A few additional members of unidentified Duke or Dukes
families were documented in the lowcountry and Pee Dee or had lowcountry
associations during the 18th century and early 19th
century.
James Dukes had a plat surveyed on the Little Reedy Creek, a
tributary of the Little Pee Dee River just east of modern Marion, SC, in 1790:
Series Number: S213190
Volume: 0026
Page: 00069
Item: 02
Date: 1790/03/12
Description: DUKES, JAMES, PLAT FOR 327 ACRES ON LITTLE
REEDY CREEK, GEORGETOWN DISTRICT, SURVEYED BY WILLIAM STEWART.
Names Indexed: DUKES, JAMES/STEWART, WILLIAM/MCWILLIAMS,
THOMAS/
Locations: GEORGETOWN DISTRICT/LITTLE REEDY CREEK
Type: PLAT/
He appears again in this plat for Peter McWilliams two years
later:
Series: S213190
Volume - 003
Page: 00307
Item:00
Date: 1792/05/05
Description: MCWILLIAMS, PETER, PLAT FOR 1,732 ACRES ON
LITTLE REEDY CREEK, GEORGE TOWN DISTRICT, SURVEYED BY WILLIAM STEWART.
Names Indexed: MCWILLIAMS, PETER/STEWART, WILLIAM/PRYOR,
LUKE/DUKS, JAMES/KERBEY, ARCHIBALD/ALSTON, WILLIAM/
Locations: GEORGETOWN DISTRICT/LITTLE REEDY CREEK/PEE DEE
RIVER
Type: PLAT/
Little Reedy Creek is now in Marion County, in the fork of
the Pee Dee and Little Pee Dee rivers, west of Kingston Township. On the 1776
Mouzon map, there is only one surname in the area – ÒRothmallerÓ,
probably land belonging to the family of Job Rothmahler. William Alston also
owned land adjacent John Frasier, apparently the same John Frasier who married Mary
Duke, daughter of Thomas Goodman Duke.[1]
A William Stewart earlier was associated with William Duke
of Christ Church Parish. The James Dukes of the Little Reedy Creek was
presumably born by 1765 or so.
A WorldConnect database dated 2001 by Edward@fuse.net
lists a marriage between Elizabeth Duke and James Lawrence Dubose, born
1818. James Lawrence Dubose is
listed as a son of John Dubose and Margaret Dick, and that John Dubose is
identified as a son of Isaac Dubose IV and Catherine Dutarque. No source is given for the information.
John Dutarque was executor of the John Snow will, witnessed by Thomas Goodman
Duke, much earlier.
On 9 February 1768, Henry Laurens wrote to John Polson regarding his affairs in Georgia: [2]
This goes by Mr. William Bruce who if he likes Turtle River will carry some of his own & some of my hands there to saw Pine Lumber. . . He will also pay you a Sum of Money for which you will send a Receipt on my Account and as I have engaged a Complete Carpenter to send to Altamaha shall have no further Use for Mr. Duke, therefore have orderÕd Mr. Noble to discharge him, & send me his Account. In the meantime perhaps the poor Man may be in want of a little Money; in such Case be so good as to let him have Part of his balance & Charge it to me.Ó
The Altamaha flows through Tatnall Co GA. SCDAH records show many grants on the Altamaha, principally to the usual suspects in Charleston, including Henry Laurens, in 1763. There were numerous previous associations between the DuguŽ and Noble families in Charleston, including joint ownership of a ship, along with others including Benjamin Marion, in 1695.[3] Henry le Noble was among the three individuals who posted bond for the estate of Jacques DuguŽ.[4] In the records preserved at SCDAH, the name Le Noble appears primarily as Noble after the 1740Õs. However, the reference here is to a Mark Noble, overseer of LaurenÕs property on the Altamaha, whose relationship to that family – if any – is unknown. The same Laurens letter speaks ill of young Mr. Noble; he apparently did not follow LaurensÕ directions properly. ÒMr. BruceÓ in this reference is William Bruce, a carpenter from the Black Mingo.
Reuben Duc is listed in the 1810 Colleton Co SC census, page 598. Colleton borders Orangeburg and Barnwell counties. His data:
Reuben Duc,
Colleton 00101020100
The ÒDucÓ spelling is otherwise found only in the Charleston family of Francis and Henry Duc, who were apparently unrelated to the Duke families.
Reuben appears to be 45+ (thus born 1765 or earlier), with a male16-25, a female 26-45, and two females 10-16. He is practically next door to Josiah Langdale, in Colleton Co. Langdale was one of the two witnesses to the will of our Joseph Duke's second wife, Barbara Dukes. According to Langdale family researchers, 1774, the year he witnessed Barbara's will, was the first year he was in SC. He and William Mason, the other witness to her will, suggest that Barbara was northeast of Walterboro when she made her will.
Reuben Duc is also close in the census to to Mary Ann Hyrne,
William Fishburne, Thomas Robeson, Thomas Boone, Crispan Canady and Lewis
OÕBrian.
The name Fishburn appears on the 1825 Mills Atlas of
Colleton Co on Scull Creek, which is consistent with information that places
Josiah Langdale between Walterboro and the Edisto River. Beach Hill appears on
the 1773 Mouzon map of South Carolina in St. PaulÕs Parish north of Spoons on
the east side of the Edisto.
This document
is copyright © 2007 by Lynn Teague. All rights reserved. The copyright must
appear on all copies.
[1] State Plats. Series No. S213192. Vol. 0036. Page 00020. Item 01. 1706. South Carolina Department of Archives and History.
[2] Rogers, George C., Jr., David R. Chesnutt, Editors, and Peggy J. Clark, Editorial Assistant. The Papers of Henry Laurens. Volume Five: Sept. 1, 1765-July 31, 1768. Columbia: University of South Carolina Press.
[3] Moore, Caroline T., compiler and editor. 1978. Records of the Secretary of the Province of South Carolina 1692-1721. Columbia: R. L. Bryan. P. 131.
[4] Salley, A.S.Jr. Jan 1909. Abstracts from Records the Court of Ordinary. South Carolina Historical and Genealogical Magazine Vol. X (1): 88.