Working on Wednesday: Abraham Heath (About 1740 - 1807), Revolutionary War Veteran & Planter

Returning home to the region around Surry County after serving his two years with the Virginia Line of the Continental Army my 5X great grandfather reunited with his family which included his young daughter Sallie, my fourth great grandmother.

[Virginia und Maryland. Dominia Anglorum in America Septentrionali. Homann Erben (Firm), Norimbergæ, 1759.

Source: Library of Congress Geography and Map Division Washington, D.C.]

From the existing online records we're not sure when Abraham moved his family to Georgia but, as this land record dated January 2, 1786 shows, he already owned some land in Burke County and this additional 200 acres was "on the Hurricane Branch, Adjoining his own Land and Land of Henry Hayman."

[Georgia, Headright and Bounty Land Records, 1783-1909," images, FamilySearch]

Six month later he was apparently given 550 acres in Wilkes County.

["Georgia, Headright and Bounty Land Records, 1783-1909," images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:33SQ-GYLH-3QF?cc=1914217&wc=M617-B38%3A200644801 : 20 May 2014), > image 293 of 448; State Archives, Morrow.]

Here's a 1804 map of Georgia.

[Georgia. Drawn by S. Lewis. D. Fairman sc. (Published by John Conrad & Co., Philadelphia. 1804)

Source: David Rumsey Historical Map Collection.]

[Detail of above]

Unfortunately the federal census records for 1790, 1800 and 1810 are missing, lost sometime before 1830, but Ancestry.com offers The Reconstructed 1790 Census of Georgia (originally published as Substitutes for Georgia's Lost 1790 Census) which lists Abraham Heath on page 166.

[The Reconstructed 1790 Census of Georgia. Ancestry.com]

In 1798 Abraham Heath is listed in a Property Tax Digest for Warren County* as the owner of 14 enslaved persons, nine of whom were subject to taxation.

[1798. 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.]

His name also appeared in Burke County's Property Tax Digest** that same year.

[1798. 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.]

It was as a resident of Warren County that Abraham Heath made his will on November 23, 1807.

[Administration (Of) Estates and Wills, 1798-1937; Author: Georgia. Court of Ordinary (Warren County); Probate Place: Warren, Georgia. 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.]

Signed Sealed published pronounced and declared by --
the Said Abraham Heath as my last will and Testa ------
in the presents of us whose names are hereunto ? -------
this 23'd day of November in this Year of our Lord o---
thousand eight hundred and Seven
                                                                 his
Stephen W Burnley                            Abraham X Heath
Britain Blunt                                                mark
       her
Mary X Garrett
      mark

I'll be taking a closer look at Abraham Heath's will on Friday. It's got a lot of information in it.


*Warren County was created out of parts of Burke, Columbia, Washington, and Wilkes counties in 1793.
**Column headings for this record. (Nice to see that Abraham is the "Reputed Owner")

© 2017 Copyright, Christine Manczuk, All Rights Reserved.