I finally have a copy of a picture of my great great grandfather, Marshall Daniel Majors. He was born in 1845 in Marion County, Georgia and died in 1932 in Alabama and is buried in Ripley, Tennessee. This is a copy of the original picture that is in the possession of my father.
1800 There is a Daniel Majors in Fairfield County. 1 male 16-25, 1 26-44, 1 female under 10 and one 16-25. His neighbors were the Hills and Mabry’s.
1810 Daniel Majors Pendleton District (Anderson County?) 3 males under 10, 1 16-25, 1 26-44, 4 girls under 10, 1 16-25, 1 female 26-44, and 1 woman 45 and over. (someone’s mother?) His neighbors are William Smith who was probably over 45, James Majors who had 1 boy under 10, 1 16-25, and a female 16-25, and a Robert Smith who was 26-44. There is also someone with the last name of Doudle. (I can’t read their first name)
1820 Pendleton District (Anderson?) There is now an Elisabeth Majors living next to James Majors. James Majors now has 2 boys under 10, 1 male 26-44, 2 girls under 10, 1 female 26-45. His is listed as working in manufacture and has 2 slaves. The Smiths are gone. Elisabeth Majors has 1 boy under 10, 1 boy 10-16, 1 boy 16-18, 2 men 16-26, 2 girls under 10, 1 girl 10-16, 1 girl 16-26, and one woman 26-45. There were 4 as listed working in agriculture and 5 slaves. Other neighbors include the Hammonds, McFall (?), Elizabeth Moore, and James Paget. Robert Doudle and Samuel Doudle still live not too far. Thereis also a Solomon Gier who also lived nearby in the 1810 census.
1830 census- I can’t find anyone. It is easy to find the 1800, 1810, and 1820 censuses online, but it is difficult to find the 1830 census for some reason. I can’t find James Majors anywhere. He disappears. I have heard of a James Major, but I don’t think he is the same person. I know that my Majors would now be in Georgia. They had to move to Georgia before 1824. Daniel marries Elizabeth Johnson in Wilkes or Wilkinson (I have seen both) in 1824.
This is also interesting, it may not be connected but is still interesting because the names and dates do match up: From Newberry County, South Carolina Deed Book MAy 29, 1789
Before me Robert Gillam one of the Justices for the County aforesaid Personally came & appeared before me a Certain Woman by the Name of Comfort Stephens and being duly sworn on the Holy Evangelist of Almighty God deposeth and saith that William Winchester, Jr. was born out of wedlock and before she the said Comfort and William Winchester, Sr. was married and that William Winchester, Jr. was no Heir to the Estate of William Winchester, Sr. but that Daniel Winchester is the Real Heir and further this deponant saith not. Sworn to be before me this Eleventh day of March 1787. Rovert Gillam, J.P. (Comfort Stephens (her C mark).
Richalnd County: Before me A. B. Ross a Justice for said County Personally Appeared a Certain woman by Name Sarah Majors & being duly qualified on the Holy Evangelist maketh oath & saith that William Winchester, Jr., Son of Confort Polson, Now Stephens, was born before Wedlock to her knowledge & Signed, Sworn to this 7th August 1788. A. B. Ross, J.P. Sarah Majors (her X mark).
Before me A. B. Ross, Esq. Personally appeared Sarah Majors & on her oath saith taht Confort Winchester now Confort Stephens was married to William Winchester, Sr. Nearly a year after William Winchester, Jr. was born & that Daniel Winchester is her son & was born in Wedlock, Sign’d and Sworn to this 7th August 1788. A. B. Ross, J.P. Sarah Majors (her X mark).
Can someone explain this to me?
I will talk about Elijah, Epps, Daniel, James, and Elisabeth Majors who continually appear near each other in the Pendleton District census
Elijah Majors also appears in PLATs in 1784 and 1798 near Beaver Creek in Fairfield County and in the 1790 census with 3 sons and 5 daughters
1800 Elijah Majors lives in Pendleton District 2 males under 10, 1 male 16-25, 1 male 45+ (I believe this is Elijah) 2 females under 10, 1 female 10-15, 1 female 26-44 (his wife?)
1810 Census Pendleton District 1 males 10-15, 1 male 16-25, 1 male 45+, 1 female under 10, 1 female 45+
1820 Census Pendleton District, Only one male 26-44 and one female 16-26 This must be the son of Elijah perhaps the one male listed as 16-25 in 1810 (or the son of Epps)
EPPS MAJORS
Epps Majors was probably born in 1772 in Pittsylvania County, Virginia and married Elizabeth Teague (according to rootsweb.com). (or Susannah Teague) He is the son of John Major and Rebecca Chandler of Virginia. (or John Major and Martha Epps)
He doesn’t appear until the 1810 census when he would have been 38. There are 2 males under 10, 1 male 26-44, 2 females under 10, 1 female 26-44 He was living in the Pendleton District.
In the 1820 census Epps would have been 48. He had 2 males 10-16, 1 45+, 4 females under 10, 1 female 10-16, 1 female 16-26, 2 females 26-45. According to a websit, Epps died in 1827. His children were: Dorothy, Rebecca, Elijah,Nancy, GEorge, Sarah, Elizabeth, and Mary Ann.
I don’t know why but for some reason I am stuck on the Majors. I live in Northern Virginia and less than an hour away from Maryland but for some reason I have this interest in finding the Majors in South Carolina. So far nothing has been found about them. We know about them after they arrive in Georgia. Mr. Majors (possibly Daniel Majors) probably died before the family came to Georgia. Elizabeth, his wife, was born around 1781 and had in South Carolina: Sarah Majors (1803), Daniel Webster (1806), Thomas (1807), Mary (1807), John W. (1811), Rachel (1813), Martha (1814), and David (1818). She remarried James Castleberry in 1828. Castleberry died in 1858 and she went to live with her son Daniel Webster Majors. She is listed with him in the 1860 census which states both Daniel and herself were from South Carolina and that she was born around 1781. We have some letters written by her during the Civil War so we know she had some education.
Here are some things I am finding about the Majors in South Carolina in their online archives:
6/3/1766 Majors, Daniel land grant for 100 acres in Craven County
7/14/1770 Daniel Majors involved in a memorial for 150 acres for Isaac Pigeon
11/20/1805 KING, ROBERT, PLAT FOR 926 ACRES ON CHEROKEE CREEK, PENDLETON DISTRICT, SURVEYED BY WILLIAM HAMILTON. Names indexed: CURRY; HAMILTON, WILLIAM; KING, ROBERT; MAJORS, DANIEL; MAYFIELD, ABRAHAM; MURPHREY, ROGER; THOMPSON, JOHN
Ok, a theory on Elizabeth ??? Majors Castleberry. Remember, this is a longshot so please do not think I am crazy!! Ok, here it goes:
Cyprian Bigelow 1752 Hartford, CT married Elizabeth also of Hartford Connecticut
Children:
1. Elizabeth Webster b. 1780- d. 1780
2. Elizabeth June 19, 1781
3. Cyprian
4. Timothy
According to the book, Genealogy of the Bigelow Family of America, Cyprian’s family left Hartford to move to South Carolina or Georgia and have disappeared.
Then in another book, The Duncans in Charleston, SC:
“1 June 1799, John Duncan of Charlestown, SC, to Henry Bailey, William Turpen & John Marshall of same, execs. of Cyprian Bigelow decd, assignment of a term for years in two lots of City Lands #18 and #19 near the tobacco inspection (from heading, body of document not copied); wit. Jas. Nicholson, John W. Johnson. (FHL film 23,582)”
The Bigelow family was primarily from New England in Connecticut and Massachusetts. That Elizabeth Bigelow who might have been Elizabeth Webster Bigelow like her previously deceased sister is the perfect age and would have moved to South Carolina as a child where Daniel Webster Majors was born. Also, according to the 1860 census Elizabeth Castleberry was 79 which means she would have been born in 1781 just like Elizabeth Bigelow. Like I said, a long shot. What do you think?
UPDATE- I found out that Elizabeth Bigelow died unmarried in Charleston, SC. She was found in the 1850 census still single