Col. Nathaniel Barnwell

John Barnwell’s son, Colonel Nathaniel Barnwell (1705-1775) was involved in the development of sea island indigo plantations during the colonial period. Although “Tuscarora Jack” Barnwell left his children a considerable legacy of frontier land, at his death he was not a wealthy man. The foundation of the family fortune was left to the venerable and persevering Colonel Nathaniel Barnwell who inherited 1,400 acres on Port Royal. In 1752, Barnwell purchased the 1,520 acre Delebere tract on Parris Island. These two large plantations made him the most productive indigo planter in the Beaufort District.

Nathaniel Barnwell (married to Mary Gibbes) was a colonel in the militia, member of the Commons House of Assembly, justice of the peace, and vestryman of St. Helena Church for most of his career. But he was less politically active than his father, and the family was never as influential during the colonial period as many of the Charleston based families. Barnwell’s principal accomplishment was to build a respectable fortune based on indigo. It was this fortune which allowed his sons, John and Robert Barnwell, to forge Beaufort’s most powerful political faction in the era of the American Revolution. It was this wealth which also allowed his two daughters, Ann and Mary, to make very fortunate marriages. Ann married Colonel Thomas Middleton and Mary married William Elliot. When Barnwell died in 1775, his surviving children divided an estate which included eighty-nine slaves, more than 3,000 acres of land in the sea islands, and two substantial town houses in Beaufort. Barnwell’s moveable estate included 147 head of livestock and was valued at 50,841 pounds of currency. Among his possessions were six sets of “indigo vats and pumps,” more than any planter in the Port Royal area.