>
>
> [1]Tomorrow:
> November 22
>
> 1778: Two officers shot, ``Sabbath morning, 22nd. Our Party retreated
> yesterday to the Meeting House, where a recruit of some hundreds
> joined them with some Artillery, and some of our Party crossed the
> Swamp, and coming near a thicket where they expected an Ambuscade
> might probably be, Col. James Screven and one more, went forward to
> examine, the Colonel, and one Continental officer, and Mr. Judah
> Lewis, were shot down. The Colonel had three wounds; the other two
> killed. A flag was sent and brought off the Colonel.'' Source: Stacy-R
>
This is the General Screven of the monument in Midway Cemetery.
Apparently he must have been posthumously promoted to General,
since the contemporary records say he was a Colonel in this
skirmish, in which he received the wound from which he died.
His first wife was Patience Holmes. Nobody seems to know where
she came from; she doesn't seem to be related to the Abiel Holmes line.
Stacy remarks in his History, page 118:
``He [James Screven] fell mortally wounded in a skirmish with the British
under Col. Provost, on Spencer Hill, one and a half mile south of Midway
church, November 22, 1778. From the Midway Records and other
sources we gather the following facts: That Col. White had himself
gathered an army to meet Col. Provost approaching from the South;
that after and unsuccessful attempt at resistance at Newport Bridge
on Saturday morning, they fell back to Midway church. On the next
morning, Sunday, Gen. Screven and some of his party crossed the
swamp to reconnoitre, but falling into an ambuscade he fell
mortally wounded, receiving three wounds, one of which was
inflicted after he had fallen. He was sent by flag of truce that
evening by Captain Mittus and eight men, placed in the Vestry
House, treated by Dr. Dunwoody, removed afterwards to the house
of John Elliott, Senior, where he breathed his last Tuesday,
Nov. 24, 1778. Captain Strother and Mr. Judah Lewis were killed
in the same skirmish in which the general fell.''
Captain Strother was apparently the "one Continental officer"
referred to the in the Records. He and Mr. Judah Lewis and
Col Screven all died.
As near as I can tell, Mr. Judah Lewis and Captain Strother
were not related to the Midway group. Col. Screven was related,
as discussed previously in this list.
Of the other people mentioned, I would guess Dr. Dunwoody was
James Dunwody (1751-1809), son of John Dunwody of Londonderry, Ireland
and Susanna Creswell, married Esther Dean, had three children.
Hm, I didn't know there were any Irish in Midway. They also came
to Midway by way of Pennsylvania, which I didn't know had ever happened.
The immigrant John Donwody died in 1776, so the Dunwoody mentioned for
1778 couldn't have been him. His son (1751-1809) is recorded in several
sources, including his epitaph in Midway Cemetery, as being a doctor.
I don't know who Captain Mittus was. Nor Col. White.
John Elliott, Senior, would presumably be the one who married
Amarinthia ``Renchie'' Norman in 1790 and died in 1791.
He was referred to in one source as a Colonel, and Stacy
(History, p. 342) says he was a U.S. Senator.
Oops, actually, Senator John Elliott was the younger one:
http://bioguide.congress.gov/scripts/biodisplay.pl?index=E000124
That's according to his Congressional Biography.
According to our database, Senator John Elliott (1773-1827)
married Esther ``Hetty'' Dunwoody.
The database doesn't show his parents. However, several sources
recorded in his record in the database show that he was the son
of Col. Elliott, who was deceased when John Elliott who would be
Senator married Esther Dunwoody, who was a daughter of John Donwoody.
So the children of the veterans of the above story married.
How could Senator Elliott be a son of Col. Elliott if the former
was married to Renchie Norman? Well, she was married three times
(to Thomas Quarterman, Col. John Elliott, and to Rev. Cyrus Guildersleeve),
and that was common in those days; if your spouse died of war or the
all-too-frequent diseases, find another. Probably Col. Elliott was
married to someone who died before he married Renchie Norman. Does
anyone know to whom?
Meanwhile, back to Senator Elliott. For example, Stacy's History
on page 126 says:
``Hon. John Elliott, U. S. Senator. The son of Col. John Elliott
and grandson of John Elliott, one of the original settlers, was born
in St. John's parish October 24, 1773, baptized December 8, 1773, and
six years in the Unites States Senate from 1819 to 1825, married
Esther, daughter of Dr. James Dunwoody, October 1, 1795. The daughter
Esther Amarantha, born unto them married James Stephen Bullock,
grandson of Archibald Bullock, president of the provincial Congress
that met in Savannah July 4, 1775, and first republican governor of
Georgia.''
The original settler John Elliott must have been the one who died 1765
at Sunbury, whose will (according to Abstracts of Colonial Wills of the
State of Georgia 1733-1777) names a child John who is one of his Executors
(along with "brother John Quarterman" and others).
We trace settler John Elliott's line back two more generations to a
John Elliott in South Carolina. I'd guess he was one of the Elliotts
of Massachusetts, but I don't know.
Here's how the Senator died:
``Marriage and Death Notices from The Charleston Observer 1827-1845
Issue of Aug 4, 1827. In Savannah, 9th inst., Hon, John Elliott,
late a Senator of the U. States, 55, Mr. E. while administering
to his sick slaves in Liberty co. 12 of whom died of dysentery,
was seized with the same complaint.''
--Brent Holcomb, South Carolina Marriages, South Carolina Magazine
of Ancestral Research.
John S. Quarterman <jsq@quarterman.org>
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