Notes |
- Joseph R. Culpepper wrote to his cousin, Rev. George B. Culpepper,
circa 1910-1915: I wrote to Father [Lewis Peek Culpepper] asking him
to give me all the information he could relative to his father,
grandfather, etc. He knows nothing farther back than his grandfather
who was John.... He says there were three brothers, John, Ben and
Joseph. John was my great grandfather as was Joseph, also, on my
mother's side.... John William was my father's father and your
father's grandfather.... What I have stated is absolutely correct as
far back as my two great grandfathers."
Since it seems possible that the designation of the younger John
Culpepper as "John William Culpepper" might have come from a family
history whose facts have not been substantiated. John Culpepper, the
subject of this book will be designated as John Culpepper [1772-1855].
Although there are records of Joseph and Ben Culpepper in South
Carolina, no record has ever been found of a brother namd John
Culpepper. Lee R. Gandee, a Lexington, SC genealogist, in a 23 May
1974 letter to Billy W. Dunn, a Culpepper descendant, wrote that the
Lexington Culpepers were "an early and now extinct family here. Little
is known, as our records were almost all lost in the Civil War, both
here and in the parent District, Orangeburg, when Yankees burned the
courthouses.... No church records remain, either...."
Joseph Culpepper, a presumed brother of the elder John Culpepper, was
living on Thom's Creek in what is now Richland County, SC at least as
early as 1767. Sometime prior to 1785 Joseph moved across the Congaree
River to the eastern part of Orangeburg District, SC, where he owned
land on Sandy Run Creek and south of the creek on Bull Swamp, which
flows into the Edisto River. The area became Lexington District, SC in
1804 and is near the present town of Sandy Run in Calhoun County.
Revolutionary War records place Benjamin Culpepper, the other presumed
brother of the elder John Culpepper, in South Carolina at least by
1778.
In the 1850 census of Randolph Co., AL (p. 386, family 189) John
Culpepper [1772-1855], the presumed son of the elder John Culpepper,
listed his own place of birth as South Carolina. This would place the
elder John Culpepper and his wife in South Carolina by 1772. In the
1880 census, which was the first to ask about the place of birth of
the parents of the person listed, two of the oldest living children of
John Culpepper [1772-1855], John Jefferson Culpepper and Sarah O.
Culpepper Elliott, also listed John's place of birth as South Carolina
but a middle son, Francis G. Culpepper, listed his father's place of
birth as North Carolina as if he might have remembered hearing of a
family connection to North Carolina. Joseph R. Culpepper in his letter
to the Rev. George B. Culpepper noted that John Culpepper [1772-1855]
came to South Carolina from Virginia. Again, this was probably a
reference to information from a Culpepper family history which was in
circulation at the time that he wrote the letter, indicating that the
family came from Culpeper Co., VA. But no records of Culpeppers have
been found in Culpeper Co., VA except for Lord Culpeper whose heir was
a daughter who married Lord Fairfax.
Since no records of the elder John Culpepper have been found in South
Carolina, there can only be speculation about him based on
circumstantial evidence. Both Joseph and Benjamin, the elder John's
presumed brothers, were on the 1790 census in Orangeburg District, SC.
John Culpepper [1772-1855], the elder John Culpepper's presumed son,
and Joseph, the elder John Culpepper's presumed brother, are listed
with their families living near each other (p. 560 & p. 561) in the
1800 census of Lexington, SC. This suggests that Joseph was indeed
related to Ben and John [1772-1855]. Since the elder John Culpepper
does not show up in the 1790 census of South Carolina, there is a
possibility is that he died between 1772, the year John Culpepper
[1772-1855] was born, and the 1790 census. Since no mention has been
found of brothers and sisters for John Culpepper [1772-1855], it is
possible that his parents, or at least his father, died young and
since John Culpepper [1772-1855] emerges in the 1800 census as a
neighbor of Joseph, it is possible that John [1772-1855] was raised by
his presumed uncle, Joseph Culpepper. In the 1790 census, Joseph had
three males over age 16 in his household. Joseph is only known to have
had one son, Joseph Richard Culpepper, who is believed to have been
born circa 1794. A letter in Joseph's Revolutionary War Pension file
(#R 2565) states that Joseph's son, Joseph R. Culpepper, was "the only
legatee" of Joseph Culpepper. This leaves the possibility that John
Culpepper [1772-1855] was one of the three males listed in the Joseph
Culpepper household in 1790 as over 16. John Culpepper [1772-1855]
would have been 18. Also in 1807, Joseph Culpepper secured a bond for
John Culpepper [1772-1855] when John was named administrator of the
estate of Daniel Peek. This suggests close family ties between the
two.
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