Mary Buffington Greer

Mary Harlan Buffington Greer, wife of Thomas II Buffington of Turkey Creek

Thomas Buffington, planter, late of Granville District, South Carolina died at his home on Turkey Creek now Edgefield County in 1768. His wife, Mary Buffington as next of kin was to administer. The following year Mary Buffington was granted two hundred acres of land on Turkey Creek. Under the Land Laws of the Province of South Carolina a widow was eligible to receive 100 acres for herself, and 50 acres for each minor child. This grant indicates there were two minor children at this time.
Shortly after receiving this grant Mary Buffington married James Greer, and she and her new husband proceeded to settle with the two sons of age on the 25th of April 1770. Ezekiel Buffington and Oburn Buffington. Nathan Harlan was a witness to this transaction.

Why was a woman, even the wife, appointed to administer this estate, unusual in South Carolina, when there were two sons of age? These sons were engaged in trade in the Cherokee Nation and were absent for many months at a time. Communication was difficult and it was necessary to protect the Estate's assets as quickly as possible.

The two minor children are assumed to be Thomas Buffington III, who later served in the Revolution, and Jonathan Buffington, the younger child, who later lived in Abbeville County in 1800 and 1810, Hall County in 1830, and Campbell County in 1830. His place of death is not known.

There are no records of daughters born in this family. If this family follows the typical Buffington family pattern several girls were born later than Ezekiel and Oburn and were already married at the time.

Who was Mary Buffington, widow of Thomas? Only one person could satisfy all the conditions demanded by the family history: Mary Harlan, first born child of Ezekiel Harlan, Jr. and Hannah Osborn. There are no records of her birth or marriage; the following items are given for study and evaluation.
1. Ezekiel Harlan married Hannah Oborn 10-23-1724 in Friend's Meeting House at Concord: Their first born child was Susanna~ born 12-26-1727, or more than three years later, an unusual delay in pioneer marriages.

I believe a daughter, Mary, was born in 1725, who married her cousin, Thomas Buffington, Jr. The Quakers frowned on the marriages of cousins.

Ezekiel Buffington may have been born as early as 1740, perhaps not later than 1742 as his oldest child, Mary Buffington Treadaway was born in 1760. This would mean a marriage in about 1739 when Mary Harlan was 14 years old. Probably strong family opposition, as Thomas was perhaps 27 or 28 years old.

2. Names of children of Thomas Jr. & Mary confirm the above theory.

First recorded child
a. Oldest son named Ezekiel
b. Second son named Oborn
c. Third son named for father, Thomas
d, Fourth son, Jonathan, anmed for uncle Jonathan Harlan, who was
on Turkey Creek for estate settlement.

3. Ezekiel Harlan III (Harling) owned several tracts of land nearby, and was in Edgefield County for several years before Thomas and Mary came South.

4. Ellis Harlan, another uncle, on above theory was mentor of Ezekiel Buffington, partner in Indian trading and later was his partner in many land deals.

5. The following Harlan-Oburn names have been repeated for 200 years in this branch of the Buffington family.

Ezekiel
Harlan
Oburn or Oborn Ellis
Jonathan
The Cherokee descendants of Ezekiel have repeatedly used the above names with exception of Oburn.

Mary Harlan) Buffington Greer vanishes from the pages of this family history (after 1770 she was probably 44 years old at the time of her marriage to James Greer, and may have lived into the next century). It is hoped that the search on this branch of the family will continue and the facts be established.

Rhame, Clara Dunagan. The Buffington Family in America: A Joint Venture for the Buffington Family. Edited by Ralph Meldrim Buffington, The Buffington Family in America, 1965, pp. 195-196