The Thomas Family in North Carolina and Beyond Part II
- westmohney
- Nov 26, 2024
- 12 min read
Updated: Nov 4, 2025
Benjamin, son of Stephen moved a bit south along the trail to a point where he built and operated a gristmill on Garner’s Branch of Piney River. ~ George Thomas
In this post, we continue with the stories of our grandfather Stephen's children.
Susannah Thomas Ratliff
Our aunt Susannah Thomas (4A) was the daughter of our grandfather Stephen Thomas (5GGF) and sister of our grandfather William "Billy Ram" Thomas (4GGF). She was born in Queen Anne's County Maryland ca. 1730. Susannah married first, when very young, Nathaniel Curtis. The couple had five children, the first born in 1748 in Maryland. Nathaniel died in 1758 and, a year later, Susannah married William Ratliff. He, also, had been married before and had one child. Susannah and William had six sons for a grand total of eleven children born to Susannah, ten of them sons.
From the records of the Third Haven Quaker Meeting, we learn two things: that the Ratliff's, like the Thomas family, were Quakers and that William's brother, James, planned a move to North Carolina in 1758:
James Ratcliff son of William Ratcliff having informed this meeting of his intention of Settling in North Carolina, within the verge of Falling Creek monthly meeting requested of this meeting a few lines by way of Certificate for that purpose.
James did indeed obtain his certificate and off he went to North Carolina. When William and Susannah followed nine years later, it appears that neither brother initially settled near the shores of the Pee Dee River where the Thomas family finally made their homes. James went to Falling Creek, NC, probably because that area had a Quaker meeting house. I have no information as to whether William and Susanna remained with the faith but a tax record shows William in Pasquotank County in 1767.
By 1775, William had received a grant of 200 acres at Island Creek on the west side of the Pee Dee. Most of our Thomas family settled on the east side of the river. Four years later, many of our relatives on the east side petitioned the government for a division of Anson county. In 1779, the great Pee Dee River was the dividing line between Anson County on the west and the newly formed Richmond County on the east.
William died in 1777, only two years after receiving his Anson County land grant. All of Susannah's children from her first marriage were grown. Her boys from her second marriage ranged in age from about 10 to 17.
It was William's "will and desire that my beloved Wife Susannah Ratliff shall possess and Enjoy manor Plantation and lands thereto belonging together with all my stock and household furniture. . .during her Widowhood. . ." If she should remarry or die "then it is my will that the said Plantation and Lands together therewith the fourteen acres of land I purchased of Stephen Thomas (5GGF) (Susannah's father) descend and go to my two sons William (1C5X) and Zachariah Ratliff (1C5X) to be equally divided. . ."
William's oldest son Thomas (1C5X), may have been on the outs as he was left only five shillings in William's will. James (1C5X) and John (1C5X) received 300 acres of land to "to be Equally Divided. . ." Son Robert Clothier Thomas (1C5X) received "Two Hundred acres of land lying on the Island Creek. . ."
Note: The Clothier name descends from Susannah's mother, our grandmother Mary Jane Clothier (5GGM) who married her step-brother, Stephen Thomas (5GGF). Mary Jane was the daughter of thrice married Jane Kemp's (6GGM) first husband, Robert Clothier (6GGF).
It's posssible that Susannah's daughter Elizabeth Curtis (1C5X) from her first marriage was still living with the Ratliff's at the time of William's death. William left her "thirty pounds proclamation money to be raised out of the estate."
Note: Proclamation money was "coin valued according to a proclamation issued by Queen Anne" in 1704. It was only in effect until 1775 but probably still good two years later when William died.
William named as his executors Susannah's brother Robert (4U) and Susannah's cousin William Thomas (1C6X), son of her uncle Philemon (5U). Susannah's son Samuel Curtis (1C5X), from her first marriage, was one of the witnesses.
The only date I have for Susannah's death is 1826, 49 years after William's death, but can find nothing to substantiate that date. She would have been about 96.
Elizabeth Thomas Harry
Elizabeth (4A) is another of Stephen's children to fall into obscurity. She was born ca. 1747 in Maryland. She married Evan Harry and we know nothing else about where she lived or died.
Tristram Thomas
Stephen's son Tristram (4U) was born in Maryland in 1752. When making the move south from Maryland, Tristram first settled in North Carolina, then followed his brother Robert to Marlboro County in South Carolina. Duncan McColl in his Sketches of Old Marlboro wrote:
The exact date of his arrival in this county cannot now be fixed, but he was certainly here in 1770, for in that year, he, along with other patriotic citizens of St. David's Parish, subscribed to a public fund for the encouragement of domestic manufactures.
Through grants and purchases, Tristram would eventually own over 4,000 acres of land in Bennettsville, SC. Bennettsville, near the banks of the Great Pee Dee River, was 24 miles almost directly south of Rockingham, NC.
Tristram was active in the Revolution early. In July of 1775, only three months after the attack on Lexington and Concord, he was commissioned sergeant in a compnay of Rangers. Later in the war he would be promoted to captain, then major in 1781. We wrote about one of his exploits, the Battle of Hunt's Bluff, in our "The Southern War Continues" post. Below is a marker commemorating the event placed in 1978 by the Marlboro County Historic Preservation Commission:
After the war, Tristram held the rank of brigadier general from 1794-1804. He also entered into public service. In 1783, Tristram was elected Senator for Cheraw District. He later served in the South Carolina House of Representatives. Other offices that he held were County Commissioner (1785), overseer of the poor in St. David's Parish (1778), County Commissioner (1783), justice of the peace (1785), and road commissioner. At various times, he was in charge of matters relating to navigation on the Pee Dee River. In 1794, he was a commissioner "for the removal and safekeeping of the records of the clerk's office of the Cheraw District Circuit Court."
In 1785, Tristram gave two acres to the county for the construction of public buildings. On these land the county built the Marlboro County Court House and the jail. Tristram's brother Benjamin (4U) was in charge of building the jail.
Tristram was married twice and had eight children. He died in Bennettsville, SC in 1817 at the age of 65. At the time of his death, he had purchased over 4,000 acres of land and owned thirteen slaves. He is buried in the Saw Mill Cemetery in Bennettsville and, in 1974, another marker by the Marlboro County Historic Preservation Commission was placed near his gravesite:
Alexander Gregg in his History of the Old Cheraws, written in 1867, had this to say about Tristram:
Tristram Thomas was a name respected and honored and respected by all classes on the Pedee. General Thomas was modest and retiring in disposition, but firm and decided whenever principle was involved in the conduct of life. Sturdy by habit, and resolute in character as circumstances might demand, he was happily fitted by nature for the perils and labors of the Revolution. The discouragements to which the actors of that stormy period were often subjected, never unnerved or intimidated his soul. Possessed of a solid understanding, a practical turn of mind, and virtuous principles, he faithfully discharged the duties incumbent upon him in every station to which he was called in the administration of the affairs of his own district and the councils of the State. He was the first Brigadier-General on the Pedee after the war. He lived to a good old age, universally esteemed and died at his residence in Marlborough District in 1817.
Philemon Thomas
Our uncle Philemon (4U) was born in Maryland in 1756. When his father, Stephen (5GGF), died in 1774, Philemon was 18. He, along with his younger brothers Benjamin (4U) and James (4U) were taken in by their older brother John (4U) who had remained true to the Quaker faith.
Information on Stephen's son Philemon is sketchy as he is often confused with Stephen's brother Philemon (5U), who was born in 1720. Ca. 1775, the younger Philemon had married Elizabeth Breeden and possibly moved out of his brother John's house at that time. He was certainly out and living in South Carolina by 1778 when he contributed £25 toward the founding of St. David's Academy. The Academy was "an early initiative to provide schooling in the area of Cheraw South Carolina."
During the Revolutionary War, Philemon provided supplies for the American Army three times, in 1778, 1780 and 1781. These supplies included livestock, horses and food. He was paid the for the items taken from his plantation. Below is a receipt for horses used by General Nathaniel Greene's army. Greene was appointed by Washingting as the commander of the Continental Army in the southern theater.
It seems that Philemon not only provided supplies, but was also a sergeant late in the war in the North Carolina militia. He served in the 10th regiment under our uncle Robert Raiford (5U). In 1785, for his service in the war, Philemon was granted two "bounty land grants," 640 acres each, in Tennesee "reserved by law for soldiers in the continental army. Though there is no proof, it seems likely that Philemon's brother Benjamin (4U) claimed the rights to the Tennessee grant. We'll explore that possiblity in our next section.
It's been impossible to figure out how many children Philemon and Elizabeth had because of the confusion between the younger Philemon and his uncle. The 1790 census lists Philemon in the Cheraw District with 2 males over 16, 1 male under 16 and four females. That is the last record we have for him.
Muddying the waters even more between Philemon and his uncle is the fact that they both died close to the same time. We know that the younger Philemon died sometime before 1798 because it was about that time that his wife Elizabeth married Jesse Bethea. The older Philemon died in 1797 at age 77 and his will is often attributed to his nephew. Since no will can be found for the younger Philemon, there is a good possiblity he died intestate. He would have been about 40 when he died.
Benjamin Thomas
The bulk of the information we have on our uncle Benjamin Thomas (4U) comes from the painstaking research of George T. Thomas, the man who dearly wanted to be a part of our Thomas family but sadly found that he was not. It was research on our uncle Ben that finally quashed his dreams. A land sale record in Tennessee and DNA testing proved conclusively to George that our Ben was not his grandfather. We will be using much of George's work for this profile of our uncle.
Benjamin was the second youngest of Stephen's children. He was born in 1756 in Maryland and 11 years old when his father made the move to North Carolina in 1767. When Stephen died in 1774, Benjamin, then 18, went to live briefly with his Quaker brother John (4U). Shortly afterward, however, it seems that Ben tied his fortunes to brother Robert's coattails.
First, Robert sold his younger brother a piece of land located on Brown's River, a Pee Dee River tributary on the west side. Then, in the late 1770s, Benjamin followed Robert to the Gum Swamp area, about 40 miles east of Rockingham. Finally, by 1785, we find Benjamin in South Carolina, living "against the South Carolina border near the lands of his older brother Robert (4U)." Their property was where the town of McColl lies today.
In 1785, Ben's brother Tristram (4U), also living in South Carolina, donated two acres of land "for the construction of publick buildings in the newly created Marlborough County." Tristram hired Benjamin to help build the jail. Ben then falls into relative obscurity until we find him in Montgomery County, Tennessee in 1797. Only a year earlier in 1796, Tennessee had entered the U.S. as its 16th state.
The time of Benjamin's move coincides roughly with the death of his brother Philemon who had been granted land in Tennessee. George Thomas had this to say about Benjamin's move to Tennessee:
North Carolina was a divided allegiance without the means of enforcing the tax needed to raise a standing army. To fund the Revolutionary War effort, soldiers were offered land beyond the mountains in varying amounts based on rank and length of service. It was in this reserve set aside for soldiers where in 1795, the town of Palmyra was laid off by Dr. Morgan Brown. The acting commissioners for the new town on the banks of the Cumberland River included Benjamin Thomas, son of Stephen.
The evidence certainly suggests that Benjamin moved onto the lands granted to his brother Philemon. And in another coincidence between the brothers, George T. Thomas believes that before Benjamin's move to Tennessee, he married a woman from the Bethea family. This woman would probably be related to Jesse Bethea, the man who married Philemon's widow.
Since Benjamin's oldest son lists his birth state as Tennessee in census records, the couple must have moved shortly after their marriage in South Carolina. After he was settled in his new home state, Ben sold his property in South Carolina which "was situated on Panther Creek and adjoined the land of Robert Thomas." Below is a portion of the deed:
Benjamin Thomas and Samuel Leigh Deed
This indenture made the 26th day of July in the year of our Lord one thousand seven hundred and ninety seven Between Benjamin Thomas of Montgomery County and the State of Tennessee on the one part and Samuel Lee of Richmond County on the other part.
Ben's new hometown, Palmyra, Tennessee, lay in Montgomery County on the banks of the Cumberland River. It was 575 miles northwest of Ben's former home in South Carolina.
Benjamin certainly wasn't alone in his decision to move west. The 18th century would see a massive westward migration that began with people just like him. Ben may even have been the catalyst for five of his nieces and nephews who followed in his footsteps. All five were children of our grandfather William "Billy Ram" Thomas (4GGF) and his first wife Hannah.
While five of William's children can be found in early records for Montgomery County, TN, Tennessee, not all remained. Stephen (3U) settled in Palmyra near his Uncle Ben and Nathan (3U) in Stewart County, about 30 miles west. Elizabeth Thomas Ratliff (3A), after a brief stint in Tennessee, moved southwest with her husband to Mississippi. John (3U) and George (3U) would evenutally move south to Alabama. We'll have all their stories in a future post.
George Thomas wrote this about the area our uncle Benjamin settled:
As there were no western points of entry into our young nation, in 1796, an act was passed by Congress to establish this new town of Palmyra as the only western port of entry. The only location allowed to receive imported goods, the act provided a federal officer to receive and manage all imported goods. For a brief two years, until Cincinnati came online, this was the northern most and primary point of entry on the Mississippi river chain.
This was the place in Tennessee where many veterans from North Carolina settled. It is where Stephen Thomas’ Benjamin lived for a period of time. It’s also an area of counties where several children of Benjamin’s brother William settled. . .John, Nathan, and Stephen. Local history and cemeteries are ripe with the stories of this Thomas family. This was a place I wanted to see.
Benjamin was one of the first commissioners in Palmyra and "was prominent in Tennessee helping to create the first inland port along the Cumberland River. . ." Since his earliest land purchase in Tennessee was in 1803, he probably lived on his brother's property until then.
The earliest recorded land purchase for Benjamin was on 11 Jan 1803 when he bought 287 acres for a half dollar an acre. This land was "situated on Budd's Creek, Golden Horn Creek, and Yellow Creek George Thomas listed other land purchases and sales made over the years by Benjamin and his nephew George:
1804 Ben bought 200 acres for 100
1805 Ben sold to George 150 acres for half dollar an acre
1806 George sold the 150 acres he bought from his uncle for 300
1810 Ben received an occupant grant of 109 acres that had been part of a military grant
to Gully Moore who Ben knew from South Carolina.
1811 Ben received another occupant grant of 114 acres
1811 Ben sold the 200 acres he bought in 1804. He paid 100 and sold it for 125
1812. Ben sold to John Thomas 109 acres that he acquired in an occupant grant in 1810
Note: Since not all former soldiers wanted to move out to Tennessee, occupant grants had to do with civilians taking over property that had been granted to veterans of the Revolutionary War. This is probably what Benjamin did with Philemon's property as well.
Ben's last two land sales in 1811 and 1812 seem to have been in preparation for a move south to Hickman County where he purchased a 50 acre plantation and gristmill on the banks of the Piney River. Since a well traveled route to Mississippi and Louisiana had been established along the Piney River, George Thomas speculates that Ben "may have made a living filling the needs of travelers heading south."
On a mission to find Ben's property in Hickman County, George Thomas relates this story:
The land bounced along and was green with hills and trees. It did not take long to be directed to a good source of information. 84 years old, Mr. Yates lives just up Hwy 48 from Piney River Road. . .Asking Mr. Yates about a mill, his eyes brightened as he began to tell me the story I had only read about in records. While a little boy, his mother told him that she used to play on an old milldam along the creek. Pointing in the direction of the old bridge, Mr. Yates continued to tell of the 1948 storm that revealed part of the mill remains. "Large white oak beams with pinion holes" were exposed and protruded from the cuts in the creek bank. Working with the tractor, he pulled out parts of a tub like water wheel that his wife later used as flower planters on their long front porch.
Benjamin sold the mill property sometime before 1815 and George lost track of him after that.
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