Letter of Margaret Land to Atlanta Historical Society

Date: [unknown] [unknown]
Location: [unknown]

Subject: COPY OF OLD LETTER From: Jfhawthorn Date: April 24, 2000

The following letter was found in the files of the Georgia Archives Atlanta, GA. I have transcribed it as well as possible using the same punctuation, spelling, and abbreviations that the author used. I am posting it to assorted genealogical list in hopes that it will help someone in their search for ancestors. The people mentioned lived in SC, GA, TN, KY, and IL and the following is a list of the Surnames: Hawthorn - McClary - Cameron - Miller - Ellis - Fowler - Rutledge - Officer - Mayes - McLin - Orr - Smith - Goudy

Good Luck, Fred Hawthorne

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Enfield, Ill., April 30, 1945

Atlanta Historical Society Atlanta, Georgia.

My dear Miss Blair:

I appreciated very much your reply to my letter of inquiry about some of the early settlers in Georgia, and the Atlanta Historical Bulletin you so kindly sent me.

These pioneers, who went from the Carolinas to Georgia, stayed there for a while and then went to Tennessee, Kentucky, Illinois and even to Oregon as the tides of emigration swept west-ward were intelligent, industrious and religious, but I doubt if they left many records in the states through which they passed.

I am happy to send you what I have about the ones who lived for a time in Georgia.

Robert Hawthorn was born March 5, 1754 in County Monaghan, Ireland. While residing on the Broad River in South Carolina, Robert Hawthorn served with the South Carolina troops from Nov. 1, 1776 for eleven moths and two weeks. From that time he served almost continuously until the evacuation of Charleston, S. C. After the Revolution, he moved to Elbert County, Georgia, where he lived about ten years. Then he moved to Henderson Co. Kentucky, where he lived about twelve years and then to Illinois. He died in White Co., Ill., July 7, 1834.

June 3, 1783, Robert Hawthorn married Mary (Cameron) McClary. She was the widow of Robert McClary, a Revolutionary soldier, who died while in service in the fall of 1781 in Camden, S. C. There were two McClary Children, Susan and Mary. Susan married Peter Miller so of John Miller in Georgia about 1796. The Peter Millers moved to Henderson Co. Ky., in the fall of 1807 and to White Co., Ill., in 1813.

Mary McClary married a North, Sidney, I believe in Georgia. Robert Hawthorn and Mary (Cameron) McClary Hawthorn had a son Robert Hawthorn Jr. and perhaps other children. Mary ( Cameron) McClary Hawthorne was born in Scotland in Feb. 1759 and came to the Carolinas with her parents about 1767.

[Joseph Hawthorn, a brother of Robert was born in County Monaghan Ireland, July 10, 1756. While living in Fairfield Co., S. C. he enlisted in the Spring of 1779 and served until June 1782.. He married Sept. 5, 1797 in Elbert County, Georgia, Frances Ellis. She was his second wife. He died in White County, Ill., Oct. 30, 1849.

Joseph Hawthorn had a daughter by his first marriage, Margaret who married a Fowler. He also had a son Robert H. Hawthorn, who was a soldier in the Civil War. He enlisted on the southern side from Camden County, Tennessee, at the age of sixty.

John Miller and His wife and one or more children came from Scotland to the Carolinas about 1767. At least one child, Nancy, was born in Scotland. Peter Miller, so of John, was born in 1768. He married Susan A. McClary, daughter of Robert and Mary (Cameron) McClary, in Georgia, about 1795. They had a large family moved to Henderson County, Ky., and than to White Co., Ill.

Miller-15278|James Miller]], son of John, was borne [sic] in Georgia in 1782. He married Jane Rutledge, daughter of John and Jane (Officer) Rutledge in Georgia Oct. 12, 1807. They went to Henderson co., Ky. In the fall of 1807 and to White County Ill., in 1813.

Mary Ann Miller was born in South Carolina (or Georgia) Oct. 21, 1767 [actually, 1787], the daughter of John Miller. She was married to James Rutledge, so of John and Jane (Officer) Rutledge in Henderson County, Ky., Jan. 28, 1808 (see Rutledges)

Coming over on the same ship [as the Millers] from Scotland were the Camerons. They had at least two children, Mary who married Robert McClary and then Robert Hawthorn, and Thomas Cameron, born in Scotland 1766. I have a letter written by Sally Rutledge, sister of Ann Rutledge. She said, "I remember hearing mother tell how her father John Miller crossed the water. Uncle Tommy Cameron was just a baby and fell over-board. Some one caught him by the big tow [sic]." Thomas Cameron married Nancy Miller, daughter of John Miller (referred to before.) in Georgia about 1796. Thomas Cameron built a block-house here [in White Co. IL] in the War of 1812."

I do not know the name of John Miller's wife. As far as I know John Miller and his wife did not reach Illinois. I do not know who the parents of Mary and Thomas Cameron were. Also Susannah.

John was born in Ireland in 1739. He married Jane Officer who was born in 1749. They came to South Carolina where there oldest son was born Oct. 17, 1768. He married Sarah Smith in Georgia. She was born Aug. 20, 1778 and died Dec. 12, 1843, He died in McLean County, Ill., Aug. 20, 1830.

Robert Rutledge was born in South Carolina (or Georgia, Sept. 22, 1783) married Susannah Mayes and died in Henderson Co., Ky. in 1822.

James Rutledge was born in South Carolina May 11, 1761 and married Mary Ann Miller daughter of John Miller in Henderson Co. Ky., in 1808. Two children, John Miller Rutledge and Ann Mayes Rutledge were born in Kentucky, four were born in White Co, Ill. Where they came in 1813, and three were born in Sangamon Co., Ill. Where James Rutledge founded the village of New Salem.

Jane Rutledge married James Miller (see Millers) Susan Rutledge married a Mr. Mayes. Both died in Georgia about 1815. Uncle Billy Rutledge and Uncle Thomas Mayes, who were in White Co., Ill., cut rounds from a tree to make an Ox-cart and went back to Georgia for the five orphaned children, Mary, Melinda, Minerva, Jane and Samuel Mayes --- one a six moth old baby.

William Rutledge was born in Georgia in 1790. He married Susannah Cameron in Henderson Co. Ky. James Mayes who married Sarah Miller, (sister of Peter, James, etc.) Thomas Mayes, the Mayes who married a Rutledge girl, and the Susannah Mayes who married Robert Rutledge all lived in or near Mayesville, Georgia. Could the town have been name for their people?

Another family that lived in George were the McLins. Daniel McLin whose daughter, Jane married Robert Orr in Tennessee about 1790, John McLin who married Elizabeth Goudy in Tennessee, and Reverend David W McLin who organized the first Cumberland Presbyterian Church in Illinois, June 8, 1819.

These people were farmers but they were also school teachers, justices of the peace and above all ruling elders in the Presbyterian Church. The first Presbyterian Church in Illinois (Old School) was organized in the home of Thomas Rutledge in 1816, and the second Presbyterian Church (which was the first Cumberland) was organized in the home of James Miller (Son of John)

Some time in the future, I may be able to come to Georgia.

Very sincerely yours,

(Mrs. Chalon T.) Margaret D. Land.