Finding Barton's father and thereby his emigrant ancestor has been a real challenge. There have been theories posed over the years and based on my research, this is my latest theory. We would love to hear from anyone who has information that might prove or disprove any of this.

The only other Barton ever found in the Loveless/Lovelace lines is Barton the son of Benjamin Lovelace b ca 1727 from Frederick Co. MD. The original Barton was born 1743 in MD and married Lucy Watson Jun 11, 1778 in MD. Family tradition told that Barton drowned while crossing the Potomac on horseback, leaving Lucy with three sons, Nathan, Asa, and Benjamin who became the founders of the Lovelace clan of Rutherford and Cleveland Counties NC (just over the line from Spartanburg). Lucy had reportedly remarried Abraham Cantrell and moved to Spartanburg Co. SC. where she had several children by Abraham and died by about 1798 or so. Our Barton in GA and the old Barton have often been confused by researchers and I have found much mix-up of marriages, etc. That, at least, has been straigtened out. Our Barton is very likely a grandson of the first Barton, but figuring out how has not been easy.

The sons Nathan, Asa and Benjamin: We do know that these sons were in Spartanburg and connected with Abrahan Cantrell. However, research reveals that they are all too young or married too late to be the father of our Barton. Interestingly, there is another Loveless (Lovelace) by the name of Samuel who is also in Spartanburg and living right in the middle of the Cantrells of that area. He is on the 1800 census with a wife and two small children, a boy and a girl under five years of age. No one seems to know where this Samuel came from. Nor do we know where he went. He bought land in Spartanburg in 1802. And that is the last record I have found on him. My belief is that he was very likely the oldest son of Barton and Lucy Watson Lovelace, but died young and therefore has never been connected with Nathan, Asa and Benjamin whose lines populate the two counties of NC mentioned above. Also the name Samuel fits the Biblical naming pattern of the other three. We don't know who this Samuel married.

Having lost Samuel in 1802, I will skip ahead to other Lovelesses we have found and then return to the old Barton.

Research has revealed three other Lovelesses who appear to connect to Barton. One is Seaborn Loveless. One is James Loveless and one is Mary Loveless Tally.

About Seaborn: Originally I thought Seaborn might be a brother to our Barton. Reportedly He was born in 1807 in KY, but we find him getting married in 1833 in Hall Co. GA where our Barton was living at the time. Seaborn went to SC where his wife's family was from and died there at a young age. His wife and two children moved to Pickens Co. GA where Barton was then living. We don't know why she wouldn't have remained in SC near her family, but her appearance in Pickens Co. GA certainly further established a link between our Barton and her husband Seaborn. However, the KY birthplace gave me problems. The only thing I could figure out was that Samuel left Spartanburg and moved to KY for a while where perhaps he had joined some cousins (others of Benjamin's family had moved to KY). However, this was confusing because there is another possible brother who was born later than Seaborn and in NC.

James: What we know of James through various records is that he was born 1810 in NC and was an orphan who was named in the will of the man who took him in, Henry Henson. The wording of the will is vague, but it appears that James had older brothers who were perhaps also taken in by the same man. James was left a slave boy who he was close to with the stipulation that if James died the boy would go to the "older brothers" to be kept in the family. Some researchers have thought it meant James's sons. I think it meant what it said, "older brothers". James was living in Habersham Co. GA at the time Henry Henson died. He apparently had bought land there and for some reason lost it, as we find land belonging to him being sold at a sheriff's sale. Next we find him living in Pickens Co. GA near our Barton.

Also living near them is Mary Loveless Tally and her family. Mary lived next door to and her children marry into one of the same families that we find Barton's children and grandhildren associating with and marrying intoÖspecifically the McCutchens. Mary's birthdate is confusing. The various census records on which she appears show widely different dates, but she was born in SC and near the age of Barton whose tombstone gives him a birthdate of 1798.

Back to these possible siblings later. First I want to return to the old Barton. In 1786, which is about the time old Barton was said to have drowned, there is a record in Halifax Co. VA where a Barton Lovelace was arrested for stealing a horse. In Halifax Co. VA there is another family of Lovelaces, but the Barton who was arrested is not one of theirs, though he is likely related. Nothing more is known about that case. We do not know if he was convicted, got out of Dodge, or what. Then in 1798 another Barton Loveless appears in TN marrying a woman by the name of Lovell, which coincidentally? Is the name of another Halifax Co. VA family. Then in the early 1800's a Barton Loveless appears in KY. The TN Barton and the KY Barton have never been connected to any other Lovelace/Loveless family. Then in AL in about the 1820's, there is a Barton Ann Loveless who married a Benjamin Franklin. She has not yet been connected to a Lovelace/Loveless family.

From these few pieces of info, I have reached a very speculative conclusion that the old Barton did not drown as family tradiiton says and instead was in trouble and disappeared for a long time. Perhaps Lucy thought he was dead since she did remarry. He then resurfaced twelve years later, also remarried in TN then moved to KY. I believe he had four sons by Lucy, not three, and that Samuel died, probably very near 1810, after having at least three children, Barton, James and Mary and perhaps others. By the fact that James gives his birthplace as NC, it appears likely that Samuel went from Spartanburg to NC, perhaps where the other three sons had gone. Henry Henson could be a clue to who Samuel married, but I have done no research yet on the Henson family. I do know that Henry Henson was from NC, but his will was filed in Pickens Co. SC where records show our Barton was for a time. As for Seaborn, it is my speculation that he was possibly a son of Barton's second marriage. Not only did he have Seaborn, but quite possibly other children who are later found in AL and were perhaps the reason many of our Barton's children went to AL, hence the Barton Ann Loveless in AL. This would make Seaborn a half-uncle of our Barton rather than a sibling, though younger than our Barton. Seaborn's family and our Barton's family maintain many connections over the years, including the fact that when Seaborn's son became a minister, it was our Benjamin Franklin Loveless who signed his papers. And interestingly, among the lore in Seaborn's family is the story of an ancestor who stole a horse. Another strong factor in support of Samuel as a father of our Barton is how often the name Samuel appears in our family.

Regarding our Barton being in Pickens co. SC, there is an estate record of an Abner Crosby which reveals that Barton apparently bought land from this estate sometime in the 1820's. The land was in GA. By 1830 Barton was in GA, but apparently did not take possession of the land from Abner Crosby's estate. I found it interesting that this man's name was Abner. Could this be where our Abner's name came from? There is still uncertainty about whether Abner was born in SC or GA. Records seem to say both.

It appears likely that Barton and Ibby were perhaps already married and living in the household of Philip Johnson in Pickens Co. SC in1820. There is no Head of Household record for Barton in Pickens Co. that year. However, when a comparison is made of the combined households of Philip Johnson and Barton Loveless which is found in Hall Co. GA in 1830, it appears very possible that Barton and Ibby and a baby (Harriett?) were living with Philip Johnson in Pickens SC in 1820. In Pickens Co. SC in 1820, there is also a record of an Amy Loveless with children. I do not know if or how she might be connected. By 1834, Barton and Ibby are found in Lumpkin Co. GA, although it is not likely they moved. Part of Lumpkin was formed from Hall Co. and they probably were living in that corner of the county. There is evidence of another Loveless female married to a Thompson in Lumpkin Co. of that time. She is perhaps another sister, but much research is still needed to learn more about her. Some of the Tallys, into whom Mary Loveless married, are also found in Lumpkin Co. in the same time period. Then all of these families are found later in Pickens Co. GA, with the possible exception of the Thompsons.

Again, I must stress that this is speculation based on records and we invite anyone who has proof for or against to please write us. We're not hung up on a theory. We just want to get to the bottom of where we came from.

Lou Ann
(Barton>Benjamin Franklin>Jesse Barton> Ed>Cleta>Lou Ann)

One of the interesting things about the mysterious Seaborn Loveless (1807 KY- 1841/43 SC) is his name. With the exception of a couple of Seaborn's direct descendants, there is no other known Lovelxxx who carries the name Seaborn. This has always seemed to me a strong indicator that Seaborn's given name commemorated the surname of his mother, or possibly of his maternal grandmother. The challenge then was to find a Lovelxxx/Seaborn marriage, or, failing that, at least identify a locale in which Lovelxxxs and Seaborns lived at the same time--and in a context consistent with what little else we know about Seaborn Madison County in KY between 1802 and 1806 looks as though it fills the bill. In a post to this list a few weeks ago, Jack D. Lovelace reviewed the skimpy information we have about Barton Lovelace, b. to Benjamin and Sarah Lovelace in Frederick Co., MD in 1756. Jack found Barton on the tax rolls of Madison County in 1802 and 1803. At this time there resided in Madison County (in the portion that later went to Clay County and subsequently to Laurel County) a RevWar vet named Jacob Seabourn or Seaburn. He appears to have had several children by a second wife and at least one daughter by his first one. I am entertaining the possibility that a sister or early daughter of this Jacob Seabourn/Seaburn paired off with Barton Lovelace by 1805/6 and that this couple were the parents of Seaborn Loveless. An item of circumstantial evidence which supports this is the following: There is a tradition among the descendants of Seaborn that one of their ancestors was a horse thief. A record exists of the 1786 arrest of Barton Lovelace in Halifax Co. VA on the charge of stealing a horse. Family tradition says that Seaborn was born near Louisville, KY. While Madison County is not particularly close to Louisville, Barton's youngest brother, Benjamin Jr., resided with his wife Chloe Collins in Nelson Co. KY, which is much closer. Another brother, Zadock, also lived there. Like Barton they were born in MD and relocated to KY. At one point I wondered if Benjamin Jr. might be Seaborn's father. In the 1810 census there is a male under the age of 5 in Benjamin's and Chloe's household. I do not believe that a name has ever been linked to this boy, though we know the names of Benjamin's daughters. Given what appears to be old Barton's erratic life, I suppose it is possible that this young boy could be Seaborn and that Benjamin accepted a nephew into his household after Barton died or disappeared again. Another piece of unconfirmed family lore says that one brother shot another one, following which one of the brothers changed the spelling of his name. Since Zadock, Benjamin and other siblings used the spelling Lovelace, it is likely that old Barton (if there is any truth to the legend) is the one who changed the spelling. Certainly Seaborn and his siblings all used the spelling Loveless. This is consistent with Lou Ann's speculations about the relationship between Seaborn and her Barton, though she speculates that Seaborn might be the son of Old Barton and his second wife, Mary Lovell, whom he married in Blount Co., TN in 1798. In order to keep this from looking like special pleading for a preferred interpretation, I should point out that there were Lovelxxxs and Seaburns residing simultaneously in Greenville Co. SC in 1810. But it is difficult for me to make the family patterns I see in the census records accommodate other alternatives for Seaborn's parents.

David Wilson

Seaborn Loveless m. Nancy Hail
..James Belton Loveless m. Sarah Josephine Crawford
....James Seaborn Loveless m. Sarah Elizabeth Davis
......Bertha May Loveless m. Clayton Herbert Wilson
........Clayton Wilson m. living
..........David Wilson (me)