Ezekiel Calhoun (abt. 1720, Co. Donegal, Ireland — bef. 25 May 1762, Augusta Co., Virginia), Son of Patrick Colhoun and Catherine Montgomery (Part 1)

4 May 1743 bond of Ezekiel and William Calhoun with John Noble and James Mitchell for administration of estate of Patrick Calhoun, Lancaster County, Pennsylvania, in probate records of Lancaster County copied by George T. Edson in 1936; a photocopy is in the John C. Calhoun papers at South Caroliniana library, University of South Carolina, Columbia

In this and a subsequent posting (a two-part series), I’ll be discussing Ezekiel Calhoun (abt. 1720 – 1762), son of Patrick Colhoun and Catherine Montgomery, the immigrant ancestors of this Calhoun family. Ezekiel was the father of Mary Calhoun Kerr, who was previously discussed. Ezekiel’s life history moves from County Donegal, Ireland, where he was born, to Lancaster County, Pennsylvania, where his parents settled in 1733, to Augusta (later Wythe) County, Virginia, where the Calhoun family moved from Pennsylvania by October 1745, and finally to the Long Cane settlement of what became Abbeville County, South Carolina, where the family settled in February 1756 — though, as we’ll see, Ezekiel died back in Virginia on a trip he made there at the end of his life to check on his property in Augusta County.

Children of Mary Calhoun (abt. 1743-1805) and Samuel Kerr of Abbeville County, South Carolina — Catherine Kerr (Married Hugh Macklin) and Ruth Kerr (Married William Oliver)

George Howe, History of the Presbyterian Church in South Carolina, vol. 1 (Columbia: Duffie and Chapman, 1870), p. 554

Or, Subtitled: “While engaged in pastoral work he was stricken with fever and died, and his grave is with us until this day”

As my previous posting about Mary Calhoun (abt. 1743-1805), daughter of Ezekiel Calhoun and Jane/Jean Ewing, notes, Mary and husband Samuel Kerr had the following children, whom Mary names in her 21 January 1805 will in Abbeville County, South Carolina: John Kerr, Jane Kerr Green, Catherine Kerr McLain, and Ruth Kerr.[1] In my last posting, I told you what I know about Mary and Samuel’s first-born child, their son John, who was born about 1766. In previous postings, I’ve shared abundant information about Mary and Samuel’s second child, their daughter Jane, who married John Green, who was born 8 October 1768. In what follows, I’ll focus on Mary and Samuel’s last two children, their daughters Catherine and Ruth.

Mary Calhoun (abt. 1743-1805), Wife of Samuel Kerr of Abbeville County, South Carolina

Signature of Mary Calhoun Kerr to her will, 21 January 1805, Abbeville County, South Carolina, Probate Files, box 52, pack 1231

Or, Subtitled: “We are at best but Strangers and pilgrames as all our fathers have been”

Now that I have completed a series of postings tracking family lines descending from John Green (1768-1837) of Abbeville and Pendleton District, South Carolina, and Bibb County, Alabama, a series that began with this posting, I’m going to begin a series tracking the Calhoun ancestry of John Green’s wife Jane Kerr, who was the daughter of Samuel Kerr and Mary Calhoun of the Long Cane settlement in what became Abbeville County, South Carolina, in 1785. The posting that follows will focus on Jane’s mother Mary Calhoun Kerr.

Notes on a Benjamin Green (abt. 1766 – after 1805) Who May Be a Brother of John Green (1768-1837)

Signature of Benjamin Green in 24 February 1802 letter to John Ewing Colhoun, in “John Ewing Colhoun Papers, 1774-1961,” Wilson Library Special Collections, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, collection no. 130; the letter is available digitally at the website for this collection

Or, Subtitled: News of the selling of Tom Paine — a horse — and of rice plantations in the South Carolina lowcountry

In my previous posting, I told you that a Benjamin Green who begins appearing in Abbeville County and Pendleton District, South Carolina, records by the late 1780s and early 1790s and who is designated in almost all of these records as Benjamin Green Jr. can be proven to have been a son of the older Benjamin Green discussed in the posting I’ve just linked. I also strongly suspect Benjamin Jr. is a brother of the John Green (1768-1837) whose ancestry I’m trying to figure out.

John Green (1768-1837): Some Notes on His Yet-to-Be Proven Ancestry

South Carolina Colonial Plat Bk. 9, p. 293

Or, Subtitled: Making Lemonade with No Lemons — Trying to Do Genealogy in Absence of Records You Need

Beginning with this linked posting in early September 2023, I’ve been tracking a Green family line from my earliest proven ancestor in this line, John Green, who was born 21 January 1768 in Granville (later Abbeville) County, South Carolina, and who died 18 March 1837 in Bibb County, Alabama. I’ve followed this family from John Green through his children by wife Jane Kerr, up to George Sidney Green, their last child, whose family I discussed in my last two postings. Prior to that time, I had also made a number of postings focusing specifically on John and Jane’s son Samuel Kerr Green, my 3-g-grandfather, and Samuel’s son Ezekiel Samuel Green, my 2-g-grandfather.

Children of George Sidney Green (1817-1853) and Wife Mary Ann Clardy (1823-1862)

Benjamin Calhoun Green and wife Alice Eudora Engles Green, photos sent to me by their descendant Hunter Green

Or, Subtitled: “I did not realize how important field peas were for feeding both humans and draft animals”

George Sidney Green and Mary Ann Clardy had the following children:

Jane Kerr (1768-1855), Wife of John Green of Pendleton District, South Carolina, and Bibb County, Alabama

Portrait of Jane Kerr Green made about 1850 at the Green house, Bibb County, Alabama, in possession of a descendant in Virginia

Or, Subtitled: “In Memory of Jane Green born in Abbeville District S.C. Oct. 8th 1768. Departed this life Nov. 2nd 1855”

As a previous posting has indicated, the tombstone of Jane Kerr Green, wife of John Green, which formerly marked her grave in the family cemetery on the Green plantation near Woodstock in Bibb County, Alabama, but is now in Tannehill Historical State Park in Tuscaloosa County, states that Jane was born 8 October 1768 in Abbeville District, South Carolina, and that she died 2 November 1855.[1] The posting I’ve just linked contains a photo of the tombstone and transcribes its inscription, which reads,

In Memory of Jane Green born in Abbeville District S.C. Oct. 8th 1768. Departed this life Nov. 2nd 1855

As the linked posting also explains, at the time John Green and Jane Kerr were born in 1768 in what would become Abbeville County or District in 1785, this area, then called Granville County, would shortly after their births become Ninety-Six District until Abbeville District/County was created.

John Green (1768-1837): Bibb County, Alabama, Records, 1823-1839

Green house built by John Green and son John Ewing Green southeast of Woodstocck, Bibb County, Alabama, 1830-1834, photo I took in December 2006

Or, Subtitled: “On the Elyton road, the [stagecoach] change, usually considered necessary every fifteen miles, is said to have occurred regularly near Woodstock at the old Green house, called Halfway House”

As the previous posting states, when Jane Kerr Green relinquished her dower rights to the 1,345 acres she and husband John Green sold in Pendleton District, South Carolina, on 4 May 1818 — Jane released dower on 28 October 1818 — it appears to me that John and Jane were making preparations for the immediate move of their family to Alabama. I think it’s likely that the family left for Alabama not long after Jane’s dower release. Since, as will be shown below, when John and his sons Benjamin and Joscelin had certificates for federal land in Bibb County, Alabama, in June 1823, with the certificates stating that the Green men were living in Tuscaloosa County, I think the Green family initially settled in Tuscaloosa County before moving to the contiguous county of Bibb, where they settled in the northwest corner of Bibb not far from the Tuscaloosa County line.

John Green (1768-1837): Pendleton District, South Carolina Records, 1800-1818

Pendleton District, South Carolina, Deed Bk. O, pp. 136-8

Or, Subtitled: “He left Pendleton for the Alabama a week before John E. got up and expects to return in about two months”

1800-1810

As my last posting tells you as it examines Pendleton District, South Carolina, records for John Green from the 1790 federal census, which suggests that he and wife Jane were living on and managing the Keowee Heights plantation of her uncle John Ewing Colhoun, to 21 December 1798, when he had a plat for 500 acres east of the Keowee in addition to the 838 acres he acquired in 1793, there were a number of men named John Green living in Pendleton District or found in its records in the 1790s. The 1800 federal census for Pendleton District presents us with yet another challenge of sorting John Greens.

John Green (1768-1837): Pendleton District, South Carolina Records to 1799

Tombstone of John Green, Tannehill Historical State Park, Tuscaloosa County, Alabama, my photo

Or, Subtitled: “Tell her I have got 5 guns all sure fire and when danger is approaching myself and jane will Each of us shoulder a few of them and march up the hill as a Reinforcement”

John Green’s Birth and Marriage

John Green was born 21 January 1768. This date is recorded on his tombstone, whose inscription reads,[1]

Sacred to the memory of JOHN GREEN, ESQ., who was born January 21st 1768, and departed this life March 18th 1837, aged 69 years 1 month & 28 days.