Semiquincentennial - - Revolutionary War - - Jeremiah Smith

 - #7 in a series of  posts about our family's Revolutionary War soldiers -

250 Years; 1776 - 2026

Our Family was there, from the Beginning

 

Jeremiah Smith

Born circa 1755 – after 1800

Husband of Jemimah Hollis

My 5x great grandfather

Jeremiah Smith was the first of the Smith family to be found in historical records. He was born in South Carolina circa 1755 but the names of his parents and their country of origin is still to be discovered.[i] The oldest reference to Jeremiah is in 1770 in Craven County on Lynches Creek, sometimes referred to as Great Lynches Creek or, later, as Lynches River. His name is shown as owning land adjacent to John Kirkley. Most of the land surrounding the property of these two was men was described as ‘vacant land’.[ii] In 1773 Jeremiah’s land on Lynches Creek was again referenced in land records, this time as adjoining the property of James Minzies.[iii]

            Lynches River originates in North Carolina, crosses into South Carolina where it flows for 175 miles and empties into the Pee Dee River. “In the late 1700s the Lynches attracted entrepreneurs who set up saw mills, harvested the long leaf pine, and shipped the lumber downstream to Georgetown.”[iv]

            Jeremiah Smith served in the South Carolina Militia during the Revolutionary War. He served as a private in Colonel Benton’s Regiment for 29 days in March 1782 and 36 days in October 1782. In 1785 he went to the Justice of the Peace in Cheraws District to apply for compensation for his service. He also claimed 109 days service for Richard, Charles and John Smith. Were these other Smiths his brothers? This service amounted to a claim for 87 pounds. He received an additional 16 pounds sterling for beef he gave “for public use” during the war.[v]

 

Beyond the terror and pain of occasional battles, perhaps the most striking aspects of the Revolution were the unrelenting brutal conditions that soldiers were forced to endure. For the Continental Army, food, clothing, blankets, and other necessities were always in short supply, as were guns, ammunition, wagons, and horses needed to face the enemy. … Even foraging parties came up with little; the surrounding countryside had long since been looted of livestock, grain, and firewood. … On top of it all, military pay was low and unreliable; for months at a time, men were not paid at all. … Nevertheless, loyalty to the army grew.[vi]

 

Signature of Jeremiah Smith, 9 April 1790

From: South Carolina Department of Archives and History

Account Audited (File No. 7131) Of Claims Growing Out Of The American Revolution

            On 24 June 1784 Jeremiah married Jemimah Hollis, daughter of Moses Hollis and Rosannah (Hagan) Hollis.[vii]The Hollis family had been in the area for some years. Moses Hollis owned 300 acres on the Wateree River in 1768.[viii]Both Lynches Creek/River and Wateree River carve wandering lines across South Carolina but they run roughly parallel to each other.[ix] Various events, such as visiting the courthouse, could have brought the Smith and Hollis families together. 

            Moses Hollis also served in the South Carolina Militia during Revolutionary War. He served for 30 days in 1780 under General Sumpton.[x] More land records show Moses’ continued residence in the area as well as many other Hollis family members. 

            In October 1785 Jeremiah Smith had 100 acres of land on Rickey Creek in the Cheraws District.[xi] In 1788 he owned 400 acres in the Lynches Creek and Rocky Creek area.[xii]  He was in Greenville, South Carolina in 1790 when the first United States Census was taken[xiii] and in 1800 for the second census.[xiv]

            When researching the death date and location for Jeremiah Smith, I found a wide assortment of dates from 1810 to 1827, from the Carolinas to Mississippi. Because of the abundance of Jeremiah Smiths it cannot yet be determined which date and place relate to this man. 

Revolutionary War Series:

#1  William Stark Kelly, Private in the North Carolina Militia

#2 Captain John Kennington, Camden District Regiment, South Carolina Militia 

#3 Sergeant John Brumfield, Patriot & Spy South Carolina Militia 

#4 Charles Brumfield, Gave Patriotic Service

#5 Captain Johannes Ritter, Sr., Northampton Co., PA Militia  

#6 Lt. Moses Hollis, Lieutenant in the South Carolina Militia

 

Read more about our family's pioneers & patriots.

This is my newest book, published in late 2024. It includes chapters on these families:

Alford, Ashely, Brown, Brumfield,

Fortenberry, Hollis, Kelly, Kennington,

Lawrence, Ott, Smith & Spurlock

Buy from me: Price: $95.00 + $10 shipping & packaging. No credit cards.

OR: use credit card & purchase through Troy Book Makers.

---

[i] Gurr, Cindy Brock and Dennis Ray Gurr. The Ties That Bind US Together, Volume 5 (Privatley Printed, 2006) Genealogy Gophers (gengophers.com: accessed March 2019) 131-212.

[ii] South Carolina Department of Archives and History. Colonial Plat Books; Series S213184, Volume 17, Page 500, Item 2; digital image (scdah.sc.gov: accessed March 2019) John Kirkley adj. Jeremiah Smith, 1770.

[iii] South Carolina Department of Archives and History. Colonial Plat Books; Series S213184, Volume 18, Page 445, Item 2; digital image (scdah.sc.gov: accessed March 2019) James Minzies adj. Jeremiah Smith, Great Lynches Creek, 1773.

[iv] Stevens, Robert. Lynches River; digital image, South Carolina Encyclopedia (scencylopedia.org: accessed March 2019).

[v] South Carolina Department of Archives and History. Account Audited Of Claims Growing out of the American Revolution; Series S108092, Reel 136, Frame 422; digital image (scdah.sc.gov: accessed March 2019) Jeremiah Smith. 

[vi] Daily Life in Colonial America (Pleasantville, NY: Reader’s Digest Association, INc., 1993) 6128.

[vii] Gurr, Cindy Brock and Dennis Ray Gurr. The Ties That Bind US Together, Volume 5 (Privately Printed, 2006) Genealogy Gophers (gengophers.com: accessed March 2019) 131-212.

[viii] South Carolina Department of Archives and History. Colonial Land Grants; Series S213019, Volume 16, Page 367; digital image (scdah.sc.gov: accessed March 2019) Moses Hollis, 1768.

[ix] Pruitt, A. B. Creeks and Rivers in South Carolina (Privately Printed, 2001) 14.

[x] South Carolina Department of Archives and History. Account Audited of Claims Growing Out of the American Revolution; Series S108092, Reel 72, Frame 596; digital image (scdah.sc.gov: accessed March 2019) Moses Hollis, 1780.

[xi] South Carolina Department of Archives and History. State Plat Books; Series S213190, Volume 8, Page 267, Item 1; digital image (scdah.sc.gov: accessed March 2019) Jeremiah Smith, 1785.

[xii] South Carolina Department of Archives and History. State Plat Books; Series S213190, Volume 22, Page 873, Item 2; digital image (scdah.sc.gov: accessed March 2019) Jeremiah Smith, 1788, Cheraws District.

[xiii] 1790 US Census, SC, Greenville; digital image, Ancestry (ancestry.com: accessed October 2019) Jeremiah Smith. 

[xiv] 1800 US Census, SC, Greenville; digital image, Ancestry (ancestry.com: accessed October 2019) Jeremiah Smith.

June Ancestor Anniversaries

June is my favorite month for weddings because my husband and I got married 

on June 10, 1978.

 

2 June 1870. Ohio. William Mark, 1844 OH – 1904 OH (son of Abraham Mark & Mary Isabella Heffelfinger) married Emma Abeline Flory. They had two children. The marriage did not last.

2 June 1923. Ohio.  Charles Forest Mark, 1892 OH – 1967 OH, (son of William Mark & Elidia Rebecca Ritter) married Bertha Flickinger, 1904 OH – 2000 OH (daughter of Andrew & Emma Flickinger). They had four children. They were married 44 years.

 

3 June 1880. Ohio. Allen G. Messmore married Barbary Ann Ritter, 1857 OH – 1928 (daughter of Isaac Ritter & Isabell Fisher). They were the parents of six children. 

 

8 June 1841. Marion, Mississippi. Warren Jackson Alford, 1819 MS – 1899 MS (son of Edwin Barksdale Alford & Martha P. Smith) married Celia Ann Lewis.  They were the parents of 12 children.

 

8 June 1949. Mississippi. Fay Seward Smith, 1921 MS – 1998 MS, (son of Denny Herbert Smith & Mavis Marie Brown) married Patricia Brock, 1932 MS – 2020 MS (daughter of Leslie William Brock & Dollie Lura Smith).  They were married 49 years. When I visited they were kind and welcoming. Both of them helped my family history in many ways. 

 

11 June 1830, Marion, Mississippi.  Jesse Kelly Brumfield, 1807 SC – 1884 MS (Son of John Brumfield & Margaret Kelly) married Hannah Youngblood, 1808 GA – 1885 MS (Daughter of Benjamin Youngblood & Susannah Collins). They had ten children. They were married 54 years.

 

11 June 1882. Pennsylvania. Francis Jonas Wolf, 1860 PA – 1945 KS (son of John Jonas Wolf & Sarah Ann Chronister) married Ida Virginia Spangler. They were the parents of eight children. 

 

12 June 1912. John Rickert Shaw married Mary Jeanette Mark, 1886 OH – 1940 OH (daughter of William Mark & Elidia Rebecca Ritter). 

 

15 June 1870. Ohio. Henry C. Miller married Mary Ritter, 1853 OH – 1938, (daughter of Isaac Ritter & Isabell Fisher). They were the parents of 12 children. 

16 June 1851. Mississippi. Isaac Nelson Brumfield, 1823 LA - 1909 MS; son of Willis & Nancy Virginia (Holmes) Brumfield, married Sarah Jane Smith, 1836 MS - 1929 MS; daughter of Elias V. & Ann (Crews) Smith. Parents of 10 children

20 June 1804. Pennsylvania. Johan Abraham Keck, 1781 PA - 1854 PA; son of Georg & Elanora Catherine (Schaut) Keck, married Magdalena Klingensmith. 

24 June 1772. South Carolina. Jeremiah Smith Sr., b. 1755, married Jemimah Hollis; daughter of Moses Hollis. They were my 5th great grandparents. Parents of 4 children.

26 June 1877. Ohio. Franklin P. Mark, 1853 OH - 1936 OH; son of Abraham & Mary Isabella (Heffelfinger) Mark, married Laura M. Miller. Parents of 8 children. 

 

 

Semiquincentennial - - Revolutionary War - - Moses Hollis

 - #6 in a series of posts about our family's Revolutionary War soldiers -

250 Years; 1776 - 2026

Our Family was there, from the Beginning

Moses' sons, Elijah, John & William also served in the South Carolina Militia.

Moses Hollis

1728 Fairfax, VA – c 1794 South Carolina

Son of John & Esther (Canterbury) Hollis; Husband of Rosannah Berry Hagan

My 6th great grandfather

 

Lieutenant in the South Carolina Militia

Moses Hollis lived in the American colonies. Both Moses and his wife, Rosannah (Hagan) Hollis,[i] were born in Fairfax County, Virginia. He was born in 1728[ii]^,[iii] and she was born in 1735.[iv]

On 26 March 1751 Moses witnessed an indenture between Henry Fitzhugh and John Gray. Moses’ father, John Hollis, was a tenant of Henry Fitzhugh.[v] John Hollis grew tobacco and operated a tavern in Fairfax County.[vi]

Moses and Rosannah moved to South Carolina where they could obtain land of their own. Land records prove Moses’ residence in Craven County, South Carolina. On 29 April 1768 Moses Hollis received a Colonial Land Grant of 300 acres on the Wateree River (also seen as Wateree Creek).[vii] In February 1771 he purchased an additional 200 acres on Wateree Creek. His land was described as “bounded on all sides by vacant land.”[viii] In 1772 another 200 acres were granted to Moses in Craven County.[ix]

While their property expanded their family grew. They had at least four children: Jemimah (Hollis) Smith, John Hollis, Elijah Hollis, Nancy (Hollis) Gladden and Berry Hollis.[x] Families were the “social foundations” for life in the Colonial South.[xi]

 

Because formal institutions were often weak in the colonial South, family and kin assumed many more responsibilities than families do today including subsistence, education, vocational training, social welfare, religious instruction, and elderly care. Family life both shaped and was altered by colonialism.[xii]

 

Colonial southerners spent their days laboring to feed, house and clothe themselves. They also wanted to produce goods for exchange. After 1700 “rice became Carolina’s gold.” It is likely Moses grew rice, wheat, indigo or tobacco to sell to Europe.[xiii] “He was a “typical successful farmer.”[xiv]

In August 1767 Moses was in the newspaper. The paper printed a list of men whose horses were missing, either stolen or strays.

 

By Moses Hollis, a bay mare, 13 hands high, a natural pacer, branded on each buttock, judged to be 8 years old.[xv]

 

The Revolutionary War began. Moses served as a Lieutenant for 30 days in 1780 in the Cheraws District Regiment of the South Carolina Militia. He later requested compensation for a “Gun [that] was Taken.” Moses served again in late 1782 – 1783 in the Turkey Creek Regiment under Captain Charles Lewis.[xvi]

The oldest sons of Moses and Rosannah served in the South Carolina Militia, with John and Elijah as Captains and William as a Private. In an affidavit, Elijah said he was too young to serve initially but towards the end of the war he served with his brother, John, both under Colonel Lacey in two tours of duty.[xvii]

In 1780 Moses served on a Grand Jury.[xviii] In 1790 his name appears in the records of the first United States census in Fairfield, South Carolina.[xix] The 1790 US Census for Fairfield included these Hollis names: Elijah, James, John, Moses and William.[xx] Moses Hollis wrote his will on 9 April 1793. It is from this document we have the name of his wife and some of his children. He died circa 1794.[xxi]

 

1789 Signature of Moses Hollis

From Accounts Audited of Claims Growing Out of the Revolution, SC Dept. of Archives & History

<https://www.archivesindex.sc.gov>

Revolutionary War Series:

#1  William Stark Kelly, Private in the North Carolina Militia

#2 Captain John Kennington, Camden District Regiment, South Carolina Militia 

#3 Sergeant John Brumfield, Patriot & Spy South Carolina Militia 

#4 Charles Brumfield, Gave Patriotic Service

#5 Captain Johannes Ritter, Sr., Northampton Co., PA Militia  

 

 

Read more about our family's pioneers & patriots.

This is my newest book, published in late 2024. It includes chapters on these families:

Alford, Ashely, Brown, Brumfield,

Fortenberry, Hollis, Kelly, Kennington,

Lawrence, Ott, Smith & Spurlock

Buy from me: Price: $95.00 + $10 shipping & packaging. No credit cards.

OR: use credit card & purchase through Troy Book Makers.

 

 

---

[i] US and International Marriage Records, 1560 – 1900; digital record, Ancestry (ancestry.com: accessed Sept. 2020)

Moses Hollis & Rosanna.

[ii] Daughters of the American Revolution, Ancestor Record, Ancestor #A206608, Moses Hollis; digital record (dar.org:

accessed Sept. 2020).

[iii] Gurr, Cindy Brock and Dennis Ray Gurr. The Ties That Bind US Together, Volume 5 (privately printed, 2006)

Genealogy Gophers (gengophers.com: accessed Sept. 2020) 230 – 249.

[iv] Gurr, Cindy Brock and Dennis Ray Gurr. The Ties That Bind US Together, Volume 5 (privately printed, 2006)

Genealogy Gophers (gengophers.com: accessed Sept. 2020) 230 – 249.

[v] Sparacio, Ruth and Sam, Fairfax County, Virginia Orders, 1768 – 1769 (VA: Antient Press) 111.

[vi] Mitchell, Beth, Fairfax County, Virginia in 1760 an Interpretive Historical Map (Fairfax Co., VA: Office of Comprehensive Planning, 1987) 99.

[vii] South Carolina Department of Archives and History. Colonial Land Grant, Series S213019, Volume 16, Page 367; digital image (scdah.sc.gov: accessed Sept. 2020) Moses Hollis, 1768, on Wataree River.

[viii] South Carolina Department of Archives and History. Colonial Plat Books, Series S213184, Volume 17, Page 39, Item

2; digital image (scdah.sc.gov: accessed Sept. 2020) Moses Hollis, 1771, Craven County.

[ix] South Carolina Department of Archives and History. Colonial Land Grant, Series S213019, Volume 27, Page 455; digital image (scdah.sc.gov: accessed Sept. 2020) Moses Hollis, Craven County.

[x] South Carolina Department of Archives and History. South Carolina Will Transcripts, Series S108093, Reel 11, Frame

100; digital image (scdah.sc.gov: accessed Sept. 2020) Moses Hollis, Fairfield Co

[xi] Schlotterbeck, John T. Daily Life in the Colonial South (Athens, GA: The University of Georgia Press, 2020) 85.

[xii] Schlotterbeck, John T. Daily Life in the Colonial South (Athens, GA: The University of Georgia Press, 2020) 85.

[xiii] Schlotterbeck, John T. Daily Life in the Colonial South (Athens, GA: The University of Georgia Press, 2020) 37 – 38.

[xiv] Tidwell, W. A. A History of the Tidwell Family; Genealogy Gophers (gengophers.com: accessed Sept. 2020) 98 – 99.

[xv] Strays (Charleston, SC: The South Carolina and American General Gazette, 7 August 1767) 4; digital image, Newspapers.com: accessed Sept. 2020.

[xvi] Graves, Willia. Southern Campaigns American Revolution Pension Statements & Rosters; ,revwarapps.org; accessed March 2026) Moses Hollis.

[xvii] Graves, Willia. Southern Campaigns American Revolution Pension Statements & Rosters; ,revwarapps.org; accessed March 2026) John Hollis.

[xviii] US Census Reconstructed Records, 1660 – 1829, SC, Camden District; digital record, Ancestry (ancestry.com: accessed Sept 2020) Moses Hollis, 1780.

[xix] 1790 US Census, SC, Fairfield; digital image, Ancestry (ancestry.com: accessed Sept. 2020) Moses Hollis.

[xx] Heads of Families at the First Census of the United States Taken in the Year 1790; South Carolina (Baltimore, MD:

Clearfield Co., Inc., 2004) 19 – 20.

[xxi] Daughters of the American Revolution, Ancestor Record, Ancestor #A206608, Moses Hollis; digital record (dar.org:

accessed Sept. 2020).

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Ancestor Anniversaries, May 17 - 31

 

17 May 1841. Ireland. Thomas Brady married Catherine Gibney. They had nine children, all born in Ireland. Thomas & Catherine were my third great grandparents.

18 May 1937. Mississippi. Dudley Copeland Brumfield, 1909 – 2002 (Son of Henry Sims Brumfield, Jr. & Mary Sauls) married Maxine Melton, 1914 – 1991 (Daughter of J. E. Melton).

21 May 1948. Louisiana. Harold Edwin Brumfield, 1944 – 2014, (son of John E. Brumfield married Mildred Elaine Fortenberry) married Sharon Jan Griffin. 

23 May 1912. Floyd Bernard Moore [son of Peter Jonathan Moore & Caroline Louise Gruissy] & Anna Slaby. They had four children, all born in Cleveland, Ohio. Anna died 20 January 1924.

26 May 1933. Medina, Ohio.   Robert E. Ballard married Vera Victoria Mark [daughter of Thomas Kenneth Mark & N. Regina Gruissy]. They had one daughter. Vera. 

28 May 1896. Wayne Co., Ohio. Edwin Mark [son of Abraham Mark & Mary Isabella Heffelfinger] married Delpha. Edwin died 5 Dec 1920 in Ohio.

29 May 1946. Eddie Joe Cutrer [son of Isaac Omer Cutrer & Serena Olivia Lee] married Mary Mae Cantenbury.

31 May 1952.  David Walter Foss married Olivia Margaret Shaw [daughter of John Rickert Shaw & Mary Jeanette Mark]. They had one son, born in Ohio.

Semiquincentennial - - Revolutionary War - - David Faulkenberry

 -#6 in a series of posts about our family's Revolutionary War soldiers -

250 Years; 1776 - 2026

Our Family was there, from the Beginning

David and his brother, John, both served in the South Carolina Militia Information on John's service is limited.  

David Faulkenberry

c 1746 Virginia – 1841 Tennessee 

Son of Jacob Faulkenberry; Husband of Phoebe

My 6th great uncle

 

Seargent, South Carolina Militia 

David Faulkenberry was one of five sons of Jacob and Phoebe Faulkenberry who grew up in Virginia. We know little about his life but we know he served when the Colonies became the United States. 

He applied for a Revolutionary War pension in 1832. Those pension papers teach us about his service. According to David he was “eighty five or eighty six years” old when he tried to remember the details of his service so he could receive a pension.

David was living in Kershaw County, South Carolina when he entered service. 

 

[David] entered the service in behalf of the United States some time before the engagement took place at the Hanging Rock in South Carolina, but he cannot state in what year or month. At the time he entered the service, he lived in Kershaw County South Carolina. He was a drafted militia man and entered the service in Captain John Kennington’s Company*, but he cannot remember the names of any of the other of his company officers. He belonged to the regiment of Militia commanded by Col. Joseph Kershaw, and he thinks Gen. Williamson had command of the troops to which he belonged. He was in the engagement at the Hanging Rock … He served he thinks five or six months during this tour, and was then discharged and returned home. How long he remained at home he cannot state, but after some time he was again drafted and served another tour of five or six months. On this tour he was under the same Captain as in the first tour and he thinks Col. Kershaw again commanded his regiment. … during some part of his services he was in General Sumter’s army … He was in the army of Gate’s defeat … He was not directly engaged in the battle, but was detailed as guard to take care of the baggage wagons, and was Seargent of said guard.”[i]

 

David participated in The Battle of Hanging Rock which took place in Heath Springs, South Carolina on 6 August 1780, commanded by Thomas Sumter. The American troops attacked a British outpost at Hanging Rock. This helps us to know when John entered his service. 

 

Although the Americans withdrew, Hanging Rock is considered a Patriot victory. While the American forces suffered more casualties, The victory at Hanging Rock served to further embolden Patriot efforts to dislodge the British in the south.[ii] 

 

David was attacked by the enemy at his home.

 

He is a cripple in both of his hands, which affair has a connection was produced at his own house by the Tories on account of his attachment to the Whigs, by cutting him to pieces with their swords. He was also wounded by a ball at the same time which is now in his arm.[iii]

 

David moved to Rutherford County, Tennessee. He was living there at the time he applied for his Revolutionary War Pension. His son, Jacob, wrote that his father was “very old, and extremely infirm.”[iv]

 

 

Revolutionary War Series:

#1  William Stark Kelly, Private in the North Carolina Militia

#2 Captain John Kennington, Camden District Regiment, South Carolina Militia 

#3 Sergeant John Brumfield, Patriot & Spy South Carolina Militia 

#4 Charles Brumfield, Gave Patriotic Service

#5 Captain Johannes Ritter, Sr., Northampton Co., PA Militia  

Read more about our family's pioneers & patriots.

This is my newest book, published in late 2024. It includes chapters on these families:

Alford, Ashely, Brown, Brumfield,

Fortenberry, Hollis, Kelly, Kennington,

Lawrence, Ott, Smith & Spurlock

Buy from me: Price: $95.00 + $10 shipping & packaging. No credit cards.

OR: use credit card & purchase through Troy Book Makers.

 

---

[i] NARA, US, Revolutionary War Pensions, 1800-1900; Case Files of Pension and Bounty-Land Warrant Applications Based on Revolutionary War Service, compiled ca. 1800 - ca. 1912, documenting the period ca. 1775 - ca. 1900; Record group 15; fold3 (fold3.com) accessed Feb. 2026; John Faulkenberry.

[ii] “Hanging Rock”, American Battlefield Trust (battlefields.org) accessed Feb. 2026.

[iii] NARA, US, Revolutionary War Pensions, 1800-1900; Case Files of Pension and Bounty-Land Warrant Applications Based on Revolutionary War Service, compiled ca. 1800 - ca. 1912, documenting the period ca. 1775 - ca. 1900; Record group 15; fold3 (fold3.com) accessed Feb. 2026; John Faulkenberry.

[iv] NARA, US, Revolutionary War Pensions, 1800-1900; Case Files of Pension and Bounty-Land Warrant Applications Based on Revolutionary War Service, compiled ca. 1800 - ca. 1912, documenting the period ca. 1775 - ca. 1900; Record group 15; fold3 (fold3.com) accessed Feb. 2026; John Faulkenberry.

 

Additional Sources:

 

Moss, Bobby Gilmore, Roster of South Carolina Patriots in the American Revolution (Baltimore: Genealogical Publishing Co., Inc., 1983)

White, Virgil D., Genealogical Abstracts of Revolutionary War Pension Files, Volume II: F-M. (Waynesboro, TN: The National Historical Publishing Co., 1991) 1163.

Gurr, C. B. and D, R. Gurr, The Ties That Bind us Together (Salt Lake City, UT).