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A Study of 1800 South Carolina and the Mullins Families Therein,Including Their Move to Georgia.
(Prior to the Civil War, South Carolina had political districts in addition to counties. In 1790 there were 7 of these districts, the northwestern most being called “Ninety-Six District”. By 1800 the old Ninety-Six had disappeared and the area consisted of eight political boundaries, some called counties, and some still called districts.) Settlers of any portion of South Carolina, other than the coastal area, would have followed the old Indian Trails. The main trail through western South Carolina and Spartanburg was called “The Lower Cherokee Traders Path”, and would have come from North Carolina and, among others, the following present day counties: Rockingham, Guilford, Randolph, Rowan and Mecklenburg, essentially traveling southwest. From Spartanburg the trail went through Pendleton District, split into two in that area, and the southern route continued on into Georgia, was called “The Pecatonica Trail”. It went through the present day counties of Franklin and Jackson as it entered Georgia, turned south and continued through western Georgia and Florida to the Gulf Coast. Not far from this trail are the future counties of Walton, Newton, Jasper, Jones, Monroe and more as one heads south. The northern trail out of South Carolina into northern Georgia entered in the Rabun – Habersham area and continued north across the state and on to the Birmingham area of Alabama. For reference there was another trail coming out of eastern Virginia, through eastern North Carolina and entering Georgia at Augusta. This trail was called “The Occaneechi Path”. It continued from there as “The Lower Creek Trading Path” and went through Macon and Columbus, Georgia and into Montgomery, Alabama. From Augusta, Richmond County the trail to Macon went near Hancock and Jones Counties. There are only 5 Mullins families living in South Carolina in 1800.
Pendleton District, in 1800 consisted of the future Oconee, Pickens and Anderson Counties. Pickens County was first formed in 1825, followed the next year by Anderson County. Oconee County was formed in 1868, after the Civil War from Pickens County. From the 1800 Census of Pendleton District. The census data is by column: Free White Males - <10, 10-15, 16–25, 26-44, 45+, Free White Females are the same followed by all other free persons except Indians not taxed and slaves. L Name F Name NARS StRl Pg# Family Grp Twp. MULLINS, Elias M-032 050 18 00100-00100-00 No Twp. Listed Elias MULLINS is between 16-25 and is married to a woman of the same age bracket and no children. That gives his birth year range from 1775-1784. MULLINS, John M-032 050 18 40010-30010-00 No Twp. Listed John MULLINS is between 26-44, his wife the same age and has 7 children all under 10 years of age. That gives his birth year range from 1756-1774, most likely more towards 1774. MULLINS, Thomas M-032 050 18 00201-00001-00 No Twp. Listed Thomas MULLINS is the oldest of the lot being over 45, with a wife the same age and 2 boys almost grown, 15-25 years old. He could have been born anytime before 1755. Wouldn’t this be great if he were the Thomas Mullins, Jr. (b: 1741) son of the blacksmith from England, of which we have very little information to go on. This census can be interpreted as follows: These Mullins families are very close as they are enumerated on the same page. One can assume from this census that Thomas Mullins is the father and that he has 4 sons, two of which are married, and two still in the main house. Also for reference they were not in this area in 1790. In the 1810 census none of these families are still in South Carolina.
Spartanburg County was formed in 1785 (as Spartan County) as a county of Ninety Six District. There were no will books prior to 1809. The original wills and estates papers are extant from their beginnings in 1787, and they have been abstracted and published, but there are no Mullins entries therein. From the 1800 Spartanburg County census we have: Mullins, Bud 30010-10100-00 Page 191 Bud is between 26-44. He has a wife whose age is between 16-25, and 4 youngsters under 10. This would give Bud a birth year range of 1756-1774, and we know he was born in 1758-1759, which would mean he was about 41 for this census, and his wife no more than 25. The children listed next are gathered from future references: for the boys are Thomas (1791), Elias (1794), Osburn (1797), and Burgess (1799), and for the girls are Rebecca (1789) and Nancy (1793). Obviously this does not agree with other information we have later. This gives us problems in later years confirming birth dates for the children. Mullins, Lone 31010-00010-00 Page 192 Lone Mullins is about the same age as Bud (26-44) and has a wife of his same age range. They have an older son 10-15 years of age and 3 boys under 10. We have no information about the future of this Lone Mullins. What can we deduct from this? First of all Bud and Lone (Malone?) were most likely brothers. Also Bud did not marry until he was probably about 35, and he married a much younger woman. |
