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Genealogy: Finding Your Folks

Early Newberry landowners

By JUDY FOWLER KILGORE
jkilgore@thecitizennews.com

This will be the final column on my recently purchased books on Newberry Co., S.C., an area from whence came many ancestors of today’s residents of Fayette, Coweta, South Fulton and other southside counties. While this one wasn’t as helpful to me with my own particular ancestors, it revealed a wide spectrum of names I have come across in my local research.

The book is entitled, “Laurens & Newberry Counties, S.C.: Saluda and Little River Settlements 1749-1775,” and was purchased from the Old Newberry District Chapter, SCGS. All the society’s books are listed on the Web site at www.rootsweb.com/~scondc/index.html. Click on “publications” to view the complete list of books available.

The book explains the methods of land distribution to early settlers, tells the requirements for grants, and has maps of the areas covered. There is much detail on terminology, which was most helpful.

Studying land transactions in South Carolina is vastly different and a little more difficult than studying land transactions and deeds in Georgia in that the description of land is a little vague and lots were not all the same shape and size.

I don’t know who was responsible for deciding the method of marking land in Georgia, but God bless him! Everything is in neat little numbered blocks. Makes it so easy to find.

South Carolina’s land descriptions are based on the amount of the acreage, the nearest river or creek and the names of adjacent landowners. That’s about all you get.

Here are a few land transactions from the book, quoted exactly as written, with some of the names of settlers who later came to our area.

The Elmores, as mentioned in a previous column, came to the First District of Coweta (southeastern corner near Meriwether and Pike) and many of them were involved in early land transactions in South Carolina.

Here is one which gives several names (page 87):

“Chain of title for Mathias Elmore: Lease and release 12 and 13 June 1765: Stephen Elmore, blacksmith, of the County of Berkley to John Ellemon, Junr., planter, of the aforesaid place, for £200 SC currency, 200 acres on Berkley County on a small branch of Saludy River called Bush Creek. Bounded NW by land of Mathias Elmore and part vacant; SE by land of Joseph Wright and Thomas Shaw, all other sides by vacant land. Signed Stephen Elmore, Sarah Elmore (mark) and William Elmore (mark), Charity Elmore (mark). Wit: James H. Casey, Robert Bull, Jacob Hoge. Proved by James H. Casey before Jonathan Gilbert, J.P. 14 July 1769. Recorded 10 May 1796 by Fredk. Nance, D.C. [Newberry Deed Book C; 713-716. WPA; 51]. This lease and release does not explicitly refer to Mathias Elmore, but the common bounding plats support it as the Mathias Elmore plat.”

Remember that although the county was given as Berkley, Newberry wasn’t formed until 1785.

Here’s another Elmore deed which mentions more names from our area (also on page 87):

“Chain of title for Stephen Elmore; Lease and release 16 and 17 Jan. 1786: John Embree, planter, and Mary, his wife, both of Georgia, to Samuel Pearson and Mercer Babb, in company or fellowship, of Newberry County, planters, for £10 sterling, 5 acres in the fork between Broad and Saludy Rivers in Newberry SC on Bush River, part of a tract that the sd. John Embree formerly allowed for the use of a mill that he and his brother built on sd. river and part of the 100 acres that was granted to Stephen Elmore 2 Apr. 1762 and conveyed by sd. Elmore to John Embree. Bounded at corner of land of sd. John Embree, formerly conveyed to his brother, Moses Embree; Mathias Elmore and Bush River. Signed John Embree and Mary Embree (mark). Wit: Enoch Pearson, Jacob Toland, Jesse Embree. [Newberry Deed Book A; 51-54. WPA; 6]

If memory serves me correctly, a Mercer Babb had something to do with designing and/or building the original Coweta County Courthouse.

Another transaction for Stephen Elmore mentions that Bush Creek was later called Grist Mill Creek (1759).

In the very early petitions for plats (1749-1759), Stephen Elmore and William Elmore were given adjacent tracts of land. Some of these early petitions for land tell the number of people who came with the settler, including slaves and free servants, and where he came from (Virginia, Pennsylvania, etc.). Many were given huge tracts of land.

A John Collier said in his petition that he had come from Virginia and had settled in the area in South Carolina known as Sampson’s Fork and wanted land to build a “flower” mill.

John Melchoir Worley stated in his petition that he had come to South Carolina from Rotterdam on the Brigantine John and Mary and desired only 50 acres of land. It was granted in 1753.

This book is chock full of interesting tidbits of information hiding in the descriptions of land transactions. Someone just last week told me she had never thought about so much information being in deeds and had never researched them. Believe me. You are missing out on a lot of stuff you’d never know about.

I welcome all letters and e-mails about genealogy and info on south metro Atlanta families. Send them to The Citizen, P.O. Drawer 1719, Fayetteville, GA 30214; e-mail jkilgore@thecitizennews.com or jodiek444@aol.com. Any letters and/or e-mails I receive are subject to being used in the column.

Until next week, happy hunting!