Monday Is for Mothers: Sarah "Sallie" P. Heath (About 1771 - 1837)

When her father Abraham Heath* volunteered to join the Virginia line of the Continental Army in 1776 he left his wife Winny** and their growing family behind, including little Sallie who was about five years old.

From land grant records we know the Heaths had removed from Virginia into eastern Georgia by 1786 when Abraham was allotted 200 acres next to land he already owned in Burke County and a further 550 acres in Wilkes County. And that's probably where Sallie married John Chappell; their oldest child Nancy was born about 1790 in Washington, the county seat of Wilkes.

[Georgia, from the latest Authorities. B. Tanner, sculpt. N.Y. Published by J. Reid, L. Wayland & C. Smith, 1796.

Source: David Rumsey Historical Map Collection]

By 1798 John and Sallie had moved to a bit farther west to Hancock County where my direct ancestor Sarah Heath Chappell was born in about 1812.

[Map Of The State of Georgia Prepared from actual Surveys and other Documents for Eleazer Early By Daniel Sturges. Entered According to Act of Congress by Eleazer Early Proprietor. Engraved by Saml. Harrison 1818. Published & Sold By Eleazer Early Savannah Georgia and By John Melish & Samuel Harrison Philadelphia. Source: David Rumsey Historical Map Collection.]

When Abraham Heath died in 1807 (in Warren County) Sallie's share of her father's estate was five slaves: Fanny, Mary, Lydia, Ambry and Henry.

[Administration of Estates and Wills, 1798-1852. Ancestry.com. Georgia, Wills and Probate Records, 1742-1992 [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2015. Original data: Georgia County, District and Probate Courts.]

The Chappell family continued residing in Hancock County at least through 1820 as that's where we find them in the U.S. Census of that year. However when John made his will in 1825 they were in Monroe County*** where the will was presented for probate in December of 1828.

[Wills, Vol A-B, 1824-1866. Ancestry.com. Georgia, Wills and Probate Records, 1742-1992 [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2015. Original data: Georgia County, District and Probate Courts.]

[The state of Georgia. Gridley sc. (Philadelphia: Robert DeSilver, 1827). Source: David Rumsey Historical Map Collection.]

The last record we have for Sallie is the 1834 Monroe County Property Tax Digest.

[Ancestry.com. Georgia, Property Tax Digests, 1793-1892 [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2011. Original data: Georgia Tax Digests [1890]. 140 volumes. Morrow, Georgia: Georgia Archives.]

The date of death we have for Sarah P. Heath Chappell is December 13, 1837 in Lumpkin County, Georgia, but I'm not certain of the source of this information.


*The surviving records of Abraham Heath's military service were covered here: Part I, Part II, Part III, Part IV, Part V, and Part VI.
**We know her given name was Winnifred and her surname may have been Rives.
***Monroe County was one of five counties created out of the Creek Indians lands between the Ocmulgee and Flint rivers ceded in the Treaty of the Indian Spring on Jan. 8, 1821.


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