P. Benjamin Munnerlyn
( ca.1760 - 25 Mar 1800)
P. BENJAMIN MUNNERLYN
Fragmentary records suggest that Benjamin Munnerlyn was born in 1760 and possibly in what is now known as Marion County, SC. His brother, Loftis, was born in that area and in 1769 his father was given a land grant in the same county.
Benjamin enlisted in the militia in the spring of 1776. This enrollment took him into service very quickly and eventually into General Marion’s Brigade. He fought in the battle of Blue Savannah (near the Munnerlyn plantation) and was wounded in the leg by a musket ball. At the battle of Nelson’s Ferry he was wounded in the shoulder while taking care of prisoners. Immediately after that he was made a captain under General Marion. He was in battles and skirmishes at Black Mingo, Charleston, and Georgetown. His service continued until after the battle of Camden.
On June 18, 1783 Benjamin was married to Ann Batchelor, daughter of James Batchelor. They had six children. The first was named William, born about 1785. The names of the others are not known. All six of the children preceded their mother in death so she reported in 1847 following her application for a Revolutionary War pension three years earlier. One of Ann’s daughters married a man named Richardson.
Two months before Ann and Benjamin were married her father, James Batchelor, conveyed to her a portion of a piece of land which he had received as a grant in 1770. This may have been a dowry but one record refers to it as a deed of sale. The deed was dated April 3, 1783.
Shortly after her marriage Ann sold a part of this land to her brother-in-law, Loftis Redlee Munnerlyn. Later, Loftis and his wife Rachel sold the land to Jonathan Collins, a neighbor. It is thought that it was on this land that a brick vault was built in which Loftis was buried. Some time after this purchase Ann’s husband, Benjamin, and her brother, James Batchelor, junior, sold some more of this land to Loftis without her approval or consent.
Benjamin Munnerlyn died on March 25, 1800. On June 18th of that year an inventory and appraisal of his estate was made. Records do not indicate the value of it. The records do show that one of the three men appointed to do the appraising was Loftis.
In 1803, three years after Benjamin’s death, Ann entered suit in court against Loftis for possession of the land which he had bought from Benjamin and her brother without her consent. The suit was entered under a law, or a precedent set by an earlier court decision, which provided that if a husband sells a piece of land in which his wife has an interest and without her consent the sale cannot be revoked as long as the husband lives. But in the event she outlives him she may, within a period of seven years sue for restoration of her interest in the land.
Under this provision Ann won her suit in the lower court. It was appealed to the Constitutional Court (Supreme) of South Carolina in Columbia and that court sustained the decision of the lower court. We do not know if this turn of events brought about strained relations between Ann and her husband’s brother.
Ann was eighty five years old when she applied for a pension as a widow of a Revolutionary War soldier. A pension of $140.00 a year was granted but the records are not at all clear as to when she began to receive it. It appears that there may have been a delay of several years between the time of application and the beginning of payment after approval. The records are so old and some numerals are too dim to be clearly distinguished.
On February 15, 1844 Ann made her will. It was single and direct. In it she wished that her body be decently buried, and she left a modest legacy to her two grandchildren, Eliza Richardson and David Richardson. It consisted of the principal and interest on two notes, one for $900.00 and one for $250.00, the same to be held in trust by Abraham Davis and David Gibson, Executors. The notes were signed by Daniel H. and Julia F. Davis. The will was recorded and sworn to November 6, 1848. The will further provided that the two grandchildren should receive annually the interest that might be derived from “the money above mentioned” and “all other money that I may die possessed of.” She also bequeathed to her granddaughter all her household furniture.
(Note: The Daniel Davis, signer of the notes, may have been the Daniel Davis who later moved to Texas and was the father of Elizabeth Davis who married Benjamin Holt Munnerlyn of Marion County and who accompanied the Davis family to Texas in 1853. This Benjamin Holt Munnerlyn was the great nephew of Ann’s husband.)
Written about 1980 by Dr. Horace W. Williams.
Descendant Relation:
James Sr.>Benjamin MUNNERLYN
Documents: