Barwick Family History
     
 

Barwick Family History

Maryland—North Carolina –South Carolina

Compiled from the writings of Robert D. Barwick and Allen J.Barwick

Copyright @2009 Robert D Barwick and Allen J Barwick

 
     

 

 

 

The early history of the Dobbs County, North Carolina (and most Southern United States) Barwicks is based primarily on work done by Robert D. (Dan) Barwick. Dan established a connection between the South Carolina family of William B. Barwick and Elizabeth Phillips to the North Carolina (Joshua Barwick) and Maryland families. Work regarding the North Carolina family (the state with the most people bearing the name) has been done primarily by Allen J. Barwick.

The original immigrant ancestor of this branch of the Barwick family was John Barwick I who was born in England in about 1650. The Patent Records of Maryland (Liber No. 7, Folio 520) record the arrival of John Barwick in 1664. John I probably entered the country as an indentured servant in order to pay for his passage to the New World. He probably married a woman named Jane in about 1675. The first recorded land transaction in his name occurred in 1679 when he bought a portion of a tract known as Normanton with William Hatfield. John I had a son named John, who also likely had yet another by the same name (American pioneers were not terribly careful with names). The third John in this original line was born about 1710 in Talbot County, Maryland. John III bought 56 acres of land in Talbot County Maryland in 1742 and 173 acres of the Normanton tract in 1748. The Normanton tract was the same parcel of land part or all of which John Barwick I had purchased with William Hatfield in 1679. The Barwicks seem, over the years, to have bought and sold numerous pieces of this tract.

John III married Rebecca Oldfield at some time before the death of her father, Henry in 1745. The LDS Ancestral File International Genealogical Index shows the date of the marriage as 1744. This date seems plausible since we know that Rebecca's parents did not marry until 1717.

An inventory of the estate of John Barwick (John III) was conducted on February 20, 1756 in Talbot County, Maryland. The inventory was conducted for William Barnett and Rebecca, his wife, who is named as the widow of John Barwick. A final distribution of the estate of John was made on October 25, 1756. The estate was valued at 107 pounds, five shillings and five pence. After debts were paid, thirty-six pounds were left. The deputy commissioner directed that it be divided one third to the widow, Rebecca with the remaining two thirds to be divided equally among William (referred to below as William, Sr.), Mary, Rebecca, Ann, and John Barwick.

From examination of the dates above, the action of the commissioner, and later activities involving Rebecca, it is probable that the children were of age at the date of their father's death and that Rebecca was not their natural mother (she was born after 1717 and did not marry John until 1744). John III very likely married before Rebecca and had children with his first wife.

William Barwick Sr. was born in about 1730 in Maryland, the great grandson of the original immigrant in his family, John Barwick I. William's father, John Barwick III died in 1762 in Queen Anne's County, Maryland.

In 1765, William Barwick, Sr. sold a pew in the Chapel of Ease in the Parish of St. Peters in Maryland. In a curious transaction he bought a pew from the same party to whom he had just sold a different pew. The sale transaction was among William Barwick, Rebecca Barnett (Rebecca Oldfield Barwick Barnett, the former wife of John Barwick III, Williamm Sr,'s father) and William Barnett as sellers and Thomas Loveday as buyer. The pew sold had previously belonged to William, Sr.’s father, John Barwick. The purchase transaction was between William Barwick as buyer and Thomas Loveday as seller.

Shortly after the pew transactions in 1765, William Barwick, Sr. moved to North Carolina where several land transactions occurred in his name beginning in 1766. He married Elizabeth Manning, probably in Maryland. Although the content of the household at the time of the move is not specifically recorded, we know from subsequent activities that his sons, Joshua, Sr. and William, Jr. would have been born prior to 1765. It is therefore likely that William Barwick, Sr. made the journey to North Carolina with his wife Elizabeth and at least two children. William, Sr. acquired land in Dobbs County, North Carolina in 1766 and was granted additional land in 1768. In 1769, William and his oldest son, Joshua appeared 16 in order to be eligible for the tax list. His birth can therefore be placed in or before 1753. William, Jr. would have been under 16 at the time of the tax list thus placing his birth in or after 1753. William, Sr. purchased additional land in 1769 when he bought a parcel on Falling Creek from William Aylor.

William Barwick, Sr. and his sons, Joshua and William, Jr. were revolutionary war soldiers. William (probably Sr.) was first listed as a corporal on the muster roll of the Dobbs County Militia on 28 November 1771. In 1777, all three Barwicks (William, William, Jr. and Joshua) were listed on the roster of Kennedy's Company of the Dobbs Militia (Roster of 26 July 1777). In 1778, a man named Bartley Davis received $20 in bounty "in room of William Barwick, Jr" As late as 1784 a William Barwick received pay "as a soldier of the revolution for the Newbern District" and for "service as a soldier of the guard at Kingston" In the latter instance the William is not identified as Sr. or Jr. At this date, however, it is likely that William, Jr. is the soldier as William, Sr. would have been about 54 years of age. In simultaneous land transactions occurring between 1779 and 1784, William, Sr. deeded land to John Barwick and William Barwick, Jr. The precise data of these transactions is not known as a result of a courthouse fire. An index, which survived the fire, clearly shows the two transactions recorded simultaneously. John Barwick in this instance was likely either the son of Edward, who had moved to North Carolina from Maryland with or at about the same time as William Barwick, Sr. or a third son of William, Sr., as some researcher’s have believed.

In 1780 William Barwick, Sr. and Joshua appear again on the Dobbs County Tax List. In this case, William is clearly identified as "Sr." indicating that William, Jr, is of age and an active man in the vicinity. William, Jr. is conspicuously absent from the tax list. He could have been away in the militia (We know that he served in 1778 and 1784) or was simply missed on the list.

By 1790 William Barwick, Sr. had moved with his son to the Cheraw District (later Darlington County), South Carolina. The 1790 census shows two men named William Barwick as residents of the District. Neither of them shows on the North Carolina census of the same year. The census entries in South Carolina do not identify either William as "Sr." or "Jr.". One of them is shown with the precise household count, which would have characterized the William Barwick, Jr./Elizabeth Phillips home at the time. The other is shown with two adults and one male under 16. The child is likely a grandson living with the elderly couple.

By 1800 only one William Barwick shows on the Cheraw District (Darlington) census. Again, the household count precisely matches the content of the William Barwick, Jr./Elizabeth Phillips home at the time. No other William Barwick, who can't be accounted for as a separate individual, shows on the 1800 North Carolina census. It is, therefore, likely that William Barwick, Sr. died between 1790 and 1800, probably in the Cheraw District, South Carolina. He would have been between 60 and 70 years old.

Joshua Barwick, the first son of William, Sr., remained in North Carolina when his brother and father moved to South Carolina after the revolutionary war. He became the patriarch of many of the Barwick's in North Carolina. He married a woman named Mary (her maiden name is unknown) and fathered several children including Joshua Barwick, Jr. and Isaac Barwick.

Joshua Barwick, Jr. was born in 1787 in North Carolina (From "Genealogy History of the Family of Barwick" By Gladys Barwick Weeks of Goldsboro, NC—1988). Joshua, Jr. the son of Joshua Barwick and grandson of |William Barwick, Sr. died on 17 April 1851. In about 1811, he married Sarah Winifred Sutton, who was born about 1787 and who died 11 July 1871 in Lenoir County, North Carolina. This couple’s posterity represents most of the Barwicks from the LaGrange, Goldsboro and Mount Olive areas of North Carolina. See the Weeks family history book referenced above for more details.

Isaac Barwick was born to Joshua Barwick, Sr. and his wife in 1789. Good records have been found for Isaac and most of his descendants. We know that his first wife was Sarah Tull whose genealogy links with General Robert E. Lee. Isaac moved away from the Mosley Hall area and first located near the Tower Hill Road (in the mid 1800’s) area for a while and later located somewhere in the vicinity of Dobbs Farm (Stallings Air Field or the Lenoir County Hospital area) off the Snow Hill highway (Hull Road). It is thought that they moved to the Edwards Bridge area in the vicinity of "Skeeter Pond" sometime after the 1860 census. Records have not been found that detail the purchase of the farm near Edwards Bridge, but the 1870 Census shows Craven Tull Barwick living at that location.

 

 

 
  RETURN TO BARWICK FAMILY GENEALOGY