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THE FOLLOWING IS A EXCERPT FROM "ALL ABOUT US" BY DOROTHY A. (FREEMAN) WALTERS
UPDATED SPRING/SUMMER 2000
The surname Freeman first began to appear in the records in England during the first tax census for King Edward I (1272 - 1307). The name originated when some of the peasants managed to accumulate suffient funds to purchase their freedom from the nobility they served. According to the Cotswold Records, Oxfordshire, our earliest known ancestors were from a community known as Chipping Norton, a small farming area with some sheep and a couple of woolen mills, surrounded by a wood called the "lord's wood", i.e., owned by the lord of the manor. (The village is about 75 miles Northwest of London.)
There were two well-known Freemans in Chipping Norton in 1625: Henry, who was a mercer, or textile dealer, and his brother William, a "wigreve", or keeper of the wood. The duty of the wigreve was to hunt and kill the animals required for food for the occupants of the manor house and to prevent others from doing so. Thus he was both a hunter and a game warden. There are fewer records of William because English social customs favored a textile dealer more that a woodkeeper.
Both of these Freemans came to Virginia ca 1635. Apparently William dies soon after landing in Virginia. However, he must have left survivirs as his brother Henry had a dispute in York County, VA on 24 Sept 1646 over property belonging to his "brother William and his heires".
Henry Freeman's wife was Alice, who probated his Will on 24 Aug 1680; she was buried 29 Dec 1684, York County, Virginia. The only known child was Henry, Jr., b ca 1641, m Martha; d 5 April 1696. The children of Henry and Martha were:
1. John Freeman, b 5 July 1671
2. Anna Maria Freeman, b 30 April 1673
3. Henry Freeman, III, b 20 Nov 1675
4. William Freeman, b 12 Feb 1678
5. Robert Freeman (Will probated 23 April 1698; left dau Elizabeth)
William Freeman, the fourth child above, m Elizabeth; he was given a grant of 500 acres of land in Colleton County, SC, where he moved in 1711 with his wife and children:
1. John Henry Freeman, b 1700
2. William Freeman, b 1703
3. Mary Freeman, b 1704
4. Robert Freeman, b 1706, d 1759
5. Naomi Freeman, b 1708
6. Elizabeth Freeman, b 1710
The fourth child above, Robert, m Tabitha, b ca 1706, and they were the parents of six children:
1. James Freeman, b 1731, m Charity ____
2. John Freeman, b 1734, m Mary ____
3. Elizabeth Freeman, b 1736, no further record
4. Martha Freeman, b 1737
5. Henry Freeman, b 1739, m Temperance Mason
6. William Freeman, b 1742, m Jennie ____
The second son above, John Freeman, b 1734, was a life-long resident of Colleton County, SC where he m in 1757 to Mary, and their known children were:
1. Ann Freeman, b ca 1758, m ____ Smith
2. Isaac Freeman, b 24 Oct 1760, m Catherine Crockett
3. Robert Freeman, b Aug 1763, m Mary Anna Semes or Sims
4. James Freeman, b ca 1766, m Eliza ____
5. Martha Freeman, b ca 1768, m ____ Magee
6. Jane Freeman, b ca 1770, no further record
7. Elizabeth Freeman, ba ca 1772, d.y.
8. William Freeman, ba ca 1774, m Charity ____(Could be Peacock; NO PROOF)
The second child above, Isaac Freeman, m Catherine Crockett and was in Amite County by 1808.
NOTE: Some immigrants to Virginia: Henry Freeman, age 44 yeres and Wm. Freeman, age 46 yeres, aboard "The Abraham" of London, John Barker, Mr., bound for Virginiea, October 24, 1635.
For some time the record of marriage between Isaac Freeman and Catherine Crockett was misfiled. lsaac Freeman was a hunter by occupation; the first record says, "Isaac Freeman Hunter", as though it had been listed as his surname. The correct record appears in the Pedee Churches Records, Page 173.
A separate record from the foregoing states that Mary Crockett and her husband, Joshua Logan, moved to GA.
Catherine Crockett and her husband, Isaac Freeman, went to MS and were in Amite County by 1808.
Robert Crockett, who m Elizabeth Brooks, had several children and they moved to the Charleston, SC area.
John Crockett and Tabitha Caldwell Crockett remained in Lancaster County, SC.
Elisha Crockett and his wife, ____ Yarborough, moved to Alabama.
James Crockett and his wife, ____Ramsey, remianed in Lancaster County, SC.
On page 250 of the cemetery record from Franklin County Cemeteries, it lists one "Freeman, Lucy, w/o Crockett", no date, died ca 1915, unmarked. The only "Crockett Freemans" we found were:
John Crockett Freeman, son of James, whose wife was Nancy Whittington and their son,
David Crockett Freeman, whose wife was Ottie Jane Reynolds.
Becasue Lucy dies ca 1915, we are estimating that her date of birth was somewhere between 1840 and 1850. To date, we do not have a record of this Crockett Freeman.
Some minister's journals have been located, particularly those haveing to do with the Rev. Cleveland, the Tugalo Assocaition (which at that time included most of what is now the upper one-quarter of all of South Carolina, the "river" counties of North Georgia and the area of Tennessee West of the Mountains), and the Quaker Collectioin of Bush River and Cane Creek.
These hardy minister traveled the muddy roads, counseled the lonely, tutored the children, married the young folk, tended the sick, buried the dead, and dispensed the Gospel along the way. The records they kept in the saddle bag are those that are extant.
One such record was:
"Marryed Catherne Crocket of this place to Isaac Freman of Colletin, Sunday 15 August 1784"
It is possible that there were other children of Isaac Freeman and Catherine Crockett. You will note that they were married on 15 Aug 1784, and the first known child was John Freeman, b in SC on 28 May 1793. In the intervening years, 1784 to 1793, it was possible to have other children but we have no record. Following are records of marriages when we do not have the parentage:
Abraham Freeman m Elizabeth Hunt, Amite County, 7 Aug 1819
Elizabeth Freeman m John Anding, Adams County, 8 March 1819
Ema Freeman m Henry Price, 5 Sept 1815, Wilkinson Cunty
Isaac Freeman m Charlotte Sevier, 27 Nov 1823, Claiborne County
Joseph C. Freeman m ____, 11 Feb 1820, Wilkinson County - No bride listed
Margaret Freeman m Stephen Owens, Franklin County, 29 Nov 1819
Mary Freeman m Joseph Ferguson, 23 Feb 1819, Adams County
Nathaniel Freeman m Julia Sullivan, 1 Feb 1814, Adams County
Sarah Freeman m John Worthy, Jr., 5 Oct 1823, Adams County
You will note that there were five years between child #2 and child #3 in the family of Isaac and Catherine Crockett Freeman; there were five years between child #3 and child #4. It is possible that Isaac and Catherine had two more children between 1796 -1799, and two more between 1801-1805.
There is another Freeman family in Franklin County: John Thomas Freeman, b 26 Aug 1835, d 23 June 1917; His wife was Keziah, b 1845, d 1924. Other family members were John Thomas II who m Edna Bedford; William J who m Emma Harrigill, and Joe V. who m Lennie Haley. This family came from NC, not SC, and this family is NOT connected to ours.
It is possible that one of the above Freemans from NE, i.e., William Henry Freeman, married into the Guice family. William Henry Freeman m Laura Ann Guice on 24 Oct 1836 and William d prior to Dec 1851 because Laura m 2d to George Adam Bickley Guice. Not OURS.
There was another JOEL Freeman, probably the father of Richard Freeman, and Joel's wife was Sally Lenard. Richard Freeman is said to have been married Ellen Byrd. To this compiler's knowledge, this family is not part of ours.
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