THROUGH
MOUNTAIN MISTS
Early Settlers of
Their
Descendants...Their Stories...Their Achievements
Lifting the
Mists of History on Their Way of Life
By: Ethelene Dyer Jones
Revolutionary
War Patriot John Little Ingram
John
Little Ingram, Union County, Georgia early settler, the
subject of last week’s column, with his twenty-one children reared to
adulthood, was a son of Revolutionary War patriot John Little Ingram of
South
Carolina.
The records on the father of John
Little Ingram born about 1755 in South Carolina are hard to determine. Since John seems a common given name for
Ingrams, we note several John Ingrams who immigrated from England to
Virginia. The first among these came in
November, 1643 and claimed 300 acres in Elizabeth City.
Another John Ingram settled in Virginia in
1652, the third in 1656, and the fourth in 1662. A
Joseph Ingram immigrated in 1652. Two
Richard Ingrams settled in Virginia, one
in 1642, another in 1653. Toby Ingram
arrived in Virginia in 1653. An indentured
servant, who had to work seven years before he received his freedom,
was
William Ingram transported from Kent, England to Virginia on the ship
“Forward
Gally” in December, 1731.
On March 1, 1790, President George
Washington signed into law the Census Act and ordered a compilation by
heads of
households of citizens in the thirteen states of the Union. There were 104 families of Ingrams (also
spelled Ingraham) enumerated that year in eleven of the thirteen
states, with
none listed in New Hampshire and Rhode Island.
North Carolina had the largest concentration with 32 Ingram
(Ingraham)
families, South Carolina had thirteen and Virginia had thirteen.
A year after his order to enumerate
the colonists in the first US Census, President George Washington made
a trip
to South Carolina. His diary entry of
May 26, 1791 stated that he “lodged at James Ingram’s fourteen miles
farther”
from Camden, SC. Further entries in
President Washington’s diary show that “Mr. Porter and Mr. Ingraham”
“dined and
spent the night at Mt. Vernon (January 16, 1787). Between
that date and July 21, 1788, the said
“Ingraham and Porter” again were guests of Washington on these dates in
1788: January 20, February 3, 13, 15, 28
and July 21. They seem to have enjoyed
the president’s Mt. Vernon hospitality and, on February 15, a fox hunt
with a
distinguished guest, the Marquis de Choppedelaine of France. Whether this James Ingram of South Carolina,
friend of George Washington, was a brother or other close relative of
John
Little Ingram, research has not proved.
Later, on March 4, 1795, Washington
again spent the night in the home of James Ingram near Camden, SC on
the
Wateree River. James may have been a
son of William Ingram who settled on land at the Wateree River in 1752.
That William Ingram migrated from
Wales to Virginia. He asked for and
received a land grant in South Carolina.
The land is described thus:
“Persuant to a precept to me by George Hunter, Esq., bearing
date 7
April 1752, I have measured and laid out a tract of land containing 300
acres,
being in Craven County, north side of the Wateree River butting and
adjoining
land laid out to William Harrison and part of vacant land and to the N.
E. and
S. E. of vacant land, and hath such shape and marks as the above plat. Certified to me this 23 day of April
1752. (Signed William Ingram).
That William Ingram had three known
sons named John, James and Arthur. It
seems reasonable (though not proven) that John Little Ingram of Union
County,
SC could have been the John Little Ingram, Revolutionary War soldier,
and the
James Ingram the friend who had received
President George Washington into his home on the Wateree and who was
also
entertained by the president at Mt. Vernon.
However, Watson Benjamin Dyer in his research on the Ingrams
stated that
“John Ingram was evidently the son of Benjamin Ingram of Lancaster
County, SC,
because there were boys named Benjamin on down in the family” (p. 390, Dyer
Family History). Since we have
not
seen a definitive record of the parentage of John Little Ingram, born
about
1755 in South Carolina, we can only surmise who his father was, but
this writer
tends to lean toward William Ingram as the father.
Wedding bells rang for Rutha White and
John Ingram in 1778. They were married
at Fair Forest Baptist Church in Union County, SC, with the Rev. James
Crowder,
Rutha’s pastor, performing the ceremony.
Married only two years after America’s Declaration of
Independence in
1776, John Little Ingram, Sr. was caught up, as were his neighbors, in
the
spirit of patriotism sweeping the colonies.
He enlisted as a private in Captain John Putnam’s Company of
South
Carolina militia, Colonel Brandon’s Regiment.
His service number was R-5483.
Years later, when Rutha White Ingram
applied for a pension for her husband’s Revolutionary War service, she
recorded
that he was in the Siege of Charleston, and the Battles of King’s
Mountain and
Cowpens. The Charleston Siege
confrontation with British and Loyalist forces ended in great
disappointment. Fought from March 29
through May 12, 1780, Patriot Major General Lincoln surrendered
Charleston. It was occupied by British
forces until the British evacuated Charleston On December 14, 1782.
Ingram fought at the Battle of King’s
Mountain, SC, on October 7, 1780.
Frontier militia from South Carolina, North Carolina, Virginia
and
Georgia converged and surrounded Patrick Ferguson’s forces, defeating
them. King’s Mountain was a turning
point in the Revolution, a decisive victory for the American Patriots.
Three months later, on January 17,
1781, John Ingram was with the militia forces under the notable Patriot
Brigadier General Daniel Morgan as they attacked General Banastre
Tarleton’s
forces of British Regulars at the Battle of Cowpens in South Carolina. Historians have recognized that battle as one
of the most important of the American Revolution. It
was customary for militia members to sign
on for three month terms and fight in battles near their homes. Those frontier soldiers bravely defended
America, turning the tide of war and leading to the surrender of
British
General Cornwallis on October 19, 1781 at Yorktown, Virginia.
After the war, John and Rutha Ingram
moved from their home at Padgett’s Creek, Union County, SC, to a land
grant
received for his Revolutionary War service in what was then Franklin
County,
Georgia. The area where they settled
became Hall County in 1819, in the vicinity of what is now Lula,
Georgia. There the patriot John Ingram
died September
16, 1828. Even though his widow, Rutha
White
Ingram, made petitions for pension, she did not receive any payment for
her
husband’s Revolutionary War service.
Rutha White Ingram died at the home of her son, Tillman Ingram,
in
Cherokee County, Georgia near Ball Ground (date unknown), but she was
alive at
age 89 in 1847, still applying for a widow’s pension.
The pension quest did not rest with Rutha’s
death. John Little Ingram, son and
executor, of Union County, Georgia, made petition for himself and
Tillman
Ingram and Elizabeth Riley Ingram, three living children of the
patriot, on
October 26, 1852. Like their mother
Rutha’s petition, this one was also denied.
Many descendants of John Ingram have established a direct line to this patriot and received admission into the Sons and Daughters of the American Revolution. Even though Rutha White Ingram did not receive monetary remuneration in the years of her widowhood, subsequent intrinsic benefits to their heirs in past, present and future generations are testimony to the significant contributions this couple made to America’s freedom.
[Ethelene Dyer
Jones is a retired educator,
freelance writer, poet, and historian. She may be reached at
e-mail edj0513@windstream.net;
phone 478-453-8751; or mail 1708 Cedarwood Road, Milledgeville, GA
31061-2411.]
Updated November 29, 2008
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