Children of Ezekiel Calhoun and Jean/Jane Ewing: Ezekiel Colhoun and Jane Calhoun Stedman

The Statutes at Large of South Carolina: Containing the acts from 1786, exclusive, to 1814, inclusive, arranged chronologically (Columbia: Johnson, 1839), p. 495

In a previous posting, I discussed the difficulties I encounter as I try to pinpoint when the last three children of Ezekiel Calhoun and Jean/Jane Ewing were born. As I note in that posting and previous ones linked in that same posting, I am confident that Ezekiel’s will names his sons and daughters – in separate lists, sons in one list, daughters in another – by order of birth. Ezekiel’s son Ezekiel is named following Patrick and would have been Ezekiel Calhoun’s last son, and Jean/Jane is named after her sister Catherine and would have been Ezekiel Calhoun’s last daughter.

John Harris (1725-1791): New Information Added to Previous Posting

Patrick Calhoun’s survey book, 1784-1792, in “John C. Calhoun Papers,” Clemson University Library’s Special Collections and Archives (mss 200)

Here’s more material I’ve added to a previous posting here, following my recent trip to Clemson University Library’s Special Collections and Archives. In the “John C. Calhoun Papers” of the archives, I found a little survey book kept by Patrick Calhoun, John C. Calhoun’s father, between 1784 and 1792. In that survey book, I found much valuable material, including the following about Reverend John Harris, whose son John Harris married Mary Pickens, daughter of Andrew Pickens and Rebecca Calhoun:

Benjamin Green Sr. and Jr.: New Information Added to Previous Postings

Patrick Calhoun’s survey book, 1784-1792, in “John C. Calhoun Papers,” Clemson University Library’s Special Collections and Archives, mss 2oo

Here’s more new information I’ve now added to some previous postings following my recent research trip to the Special Collections and Archives of Clemson University’s Library: previously, I have made a number of postings about a Benjamin Green who appears in records of the Long Cane settlement in Granville County, South Carolina (later Abbeville County) by June 1768. As my previous postings focusing on this Benjamin stated, I suspect he may have been the father of John Green (1768-1837), who married Jane Kerr, daughter of Samuel Kerr and Mary Calhoun. I also stated in these same postings that I thought it was likely Benjamin Green was father of a younger Benjamin Green, who, as with John Green, worked for John Ewing Colhoun, uncle of Jane Kerr Green. John Green and wife Jane Kerr managed John E. Colhoun’s Keowee Heights plantation as it got underway, and the younger Benjamin Green tutored John E. Colhoun’s children and also assisted in reporting to John business affairs on both his lowcountry and upcountry plantations.

Children of Alexander Noble and Catherine Calhoun (2): Alexander, Patrick, and Joseph

Portrait of Patrick Noble at Wikimedia Commons, from South Carolina Information Highway (SCIWAY) website, which notes that the original is at South Caroliniana Library

Or, Subtitled: “Here lie the bones of an honest man”

This posting is a continuation of the previous posting discussing the children of Alexander Noble and Catherine Calhoun of Abbeville County, South Carolina. The previous posting discussed Alexander and Catherine’s first four children John, Ezekiel, William, and Jane. This posting discusses the last three children Alexander, Patrick, and Joseph.

Children of Alexander Noble and Catherine Calhoun (1): John, Ezekiel, William, and Jane

Caroline Howard Gilman, Record of Inscriptions in the Cemetery and Building of the Unitarian, Formerly Denominated the Independent Church, Archdale Street, Charleston, S.C., from 1777-1860 (Charleston: Walker, Evans & Co., 1860), p. 29

Or, Subtitled: “It is needless to enlarge on his professional talent, his urbanity of manners, and unblemished honor and integrity”

The first four children of Catherine Calhoun and Alexander Noble were as follows (a subsequent posting will provide information about the couple’s other children):

Children of Ezekiel Calhoun and Jean/Jane Ewing: Catherine Calhoun (abt. 1751 – 1803) and Husband Alexander Noble

18 December 1779 letter of Major Alexander Noble to General William Moultrie, in Preston Davie Collection, 1560-1903, collection 3406, Wilson Special Collections Library, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, available digitally

Or, Subtitled: “I am your Obedient Hbl Servt. Alexdr. Noble Majr

Establishing Catherine’s Birthdate

As a previous posting notes, the will that Catherine Calhoun’s father Ezekiel Calhoun made on 3 September 1759 in Granville (later Abbeville) County, South Carolina, appears to name his sons and daughters by their order of birth, with the sons listed separately from the daughters.[1] Ezekiel’s will lists Catherine after her sisters Mary and Rebecca. Rebecca’s date of birth, 18 November 1745, appears on her tombstone in Old Stone Church cemetery at Clemson in Pickens County, South Carolina.[2] The next child in the family of Ezekiel Calhoun and Jean or Jane Ewing is thought to have been their son John Ewing Colhoun, who was born in either 1749 or 1752, as we’ve seen.

Children of Ezekiel Calhoun and Jean/Jane Ewing: John Ewing Colhoun (1749 [or 1752] – 1802)

Portrait of John Ewing Colhoun, from U.S. Senate Historical Office, at Biographical Directory of the U.S. Congress, “Colhoun, John Ewing, 1749-1802

Or, Subtitled: “In the confidence of his Country, he filled at the time of his death the high Station of Senator of the United States”

John E. Colhoun’s Birth and Early Life

John Ewing Colhoun, son of Ezekiel Calhoun and Jean or Jane Ewing, was born in 1749 or 1752. His tombstone in his Keowee Heights family cemetery now located on land owned by Clemson University’s Experimental Forest gives the 1752 birthdate: the inscription on the tombstone (which will be given in full later in my posting(s) about John), reads,[1]

He was born in the year 1752 and died on the 26th of October 1802.

Children of Ezekiel Calhoun and Jean/Jane Ewing: Rebecca Calhoun (1745-1814) and Husband Andrew Pickens

Tombstone of Rebecca Calhoun Pickens, photo by Deleted User — see Find a Grave memorial page of Rebecca Calhoun Pickens, Old Stone Church cemetery, Clemson, Pickens County, South Carolina, created by Jimmy Gilstrap, maintained by C. LATTA

Or, Subtitled: “She was through life religious & charitable, died humbly relying on the mercy of her Redeemer”

In the two previous postings (here and here), I shared information about Ezekiel Calhoun, who was born about 1720 in County Donegal, Ireland, came with his parents Patrick Colhoun and Catherine Montgomery to Lancaster County, Pennsylvania, in 1733, and then moved with his siblings and their widowed mother before October 1745 to Augusta County, Virginia. As the linked postings state, about 1742 in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania, Ezekiel married Jean (also called Jane) Ewing, who was, Margaret Ewing Fife thinks, the daughter of Patrick and Mary Ewing of County Donegal, Ireland, and Lancaster County, Pennsylvania.[1]

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.

Children of Mary Calhoun (abt. 1743-1805) and Samuel Kerr of Abbeville County, South Carolina — John Kerr (abt. 1766 – aft. 1819)

14 Tradd Street, Charleston, South Carolina, photo by ProfReader at Wikimedia Commons (2014)

Or, Subtitled: “A relatively prosperous merchant, variously listed as a hatter, general merchant, and even grain inspector”

As the previous posting discussing Mary Calhoun (abt. 1743-1805), daughter of Ezekiel Calhoun and Jane/Jean Ewing and wife of Samuel Kerr, states, the will that Mary made in Abbeville County, South Carolina, on 21 January 1805 names the following children: John Kerr, Jane Kerr Green, Catherine Kerr McLain, and Ruth Kerr.[1] I am naming these children in what I think was their order of birth, not the order in which their mother Mary names them in her will.