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| Photo posted by user "wind9954" at Ancestry.com |
President Jimmy Carter wrote a historical novel a few years back set primarily in Georgia (naturally) during the Revolutionary War. It's called The Hornet's Nest and I'm about halfway through it. It's been a good read so far. Carter apparently thought a lot about what it was like to live in the 18th century. Daily activities that seem foreign today are detailed and brought to life through his characters. It is a work of fiction, but the broad historical context is accurate.
Much of the book focuses on the Quaker settlement of Wrightsborough or Wrightsboro as it became known. I understand it was the southernmost Quaker settlement in the colonies. At the time of the Revolutionary War, Wrightsborough was on the frontier. If you traveled any further west, you would be in Indian territory. A road was cut through the forest from Augusta to provide access to the new settlement. Today, it is a little dot on the map in McDuffie County, Georgia 40 miles west of Augusta and about 90 miles east of Atlanta just north of Interstate 20.
I was a little familiar with Wrightsboro because I had read that a 5th great grandfather was murdered there. He was born into a Quaker family in Chester County, Pennsylvania. Along with other Quaker families, he migrated from Chester to North Carolina and ultimately, Wrightsboro, Georgia.
His name was Thomas Jackson. Here is what his birth record looks like from the New Garden Monthly Meeting, Chester, Pennsylvania...
The record mentions his parents, Isaac and Mary Jackson. Isaac and Mary were immigrants from Ireland landing with their families in Pennsylvania in the 1720's. They married in Pennsylvania and eventually moved to Orange County, North Carolina. It was in Orange County that their son Thomas married a girl named "Mary." There is no solid proof for Mary's last name though there is a very good case for her being the daughter of Joseph Maddock, a Quaker leader. Joseph founded Wrightsborough and he features prominently in Carter's book. If Mary is his daughter, Joseph Maddock would be my 6th great grandfather.
In Wrightsborough, Thomas and Mary Jackson had at least 2 children before he and a neighbor were brutally killed by Creek Indians in August of 1770. The story is recounted in several sources. In "Documents of the American Revolution, 1770-1783," Vol III edited by K.G. Davies, we read the following:
...yet the Creek Indians have frequently stolen great numbers of horses and cattle from many of His Majesty's subjects and have also committed several murders since that time, the last of which was in August 1770 when some of the said Indians in cool blood and without any cause or reason whatever barbarously murdered Thomas Jackson and George Beck, two of the inhabitants of Wrightsborough Township...Other accounts further describe that Thomas was tending his field just outside of Wrightsborough when he was surprised by a Creek war party. So far, Jimmy Carter's book does not mention this episode.
Thomas and Mary's two children were Deborah and Joseph. Deborah Jackson, married Robert McGinty a year after her father's death. It is the McGinty line through which we connect to Thomas Jackson.
A cousin, who "wrote the book on the McGinty family," lays out the case for Thomas Jackson's wife being the daughter of Joseph Maddock. Jerry McGinty outlines about 10 items that reinforce the connection. We know Thomas' wife was named Mary because an Oath of Administration is issued to Mary Jackson (his wife) after Thomas' death. Joseph Maddock signed that document. Both Thomas Jackson and Mary Maddock appear in the Cane Creek Monthly Meeting minutes in the 1750's back in North Carolina. Land plats of Joseph Maddock and Thomas Jackson adjoin each other in Wrightsboro. Mary names her children Joseph and Deborah. These names occur frequently in the Maddock family. Mary's father and brother were named Joseph. She had a sister named Deborah. Neither name is common in the Jackson family before the Revolutionary War. The ages of Thomas and Mary's children fall in line with the ages of the parents and their probable marriage date.
By the way, Jerry McGinty's book is available from him personally. Let me know if you want a copy and I can get you the contact information.
Beyond the above circumstantial evidence for Mary Maddock Jackson, there are currently over 40 DNA matches to me and my sisters that show this same Maddock line in their ancestry. While I admit it's not "proven," the culmination of all this evidence makes me comfortable calling Joseph Maddock my 6th great grandfather.
The Quakers generally suffered during the Revolutionary War. This was certainly the case at Wrightsborough. As more and more non Quaker settlers moved to the area, conflicts became more prevalent between the pacifist Quakers and their more Patriot minded neighbors. Rebel partisons raided the community frequently. There were more murders. Some Friends fought back and were disowned. Many of the Friends outright sided with the British-- Maddock especially. He was imprisoned for a time by the rebels and spent a number of months as a refugee in British-held Savannah. After the war the exiled Quakers were allowed to return to Wrightsborough but life did not improve.
Joseph Maddock solicited monetary assistance for the displaced refugees from the British and other sources during their time in Savannah. After the war the monthly meeting asked him to account for his use of the money. He was ultimately disowned as he was unable or unwilling to provide the accounting. He died at Wrightsborough in 1794.
The Wrightsboro Quakers held staunch anti-slavery beliefs that were basically incompatible with their surroundings. By 1810 most of the Quaker families had migrated to Ohio. The remaining community in Georgia dwindled and ceased to be by 1923. Now it is a simple crossroads in rural Georgia.
Maddock's granddaughter, Deborah Jackson, became a preacher's wife. In 1785 she and Robert McGinty moved from the area of Wrightsboro to Wilkes County, Georgia. Robert, who was originally either Presbyterian or Quaker was baptized at age 35 by their neighbor, Silas Mercer in the Baptist Church. Silas was a pioneer Baptist preacher in Georgia-- Pastor of Phillips Mill Baptist Church. Silas baptised his son, Jesse and Robert McGinty on the same day using the same barrel on his property. Jesse and Robert both became Baptist ministers serving long and fruitful careers. Mercer University was named for Jesse Mercer.
-Lineage from Joseph Maddock-
JOSEPH MADDOCK (1720-1794) - 6th great-grandfather
(father of)
MARY MADDOCK (1735-1780) who married Thomas Jackson (1731-1770)
(mother of)
DEBORAH JACKSON (1760-1835) who married Rev. Robert McGinty (1750-1841)
(mother of)
WILLIAM A MCGINTY (1792-1858) who married Martha Grant (1800-1876)
(father of)
ELISHA KING MCGINTY (1830-1896) who married Mary Catherine Stinson (1841-1930)
(father of)
MEDORA MCGINTY (1867-1926) who married John Sherwood McBride (1860-1937)
(mother of)
WILLIAM MCGINTY MCBRIDE SR (1899-1963) who married Annie Lou Sentell (1903-1990)
(father of)
WILLIAM MCGINTY MCBRIDE JR. (1929-2016) who married Marjorie Catherine Keller
(father of)
JOHN SENTELL MCBRIDE who married Karen Nell Cochran
