James Bennett Easterling, Sr.

A Patriot of the American Revolution for GEORGIA (Soldier). DAR Ancestor # A035654

James Easterling, Senior of Twiggs county GA is listed among Revolutionary War Veterans who were fortunate participants in the 1820 and 1827 GA land lotteries according to official Georgia State records housed in the Georgia Department of Archives and History.

This family is an important one because it brings a branch of the Easterling line from Marlboro county SC to middle Georgia by 1806 and begins a new spelling of the surname (with no g) a generation later in 1840 in Sumter county, GA. Almost all Easterlins from the state of Georgia today are descended from this branch of the family.

James Bennett Easterling, second oldest of Reverend Henry Easterling's sons, was born in 1760 in Dobbs (now Lenoir) county, NC and died in June 1843 in probably Walton county, GA. He married and started a family with wife Elizabeth "Betty" Morris in Richmond county NC around 1781. Following the Rev War, James and Betty (and James' father, Rev Henry Easterling, 1733-1800) relocated from Richmond county NC to upper SC (Marlboro county/Cheraw district). From about 1785-1805 James Easterling and family lived in Marlboro district SC and in neighboring Marion county SC near the Little Pee Dee River.

James, a widower by 1801 with an extended family, remarries around 1805 and moves to Washington county Georgia in 1806 from Marion county SC. Several of his adult children moved with him to GA, including son Henry W. (1786-1862), daughter-in-law Mary McQueen, son Shadrach Easterling (born 1792), and newlywed daughter Ann Easterling (1790-1867) and husband Britton O'Neal (abt 1782-1867). Britton and Ann married in 1805 in Robeson county NC and their first child, James Isaac O'Neal, was born 18 April 1806 in Georgia.

James marries a woman named Amelia or Milly in SC by 1805, and they have a little girl, Nancy Easterling, also born in Georgia in April 1806, one of the first Easterling children (if not THE first) born in the state of Georgia. Following the move to Washington county, James and family relocated to Twiggs county GA in 1810. They were some of the earliest residents of Twiggs county, an area of central Georgia that was an Indian frontier wilderness in those days. Henry W. and Mary McQueen Easterling were among the founding members of Stone Creek (Baptist) Church in Twiggs county in 1810/1811.

James Easterling, Sr is not listed in the 1830 or 1840 Federal census of Twiggs county GA, and may have spent his last years with family members elsewhere in GA (most likely in Walton county GA by 1830 with son Henry W. & family). James Easterling, Sr went to his reward in June 1843, and is buried in O'Neal Family Cemetery, Twiggs county very near the Bibb county line.

http://goo.gl/XEpy81

(USGenweb List of Soldiers Buried in Twiggs Co)

My contact: [email%C2%A0protected]* Reference: Find A Grave Memorial - SmartCopy: Aug 3 2022, 1:14:09 UTC