Kentucky
James Brantley
For many years
researchers from all over the south have studied the history and
genealogy of James Brantley, born ca 1770, who fled Georgia in 1811 and
went first into Tennessee and later to Livingston County, Kentucky.
He spent the rest of his life and died in Kentucky in what was by
then Crittenden County in 1841, leaving a large family. To the Brantley
Association, he has become known as Kentucky
James. It is most intriguing to study the progeny of this man who
once was a fugitive from Georgia and who would later become the ancestor
of the entire Kentucky Brantley population. James Brantley drew land in
Bullock Co in 1804. A
dispute broke out on the night of August 3, 1811, while James Brantley
and acquaintance Elijah Beacham were visiting at the home of William
Tomerlin, also a residence of Bullock County, Georgia. These men had
obviously known one another for several years, as they were “chain
carriers” during a survey years earlier in nearby Montgomery County.
The subject of the dispute is not known, but Brantley and Beacham became
involved in a fight and according to witnesses, James Brantley stabbed
Elijah Beacham several times. Beacham died, and on September 2, 1811,
Georgia Governor David B. Mitchell issued a warrant offering a $100
reward for the apprehension of James Brantley. According to the order,
James had already "absconded from the county of Bullock.” He soon
appeared in Smith county, and later Sumner county, Tennessee. His first
wife's name is unknown to us, but he was a witness to several deed
transactions in the following years involving persons surnamed Harris.
(See note on this below). Facts
discovered over the years have shown that he was almost certain to have
once been a resident of Edgecombe County, North Carolina. Mr. Tomerlin,
mentioned above, was also once a resident of Edgecombe County. According
to the census of 1850 James' first son, William (b ca 1793), was born in
North Carolina. His second known child was born in Georgia, about 1795.
This would, of course, place his arrival in Georgia about this time. It
is important to understand at this point that only 3 other Brantley
families are found to have migrated to Georgia between 1790 and 1820.
They were the families of brothers Amos and Malachi Brantley and
Benjamin Brantley all of whom came from Edgecombe County, N.C. to
Hancock County, Georgia. We believe that Benjamin is another brother to
Amos and Malachi. We have no reluctance in declaring our James to be
closely related to them. Amos and Malachi were both sons of William
Brantley of Edgecombe County. James named his first son William and
another son Malachi. After 20 years of research on all of these
families, we can say that all 4 of the Malachi Brantleys born prior to
1900, are tied to the Edgecombe County family. Other given names found
in the decadency of James are almost exclusive to Edgecombe county
families. They include Malachi, Matthew, and Greenberry (Green Berry)
Brantley. We felt at one time that James was a brother to Amos and
Malachi, but more recently discovered records have compromised such a
position. In or about 1799 James Brantley Sr and James Brantley Jr were
listed as the only tax payers in Montgomery County, Georgia. Surely, our
James is one of these and assuming these are father and son, it would
mean that he was the Jr as he would not have been old enough to have a
grown son then. Therefore, the Senior would seemingly be his father.
If so, then we would conclude that his father might have been the
brother to Amos and Malachi. We recognize however, that it is possible
that he is even further removed, but he is, no doubt, as they are, a
descendant of an earlier James Brantley who died in Isle of Wight
County, Va in 1740. (See
the study of John Brantley Nash County, NC.)
The
first wife of James
A James
Brantley married Nancy Harris on August 2, 1793 in Southampton County,
Virginia. For some time, we speculated that this was our James, as
mentioned earlier, as he was seen mingling heavy with the Harris family
in Tennessee after his flight from Georgia. One researcher later
provided a record from a progenitor of 2 generations earlier who
recorded that James married Mary Elizabeth Harris, but gave the date as
the same one shown as the marriage of Nancy Harris to James (August 2,
1793). Although the given names were different, this gave us further
reason to conclude that this was our James.
Then came
the estate records of Nancy Brantley, widow of James Brantley deceased
of South Hampton County, VA.
In the estate records, it showed that she was the Nancy Harris
who had married James Brantley and that he had died. Her Harris brothers
were participants in the estate proceedings.
We now must
conclude that although our Kentucky James perhaps married a Harris about
the same time, it would have to be a different Harris lady. This
marriage should have occurred in N.C. and probably, at least, a year
earlier. We can only suppose that an earlier researcher, having been
satisfied that James had indeed married a Harris, assumed the union of
the James Brantley to Nancy Harris was between Kentucky James and Nancy
Harris.
James' first
wife was apparently dead by 1831 when he married Talitha Allen.
Apparently she died within months, for on Jan 13, 1832, he married Eliza
Brintzfield. There was one daughter born to this union. She was Mary
Jane Brantley. She would marry __?___
Elder
While
some may suppose James to have been an outlaw and renegade, we make no
such conclusion. First, we really don't know the outcome of the charges
made against him. Some family members were told that he was ultimately
acquitted. This would be supported by the fact that he would serve in
the War of 1812 and continue to use his name until his death in 1841
rather that use an alias. In any case, what we do observe is that he is
the progenitor of thousands of Americans today. Among them are some of
the most down to earth and honest people among us. The Brantley
Association sees no more support from descendants of his generation,
than from those of Kentucky James.
I have spoken with descendants of Kentucky James in all parts of the
country; in Alabama, Arkansas, Colorado, Florida, Georgia: In Kentucky,
No Carolina, So Carolina, Ohio, Oklahoma, Texas, Michigan, Mississippi,
Missouri, Illinois, and California. I find no one more enthusiastic
about their genealogy than those among his progeny.
Kenneth
Brantley
See
our 6th report for the family and descendants of James Brantley
