LOYALIST COLONEL WILLIAM YOUNG OF SPARTANBURG

Loyalist Col. William Young of Spartanburg SC, was born, judging by the ages of his known children, about 1720-1730, in Pennsylvania. He has been identified as the William Young who was first granted land, in 1764, at the junction of James Creek (also shown in some documents as "Jammys Creek, and on the map today as Jimmies Creek) and the Tyger River. He was the nephew of Thomas B. Young, Esq., of Laurens County, SC, the son of an unknown brother of Thomas.

Sometime in the mid to late 1750's to early 60's, William, along with his uncle Thomas and several related families, joined the migration from Pennsylvania, down the "Great Wagon Road", to the Carolinas. His uncle Thomas was in South Carolina by 1755, when Thomas' son George was born; William may have followed his uncle Thomas to South Carolina later. By 1764 William was in the Spartanburg area of South Carolina, when he received a grant, mentioned below, of 150 acres near the junction of James Creek and the Tyger River, just west of Spartanburg. From "The Young Families Of Early Giles County Tennessee":

"William Senr is first found on a Colonial Platt map (Volume 8, Page 560) of 1764 in which he received 150 acres: "Pursuant to a precept directed under the hand and seal of the Honorable Egerton Leigh Esqr Surveyor General dated the Sixth day of March 1764 I have measured and laid out unto Willm Young a Plantation or tract of Land in Berkly Co containing one hundred and fifty acres situate lying; being on a Branch of Tygar river on the south side not more than ten Inches Deep and about Eight foot wide called Jammys Creek and is Bounded all around on vacant Land, and hath such shape form and marks as the above platt Represents. Certified this 26 day of July 1764. Edwd Musgrove D.S."

About the same time he obtained 300 acres nearby, and 100 more acres bounded on the east by "Wm Young Senr," on the west by George Crawford, and bounded on the remaining sides by vacant land (the 100 acres later sold by Colonel Young's son William to his other son Thomas, in 1795). Both of William's tracts were a grant (Grant Book AAA, Page 323) from Governor Charles Granville Montague of the South Carolina Colony..."

The names of Col. Young's parents are unknown, but there are several sources that prove that Colonel William Young and Major Thomas Young (son of Thomas B. Young, Esq.) were cousins; that William's unknown father was the brother to Thomas B. Young, originally of Pennsylvania. One source, from the memoirs of Major Young, describes an incident where he encountered his cousin William Young with a company of Loyalists (Tories), in a skirmish on a branch of the Saluda River:

"I was on a scouting expedition to Mudlick, under Col. Brandon. We were all mounted. We saw two spies, before we came upon the Tories, and pursued them to the creek. Col. Brandon sent out Major Jolly with a flank guard to prevent their outflanking us--they were on the opposite side of the creek, and commanded the ford, so that we could not cross. Jolly and I approached very near; so near that a cousin of mine, William Young, hailed us and inquired who commanded. A good deal was said to keep us engaged. Young waved his sword to me several times, and hallooed to me to go away; a moment after we were fired upon by a party who had crept up the creek through the bushes. A shot went under Jolly's horse's belly, and another shaved my horse's forelegs. We returned the fire, but did no damage, save putting a ball through Young's horse's nose. We then retreated, under the hope that they would pursue us, but they did not. This same cousin of mine had offered a hundred guineas to any man who would bring me into Ninety-Six" (about $17,000 USD in 2000).

In another story, Major Young mentions that two of his cousins were with the Tories at the Battle of King's Mountain: Matthew McCrary and Colonel William Young (other sources also record that Colonel William Young was captured after the battle):

"I had two cousins in this battle on the Tory side - Col. Young, and Matthew McCrary, whose father was a prisoner with the British on Edisto Island, and his mother made Matthew turn out with Ferguson's army for fear his father would be hung" (Major Thomas Young, 2nd interview, notes from the Lyman Draper collection).

A third story involves Colonel William Young's son Thomas borrowing money from a grandson of the Colonel's uncle Thomas B. Young - Major Samuel Young, the son of Thomas B. Young's eldest son William Young. This story was handed down from Major Samuel Young to his grandson J. William Young ("Uncle Willy", the son of the Rev. Capt William Young, son of Samuel Young), who recorded the story ("My Grandfather and the Stranger") in letters to his nephew Ned Young, of Oregon. In the letters, Uncle Willy relates that a stranger appeared at his Grandfather (Major Samuel) Young's gate one day; the stranger turned out to be Thomas Young, and said he was the son of the Tory cousin whose troop of Tories Major Thomas Young encountered with his troop of Patriot militia across the Enoree river. He said he hoped to borrow $1000 to save his farm from foreclosure. Samuel invited Thomas inside, but Thomas refused, apparently ashamed of the split in the family over the war. Samuel loaned him the money, and a year later Thomas returned and paid him back. Of note is that in the story, as related by uncle Willy, he names the cousin who faced off against Major Thomas Young as Thomas Young - we know, however, from Major Thomas Young's own memoirs (excerpted above) that it was actually William Young, who of course did in fact have the son Thomas from the story. Also, based on the birthdate and age of Major Samuel Young, versus the recorded ownership of the endangered land by Thomas (deeded to him by his brother William in 1795, and sold in 1809 when Thomas emigrated to Tennessee), it's likely that the gate that Col William's son Thomas appeared at was actually that of Major Samuel Young's father, Captain William Young, son of Thomas B Young.

Another important story handed down from Thomas B. Young Esquire's grandson Major Samuel Young, to his grandson William (Uncle Willy) Young, relates the family's origins in England, and how the family fled England in the 1650's or 1660's, during or shortly after the English Civil War. The family were Cavaliers - Royalists - who had to flee England to "escape Cromwell's axe." Three brothers, William, George, and Thomas, came first to Virginia, refugees, according to the story, avoiding persecution at the hands of the Parliamentarians. Brother George remained in Virginia, Thomas went to North Carolina, while William would later emigrate from Virginia to Pennsylvania. (this story is confirmed to some extent by Thomas B. Young's Anglican/Episcopalian faith, marking him as a likely descendant of Royalist society).

The conflict between the Royalists and the Parliamentarians led by Cromwell - the English Civil War, and the period of Parliamentary rule - lasted roughly between 1640 - 1660. The tide of Royalist emigration to America continued after the 1660 restoration of King Charles II, into the 1670s, and even later, for a variety of reasons. If the brothers' reason for emigrating were literally "to escape Cromwell's axe," then the three brothers would have left England before the 1660 restoration of King Charles II. However, it's not certain that that was the case; "fleeing the axe" may have been an embellishment. They may have suffered some loss of land, position, or wealth, during the war and subsequent period of rule under Cromwell, but they may have remained in England throughout, and for a time afterward, hoping to recoup some of their loss after the Restoration; the story doesn't say.

Regardless, the family must have come from a background of some standing, wealth, and education, evidenced later by William rising to the rank of Colonel with a Loyalist regiment, and his uncle Thomas Young appearing in numerous records as Thomas Young "Esq" or "Gent." We also know that Thomas B. Young was an Anglican, which, as mentioned above, would confirm the family's origin, not just in England, but also in the English gentry, and the Royalist faction.

It should be noted that Colonel William Young's cousin William Young (son of Thomas B Young), recorded on his pension record that he was born in (what would a few years later become) York County Pennsylvania, confirming the family's residence in Pennsylvania prior to coming to South Carolina.

There is a record of William and Thomas Young appearing as headrights on a grant of land to George Morris and William Lane, dated 1662, in Rappahannock County VA (Old Rappahannock County; today's Richmond and Exeter Counties), and another record of younger brother George (and Dorcas) Young, as headright to Robert Taliafro and Lawrence Smith in 1666, also in Rappahannock County. The records indicate that William and Thomas arrived as indentured servants to Morris and Lane, and George as an indentured servant to Taliafro and Smith, having indentured themselves as servants, in exchange for transport to America. Such indentures usually carried a term of 7 years, before they could marry or pursue their own livings or trades. Or they may have been indentured by their parents or guardians, in order to learn a trade; such indentures of children typically occurred when at about 12 years of age, but the Young siblings in this case may have been older. In any case, William and Thomas would have been independent and free to marry pursue their fortunes by 1669, and George and his apparent sister Dorcas would have been free by 1673.

There must have been at least one, and perhaps two, generations between the immigrant William Young, and the unknown father of Colonel William Young, and his (the unknown father's) brother Thomas B. Young. If William, George and Thomas were still minors (under 21) when they arrived in America, it's possible William would have had a son in the late 1680's or so who could have been the father of both Thomas B Young and his unknown brother, the father of Colonel William Young; again, the story doesn't say. In any case, the birthdates of Colonel William Young's children in the early 1750's indicate his birthdate around 1725, or perhaps somewhat earlier, and given that, his unknown father's birthdate would have been about 1700 - 1705 or so; probably too late to have been a son of the original immigrant who likely was born before the 1650s, and married about 1670, after liberation from his indenture (but not impossible). Thomas B. Young must have been born about 10 years after his unknown brother, the father of Colonel William, in the early to mid-1720's; his known children with his first wife were born in the early 1740's.

Pennsylvania was not settled by Europeans before 1681, when it was established as a British colony by William Penn, under a royal charter from King Charles II; the earlier Dutch settlers at the mouth of the Delaware River had not settled the region inland and upriver. Philadelphia, about 30 miles upriver, was the first English settlement; it was laid out by William Penn and a small group of settlers in the summer of 1682; he envisioned it as a small village or trading port. It's certain that William Young the immigrant would have arrived in Pennsylvania after that time. There were no European settlements in the area, further to the west, that would later become Lancaster County, until after 1710 (Lancaster County was created from Chester County in 1729). The family's arrival there would have been around the time that Colonel William Young's unknown father would have been born, or later. The western part of Lancaster County, even further to the west across the Susquehanna River, the part that would later become York County (and where Thomas B. Young's son William was born in 1744) was settled even later. If William, the immigrant, was in Pennsylvania before 1710, he would have had to have settled initially somewhere in the east, closer to Philadelphia (60 miles east of Lancaster), before moving on to Chester (later Lancaster) County. Research into the Youngs of early Pennsylvania may provide more insight.

There are, however, land records of both a Thomas and William Young, further west, in what would later become York County, west of the Susquehanna river. Some settlement of that area began as early as about 1710, but picked up in the 1730's. Thomas Young obtained a license of unknown acreage on 16 August 1734, "On the North Side of Conewaago Creek to the westward of William Garrison." William Young obtained a warrant for 150 acres, adjacent to Thomas, on 5 July 1748. These were likely Thomas B. Young, and his nephew Colonel William Young.

There is a marriage record of William Young to Susannah Boyd at the Holy Trinity church in Wilmington, Delaware, on 1 August 1739. This was about 80 miles east of the Thomas and William Young land records in York County. A little over a month earlier a John Brandon married Molly Cathy in the same church. Thomas B. Young, of course, married Catherine Brandon some time later, in Pennsylvania, indicating that the Young and Brandon families may have followed the same migration route through Delaware and Philadelphia to the frontier lands beyond the Susquehanna River.

Colonel William Young's wife is nowhere recorded; she was not named in his will. There are some trees that indicate, incorrectly, his wife's identity; all of them are erroneous. Most common are trees that show Colonel William Young's wife as Elizabeth Griggs, but that William Young, and his wife, were from Virginia, not Pennsylvania; the William in that marriage was the son of German Parents (not English), originally surnamed "Jung"; and Elizabeth (Griggs) Young died in Essex, VA, in 1792, not Spartanburg, where her erstwhile family lived. The source of this obvious error is unknown.

Other trees show William's wife as Margaret Neil, a result of there being another William Young, who also left a 1787 will, in the Spartanburg area. This is easily proven, however, to be another William Young, as his plantation was on the Enoree River, while Colonel William Young's settlement was at the confluence of the Tyger River and James Creek, and also because the names of William and Margaret Youngs' children do not match the names of Colonel Young's 5 known children: Mary, Nathaniel, William, Thomas and Richard, all born in the late 1740's and 50's (exact years are unknown). It is interesting to speculate, however, on the possibility that this William (who married Margaret Neil), may be a descendant of one the other brothers, George or Thomas, who originally came to America with William.

As described earlier, Colonel William fought for the Crown during the revolution, and rose to command his own Loyalist Mounted Militia unit, both in South Carolina during the war, and, after the British abandoned Charleston and South Carolina, for a time in East Florida. Robert Lambert, in his book "South Carolina Loyalists in the American Revolution", indicates that William was involved in the earliest stages of the conflict: "William Young of Tyger Creek, a veteran of 1775, who had fought in Georgia, and as a captain in Zacharias Gibb's regiment had been captured at Kings Mountain, took command of a mounted regiment that saw much service in 1782."

There were several actions, ranging from small encounters to larger campaigns, in Georgia and South Carolina between 1775 and 1779; Colonel William Young apparently was involved in some of those early events, although exactly how is uncertain. During 1781, he was active in the defense of the fort at Ninety-Six. A report from Patriot Captain Robert Kirkwood reads: May "21st Was ordered with Col. Washington's Horse to surprise a party of Tories under command of Col. Young; Coming up to the place found it evacuated, the Horse left me, with expectation to Come up with them, when I moved on at Leisure. The Tories taking us for some of them selves come out of a Swamp in our rear; being undeceived took one of my men prisoners (sic); upon which A firing Commenced, but they being on horse back pushed off with the Loss of one man Killed and one Horse taken."

It was toward the end of this period, late 1871 into early 1782, that Colonel Young had his encounter with his cousin Major Thomas Young along the Enoree River, related in Major Young's memoirs.

In the Fall of 1781, he was given command of a reorganized mounted regiment, as noted by Lambert (above), when 5 such regiments were formed for the defense of Charleston. Lambert goes on to say: "Probably 750 mustered with these regiments in the fall of 1781... By mid-1782 Cheney's and Williams's regiments had been absorbed into Pearson's, and English's into Ballentine's; they, with the remnants of Fisher's and King's old regiments on James Island and the mounted troops of Young and Bill Cunningham, amounted to about 450 men who were still serving in the militia when campaigning ceased in preparation for the evacuation of the province... Through most of 1782 British forces were content to conduct occasional raids into the surrounding areas or to respond to probing by the rebels outside the city. The most spectacular raids were conducted by Benjamin Thompson... Commanding a mixed force of regulars and militia, including Young's and William Cunningham's mounted troops, Thompson swept north to the Santee and twice inflicted heavy casualties on Marion's men. Thompson then sailed for New York, but in March Fraser's Royalist dragoons and Young's militia again raided to the Santee..."

After the evacuation of Charleston, Col. Young fled to British East Florida, where he was given command of a company of some 50 former South Carolina Loyalists by Governor Tonyn "...to stop the plundering of other former S.C. Loyalists turned criminal, along the St. John's River, including William "Bloody Bill" Cunningham, Daniel McGirt, Baily Cheney, John Linder and son, and Stephen Mayfield."

Lambert again provides more detail: "The discharge of the provincial regiments exacerbated lawlessness along the Florida-Georgia frontier. Outlying settlements in the southern backcountry had long been plagued by gangs of outlaws, and the war had made conditions worse as the lawless elements became involved in the civil strife between Whigs and Tories. Among the most famous of these "banditti" was Daniel McGirt, whose followers had become the scourge of the Georgia frontier during the war and continued their activities in the Floridas after hostilities had ceased. Frightened by the discharge of the provincial regiments and the increased boldness of McGirt and others, property holders along the St. John's River petitioned the governor to take action to protect them. Tonyn responded by organizing two troops of mounted militia, and he gave the command of one of them to Colonel William Young, the Tyger River militia officer who had led some of the raids in lowcountry South Carolina in 1782. Young's troop consisted of nearly fifty volunteers, principally from South Carolina... William Young's troop had several brushes with them and succeeded in capturing McGirt in 1783, but Governor Tonyn wished to show leniency at the end of his regime and did not prosecute. ... Tonyn was suspected of using Young's men primarily to guard his own extensive plantations, and there were charges that Young was more interested in plundering than in pacifying the frontier... "

The following report was published 3 April 1784 in the "South Carolina Gazette and Public Advertiser:" "Letters from St. Augustine inform us that, on the 27th of last month, a party of about thirty men, under the famous Col. McGirtt, met with a party of men under the command of Col. Young, some little distance from St. Augustine, which he immediately attacked, and killed Col. Young and his servant and took eight or nine of his men, which he disarmed and let go." This report of the Colonel's death was, of course, premature.

Lambert reports that, following the return of Florida to Spanish control at the end of 1783, Colonel Young "...moved to Dominica where he found good use for his military talents in helping to suppress an uprising of blacks on the island." This is an error; that William Young of Dominica was Sir William Young, the long-time governor of Dominica.

There is also a document that shows a William Young among a group of refugees, following the evacuation from East Florida, in County Harbour, Nova Scotia, in May 1784. This may or may not have been our Colonel William Young. He may have considered joining the refugees starting a new life in Canada, prior to returning to South Carolina.

Why Colonel Young returned to South Carolina is unknown, but by 1787 he was back in South Carolina, where, that year, he wrote his will. Perhaps he had fallen ill - his will mentions being "infirm in body" - or perhaps not having had his Estate in South Carolina confiscated, he decided to return home to his family and estate. It is apparent that he was able to avoid having his land confiscated under the South Carolina "Estate Confiscation Act;" confiscations were generally only conducted against those who were more notorious for their wartime activities, and his name does not appear in the initial list of those whose estates were confiscated. Many were able to avoid confiscation by paying a fine. It probably helped that his cousin, Patriot Major Thomas Young, whom he met in the middle of the Mudlick branch of the Saluda River during the skirmish described above, as well as Colonel Thomas Brandon, to whom he was related by marriage - Colonel Brandon's sister Katherine Brandon was Major Thomas Young's mother - were two of the most prominent and respected citizens in the region. Thomas Brandon in particular was so popular that on the occasion when he announced he was going to bid to purchase property that had been escheated under the Confiscation Act (from notorious Tory Thomas Fletchall), nobody had the "cheek" to bid against him. And Colonel William Young's son Richard, who was the only one of his sons to join the Patriot side, fought under Colonel Brandon, in his regiment. It seems likely that Colonel William Young's close family connections with such prominent community members, heroes of the Revolution, allowed him to retain his estate.

In any case, William Young did return to South Carolina, where he died in late 1795 (his will was proved in early 1796, 8 years after he wrote his will, in 1787). From the will: "In the name of God Amen Whereas I William Young Senr of the state of South Carolina and Spartanburg Co Being infirm in Body will that all my Debts and funeral Charges be Paid... Thirdly I will and Bequeth that my Land be Equally Divid Betwixt my Two sons Thomas Young and Rich' Young. Thomas to have 75 acres Running North and South across the Land and his part Joining his own Land Where he now Dwells and the Lower End to the East 75 acres I give to Rich' Joining to Benjamin Wofford Old Place also I will that if Edwd Smith should Die I Give Mary his wife my Daughter Privilege to come and Live one 25 acres of that Land During her life or Widow hood Lest not to Rent out or Disposs of it Except She wants to Live on And she is not to have any Claim. Also Do Consent and Appoint my sons Thomas and Richard to be the Sole Executors of this my Last Will and Testament. Fourthly I Will and Bequeth that all my Moveable Goods be Divided Equally amongst all the Rest of my Children... this 31st Day of March one thousand seven hundred and Eighty seven.

It was signed and sealed by William Young, and was witnessed by James Creek/Tyger River neighbors Millenton "X" Smith and Thomas "T" Brown** (both made their marks).

**Thomas Brown was also an early leader of the Loyalist cause during the revolution. He had moved from South Carolina to Georgia, near Augusta on the South Carolina border, in 1774. In August of 1775, as tensions between Loyalists and Patriots turned to violence, he was badly injured, and partially scalped, for trying to organize an association of Loyalists to counter the local Patriots. He returned to South Carolina where he raised his own band of Loyalist militia.

Colonel William's eldest sons Nathaniel and William aren't mentioned in the will, but the custom, at the time, was to give an advance on the inheritance to the older children who had married and left home. That would have included both Nathaniel, who by 1787 was already dead (he was killed fighting with a Loyalist regiment, in 1782 or earlier), and William. The will does mention sons Thomas (the son who borrowed money from Major Samuel Young) and Richard, and mentions splitting the remainder of any property among "...the rest of my children." William (Jr., son of Colonel William Young) is frequently mentioned in transactions with his brothers Thomas and Richard, sometimes involving land originally deeded to Colonel William Young.

Colonel William's son Nathaniel married Patty Crawford about 1773; they lived in the Tyger Creek area. Nathaniel died fighting for a Loyalist regiment during the Revolution, apparently in 1782. He was a Lieutenant in Major Zachariah Gibbs' Loyalist Regiment in 1780; his father Colonel William was a Captain, later Major, in the same regiment. Nathaniel and Patty had children William, John Archibald, Nathaniel, Joseph, Thomas, and two daughters, names unknown. His widow Patty is shown living two doors from Nathaniel's brother Richard in 1790; she disappears from the record thereafter.

Very little is known about son William. He is presumed to be the William, of Laurens, mentioned above, who sold a 100 acre tract of land, originally granted to his father Colonel William Young, at the Tyger-River/James Creek junction to his brother Thomas in April 1795. In 1800 William was still in Laurens County. William was over age 45 in that census, and had a son age 16 to 25, another son age 26 to 45, no daughters at home, and William's wife was about the same age as William. He appears again in 1810, with a daughter and granddaughter at home, living next to a John Young and family, age 26 to 44 (John Young was age 16 to 25 with a wife age 16 to 25, and three children under age 10); William's wife is not present. The date of his death is unknown, and the names of his children are uncertain.

Besides inheriting land (along James Creek) in Colonel William's will, in 1795 William sold the 100 acres mentioned above to his brother Thomas, land that Colonel William Young had originally been granted on 17 Feb 1767. That parcel was bordered by land still owned (in 1787) by William Young Sr. (150 acres, land that would later be inherited from Colonel Young, 75 acres each, by Thomas and Richard) and by George Crawford, who was the father-in-law of William and Thomas's brother Nathaniel. In this transaction, William Jr. was selling land apparently gifted him by his father, probably upon his marriage to Patience, as an inheritance in advance of his father William Sr's will.

Colonel William's Son Thomas married Mary, last name unknown. The 75 acres that Thomas inherited from Colonel William (in his will) was later, in 1809, deeded to Thomas's son William; the deed is from "Thomas Young Sr.", and was witnessed by Thomas' (Sr) brother Richard Young (and Sarah Young, relation uncertain), and mentions that it was land originally "granted to "my father William Young Sen by his Excellency Governor Montague in the 7th day of February 1767." This must have been sometime after the meeting with Major Samuel Young, mentioned above, where he borrowed money from his cousin Samuel to avoid losing his property. According to Giles County, "Thomas and most of his family moved to Lincoln Co TN soon afterwards (in 1809). He died in Lincoln Co, leaving a will there which was written 18 February 1813 and proven on 2 November 1813... In this will, people mentioned were: wife Mary Young, and children William Young, (he was executor), Elizabeth Beard, Mary Beard, Jemima Young, Sally Young, Marjory Young, Nancy Young, Daniel Young, and Franky N Young. Thomas mentioned in his will that four of the daughters were still at home. These would have been eldest daughter Jemima, and her yet unmarried younger sisters Sarah, Marjory, and Nancy."

Colonel William's son Richard fought, as mentioned above, on the Patriot side during the Revolution; he fought in Colonel Brandon's Regiment (another factor, as mentioned, that may have helped Colonel Young avoid having his land escheated). In 1790 he was living two doors from his brother Nathaniel's widow Patty, and four doors from his brother Thomas. There is some evidence that he may have been married twice; He married wife Isobel (last name unknown) in 1787, but in the 1790 census he is shown with two adult females in the household. Richard and Isobel continued to live in the Tyger Creek area, where he died in 1837 leaving a large estate. From Giles County: "In the will he gave to "my Son William Anthony Young all my Estate Both Real and personal Excepting Henry & Nelly" and gave to "my oldest Son Thomas Young my servant henry." He also gave to his "Daughter Polley Welleford my servant Nelly." Son William A Young was named as executor.

Colonel William Young's burial information is unknown.