GENEALOGICAL NOTES ON THE FAMILY OF JOHN SEALY PIONEER SETTLER OF UP COUNTRY SOUTH CAROLINA

According to the records of the Daughters of the American Revolution, JOHN SEALY was born ca 1710. He married JEAN JAGGERS and their first son PETER, was born ca 1740. We do not know where PETER was born, but we do know that JOHN SEALY received a land grant in Craven County, South Carolina in 1758, and we know that their son SAMUEL was born ca 1760 in what is now Chester County, South Carolina. ELIZABETH, the first daughter was born ca 1748; and SARAH was born ca 1750. JOHN SEALY'S will was dated September 11, 1791 and was proven January 4, 1792. JEAN JAGGERS SEALY'S estate was inventoried June 3, 1796. The inventory was conducted by ASA DARBY, CHURCHILL CARTER and JEREMIAH KINGSLEY.

PETER SEALY was married at least twice, and his first children were as follows: THOMAS; MARTHA, born January 27, 1790, married JOHN JAGGERS, JR., and died April 9, 1826; ELLENDORE, wife of JOHN GORE; SARAH, wife of ALLEN ESTES, and moved to Milledgeville, Georgia; EZEKIEL, last heard of in Jackson County, Georgia; SAMUEL, whom we believe was the husband of NANCY ESTES and EDWARD RANDOLPH, who married first NANCY DARBY, daughter of ASA DARBY and his wife, DORCAS GORE. "'His second wife was MARGARET CROSBY, daughter of JOHN TAYLOR CROSBY and SARAH JETER; and his third wife was NANCY RICHARDSON. EDWARD RANDOLPH SEALY was born before June 1, 1777, and died January 1864 in Monroe County, Mississippi.

PETER SEALY'S last wife was SARAH ESTES, sister to the above mentioned NANCY ESTES, and their children were PETER BURNETT, born January 5, 1803, married ELEANOR WYLAS; HANNAH A. born April 5, 1807, married WILLIAM P. CAROLAN; JAMES D., married SARAH... ; JOHN W. (Wesley?), married ELIZABETH SPENCER (the widow HILL); and WESLEY C., born January 18, 1810, married ELIZA BROWN, and settled in Panola County, Texas. A witness to PETER SEALY'S will was WILLIAM BURNETT, but no relationship has been established. PETER SEALY fought in the Revolutionary War. His will was probated in January 1812. No mention was made of his son SAMUEL, but NANCY SEALY and her children were included.

ELIZABETH SEALY married first HENRY HARDEN and their children were JOHN, born November 1763, who married HANNAH ... ; GEORGE; PETER; SARAH; and ELIZABETH. HENRY HARDEN died about 1783, and ELIZABETH then married ROBERT WALKER and had at least one son, SEALY WALKER, born about 1785. ELIZABETH SEALY WALKER'S death date is unknown. It is interesting to note that HENRY HARDEN was a Tory, but his son JOHN was a Revolutionary Soldier.

SARAH SEALY married JOHN TERRY, son of STEPHEN TERRY and his wife, SARAH, on February 16, 1776. The only child of this marriage was JEREMIAH SEALY TERRY, born about 1777. SARAH SEALY TERRY died May 20, 1778 in Chester County, South Carolina.

SAMUEL SEALY married SARAH (last name unknown) and their children were WILLIAM, born December 1778, married HESTER JAGGERS; NANCY, born December 1780, married .... MORRIS; JOHN, born June 1783; JAMES FOSTER, born September 1785, and who married twice, apparently. In 1827 he was married to FRANCIS, and later to ELIZABETH. RICHARD, born December 1787;

SAMUEL, JR., born August 1789 and moved to Talbot County, Georgia with his mother, SARAH, brother GARRETT, and sister WINNA BURNETT; TEMPY, born August 1792; WINNA BURNETT, born August 1795 and never married; FERDINAND, born July 1798, married CATHERINE... and moved to Tuscaloosa, Alabama about 1828; BETSY, born 1800; and GARRETT (called Ed), born 1806, married first NANCY DARBY and second, JULIA CROUCH.

SAMUEL SEALY was a Revolutionary War soldier, and died September 6, 1827 in Chester, South Carolina, intestate. Prior to his death, SAMUEL "sold" his property to his children in order to disperse his estate. After his father's death, JOHN felt that his father had been duped by his brothers and sisters into giving the portions that he did, and filed suit against them in Chester County. By the time the suit came to court, all of this brothers and sisters had left South Carolina, and the case was dropped. JAMES FOSTER SEALY returned to South Carolina with his family and died there, but none of the others returned for any length of time. Since only eight of the eleven children were included in the suit, it is assumed that RICHARD, TEMPY, and BETSY were dead by this time.

It was during this exodus from South Carolina that WILLIAM went to Tennessee; FERDINAND went to Alabama; SAMUEL JR., GARRETT, WINNA BURNETT, and mother SARAH went to Talbot County, Georgia (where SARAH died after unsuccessfully trying to get her widow's pension from SAMUEL'S war service). We have no further record of NANCY SEALY MORRIS, who had at least two sons, FERDINAND SEALY MORRIS and ANDREW WATSON MORRIS. JAMES FOSTER SEALY returned home after a short while and it is unknown where he had gone.

At this point, we will concentrate on WILLIAM SEALY, son of SAMUEL, grandson of JOHN SEALY. WILLIAM SEALY married HESTER JAG GERS, niece of his grandmother, JEAN JAGGERS SEALY. HESTER was the daughter of DANIEL JAGGERS, and his wife HESTER, granddaughter of JOHN HITCHCOCK. WILLIAM and HESTER lived near his father, and their first child, ENOCH JAGGERS SEALY was born there ca 1802. Other children, born in South Carolina were HESTER JAGGERS SEALY, born February 20, 1808; SAMUEL D. (DARBY?) SEALY, born ca 1811; and SARAH ELIZABETH SEALY, born January 17, 1813.

As mentioned above, when SAMUEL died, WILLIAM and his family, including ELLIS SEALY, son of EDWARD RANDOLPH SEALY and NANCY DARBY, moved to Tennessee. They left shortly after 12 November 1827 when ENOCH sold his property to his deceased wife's brother-in-law, WILLIAM HARDIN, and arrived in Tennessee prior to February 14, 1828.

WILLIAM and his first cousin, EDWARD RANDOLPH SEALY were apparently very close. They were the same age and of course, grew up "next door" and evidence points to the fact that when NANCY DARBY SEALY died, EDWARD RANDOLPH left ELLIS with WILLIAM and HESTER. In checking the 1810 census, there are two males under 10 (Ellis was born ca 1801) in the household. Since SAMUEL D. was born ca 1811, the second male could easily have been ELLIS. ELLIS' brother THOMAS was not in the WILLIAM SEALY household in this census. ELLIS SEALY and his wife, ABIGAIL..., went to Tennessee with WILLIAM and family.

ENOCH JAGGERS SEALY was born ca 1801, and ca 1821 married NANCY JANE CORNWELL, daughter of ELI CORNWELL and his wife, RHODA PRICE COLVIN. Their first child, OBADIAH ELI SEALY, was born April 10, 1822 in Chester District, South Carolina. Their other child, JANE, died in infancy, and NANCY JANE CORNWELL SEALY died November 6, 1824. In 1825, ENOCH bought 109 acres of land from his father WILLIAM, for $200. This transaction was witnessed by his Uncle JOHN SEALY and ILAI PRATT. In 1827, ENOCH bought 117 acres of land from JAMES DARBY for $232. This sale was witnessed by ABRAHAM BANNISTER and his Uncle SAMUEL SEALY, JR. It was this last purchase that he sold just prior to moving to Tennessee.

On February 28, 1828, ENOCH married his first cousin, HESTER L. ESTES, daughter of JOHN ESTES and his wife, MARTHA JANE JAGGERS. ENOCH and HESTER had eight children: JOHN WILLIAM, born February 25, 1829, married May 2, 1866 to TENNESSEE HUCKABY; JAMES E., born 1831, a physician who died April 13, 1860, unmarried; THOMAS G. (GARRETT?), born 1833, married MARY A. PILLOW, daughter of RICHARD DEARING PILLOW, on March 25, 1853, and was killed in the Civil War while serving with Co. D 2nd Tennessee Calvary CSA (they had three little boys, R.E., W.J., and T.G.); AMOS CURTIS, born March 2, 1834, married SUSAN ANN MELISSA RUSSELL, served in the Confederate Army and died January 30, 1898; CYNTHIA, born 23 April 1836, married THOMAS 'COUEY' COLVIN in Bienville Parish, Louisiana, and died in Lincoln Parish, Louisiana September 22, 1916; MARTHA LOUISA, born 1827, married JOHN A. HUCKABY February 15, 1866; THEODORE FRANKLIN, born 1840, died July 23, 1864, unmarried; and MARY, born 1845, and died July 9, 1861, unmarried. HESTER L. ESTES SEALY died in Maury County on July 30, 1853. ENOCH did not remarry, but lived with his children until he died there November 25, 1864.

HESTER JAGGERS SEALY married THOMAS KELSEY, son of SAMUEL KELSEY, JR. and ELENOR GILL, on February 14, 1828. THOMAS was a widower with eight children between the ages of 3 and 18. He was formerly of Chester District and I'm sure well known by the Sealy family. HESTER and THOMAS had seven children of their own: MARY ANN MILLS, born December 29, 1829, married ... COX; WILLIAM THOMAS, born March 28, 1831; SUSAN MELISSA, born November 4, 1832, married .... McMURRAY; ROBERT ALEXANDER, born January 1834,married .... RAINEY; GEORGE ENOCH, born August 29, 1835, married EUDORA F. MOORE; NEWTON, born July 12, 1837; and JASPER, born December 1838, married MARY MINERVA COMPTON, and died April 27, 1923. HESTER JAGGERS SEALY KELSEY died October 6, 1840 in Tennessee. THOMAS KELSEY died February 29, 1872 in Lawrence County, Tennessee.

SAMUEL 0. (DARBY?) SEALY married first, SARAH FRANCES STRANGE, daughter of NATHANIEL STRANGE and his wife, SARAH, from Virginia. Their children were ANGELINE A., born ca 1842, married EDWARD E. QUEEN; JULIA A., born ca 1844, married RICHARD T. WILLIS; WILLIAM, born ca 1846; ELLEN F., born ca 1849, married WILLIAM H. JOHNSON; SAMUEL D.(JR.?), born ca 1852, married married VIRGINIA STRANGE, December 22, 1862; J.S., born ca 1855. January 19, 1865, he married E.A. CHAPPEL, widow FLOYD, and they had J.C., and J.N.,twins, born ca 1866; G.W., born ca 1867, and T.J. born ca 1869.

SARAH ELIZABETH SEALY married THRASHLEY ALLEN ESTES, brother of HESTER L. ESTES, and her own first cousin, on September 16, 1830. They had nine children: THOMAS, born 1831, NANCY, born 1833, WILLIAM A., born 1835; HESTER, born October 30, 1838, married N. GOAD; DAVID, born ca 1840;
ANGELINE, born ca 1841, married WILLIAM LEVI LANDON; VIANNA M., born ca 1843, married SAMUEL H. BURKETT; MARTHA A., married JOHN R. PATTERSON,. October 8, 1867; and DILLA E.

SARAH ELIZABETH SEALY ESTES died April 14, 1862, and is buried alongside her husband in the JOHN ESTES Cemetery, Maury County, Tennessee. THRASHLEY ALLEN ESTES, born March 28, 1805 in Chester County, South Carolina, died July 17, 1856. WILLIAM SEALY, grandson of JOHN SEALY, died in 1846 (ENOCH J. SEALY was named administrator of the estate in October 1846); HESTER JAGGERS SEALY, his wife, died after the 1870 census in which she was living in the household of her son, SAMUEL D. SEALY. No grave has been found for either, though they both died in Maury County.

OBADIAH ELI SEALY, the son of ENOCH J. SEALY and NANCY JANE CORNWELL, was reared in Chester County, South Carolina by his grandparents, ELI and RHODA PRICE COLVIN CORNWELL. In 1822 OBADIAH married JULIA ANN MELVINIA CROSBY,one of the daughters of RICHARD CROSBY and his wife, SUSAN PAULINE CONOWAY.

After his grandparents' deaths, and the estates settled, OBADIAH and JULIA left Chester to join JULIA'S three sisters who married COLVINS and moved to Louisiana. Events reveal that they went to Maury County, Tennessee to visit with ENOCH and his family before going on to Louisiana and brought his half sister, CYNTHIA, with them. OBADIAH was wealthy from his inheritance, so sent his slaves and cattle on ahead of him.

The children of OBADIAH and JULIA were ELI CORNWELL, born 1844 in Fairfield District, South Carolina; LAMBERT DAVIS , born 1846 in Chester District, South Carolina as were NANCY CORNWELL, 1848; SUSAN ANNE CATHERINE, 1850; OBADIAH ELI, JR., 1852; and RICHARD CROSBY, 1855; EUGENIA FLORANTHA, 1857 in Vienna, Louisiana as were JAMES ROBINSON GRAVES, 1859; ALBERT SIDNEY JOHNSTON, 1861; WALTON WINSTON WILKENS WILKINSON; 1863; JULIA ANN MELVINIA, 1866; EDWARD STANLEY, 1868; and LILIAN GREY, 1870.

OBADIAH ELI SEALY died March 16, 1887 and was buried beside his wife in the cemetery plot on the plantation in Vienna, Louisiana. JULIA died August 2, 1870.

The preceding GENEALOGICAL NOTES ON THE FAMILY OF JOHN SEALY was contributed by Mrs. J. Pollard (Gwen B.) SEALY, 833 River Road, Shreveport, La. 71105. The SEALY reunion was held in Ruston in June. It is very evident that Gwen SEALY has worked very hard and consistently on her family lines and has developed an excellent record on the SEALY and allied lines. Our special thanks for this fine contribution.
Hopefully others in the Society will contribute similar articles for use in the Journal.
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