Or, Subtitled: Elusive Sources for Birth and Death Dates, and Stories of Englishmen Coming to Virginia in the 18th Century
Following their sons Charles and James, James Whitlock (abt. 1718 – 1749) and wife Agnes Christmas of Hanover and Louisa Counties, Virginia, had a daughter Mary, with a daughter Ann born after Mary. My reason for putting Mary and Ann, about whom very little is known, together in this posting will be apparent as the posting unfolds.
Or, Subtitled: New Documents Casting New Light on Old Mysteries
And now another addendum to a series of postings from the past — these tracking the life of my ancestor David Dinsmore, who was born in Ulster in 1750, arrived from Belfast with his wife Margaret aboard the Earl of Donegal in Charleston, South Carolina, on 10 December 1767, and received a grant from the colony of 150 acres on the Tyger River in Craven County (later Ninety Six District, then Spartanburg County) on 27 February 1768. When the American Revolution broke out, David took the British side, in 1775 and ended up in Nova Scotia, with his wife Margaret and their five children remaining behind on their farm on Jamey’s Creek of the Tyger River in South Carolina. I told David’s story and the story of his family in a seven-part series (citing documentation you’ll find as you read this series) that began in February 2018 with this posting.
Or, Subtitled: “Being Unfortunate in His Business He Moved”
This posting continues a discussion of records documenting the life of Rachel Lindsey (1800/1810 – 1845), daughter of William Lindsey and Rachel Earnest of Spartanburg County, South Carolina. In two previous postings about Rachel (here and here), I discussed her first husband Jacob Cooper, whom Rachel appears to have married between 1820-1828, and her family by Jacob. As the previous posting (the second link in the preceding sentence) notes, following Jacob’s death in Spartanburg County sometime before 15 November 1829, Rachel then remarried between 28 January and 26 April 1830 to William Anson Halbert of Laurens County. Rachel appears in the estate sale documents of Jacob Cooper on 28 January as Rachel Cooper, but on 26 April 1830, William Halbert applied to Spartanburg County court to be made administrator of Jacob Cooper’s estate, noting that he had married Rachel, Jacob’s widow. It’s likely this marriage occurred on or near to 26 April 1830.[1]
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)”
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)”
Or, Subtitled: The Challenges Encountered in Tracking “Wm. Lindsey Run Away”
And now to William Lindsey, the one child of Dennis Lindsey about whom I have substantial documentation — if, that is, I’m correct in identifying the William named as a son in Dennis’ will with a William Lindsey who had a precept on 5 July 1768 for 300 acres of land north of the Enoree River in South Carolina. We know from subsequent deeds that I’ll discuss later that this land was in Spartanburg County after the formation of that county, and that William Lindsey lived from the latter part of the 1760s north of the Enoree in southern Spartanburg County (but not on this 300 acres, which he sold in October 1772) until he disappeared from county records in the early 1800s. By 1806, his son William ceases to appear as Jr. in county records, and it seems to me that the father had died by then. I have been unable to locate estate records for the older William that would provide a date of death.
4. Exile to Nova Scotia
David Dinsmore’s 1786 Loyalist land claim in Nova Scotia states, “At the Evacuation of C. Town he came to this Province, and is now settled in Rawdon.”[1] After the fort at Ninety Six fell and the South Carolina Loyalists retreated first to Orangeburg and then eventually to Charleston in the latter part of 1781, they began making arrangements to leave the colony. According to Lambert, by mid-August 1782, 4,200 Loyalists had registered to leave South Carolina, including nearly 2,500 women and children with 7,200 enslaved Africans and African-Americans.[2] Prior to their departure, on 18 April, Zachariah Gibbs and other South Carolina Loyalists prepared a petition to the Crown indicating that a large number of Tories—perhaps as many as 300, they claimed—had been murdered by the Whigs in the colony, with the majority of these in Ninety Six District. Continue reading “David Dinsmore, Ulster-Scots Loyalist in South Carolina and Nova Scotia Exile: Every Life Worth a Novel (5)”
3. The Revolution
A number of sources document David Dinsmore’s service under British military commanders during the Revolution. On 19 April 1786 at Halifax, Nova Scotia, Dinsmore filed a land claim for his Loyalist military service.[1] The claim states that in 1775, he had taken up arms under General Cunningham, joining Campbell in Georgia. Cunningham is apparently William Cunningham, the British commander tagged as “Bloody Bill” by many Whigs, due to his role in atrocities committed against South Carolina rebels—though in 1775, he was not yet a general and in fact had begun his service in that year on the Whig side.[2] His origins are not entirely clear, though it’s apparent he was a cousin of several influential Tory Cunninghams of Scotch-Irish descent, all brothers, who came to South Carolina from Pennsylvania in 1769 and who settled in Ninety Six District. These included Robert Cunningham, the first magistrate of Ninety Six District, and Patrick Cunningham, deputy surveyor of the province of South Carolina. Continue reading “David Dinsmore, Ulster-Scots Loyalist in South Carolina and Nova Scotia Exile: Every Life Worth a Novel (4)”
Begats and Bequeathals 