As follows, the earliest records that positively relate to our Benjamin Thomas of Anson County appear in the Secretary of State Land Grants at North Carolina State Archives in Raleigh NC.
Grant #4281, Anson NC, to Salathiel Clifton. Ent 19 May 1778, Sur 15 Jun 1779, Iss 24 Oct 1782. For 100 acres situated south of Richardson's Creek. Chainers were Benjamin Thomas and Gidion Green.
Grant #4324, Anson NC, to Gidion Green. Ent 15 Jun 1779, Sur 15 Jun 1779, Iss 11 Oct 1783. For 150 acres south of Rocky River and situated on both sides of Richardson's Creek. One of the lines of this survey follows the courses of Walnut Branch. Chainers were Salathiel Clifton and Benjamin Thomas.
Grant # 4629, Anson, to Gidion Green. Ent 15 Jun 1779, Sur 15 Jun 1779, Iss 14 Oct 1783. For 50 acres lying on the south side of Richardson's Creek. Chainers were Salathiel Clifton and Benjamin Thomas.
These were Gidion Green's first land entries in Anson County. Benjamin Thomas waited over five years before he purchased land in Anson County. Dated 26 Oct 1785, Gideon Green sold his 150-acre Grant # 4324 to Benjamin Thomas. Witnesses were William Gurley and Charles Harrington.
Just the day before the above landgrants were surveyed, the county surveyor layed off 100 acres for Jacob Thomas. The description of this transaction is as follows:
Grant #4451, Anson NC, to Jacob Thomas. Ent 20 Apr 1779, Sur 14 Jun 1779, Iss 14 Oct 1783. For 100 acres south of the Rocky River and situated on the southeast side of Richardson's Creek. The surveyor's order mentioned the grant adjoined Hudson's survey and included his improvements. Chainers were Iquam Hudson and Thomas Gilbert.
From knowledge of where the Hudson lands were, it is safe to say that this land was only a few miles down the Creek from where Benjamin Thomas settled. I have not been able to provide an exact location or further conveyence of this land. During this time period, Thomas and Jesse Gilbert received land grants on Cribbs Creek near this land and that of the Pressley family.
This Jacob Thomas appears in the 1790 Anson County Census as 1m16+, 1m16- // 3f. His listing in the census is near that of Thomas Presley. This Jacob is too old to be Jacob, the son of Benjamin Thomas Sr. But yet, Benjamin and most of his sons had children and descendants named Jacob. As much as any other given name, the name Jacob Thomas has been carried on in the family.
Jacob Thomas dissappears before the 1800 Anson County Census. There is no further record of him or his land. Could this be a younger brother to our Benjamin Thomas Sr? And like David Thomas and his Pressley neighbors, could this Jacob Thomas have moved south?
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