Roots run deep....

"If we know where we came from,

We may better know where to go,

If we know who we came from,

We may better understand Who we are"

-unknown

When one starts searching through the past, you find the most interesting things. Senior and I had heard of a book about his family- when they came to America, and roughly about the entire family tree..starting in 1698 and going to 1978. We knew  at one time Seniors dad had a copy of this book as it was written by a cousin. But, in our search through his belongings we have not found it.

So, a few weeks back I took to the library. And found a copy resting in the reference section, among the South Carolina archives.  It is frail and you can not check it out.

I flipped through it and found the history of his family fascinating.. Who they were, and who they had become in life. My search led me to Seniors 4x Great Grandmother, and to her grandfather, Captain John Blakeney Sr. He was born in Ireland in 1732, came to the colonies in the 1750s  and fought in the Revolutionary War. He achieved the rank of Captain, and served in the South Carolina militia along side Francis Marion ( the swamp fox). Once the war was over he chose this area to set up his home and raise his family. He was brazen and tough, and died at the age of 100.

Searching for him, led me to a monument erected in his honor in 1956 by the Daughters of the Revolution. And it was in fact not 20 miles from here.

I was excited about this and showed it to Senior who in turn was equally excited that he had an ancestor who fought in the militia. So, we found the address for the cemetery that the monument and grave are in and took off Saturday to go find it. It led us to a ruddy dirt road with a large mud puddle. Senior suggested we return in our 4x4. This we did the next day.

This is the only marker showing the entrance to the cemetery, long been worn down by the elements, it once had a brass plaquered attached but it was either stolen or fell off, and never replaced.

This is the road in to the cemetery:

Captain Blakeney ( Seniors 6X Great Grandfather)  monument and grave, erected in 1956, near the Blakeney homestead

Along with the Captains grave were other markers for other family members:

 

After taking the pictures and thinking about what kind of man Capt. Blakeney was, I thought about how sad it is that so much history is here, and not being taken care of. I am sure one time or the other it was , and those family members have since died off.

Seeing this gives me another reason why I love living in South Carolina...this area is so rich in American history, We cant drive down a road without seeing some sort of marker referencing something from the past.

My search into Seniors family is not over. I am stuck at the his paternal 5x grandfather who married Capt. Blakeneys granddaughter. The book in the library will tell me more, and holds the answers to filling in Seniors family tree. I have tried to get a copy but the publisher is out of business and the book out of print.

As for my family tree...my dad and aunt actually researched that some time ago, and traced us back to Scotland in the 1400s. We were of Clan Gunn, which was one of the oldest Scottish Clans,  and our motto? " Either peace or war" 

-JUGM



Francis Marion- Hero of the Revolution

I did have this amazing post about the Declaration of Independence. But then I started thinking about Heros of the Revolution.
We recently watched the movie " The Patriot" and while it is an awesome film, it is also historically incorrect in many places.
the Real Patriot was Francis Marion nicknamed the "swamp fox" by the British for his elusive tactics. You could probably say he and his militia was the original special forces.
It was in South Carolina in 1780, that he gained notoriety by slipping in to the swamps of the low country with his band of guerillas to launch attacks  against the British.

Marion showed himself to be a singularly able leader of irregular militiamen and ruthless in his terrorizing of Loyalists. Unlike the Continental troops, Marion's Men, as they were known, served without pay, supplied their own horses, arms and often their food.

Marion rarely committed his men to frontal warfare, but repeatedly surprised larger bodies of Loyalists or British regulars with quick surprise attacks and equally quick withdrawal from the field. After the surrender of Charleston, the British garrisoned South Carolina with help from local Tories, except for Williamsburg (the present Pee Dee), which they were never able to hold. The British made one attempt to garrison Williamsburg at Willtown, but were driven out by Marion at the Battle of Black Mingo.

Cornwallis observed "Colonel Marion had so wrought the minds of the people, partly by the terror of his threats and cruelty of his punishments, and partly by the promise of plunder, that there was scarcely an inhabitant between the Santee and the Peedee that was not in arms against us".

In 1780 Colonel Tarlton was sent to find and capture Marion. The British followed Marion and his troops for over 26 miles through the Carolina swamps but Marion eluded them. Tarlton swore that even the Devil himself could not capture the him and they gave up.

Marion later on would serve in the South Carolina State Senate, and then serve as Commander of Fort Johnson in South Carolina. It as basically a courtesy title with a promise payment of 500 English pounds per year, but that was changed with the economy and changed to 500 continental dollars per year.

He died on his Estate in 1795 at the age of 63.

Francis Marions legacy lives on though throughout the low country of South Carolina, ever been up
I-95 and crossed "Lake Marion" ? yes, it is named after the swamp fox. There is also Marion National Forest near Charleston, Marion County, South Carolina, Francis Marion University. Across the United States there are also many municipalities named after him.
He is buried at Belle Island Plantation Cemetary in Berkely County, SC. His gravestone reads the following: 

Sacred to the memory
of
GEN. FRANCIS MARION,
who departed this life on the 27th February 1795
in the sixty-third year of his age
deeply regretted by all his fellow-citizens.
History will record his worth and rising generations
embalm his memory as one of the most distinguished
PATRIOTS AND HEROES OF THE AMERICAN REVOLUTION
which elevated his native country to honor and independence
and secured to her the blessings of liberty and peace.
This tribute of veneration and gratitude is erected in
commemoration of the noble and disinterested virtues
of the citizen and the gallant exploits of the soldier
who lived without fear and died without reproach.