Eli

Chronology

The results of a large number of internet searches; kudos to Blair, Van Doren, Oregon Gal, and the many other researchers.

1734     Eli b. to Thomas Jr. and Rebecca Borden Branson in Burlington, NJ

1763     m. Keziah Hough (Huff) in Frederick County, VA    Keziah:  b.1744/45

1764     12 Jan.     John b. Orangeburg County, SC

1766                     Daniel b. Randolph, NC
1767     1 Nov:  Cane Creek, NC Quakers mm - disowned Eli

                          => Eli was a 'Regulator' of western NC, protesting increasing corruption in NC Colonial, Regional, and Local Government

1768                     Thomas b. Randolph, NC

             Spring:     The Sheriff of Orange County announced that he would only collect taxes at certain areas of the county, and if the settlers did not pay at particular locations, they would be fined. 

This was also the time that Governor Tryon announced the construction of Tryon Palace.  

In May 1768, a group of settlers convened at Cox's Mil on Mill Creek (Orange County) to form a committee of Regulators to end the injustices, and Eli and Thomas Branson were among the regulators who signed the petition. The mission of the group was to 'assemble ourselves for conference for regulating public grievances and abuses of power, in the following particulars...that may occur: 

(1) We will pay no more taxes until we are satisfied that they are agreeable to law, and applied to the purposes therein mentioned, unless we cannot help it, or are forced.  

(2) We will pay no officer any more fees than the law allows, unless we are obliged to do it, and then show our dislike and bear open testamony against it. 

(3) We will attend all of our meetings as often as we conveniently can... 

(4) We will contribute to collections for defraying the necessary expenses attending the work, according to our abilities.  

(5) In case of differences of judgement, we will submit to the judgement of the majority of our body.' 

(alcohol was also not allowed at meetings)

 Hillsborough officials soon seized a Regulator's horse, saddle, and bridle, and sold them for taxes.  A band of outraged Regulators rode into town, rescued the horse, and fired a number of shots into Col. Fanning's house.  The four Regulators involved were ordered arrested.  Herman Husband, defacto leader of the Regulators, was chosen to meet with Fanning to discuss the incident, but before it took place, one of the four Regulators involved and Herman Husband were arrested for inciting rebellion.  This caused the Regulator movement to spread, and the group often broke into  courts of justice, drove judges from the bench, set up mock trials, dragged attornies through the streets, and terrorized town inhabitants. 

1770                     Levi b. Randolph, NC  

             24 Sep:  Eli was among the Regulator group of 150 men, armed with wooden cudgels and cow skin whips, who assaulted a number of government officials in Hillsborough.  They assaulted and beat John Williams Esquire (an attorney), and tried to strike Associate Judge Richard Henderson when he tried to calm them down from the bench window.  They surrounded the courthouse, pulled Col. Edward Fanning out by his heels, and whipped him.  Fanning tried to hide in Johnston and Thackton's store, but the regulators threw dirt, stones, and bricks at the building to get him out.  Assistant Attorney General William Hooper, and other gentlemen were also dragged into the streets to be whipped and abused.  The mob broke into Fanning's house, drank his liquer, burned his papers, destroyed his furniture, and finally burned the home to the ground. 
Governor Tryon immediately began to draw up reforms to address the settlers' needs.  When the assembly heard that the Regulators were grouping in Cumberland County for a march on the capitol of New Berne, the state assembly also passed the Johnson Act dealing with riot charges.  It was only enforced about a year, but included a clause that anyone who avoided a summons for 60 days were declared and liable to be killed for treason.

1771     March 11:  Eli was tried at New Bern for his Regulator Activities.

              On March 19, 1771, Tryon began raising the militia to bring order to Hillsborough, and on April 23, 1771, the troops began their move toward Chatham County.

             May 16: Regulators Defeated at the Battle of Alamance:  'Swear Loyalty or Hang ...'

Most Regulators were forced to leave society, and live in the wilderness. Those that laid down their arms, took the oath of allegiance, and paid their taxes were given a pardon on May 17, 1771.

In the fall of 1771, Eli appears on a petition for relief from the mill dams on Deep River that were interfering with the fishing going on there.

1772     Orange County tax records show Eli there

                   Amy b.  ?

1774     Records show that Eli 'Raised a Company of men (on the orders of Governor Martin) and served'
               Aug:  Court - Chatham Co. NC
 

'A road to be laid out the nearest way from Chatham courthouse to Ely Bransons, and the following persons or any twelve of them be a jury to lay up the same and make report to the next court. Viz: Henry Cook, Josiah Lyon, Solomon Terrell, Joseph Hadley, Joshua Hadley, Brinsley Barnes, James Barnes, Thomas Branson, Ely Branson, Levy Johnston, James Herndon, John Hornaday, Moses Teague, Edward Teague.'

1776     13 Jan    Eli Jr. b. Randolph, Chatham County, NC

             27 Feb. Eli fought for the British as a Captain at the Battle of Moore's Creek Bridge, North Carolina.  He was forced to hide in the woods during the summer of 1776, and on November 26, was with a group sent by the state to apprehend Dr. Piles and his son, John.

                            

1777    At New York, Eli was paid for 581 days of service from February 5, 1776 to September 8, 1777. 
            Eli rejoined the British Army in September 1777, and was with Cornwallis in New Jersey and Pennsylvania in 1777.

                            Rebecca b. Chatham, NC
1778     May:  Eli had returned to North Carolina
                        He continued to communicate with Governor Martin, and was eventually forced to resume hiding.
                               Jemima b.    ?

1779                    Mary b.

1780     May:        Cornwallis takes Charlestown; > 3,400 Continentals and Patriots Surrender
             October 7:  Eli narrowly escaped in the Battle of King’s Mountain in Bethabara, North Carolina

1781     March:     Eli rejoined Cornwallis.  Captain Eli Branson and his Company of North Carolina Independents (a company of the Queen’s Rangers) were captured at Yorktown on October 19, 1781. Loyalist records indicate ‘he distinguished himself in a charge on the Whig Cavalry at the siege of Yorktown and dressed in red, was a marked object of his enemy’s fire’.  He was later Repatriated via a Prisoner Exchange in NY.
                              Naomi b.
1782     23 April:  Eli was listed with the prisoners of War at Lancaster on April 23 and June 24.

1783     24 Feb:  Prisoner on Parole
             25 Aug:  Prisoner on Parole
             24 Oct:   Prisoner on Parole

              Eli was listed as a prisoner on parole on February 24, August 25 and October 24, 1783.  He was to serve 4 years commanding his Independent Company as a detachment under command of Lt. Col. George Turnbull in New York.

Eli applied for a claim in 1783 at age 40.                                              

(Aug. - Oct:  Muster Roll of NC Volunteers attached to NY Volunteers)

1784     Signed Petition of Memoralists, Petitioning for Land in the Bahamas

             Chatham County, NC Land Seized and Sold 

             12 Aug.    150 Acre Farm Seized and Sold by Sheriff (he owned 400 acre and 270 acre tracts in Chatham County that he received from his father).

             14 Aug.     Registration of Grant in Nova Scotia, Canada - St. John, New Brunswick from 'the Loyalists of New Brunswick, Ester C. Wright'

             Eli turned down Lot in Parrtown (St. John); he turned it down and went to England

             14 Oct.     m. Elizabeth Jane Rankin (a minor daughter - b.1766/7? - of William Rankin, Tory Colonel, who was in England after the War) in Westminster, St. Anne, Soho, London, England.

1785     2 Jan.        Land Grant in New Brunswick, Canada

    85/86?               20 July     Anna b. Chester, PA     Anna m. Thomas Robinson; the Robinson Family Bible says 'Jane went to England in 1785.  Records indicate that Anna turned 25 on 20July1810

1788     28 Mar:    Eli filed a claim to the English government on March 28, 1788, while residing in St. Pancras, Middlesex, London for cattle and grain supplied to the British Army, and on          
              26 Nov:     he received 450£ and 750£ on the claim; his attorney said Eli was in Canada.
                              27 Oct:  Charles Cornwallis Branson b. Canada

             note:  both Anna and Charles ended up in Fulton County, IL => Quakers ... Eli and Keziah's son John was also in Sangamon County, IL; John's children were in Fulton County, IL later

1789-93                 Eli recorded in Tax Lists Deptford Twp, Gloucester County, NJ
1790     Settled at Ninety-Six, SC

1791     Eli serving on Land Board in Montreal              

1793                      See above re: NJ 
            

After Jane’s death (presumably), he moved to South Carolina, and sent for Keziah in North Carolina. His will was written in Abbeville County , South Carolina on May 30, 1796, and probated on March 27, 1797. He described himself as ‘one of his Majesty’s subjects of the King of Great Britain, now resident of Abbyville’. He left his wife, Keziah, a slave; John, Daniel, and Thomas 636 acres in Newberry County, Indiana Creek, South Carolina; Rebecca, Mary, Naomi, and Levi 20 shillings each; Eli 200 acres in Abbeville County; Jemima 40£ in his will (executed by his ‘well beloved wife’, Keziah, and Nathaniel Henderson Sr.). He added a codicil on May 31, 1796, in which he deeded any inheritence he would receive from his grandfather, Benjamin Borden’s estate, equally to John, Daniel, Thomas, Levi, Eli, Rebecca, Mary, Naomi, and Jemima.

1796     Eli with Keziah in SC.  Will dated 30May1796 in Abbeyville, SC

1797     Eli's Will Proved in March of 1797 - see above