On this page: SOUTH CAROLINA Homestead
Latest update: Monday, October 24, 2011
? After leaving his PENNSYLVANIA home at a young age, Adam EDGAR relocated to Craven County (now Chester County),
SOUTH CAROLINA probably to be near relatives, friends, and/or some of his Reformed Presbyterian Church acquaintances.
On 04 Feb 1778 Adam purchased "a Plantation or one hundred fifty (150) acres" in Craven County (now Chester County) that
became the EDGAR Family Homestead. The following is a HISTORY of Adam's land.
• On 04 May 1775 AD, William Bull, Esquire, Lieutenant Governor & Commander in Chief in and over the British Colonial
Province of SOUTH CAROLINA, gave (sold) a colonial grant of 150 acres to Benjamin MITCHELL. This land grant is
described in the following documents;
• The 1774/5 land platt of 150 acres to Benjamin MITCHELL
• The 1778 sale of the 150 acres from MITCHELL to EDGAR and in
• The subsequent 1791 sale of 2.11 acres of EDGAR Homestead to the RCRP Church.
• The thirteen American Colonies declared independence from the British Empire in July 1776; the war ended with
effective American victory in October 1781, followed by formal British abandonment of any claims to the United States
with the Treaty of Paris in 1783. Wikipedia
• On 04 Feb 1778 - during the American Revolution - Benjamin MITCHELL sold this same 150 acres to Adam EDGAR.
• And on 08 Nov 1791 -- almost a decade after the American Revolution -- Adam conveyed about two (2) acres of his
land to the developing Rocky Creek Congregation of the Reformed Presbyterian Church, of which he was a member
and elder.
The LOCATION of the150 acres of the SOUTH CAROLINA EDGAR Homestead "Plantation" is identified in the following
documents.
• The 1774/5 land platt of 150 acres to Benjamin MITCHELL describes the land in detail, including a drawing and survey
markings, "a tract of land one hundred and fifty acres situate on the branches of Rocky Creek and in Cravens County:
Bounded S. E. on the [?] Benj'm Mitchell's land, and on other sides by vacant land. And hath such shape, form and marks
as the above platt represents."
• The 04 February 1778 Conveyance from Benjamin MITCHELL to Adam identifies the land as follows:. "a Plantation
or Tract of Land containing one hundred & fifty [150] acres situated in Craven County on the Branches of the
Rocky Creek, Bound in southeast on Benjamin Mitchell's land, on all other sides by vacant Land & hath such
shapes & marks as appears by Platt thereof to the said Grant. [?] Grant & Platt well be duly recorded in the
Secretaries of the Province in Book X.X.X. Page 345. Reference being had thereunto may more fully appear."
• The 150 acres is described again in Adam's 1791 Land Conveyance of about two (2) acres of his land to his
RCRP Church: "...a tract of land containing one hundred and fifty acres [150 acres] situate in then Craven now Chester
County on the branches of Rockey [s/b Rocky] Creek bound [?] South East on said Benjamin Mitchell’s land
and on the other sides by Vacant Land and hath such form shape & marks as appears by a Platt thereof to the
said Grant annexed said Platt and Grant being duly recorded in the Secretaries Office in Book XXX Page 345
referrence [s/b reference] had thereto will make appear & the said Benjamin Mitchell having sold & conveyed the said
Tract of one hundred & fifty acres of Land to the above said Adam Edgar & confirmed the same by Lease & Release
bearing date Feby 3rd & 4th Anno Domino 1778 ..."
• The RCRP Church and Cemetery were on 2.11 acres of Adam's Homestead described as follows in the 1791 Land
conveyance: "said Tract of one hundred & fifty on the So. East side Thereof Beginning at a pine on James McKenna
line & running thence to a white oak including the spring of water from thence to a Black Jack + W & from
thence to a Black Oak + including the Meeting House thence to the aforesaid Pine..." Nothing of the RCRP Church
remains but the Church Cemetery still exists and is mapped at about Latitude: 343955N, DMS - Longitude:
0810524W.
• "He ended up in the vicinity of Chester, S.C. Apparently, he lived in Chester for some time. When he bought
a "plantation" (just 100 [sic] acres, which would be a family farm and not the usual image of a Southern
plantation!)...(BTW: that "plantation" can still be located, although far from a main road, because he sold a couple of acres
of it to the church for a church building and cemetery, and the cemetery is still there. E-mail from Robert Copeland,
descendant of Adam Edgar, June 26, 2000."
Harrod-Stevenson-Hedden-Piper @ Ancestry.com by Sam HARROD
Adam's land was in the more modest "back country" as opposed to more elite Tidewater country of SOUTH CAROLINA.
• "79. Five hundred acres was a common tract size in part because the colony granted land in increments of 50 to 150
acres. It was the median value for 3,060 tracts advertised in the SCG [South Carolina Gazette] for the period 1732 -
1775 that listed acreage. The mean tract size was 725.5 acres. [page] 324 Notes to Pages 113 - 115"
Plantation enterprise in colonial South Carolina By S. Max Edelson
• "What was life like for the yeoman planter on his small farm? The average middle class planter usually owned between
50 and 500 acres of land, usually only part of which was under cultivation at one time (this compares to several
thousands of acres held by some of the wealthy aristocrats). The relatively modest common Virginia Yeoman was without
doubt, however, the envy of the farmers in Europe, as, at least in view of the land and livestock he could easily acquire, he
compared to many a wealthy squire of England." Colonial Life In Virginia