Friday, September 28, 2007

Jacob Braswells in Johnston Co., NC


From the website of Nona Williams:

The Johnston County, North Carolina, History Book says:

There were two Jacob Braswells in Johnston County--the first Jacob Being mentioned in William Hinton’s will in 1761, and the second was fighting the Revolutionary War on March 13, 1779. In 1784 Jacob II was listed on the tax list and the 1790 census listed Jacob Brazil along with two males over 16 and four females in the New Bern District--Johnston County.

The first Jacob came from Edgecombe County along with one Richard and William Braswell, and they had either died or left the county by the time Jacob II came on the scene. The parents and origin of Jacob II are unknown, and there also was no marriage bond for him, but it could have been destroyed in the Dobbs County records.

Jacob II bought 200 acres of land in 1781 from John Edwards and received 36 acres in a land grant from the State of North Carolina in 1802. All of this land was in Boon Hill Township on Quicosin Swamp. Jacob was a farmer apparently without any education since he signed his named with an "X" on land records.

Jacob and his wife had four children: Sally, married to Sampson Edwards on September 29, 1812; Nancy married to Elijah Thompson on December 20, 1814; Leucy, married to Joseph Edwards, Jr., on May 19, 1815; and Lewis,the only son, married Sally Bridgers on December 29, 1815.

The book goes on to say that from Jacob II are descended all of the Braswells in Johnson County, with the exception of a branch in Rocky Mount, North Carolina, and another from Louisburg, North Carolina.


Note: The 2nd Jacob Braswell was from Southampton Co., VA and witnessed the will of John Beal with George Gurley & Thomas Edwards before he moved to Johnston Co., NC.


BEALL, JOHN. To son Drury land adjoining Dr. Browne and Howell Whittington; son Burwell; son John; wife Liddia. Ex., Joseph Johnson. D. Sep 13, 1777 R. Feb 12, 1778 Wit: George Gurley, Thomas Edwards, Jacob Braswell. (Southampton Co., VA WB III P. 197)