James Lee Sewell (1783 - 1859)

Born 1783 in Rowan, North Carolina, United States

Ancestors

Died 1859 at about age 76 in Saint Marks, Meriwether, Georgia, United States

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Biography

James Lee Sewell was born in 1783. He is the son of Samuel Sewell and Christian White.

James was in a property tax record in 1807 in Franklin, Georgia, United States.^[1]

In the 1840 census James was in Meriwether, Georgia.^[2] (3 enslaved people)

In the 1850 census James (age 66), Farmer, was in Division 59, Meriwether, Georgia, United States.^[3] Ancestry transcribed the original inferring Nancy Sewell as his wife, which is incorrect. Nancy (46) is more likely his daughter and Franklin (14) his grandson.

James died in 1859.^[4]

Slaves

In the 1850 census James held 14 enslaved people in Division 59, Meriwether, Georgia, United States.^[5]

See also: Slaves of James Sewell, Georgia

James Lee Sewell Genealogy Story ^[6]:

"Repeating his father’s experience, James Lee Sewell may have still been an infant when his parents moved from Rowan County, North Carolina, to Franklin County, Georgia, in the 1780s, and he probably had few if any memories of North Carolina. Like his father, too, he grew up on the American frontier of the late eighteenth century, coming of age in the early years of the Republic. Around 1804, he married Mary “Polly” Baker, who was no doubt a relative of the Baker family that had moved with James’ grandfather Samuel Sewell Sr. from Maryland to Rowan County, North Carolina, in the 1760s and, with Samuel Sewell Jr., on to Georgia after the Revolution. They had at least six children, including Nancy born in 1804, William in 1806, John Pierce in 1810, James Lee in 1813, Sarah Armanda in 1816, and Elizabeth in 1820, all born in northeast Georgia, probably in Madison County. When Samuel Sewell Sr. died in 1815, James Sewell was named guardian for his two youngest brothers, Samuel III and Isaac, who were sixteen and fourteen respectively. He no doubt also helped care for his widowed mother until her death in September 1822.

"By then, the Cherokee had been pushed beyond the Chattahoochee River, and another major land cession by the Creek in 1821 opened up thousands of square miles of land east of the Flint River to white settlement. DeKalb, Fayette, and Henry counties and most of modern metropolitan Atlanta grew up on those new lands. In 1827, a final cession by the Creek drove them out of the state entirely. The following year, the discovery of gold in north Georgia sparked the country’s first big gold rush and sounded the death knell for the Cherokee nation. While the richest deposits were around Dahlonega, less significant deposits were found as far afield as northwestern Meriwether County, one of the new counties organized out of the last Creek land cession.

"Gold only added to the frenzy for the new land in Georgia, which was distributed by lottery rather than grants, and it is impossible to know exactly what brought the Sewells to western Georgia. When the Federal census was taken in 1830, the five Sewell brothers—James, John, Nicholas, Samuel, and Isaac—as well as their sister Rachel and their families remained in northeast Georgia, but by 1840, they had all moved on to new land in west Georgia.

"Some of Rachel’s in-laws moved to Troup County before 1830, and she and her husband and their several children may have followed soon after that. More significantly, perhaps, the Sewell siblings’ uncle James Sewell Sr. (1765-1852) moved to Meriwether County around 1832. Although Rachel and her family moved to Chambers County, Alabama, around that time, it is likely that the five brothers were in Meriwether County in the early 1830s. Isaac and Samuel did not stay, however, and by 1840 both of them had moved their young families to Cobb County, Georgia. Isaac was a prosperous merchant in antebellum Marietta; Samuel a farmer and well-known Methodist minister. Brother John, followed their sister to Alabama, but died in Tallapoosa County before 1850. James and Nicholas made Meriwether County home.

"Family historians point to James Sewell Sr. (1765 – 1852), as the first of the clan to move into Meriwether County, perhaps as early as 1831, apparently settling near St. Marks in northwestern Meriwether County. He is credited with giving land for a Methodist church and cemetery there in 1838. The congregation merged with Prospect Church at Lone Oak after the Civil War, but the cemetery remains in Land Lot 214, 11th District, on the Hogansville-Greenville Road, just southeast of St. Marks.

"His daughter, Margaret “Millie” Sewell, married Henry Wideman (1789-1835) in Franklin County, Georgia, in 1829. Piety Sewell married William Gober around 1830, and their youngest sister Margaret married Achilles Booker Colquitt. All three sisters and their families remained near their father in Meriwether County. James and Peggy Sewell’s youngest son Richard Ivey Sewell also settled in Meriwether County.

"Peggy Harris Sewell died in 1841 and her husband James in 1852. In 1859, his nephew James Sewell died as well, ten years after the death of his own wife, Mary Baker Sewell. All four of them were buried in well-marked graves in the old Methodist church cemetery at St. Marks.

Sources

1. ↑ "Georgia, U.S., Property Tax Digests, 1793-1892"
   Georgia Tax Digests [1890]. 140 volumes. Morrow, Georgia: Georgia Archives
   Ancestry Sharing Link - Ancestry Record 1729 #4757245 (accessed 20 March 2023)
   Name: James Sewell; Year: 1807; District: Captain Bryants; Place: Franklin, Georgia, USA.
2. ↑ 1840 Census: "1840 United States Federal Census"
   Year: 1840; Census Place: Meriwether, Georgia; Roll: 46; Page: 120; Family History Library Film: 0007045
   Ancestry Sharing Link - Ancestry Record 8057 #3650030 (accessed 20 March 2023)
   James Sewell in Meriwether, Georgia.
3. ↑ 1850 Census:"1850 United States Federal Census"
   The National Archives in Washington D.C.; Record Group: Records of the Bureau of the Census; Record Group Number: 29; Series Number: M432; Residence Date: 1850; Home in 1850: Division 59, Meriwether, Georgia; Roll: 77; Page: 308a; Line Number: 33
   Ancestry Sharing Link - Ancestry Record 8054 #18808211 (accessed 20 March 2023)
   James Sewell (66), Farmer, in Division 59, Meriwether, Georgia, USA. Born in North Carolina.
4. ↑ Inventory Georgia Wills and Probate Records, Meriwether County, Returns, Vol E, 1858-1863, p. 152, image 110 Ancestry.com record Ancestry.com Sharing Link
5. ↑ 1850 Census:"1850 U.S. Federal Census - Slave Schedules"
   The National Archive in Washington Dc; Washington, DC; NARA Microform Publication: M432; Title: Seventh Census of the United States, 1850; Record Group: Records of the Bureau of the Census; Record Group Number: 29
   Ancestry Sharing Link - Ancestry Record 8055 #92545091 (accessed 20 March 2023)
   James Sewell in Division 59, Meriwether, Georgia, USA.
6. ↑ Sewell entry tomitronics.com