250 Years; 1776 - 2026
Our Family was there, from the Beginning
John Faulkenberry
[Also seen as John Fortenberry]
c 1740 Virginia – 1815 SC
Son of Jacob Faulkenberry; Husband of Hannah Eubanks
3x great grandfather of Roy Jessie Brown
Private, South Carolina Militia
John Faulkenberry was a Revolutionary War soldier and diligent farmer. He began his life in Virginia but, like many in his family before him, he headed south and settled in South Carolina. In November 1758, when he was about 18 years old, John “Faulkenburough” bought 150 acres of land on Flat Creek, a branch of Lynches Creek in Craven County, South Carolina. The land was “Bounded on all sides by vacant land.”[1]
This is the area where our Kennington family also lived.[2]
Settlement was made in the lower part of the present Lancaster County on Hanging Rock Creek. The South Carolina colony first made a grant to settlers there in 1752; it included the overhanging mass of rock for which the creek was named. About the time the colony opened up this section, other settlers came in and settled along Lynches Creek, Little Lynches creek, Flat Creek, Beaver Creek, and lower Camp Creek. In coming to the Lancaster area, the first settlers followed old Indian paths. The increased traffic began to enlarge the paths and improve them as dirt roads.[3]
John married Hannah (Eubanks) Faulkenberry in Flat Creek, Lancaster, South Carolina on 4 December 1769. The Eubanks family lived on Great Lynches Creek[4] and were most certainly neighbors to the Faulkenberry family. John and Hannah were the parents of at least six children: William Jasper Fortenberry [William married Violette (Kennington) Fortenberry], Lee Faulkenberry, Jacob Faulkenberry, Israel Faulkenberry, Nathaniel Faulkenberry and Robert Faulkenberry.[5]
On 2 August 1776 news of the Declaration of Independence arrived in South Carolina. On 5 August troops paraded to Charleston’s Liberty Tree and the Declaration was read. Support of the revolution was mixed. In 1776 more than two thousand South Carolinians enlisted as Continentals or Regulars but by 1778 only a handful were still in service. Monetary incentives and land bounties were used to entice soldiers. In 1779 the war arrived in South Carolina with a series of attacks by the British who were destructive and who stole horses, silver, furniture and slaves. Charleston fell to the British in May 1780.[6]
John Faulkenberry served in the Revolutionary War, circa 1782, as a private under Captain William McKenzie in Colonel William Hill’s Regiment of State Troops.[7], [8], [9] His brother, David, served as well. David served as a private with Captain John Kennington in 1781 and 1782.[10] (This John Kennington was to become the father-in-law of William Jasper Fortenberry, who was the nephew of David Faulkenberry.)
John Fortenberry’s name in a list of Pay Roll of Captain William Mckenzie’s Troops, 1782
Fortunately, South Carolina had many heroes, both famous and unknown, who helped to win the Revolutionary War and defeat the British. However, many areas of South Carolina suffered damage from the war.
Homes, farm buildings, and mills had been burned. Fields had been abandoned and were overgrown. Horses and livestock had been taken by one side or the other. There were thirty thousand fewer slaves in the state than there had been in 1775. In addition to those carried away in the loyalist evacuation, about twenty-five thousand were stolen by the British. With the dissolution of the ties with Great Britain, South Carolina lost its primary trading partner and the indigo bounty. The state’s economy was in a shambles.[11]
Lancaster County, in the Camden District of South Carolina is located in the north central area of the state, just across the border from North Carolina. We have evidence of John’s residence there when he purchased 150 acres of land there in 1760 and sold it in March 1774 to Isaac Fortenberry.[12] He purchased 100 acres in 1786.
John … purchased 100 acres of prime property in the vicinity of Flat and Lynches Creeks. This land was purchased from John's father in law, John Eubanks on 15 April 1786. John actually resided on the property before it was purchased by him. His relationship with his in laws was cordial and respectful. John subsequently bought several adjourning tracts of land in the Flat Creek area, totaling about 400 acres.[13]
At this time we do not know what John grew on his land to sustain his family. He may have grown one of the colony’s top three exported agricultural products. In the eighteenth-century South Carolina’s leading export was rice. It could be grown in freshwater inland swamps. A portion of the swamp was damned to create a reservoir to provide a reliable water supply. With regular irrigation high yields of rice were produced. Rice was transported to Charleston in bags or casks. By the early 1720s South Carolina exported an average of six million pounds of rice. Over the next decade it rose to thirty million pounds. Before the Revolution more than sixty-six million pounds were exported and between 1766-1775 prices were higher than any previous time in the colony’s history. Rice was called “Carolina gold.” Second to rice, planters grew indigo. During the French and Indian War it was difficult for the British to obtain indigo from the West Indies and they turned to South Carolina. The quality of the indigo was not as high as in the West Indies but it was easier to obtain. Hemp was another agricultural product planters could grow for export. Planters could sell hemp in Charleston for twenty pounds sterling for every 100 pounds.[14]
In 1790 John Faulkenberry was among those heads of households included in the first census of the United States. In March 1790 our country included 12 states. Nine months were allowed to count the heads of households in those states. Counting the people of South Carolina took twice that long, longer than any other state. About 240,000 square miles of the country were settled when the federal marshals traveled by foot, horse, stage or coach over that area. Their journeys included many difficulties, including speaking to the residents. Many did not want to reveal too much about themselves, fearing a taxation scheme was associated with the count. Others objected on religious grounds.[15] When John was counted he was living in Camden District, Lancaster County with neighbors Andrew, Jacob and Joseph Faulkenberry. Nearby was Isaac Faulkenberry. There were also Faulkenburghs in Camden: David, ‘Widow’, Robert and Henry.[16] Both Faulkenberry and Faulkenburgh were probably the same family. John’s known brothers were Jacob, Henry, David and Robert. Those match up with most of those men mentioned in the census.
On 21 November 1790 John purchased land on Flat Creek from Benjamin Haile. On 7 March 1795 John purchased land from David Faulkenberry, his brother.[17] In 1800 John and family were shown as ‘Faulkinburg’ in the US Census. Henry, Isaac, Jacob and John were in Lancaster County.[18]
In 1810 John was again listed in the Lancaster County Census.[19]
He was an industrious farmer and lived the remainder of his life in this area. He loved his wife and together they worked hard to rear their children as strong, stalwart, and faithful Christians. Hannah supported her husband in his desire to provide an adequate lifestyle for their family. In 1815 John died at his home in Flat Creek and is buried there. He was 75 years of age.[20]
John and Hannah had at least six children: William Jasper Fortenberry, a daughter, Jacob Faulkenberry, Israel Faulkenberry, Nathaniel Faulkenberry and Robert Faulkenberry. They may have had other children who died young. Notice that some sons used Faulkenberry but William used Fortenberry.
While life on the frontier was uncertain everywhere, in South Carolina death by disease made life more precarious than anywhere else in British North America.[21]
Yellow fever, malaria, smallpox and typhus came to South Carolina with the Europeans and Africans. Influenza, measles, whooping cough and dysentery were present. Between 1670 and 1775 fifty-nine major epidemics hit South Carolina. Infants, children and women were especially vulnerable. Many of those who raised rice lived near their fields which were breeding grounds for mosquitoes. Couples had large families. Infant mortality was high and childbirth was often fatal for the mother and child.[22]
Despite the diseases in the area and the uncertain life in the wilderness, John lived to be 75 years old and Hannah was 67. They both died in 1815.[23]
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 Sgt. David Faulkenberruy, SC Militia
#7 Lt. Moses Hollis, Lieutenant in the South Carolina Militia
#8 Pvt. Jeremiah Smith
#9 Richard Dillon, NC Militia
#10 Captain Jacob Ott II, SC Militia
#11 Lt. Johann Jonas Wolf, York Co. Militia, PA
#12 Captain John Hollis, SC Militia
#13 Pvt. William Hollis, SC 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.
[1] South Carolina Department of Archives and History, Colonial Plat Books; Series S213184, Volume 7, Page 113, Item 3; digital image (scdah.sc.gov: accessed Feb. 2024) John Faulkenburough, 1758, Craven Co., SC.
[2] South Carolina Department of Archives and History. Colonial Plat Books; Series S213184, Volume 7, Page 113, Item 3; digital image (scdah.sc.gov: accessed March 2019) John Faulkenburough, 1758, Craven Co.
[3] Lancaster County, South Carolina, History; digital image, Wikipedia (en.wikipedia.org: accessed March 2019).
[4] South Carolina Department of Archives and History. State Plat Book; Series S213192, Volume 39, Page 178, Item 2; digital image (scdah.sc.gov: accessed March 2019) John Eubanks, 1802.
[5] Criminger, Adrianne Fortenberry. The Fortenberry Families of Southern Mississippi. (SC: Southern Historical Press, 1984).
[6] Edgar, Walter. South Carolina, A History (Columbia, SC: University of South Carolina, 1998) 229-239.
[7] Daughters of the American Revolution. Ancestor record, Ancestor #AO41319, John Fortenberry; digital image (dar.org: accessed 2017).
[8] South Carolina Department of Archives and History. Pay Roll of Captain William McKenzies Troop in Colonel William Hills Regiment of State Troops; Series S213089, Box 4, Folder 29; digital image (scdah.sc.gov: accessed March 2019) John Fortenberry, 1782.
[9] South Carolina Department of Archives and History. Accounts Audited of Claims Growing Out of the Revolution; Series S108092, Reel 47, Frame 460; digital image (scdah.sc.gov: accessed March 2019) John Fortenberry.
[10] Revolutionary War Pension and Bounty-Land Warrant Application Files; NARA catalog 300022, Record Group 15; digital image, Fold3 (fold3.com: accessed July 2018) David Faulkenberry.
[11] Edgar, Walter. South Carolina, A History (Columbia, SC: University of South Carolina, 1998) 244.
[12] Holcombe, Brent H. Lancaster County, South Carolina Deed Abstractss, 1787 – 1811 (Easley, SC: Southern Historical Press) 117.
[13] Gurr, C. B., & Gurr, D. R. The Ties that Bind us Together. (Salt Lake City, UT: C.B. Gurr, 2006).
[14] Edgar, Walter. South Carolina, A History (Columbia, SC: University of South Carolina, 1998) 139-150.
[15] Heads of Families at the First Census of the United States Taken in the Year 1790; South Carolina (Baltimore, MD: Clearfield, 2004) 3-5.
[16] Heads of Families at the First Census of the United States Taken in the Year 1790; South Carolina (Baltimore, MD: Clearfield, 2004) 24.
[17] Holcombe, Brent H. Lancaster County, South Carolina Deed Abstractss, 1787 – 1811 (Easley, SC: Southern Historical Press) 106.
[18] Holcomb, Brent H., Index to the 1800 Census of South Carolina (Baltimore, MD: Genealogical Publishing Co., Inc., 1980) 77.
[19] Small, Otha B. 1810 Lancaster County South Carolina Census (Monroe, NC: n.d.) 14.
[20] Gurr, C. B., & Gurr, D. R. The Ties that Bind us Together. (Salt Lake City, UT: C.B. Gurr, 2006).
[21] Edgar, Walter. South Carolina, A History (Columbia, SC: University of South Carolina, 1998) 156.
[22] Edgar, Walter. South Carolina, A History (Columbia, SC: University of South Carolina, 1998) 156-159.
[23] Fortinberry, G. K. Abstract History of the Fortinberry Family; 1795-1940's; (Family History Center Microfilm #1036152).
