Patriot William Griffin – 4th Great Grandfather c 1721 Virginia – 1791 South Carolina
William Griffin, Revolutionary War Patriot, was born to John Griffin sometime between 1721 – 1725 in St Thomas Parish, Orange County, Virginia. Like his ancestors before him, William became a planter. William married Rachell Smith on April 13, 1738 at Christ Church Parish in Middlesex County, Virginia. Rachell had been born in that parish on Aug. 17, 1719. The original church was wood and built in the mid 1600’s. In 1712, it was remodeled and the wooden walls were covered with brick. Below is the church attended by Wm and Rachell.
Initially, William and Rachell must have lived on the Terry’s Run land with his family, as they were very young. However, in June 1740 we see that William purchased 200 acres of land on the border of St. Mark’s Parish in Orange County and St. George’s Parish in Spotsylvania County.
He and Rachell worked this land for a little over four years, then sold it in November of 1744. This would have been following his father’s death in late 1743.
In 1745 William and Rachell had a son, John Taylor. In 1746, we see that William and Rachel have decided to lease property to plant tobacco. They secured 150 acres at the cost of 800 pounds of tobacco per year.
Interestingly, the property that they were leasing had belonged to Alexander Spotswood (c. 1676 – 6 June 1740) who was a Lieutenant-Colonel in the British Army and a renowned Lieutenant Governor of Colonial Virginia. He is noted in American history for many projects including his exploration beyond the Blue Ridge Mountains, his establishment of what was perhaps the first colonial iron works in Virginia, and his negotiation of the Treaty of Albany with the Iroquois Nations of New York. Spotswood was a wealthy man owning over 80,000 acres in Spotsylvania County, Virginia along with three iron furnaces. To see the full contract William signed with Spotswood’s agents, the following link provides an identical indenture (contract) for 150 acres at the cost of 800 pounds of tobacco with a Thomas Thornton. Thornton signed his indenture on the same day that William signed his.
http://files.usgwarchives.net/va/orange/deeds/s132a1dd.txt
In 1750, William and Rachell purchased 100 acres of land from ‘Thomas Jones on the branches of the Robinson River and nine years later sold that 100 acres to Charles Laysle for £16 (October 18, 1759). I do not have Williams’ purchase document, but I do have his sales indenture and have seen the documentation of Thomas Jones purchasing this land from Richard Mauldin in 1740.
William and Brothers move to the 96 District, South Carolina:
Again, a bit of history: In 1663, re-instated King Charles II, who gave away vast regions in Colonial America as if they had really belonged to him (e.g. Northern Neck Proprietary), was again playing favorites, this time with land in the Carolinas. He granted to eight of his English friends/supporters a charter with certain governing privileges to repay them for their financial and political assistance in restoring him to the throne of his father. This grant was of the territory extending from the present southern line of Virginia to the St. Johns, in Florida, and from the Atlantic to the Pacific and was called the Province of Carolina. The first permanent settlement, at Charles Town (Charleston) on the Ashley River, was established by the English in 1670.
From 1670 to 1800 there was mass migration from northern colonies as well as from Europe to a westerly expanding South Carolina territory, i.e. the “backcountry”. The 96 District of South Carolina is of particular importance to our lineage. This is basically the area around today’s Greenville, S.C. In the mid-eighteenth century, Ninety-Six, South Carolina was a thriving community, built close to the convergence of the Cherokee Path, a key route from the Cherokee lands to Charleston, and the Island Ford Road, which led to the Saluda River and points further southeast. The strategic location of Ninety-Six made it a crucial stopover for traders and travelers—it was a location known widely throughout the South during the late colonial period.
In the first half of the 1700’s, the European settlers who established themselves in the area to live and trade, co-existed peacefully with the Cherokees. However, colonial leadership wanted to increase European settlement in order to develop a buffer between the colony’s thriving coastal plantations/developments and the Cherokees. The colony advertised for settlers who were willing to work hard if given security in their lands and freedom to have their own churches. The migration began with a trickle in 1750 and became a flood in the 1760’s. The new inhabitants neither understood nor appreciated their Indian neighbors. Discord grew, resulting in an Anglo-Cherokee war in 1760 and 1761. During this time, the British built a fort in Ninety-Six which would develop into an important British Army stronghold during the Revolutionary War.
Following the war with the Cherokees, many displaced, truly lawless men moved into Ninety-six. The backcountry pioneers lacked access to courts and suffered from the depredations of general lawlessness. Eventually, the backcountry settlers formed vigilante groups to protect their interests. After much political wrangling, and on-going violence, the South Carolina Provincial Assembly recognized the need to provide law enforcement and court access to the back county. Ninety-Six again benefited from its strategic location and the South Carolina Assembly, in 1769, directed that a substantial brick courthouse and jail be built in the town.
Sometime around 1768, William and Rachell, with William’s brothers, Richard, Anthony and James, had migrated from Orange County, Virginia to South Carolina’s backcountry. The two principal land routes to South Carolina, used by settlers from the northern colonies, are known to historians as branches of the Great Philadelphia Wagon Road, viz., the “Upper Road” and the “Fall Line Road.” As you can see from this map, the Griffin’s would have traveled the Upper Road to the 96 District.
South Carolina was divided into two distinct cultural groups at this time. In the coastal tidewater, large plantations owned by a “gentlemanly” leisure class but worked by slaves predominated; the cultural focus was the city of Charlestown and the prevailing religion was that of the Anglican Church. Conversely, the inhabitants of the backcountry, were mostly hard working, small farmers, who owned few if any slaves; their religion, if any, was primarily Presbyterian or Baptist. The backcountry people were also grossly under-represented in the South Carolina Assembly and although they paid much money in taxes, they received little support from the government of any sort.
In 1768 William received a royal grant of 350 acres on a branch of Little River (off the larger Saluda River) called Carsons Creek, in the 96 District. This area is southeast of today’s Greenville. In July 1771, he purchased another 200 acres just north of his initial property. From Laurens and Newberry Counties South Carolina: Saluda and Little River Settlements 1749 – 1775:
Here William raised tobacco and children. He and Rachell had at least six children: John Taylor, James, Joseph, Janes, William and Nancy. They had been in South Carolina about 7 years when the Revolutionary War challenged them.
Revolutionary War :
(Specific info on the war in Ninety-Six, S.C. comes from research done by Ann Midgley; citation is noted at the end of this section)
In 1775, while the backcountry settlers of Ninety-Six and surrounds were concerned with the constant threat of violence, the more established coastal regions became caught up in the general colonial ferment against restrictive or repressive British policies and Britain’s attempts to raise revenue through taxation of the colonists. William would have been between 50 – 55 at the beginning of the Revolutionary War. He watched as South Carolina’s influential and wealthy planter class split between political radicals and moderates. He saw that the rebel radical Whig leaders successfully seized control of the state government and established a Provincial Congress and Council of Safety to control the colony.
The Provincial Congress called upon citizens to sign a statement siding with the rebel cause. Determined to bring their viewpoints to the backcountry and rally the populace to the rebellion, a delegation visited the outlying regions during the summer of 1775. They encountered a mixed reception; while recent settlers from Europe tended to support the Crown, most in the backcountry were apathetic to the political nature of the conflict and supported neither side.
Loyalist leaders in Ninety-Six, who had developed a militia, threatened the delegation from Charlestown. To counter the influence of these Loyalist leaders, the delegation called out a local rebel militia. These rebels marched against the Loyalist militia and both sides camped near Ninety Six. Tensions in the area were extreme. To head off full-out armed conflict, a peace conference was held which resulted in the Treaty of Ninety-Six on September 16, 1775.
The treaty didn’t hold, as a few months later Loyalists stole a shipment of rifles being sent by the Provincial Congress to the Cherokee in hopes the natives would help repulse the British. With the stolen rifles, the Loyalist militia descended upon Ninety-Six, captured the courthouse, and attacked the stockade. Again, the local rebel militia emerged. The combatants sporadically fought the first Battle of Ninety-Six off and on over a three-day period, from November 19 to November 21, 1775. It resulted in one rebel death and minimal rebel casualties; the Loyalists lost fifty-two men but routed the rebels.
In reaction, the Whig-controlled colonial government in Charlestown sent a force to arrest the local Loyalist leaders. As the force marched to Ninety-Six it grew in numbers, ultimately reaching over 5,000. With this show of patriotic force, Loyalist resistance withered away in the South Carolina backcountry. The Provincial government gained control of the region. It was perhaps at this time that our Griffins became Patriots.
For the next three years, the focus of the war remained to the North, although there were skirmishes throughout South Carolina. After years of fighting the Northern and Middle colonies, the British and American forces had reached a stalemate. Struggling to find a way to end the war and retain at least some of their American mainland colonies, the British seized upon their “Southern Strategy”. This strategy was built upon the precarious assumption that a significant population of Loyalists existed in the Southern colonies and waited only on the military support of Britain to rise and take back control of their colonies.
Initial successes followed Britain’s shift to the Southern theatre, with the capture of Savannah in Dec. 1778 and Charlestown in May 1780. Anxious to seal their victories, the British fanned out forces to pacify the backcountry, establishing strong posts at key strategic towns, including Ninety-Six in June 1780. The war was again on William’s doorstep, Ninety-Six being about 28 miles from Carsons Creek (see map above). Battles and skirmishes whirled throughout the area.
At this point we know that William and his family were heavily involved as patriots. Too old to be a soldier, William provided supplies to the colonial forces. Brothers, Richard and Anthony, also provided supplies and Richard served as a juror. Younger brother, James, served in the SC Militia under Captains William Freeman and John Calhoun. William’s oldest son, John Taylor Griffin, fought in the war and was killed at the Battle of Fishing Creek in the Camden District of South Carolina in August 1780. http://www.revolutionarywar101.com/battles/800818-fishing-creek/. Son, James, served as a private and corporal under Captains Blount and Fugles, Colonels Buncombe and Harney, North Carolina troops. William’s son, Joseph, our 3rd great grandfather was born @1767 and was too young to participate in the war.
The British had returned to Ninety-Six in 1780 not only for its strategic location but also because they believed that most residents in the surrounding area stood ready to support the Crown. British leadership was initially successful with their campaign to attract and train Loyalist troops in the area. However, early triumphs came to a swift defeat at the Battle of Kings Mountain on October 7, 1780, where a mixed group of rebel militia gathered from many regions decimated the Loyalist troops. News traveled as fast as horses, so word spread quickly. King’s Mountain was 85 miles from William’s home.
With that major defeat, General Cornwallis, the British leader of the “Southern Strategy” thought it was urgent to protect the British forts at Ninety-Six (Star Fort) and other backcountry areas. He cautioned his officers on February 4, 1781, “You know the importance of Ninety-Six, let that place be your constant care.” While Cornwallis had troops chasing the rebels up through North Carolina into Virginia in 1781, British forces assigned to Ninety-Six were not idle. Beginning in September 1780, the British commander had worked ceaselessly to secure Star Fort, building two redoubts and a block house, improving the existing palisade surrounding the village with a deep ditch, which he further enhanced with an abates, felled trees intertwined and set into the ground, with sharpened ends facing the direction of potential attack.
On May 22, 1781, Nathaniel Greene’s rebel forces lay siege to Star Fort. They fought until June 11th but had not yet taken it. With British reinforcements 30 miles away, they were forced to change tactics and head to Charlotte, NC. and then to Yorktown, where they were ultimately successful in beating the British.
In the end, the strategic significance of Ninety-Six doomed its future. Ninety-Six ended in a blaze of fire and smoke when in July 1781 the British abandoned Star Fort, torched the town and shepherded its Loyalist inhabitants to Charlestown. With the fall of Ninety-Six, the British indeed lost the war in the backcountry. They fully surrendered at Yorktown, Virginia four months later.
Although on the winning side of the Revolutionary War, the Griffins, as other backcountry patriots, suffered terribly during this conflict.
Midgley, Anne (2013) “Ninety-Six: Strategic Backcountry Outpost and Microcosm of the American Revolutionary War,” Saber and Scroll: Vol. 2: Iss. 1, Article 6. Available at: http://digitalcommons.apus.edu/saberandscroll/vol2/iss1/6
After the war:
By the end of the Revolution, South Carolina had lost many slaves and skilled Loyalist workers, causing an economic upset. They could combat this, however, with the coastal area’s dominant plantation-based economy that characterized the eighteenth century and would continue to do so for decades to follow. These large farms, typically no less than 500 acres, continued to produce mass quantities of staple crops harvested specifically for market, rendering South Carolina one of the wealthiest states in the Union. The expansive plantations specialized primarily in indigo and rice.
In the backcountry, the 350-acre Griffin farm, like other smaller farms, existed primarily for consumption; most backcountry families were subsistence farmers and typically grew only what they needed for themselves, infrequently harvesting enough for market.
Yet, the backcountry grew in population and backcountry planters grew in prosperity, and with greater numbers and fortunes backcountry political influence increased. By 1808, compromise between the low country and backcountry granted better apportionment in government and succeeded in improving governmental administration: districts were established, improving parish administration; backcountry courthouses were established; and South Carolina’s capital moved from Charlestown to Columbia.
William and Rachell lived in South Carolina through tumultuous times. William died at the age of @ 70, in 1791. His lands were first left to Rachell, and at her death they were divided among his three living sons, Joseph, William Jr., and James.