Jonathan Betts (1785 - 1856)

Born 15 Mar 1785 in Sussex, Delaware, United States

Ancestors

Descendants

Died 5 Jun 1856 at age 71 in Jackson County, Georgia, United States

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Biography

This bio needs some work.

Jonathan Betts and Elizabeth Fondren

by Claudia Scarbrough, Collette-313

Rev. Jonathan Betts, son of Isabel Jones and Samuel Betts, Jr., was about ten when he moved with his family from Sussex County, Delaware to Georgia. In 1802, he married Elizabeth Fondren, the daughter of a Loyalist from North Carolina. Both were 17. Jonathan and Elizabeth are the ancestors of this researcher. Jonathan lists his birthplace as Delaware in the 1850 census. In 1880 Zedick lists his father's birthplace as Delaware whereas Lovick lists his father's birthplace as South Carolina, and Ira lists his as Georgia. Researchers beware.

Jonathan and Elizabeth's daughter, Mary, was born in fall of 1804, the first of eight children know by this researcher. All of Jonathan and Elizabeth's children were born in Jackson County, Georgia. Sons, Lovick Pierce was born in 1807 and Redick in 1809. Lovick and Redick were named after famous Methodist preachers. In 1809 and 1810, Jonathan was on the tax rolls in Jackson County, Georgia. Son, Zedick Byrd was born in 1811.

About that time trouble was brewing between England and America. The English were forcibly removing American citizens from ships and pressing them into duty on English ships. They were also interfering with American trade and inciting the Native Americans to violence against the Americans. War was declared in 1812. Fort Daniel in Jackson County was located in Hog Mountain in Georgia and was one of several forts established to defend the frontier. The poorly constructed fort was old, a fire hazard and inadequate to defend the frontier from an invasion from the English. In 1813 the fort was rebuilt and Jonathan was among those who helped rebuild the fort.

The fourth and fifth of Jonathan and Elizabeth's five sons, Ira Ellis was born in 1814 and Jonathan Morrow in 1817. Their second daughter, Eleanor Garrison, called Nelly, was born in 1819. In 1820 his five sons and two daughters are represented on the Jackson County census. Nine free colored adult males are listed and Jonathan's occupation is agriculture.

Dorinda, the third and last daughter of Jonathan and Elizabeth was born in 1824, while Mary, their first child, married Willis Watkins in 1826. Willis and Mary moved between South Carolina and Georgia for several years and then moved to Texas before 1860. He was a farmer and a blacksmith. They had 12 children.

Jonathan was selected as a school district commissioner charged with establishing a county-wide school system in Jackson County in 1827.

Lovick married Mary Clack in 1829. She was the granddaughter of Revolutionary soldier, David Smith who moved to Georgia from South Carolina in 1807. David Smith's house is still standing and occupied by family members. Lovick was a farmer, postmaster and mill owner. He and Mary had 13 children.

Reddick married Elizabeth about 1830. He and Elizabeth had ten children. Also in 1830, Ira married Elizabeth Arnold. He and Elizabeth had five children. Elizabeth died is 1860 and Ira married Nancy Emeline Burson. He and Nancy also had five children. Ira was a farmer. Zedick married Nancy about 1833 and they had seven children. Nancy died in 1857 and Ira married Elizabeth Shields. They had one child. Elizabeth died in 1869 and he married Margaret Stanton and they had two children. Zedick lived in Jackson County and Gwinnett County all of his life and was a farmer.

About 1830, Jonathan and Elizabeth became members of the newly formed Methodist Episcopal Church South. Jonathan was a Justice of the Peace in 1833.He became a local preacher before 1833 when he was among several preachers to attend the first Lawrenceville Methodist camp meeting. In 1836 he signed the deed as trustee of Midway Methodist Church. He was elected deacon for the Georgia Conference of the Methodist Episcopal Church South in 1837.

1840 finds Jonathan and Elizabeth living with a son, 15-20, and two daughters, also 15-20. The daughters were Dorinda, 16, and Eleanor, known as Nelly who would be 21 in August. Jonathan Morrow didn't marry until November of that year but he was 23. Either the census was mistaken in his age or some other male was living with Jonathan and Elizabeth. Jonathan had 13 enslaved persons, seven in agriculture.

Jonathan Morrow married Penny George fall of 1840 and they had two daughters. He married Artimissey Smith, either in 1844 or 1854 and had three more children. Jonathan Morrow Betts died in the War Between the States.

Nelly married Levi Martin, a farmer, in 1841. They had nine children. Dorinda married Randolph Wills in 1845, a neighbor who was 16 years her senior. They had at least seven children.

In 1850, Jonathan, 65 is a farmer with real estate valued at $1400 He was born in Delaware. Elizabeth, 64, was born in Georgia. Their son, Zedick, 38, his wife, Nancy and six children are living on one side of them and their daughter, Dorinda, her husband, Randolph Wills and eight children are living on the other side. Five of the children are from Randolph's first marriage. (The information about the children can be moved to their respective profiles as they are added.)

The church was the center of life for Jonathan and Elizabeth. They joined the Methodist Episcopal Church (MEC) in 1806. They were both 21. Their son, Reddick was also a preacher and active in the Methodist Episcopal Church like his parents. Jonathan was a trustee of Midway Church in 1846 when four acres of land in Gwinnett County was purchased for the church. Jonathan was elected elder of Methodist Episcopal Church South in 1851.

Jonathan and Elizabeth welcomed many traveling preachers and he assisted with powerful protracted meetings. In later years he worked with Rev. Hosea Camp at Midway Methodist Church in Carl (then in Gwinnett, now in Barrow Co), where he was a local preacher. Richard D. Winn had this to say of him, "Old Father Betts was something of a prodigy both in looks and actions. He was a good old man and had the confidence of all who knew him. He no doubt had been a good singer in his younger days and loved to sing at camp meetings still, but time has shattered his voice, which he had failed to find out. He was a useful man and did much good within the sphere in which he moved.

Elizabeth and Jonathan died less than three months of each other. Their obituaries state:

Elizabeth Betts, wife of Rev. Jonathan Betts, died in Jackson Co Georgia, 13th March 1856. Her care was to live a godly life and to minister to the comfort of the ministers of God. She died in peace.

Rev. Jonathan BETTS also died in the same county, 5 June 1856. They both joined the M. E. Church in 1806. Bro. B. was useful as a class-leader, exhorter, and preacher, a man of great energy and zeal especially in laboring with mourners in Zion. A good singer, he continued to sing as long as his strength would permit, and then would repeat the hymns, he had so often sung. After five weeks illness he went to his rest.

Both he and his wife may be buried at Midway Methodist Church. No headstones have been found.

1857, Dec 21. Jonathan's heirs (Lovic, Redick, Zaddock, Ira and Jonathan Betts, Levi Martin (Eleanor "Nellie"], Randolph Wills [Dorenda], and Balis S. Watkins [Mary] ) sold his property to William B. Ethridge. The parcel contained 200 acres and sold for $450. The location of the property is given as "beginning on a red oak corner, on Collins old line, thence south to a hickory to John Kennedy's old line, thence west to a post oak corner on Adam Robenson's old line, thence to a pine corner thence to a red oak bush corner, thence to a pine knot corner on John Brown's line thence along Williams line to the beginning corner." [microfilm, Georgia Archives, didn't get ref]

Sources and Notes

• Jonathan Betts Bible was in the possession of Lela and Claude Coker of Winder, Georgia in 1940, copied by Bonnie McCoy Dugat of Mission, TX. Listed in "Some Betts Family Records: Delaware, Georgia, Alabama, Mississippi and Texas." Mary E. Brantley. Found in Jackson County Historical Society. Jefferson, Georgia

• Methodist Preachers in Georgia:1783-1900." Harold Lawrence, Ed. Boyd Publishing Co Tignall, Georgia 1884. p. 46.1806. Jonathan and Elizabeth joined the Methodist Episcopal Church (MEC). They also was members of the Methodist Episcopal Church South which formed in 1830 and separated from the South Carolina Conference in 1844. He was a local preacher who was elected deacon for the Georgia Conference in 1837 and elected elder in 1851.

• 1809. Jackson Co, Georgia Tax Digest, p. 45. [www.rootsweb.com]

• Georgia Tax Digest 1809-1811. Jackson Co, Georgia Tax records, Hays District, 056. 1810.

• Georgia Military Record Book:1779-1839. Wilson. p. 80. Georgia Archives. Commissioned to build blockade at Hog Mountain, Jackson Co, Nov. 21, 1813-December 14, 1813.

• 1820. Jackson Co, Georgia census. Jonathan is listed with three males under 10 and two from 10-16. Lovick would have been 13, Redick would have been 11, Zedick would have been 9, Ira, 6 and Jonathan Morrow, 3. The census lists two female children under 16, perhaps Mary and Nelly. It also lists 9 free colored adult males. His occupation is listed as agriculture.

• The Early History of Jackson Co, Georgia G. J. N. Wilson. W. E. White. p. 145. Georgia Archives.1827. Selected as a school district commissioner charged with establishing a county-wide school system.

• The Early History of Jackson County. p. 70. Justice of the Peace for Militia District GMD 243, 1833.

• History of Gwinnett County...Vol II. In "Lawrenceville Campground." Richard D. Winn. p. 245,247.1833. Rev. Jonathan Betts was among several preachers to attend the first Lawrenceville Methodist camp meeting. Richard D. Winn had this to say of him. "Old Father Betts was something of a prodigy both in looks and actions. He was a good old man and had the confidence of all who knew him. He no doubt had been a good singer in his younger days and loved to sing at camp meetings still, but time has shattered his voice, which he had failed to find out. While not the equal in preaching power of the three first mentioned, yet he was a useful man and did much good within the sphere in which he moved."

• The History of Auburn and Carl. Myldred Hutchins. p. 190.1836. Signed deed as trustee of Midway Methodist Church.

• 1850. Jackson Co, Georgia census. Jonathan, 65, is a farmer with real estate valued at $1400, and born in Delaware. Elizabeth is listed as 64. Zedick, 38, listed living in next household.

• History of Gwinnett County...Vol II. p. 423. Other references to Jonathan as a Methodist preacher. 37, 245, 247. Rev. Jonathin (sic) Betts assisted Rev. Joshua Bradford in conducting protracted meetings and in delivering powerful sermons.

• Obituaries listed in the Southern Christian Advocate, the newspaper of the Methodist Episcopal Church. Jun 26, 1856. Vol 20, No 4, Pg. 6, col 5.

• Message thread on Ancestry.com re: descendants of Rev. Jonathan Betts and Elizabeth (Fondren) Betts.
• "United States Census, 1840," database with images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:XHBN-4JD : 15 August 2017), Jonathan Betts, Jackson, Georgia, United States; citing p. 41, NARA microfilm publication M704, (Washington D.C.: National Archives and Records Administration, n.d.), roll 44; FHL microfilm 7,045.n

• Monument Erected At Lawrenceville Campground

By: Phyllis Hughes The Heritage June 1992 Number 2 Our own CHARLIE PENTECOST spearheaded efforts by the First United Methodist Church's Campground Committee to erect a granite marker at the historic Methodist Campground in Lawrenceville. Land for the campground was purchased in 1832 and the first camp meeting was held there the following year. Meetings have been held annually on these grounds since then, except for a period of about ten years after the arbor was destroyed by fire in the 1860s (some believe it was set ablaze by Union soldiers; other accounts say it caught fire in 1862). Many of the timbers from the original arbor were reused in the arbor which stands at the campground today. It's constructed of wooden pegged, hand-hewn beams. Camp meeting this year begins on July 19th. It's good to see this historic place of worship get some long overdue recognition of its historic significance. Congratulations to Mr. Pentecost and to the other men and ladies of the First United Methodist Church of Lawrenceville for a job well done.

The 4'x5'x8" marker was purchased from Everlasting Granite Co. of Elberton, Georgia and was erected in late March, 1992. Inscriptions on the marker read:

Side One: "'TO ATTAIN THE HIGHEST GOOD OF TRUE MAN AND WOMANHOOD SIMPLY DO YOUR HONEST BEST-GOD WITH JOY WILL DO THE REST.' JAMES WHITCOMB RILEY //THE FIVE INDIVIDUALS LISTED BELOW HAD TO BE STRIVING TO DO THEIR HIGHEST GOOD WHEN THEY SEIZED THE OPPORTUNITY TO BUY THE LAND FOR A CAMP GROUND IN 1832. IT WAS LEADERSHIP DIVINELY BLEST. POINTING THE WAY TO THE GLORY OF GOD CANNOT BE EQUALED. GEORGE BROGDON-LEVEL CREEK METHODIST CHURCH/BUCKNER HARRIS-PLEASANT HILL METHODIST CHURCH/WILLIAM MALTBIE-LAWRENCEVILLE METHODIST CHURCH/ISHAM WILLIAMS-LAWRENCEVILLE METHODIST CHURCH/ELISHA WINN-LAWRENCEVILLE METHODIST CHURCH"

Side Two: "THE LAWRENCEVILLE METHODIST CHURCH HELD ITS FIRST CAMP MEETING SERVICES IN THE SUMMER OF 1833. THE SERVICES WERE SUPERVISED BY PRESIDING ELDER WILLIAM J. PARKS. HE HAD ALSO BEEN THE FIRST CIRCUIT RIDING PREACHER WHEN THE CHURCH WAS ORGANIZED IN 1823. ASSISTING IN THE PREACHING WERE THE FOLLOWING: JOHN W. GLENN, JOHN PENDERGRASS, ALLEN TURNER, JONATHON BETTS, AND INVITED PREACHERS FROM OTHER CHURCHES." (July 19,1992, 5:00) Dedication Ceremony (Open to Public)

Slaves

1820 census lists nine free colored adult males, no information.

1840 census. Jonathan had 13 enslaved persons, seven in agriculture, no information.

1850 Slave Schedule: 27 f m; 4 f b; 3/12 f b