The Chancellor Family

Our Chancellor family traces its roots to South Carolina. Beyond that, information becomes scarce due to loss of valuable records in courthouse fires.

 

Our earliest traceable Chancellor is William Chancellor, Sr., born between 1780-1790 in Cheraws, Chesterfield County, South Carolina. He was a planter and farmer. Who was his father? The 1790 Census for Chesterfield County in the Cheraw District lists a William Chancellor and a Jeremiah Chancellor. Both William and Jeremiah Chancellor are in the Minute Books (1789-1800) of Lower Lynches Creek Baptist Church, which was located at Witherington Mill on Boggy Swamp in Darlington County .

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

William Chancellor and Jeremiah Chancellor were in the 1800 Census for Chesterfield County. William's family included five males, seven females, six other free persons (except Indians) and eight slaves. Jeremiah's household consisted of himself, seven males, 6 females, 12 other free persons and two slaves.

 

The 1810 Census for Chesterfield County also names William and Jeremiah Chancellor with a total of 2,402 persons living in the County.

 

William Chancellor, James Chancellor and Moses Chancellor were in the Darlington District when the 1820 Census was taken. There were no Chancellors in a South Carolina Census after 1820.

Hopefully, further research will turn up more information on William Sr.'s family.

An interesting bit of information concerns a William and Jeremiah Chancellor of South Carolina being held on murder charges in 1811. More on this later...

 

William's wife was Mary and together they had 7 children:

1. Marion "Mary"--b. 1808, m. Samuel Fowler; d. 16 Nov 1895

2.  Sarah--b. 1809 m. Pleasant Goolsby; d.18 April 1884; lived in Mississippi.

3. William, Jr.--b. 20 Dec. 1816; m. Amma G. Reavis; d. Mar 1870

4. Elizabeth--b. 20 Dec 1816; m. Young Asbury Allen; d. 16 Jun 1892

5. Harriett-b. 1819; m. Samuel Flowers; d?; was in Upson County, GA in 1850   with 3 children (believed to have moved to Alabama)

6. Nancy--b. 1823 m. John Allen 19 Apr 1838; lived in Upson County, GA; d. ?

7. Gilliam--b. 1824/1825; m. Josephine Reavis; moved to Webster Parish, Louisiana; d. after July 1880

 

Note that William and Gilliam Chancellor married REAVIS sisters and Young Asbury and John ALLEN married Chancellor sisters. There are also 2 cases of GOOLSBYs marrying ALLENs.

 

William and his family moved from South Carolina to Georgia and are in the 1820 Census for Washington County, Georgia. His is listed as head of household under 45 years of age with two males under 10, two females under 10, 1 female between 10 and 16 and one between 26 and 45.

A search of the Headright Index for the Monroe County Land Lottery shows one for William Chancellor. He was living in Morrison's District, Washington County, and drew land lot 43 in the 12th Land District, Monroe County. This was on 20 July 1824. The land lot was 202 1/2 acres.

William Chancellor's will was written 29 Nov 1838 and proved 4 Mar 1839. It is our belief he died between those dates. It is also believed he was buried on the Chancellor home place in Monroe County, but no graves have ever been found. His wife Mary was in the 1840 Census as head of the household with one female between 30 and 40 years old and one male between 15 and 20 years of age.

 

We are currently in the process of using Family Tree DNA testing to make some connections that a paper cannot provide for us. Thank you to those who have participated. If you are interested in participating, you may contact me at echance@cox.net

 

 

(Many MANY thanks go to my Aunt Amma Crum of Jackson, Georgia. She has spent over 30 years researching the Chancellor family and related lines.  Most of our information is a result of her hard work and philosophy of leaving no tombstone unturned!)