Jonathan Waits' Birth

By Wally Waits

©2016

Jonathan Waits claimed to have been born in the 1740’s according to the 1830 census.  This date may be incorrect as he was illiterate.  Both the census of 1790 and of 1820, loosely collaborates this date by saying he was born before 1775.

He consistently is associated people who lived in the back country.  He is never listed on documents with the older South Carolina Waight families who lived in the coastal area.  This suggests that he was not born in the colony, but rather immigrated into the colony.

The makeup of Jonathan’s household in 1790 includes four young males and ten females.  If one of the females was the mother of these children and there are no additional relatives residing in the household, it appears that he had thirteen children by the fall of 1790.  This suggest that children began appearing in his household about 1765.

Another way to calculate Jonathan’s birth date is by looking at his military service during the American Revolution.  He joined a British supporting militia in 1780 and had to be at least sixteen years of age to do so.  This indicates that his birth occurred before 1764.

A third indicator of Jonathan’s birth date is based on his acquiring a land grant from the colonial government of South Carolina.  Because he received the grant in 1784 and also had to be at least sixteen years of age to do so, his birth occurred sometime before 1768.

Collaborating census records include an entry for a son, Humphry. This son claimed to be born in 1784 in South Carolina.  This age agrees with the birth of a son in the 1775/1790 time frame.  Unfortunately, the sparsity of information on most of Jonathan’s children prevents a more detailed understanding of Jonathan’s birth.

If Jonathan married in the 1760’s, he likely was born in the 1740’s as reported in 1830.  His wife, who is unidentified, likely was born in the late 1740’s or early 1750’s.  The 1830 census reports a birth in the 1750’s.

Jonathan Waits may have arrived in South Carolina at any time.

Waits - Sanders Bible Records

By Wally Waits

©2016

It is believed that the information originally was recorded in the Bible belonging to George Woodard Sanders.  Being literate, George likely received the Bible upon his marriage to Drucilla Best in 1805.

Unfortunately, the copy of the information extracted from the Bible by Henry Newton Sanders was torn at the top of the page and George and Drucilla’s marriage date does not appear with the remaining information.

But the record of births and deaths of George and Drucilla’s children are recorded in chronological order, suggesting that the information was written contemporaneously. This sequence of vital information suggests that the Sanders Bible dates from at least 1806 when the first Sanders child was born.

The notation about the marriage of George W. Sanders and “Rhoda Waits widow of Allen Waits Sen” proceeds the list of their offspring.  It follows the record about the death of Drucilla Sanders, George’s first wife.  George and Rhoda’s children appear after the notation documenting their marriage.

The next notation is the reference to three more children who did not survive to adulthood probably the last children Rhoda delivered.

On a second sheet of paper are the birth records of Allen Waits and Rhoda Cope and all ten of their children.  At the bottom of the births of Waits children appears the record documenting Allen’s death in 1832.  What is missing is the death record of the youngest Waits child who died in 1848.  This entry should have been in the Sanders Bible and only possibly in the Waits Bible if it still survived that late.

It is possible that this information was recorded in the same Sanders Bible with the records documenting George’s first family.  Or Newt Sanders, the first born child of the second marriage, may have been in the possession of the original Waits Bible.  It is not clear whether the information he is copying in 1904 is derived from one or two Bibles.

The origin of this information is included in the following statement appearing at the bottom of the Bible records:

“Copied from the original record by H. Newt. Sanders of Wesley Ark for Wash J. Sanders of Hindsville Ark this the 3^rd day of Jan. 1904.”  These two pages were photocopied for the author by Mrs. James H. McCoy of Tulsa, OK in 1972.

The following is Larry Bohannon’s transcript of the photocopied pages.  The information was published in Madison County Genealogist, vol. 4, no. 4 (Winter, 1972), page 126.

Page 1

(top of page torn) - - of George W. and Drucilla Sanders his first wife also their names and births

George Woodard Sanders Sen was born in Bedford Co Va Sept 24, 1785

Drucilla Best his wife was born Sept 6 1787

Below is the names and date of Births of their children

Kitty Sanders was born Nov. the 8^th 1806

Matilda Sanders was born Feb 27^th 1808

John Sanders was born Nov 23^rd 1809

Patsy Rice Sanders was born Oct 18^th 1811

George Woodard Sanders Jr. was born Sept 2^nd 1813

Drucilla Sanders was born July 5^th 1815

   And departed this live Jan the 25^th 1816

Levi Best Sanders was born Dec 25^th 1816

Drucilla Banks Sanders was born Feb 2^nd 1819

Polly Holeman Sanders was born March 27^th 1821

William Bobbert Sanders was born Jan 16^th 1823

Samuel Gover Sanders was born Oct 24^th 1824

Charles Burton Sanders was born Sept 14^th 1826

Lockey Sanders was born May 29^th 1828

One More Boy, Born and died in infancy

Drucilla, wife of G. W. Sanders Sen Departed this life Nov 17 1835

G. W. Sanders Sen and Rhoda Waits widow of of  Allen Waits Sen Deceased were married in Alabama in 1836

Below is the names and Birth of the Children born to them [George and Rhoda]

Henry Newton Sanders was born Mar 23^rd 1837

Osina Malona Woodard Throckmorton Jackson Sanders June 22, 1839

Washington Jefferson Madison - - (torn) - - Delalb Co-pe Sanders, Dec 9, 1840

Three more Children - - (torn) - - and one Boy

Page 2

Allen Waits Sen was Born in the State of Georgia A. D. - - (torn) - -

Rhoda Cope was born in Warren Co Tenn Nov 4^th 1800

Allen Waits Sen and Rhoda Cope were married in Warren Co Tenn A. D. 1814

Below is the names and dates of Birth of their Children

Polly Waits was born July 24^th 1815

James Waits was born May 11^th, 1817

Cartrel Bethel Waits was born Aug 2^nd 1818

Allen Waits Jr was born July 20^th 1820

William S. Waits was born Jan. 14^th 1822

Joseph Waits was born Dec. 4^th 1823

Elizabeth Waits was born Jan 12^th 1826

Linea Doran Waits was born Apr 19^th 1827

Rhoda Emeline Waits was born Dec 19^th 1829 (Orig. mis-transcribed by Bohannon as Nov 5^th 1831)

Matilda Jane Waits was born Nov 5^th 1831

Allen Waits Sen departed this life July 29^th 1832

Copied from the original record by H. Newt. Sanders of Wesley Ark for Wash J. Sanders of Hindsville Ark this the 3^rd day of Jan 1904.

(End of transcription)