Philemon Waters III (1734 - 1796)

Born 1 Jun 1734 in Prince William County, Virginia

Ancestors

Husband of Mary Rose (Berry) Waters — married 4 Apr 1762 (to 31 Oct 1791) in Charleston, South Carolina

Descendants

Died 29 Mar 1796 at age 61 in Newberry County (96 District), South Carolina, USA

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Biography

Colonel Philemon Waters III served with New Acquisition District Regiment, South Carolina Militia during the American Revolution.

Philemon Waters III is an NSSAR Patriot Ancestor.
NSSAR Ancestor #: 314443
Rank: Colonel

Philemon Waters III is a DAR Patriot Ancestor, A122245.

Philemon Waters, III, was born June 1, 1734, in rural Virginia. He was the son of wealthy planter Philemon Waters, II, and Sarah Bordoyne (Bowdoin) Waters. Philemon was sent to a boarding school in Winchester, Virginia and later apprenticed to a local businemann there. His experience of having to make his own fortune stayed with him his entire life.

He became an officer in the Virginia militia in 1754, serving under then Lt. Col. George Washington in the French and Indian Wars. He is credited with firing the first shots at Fort Necessity at Great Meadows, near Pittsburgh, in 1754, as a British army officer. He survived General Braddock's disastrous defeat at the Battle of the Monongahela.^[1] In about 1758, he moved to South Carolina. In 1762 he married Mary Rose Berry in Charleston, SC. In about 1771 they moved to Newberry County, South Carolina, where they built a plantation on the banks of the Bush River.

Philemon Waters III became one of South Carolina's most illustrious early statesmen. He served in the South Carolina militia during the American Revolution as a patriot and an officer, rising to the rank of Colonel. He fought at the battles of Stono and Eutaw. A patriot, he had a reputation for fairness to defeated British loyalists if they would agree to live peaceably and abide by the new American authority. He served as a land surveyor and as Newberry county court judge (1785-91). He was elected to the state legislature more than one time and although he opposed the 1788 ratification of the US Constitution, he later reversed himself, when George Washington became President.^[2]

He and Mary Rose (Berry) Waters had eight children:^[3]

1. Bordroyne Waters, b. Feb. 22, 1760, Charleston SC; d. March 19, 1760, Charleston SC (Age 0 years).
2. Thomas John Waters, b. March 27, 1763, South Carolina, d. September 9, 1770 (Age 7 years).
3. Charlotte Elizabeth Waters, b. July 21, 1766, Charleston SC, d. October 2, 1766, Charleston SC (Age 0 years).
4. Sarah Waters, b. December 21, 1769, Charleston SC.; d. after 1771.
5. Rhoda Waters, b. Newberry Co., SC, 1771; m. cousin William Farrow; d. ca. 1845 in Marshall Co., MS.
6. Rosanna Waters, b. January 17, 1772, Newberry Co., SC; m. Col. John Summers; d. 1840, Newberry Co., SC.
7. Philemon Berry Waters, b. January 3, 1775, Newberry Co., SC; m. Sarah Gillam, 1803; d. February 26, 1807.
8. Wilkes Berry Waters, b. 1783, District 96|Newberry, South Carolina; m. Nancy Manning, 1806; d. 1849, Butler, Alabama.

Mary Rose (Berry) Walters died on October 13, 1791, at their plantation on Bush River in Newberry County SC. Philemon Waters III remarried to Rachel Lark in 1794, in Newberry Co., SC. They lived together about two years until his death March 29, 1796, in Newberry SC. He was buried on his plantation next to Mary Rose.

Philemon Waters, III, was a twin. His twin sister was Rosanna Waters (m. John Farrow). A patriot from Spartanburg SC, she is credited with: "helping to obtain the release of [her] 3 sons from being executed as the British retreated" as attested to by Chief Justice O'Neal's account of this event in his "Bench & Bar of SC," publisher in the 1850's. She died in Spartanburg SC in 1782.^[4]

Philemon Waters III had a younger brother named Thomas Waters, b: 1738 in Prince William, Colony of Virginia. The 2 men were close but the American Revolution divided their family as Thomas was a British Army officer who remained loyal to the English Crown, serving as a Major, then as a Colonel, the officer in charge of the British Army's defense of Fort Augusta, Georgia. When the American rebels overran the fort after an 11-week siege, Thomas fled for his life.

Philemon, a Colonel for the South Carolina militia, took care of Thomas's wife and children in his state and, as they were in different (although adjoining) states, did not directly confront his Loyalist brother militarily. Thomas Waters lost all his property in Georgia and although he was eventually pardoned, he left America and died around 1810 in England. His family remained in South Carolina and his descendants still live in South Carolina and the USA. ^[5]

Sources

1. ↑ The Annals of Newberry: In Two Parts, By John Belton O'Neall, John Abney Chapman; Google books: https://books.google.co.uk/books?id=L2YlAAAAMAAJ&pg=PA179&l
2. ↑ Same source as Note above, pgs. 179-85.
3. ↑ My Little Family on RootsWeb: Philemon Waters - cites Charleston church records as primary source for births and infant deaths.
4. ↑ Find A Grave Memorial# 48714486 Rosanna Waters Farrow
5. ↑ See: Waters/Shelton Family on RootsWeb: Colonel Thomas Loyalist Waters for a lengthy, well-documented, genealogy and history, compiled by descendants.

• http://mykindred.com/cloud/TX/getperson.php?personID=I27256&tree=mykindred01

• Find A Grave Memorial# 48714486 Rosanna Waters Farrow

• My Little Family on RootsWeb: Philemon Waters

• Google book: The Annals of Newberry: In Two Parts, by John Belton O'Neall, John Abney Chapman

• MOSS, ROSTER OF SC PATRIOTS IN THE AM REV, P 969

• Revolutionary War Soldiers for NC and SC, Data provided by the website Carolana. (accessed 1 Mar 2022)

• https://www.carolana.com/SC/Revolution/revolution_sc_troops_1782_12_14.html

• https://www.carolana.com/SC/Revolution/patriot_militia_sc_first_spartan_regiment.html