James Ransom (Regulator)

James Ransom
Born 1740
Brunswick County, Virginia
Died 1810
Warren County, North Carolina
Relatives Nathaniel Macon's stepfather

James Ransom (1740–1810) was the step-father of Nathaniel Macon and a neighbor of Benjamin Hawkins. He married Macon's mother Priscilla Jones after the death of Gideon Macon.[1]

Ransom was a "man of energetic Regulator sympathies". "Men like him had begun to call themselves patriots and Sons of Liberty, while labeling their loyalist neighbors Tories, oppressors, and damned rascals".[2][3] He succeeded Osborn Jefferys as sheriff of Bute County in 1771, and was succeeded in that capacity in 1772 by Jethro Sumner. Ransom was a Justice of the Peace and a member of the Bute County Committee of Safety. He was a delegate to the North Carolina Provincial Congress at New Bern in April 1775.[4]

During the American Revolution in 1776, Ransom was appointed superintendent of the North Carolina Gun Works in Halifax, North Carolina.[5][6]

Early life

James Ransom was born about 1740 in Brunswick County, Virginia to Richard Ransom and Frances Hicks.[7][8] Despite his father not being named James, he was often referred to as "James Ransom, Jr", to distinguish him from his cousin James Ransom who married Amy Davis.[9]

Ancestors and relatives

Ransom's great-great grandfather was Peter Ransom, who arrived in Virginia from England, settling in Elizabeth County, Virginia, and served in the House of Burgesses in 1652.[3]

Ransom was the great-grandfather of Confederate generals Matt Whitaker Ransom and Robert Ransom,[10][11] and great-great grandfather of Confederate general John Pegram and artillerist William Ransom Johnson Pegram.[12][13]

Robert Ransom described his great grandfather: "The stories of his costumes and habits all indicate that he possessed a large fortune. He was a man nearly six feet tall with a ruddy complexion. He became very stout in his old age...He divided his large fortune equally among his step children and his own children. He was doubtless a high liver and he was a real English churchman, but with no great piety. He built the first Episcopal church in Bute Co., known as Shocco Chapel."

References

  1. ↑ Dodd, William Edward (25 August 2018). "The Life of Nathaniel Macon". Edwards & Broughton, Printers – via Google Books.
  2. ↑ Wellman, Manly Wade (10 October 2017). "The County of Warren, North Carolina, 1586-1917". UNC Press Books – via Google Books.
  3. 1 2 Marlow, Clayton Charles (1 January 2006). "Matt W. Ransom, Confederate General from North Carolina". McFarland – via Google Books.
  4. ↑ "Convention of North-Carolina meets, List of the Delegates elected, List of the Delegates present, John Harvey chosen Moderator - American Archives". amarch.lib.niu.edu.
  5. ↑ Whisker, James B. (1 January 1997). "The American Colonial Militia: The colonial militia of the Southern States, 1606-1785". E. Mellen Press – via Google Books.
  6. ↑ Clark, Walter; Carolina, North (25 August 1896). "The State Records of North Carolina" – via Google Books.
  7. ↑ Judah, J. C. (1 February 2008). "The Legends of Brunswick County - Ghosts, Pirates, Indians and Colonial North Carolina". Lulu.com – via Google Books.
  8. ↑ "Ransone Family on JSTOR". jstor.org. Retrieved 2018-08-25.
  9. ↑ "Ransom Researcher". M.J. Ransom. 25 August 1993 – via Google Books.
  10. ↑ "James Sprunt Historical Monographs". University of North Carolina. 25 August 2018 – via Google Books.
  11. ↑ Dowd, Jerome (25 August 1888). "Sketches of Prominent Living North Carolinians". Edwards & Broughton, printers and binders – via Google Books.
  12. ↑ Mooney, Katherine C. (2014-05-19). Race Horse Men. Harvard University Press. ISBN 9780674419568.
  13. ↑ Groves, Joseph Asbury (1901). The Alstons and Allstons of North and South Carolina. Franklin printing and publishing Company. pp. 512–515.
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