Unearthing a life.....

Photo: Another of my favorites - distant cousins in the very early 1900's. Daughter on the critter, mother standing.

THE ELUSIVE ABERNATHYS
Based on the 1787 birth of g-g-g grandfather Enos M.'s first child, Martin M., I estimate that Enos married Nancy Abernathy ca 1786. Typical of our grandmothers all down the line (i.e., Olive Newsom, Nancy Abernathy, Margaret McDaniel, and Rachel Barnes), there is no hard evidence in hand to show their parentage. The following paragraphs represent my entirely unproveable speculation as to who our Abernathy ancestors were.

I consider it very nearly, nearly certain that our Abernathy g-g-g-g grandfather was James Abernathy, son of Elizabeth and William Abernathy who migrated from Pennsylvania to the South Carolina backcountry about 1756, "seeking homes and farms safe from the French and Indian menace of the northern frontier."

Why am I grasping at this unproveable straw? Probably because circumstantial evidence may be all we will ever find: [1] There are only two Abernathys listed in the 1779 Old 96th District census, James and John; [2] They are roughly of the same generation as Evan M., therefore their children would be of an inter-marrying age; [3] They lived in the same general Saluda River area as the Carsons, who later became Evan M.'s neighbors; [4] At least part of their livelihood seems to have been derived from hauling freight, so they were probably well traveled in the District and acquainted with many of the settlers between the Saluda River and Augusta on the Savannah River; [5] The children [and their respective spouses] of John Abernathy are identified and they do NOT account for Nancy, who married Enos M., nor the unidentified male Abernathy who married the Carson girl next door; [6] Census and Deed Book records show that James Abernathy WAS married (wife's name was Jane) and that they DID have children; [7] There is no one else in the old 96th District (which contained, but was larger than, the later Edgefield District) who could have been Nancy's father....no one of record; [8] These early Abernathy names were William, Elizabeth, James, and John....not male names common to the Morgan family at that time. The children of Enos and Nancy M. were named John (second son), Elizabeth (third daughter), and James or William James (fifth son).

Pretty wobbly, but that's my story and I'm sticking to it....tentatively. Someday someone somewhere may stumble over evidence to prove it true...or false. Just in case it turns out to be true, here's a brief bio of this "most likely granddad".

William and Elizabeth Abernathy (with children James, Isabel, and John) migrated from PA to SC circa 1756 (which is the year John was born). William appears to have deceased by the early 1760's, when Elizabeth was paid 40 pounds for wagon hire [Payment for Services to Frontier Forts: Brooks or Rawls Fort - Bush River]. Sometime circa 1763, Elizabeth remarried to a Michael Hunt -- who did not survive her. She died in 1797 in Newberry County, SC (adjoining Edgefield County).

"According to Mrs. Amos G. Draper, Genealogical Editor, American Monthly Magazine, Vol. 42, James Abernathy was in Pickens Brigade. Records of payments to him for Duty may be found in Vol. I, Accounts Audited of Revolutionary Claims against South Carolina as follows: Oct. 10, 1783, a receipt for Thirty One Pounds Currency for "Duty per Col. Anderson's Return". Signed by James Abernathy, witnessed by John Blalock who made oath he saw Abernathy sign the above writing, sworn July 12, 1785. June 14, 1785, "Mr. James Abernathy, his acco't of Militia Duty as private since the Reduction of Charleston amo'ts to Curr'y 39 pounds. Five pounds 8 shillings & 6 pence, 3 farthings Sterling issued the 14th of June 1785, for duty done in the militia." James Abernathy remained in Newberry County after the Revolution and is found in the 1790 Census, at which time he had one son and three females [presumably 2 daughters and 1 wife]. In 1800 he was living in Laurens County, adjoining Newberry County, with his wife and one daughter. We have no further record of James Abernathy."

"Roster of SC Patriots in the American Revolution, by Bobby Gilmer Moss, 1983: Abernathy, James. He served under Col. Anderson and General Pickens and is listed in Marion's Brigade. A.A.6;S337."