The Conundrum of Sorting John Lindseys, Spartanburg County, South Carolina, Latter Half of 1700s and Early 1800s

South Carolina Colonial Plat Bk. 9, p. 1

Or, Subtitled: “’Curiouser and curiouser!’ Cried Alice”

These notes about the challenge of sorting men named John Lindsey in records of Spartanburg County, South Carolina, in the latter part of the 1700s and early part of the 1800s begin with the conundrum of a 20 March 1817 deed of William Lindsey to Spencer Bobo, both of Spartanburg County.[1] I discussed this deed in detail in a previous posting. As that posting notes, William Lindsey deeded to Spencer Bobo 200 acres on which William was then living, stating that he was selling “all the plantation and tract of Land where I now live supposed 200 acres more or less with every appurtenance thereunto belonging N. adjoining said Bobo’s land, E. joining Brewton, S. joining John Lindsey, and W. joining John Crocker.” The witnesses to this deed were John Lindsey and James Brewton/Bruton.

The Children of Dennis Lindsey (abt. 1755-1795): Mark Lindsey (1774-1848) (2)

Jeremiah Bell Jeter, The Recollections of a Long Life, Richmond, Religious Herald Company, 1891, p. 305
Jeremiah Bell Jeter, The Recollections of a Long Life (Richmond: Religious Herald Company, 1891), p. 305

Or, Subtitled: Round-Breasted Methodist Coats and Venerable Circuit Riders

Morgan and Lawrence County, Alabama, Records to 1830 for Mark Lindsey

And so another move for Mark and Mary Jane Dinsmore Lindsey and their family: in 1800, they left Spartanburg County, South Carolina, where both were born (in 1774 in Mark’s case, in 1779 for Mary Jane) and moved with her Dinsmore family to Wayne County, Kentucky. They remained in Wayne County to 1817 (if they moved with son Dennis, who went to Madison, later Lawrence County, Alabama, in that year) or until the fall of 1819, when they sold their homeplace in Wayne County and then begin to appear in Lawrence County records. Mary Jane’s brother John Dinsmore and wife Phebe (Woodruff?) then joined Mark and Mary Jane Lindsey in Lawrence County, selling their land in Wayne County, Kentucky, on 26 February 1821. Continue reading “The Children of Dennis Lindsey (abt. 1755-1795): Mark Lindsey (1774-1848) (2)”

The Children of William Lindsey (abt. 1733-abt. 1806): Dennis Lindsey (abt. 1755-1795) (4)

Dennis Lindsey Probate File 1
12 January 1795 bond of Mary Lindsey with Nathaniel Woodruff and William Moore, in loose-papers estate file of Dennis Lindsey, Spartanburg County, South Carolina, Probate Court, estate file 1111

Or, Subtitled: Cittles, Chears, Coffy Pots, and Canters: What Can Be Gleaned from an Estate File

Dennis Lindsey’s Estate Documents: Prefatory Comments

Estate or probate files (or, in Louisiana, they’re called succession files) can, in my experience, run the gamut from genealogically astonishing — they can name all the heirs of the decedent and identify them as full or half-siblings, for instance — to disappointing. Too many of my ancestors left wills naming “my wife and all my children,” and estate files that show their estate being inventoried, appraised, and sold, without including any division of the proceeds of the estate naming the heirs of the decedent. Continue reading “The Children of William Lindsey (abt. 1733-abt. 1806): Dennis Lindsey (abt. 1755-1795) (4)”

The Children of William Lindsey (abt. 1733-abt. 1806): Dennis Lindsey (abt. 1755-1795)

Lindsey Direct Line Mark to Wm. Dennis

Or, Subtitled: Documenting Lives with “Receets” and Tombstones

As I told you when I began my postings about William Lindsey (abt. 1733-abt. 1806), son of Dennis Lindsey the immigrant, I have not found absolute proof that the William Lindsey who claimed land in 1768 on the Enoree River in what was later Spartanburg County, South Carolina, is the son William named in Dennis’ 1762 will in Granville County, North Carolina. I am persuaded, however, that these two Williams are the same person, and in the posting I have just linked, I provided you with my reasons for concluding this — compelling ones, it seems to me. Continue reading “The Children of William Lindsey (abt. 1733-abt. 1806): Dennis Lindsey (abt. 1755-1795)”

The Children of Dennis Linchey/Lindsey (abt. 1700-1762): William Lindsey (abt. 1733-abt. 1806) (3)

Lindsey, William, Account Audited (File No. 4600) Of Claims Growing Out Of The American Revolution 2
William Lindsey (Lindsay), South Carolina Account Audited (File No. 4600) of Claims Growing Out of The American Revolution (indent 479)

Or, Subtitled: Land Grants and Payments for “Sarvis Done”

From the Revolution to the End of William Lindsey’s Life

We ended the previous posting, the second in our three-part series about the life of William Lindsey (abt. 1733 – abt. 1806), son of Dennis Lindsey the immigrant, noting that he acquired a 200-acre land grant on 9 November 1774 in what would become Spartanburg County, South Carolina. The land was on a branch of the Tyger River that was almost certainly Jamey’s Creek, and a number of indicators suggest that this land may have been between that creek and Ferguson’s creek near what would eventually become Woodruff, South Carolina. Continue reading “The Children of Dennis Linchey/Lindsey (abt. 1700-1762): William Lindsey (abt. 1733-abt. 1806) (3)”