James J Hulsey After the Revolution

 

1781-1786            At some point in or after 1781, James moved back to Albemarle Co. VA for a few years as he is shown on the Tax Records there.  His father, Charles II, may have retained land there.  It is not known how long he remained in VA before moving back to Burke Co. NC or to Greenville Dist., SC.  His father had moved to Greenville Dist., SC by 1788, and one of James’ daughters is shown as being born in Greenville Dist. SC in 1786.

1790       James and his brothers, Adler, Charles and Adonijah and his son Jennings, are found in the SC Census in Greenville District.  James is shown with 1 male under 16, 3 males over 16 and 5 females in his household.           

1800       James and his brothers Charles, Adler and Adonijah had moved to Franklin Co. GA.  James recorded his first land purchase in 1801.  This and other properties were within an area of Franklin Co. not ceded by the Cherokees until 1805.  Over the next 20 years, he acquired additional lands in old Franklin County and owned as many as 9 slaves to work his land. 

1820’s   Some researchers have him in Gwinnet Co.GA, but the deed records for Gwinnet were destroyed by fire.  In 1820, Hall/Habersham/Gwinnet counties were expanded to the west and that land was divided into Land Lots and awarded through the Land Lottery.  James was awarded a Land Lot in Habersham Co.  This Land Lot was not registered to his name until after his death by Pleasant Hulsey, his son and administrator.  Before 1822, he purchased 1 ½ land lots on Wahoo Creek in the 11^th Land District of Hall Co.  He sold a portion to his son Pleasant in 1822.  Apparently this was his final home as his other properties were sold by 1824 or earlier. 

The mountain range, terminating at the Appalachians’ southern end, is known for weathered peaks often draped in blue haze. Largely unsettled by whites before 1820, the territory was opened by land lottery.  Discovery of gold in 1829 brought diverse treasure-seekers who mixed with spirited pioneer residents.

1824       Deed found for selling all of the plantation lying in 3 counties, 344 acres for $800.  Another deed sold 184 acres in Hall Co GA for $450.

James J Hulsey Revolutionary Soldier (history cont.)

 

1778 or 1779      James Hulsey served in the Revolutionary War (date unrecorded) in the North Carolina Line for a period of one year or less.  In 1780, James fought again under Col Roebuck after the fall of Charleston, SC.  A unit of the NC State Troops fought a retreat from near Charleston to Hillsboro, NC.  James was paid for this service, an unusual occurrence during that period. (He has been documented in DAR which says his service was in SC.) 

Ancestor #010000 Service Source: SC ARCH, ACCTS AUD 33869A, ROLL #76 Service Description: 1) COL ROEBUCK, MILITIA, AFTER THE FALL OF CHARLESTON

RESIDENCES AFTER THE REVOLUTION:

1778 James' residence was in Burke County, NC. James recorded the purchase of land on John's River below William Stones near the Three Forks of the river in 1778 from hulseyheadhuff.net

 1779 date unrecorded, served in NC line. probably for less than a year. No documentation is found.

1780 Second time to serve under Col Roebuck

1790 living in Greenville, SC. Also listed nearby are his brothers Adler, Charles and Adonijah and his son Jennings.

1820 Residing in Hall County GA. It appears that he moved to Georgia from South Carolina sometime between 1790 and 1800. At that time Franklin County encompassed all of NE GA including Hall, Jackson, Clarke and Gwinnett. As a Revolutionary Soldier, James drew land in Georgia. 

1827 James passed away on 1 Jan 1827 in Gainesville, Hall Co GA, Buried in the Old Dewberry Church Cemetery. 

          

James J Hulsey History (continued)

 Early 1760’s        As a child, his family moved to Albemarle Co. VA.  They later moved to Halifax (later called Pittsylvania Co.) VA by 1766, where they remained until 1774 or later.  By 1776, the family had moved to Burke Co. NC., where the western boundary was the Cherokee Nation.  Some Cherokees remained east of the boundary and took on the cultural traits of their white neighbors, including white names, in addition to their Cherokee names.  There was one major difference, however.  The Cherokee men were skilled hunters, and as game disappeared, they were slow to learn agricultural skills.  Their white neighbors were much more skilled in agriculture, and the Cherokee women found more eligible white men in her community.  The Whites were much wealthier (comparably) than the Cherokees.  Thus, the Cherokee women entered into unions with white men.

This map shows the border of the Cherokee Nation, which eventually ended with the Trail of Tears. 

1775 or 1776      James entered into an unrecorded relationship with Sarah Ann (No Maiden Name) or Ann (NMN).  Her name is shown both ways.  Adam, their first child, was born in 1777 in Burke Co. NC.  The union of a white man and an Indian woman generally was not recognized as a legal marriage because a minister or judge would not marry a Christian to a non-Christian, and an Indian was not, by GA law at that time, a Christian.  This attitude did not begin to change until well into the 1830’s.  In the case of the Hulsey families, these unions generally lasted a lifetime.  A person of mixed blood was judged to be white based on their cultural traits more so than their ancestry.

1778       James purchased land on John’s River below William Stones near the Three Forks of the river and later signed a “Road Request from the Three Forks of the River to the Globe Clearing”.  This area is northwest of now Lenoir, NC.

James J Hulsey History Sheet

 1754 James was born to Charles Hulsey and Hannah Witt in Goochland, Virginia.

James J. Hulsey

b. 1754 Gochland, Virginia

d. 1 Jan 1827 Hall Co. Georgia

 

In the research, this man is found as James Jennius Hulsey.  The person who first inserted "Jennius" could not substantiate it and has since recanted it.  He was known as James Hulsey; however, I am not going to take off "Jennius" because much history can be found using it.  Most claim that he married Anna(No Maiden Name), not Sarah (NMN).  His brother, Adonijah, married Sarah.

 

James Hulsey is from the third generation of Hulseys.  He lived much of his adult life within 10 miles of his brothers in Georgia until Charles III (a brother) migrated to TN and later to AR.  The third and fourth generations were illiterate so very few family records, other than marriage licenses and land deeds, were kept until the fifth generation.  They lived in Georgia an area intertwined with the Cherokee Nation.  Of the 5 Hulsey brothers that came to GA in 1800-1809, all had first wives that may have been of Cherokee ancestry. 

 

As the whites settled North Carolina where James was found in 1776, many of the Cherokee moved further westward.  South Carolina and Georgia were also bordered by the Cherokee Nation and boundaries were changing.  After the Louisiana Purchase was completed, the United States Government encouraged Cherokees in the eastern homeland to immigrate to Arkansas to join the Old Settlers that had emigrated after the Revolutionary War.  In the 1820’s and 1830’s, many persons of Cherokee ancestry joined the Arkansas Cherokees before the Trail of Tears forced removal.  If a person immigrated to western or northwestern Arkansas, it is likely that the emigrant had some measure of Cherokee ancestry.  In Georgia, the Cherokee Nation attracted persons of Cherokee ancestry before the Cherokee Removal of 1837-1839.  A person of some Cherokee ancestry or a Cherokee wife could settle vacant land; hence, some of the Hulsey family later moved to the Cherokee Nation. 

 

I believe that this is where some confusion of the Hulsey lines came to pass.  Robert, grandson of James and son of Pleasant, married Mary Jane ?, and two of their children later applied for Cherokee land by claiming Cherokee heritage; yet in this document, they gave different answers to extensive questions about the names of their ancestors. The discrepancies are many.  (See the Document on Robert Hulsey).  Unfortunately for family historians, these discrepancies are detrimental for establishing true family lines.  However, I feel that I can establish my line through James and Pleasant to Jefferson Parks.  Following are the facts that I can establish about James J. Hulsey.

James J Hulsey married an Indian

Marriages between the American Colonists and Native Americans
 
Marriage licenses laws were quite complicated even at best among the first colonial people and especially with Native Americans. They had a different set of spiritual beliefs. Lots of laws were enacted and many changes occurred over the ensuing 300 years.
 
Unfortunately, there were all kinds of Anti-miscegentation laws back then. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anti-miscegenation_laws_in_the_United_States#Colonial_era
All anti-miscegenation laws banned marriage between whites and non-white groups, primarily black people, but often also Native Americans and Asian Americans. In many states, anti-miscegenation laws also criminalized cohabitation and sex between whites and non-whites.
 
https://gateway.okhistory.org/ark:/67531/metadc2191672/m2/1/high_res_d/1928-v6-n3_a04.pdf
Laws began to change in the late 1700’s and evolved well into the 1800s
Record keeping was difficult and many marriages were left unrecorded.
 
https://encyclopediavirginia.org/entries/marriage-in-early-virginia-indian-society/
The English colonists who founded Jamestown in 1607 tended to disapprove of customs other than their own, and they saw the Powhatans’ marriage customs and sexual practices as particular proof of their need to be converted to Christianity.
 
Robert F. Berkhofer Jr., Salvation and the Savage: An Analysis of Protestant Missions and American Indian Response, 1787–1862 (Lexington: University of Kentucky Press, 1965);
Unquestionably, there was resistance to missionary efforts. In that way, English common law and Biblical codes were imposed on the relations between Native American men and women.
 
https://www.genealogymagazine.com/cherokee-white-intermarriages-citizenship-by-intermarriage-in-the-cherokee-nation/
Very interesting article
Before the 1870s, many Cherokee-white unions were informal or common law. Though an Act of Cherokee Council passed on 15 October 1855 required a marriage license, some couples continued the earlier practice of having a so-called Indian style marriage
 
Laws of the Cherokee Nation, Passed During the Years 1839—1867, Compiled by the Authority of the National Council (St. Louis: Missouri Democrat Print, 1868), pp. 104-105, which states: “any unmarried white male wishing to marry a Cherokee woman was required to obtain a marriage license from one of the district courts in one of the several districts, provided he had first paid a fee, taken an oath to the Cherokee Nation, and presented the district clerks with “a certificate of good moral character, signed by at least seven respectable Cherokee citizens.”
 
https://michaelkleen.com/2016/11/14/colonial-intimacies-a-revealing-look-at-american-indian-marriage-in-new-england/
Divorce and inheritance were two areas in which Puritan and Christian-Indian courts took an active role. A legal effort was needed to prove inheritance and property. Although many American Indians continued to practice what the English recognized as common-law marriages, when it came to separation, those marriages proved complicated. By the 1700s colonial courts demanded proof of a formal ceremony or cohabitation in litigation regarding marriage.

Third and Fourth Generation Hulsey Wives

 Possible Cherokee Ancestry

Third and Fourth Generation Hulsey Wives

Cherokee and White Cultural Relations:
As the whites settled western North Carolina, many of the Cherokee moved further westward. In Burke Co., NC, the Cherokee boundary was Black Mountain at the western edge of Burke County. Some Cherokee remained in isolated homesteads east of the boundary. The Cherokees east of the boundary begin to take on the cultural traits of their white neighbors, including white names in addition to their Cherokee names. There was one major difference, however. The Cherokee men were skilled hunters, and as game disappeared, were slow to learn agricultural skills. Their white neighbors were much more skilled in agriculture. A young Cherokee woman found many more eligible white men in her community and the Whites were much wealthier (comparably) than the Cherokees. Thus, Cherokee women entered into unions with white men.

In SC in the 1790’s Greenville Dist., SC was bordered on the west by the Cherokees and in the early 1800’s the Cherokee boundary was the western boundary of Franklin and Jackson Counties in Georgia until 1820. The same issue applied.

The union of a white man and an Indian woman generally was not recognized as a legal marriage because a Minister or Judge would not marry a Christian to a non-Christian and an Indian was not, by GA law at that time, a Christian. This attitude did not begin to change until well into the 1830’s. In the case of the Hulsey families, these unions generally lasted a lifetime. A person of mixed blood was judged to be white biased on their cultural traits more so than their ancestry.

After the Louisiana Purchase was completed, the United States Government encouraged Cherokees in the eastern homeland to immigrate to Arkansas to join the Old Settlers that had emigrated after the end of the Revolutionary War. In the 1820’s and 1830’s many persons of Cherokee ancestry joined the Arkansas Cherokees before the Trail of Tears forced removal. If a person immigrated to western or northwestern Arkansas, it is likely that the emigrant had some measure of Cherokee ancestry.

In GA the Cherokee Nation attracted persons of Cherokee ancestry before the Cherokee Removal of 1837-1839. This area included (now) Paulding and Polk Counties. A person of some Cherokee ancestry or a Cherokee wife could settle vacant land. Some persons, including members of the Hulsey family, later moved to the Cherokee Nation.
Screening Standard:
1. Notation or Citation of Ancestry or
2. No Marriage License shown – Month, Year, Date., and
3. No First Name (NFN) and/or No Maiden Name (NMN), and/or
4. Parentage not found, and
5. Husband living in Western NC, Upstate SC or Northeastern GA in the period 1750 – 1837 at beginning of the relationship, and/or
6. Children emigrated to western GA, Alabama, Arkansas or Indian Territory.

 Summary:

One of the issues in conducting this study is that both the third and fourth generations were illiterate until 1840 or after. Very few family records, other than Marriage Licenses and Land Deeds, were kept until the fifth generation.
Of the five Hulsey brothers that came to GA in 1800-1809, all had first wives that may have been of Cherokee ancestry. One, Adler, married two wives that may have been of Cherokee ancestry. There was no issue from the second marriage.
The fourth generation contained 55 persons. At least eighteen (18) persons of this generation married persons that may have been of Cherokee ancestry. 

Location of the Four Hulsey Brothers

 http://hulseyheadhuff.net/james_hulsey.html

The Hulsey Family lived close to one another during much of their lives between 1800 and 1810. James, Charles III, Jesse, Adonijah and Adler all lived on Franklin County (now Banks County) east of and adjacent to then Jackson Co, now Hall Co. Adonijah moved to then Jackson Co., now Hall County by 1812. Charles III moved to TN 1810 and later to AR.
The map shows the locations of the home farms of the four Hulsey Brothers after their moves to Hall Co., GA:

Where Did They Go?

The third generation of the Hulsey family generally lived close together during much of their lives. They all lived within ten miles of one another until Charles III migrated first to TN and later to AR. The other four, James J., Jesse, Sr., Adonijah and Adler, all died in Hall Co., GA., living within 5 miles of each other.