John Colleton Bt (1608 - 1666)

Born 1608 in England

Ancestors

Husband of Katheryne (Amey) Colleton — married 19 Nov 1634 in Exeter St Mary Arches, Exeter, Devon, England

Descendants

Died 1666 at about age 58 in England

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Biography

John was born in 1608 in England. He was the second son of Peter Colleton and Ursula Hall.

Marriage and Family

In 1634 he married Katherine Amey in Exeter, England. They had children:

• Peter (1635-1694)
• John (d. 1668)
• Thomas (b. 1636)
• James (d. ca. 1706)
• Katherine (b. 1638)
• Anne (b. 1640)
• Elizabeth (1644-1646)

Colleton served Charles I during the English Civil War. He rose through the Royalist ranks during the conflict, but later had his holdings seized when the Cavaliers were finally defeated by Parliamentary forces. Following the execution of King Charles I in 1649, he fled England and settled in Barbados, where he had several plantations.

About 1659 Colleton returned to England and assisted with the restoration of Charles II to the throne. As a reward for his services, he was created a baronet in 1660.^[1]

In 1663, King Charles granted Colleton and seven other individuals, called Lords Proprietors, the land called Carolina, named in honor of his father, Charles I. Colleton was very interested in settling Carolina with people from existing colonies, especially Barbados.

Death

Sir John Colleton died after writing his Will on 23 April 1666 in England,^[2] never having visited Carolina.

Colleton's family connections with America continued after his death. He had three sons: Peter, Thomas and James, who were given the titles of Landgrave, pre-Revolutionary, English colonial titles of nobility in the low country of Carolina, during the late 17th and early 18th centuries. One of his great-grandsons, Charles Garth MP. was Colonial Agent for the Provinces of South Carolina, Georgia and Maryland, between 1763 and 1765. Another, General George Garth, fought for the British in the American Revolutionary War.

Colleton or Colington Island

Part of his grant was an area on the Cape Fear River, which was named Colleton or Colington Island. The original land grant was dated September 8, 1663, and under it Sir John Colleton, one of the Proprietors, was given the title to "the island heretofore called Carlyle (after Christopher Carlyle who accompanied Sir Francis Drake to the Outer Banks of North Carolina in 1586) now Colleton Island, lying near the mouth of Chowane now Albemarle river (now Albemarle Sound) contayneing in lenkth 5 or 6 myles, in bredth about 2 or 3 myles^[3]John Colleton had big plans for his new island and soon made arrangements with three partners, one of whom was sent to Colington to take active charge, (Peter Carteret, nephew of Sir George Carteret, one of the Lord of Proprietors) arriving in the spring of 1665. Peter Carteret was Governor of Carolina from 1670-1673. The other partners were both Proprietors, Sir William Berkeley and William, Lord of Craven.

The four partners secured other property nearby and planted corn, grapes, and tobacco. They also started raising cattle and horses. As a side business they started extracting oil from whales which washed ashore on the beach. They shipped one hundred ninety five Barrels of Whale Oyle to London.

The operation was dogged with ill luck as there was a drought in 1668 and a deluge of rainfall in early August, another hurricane on August 18, 1669 and still a third on August 6, 1670.

Following the apparent failure of this project in the 1670's little is known of the development of Colington for a number of years. By 1750 the entire island was owned by Thomas Pendleton. He died that year and left the island to his 3 daughters. By this time the Colington cut had been made which divided the island into 2 separate islands. This formed what is known as "Great Colenton and Little Colenton."

An extensive community grew up on the Big Island as it is now known as and a post office was established on the south side of Shingle Landing; on June 14, 1889, with Ezekial Midgett as postmaster. Today there is a thriving community here, known as Colington Harbour; the largest development along the Outer Banks of North Carolina.^[4]

Colleton County, South Carolina, is named after him.

Colington Island, North Carolina is named after him

Sources

1. ↑ Wotton, Thomas, Baronetage of England, 1771, Volume 2, Arms of Colleton Baronets; given elsewhere as roebuck's heads, frequently interchangeable
2. ↑ George Edward Cokayne, ed., Complete Baronetage, Vol. 3 (1903), p. 161Internet Archive
3. ↑ Book, Titled, The Outer Banks of North Carolina, by David Stick, 1958
4. ↑ Book, Titled, The Outer Banks of North Carolina, by David Stick, 1958

• Wikipedia:Sir_John_Colleton,_1st_Baronet, accessed Mar 12, 2018
• “Colleton, Sir John” South Carolina Encyclopedia https://www.scencyclopedia.org/sce/entries/colleton-sir-john/
• "Sir John Colleton, 1st Baronet" https://www.carolana.com/Carolina/Proprietors/johncolleton.html
• “The Colleton Family in South Carolina.” The South Carolina Historical and Genealogical Magazine 1, no. 4 (1900): 325–41. http://www.jstor.org/stable/27574930
• The Visitations of the County of Devon Comprising the Herald's Visitations of 1531,1564 and 1620 with additions by Lieutenant-Colonel J L Vivian Page 218: Colleton
• https://familysearch.org/tree/person/details/LK17-DK8