War of 1812 | Ray City History Blog

Samuel Register and the East Florida Militia

November 19, 2012 at 12:59 am (Register Family)
Tags: Alapaha River, Appling County GA, Atlantic & Gulf Railroad, Battle of Brushy Creek, Battle of San Felasco Hammock, Bellamy Road, Bulloch County GA, Clay's Landing, Dade Massacre, David Register, Dock Shaw, Dorcas Register, Eady Register, East Florida Volunteer Militia, Elizabeth Cowart, Elizabeth Register, Elizabeth Skinner, Fort Gilleland, Francis Langhorn Dade, Guilford Register, Harriet Brown, Hillery Cowart, Hillery P. Mathis, Indian Wars, Ivy Register, Jacksonville Road, James B. Johnson, Jesse Shelby Shaw, Jincy Register, John J. Johnson, John Jumper, John Register, John Tomlinson, Joseph Henry Pascal Johnson, Josephine Guthrie, Lavinia Arnold, Leta Lee, Levi J. Knight, Lowndes, Luraney Harnage, Martha Register, Mary Ann Fiveash, Mary Hutto, Matilda McDaniel, Moses C. Lee, Newnansville FL, patten, Phoebe Register, Possum Branch, Priscilla Ann DeVane, Ray City GA, Rebecca Register, Registerville GA, Reubin Register, Samuel E. Register, Samuel Register, Samuel Register Jr, Savannah Albany & Gulf Railroad, Screven GA, Seaborn Lastinger, Seminole Indian Wars, Seminoles, Seneth Lee, Stockton GA, Stockton Georgia, Thomas J. Jessup, Thomas Mathis, Thomasville GA, Troupville GA, W. Wall, War of 1812, William J. Mills, William Parker, William Patten, William Register, Young Johnson, Zachariah Lee, Zilpha Register

According to Folks Huxford, Samuel Register came from Appling County to Lowndes County about 1826 and settled in the 10th Land District near Possum Branch, not too far from the homestead of Levi J. Knight and the future site of Ray City, GA. Samuel Register’s place later became the farm of Jesse Shelby “Dock” Shaw.

Samuel Register was born in Sampson County, North Carolina on December 1, 1786, almost three years before that state would ratify the U.S. Constitution. He was a son of Dorcas and John Register.

Some time before 1804 Samuel Register came with his family to Bulloch County, GA where he apparently made his home for some 20 years, although there is no records to show that he ever owned land there. In April of 1806 he married Elizabeth Skinner, a native of South Carolina.

When the U.S. went to war with Britain from 1812-1815 in response to British actions against American expansion and trade, it appears that Samuel Register, like other Wiregrass pioneers (see Dryden Newbern) joined the Georgia Militia. In the War of 1812 the Georgia Militia was occupied with three main theaters of operation: the Creek War of 1813-14, the British blockade, and the British occupation of St. Marys and Cumberland Island in 1814-15. British control of St. Marys, GA would have disturbed the economy of the entire Wiregrass region, interrupting trade on the Alachua Trail which ran from the Altamaha River through Centerville, GA, then across the St. Marys River and into East Florida. The resistance of the Georgia Militia against the British incursions is described in the New Georgia Encyclopedia article on the War of 1812.

After the War of 1812, Samuel and Elizabeth remained in Bulloch county until about 1824 when they moved to Appling County, and then on to Lowndes county in 1826. In 1827, Samuel Register received a draw in the land lotteries for his service as a soldier in the War of 1812.

The land lotteries, legitimized by questionable and coercive treaties, continued the encroachment by settlers on the ancestral lands of Native Americans in Georgia, inevitably leading to conflict. In Florida, hostilities were greatly escalated in December 1835 by the Dade Massacre, where Seminole Indians resisting forced removal to the West wiped out a force of 110 regular army troops under the command of Major Francis Langhorn Dade. When conflict between the Wiregrass pioneers and the resistant Indians erupted in 1836, local militia fought engagements in Berrien county.

In the summer of 1836, a company of militia under Capt. Levi J. Knight of near Ray City was sent to protect the settlers from marauding Indians on their way to join the Seminoles in Florida. When a party of Indians plundered the plantation of William Parker, near Milltown, the militia pursued them N. E. across the county overtaking them near Gaskins Pond not far from the Alapaha River. Several were killed and some injured as the Indians fled across the river. A few days later the militia encountered more Indians at Brushy Creek and ran them off. That was the last real battle with the Indians in this section.

Across the state line in Florida, actions against Indians were being fought by militia on a regular basis. The Battle of San Felasco Hammock was fought September 18, 1836, when a force of 25 US Army Regulars and 100 horse-mounted militia from Fort Gilleland, with 25 armed residents of Newnansville, FL engaged and routed about 300 Indians led by Seminole Chief John Jumper. Fort Gilliland, a picketed fortification located south of the Santa Fe River at Newnansville in present day Alachua County, FL, was one of a string of forts stretching from Jacksonville, FL to Clay’s Landing, at the mouth of the Suwanee River. Newnansville, the largest inland town in East Florida, was strategically located at the junction of the Jacksonville road and the Bellamy Road which ran from St. Augustine west to Tallahassee and Pensacola. Newnansville was about about 80 miles southeast of Troupville, in Lowndes County, GA.

In the spring of 1837 militia troops from Lowndes county were sent across the state line to join the forces at Fort Gilleland:

Jacksonville Courier
Jacksonville, May 11, 1837

—Extract of a letter from Col. Mills, to the Editor, dated Fort Gilliland, May 8.

“Major Staniford, with two companies of the 2d Infantry, arrived here yesterday in obedience to orders from Maj. Gen. Jesup, from Lowndes county, Georgia, and are here encamped, awaiting orders.”

The following summer, in 1837, Samuel Register and other Lowndes county men went south to join the East Florida Volunteer militia to fight against the Indians on the Florida frontier. According to the records of the Florida Department of Military Affairs, Register traveled first to Fort Palmetto, on the Suwanee River at Fanning Springs, FL.

Samuel Register and his sons, David and John, served with “Captain John J. Johnson’s Company of the 2nd Regiment, East Florida Mounted Volunteers, commanded by Colonel William J. Mills, ordered into the service of the United States by Major General Thomas J. Jessup under the Act of Congress approved May 23d 1836, for six months from the 16th day of June 1837 to the 18th day of December 1837. Company enrolled at Fort Palmetto, Florida, and marched sixty miles to place of rendezvous at Fort Gilliland, Fla. Company mustered in by Lieutenant W. Wall, 3d Artillery.”

His son-in-law, John Tomlinson, and two other Registers in this same service and company: Samuel Register Jr and John Register, Jr.. Seaborn Lastinger, of Lowndes County, served as a private; he would be shot for desertion during the Civil War. James B. Johnson and Young Johnson , grand uncles of JHP Johnson of Ray City, served in the Florida Drafted Mounted Militia.

Muster Roll of East Florida Volunteers

http://archive.org/stream/floridamilitiamu05morr#page/n71/mode/1up

Muster Roll of Captain John J. Johnson’s Mounted Company of the 2d Regiment of East Florida Volunteers, 2d Brigade of Florida Militia, Commanded by Colonel William J. Mills.

http://archive.org/stream/floridamilitiamu05morr#page/n72/mode/1up

Muster Roll of Captain John J. Johnson’s Mounted Company of the 2d Regiment of East Florida Volunteers, 2d Brigade of Florida Militia, Commanded by Colonel William J. Mills.

Samuel Register was honorably discharged at Newnansville in December, 1837. He subsequently “served another enlistment in the Indian War under the same Capt Johnson (April 1, 1838-July 31, 1838). He also served a third term under this same Capt Johnson in the Georgia mounted Militia (Aug 25, 1840-Oct 18, 1840). On his Bounty Land application dated Nov 23, 1850, he was granted 160 acres of land for this service. His son-in-law John Tomlinson (husband of Zilpha) who served in the same military unit was granted 80 acres of land for his services”

Between 1840 and 1842, Samuel Register sold out his home-place in the 10th District, and moved from Possum Branch to the 11th Land District where he acquired Land Lot 500. This lot was in that part of Lowndes county that was cut into the new county of Clinch in 1850, and in 1920 was cut out of Clinch into Lanier County.

In 1856, it was a great boon to Register when the Atlantic & Gulf railroad was charted to run from a connection with the Savannah, Albany & Gulf railroad at Screven, by way of his land to Thomasville. But when the surveyors for the new railroad selected a route through Valdosta bypassing Troupville, that old town was doomed. Register had a portion of Lot 500 platted into town lots and founded the town of “Registerville.” Although when the railroad people came through, they changed the name to “Stockton”, in honor of one of their contractors, a Mr. Stockton, who had charge of the road construction.

Children of Samuel Register and Elizabeth Skinner:

Zilpha Register, born Feb. 4, 1807, married her first cousin John Tomlinson.
Eady (Edith) Register, born Mar. 1, 1809, married Thomas Mathis Nov. 1, 1826 in Lowndes County.
Guilford Register, born Jan. 7, 1811, married Priscilla Ann DeVane.
David Register, born Apr. 10, 1813, married Matilda McDaniel of Bulloch County.
William Register, born Sept. 24, 1814, married Luraney Harnage from Liberty County.
John Register, born June 10, 1819, married 1st Elizabeth Cowart, 2nd.Mary Ann Fiveash.
Rebecca Register, born Apr. 5, 1821, married Reverend Hillery Cowart of Echols County.
Phoebe Register, born Aug. 15, 1823, married Zachariah Lee of Clinch County.
Jincy Register, born June 15, 1824, married Moses C. Lee of Berrien County.
Ivy Register, born Apr. 22, 1825, married 1st Leta Lee, married 2nd Lavinia Arnold
Samuel E. Register, born Sept. 16, 1826, married 1st Seneth Lee, married 2nd Mary Hutto, married 3rd Josephine Guthrie, lived in Berrien County.
Elizabeth Register, born Aug. 21, 1828, married William Patten of present Lanier County.
Reubin Register, born Nov. 25, 1830, married Harriet Brown, lived in present Berrien co.
Martha Register, born Dec. 18, 1831, married Hillery P. Mathis of present Lanier co.

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Etheldred Dryden Newbern ~ Pioneer Settler

January 26, 2012 at 5:43 am (Battle of Brushy Creek, Uncategorized)
Tags: Alachua Trail, Artie Hardeman, Axson Georgia, Beaver Dam Creek, Berrien County GA, Betsey Newbern, Blackshear GA, Cassie Newbern, Center Village Georgia, Centerville GA, Charles A. Griffis, Clinch County GA, Dred Newbern, Elizabeth Sirmans, Etheldred Dryden Newbern, Five Mile Creek, George N. Sutton, George Peterson, George W. Newbern, Indian Lake, Indian Wars, Jack Lee, James Sweat, John Fender, John Newbern, John Sweat, Josiah Sirmans, Kizzie Collins, Knights Independent Militia Company, Levi J. Knight, Lucretia Newbern, Martin Nettles, Nancy Christian, Ray City GA, Short-arm Bill Parker, St. Mary's River, St. Marys Georgia, Thomas Newbern, Thomas Newbern R.S., War of 1812, Ware County GA, William C. Newbern, William Parker

Etheldred Dryden Newbern was a pioneer settler of Berrien County and a noted participant in the last Indian encounters in Berrien County (see Martha Guthrie: Babe of the Indian Wars).

Monument for Etheldred Dryden Newbern, buried at Wayfare Church Cemetery near Statenville, GA. Newbern was one of the pioneer settlers of Berrien County.

The Newbern’s homestead was located on the east bank of Five Mile Creek, perhaps about eight miles northeast of Ray City. This was probably somewhere in the present day vicinity of the Highway 168 bridge over Five Mile Creek.

The Newberns were the nearest neighbors of Short-arm Billy Parker. The Parker place was located a few miles further to the east, at a spring on the Alapaha River. When marauding Indians came by the Parker place in 1836, Mrs. Parker and her daughters fled to the Newberns:

…the women ran through the field , a back way, a distance of five miles to the home of Dread Newborn.

Arriving there she related what she had seen, as fast as her fright and exhaustion would allow, for she had run every step of the way, and she was almost overcome with heat and fatigue. On learning this Mr. Newbern realized that the cause of their own experiences of the night before when the horses had become greatly frightened, snorting and breaking out of the horse lot and coming back the next morning. It was supposed that they had become frightened at the sight of the Indians who were prowling around the neighborhood to steal.

A company of men soon collected together, under the command of George Peterson, Dread Newborn, William Parker, and others. The Indians were overtaken at the Allapaha river and three were killed, others made their escape but were overtaken at the St. Illa river, at what is now known as Indian Lake, about two miles northeast of the town of Axson, Ga. They were all shot and killed, except one squaw; it was reported that she was captured and shot. Dread Newborn, the son of Dread Newborn, who followed the Indians, informs me that the Indian woman was kept in prison for a while and then by direction of the government was returned to her own people.

Etheldred Dryden Newbern, called Dryden or Dred by some, was born 1794 in South Carolina. He was the eldest son of Thomas Newbern. Folks Huxford said the name of Dryden’s mother was not known, but some Internet genealogies indicate she was Nancy Christian. Dryden’s grandfather, also called Thomas Newbern, was a revolutionary soldier.

About 1798 Dryden’s father, Thomas Newbern, brought the family from South Carolina to Georgia, Thomas Newbern served as a lieutenant and captain in the Bulloch County militia.

Dryden’s mother died about 1803 when he was a boy, probably nine or ten years of age. His father, a widower with seven young children, quickly remarried and Dryden was raised into manhood by his stepmother, Kizzie Collins. Some time prior to 1815, Thomas Newbern moved the family to Tatnall County, where he was elected Justice of the Peace.

It is said that Dryden Newbern served in the War of 1812, although no documentation is known to exist other than the testimony of his son, Dred Newbern. Dryden would have been 18 years old at the time the war broke out, and considering the military legacy of his father and grandfather, his service in the Georgia Militia seems reasonable. In 1814, the British forces occupied St. Marys, GA, which would have disrupted the economy of the entire region. The British occupation certainly interrupted trade on the Alachua Trail which ran from the Altamaha River through Centerville, GA, then across the St. Marys River and into East Florida. The resistance of the Georgia Militia against the British and St. Marys and other coastal Georgia incursions is described in the New Georgia Encyclopedia article on the War of 1812.

About 1823, Thomas Newbern relocated the family again, this time moving to Appling County and homesteading on a site about five miles northwest of present day Blackshear, GA. Dryden Newbern, now a man of 29, apparently came along with his father to Appling county for there, in 1823, Dryden married. His bride was Elizabeth “Betsy” Sirmans, a daughter of Artie Hardeman and Josiah Sirmans, Sr. Of her father, Huxford wrote, “According to the best available information, the first permanent white settlers in what is now Clinch County were Josiah Sirmans, Sr., and his family.”

About Dryden’s father, Huxford’s History of Clinch County relates the following:

OF the Clinch County Newberns, Thomas Newbern was the progenitor. This old pioneer came to this section from South Carolina and settled in what is now Ware County, about 1820. He was married twice. By his first marriage he had three children, viz. : John, William C, and Dryden Newbern. By his second marriage he had five children, viz. : George W. Newbern ; Cassie, who first married Martin Nettles and later Chas. A. Griffis; Lucretia, who married Jack Lee ; also a daughter who married James Sweat, and one who married John Sweat. Thomas Newbern was a prominent citizen of his time. He was elected surveyor of Ware County and commissioned February nth, 1828. Two years later he was elected a justice of the Inferior Court of Ware County, to which he was commissioned April 28th, 1830. He was also commissioned justice of the peace of the 451 district of Ware County, April 3d, 1833. He is the fore-father of many of Clinch’s prominent citizens.

After their marriage in 1823, it appear that Betsy and Dryden Newbern for a time made their home in Appling County, near the homestead of Dryden’s parents. In 1825, their farms were cut into Ware County into the 584th Georgia Militia District. From 1825 to 1827 Dryden Newbern served as the First Lieutenant of the militia in the 584th district.

About 1828, Betsy and Dryden moved their young family to Lowndes County (now Berrien) to a site on Five Mile Creek. They established a homestead about seven or eight miles northeast of the home of Levi J. Knight, who had settled a few years earlier on Beaver Dam Creek at the site of present day Ray City, GA. In Lowndes County, Dryden was elected First Lieutenant of the militia in the 664th district. Levi J. Knight was the Justice of the Peace in this district.

At that time the land was still unsettled , and the Native Americans who had occupied the territory for so long in advance of white settlers where being driven out of their ancestral lands. As Wiregrass historian Montgomery Folsom said, ” The Indians were goaded into madness.” When open conflict with the Indians emerged in 1836, Dryden Newbern was one of the first responders in the area. Sending out the alarm when the Parker place on the Alapaha River was raided, he was among the leaders in the skirmish that routed the Indians (see Short-Arm Bill Parker and the Last Indian Fight In Berrien County). In the Indian Wars, Ethedred Dryden Newbern served as a private in Captain Levi J. Knights Independent Militia Company.

Huxford says the land on Five Mile Creek where Betsy and Dryden Newbern established their Berrien County homestead later became the property of John Fender. The Newberns acquired land a few miles to the east and moved there, making a home on the west side of the Alapaha River. Then about 1865 they sold this property, which later came into the hands of George N. Sutton, and moved east to Clinch County. They purchased Lot 256 in the 10th Land District and made their home there for several years. When their youngest daughter and her husband, Sarah “Sallie” Newbern and William Franklin Kirkland moved to Echols County, the elderly Newberns moved with them. In Echols county, the Newberns purchased land and a herd of cattle; the late 1860s and early 187os were a time of expansion in Georgia livestock production.

In 1874 Etheldred Dryden Newbern suffered a “rupture” and died. He was buried in an unmarked grave at Wayfare Church, Echols county, GA. A monument has been placed in the cemetery in his memory.

Children of Etheldred Dryden Newbern and Elizabeth “Betsy” Sirmans:

Benjamin Newbern (1825-1895) married Nancy Griffin, daughter of Noah H. Griffin.
Rachel Newbern (1826-) married Ashley Winn and moved to Florida.
Thomas “Tom” Newbern (1828-1877) married Elizabeth Moore, daughter of John Moore.
Caroline Newbern (1829-1891) married Edward Morris.
Joseph Newbern (1834 – ) married Emily Gaskins, daughter of John Gaskins.
Martha Newbern (1836-1925) married Samuel Guthrie.
John Ashley Newbern (1839-) married Mrs. Sarah Ann Sirmans Gaskins, widow of John Elam Gaskins. Killed in the Civil War.
Etheldred Dred Newbern (1844-1933) married Wealthy Corbitt, daughter of Elisha Corbitt.
Berrien A. Newbern (1845-1863) never married. Killed in the Civil War.
Sarah “Sallie” Newbern (1848-1921) married William Franklin Kirkland.

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