Alexander Fleming (abt. 1748 - abt. 1780)

Born about 1748 in South Carolina

Husband of Jane (Unknown) Fleming — married 1774 (to 1780) in York County, Province of South Carolina

Died about 1780 at about age 32 in Camden, Kershaw, South Carolina

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Biography

The Stephenson-Fleming Connection

Fleming, Alexander Kershaw Regiment 1780 1782 Served under Lt. Col. James Postell, Col. John Marshall, unit unknown. Died as POW in Camden Jail; Camden, SC - British POW Camp

John Stephenson died on Bullocks Creek in York County,South Carolina in 1773, leaving his wife Jean(Unknown) Fleming a widow.

The Stephensons were Presbyterians and at his time the meetinghouse for this vicinity was Bethada (founded in 1760 of which Robert Fleming Sen. was an Elder and active member. He had six children; four sons,the eldest was Alexander,and two daughters. It may have been here that Alexander first caught the sight of the comely Jean Stephenson and soon after her husband's John's death,Alexander made suit and Jean accepted his proposal. A widow living in these parts with children needed a man to head the house. They must have married in late 1773 for their first child, Robert was born in 1774,and then about two years apart a son James and a daughter Martha.

When the War for American Independence spread to South Carolina, Alexander and his brothers Elijah,Robert, and William all joined the militia as horsemen,apparently in Captain William Hanna's company of Colonel William Bratton's regiment of General Sumpter's partisan army. Alexander lost his horse and was captured and confined by the British in the old jail at Camden. When smallpox broke out in the prison, Alexander fell pray to it and died about April 1781. He could not have died there later than May 10,1781, when Lord Rawdon evacuated Camden,South Carolina after burning the old jail,the mills, and destroying all the stores he could not take with him.

Jean's second son by her second marriage,Robert Fleming, moved to Abbeville County, South Carolina and opened a blacksmith's shop,and as soon as he attained the age of 21, Robert was able to sell the land in York County,South Carolina "that fell to him by his Father's death," he being the oldest son son and under an old English law of Primogeniture,if the father died intestate, it gave an exclusive right of inheritance to the first born son and he now being of age sold it on June 4/5,1795, and moved to Franklin County,Georgia where other of his siblings had already gone.

The Stephenson-Fleming Connection was written by the Late Elmer Oris Parker. Mr. Parker was director of the Military Archives in Washington D.C. for many years. He was my source of my Stephenson information in York County,South Carolina. One of his Parker's married into my Stephenson family. I don't have a date for the letter he sent,but I corresponded with him from 1987 until his death in 2002.

Sources

Parker, Elmer Oris. The Stephenson-Fleming Connection Columbia,South Carolina. The letter is in possession of Tommy Stephenson History of the Presbyterian Church in South Carolina by the Rev. George Howe,v.1 p. 339. Charleston Wills 1771-1774, p.382. S.C. Inventories,v. 95,p. 104 S.C. Royal Grants,p. 1764 State Grants, 1787M.C. Grants,v. 13,p.256 Kershaw Co,Estates,24-857 S.C Archives ,AA2420 York County South Carolina Estates 65-35 Deeds B.219,C:153,492,D.:170. Ct.Min, October13,1789 and May 4,1795

• American Genealogical-Biographical Index (AGBI); The American Revolution in South Carolina