When Was Wrightsboro founded?

 When was Wrightsboro founded?

The Atlanta Friends Meeting Newsletter  says:

We find more information at the McDuffie County website. McDuffie County’s roots go back to the 1768 settlement of Wrightsboro, Georgia’s only Quaker settlement and the southernmost point of Quaker migration in North America. Wrightsboro survived as a village until the 1920s, but all that remains of the settlement is the Wrightsboro church (c. 1810) and the adjoining cemetery. The Wrightsboro Methodist Church of the Thomson Circuit, on the site of the defunct town of Wrightsboro, has been an active organization for over 125 years.

You can read more of this site at:

https://quaker.org/legacy/atlanta/_afm_newsletters/AFM_Newsletter_2012-05.pdf

My own research supports a slightly earlier move for some of the families or perhaps all of the families who made the move to Wrightsboro from the Cane Creek MM area.  

My 4-gr-grandmother, Catherine Elliott McKinsey had brother,  Abner Elliott.  Abner married Hannah Stubbs in 1813 in Warren County, Ohio.  

Abner Elliott who married Hannah Stubbs in Warren County, Ohio

26 AUG 1813 in Warren Co., Ohio

that information from:Warren CO., OH Marriage Records 1803-1834 VOL 1

Author: Willard Heiss

Father: John STUBBS Jr b: 01 FEB 1762 in Hillsborough, Orange County, North Carolina

Mother: Jane JONES b: 22 JUN 1764 in Wrightsborough, Columbia (now McDuffie) County, Georgia

Marriage 1 Abner ELLIOTT

This would suggest to me that the families were living in Orange County, NC in 1762 but had settled in Wrightsboro by 1764.

[ I started to remove these dates.  However, it is possible that a few of the families did indeed move earlier than the date that Wrightsboro was founded.  Of course, it is possible that the place that Jane Jones was born could have been incorrect as well]

From Ralph Hayes: (ralphhayes72@gmail.com) (Ralph's information supports the date given by the Newsletter above)

Here are some land records. On 15 Jul 1768 Joseph deeded 5a of land to Eno MM that he purchased in 1759. On 25 Jul 1768  Joseph Maddock presented the first petition to the governor and Council of Georgia for a grant of land on north fork of Briar Creek called Sweetwater for a gristmill. The petition was approved but not issued until 2 Apr 1771.  Also in August 1768 a petition was read and approved  for 200 acres of land upon the north fork of Briar Creek about a mile above the land for the grist mill for a community  cow pasture.

The settlement grew fast and on 6 Dec 1768 Joseph and Jonathan Sell presented another petition to the governor that was approved on 7 Feb 1769, namely: 1) that land on both sides of Germanys Creek from the head to where it intersects the Indian line be reserved for settlers; 2) that a road be run from their settlement; 3) That the land be surveyed and grants issued to include Joseph Maddock 300 acres and 200 acres already purchased, Deborah Stubbs 300 acres, and John Stubbs 100 acres; 4) that 1000 acres be surveyed for a town to be called Wrightsborough; 5) that warrants be prepared.

So Joseph Maddock was still in North Carolina in 1766 but in Georgia in 1768. Hinshaw provides the approved dates. Rachel Maddock and kids moved to Fredericksburg MM, SC on 1769,9,3 and Joseph gc from Cane Creek, NC on 1773,8,7 and received in Wrightsborough in 1773,11,4. I suspect he moved to Georgia in 1767-1768 and never got around to moving his certificate until 1773.

Ralph