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 1720 - 1770 (~ 50 years)
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| Name |
William Emory |
| Birth |
~ 1720 |
Surrey, England  [1, 2] |
| Christening |
20 Oct 1728 |
Lincolnshire, England [3] |
| Gender |
Male |
| Emigration |
0___ 1738 |
Charleston, Charleston County, South Carolina [4] |
| Occupation |
Indian Trader, British Soldier [5] |
| Death |
0Jul 1770 |
South Carolina [1, 2] |
| Burial |
31 Jul 1770 |
Charleston, South Carolina, a British Colony [1, 2, 3, 6] |
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| Person ID |
I21522 |
The Hennessee Family |
| Last Modified |
21 Jul 2018 |
| Father |
John Amory, The Immigrant, b. ~ 1695, (Lincolnshire) England d. 0Oct 1746, South Carolina, A British Colony (Age ~ 51 years) |
| Mother |
Sarah Wilson, b. ~ 1705, (Lincolnshire) England d. 29 Mar 1765, Charleston, Charleston County, South Carolina (Age ~ 60 years) |
| Marriage |
13 Feb 1726 |
Lincolnshire, England [3, 5, 6, 7, 8] |
| Residence (Family) |
Savannah, Chatham County, Georgia [5] |
| Residence (Family) |
Charleston, Charleston County, South Carolina [5] |
| Family ID |
F9677 |
Group Sheet | Family Chart |
| Family 1 |
Mary Susannah Grant, b. 1729, Monroe County, Tennessee d. Bef 1770, Goose Creek, Berkeley County, South Carolina. a British (Age 40 years) |
| Marriage |
1744 |
Tennessee [4, 9] |
- in the Cherokee Nation, East...
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| Residence (Family) |
0___ 1755 |
Ninety-Six, Greenwood County, South Carolina [3, 6] |
| Children |
| | 1. William "Will" Emory, (Jr.), b. 1744, North Carolina d. 0Jun 1788, Chota, Monroe County, Tennessee (Age 44 years) |
| | 2. Mary Emory, b. 1746, North Carolina d. ~ 1800, (Monroe County) Tennessee (Age 54 years) |
| | 3. Elizabeth Emory, b. 1748, North Carolina d. 1781, Georgia (Age 33 years) |
| | 4. Susannah Emory, b. 1744-1750, (North Carolina) d. ~ 1796, Tugaloo, Georgia (Age 46 years) |
| | 5. Drury Hembree, b. 12 Dec 1755, Spartanburg, South Carolina, a British colony in America d. 0___ 1845, Stone County, Missouri (Age 89 years) |
| | 6. Abraham Hembree, b. 16 May 1757, Spartanburg County, South Carolina d. ~19 Oct 1835, (Chattanooga) Hamilton County, Tennessee (Age 78 years) |
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| Family ID |
F7559 |
Group Sheet | Family Chart |
| Last Modified |
30 Apr 2023 |
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| Event Map |
|
 | Birth - ~ 1720 - Surrey, England |
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 | Christening - 20 Oct 1728 - Lincolnshire, England |
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 | Emigration - 0___ 1738 - Charleston, Charleston County, South Carolina |
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 | Marriage - 1744 - Tennessee |
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 | Residence (Family) - 0___ 1755 - Ninety-Six, Greenwood County, South Carolina |
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 | Marriage - 18 Nov 1768 - (Charleston, Charleston County, South Carolina) |
|
 | Death - 0Jul 1770 - South Carolina |
|
 | Burial - 31 Jul 1770 - Charleston, South Carolina, a British Colony |
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| Notes |
- William Emory, packhorseman, British soldier
William Emory (b.c. 1720-25 d. 1770)
Unless Emmett Starr had mentioned him in his almost-100 year old book on the genealogy of Cherokee families, very few would know of the existence of William Emory. Even now, we discover, debate, and discard things about this mysterious, but very well liked, adventurer.
His father was John Amory (d.1746) but we think his mother died in England before 1725, when Will was a boy. John Amory m. Sarah Wilson on 13 February 1726 in Lincolnshire. It’s probable this Sarah was more church- minded than John and Will was baptized in mid-childhood, as was his older brother John. Will Emory came with his father and step-mother to Savannah, Georgia in December 1737. Will is listed on the ship registry as an available “hand” so he must have been 16 years old, or so. He came over as an indentured servant of his father, which was just a way for him to get his own grant of land after a few years.
Will must have provided a lot of the muscle when his father, his older brother and Robert Emory tried to hack a piece of farmland out of the canebrakes of Pipemakers Creek. Their neighbors, the Lower Creek tribe of (Yuchis?) probably regarded the effort with skepticism. The Amorys planted rice as a cash crop and table vegetables as well. Today, the land has reverted back to the canes and is close to the Savannah Airport.
Will Emory in Charleston
The Amorys went to Charleston, South Carolina, in December 1738 and entered a different world. Charleston was unrestricted, even wild, and a bit dangerous. Ships from all over the world came to Charleston to trade, and some came to settle. Some were pirates and bandits, and had to be fought off. Warships harassed the Carolina coast whenever the British navy went off elsewhere and the threat on land was great. Indians could at any time turn on Charleston and wipe it out. The French from the west and north, and the Spanish from the south were perceived as threats. Another concern was that slaves outnumbered free persons in Charleston almost 3-to-1 and fear of a slave insurrection was the"unspoken golden rule" that shaped defense, law, justice, politics, economics, and even religion in the Carolinas.
Will Emory in the Florida - Georgia War 1740
EnsignThomas Ayers and Cherokee trader Samuel Brown went up to the Cherokee in January – February 1740 to recruit them for an attack on the Spanish fort at Saint Augustine. [Candler, GA Col Recs, IV, 487] In April the Cherokee came with Ayers southward. South Carolina sent 200 men, including Robert, John and Will Emory. In May through September, the English and Cherokee force had off and on skirmishes with the Seminoles and the Spanish. Around October 4th, John Amory Jr. was killed in Georgia. Robert and Will Emory and a few others took the body of John and that of Sgt. John Cooke back to Charleston for a Christian (English) burial. The men were buried at Saint Philip’s on 12 October 1740.
Back in Charleston
The Amorys were living at New Market Plantation, Goose Creek, above Charleston. Will’s only mention in the records in this period is an indirect mention of "a son of John Amory" in the South Carolina Gazette of Thursday 19 February
1741 to Thursday 26 February 1741 (actually 1742 new style):
Brought to Goal in Charles-Town
Febr. 10. Molly, a run away Negro Girl, speaks but little English, and says her Master’s name is Hick, she has on a good Dowlas Shift, and a blue Negro Cloth Gown; taken up at the New-Market Plantation, by a Son of John Amory.
(this could be Robert or Will, most likely Will)
One thing Charleston did not have is young ladies. There were widows, but not many maidens. Nobody was more mindful of this than Robert and Will Emory.
In late 1742 there was a militia alarm in Charleston (Robert and Will no doubt called out) and there was also a visit of a large delegation from the Cherokee Nation. Ludovic Grant, Cornelius Dougherty, James Maxwell and James Beamer came down with the tribe. [SC Commons Journal 19 Jan 1743, 28 Feb 1743]
The visit of the Cherokees was officially to complain about the Creeks attacking them despite their 1740 treaty. It was also a social-political winter visit that predated the white man. There is evidence that the Cherokee from Tomatley in the cold North Carolina mountains came down to lower South Carolina in the winter to gather fish, seashells and salt to take back north.
There was a Tomatley village (taken over by the Yamassee Indians) near Port Royale Island and another one where the "Saltcatchers Fort" was built in 1717 or 1728. [Larry E. Ivers, SC Forts, 8,13]
It was the custom of the Cherokee to bring some women down to do the actual fishing and drying of salt water, while they traded with nearby tribes, and made treaties and plans for a war in the spring against a mutual enemy. (Not much changed with the settlement of the white men.)
In 1742, the Cherokee girls did not have to dry salt water or net fish, but a few were brought along anyway. It could be that the daughters of Ludovic Grant came down with their father. One thing is for sure: the Cherokee camped at New Market Plantation in Goose Creek during their visit. The Amory (Emory) family hosted quite a few of them, including the primary (paid) interpreter, James Beamer, and thus probably the other traders as well. [SC Commons Journal 26 Jan, 28 Feb, 28 Apr 1743. Mrs. Amory overcharged for the interpreter, James Beamer, and her bill was adjusted by the finance committee.]
Into the Cherokee Nation
There was another reason to come down to Charleston: to attract investors and workers / guards / packhorsemen for the "Cherokee Silver Mine Scheme" discussed earlier, of which Will Emory’s father was a part. James Maxwell and Cornelius Daughterty would later present the petition for a land grant where the mine was located. [Candler, GA Col Recs, XXIV, 124,125]
And if Daugherty was involved, Ludovic Grant was involved. And since the land was in north Georgia, close to Tugaloo village, James Beamer was involved. Thomas Nightingale, Edmund Atkin and Robert Bunning of Saint Philips were
traders-investors as well. [SC Commons Journal 14 Oct 1743]
There is no doubt whatsoever that young Robert and Will went with John Amory to Purrysburg (where they had land and where a fort was to be built by Georgia engineer Thomas Ayers and where the silver trade was to pass through).
[SC Commons Journal 24 Feb 1743, 12 Mar 1743]
Then the young men continued with the Cherokee up to Tugaloo and decided to continue north into the mountains with Daugherty and Grant. When the trail divided on the Hiwassee River, they followed Grant up the Valley River to
Tomatley. If Grant’s daughters were along, this would explain their decision. If they were not, perhaps Mr. Grant took a liking to the polite young Englishmenand invited them to meet his pretty young Cherokee daughters. The meeting went well: we don’t hear anything of the Emory lads for eight years.
Duty calls
The frontier war was about to become a formal war between Britain and France. Robert Emory had already left the Cherokee to do his duty as a free English subject. William would have to do the same. He moved his wife and children down to the settlement at Ninety Six in 1755, for their safety. A son was born there in 1755. Will contacted his brother-in-law, Mungo Graham of Savannah, Georgia, for instructions. Sarah (Amory) Graham, Will’s half-sister, was about to return to England when her father-in-law, Patrick Graham, Esq., died (in 1755). That would delay their return to England, but since a declaration of war had not yet been made, it was more pressing for the Grahams to remain in Georgia. The
news of the war declaration reached Ninety Six in the summer of 1756 but it was not until 1758 that Sarah (Amory) Graham and her mother (widow of John Amory) and probably Will Emory returned to England. (Mungo was still delaying in Savannah. Will, as an Indian trader, had no money for transport home and the British navy was engaged in the Caribbean.)
A departure of 1758 seems reasonable because a son was born in 1757, and Will would have had a seven-year enlistment, making his return in 1765 or so. He does shows up again in 1765, as does his half brother, Reverend Isaac Amory, his step mother Sarah Amory (widow of John) and probably his half sister Sarah Graham (looking for Mungo?).
A preliminary search of British military records is underway. He may have obtained a letter of recommendation from Mungo Graham to a Scottish regiment and been a sergeant or a lieutenant right off. Or he would have gone to his home (Lincolnshire) and reported there. Another possibility, someone who is knowledgeable in British service records told me, is that he could have been taken into the British navy while at sea. In any case, his service record may take years to locate.
Return to South Carolina
Reverend Isaac Amory was known to be in Charleston in 1765 and then in Purrysburg in 1766. [Dalcho, Hist. Of the SC Church] On 1 October 1766 William Amory witnessed a lease in the Charleston records. [Langley, SC Deeds, III, 347]
His Cherokee wife, Mary, was believed to have died by 1766.
On 18 November 1768 Will’s marriage to widow Mrs. Sarah (Loocock) Cantle was recorded. [Langdon, Implied SC Marriages, III, 2, 128]
She had married John Cantle on 17 May 1762. John Cantle was buried at Saint Philip’s on 2 August 1768. And she may be the Sarah Irish who (as a widow) married Joseph Loocock on 27 January 1758 at Saint Philip’s. (He was buried 26 February 1762 at Saint Philips.) So she buried Irish, Loocock, Cantle and was probably ready to bury our William.
On 6 June 1769 William Amory, Thomas Nightingale and Aaron Loocock petitioned for land warrants in Charleston. Amory’s was for 300 acres between the Pee Dee and the Savannah Rivers. (That’s pretty much the entire state.) [Holcomb, Petitions for Land, VI, 233]
Since neither Amory nor Nightingale would live to see the lands they wanted, we believe they were obtaining warrants for their mixed blood nephews and sons. (Nightingale was considered an uncle.) The young men could then stake a piece of land, have it surveyed, and file for a grant as an agent of Nightingale or Amory and then just live on it. The land was later designated to be in Ninety Six District, and some of Loococks lands (and Nightingale’s?) were found in Spartanburg.
Final Years in South Carolina
The will of Sarah (Loocock) Amory was dated 11 November 1769. She gives her “husband William my plantation in trust for life”. Her executors were Thomas Mell and George Cooke. Witnesses were James Lankester and George Cousins. [ SC Wills, III, 347]
Her will was proved 20 July 1770. Just a few days later, William died, and was buried at Saint Philip’s on 31 July 1770.
Children of William Emory and Mary Grant
William Emory b.1720-25 Lincolnshire, England, d.July 1770 Charleston, SC, was the son of John Amory (d.1746). He m(1) Mary Grant (b.c.1729 d.c.1766) who was the daughter of Ludovic Grant (d.c.1757) and Eughioote. He m(2) Sarah ( ) Irish Loocock Cantle 18 Nov 1768. She d. July 1770.
Children of William Emory and Mary Grant:
i. Will Emory b.1744 Tomatly, Cherokee Nation (NC) d. 1788 Chota, Cherokee Nation (TN)
ii. Mary Emory b.1746 Tomatly, Cherokee Nation (NC) d.c. 1800 Cherokee Nation (Tennessee)
iii. Elizabeth Emory b.1748 Tomatly, Cherokee Nation (NC) d. 1781 Cherokee Nation (Georgia)
iv. Susannah Emory b.1750 Tomatly, Cherokee Nation (NC) d.c. 1796 near Tugaloo, Georgia
v. Drury Emory (Hembree) b.12 Dec 1755 South Carolina d.1845 Stone County, Missouri
vi. Abraham Emory (Hembree) b. 16 May 1757 South Carolina d. 1837 Hamilton County, Tennessee [6]
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| Sources |
- [S28473] Robert Hembree | Conservator & Genealogist for the HEMBREE family | 915 North Ridge View Drive, Santa Maria,CA 93455 |.
- [S11141] "OLD JOHN HEMBREE", aka JOHN EMORY, THIRD DRAFT, Larry Petrisky, Atlanta, GA, March, 2004, edited by Dale Standifer &.
- [S11163] "Will Emory (1744-1788)", biography, by Larry Petrisky, November, 2004, http://www.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~tnpolk2/WillEm.
- [S46173] http://www.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~tnmcmin2/AbrahamHembree.htm.
- [S11124] Notes on the English and Cherokee ancestry of JOHN HEMBREE, WILLIAM EMORY, DRURY HEMBREE, ABRAHAM HEMBREE, ISAAC AMORY.
- [S11162] "William Emory", Biography, http://www.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~tnpolk2/emory.htm, retrieved, recorded & uploaded to this.
- [S6302] Robert Hembree | Conservator & Genealogist for the HEMBREE family | 915 North Ridge View Drive, Santa Maria, CA 93455 |.
- [S11169] "John Amory, Sr", Cemetery Profile, https://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GRid=62467338, retrieved, recorded.
- [S1669] Robert Hembree,conservator & genealogist for the HEMBREE family,monograph,.
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