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From:
Subject: [SCMARLBO-L] Bridges of Marlboro County
Date: Mon, 4 Mar 2002 04:47:15 EST


Greetings to the Marlboro County list:

My ancestors there are: Bridges, Hargrove, Cottingham, Ammons,
and Conner, for sure, and Beverly, almost certainly. I am new to the
list, but will send this message in a form from which any part wanted
can be posted on the Marlboro Web Page by the List Coordinator, with
the remainder being omitted. My best regards, Ron Bullock, descended
from the Bridges of Marlboro County.
===========================


Posted by Ronald Bullock ()


Will of William Bridges

The State of South Carolina
In the name of God, Amen.

I William Bridges of the District of Marlborough and State
Aforesaid, do make, ordain and constitute this My Last Will and
Testament, revoking all others heretofore made by me -
In manner & form following, that is to say

First. I give and devise to my beloved son Thomas Bridges,
all the tract of land on which I now live (except one hundred and
twenty acres to be laid off on the North West side of said tract)
to him and his heirs forever.

Second. I give and devise to my beloved son Alfred Bridges,
one hundred & twenty acres of land to be laid off on the North
West side of land on which I now reside, being the same excepted
in the first clause, to him and his heirs forever.

Third. I will and devise that all of my Negroes be sold after my
death, on a credit of two equal annual installments, and the money
arising from the sales of such Negroes be divided in the following
manner, viz. To my daughter Harriet Covington, wife of John Covington,
two hundred dollars; To my daughter Charlotte Beverly, wife of William
Beverly, two hundred dollars; To my daughter Ann Cottingham, wife
of James Cottingham, two hundred dollars; and one hundred dollars each
to my sons James Bridges, William D. Bridges, and Wiley Bridges.

Fourth. I will and devise that all the rest and residue of my estate of
what kind soever be equally divided, share and share alike, among all
my children, viz James Bridges, Ira Bridges, William D. Bridges, John
Bridges, Wiley Bridges, Alfred Bridges, Thomas Bridges, Harriet
Covington, Charlotte Beverly, and Ann Cottingham.

Fifth. I nominate, constitute, and appoint John Bridges, John
Covington & Ira Bridges my lawful executors of this My Last Will and
Testament.

Signed by: William Bridges


Signed & Acknowledged, Published & Declared
by William Bridges to be My Last Will &
Testament in the presence of us & we sub-
scribe the same as witness in the presence
of each other this 7th Nov. A. D. 1845.

William Munnerlyn
Alexander Sutherland
William R. Long


Proven 6 Aug. 1849

---------------
Notes: The wife of William Bridges had died by 7 Nov. 1845.
She was Charlotte Cottingham, daughter of Charles Cottingham,
whose will made in 1817 has been posted on this Marlboro site.

The given names in this will are of interest. The wife of Charles
Cottingham was Nancy Ann Conner. She was almost certainly
the daughter of Thomas and Ann Beverly Conner.

One Bridges daughter was named Charlotte (for her mother), a son
was named William D. Bridges (for his father), and Thomas and Ann
Bridges were likely named for the grandparents of Charlotte
Cottingham Bridges (Thomas and Ann Beverly Conner, parents of
Nancy Ann Conner Cottingham). Son John Bridges was named for the
father of William Bridges. The mother of William Bridges is unknown,
but Harriet might not be a bad guess.

Son-in-laws William Beverly and James Cottingham were no doubt
related to the family of Charlotte Cottingham Bridges, but exactly
how is unknown.

Son-in-law John Covington is the person quoted at length as Col.
John Covington in the book by Rev. J. A. W. Thomas on "A History
of Marlboro County." According to this book, the mother of John
Covington was Nancy Bridges (a sister of William Bridges), who had
earlier been married to a Mr. Conner and had children named Ira and
Nancy Conner. It could be that a grandparent of William Bridges had
the name Ira, because William also had a son by this name.

Rev. Thomas also related how Mary Bridges had first married John
Stubbs and later became the fifth wife of John David. She was said
to be 46 and Mr. David 62 when their daughter Eliza David was born,
and we are told that she later married William D. Bridges (named above
as a son of William Bridges). They can be found in the census of 1860
Marlboro, where it can be seen that Eliza Bridges was 54 and her
husband 58. Some arithmetic reveals that the mother Mary Bridges
of Eliza David Bridges was born in about 1764.

Mary was the daughter of John Bridges, Sr, though, not of William,
so Rev. Thomas was incorrect in one of the places where she was
mentioned. However, it is wonderful to have such early recollections
of Marlboro County, as information is given here that could be learned
in no other way. From the information above, it can be seen that it
was not unknown for cousins to marry in these families. That leads
to some interest in the full name of William David Bridges, where
David is not usually thought of as a possible surname, but
considering his marriage to Eliza David does make one wonder about
who the wife of John Bridges, Sr, might have been.

John Bridges, son of William, was my gg-grandfather. He and brothers
Ira, Alfred, and James had moved to Clark Co, AR, by 1860. John
married Elizabeth Hargrove, daughter of Newell Hargrove and Levica
Ammons, who was the daughter of Joshua Ammons. Rev. Thomas gave
high praise to the service of Joshua Ammons in the Revolutionary War,
going so far as to say that he carried General Marquis LaFayette to
safety after he had been wounded. My grandmother (granddaughter of
John Bridges and Elizabeth Hargrove) was named Levia for her great
grandmother, Levica/Levia Ammons.

Ira Bridges married Margaret Jane Stubbs, likely a distant cousin as the
sister Rebecca of Thomas Conner married John Stubbs, Sr, and it was
John Stubbs, Jr, to whom Mary Bridges had been married before she
married John David. Margaret Jane Stubbs (born 26 June 1815) wrote
in a fine hand in her family Bible in which she listed the names of her
parents as David Stubbs (born 1 April 1785) and Ann McDaniel (born
23 Jan. 1793). She mentioned one son, Joel C. Bridges (born 14 May
1844), who smothered to death in cotton on 27 Oct. 1851. They were
still in Marlboro Co. at that time, so it could be that they grew cotton
and had a large tank for its storage.

The Bridges families came to Arkansas with many items that were
brought from Marlboro. One such item was a violin that was called
"Old Charleston," so perhaps that is from where it came. Another
item was a clock with all wooden works inside that had printed on
the back: "Made by Seth Thomas." Perhaps that was a clock
company or maybe it was made by a local person from the same
family from which Rev. Thomas of the Marlboro history came.

It is of some interest that William Munnerlyn witnessed the wills
of: James Cook in 1826 (who was the father of Mary Ann Conner,
wife of Wilson Conner, the son of Thomas Conner and Ann Beverly);
Lewis Stubbs in 1844 (another son of John Stubbs, Sr, and Rebecca
Conner, and the husband of the sister Elizabeth of William Bridges);
and William Bridges in 1845. He must have had some connection to
the Bridges, Conner, and Stubbs families. These wills and the Bible
record of Mary Ann Cook Conner are all found on this Marlboro
County site. It is from that Bible bought in Savanna, GA, on 8 Feb.
1804 for $4 that much of the information known about the Conner
family comes. Would we not all wish that our ancestors had spent
their money so well?

The wife of Charles Cottingham was known to be Nancy Ann Conner,
and they had a son named Conner Cottingham. A married daughter
named in the 1817 will of Charles Cottingham was Nancy C. Cook,
and the "C" in her name was very likely to have been Conner - not
Cottingham, since none of the other married daughters had a
middle initial. Also, in 1803, the eldest son of Charles Cottingham,
Jonathan (who was married to the sister Sarah of William Bridges),
gave a son the name Wilson Conner Cottingham. Wilson Conner was
the son of Thomas Conner and Ann Beverly, and it seems very likely
that he was given this name in honor of the only brother of his
mother's left alive at this time.

I go into all of this detail, because one can look on the Internet and
find that others have claimed the daughter Nancy Ann of Thomas
Conner and Ann Beverly as their ancestor, but this Nancy was
married to Charles Cottingham. I have to smile as I write this,
because of thinking about what our ancestors might think about
their names floating around in cyberspace in the year of 2002
during a big tug of war to keep them from being snatched away
by others.

These families had earlier associations in Dobbs Co, NC, as on the
tax rolls there in 1769 were John Bridges (father of William), and
Thomas Conner. John Beverly (father of Ann Beverly Conner) was in
Johnston Co. as early as 1745, with that being the parent county
from which Dobbs was taken in 1758. It seems likely that this was
the area in which Thomas Conner and Ann Beverly married.



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