Bramblette Family in America
Family History/Genealogy
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Bramblette Family in America
</p><h6 style="text-align:center;"><strong><img class="alignnone size-full wp-image-12224" src="https://bramblettefamilyinamerica.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/06/charleston-you-are-beautiful-d-i-dons-red-and-green-for-christmas-2014-2.jpg" alt="Charleston, You Are Beautiful D I Dons Red and Green for Christmas 2014" width="640" height="640" /><img class="alignnone size-full wp-image-12226" src="https://bramblettefamilyinamerica.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/06/12274762_927588783955122_5856439535996956850_n.jpg" alt="12274762_927588783955122_5856439535996956850_n" width="540" height="960" /><img class="alignnone size-full wp-image-12230" src="https://bramblettefamilyinamerica.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/06/benjamin-b.-bramlet-bible-record.jpg" alt="Benjamin B. Bramlet Bible record" width="1275" height="1743" /><img class="alignnone size-full wp-image-12231" src="https://bramblettefamilyinamerica.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/06/benjamin-brown-bramlett-pic.jpg" alt="Benjamin Brown Bramlett pic" width="250" height="376" /><img class="alignnone size-full wp-image-12228" src="https://bramblettefamilyinamerica.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/06/benj.-b.-bramlett-and-3rd-wife-sarah-1.jpg" alt="Benj. B. Bramlett and 3rd wife Sarah" width="250" height="381" /><img class="alignnone size-full wp-image-12234" src="https://bramblettefamilyinamerica.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/06/benjamin-b.-bramlet-bible-record-1.jpg" alt="Benjamin B. Bramlet Bible record" width="1275" height="1743" /><img class="alignnone size-full wp-image-12229" src="https://bramblettefamilyinamerica.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/06/benj.-b.-bramlett-and-3rd-wife-sarah-2.jpg" alt="Benj. B. Bramlett and 3rd wife Sarah" width="250" height="381" /><img class="alignnone size-full wp-image-12232" src="https://bramblettefamilyinamerica.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/06/a-place-to-clear-your-head.jpg" alt="A Place to Clear Your Head" width="1024" height="769" /><img class="alignnone size-full wp-image-12233" src="https://bramblettefamilyinamerica.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/06/benj.-b.-bramlett-and-3rd-wife-sarah-3.jpg" alt="Benj. B. Bramlett and 3rd wife Sarah" width="250" height="381" /><img class="alignnone size-full wp-image-12235" src="https://bramblettefamilyinamerica.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/06/benj.-b.-bramlett-and-3rd-wife-sarah-4.jpg" alt="Benj. B. Bramlett and 3rd wife Sarah" width="250" height="381" /><img class="alignnone size-full wp-image-12236" src="https://bramblettefamilyinamerica.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/06/benjamin-b.-bramlet-bible-record-2.jpg" alt="Benjamin B. Bramlet Bible record" width="1275" height="1743" /><img class="alignnone size-full wp-image-11562" src="https://bramblettefamilyinamerica.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/07/caravel-sailing-ships-1.jpg" alt="Caravel Sailing Ships" width="555" height="281" />BRAMBLETTE FAMILY IN AMERICA: Descendants of Ambrose Bamblet/Bramblet and/or William Bramlett I/Sr.</strong></h6><h6 style="text-align:center;"><strong>By Deborah G. Dennis</strong></h6>

“One View of Charleston at ChristmasTime”

Computer/Online Reading: Please Scroll Down for Blog Family History Text and/or Use Your Search Engine to locate Individuals and Families in the Following Emerging Chapters. Index not available.

Our Bramblette family in America appears to have originated with William Bramlett I/Sr., born in/before 1694, most likely in Colonial Virginia, and perhaps with his father, Ambrose “Bamblet” or Bramblet, probably born in western Europe, who reportedly immigrated to America from Great Britain in 1690, according to a land patent recorded in New Kent Co., Va., which names him as a transport who came to help settle land there. Unfortunately, the names of Ambrose’s wife and William I/Sr.’s first wife are unknown. William I/Sr. second married Elizabeth Callaway, who is the mother of some of his younger children. With few Bibles, wills and probate records to fully document the early Bramblette generations, we find only thin trails and hints of trials of historical existence in military records and life struggles, tragedies and triumphs in a few Virginia deeds, plat maps, tax records and other court documents. We piece together what we can and conclude, while the nuggets of information are interesting and valuable to us alone, the ancestors’ true legacies live on in the DNA of thousands of descendants with the name Bramblette, Bramblett, Bramblet, Bramlet, Bramlett, Bramlette and other variations and different allied surnames. Hopefully, DNA comparisons, while helpful in genealogy, will someday be replaced or enhanced by a better mechanism of linking our paper trails with matches and measuring the connections of relatives. Our familial multitude of thousands in the past and today populate the records of many areas of the country from the original Thirteen Atlantic Colonies to California and states between. Many of us honor the early ancestors with respect and gratitude after realizing how fortunate we are to have been born into such a courageous, adventurous, prosperous family with distinctive allied connections, let alone to have been born at all and survived in a dangerous world to adulthood. From fighting tyranny before and during the American Revolution to fighting World Wars to fighting evil enemies in the Cold War and Vietnam Conflict, to stopping Terrorists from attacking Western Civilization in general and America in particular today, our history has been and is often defined by war. Our current world seems even more dangerous with internal strife and struggles between opposite extremist political, social, religious ideologies and innocents trapped in or fleeing war-torn regions and terror attacks spreading in and beyond overseas borders. We must choose courage and encourage others, work for peace and avoid unnecessary wars at all costs. Love Wins.

TABLE OF CONTENTS

CHAPTER 1: AMBROSE BAMBLET/BRAMBLET I/SR.

& UNKNOWN WIFE

CHAPTER 2: WILLIAM BRAMLETT I/SR. & UNKNOWN WIFE & WIFE ELIZABETH CALLAWAY

CHAPTER 3: HENRY BRAMLETT I/SR. & UNKNOWN WIFE/WIVES

CHAPTER 4: HENRY BRAMLETT II/JR. & WIFE MARGARET “PEGGY” UNKNOWN

CHAPTER 5: MARIANNE BRAMLETT & FREDERICK BURDETTE

WORKS CITED IN PROCESS

DEDICATION

Chapter 1:

Generation 1

AMBROSE BAMBLET/BRAMBLET I/SR.

(Probable Immigrant Founder 1690)

(Probable Patriarch of All Bramblettes in America)

(Children: William I/Sr.? Others?)

Virginia State Seal and Motto: Sic Semper Tyrannis – “Thus Ever To Tyrants”

Possible Direct Ancestor

AMBROSE “BAMBLET” (BRAMBLET) I/SR., parents unknown, was born before 1690 when he apparently immigrated to America. Assuming he was an adult at the time, he was born circa 1669-1672 or earlier. One immigration document recorded in Virginia Land Patents suggests Ambrose was transported from England in 1689 or 1690, apparently alone without wife or other close relatives, to help populate New Kent Co., Va. It is not known if he actually boarded the ship, survived the journey and arrived in America. His name, “Ambrose Bamblet,” which appears on a Virginia Land Office Patent, is the only evidence yet found of his existence. In the land patent record, the scribe may have just misspelled the name by omitting the letter “R” from the surname Bramblet, a common variant spelling. Ambrose reportedly was one of forty-five persons transported to America by John Lyddal, who received 648 acres of land in St. John’s Parish, New Kent Co., Va., for bringing in the new settlers. St. John’s Parish was created in 1680. The original handwritten patent, although difficult to decipher, does contain a description of the land and indicates it may have been part of more than 2,200 acres previously granted to Capt. Geo. Lydal and others.

“To all &tc. whereas & Now Know ye that … lying and being in New Kent County in St. John’s Parish … 1690 beginning on south side of Black Creek at mouth of the south branch about 35 two poles 50,000 chains below the new mill adjacent to … &tc. now or late, of Mr. Napier &tc. … acres granted to Capt. Geo. Lydal … & deserted & granted to Mr. John Langston … March 1672/3 but never present & deserted & granted to sd. John Lyddal by order &tc. court 648 acres bering date of 17th of October 1689 by and for the importation of forty-five persons into the Collony, whose names…to have and to hold…the 21st of April anno dom 1690….Ambrose Bamblet….” (Virginia Land Patent Book 8, p. 45)

Names of “Bramlett” heads of households living on Virginia Land and paying taxes on it include “Ann,” widow of Rev. William Jr., in Bedford County— and in Fauquier County — Margaret “Peggy” unknown, widow of Henry Jr.: Reuben Sr., husband of Margaret “Peggy” possibly Darnell; and Reuben Jr.– son of Reuben Sr., also in Fauquier County, Virginia.

The patent identifies 44 other immigrants with different surnames; no wife or children were transported with Ambrose. Without later records with the same names, we have no way of connecting the other persons to Ambrose. The other immigrants and Ambrose were most likely indentured servants who planned to work as farmers for a specific amount of years without pay in exchange for transportation to the new land. Ambrose apparently came to America to get land, become a farmer in Virginia. No record of the exact plot of land he planned to farm or actually farmed in St. John’s Parish has yet been found. No marriage record or other public or official or private record of him has been yet located in existing documents: New Kent is a burned county with few surviving early records.

No other details of Ambrose’s life are known. The cause of his death, his death date and place and burial place are unknown. The name of his wife, if he married, is unknown. The names of his children, if he had any, are undocumented. However, he is the only known candidate for the father of William Bramlett I/Sr., most likely born as an English citizen before 1694 in British – controlled Colonial Virginia, then ruled by Great Britain. Ambrose and William I/Sr. do have geographical proximity in common: New Kent County, created 1634, where Ambrose reportedly lived, is very close–only two narrow counties away–from Essex County, created 1692, where William I/Sr., lived in 1715-1716. No definitive record of immigration has been found for William. (One of William’s sons is named Ambrose Bramlett, perhaps a namesake of this paternal grandfather Ambrose “Bamblet.”) If Ambrose Bamblet had other children, in addition to William I/Sr., they are not yet known.

Digital Record of John Lyddal’s 1690 Virginia Land Office Patent, courtesy Library of Virginia. Ambrose Bamblet is located at the bottom, left, last line.

Chapter 2:

Generation 2

WILLIAM BRAMLETT I/SR. and UNKNOWN FIRST WIFE and ELIZABETH CALLAWAY

(Patriarch of Essex, Caroline, Lunenburg, Bedford, King George, Prince William, Fauquier Families)

(Children: Henry Sr., William II/Jr., Sarah, James, Nancy, Ambrose, Agatha, Elizabeth)

Virginia State Seal and Motto: Sic Semper Tyrannis – Thus Ever To Tyrants

Most Likely Direct Ancestor

WILLIAM BRAMLETT I/SR., perhaps child of Ambrose Bamblet/Bramblet I/Sr., was born in 1694-1695, most likely in Colonial Virginia. He witnessed a deed in 1715-1716, which indicates he was at least age 21 and born in/by 1694-1695, and much later successfully petitioned the Bedford County Court for an exemption from levies at about age 60 on Nov. 25, 1755, which suggests he indeed was born in 1694-1695. With a tax exemption, he was no longer required to pay taxes or work on roads or participate as an active member of the county and state militias. Although William I/Sr. has long been identified as our “immigrant ancestor,” no clear evidence of immigration has been found for him: He most likely was born here, in this country, in Virginia, to Ambrose “Bamblet” or Bramblet who reportedly arrived here in 1690 to help populate land in New Kent Co., Va. The name of William I/Sr.’s mother and first wife are unknown. William I/Sr. died between 1759 and 1762 in Bedford Co., Va. He probably died shortly before Nov. 26, 1759, the recording date for a deed he wrote six months earlier on May 3 that year. His burial place is unknown. He may be buried in the lost family graveyard on Bramblett land that later became Cedar Hill Plantation in Bedford, Va., the plantation established by his son Rev. William Bramblett Jr. in 1760-1762. Or he may be buried in one of the church cemeteries nearby or in Callaway -Steptoe Cemetery. William Bramlett I/Sr. and his daughters and sons are all early settlers of Bedford Cit amd County since they already were living there in 1754 when the county was founded and created from Lunenburg. At some point, between 1747 and 1768, Bramblett Road was surveyed and cleared by William I/Sr. and/or some of his sons, perhaps including Rev. William Jr., to facilitate travel along or through an area now known as the former Cedar Hill Plantation in present day Bedford, Va. William Bramlett I/Sr., a surveyor living in Caroline County at least until late 1747 and living by 1752 in a portion of Lunenburg that became Bedford County in 1754, no doubt was involved in building his own road on his land or wherever he lived there. He did not retire until 1755, and Bramblett Road ran right past or through his son Rev. William Jr.’s Cedar Hill property: today it is known as West Main Street. The road existed on or before April 26, 1868, when son Rev. William Jr. was appointed surveyor for a road “from Bramblett’s [Road or house] to Augusta Road” (CB-3:424). Celebrated historian Lula Eastman Jeter Parker describes the thoroughfare but offers no date for its origin in Parker’s History of Bedford County, Virginia:

“Bramblett’s Road” is the first road of importance mentioned in Bedford County records. This was an east-to-west thoroughfare passing through New London, and what was later the town of Liberty, and on to the Botetourt County line. It was probably the same route as that followed by the Lynchburg and Salem Turnpike, built in the early 1830s, and practically the same, from Bedford to Roanoke, as State Highway 460 of today [1954]. (85)

Lula is a direct descendant of William Bramlett I/Sr. through his daughter Elizabeth Bramlett, an early settler of Bedford in 1754, who married Col. James Buford. Able-bodied landowners and non-exempt residents were asked/required to clear and construct roads for their and public use by county courts in colonial and early America. County orders to “view a road” (meaning to suggest a location and/or survey the site) are common in early records.

William’s Marriages

William I/Sr. married at least twice and had at least eight children. He probably married his first wife, unknown, circa 1710. She most likely is mother of Henry I/Sr., Rev. William Jr., Sarah, James and Nancy. William I/Sr. married his second wife, Elizabeth Callaway, circa 1732 in Essex or Caroline Co., Va. She most likely is mother of Ambrose, Agatha “Aggie” and Elizabeth “Bettie” Bramlett. Elizabeth Callaway, daughter of unknown mother and Joseph Callaway, was born circa 1710 in Virginia, according to the late Bobbie Callaway, former Callaway Association Historian. (Elizabeth cannot be mother of William I/Sr.’s probable eldest son Henry I/Sr. since Henry I/Sr. and his stepmother Elizabeth Callaway Bramlett share the same birth year–1710.) Elizabeth died before 1759, probably in Caroline, Lunenburg or Bedford County, since she is not mentioned in the deed of gift dated that year which William I/Sr. wrote to transfer property to his son-in-law Stephen White, husband of Agatha “Aggie” Bramblett. He would have made living arrangements for Elizabeth as well if she were still alive. William I/Sr. wrote a will in 1758 that names heirs and legacies; however, unfortunately, its location is unknown and it apparently was not recorded. A reference to William Bramlett Senr., as a payee owed a small amount of money from an estate, was recorded in Bedford County in 1762. The administrator or scribe did not refer to “the estate” of William Bramlett, who probably died in 1759, because William did not leave an estate. He bequeathed items to legatees in his missing will and transferred farm tools and land and livestock and other items to his son-in-law Stephen White in a deed of gift. A small debt was acknowledged in the 1762 estate record; who was paid is not known; whether or not William Bramlett I/Sr. was still alive or deceased in 1762 is not known. The scribe had local knowledge; he apparently did not feel the need to write “William Bramlett Senr. deceased” on the list of debts since all involved would have known if William were alive or dead and to whom to pay the debt.

William’s Life in Colonial Virginia

William I/Sr. is the oldest definite Bramblette found so far in existing records, not counting his possible father, Ambrose I/Sr. William I/Sr. first appears as an adult, at least age 21, as a witness on a Feb. 16-17, 1715-1716, deed recorded in Essex County (DB-11:62). “William Bramlit” signed the deed, which records the lease or sale of 53 acres of land in St. Mary’s Parish, Essex Co, Va., by Matthew Collins to John Morgan, both of Essex County. George Robinson and John Smith also witnessed the document, which was recorded March 20, 1715-1716. The land, adjacent to a corner of John Ellitt’s land and the south fork of Peumansend Creek swamp called the Beaverdam branch, was formerly granted/patented April 17, 1667, to Henry Peters who later died. The land was located in an area of St. Mary’s Parish that later became Caroline County. Essex County, created 1692, is near New Kent where Ambrose I/Sr. reportedly settled in 1690. Since William I/Sr. was required to be at least age 21, an adult, to legally witness the 1715-1716 record, the date of the signature allows us to calculate his birth year as in/before 1694-1695. Essex also is adjacent to King George County, created 1721, where planter Henry Bramlett I/Sr., believed to be son of William I/Sr., was living in 1735. The early found and documented Bramblettes in 1690-1715-1735–Ambrose I/Sr., William I/Sr., Henry I/Sr.–lived in relatively close geographical proximity to each other, within the same small region in three counties of eastern Colonial Virginia. William I/Sr. is mentioned in several Essex and Caroline County records, a few times as a witness to land transactions and a few times as the plaintiff and defendant in court cases. He and John Sanders witnessed a deed on Feb. 18-19, 1716, when Thomas Griffin leased or sold 100 acres of land in Essex County to George Robinson (DB-11:64). He also witnessed a deed on July 13-14, 1722, when Allin Frazier of Essex County sold land to William Blanton of the same county (DB-11:84). Thomas Smith, George Robinson and Joan Frazier also witnessed (made their marks on) the document. William I/Sr. also served on several Caroline County juries between 1733-1736. He most likely lived in a portion of Essex that became Caroline in 1728, a legal boundary change based on a legislative act of 1727. It is not known if William Bramlett I/Sr. owned land in Essex and/or Caroline County. Exactly which land he owned in Lunenburg/Bedford County is not known, but the items in his personal possession in 1759, including livestock and household goods, suggest he owned a home and land and his occupation was planter and farmer. He may have first owned the land his son Rev. William II/Jr. acquired or inherited from the mysterious missing will, with a majestic view of the Peaks of Otter, perhaps part of more than 700 acres of land used to establish Cedar Hill Plantation circa 1760-1761.

An important court record: William I/Sr. and the Callaway family:

Ann Callaway, sister of Thomas Callaway, petitioned the Caroline County Court to choose “Wm. Bramblitt” as her guardian on Oct. 12, 1732. (Ann would have been at least age 12 and under age 18, thus born between 1715-1720, in order to legally choose a guardian in Virginia in 1732.) Thomas Callaway was summoned to answer the petition (OB-1732-1740:43). Both Thomas and Ann are children of Joseph Callaway II of Essex County, who reportedly died of a fever in 1732, according to family tradition. Josephs other children include Elizabeth Callaway, born in 1710, second wife of William I/Sr., and Richard Callaway, a resident of Essex/Caroline County who moved to Lunenburg County by 1752. “Rich. Callaway” is included in the Tithe List that year living near William Bramlett I/Sr. and with the latter’s son “Amb. [Ambrose] Bramlet” as a tithable, a white male over 16, in Richard’s Callaway house. Richard paid three tithes. Thomas Mosely created the tithe list for John Phelps. (Richard Callaway and brother William Callaway were among the first justices appointed in Bedford County in 1754. Their brother also is Col. James C. Callaway Sr. who married Sarah Bramblett, daughter of William Bramlett I/Sr. Col. Richard Callaway later moved with Col. Daniel Boone to Fort Boonesborough, Ky., where he served as a soldier and an officer on the Western Frontier during the American Revolution. But Daniel survived; and Richard was killed and scalped by Indians near the fort at his ferry in 1779.) “Wm. Bramlet Jr.” is listed as a tithable with his father, William Bramlet I/Sr., on John Phelps’ list of residents whose names were collected by Matthew Talbot for Lunenburg County in 1752. William and Richard also may be on other tithe lists for earlier and later years. (This Ambrose later married Jean “Jane” “Janny” Woodson and moved to North Carolina and Georgia; he is not the elder Ambrose Bamblet probable immigrant, who would have been at least 80-85 years old in 1755 if still alive, and exempt, thus not of tithable age.) Ann Callaway is documented as the youngest sister of Elizabeth Callaway Bramlett, the reason Ann selected her brother-in-law William Bramlett I/Sr. as her guardian. There is no other documentation yet found for the implied marriage of Elizabeth and William I/Sr., but he and sons are named with Callaways in several other Virginia court records as well. William I/Sr. and Elizabeth, if she were still living, resided in Caroline County until at least 1747 before moving south to Lunenburg County. On Nov. 13, 1747, when “The Court proceed to lay the County levy” and paid William Bramlett 300 pounds of tobacco, perhaps for surveying. The court had appointed William Bramlett surveyor “in the room of” (to replace) John Ralls on April 10, 1741. William I/Sr. moved his family by 1752 to a portion of Lunenburg Co., Va., that became Bedford County in 1754. He was considered an early settler of Bedford County since he was living in the area when land boundaries changed to create Bedford. He was still living in Bedford a few years later when the county court on Nov. 25, 1755, gave him the above mentioned tax exemption due to his age: 60 years or older.

“Wm. Bromlet Senr.”–either William I/Sr. in 1762 or his son Rev. William Bramblett Jr. in 1766 — is referenced as a creditor who was due 5 shillings in the Bedford Co., Va., estate of William Boyd, dated between 1762 and Sept. 23, 1766 (WB-1:21-24). By the latter date, Rev. William Bramblett Jr. may have been the senior William “Bromlet” in Bedford. The scribe/clerk would not have referenced William Bromlet Senr.’s estate because there was no estate: William Bramlett I/Sr. had deeded his property to son-in-law Stephen White in 1759 and bequeathed other legacies to heirs named in his mysterious, lost 1758 will, which was not recorded. The deed of gift to his son-in-law was not a probate record and does not name the heirs of those legacies or the items bequeathed in the 1758 will. “William Bramblet Sr.” signed the bill of sale for livestock and other property to son-in-law Stephen White on May 3, 1759, and it was recorded as a deed of gift in Bedford County in 1759:

“Bramlet to White Bill of Sale: Know All Men by these Presents that I William Bramlet Senr. of the County of Bedford & Parish of Russel, do Bargain, Contract & Deliver unto Stephen White for a Valuable Consideration, that is to say for my maintainanse in a Decent and Wholesom manner with Clothing agreeable to my age, diet, washing & Lodging in a good & Wholesom & becoming Manner During Life, all & singular my Stock of Cattle & Hoggs & Horses, Household goods & all other appertenance to me Belonging of what Nature or Kind soever after the Legacies mentioned in my Will bearing date 6th of February 1758 are paid as I give this Bill of Sail only to Stringthen the Right & … Impower the said Stephen White in his Part and do warrant the same from myself and from any Person or Persons Whatsoever given under my Hand this third day of May 1759 William Bramlett” (DB-A-1:238.)

John Robinson and William and Anester Young or Going witnessed the document, which was recorded Nov. 26, 1759, in Bedford Co., Va. Mortimeyer and Revesz read the Young surname as “Gowing” and note the Gowing family name has evolved to Gowan, that some of William and Anester’s descendants may have moved to Bedford Co., Tenn. (201).

William I/Sr.’s children are listed in an unpublished manuscript titled “Bramblett” written by Bedford County historian and Bramblette-Buford descendant Lula Eastman Jeter Parker in Bedford County on Sept. 28, 1933. Parker and the late Mrs. Mary A.. Bell Buford (second wife of Rowland Dabney “R. D.” Buford), who was then in 1933 deceased, “both searched the records of Bedford County, Va., for data of the Bramblett family, and often talked over our findings.” Parker deposited her brief history with the Bedford County clerk. She writes,

We concluded that William Bramblett, Sr., settled in Brunswick County in the early 1700’s, perhaps in territory that was cut off into Lunenburg in 1748, and into Bedford in 1754; and that, since we found no other Bramblett who could have been his contemporary, he must have been the progenitor of the family in Virginia, and that he was the father of all of the older Brambletts in this section. He died after November 26, 1759, when he made a Bill of Sale to Stephen White, and perhaps before 1761, when his daughter, Elizabeth, (my ancestress) married James Buford, for she signed her own marriage bond.

William I/Sr.’s 1759 deed was written in May and recorded Nov. 26, so he may have died before or on the later date. These family sleuths focused mainly on their beloved Bedford records for Bramblettes and did not check other Virginia counties, which would have introduced them to a whole new world of family activities in Essex, Caroline, King George, Prince William and Fauquier. They would have discovered in Caroline County Court records William Bramlett I/Sr.’s residence was not Lunenburg County when it still was Brunswick County–before May 1, 1746; recorded documents at that time prove he was living in Essex and then Caroline County until at least November 1747. However, he did live in 1752 in a portion of Lunenburg, formerly Brunswick, that became Bedford in 1754. Historians in the 1930s did not have the easy access to the large amount of information that genealogical researchers enjoy today, but Parker and Mrs. (Mary A. Bell) Buford did have easy access to Bedford records because Mrs. Buford was the wife of the county clerk. Rowland Dabney “R. D.” Buford, 1827-1921, served 32 years in that capacity. (Mary A. Bell Buford was born in 1838 and died in 1930. She and Rowland are buried in Longwood Cemetery.)

Parker lists the following children for William Bramlett I/Sr. in her brief history:

1) William Bramblett Jr., who married Anna Ballard and died in 1779; 2) Ambrose, who lived in North Carolina in 1779; 3) James who married a woman named Winifred and died in 1758; 4) Elizabeth who married James Buford in 1761; and 5) Nancy, mentioned in her brother James Bramlett’s will. [Parker also lists as possible children of William I/Sr.:] 6) Lucy who married Thomas Lumpkin on March 4, 1778; 7) Molly who married Stephen Dooley on July 24, 1781; and 8) Aggy, wife of Stephen White.

However, Lucy and Molly were born and married much later, between seventeen and twenty years, respectively, than Elizabeth Bramlett Buford. Molly (Bramlett) Dooley is a grandchild of William Bramlett I–the daughter of Rev. William II/Jr. and Anna, according to their estate records. Lucy (Bramlett) Lumpkin also is probably a grandchild of William Bramlett I: She may be the only child of James Bramlett who died in Bedford County in 1758 and his wife, Winefred. She is not the daughter of Ambrose Bramlett: He names all of his children in his 1804 will. Nor is she the daughter of Rev. William Bramblett II/Jr. and Anna: Their daughter Lucy married Patrick Nenney in 1796 in Bedford County and moved to Tennessee. No daughters have yet surfaced for Henry I/Sr. of Prince William/Fauquier.

Other children of William Bramlett I/Sr. not mentioned by Parker are Sarah “Sallie” Bramlett who first married James Callaway Sr., son of Joseph Callaway, and then second married Leonard “Linus” “Lynah” “Liner” “Leo” Brown, and Henry Bramlett Sr., a planter living in King George County, Va., in 1735 when he bought land in a portion of Prince William County that later became Fauquier County, whose wife is unknown. (King George County in 1735 was adjacent to a portion of Essex County that later became Caroline County where William Bramlett I lived from 1715-1716 to 1747.)

(Note: Lula Eastman Jeter Parker’s 1930s history books, although out of print, are still in high demand and treasured today. She and her White cousin Mary Denham Ackerly co-authored a wonderful book, Our Kin, which includes life histories of Boones, Callaways, Bufords, Whites and other allied relatives.)

A Family history titled Colonial and Revolutionary Lineages of America: A Collection of Genealogical Studies, Completely Documented and Appropriately Illustrated, Bearing Upon Notable Early American Lines and Their Collateral Connections (New York: American Historical Company, 1939) contains the following information about the sons of William Bramlett I/Sr. in a section entry titled “Bramlette”:

“William, Ambross and Amhus Bramlette or Bramlett were early bearers of the name in Bedford County, Virginia. It is possible that they were brothers….In the militia rosters contained in Hening’s “Statutes at Large” is found a Bedford County list of September, 1758, in which appear the names of Ambrose Bramlett, sergeant; Amhus Bramlett, and William Bramlett. [Note: Their brother James, died 1758, also is listed in the Hening record as a paid soldier.] A William Bramlett was “one of the oldest settlers in Bedford County, and a sergeant in the Colonial Army.” He was father of Elizabeth, who married, July 4, 1761, in Bedford County, James Buford, son of John and Judith Beauford, of Culpeper County, Virginia. After carefully considering the land transactions…between Ann Bramlette (widow), her sons, James and Reuben Bramlette, and James Buford, it seems highly probable that William Bramlette, the sergeant, was also the father of William Bramlette [husband of Anna]….” (209-210)

Actually, the cited Hening’s Statutes that has been circulated among family members does not designate William I/Sr. or II/Jr. as sergeant, and since William I/Sr. was age 60 in 1755, it seems unlikely he would have served as a sergeant in the military at age 63 in 1758; but perhaps a record may surface indicating he served as a sergeant during an earlier time or that his son William II/Jr. served with that rank. In either case, William I/Sr.. was an early settler of Bedford, as were his children, when it was created in 1754, and he was the father of William II/Jr., James who died 1758, Ambrose who died in Wilkes Co., Ga., Elizabeth and others. “Amhus” cited by Hening most likely is a misspelling of Ambrose (Ambus/Ambos/Ambros); no other reference to “Amhus” has yet been found. Hening also refers to a “Francis” Bramlett, who is a complete mystery.

Since Bible and probate records have not surfaced for some of the early generations, especially for William Bramlett I/Sr., extensive research in official Virginia and South Carolina records has been used to reconstruct William Bramlett I/Sr.’s family: Henry Bramlett Sr., Rev. William Bramblett II/Jr., Sarah “Sallie” Bramlett Callaway Brown, James Bramlett, Nancy (Ann?), Ambrose Bramlett, Elizabeth Bramlett Buford and Agatha “Aggie” Bramlett White.

End Noten addition, in the interest of reducing confusion, note the Colonial and Revolutionary Lineages biography quoted above in a footnote incorrectly identifies Reuben, brother of James and son of Anna Ballard and Rev. William Bramlett II/Jr., as Reuben Bramblett Sr. of Bourbon Co., Ky.: but the two Reubens had different fathers and lived in different areas in Virginia, i.e., Bedford and Fauquier, and definitely are not one and the same. The biography quotes an abstract from Reuben Sr.’s will: “Reuben; his will, dated December 10, 1806, and proved in January, 1807, in Bourbon County, Kentucky (WB-C-198), mentions wife Peggy; son-in-law, John Grinstead; son Hugh; three children in South Carolina, Reuben, Jr., Milly Robertson and Polly Robertson; son William; son Lewis; land I claim from heirs of Martin Pickett, deceased; son Henry. Executors, John Grinstead, Henry and Hugh Bramblett. Witnesses, Will Mitchell, Edward Riley, Reubin Bramblett, Jr.” (209-10). The following portion of the footnote, citing marriages from two different Reubens as the marriages of one Reuben, is incorrect: “Reuben Bramlette married (first) December 10, 1789, Sally Ashton [Abston]; probably (second) Margaret (‘Peggy’).” Reuben, son of Anna Ballard and William Bramlett Jr., returned to Bedford Co., Va., from Fayette Co., Ky., and married Sally Abston; they remained in Virginia, appearing in Bedford census records in 1810-1820 and court records there in 1830. The other Reuben Bramblett Sr. of Bourbon Co., Ky., is the son of Henry Bramlett I/Sr. of Prince William (later Fauquier) Co.,Va., and grandson of William Bramlett I/Sr.; Reuben Sr. never lived in Bedford County and never married Sally Abston. Reuben Bramblett Sr. married a woman named Margaret “Peggy,” surname unknown, perhaps Darnall but not proven, and went to Bourbon Co., Ky., from Fauquier County in 1794-95 after trading his Virginia land to Martin Pickett, as documented in Fauquier County deeds and the 1796 tax list for Bourbon Co., Ky. (DB-12:145; DB-12:324). A completely different man, not Reuben Sr. of Bourbon, the Reuben who married Sally Abston, daughter of Jesse Abston, may have first applied for a marriage license to wed Lucy Abston, also a daughter of Jesse Abston and sister of Sally Abston, whom Reuben married in 1790. (Jesse Abston signed as surety.) Or Bedford County may have made a mistake, wrote Lucy instead of Sally, when they entered the following record: “Dec. __, 1790, Reuben Bramblett and Lucy Abston Married by Joseph Drury.” If Reuben and Lucy did marry, their marriage was later annulled: Lucy Abston, daughter of Jesse Abston, later married Joel Callaway in Bedford County on Dec. 27, 1793. Alderson Weeks performed their marriage ceremony. Lucy and Joel applied for their marriage license on Dec. 24, 1793. Thomas Pullen signed as surety, and Lucy is named as the daughter of Jesse Abston. So, Reuben Sr. of Bourbon County is not the son of Anna Ballard and Rev. William Bramlett II/Jr.; however, as a son of Henry Bramlett I/Sr., Reuben Sr. is considered a grandson of William Bramlett I/Sr., as is Reuben, son of Rev. William II/Jr., who married Sally Abston in Bedford County. (No son named Reuben has yet been found for William Bramlett I/Sr.)

Chapter 3:

Generation 3

HENRY BRAMLETT I/SR. and UNKNOWN

(Children: Henry “Harry” Bramlett Jr., William Bramblett, Reuben Bramblett)

Virginia State Seal and Motto: Thus Ever To Tyrants

Definite Direct Ancestor of Deborah G. Dennis

HENRY BRAMLETT I/SR., believed to be child of Unknown First Wife and William Bramlett I/Sr., was born in or before 1710, most likely in Colonial Virginia. No documentary evidence has been found to connect Henry I/Sr. and William I/Sr. as father and son; however, they lived near each other and William I/Sr. is the only known documented Bramblette in America who was old enough to have been Henry I/Sr.’s father. Henry I/Sr. probably died intestate between 1752 and 1758, in Prince William (later Fauquier) Co., Va., after he was replaced as constable there in 1752 and before his eldest son, Henry II/Jr., inherited his plantation through primogeniture and began paying taxes on it for 1758 in 1759. (Land and tax records show Henry I/Sr. is the father of Henry II/Jr. Two other adult males living nearby in Prince William/Fauquier are considered sons of Henry I/Sr. as well, based on geographical proximity and a process of elimination for other possibilities. No will, probate or Bible records have surfaced for Henry I/Sr. His exact death date and place, cause of death and burial place is unknown. The name of his wife, unfortunately, is unknown.

Henry Bramlett Sr.’s Life in Virginia

Henry I/Sr. was a planter living in Brunswick Parish in King George Co., Va., in 1735 when he purchased half of a contiguous tract of 500 acres of land–250 acres more or less–in Hamilton Parish, Prince William Co., Va., from a man named John Ambrose. The recorded “lease” or first deed of their transaction indicates “John Ambrose of Brunswick Parish King George, planter” sold 250 acres on Elk Marsh Run adjacent to Jonas William’s line to “Henry Bramblet of same, planter” for twenty-five pounds sterling. John Ambrose owned about 500 acres of land in Prince William County, which he may have inherited or purchased or received though a gift or grant. John Ambrose then acknowledged the sale to “Henry Bramblet” in a “release” or second deed for the land, which was recorded in Prince William Co., Va., Court on Sept. 17, 1735 (DB-B:480-482). The transaction was witnessed by George Harrison, John James and Hugh West. (In Virginia in the early 1700s, one deed, known as a bargain and sale–and/or two deeds–a lease and release–could be prepared and recorded to transfer a full title when land or other property was sold or traded.) Available land at that point was scarce in Virginia and generally sold or transferred in the family when possible, so it is conceivable to logically consider a familial relationship by blood or marriage between Henry Bramlett I/Sr. and/or William Bramlett I/Sr. and John Ambrose and/or a first wife. (His spouse in 1747, Elizabeth Obannon Ambrose Etherington, was about twenty-five years younger than John and may have been a second wife.) John Ambrose was born in Rappahannock Co., Va., circa 1684, according to a 1747 deposition stating his age as 63, (making him a contemporary of William Bramlett I/Sr.) and died at about age 72 in 1756. Elizabeth Ambrose states her age as 36 in her 1747 deposition, which means she was born circa 1711-1712 (DB-L:12-13). They were deposed witnesses in a case regarding a land title dispute between neighbors. Planter Henry I/Sr. and planter and church warden John Ambrose both moved their families from King George County and farmed adjoining tracts of land on Elk Marsh Run, Hamilton Parish, Prince William County, beginning in 1735.

John Ambrose and John Champe, relationship unknown, both Church Wardens of the Parish of Brunswick, King George Co., Va., bought 200 acres of land there for 100 pounds sterling money of Great Britain from Hugh French, Gentleman, of Overwharton Parish, Stafford Co., Va., on May 31, and June 1, 1733 (DB-1729-1735:260-262/DB-1A:260-262). Deeds of lease and release with receipt of money were recorded June 1, 1733. Hugh French’s wife on May 4, 1733, appointed a representative for her dower release: “Know all men I Mary French, wife of Hugh French appoint Thomas Turner my lawfull Attorney” in the “sale of 200 acres conveyed by my husband to John Champe & John Ambris [sic] Church Wardens for a Glebe for the said Parish of Brunswick” in order to “relinquish my right of dower.” The power of attorney was recorded June 1, 1733. Mary Browne Triplett French, daughter of Original and Jane (Brooks) Browne, and wife of first husband, Francis Triplett, died after the above record and before Oct. 5, 1736, when Hugh French wrote his will in Stafford County and named children but no wife (WB-M:247).

“Henry Brimlett” is included on a 1738 Rent Roll for Hamilton Parish, Prince William Co., Va., which indicates he was at least age 21 and thus born in or before 1717. He paid five shillings on 250 acres of land for one year from Michaelmass 1738 to Michaellmass 1739. (Source: “Rent Roll from Michaelmass 1738 to Michaelmass 1739.” Prince William County, Virginia, manuscripts in the Huntington Library, 1 microfilm reel [366 frames]; RELIC Microfilm 975.527 Pri. page 2.) This land is the property Henry bought from John Ambrose in 1735.

Henry Bramlett I/Sr. and John Ambrose’s residences are mentioned as landmarks in several recorded deeds, and Henry I/Sr. witnessed a few documents in Hamilton Parish, Prince William Co., Va., during various years up to 1750-51. They lived near Tinpot Run and Elk Marsh Run and Licking Run and Welches Rolling Road. Henry Bramlett I/Sr.’s property is mentioned as a landmark on a deed written March 16, 1744, when James Genn bought some land for his neighbor Catesby Cock/e of Fairfax County. The land, situated on Elk Marsh Run and Tinpot Run and Welches Rolling Road, was adjacent to property already owned by Catesby Cock/e and adjacent to property then owned by Henry Bramblet, Jonas Williams, Morgan Darnall, Nathaniel Dodd, John Bush and someone named Garner, Gardner or Gardiner. James Genn surveyed the property. Daniel Marr, Nathaniel Dodd and William Cairn witnessed the deed, which was recorded in Prince William County on Aug. 30, 1745 (DB-1745/46). Henry I/Sr.’s property also is mentioned as a landmark in a deed on Aug. 21-22, 1746, when James Genn of Prince William County sold to John Higgins some property in Hamilton Parish on the branches of Elk Marsh and Tinpot runs. The property “bounded…along the land of Morgan Darnall to a Hickory and one red and 1 box Oak corner of said Darnall & Jonas Williams then with Williams line N. E. to a black Oak & Hickory in the said line Corner of Henry Bramblets land thence with Bramblets line N.W. to a large marked Hickory another of Bramblets corners thence No. W. to a box Oak by Welches Roling Road Corner of said Bramblet thence with another of his lines No. E. to a Spanish Oak on the side of a stony Ridge thence N. Wt. to a large live Oak in a Pond…” (DB-1745/46:173-77; GB-F:244). Henry I/Sr.’s property also is mentioned as a landmark in a deed on March 11, 1745, when Augustine Jennings, planter of Prince William, bought property next to him from Honer and planter Jonas T. Williams: a “parcel of land containing One hundred and eight acres being in the Parish of Hamilton and County of Prince William adjoyning to a tract of land one part whereof in possession of John Ambros the other part whereof in possession of Henry Bramlet….” The acreage was granted to Jonas Williams on March 6, 1718, and was currently in possession of Augustine Jennings as a result of a one-year indenture. The cost was 3,000 pounds of lawfull Tobacco Current money of Virginia. Jno. Crump and John Bohanan witnessed the deed on March 24, 1745 (DB-1745/56:36-40). Henry Bramlett later witnessed Augustine Jennings’s will on Dec. 13, 1776, in Hamilton Parish, Fauquier County, and it was probated there Aug. 24, 1778 (WB-1:348). (Peter Barker and Lucretia Russell also witnessed the document. Heirs include wife Hannah, daughter Betty, daughter Hannah, daughter Sally, daughter Jemima Hudnall, daughter Nancy Weathers, son William, son Benjamin, son Baylor, son George, son Berryman, son Lewis, son Augustin Jennings. One Jennings daughter, Fanny, married circa 1767 Thomas Obannon, son of Samuel Obannon, nephew of Elizabeth Obannon Ambrose Etherington. One of Thomas Obannon’s sons is named John Ambrose Obannon.) Henry I/Sr.’s property is again mentioned as a landmark in a deed written March 30, 1748, when William Kernes bought some Prince William County land nearby. The land, situated on Licking Run, adjoined property then owned by someone named Page, Major Catesby Cocke, Thomas Stone, Henry Bramblet and John Ambrose who farmed adjoining tracts of land, and Colonel Carter. The deed was recorded April 2, 1748, in Prince William County (DB-1745/56:42). Henry I/Sr. also is listed on the 1751 Prince William Co., Va., tithable list, which records taxes for certain tithables and particular items of personal property. Henry I/Sr. witnessed a deed on Feb. 5, 1750/51, which records a transaction between John Darnall and Morgan Darnall regarding the dividing line of property left to them by the Darnall’s deceased father, Morgan Darnall Sr., in Hamilton Parish of Prince William County. The bond later was recorded Feb. 28, 1760 (DB-1759/78:59-60).

One recorded reference to Henry I/Sr. in Prince William County Court documents indicates that, in addition to being a planter, he also was the constable there in 1752 when he was replaced. No reason was given. An entry in Prince William County Court Minute Book on Nov. 27, 1752, indicates Thomas Gardner was appointed constable “in the Room of Henry Bramlet.” Gardner was ordered that day to “go before some Justice of the peace and be sworn accordingly” there (MB-1:77). Although no reason is given in the court record, the act of replacement suggests Henry I/Sr. may have been seriously ill or already dead. At about age 42-50, he probably was not ready to retire due to old age. No other existing court, land or tax records have been found that refer to him as being alive or dead in Prince William or Fauquier County or any other place in Virginia after 1752. It appears his eldest son, Henry II/Jr., inherited his plantation through primogeniture by 1758. Tax records indicate Henry I/Sr.’s other two sons–William and Reuben Sr.–had their own separate land in 1759. Henry I/Sr.’s three sons also owned their own land in Fauquier Co., Va., in 1770, according to the Rent Roll, which lists Henry Bramlett (Jr.) with 250 acres. father’s former land, Reuben Bramlett with 150 acres and William Bramlett with 123 acres. Henry II/Jr. apparently did not farm the plantation while living next to John Ambrose since the latter died circa 1756. The latter’s wife, Elizabeth Obannon, married again to John Etherington (a.k.a. Edrington) circa 1762, and he also died before October 1769, before Nov. 29, 1776, when she wrote her will as Elizabeth Etherington in Fauquier County (WB-1:323). Henry “Harry” Bramlett II/Jr. witnessed her will, which was probated March 23, 1778. (Elizabeth’s heirs include Catherine Nelson, Betty Allen, Catherine Duncan, Benjamin Russell, nephew Thomas Obannon son of her brother Samuel and wife, Stelle Obannon, Capt.. John Wright. Elias Edmonds Sr. and Jeremiah Darnall were named executors; other witnesses: Berryman Jennings, James Wright.) Elizabeth Obannon was born circa 1716-1720, the daughter of Bryant Boru Obannon, as he named himself in his will, reportedly an immigrant from Ireland, and, according to family tradition, first wife, Zena Sarah Isham. (Daughter Elizabeth Ambrose is named as an heir of 60 pounds current money and horses in Bryant Boru Obannon’s 1760 will [WB-1:41].) Henry I/Sr. and unknown wife/wives had three known sons: Henry II/Jr., William and Reuben Sr. If he had daughters, unfortunately, their names are not yet known.

Henry “Harry” Bramlett II/Jr., child of Unknown and Henry Bramlett I/Sr., was born circa 1730 in Colonial Virginia. Since Henry II/Jr. had possession of his father’s former plantation in Fauquier County and Henry Sr. died intestate under the laws of primogeniture, Henry II/Jr. can be considered the eldest son and heir to his father’s property. He died in 1779 or 1780, definitely before Aug. 5, 1780, most likely in Virginia. His burial place is unknown. Recorded deeds indicate Henry Jr. died a suicide but do not indicate where or why. No documentation has been offered or independently discovered, but family tradition holds that Henry II/Jr. became distraught and inconsolable and took his own life after the death of his eldest son, Benjamin, who reportedly perished as a soldier or patriot while being held on a British prison ship during the American Revolution.

Henry II/Jr. married Margaret Unknown circa 1750, probably in Virginia. Her birth date and place and parents are unknown. She died sometime after she sold her Laurens Co., S.C., farm to her son Nathan in 1809. Her burial place is unknown, but she may rest near Gray Court, S.C., in the old cemetery section of Bramlett United Methodist Church, which she co-founded, next to the graves of her son Nathan and his wife, Elizabeth Gray, whose graves are still marked with inscribed tombstones and footstones: N. B. and E. B. There are three field or native stones without inscriptions next to Elizabeth and Nathan’s graves.

Henry II/Jr. was a planter who inherited his father’s 250-acre Bramlett Plantation through primogeniture between 1752 and 1758. Henry II/Jr. and his brother Reuben Sr. witnessed a deed for Morgan Darnall, perhaps one of Reuben Sr.’s in-laws, in 1760 in Fauquier County (MB-1:92). Henry “Harry Bramblett” II/Jr. witnessed neighbor Elizabeth Obannon Ambrose Etherington’s will, which was proved in court in 1778 (MB-5:307). Henry II/Jr.’s relationship to her is not given in the document, but family or close friends traditionally witnessed important documents such as wills and deeds. The will identifies her as the widow of John Etherington deceased and names a nephew with the surname Obannon as one of her heirs. Elizabeth may not have had children who survived since none were named as heirs in the will.

After Henry II/Jr. died by Aug. 5, 1780, and his son Henry III inherited the Bramlett Plantation, the land was resurveyed as a tract of 231 acres. Henry II/Jr.’s widow, Margaret “Peggy” Bramblett/Bramlett paid taxes on the property in the county from 1782 to 1784. When the land was sold by Henry Bramlett (III) of “96 District, S.C.” to James and Ann Dobie/Dobey in 1784, the deed indicated the widow, Margaret Bramlett, was occupying the plantation (DB-9:144). Margaret then moved to live on a different tract of land there–50 acres–until 1790 when she left the state. She lived in the land tax district of B. Edward Humston, Fauquier County Tax Commissioner. Margaret Bramlett paid her taxes–125 pounds or 18 shillings 9 pence after deducting quitrents–on 250 acres, her former husband’s plantation, in 1783. On the smaller property after she moved, she was assessed to pay 17 pounds 18 shillings 4 pence in taxes on the 50-acre tract in 1790–but only paid 5 shillings 4 pence after deducting quitrents. She last paid taxes in the same amount on the second property in 1791 for the year 1790. When the Dobies later sold the Bramlett Plantation and additional property, amounting to 244 acres, in 1794 to Benjamin Dodd, the deed described it as once belonging to “Henry Bramblet, a suicide” (DB-12:60).

Margaret Unknown Bramlett, Wife of Henry “Harry” Bramlett II/Jr.

Resident of Virginia, Patriot of the Revolution, Methodist Family Leader, Resident of South Carolina

Virginia State Seal and Motto: Sic Semper Tyrannis Thus Ever To Tyrants

Patriot: Margaret gave provisions to Washington’’s Army during the Revolution

Not much is known about Margaret, but she is highly regarded today as a Patriot of the Revolution and an individual with deep religious convictions. Margaret, named as “Peggy Bramlett” and “Margaret Bramlett,” is documented as a Revolutionary War Patriot in Fauquier County “Publick Claims” with certificates she filed after the war for providing supplies–beef and brandy–to the forces led by Gen. George Washington in the Continental Army. “Peggy Bramlett” first presented a certificate and applied for compensation for the listed provisions…

At a court held for Fauquier County 24 March 1782 and continued by several adjournments till 3 May following. The court pursuant to the act of Assembly entitled “an act for adjusting claims for property impressed or taken for public services” [by the military] examined the…claims and valued each article in specie viz Beef at the rate of 3p [pence] per pound…. Peggy Bramlett 225 (1).

In addition, the claims lists indicate “Margt. Bramlett” also presented on Nov. 25, 1785, a certificate granted by Col. William Edmonds for compensation by the county for earlier providing 3 1/2 gallons of brandy to the American troops (13). Cheers to the officers and soldiers who benefitted from the provision. Two or three of Margaret’s sons served as soldiers during the Revolution: possibly Benjamin, and definitely Henry III who settled in Elbert Co., Ga., and Reuben, who settled in Gallatin Co., Ill., some years after the war. The latter two and Margaret qualify descendants for membership in Daughters and Sons of the American Revolution. Several of Reuben’s and Marianne’s descendants have joined the organizations.

Shortly before or just after husband Henry Jr. died, Margaret and her children joined the Methodist Church in Virginia and in 1780 or 1781 founded their own meeting house or religious group which became Bramlett Methodist Episcopal Church near Gray Court, Laurens Co., S.C. Margaret’s great-grandson Rev. Frederick Henry Burditt/Burdette, an ordained minister who preached at Bramlett after the 1861-1865 war, documented the history of the church. He wrote in a Diary reproduced here that Margaret and her sons Henry III, Nathan and John were the co-founders of Bramlett Methodist Church in 1780 or 1781. Bishop Francis Asbury indicated in his Journal that Margaret had a meeting house near the present-day location of Bramlett Church in Laurens County. She relocated from Virginia in 1790, but at least two of her grown adult children were living in Laurens County in or before 1775. Bramlett Methodist Episcopal (now United Methodist) Church is the mother church of John Bramlett’s meeting house, Bethel Methodist Episcopal Church, founded circa 1799-1801 in Simpsonville, Greenville Co., S.C.

Margaret and Bramlett Methodist Episcopal Church

Diary of Rev. Frederick Henry Burdette, Cover Date 1875, preserved, copyright, courtesy Martha Anne Curry Duke of Denton, Tex.

One of the most important records yet found for Henry Bramlett II/Jr. and Margaret’s family is the Diary kept by their great-grandson Rev. Frederick Henry Burditt/Burdette. The Burditt Diary was located in family papers in South Carolina and preserved and shared, Thank God, by Martha Anne Curry Duke of Texas. The Burditt Diary not only documents the early founding years of Bramlett Church and the names of the co-founders and surnames of members, but also provides documentation for the connection between Henry III, John and Nathan as biological brothers and sons of Margaret. (Other records definitely connect the brothers with their father, mother and siblings, including Marianne and Reuben of Illinois.) Rev. Frederick Henry Burditt is the son of Frederick Reuben Burdett and second wife, Sarah Elizabeth Rhodes. Born in 1833, he died in 1892 and rests in the old section of Bramlett Church Cemetery with a tombstone that identifies him as Rev. F. H. Burdette. He was a resident of Laurens County, a member of the church and acted as a lay minister before being officially ordained in 1866 after he returned to the community from serving as a soldier during the Civil War/War Between the States. He apparently wrote or dispatched a verbal question via a messenger to his Great-Uncle John Bramlett in Greenville County before John died there in 1855 and got a reply that John “sent” to answer a question posed about the origins of the church. Copies of the Diary pages and a transcript follow:

“First Qurt. [Quarterly] Conference in 1783 John Bramlett sent. from the best information the church had been organized three years before Preachers who they were is unknown only as we remember hearing old people speak such as Bingham, Travice, Tarply, Hillyard Judge, Stafford, Asbury and others. The members consisted of three or four families viz WilM. Bramlett, Dacus, Robertson and perhaps Stone. John, Nathan, or Henry Bramletts were the founders with their Mother in the year 1780 or 81 but the best information say[s] in 80 by what minister is unknown. Some suppose Asbury others Travice while others Hillyard Judge, but the last name lived some where from 1800 to 1820.”

Copies of original pages from the Diary of Rev. Frederick Henry Burdette, preserved Thank God, and contributed by Great-Granddaughter Martha Anne Curry Duke

The given name of the Bramlett Mother Founder is not written on the page, but other South Carolina and Virginia official tax lists with recorded land deeds name her in connection with her husband and children as Margaret, widow of Henry Bramlett II/Jr. The diary entries are not dated, but the cover of Pierce’s Memorandum and Account Book indicates it was “Entered according to Act of Congress in the year 1875, by R. V. Pierce, M. D., in the office of the Librarian of Congress at Washington.” Rev. Frederick Henry Burditt inscribed the information about the church history in or after 1875 and before he his death in 1892, but the information came from John before he died in 1855. The Memorandum and Account Book is “A Present from the People’s Medical Servant, R. V. Pierce, M. D.” of Buffalo, N. Y., “designed for Farmers, Mechanics and All People who appreciate the value of keeping a memorandum of business transactions, daily events, and other items of importance, or future references.”

Portrait of Rev. Frederick Henry Burdette, owner of the Diary that documents the founding history–the date and names of the founders–of Bramlett Episcopal Methodist Church as well as the close biological connection of Marianne’s brothers Henry III, John and Nathan Bramlett, courtesy Great-Granddaughter Martha Anne Curry Duke of Texas

Bramlett United Methodist Church was co-founded in 1780 or 1781, according to Father John Bramlett, by John, his mother, Margaret Bramlett, and one or two of her other sons, Nathan and/or Henry (III). The church still holds services on the same property deeded by Nathan Bramlett and George Sims and sold to the trustees for $5 in 1807.

Margaret was recognized as leader of Bramlett Church in Laurens County in November 1801 by Methodist Episcopal Bishop Francis Asbury in his Journal: “Wednesday [November] 21. We rode sixteen miles to the widow Bramblet’s meeting-house.” This was a church building or her home on her property or Nathan’s land near the current church. Two days earlier the Bishop visited Margaret’s son John Bramlett at Bethel Church in Greenville County: “Monday [November] 20. At John Bramblet’s, Greensville. After meeting, we rode to …Reedy River” (p. 40). This may have been the visit during which the Bishop formally organized Bethel Church. In his 1802 Journal, the Bishop recognized Margaret’s son Nathan Bramlett as leader of Bramlett Church, which he once called “Bramblet’s Chapel”: “Wednesday 22….Next day I went to Nathan Bramblet’s….Sunday 27. At Bramblet’s chapel I spoke on Acts ii. 37-39.”

Nathan, born in 1766, and John, born in 1764, were not old enough to found a church in 1780 or 1781, the date provided by John; however, it is known from Nathan’s tombstone inscription and John’s obituary that they both joined the Methodist Church when they were young men, John specifically about that time–1780–when he was age 16, so they were very early/charter members of Bramlett Church. Henry III was born earlier, was the eldest son in 1780 since he inherited through primogeniture his father’s former Virginia plantation. Henry III was born circa 1755, before his brother Reuben, who was born March 15, 1757. He would have been an adult and old enough to organize and found a church with his mother, Margaret, in 1780; and recorded Virginia deeds indicate Henry III was living in Laurens County at exactly that time. Henry III was in South Carolina earlier, in 1775-1776 when his son Reuben and daughter Margaret were born there and while he served as a soldier during the Revolution. Henry III and possibly other members of his close family may have traveled to Laurens County with his Uncle William Bramblett and family, who were early members of Bramlett Church and settled on his land grant there in 1774.

That year, 1774, appears as a possible organizational or founding date for Bramlett Church in “A History of Bramlett,” co-written by member Ruth Wallace Cheshire and pastor Rev. George B. Wilson for The 1962 Church Journal. They quote a respected, long-time member as the source of some interesting details about the church’s early organization. “C. R. Wallace (1856-1916), a venerable and diligent servant of God, has bequeathed the following information:”

About 1774, or two years before the Declaration of Independence was written by Thomas Jefferson, just thirty years after the first Methodist Conference was held in the old Foundry Church in London, England, a few people living in this community who were strong adherents of the Methodist faith, met in the home of a family who lived a few hundred yards west of where the house (the present church building), and held religious services. The services were conducted at regular intervals for two or three years. As interest in these meetings increased the need for more room was felt, and they decided to change the place of meeting. A log house was built. This log house was located one-fourth of one mile and a little south of east from this point. There the services were continued for several years. For four years after these meetings began, there was no organized society here. It was not until 1779 that this church was organized. In the little graveyard just across the road from this house is the sleeping dust of him whose name it bears.

The man referenced as the church namesake, of course, is Nathan Bramlett, whose inscribed tombstone still memorializes him in the old section of the cemetery, and who sold land to the trustees in 1807 “for the purpose of Secureing a Meeting house, thereon Standing and to Remain for the use of the Methodist Episcopal Church.” This part of the recorded deed indicates a church building was already in existence on the site, which means the church was founded before the 1807 date of the document. The namesake family referenced, of course, is the family of Henry Bramlett Jr. and Margaret, especially Henry III, which suggests he and perhaps his parents, still residents of Virginia, were in South Carolina as early as 1774. They had grown children, Marianne and Henry III, living there. Marianne and husband, Frederick Burdette, were in Laurens County in 1775. There is evidence that indicates Henry III was in South Carolina by 1775-1776 and in 1780. He most likely lived and worked with relatives or leased or purchased land through a private transaction. He and sister Marianne as well apparently lived very close to the current location of Bramlett United Methodist Church before later obtaining land through war grants. Henry II/Jr.’s brother William and family lived quite a distance and southeast from the church on land surveyed in 1773. More recent artifacts from Bramlett Church include outdoor signage.

Margaret Bramlett permanently settled in Laurens County later, in 1790. She bought her 50-acre South Carolina farm next to her son Nathan’s farm in Laurens County on May 10, 1791, from Ezekiel Griffith for 20 pounds:

This indenture made the Tenth day of May in the year of our Lord One Thousand seven hundred & ninety one, and in the Sixteenth year of American Independency, Between Ezekiel Griffeth of Laurens county in the state of South Carolina on the one part, and Margaret Bramlett of the county & State aforesaid of the other part. Witnesseth that the sd. Ezekiel Griffeth for & in consideration of the sum of Twenty pounds to him in hand well & Truly paid by the sd. Margaret Bramlett the receipt whereof is hereby acknowledged Have Bargained, granted, sold, aliened Embossed & confirmed, and by these presents doth Grant, Bargain & Sell, alien emboss [Riban?] & confirm unto the said Margaret Bramlett her heirs & assigns forever part of a Tract of land Situate & Lying on Beaverdam Creek water of Enoree River, to begin on the north side of sd. creek on a Red Oak on a stoney nole, Thence to the corner in Nathan Bramlett’s field, Thence along the sd. Nathan Bramlett’s to the corner, Thence to the creek & up the creek to the mouth of the spring branch & up the branch to the head, Thence to the Begining to contain Fifty acres more or less, & hath such shape, form & marks as are represented by a plat thereof to the Original grant annexed, which was granted to the said Ezekiel Griffeth his heirs & assigns forever on the Twenty fourth day of January, one Thousand seven hundred & seventy by the … William Bull Then Governor and Recorded in … office in Book EEE page 68 and also the Reversion and Reversions, Remainder & Remainders, Rents, … & Profits thereof & all the Estate, Right, Title, Interest Claim & demand whatsoever of him the sd. Ezekiel Griffeth his heirs or assigns to have and to hold the sd. Tract of fifty acres of land more or less with every appurtenance thereunto belonging to the only proper use & behoof of her the sd. Margaret Bramlett her heirs or assigns forever &tc. the sd. Ezekiel Griffeth for him his heirs & assigns doth covenant with the sd. Margaret Bramlett her heirs & assigns that he the sd. Ezekiel Griffeth now is & untill the execution of these presents shall stand seized in his right of a good sure perfect, absolute indefeasible Estate of Inheritance in fee simple of & in all & singular the tract of land & every part & parcel hereof without any manner of condition… (DB-D:5-6)

Margaret sold her farm on Zak’s (Zek’s/Zeak’s or Ezekiel’s) Creek, part of Beaverdam Creek, waters of Enoree River, to her son Nathan Bramlett for $100 on April 16, 1809. (That part of the creek may have been known locally as Zek’s after the former landowner, Ezekiel Griffith.) The deed indicates the land was originally granted to Ezekiel Griffith on Jan. 20, 1770, and conveyed to Margaret Bramlett on May 10, 1791. Margaret’s grandson John Burditt and Jesse Gray witnessed the 1809 deed (DB-J:73). No other later record of Margaret has yet been found.

Margaret and Henry II/Jr.’s children are Marianne, Benjamin, Jalilah, Henry III, Reuben, perhaps William, John, Nathan and perhaps Sarah and Nancy.

Chapter 3:

Generation 5

Marianne Bramlett and Frederick Burdette

(Children: John, Henry, Margaret, Mary Ann, Reuben, Elizabeth, William, Ailsey, Jesse)

Virginia State Seal and Motto: Sic Semper Tyrannis Thus Ever To Tyrants

Frederick Burdette served as a Soldier during the American Revolution

Marianne Bramlett, most likely first or second child of Margaret “Peggy” Unknown and Henry Bramlett Jr., was born Sept. 15, 1752, in a portion of Prince William Co., Va., that later became Fauquier County. She died at age 81 years, 5 months, 21 days, on March 8, 1834, in Laurens Co., S.C. Family tradition shared in the past by family historian William Ralph Burdette and others holds that Marianne rests at Bramlett Methodist Episcopal (now United Methodist) Church Cemetery near Gray Court in Laurens County. Her grave has not yet been located; however, there are graves marked with field stones in the old section of the cemetery near the graves of Marianne’s brother Nathan Bramlett and his wife, Elizabeth Gray, which still have inscribed tombstones. Marianne and husband, Frederick Burdette, and Marianne and Nathan’s mother, Margaret, may occupy those unmarked graves. A will and probate records have not been found for Marianne. She and Frederick were living in Laurens County with or near some of her Bramlett relatives by 1775, and they settled and remained there all of their lives on a land grant near the Enoree after the Revolution.

Direct descendants Martha Anne (Curry) Duke and Franklin Donald Burdette provide most of the following about Marianne’s marriage to Frederick, his war service, Bible records and children.

The Marriage of Marianne Bramlett and Frederick Burdette

Marianne married Frederick Burdette circa 1775, probably in Fauquier County where she and her parents were living. However, it is possible they married in South Carolina. Their first child, Henry, was born there in 1776. A deed recorded in Laurens County in 1790 indicates Frederick was in South Carolina when it was written in 1775. “Fredrick” was born Oct. 15, 1753, according to the Burdette Bibles. The names of Frederick’s parents are not yet known. Descendant William Ralph Burdette believed Frederick was born in Amsterdam, Holland, of French parents who came from Normandy, France. (William Ralph is son of Ella Towns Black and David Wilcut Jr. and grandson of David Wilcut and Zelena McPherson Burdett.) Ralph indicates in an unpublished written history that Frederick’s parents may have been Huguenots, French Protestants, who fled France to Holland to escape religious and ethnic persecution and later settled in Colonial America. There are early records of some Burdettes who lived in Amsterdam during the 1730s; 1750s; however, no definite evidence has yet been found to document the Huguenot connection. DNA evidence has not yet yielded enough connections to discern definite names of Frederick’s parents.

Will, Death, Estate of Frederick Burdette

Frederick Burdette died at age 87 years, 3 months, 25 days, on Feb. 10, 1841, in Laurens County and most likely was buried there beside Marianne, by tradition in the old section of the cemetery at Bramlett Methodist Episcopal Church near Gray Court. Burial records or tombstones with legible inscriptions have not been located for them, but there are some fieldstone markers in the graveyard very near Nathan Bramlett’s inscribed tombstone which may be the final resting places of Frederick, Marianne and her mother, Margaret. Frederick wrote his Last Will and Testament on Nov. 30, 1826, in Laurens County, leaving his land to three grown children–William, Molly, Ailsey–and eventually to son William if the two daughters married or died, and if William predeceased them, after their deaths the estate would be divided among his other children or their heirs. Sons John and William, named as administrators, presented the will in court on March 1, 1841, and it was proved there by William on March 16, 1841 (Box 83, pkg. 2).

State of South Carolina} Laurens District}

In the name of God, amen, I Frederick Burditt of the State and District aforesaid being of sound and disposing mind and memory, but weak in body, and calling to mind the uncertainty of life, and being desirous to dispose of such worldly Estate as it hath pleased God to bless me with, do make and ordain this my last Will in manner following, that is to say: I give to my son William Burdit, and my two daughters now living with me, Molly and Ailsey Burditt, the plantation and tract of land whereon I now live, together with the Horses, Cows, Hogs and stock of every kind, Household and Kitchen furniture, plantation Tools, Waggon & Reins [geirs?] and Blacksmiths Tools, to them for their material benefit and support so long as they all live together but should either or both of my daughters above named marry or be disposed to seperate and leave the place, then and in that case it is my will that she or they take such part of my personal property as shall be her or their equal distributive share, and that the tract of land remain my son William[’s] in fee simple forever after his two sisters, Molly and Ailsey have married, died or other wise left him, provided, however, that my son William Burditt should die before his two sisters Molly and Ailsey, having no law full issue, then the said tract of land to remain the property of the daughters during their natural life time and at their death to be sold and the monies arising therefrom to be equally divided among the whole of my children or their lawful representatives share and share alike. I give to my grand daughter Ailsey Gray a certain Red cow and calf which she now claims, Eight head of sheep, and the bed and furniture which she has always claimed. And lastly, I do constitute and appoint my son William Burditt and Robert Hand Senr. Executors of this my last Will and testament by me heretofore made. In testamony whereof I have here unto set my hand and affixed my seal this thirtieth day of November 1826. Frederick (his x mark) Burditt Seal Signed, sealed, published and declared as and for the last will and testament of the above named Frederick Burditt in presence of us Thos. Wright Arch. Young John Harriss.

State of South Carolina} Laurens District} Personally appeared before me Archibald Young, John Harriss & Thomas Wright who being sworn as the law directs made oath they saw Frederick Burditt Execute the within instrument as his last Will and that they in the presence of Each other and in the presence of the testator subscribed as witnesses to the same sworn to before me the 16th day of March, One Thousand Eight Hundred and forty one.W. D. Watts O.L.D. [Ordinary of Laurens District] Archd. Young John Harriss Ths. Wright

South Carolina} Laurens District} To W. D. Watts Ordinary of said District. The Petition of William Burditt showeth that Frederick Burditt late of said District recently died having first Executed his last will in which he names your Petitioner as one of his Executors, he therefore prays that you would grant him a citation to have the said will proven in solemn form and your Petitioner will pray &tc. This 1 March 1841. William (his x mark) Burditt

South Carolina} Laurens District} Whereas William Burdett has made suit to me to have the will of Frederick Burdett proven in solemn form. Then and there fore to Cite and admonish all and singular the Kindred and Creditors of the late Frederick Burdett said to be and appear before me Archibald Young on the sixteenth day of March Inst. to show cause if any they can why the said will should not be proven and letters Testamentary granted to William Burdett who is named as one of the Executors to said will. Given under my hand & seal this the 1st March 1841 W. D. Watts O.L.D. State of South Carolina,} Laurens District.} Warrant of Appraisement By W. D. Watts Ordinary of said district. These are to authorize and empower you, or any three or four of you, whose names are here under written, to repair to all such parts and places within this State, as you shall be directed unto by William Burditt Excr. of the goods and chattels, rights and credits of Frederick Burditt deceased, wheresoever any of the said goods and chattels are or do remain within the said parts and places, and which shall be shown unto you by the said William Burditt and there view and appraise all and every the said goods and chattels, being first duly sworn on the Holy Evangelists of Almighty God, to make a true and perfect inventory and appraisement thereof, and to cause the same to be returned under your hands, or any three or four of you, unto the said William Burditt on or before the 16th day of May next.Witness W. D. Watts Esquire, Ordinary of the said district, the 16th day of March in the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and forty one and in the Sixty fifth year of American Independence. To Messrs. Benjamin Martin Jesse Gray James B. Higgins & David Higgins

Memorandum — That on the fifth day of April in the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and forty one personally appeared before me Thomas Wright, one of the Magistrates assigned to keep the peace in Sd. District, Jesse Gray, James B. Higgins and David Higgins being three of the appraisers appointed to appraise the goods and chattels of Frederick Burditt late of Laurens District deceased, who being duly sworn, made oath that they would make a just and true appraisement of all and singular, the goods and chattels of the said Frederick Burditt deceased, and that they would return the same, certified under their hands, unto the said William Burditt on or before the of 16th of May next. Sworn the day and year above written, before me, Thos. Wright, M. for L. D.

The appraisement, which lists the following items and their value, was provided to William Burditt by Jesse Gray, James B. Higgins and David Higgins.

Stock of hogs — cattle and sheep $55.50 Waggon & gear and 1 lot of waggon … 11.00 1 lot of Carpenters tools — grindstone &tc. 5.00 1 lot of plantation tools — drawing chains & log chains 14.25 1 cutting knife & box — oats — Riddle &tc. 3.00 1 stack of fodder & 1 lot of corn 24.00 1 gray Mare 60.00 1 lot of baskets & old irons 2.00 Bacon – Lard and barrels 32.00 Cupboard & furniture 1 lot of books & 2 tables 18.00 9 sitting chairs – 1 box and lot of bed clothing 23.00 2 beds – bedsteads & furniture 20.00 Shoe makers tools – shot gun & pouch 1 saddle & bridle 9.00 1 trunk & 1 can & bottles 3.00 1 lot of sundries (up stairs) 9.25 Castings – tin ware – pewter – knives forks &tc. 28.12 1 Loom & apparatus 5.00 Kitchen dresser & cupboard 2.00 Jugs – jars – sieve – gun powder – shots &tc. 6.00 1 half bushel measure – boxes – barrels – wheat & salt 7.00 4 sitting chairs & candlestick 2.60 1 lot of blacksmith tools – jointers – chisels & gouges 14.00 one note due the 25 of December next for one tract of land 236 acres 40.00 Total $708

After William, Ailsey and Mary Ann “Molly” died, Frederick’s estate, administered by son John Burdett, was sold in 1873 and the proceeds were distributed among the surviving heirs of Frederick’s other deceased children who could be identified and located: Henry, John, Margaret and Reuben Burdett. Some heirs at law, including Nathan B. Burditt, Eliza Ann Curry, Frederick Burditt and others not named–contested the administration of John Burdett of his father’s estate on Jan. 28, 1873, in Laurens County, but lost the lawsuit. A notice naming the three contesting heirs and “others,” advising them John would settle the estate by court order, was published on Feb. 1873. The distribution of the estate, amounting to $1,744.24, was settled March 21, 1873. Part of the settlement was recorded March 22 in Laurens. There were two sales for Frederick’s personal estate. The first sale on July 11, 1876, generated $320.64. The second sale on Oct. 10, 1876, generated $1,555.81. Purchasers listed include Wesley Burdett, who bought 1 lot of clothing & Bible and other items; John Burdett, a spinning wheel and other items; Elizabeth Burton, “2 smoothing irons” and a bed and furniture and other items; Peter Waddle, chairs and axes; Ivory Curry, smith tools, dried fruit, two trunks, chairs, two looking glasses, clothing, other items; and Jesse Burditt, “1 Bibell” and clothing. Frederick’s son William entered the will for probate in Laurens Co., S.C., Court on March 1, 1841. The court issued a warrant of appraisement on estate of Frederick Burditt April 5, 1841, in Laurens.

Decree Whereas the names of many of the parties interested in this Estate are unknown to the Court – It is Ordered Decreed that the said Estate be divided as follows. One Share to the Children and representative of Henry Burdett decd. according to their respective rights: One Share to the Children and representatives of John Burditt decd. according to their respective rights: One Share to the Children and representatives of Margaret Gray decd. according to their respective rights: One Share to the Children and representatives of Reuben Burdett decd. according to their respective rights. March 21st 1873. Given under my hand and Seal of Office C. Lark Judge of Probate Court L. C.

The settlement documents indicate four shares of Frederick’s estate, each amounting to $436.46, were to be paid out by John Burdett. The names of the recipient heirs, “unknown by the court,” are not documented in the specific estate record. The documents indicate Frederick’s coffin, made by J. M. Riddle, cost $6.00. Property taxes for Frederick’s land amounted to $9.75. The estate paid an attorney, B. W. Ball, a total of $50.00. Probate fees to Laurens County amounted to $12 in 1873. A number of other payments were made to individuals for debts and services rendered.

Marianne and Frederick in South Carolina

Frederick was living in Ninety-Six (Laurens) District in 1775, according to the aforementioned deed written and recorded there. Since Frederick and Marianne’s first child was born there in 1776, she probably was living with him there in 1775 as well. Her brother Henry Bramlett III was in the same area in 1776-1780: later Georgia census records indicate he had a child, daughter Margaret, born in South Carolina in 1776, and his stated residence in the 1780 Bramlett land resurvey recorded in Virginia is “Laurens Dist., S.C.” Marianne’s Aunt Elizabeth and Uncle William Bramblett and family, who moved to South Carolina by 1773 when their royal land grant from Gov. William Bull and King George III was surveyed, also lived nearby. Revolutionary War pension records indicate Marianne’s brother Reuben Bramlett, one of the three first cousins with that given name born in the same generation in Fauquier County, was stationed for three months in South Carolina on the Indian Line as a soldier during the war in 1780 or 1781; however 1787, the birth year of Reuben’s second son Henry, is the first definite date of his residency in South Carolina. Later census records indicate at least two of Reuben’s children were born in South Carolina: Henry in 1787 and Nathan in 1799. (He later moved into Christian Co., Ky., circa 1801 and then settled in 1818 in a portion of Gallatin Co., Ill., that later became Saline County in 1847.) Marianne’s brother John went to Laurens County from Fauquier County circa 1785. Marianne’s brother Nathan may have gone to South Carolina at the same time, but was definitely in Laurens County by 1789 when bought land there. Laurens County census records indicate Marianne also may have had at least two or three other sisters who moved in South Carolina with their mother, Margaret, by 1790. Marianne’s mother, Margaret, bought land adjacent to Nathan’s farm in 1791.

Frederick’s name first appears in existing Laurens County records in that December 1775 deed: “Fredk. Burdett” and “Wm. Bramlet” (Marianne’s uncle) witnessed the deed on Dec. 10-11, 1775, when their neighbor William Vaughn, a “planter of Craven Co, Prev, of S.C.,” and his wife, Barbara Vaughn, sold two hundred acres of land on the north side of Beaverdam Creek of Enoree River in Laurens District to John Stone (DB-C:159). The land was part of a 400-acre grant to William Vaughn on Jan. 16, 1772. The Vaughns owned land adjacent to Marianne’s Uncle William Bramblett’s 1773 William Bull land grant property. (The “William Bramlet” who witnessed the 1775 deed is the owner of the 1773 loyal and grant and Frederick’s uncle by marriage, the brother of Marianne’s father, Henry Jr.) Frederick Burdett and William Bramlet may have been signing as witnesses for John Stone. Stone’s land also adjoined the property that Margaret Bramlett, Henry Jr.’s widow, bought in Laurens County in 1791. Stones also were early members of Bramlett Methodist Church. William Thompson also witnessed the 1775 deed, probably for the Vaughns. The deed was recorded April 27, 1790, in Laurens County. To legally witness a deed in 1775, Frederick had to have been at least age 21, thus born in/before 1754, which is consistent with his documented birth year: 1753. “Fredk. Burdett” also witnessed a deed in Laurens County on Nov. 28, 1789, when Richard Fowler and wife, Debby, sold Nathan Bramlett his 225 acres of land “where sd N. B. now lives” on “Zeack’s” Branch (Beaverdam Creek) of Enoree River for “45 pounds proclamation money” (DB-C:131). The land was originally granted to Richard Fowler on June 1, 1789. Other witnesses: William Stone and Reuben Bramlett (most likely the brother-in-law of Frederick and brother of Nathan Bramlett and Marianne, who went on to Kentucky and settled in Illinois, since Reuben Jr., son of Reuben Sr., did not move to the area until 1794). The deed was recorded March 16, 1790.

Frederick’s Revolutionary War Service

Frederick served as a soldier on horseback during the Revolutionary War. Pay records indicate he fought at the Battle of King’s Mountain on Oct. 7, 1780, and at Cowpens on Jan. 17, 1781. “Frederick Burdit” is included as a Revolutionary War soldier in loose papers found in the South Carolina State House in Columbia, S.C., according to “The Revolutionary Rolls,” published by the Secretary of State in The State newspaper on Sunday, Oct. 9, 1904. Frederick’s military service is documented in pay records in South Carolina Archives: Stub entry #390, issued June 16, 1785, indicates South Carolina paid “Three Pounds One Shilling and Five Pence Sterlg,” amounting to “Twenty-one Pounds Ten Shillings” Current Money to “Mr. Frederick Burdit” for “Militia duty before the reduction of Charlestown” (Accounts Audited, p. 912, frames 329-330). Charleston fell on May 12, 1780. The payment was based on Col. Anderson’s return. Stub Entry #39017 in 1785 indicates the militia also paid Frederick three pounds, one shilling sterling (twenty pounds current money) in 1785 “for services at the Battle of King’s Mountain” on Oct. 7, 1780, and for service at Cowpens on Jan. 17, 1781.

Loose papers also indicate one “William Burdet” (possibly Frederick’s brother) served “101 days militia duty…on horseback” in Capt. John Wilson’s Company during Sept. 11, 1779, to June 16, 1780 (The State 1904). Transcripts and copied images of the actual pay stub records, microfilmed by South Carolina Dept. of Archives and History, follow:

State So Carolina Dr. [Deliver/delivered] to William Burdet for 101 days Toward duty from four differ[en]t Pay Bills of Capt. [John] Willson performd alternately from Sept. 11th 1779 untill June 16th 1780 vizt on horseback 38 days — L38 [plus] 42 do — 42 [plus] 4 do — 4 [plus] 17 do — 17 [Total] 101 days Stlg 14.8.6 3/4 *This 38 Days to Capt. [Hugh] Wardlaw’s Pay Bill.” The transcript of the second page: “[No.] 607 – 31 Decr 1784 Mr. William Burdet his accot. of 101 Days Militia Duty as Private on Horseback on four Bills Pay…[rolls?] of Capt. H. Wardlaw’s performd alternately from Sept. Eleventh to June 16, 1780…101 days…Duty 280. 6 3/4 Fourteen Pounds, Eight shillings & Six Pence three shillings Sterling – Exd. T. W. J. McAgee (SCAR Microcopy 8 Roll 16 Record 911). [Figures written and calculated on the page:] 280.6 3/4 (minus) 20.09.11 1/4 (minus) 12 (equals) 239.

Researchers calculate the birth year of William as circa 1755, which would make him a contemporary of Frederick, who was born in 1753. Although they lived in the same general area of South Carolina, present-day Edgefield and Laurens in Ninety-Six District, it is not known if the two men knew of or were related to each other. This William Burdett married Patience Delacey Hart and later received three land grants in present-day Edgefield County.

By serving as a soldier in the war, Frederick was eligible to acquire a state land grant in Laurens County in 1786. After the war was over, South Carolina granted free land to officers but for a small fee granted vacant land to volunteer veterans who had served in lower ranks. The latter, who paid for their land, aided the state once again, beyond their military service, by helping South Carolina acquire funds to pay down the war debt. The majority of the post-Revolutionary War state grants were purchased, and some veterans used the pay they received for their military services to buy their state land grants.

Frederick and Marianne’s land, located on this map slightly south and east of where Marianne’s mother, Margaret “Peggy” Bramlett, and brother Nathan Bramlett lived and where Bramlett Methodist Episcopal (now United Methodist) Church was and still is located. Marianne’s sister or cousin Sarah Bramlett and husband, Nicholas Ware Garrett, and her aunt and uncle Elizabeth (Gist/Gest?) and William Bramblett had also settled in the area, the latter in 1773. Nicholas Garrett’s land also is designated on the map. He is son of Anne West Owsley and Edward Garrett and brother of William Garrett who married Nancy Bramlett, possibly another sister or cousin of Marianne. Henry Bramlett III, brother of Marianne, may have obtained a post-war land grant in 1792 southwest of the other Bramlett properties in Laurens County and lived there before he relocated his family to Elbert Co., Ga.

Frederick and Marianne Burdette lived near Bramlett Church, shown in top left grid, and close to land owned by her brother Nathan Bramlett and mother, Margaret Bramlett. Frederick’s land, granted Dec. 4, 1786, is farther right, above Beaverdam Creek, south of Enoree River, north of William and Elizabeth Bramblett’s 1773 property.

Frederick’s Revolutionary War Land Grant

State of South-Carolina, To all to whom these Presents shall come, Greeting: Know Ye, That for and in Consideration of Four Pounds ten Shillings & 2 Pe[nce] Sterling Money, paid by Frederick Burdit into the Treasury for the use of this State, We have granted, and by these Presents do grant unto the said Frederick Burdit Heirs and Assigns, a Plantation or Tract of Land, containing One hundred and ninety three Acres Situate in the District of ninety six, on a Branch of Enoree River having such Shape, Form and Marks, as are represented by a Plat hereunto annexed, together with all Woods, Trees, Waters, Watercourses, Profits, Commodities, Appurtenances, and Heriditaments whatsoever thereunto belonging, To have and to hold the said Tract of One hundred and ninety three Acres of Land, and all and singular other the Premises hereby granted unto the said Frederick Burdit his Heirs and Assigns, for ever, in free and common Soccage. Given under the Great Seal of the State. Witness, his Excellency William Moultrie Esquire, Governor and Commander in Chief in and over the said State, at Charleston, this fourth Day of December Anno Domini, One Thousand Seven Hundred and Eighty six and in the Eleventh Year of the Independence of the United States of America. William L. M. S. Moultrie And hath thereunto a Plat thereof annexed, representing the same, certified by F. Bremar Surveyor-General. 27th March 1786. (Vol. 13, p. 95)

Property owned by “Frederick Burdett” is mentioned as a landmark on a plat recorded for James Higgins in Laurens Co., S.C., in 1788. Higgins received a land grant for 79 acres on Beaverdam Creek, Enoree River, Ninety-Six Dist., S.C., which was surveyed by James Wofford on Sept. 24, 1788 (SCDAH S213190:23:240:2). Frederick’s 1786 land grant property is mentioned as a landmark in two deeds recorded in 1800 in Laurens County. One deed dated Dec. 17, 1800, when Isaac Lindsay sold 50 acres of land on the Pan Trough Branch of Enoree River to Moses Biter, indicates “Fetherick Burdett” and others owned adjacent land (DB-G:129). The land was also bounded by property owned by Edward Lindsay, James Higgins and Thompson Farley; and the deed indicates it was part of an original grant to Steen, J. (John) Lindsay, Brown and Cannon. William Higgins and Edward Lindsay witnessed the deed, which was recorded Dec. 18, 1800. Frederick and Marianne’s property also is mentioned as a landmark in a deed dated Dec. 18, 1800, when Edward Lindsay and wife, Catey, sold 46 acres of land on the south side of Enoree River to Ezekiel Lindsay (DB-G:515). The land, part of a tract conveyed by John Lindsay to Edward, Isaac and Ezekiel Lindsay, was bounded by property owned by “Fredk. Burdet” and Ephraim Moore and Thompson Farley. Ephraim Moore, Elizabeth Moore and Isaac Lindsay witnessed the deed, which was recorded Nov. 29, 1802 (DB-G:515). “Fredk. Burdett” witnessed a deed in Laurens County on April 23, 1801, when Nathan and Elizabeth Gray Bramlett sold John Burdett 100 acres of land for 25 pounds (DB-O:199). The deed was not recorded until April 6, 1844, after Nathan and Elizabeth had died. The land, located on the south side of the Enoree River, was part of an original grant by Gov. Charles Pinckney to Richard Fowler on June 1, 1789. In 1801 it was bounded by property owned by Elias Stone, (Amos?) Critchfield and Margaret Bramlett (Marianne’s mother), “along stony ridge.” Samuel Ansley and Zachariah Gray also witnessed the 1801 Bramlett-Burdett deed.

Frederick was a trustee at Bramlett Methodist Episcopal (now United Methodist) Church near Young’s Store northeast of Gray Court, S.C., in 1807. “Fredk. Burdett” was one of three trustee recipients mentioned in a deed written June 2, 1807, when Nathan Bramlett and George Sims granted the trustees and the church “for the sum of five dollars” two acres of land “near Enoree River on Zaks Creek for the purpose of securing a Meeting House thereon, standing and to remain for the use of the Methodist Episcopal Church…” (DB-H:235). (“Zak’s” or Zeak’s, Ezekiel’s, Creek is part of, known as Beaverdam Creek.) The other trustees listed are Joel Fowler and Raughley Stone. Frederick Burdett signed (made his mark on) the deed as recipient; and his son John Burditt and Benjamin Tradewell, a neighbor or possibly relative, witnessed the deed. Frederick’s son John Burditt also signed the deed and agreed to deliver it to his father when it was recorded July 6, 1807, by John Garlington, Register’s Office, of Laurens District.

Frederick and Marianne in Census Data

Frederick may or may not be the “Frederick Burt,” Free white male of 16 years and upward, who is listed in the First U.S. Census for Ninety-Six (Laurens) Dist., S.C., in 1790. He headed a family that includes four free white females (wife, Marianne, and three daughters Margaret, born 1781; Mary Ann “Molly,” born 1784; and Elizabeth, born 1786) and three free whie males under age 16 years (three sons John, born 1776; Henry, born 1778; and Reuben, born 1787). Other children were born after 1790. “Frederick Burdict,” 45 and over, born before 1755, is listed in the 1800 U.S. Census for Laurens Co., S.C., as head of a family that includes a female 45 and over, born before 1755 (wife, Marianne); two females 16-26, born 1774-84 (daughters Margaret and Mary Ann “Molly”); a male 16-26, born 1774-84 (nephew? son-in-law?); a female 10-16, born 1784-90 (daughter Elizabeth); a male 10-16, born 1784-90 (son William); a female under 10, born 1790-1800 (daughter Alcey/Ailsey); and one male under 10, born 1790-1800 (son Jesse). Sons John, Henry and Reuben Burdett, married and were living away from home, are listed as heads of their own families in 1800. “Fredrick Burdit,” 45 and over, born in/before 1765, is listed in the 1810 U.S. Census for Laurens Co., S.C., as head of a family that includes a female 45 and over (wife, Marianne), and four children: a male 16-26, born 1784-94 (son Jesse or William), and three females 16-26, born 1784-94 (daughters Mary Ann “Molly,” Elizabeth, Alcey/Ailsey) (NARA Film M252:61:88). Frederick is not listed as head of his family in 1820. (Frederick Burtz in 1820 is a different person.) “Fred Burdett,” 70-80, is listed in the 1830 U.S. Census for Laurens Co., S.C., as head of a family that includes a female 70-80 (wife, Marianne) and three grown children: a male 40-50 (son William), a female 30-40 (daughter Mary Ann “Molly”) and a female 15-20 (daughter Alcey/Ailsey) (NARA Film M19:169:275). “Frederick Burdett,” 80-90, is listed in the 1840 U.S. Census for Laurens County as head of a family that includes two females 40-50 (daughters Mary Ann “Molly” and Alcey/Ailsey) and a male 40-50 (son William) (NARA Film M704:513:15).

An excerpt in South Carolina Magazine of Ancestral Research indicates “Frederick Burditt” and sons John and Henry as well as several others, including Frederick’s brother-in-law Nathan Bramlett, foreman, and (Frederick’s son-in-law?) Hezekiah Gray, were called to a Laurens District Coroner’s Inquisition on Feb. 6, 1815, to “view the body of Daniel Bragg found dead and drowned in Enoree River” and find out “when where how and after what manner the s’d D. Brag[g] came to his death.” The report, filed two days later in Laurens District Court by Coroner William Irby, indicates Bragg, “in striving to save a negroe man he got drowned” (SCMAR 197). The same panel members were asked to “View the body of a negro man drowned on the plantation of Daniel Bragg” on the same day and report the manner of death. The report, filed two days later in Laurens District, indicated “Negroe George the property of Daniel Brag[g] came to his death…in crossing Enoree River” Feb. 5, 1815, when he “got wash’d off his horse and got drowned” (SCMAR 24-4:198).

Illustration from Jesse Bramlett Burdett’s Family Bible

Family Bibles

Inscriptions for Frederick and Marianne and their children were transcribed Feb. 19, 1950, by the late Helen A. (Gossett) Burdette, wife of the late Melvin Louis Burdette Sr., from a small Burdette Bible owned by the late Thomas Oscar Burdette. The inscriptions came from an older Bible. The small Burdette Bible was then, in 1950, in possession of Toy Donald Burdette. Helen shared her 1950 transcript with Franklin Donald Burdette, who, with Melvin Louis Burdette Jr., contributes the information to this history.

Fredrick Burdett b. Oct. 15 – 1753

Ag. 87 yrs. 3. mons. d. Feb. 10 – 1841

Maryan Burdett b. Sept. 15 – 1752

Ag. 81 yrs. 5 mons. 21 days d. March 8 – 1834

John Burdett b. Feb. 4 – 1776

83 yrs. 1 m. 6 days d. Mar. 11, 1859

Henry Burdett b. Sept. 5 – 1778

74 yrs. 9 m. 8 days d. May 29, 1853

Margret Burdett b. Dec. 3 – 1781

Mary Burdett Rhodes b. May 22 – 1784

83 yrs. 6 m. 23 days d. Nov. 13 – 1867

Reuben Burdett b. Nov. 26 – 1787

75 yrs. 1 m. 12 days d. Jan. 6 – 1862

Elizabeth Burdett Hand b. Sept. 1 – 1786

84 yrs. 8 m. 11 days d. May 12 – 1871

William Burdett b. Jan. 1[8?] – 1790

70 yrs. 16 days d. Feb 3 – 1860

Alcy Burdett b. March 18, 1793

78 yrs. 2 m. 10 days d. May 28, 1871

Jesse Burdett b. Oct. 18 – 1795

(no death date)

Bible cover and pages courtesy Melvin Louis Burdette Jr.

Following inscriptions are from the larger existing Burdette Bible, originally owned by Jesse and Agness Burdett, given to Thomas O. and Victoria Burdette, passed down to Toy D. and Maggie Burdette, then to Melvin Louis Sr. and Helen Burdette, then to Melvin Louis Burdette Jr., and to his son. The Bible is preserved in a sealed air-tight container and fire-proof safe.

MEMORANDA

Frederick Burdett was born Oct. 15th 1753 and died Feb. 10th 1841.

Marian Burdett was born Sep. 15th 1752 and died March 8th 1834.

John Burdett was born Feb. 4th 1776 and died March 11th 1859.

Henery Burdett was born Sep. 5th 1778 and died May 29th 1853.

Margaret Burdett was born Dec. 3d 1781.

May (Mary Ann) Burdett was born May 22d 1784 and died Nov. 13th 1867.

Reubin Burdett was born Nov. 26th 1787 and died Jan. 18th 1862.

Elizabeth Burdett was born Sep. 1st 1786 and died May 17th 1871.

William Burdett was born Jan. 18th 1790 and died Feb. 3d 1860.

Alcy Burdett was born March 18th 1793 and died May 28th 1871.

Jessee Burdett was born Oct. 18th 1795. (No death date)

Bible pages courtesy Melvin Louis Burdett Jr. See transcripts below in Jesse Burdett’s history.

Children of Marianne Bramlett and Frederick Burdette

Some of Frederick and Marianne’s nine children may have been named after her parents and siblings and other relatives: John after Marianne’s brother, Henry after Marianne’s father, Henry Bramlett Jr., and her brother Henry B