Still looking for Willie and Cathy.
107YO?

CROFT, JACOB HENRY	1804-1869	BARNWELL (SC) LOWNDES (GA) - NEW RIVER (FL)

Jacob Henry Croft was born in Barnwell County, South Carolina on October 4, 
1804. In 1825, he married Abigail Hunter, the daughter of William Hunter 
and Catherine DeLoach, also from Barnwell County. Abigail was born on 
August 22, 1811. They had fifteen children, the first six were born in 
South Carolina and the last nine were born in Georgia:

1. Martha	b. 1/8/1827.
2. Mary	b. 5/26/1828, m. Hezekiah Shaw. 	d. 11/4/1901.
3. Eliza Caroline	b. 71l5/1830.
4. Kiss	b. 11/22/1832.
5. Jacob H., Jr.	b. 1/ 11/ 1834, m. Jerona A. ??. d . 1906.
6. Charles Wm. (q.v.) 	b. 1 /27/1836, m. Mary Jane McLeod. d. &19/1919.
7. Lavinia	b.2/27/1838.
8. Lucy Ann	b. 10/8/1839.
9. John	b. 1/14/1841, m. Betty Clemmons. 	d. 4/16/1925.
10. Matthew	b. 12/11/1842.
11. Cassie Elizabeth	b. 11/3/1844, m. ?? Knight. 	d. 11/19/1927.
12. Nancy	b. 1/8/1846, m. Lewis B. Clemmons.
13. Samuel C.	b. 1/7/1848, m. Jane Mikell. d. 10/14/1914.
14. Freeman	b. 4/8/1849, m. Sophronia ???.
15. Queen Ann	b. 7/2/1851.

In the late 1820's Mr. Croft was apparently in financial trouble. The 
Barnwell County, South Carolina Journal of Common Pleas shows him in 
litigation three times, once as plaintiff and twice as a defendant. In 
March of 1827, he was forced to sell 50 acres of land to satisfy a 
judgment. He and his wife and first six children moved from South Carolina 
to Lowndes County, Georgia to make a new beginning. They were accompanied 
by Abigail's parents, the elder Hunters. Several other Croft families made 
the move about the same time.
The family remained in Georgia for twenty-three years, farming and earning 
a living as best they could. However, when the elder Hunters died in 1857 
(both he and his wife died on the same day when William Hunter was 107 
years old), Jacob, with Abigail and most of their children, moved to New 
River (now Bradford) County, Florida in search of a better life. They 
remained there the remainder of their lives.
After Abigail's death in November of 1862, Jacob married Nancy Gatlin, the 
daughter of John Gatlin, and they had two children, both born in Florida:

16. George A.	b. 11/19/1865.
17. Henry Lee	b. 1/10/1867, m. Florence Kendrick.

Jacob died on October 13, 1869. He and Abigail are buried in the cemetery 
on the grounds of the Mount Zion Baptist Church (also known as Swift Creek 
Church) a few miles west of Lake Butler, Florida,
Jacob's second wife, Nancy, was born in New River County, Florida in 1840. 
She died in Milledgeville, Georgia on June 30, 1915.
Sources: Croft Family Bible (in possession of Mrs. Leona Croft); 18401850 
Census Lowndes County, Ga.; 1860 Census New River County, Florida; 
Tombstones in Mt. Zion Baptist Cemetery, Lake Butler, Florida; Judge 
Huxford's Card File, Huxford Genealogy Library, Homerville, Georgia; 1827 
Barnwell, SC land records; and Journal of Common Pleas, Barnwell County, SC 
1826, 1827.
Contributed by: Walter H. Berg, Jr. of Young Harris, Georgia, great, great, 
grandson of the subject.

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