All we know for sure is that "Ebinezar Gerrason" was in Duplin County, North Carolina by 1 Apr
1771 when he purchased 100 acres on Persimmon Swamp on the west side of the North East Branch
of the Cape Fear River from Andrew & Arabella McIntire. Witnessing the document were his
brother Jedediah Garrason and (perhaps their father) James Garrason. [Duplin Co Deed Bk 4, p458]
He continued to buy and sell land over the years, transactions that led one writer to describe him as
". . . a large land owner and planter." I will not take the space here to list sources or details but his
land transactions included: Dec 1783 purchase, Jun 1787 sale, Aug 1787 purchase, Sep 1787 sale,
1788 purchase, Oct 1790 purchase, Jan 1795 sale, Sep 1796 sale, Oct 1796 sale, and Jan 1798
purchase. He also was a slave owner and made the following recorded transactions: Oct 1784 sale,
Apr 1788 sale, and Jan 1793 purchase. [See various Duplin Co Deed Books.]
Again, without citing sources or giving details, let me mention the extant Duplin County Tax lists on
which his name appears: 1783,1786, 1787 and 1788. [These have been published in books and
magazines.]
In Ebenezer's time in North Carolina the adult male citizens were required to keep the roads in good
repair. Understand that this was a requirement of residency, not punishment for any wrong doing. I
am assuming it was the judges of the Quarter-Sessions Court who made the appointments with one
citizen being named the "overseer". It appears the term of service was for one year. Of course, the
roads were not paved, not even graded. Most, if not all, were single lane, three-path affairs, that is
two paths or ruts for the wagon or buggy wheels and a third path for the animal pulling it. Low
places that washed out or got mushy when it rained had to be repaired. Foot bridges for pedestrians
were sometimes built at creeks and where water often stood. Ebenezer was appointed to a road crew
in Apr 1786, in 1787 and in July of 1790. In July of 1788 he helped lay off a new road. [Printed
reports of the Quarter-Sessions Court.]
It is difficult to reconstruct Ebenezer's family. That he purchased land in 1771 suggests he may have
been married then or perhaps married soon afterward. And, again, he could have been like his grandson
James Jasper Garrason (1802-1882) who did not marry until he was 38, or like JJ's
grandson Milton Calder Garrason (1878-1951) who did not marry until he was 32. In any case,
Ebenezer's wife was Nancy _____. No record has been found of that marriage so we do not know
her maiden name nor we do not know the date, but it must have been several years before 1786 as a
census taken that year shows him with a family. There has been some speculation as to her maiden name but
I will not mention the name here at this time.
In 1786, four years before the first nationwide census mandated by the U S Constitution, the state of
North Carolina conducted its own census. The household of Ebenezer Garrason was listed in
Duplin Co and included five individuals: one male and four females. The dependants were not
named, but simply counted by sex. It is my belief that the census was in error, as have been many
state and federal cesnsuses through the years. I believe there should have been two males - Ebenezer
and son James - and three females - wife Nancy and two daughters. [Johnson. NCG v19 #1 p2816
Spr & Smr 1973]
If son James had been born c1778 as estimated he would have been only seven or eight at the time of
the 1786 census and likely would have been at home. However, if he had been born earlier , say
around 1770 he would have been about 16 - old enough to have been boarding with and working
for another family, perhaps for a widow with no working-age sons at home. As will be pointed out
on James' page there is little indication of his age in the scant records available.
Now, if James were away from home in 1786 the count of four females probably were of Ebenezer's
wife and three daughters. Only two daughters, Martha and Nancy, were mentioned in the
administration papers for his estate and they were both minors as late as 1807. All the daughters
counted in 1786 must have died before their father or must have married and left Duplin Co for
parts unknown before his death. Because daughters often received only a small portion of their
father's estate, each may have been given a cow, a slave or perhaps a piece of furniture as her
inheritance when she and her husband left the area. Communications and travel were so primitive it
would have been years after a man's death before all his scattered children would have heard of it
and, if deemed necessary, returned to his home. Even sons "headed west" were often given
something of value to compensate them for not taking part in the settlement of their father's estate.
There may have been other children who were born and died before the 1786 census and others
born and died between 1786 and 1800. If there were, it is unlikely their names and dates will ever
be known. For reasons unknown Ebenezer and family were not listed in the 1790 Federal Census.
The enumerator in Duplin Co may have been careless and missed the family. He may have recorded
their situation and later lost the record before it arrived in Washington. In any case, both the printed
record and microfilm/digital images have been visually scanned so throughly that it seems impossible
the family were listed under such a spelling so illiterate as to have been overlooked by numerous
researchers. When the British burned Washington, DC in the War of 1812 some censuses were
destroyed. One researcher suggested Ebenezer had moved his family to one of the states whose
census is lost, Georgia, for example, which was offering free land to new settlers, but that is only
speculation.
When the 1800 Federal Census was taken Ebenezer Garrason (so spelled) and three females were
living together. The females are assumed to have been his wife and two daughters, Martha and Nancy.
In 1810 widow Nancy was living with one younger female, obviously the daughter Nancy.
Church records mentioned below prove his widow Nancy and daughter Nancy (both Garrasons)
were living in 1820 but neither were listed by name in that census. It is quite possible they were
boarding with another family.
This is a suggested list of Ebenezer and Nancy's children:
1. James Garrason (LINK), born perhaps early 1770s or as late as 1778 (the estimate this
writer uses) to have been 21 when he married Martha Dykes in Effingham Co, Georgia on 4 Jul
1799. [Effingham Co Marriage records]
2. _____ Garrason, a daughter counted in the 1786 census, apparently died or married by
1800 and if living when her father died in 1801 was not included in his estate settlement.
3. _____ Garrason, a second daughter counted in the 1786 census, apparently died or
married by 1800 and if living when her father died in 1801 was not included in his estate settlement.
4. _____ Garrason, a possible third daughter counted in the 1786 census, who also was not
included in the settlement of her father's estate. The possibility of a third daughter exists because it is
not known is her brother James was miscounted as a female in that census or perhaps was working
and boarding with another family.
5. Martha Garrason, still a minor living at home in 1807, suggesting she was born after 1786
and therefore not counted in the census of that year. She died by April of 1807 in Duplin Co as
proved by the administration records of her father's estate. [ McEachern 1805-08 p54]
6. Nancy Garrason, still a minor at home in 1807, while not found in the 1820 census she
was living in May 1825 when she and her mother joined Muddy Creek Baptist Church in Duplin
Co. [Muddy Creek]
Ebenezer served in the American Revolution but all I can tell the reader at this time is that he was
listed as a private in the Revolutionary Army Accounts 1781-3. When additional information is available
it will be posted here.
Records of Muddy Creek Baptist Church show that in January of 1793 Ebenezer was accused of
being "disorderly". A local historian in Duplin County explained his infraction could have been
something as simple as playing cards. While he was called up just after Christmas, at the time it was
not celebrated as we do now but perhaps he "partied" too much. The Baptists were a secretive
bunch. They held business meetings to displicine the members and kept notes but they often failed
to mention what the infraction was and they were just as elusive about the punishment unless it
required a public confession or dismissal from the membership. [Muddy Creek]
Ebenezer died by Jul 1801 when the minutes of the Court of Pleas and Quarter Sessions recorded a
"Report of committee appointed to ascertain one years provision for Nancy Garrison [sic], widow of
Ebenezer Garrison, dec'd, and family..." [McEachern 1798-1803 p33.]
On 18 Jan 1804 the court granted to John Farrior, administrator of Ebenezer's estate, an order to sell
a slave named Peg so James Garrison could be given his share. [McEachern 1803-05 p23.]
On 18 Apr 1804 a committee appointed to settle the account of Ebenezer Garrison, dec'd, with John
Farrior, Adm'r, reported there was a balance of £301-18-4 of which James Garrison was entitled to
£75-9-7. [McEachern 1803-05 p23.] Note that even 20 years after the end of the American Revolution
people were still reckoning money in terms of pounds, shillings and pence. This is the
record this writer uses to prove his James was son of Ebenezer. For a discussion see James' page.
This last record is not the final settlement because daughter Nancy was still a minor in 1807. No
final filing by the administrator had been found. On 23 Apr 1807 the court appointed a committee
to "... settle accounts of Estate of Ebenezer Garrison, dec'd, between the Adr'r and Heirs and also to
settle that part of Estate that may fall to Widow on account of the death of her daughter Martha
Garrison, minor orphan of the said dec'd and to make her such allowance for raising, cloathing and
schooling her children . . ." [McEachern 1805-08 p54.] It should be noted that there was no
mention of making additional payment to the son James, an omission that suggests he was, indeed,
living away as was this writer's James Garrason in Georgia.
Ebenezer's widow, Nancy, was still living in May of 1825 when she and the daughter Nancy joined
Muddy Creek Baptist Church. It is not known when the widow died or what happened to the
daughter.
_______________________________________________________________________________
Explanation of Source Abbreviations
Johnson NCG: William Perry Johnson, ed. North Carolina Genealogy.
McEachern 1798-1803: Leonora H McEachers. Duplin County Court of Pleas and Quarter
Sessions, Abstracts of Minutes 1798-1803. Rose Hill (NC): Duplin County Historical Society, 1982.
McEachern 1803-05: Leonora H McEachers. Duplin County Court of Pleas and Quarter
Sessions, Abstracts of Minutes 1803-1805. Rose Hill (NC): Duplin County Historical Society, 1984.
McEachern 1805-08: Leora H McEachern. Duplin County Court of Pleas and Quarter Sessions,
Abstracts of Minutes 1805-1808. Rose Hill (NC): Duplin County Historical Society, 1990.
Muddy Creek: Handwritten copy of Muddy Creek Church records in Duplin County Historical
Society Library. Unindexed and unpaginated. Also available on index cards in the alphabetical card
files at the Society.
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