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Descendants of William Witherington, Sr.     Click Above for Larger Picture

 

William Witherington, Sr. American Revolution - Patriot - South Carolina

 

 

William Witherington, Sr.

American Revolution - Patriot

 

Patriot William Witherington Sr. was born February 10, 1741 in Dobbs County, NC and died September 22, 1819 here at Fork Sepulga. He was the son of John Witherington, who was born in Maryland, and Rocksolanah Carruthers of Dobbs County, NC. We believe that Patriot Witherington migrated early in life from North Carolina to Craven County, South Carolina.

 

The Patriot’s wife, Elizabeth Lewis, died in Darlington, SC, about 1773. They had been married in Smithfield, NC in 1766 and were members of the Baptist faith. They had one daughter, Laney, and sons Lewis, William, Jr. and possibly Peter.

 

In November 1772, William Witherington, Sr. was granted 200 acres of land in Craven County, SC by King George III of England.  The land was described as “being located on the NE side of Lynches Creek near the fork on a place called Little Beaver Dam, bounded on all sides by vacant land”. We have a copy of this land grant copied from the South Carolina Archives.

Records indicate that he later migrated down to Feliciana Parish, Mississippi Territory (now Louisiana) about 1810 with his son, William Witherington, Jr. and the son’s family.

In early 1819, at about the same time that Alabama was becoming a state, he was with his son’s family when they migrated from Feliciana Parish to Alabama and settled on 240 acres of land in Section 10, located immediately down to the north of this cemetery on the Forks of the Sepulga River. At this time, Patriot Witherington was an older man of about 78 years of age.

Only a few months after arriving here at Fork Sepulga, William Witherington, SR died on September 22, 1819 and family lore has it that he was one of the earliest burials here at Ward-Witherington Cemetery.

 

The DAR Records for Patriot William Witherington indicate the following:

 

 

William Witherington, Sr.

 

Patriotic Service in SC, during the Revolutionary War.

Salleys Stub Entries to Indents for Revolutionary Claims

Issued 26 Feb. 1788 to William Witherington for

“Beef for Continental use from the Common Interest”.

 

 

One interesting note: Patriot Witherington’s daughter, Laney, was the wife of another SC Hero, Captain Peter DuBose, who fought the British with General Francis Marion in South Carolina. Most of you here today will remember that General Marion was referred to as the “Swamp Fox” in South Carolina history books and in the movie “The Patriot”.

 

In our audience here today, we have many descendants of William Witherinton, SR who proudly share in today ’s events honoring this South Carolina Patriot of the American Revolution.

 

Source: This is from the dedication of the Ward-Witherington Cemetery in Conecuh Co., Alabama in November 2005. It was supplied by Bill King, a decendent of the Witherington family.