Ancestor Stories

McCauley Family

Captain John McCauley

My Family | Mom | Eleanor Syers | William Scott Martin | Dad | Lew Wade Ray | Emma Melvina Cook | Contact Me
Other Research | Walter Dudley | Harry Mann

Captain John MaCauley / McCauley is the father of Charlotte McCauley Frierson who married Elias Curran Frierson.

John's Timeline:

Newspaper Article From Florence Morning News, Florence South Carolina

I found this article that another researcher published in the "Florence Morning News" March 13, 1964.

... Captain John Macauley, who recruited and commanded in the Revolution the company of Marion's Brigade from the south side of Black River, wa a cultured an influential citizen, rose to the rank of Major, and after the revolution served several terms in the Legislature (Boddie: History of the Williamsburg County, pp. 129 - 130). Despite his high reputation, however, when I began my investigations preparatory to writing this article I had no reliable information as to his home site and his descendants.

I had previously abstracted the title to our Rose Hill plantation and found that my great uncles brought it in 1875 from the heirs of Capt Wm F Rodgers who got it from his grandfather, William Frierson JR and settled at the present home site in 1843. I carried my search to a plat of the plantation of 1891 acres made for William Frierson Jr in 1818 and recorded in Deed Book C, page 29, Clerk's Office, Kingstree, SC. Here I stopped assuming that Frierson had obtained a grant for the property.

About a half mile northwest of the Rose Hill residence is a large field on the edge of the Thorntree swamp that we as owners of Rose Hill Plantation have always known as the Store field. However, according to local tradition this is a misnomer and the field is really the Maccauley field and was the home site of a man by the name who lived there for years and at his death was buried without a marker in what we know as the Indian Graveyard, a wooden knoll on the edge of the swamp just beyone the north side of the field.

Several rich old house spots and old well, the base of an old chimney and two old dead live oak stubs born evidence in my youth of the existence of a former settlement of considerable size in that fiedl. Shome how I never associated this Macauley of the tradition with the Major of the Revolution. Recently, however, I have made an exhaustive search of the records of the Clerk's office in Kingstree and have procured a copy of a grant from the Secretary of State and these prove indubitably that the Macauley of the tradition with the Major of the Revolution are one in the same person.

Deeds recorded in Deed Book A at pages 76 and 78 show that Major John Macauley owned 641 acres of land on the east side of the Thomrntree swamp, which was inheritied by his sole heir, his daughter, Charlotte, the wife of Elias Curran Frierson, from whom the property passed to William Frierson Jr. The grant to R. P. Witherspoon dated January 7, 1804 shows that this Elias Frierson tract of 641 acres on the east side of Thorntree was included in Rose Hill plantation which was bounded on the South by the Witherspoon plantation, later conveyed to John Watson, Sr.

The 641 acre tract is now owned, counting from the north, by J. C. Davis, who owns the Indian Graveyard, Henry F. Davis who owns the Macauley section is the most valuable part of Rose Hill, as it contains both settlements and a large area of the best farm lands.

War Records

Williamsburg Soldiers in the Revolution So far as is known, all records of Marion's Brigade have been lost; indeed, it is not certain that General Marion kept any rolls of his soldiers. Tradition is full of tales of these men of valor, but it is difficult to obtain authentic information of many who must have been among them. Some years after the War, those soldiers who submitted accounts for services and supplies were paid. There are a great many of these "Pay Indents" in the office of the Historical Commission of South Carolina and from these records it has been established that nearly all of the following served under General Marion. There are a few names on the list that have other incontestable evidence to warrant their worthiness among these mighty men.

Colonels: John Baxter, Hugh Ervin, John Ervin, Archibald McDonald.

Majors: John James, William Buford, James Conyers, Morgan Sabb, James Postell.

Captains: John Armstrong, Philip Frierson, William Frierson, John Graham, James Green, William Gordon, John James, Hugh Knox, Andrew Lester, John Macauley, Robert McCottry, John MeKenzie, John Mills, Henry Mouzon, Robert Paisley, William Spivey, John Nelson, Samuel Taylor, James Wilson, James Witherspoon, John Witherspoon, David Witherspoon, Gavin Witherspoon, Daniel Conyers, Andrew DuBose, Mark Huggins.

Lieutenants: James H. Allison, Daniel Britton, Daniel Cottingham, John Frierson, William Gamble, James Gordon, Roger Gordon, James Hamilton, John Hinds, Alexander James, Thomas Kerwin, Andrew Lester, James McDowell, Hugh Postell, John Reed, Joseph Scott, John McKenzie, James McDowell, John Wilson, William Wilson, James Davis, William Huggins.

Sergeants: George Frierson, Gavin James, Thomas McGee, David Simms, William Nelson.

Source: History of Williamsburg, From 1705 - 1923 by William Willis BoddieGenealogy Trails - Williamsburg

Carolana

After the fall of Charlestown in May of 1780, Maj. John James returned to Williamsburg County and began raising Patriot sentiments in and around Kingstree. Four new companies of militia were quickly established and assembled in Kingstree, under the following captains: Henry Mouzon - King's Tree Company; John McCauley - South Black River Company; John James, Jr. - Lynch's Lake Company; and, Robert McCottry - Cedar Swamp/Black Mingo Company. A battalion of 300 men was created and they elected John James as Major. This new battalion became the nucleus of Col. Francis Marion's new Brigade of 1780.

source: http://www.carolana.com/SC/Revolution/sc_revolution_engagements_williamsburg_county.html

Virginia 1774

6 March. (1781) [ambush] Widboo Swamp (Clarendon County, S.C.) Marion who had been preparing to join Sumter , learned of Watson’s advance and lay in wait for him at Widboo Swamp. The site was a marshy passage way located on the Santee Road between Nelson’s and Murry’s Ferry. McCrady gives Marion’s strength as 250. Watson’s advance force of some loyalist (militia) dragoons under Col. Henry Richbourg clashed with some of Marion’s cavalry under Col. Peter’s Horry, after which both fell back. When Marion tried to send forth Horry once more, Watson’s infantry and artillery held Horry back. The South Carolina Rangers (Harrison’s Corps), under Maj. Samuel Harrison,1033 then came up once more to charge the Americans, but were arrested in their movement momentarily by one of Horry’s horsemen, Gavin James, apparently a mighty individual of the cast of Peter Francisco, who single-handedly slew three of them before retiring. Marion threw in his horsemen under Captain Daniel Conyers and Capt. John McCauley who drove the Rangers back, killing Harrison. Watson’s regulars then continued their advance and Marion retreated to Cantey’s Plantation file miles northwest of present day Greeleyville.1034

source: http://www.virginia1774.org/Southern%20Record.pdf

Rev. War Patriots

There are 4 men with the last name of McCauley listed in the Roster of the South Carolina Patriots in the American Revolution.
  • McCauley, James served 468 days as a lieutenant and captain in the militia under Gen. Marion during 1780, 81, and 82.
  • McCauley, John served in the militia and was at the fall of Charleston
  • McCauley, Samuel served in the militia and was at the fall of Charleston
  • McCauley, William served as a captain under Col. Richardson
navigation

Martin Family
John and Harriet McGhee Martin

Frierson
Samuel Gordon Frierson
McCauley
Capt John McCauley
Documentation


DNA - Gedmatch
  • T722133 and A352350 (quilterpatray)
  • T356644 (KS)
  • T030500 (brother Mike)
  • T555095 (sister Brenda)
  • T619264 (brother David)
  • A588813 (sister Carol)
  • A823899 (Auntie E)
  • T224209 (Cousin Tom) also completed Y-DNA with familytreedna
  • A676128 (Cousin Sandra)
  • A327125 (Cousin Candy)
  • Coming soon: Barbara