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I believe Richard, deceased circa 1798, SC, was the son of John and Francis Burge. I believe this Richard Burge and his wife, Francis, were the parents of Burrell, Jeremiah, Sarah, Richard, Jr., and perhaps others. Since this opinion is counter the accepted view, I offer the following argument in favor of my opinion. I would appreciate comments, pro or con.
I have an archive of the previous email discussion about the SC Burge family in case you need to refresh your memory.
Three possibilities have been proposed for the relationship between Richard, Burrell, and Jeremiah Burge of South Carolina.
1. They are extremely close cousins
2. They are brothers
3. They are father and sons
It appears the primary argument
for either of the first two possibilities is the closeness of their death
dates, Burrell, in 1797, Richard, in 1798, and Jeremiah, in 1801. This
implies their birth dates are similarly clustered.
The above argument also appears to be the main objection to the third possibility, that of a father and sons relationship. I argue that death does not follow a nice orderly schedule and although we may never know for sure, I believe the known data records actually support the possibility that Richard is the father of both Burrell and Jeremiah. I think a father and sons relationship is a better fit for the existing data than that of cousins or brothers.
First we look at the ages of Richard, Burrell, and Jeremiah Burge:
Of the three, Jeremiah is the easiest to provide an age for. He is listed on the 1800 US census for Fairfield District, South Carolina as under 45, making his birth year after 1755. In 1779 he signed Benjamin Perry's will as a witness. From this, I argue that he was at least 21 at the time, and he was therefore born before 1759. Jeremiah married Elizabeth Sorsby in 1781. There is no reason to believe he had children born prior to that year.
Burrell did not necessarily have to be 21 to be an heir of William Burge in 1770. He would, however, have to be 21 to take possession and sell the land, as he did seven years later in 1777. This would require Burrell to be born prior to 1757. An analysis of the census and probate data for Burrell's children indicate his oldest was born after 1774. This is consistent with a birth date in the early 1750's.
From the South Carolina records we know that Richard purchased land in the Camden District in 1778 and his wife, Francis, was 45 or older when the US census was taken in 1800. This data by itself yield a birth year prior to 1758. Yet, we know Richard was older than that. In the 1790 US Census for Nash County, North Carolina, his household has an empty nest appearance with a single male child, 16 years or older. This was his son Richard, born in 1774, the last of his children. He is also known to have a daughter, Sarah, who married Reubin Harrison in 1782. Harrison genealogical records indicate she was born in 1765. From this I argue Richard was likely born prior to 1745.
So, from the data, a picture emerges of two younger men, Burrell and Jeremiah, both starting families after the birth of the last child in the family of the older Richard Burge. This yields a generation gap that makes the possibilities of close cousins or even brothers unlikely. Yet, we will see below that the data also indicate the three lived very close to each other, perhaps together at times.
Of the three, only Richard was a land owner and therefore a tax payer in 1778-1779 when the Camden District, South Carolina jury lists were compiled from the district tax lists. A next-door neighbor of Richard's in the Camden District was Benjamin Perry, whose will Jeremiah and John Rains Burge signed as witnesses in 1779. During 1780, Burrell and Jeremiah Burge were involved in Loyalist activities and were likely forced to leave South Carolina by war end. The records show Jeremiah Burge married Elizabeth Sorsby during November 1781 in Nash County, North Carolina. Although there is no record of Richard being involved in the war, he was in Nash County by June 1782. He sold his Camden District, South Carolina land on November 4, 1782 and purchased land in Nash county on November 28, 1782. Richard was the first of the trio to buy land in North Carolina. Later, in 1783, Jeremiah bought land. We have never found a record indicating Burrell bought land in either state. In North Carolina, Burrell was a road overseer for a term on the road near Richard Burge's property. This usually implies one is a land owner, or the grown son of a landowner. Records show that by August 1794, Burrell was back in South Carolina, living near his wife's relatives in Fairfield District. Richard Burge and Jeremiah sold their land in North Carolina in the spring of 1797. In the fall of 1797, after the death of Burrell, Jeremiah Burge bought land in South Carolina in the area where they previously lived. About the same time Richard made his will, leaving his entire estate to his wife, Francis.
In South Carolina from 1712 to 1791, the old English rule of primogeniture was used when probating estates. Under this rule, after the debts were paid, all real estate automatically descended to the eldest living male heir; even the widow's dower after her death. While I haven't checked the laws of North Carolina, there were similar rules in Virginia, and doubtless, in North Carolina, too. It is very likely the rule lived on in the family estate planning and attitudes long after after it was dropped from the law. In South Carolina, after 1791, if there was no will, the widow would legally be entitled to a third of the estate and the children would split the remainder.
I believe the observations in the above paragraphs can best be explained by Burrell being the oldest son of Richard and entitled to inherit all of his father's real estate by the English rule of primogeniture. Because of this rule, as long as he was on good terms with his father, Burrell would have no compulsion to acquire land in his own name. The money he gained by selling his inheritance from William Burge was likely used to help his father acquire land in South Carolina. Jeremiah and all the younger sons, would be expected, and perhaps helped, by the family, to acquire land after they married. In 1797, Burrell died, likely unexpectedly. His daughter Nancy chose her grandfather, Richard, to be her guardian. Soon afterward, Richard made a will leaving everything to his wife, providing for her and depending on her to divide his estate equably among their children. Without the will, when Richard died circa 1798, the widow would have received one third and the children, including Jeremiah, would have received an equal share of the remaining two thirds. Although Burrell's estate was sold in 1797, the settlement was delayed until 1801. We believe this delay was due to the settlement of Richard's estate. Two facts help support this. The amount split by Burrell's family was about a fourth larger than the amount from his estate sale. Additionally, in 1801 Elizabeth, Burrell's widow, sold a slave, Lucy, who was described as part of Burrell's property, yet, Lucy's name does not appear on the estate inventory along with the other slaves.
I think the above scenario is a good fit for the known data. However, we haven't yet made a convincing argument for ages of Richard and Francis showing it would be possible for them to be the parents of Burrell and Jeremiah. To do this, we need to look at data from Virginia.
A Richard Burge and Francis, his wife, sold two adjacent 100 acre tracts of Amelia County, Virginia land in 1759. Both deed conveyances contain the phrase "...being part of 200 acres formerly patented to John Burge on March 17, 1736 & conveyed by him to said Richard Burge, Jr. by deed...is adjacent to Woody Creek..." There is another Virginia deed conveyance, dated 1750 where John Burge and Francis, his wife, convey to Richard Burge for "...Natural love & affection for son Richard Burge. 200 acres U/S Lower Fork of Woody Creek..." I argue the three conveyances refer to the same 200 acres of land. Parish records show Richard, the son of John Burge, was born in 1728. The 200 acres was likely a gift to him on his 21st birthday or perhaps when he married Francis.
I believe Richard Burge called himself Richard Burge, Jr. on the first two deeds to differentiate himself from his uncle Richard who lived nearby. Richard, Sr died late that year, 1759, so there was no need for this differentiation in 1770 will where Burrell, son of Richard, inherited from William Burge. The birth year of 1728 is a reasonable year for the father of Burrell given my estimate of Burrell being born in the early 1750's. The span of 20 to 24 years from the first child to the last child of Richard and Francis is marginal, but still reasonable.
In conclusion, I believe this is the lineage for Burrell Burge that the historical data support: