The Barnwell Branch ~ 1800-1830

My Rudd line descends from Elias David Rudd of Gadsden Co., FL. Growing up I never knew any of my Rudd family with the exception of my father and his sister. They were children from the first wife of my grandfather, Eulis Franklin Rudd. Eulis was the son of Walter Washington Rudd and Annie Lee Suber. He was born in Gadsden Co., FL. When I was about 11 years old, my parents took me and my younger sister to Alabama where I met my grandfather for the first and only time (he was living in Dothan, AL at the time). He had daughter from his third wife, Mary Ann. And then when I was a teenager, I met my father’s half-brother, Franklin Wyatt Rudd. He was from the second wife. That’s the extent of my knowledge of the Rudd family when I began this research that was mostly driven out of curiosity.

In the early days, goodness about twelve years ago, I was fortunate to stumble upon other Rudd family researchers who shared information with me. Some of those things they shared had been shared with them. One of the items was a couple of pages of notes compiled by Garrard Rudd that contains some of the personal notes from Mallie Croft Erickson with information dating back to the 1930’s, you know, back in the days when you had to actually travel to the courthouse of your ancestor or to a National Archive Library!

Garrard’s forethought to record Mallie’s notes helped bring me to this point. Let me explain.

In one part of Mallie’s notes she writes back to her mother and says that she has discovered “the Rudds were from Barnwell, just like the Crofts”. Well, there didn’t seem to be any evidence of the Rudds in Barnwell with the exception of Burlingham Rud and William Rud in the 1800 census. Then there was George Rud and Arthur Rud in 1830 Barnwell, but the indexes to 1810 and 1820 censuses didn't included Rudd heads of household, therefore, it made it appear that the Rudd family in Barnwell had migrated over to Charleston. The logic was that in 1830, George and Arthur possibly being from the Charleston group, migrated back into Barnwell. In essence the Rudd family was assembled around Four Holes Swamp at St. James Goose Creek in Charleston. That was the conventional reasoning on things. But it kept bothering me that Mallie had said the Rudds came from Barnwell. That indicated to me that she meant they came from Barnwell on the migration that lead them in to Florida.

So I began the task of going each possible day to the local genealogy library where I could use a microfilm reader to examine each page of the Barnwell census in hope of finding the evidence to the clue that Mallie had left us in her notes. Well, I must tell you, it was quite an undertaking. What I found was that the census indexes were very misleading. This is where I discovered the problem with the mistranslation of our Rud name into Reed by reading the U as EE. There are several authentic Reed families in Barnwell, as well as, Charleston, Colleton and Beaufort. I eventually compiled a list of the Rud and Reed households that needed to be investigated by examining the development of their families through the following census years, looking at their land records and Last Wills; anything I could find to help eliminate the Reeds from the Ruds. I’ve also looked at all the Rudds in South Carolina and North Carolina to identify our specific Rudd Family. It’s taken me a few years to get to this point but the households I’ve now identified seem to me to be accurately our Rud/Rudd households. Most of them also match up with the land records and deeds that I know to be Rudd.

So Mallie was right. The Rudds in Florida do come by way of Barnwell.




Barnwell County was settled in the early 1700's by pioneers wishing to adventure into the "back country". By the 1740's, Palatine settlers entered the picture spreading throughout Orangeburg District. By the end of the Revolutionary War, many settlers obtained grants in Barnwell County. Most were from North Carolina and Virginia. Barnwell was actually a district within Orangeburg until the late 1780's. At this time, Winton District was created and the Barnwell name wasn't used again until 1798.

That’s when “The Barnwell Branch” moved in.

Unlike the George Lounsdell Rudd group in St. James Goose Creek Parish at Four Holes Swamp, the Barnwell branch doesn’t have the benefit of a Deed of Gift from a father that named sons, but over the years and through the sharing of information by other family researchers, I have been able to piece together a group of siblings. Elias David Rudd’s likely birth year can be determined by his War of 1812 Pension Application. He filed it on November 1, 1875 and in the document he states that he is eighty-seven years old. That indicates that Elias David was born between November 1, 1787 and October 31, 1788. Elias David had a brother named George Washington Rudd who was well known by one branch of his descendents, while the vast majority of the other descendents had no idea of his existence. I’ve since been able to confirm that George Washington did exists, he lived in Barnwell and had several land records in his name and his wife was named Susannah. I’m certain the George Rud in the 1830 Barnwell census is him, as well as the George Rud in the 1820 census. I’m only slightly less certain the 1810 George Rud in Barnwell is him, but an 1811 land grant to George Rud is the land he sells last before leaving Barnwell after the 1830 census. Those land records tie the 1810, 1820 and 1830 George Rud together as the same person. Also all the land deeds of sale bear the same “R” as his mark. So by taking all of those reported ages together, he appears to have been born between 1775 and 1780. Therefore, in the 1800 census Elias David should be about 12 years old and his older brother, George Washington, should be between 20 to 25 years old.

Recently I discovered they also had a sister named Caroline. Here again, if it had not been for Mallie Erickson’s notes that Garrad Rudd transcribed and passed down, we might never had known about Caroline. In her notes about Elias David, Mallie says:

The following information was given to me by Harriette Ann Finn, wife of Ellison James Rudd, and Mary Sadberry, 2nd wife of Elias Trowell Rudd, in 1930 and 1939 respectively; Elias had a sister who married a Kitterer or Kittarer.

Well, a few months back I was contacted by a new cousin, Sherry Bloodsworth, looking for a connection to a Caroline Rudd who was listed as the wife of William Kittrell on her grandmother’s pension application to the Eastern Creek Nation in 1957. I was just ecstatic! I had looked for years for the name Kitterer in every spelling variation trying to find evidence of that little clue Mallie left us, hoping that if I could piece together enough siblings in the Elias David family group it would help to narrow the search for his father. Come to find out, the Kittrell name was once spelled Kitterel which gives it the “er” sound that Mallie recorded in her notes. And the descendents of this Kittrell and Caroline believe that William went by the name Craven. Those of us in the Elias David line know that he is living in Dale Co., AL in the 1840 census, as well as two sons, Seth with his wife, and Wesley with his wife. Well, so was Craven Kitrel and wife. Then Craven Kitterel and Caroline are living in Holmes Co., FL in 1850 and 1860. I haven’t been able to locate her in the 1870 census but, in 1880 Caroline is living in Holmes Co., FL with a daughter and in 1900 in the same county with a different daughter. Unfortunately, her reported age varies throughout the censuses; she seems to be born as early as 1802 or as late as 1824. But even though I can’t tie down her age any better right now, it does serve the purpose of telling us at least three things: 1) Mary Sadberry and Harriett Finn were right, Elias David did have a sister, 2) Caroline won’t appear in the 1800 census, and 3) Since George Lounsdell Rudd died in 1804, it’s probably unlikely he was her father since his wife, Margaret, was most likely passed the age of childbirth. Looking at the 1800 census for George Lounsdell we see a 10/16 y/o female in his household. This most likely was his last daughter because no daughter under the age of 10 y/o shows up with his wife, Margaret, in the 1810 census.

Thank you … again … Mallie and Garrad for your gift to us.

We’re going to look at the Rudd households in Barnwell Co., SC a little differently than we did in Untangling Four Holes Swamp.

Since I do now know in the 1800 census, George Washington Rud was 20 to 25 years old and Elias David Rud was about 12 years old, we can see that of the two households, only Burlingham Rud has males that fit in those age groups. I’m going to assign them to Burlingham Rud in 1800 and remove them from our analysis through the remaining decades so we can focus on the other households in Barnwell to see if we can determine their relationship to each other. The only exception is going to be in the 1810 census for George Rud there are two 16/26 y/o males, one of them is likely Elias David Rud. Since I don’t know who the other one is, we’re going to include him in our analysis.

There is little doubt that there is a relationship between Burlingham Rud and William Rud in Barnwell but it’s not clear what that relationship is. Off hand, William appears to be either a son or brother, or perhaps even a nephew. In the 1800 census they appear to be living a short distance from each other, in the 1810 census they appear to be living beside each other with Rebecha Wood living in between. The 1800 census is deceiving and I caution against drawing conclusions about the location of family members as recorded in the censuses unless, they are listed beside each other. We have no way of knowing the route the census taker took in gathering the household information but we do know that the information was later copied onto the census forms and that can inadvertently rearrange the location of the households. This is the case in 1800 for Burlingham and William. When you look at the other household names on the same page with them in 1810 those same households are located nearby in 1800. Therefore, most likely the Burlingham and William locations in 1800 are the same locations in 1810.

The real question is; are they the same households headed by the same males?

I do think that Burlingham Rud in 1800 is the same Burrel H. Rud in 1810 even though there is a change in his name because the household in 1800 has males under the age of 45 y/o and the household in 1810 has one male over the age of 45. This seems to be the same man and his sons have left the family group. There is a Deed of Gift from Burrelham Rud in Barnwell dated 1820 whereby he gives his stock of hogs, cattle, a horse and household furnishing to his daughter, who appears to be named Argust or August, with the condition that he and his wife continue to live there until death. The Deed is written in April, sworn in May and recorded in June, so it appears Burrelham expected he was dying. The Deed doesn’t mention his land and causes me to wonder if the land belonged to William because there is a land survey in 1803 for William and Edmond Owens that documents Wm. Rudd as a land owner and the name is written as Rudd not Rud, so no confusion with the U appearing as EE in this case. There is one mention of a William Rudd in Anson Co., NC on a survey for George Lounsdell Rudd dated 1787 where Burlingham and William were the chain carriers. It looks like this is the same William Rudd since he is the only William Rudd in Barnwell at this time.

Let’s begin with the 1800 census for William Rud. What is most noticeable is that we have five children under the age of 10 y/o and the possible parents are only 16/26 y/o. Unless there is a set of twins, we can project that the ages of those children are something like 1, 3, 5, 7, and 9 and that would mean the parents were about 16 y/o when they began their family. And you can also see that the 16/26 y/o male and female in 1800 do not progress to the 26/45 age group for 1810 even though the head of the household is still William Rud. There are three possibilities; 1) the census is in error and they should have been recorded at 26/45 y/o in 1800, 2) They died. Now, if they died, how do we still have the 1810 household in the same name? 3) Only if the 16/26 y/o is William, Jr. and the 45 y/o is not the head and that 16/26 y/o male came from that group of under 10 y/o in 1800. You might think there is a fourth possibility. That they were 16 y/o at the time of the 1800 census and had not yet turned 26 y/o at the time of the 1810 census, both of them. Well, then you would have to believe it possible for them to be 16 y/o heads with five children under the age of 10 in 1800. That leaves us with either 1) the 16/26 y/o male and female in 1800 were not the parents therefore, not the head of household; 2) or the 16/26 y/o parents in 1800 died and their son, William, Jr. became head of household in 1810; 3) or the census is in error. While all three possibilities are viable, I tend to believe it more likely the census was recorded in error.

I see two possible scenarios when projecting the children in William’s household from 1800 to 1810. I’ll demonstrate the first with this graphic. We have four males under the age of 10 y/o, considering they all progress to 1810, we see in William Rud’s household, two 10/16 y/o males and one 16/26 y/o male; then in George Rud’s household we see the other 16/26 y/o male. So it seems that of the four males under 10 in 1800, two were under the age of 6 y/o and two were between the ages of 7 to 9 y/o. Therefore, it’s possible that one of the males in William’s household went to live with George. The second possible scenario is, of course, that the extra male in George’s household came from somewhere else and one of the four males in William’s household in 1800 didn’t live to 1810.

Now there is a 16/26 y/o female in William’s household in 1810 and she could be one of the four males who might have been mistaken for a boy instead of a girl in 1800 since we do see two females in 1810 that should have been reflected in 1800, but I think she is more likely the new wife of the 16/26 y/o male, and the under 10 y/o male in the household is their son, George Rud, Jr. It is the existence of George Rud, Jr. as a 16/26 y/o male in the 1820 census that causes me to believe that when we go back to the 1810 census for William Rud, that the 16/26 y/o in the household is not the same William in 1820, but rather George Rud, Sr. Of course, it is also possible that George Rud, Jr. is the son of William Rud and named after his brother, George, Sr. But in either case, the William Rud family in 1800 is the same William Rud family in 1810. The William Rud in the 1820 census is not the same man as head of household in 1810 and 1800, in addition, the George Rud, Sr., George Rud, Jr. and William Rud households in 1820 are extensions of the same family group.

This George Rud, Sr. is NOT George Washington Rud the brother of Elias David Rud, he's the other George Rud in the 1820 census.

The 1820 census for Barnwell is one of those transcriptions where all the R’s magically all live together in the same geographical location in the county ... you know what mean? For those reading here who don’t understand my ‘joke’, it’s one of those recordings of the residents where the person who transcribed the census taker’s notes arranged the residents in alphabetical order rather than in geographic order. Not the entire county is recorded that way, just enough of it to cause us frustration! I really do dislike those types of recordings which I’m sure at the time served some extraordinary purpose since the person doing the transcription had to take such an extraordinary measure. There is really no way to tell how the county residents lived in relation to each other! At least in this census it appears that only the first letter of the surname is alphabetized in a process that looks like the clerk extracted all the R’s in the order they appeared in the entire county census. The one useful thing for us is that since the group of three Rud households that I mentioned in the previous paragraph are listed beside each other, that would indicate that even though this census was arranged somewhat alphabetically, those household were in very close proximity to each other.

An unknown Rud male head of household shows up in the 1820 Barnwell census. The first initial looks to be “L”, “J”, “S” or “T”. The paper is stained so badly you can’t make it out but to me it does look more like “L” when compared to other “L” names on the pages. This L. Rud is listed towards the bottom on page 20a and George Rud is listed about midway on page 20b, so they appear to be located in the same general area of the county. I’ve not found any land records for any “L”, “J”, “S” or “T” Rud in Barnwell, so perhaps this L. Rud is living on land owned by another family member.

In the above graphic, since I previously moved one of William’s four sons in 1800 into George’s household in 1810, I’ve now moved him into this L. Rud household in 1820, as well as moving one of the 10/16 y/o males in 1810 (William Rud) in with L. Rud because if it is the case that L. Rud originated as one of the under 10 y/o males in the 1800 William Rud household, it would make sense that one of his brothers would be living with him.

And when I look at the makeup of that L. Rud household, I wonder if it’s actually two family groups because we can see how there could be two husbands and two wives with four children between them. One family group is L. Rud and perhaps the other family group is indeed a brother from the 1800 William Rud household. Or the second group could be related back to the wife. If this L. Rud household does not progress out of the George Rud household, then we could be seeing another Rud family that perhaps crosses over into Barnwell after the 1810 census. Whoever he is and wherever he comes from, he completely vanishes by 1830.

I didn’t include the 1820 household for Elias Rud in the above graphic because he’s living in Beaufort Co., SC on the other side of the Barnwell county line and appears to be living on land owned by brother George as you can see in this 1813 land survey whose land owners seven years later still have the most amazing match of family names to the 1820 Beaufort census.

In Elias David’s house we see five children under the age of 10 y/o. As I mentioned earlier, Elias states on his War of 1812 Pension Application that he and Fannie Breland were married in 1810. Therefore, they were married sometime after the 1810 census if that is indeed him in George’s household and I tend to believe it is. Until I found this census, which was index as Elias Reed, I wasn’t aware of the two female children in the household and believed William Wesley to be their first born child (1815) but I thought it unusual that there would be a five year gap between marriage and first born. But I now can identify one of the daughters as Rebecca who married Thomas Peak and settled in Stewart Co., GA next to her brother, Seth Jackson, Elias’ second son born in 1818. The third son is Elias Trowell, my 3rd great- grandfather born in 1819. I’m not completely sure, but I think the other daughter is probably Martha Rudd who married James Carter in 1835 Jefferson Co., FL because it would be an incredible coincidence for there to be another Rudd in Jefferson Co., FL at the same time that Elias David is there with his family and it not be his daughter. Circumstantial? Yes, but also likely.

Based on the reported birth years and locations for Elias David’s children, he left South Carolina after 1826 and appears in the 1830 Jefferson Co., FL census. The only households we can find in the 1830 Barnwell census are for George Rud and Arthur Rud. According to the reported birth years and locations of Arthur’s children they left between 1835 and 1837. We know from a letter written years ago before his death by James Dallas Rudd, the son of Burrel Rudd and grandson of George Washington Rud, the family migrated to Georgia, which I wrote about in “The Elias David and George Washington Reunion in Georgia”.

Long before I knew about George Washington Rud, I wondered what was the relationship between Arthur Rudd and David Rudd who are recorded in the 1840 Decatur Co., GA census and Elias David Rudd. In 1850 Elias David has relocated to Gadsden Co., FL and so does David Rudd. And Arthur Rudd is in Coffee Co., AL a few houses from Burrel Rudd. There had to be some kind of family relationship. There had been speculation among family researchers that Burrel Rudd of Coffee Co., AL was a son of Elias David but for some reason, the presence of Arthur and David right across the border seemed to be unimportant to the speculation. When the existence of George Washington Rudd was made known, the pieces of our puzzle finally came together. In the 1820 census for the George Rud household you can clearly see the three sons once you determine their approximate birth years. In 1820 there was a special category for the identification of the males between 16/18 y/o who were also counted in the 16/26 y/o age category. The most consistent reporting of Arthur’s birth year is about 1803, thus he was about 17 y/o in 1820, so we got a lucky break. Arthur falls into that 16/18 age category and George Rud’s household in 1820 is the only one with a 16/18 y/o male. We know that Burrel was born in 1818. David, the middle son, is a more difficult to age because he appears to have died by the 1860 census, but in 1850 he states he is 41 y/o and therefore, born about 1809-10. All three boys fit very nicely into George Rud’s household. In the 1830 census we see the beginning of Arthur’s family and they too fit nicely into what we can determine to be the birth years of his children before the migration into Georgia.

But the mystery, probably a tragedy, is whatever happened to the other households from the 1820 Barnwell census? As I mentioned earlier there is a statement in “The History of Beaufort County, South Carolina, Volume 1”, that there was an 1824 hurricane that devastated that area of the Savannah River. In 1820, with the exclusion of the households for George Washington and Elias David, there were eight male children under the age of sixteen, two males 16/26 y/o (one was a head of household) and three heads 26/45 y/o. We have to fast forward to 1860, forty years, to find a Rudd male in Barnwell and then only one, Sidney Rudd who reports to be 18 y/o and living as a laborer with a Smith female head of household, so he’s born about 1842 which is a good generation after the 1820 census. Next in 1870 we find Sydney Rudd again living as a laborer, as well as, a group of Rudd orphans living with George and Francis Wood; Henry, age 15; John, age 13; Jim, age 11; Laura, age 9. This group begins about 1855. It really does look like something happened between 1820 and 1830 that eliminated those Rud households and what few minor children survived were living with relatives until Sidney emerged about 1842 and then whoever was the Rud father of the group of orphans that emerged about 1855 and he evidently died about 1861.

One more interesting observation. These Rudd orphans are living with a family named Wood. The oldest child was born about 1855, so projecting his father was a generation earlier, that would be about 1835. A generation back from there we can see in the 1810 census Rebecha Wood living between Burrel H. Rud and William Rud. Her household looks very much like two widows with six children between them. Makes me wonder if this Rebecha was a Rud before marriage and perhaps the other female was a Rud widow and the Wood family with the Rudd orphans generations later in 1870 is an extention of this Rebecha Wood household.