Samuel E. Swilley
Sex: M
Individual Information
Birth Date: 1793 - Washington County, Georgia 1
Christening:
Death: 1846 - Lowndes Co., GA ( at age 53) 1
Burial:
Parents
Father: Samuel Swilley 1
Mother:
Spouses and Children
1. *Mary Carter
Marriage: 27 Feb 1817 - Tattnall Co., GA 1
Status:
Notes
General:
SWILLEY, SAMUEL E.Samuel E. Swilley, first representative from Appling County (in 1820), was born in 1793 in Washington County (territory later cut into Tattnall County), a son of Samuel Swilley, R. S. He grew up in Tattnall and Liberty Counties and was married in Tattnall County, February 27, 1817 to Mary Carter, daughter of George Carter. She was a sister of Capt. Jesse Carter (Vol. 1). To them were born a large family of children of whom only five lived to be grown and married:
1793-1846
ECHOLS
1. Wiley T.b. 1819, m. Maria Prescott, daughter of Moses.
2. Lucy J.b. 1823, m. James Thomas Bevill (1st wife).
3. Sarah Annb. 1827, m. James Thomas Bevill (2nd wife).
4. Celiab. 1835, m. Richard H. Wisenbaker.
5. Sherod R.b. 1840, m. ElizabethWilson of Brooks Co., 1863.
Mr. Swilley was among the first settlers of Appling County when it was first opened to settlers, and moved there from Tattnall County. He was elected the first representative from the new county in 1820 and served in the 1820 and 1821 sessions. He was then elected State Senator from Appling County and served 1823, 1824, 1825. In 1825 he was elected on the Inferior Court bench of Appling for a four-year term, but resigned in 1827, moved to Lowndes County, and settled on Hammock Lake. He served as Justice of Peace, 662nd district of Lowndes 1830-1833. In the Indian War in 1838, he was a private in Capt. David R. Bryan's company of Lowndes County militia and served other enlistments also.
Mr. Swilley seems to have prospered owning several plantations in addition to his home place plantation which was a very large one. Extant records of Lowndes County show that he owned lots of land 29, 32, 62, 74, 75, 76, 96, 111, 112, and 229 in the 16th district and Lot 316, 10th district, all in Lowndes County, several hundred head of cattle and twenty-seven slaves, and other property. His son-in-law, R. H. Wisenbaker, and son Wiley T. Swilley, applied for administration on his estate January 12, 1847 and were appointed, but the son was taken sick and died within a few days. On March 24, 1847, the son-in-law, Mr. Bevill, applied and was appointed administrator in lieu of the deceased son.
Mr. Swilley and his wife and most of their children were victims of a malignant fever in the fall and winter of 1846, and a fever that the physicians were unable to cope with. For lack of a better name, it was referred to for many years as "the Swilley fever" by residents of this section.
(*) Extract from article "Old Times in Lowndes," written by George W. Prine and republished in The Valdosta Times November 28, 1885: "About 40 or 50 years ago my father, Robert Prine, lived on Hammock Lake in Lowndes County. He and Capt. Samuel E. Swilley owned the lake . . . Capt. Swilley was a jovial, good-natured man, one who delighted in teasing little boys. . . He with most of his family passed off with that malignant disease known as the Swilley fever."
Census References: 1820,Appling; 1830, 1840, Lowndes.
Ann Sylvester
Sex: F
Individual Information
Birth Date: 1787 - South Carolina 613
Christening:
Death: 1873 - Manatee Co., FL ( at age 86) 613
Burial:
Parents
Father: Asbury Sylvester
Mother:
Spouses and Children
1. *Oliver Waldron
Marriage: 1806 - Bryan Co., GA 614
Status:
Children:
1. Rebecca Jane Waldron
2. Elias David Waldron
3. George Washington Sylvester Waldron
4. Lydia J. Waldron
5. Oliver Asbury Waldron
6. Georgia Ann Waldron
7. Rhoda A. Waldron
8. Frances Waldron
9. Jesse Waldron
Asbury Sylvester
Sex: M
Individual Information
Birth Date:
Christening:
Death:
Burial:
Spouses and Children
Children:
1. Ann Sylvester
Notes
General:
"...Asbury Sylvester, RS, who furnished supplies to the Continental Army in 1781, and was paid for same by the state of South Carolina, December 20, 1883 (see Book C-F, page 183, Stub Indents, edited and published by A.S. Salley, State Historian of South Carolina). In the 1790 census, Asbury Sylvester was living in Claremont County, Camden District, South Carolina , the head of a family consisting of one boy under 16 and four females, and was owning 27 slaves which show he was a man of some means for his day to own that many slaves."
Pioneers of Wiregrass Georgia, Vol. 8, pg 437.
Clayton Merriwether Talbot
Sex: M
Individual Information
Birth Date: Abt 1765 - Bedford County, Virginia
Christening:
Death: 13 Dec 1855 - Jefferson Co., KY ( about age 90)
Burial:
Parents
Father: Matthew Talbot
Mother: Jane Clayton
Spouses and Children
1. *Mary Polly Crews
Marriage: Abt 1790 - Wilkes County, Georgia 339
Status:
Marriage Notes
Feb. 7, 1793 Probate CREWS, STANLEY dec'd. Warrant of appraisement Feb. 7, 1793. Petition of heirs Nov. 1800 for div of 570 acres on Clarks creek. viz; Martin Crews, Agnes Crews, wid., for herself and as gdn of Betsy and Francis Crews, minors; Simon Hughes in right of his wife Patsy; Benajah Smith in right of Clayton Talbot who intermarried with Polly Crews; Susannah, James, and John Crews, and the heirs of Nancy Crews.
Children:
1. Melinda Talbot
2. Susan Talbot
3. Sophia Western Talbot
Notes
General:
Clayton Merriwether Talbot
Clayton Merriwether Talbot, surely the namesake of his stepmother, Jane Clayton, was born about 1765. The scant records available show different years for his birth and even his birth order may have been next to last rather than last. He was a small child when his mother and father moved from Virginia to the Watauga Settlement and he was only in his mid teens when his mother died and his father relocated to Georgia.
When his mother died in 1785, he accompanied his father to Wilkes County, Georgia, the home of his uncle, John Talbot. There in 1790, he married Mary Crews who must have been a beautiful southern lady for she was often referred to as "Pretty Polly Crews". The first child, Melinda, was born in Wilkes County in 1793, coincidentally, the same year that Eli Whitney invented the cotton gin while a teacher on the plantation of John Talbot.
But within a year, Clayton and Mary had moved to Russellville, Kentucky and there their second child, Susan, was born on February 17, 1794. Fletcher asserted that they were still living in Kentucky three years later when their third child, Sophia Western Talbot, was born on August 13, 1797. Sophia reported on the 1850 Census that she had been born in Alabama. Clayton's occupation during this period is unknown.
The family moved to Nashville, Tennessee and Clayton was engaged the tavern and inn keeping business with his older brother, Thomas. Robert Howe Fletcher, Jr. writes in his work, Genealogical Sketch of Certain of the American Descendants of Matthew Talbot, Gentleman, that Thomas and Clayton were engaged in the construction business. John White claims that Clayton was a tavern and innkeeper in South Carolina, Tennessee and Alabama. All of this seems consistent and it does establish that Clayton was not likely in the farming business or at least its actual practice.
The Census records of 1800 and 1810 for Georgia and Tennessee have been lost. The search for Clayton in 1820 has not been successful although it seems probable that the family lived in Georgia, Tennessee, Kentucky, or Alabama during the period.
In 1813, the famous duel of Andrew Jackson and Thomas Hart Benton occurred in Clayton Talbot's Tavern. We pick up the story with the account that follows …
On September 4, Thomas and Jesse [Benton] went to Nashville on business, and put up at Clayton Talbot's tavern, an inn they knew Jackson did not frequent. The town gossips rushed to the Hermitage to tell the news. Soon, Jackson and his oak-tall friend Colonel John Coffee arrived and took rooms at the Nashville Inn. They walked to the post office, and then went out of their way to pass the hotel where the Bentons were, where they saw Jesse step from the pavement into the hotel. Promptly Jackson and Coffee followed Jesse inside, and there in the hall near the back portico of Talbot's the General came fact to face with Thomas Benton.
"Now defend yourself, you damned rascal!" Jackson cried.
The words were a fuse which set off a paroxysm of gunfire, pushing, pulling, wrestling, fist-fighting, shoving, gouging, stabbing, and jabbing. The General drew a pistol from under his coat, and strode toward Thomas. Promptly, Jesse aimed and fired on Jackson from a sort of ambush in the barroom next to the passage, while Jackson shot at Thomas, and Thomas drew his gun and fired twice at the General in return. In the crash of pistols, Jackson toppled to the floor, blood spurting from his left arm, while the muzzle blast of his weapon seared a hole in Thomas's coat-sleeve. The towering Colonel Coffee now charged through the smoke. He blazed away at Thomas, but his ball slashed harmlessly past the young man's head into the wall.
By this time, three other men were in the battle. The struggling, weaving figures lunged through the hall and into the barroom. Disarmed, Thomas found John Coffee and Alexander Donelson rushing him with drawn daggers, while Jesse was attacked by Charles Hammond with a dagger and by the gigantic Stockley Hays with a sword cane. Retreating backwards down the hall, Thomas received five slight knife-wounds. In the barroom, Hammond and Hays got Jesse on his back and stabbed at him while he tried to parry the blades with his bare hands. He was saved only when another warrior, James Sumner, rushed in and helped drive off his attackers. In the struggle, Jesse clapped a pistol to the body of Stockley Hays to blow him through, but the gun missed fire. The melee now came to a farcical peak. Fending off the daggers and clubbed pistols of Coffee and Donelson, the bulky, dignified Thomas managed to fall backwards down a flight of stairs at the rear of the hotel.
This bit of slapstick ended the engagement, and now Jackson was discovered lying, bleeding, in the back doorway. The man who had advised his junior officer against brawling like the fishwoman had precipitated a fray in which he had nearly lost his own life. He was carried from Talbot's to the Nashville Inn, where he soaked two mattresses through with his blood, while the Nashville physicians took turns trying to save him. Meanwhile, Thomas and Jesse strutted in front of Talbot's, denouncing Jackson as an assassin and a defeated assassin at that, defying him to come out and renew the battle. Finally, Thomas took to the public square a sword of Jackson's he had found, and ceremoniously broke it in two in front of the watching crowd - a symbolic conclusion of the affray.
(Old Bullion Benton by William Nisbet Chambers, pages 51-52
Little, Brown & Company, Boston, 1956)
The 1830 Census for Madison County, Alabama listed Clayton, age 60-70, an unknown female, age 20-30, and fourteen slaves for a total of 16 in the household. Fletcher asserts, "… Clayton and his family moved to Huntsville, Alabama where he became interested in real estate, and incidentally, built the first brick building in Huntsville. He did not live in the city, however, but resided on a nearby plantation in the pleasant style of the prosperous landed proprietor of those days…". After Mary's death, Clayton and his unmarried daughter, Sophia Western Talbot went to live in Kentucky on his farm called, "Pomona", in Jefferson County.
The 1840 Census for Jefferson County, KY, City of Louisville, listed Clayton along with 1 male slave. Clayton's age was shown as 60-70 but that seems to be an error in the recording. The 1850 Census for Jefferson County, KY, City of Louisville, listed Clayton, age 86, in the household of his daughter, Sophia Gwynne, who reported that she was 45. If, indeed, that birth date is accurate, the Fletcher book incorrectly reported her birth date. Fletcher asserted that Clayton died in 1855. He is buried in the Cave Hill Cemetery in Louisville, Kentucky. That burial plot also contains the remains of his three daughters. Mary Crews Talbot died about 1830 and the place of her burial is unknown but it was likely in Alabama..
Gilbert Stuart, the famous artist who painted Washington, also painted a portrait of Clayton Talbot, a priceless piece still in the possession of his descendants. Clayton also had salt and pepper shakers which have been preserved and which contain some evidence to connect the family to the Shrewsbury nobility.
Descendants of Clayton Merriwether Talbot
1 Clayton Merriwether Talbot b: 1765 in Bedford Co., VA d: December 13, 1855 in Jefferson Co., KY-Cave Hill Cemetery, Louisville
.. +Mary Crews b: About 1770 m: 1790 in Wilkes Co., GA d: About 1830 in Huntsville, AL
. 2 Melinda Talbot b: February 07, 1793 in Wilkes Co., GA???? d: November 02, 1877 in Jefferson Co., KY-Cave Hill Cemetery, Louisville
..... +John Pope Oldham b: 1785 m: 1811 d: April 08, 1858 in Jefferson Co., KY-Cave Hill Cemetery, Louisville
. 2 Susan Talbot b: February 17, 1794 in Russellville, KY d: November 22, 1870 in Pee Wee Valley, KY
..... +Gideon Brown, MD m: November 09, 1812 in Jefferson Co., KY d: 1824
. 2 Sophia Western Talbot b: August 13, 1797 in Russellville, KY d: June 16, 1892 in Jefferson Co., KY-Cave Hill Cemetery, Louisville
..... +David Gwynne m: 1815 in Louisville, KY d: 1821
Matthew Talbot
Sex: M
Individual Information
Birth Date:
Christening:
Death:
Burial:
Spouses and Children
1. *Jane Clayton
Marriage:
Status:
Children:
1. Clayton Merriwether Talbot
Notes
General:
Matthew Talbot
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Matthew Talbot
Matthew Talbot (1767 \endash September 17, 1827) was an American politician. He was the 30th Governor of Georgia.
Talbot was born in Bedford County, Virginia and moved to Wilkes County, Georgia after the American Revolution. Talbot served as a Captain in the Georgia Militia.
He was descended from one of the oldest Norman families in England. He was a grandson of Matthew Talbot, who was the third son of the tenth Earl of Shrewsbury. That Matthew Talbot was born in England in 1699. In 1722 he came on a visit to Maryland with his cousin Edward, a son Earl Talbot, to visit relatives who had settled there and for whom Talbot County in that State was named. He later moved to Maryland, and from there to Virginia where he had four sons. After the death of his wife, he moved to Bedford County, Georgia.[1]
From 1790 to 1791, Talbot served as superior court clerk in Elbert County. He represented Wilkes county as its representative in the Georgia General Assembly.
Talbot eventually moved to Oglethorpe County, Georgia and was elected its delegate to the state Constitutional Convention in 1795 and 1798. In 1808, he was elected to the Georgia Senate and served in that capacity for fifteen years. From 1818 to 1823, he was the president of the Senate.
While Talbot was serving as that president of the Senate in 1819, governor William Rabun died in office, and Talbot served as the 30th Governor for two weeks.[2]
Death and legacy[edit]
He died near Washington, Georgia and is interred in the Smyrna United Methodist Church Cemetery in Washington.[3]
Talbot County, Georgia is named in his honor.[4]
References[edit]
William J. Northen, Men of Mark in Georgia, A. B. Caldwell, 1912, pp. 273\endash 275.
Georgia Governor Matthew Talbot". National Governors Association. Retrieved September 4, 2012.
"Matthew Talbot". Find A Grave. Retrieved September 4, 2012.
"Profile for Talbotton, Georgia, GA". ePodunk. Retrieved September 4, 2012.
Wikimedia Commons has media related to Matthew Talbot.
Matthew Talbot at Find a Grave
William J. Northen, Men of Mark in Georgia, A. B. Caldwell, 1912, pp. 273\endash 275.
Georgia State Archives Roster of State Governors
Georgia Governor's Gravesites Field Guide (1776-2003)
Georgia Secretary of State official website
National Governors Association
Melinda Talbot
Sex: F
Individual Information
Birth Date: 1793 - Wilkes County, Georgia
Christening:
Death:
Burial:
Parents
Father: Clayton Merriwether Talbot
Mother: Mary Polly Crews
Sophia Western Talbot
Sex: F
Individual Information
Birth Date: 13 Aug 1797
Christening:
Death:
Burial:
Parents
Father: Clayton Merriwether Talbot
Mother: Mary Polly Crews