. C.; died 1844, in Ray County, Missouri; married John Riffe, Casey County, Kentucky, born 1789, in Casey County, Kentucky; died in 1868, in Ray County, Missouri.  Couple buried in Riffe Cemetery, Orick, Ray County, Missouri.  Colonel John Riffe served in Mexican-American War.

John McWhorter Jr. moved his family to Lincoln County, (later Casey County) Kentucky in 1796.  He was granted 150 acres on the south side of Green River about 1½ miles below the mouth of Knob Lick Fork.  It was first surveyed November 17, 1798.  The surveyor was J. Jones, assisted by chainmen, Reubin Simpson and George McWhorter.

(McWhorter Lives and TimesMcWhorter Land Claims in Lincoln County, Kentucky, later Casey County–Internet.)

 

He and his wife, Elizabeth McClure McWhorter, had four more children after moving to Kentucky: Willis, John, Richard and Robert.

(e). Willis McWhorter was born in 1800, in Lincoln County, Kentucky.  He died in Orrick, Ray County, Missouri.

(f). John McWhorter III was born May 11, 1802, in Lincoln County, Kentucky; died September 18, 1866, in Casey County, Kentucky; married Elizabeth Hight, daughter of Patrick and Elizabeth Hight, on June 20, 1825, Casey County, Kentucky.

She was born February 5, 1805, in Lincoln County, Kentucky; died in 1882, in Casey County, Kentucky.  They had four sons and seven daughters.  “Big John” was a wagon maker.

(g). Richard Woodrem McWhorter was born in Middleburg, Casey County, Kentucky, November 3, 1803; died September 10, 1878, in Casey County, Kentucky.  Married Elizabeth M. Sutherland, daughter of Owen Southerland on January 6, 1827, Casey Creek, Adair County, Kentucky.

She was born May 31, 1810, in Lincoln County, Kentucky; died December 28, 1892, Casey Creek, Adair County, Kentucky.  They had seven sons and three daughters.  He served in Civil War as per Muster Rolls of 13th Kentucky Calvary.  Was a farmer and land surveyor.

(h). Robert H. McWhorter was born in Casey County, Kentucky, in 1807; died April 27, 1853, in Casey County, Kentucky.  Married Juliana Royalty Hight in Casey County, Kentucky, on December 30, 1829.  She was born in 1810, in Kentucky; died after 1860.  They had three sons and five daughters.

John McWhorter Jr. died in Middleburg, Casey County, Kentucky, on June 7, 1833.

On January 23, 1839, Elizabeth McClure McWhorter, 76, applied for a widows pension in Clay, Casey County, Kentucky.  She had moved to Ray County, Missouri, when she applied for a transfer of her pension benefits on May 4, 1840.

At the time she was afflicted with palsy which rendered her helpless.  Two of her sons and two of her daughters had moved to Missouri, and she had moved with them so that they could take care of  her.

John McWhorter Jr.’s second wife, Elizabeth, died in Orrick, Ray County, Missouri, on December 2, 1841.

(McWhorter Lives and Times—Elizabeth McWhorter applies for widow’s pension; McWhorter Lives and Times—Elizabeth McWhorter moves to Missouri–Internet.)

 

5. Elizabeth Jasper.  She was born June 7, 1752.  She married John George circa 1767.  The reason there are so many differences in the databases on dates for this couple is the significant error that John George married Mary Jasper.  Mary was older than Elizabeth.  Deed abstracts in Union County, S. C., absolutely prove that John George did not marry Mary Jasper.

Some suggest that John married Mary Elizabeth Jasper, but there was no Mary Elizabeth Jasper for there were two daughters of John Jasper, one named Mary and one named Elizabeth.

It is also difficult to figure out the names of his parents.  William and Mary  ?  George are possibilites.  The estate papers do not list the names of all of William’s children.

Some think that he had sons named John and David and that these two both moved to Union District.  Both of them were Patriot soldiers during the American Revolutionary War and lived in this district.  If there is a connection here then this family is from Lancaster County, Virginia.

(Roster of South Carolina Patriots in the American Revolution by Dr. Bobby Gilmer Moss, p. 351.)

 

John and his wife, Elizabeth Jasper George, moved to the Pacolet River area in 1771.  They had three children:

(a). Mary George was born circa 1768, in Virginia.  She married John Pridmore, son of Theodorus and Mary Hull Pridmore, in Union District, S. C., on February 18, 1785.  He was born circa 1763, in Cranberry, Middlesex, New Jersey.  They had five sons and 10 daughters, all born in Union District.  John served on juries in Union District in 1797-1798, and appraised an estate on October 16, 1799.

They moved to Pickens County, Alabama, with most of their family except Thomas.  He married Nancy Crocker and Mahala Taylor and remained in Union District.  John Pridmore died in Ethelville, Pickens County, Alabama, in 1841, and Mary died there after 1841.

(b). John George was born circa 1770, in Union District, S. C.  He married Sarah Reid, daughter of William H. and Jane Anderson Reid, in 1788, in Union District.  She was born January 23, 1767, in Augusta County, Virginia.  They had three sons and one daughter. He died after 1823, and she died before 1860, in Union District, S. C.

When Sukie Jasper died in 1829, the children of John George received the money from the sale of the slave, Jack, left to John by his uncle, John Jasper Jr.

(Union County, S. C., Will Book B, pp. 139-140.)

 

(c). Thomas George was born circa 1775, in Union District, S. C.  He married Elizabeth Haney.  She was born circa 1780.  She did not marry John McWhorter Jr. as some have said.  They married circa 1808, and had two sons, Thomas Jefferson George and Andrew Jackson George.  She died after 1824, in Union District, and he died in Union District circa 1833.

John George was a Patriot soldier in the American Revolution.  He first enlisted in the Sixth South Carolina Continental Regiment on May 15, 1776.  He served with James (Horseshoe) Robertson, David George and their neighbor, William Henderson.

He was probably recruited by Major William Henderson and served under him and Capt. Alexander Boyce.  Col. Thomas Sumter was commander of the Sixth.

The Sixth Regiment was guarding the coasts when the Battle of Sullivan’s Island was fought on June 28th of 1776.  They fought at the Siege of Savannah where Capt. Alexander Boyce, Sgt. William Jasper and General Casimir Polaski were killed.

(Gamecock, The Life and Campaigns of General Thomas Sumter by Robert D. Bass, pp. 36-37, 48.)

 

David George, John’s brother, was serving in the First Continental Regiment when it surrendered at the Fall of Charleston.  His commander was Col. Charles Pinckney.

After the Fall of Charleston, John George served in the militia under Col. Thomas Brandon.  He attained the rank of sergeant, serving in a calvary unit.

(Roster of South Carolina Patriots in the American Revolution by Dr. Bobby Gilmer Moss, p. 351.)

 

On February 11-12, 1778, John George purchased 83 acres on the north side of Pacolet River from John McWhorter, his brother-in-law, for 300 pounds current money.  It was part of the John Portman Sr. grant of 200 acres.  Witnesses were: Adam Potter, Nicholas Jasper and John Portman Sr.

(Union County, S. C., Deed Book A, pp. 1-3.)

 

William Gault sold 100 acres on the north side of Pacolet River to John George on October 16-17, 1786.  It was the plantation that George was presently living on, a part of the John Portman Sr.  grant.  Witnesses were Nicholas Jasper, John George Jr. and John Pridmore.

(Union County, S. C., Deed Book A, pp. 329-332.)

 

John McWhorter Jr. sold 10 acres of land on the south side of Pacolet River to John George on October 17-18, 1786.  It was part of the grant to his mother, Eleanor McWhorter.

(Union County, S. C., Deed Book A, pp. 332-334.)

 

John George died in 1791.  He wrote his will March 16, 1791, and it was recorded September 6, 1791.

He left his son, John, the plantation, where he now lives, and land adjacent to it.  He left him a ten month old colt.  He left his daughter, Mary, 200 acres on the north side of Pacolet River, which she now possesses.  Also, he left her one sorrel colt, six head of cattle and his loom.

He left his son, Thomas, the plantation “whereon I now live” and one bay horse.  He left his wife, Elizabeth, his gray horse, four calves, one bed and furniture.  He left the rest of his goods and chattles to his son, Thomas, and his wife, Elizabeth.  He appointed his brother-in-law, John Jasper Jr., and his son, John, executors of his estate.

(Union County, S. C., Will Abstracts, 1787-1849, by Brent Holcomb, p. 16.)

Elizabeth Jasper George died after her husband and before the death of her father in 1799.

6.  Rachel Jasper.  She was born November 23, 1754.  She married Benjamin Covenhoven, son of John and Lydia Pridmore Covenhoven, circa 1770.  He was born circa 1752, in Monmouth County, New Jersey.

John was the son of Willmse Kowenhoven and Jacoba Cornelisse Vanderveer.  He was born December 4, 1719, and baptized on April 12, 1719, at the Dutch Reformed Church, Marlboro, Monmouth County, New Jersey.

He and Lydia Pridmore obtained a marriage license on August 14, 1752, at Brunswick, Middlesex County, New Jersey.  They were married August 15, 1752, in New Jersey.  Lydia was the daughter of Jacob Benjamin and Hannah Mellot Pridmore.  She was born in 1727.  They had five sons and four daughters.

The name is also spelled Covenhover and Crownover.

John Covenhoven and Lydia bought 324 acres in Berkley Country, Virginia, June 1772.  In May 1776, they conveyed 43 acres to Benjamin and Rachel Covenhoven.

John Jasper Sr. may possibly have lived on this land for several years thus purchasing it from his son-in law.  His out-of-wedlock son, John Powell, lived in Berkley County, Virginia, and may have been given the land by John Jasper Sr.

John Covenhoven died on March 18, 1778, at Martinsburg, Berkley County, Virginia.  John Jasper Sr., Rachel’s father, witnessed his will, written on February 24, 1778.  Berkley County (now West Virginia) and Frederick County, Virginia, were adjacent to each other.

Berkley County was created in 1772, from the northern third of Frederick County, Virginia.

Lydia Pridmore Covenhoven was remarried to Lt. Richard Prather, son of Col. Thomas Prather Jr. and Elizabeth Claggett, on August 3, 1782, at Hagerstown, Washington County, Maryland.   She died in 1809, in Washington County, Maryland.

Her brother, Theodorous Pridmore, received a grant for 393 acres on the south side of Pacolet River in South Carolina on January 17, 1788.  He married Mary Hull.  She was born in 1733, in Middlesex, New Jersey, and died at Grindal Shoals, S. C., in 1809.  He was born in 1730, and died in Union District, South Carolina, in 1806.  They had sons: John, Theodore, Jonathan and Benjamin.

Rachel and Benjamin came to the Pacolet River section of Carroll Shoals in 1771.  It was then a part of Tryon, North Carolina.  They settled on land that was soon granted to John Kirkconnell on the north side of the river.  They continued to be “squatters” on his land for a number of years.

In 1772, this land was declared to be a part of South Carolina, and in 1773, Carroll Shoals became Grindal Shoals.  It is a part of Cherokee County, S. C., today.

The Second Spartan Regiment was organized in January or February of 1777, and Col. Thomas Brandon was made commander.  Benjamin Covenhoven was elected sergeant of the Regiment and fought under Col. Brandon, Col. William Farr and Major Samuel Otterson.

(Organizational Chart of Second Spartan Regiment–Internet.)

 

His little brother, Daniel, moved to the area and also served as a Patriot soldier.  He was also a member of the Second Spartan Regiment.  He served under Capt. Zachariah Bullock.

He was a substitute for his brother, Benjamin, from March 1, 1779, for four months.  He was in the Battle of Stono Ferry.  After this Daniel enlisted in a Virginia Unit and was at the Siege of Yorktown, Virginia.

(Roster of South Carolina Patriots in the American Revolution by Dr. Bobby Gilmer Moss, p. 206, 221.)

 

Benjamin purchased 200 acres, the Kirkconnell tract on June 26-27, 1788, from Peter Johnson, executor for the estate of John Kirkconnell.  It was described as “the tract that Benjamin Covenhoven now lives on”.

(Union County, S. C., Deed Book B, pp. 169-171,173.)

 

When John and Mary Herrington Jasper came to South Carolina, in 1779, they “squatted” on the same Kirkconnell tract of land that their son-in-law, Benjamin Covenhoven, lived on.

Benjamin was given a grant of 200 acres February 5, 1787, for services rendered as a Patriot soldier.  He sold this land on Little Sandy Run to William Johnstone on March 25, 1791.

(Union County, S. C., Deed Book B, pp. 442-443.)

 

After purchasing the Kirkconnell land that he and John Jasper Sr. had “squatted on”, Benjamin sold 54 acres of the tract to John Jasper Sr. on September 1, 1794.  It was described “as the plantation on which the said John Jasper now lives, including the mill”.

(Union County, S. C., Deed Book C, pp. 387-388.)

 

When John Jasper Sr. wrote his will on September 29, 1799, he made Benjamin Covenhoven one of his executors.  The will was challenged by the family, and Benjamin’s services were not needed.

(Union County, S. C., Will Book A, pp. 119-120.)

 

Apparently, Benjamin reacquired the 54 acres from John Jasper and sold 44 acres of the land “with the mill seat” to Archabald Cathy.

(Union County, S. C., Deed Book H, pp. 360-361.)

 

He sold 156 acres, the remainder of the 200 acres purchased from the John Kirkconnell estate, to Alexander Purdy on October 25, 1800.  The land was on the north side of Pacolet River.

(Union County, S. C., Deed Abstracts, Vol. II, Deed Books G-K, 1800-1811, by Brent Holcomb, p. 124.)

 

Alexander Purdy was the son of William Jr. and Ann Chesney Purdy.  Ann was the sister of Robert Chesney Sr.  William Jr. was the brother of Robert Chesney’s wife, Elizabeth Purdy.

(Journal of Alexander Chesney, Edited by Dr. Bobby Moss, pp. 1-5.)

 

William Jr., son of William and Martha Peden, and his wife, Ann Chesney, daughter of Alexander and Jane Fulton Chesney, along with their children: Hugh, James, Sabala and Mary journeyed to Kentucky with the group that left Grindal Shoals, S. C., in 1796.  They lived in Logan County where William died in 1799.

William and his son, Hugh, owned land in this county in the latter 1790s.  Hugh married Mary Palm in Logan County, Kentucky, February 10, 1799, and Ann married Ambrose Maulding in Logan County in 1801.

(GenForum, Genealogy.com—Purdys in Logan County, Ky. 1790s; RootsWeb’s WorldConnect Project: Abel/Kizer Family tree—William Purdy.)

 

Alexander Purdy remained in Grindal Shoals, S. C., until at least  October 29, 1805, or afterwards, when he sold 50 acres to Jesse Mabry.  This land was part of a tract granted to Robert Chesney Sr. and by him conveyed by deed of gift to his son, John Chesney.

John Chesney sold the land to Alexander Purdy.  The transaction was proved by oath of James Moseley on October 2, 1820, before Davis Goudelock, J. P.

(Union County, S. C., Deed Abstracts, Vol. IV, Deed Books Q-S, 1820-1828, by Brent Holcomb, p. 201.)

 

Benjamin and Rachel Covehoven’s daughter, Lydia, married Robert Chesney Jr. and their son, John, married Elizabeth Chesney, daughter of Robert and Elizabeth Purdy Chesney.

Benjamin Covenhoven was listed in the 1800 Federal Census of Union County, S. C.

Rachel Covehoven married Abel Fike in Pendleton District, Anderson, S. C., in 1805, indicating that the family had moved to this area by the early 1800s.  Annie Covenhoven also married in that district about this time.

In 1810, Benjamin Covenhoven was listed in the Federal Census of Hopkins County, Kentucky.  Abraham Covenhoven married in Illinois on December 2, 1813, thus indicating another move by the family.

Rachel Covenhoven died in St. Clair County, Illinois, in 1814, and her husband died there in 1815.

Benjamin’s brother, Daniel, remained in the Grindal Shoals section of South Carolina, after his brother moved.  He was born in Monmouth County, New Jersey, June 13, 1763, and had married Martha  ?  in Union District, South Carolina, circa 1783.

He served as a substitute for his brother, Benjamin Covenhoven, from March 1, 1779, for four months under Capts. Zachariah Bullock, Joshua Palmer and Cols. William Wofford and John Thomas.  He fought in the Battle of Stono Ferry.

(Roster of South Carolina Patriots in the American Revolution by Dr. Bobby Gilmer Moss, p. 221.)

 

After serving as a Patriot soldier in South Carolina, Daniel served for three months in Virginia, and was in Capt. Cinder’s Company, under Cols. Morgan and Meriwether.  He was at the Siege of Yorktown, Virginia.

Daniel received a pension October 28, 1833, in Union District, S. C. (S32189).

Daniel Covenhoven moved to Pope County, Arkansas, and had his pension transferred in 1840.  They had one son and three daughters.  He died July 29, 1844, and was buried three miles north of Danville, Yell County, Arkansas, in the Spring Creek Cemetery.

(RootsWeb’s WorldConnect Project: Birds of a Feather—Daniel Covenhoven.)

Children Of Benjamin And Rachel Covenhoven

(a). Lydia Covenhoven was born circa 1772, at Carroll Shoals, S. C. (Grindal Shoals—1773).  She married Robert Chesney Jr., son of Robert and Elizabeth Purdy, in 1790, at Grindal Shoals.  He was born September 15, 1766, in Ireland.  He was the brother of the noted loyalist Capt. Alexander Chesney.

(Journal of Capt. Alexander Chesney, Edited by Dr. Bobby Moss, p. 5.)

 

Robert’s brother, William, served as a Patriot soldier in the American Revolution though a mere boy.  He served under Col. Thomas Brandon and lost a horse on one of the Cherokee Indian expeditions.

(Roster of South Carolina Patriots in the American Revolution by Dr. Bobby Gilmer Moss, p. 167.)

 

Robert and Lydia had eight daughters and three sons.  Most of their children were born before they left South Carolina.  They left for Kentucky in 1796, with several other families.  They left Kentucky and moved to St. Clair, Illinois, where Lydia died in 1803.

Robert Chesney, husband of Lydia, moved to Brunswick County, Missouri, where he died November 14, 1845.

(b). John Covenhoven was born October 1, 1774, at Grindal Shoals, S. C.  He married Mary Elizabeth Chesney, daughter of Robert and Elizabeth Purdy Chesney, in January of 1794, in Union District, S. C.  She was born in Union District, S. C., on June 21, 1778.

Their first three children were born at Grindal Shoals, S. C.  “They moved to Buncombe County, North Carolina, then to Hardin County, Kentucky, to Illinois, and later to Arkansas and Texas.”

“He was a hat maker by trade.  He made men’s tall silk hats. He received $20.00 for each hat.”

In 1830, John Covenhoven moved to Texas from Arkansas with his wife, Elizabeth, and one daughter.  He applied for a land grant in May 1835.  His grant was located in Madison County.  Their eleven children preceded them to Texas.

(RootsWeb’s WorldConnect Project: Bennett and Related Families of Texas—John Covenhoven.)

 

“John Covenhoven and his wife, Elizabeth, were an elderly couple living alone.  One day, afraid of dying, they wanted to take communion and lacking the necessary ingredients, they had their servant to brew up some strong coffee and make some cornbread.  This they ate and drank, hoping this would be pleasing in God’s eyes.”

John Covenhoven’s will was dated August 18, 1842.  He died September 8, 1842, at La Grange in Fayette County, Texas.  His wife, Elizabeth, died on April 8, 1844, at La Grange.

(RootsWeb’s World Connect Project: A Wood Family’s Branches and Twigs—John Covenhoven.)

 

(c). William Covenhoven was born circa 1777, in Grindal Shoals, S. C.  The name of his first wife is unknown.  They had four children.

He next married Anna ? .  She was born circa 1802.  They had two sons: John and Giles.  They moved to Louisiana.

(d). Melissa Covenhoven was born circa 1779, in Grindal Shoals, S. C.

(e). Elizabeth Covenhoven was born circa 1781, in Grindal Shoals, S. C.  She married David Cunningham.  He was born circa 1780.   They had a child, John Hamilton Cunningham, born in 1812.  Another database lists Mattias Fulcord as a second husband.

(f). Abraham Covenhoven was born circa 1783, in Grindal Shoals, S. C.  He married Margaret Morrison Walker, born circa 1795. They married December 2, 1813, in Illinois.  They had six sons and four daughters.  He died circa 1857, in Bossier Parish, Louisiana.

(g). Rachel Covenhoven was born in March of 1785.  She married Abel Fike in 1805, in Pendleton District, South Carolina.  He was born April 15, 1777, in Granville County, North Carolina.

They had four sons and one daughter.  Their first two children were born in Pendleton District, Anderson, S. C.  Their third child, John Jasper Fike, was born in Hopkins County, Kentucky.  The last two children were born in St. Clair County, Illinois.

Rachel died in March of 1815, in St. Clair County, Illinois.  After the death of Rachel, Abel Fike, married Nancy Land Covenhoven, widow of her brother, Joseph Covenhoven.

(h). Jesse Covenhoven was born in 1787, in Grindal Shoals, S. C.

(i). Annie Covenhoven was born October 14, 1789, in Grindal Shoals, S. C.  She was married to Samuel Wilson Hillhouse, son of John and Margaret Chambers Hillhouse, in 1804, in Pendleton District, Anderson, S. C.

He was born in Pendleton District, Anderson, S. C., in May of 1780.  They had nine daughters and six sons.

He died November 11, 1849, in Canton, Cherokee County, Georgia, and she died there September 6, 1855.  They lived four miles below Canton, Georgia.

(j). Joseph Covenhoven was born circa 1790, in Grindal Shoals, S. C.  He married Nancy Land, daughter of Moses and Charity Brashear Land, on March 16, 1806, in Pendleton District, Anderson, S. C.

She was born May 22, 1792, in Pendleton District, S. C.  They had one son and one daughter.  He died January 20, 1815, in St. Clair County, Illinois.

Many of the family members died in St. Clair in the early 1800s.  They must have been stricken by a similar disease.

After the death of Joseph Covenhoven and his sister, Rachel, their spouses were married to each other.  Abel Fike married Nancy Land Covenhoven in December of 1815, in St. Clair County, lllinois.

Abel and Nancy had four sons and four daughters.  Abel died February 10, 1852, in Mascoutah, St. Clair County, Illinois, and was buried

in the Fike Cemetery.  Nancy died December 12, 1879, in Warrensburg, Johnson County, Missouri.  She was buried in Macoutah, St. Clair County, Illinois.

7. William Jasper.  He was probably born in Pennsylvania, or Virginia, September 11, 1757.  According to the Nicholas Jasper historical data in Kentucky, the Jaspers were from Wales.

(Obituary of Dr. Francis Marion Jasper, Nicholasville Democrat, Nicholasville, Kentucky, July 8, 1892.)

 

There is one group that insists that he was an Irishman and another group that he was of German descent.

It reminds the writer of an individual frequenting an antique store to purchase just any old pictures so that he could have a grandpa and grandma picture to display.

“Sgt. Jasper came from Ireland, period,” said St. Patrick’s Day Parade committee chairman, Jimmy Ray.

(Savannah NOW: Top Stories, Sgt. Jasper was one of their own, two groups say–Internet.)

 

Retired history professor Fenwick Jones said that Jasper was a German who was naturalized after arriving in the American colonies.  In 1980, the local Savannah German Heritage Society said he was of German ancestry and formally inducted him into the society with a slight name change.

“He was Johann Wilhelm Jasper, according to ship records, the society said.”

(Evidence Shows Jasper Not Irish, Savannah Morning News and Evening Press, Sunday, September 21, 1980.)

 

They seek to present him as being married in Pennsylvania when actually he married a Pennsylvania girl at Mt. Pleasant, S. C., or Sullivan’s Island, S. C., in 1776.

(Article on William Jasper  by Thomas Gamble, Savannah Morning News, Sunday, February 21, 1932.)

 

They make no allowance for his Tory brother.  The Kentucky records call this brother, Abraham, and refer to him as a Tory.  The Peter Horry and Parson Weems book, Life of Francis Marion, pp.53-54, tells of Sgt. Jasper’s visits during the war with this Tory brother.

(Obituary of Dr. Francis Marion Jasper, Nicholasville Democrat, Nicholasville, Kentucky, July 8, 1892.)

 

William Jasper probably came to the Carroll Shoals (later Grindal Shoals) section of South Carolina with his older brothers and sisters in 1771, at the age of fourteen.

This area was later known as Union District, S. C., and is now known as Cherokee County, S. C.

The writer believes that William Jasper quickly made friends with Elijah Clark, who had moved from North Carolina, in 1769, and lived just across the Pacolet River from the Jasper families.

(Notable Women Ancestors, A Biography of Hannah Harrington Clark, by Beverly L. Pack, p. 1, Internet.)

 

Elijah Clark was the son of John Clark Jr. and Mary Gibson Clark. John Clark Jr. was first married to Ann Alston, daughter of John and Mary Clark Alston.   His second wife, Mary, was possibly the daughter of John and Martha Browne Gibson.  His third wife was Martha Nesbit Pickens, widow of Israel Pickens, the brother of Capt. Andrew Pickens and uncle of General Andrew Pickens.  Capt. Andrew Pickens was a captain and commander of the Anson County, North Carolina, Militia, after 1750.

(Pickens Company, Anson County, 1750s, p. 1—Internet; RootsWeb’s WorldConnect Project: The Trask Family—John Clark; World Connect Project: Add Ons to My North Carolina Family—Capt. Andrew Pickens.)

 

Martha and Israel Pickens had two sons and three daughters.  Israel, her husband, died or was killed in 1749, and Martha married John Clark Jr., after the death of his second wife, Mary Gibson Clark, who died in 1757.

(Genealogy.com GenForum: John Clark’s Marriage to Mary Gibson)

 

The Israel Pickens Family and Pickens Origins by E. M. Sharp from Pickens Families of the South, p. 6—Internet; RootsWeb’s World Connect Project: The Trask Family—John Gibson; RootsWeb’s World Connect Project: Xavierdefreitas.ged—William Henry Pickens.)

John and Martha were married circa 1758.  Martha still had three children at home at this time: Samuel, age 15; Rebecca, age 12; and Hannah, age 9.  John and Martha had one son, Gibson Clark, who was born in 1760.  Her children by Israel Pickens were grown when John Clark died circa 1768.

(RootsWeb’s WorldConnect Project: John Clark; Genalogy.com GenForum—John Clark’s Marriage to Mary Gibson and Martha Pickens; Part II: The Early Clarks of Carolina by Douglas C. Tucker, May 1997—Internet.)

 

Elijah, a veteran of the French and Indian wars, married Hannah Harrington, daughter of Thomas and Hanna Haynie Harrington, in 1765.

(Part II, The Early Clarks of Carolina, p. 2, by Douglas C. Tucker, May 1997; RootsWeb’s WorldConnect Project: Raney-1920—Hannah Harrington.)

 

Col. John Clark Jr., an officer in the Anson County, N. C., Militia, sold his Broad River lands to Richard Hughes and moved to the Pacolet River tract January 16, 1753.  He died on the Pacolet River lands circa 1768.

(Upper Broad River Basin Pioneers—1750-1760, by Miles S. Philbeck, 264-D; The Early Clarks of Carolina by Douglas C. Tucker, May 1997, p. 2.)

 

Elijah’s father, John Jr., left an 800 acre tract of land on Pacolet River to him.  John Jr. received the grant March 16, 1751, (SS 586) “On the South side of Broad River on both sides of Pacolet including his improvement.”

(Upper Broad River Basin Pioneers, 1750-1760, by Miles S. Philbeck, 108 E.)

 

Elijah moved to the land left him by his father to take care of his step-mother and his half-brother in 1769.

(Part II, The Early Clarks of Carolina, p. 3, by Douglas C. Tucker, May 1997—Internet.)

 

Martha apparently moved to Cabarrus County, North Carolina, and lived with her son, Samuel, until she was remarried to John Falls.  She left her son, Gibson Clark, with his half-brother, Elijah.

(The Israel Pickens Family and Pickens Origins by E. M. Sharp from Pickens Families of the South, p. 6 & 10; RootsWeb’s World Connect Project: The Davis Family Tree—John Falls.)

 

Samuel, son of Israel and Martha Nesbit Pickens, was a Patriot Soldier in the American Revolutionary War and an officer.  He had a son, Israel, named for his grandfather, who was governor of Alabama.

(History of Alabama and Dictionary of Alabama Biography, Vol. 4, p. 1360, by Thomas McAdory Owen and Maria Bankhead Owen; The Israel Pickens Family and Pickens Origins, by E. M. Sharp from Pickens Families of the South, p. 7.)

 

Elijah’s wife, Hannah Harrington, was first cousin to Charles, Drury and John Harrington who lived between Abington and Gilkie creeks in Ninety Six District (later Union District).

(RootsWeb’s World Connect Project: Raney-1920—Thomas Harrington Sr.; Thomas Harrington Jr.; Charles Harrington Sr.)

 

John and Drury both became Patriot soldiers in the American Revolutionary War.

(Roster of South Carolina Patriots in the American Revolution by Dr. Bobby Gilmer Moss, p. 418.)

 

The writer has no information concerning a possible kinship between the Harringtons and Herringtons.  William Jasper’s mother was Mary Herrington, daughter of Jacob Herrington.

Elijah liked to hunt, fish and trap, and young William Jasper and Elijah’s half brother, Gibson, probably became his partners.

In her book, Hero of Hornet’s Nest, A Biography of Elijah Clark, p. 5, Louise Frederick Hays wrote: “Elijah showed little John, his oldest boy, how to make rabbit traps, and though the child was only five, he was big for his years, and sometimes Elijah took the boy hunting and carried him on his back when the walking became too much for his sturdy little legs.”

The Clark place was on the right side of Pacolet River just off highway 18 from Gaffney, S. C., and across the river in present day Union County, S. C.  The Fernandez Cemetery is located on this land.

Clark began to plan for a caravan to leave the Grindal Shoals area of South Carolina, and journey to Georgia.  Louise Frederick Hays, on page 7, of her book, has Hannah Clark saying, “Thar’s some folks planning to move from around these parts.  Nancy Hart rode by yesterday, while you were out in the swamp and said how she and Benjamin were ready to go and would rather live among the Indians than here whar you had to buy a stamp every time you turn around.”

(Nancy Hart, Revolutionary Heroine, Internet.)

 

This writer believes that young William Jasper joined Clark on his journey to Georgia.  It must have been an interesting experience to have lived in the Carroll Shoals (Grindal Shoals), S. C., community with such people as Elijah and Hannah Clark, Benjamin and Nancy Hart and the Jaspers.

Elijah, his wife, Hannah, four small children and his half-brother, Gibson, left with their friends in September of 1773, and traveled by wagon train to Georgia.

(Notable Women Ancestors, A Biography of Hannah Harrington Clark, by Beverly L. Pack, p. 1, Internet.)

 

Elijah Clark served as a Patriot Soldier in the American Revolution and was an officer.  His brothers, John III, Lewis and his half-brother, Gibson, were also Patriot Soldiers.

(Georgia’s Roster of The Revolution–1920 byLucian Lamar Knight.)

 

John Clark III was wounded at the Battle of Wofford’s Iron Works and carried by Capt. Vardry McBee Sr. to his house where his wife and daughters hurriedly attended to his wounds.  After the war he returned to Vardry McBee Sr.’s home and married his daughter, Rebecca.

(Vardry McBee, Man of Reason In An Age Of Extremes, by Roy McBee Smith, pp. 34-35.)

 

Elijah’s son, John, became a Patriot officer at the age of 16, and later Governor of Georgia.  His son, Gibson, was an attorney and was the first valedictorian of the University of Georgia.

(Anson County, North Carolina, Archives Biographies—Families, Clark—p. 2–Internet; General Elijah Clark Was Father of Gov. John Clark—Internet.)

 

Two years after moving to Georgia, William Jasper was recruited in St. George’s Parish, now Burke County, Georgia, by Captain Bernard Elliott on July 7, 1775, and signed to serve in the Second South Carolina Continental Regiment.  Thomas Gamble wrote: “Jasper, when enlisted, was a member of a Georgia militia company of the Halifax District.”

(Sergeant William Jasper, Georgia Soldier, Enlisted from St. George’s Parish, Savannah Morning News, Sunday, January 24, 1932.)

 

William went immediately to Charleston, S. C., where he began his service under Colonel William Moultrie and Captain Francis Marion.

Capt. Bernard Elliott, in his dairy, wrote: “This Jasper was enlisted by Capt. Elliott of the Grenadiers of the Second Regiment, in Halifax County, Georgia, as a common soldier, but his extraordinary sobriety, his punctuality and readiness in obeying all orders while a private recommended him to his captain as a proper man for a sergeant, accordingly he appointed him to that office in October last, while he had the command of the battery at Fort Johnson.”

At the time of William Jasper’s enlistment, Charleston was still occupied by Royal Governor Lord William Campbell.  “Campbell soon realized that he could no longer reside and govern in safety in Charleston.

In September 1775, he fled Charleston on a British warship and returned to England.  In 1776, during the British attack upon Fort Moultrie, he was wounded by a splinter in the side, while aboard Sir Peter Parker’s flagship, HMS Bristol.  He never fully recovered, and died of its effects two years later.

(Lord William Campbell, Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia—Internet.)

 

Much could be written about young William, but perhaps General Moultrie in his Memoirs of the American Revolution, Vol. II, best describes him: “He was a brave, active, stout, strong, enterprising man, and a very great partisan.”

The Charles Town Gazette, in its first issue after the Battle of Fort Sullivan, gave this account: “In the beginning of the action the flagstaff was shot away, which, being observed by Sergeant Jasper of the Grenadiers, he immediately jumped from one of the embrasures upon the beach, took up the flag, and fixed it on a sponge staff.  With it in his hand he mounted the merlon and notwithstanding the shot flew as thick as hail around him, he leisurely fixed it.”

Thomas Gamble wrote: “In a spirit of utter defiance of the foe Jasper faced them and gave three cheers before he returned to serve the gun with which he had given his full share of punishment to the British ships.”

The Union County, S. C., Museum has a pen staff made from the broken staff of the Fort Sullivan flag recovered by Sgt. William Jasper.

Gamble wrote: “On July 4, 1776, while the Continental Congress was adopting the Declaration of Independence, President Rutledge visited the garrison on Sullivan’s Island to express the thanks of the South Carolina Provincial Congress.  It was on this occasion he took his sword from its scabbard and presented it to Sergeant Jasper.”  “Edward Savage was allowed 70 pounds on 30 May 1777 for a sword in Room (place of) one Given Sergt Jasper.”

(American Revolution Roster Fort Sullivan 1776-1780, Battle of Fort Sullivan, by Georgia Muldrow Gillmer, p. 192.)

 

Thomas Gamble wrote that William Jasper married Mary Wheatley from Pennsylvania in 1776.  They had twins in 1777, and named them William and Elizabeth.

Speaking of Sgt. William Jasper, General Moultrie, in his Memoirs of the American Revolution, Vol. II, pg. 24, wrote: “I had such confidence in him that when I was in the field, I gave him a roving commission and liberty to pick out his men from my brigade.  He seldom would take more than six: he went often out and returned with prisoners before I knew he was gone.

I have known of his catching a party that was looking for him.  He has told me that he could have killed single men several times, but he would not, he would rather let them off.

He went into the British lines at Savannah and delivered himself up as a deserter, complaining at the same time of our ill-usage of him.  He was gladly received (they having heard of his character) and caressed by them.  He stayed eight days, and after informing himself well of their strength, situation, and intentions, he returned to us again; but that game he could not play a second time.”

Bowen in his Life of Lincoln, p. 316, “Mentions a letter from Jasper to General Lincoln ‘ill written and worse spelt’, dated at Purysburg, July 23, 1779, in which he informs General Lincoln that in company with three of the Georgia Continentals he had gone up the river, two days before, hoping to surprise a picket guard.  It turned out, however, to be only a patrolling party from which he had made four prisoners and brought off some negroes, all of whom he had sent to Charleston.”

Mary Wheatley gave birth to a daughter in 1779, but the little girl died.

Alexander Garden, an aid-decamp to Major General Nathanael Greene, wrote in his, Anecdotes of the American Revolutionary War, that Jasper was “a perfect Proteus in his ability to alter his appearance, perpetually entering the camp of the enemy without detection, and invariably returning to his own with soldiers he had seduced or prisoners he had captured.”

In one incident recorded in the April 21, 1779, South Carolina Gazette, “The brave Sergeant Jasper giving new proof of his courage, crossed the Savannah River with another soldier, perhaps Sgt. John Newton, and captured two British officers, Captains Scott and Young.”

A monument was erected at Jasper Spring, Savannah, Georgia, Chatman County, in 1932.  Inscription on the monument reads: “At this spring close by the entrenchment of the British who held Savannah, Sergeant William Jasper and Sergeant John Newton in 1779, effected their heroic rescue of a number of American Patriots who were being taken to Savannah for military trial. These prisoners were under a guard of ten British soldiers.

Sergeants Jasper and Newton had followed them for many miles almost within sight of the British fortifications.  The escort here stacked arms.  Two soldiers guarded the prisoners while the others refreshed themselves at the spring.

Rushing from their concealment in the heavy underbrush, the gallant Americans shot down the two guards, seized the guns, disabled two others of the enemy and made the remainder prisoners.  The rescued patriots were released and armed with the captured guns.  The British prisoners were then marched to the American camp in South Carolina.”

Sergeant John Newton was a son of the Reverend John Newton, a constituent member of the Congaree Baptist Church in South Carolina, and Keziah Dorsett Newton.  His father was also listed as co-pastor of the Charleston Church with the Reverend Oliver Hart in 1779.

Sergeant Newton was taken prisoner at the surrender of Charleston in 1780, and died aboard a British prison ship.

(South Carolina Baptists, 1670-1805, by Leah Townsend, pp. 30, 142-144; Sergeants William Jasper and John Newton, Savannah, Georgia, Specific Veteran Memorials on Waymarking.com—Internet.)

 

From the story, Ordinary Man, Extraordinary Hero; the Story of Sergeant William Jasper (Internet), is recorded the following account of the Siege of Savannah on October 9, 1779:

“A lieutenant Bush carried one of the regimental flags of the 2nd South Carolina into battle that day, supported by Sergeant Jasper.  At the height of the action, Lt. Bush took a wound and transferred his flag to Jasper.

The gallant sergeant rushed forward to plant the flag high on the enemy’s works, but was mortally wounded as he neared the top.  Lt. Bush recovered the flag almost immediately and made another effort to rally the faltering troops into the redoubt, only to fall mortally wounded with the blood-soaked flag beneath him.

Jasper’s wounded body was recovered from the battlefield by members of the 2nd South Carolina Continentals.  He lingered for a few agonizing hours before succumbing to his wounds.

After the battle, Colonel Isaac Hayne recorded the names of those who had died during the assault.  Among the names listed was ‘The Brave Sgt. Jasper’.

That extraordinary display of honor bestowed by Colonel Hayne illustrated the high level of regard Jasper enjoyed among his contemporaries.

Jasper’s remains are thought to lie in an unmarked grave somewhere near the field of battle.  But the exploits of the soldier who possessed a patriot’s heart and a love of liberty have not been forgotten.”

Thomas Gamble wrote: “The state of South Carolina was not unmindful of the service Jasper had given to the American cause.  His widow, Mary Wheatley Jasper, probably then had been married the second time.”

“An ordinance was passed on March 26, 1784, in conformity with an act passed by the General assembly of South Carolina on March 28, 1778, granting to William Jasper, ‘heir at law to Sergeant William Jasper, his heirs and assigns a plantation or tract of land containing 200 acres in the District of Georgetown on the northeast side of the Little Pedee River, on Threadwell Swamp.’”

From the City Gazette and Commercial Daily Advertiser  of Charleston, S. C., August 4, 1819, is found the following obituary of William Jr.:

“Died on Friday the 30th ultimo (error, should be 29th, funeral was on July 30th) in the 42nd year of his age, Mr. William Jasper, the son of the gallant Jasper, who so bravely distinguished himself in the defense of Sullivan’s Island at the attack made upon it by the British naval forces under the command of Sir Peter Parker during our Revolutionary War.

The subject of these remarks was born on Sullivan’s Island in the building, which is now used as an Episcopal Church.  At an early period in life Mr. Jasper left his native state on his travels, in the course of which he visited Sicily, Naples, Palermo, and different parts of Asia.

After several years absence he returned to America, and fixed his residence in the Town of Beaufort, N. C., and during the late war with Great Britain was called upon by the unanimous voice of the citizens of Beaufort to take the command of Fort Hamilton, a trust which at once evinced their confidence in him as a man of courage and high honor.

He was modest and unassuming in his manners, sincere and candid in his friendship, and possessed, as he richly merited, the esteem and confidence of all who knew him.  As a brother he was most affectionate, as a husband kind and endearing.  With a most undaunted spirit he possessed an amiability of temper which gained the approbation of his fellow citizens.

He returned to his native state a few years past, and continuing to practice the virtues, which so eminently distinguished his character, no one lived more beloved than William Jasper.  His widow disconsolately mourns the loss of a tender husband, and his sister, a friend and brother.”

Thomas Gamble in the Savannah Morning News, Sunday, February 21, 1932, wrote: “At the time of the death of William Jasper (1819) Sergt. Jasper’s widow was living on Pinckney street, Charleston, a widow for the second time, she having married Christopher Wagner who died in 1805, and by whom she had a son, Samuel Jasper Wagner, who was a custom house inspector at Charleston.

Sgt. Jasper’s son, William, evidently had not returned to Charleston until after 1813, as his name is not in the city directory for that year, but does appear in the directory for 1816.  His sister, referred to in the obituary notice, was Elizabeth Brown.

Gen. Kershaw refers to her as Elizabeth Martin Jasper—who was then living on Wentworth Street.  This sister survived for many years.  In 1844 an act was passed by the South Carolina legislature to give ‘Elizabeth Brown, the daughter of Sgt. Jasper, for and during the period of her natural life’ a pension of $100 a year, to be paid quarterly, beginning March 1, 1844.  As the act was passed December 18, and made to cover the nine preceding months, it is probable that Elizabeth became a widow early in the year.

Gen. Joseph B. Kershaw, in an address at the centennial celebration of the Battle at Fort Moultrie, stated that Elizabeth Jasper was married three times and had three children, all of whom died young.”

Thomas Gamble appropriately connects Sgt. William Jasper to the Jasper family of South Carolina (Union District), citing the note of John Hames in Georgia Landmarks that Sgt. Jasper was his wife’s brother.  Gamble did not know that Nicholas Jasper was Hames’ brother-in-law or that they both were from the Grindal Shoals, S. C., area.  Nicholas Jasper died in Kentucky and John Hames died in Georgia.

“A monument to William Jasper is located in the center of Madison Square, in Savannah, Georgia.  It was erected in 1888, and is fifteen and one-half feet high and consists of a heroic scale bronze statue of wounded Sgt. Jasper, with sword in hand, raising the flag aloft; the bronze is mounted on a granite-stepped pedestal.  It has four bas relief bronze plaques.

The entire monument is elevated on an earthwork of unknown composition, which is surrounded by benches.  The monument is in memory of Sergeant William Jasper of the Second South Carolina Regiment, who was killed at the Siege of Savannah on 9 October 1779.”

(The Jasper Monument, Savannah, Georgia, Sergeant William Jasper, Brother of Nicholas Jasper, Internet, p. 1.)

 

Eight counties and seven cities and towns throughout the nation are named for this great hero.  The Jasper counties are: Georgia, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Mississippi, Missouri, South Carolina and Texas.  The Jasper cities and towns are: Texas, Alabama, Arkansas, Florida, Tennessee, Georgia and Minnesota.

South Carolina has a county named for him, but the statue at Battery Park in Charleston, S. C., was erected to commemorate all the heroes of the Battle of Fort Sullivan.

There is a county named for Sgt. John Newton in Georgia but none in South Carolina, his native state.

(Unpublished article of William Jasper by Robert S. Davis Jr., Jasper, Georgia; William Jasper, Wikipedia, Internet.)

 

There are many who claim that all references in the Weems-Horry book concerning William Jasper are simply from the imagination of  Weems.  This writer contends that this is not true.

There are those who have contended that the Tory brother is an imagination of Weems, but the historical data from Kentucky disproves this for they even give the Tory’s name.  He was called Abraham in these sources.

(Obituary of Dr. Francis Marion Jasper, Nicholasville Democrat, Nicholasville, Kentucky, July 8, 1892.)

 

Robert S. Davis, Jr. of Jasper, Georgia, in his unpublished article on William Jasper, has made a statement that is troubling to this writer.  He wrote: “Despite contemporary claims of his heroism in battle, however, these honors were bestowed on this Georgian more because of a work of historical fiction than on his real exploits.”

It is true that Weems “furnished up the stories a bit”.  But historical fiction in those days was usually based on true stories or true accounts of events.

Most of this writer’s references to William Jasper have been taken from other sources and not the Weems-Horry source to show that he was indeed “The Brave Sgt. Jasper”.

Apparently, his son, William Jr. had no children, and the children of his daughter, Elizabeth, died young.  South Carolina should be proud of the part she has played in the young man’s life, and Union and Cherokee counties should be glad to reflect on the two years that he lived in our midst as a young man preparing with Elijah Clark to be Patriot soldiers.

8. Hannah Jasper.  She was born April 12, 1759.  She married William Cheney, son of Jeremiah and Naomi Twigg Cheney of Hagerstown, Maryland.

Jeremiah Cheney was a son of Charles and Mary Powell Cheney, of

Anne Arundel County, Maryland, and Naomi Twigg was a daughter of Robert and Hannah Leseure Twigg of Frederick County, Maryland.

William was Jeremiah and Naomi’s oldest child and was born April 20, 1754.  He had five brothers and six sisters.

They lived at Middleton, Frederick County, Maryland.  William replied to a letter that John Jasper Jr. had sent to them on January 12, 1804.  His letter was written on April 15, 1804.  It was addressed to Brother, & Sister and Mother.

The letter basically deals with a possible settlement of Hannah’s father’s estate.  John had requested that they come to South Carolina in October.  William wrote: “It may be that one of us may come at your request next October but if not carry on the business as though we were there.”

Hannah wrote a letter to her brother, John, on November 14, 1804, and told of her husband’s very sudden death the first of September, 1804.  She stated that her husband had left no will and that his father was giving her only a third of the estate.  She hoped that there was a possibility of getting her part of their father’s estate.

(Copy of letters sent to Robert A. Ivey by Loubeth Hames, State University, Arkansas, 1981.)

 

Hannah died after November of 1804.  They were both buried in Frederick County, Maryland, and apparently had no children.

9. Nancy Anna Jasper.  She was born March 3, 1763.  She married James Thomas Moseley, son of John and Ann Abernathy Moseley, in 1781, before the Revolutionary War was officially over.  He was born December 24, 1756, in Brunswick County, Virginia.

A John Moseley Jr. was born in Middlesex County, Virginia, in 1727.   He married Ann Williams in 1751, in Goochland County, Virginia.  She was born in Goochland County, Virginia, in 1733.  She died before March 2, 1774, in Warren County, North Carolina.  John Jr. died in Warren County, North Carolina, in 1795. 

They also had a son, James (Jurist), who married Frances Colclough.  He died in Warren County, North Carolina, in 1806.  This John and Ann were not James (High Key) Moseley’s parents. 

John Moseley, father of James (High Key) Moseley, was probably the son of George and Hannah Hartwell Moseley.  He was born in Brunswick County, Virginia, circa 1737, and married Ann Abernathy, daughter of David and Ann Liles Abernathy.  She was born circa 1735.  The writer has records of only three known children: James, Elizabeth and Baxter.

George Moseley was born circa 1700.  He married Hannah Hartwell, born circa 1720.  He lived on the side of Fountain Creek in Meherrin Parish, Brunswick County, Virginia.  He died July 7, 1758, in Brunswick County, Virginia.  They had three sons and three daughters.  After the death of George, Hannah married Sylvanus Stoker Stokes before 1762.  Sylvanus was born circa 1710.

David Abernathy was born circa 1710.  He married Ann Liles in 1730.  She was born circa 1714.  They had eight sons and four daughters.  He died in Dinwiddie County, Virginia, in 1783.

In the book, A History Of the Upper Country of South Carolina, Vol. II, p. 39, by John H. Logan, the following story concerning James (High Key) Moseley and John, his father, is given: “He came originally from Virginia, and settled first on the headwaters of the Yadkin, at the foot of Yellow Mountain.

He was then 14 years of age (1770).  Here he was associated for a time with the celebrated Daniel Boone and was preparing to join him in the expedition to Kentucky, when he was prevented by his father (John) on the plea of youth.”

John and Ann Abernathy Moseley had moved their family to the Grindal Shoals section of Union District, S. C., before April 2, 1774.

He purchased a tract of 190 acres of land in Ninety Six District, South Carolina, from James and Sarah Mason Huey shortly after moving to South Carolina.  This was part of a tract of 600 acres granted to John Clark, father of Colonel Elijah Clark, on September 3, 1752.

(Union County, S. C., Deed Book A, pp. 322-323; Deed Book E, pp. 107-111.)

 

John Moseley sold this land in 1776, and moved his family to Chester County, S. C., the latter part of that year or in 1777.  His son, James, had already joined the Spartan Regiment.  They must have returned to Union District circa 1780.  In his pension application James wrote: “I lived in Union District and in York District (Chester) at the time of my services.”

(James Moseley’s Pension Application—S9421.)

 

Ann Abernathy Moseley, James (High Key) Moseley’s mother, was living in Union District, S. C., January 26, 1790, when she gave her son, Baxter Moseley, power of attorney, “ to Ask, Demand, Recover or Receive all my Right of Legacy of my Father David Abernathy’s Estate, lately deceased in Dinwiddie County in Virginia.”

(Library of Virginia Accession No. 21440; Author–Abernathy Family; Title– Papers, 1768-1845—Margaret Ogilvie.)

 

Ann, wife of John, and her son, James (High Key) Moseley, acknowledged the sale of 190 acres to James Mabry by John and Ann Moseley on January 9, 1776.

The land was on the south side of Pacolet River and on both sides of Mill Creek.  “Ann Moseley acknowledged the deed in Union County and stated that she saw her husband John Moseley sign the same, and James Moseley acknowledged that he believes the within to be his father John Moseley’s writing, 10 July 1797.”  This indicates that John was deceased possibly before 1797.  His wife, Ann, was still living at this time.

(Union County, S. C., Deed Book E, pp. 107-111.)

 

James (High Key) Moseley, in his pension application (S9421), before Judge J. B. O’Neall, on October 10, 1832, states that he entered the service in the then Ninety-Six District in that part of it now called Union, in the month of June 1776, in Captain (Zachariah) Bullock’s Company in Colonel John Thomas Regiment under General (Andrew) Williamson, as a volunteer to fight the Cherokee Indians.

The Spartan Regiment of Militia was established September 1775 with Col. John Thomas as Commander.  Capt. Zachariah Bullock, a soldier in this regiment, lived very close to James Moseley and probably recruited him.

They fought at Lyndley’s Fort on July 15, 1776; Seneca Town on August 1, 1776; Cherokee Towns on August 8-11, 1776; Tamassee on August 12, 1776; participated in the Ring Fight on August 12, 1776; and were at Coweecho River, North Carolina, on September 19, 1776.

(The Spartan Regiment of Militia, established in September 1775, Commander, Col. John Thomas Sr.—Internet.)

 

The records are strangely silent about his services in 1780.  He did receive pay for services rendered while serving under Col. Thomas Brandon.

“He served under General Thomas Sumter in 1781, and fought with him at the Battle of Fort Granby, February 9th.   He stated that in March 1781, he served in Col. Thomas Gill’s Company, Col. Edward Lacey’s Regiment, commanded by General Thomas Sumter.

He was at the Battle of Orangeburg, May 10, 1781.  He states that he was with Sumter at the destroying of a Fort on the Eastside of Cooper River, nearly opposite Monks Corner, and several other light engagements.”

(Pension statement S9421.)

 

“He was sent from the High Hills by Thomas Sumter to Col. Thomas Taylor of Columbia, with a valuable express.  Taylor’s cabin stood on the high hill that (since) overlooked the waterworks and much of the valley of the Broad River.  He says that Taylor was sitting at a table when he walked in, his sword by his side.”

(A History of the Upper Country of South Carolina, Vol. II, p. 39, by John H. Logan.)

 

In May of 1782, he served a month’s tour at Orangeburg in Captain John Thomson’s Company and Col. William Farr’s Regiment, commanded by General Thomas Sumter.  In September, he marched in Capt. John Thomson’s Company, under Lieutenant Francis Lattimore, Col. Farr’s Regiment, commanded by General Francis Pickens, against the Cherokee Indians.

In his pension application he states: “Under General Sumter, I was frequently with Colonel (William) Washington and  (Col. Henry ‘Light Horse Harry’) Lee before (Col. William) Washington was taken prisoner at the Battle of Eutaw Springs.”

(Pension statement S9421.)

 

The Reverend J. D. Bailey in his book, History of Grindal Shoals, p. 69, states that “his service was principally, that of a scout”.  In A History of the Upper Country of South Carolina, Vol. II, p. 39, by John H. Logan, is stated: “He did much valuable service as a scout—always on foot.”

“By orders of General Sumter, I am Directed to give James Moseley a pass to travel into Ninety Six District and do therefore Desire that no person may interrupt the said Moseley on his way going or returning back as he has behaved himself as Becometh a Citizen since he has has been in Camden District.”  S/Edw Lacey, Col. (Edward Lacey) 24th May 1781.

(Pension statement S9421.)

 

“This is to Certify that the Bearer James Moseley hath behaved himself True to his Country and hath Done a tour of Duty at the Congaree Fort.  Given under my hand May 25th day 1781.”  S/Thomas Gill Capt.

(Pension statement S9421.)

 

He referred to “the Reverend Thomas Greer, General Elijah Dawkins, Major Joseph Stark Sims and John Gage Sr. to prove his character for truth and moral deportment”.

(Pension statement S9421.)

 

It is possible that the John Moseley mentioned in the Roster of South Carolina Patriots In the American Revolution by Dr. Bobby Moss, p. 706, was the father of James (High Key) Moseley.

“He served in the militia during 1781 and 1782.  He was a horseman under General Thomas Sumter and a footman on the Four Holes Expedition under General William Henderson.”

In A History of the Upper Country of South Carolina, Vol. II, p. 39-40, by John H. Logan, he relates the following James (High Key) Moseley story:  “He was a famous hunter and woodsman; his trade that of a blacksmith.  A post oak, known as Mosely’s Tree, is still standing immediately on the road to the Grindal Shoals ford, just below the house of Garland Meng.  Everybody knows it in that country, and no sacrilegious hand would dare touch it.

Moseley was out hunting and having taken a small deer, was returning home with it on his shoulders.  The wolves getting a scent of the blood, were soon on his trail; he heard them coming, and knew that he must make an effort to save both himself and meat.  The latter he sunk in a neighboring branch, and having climbed up into the post oak, waited their coming.

They bayed him all night.  ‘Why did you not shoot them, Mr. Moseley? was asked him afterwards.’  ‘You had your rifle.’  ‘Because’, he said, ‘I wanted to kill the leader of the troop, and it was too dark to distinguish him: as soon as light began to appear, they began to enlarge the circle they were constantly making around the tree.’  He then singled him out, and shot him.  The rest retreated to their dens.”

Garland T. Meng mentioned by John H. Logan was the son of Col. James Edward Meng and his wife, Sarah Lewis.  James Edward was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.  Garland married Susannah Thomas.

Before Logan had written his book, Sallie Sims, daughter of Major J. S. Sims, sketched Moseley’s Oak in 1844.  Her sketch is still in the Union County Museum.

In preparation for his History of Grindal Shoals, the Reverend J. D. Bailey made a picture of Moseley’s Oak April 3, 1922, and included it in his book.  He wrote: “It stands on the side of the old road leading from Grindal Shoals towards Kelly’s Station on the Lockhart branch of the Southern Railway.  It is a little more than a mile southeast from Elford’s Grove.  It must be more than two hundred years old.”

Describing the tree, Bailey wrote: “At this writing (1921) ‘the venerable tree still stands with only one dead limb on it.  It is a post –oak; about thirty-five feet high and twenty-one, or two inches in diameter at the base.  It looks to be about the same size as it was when first pointed out to us fifty-two years ago.”

Unfortunately, someone who did not know the history of the tree cut it down in the 1930s or 1940s.

In his History of Grindal Shoals, page 68, Bailey wrote: “The house in which the old hero lived is still standing and in a fair state of preservation.  In traveling the road from Grindal Shoals towards Union, Sandy Run is crossed at the ancient ford.  Proceeding up the hill a short distance, and on looking to the right, a log house is seen standing on a ridge a short distance from the road.  A brick chimney is built to the end, with the roof extending out over it.  This was the earthly habitation of James Moseley.”

The site of the house was revealed to the writer by Mrs. E. D. Whaley Sr. in the early 1980s.  The chimney was not standing but     a part of the bricks were still cemented together.  The floor joists and rock pillows were still in place.  The writer has a brick and rock pillow from his house.  This site is on the right of Bobby Faucett Road and is .8 of a mile from highway 18.

Bailey in his History of Grindal Shoals wrote: “Moseley was a blacksmith by trade and a sort of neighborhood tooth puller, as there were no dentists in those days.

Barney O’Neal was a good-natured, pestiferous Irishman that depended a good deal on his acquaintances.  One day he went to Moseley’s and informed him that he had come to get a tooth pulled.

Old Hi-ky went to his blacksmith shop and got an armful of tools, consisting of hammers, tongs, chisels, etc.  ‘Does it take all them instruments to pull a tooth?’ inquired Barney.  ‘Yes, and sometimes more,’ said Hi-ky.  I bid you good day, Mr. Moseley,’ and Barney was gone.  Being an old, experienced soldier and scout, he played this ruse on Barney to get rid of him.”

Barney O’Neal was listed in the 1850 Federal Census of Union County, S. C.  He was born in Ireland in 1791.  His wife was listed as Nancy, born in 1790, in South Carolina.  They had two children living with them at this time: Elizabeth, born 1827, and Martha, born 1832.

The tooth-pulling instrument that Moseley made in his blacksmith shop can still be seen in the Union County Museum.  He pulled many teeth for his neighbors with this instrument.

Bailey wrote: “He was a good citizen and well thought of by his neighbors.  Henry Fernandis, a man of considerable wealth and influence, joined lands with him.  One day Fernandis and a distinguished friend rode into the ford at Sandy Run and paused to let their horses drink.

Old Hi-ky was secreted in the bushes near-by fishing and overheard their conversation.  Fernandis’ friend commented on the fine bottom lands and inquired if they were his.  Fernandis said that they belonged to Moseley.  ‘It looks like you would want them.’  ‘I had rather have the man than the land,’ replied Fernandis, and ever after that Hi-ky would do anything in his power for him.”

James and his wife, Nancy Anna Jasper, had at least six daughters and three sons; possible an additional unnamed daughter.  Nancy died in 1832.

James Moseley was married a second time to Martha Pickens, daughter of James and Martha ? Pickens.  She had never married but had a child, John, born out of wedlock in 1818.

James Pickens purchased 375 acres from Ephraim Fowler on the waters of Sandy Run, a branch of Pacolet River, on November 2, 1797.  James Moseley, Robert Martin and Joshua Palmer were witnesses to this transaction.

(Union County, S. C., Deed Abstracts, Vol. II, Deed Books G-K, 1800-1811, by Brent Holcomb, p. 221.)

 

John McWhorter of the state of Kentucky, County of Lincoln, sold James Pickens, Martha’s father, 92 acres on waters of Sandy Run of Pacolet River, for 50 pounds, but Pickens was deceased before McWhorter could give him a deed to the property, so the deed was made to Martha, wife of James, and mother of Martha Pickens, on November 10, 1807.  James Moseley and Sherod Jones witnessed the transaction.

(Union County Deed Abstracts, Vol. III, Deed Books L-P, 1811-1820, by Brent Holcomb, pp. 9-10.)

 

James Pickens was born circa 1770, and died in 1807.  Martha Pickens, mother of Mary, Jane, Elizabeth and Martha Pickens, made her will on February 11, 1843, and it was proven by William D. Gault, February 2, 1846.  She died circa 1845.  Date of Martha’s birth is unknown to this writer.

(Union County, South Carolina, Will Abstracts, 1787-1849, Book B, Pp. 382-383, p. 156.)

 

James Moseley and Martha Pickens were married in the John M. Foster house in November of 1833, about 1 and ½ miles from his residence.  The John M. Foster house was on the Tump Smith Road.

(Personal research of Leonarde Andrea, 4204 Devine Street, Columbia, S. C.)

 

Jane Pickens Foster, was the second wife of John M. Foster; Mary Pickens Foster, was the wife of Frederick Foster; Elizabeth Pickens was the wife of Jordan Johnson; and Martha Pickens was the second wife of James Moseley Sr.  They were all sisters and daughters of James and Martha  ? Pickens.

John M. Foster was a brother of Jeremiah, Jared, Thomas, Frederick, Nancy and Martha Foster.  He was born circa 1788, at Grindal Shoals, S. C.

He was a lawyer and was first married to Catherine Adair, daughter of Gov. John and Catherine Palmer Adair.  Gov. Adair was born in Chester, S. C.

On the eastside of Governor John Adair’s monument in Frankfort, Kentucky, are these words: “As a Soldier he entered the Revolutionary Army at the age of seventeen (in S. C.) and served through War, first as a private, afterwards as aide-de-camp to General Sumter.  Moved to Kentucky in 1789.  Participated in Indian Campaigns in 1791-2-4; and the War with Great Britain, 1813-1815.”

“When Colonel Sevier was in need of money for provisioning the expedition to King’s Mountain, John Adair was the entry-taker who furnished the money and whose patriotic reply to Colonel Sevier on his request for the same has gone down in history.”

(Notable Southern Families, Volumes I & II.)

 

John M. and Catherine Adair Foster were married in Mercer County, Kentucky, on February 22, 1814.  She was born July 17, 1792.  They had several children: Catherine Adair Foster (born circa 1815, died unknown); Mary Foster (born 1-24-1818, died 5-18-1871); and Thomas J. Foster (born 10-2-1818—according to tombstone records; possibly erroneous—Federal Census records indicate that he was born in 1820; died 2-22-1888).

Catherine Adair Foster married the Rev. Daniel Lewis Gray on March 6, 1857.  She was his second wife.  His first wife was a ? Boyd, whose mother was a ? Means.

He was born on April 3, 1803, in Abbeville County, S. C., the son of John and Hannah Allen Gray.  He attended Union Academy in Abbeville District and studied under Dr. John S. Read.  In the fall of 1824, he attended Miami University, in Oxford, Ohio, graduating in the fall of 1826.

He was licensed to preach in 1828, and called as pastor of the Fairforest Presbyterian Church, Union District, S. C., in June of 1829.  He also served as pastor of the Cane Creek Presbyterian Church in the same district.

He moved to the Western District of Tennessee in 1831, and thence to White River, Arkansas.

He was pastor of the Wattensas Presbyterian Church in Prairie County, Arkansas, when he married Catherine.  He died in Prairie County, Arkansas, after 1866.  Date of the death of his second wife, Catherine, is not known to this writer.

Mary Foster, daughter of John M. and Catherine Adair Foster, married Robert Charles McWhorter, son of James and Winifred Hames McWhirter.  He was born 12-6-1793, and died 3-24-1868.  Mary was born January 24, 1818, and died May 18, 1871.  She was his third wife.

He was first married to Elizabeth (Betsy) Fowler and then to Keziah Fowler, daughters of Godfrey and Nannie Kelly Fowler.  He had three sons and one daugher by his wife, Betsy.  There are no recorded children by his second wife, Keziah.  He had two sons and four daughters by his third wife, Mary Foster.

Charles and Betsy’s son, Shelton, married Jane Moseley, daughter of James and Martha Pickens Moseley.

Charles and Mary were buried in the Bogansville Methodist Church Cemetery in West Springs, S. C.  Their graves are marked.

Thomas J. Foster, son of John M. and Catherine Adair Foster, married Emma Kelly, daughter of Thomas Kelly and his second wife, Mary Hames.  She was born 7-19-1823, and died 6-24-1892.  They had two sons and a daughter.

Thomas was a Confederate Veteran and was a member of the 5th South Carolina Volunteers.  Emma’s obituary can be found in the book, Union County Death Notices, p. 57.

“Mrs. Emma Foster died at the home of her son, J. H. Foster, in Spartanburg, Thursday, 24 January 1892, from an attack of dysentery.  Her maiden name was KELLY.  She was the widow of Thomas J. Foster, better known by the name of ‘Peter Hawk’.  She was buried the next day at Flat Rock Church (Union County) beside her husband.”  Their graves are marked.

There is a Peter Hawk road today in Union County.  The Tump Smith road runs into the Peter Hawk road.

There is a discrepancy in Thomas J. Foster’s birthdate.  He is listed as 40 in the 1860 Federal Census of Union County, S. C., and if this is correct then he would have been born in 1820 instead of 1818.  Since his sister, Mary, was born in 1818, the 1820 date of birth for Thomas seems more feasible.

Thomas J. Foster’s mother, Catherine, died in 1820, and could have died from complications from the birth of Thomas.  Year of Thomas’ birth listed on his tombstone may be erroneous.

Some databases list Thomas J. as the son of James and Jincy Foster from the Pinckneyville area of Union District.  Mannie Lee Edwards Mabry in her article on the Foster-Singleton Family, pages 87-88, of the Union County, South Carolna, Heritage book states that James and Jincy’s son, Thomas J. Foster, moved to Alabama.

(Union County Cemeteries, Compiled and Edited by Mrs. E. D. Whaley, p. 10 & 45.)

 

John M. moved back to Union District, S. C., and after his first wife, Catherine, died on November 16, 1820, he married Jane Pickens, daughter of James and Martha ? Pickens, circa 1822.  They had children: Nancy Abigail, William A., James, Henry M. and Susan E.

John and Jane’s son, Henry, was killed at Second Manassas, and John’s sister, Nancy, wife of Edmond Hames, lost two grandchildren, John and Charles Hames, in that battle.  They were children of her son, Lemuel and his wife, Nancy Jones Hames.

The story was well written by Alan D. Charles in his Narrative History of Union County, S. C., p. 190:

“Two weeks after Second Manassas, N. B. Eison, home on furlough, took three zinc-lined coffins specially made by John Rogers of Union and traveled from Jonesville, South Carolina, to Manassas Junction by train.

Once there he and a black servant exhumed from shallow battlefield graves the bodies of Eison’s brother’s-in-laws Captain John Hames and (Sergeant) Charles Hames.  Eison’s kinsman, Henry Foster, was also exhumed.

John had bled to death from a thigh wound.   Charles was killed by a shell, and Henry was shot in the stomach.  Eison placed the blanket-wrapped corpses in the coffins and had the coffins soldered shut at Manassas Junction.  The deteriorated remains obviously unviewable, the coffins were not opened on arrival at Jonesville, but were buried with due ceremony in Gilead Cemetery.”

These soldiers have marked graves in the Gilead Baptist Church Cemetery.

Bailey in his, History of Grindal Shoals, page 70, wrote: “He (James Moseley) was an unusually strong and vigorous man and lived to a great age. He was buried down near the river, not far from the mouth of Sandy Run.”   He was a blacksmith, tooth puller and knife maker.

 

Children Of James And Nancy Anna Jasper Moseley

(a). Elizabeth Moseley was born November 30, 1782, in Union District, S. C.  “She was married to Mark Fowler, son of Ellis and Catherine Puckett Fowler, in 1802, at the home of her parents by a Rev. Wheeler, a Methodist minister.  The preacher had come to visit her father at hog killing time.  Mark was born in May of 1780.

Mark’s father, Ellis, was a Patriot soldier and officer in Virginia during the American Revolutionary War.  He was mustered in at Albemarle Court House.  He moved to South Carolina after the war.

He originally owned 614 acres of land on Sandy Run in the Grindal Shoals community.”  He sold 100 acres of this land to John Kiger, on Jan. 5, 1795.

John Kiger borrowed $74.90 from Martha Pickens on February 20, 1808, and mortgaged this land, one bay mare four years old, one black mare about 8 years old, and one bay horse colt one year old to her on March 25, 1808.  The transaction was witnessed by Henry Farnandis before James Lane, J. P.

(Union County, S. C., Deed Book I, p. 467;  History of Grindal Shoals by J. D. Bailey, pp. 34-35; Union County, South Carolina, Deed Abstracts, Vol. I, Deed Books A-F, 1785-1800, Brent Holcomb, p.149.)

 

J. D. Bailey in his History of Grindal Shoals, S. C., p. 37, wrote: “Mark Fowler, known as ‘Big Mark’, was probably the second son of Lieut. Ellis Fowler.  He was a soldier in the War of 1812; belonged to Capt. (Samuel) Fawcett’s Company and fought behind the Cotton bales at New Orleans.

Being discharged there, he with his brother, Wymac, walked all the way home.  It is said that he lived in the White Hill section just above Grindal, but after his death, his family moved nearer to Jonesville.  His body is buried in Gilead Baptist Church Cemetery.”  His grave is marked with no dates.

Elizabeth was a member of the Flat Rock Methodist Church for 60 or more years.  She lived to be over one hundred years old.  In an article from the Union Times in 1882, is found the following: “The one hundredth birthday of Mrs. Elizabeth Fowler was celebrated today at her home about one half mile west of this place.

Being anxious to see the old lady I went out this morning to see the female Centenarian and enjoy the grand ovation in honor of her age.  At about eleven o’clock I arrived at the home of Mrs. Fowler, and found a large crowd who had come with baskets and presents for the aged one and take part in the celebration.  The Jonesville Band was present and furnished delightful music, which Mrs. Fowler enjoyed very much.”

J. D. Bailey, in his History of Grindal Shoals, p. 37, wrote: “It was the pleasure of the writer to be present at the celebration of her hundredth anniversary.  She was the only woman we ever saw that had witnessed an hundred winters.  As I gazed upon her while sitting by the old fashioned fire-place, she turned her sightless eyes toward a small window and exclaimed: ‘Well, I am a hundred years old today, and if it was the Lord’s will, I would love to live another hundred.’”

An article from the Jonesville Times, issue of April 13, 1883, stated: “Mrs. Elizabeth Fowler, whose maiden name was Moseley, was born Nov. 30, 1782, and died near Jonesville, S. C., March 4, 1883, being one hundred years old.  She retained her mind and was very interested in her conversation to the last.  Her health and strength did not fail her until a very short time before her death.”

They had three sons and five daughters to grow to maturity and three children to die in infancy.  Only two of the children survived their mother: Mrs. Melissa Fowler Horn, wife of Isaac Creighton Horn and Miss Salina Fowler.

Isaac Creighton Horne served with Company B, 18th South Carolina Volunteer Infantry during the War Between the States.  He was listed as a Confederate Pensioner in Union County, S. C., in 1899.  Melissa died in 1889 and Creighton died in 1904.  They were buried in unmarked graves in the Gilead Baptist Church Cemetery.

(RootsWeb’s WorldConnect Project: From Here to There, ID: 112915, Isaac Crayton Horn, Contact Rose Parks.)

 

Elizabeth Moseley Fowler had twenty-five grandchildren.  She was buried in an unmarked grave in the Gilead Baptist Church Cemetery.

(b) John Baxter Moseley was born in 1784, in Union District, S. C.  He married Mary Jane Fowler, daughter of Ellis and Catherine Puckett Fowler, circa 1806.  Mary was born circa 1791.

Ellis Fowler was the son of Godfrey III and Mary  ?  Fowler of Virginia.  He was born in 1746, in Albemarle County, Virginia.  He married Catherine Puckett, daughter of Ephraim and Hannah  ?  Puckett, in 1771, in Albemarle County, Virginia.  She was born in 1747, in the same county.

He was mustered into service at Albemarle County Court House, in 1776, and was made a 1st Lieutenant in Capt. Charles Sims Company.  He fought through the Revolutionary War in the state of Virginia.

He moved to the Grindal Shoals area of Union District, S. C., right after the war, where he received a grant of 614 acres on Sandy Run Creek on January 7, 1788.  He lived near the James Moseley family.

They had 10 children, seven sons and three daughters.  Three of their children were born in Virginia.  Their daughter, Nancy Keziah, married John Kiger.

His first wife, Catherine, died in 1800, and he married her sister, Mary, in 1803.  Mary was listed as Mary Berry in her father’s will in 1800.  They had no children.

The Reverend J. D. Bailey, in his History of Grindal Shoals, S. C., pp. 34-36, wrote: “He (Ellis) was of a large and excellent family, being a descendant of John Fowler, who came to Virginia in 1734 (from England), at the age of twenty four years.

Ellis was a man of powerful stature, great physical endurance, with unflinching courage, of strict integrity, truthfulness, and fidelity in all things confided to his trust.  His complexion was fair, and he had a deep heavy voice.”

Ellis died on January 20, 1808, and was buried in the Joe Kelly Cemetery in Kelton, S. C.  His second wife, Mary, died after 1809.

John Baxter Moseley and his wife, Mary, had at least two known children (possibly other children): (1). Harriet Moseley, born 9-29-1824; died 12-9-1902. (2). Sarah Moseley, born 5-20-1832; died 4-4-1909.  They were buried in the Gilead Baptist Church Cemetery and their graves are marked.

Mary joined the Gilead Baptist Church on May 9, 1841, and her daughter, Harriet, was baptized by the Gilead Baptist Church on October 1, 1852. Sarah married Zachariah Reeves Jr., son of Zachariah Reeves Sr. and Cynthia Hodge Reeves.  Harriet died at the home of her sister, Sarah Moseley Reeves.

John Baxter Moseley was the great, great grandfather of the writer’s wife, Elizabeth Reeves Ivey.  Sarah Moseley Reeves was the great grandmother of the writer’s wife.

John’s wife, Mary, predeceased her husband, dying in the 1840s.   She was probably buried in an unmarked grave in Gilead Baptist Church Cemetery.

John Baxter was married on September 21, 1851, to Mrs. Jane Bonds (born in 1820) by Robert V. Harris, Esquire.  She was his second wife.  John died in May of 1856.

John Baxter Moseley left 16 ½ acres and his home-place to his daughter, Sarah.

(c). Mary Moseley was born in 1785, in Union District, S. C., and  married John Duckworth Long, son of Henry and Ann  ?  Long, circa 1800.  He was born in 1784, in Union District, S. C.

John D. Long Sr. witnessed a deed transaction, in Union District, S. C., 1807, between William Spencer and John Kizer (Kigar) and the transaction was proved before James Lane, J. P. on October 3, 1808.

(Union County, South Carolina, Deed Abstracts, Vol. II: Deed Books G-K, 1769-1811, Deed Book I, P. 498, p. 207, by Brent H. Holcomb.)

 

John’s son, John D. Long Jr., was born at Somerset, Kentucky, on February 14, 1811.  So their removal date from Union District, S. C., was between 1808 and 1811.

They moved to within a close proximity of her mother’s brother, Nicholas Jasper, who lived in Somerset, Kentucky.

John D. Long Sr. brought his family back to Union District in South Carolina, before 1820, for he was listed in the Federal Census of that year.  He died in Union District of South Carolina, in 1824, and was buried in this county.

Mary Moseley Long, wife of John D. Long Sr., remained in Union District until at least 1834, when John D.’s father, Henry, died.  Two of Nancy’s children, James and John, were listed as purchasers of items in Henry’s estate.

John D. Long Jr. was interested in marrying Missindy Fowler, so he stayed in Jonesville, S. C., and did not return to Kentucky with his mother and his other brothers and sisters.

Mary Moseley Long died and was buried in Kentucky before 1839, for she was not listed in her father, James Moseley’s will.

John Duckworth Long Jr. married Missindy (Lucinda) Fowler, daughter of Wymac and Susannah Moseley Fowler, his first cousin, in Union District, South Carolina, September 15, 1836.

He fought with W. J. T. Glenn’s Company of Sharpshooters and remained in service for four years during the War Between the States.  He was a Confederate veteran.  He joined the Presbyterian Church in Jonesville, S. C., just before his death.  The Rev. A. A. James was his pastor.

Lucinda Fowler Long died September 3, 1879, and John D. Long Jr. died November 27, 1897.

Mary Jasper Long and John D. Long Sr. had the following children: James, Henry, John D. Jr., Gideon, William, Anne, Mary (Polly), Patricia (Patsy), Patience and America Long.  Most of their children were born in Kentucky.

(d). Nancy Moseley was born in 1786, in Union District, S. C.  She was the second wife of Ephraim Fowler, son of Ellis and Catherine Puckett Fowler.  The databases list his birthdate as 1784, but this is incorrect.

It appears to this writer that Ephraim’s father, Ellis, was a son of Godfrey Fowler III and Mary ? Fowler, and grandson of Mark and Marjory ? Fowler, and was born in the early 1740s, in Albemarle County, Virginia.  Several birthdates are listed in the databases, but the most likely dates are either 1740 or 1746.

His mother, Catherine Puckett, daughter of Ephraim and Hannah ? Puckett, and granddaughter of Womack and Mabel Walthall Puckett, was born in 1747, in Albemarle County, Virginia.

Ephraim Fowler was named for his grandfather, Ephraim Puckett, and was probably born in the early to mid 1760s.  He may have been the oldest child of his parents.

He and his first wife were listed in the 1790 Federal Census.  He was listed with three white males 16 and upwards, 5 white males under 16 and 2 white females including heads of families.

He was listed in the 1800 Federal Census with 2 males under 10, 1 male 10 to 15, 1 male 26 to 44 (Ephraim), 3 females under 10, 1 female 10-15 and 1 female 26 to 44 (his first wife).

It is apparent that most of his children were born to his first wife (name unknown).

Through the listings in the Federal Census records we can determine that these children of Ephraim were born before 1800: Jasper Fowler, 1780; Lydia Fowler, 1785; Sarah Fowler, 1789, Milly Fowler, 1798.  John Fowler was probably born before 1800, but was not listed in his father’s will, so he must have been deceased before 1822.

Ephraim’s children born in 1800 or afterwards were: Stephen Fowler, 1800; Ellis Fowler, 1803; Betty Fowler, 1805, Mary Fowler, 1809, and Catherine, 1814.

Birthdates of Mary, Elizabeth and Catherine were from the databases and may be erroneous.  Nine of these children are listed in his will in 1822.  Several of his children may have been deceased before his death.

(1). Jasper Fowler, born circa 1780.  He was listed in the 1810 Federal Census with at least three children.  Name of his wife is unknown.  He was listed in the 1820 Federal Census with at least four children and unknown wife.

(2). Lydia Fowler, born circa 1785, married Charles Hames, son of William and Elizabeth Moseley Hames circa 1804.  He was born in 1782, and died October 7, 1847, in Union County, S. C., and Lydia died in Union County, S. C., on March 31, 1852.  They had five sons and six daughters.  Elizabeth, Nancy, Sarah, William, Treacy, Coleman, Cynthia Jeanette, Pressley, Joshua, Franklin and Mary Hames were children of this couple.

(3). Sally (Sarah) Fowler, born in 1789, married John M. Hames, son of William and Elizabeth Moseley Hames.  He was born October 23,  1788, and was a miller.  He died March 26, 1862.  They had one son and four daughters.  Andrew Jackson Hames, Matilda and Zillah were children of this couple.

(4.) John Fowler, date of birth unknown.

(5). Milly (Melinda) Fowler, born 1798, married James Millwood (born 1798, died December 26, 1894).  They were living in the Draytonville Township of Union County, S. C., in 1860, and both died in the area that later became a part of Cherokee County, S. C.  She died September 4, 1894.   Jackson, Tilman, Jefferson, James, Jane and Nancy were their children.

(6). Stephen Fowler, born circa 1800, and married Letitia, born circa 1821, possibly a second wife.  Caroline was born in 1833, and his wife, Letitia, would have been only 12 years old when she was born.  Children of Stephen listed in 1850 Federal Census of Union County, S. C., were: Caroline 17; Susan 15; Louisa 10; Marion 3 (son).

(7). Elizabeth (Betty) Fowler, born circa 1805.

(8). Ellis Fowler, born circa 1807.  He married Sally Clark, daughter of Winnifred ? Clark.  Sally was born circa 1825.  They had children: Elizabeth, Martha, Juliet and Jesse (son) listed in 1850 Federal Census of Union County, SC.

(9). Mary (Polly) Fowler, born circa 1809, married Newton Lipsey.

(10).  Catherine (Katy) Fowler, born circa 1814.

(1850 Federal Census of Union County, South Carolina, published by  Broad River Basin Historical Society, P. O. Box 215, Hickory Grove, S. C. 29717, March 1993, pp. 116, 122, 124, 142, 193.)

There is no record of Ephraim’s first wife’s death or date of his remarriage to Nancy Moseley Fowler.   Ephraim sold land on August 4, 1812, and his wife, Nancy Moseley Fowler, relinquished her dower rights on October 3, 1812, so Ephraim had married Nancy some time before this transaction took place.

(RootsWeb’s WorldConnect Project, From Here to There, Contact Rose Parks, Internet; Union County Heritage 1981, Edited by Mannie Lee Mabry, pp. 89-90.)

Ephraim Fowler purchased 100 acres of land on the head of Sandy
Run on February 3, 1790, from Col. Thomas Brandon of Union District, S. C.  This land was adjacent to lands claimed by his father, Ellis Fowler.

(Union County, South Carolina, Deed Abstracts, Vol. I, Deed Books A-F, 1752-1800, D, pp. 156-157, p. 162, by Brent H. Holcomb.)

 

Benjamin Crownover sold 200 acres of land on Little Sandy Run in Union District, S. C., to William Johnstone on March 25, 1791, and Ephraim Fowler witnessed the transaction.

(Union County S. C. Deed Abstracts, Vol. I, Books A-F, 1752-1800, B,  Pp. 442-443, p. 94, by Brent H. Holcomb.)

 

Ephraim was a member of the Grand Jury in Union District, S. C., January 1, 1795.

(Union County SC Minutes of the County Court, 1785-1799, p. 402,  by Brent H. Holcomb.)

 

Ellis Fowler sold 100 acres of his 614 acre grant (Jan. 7, 1788) on Sandy Run to his son-in-law, John Kigar, on January 5, 1795.  This property bordered land belonging to Ephraim Fowler.

(Union County SC Deed Abstracts, Vol. I, Deed Books A-F, D, Pp. 40-41, 1752-1800, pp. 149-150, by Brent H. Holcomb.)

 

On January 15, 1795, David Puckett of Union District, S. C., sold Ephraim Fowler 100 acres of land on waters of Sandy Run.  The transaction was witnessed by Godfrey Fowler and Coleman Fowler.

(Union County SC Deed Abstracts, Vol. I, Deed Books A-F, 1752-1800, D, 151-152, p. 161, by Brent H. Holcomb.)

 

Graff Edson & Co. brought suit against William Hightower & Ephraim Fowler for indebtedness on January 6, 1795.

(Union County SC, Minutes of the County Court, 1785-1799, p. 410, by Brent H. Holcomb.)

 

Ephraim served as a member of the Grand Jury in Union District, S. C., on June 1, 1795, and was drawn to serve on the next court on April 1, 1799.

(Union County SC, Minutes of the County Court, 1785-1799, p. 417, by Brent H. Holcomb.)

 

In 1797, Ephraim Fowler sold William Spencer a tract on Hows branch, waters of Big Sandy Run.

(Union County SC Deed Abstracts, Vol. II, Deed Books G-K, 1769-1811, I, pp. 154-155, p. 165, by Brent H. Holcomb.)

 

Ephraim Fowler sold a tract to James Pickens on waters of Sandy Run on November 2, 1797.

(Union County Deed Abstracts, Vol. II, Deed Books, G-K, 1769-1811, I, Pp. 590-591, p. 221, by Brent H. Holcomb.)

 

On November 19, 1810, Ephraim Fowler & Godfrey Fowler sold a “tract whereon Ellis Fowler (their brother) now lives on Little Sandy River (Run) adjacent Mrs. Johnson’s line” to James Gassaway.  This was a tract their father had previously owned before his death.

(Union County Deed Abstracts, Vol. III, Deed Books L-P, 1770-1820, L, Pp. 31-32, p. 5, by Brent H. Holcomb.)

 

A “tract whereon I now live on waters of Sandy Run” was sold by Ephraim Fowler to James Hill of Lincoln County, N. C., on Aug. 4, 1812.  Nancy Fowler, wife of Ephraim, relinquished her dover rights October 3, 1812, before Joseph Gist, Q. U.

(Union County, South Carolina, Deed Abstracts, Vol. III, Deed Books L-P, 1770-1820, L, Pp. 236-237, p. 32, by Brent H. Holcomb.)

 

Ephraim Fowler sold the tract of land where “I now live, on head waters of Sandy Run to Henry Gault on July 15, 1816.”  Nancy (Moseley) Fowler, wife of Ephraim, relinquished her dower rights on August 10, 1816.

(Union County S. C. Deed Abstracts, Vol. III, Deed Books L-P, N, Pp. 227-228, p. 133, by Brent H. Holcomb.)

 

Ephraim Fowler wrote his will on February 8, 1822, and it was recorded May 6, 1822.  He died between these two dates.

The day he wrote his will he sold his son, Jasper Fowler, 50 acres of land adjacent to lands owned by John Gwinn, John Fowler, John B. Haney and William Gault.

(Union County Deed Abstracts, Vol. IV, Deed Books, Q-S, 1770-1828, R, Pp. 98-99, p. 75, by Brent H. Holcomb.)

 

In his will he left his sons, Stephen and Ellis, a tract of land where he lived, containing 300 acres.  He left his wife, Nancy, a Negro woman, Dorcas, during her widowhood.  Betty was left a Negro girl, Jane, a feather bed, cow and calf.

Rest of his estate he left to children: Jasper, Lydia, Sally, Polly, Stephen, Milly, Caty and Ellis.  If her husband, Charles Hames, would pay $300.00, Lydia was to receive 300 acres.

If her husband, John Hames, would pay $600.00, Sally and her children were to receive 107 acres called the Warwick place (except the house on the north side of Fanning’s Creek).  Coleman Fowler and Samuel Moseley were executors of his will.

 

COLEMAN FOWLER

Coleman Fowler was a very close relative of Ellis Fowler and of his children.  He, however, was not the son of Godfrey and Nannie Kelly Fowler as some databases have stipulated.

It is difficult to link him with the family even though it is known that he came with Ellis Fowler and his family to the Grindal Shoals area of South Carolina, right after the Revolutionary War.  He had a special relationship with his relative, Ephraim Fowler.

He was born circa 1774, in Virginia.  He married Ellender McWhirter, daughter of Robert and Sarah ? McWhirter, circa 1794.  The McWhirters were from Albemarle County, Virginia.

He was a farmer and Methodist preacher.  He was mentioned in the Methodist Journals of Enoree Circuit as early as 1805.  At that time his minister’s license was renewed to preach and exhort (evangelize).

In 1810, “a charge was brought against Coleman Fowler for proposing to go away with Hannah Briggs to the western country, and to which he was sentenced by a Committee.  The Quarterly Meeting confirmed The Sentence by a large majority.”

The 1810 Federal Census showed him livng next to John Briggs, and in 1832, he sold land to James Briggs (son of John).  Methodist records in 1813, 1818 and 1828, list him as a lay leader.  By 1834, he moved to the Pickens District of South Carolina.

From 1834 to 1844, he was shown in the records for Pickens Circuit, Methodist Episcopal Church, Hoston Conference.  This conference was transferred to South Carolina at this same time.

In 1834, “Foullers House” was established and Coleman was listed as an exhorter (evangelist).  He gave land for and helped build one of the first churches in Oconee County on Choestoe Creek.

In 1839, the name was changed to Salem Methodist Church and records show that two of Coleman’s grandchildren were baptized (William Carlile Fowler, son of Obediah and Polly Fowler; and Leonard Douty Fowler, son of Sarah Fowler).

His son, Obediah Fowler, was listed as one of the first trustees.  Records indicate that Coleman served as one of the early pastors of Hopewell Methodist Church near Westminister (orginally called Liles Church).

His wife, Ellender, died in 1841, and he died circa 1855.   He and his wife had four sons and one daughter.  He was buried on the Sloan Dickens farm.

(Union County SC Will Abstracts, Will Book B, Pp. 71-72, p.107, by Brent H. Holcomb; RootsWeb’s World Connect Project: David S. Payne Genealogy, Coleman Fowler, ID: 111865, David S. Payne.)
(The Fowler Family of Oconee and Union Counties, South Carolina, by William A. Lyles, Modified on March 19, 2000, Internet.)

 

Nancy Moseley Fowler’s Life After The Death Of Ephraim

Nancy’s husband left her no money and no land in his will.

Databases on the Internet suggest that Jared Foster, son of John and Mary McElfresh Foster, married Nancy after the death of her husband, Ephraim.  This data is inaccurate.

Nancy Moseley Fowler was not married to Jared Foster or she would have been censused as Nancy Fowler Foster when the 1830 Federal Census of Union County, S. C., was taken.

Jared Foster, born circa 1795, was possibly married circa 1821, to a daughter of James Moseley, since he was not in the 1820 Federal Census of Union District, S. C.  He had two sons that were born in the 1820s.

These two sons were listed in the 1830 Federal Census of McMinn County, Tennessee, as: one male between 10 and 15, and one male between 5 and 10.  His wife (name unknown) was probably deceased by 1825-26.

Jared’s sons were living with their father in 1830.  If they had been his sons by Nancy Moseley Fowler, she would have been reluctant to allow them to live with him while she was still living.  Jared was living with Nancy’s sister, Dorcas, when the 1830 Federal Census  was taken.

In an Internet article entitled: Who Killed John Bass Jones?—Part 2: The Odyssey of Mrs. Ady is found the following: John Foster was born in 1823, in South Carolina, and the boy with an unknown name was born in South Carolina, in 1825.  These were Jared’s children by his first wife.  This information was taken from the Cunningham/ Webster Family Tree on Ancestry.com.

John Foster, son of Jared Foster, married Jane ?  , and was living with her when the 1850 Federal Census of Jasper County, Missouri, was taken.  This census states that he was born circa 1822, and Jane was born in 1830.  They had three children listed in this census: Zachary, Mary and Martha.

Jane died, and he married Julia Ann Margraves, widow of Thomas W. Coffelt, on February 9, 1860, in Jasper County, Mo.  She was the daughter of Anthony Margraves and his wife, Ruth Simpson Margraves.  She died in Jasper County in 1864, and her husband, John, died in Jasper County, Missouri, after 1870.

Julia Ann first married Thomas W. Coffelt, son of Jacob and Susannah Wyatt Coffelt, on May 3, 1844, in Osage County, Mo.  They had two sons and three daughters.  He died circa 1856.

Nancy Moseley was listed as Nancy Fowler in the 1830 Federal Census of Union County, S. C.  Her household included: 2 males under five years, 1 between 20 and 30; 1 female under five years, 1 between 20 and 30; 1 between 50 and 60 (Nancy).

Nancy was a widow at this time, and she was probably living with one of her married children, which included the husband, wife and three grandchildren.

Benjamin Hodge’s Federal Census records in Union County, S. C., 1830, list: 2 males 5 under 10; 1 male between 10 and 15; 1 male between 15 and 20; 1 male between 30 and 40 (Benjamin); 3 females under 5.

Dorcas, Nancy’s sister, left her husband, Benjamin Hodge, and moved to Tennessee with Jared Foster circa 1827-28 and became his common law wife.

Benjamin Hodge and Nancy Fowler were living together some time after the 1830 census was taken.  They had a son, Jasper Hodge, born in 1831, in Union County, S. C., when Nancy was 44 or 45 years old.  She was Benjamin’s common law wife.

Benjamin and Nancy may have moved to Tennessee on or before 1840, for there is a Benjamin Hodges listed in the 1840 Federal Census of Bradley County, Tennessee.

Benjamin and Nancy were living in Ozark County, Missouri, when the 1850 Federal Census was taken.  Their son, Jasper, was living with them at this time and was age 19.

Benjamin was listed in the 1860 Federal Census of Douglas County, Missouri.  His son was not living with him at this time.  Nancy died in Ozark County, Missouri, in 1854, and Benjamin died in Douglas County, Missouri, in the 1860s.

(e). James Thomas Moseley Jr. was born in 1790, in Union District, S. C.  He married Lydia Crocker of Spartanburg County, S. C. She was the daughter of Arthur Crocker Jr. and his wife, Dorcas Poole.  She was born in 1792, and was the granddaughter of Arthur Crocker Sr. and his wife, Mary Ann Bryant.

Some sources indicate that James was a soldier in the War of 1812.

They had six children:

(1). James Thomas Moseley, born February 11, 1817.  He married Fannie Mariah Foster in 1840.  She was born June 1, 1825.  He died March 31, 1898, in Union County, S. C., and she died October 11, 1906.  They had four sons and three daughters.  They were buried in the Corinth Baptist Church Cemetery, Cherokee County, S. C.

(2). Arthur Moseley, born circa 1819.

(3). William Baxter Moseley, born circa 1822.  He married Nancy Newberry, born circa 1830, daughter of Henry Hahn and Linda Harris Newberry.  He and his wife had two sons and a daughter.

He was a Confederate soldier and was enlisted August 29, 1861, at Union, S. C., by Capt. C. W. Boyd, in the 15th Regiment of South Carolina Volunteers.  He was killed and left on the battlefield at Gettysburg, Pa., on July 2, 1863.

Nancy was living in Union County, S. C., when the 1880 Federal Census was taken.  Her mother, Malinda, and her son, Franklin, were living with her at this time.  One source states that she moved to Birmingham, Alabama, where she applied for and received a widow’s pension.

According to tradition, Malinda Harris Newberry’s husband, Henry, was the grandson of the woman of that name made famous by the novel, Horse Shoe Robinson, who aided in the capture of 9 soldiers.

(4). Terrell Moseley, born circa 1825, and married Elizabeth ?  in 1849.  She was born circa 1820.

(5).  Dorcas Moseley, born circa 1827.

(6). Jane Moseley, born circa 1830.

James Thomas Moseley Jr. died in 1839, and Lydia Crocker Moseley died in 1859.

(Compilation of Moseley Material in Spartanburg Library; RootsWeb’s WorldConnect Project: The Medders Family Tree, Nancy Newberry, ID: 123784, Richard Medders; RootsWeb’s; WorldConnect Project: A few family lines in my file, Henry H. Newberry, ID: 145602, Johnny;)

(RootsWeb’s WorldConnect Project: From Here to There, Fannie Mariah Foster, ID: 112971, Rose Parks; RootsWeb’s WorldConnect Project: SafeBulletin-Board, James Thomas Moseley Jr., ID: 11147, Terrell Moseley, ID: 12329, Warren Forsythe;)

(f). Susannah Moseley was born August 10, 1792.  She married Wymac Fowler, son of Lt. Ellis and Catherine Puckett Fowler, on February 7, 1808.  He was born February 3, 1785.

J. D. Bailey, in his History of Grindal Shoals, p. 36, wrote: “Wymac was a soldier in the War of 1812.  He belonged to Capt. (Samuel) Fawcett’s Company, which was organized and camped for a while at Lipsey’s Old Field near Adamsburg (Union County, S. C.)

He fought under Gen. Andrew Jackson at New Orleans and after that memorable victory was honorably discharged and walked all the way back to his home in South Carolina.  There is a family tradition that on this return trip, he in company with his brother, Mark, and some others, left Columbia, S. C., late one evening and all ate breakfast at home near Jonesville the next morning.

He was a stone mason by trade, and helped to do the stone work on the old Courthouse at Union, S. C., which was demolished some years ago.  It is said that the key-stone of the arch at the entrance was fitted and put there by his hands.”  They had four sons and four daughters.

Their daughter, Missindy, married John D. Long Jr., son of John D. Long Sr. and his wife, Mary Moseley Long.

Wymac died August 2, 1849.  He was buried in the Gilead Baptist Church Cemetery, Jonesville, S. C.  His stone has no dates.  Susan

nah died May 27, 1887, and was buried at Gilead in an unmarked grave.

(The Legacy of Father James H. Saye, 1808-1892, Edited by Robert J. Stevens, p. 406.)

 

(g).  Rhoda Moseley was born in 1796, in Union District, S. C.  She married William Fowler, son of Godfrey and Nancy Kelly Fowler, circa 1818.  Godfrey was the son of Lt. Ellis and Catherine Puckett Fowler.

William Fowler was born in 1795, in Union District, S. C.   This couple had no children listed in the databases.

William died after 1850, in Union District, S. C., and Rhoda died in Jonesville, S. C., after 1870.

(h). William Tracy Moseley was born in 1798, in Union District, S. C.  He died after 1854, in Union District, S. C.  He apparently never married.  He was still living when Jane Pickens Foster made her statement March 3, 1855.

(i). Dorcas Moseley was born in 1801, in Union District, S. C.  She married Benjamin (Berry) Hodge, son of John Hodge.  He was born in 1796, in Union District, S. C.  Name of his mother is not known. She died when her children were very young.

His grandparents were William Hodge Jr. and his wife, Elizabeth Cook Hodge.  They came to the Grindal Shoals, S. C., area from York County, Pennsylvania, with William’s widowed mother, Margaret Cook Hodge (wife of William Hodge Sr.), and Elizabeth’s mother, Sarah Fulton Cook (widow of John Cook).  Margaret had two children and Sarah had seven.

On August 27, 1784, John Hodge and John Grindal appeared before J. Thompson, J. P., and “stated that they saw John Beckham of Ninety Six District in the year 1775 or 1776, deliver to William Hodge of Pacolet River, a lease and release for 400 acres, being the plantation on which said William Hodge now lives.”  Records were destroyed when Tarleton burned his house and new records had to be established.

(Union County, S. C., Miscellaneous Record Book 1 & 2, pp. 137-138, Recorded September 3, 1792.)

 

William Hodge Jr. was a Patriot soldier during the Revolutionary War.  William Jr. and Elizabeth Cook Hodge’s daughter, Margaret, married Capt. Alexander Chesney, noted Loyalist in the American Revolutionary War.  Alexander and Margaret were married on January 3, 1780.

(History of Grindal Shoals by J. D. Bailey, p. 54; Journal of Capt. Alexander Chesney, Edited by Bobby Gilmer Moss, p. 17.)

 

Adam Goudelock

Adam Goudelock was a neighbor and friend of William Hodge Jr.  He

was the son of William and Anne Duncan Goudelock, and his wife, Hannah Stockton, daughter of Davis and Sarah Anthony Goudelock Stockton.  He and his family moved to the Carroll Shoals (later Grindal Shoals) area from Rock Fish, Albemarle County, Virginia, circa 1765.

He had served in a company of rangers in guarding the frontiers of the colony against the Indians in 1756-1757 (French and Indian War).  He owned 1400 acres of land in that area and sold the last of his Virginia property in September of 1764.

(Adam & Hannah Goudelock by Daniel S. Goudelock—GenCircles.)

 

His historic cabin in Cherokee County, S. C., was moved in recent years from near the Goudelock Family Cemetery on Splawn Road to the back of the Elijah Dawkins (Goudelock) house.  The present owner of the cabin and Dawkins house is Jim Poole.

There is an article about Sallie Goudelock in Bailey’s History of Grindal Shoals, pp. 40-41: “She had known many notable characters of the times, both Whig, British and Tory, for her father was a lame man, a non-combatant; so it followed, his house was frequented by all parties.

She had visited Morgan (General Daniel) at his camp at Grindal ford, in company with her father and sister, and was escorted home by Col. William Washington and Col. Howard (John Eager).”  The girls were not married nor were the officers, so one can imagine that the officers and girls had a good time at the old Goudelock cabin.”

In his will, Adam Goudelock requested that four Bibles be purchased at Charleston, S. C., and given to his daughters, Ann Saffold, Elizabeth Johnson, Prudence Stockton and Hannah Blakey.

(Union County Will Abstracts, 1787-1849, by Brent Howard Holcomb, pp. 36-37).

 

J. D. Bailey, in his History of Grindal Shoals, pp. 54-55, wrote: “After the battle of Blackstock in November, 1780, (Gen. Thomas) Sumter retreated towards King’s Mountain by way of Grindal Shoals.”

The wounded General Thomas Sumter was taken to the Adam Goudelock house at Grindal Shoals, S. C., where a doctor gave him a sedative and dressed his shoulder.

(Gamecock, The Life and Campaigns of General Thomas Sumter by Robert D. Bass, p. 108.)

 

The Henry Smith Family Of Smith Ford

Jonathan and Henry Smith Jr., sons of Henry and Amelia Hampton Smith, guided the soldiers, who were protecting the wounded Sumter from the Goudelock cabin to their father, Henry Smith Sr.’s cabin at Smith’s Ford, where he stayed for three days until he was able to travel.

(Virginia Family Group Sheet for the Henry Smith Family—Internet.)

Jonathan and Henry fought under Sumter at the Battle of Blackstocks.  Their grandfather, Capt. John Smith, a British office, was captured in the Massacre at Fort Vause (French and Indian War) on June 25, 1756, and two of his sons, John and Joseph, lost their lives in the fray.

(Massacre at Fort Vause, Augusta County, Virginia, Genealogy—Internet; Roster of South Carolina Patriots in the American Revolution, p. 878, by Dr. Bobby Moss.)

 

Sumter was taken from Smith’s Ford to Col. Samuel Watson’s home on Sugar Creek.  Robert D. Bass, in his book, Gamecock, p. 112, wrote: “Soldier Tom waited on him and the militia of the New Acquisition stood guard, and the Gamecock passed the crisis.”

All of the sons of Henry and Amelia Hampton Smith were Patriot soldiers in the American Revolutionary War and at least two were officers, Abraham and Gideon.  Their son, Daniel, was killed at the Battle of Stono Ferry on June 20, 1779, and their son, Gideon, was wounded in this battle.  Henry, Jr. was “appointed to serve his brother, Daniel, until he died in ‘Old Barracks Hospital’ in Charleston, S. C.”

(RootsWeb’s WorldConnect Project: Brian Liedtke’s Family 18—Gideon Smiith–Internet; RootsWeb’s WorldConnect Project: This Is The New Tree of George Moss 8-8-2009—Abraham Smith–Internet; Southern Campaign American Revolutionary Pennsion Statements & Rosters–Henry Smith.  Transcribed by R. Neil Vance, W2183–Internet.)

 

Gideon died before August 23, 1783, from wounds received in one of the battles in which he was engaged.  Henry Sr.’s son, Henry Jr., was General Daniel Morgan’s pilot and led the General to the Pacolet River where Morgan and his men established an encampment at Grindal Shoals on December 25, 1780.

(RootsWeb’s WorldConnect Project: Brian Liedke’s Family 18—Gideon Smith–Internet; Pension Application of Henry Smith, W 2183–Internet.)

 

COL. BANASTRE TARLETON

J. D. Bailey, in his History of Grindal Shoals, p. 54, wrote: “Tarleton (Col. Banastre) followed in pursuit (of the wounded General Sumter) and encamped for a night at the house of Jack Beckham on Sandy Run.”

“When Tarleton encamped at the Beckham home, Mrs. Beckham first saw him while standing in the yard ordering his men to catch her poultry for supper.  She spoke civilly to him and hastened to prepare supper for him and his suite, as if they had been honored guests.

When about to leave in the morning he gave the house up to pillage, and ordered it to be burnt; but because of her earnest remonstrances, he recalled the order.”

(History of Grindal Shoals by J. D. Bailey, p. 25.)

 

“He (Tarleton) took all the bedding, except one quilt, and soon afterwards, a party of tories came and took that; hence when the war was over, he (Beckam) had little, or nothing left.”  (History of Grindal Shoals by J. D. Bailey, p. 24.)

“The next morning a little after sunrise he (Tarleton) and his army came to Hodge’s house and made him a prisoner.  His provisions and provender were seized, his stock shot down, and his house and fences burned to the ground.

On pages 54-55, Bailey wrote: “Jack Beckham, the noted scout, was sitting on his horse eating breakfast from a window (at William Hodges) when Tarleton came up.  Dashing off towards the (Pacolet) river he eluded his pursuers by plunging over a precipice and swimming the stream.”

John H. Logan, in his History of the Upper Country of South Carolina, p. 39, wrote: “He (Beckham) survived the war and lies buried on Hodge’s Plantation.”  This was where Beckham first lived when he moved to Carroll Shoals (later Grindal Shoals).

“When starting off, Tarleton told Mrs. Hodge that her husband should be hung to the first crooked tree on the road, but instead of hanging him, he was carried to Camden where he was put in prison and came near starving to death.

He was taken prisoner in November 1780, and did not escape from prison until April 1781, when Hodge with Daniel McJunkin and some others, succeeded in cutting the grating out of the prison widows and made their escape.”

(History of Grindal Shoals, by J. D. Bailey, pp. 54-55.)

 

William Hodge And His Three Sons, All Patriot Soldiers

During William Hodge Jr.’s imprisonment, the Battle of Cowpens was fought with three of his sons participating in the American service during the battle: William, John and Samuel.

J. D. Bailey, in his History of Grindal Shoals, on page 57, wrote: “Samuel was at the battle of Cowpens, and it is said that he fought a hand to hand battle. The powder-horn that he carried on that occasion is still in the hands of one of his descendants, and has a rough plan of the battle carved on it.”

In his pension statement (November 20, 1832, Madison County, Georgia—W4233), William Hodge III wrote: “On the 16th Capt. (John) Thompson and his company joined (Gen. Daniel) Morgan, marched up to the Cowpens near the line of North Carolina, and there prepared for battle.

On the 17th we had an engagement where Col. (William) Washington & a few of us run the British to old Gandilocks (Adam Goudelock’s) & then returned back to Morgan.”  They were chasing Banastre Tarleton after the Battle of Cowpens.

J. D. Bailey, in his History of Grindal Shoals, p. 39, wrote: “At the time of the Revolution (Adam) Goudelock was too old and infirm to take any active part in that struggle, but was a Whig sympathizer.  Tarleton being defeated and routed at the Cowpens, with a few, horsemen, was fleeing with all possible haste to Cornwallis’ camp on Turkey Creek in York District for safety.

Not being acquainted with the country, he stopped at Goudelock’s and forced the old man (Adam) to go along with him as a pilot to Hamilton’s Ford on Broad River.  A few minutes after Tarleton’s departure, Col. (William) Washington and a squad of his cavalry came dashing up in hot pursuit.

He asked Hannah how long Tarleton had been gone.  Fear for the safety of her husband, in case the pursuit was continued, got the better of her patriotism, and she replied: ‘Almost three hours’.  This answer caused Washington to give up the chase and return to Cowpens.”

William Hodge III fought with Capt. John Thompson and Col. Thomas Brandon’s Regiment at Cowpens.

(Roster of South Carolina Patriots in the American Revolution by Dr. Bobby Moss, p. 451.)

 

John Hodge, father of Benjamin Berry Hodge, was apparently William Hodge’s twin brother.  They were born April 1, 1762.

John, in his pension statement (October 11, 1832, Union District, S. C.–S21825), wrote: “I was at the Battle of Cowpens.”

John Hodge joined the First Spartan Regiment in 1776, and fought in the Cherokee Indian Expedition under Col. John Thomas and Capt. Zachariah Bullock, joining forces under General Andrew Williamson.

He was probably recruited by Capt. Zachariah Bullock, who lived very close to him.

(The Spartan Regiment of Militia, established September of 1775, Col. John Thomas, Sr. Commander—Internet.)

 

After this, for three or four weeks, he was stationed at Grindal Shoals, building and guarding a fort.

Following the Battle of Kings Mountain, in the latter part of October in 1780, he joined the Second Regiment under Col. Thomas Brandon and fought under Lt. Col. William Farr, Capt. John Thomson and Lt. Francis Lattimore.

He fought under General Thomas Sumter at the Battle of Blackstock’s on November 29, 1780.

In December of 1780, he joined with General Daniel Morgan’s forces at Grindal Shoals, and while bivouaced there fought under Col. William Washington at the Battle of Hammond’s Store.

John Hodge fought in the Battle of Cowpens and afterwards spent time guarding prisoners and the baggage wagons.  He guarded prisoners under Capt. John Thomson at the Block House and Neal’s Mill.

(Roster of South Carolina Patriots in the American Revolution by Dr. Bobby Gilmer Moss, pp. 450-451.)

 

John began receiving a pension in Union District, S. C., on October 11, 1832, at the age of 70.

James Moseley Sr. witnessed his application.  “He stated that he had seen John Hodge guarding prisoners at the Block House on Fairforest Creek in Union District, S. C., during the war, and that he had good reason to believe that John was engaged in the American service during the Battle of Cowpens.”

William Jr. gave his sons John, Samuel and William, 400 acres of his land on January 8, 1787.  The transaction was proved by Mesheck Inman on March 22, 1790.  This was the land he purchased from John Beckham.

(Union County, S. C., Deed Abstracts, Vol. II, Deed Books G-K, Deed Book H, Pp. 24-25, p.63, by Brent H. Holcomb.)

 

William Hodge Jr. sold 100 acres on the north side of Pacolet River on February 25, 1811, to Henry Crittendon, and Elizabeth, his wife, signed her right of dower.  Elizabeth died while they were living in Union District, S. C.

(Union County, S. C., Deed Abstracts, Vol. III, Deed Books L-P, 1811-1820 Deed Book L, Pp. 69-70, p.11, by Brent H. Holcomb.)

 

He sold his remaining lands to his three sons in 1820 and 1821 before moving to Georgia.  A part of this land had originally been granted to Joab Mitchell.

(Union County, S. C., Deed Abstracts, Vol. IV, Deed Books, Q-S, Pp. 17, 31, 54 by Brent H. Holcomb.)

 

“For and in consideration of the great care and attention paid me in my infirm state & in which I have been for many years, to my son, William Hodge Junr., all the horses, cows, hoggs & other stock, as well as household & kitchen furniture, carpenter and joiners tools.”

(Union County, S. C., Deed Abstracts, Vol. IV: Deed Books Q-S, 1779-1828, Book Q, P. 403, p. 54, Brent H. Holcomb.)

 

William Jr. moved to Madison County, Georgia, in 1822, and lived with his son, William III and his wife, Anne Saye Hodge.  William Jr. died in Madison County, Georgia, in June of 1830.  William III died in Madison County on December 19, 1836, and his wife, Anne, died there May 25, 1840.

(RootsWeb’s WorldConnect Project: Petree and Associated Families, ID: 11446, 11447, William and Anne Lay Saye Hodge, Contact: Aleta Jean Pope Hudson, Internet.)

 

John Hodge died circa 1835, and was probably buried in an unmarked grave in the Hodge Family Cemetery, Union County, S. C.

To find the location of the cemetery one must travel 2.5 miles on the Jerusalem Road toward Pacolet, S.C., and turn right on Country Side Drive.  The cemetery is .4 of a mile on the right.

(John Hodge, Family of Sherry Ford, GenCircles—Internet.)

 

A few databases list Henry Hodge as the son of Benjamin, but this is incorrect.  Henry Hodge was a son of John Jackson Hodge and his wife, Martha (Patsy) Fowler, daughter of Wymac Fowler and Susannah Moseley.  His grandparents were Samuel Hodge and Martha Wright Hodge.

Benjamin Hodge was listed in the 1820 Federal Census with: 3 males under 10; 1 male 16-25 (Benjamin); 2 females under 10; and 1 female 16-25 (his wife).

If all of the above children belonged to Benjamin, he may have had a previous marriage.  His wife, Dorcas, was not born until 1801.

Dorcas and Benjamin had a daughter, Sarah, born October 11, 1826.

Dorcas left Benjamin, her husband, and moved to Bradley County, Tennessee, with Jared Foster, circa 1827 or 1828, thus leaving Benjamin with a small child.

The writer believes that Cynthia Hodge Reeves, wife of Zachariah Reeves, and sister of Benjamin, raised Sarah.  Sarah did not move with her father when he left the area, perhaps in the latter 1830s.

Sarah married Isaac Haile, son of John and Rachel Harris Haile, and grandson of Capt. John Haile and Ruth Henderson Haile.  He was born August 17, 1818, in Union County, S. C.  Sarah was living with the Reeves family at the time of her marriage.

Out of appreciation for what his wife’s aunt and uncle had done for Sarah, Isaac Haile, on September 8, 1858, gave 50 acres of land to Zachariah and his wife, Cynthia Hodge Reeves, with the understanding that the land was to belong to their children after this couple’s death.  Isaac and Sarah were residents of Texas at this time.

Isaac died on March 3, 1892, and Sarah died January 23, 1906.  They were buried in Hoover’s Valley Cemetery, Burnet County, Texas.

When his father and mother died, Zachariah Reeves Jr. purchased the 50 acres of land from his sisters.

(Internet—Re: Isaac S. Haile—S. C. to Llano TXpre 1860; Roots Web’s WorldConnect Project: ID: 12121, Contact Mark; Isaac Haile—Ancestry.com; Union County Heritage 1981, Mannie Lee Mabry, Editor, p. 233.)

 

After moving with Dorcas to Tennessee, Jared Foster fought in Elliott’s Company with the Tennessee Militia in the Cherokee War at Fort Lauderdale, Florida, April 2, 1838.  They captured 45 Indians.

Jared and Dorcas were living together in Bradley County, Tennessee, when the 1840 Federal Census was taken.  She had four children at this time by Jared from 1828 to 1840: Lucinda J., born in 1828; Sarah, born in 1830; Martha E., born in 1836; and Elizabeth born in 1840.

He was granted land in Jasper County, Missouri, for services rendered during the Indian War, and moved his family to Missouri in 1846-47.

When the 1850 Federal Census was taken, they were living in Jasper County, Missouri, in Jackson Township.  They had two additional children: Andrew Jackson, born in 1842, and Francis Marion, born in 1846.

Jared and Dorcas were still living in Jasper County, Missouri, Jackson Township, when the 1860 Federal Census was taken.  Three of their children were living with them at this time: Elizabeth, age 20; Andrew Jackson, age 18; and Francis Marion, age 14.

Jared, Dorcas and their sons, Andrew Jackson Foster and Frances Marion Foster were living in Kansas when the 1865 Kansas State Census was taken.  Dorcas died in Kansas after 1865.

Jared was living in Montgomery County, Kansas, with his youngest son, Francis Marion Foster, when the 1875 Kansas Territorial Census was taken.  He is thought to have died in Montgomery County, Kansas, after 1875, where he was buried.

Greg Foster, of Canada, indicated to the writer, that “on the papers that his great grandfather, Andrew J. Foster, signed to enter an Old Soldiers Home, he listed his father as Jared Foster and his mother as Dorcas Moseley.”

All of the databases state that Jared Foster was married to two of James Moseley’s daughters, Nancy and Dorcas, but this is inaccurate.  He was not married to Nancy, and Dorcas was his common law wife.  It is possible that Jared’s first wife (name unknown) was a daughter of James Moseley.

At least a part of Jared’s children were included in James (High Key) Moseley’s will.

Andrew Jackson Foster, son of Jared and Dorcas, fought as a Union soldier in the 2nd Kansas Battery of Light Artillery during the War Between the States.  (Greg Foster’s notes.)

(j). Daughter possibly born circa 1803 or before.  Her name is unknown.  She is believed to have married Jared Foster circa 1821.  Leonardo Andrea in his research of 1965, sought to make a list of James Moseley’s children.  In his list he refered to “the deceased wife of Jared Foster”, thus indicating that she had died before her father’s death.

 

Child Of James And Martha Pickens Moseley, Jane Moseley

(k). Jane Moseley was born December 31, 1835, in Union District, S. C., and was the only child of James and Martha Pickens Moseley.  James was 79 years old and Martha was about 40 years old when their daughter was born.  Martha died suddenly October 2, 1839,  and James Moseley died May 19, 1840.  Their daughter was only five years old when her father died.

She married James Shelton McWhorter, son of Robert Charles and Kezia Elizabeth Fowler McWhorter, on July 16, 1850, in Union District, S. C.  He was born March 15, 1823, in Union District, S. C.  They were married and living with his parents when the 1850 Federal Census was taken.

Robert Charles McWhorter was the son of James Robert McWhorter and his wife, Winifred Hames McWhorter.  Kezia Elizabeth Fowler was the daughter of Godfrey and Nancy Kelly Fowler.

Jane and Shelton had seven sons and one daughter all born in Union District, S. C.

“On April 29, 1856, Jane McWhorter in Union District, S. C., (formerly Jane Moseley) filed an affidavit stating that she is the daughter and only minor child of James Moseley, a revolutionary war pensioner of the United States; that she was born at her father’s residence in Union District on the 31st day of December 1835;

And was married to her husband, Shelton McWhorter, on the 16th day of July 1850; that her father died at his residence in Union District on May 19, 1840, and left no widow, her mother (Martha Pickens Moseley) having died about the 2nd day of October 1839; she made this affidavit in pursuance of her claim for a bounty land entitlement.”

Testimony received in Jane’s request for bounty land:

“John Foster and his wife, Jane Foster, stated that James Moseley resided within 1 ½ miles of their home.

Mrs. Jane Foster, the wife of J. M. Foster on 3 March 1855, testified that she was a full sister of Martha Pickens, who married James Moseley as his 2nd wife, and that James Moseley and Martha Pickens were married in the Foster home in the fall of 1829 (1833), she thinks.

Martha Pickens Moseley had been married once before, and by her 1st marriage had a son named John Pickens and that John Pickens was a small boy (15 years old) when his mother married James Moseley, and that John Pickens lived with Mr. Moseley until his mother died.”

(Part of this sworn statement was erroraneous.  Martha Pickens had the child, John Pickens, out-of-wedlock.  She had never been married.  James Moseley, in his will, stipulates that John Pickens was born out-of-wedlock.)

 

“Mrs. Jane Foster testified 31 March 1855, that James Moseley was married before and that by his first wife he had several children and the youngest child by the first wife is now past the age of 45 years.  Some of the children by the first wife are dead.

These are still alive however:  William Moseley; Elizabeth (the wife of Mark Fowler); Wymac Fowler is a son-in-law (He was deceased, but his wife, Susannah was still living); John B. Moseley; the wife of Berry (Benjamin) Hodge (Nancy, common law wife); Rhoda Fowler; Jared  Foster (and his common law wife Dorcas); were still living.

John Pickens stated that he was the legal guardian of his half sister, Jane Moseley (daughter of James Moseley by 2nd wife, Martha Pickens), and served as her guardian until she married Shelton McWhirter.  The land warrant as a Revolutionary Bounty was issued to Jane Moseley, now the wife of Shelton McWhirter of York County, S. C.”

(Pension statement of James Moseley—S9421.)

 

Shelton and Jane moved with five of their eight children to Hunt County, Texas, in 1875.  They lived six and one half miles southeast of Wolfe City, Texas.  He was a farmer and a rancher.

He died July 1, 1892, in Hunt County, Texas, from a stroke of paralysis, and Jane died in 1900, while living in Hunt County.  They were buried in Wesley Chapel Cemetery, South Sulphur, Hunt County, Texas.  Shelton and his wife, Jane, were Methodists.

Shelton, his sons and many of his grandsons belonged to the Masonic Order.  His daughter, Janie, was an Eastern Star.

(k). John Wylie Pickens (out of wedlock child of Martha Pickens, and James Moseley’s stepson) was born on January 7, 1818, in Union District, S. C.

He was twenty-one years of age when his stepfather, James Moseley, died.  He was unmarried, but about seven months later he married Elvira McWhirter, daughter of John Allen and Mary Fowler McWhirter, December 24, 1840, in Union District.  She was born in 1824.

She was the granddaughter of James Robin McWhirter Sr. and his wife, Winifred Hames, and granddaughter of Godfrey and Nannie Kelly Fowler.

She died February 7, 1848, and was buried in the Kelly Cemetery in Union County, S. C.   He and Elvira had three daughters.  She was his first wife.

He next married Nancy Shell.  She was born circa 1819, and married John Pickens before 1850, for she was listed as his wife in the 1850 Federal Census of that year.  They had two sons and two daughters.

His third wife was Nancy Barnette from Spartanburg County, S. C.  She was born in December of 1828, and died the night of December 31, 1903, of cancer.

John Wylie Pickens died at the home of his daughter, Hattie Harmon, wife of Golden Harmon, on April 7, 1909, after a long illness.  Services were held at the New Hope Methodist Church in Jonesville, S. C.

Abstract of James Moseley’s Will

He wrote his will on October 4, 1839.  He left his youngest child, Jane, “the land whereon I now live known as the Home Place.”  He left half the land he received from his late wife, Martha, to John Pickens, her out of wedlock son.

“Since my last wife, Martha, inherited a considerable estate from her father, and Martha died some six months ago, she and I planned to make a deed of one half of her estate to her son, JOHN PICKENS, which she had before she married me.”

He left his son, John Baxter Moseley, “the tract known as the Berry tract, 100 acres except 15 acres where William Fowler now lives”.  He left his son-in-law, Mark Fowler, “the tract whereon said Mark Fowler now lives, 50 acres”.

He left his daughter, Rhoda Fowler, “tract whereon she now lives”.

He left his son-in-law, Womack Fowler, “all of my blacksmith tools”.

He stated that his son-in-law, Berry (Benjamin) Hodge “has been provided for and has demeaned himself unkindly to me.  I give him one shilling.”

He stated that his deceased son, James, has “all ready been given all that I am able to do”.  “I give to each of his children one shilling.”  I give to “Jared Foster’s children one shilling”.  He gave “to his son, William, the old rifle”.  He left his son, John Baxter, “the small shot gun”.

“All my pocket and hunting knives are labeled and I want each knife to be given to whomsoever it is labeled for.”  (This seems to indicate that he was a knife maker.)

James Moseley did not mention the children of his daughter, Mary, who married John D. Long Sr., in his will.  Mary and her husband were both deceased before Moseley’s will was written, though his grandson, John D. Long Jr., was still living in Union County, S. C., and had already married his grandaughter, Missindy Fowler, daughter of Wymac and Susannah Moseley Fowler.

He also did not refer to any of Nancy’s children by Ephraim Fowler.

When he wrote his will, he was fully aware that Dorcas had left her husband, Benjamin Hodge, and gone to Tennessee with Jared Foster.  He left Jared’s children one shilling each.

Benjamin Hodge and his daughter, Nancy, had a son, Jasper Hodge, before the will was written.

Major Joseph Stark Sims was to act as his executor and guardian of “my minor child, Jane”.

The will was witnessed by William B. Hames, Jordan Johnson and John M. Foster.  William B. Hames was the grandson of Charles and Catherine Krugg Hames.

It was proven by Jordan Johnson and John M. Foster on June 6, 1840.  Johnson and Foster married sisters of Moseley’s second wife, Martha.

“Sims having renounced, letters of administration, with the will annexed, was granted to John Pickens.”  Pickens was James Moseley’s stepson and his daughter, Jane, stayed with Pickens for about ten years until she married Shelton McWhorter.

(Union County South Carolina Will Abstracts, 1787-1849, p. 143.)

 

Brother of James (High Key) Moseley, Baxter Moseley

Baxter, son of John and Ann Abernathy Moseley, was born circa 1760, in Brunswick County, Virginia.

He married Henrietta Fowler, daughter of Ellis and Catherine Puckett Fowler, circa 1790, in Union District, S. C.  She was born circa 1775.

Her father, Ellis, born in Albemarle County, Virginia, was the son of Godfrey III and Mary  ?  Fowler.  When Ellis Fowler first moved to Union District, S. C., he lived in the Grindal Shoals section.  His sons sold a part of his land on Little Sandy Run Creek in 1810.

Henrietta and Baxter had the following children: Samuel, John, Lemuel, Henrietta, Mary and Daniel.

Baxter made his will on October 29, 1820, and it was recorded November 6, 1820.  He left his estate to his wife, Henrietta, for herself and the small children “until the youngest son, Daniel shall arrive at the age of 21”.

At her death or marriage the estate was to be converted to the use of their children.  William Henderson and Edmund Hames were to be his executors, but they refused to qualify.   His brother, James Moseley, witnessed his will.

(Union County, S. C., Will book B, pp. 60-61.)

 

Daniel Moseley, their youngest child, was born in 1814, and married Biddy ?  .  She was born circa 1820.  They had at least seven children: Samuel James, Mary, Damon, Martha, Sarah, John and Henry.

Daniel died on Saturday, March 3, 1894, and was buried at Gilead Baptist Church on Sunday.  “He fell ten days before his death and 2 or 3 ribs were fractured and from this he took pneumonia, which soon ended his life.

He was in his 81st year of age and had lived near Jonesville nearly all of his life.  He pulled teeth, bled people and horses and made walking sticks.”  His grave is unmarked.

(Union County, South Carolina, Death Notices From Early Newspapers, 1852-1914, compiled and abstracted by Tommy J. Vaughn, p. 68; 1850 Federal Census of Union County, South Carolina.)

Henrietta Fowler Moseley’s death date is not known to this writer.

 

Sister of James (High Key) Moseley Elizabeth Moseley Hames

Elizabeth, daughter of John and Mary Abernathy Moseley, was born in Brunswick County, Virginia, on July 31, 1763.

She married William Hames, son of Charles and Catherine Krugg Hames, circa 1780.  William was born on February 6, 1759.

She and William had five sons and two daughters.  He died in Union District, S. C., on September 23, 1823, and she died in Union District in 1839.

10. Charity Jasper.  She was born on February 1, 1765.  She married John Hames, son of Charles and Catherine Krugg Hames, in 1781.

Charles Hames was the son of William Hames Jr. and his wife, Winifred Fann Hames.  Catherine Krugg Hames was the daughter of John and Mary Krugg of Karlsruhe, Germany.  Catherine was born in Germany.

Two deeds prove that John Hames was the son of Charles and Catherine Hames.

On August 25, 1798, Charles Hames sold 175 acres on the north side of Pacolet River to his son, John, for 50 pounds sterling.  It was part of a tract surveyed for Charles Brandon on the north side of Pacolet in the fork of the Mill Pond.  The land was in what is now Cherokee County, S. C.

(Union County, S. C., Deed Book F, pp. 250-252.)

 

John Hames, of Union District, sold his tract of 175 acres to George Foster on March 4, 1805, for $350.00.  It was part of a tract surveyed for Charles Brandon on the north side of Pacolet River on Mill Creek in the fork of the Mill Pond at the upper corner of Brandon’s Old Field.  Charity Hames, wife of John, relinquished her dower claims on March 5, 1805.

(Union County, S. C., Deed Book H, pp. 291-292.)

 

John Hames built his cabin on the north side of Pacolet River in what is now Cherokee County, S. C.  He lived beside his father-in-law, John Jasper.

William C. Lake, in an unpublished article entitled: “Jasper Born in Union County”, wrote: “The Jasper house stood beyond the old John Hames place, on the right hand side of the new road leading from Union to Gaffney.”

There is a significant problem with the age of John Hames.  In his Revolutionary War Pension statement (S16409) on the third day of September 1832, he declares that he was born in Mecklenburg County (Lunenburg County, Virginia, until 1765), April 28, 1752.

John is listed in his father’s Bible record as being born April 28, 1764, in Mecklenburg County, Virginia, (Lunenburg County until 1765).

If he was not born in 1752, then he would have been 12 years old when he volunteered for service in the Continental Army.  When he left the service in 1781, he would have been 17.

In Dr. Bobby Moss’ article on John Hames in Roster of South Carolina Partiots in the American Revolution, p. 404, he states that he was both a private and brevet-major.  If he was born in 1764, as the Bible record declares, he possibly would have been a brevet-major at the age of 17.

John seems to have been a bit confused about his age in the 1850s.  A later addenda to his pension records in 1855, refers to his age as 119.

An article in the Abbeville Banner, Thursday, March 12, 1757, refers to John Hames as the “Oldest Man in America”.  The article states that he was ten years old when Washington was in his cradle.

This writer believes that he was either born April 28, 1752, according to his pension records, or he was born April 28, 1764, according to the Bible records.  His war records seem to substantiate a birth of 1752.

However, the Bible records state that Charles and Catherine Krugg Hames were married May 8, 1757, so if the Bible records are correct, he would have been born in 1764.

(South Carolina Bible Records, Pinckney District Chapter, S. C., Genealogical Society, Edited by Dorothy Harris Phifer, pp. 106-107.)

 

Either the pension records are wrong or the Bible records are wrong.  Charles was born in 1732, and Catherine was born in 1735, and they could have given birth to a child in 1752, if they were married earlier than the Bible records indicate, or John Hames was born to this couple before they were legally married.

The writer has no way of knowing when John Hames was born, but if we accept the sworn pension statement of John, then he was born in 1752, and the Bible records are inaccurate.  Sometimes Bible records are assimilated much later and thus can contain errors.

From the Revolutionary War Pension application (S16409) of John Hames in Hall County, Georgia, on September 3, 1832, the following information was abstracted:

“John Hames joined the First Spartan Regiment under Col. John Thomas, Commander, in 1776.  Thomas Brandon was a major and Zachariah Bullock was a captain.  Capt. Bulllock probably recruited Hames.  He also served under Capt. Robert Montgomery.

He fought the Cherokee Indians under General Andrew Williamson in 1776.  He joined the 2nd Spartan Regiment, commanded by Col. Thomas Brandon in 1777, and served under Capt. John Thompson and Major Benjamin Jolly.

He was in the following battles:

(1). The Battle of Briar Creek on March 3, 1779.

(2). The Siege of Savannah on October 9, 1779.

(3). The Siege of Augusta, Georgia, on September 14-18, 1780.

(4), The Battle of Blackstocks on November 20, 1780.

(5). The Battle of Cowpens on January 17, 1781.

(6). The Battle of Guilford’s Courthouse on March 15, 1781.

(7). The Battle of Fort Granby on May 15, 1781.

(8). The Battle of Ninety Six on May 22 to June 19, 1781.

(9). The Battle of Eutaw Springs on September 8, 1781.

He was at the Siege of Savannah, where his future brother-in-law, Sgt. William Jasper, was killed.

He tells of fighting under General Sumter at the Battle of Blackstocks, and of the General being wounded in the shoulder.

He tells of building a Block House on Fair Forest Creek and of spending three months at a place called Four Holes.

He tells of marching towards Charleston to a place called Monks Corner, where ‘the enemy heard that we were coming and left the place before we got there.’

He speaks of their taking Fort Granby.  He fought under Col. “Light Horse Harry” Lee, General Robert E. Lee’s father, in this battle.

He states that he was in two skirmishes or engagements under the command of General Francis Marion.  He was with him “at the massacre of the Tories on the Pedee River”.

He states that he was a Brevet Major for two years under Col. Thomas Brandon.  He states that he served as major at the Battle of Choy Old Fields against the Cherokee Indians.

He tells of being encamped with General Daniel Morgan at Grindal Shoals before the Battle of Cowpens.

He tells of being “called out by Col. William Henderson, Capt. John Thompson and Lt. Francis Lattimore and marching to Cambridge (Ninety Six)”.

He tells of fighting at Eutaw Springs under General Nathanael Greene.  Here Col. William Henderson (his neighbor) was badly wounded, and “I carried him on my back to General Green’s Camp.”

He states that he was “honorably discharged at Edisto being with the entire company to which I belonged”.

(The Encyclopedia of the American Revolution by Mark M. Boatner III; Touring South Carolina’s Revolutionary War Sites by Daniel W. Barefoot; and lists of the First and Second Spartan Regiments–Internet.)

 

In the Revolutionary Pension application of John Whelchel of Hall County, Georgia, (W6498), John Hames tells of living in the same neighborhood with John Whelchel in Union District, S. C., and of serving with him in Col. Thomas Brandon’s Regiment.

He tells of being in engagements with him at Blackstocks, at the Cowpens, where John Whelchel “received a severe wound on the head by the cut of a sword”, and at Cambridge (Ninety Six) and Eutaw Springs.

On September 4th and 5th, 1787, John Hames sold Robert Gault 100 acres of a 200 acre tract between John’s Creek and Pacolet River, that he had receive by grant on January 21, 1785.

(Union County, S. C., Deed Book A, pp. 236-239.)

 

He sold the other 100 acres of the grant to his brother, William Hames, on December 24th & 25tk, 1787.

(Union County, S. C., Deed Book, B, pp. 76-79.)

 

He purchased 200 acres on Little Sandy Run Creek from William Wofford of Burk County, North Carolina, on September 15th & 16th, 1788.

(Union County, S. C., Deed Book B, pp. 118-121.)

 

John Hames lived on the north side of the Pacolet River on his father’s land, which he purchased from him in 1798, and sold to George Foster in 1805.

(Union County, S. C., Deed Book F, pp. 250-252; Deed Book H, pp. 291-292.)

 

He moved his family to Pendleton District, S. C., circa 1805, but had moved back to Spartanburg County, S. C., by 1808, when he sold 150 aces of land to Edmond Chapman and John Lucas for $320.00 on December 22, 1808.  His wife, Charity, renounced her dower rights on the same date.

(Spartanburg County, S. C., Deed Abstracts, Books A-T, 1785-1827, p. 395.)

 

John witnessed a land transaction between Ephraim Fowler and Henry Gault in Union District, S. C., on July 15, 1816.

(Union County, S. C., Deed Book N, pp. 227-228.)

 

He and his wife, Charity, joined the Scull Shoals Baptist Church.  (Church Records of Scull Shoals Baptist Church.)

 

Children of John and Charity Jasper Hames

(a). Charles Hames was born circa 1782, in Union District, S. C.  He first married Catherine Brandon, daughter of Charles and Sarah Cook Brandon, circa 1805.  She was born circa 1775.  Catherine’s mother, Sarah, was the daughter of John and Sarah Fulton Cook, both from Ireland.

Catherine’s first husband was William Kilpatrick, son of Alexander and Judith Clarke Kilpatrick, of Spartanburg District, S. C.  William was born circa 1770, and they were married circa 1794.  Three children were born to this couple: Mary, Elizabeth and Sarah.  He died circa 1800.

Charles Hames and Catherine had a daughter, Nancy Hames, born August 8, 1806.  Catherine died December 25, 1840, in Birmingham, Jefferson County, Alabama.

After the death of Catherine, Charles Hames married Elizabeth Howell.  She was born October 11, 1810, in South Carolina.

Charles died July 20, 1854, in Bedford County, Tennessee.  Elizabeth Howell Hames died August 5, 1860.

(b). Polly Hames was born circa 1783, in Union District, S. C.  She married Thomas Cook Jr., son of Thomas and Ann  ? Cook, in 1802, in Union District, S. C.  He was born circa 1780.

Thomas Cook Sr.’s parents, John and Sarah Fulton Cook, came to this country from Ireland.  After John died his widow, Sarah, moved from York County, Pennsylvania, to the Ninety Six District of South Carolina.  Sarah’s daughter, Elizabeth, married William Hodge Jr.

Martha, Charity, John, Thomas and Hugh were children of Thomas Cook Jr. and Polly Hames.  After the death of Polly, Thomas Cook Jr. married her sister, Sarah Hames, in 1813.  She was born circa 1797.  They had thirteen children.

(c). Daughter (name unknown) was born circa 1785, in Union District, S. C.  She married Churchwell Tucker, born circa 1780.

(d). Mary Hames was born circa 1787, in Union District, S. C.  She married Timothy Haney, son of Robert and Elizabeth Bailey Haney.  He was born April 15, 1787, in Rutherford County, North Carolina, and died after 1838, in Rutherford County, North Carolina.  Date of death of Mary Hames Haney is unknown.

(e). Patti Hames was born circa 1789, in Union District, S. C.  She married  ? Hood.

(f). John Hames Jr. was born circa 1795, in Union District, S. C.  He married Harriett  ?  .  They had children: John, Lura, Wade and Theoplis Hames.

(g). Thomas Henry Hames was born July 9, 1796, in Union District, S. C.  He married Annis Robinson February 8, 1818.  She was born circa 1800.

They had seven sons and three daughters.  They had a son named, Jasper Hames.

Annis died May 6, 1844, in Lylerly County, Georgia, and was buried in Lylerly Cemetery.

Thomas father, John Hames, lived with his son, Thomas, after he lost his second wife.  They were living in Murray County, Georgia, when his father died.  Thomas worked in the gold mines.

Thomas died March 18, 1874, in Bedford County, Tennessee.

(h). Sarah Hames was born circa 1797, in Union District, S. C.   She was the second wife of Thomas Cook Jr.  He married Sarah circa 1813, his first wife’s sister.

They had twelve children.  He died in DeKalb County, Georgia, in the 1840s.  Sarah also died in DeKalb County.

(i). Rebecca  Hames was born in Union District, S. C., circa 1802.  She married Elijah Wade on December 30, 1823, in Hall County, Georgia.

They had five sons and four daughters.  Elijah died in Marshall County, Alabama, and his wife, Rebecca, died there in the 1860s.

John  Hames and Charity Jasper Hames followed the gold rush to Georgia before 1820, and were living in Hall County, Georgia, on March 24, 1826, when Charity died.  She was buried in White Path Cemetery, Gilmer County, Georgia.

(Union County Heritage, 1981, article on John Hames by Mrs. Roy E. Hames, pp. 124-125.)

 

John Hames Sr. married Martha Pierce on August 17, 1826, in Hall County, Georgia.

She was the widow of James Harrison Pierce, who died in South Carolina, in the early 1820s.  He was born circa 1760 in New Hampshire.

James Pierce served one hundred sixty-seven days in the militia during 1781 and 1782.  He was living in Edgefield District at the time.

(Roster of South Carolina Patriots in the American Revolution by Dr. Bobby Gilmer Moss, pg. 773.)

 

James and Martha had eight children, all born in Edgefield District, in South Carolina.  Six of the children were: Elizabeth M., Nancy, John, Hampton, Levi and Ruben Harrison Pierce.

Their daughter, Elizabeth, married James R. Russell, son of Richard Anthony and Margaret Black Russell, in 1818.  She was the mother of the Russell brothers, William Greeneberry Russell, Joseph Oliver Russell and Levi Jasper Russell, who found gold in Colorado and started the settlement that became Denver, Colorado.

Martha  ? Pierce Hames was born circa 1770, in North Carolina, and died in Lumpkin County, Georgia, in the 1840s.

(Research of Charles Dorman Thomas of Arlington, Texas, a great-great grandson of Reuben Harrison.  Submitted by Dorman Thomas on March 4, 1999; RootsWeb’s WorldConnect Project: Phillips and Allied Familes of the South—Martha ? Pierce.)

 

John Hames died October 9, 1860, in Murray County, Georgia, and was buried in the Sardis Cemetery, a very old cemetery in the Woods of Murray County, Georgia.  His coffin was constructed by John Shannon, and Henry Bemis dug the grave.  Shannon married John’s granddaughter.  Depending on which birth date is utilized, he was either 108 years old or 96 years old.

He was re-interred in the Federal Cemetery at Marietta, Georgia, on July 11, 1911.  The grave is located in Section D, gravestone #10390, with his name, John Hames Sr., S. C.

(Hames Heritage, pp. 233-234; RootsWeb’s WorldConnect Project: Crabtree-Osburn—John Hames.)

 

11. Lydda Jasper.  She was born in February of 1769.  She never married, but from the 1790 Federal Census it appears that she came to Union District with her parents, John and Mary Herrington Jasper in 1779.

She died sometime in the 1790s.  When her father’s will was written in September of 1799, she was not included thus indicating that she was deceased.

 

FAMILIES THAT JOINED THE WAGON TRAIN TO KENTUCKY IN 1796

John McWhorters (possibly 13)

George McWhorters (possibly 8)

John Portman Sr. (1)

John Portmans Jr. (possibly 5)

Nicholas Jaspers (possibly 10)

John Jaspers Jr. family (son of Nicholas—possibly 5)

Andrew Jasper family (son of Nicholas—possibly 3)

William Purdy family (Robert & John Chesney’s uncle—possibly 6)

Robert Chesneys (possibly 9)

John Chesneys (possibly 4)

POSSIBLE TOTAL 64—In addition there was a slave and her child thus increasing the number to 66.  There were possibly other slaves who traveled with them.

James Robertson and the Book Horse Shoe Robinson

BY ROBERT A. IVEY

James (Horse Shoe) Robertson, was the son of David and Frances Burchfield  Robertson, the grandson of Israel and Sarah (Williams ? ) Robertson, and the great grandson of Nicholas and Sarah Marks Robertson.  Sarah Marks Robertson was the daughter of Matthew and Mary Somes Marks.

Israel Robertson received an inheritance from his grandfather, Matthew Marks.

(Internet—The Robertson Genealogy Exchange; Will of Matthew Marks was dated August 15, 1719, and probated at Merchants Hope October 13, 1719; Virginia Historical Archives.)

 

James’ great grandfather, Nicholas Robertson, and his great-great grandfather, Matthew Marks, were founding members of the first Baptist Church to be established in the state of Virginia in what is now Prince George County.  Robert Norden was pastor of the church.

Matthew Marks and Nicholas Robertson had their homes legally declared “public meeting houses”.  When Matthew Marks died he gave the Reverend Norden the privilege of living in his house for what proved to be the remainder of Norden’s life.

(The Baptists of Virginia by Garnett Ryland, pp. 2-5.)

 

David’s father, Israel, received a 670 acres grant in Brunswick County (Mecklenburg) on the westside of Smith’s Creek on Roanoak River, September 28, 1728.    He received a grant of 640 acres of land on the eastside of Little Creek in Granville County, N. C., on March 25, 1749.  This land was surveyed on March 10, 1748.

(RootsWeb’s World Connect: Ancestors of Robert Fillmore LaNier Inside Heavens Gate, ID: 111390, Israel Robertson.)

 

Israel had moved from Mecklenburg County to Granville County, North Carolina, by the early 1750s.  He was an ensign in the Granville County, North Carolina Militia.  Commander of the regiment was Col. William Eaton.  Israel and his sons, Matthew (Sergeant), Israel Jr., John and Nicholas were listed on the General Muster roll on October 8, 1754.  They served in Captain Richard Coleman’s Company.

(North Carolina Colonial and State Records, Vol. 22, p. 372-373.)

 

According to the records of Bristol Parish, Prince George County, David Robertson was born on August 19, 1728, the fourth son of Israel and Sarah Robertson.

(RootsWeb’s World Connect: Head-Cook, Montgomery, Alabama, ID: 120559, David Robertson.)

 

He married Frances Burchfield, daughter of Adam and Mary  ? Burchfield.  She was born on March 13, 1724.  The Burchfields were originally from Wales and settled first in Baltimore County, Maryland.

(RootsWeb’s WorldConnect Project: Barker and Bergmark Families, ID: 18047, Frances Burchfield; RootsWeb’s WorldConnect Project: Paige / Page Family Ancestry, ID: 19273, Adam Burchfield; Baltimore County Families, 1659-1759, by Robert Barnes, p. 83.)

 

David received a grant of 392 acres in Lunenburg County (later Mecklenburg County), Virginia, on the north side of Smith’s Reedy Branch from King George II on December 15, 1749.

Before receiving this land, he lived with his father in Lunenburg County (later Mecklenburg).

(RootsWeb’s WorldConnect Project: Vermont’s Seeds, ID: 147349, David Robertson; Virginia Patent Book 29, 1749-1751, pp. 21-23.)

 

In his will of December 4, 1758, Israel Robertson bequeathed  “five shillings sterling” to his son, David.  Israel died August 12, 1760. (Internet—The Robertsons of Tennessee: Myth and Reality.)

David and his wife, Frances, sold their Lunenburg County, Virginia, land to William Davis on February 5, 1762.

(Lunenburg County, Virginia, Deed Book 7, pp. 281-282.)

 

David purchased 128 acres of land from Joseph John Alston in Granville County, North Carolina.  He and his wife, Frances, sold this land to Joseph John Williams on January 13, 1764.

(Granville County, N. C. Deed Book E, pp. 3, 70.)

 

He received a grant of 400 acres of land on the north side of Broad River and waters of Turkey Creek in Mecklenburg County, North Carolina, September 26, 1766, on “both sides of wagon road including (John) Wade’s old store house”.  James Robertson was 7 years old when his father moved the family to what later became South Carolina.

(Mecklenburg County, North Carolina, Records; File No. 2167; Gr. No. 226; Bk. 23, p. 121; North Carolina Land Grants in South Carolina, by Brent Holcomb, p. 107.)

 

He sold the Turkey Creek land to William Glover Bishop in June of 1769, and purchased land and a grist mill from Joab Mitchell on both sides of Mill Creek in Tryon County, North Carolina.  The Turkey Creek and Mill Creek lands became a part of South Carolina in 1772.

(Tryon County, North Carolina, Deed Book 1, pp. 178-179; pp. 52-53; Internet–The Robertson’s of Tennessee: Myth and Reality, p. 6.)

 

This transaction included a grist mill that had belonged to John Clark, father of General Elijah Clark.  The creek was first called Clark’s Mill Creek. (Tryon County, North Carolina, Deed Book I, pages 518-519; Upper Broad River Basin Pioneers, 1750-1760, Item No. 295-E, Compiled by Miles S. Philbeck; Union County, South Carolina, Deed Abstracts, Vol. I: Deed Books A-F, 1785-1800, Compiled by Brent H. Holcomb, p. 54.)

David purchased a tract of 400 acres of land on both sides of Thicketty Creek from Jacob Widner on October 25, 1770.  It was originally granted to Honas Balm and later joined John Nuckolls’ tract.  John Clark, father of General Elijah Clark, assisted in surveying the Balm grant in 1752.  This land became a part of South Carolina in 1772. (Tryon County, North Carolina, Deed Book I, pp. 306-307.)

He apparently was in process of purchasing this property in 1767.  On August 8, 1767, when John Nuckolls had a survey made for his grant of 400 acres, records state that the tract was bounded by lands of Stephen Jones and David Roberson. (Mecklenburg County, File No. 2375; Gr. No. 135; Bk. 23, p. 205; North Carolina Land Grants in South Carolina, Compiled by Brent Holcomb, p. 100.)

John Nuckolls led a group of neighbors on February 9, 1771, to form a company to protect the settlers from the Cherokee Indians.  He was chosen captain.  A partial list of other neighbors serving were: William Marchbanks (Lieutenant), Patrick Moore (Ensign), Adam Burchfield (Sergeant), Phillip Coleman (Sergeant), Thomas Cole (Corporal), Hugh Moore, Matthew Robinson (James Robertson’s brother), John Goudelock, Samuel Clowney, Hugh Means, George Story and William Coleman. (The Colonial Records of North Carolina, Vol. XIII, by William L. Saunders, p. 517.)

David Robertson operated the grist mill until three days before he made his will. (Tryon County, North Carolina, Deed Book 1, pp. 518-519.)

His will was written on July 8, 1771, (probably composed by Vardry McBee Sr.).  His wife, Frances, his son-in-law, Irby Dewberry, and his neighbor, William Marchbanks, were his executors.  Two of the witnesses to the will were Vardry McBee Sr. and Adam Burchfield.

A part of the will read: “and as touching the Estate of my Brother Charles Robertson that I have obtained by execution I Give to George Robertson the youngest of my Brother Charles that is to say after the said Estate pays to my Wife Seventy Pounds Virginia Money and Discharges the Execution and attachment…that I stand bound for my Brother Charles Robertson then the remainder to return into the hand of the said George Robertson the younger son of my Brother Charles Robertson and if he should die I Give the same to the next Youngest Brother of his to him and his heirs and my will and desire that such Estate Remain the hand of my Brother Charles Robertson till such Son comes of Age…” (It was recorded in Tryon County, North Carolina, Will Book, I, 1774-1779, p. 304.)

“This (part of the will) related to his brother Charles’ legal entanglements with the British authorities due to his regulator activities.  It essentially amounts to the fact that David attempted to use his will to so complicate the handling of his bequest with the financial affairs of his brother Charles that it would delay perhaps forever the Brits’ confiscating Charles’ property.”  The will was rejected and the rule of primogeniture was enforced. (RootsWeb’s WorldConnect: Head-Cook, Montgomery, Alabama, ID: 120559, David Robertson.)

Adam Burchfield witnessed the will of Frances’ husband, David, who died in 1771, when James was 12 years old.  He was possibly a brother of Frances.  According to Dr. Bobby Moss’ Roster of South Carolina Patriots in the American Revolution, p. 122, Burchfield served under Capts. Vardry McBee, John Mapp and Col. Benjamin Roebuck during 1781 and 1782.

Frances later remarried James Terrell, son of James and Margaret  Watkins Terrell, a Patriot and Captain during the Revolutionary War. He served as a lieutenant under Cols. Thomas Sumter, John Purvis and William Bratton and was wounded in 1780.  He also served as a captain in the militia under Col. Thomas Brandon. (RootsWeb’s WorldConnect Project: Our Research, ID: 15826, James Terrell; Spartanburg County Deed Abstracts A-T, 1785-1827, by Albert Bruce Pruitt, p. 333; Deed Book K, pp. 471-473; Roster of South Carolina Patriots in the American Revolution by Dr. Bobby Moss, p. 922.)

In his Revolutionary War Pension application (S14341), James Robertson stated that he was born in North Carolina, in October of 1759.  He stated that his parents moved the family from North Carolina to South Carolina and settled in Ninety Six District. (It was later called Union District and is now a part of Cherokee County.  Revolutionary Soldiers in Alabama by Thomas M. Owens; Internet–Pension Statements of the American Revolution by Will Graves.)

According to his pension statement, James Robertson joined with the Patriots in 1776, and was assigned to the 6th South Carolina Continental Regiment of Provincials.  Col. Thomas Sumter was Commander of the Regiment, and William Henderson was Major. Henderson was commissioned major under Lt. Col. Thomas Sumter on February 29, 1776.  He lived within five miles of Robertson and possibly recruited him. Henderson’s plantation was about one mile on the left from the Jerusalem Road toward Gilead Baptist Church.  He sold the land to his brother, John.  There is a large clump of trees that contain the graves of John Henderson, his wife, Sarah Hinton Alston, and their son, William.  They are marked with field stones.

Robertson’s first captain was William McClintock. (Nothing But Blood and Slaughter, Vol. One, 1771-1779, by Patrick O’Kelley; Internet—The American Revolution in South Carolina.)

“Captain Thomas Pinckney wrote his sister on June 8th, 1776, that Colonel Thomas Sumter and his riflemen were guarding the city.  General Charles Lee countered Sir Henry Clinton’s move by sending Thomson’s Rangers, Sumter’s Riflemen and some scattering units of infantry and artillery to repel any crossing from Long Island.

While Sumter and his (160) riflemen watched enviously, the defenders of Fort Sullivan on June 28th, 1776, were killing some two hundred sailors and wounding many others, including Commodore Parker and Lord Cornwallis.

A shot cut away the staff of the Second Regiment’s blue flag with a silver crescent.  ‘Colonel,’ exclaimed Sergeant William Jasper, (James Robertson’s former neighbor) ‘don’t let us fight without our flag!’ He then sprang from the rampart, seized the bunting, and returned unharmed through shot and shell.  Tying the flag to a sponge staff, he hoisted it again above the fort.” (Gamecock by Robert D. Bass, pp. 36-37; RootsWeb’s WorldConnect Project, From Adam to Me, ID: 108974, John Andrew Jasper.)

He fought under Col. Thomas Sumter against the Cherokees.  This battle was called the Cherokee War of 1776 or the Second Cherokee War. (Internet—Cherokee War of 1776; James Robertson’s Pension statement.)

“On August 12,  (1776), Colonel Sumter drew 1,500 pounds for recruiting and then set the Second Regiment of Riflemen on the long march to the Keowee.  On September 3, Captain Tutt reported that Colonel Sumter was trying to collect thirty beeves and three thousand pounds of flour before advancing to the frontier. Eight days later Sumter reached Fort Prince George with the ammunition, beeves and flour.  But he had only three hundred and thirty men, ‘many of whom, by the fatigue of the march from Charleston rendered incapable to proceed into the nation, were left in the fort.’ With two hundred and seventy effectives on September 12, he marched into General Williamson’s camp at Essenecca.” (Gamecock, Robert D. Bass, pp. 38-39; Internet—Cherokee War of 1776.)

Robertson’s captain, William McClintock, died June 24, 1778.  Captain Alexander Boyce replaced Capt. McClintock.  Col. Thomas Sumter resigned as Lieutenant Colonel of the Sixth Regiment on September 23, 1778, and William Henderson was promoted to Lt. Colonel at that time. (Roster of South Carolina Patriots in the American Revolution by Dr. Bobby Moss, pp. 603, 908; Internet–Pension Statements of the American Revolution by Will Graves; Internet–The American Revolution in South Carolina.)

He fought with the Sixth Regiment under Lt. Col. William Henderson at the Battle of Stono Ferry on June 20, 1779.  They had 164 men.  Alexander Boyce was captain at this time. (Nothing But Blood And Slaughter, Vol. One, 1771-1779, by Patrick O’Kelley.) He fought under Lt. Col. William Henderson at the Siege of Savannah on October 9, 1779.  Capt. Alexander Boyce was severely wounded in this battle and died of his wounds in November of 1779.  Capt. Benjamin Brown replaced Boyce.

Robertson’s former neighbor, Sergeant William Jasper, was killed in this battle while attempting to plant the Second Continental flag on the parapet of Spring Hill Redoubt. (Nothing But Blood And Slaughter, Vol. Two, by Patrick O’Kelley; Roster of South Carolina Patriots in the American Revolution by Dr. Bobby Moss, pp. 89, 105, 495.)

The 6th Regiment was greatly diminished in numbers and became nearly extinct.  On February 11th, 1780, Robertson was assigned to the 1st South Carolina Continental Regiment, and Col. Charles Cotesworth Pinckney became his commander.  Charles Lining was his captain.

Lt. Col. William Henderson was transferred to the 3rd South Carolina Regiment (Rangers) under Col. William Thomson at this time.

(Internet–The American Revolution in South Carolina.)

 

The 6th South Carolina Regiment was consolidated with the 2nd South Carolina Regiment in February of 1780.

(Internet—6th South Carolina Regiment—Wikipedia, the Free Encyclopedia; Internet–Pension Statements of the American Revolution by Will Graves; The Southern Strategy by David K. Wilson.)

 

At the Siege of Charleston on May 12th, 1780, James Robertson, his commander, Col. Charles Pinckney, and Capt. Charles Lining were captured while fighting the British and incarcerated at Fort Moultrie on Sullivan’s Island.  Col. Pinckney had 231 men in this battle.

(Nothing but Blood and Slaughter, Vol. Two, by Patrick O’Kelley.)

 

Robertson escaped after a month’s confinement.  Capt. Charles Lining was exchanged in June of 1781, and Col. Charles Pinckney was exchanged in February of 1782.

(Roster of South Carolina Patriots in the American Revolution by Dr. Bobby Moss, pp. 571, 774, 821.)

 

The book, Horseshoe Robinson, begins with the Fall of Charleston, S. C., and ends with the Battle of King’s Mountain.  J. P. Kennedy in this book tells of Robertson’s escape from Charleston and states that Horse Shoe had orders from Col. Pinckney to bring Major Butler from Virginia to Georgia.

(Horse Shoe Robinson  by J. P. Kennedy, pp. 19-23.)

 

James Robertson later joined Col. Thomas Brandon’s Regiment and served under Capt. John Thompson until the end of the war.

 (Internet—American Revolution Pension Statements, James Robertson, Transcribed by Will Graves.)

 

Dr. Bobby Moss states that he possibly fought in the Battle of Kings Mountain and was in the Battle of Cowpens.  James tells in his pension statement that he participated in the Battle of Cowpens.

The reason Dr. Moss stated that he possibly may been in the Kings Mountain Battle was because he fought under Col. Thomas Brandon, who was in this battle.  J. P. Kennedy states in his book, Horseshoe Robinson, that Robertson fought in the Battle of Kings Mountain (page 587).

(See Dr. Bobby Gilmer Moss, Roster of South Carolina Patriots in the American Revolution, page 821, The Patriots at Kings Mountain, page 289, and The Patriots of Cowpens, pp. 202-203.)

 

His brother, Matthew Robertson, was a blacksmith in the militia and provided corn for the Continental Line.  He lost a wagon and team in service during 1779.  After the Fall of Charleston, S. C., he fought with the militia under Cols. Thomas Brandon, Benjamin Roebuck and Capt. Vardry McBee Sr.

His Brother, Isaac, was enlisted in the First Regiment on November 27, 1775.  He fought under Col. Charles Pinckney at the Battle of Fort Sullivan.  He was discharged on December 1, 1778, and reassigned to the Sixth Continental Regiment under Lt. Col. William Henderson.  He fought with this unit at the Siege of Savannah.  He served as a corporal under Capt. Alexander Boyce.

After the Fall of Charleston, S. C., Isaac served under Cols. Benjamin Roebuck, Thomas Brandon and Capt. Vardry McBee Sr.

His brother, Israel, served in the Light Dragoons under General Thomas Sumter, Col. William Hill and Capt. William McKenzie.  After the Fall of Charleston he served as a private and lieutenant in the militia under Col. Thomas Brandon.

(See Roster of South Carolina Patriots in the American Revolution, pp. 821, 822, 823, 824, by Dr. Bobby Moss.)

 

James Robertson married Sarah Morris Headen, daughter of William and Jane Beavers Headen, on June 4, 1782.  She was born July 17, 1763, and was the twin sister of Jane Headen who married his brother, David.

(RootsWeb’s World Connect Project: Reineckes / Robertsons and Other Famous People, ID: 103934, Sarah Morris Headen; RootsWeb’s WorldConnect Project: 24505, ID: 1047, Contact Carolyn Henderson, Jane Headen.)

 

William Headen Sr. was a Patriot soldier in the American Revolutionary War and served eighty-nine days as a horseman in the militia under Capt. Joseph Dickson and Col. Benjamin Roebuck.

His son, William Jr. served at various times under Capts. Vardry McBee Sr., Jeremiah Dixon, John Mapp and Cols. John Thomas, Benjamin Roebuck and William Farr.

His son, John, served as a horseman in the militia under Capt. Anthony Colter and Col. Benjamin Roebuck.

(See Roster of South Carolina Patriots in the American Revolution by Bobby Gilmer Moss, p. 431.)

 

When the Gosher (Goucher) Baptist Church purchased one acre of land in Spartanburg County, S. C., (now in Cherokee County, S. C.)  from Philip Martin on August 6, 1789, John Headen, son of William Headen Sr., was listed as a trustee.  So the Headen family could possibly have been members of this church.

(Spartanburg County / District, South Carolina, Deed Abstracts, Books A-T, 1785-1827, Compiled by Albert Bruce Pruitt, p. 36.)

 

William Headen Sr. moved his family from Spartanburg, S. C., to Pendleton District, S. C., and then to Jackson County, Georgia, where his will was probated on April 1, 1808.

(RootsWeb’s WorldConnect Project: Keene—Gregory & Related Ancestral Family Trees, ID: 120419, William Headen.)

 

James’ mother, Frances, gave her son, Matthew, her part of David Robertson’s land (133 1/3 acres).  Matthew sold the land to John Waters on March 10, 1786.

(See Union County, S. C. Deed Abstracts, Book A, pages, 519-522.)

 

From the book, Settlement of Pendleton District, 1777-1800, p. 30, is found the following: “The General Assembly passed an Act in 1778, reserving certain lands for the soldiers of South Carolina who served in the Revolutionary War.  The territory between the Keowee and Tugaloo rivers was set aside for this purpose.

No grants in this section were legal until after the war and all soldiers had received their portion.  Each soldier was to be granted two hundred acres including the one hundred acres allowed by Congress, and the transfer was to be made free of expense to him.  The grant was a title in fee simple and was a reward for his service.”

The same book indicates that James Robertson took advantage of this law and was granted 200 acres.

James Robertson received a state grant for a tract of 200 acres of land on Chauga Creek, in Pendleton District on January 21, 1785, from Governor Benjamin Guerard and 150 acres in the Thicketty Creek area on June 5, 1786, from Governor William Moultrie.

(See Pendleton District and Anderson County, South Carolina, Wills, Estates, Inventories, Tax Returns and Census Records Complied by Virginia Alexander, Coleen Morse Elliott and Betty Willie p. 196; and Union County, S. C. Deed Abstracts by Brent Holcomb, Vol. I, Book C, pp. 29-30.)

 

James found himself in legal trouble with the Union District authorities in September of 1790.  Charges mentioned were malicious mischief, larceny and killing a horse.  The writer does not have information on the outcome of the trial or trials.  John Hogan and John Thompson were also charged.

(Union County, South Carolina Minutes of the County Court—1785-1799, Compiled by Brent A. Holcomb, 1790, pp. 272-274; 276-278.)

 

He sold his Thicketty Creek land to Elizabeth Hogan on October 2, 1790, and moved his family to Pendleton District to the Chauga Creek tract.

(Union County, S. C. Deed Abstracts, Vol. I, p. 98.)

 

His step-father, James Terrell, and his mother, Frances, sold their last tract of land (496 acres) in the Thicketty Creek area on the South Fork of Gilkie’s Creek to John Leek on January 26, 1792, in what is now Cherokee County, S. C., and moved to Pendleton District.

This land had been granted to James Terrell by the Governor of South Carolina (date not given).

(Spartanburg Deed Abstracts, Books A-T, 1785-1827, by Albert Bruce Pruitt, p. 333, Book K, pp. 471-473.)

 

The book, Pendleton District, S. C. Deeds, 1790-1806, page 45, indicates that James Robertson and his family were living in Washington County, Georgia, in 1792.  They possibly sold or leased their Chauga Creek lands on the waters of Tugaloo River, to James Terrell, Robertson’s step-father, on December 1, 1792.

James later returned to South Carolina and apparently repurchased or repossessed the tract he had made available to his step-father.

(Pendleton District and Anderson, South Carolina, Wills, Estates, Inventories, Tax Returns and Census Records, p. 196.)

 

There was a curve on Chauga Creek that ran through Robertson’s land and his neighbors began to call him Horse Shoe.

(Southern Literary Messenger—May 1835—Edgar Allan Poe.)

 

In the Mills Atlas of Pendleton District, surveyed by Scribling in 1820, James Robertson’s house was listed as the plantation of Horse Shoe Robertson.

James Robertson and his wife, Sarah, were friends and neighbors of John Harrison Sr. and his wife, Naomi, in the Pendleton District.  James son, John, married, Celia Harrison, daughter of John and Naomi, in 1811.

(Internet–John Harrison Sr. Family.)

 

In the Introduction to the 1852 edition of the book, Horse Shoe Robinson, John P. Kennedy wrote: “In January of 1819, I was riding my horse in Pendleton District.  A lad, apparently not above ten years of age, mounted bare back on a fine horse, suddenly emerged from the wood about fifty paces ahead of me, and galloped along the road in the same direction that I myself resolved to take.

I quickened my speed to overtake him, but from the rapidity of his movement, I found myself, at the end of a mile, not as near him as I was at the beginning.  Some open country in front, however, showed me that I was approaching a settlement.  Almost at the moment of making this discovery, I observed that the lad was lying on the ground by the road-side.

I hastened to him, dismounted, and found him sadly in want of assistance.  His horse had run off with him, thrown him, and dislocated, as it afterwards appeared, his shoulder-joint.  While I was busy in rendering such aid as I could afford, I was joined by a gentleman of venerable aspect, the father of the youth, who came from a dwelling-house near at hand.  We lifted the boy in our arms and bore him into the house.  The gentleman was Colonel T—–.

The boy was laid upon a bed in the room where we sat, suffering great pain, and in want of immediate attention.  The mother of the family happened to be absent that night.  There was an elder son, about my own age, who was playing a fiddle when we came in, and there was a sister younger than he, and brothers and sisters still younger.  But we were all alike incapable.  The poor boy’s case might be critical, and the nearest physician, Dr. Anderson, resided at Pendleton, thirty miles off.

In the difficulty of the juncture, a thought occurred to Colonel T., which was immediately, made available.  ‘I think I will send for Horse Shoe Robinson,’ he said.  ‘Get a horse, my son, and ride over to the old man, and tell him what has happened to your brother; and say, he will oblige me if he will come here directly.  At the same time, a servant was ordered to ride to Pendleton, and to bring over Dr. Anderson. I heard him privately instructing a servant to go for the lady, and to tell her that the boy’s injury was not very severe.”

*Gen. Robert Anderson, a Patriot officer, lived in Pendleton, S. C. and according to John H. Logan’s, A History of the Upper Country of South Carolina, Vol. II, p. 49, “was a good physician, practicing gratis among the poor”.  He died in 1813, but may have taught his son, Robert Jr., some of his medical skills.  There was no medical college in South Carolina at this time.

“In less than an hour there was a sound of hoofs coming through the dark—a halt at the door—a full, round, clear voice heard on the porch—then the entrance into the apartment of a woodland hero.  This was our expected counselor, Horse Shoe Robinson.  What a man I saw.  With near seventy years upon his poll, time seemed to have broken its billows over his front only as the ocean breaks over a rock.   His homely dress, his free stride, as he advanced to the fire; his face radiant with kindness; the natural gracefulness of his motion; all afforded a ready index to his character.  Horseshoe, it was evident, was a man to confide in.

‘I hear your boy’s got flung from his horse, Colonel,’ he said, as he advanced to the bed-side.  ‘Do you think he is much hurt?’  ‘Not so badly as we thought at first, Mr. Robinson,’ was the reply.  ‘I am much obliged to you for coming over tonight.  It is a great comfort to have your advice in such times.’

‘These little shavers are so venturesome—with horses in particular,’ said the visitor; ‘it’s Providence, Colonel, takes care of ‘em.  Let me look at you, my son,’ he continued as he removed the bed-clothes, and began to handle the shoulder of the boy.  ‘He’s got it out of joint,’ he added after a moment.  ‘Get me a basin of hot water and a cloth, Colonel.  I think I can soon set matters right.’

It was not long before the water was placed beside him, and Robinson went to work with the earnestness of a practiced surgeon.  After applying wet cloths for some time to the injured part, he took the shoulder in his broad hand, and with a sudden movement, which was followed by a shriek from the boy, he brought the dislocated bone into its proper position.

Horse Shoe came to the fireside, and took a chair, saying, ‘I larnt that, Colonel, in the campaigns.  A man picks up some good everywhere, if he’s a mind to.’

Horse Shoe determined to remain all night with the family.  We had supper, and after that, formed a little party around the hearth.  Colonel T. took occasion to tell me something about Horse Shoe; and the Colonel’s eldest son gave me my cue, by which he intimated I might draw out the old soldier to relate some stories of the war.

‘Ask him,’ said the young man, ‘how he got away from Charleston after the surrender; and then get him to tell you how he took the five Scotchmen prisoners.’

We were all in good humor.  The boy was quite easy, and everything was going on well, and we had determined to sit up until Mrs. T. should arrive, which could not be before midnight.  Horseshoe was very obliging, and as I expressed a great interest in his adventures, he yielded himself to my leading, and I got out of him a rich stock of adventure, of which his life is full.

The two famous passages to which I had been asked to question him—the escape from Charleston, and the capture of the Scotch soldiers—the reader will find preserved in the narrative.

A more truthful man than he, I am convinced, did not survive the war to tell its story.  Truth was the predominant expression of his face and gesture—the truth that belongs to natural and unconscious bravery, united with a frank and modest spirit.  He seemed to set no especial value upon his own exploits, but to relate them as items of personal history, with as little comment or emphasis as if they concerned any one more than himself.

It was long after midnight before our party broke up; and when I got to my bed it was to dream of Horse Shoe and his adventures.  I made a record of what he told me, whilst the memory of it was still fresh, and often afterwards reverted to it, when accident or intentional research brought into my view events connected with the items and scenes to which his story had reference.

The reader will thus see how I came into possession of the leading incidents upon which this ‘Tale of the Tory Ascendancy’ in South Carolina is founded.

It was first published in 1835.  Horse Shoe Robinson was then, a very old man.  He had removed into Alabama, and lived, I am told, upon the banks of the Tuskaloosa.  (He lived in Tuscaloosa County on the banks of Black Warrior River near Sander’s ferry.)  I commissioned a friend to send him a copy of the book.  The report brought me was that the old man had listened very attentively to the reading of it, and took great interest in it.

‘What do you say to all this?’ was the question addressed to him, after the reading was finished.  His reply is a voucher, which I desire to preserve: ‘It is all true and right—in its right place—excepting about them women, which I disremember.  That mought be true too; but my memory is treacherous—I disremember.’”

Dr. J. B. O. Landrum in his book, History of Spartanburg County, p. 459, wrote:  “In Mr. Kennedy’s famous novel, ‘Horse Shoe Robinson,’ the colonel referred to is Obadiah Trimmier, father of William, who was the father of Colonel T. G. Trimmier.  The absent lady referred to was Lucy Trimmier, wife of Obadiah.  She was a Stribling.  Her grandfather was a Watson.

The violin boy was William Trimmier, mentioned herein; the boy thrown from the horse was Thomas, brother of William.  The two small boys mentioned were Obadiah Watson and Marcus Tullias, sons of Obadiah and Lucy Trimmier, who were living on Toxaway.  Horse Shoe Robinson lived on Chauga in Pickens County.” (Oconee County, S. C.)

James Robertson and Obadiah Trimmier both lived in the Thicketty Creek section of what is now Cherokee County, South Carolina, in the latter 1780s.  Trimmier had been a member of the Louisa County Militia in Virginia, and was appointed an Ensign on February 12, 1781.

(See Historical Record of Virginians in the Revolution by John Gwathmey, 1987, p. 782.)

 

Obadiah Watson Trimmier was the son of William and Lucy Watson Trimmier and was born in Louisa County, Virginia, November 1, 1759.  He married Lucy Stribling, daughter of Thomas Stribling Jr. and Nancy Ann Kincheloe Stribling, in Spartanburg District on November 24, 1785.

The 1790 U. S. Census of Spartanburg County, S. C., indicated that Trimmier and William Headen lived close to each other.

Trimmier sold 174 acres of land on the North Fork of Thicketty to Joseph Champion on December 4, 1798, and 100 acres of land on the North Fork of Thicketty Creek to John Champion on January 28, 1800.  Obadiah Trimmier moved his family to Pendleton District shortly after this.

(Spartanburg County, S. C. Deed Abstracts, Books A—T, pp. 374-375; 39-40.)

 

Obadiah Trimmier’s land was shown on Mills Atlas of Pendleton District in 1820.  James Robertson and Obadiah Trimmier’s residences in Pendleton District were only a few miles apart.

Obadiah was referred to as a colonel in the above story and may have joined the South Carolina militia, where he received a commission as colonel.  One record states that he fought in the Battle of Cowpens.

In 1786, he performed marriages in Spartanburg District, South Carolina, as Justice of the Peace.  After moving to the Pendleton District, he served in the legislature.  He died in Pendleton District January 22, 1829, and was buried in the Toxaway Creek Baptist Church Cemetery.

(RootsWeb’s WorldConnect Project: Chaffin, Contact Lane Chaffin, ID: 1189, Obadiah Trimmier.)

 

J. B. O. Landrum, in his History of Spartanburg County, page 407, wrote that “James Turner, Sr., was a brother-in-law of Horse Shoe Robinson, the hero of Mr. Kennedy’s famous novel of the same name, both of whom were scouts during the Revolution and a terror to the Tories.

Some time after the close of the Revolution James Turner, accompanied by his little son Samuel, visited Horse Shoe Robinson, who resided in what was then Pendleton District, S. C.  It is stated that they sat up all night discussing their ups and downs, but that Mrs. Robinson made them lie down while she was preparing breakfast.

James Turner, Sr. was a pious and consecrated Christian, and for many years a deacon of Buck Creek Baptist Church.”

In an unpublished manuscript on the life of Joseph Starke Sims: A Nineteenth Century Upcountry Planter, Politician and Business Entrepreneur of South Carolina by Edwin Thomas Sims, he wrote: “When John Pendleton Kennedy was gathering material for His book, Horse Shoe Robinson, he was the guest of Sims.”  The writer’s source was an unpublished History of Grindal Shoals by Carol Fernandez Robertson.

In an article entitled, Old Grindall Shoals, and published in the Piedmont Headlight, Spartanburg, S. C., on October 21, 1898, the writer states: “Those who have read that delightful historic romance, Horse Shoe Robinson by John P. Kennedy, need only visit Grindall to be convinced of the truth of his narrative.

In fact, Miss S. A. Sims, who has written up the history of Grindall Shoals, tells me that Mr. Kennedy, after his interview with HorseShoe Robinson, went himself over the entire route that Major Butler and Horse Shoe traveled from Virginia to Musgrove’s mill, in order to verify his narrative and by interviewing other old Revolutionary soldiers, secure exact data for his book.”

In the 1820s or early 1830s John Pendleton Kennedy returned to South Carolina and retraced the journeys of James (Horse Shoe) Robertson.  Kennedy probably came back to South Carolina after Horse Shoe had moved to Alabama in 1821, to examine the scenes of Robertson’s encounters in the Revolutionary War.

This was probably when Kennedy secured information on “Wat Adair”.  “Wat Adair, I have heard it said in Carolina, died a year after the battle of King’s Mountain, of a horrible distemper, supposed to have been produced by the bite of a rabid wolf.  I would fain believe, for the sake of poetical justice, that this was true.”   (Horse Shoe Robinson by J. P. Kennedy, p. 598.)

In the book, A History of the Upper Country of South Carolina, Vol. II, pp. 59-60, by John H. Logan, was printed the following letter:

“Alexander Shaw writes from Horn Lake, Miss., Sept. 27, 1858: ‘Says he lived near the Indian line of S. C., near Col. Cleveland’s.’  I became acquainted with Horse Shoe Robinson, who lived on the farm called Horse Shoe, on a creek called Changee (Chauga).

I traveled many hundred miles with him about the year 1825 (Shoal Creek/Chauga Baptist Church records state that Sarah Headen Robertson ‘moved away in disorder in 1821’.  (S. C. Baptist Historical Collection at Furman University).  We both moved to Alabama, near Tuscaloosa.  There he died, leaving three (six) sons, who were steady, sober, consistent citizens.

I have heard Robinson relate many things that are now set forth in the novel called, Horse Shoe Robinson, and many others also.  So that work is founded on fact, and is truly characteristic of him.  General Pinckney visited our region, had a farm there, and recognized Robinson as an active soldier at the siege of Charleston and a ready bearer of dispatches.  Pinckney paid great attention to Robinson.”

Alexander Shaw was born May 26, 1774, in Antrim County, Ireland, and died at College Hill, Mississippi, on November 1, 1860.  He and his wife, Susan Hardin, had thirteen children, four sons and nine daughters.

(RootsWeb’s WorldConnect Project: Quick 2011 Revision, ID: 1013755, Alexander Shaw.)

 

The 1850 Federal Census of Tuscaloosa County, Alabama, shows that James Robertson’s grandson, Jesse, son of David, was born there in 1821, so the family was living in Alabama at this time.

In an article copied by Joan Keith from an unknown Alabama Newspaper, circa 1891, is found the following account: “The recent decease of our venerable fellow citizen, Daniel Cribbs, probably breaks the last link which connected our generation directly with the generation that lived during the Revolutionary war.

Mr. Cribbs was well acquainted with Maj. James Robinson, commonly known as ‘Horse Shoe Robinson’, who spent many years of his life, and lies buried in the Robertson cemetery near Sanders’ Ferry in Tuskaloosa County.

Horse Shoe Robinson was a gallant soldier of the Revolution in South Carolina, his native state.  His exploits as a soldier, in the days that tried men’s souls have been woven by John P. Kennedy, of Maryland, into the famous novel ‘Horse Shoe Robinson’.

Mr. Cribbs knew ‘Horse Shoe’ well.  Many a time in the early days of Tuskaloosa, the two hunted deer together, then ‘Horse Shoe’ was a hale old man, and Mr. Cribbs was still in the vigor of early manhood.”

(Article copied by Joan Keith from a story published in an unknown Alabama newspaper circa 1891.)

 

Daniel C. Cribbs was born in Greensburg, Westmoreland County, Pennsylvania, on May 18, 1803, and died in Tuscaloosa County, Alabama, on October 27, 1891.  He and his wife, Amy Lee Lavergy, had three children, two sons and a daughter.

(RootsWeb’s WorldConnect Project: Michael Krebs Family, ID: 1285, Daniel C. Cribbs.)

 

The following is taken from Flag of the Union, published at Tuscaloosa, Alabama, January 17, 1838.

Alexander Meek, a local reporter wrote: “The old gentleman (James Robertson) gave us a partial history of his Revolutionary adventures, containing many interesting facts respecting the domination of the Tory party in the south during the times of the Revolution, which Mr. Kennedy has not recorded in his Book.

But it will chiefly interest our readers, or to that portion of them at least to whom the history of the old hero’s achievements as recorded by Mr. Kennedy is familiar, to be assured that the principal incidents therein portrayed are strictly true.  In the old veteran’s own language: ‘There is a heap of truth in it, though the writer has mightily furnished it up.’

Before the close of the war, he says, he commanded a troop of horse, so that his military title is that of Captain Horse Shoe, although in infirm health, bears evident marks of having been a man of great personal strength and activity.

He is now afflicted with a troublesome cough, which in the natural course of events must in a few years wear out his aged frame.  Yet, not-withstanding his infirmities and general debility, his eye still sparkles with the fire of youth, as he recounts the stirring and thrilling incidents of the war, and that sly, quiet humor so well described by Kennedy may still be seen playing around his mouth as one calls to his recollection any of the pranks he was wont to play upon any of the ‘tory vagrants’, as he very properly styles them.

The old Gentleman received us with warm cordiality and hospitality; and after partaking of the Bounties of his board and spending a night under his hospitable roof we took leave of him, sincerely wishing him many years of the peaceful enjoyment of that liberty which he fought so long and so bravely to achieve.

It will not be uninteresting, we hope, to remark that the old hero still considers himself a soldier, though the nature of his warfare is changed.  He is now a zealous promoter of the Redeemer’s cause as he once was in securing the independence of his country.”

The word ‘Major’ is on his tombstone and may have come from a later field commission or a title of respect by his neighbors or his children.  He was called, Sergeant, in the book, Horse Shoe Robinson, but Dr. Bobby Moss’ in his book, Roster of South Carolina Patriots, lists him as a private.

Judge A. B. Meek, a fine literary critic, stated that “Mr. Kennedy, the author of Horse Shoe Robinson, has in that inimitable ‘tale of the Tory Ascendancy’ in South Carolina proved the suitableness of American subjects for fictitious composition of the most elevated kind.

Although in his incidents and characters he has done little more than presented a faithful chronicle of facts, using throughout the veritable names of persons and places as they were stated to him by his hero himself, yet such is the trilling interest of the story, the vivid pictures of scenery, manners, customs, and language, the striking contrasts of characters and the pervading beauty and power of style and description through the work, that we think we do not err in saying that it is not inferior in any respect to the best of the Waverly series.”

(Revolutionary Soldiers in Alabama by Thomas M. Owen, p. 105.)

 

In the Cambridge History of American Literature, Book II, Chapter VII, is recorded the following:

“Kennedy depended, as he had done in Swallow Barn, on fact not invention for almost all his action as well as for his detail of topography and costume.  Indeed, he founded the career of Horse Shoe Robinson upon that of an actual partisan with such care that the man is said later to have approved the record as authentic.  Decidedly Kennedy’s gift was for enriching actual events with a finer grace and culture than many of the rival romancers could command.  His style is clear, his methods always simple and rational.”—Carl Van Doren.

Edgar Allan Poe, in Review of Horse Shoe Robinson, published in Southern Literary Messenger, May 1835, wrote: “Horse Shoe Robinson is a tale, or more properly a succession of stirring incidents relating to the time of the Tory Ascendancy in South Carolina, during the Revolution.

Horse Shoe Robinson, who derives his nick-name of Horse Shoe from the two-fold circumstance of being a blacksmith, and of living in a little nook of land hemmed in by a semi-circular bend of water, is fully entitled to the character of ‘an original’.  He is the life and soul of the drama—the bone and sinew of the book—its very breath—its every thing which gives it strength, substance, and vitality.  Then the ardent, the eager, the simple-minded, the generous and the devoted Mary Musgrove!  Most sincerely did we envy John Ramsay, the treasure of so pure and so exalted an affection!”

Jesse Lewis Orrick, in his article on John Pendleton Kennedy, published in the Library of Southern Literature, 1909, Vol. 7, page 2899, wrote:

“Mr. Kennedy had encountered the prototype of the character Sergeant Galbraith (alias Horse Shoe) Robinson in life, and not only conveyed a portrait of the original to the pages of his novel, but utilized the actual adventures of this rough-and-ready soldier of the Revolution as the web and woof of the plot.”

In the Cyclopedia of American Literature, 1856, written by Evert A. and George L. Duyckinck, is found the following statement:

“The story (Horse Shoe Robinson) was founded on the personal recollections of its hero, an old soldier of the Revolution…its leading incidents being transcripts of the old man’s veritable adventures.”

Edward M. Gwathmey in his book, John Pendleton Kennedy, 1931, wrote:

“Kennedy has sacrificed the plot of Horse Shoe for historical accuracy.  He might have made a better story if he had been less attentive to historical detail.  His efforts to establish the authenticity of certain events often led him into tiresome digressions and marred the unity of his plot.”

“Based on John P. Kennedy’s historical romance, Horse Shoe Robinson: a Tale of the Tory Ascendancy, a play was originally adapted by Charles Dance in 1836 and presented in National Theater, New York, on November 23, 1836, and Park Theater, New York, March 2, 1841.

C. W. Tayleure, presented the play at Holliday Street Theater, Baltimore, April, 1856, with James K. Hackett in the title role, and Hackett played the role for several seasons.  Whether Clifton W. Tayleure made his own version (1856) or simply revamped Dance’s is unknown, for Tayleure’s alone survives.  It is a lively piece, filled with colorful characters.  In one form or another, the play remained popular especially at lower-class houses, well beyond the Civil War.”

Edward M. Gwathmey in his book, John Pendleton Kennedy, 1931, mentions an experience of Kennedy:

“On May 5, 1856, I went the other night to see the new drama of Horse Shoe Robinson fabricated by Mr. Tayleure of the Holiday Street Theatre out of my novel.  It was the first performance of it.  A great crowd was there and greeted it with vehement applause.  It is amazingly noisy and full of battles, and amuses the gallery hugely.  Mr. Ford was very kind in giving me a private box in which to witness it.  It has had a most successful run since that night for a week.”

(Encyclopedia.com; Representative Plays by American Dramatists by Montrose J. Moses, 1925, Vol. II, pp. 765-823; John Pendleton Kennedy, 1931, by Edward M. Gwathmey.)

 

“The principle incidents of the book are true.”  “There is a heap of truth in it though the author has mightly furnished it up.”  “It is all true and right—in its right place—excepting about them women, which I disremember.  That mought be true, too, but my memory is treacherous—I disremember.”   These expressions by Meek and Robertson attest to the truths contained in the book.

The author of the article, Old Grindall Shoals, printed in The Piedmont Headlight stated: “So far as the love scenes and romance of “Horse Shoe Robinson” are concerned, it is pure fiction.  But the historic incidents and even names given, are absolutely true and correct.”

The writings of Kennedy indicate that he had knowledge of the places mentioned in the book and gave a very good description thus indicating that he had visited the scenes himself.

Readers are sometimes puzzled because the author called James Robertson, Galbraith Robinson, and Edward Musgrove, Allen Musgrove.  Some writers state that he was trying to protect his characters that were then living.  This is indicated by his reference to Col. T (Obadiah Trimmier).

This writer believes that Horse Shoe did not always give Kennedy complete names.  Thus Kennedy had to invent first names.   He did not give the author his age or the place where he lived in his younger days so these too are inventions by Kennedy.

The writer of the book took the principal stories that Robertson related to him and “mightly furnished them up”.  Thus the book is called a novel even though it is based upon true accounts of Horse Shoe’s war experiences.

Residents of what is now Cherokee County and then Ninety-Six District were aware over one hundred and seventy years ago that a part of the setting for the story of Horse Shoe Robinson was in their area.

Kennedy indicates that the stories of Horse Shoe’s escape from Charleston and the capture of the Scotch soldiers were given to him the night he spent with Horse Shoe.

Robertson’s pension records state that he was a prisoner in Charleston and escaped in about a month.  Both Kennedy and William Trimmier, son of Obadiah, attest to the truth of the Scotch soldiers capture by Horse Shoe and the Ramsey lad.

Major Butler was with Horse Shoe when he crossed the Broad River.  In the book he is referred to as Arthur.  If Robertson did not give Kennedy, Butler’s first name, then it was probably fictitious.

Dr. Bobby Moss in his Roster of South Carolina Patriots, page 129, lists “a Butler who served as a lieutenant in the militia on horseback from 19 September to 27 October 1779, and a Butler who served as major under Col. Moultrie in 1780.”

According to Kennedy, Butler and Horse Shoe crossed the Broad River at Adair’s Ferry.  During the Revolutionary war, William Tate had two ferry crossings, about one mile apart.  It was a consensus of the early settlers that these men crossed at the lower Tate’s Ferry.  The Adair mentioned as the keeper of the ferry would not have been the owner, but the employee of Tate.  It is doubtful that his first name was Wat or Walter.

William Tate was a patriot soldier at this time.  According to Dr. Moss, he was a lieutenant in the Fourth Regiment in 1779, and was taken prisoner at the Siege of Charleston in 1780.  He was not exchanged until October of 1780, so he was still incarcerated when Butler and Robinson crossed at his ferry.

(South Carolina Patriots in the American Revolution by Dr. Bobby Moss, p. 916.)

J. D. Bailey in his book, History of Grindal Shoals, page 13, states:

“The ferry was about one hundred and fifty yards above where the Southern Railway now crosses the Broad river.  Westward from the ferry, one-fourth of a mile distant, stood a commodious log dwelling with the chimneys running up on the inside.”  Kennedy gives an apt description of the house so he must have seen it.

In Revolutionary War Pension Application No. S16866 of Malcolm Henry is found the following:

“It was understood that Ferguson lay at Tate’s Ferry about 16 miles off.  In the evening Colonel Graham and Colonel Shelby came to me and told me to prepare my company to march that night to Ferguson’s encampment.

Accordingly I with my company and the company commanded by Captain Janus Shelby marched about 10 o’clock in the night with orders to attack Ferguson at Tate’s Ferry and to keep up the engagement with them until the whole Army came up.  On reaching Tate’s Ferry about daylight we discovered that Ferguson had gone.”

In the book, The Barrons of Western York County, South Carolina by Elmer Oris Parker is recorded the following:

“John Barron and wife Margaret and their family moved form Maryland to York County, SC, near Tate’s Ferry and the mouth of Buffalo Creek.  John Barron was a Captain in the Revolution, and his son, James, was a Lieutenant of the Bullock’s Creek Horsemen.  In 1787, they sold out and moved to Tennessee.”

William Tate died in 1792, and willed the lower ferry to his wife and son, James Tate.  He and his wife were living in the house described by the Reverend J. D. Bailey when he died.

(Spartanburg County S. C. Will Abstracts 1787-1840, compiled by Brent Holcomb, p. 102.)

 

Thomas Dare, son of John and Catherine Thomas Dare, purchased the lower ferry and dwelling house from Elizabeth Hester Tate and James Tate on December 22, 1803.

(Spartanburg S. C. Deed Abstracts A-T, p. 269, by Albert Bruce Pruitt.)

 

In the book, Statues at Large, 1813, No. 2040, is found the following:

“Be it enacted by the authority aforesaid, That the ferry heretofore established and vested in William Tate, and the term of which is now expired, be re-established, and vested in Thomas Dare, his heirs and assigns, for the term of seven years.”

The Reverend J. D. Bailey thought that Thomas Dare and the Adair mentioned in the book, Horseshoe Robinson, were related.   However, genealogical databases do not show a kinship.  This information indicates that Thomas Dare’s father, John, died in Orange County, Virginia, in 1781.

(RootsWeb’s WorldConnect Project: Hester, Fails, Perry, McDavid Line, ID:15148, John Dare.)

 

If John Dare was the Adair mentioned in the book, then the databases are wrong.

There were Adairs living in Chester County, S. C., not far from Fish Dam Ford during this time.  Adair’s wife was a Crosby according to Kennedy’s book.

Mary’s mother was Hannah Fincher Musgrove, but she was deceased and her father’s third wife, according to John H. Logan, in his book, A History of the Upper Country of South Carolina, Vol. II, page 79, was Nancy Ann Crosby from Fish Dam Ford.

(See Fincher in the U. S. 1683-1900 by Evelyn Davis Fincher and Ann Wilson Fincher, p. 323; A History of the Upper Country of South Carolina by Logan, p. 79.)

 

In the book, More Marylanders to Carolina by Henry C. Peden, Jr., page 96, he states that Nancy Ann Crosby of Fish Dam Ford, was Edward Musgrove’s third wife.

Most all Genealogical databases list Nancy Ann Crosby as his third wife.

(RootsWeb’s WorldConnect Project: The McLaurin – McMahon Family Research Page—ID: 129072—Nancy Ann Crosby.)

 

Nancy Ann Crosby Musgrove was Mary Musgrove’s step-mother, and in the book, Horse Shoe Robinson, Mary referred to Peggy Crosby Adair as her aunt, thus indicating that she was her step mother’s sister.

(Horse Shoe Robinson by J. P. Pendleton, p. 160.)

 

Old Mrs. Crosby, mother of Peggy Crosby Adair, was listed in the book as 80 years of age in 1780.  “Peggy” may not have been her daughter’s real first name.

(Horse Shoe Robinson, by J. P. Kennedy, p. 150.)

 

A database refers to old Mrs. Crosby as the wife of William Crosby.  He was born in 1696.  Mrs. Crosby’s birthdate was listed as circa 1700, in Berkley County, S. C.

(RootsWeb’s WorldConnect Project: Gregg Bonner’s Genealogy Database, Version 22, ID: 1125514, William Crosby.)

 

Thomas Crosby was listed as an executor of the estate of Edward Musgrove in his will written August 25, 1790.  According to the will, Thomas was from Broad River.

(South Carolina Magazine of Ancestral Research, Fall of 1978, No. 4, p. 224; Laurens County, S. C. Estate Book A-1, p. 224.)

 

Thomas was the son of Dennis and Hannah Revels Crosby.  Like Nancy Ann Crosby Musgrove of Fish Dam Ford, Dennis and his son, Thomas, were also from the same area.

(RootsWeb’s WorldConnect Project: Welcome to My World, ID: 1363, Thomas Crosby.)

 

It is possible, though not fully proven, that Thomas Crosby was Nancy Ann Musgrove’s nephew.  If he was, then Nancy Ann, Peggy ? , Dennis and possibly William could have been siblings.

According to most databases, Dennis Crosby’s father was William Crosby.

(RootsWeb’s WorldConnect Project: Loessin / Merker / Clark Family Tree, ID: 132209, Dennis Crosby.)

 

Dr. Bobby Moss, in his book, South Carolina Patriots in the American Revolution, page 219, lists a William Crosby, married to a Susannah Benton, serving as a patriot soldier from February 1779 to July 1783, and fighting under Gen. Francis Pickens and Capt. William Baskins.  This William was probably a brother of Dennis.

It is possible that the first name of the “old Mrs. Crosby” in the book will never be discovered.

Dennis Crosby was born in the Fishdam Ford section on December 11, 1724, and died there on October 11, 1771.

(RootsWeb’s WorldConnect Project: Loessin / Merker / Clark Family Tree, ID: 132209, Dennis Crosby.)

 

His wife, Hannah Revels, was born circa 1728, and died August 12, 1785, in the same area.  In 1781, she furnished forage and supplies to the Colonial Militia.

(RootsWeb’s World Connect Project: Hammers, Clements, Thompson and Anderson Families, ID: 125757, Hannah Revels.)

 

Dennis listed six children in his will: Richard, Thomas, Lydia, William, Mary and John.

(Internet: Antecedents and Descendents of Dennis Crosby.)

 

One source states that Nancy Ann Crosby Musgrove was Dennis’ daughter, but she is not listed in his will though she was living when Dennis died.

Nancy Ann Crosby Musgrove was probably born in the latter 1730s.  She survived till 1824, “to a very advanced age”.

(A History of the Upper Country of South Carolina, by John H. Logan, p. 79.)

 

Thomas Crosby, son of Dennis and Hannah, was born in the Fishdam Ford section in 1751, and died there March 4, 1791.

(RootsWeb’s WorldConnect Project: Welcome to My World, ID: 1363, Contact Jacquelyn Kyler, Thomas Crosby.)

 

His wife, Margaret Davis, was born December 17, 1751, and died February 18, 1825.

(RootsWeb’s WorldConnect Project:  Welcome to My World, ID: 1364, Margaret Davis.)

 

According to Dr. Moss, Thomas was a patriot soldier in the American Revolutionary War and fought under Gen. Andrew Pickens after the fall of Charleston, S.  C.

Dennis died before Edward Musgrove.  Though his son, Thomas, was still living when Edward Musgrove died, he was not able to fulfill his responsibilities as executor of the will.  He died about six months after the will was written.

In the book, Mary Musgrove warned Horse Shoe and Major Butler not to go by way of the Dogwood Spring.

(Horse Shoe Robinson by J. P. Kennedy, p. 172.)

 

Capt. H. P. Griffith, co-principal of Cooper-Limestone Institute, 1881,  and several years following, in a welcome speech to the South Carolina Baptist Convention that met in Gaffney in 1899, stated: “One mile away is the big Dogwood Spring celebrated in romance and story; nearby beautiful Limestone.”

(See Dr. Bobby Moss book, Climaxing a Century of Service, First Baptist Church, Gaffney, South Carolina, p. 37.)

 

A Historical Sketch of Limestone College was published on pages 22-24 of the 1920 Calciid and contains this statement:  “Indian legends still cling around the loveliest spot in Cherokee—the site of the beautiful Dogwood Springs of Revolutionary days, the Limestone Springs of Confederate history.”

William Ragland Lipscomb in his A History of Limestone published in the September 28, 1894, issue of The Gaffney Ledger states:

“Just north east of the spring it is said three British soldiers are buried who were wounded at the famous Cowpens battle ground, twelve miles north of the springs.”

The Reverend J. D. Bailey knew many of the ancestors of the old families living around Grindal Shoals at this time.  Two of these families were the Sims and Nott families.  From them he learned where Horseshoe and Butler were captured and where the Tory camp was located.

He included a picture of the camp in his book, History of Grindal Shoals, page 15.  It was the site of the old store building once operated by John Henry Littlejohn and later by Napoleon Eison.  He knew both of these men personally.

Napoleon Eison was the grandfather of Ed Aycock who showed the writer the location of the old store.

In Kennedy’s account of the arrival of Major Butler and Horse Shoe at Grindal Shoals he said:

“It was just at the closing in of night, when a party of ruffianly looking men were assembled beneath a spreading chestnut, that threw forth its aged arms over a small gravelly hillock, in the depths of the forest that skirted the northern bank of the Pacolet within a short distance of Grindall’s ford. The group who now occupied the spot consisted of some ten or twelve men under the command of Hugh Habershaw.  A small fire of brushwood had been kindled near the foot of the chestnut.”

(Horse Shoe Robinson by John P. Kennedy, pp. 192-193.)

 

John Hodge, son of William and Elizabeth Cook Hodge, was a Patriot soldier and in his Revolutionary War Pension application No. S21825, states that he “entered into the service of the United States as a volunteer in an Indian expedition under Capt. Zachariah Bullock and General Williamson & was stationed about three or four weeks near the Grindal Shoals where he was employed in building & guarding a fort.”

The author of the sketch, Old Grindall Shoals, published in The Piedmont Headlight on October 21, 1898, stated that: “The late Mr. Sims (Joseph Stark Sims) said that he had seen the stump of the old chestnut beneath which these Tories camped.”

Kennedy would not have known about the gravelly hillock if he had not visited the site.  This hill can still be seen today.  It is covered with natural gravel.  The name Hugh Habershaw was probably fictitious.  Robertson may not have given the name of this leader to Kennedy.  Early members of the Habershaw family were found in England, Pennsylvania and Rhode Island, but of course one of them could have been in South Carolina.

The site of Christie’s Tavern is still known today.  From Gaffney, S. C., the driver turns right off the Gaffney Highway on to Robinson Farm Road.  After crossing Mill Creek, a left turn is made at Parks Farm Road.  Ruins of the tavern can still be seen through the woods on the right just after turning on Parks Farm Road.

The building was destroyed by fire in the early to mid 1990s.  Kennedy probably visited this site.  The Coleman branch still runs by the side and in front of where the tavern stood.  The old settlers knew Christopher Coleman quite well.  He was both a Patriot and a Loyalist soldier during the Revolutionary War.

In an article on the Coleman’s, published in the Union County Heritage, 1981, edited by Mannie Lee Mabry, page 52, is found the following story:

“In Virginia, a wagon train was formed, their destination, Charleston, S. C.  Things were going well for the train until Christopher’s wagon broke down while crossing a branch on Mill Creek of the Pacolet River.  He decided, then and there, to settle on the spot.

He immediately set about to build a tavern where travelers could get food, drinks and lodging.  The Tavern was known as Christie’s Tavern.  It was said that he would turn no man away, even during the American Revolution.

If the Tories were coming to rest and water their horses, the Whigs would scamper down a ramp built over the creek and hide in the woods.  In 1780, when Hugh Habershaw brought Horse Shoe Robinson to Christie’s Tavern he escaped probably over the ramp.

Christie’s Tavern has been mentioned in the books, The History of Grindal Shoals, Horse Shoe Robinson, Heroes of Kings Mountain and Drapers of Virginia.”

The writer of the above sketch was Margaret C. Gault.

The author of the article, Old Grindall Shoals, included a part of Kennedy’s story of the escape and wrote:

“The Tories made a rush to the rack for their horses, when they discovered that the bridles were tied in hard knots in a manner such as to connect each two or three horses together.  James Curry was the first to mount, and set off in rapid pursuit, followed by two others.  After a half-hour the two privates returned.

In a short time after, Curry came in with one side of his face bleeding from a bruise, his dress disarranged, and his back covered with dirt.  The side of his horse was tainted with the same soil.  Curry stated that he had pursued Robinson until he came in sight of him, when the fugitive slackened his gate, as if on purpose to allow him-self to be taken.

In his haste Curry left his sword behind him, and when he came up with Robinson laid his hand upon his bridle.  But by some sudden slight, which he had taught his steed, ‘Horseshoe’ contrived to upset both Curry and his horse down a bank on the roadside.  ‘Horse Shoe’ then bade Curry good-bye, saying he had an engagement which forbade him to remain any longer in his company.  This is a true story, and the hill where ‘Horseshoe’ overthrew Curry is pointed out by the citizens around Grindall.”

There is a database account of a James Corry Curry who was married to Mary Copeland.  He died in South Carolina in 1780.

(RootsWeb’s WorldConnect Project: febo5min, ID: 15239, James Corry Curry.)

 

After escaping from Christie’s Tavern, Horse Shoe fled to Musgrove’s Mill.  Traditional accounts state that Mary hid him in the cavern to the left of the falls of Cedar Shoals Creek, feeding him and furnishing him with information concerning the activities of the Tories.  This may be a fable but one would still have to believe that Mary did hide him and bring him food.

Mary was born circa 1763.  In Kennedy’s book she states that she was seventeen.  This appears to be a correct date.  She also states that she was engaged to John Ramsay.

In Dr. Bobby Moss book, Some South Carolina Patriots in the American Revolution, p. 799, he lists a John Ramsey who served in the militia two hundred days during 1780.

In the book, Mary sends Horse Shoe to the home of John Ramsey, her fiance, and there he met Mrs. David Ramsey, his mother, who had just had her chickens and ducks stolen by the Scotchmen.  These men were captured by Horse Shoe and Mrs. Ransey’s young son.

This incident was included in the book.  Kennedy indicates that this was a true story.  So the record of the engagement of Mary to John Ramsey was also probably true.  There was a Ramsey family living in Laurens, S. C., during this period.

Other histories state that Edward Musgrove’s house was constantly visited by Tories, and this fact is also mentioned in the book, Horse Shoe Robinson.

It is impossible to know exactly where the line is drawn and where and how Kennedy adds the fictitious to the stories related to him by Robertson.

Two errors have been perpetuated concerning Mary Musgrove.  She did not die as a teenager.  This was probably her sister, Susan, for Susan was not mentioned in Edward Musgrove’s will.  Mary was listed in his will as Mary Berry.

She married George Berry, son of William and Usley ? Berry circa 1788, and would have been about 25 at the time.  She definitely could have been engaged to someone else before this.

(RootsWeb’s WorldConnect Project: The McLaurin – McMahon Family Research Page, ID: 120898, George Berry.)

 

George and Mary Musgrove Berry had the following children: Rebecca, Lurana Phillips, Elizabeth, William, Mary and Robert Goodloe Harper Berry.  Mary died circa 1803, following the birth of Robert.

(RootsWeb’s WorldConnect Project: The McLaurin – McMahon Family Research Page, ID: 129064, George Berry; Abstracts of early Records of Laurens County, 1785-1820, complied by Sarah M. Nash, 1982.)

 

After the death of Mary, George married Edith Ligon, daughter of Robert and Edith Watkins Ligon.  They had one child, Edith, who was listed as deceased when George died in 1806.  George Hutchinson was administrator of George Berry’s estate.

(Laurens County Will Book A, 1784-1840, p. 56.)

 

Another error lists Mary’s last two children: Mary (Polly) Berry and Robert Goodloe Harper Berry as children of George and his second wife, Edith Ligon.  The Laurens County Guardian Returns indicate that Edith Berry was appointed guardian for Mary (Polly) M. and Robert G. H. Berry.  Edith filed a return on April 25, 1812, and June 5, 1815, so Mary and Robert were the children of George and Mary Musgrove Berry.

(1810 Equity Petitions of Laurens County, S. C., Package 8, Box 27; RootsWeb’s WorldConnect Project: My Main Tree, ID: 157839, Edith Ligon.)

 

Edith Ligon Berry, widow of George Berry, next married Andrew Wray.  She and Andrew moved to the Cherokee Springs—Buck Creek area of Spartanburg County.  She retained custodial care of Mary and Robert, children of George and Mary Musgrove Berry, and raised them in this area.

Edith and Andrew had two children of their own: Eliza Wray and Mary Jane Wray.

(RootsWeb’s WorldConnect Project: Our Family and Then Some—ID: 102838, Edith Ligon.)

 

Mary Musgrove’s granddaughter, Edith Hines, married James Turner Jr., the nephew of James (Horse Shoe) Robertson.

(RootsWeb’s WorldConnect Project: Our Family and Then Some, ID: 102856, Edith Hines.)

 

“On September 7, 1792, Charles Cotsworth Pinkney of Charleston, late Brigadier General of the Armies of United States, and Mary, his wife, sold a square tract of 60 acres on waters of Brushy Creek, branch of Saluda River (from their Pendleton District tract) to General Andrew Pickens, Col. Robert Anderson, Captain Robert Maxwell, Mr. John Bowen, Major John Ford and Mr. John Hallum of Washington District.”

(Pendleton District and Anderson County, South Carolina Wills, Estates, Inventories, Tax Returns and Census Records compiled by Virginia Alexander, Colleen Morse Elliott and Betty Willie, 1980.)

 

Gen. Charles Cotesworth Pinckney, Horse Shoe’s old commander, probably visited him in Pendleton District, South Carolina before 1821.  In the Settlement of Pendleton District, 1777-1800, by Frederick Van Clayton, p. 69, Charles Pinckney is listed as possessing land on Chauga Creek.  The Mills Atlas shows a plantation owned by Col. Pinckney in 1820.  Pinckney died on August 16, 1825.

(Internet: Encyclopedia of World Biography on Charles Cotesworth Pinckney.)

 

James Robertson moved his family to Alabama in 1821.  The home in South Carolina, where he and his family lived for over twenty years, is still standing in Oconee County a few miles from Westminister.

(Revolutionary Soldiers in Alabama by Thomas M. Owen, page 105; The Seneca Journal, July 22, 1964.)

 

James applied for a pension for services rendered to his country during the Revolutionary war on October 13, 1832, before Anderson Crenshaw, Judge of the Circuit Court of Tuscaloosa County, Alabama.  His character witnesses were: Samuel M. Meek, a clergyman, and William Dunlap.

He was enrolled on October 29, 1833, under act of Congress of June 7, 1832.  Payment was to date from March 4, 1831.  Annual allowance was $80.00.

(Revolutionary Soldiers in Alabama by Thomas McAdory, p. 102.)

 

The author of the article written in the Flag of the Union on January 17, 1838, wrote:

“It is a pleasure to know that this fine old hero was a real personage!  And although his exploits may have been colored in a measure by the pen of the romancer, there still remains a rich stock of adventures, which were undoubtedly true, and the picture of a nature frank, brave, true and yet full of modesty.”

Sarah Morris Headen Robertson died January 7, 1838, and James Horse Shoe Robertson died April 26, 1838.

Horse Shoe  and Sarah were buried in the Robertson Family Cemetery, Romulus Community, Tuscaloosa County, Alabama, located on the banks of Black Warrior River near Sanders Ferry.

(See the book, Revolutionary Soldiers in Alabama, by Thomas McAdory Owen, p. 102.)

 

The inscription on his stone reads: “Major James Robertson, a native of S. C., died April 26, 1838, aged 79 years, and was buried here.  Well known as Horse Shoe Robinson, he earned a just fame in the War for Independence, in which he was imminent for courage, patriotism, and suffering.  He lived fifty-six years with his worthy partner, useful and respected, and died in hopes of a blessed immortality.  His children erect this monument as a tribute justly due a good husband, father, neighbor, patriot and soldier.”

(Revolutionary Soldiers in Alabama by Thomas M. Owen, p. 102.)

 

James Robertson and his wife, Sarah Morris Headen Robertson, were charter members of the Grant’s Creek Baptist Church in Tuscaloosa, Alabama, and also members of the first recorded Sunday School Class in Alabama.

(Samford University Baptist Historical Collection.)

 

Robert J. Stevens in his article, “Horse Shoe Robinson Revisited”, states that John Pendleton Kennedy spent the winter (1818-1819) teaching school in Seneca, South Carolina.

(The Bulletin, Chester District Genealogical Society, Vol. XVII, No. 4, Dec. 1993.)

 

An article on Gleanings From Horse Shoe Robinson, written by Mary Cherry Doyle of Clemson, S. C., and published in Historic Oconee in South Carolina, 1935, states that John P. Kennedy was staying at the Old Steel place later known as the Phinney place, which is about half-way between Seneca and Walhalla, on the old road .”

In an Internet article entitled, Documenting the American South, Armistead Lemon gives a summary of the book, Horse Shoe Robinson, in which he states:

“Kennedy attempts to counterbalance the novel’s romance with accurate references to battle movements, military outposts, and the geography of the Carolinas, while also offering brief but realistic character sketches of major generals, particularly Frances Marion and Charles Cornwallis.

Thus despite his tendency toward melodrama, Kennedy provides an insightful perspective on the fratricidal nature of the American Revolution, unwittingly foreshadowing in Horse Shoe Robinson the strife that lay ahead in the American Civil War.”

Numerous articles were published in The Gaffney Ledger that related to the book, Horse Shoe Robinson.

“The Ledger was presented, a few days ago, with a wrought iron nail which was imported from England before the Revolution and used in the old residence building at Gaffney’s Ferry, then known as Adair’s Ferry and made famous by J. P. Kennedy in his Horse Shoe Robinson, a story of Revolutionary War times with many of the scenes laid in what is now Cherokee County.  The nail, which is about the size of what is known now as a ten penny, is in a good state of preservation and looks as if it could put in another century of good service.”

(See Cherokee County Calendar, December 17, 1901, by Dr. Bobby Moss, p. 73.)

 

A history of the old house was published on January 21, 1902, in The Ledger.  It read: “There was until a few days ago a dwelling house in Cherokee County the building of which antidated the knowledge of traditions in the possession of the oldest citizens.

It was situated on the John G. Gaffney farm on Broad River, at Gaffney’s Ferry.   Tradition leaves it plain that it was built before the war of the Revolution and tradition and history prove that it was occupied during the war by a widow lady, Mrs. Tate, who was in good circumstances at which time the ferry was known as Tate’s Ferry.

Mrs. Tate lived in it till several years after the war when she sold it to a Virginian by the name of Thomas O’Deer who owned and lived in the house for a number of years, when the ferry was known as O’Deer’s Ferry, and then traded it to one Abner Benson who afterwards sold the property to Michael Gaffney, who with some of his sons, has owned the property for a little over a hundred years (eighty years).

This old house, unlike most houses of its time, was a framed one made of very heavy timbers, mortised and pioned together and well weather-boarded and ceiled with plank which had been well dressed on one side and hewed on the other.  The nails used were hand made.  The chimney was of first class brick, was made on the inside of the building and had very large fireplaces. This old house was in a good state of preservation and from what we can learn has been occupied all the time of its long existence.

The property was recently sold for partition and Mr. T. G. McCraw bought the ‘old house place’.  He has moved it to another site and will remodel it and use it as a barn.

Because of its antiquity, many regret this disposition of the old house, but the old must give place to the new, and this old Revolutionary relic has been no exception to the rule.”

J. D. Bailey in his History of Grindal Shoals, page 14, stated: “Henry Gaffney, Esq., who lived to an advanced age, told the writer that there was no doubt about this being the original Watt Adair house.”

Other articles from The Gaffney Ledger are given below:

“Much of the action in the American Revolution takes place in Cherokee County and the surrounding area.  Therefore, in an effort to reach the people from this area who had moved westward after the War Between the States, the following ad appeared in The Gaffney Ledger on February 23 1906:

Upon receipt of $1.50 or for that amount deposited in either of the Gaffney banks to my credit, I will deliver (postpaid) a copy of Horse Shoe Robinson by J. P. Kennedy, to any address in the United States.  Signed J. L. Strain, Wilkinsville, S. C.”

(See Cherokee County Calendar by Dr. Bobby Moss, p. 163.)

 

In the October 26, 1906, issue of The Gaffney Ledger is recorded the following:

“The thrilling historical novel, Horse Shoe Robinson, will run in serial form in the columns of The Ledger beginning next Friday.  This is a story of the Tory ascendancy in South Carolina.  The story should prove of interest to Ledger readers because the setting of the story is in our own midst.

Horse Shoe Robinson is said to have ridden through Limestone Springs—then a crossroads settlement—along the old road that used to run through present day Gaffney just in rear of Mrs. L. V. Gaffney’s residence, across the Southern Railway at Mr. Ollie Kendrick’s, through Dr. J. F. Garrett’s lot at corner of Buford and Limestone Streets and on to Limestone.  Of course there was no railroad here then.”

Another Gaffney Ledger article was published on November 11, 1906, and read:

“The exploits of Horse Shoe Robinson, now being republished by The Ledger, is creating as much interest among its readers as that thrilling story produced seventy years ago while many of the survivors of the Revolutionary War were living to verify the statements made in the book.  Many of the scenes are laid in what is now Cherokee County.  That the famous Dogwood Spring is within the corporate limits of Gaffney, there is not the shadow of a doubt, and other places mentioned are recognizable.”

“The Daniel Morgan Chapter of the Daughters of the American Revolution placed a marker on the trail to Dogwood Spring made famous in John P. Kennedy’s book, Horse Shoe Robinson.  It was placed on  a two-ton boulder erected in the parkway of Victoria Avenue (now College Drive).

The boulder was a huge stone taken from Draytonville Mountain (Gilkey Mountain) and was presented to the chapter by D. B. Wood of Gaffney, S. C.  Transportation of the boulder from Draytonville to its resting-place was accomplished through the courtesy and assistance of J. H. Curry and E. Wright Jolly, Cherokee County Supervisor.

Members of the chapter who were active in making arrangements included: Mrs. J. C. Jefferies, the regent; Mrs. W. J. Wilkins, vice regent; miss Mayme Jefferies, historian and chairman of the marking committee; Mrs. Eliza Carson, treasurer; Mrs. Pratt Pierson, registrar; and Mrs. B. R. Brown.

Dr. R. C. Granberry (president of Limestone College) delivered an address in which he said: ‘The book, Horseshoe Robinson, recites a delightful love story based upon historical facts which we have reason to believe are accurate.

In this volume we catch the stalwart spirit of the days of 1780, and we also look upon an accurate picture of life in this general section during that interesting period in the history of our country.’”

(The Gaffney Ledger, October 24 & October 31, 1925.)

 

The marker was moved several years ago to the side of College Drive (formerly Victoria Avenue) and placed in the Oakland cemetery.

The Gaffney Ledger of October 26, 1925, states: “The Dogwood Springs were a short distance east of Victoria Avenue, in the rear of the residence of R. O. Ballenger.”

There are many critics and few defenders of the book, Horse Shoe Robinson, and that in spite of the fact that Kennedy said: “I have been scrupulous to preserve the utmost historical accuracy in my narrative.”  Many of the book’s critics are James Robertson’s fellow South Carolinians.

One writer speaks of Horse Shoe as a “colorful figure who sprang from the imagination of John Kennedy”.  This writer states that “much of the action is based on actual episodes, Horseshoe and a boy capturing a squad of Scots Regulars by hoodwinking them—a trick actually performed by Samuel Otterson and one other soldier.”

(The Narrative History of Union County, South Carolina by Allan D. Charles, p. 47, first edition.)

 

In Memoirs of Major Joseph McJunkin, Revolutionary Patriot, by Rev. James Hodge Saye, is found the following story of Major Samuel Otterson on p. 41, (limited editon):

“Major Samuel Otterson being on his way to join Morgan at Cowpens, was followed by a few badly mounted volunteers.  Finding on his approach to the place that the battle was begun he determined to halt his men near a cross road, which he knew the enemy would take on the return, and wait either to make prisoners in case of their defeat or to attempt the rescue of our men who might be prisoners in their hands.

It was not long before a considerable body of the British horsemen were discovered in full speed coming down the road.  They appeared evidently to have been defeated.  Major (then Captain) Otterson now proposed to his men to follow the enemy and attempt to make some prisoners, but found only one man willing to join him.

Toward dusk Capt. Otterson and his companion pushed their horses nearer the enemy and when it was dark dashed in among them with a shout, fired their arms and ordered them to surrender.

The darkness prevented the enemy from knowing the number of those by whom they were surprised and they surrendered at once.  They were required to dismount, come forward and deliver up their arms, which they did.  Being all secured and light struck, nothing could exceed the mortification of the British officer in command when he found that he had surrendered to two men.”

This story is a bit exaggerated in comparison with the story Samuel Otterson related in his Pension Application (No. S25344).  “That he with several others about thirty were sent out as spies some days before the engagement at the Cowpens & from some cause did not arrive until the battle was over but in his attempt with the party under his command to regain Morgan’s army he learned the defeat & retreat of Tarleton & his forces & pursued about a hundred of them in their retreat until night at which period all of his men had fallen off by their horses giving out except ten men when we overtook the enemy & killed one, took twenty two white prisoners & twenty seven negroes, sixty head of horses, 14 swords & 14 braces of pistols.”

Horse Shoe captured four Scotsmen and an ensign with a boy while Samuel Otterson captured twenty-two British with ten soldiers.  This writer does not think that these two stories are comparative.   Kennedy states that the story of Horse Shoe’s capture of the Scots was a true story.

In the book, Kings Mountain And Its Heroes, by Lyman C. Draper he tells the story of Samuel Clowney and a negro, Paul, who captured five Tories at Kelso’s Creek about five miles from Cedar Springs near Spartanburg, S. C. (See page 137).

Samuel Clowney was serving in the Spartan Regiment under Col. John Thomas at this time (before the Siege of Charleston).  James (Horse Shoe) Robertson was serving with the Continental forces in the low country until their defeat at Charleston in 1780, and would not likely have known about Clowney’s capture of the five men.

If Samuel Otterson and Samuel Clowney could use similar tactics to capture British soldiers and Tories, why is it not possible that Horse Shoe used the same tactic?

In an article entitled, Horse Shoe Robinson Revisited, Robert J. Stevens wrote: “It is important to take careful note of the fact that Robertson mentioned nothing remotely connected to any of the facts presented in Horse Shoe Robinson.”  Apparently, he failed to read the first chapter concerning their surrender in Charleston on May 12th, 1780; the story of Horse Shoe’s escape; and information concerning Col. Charles Pinckney.

Stevens wrote: “By his own sworn statement, he was in Charleston during the time of many of the events in which he was named in the book.”  Again, he failed to read the first sentence of the book, “It was about two o’clock in the afternoon of a day towards the end of July, 1780…”

If Horse Shoe was imprisoned May 12th, 1780, his escape would have occurred about June 12th.  “It was a little over two months,” said Robinson, “since I got away from them devils…” This statement would also have placed the time frame at the end of July.  The events in the book would have occurred after his escape and through the Battle of Kings Mountain.

Stevens also wrote: “Logan had actually known Horseshoe Robinson and had accompanied him on a trip to Alabama in 1822.”

There is a quote in Logan’s History of the Upper Country of South Carolina that states: “I became acquainted with Horse Shoe Robinson who lived on a farm called Horse Shoe…I traveled many hundred miles with him about the year 1825.”

This is actually the words of Alexander Shaw who traveled with Horse Shoe to Alabama.  John Henry Logan was born in Abbeville District, S. C., on November 5, 1822, and it would have been impossible for Logan to have traveled with Horse Shoe.

(The Bulletin, Chester District Genealogical Society, Vol. XVII, December 1993, Number 4, “Horse Shoe Robinson” Revisited, by  Robert J. Stevens.)

 

Thomas W. Christopher, in his article, What Happened to Horseshoe Robinson?, wrote:

“James Robertson called, Horseshoe, was a live person, flesh and bone.  The evidence is beyond question.

His name and memory have been followed with much hard luck and with a flow of unfavorable (and undeserved) articles and reviews and indeed with flawed scholarship.

A virtual campaign has been in progress in the last several decades to demote the character, Horseshoe, in the novel from a leading role as a hero and a dominant figure to that of a faceless walk-on.

There is an assertion that the ex-soldier had little or no input in the novel, a harsh claim that is not justified, for it is clear that James Robertson in person, his war tales and experiences, and his charisma and image made substantial contributions to and was centrally important for the novel.”

John P. Kennedy penned a letter to a friend and fellow novelist, Gilmore Simms, in 1852: “I have given a little personal adventure in the introduction…which is a true history of my acquaintance with the Hero.”

“It seems both reasonable and logical to accept the claim by Mr. Kennedy that he made important use of the tales and war experiences he had heard from or about James Robertson.  The tangible evidence and ordinary reasoning go that way.  To take the other choice is to accuse author Kennedy, poet Alexander Meek, James Robertson, Mr. (Alexander) Shaw, and a multitude of Horseshoe’s neighbors of playing with a web of deceit and untruth.

Mary Musgrove is an important character in the novel, with the feminine lead, so to speak.  And as with Horseshoe, it is now asserted that she is pure fiction, created by the author.  ‘Horseshoe is the constant associate of the fictitious character Mary Musgrove…the author’s creation.’

This assertion that Mary Musgrove was a creation of the novelist is erroneous; the facts are easily available.  There was a miller’s daughter by the name of Mary Musgrove, and she appears to have been a remarkable person, a supporter of the Whigs, and she lived in the middle of the war activities out from Cross Anchor.

Edward Musgrove, Mary’s father, a magistrate and an important person in the community, operated a grist mill, naturally known as Musgrove’s Mill, on the South side of Enoree River, between Cross Anchor and Clinton, South Carolina.  He died at the age of 76 around 1792 (1790).”

(A copy of his last will, dated August 25, 1790, is on record in the Laurens County, S. C. Court House, Will Book A-1, pp. 28-29.)

 

*See What Happened to Horseshoe Robinson? by Thomas W. Christopher, published in The South Carolina Review, Vol. 28, p. 73, Fall 1955; and Kennedy’s Horse Shoe Robinson: Fact or Fiction?, American Literature,  Vol. IV, pp. 160-166, March 1932—January 1933 by J. R. Moore.

The Reverend J. W. Daniel in an article entitled Horse Shoe Robinson published in Southern Christian Advocate (page and date not given) wrote:  “The book is a classic and ought to be in every home in Piedmont Carolina; yet it may be doubted that fifty copies could be found in all the counties of South Carolina.

A Marylander wrote it, and the facts worked into the plan were confirmed by Thomas P. Clinton, an Alabamian.  The old hero had lived one-third of a century on the soil of Carolina unnoticed except by the legislature which donated to him the tract of land lying close up to the Blue Ridge, as a recognition of his daring deeds in the winning of independence.

Shame on the people who were the beneficiaries of the heritage he helped so heroically to win for them, that they have not cherished the memory of the uncultured old patriot and that some South Carolinian, himself, did not record his thrilling deeds in the histories of our commonwealth.”

James and Sarah Morris Headen Robertson had seven children:

1. David Robertson.  He was born August 20, 1784, while the family lived in the Thicketty Creek area of what is now Cherokee County, S. C.  He married Sarah W. Thomas on July 12, 1810, after the family had moved to Pendleton District, South Carolina.  She was born November 15, 1792, in Franklin County, Georgia.  They had five  sons and one daughter.

He died February 4, 1853, in Tuscaloosa County, Alabama, and was buried in the Robertson Cemetery in Tuscaloosa, Alabama.  She died July 21, 1870, in Chickasaw County, Mississippi, and was buried in an unknown Caradine Cemetery, Clay County, Mississippi.

(RootsWeb’s WorldConnect Project: Keller—Lorance—Hardman—Robertson—Aycock, ID: 10849, David Robertson; RootsWeb’s WorldConnect Project: William L. Braziel Family, ID: 1560735928, Sarah (Sallie) W. Thomas.)

 

2. John Robertson was born in 1788, in the Thicketty Creek area of South Carolina.  He married Celia Harrison, daughter of John and Naomi ? Harrison, circa 1811, while the family lived in Pendleton District, S. C.  She was born in 1794.  They had six sons and three daughters.

He died in 1872, in Romulus, Tuscaloosa County, Alabama, and she died in Romulus in 1873.  They were buried at the original site of the New Hope Baptist Church Cemetery in Romulus, Alabama, about 12 miles west of Tuscaloosa.

(RootsWeb’s WorldConnect Project: CA Love Tree, ID: 1437, John Robertson; RootsWeb’s WorldConnect Project: Robertson, ID: 1792, Celia Harrison; A Collection of Upper South Carolina Genealogical & Family Records, Vol. I, Rev. S. Emmett Lucas.)

 

3. William Robertson was born December 16, 1794, in Pendleton District, S. C.  He married Jane (Jennie) Clemmons on June 3, 1819, in Pendleton District.  She was born in Georgia, on May 26, 1803.  They had four sons and two daughters.

Jane died August 15, 1853, and he was remarried to Sarah Arnett on June 18, 1860. He died November 11, 1861, in Romulus, Alabama.  He and his first wife were buried in the Robertson Cemetery, Romulus, Alabama.

(RootsWeb’s WorldConnect Project: Before Me, ID:112224, William Robertson;  RootsWeb’s WorldConnect Project: Before Me, ID: 112372, Contact Kathy Carroll, Jane (Jennie) Clemmons; Ancestry.com—William Robertson; Family Tree Maker—Descendants of James Robertson–Internet.)

 

4. Sarah Elizabeth Robertson was born in 1795, in Pendleton District, S. C.  She married William Dunlap in Pendleton District.  He was born in 1795.

(RootsWeb’s WorldConnect Project: 24505, ID: 11448, Contact: Carolyn Henderson, Sarah Elizabeth Robertson.)

 

5. Abner Robertson was born in 1797, in Pendleton District, S. C.  He married Sarah ? in Pendleton District.  She was born circa 1800.

(RootsWeb’s WorldConnect Project: Harley Bennett, ID: 1506457151, Abner Robertson;  RootsWeb’s World Connect Project: 24505, ID: 11456, Contact Carolyn Henderson, Sarah.)

 

6. James Robertson was born December 16, 1799, in Pendleton District, S. C.  He married Mary Louisa Holland on November 14, 1825, after the family had moved to Alabama.  She was born November 29, 1805.  They had three sons and two daughters.

She died in 1868, and he married Sarah A.  He died November 23, 1873.  James and Mary were buried in Greenwood Cemetery, in West Point, Mississippi.

(RootsWeb’s WorldConnect Project: All the Info Tree, ID: 14421, Contact Michael Cressler, James Robertson; RootsWeb’s WorldConnect Project: All the Info Tree, ID: 14547, Mary Holland; Family Tree Maker—Descendants of James Robertson—Internet.)

 

7. Thomas Robertson was born circa 1801, in Pendleton District, S. C.  He died in November of 1850, in Oktibbeha County, Mississippi.

(RootsWeb’s WorldConnect Project:  William L. Braziel Family, ID: 1560735933, Thomas Robertson.)

 

David, John, William and Abner Robertson with William Dunlap sold James Robertson’s Tuscaloosa County lands to James Robertson, Jr. on July 7, 1838, for $3,350.00.  There was ½ acre reserved for a cemetery.

(Deed Book O, Tuscaloosa County, Alabama.)

 

James (Horse Shoe) Robertson spent more than fifty years of his life as a resident of South Carolina.  However, there is not one Chapter of the Sons of the American Revolution and not one Chapter of the Daughters of the American Revolution in this state named for him.

The West Point Chapter of the Daughters of the American Revolution in Mississippi and the Sons of the American Revolution in Tuscaloosa, Alabama, were named for him.

Thomas Christopher wrote that he had a burning curiosity and a vague urge that kept him searching, looking for an old soldier from the American Revolution and his memory.

This writer has felt the same way as he has spent many hours in research and writing, seeking to give a truer account of the life of James Robertson and the book, Horse Shoe Robinson.

The following tribute to “Horseshoe Robinson” was extracted from a poem, entitled ‘The Day of Freedom,’ by Alexander B. Meek, and delivered as an oration at Tuscaloosa on the 4th of July, 1838:

“Valoriously He bore himself, and with his youthful arms Chivalrous deeds performed, which in a land of legendary lore had placed his name, Embalmed in song, beside the hallowed ones of Douglass and Percy; not unsung Entirely his fame.

Romance has wreathed With flowering fingers, and with wizard art That hangs the votive chaplet on the heart, His story, mid her fictions, and hath given His name and deeds to after times.

When last This trophied anniversary came round And called Columbia’s patriot children out To greet its advent, the old man was here, Serenely smiling as the autumn sun Just dripping down the golden west to seek His evening couch.

Few months agone I saw Him in his quiet home, with all around Its wishes could demand—and by his side ‘The loved companion of his youthful years’—This singing maiden of his boyhood’s time; She had cheered him with her smiles when clouds Were o’er his country’s prospects; who had trod In sun and shade, life’s devious path with him, And whom kind Heaven had still preserved to bless, With all the fullness of material wealth, The mellowing afternoon of his decline.

Where are they now?—the old man and his wife?  Alas! The broadening sun sets in the night, The ripening shock falls on the reaper’s arm; The lingering guest must leave the hall at last; The music ceases when the feast is done; The old man and his wife are gone, From earth, Have passed in peace to heaven; and summer’s flowers, Beneath the light of this triumphant day, Luxurious sweets are shedding o’er The unsculptured grave of ‘Hoseshoe Robinson.’”

(Revolutionary Soldiers in Alabama by Thomas M. Owen, pp. 101-102.)