The following is a transcription of an original Abbeville Co. deed that  survived the loss of deeds in Abbeville Co.  The original has been  kept in the family of the Robert Green who is the grantee named in the  deed.  It has been handed down among Robert Green's descendants in  Alabama.  A partial copy of this deed, along with many other family papers
preserved by this Green family, is available on microfilm in the archives  of the Birmingham, AL, public library.  The following transcription is  from a photocopy kindly sent to me by a descendant of this Green(e)  family, John Greene, who is the current owner of the family papers of this  branch of the Green families involved in the deed transcribed below.
I have preserved the original spelling and punctuation faithfully, and  added editorial comments where the deed is torn or missing pieces:

The State of South Carolina
Abbivaill County   

Ninety-Six District this Indenture made the twenty Eighth Day of [the?; word obliterated] yeare of our Lord one thousand seven hundred Eight  seven in the Eleventh year of America?s Independence  [between?]n John Green Blacksmith of the County aforesaid of the one part  And Robert Green Blacksmith in the Sd County of the [words obliterated]  wit:

Whereas in and  [? illegible, smudged] a Certain Grant Bearing D[ate?] twenty Eighth Day of August A.D. one  thousand seven hundred a[? words obliterated] [words obliterated] under the hand of his Excellency Rt. Ho. L.D. Chas. Geo. Montague Captain General and  Governour in chief in and [words obliterated] [in the pro?]vince of So Carolina and  the Great Seal of the [Treasurer?] for that purpose appointed did give and  grant unto John Green Ser. [words obliterated] [pl?]antation or tract of Land Containing Three hundred acres of Land Situate l[y]ing on abranch of NW fork of Long Caines and [words obliterated] Rockey Creek Bounded to the SE on Lands of John and Walter Trimble and to the NE on Lands of Samuel Kars Hugh  he[rron?] and Jno. Bole all other Sides by Vacant Land when surveyed and hath  Such Shape form and marks as appier by a plat [words obliterated} to the sd.

Grant  annexed as in and by the Sd. Plat and grant Duly recorded in the Secretary office of the Provence of [words obliterated] being thereunto had may more fully  appear in Book [BB page 202?] and Exa[mined by Thomas Skatow Sharpe?]

Now this  [words obliterated-next line has a fold that makes text very hard to read] [Witnesseth?] that the Sd. John Green [?] Estate for and in  Consideration of the sum of one hundred Pound [words obliterated] to him in hand Well and truly paid by [said] Robert Green at and before these [willing? sealing?] and delivery of these Presents; the receipt [words obliterated}

Whareof he doth herby acknowledge and to be well content [words obliterated] and paid,  have granted, bargained sold, alianed, remised, released, convey[ed] and confirmed, and by these preasants do grant, bargain, sell, alien, [devise?],  Lease, Convey and Confirm unto the Sd. Robart Green in [words obliterated] actual  possession and being by virtue of a bargain and sale to him thereof made for one  whole Year, and by force of the [words obliterated] [note?] for transferring  [later?] unto possession, and to his heirs and [words obliterated] forever, all the Sd. Plantation that part of the aforesaid Plantation [words illegible] improvements and Buildings is now Upon it being [?] W End of sd Plantation Containing Two hun[dred; text obliterated] acres [illegible] [words obliterated]  singular the houses, outhouses, edifices, buildings, barns, stables, [illegible],  garden, Wood and Woods  [Section of sentence illegible] ponds, lakes, fishings, Wayes, Waters, and Water [sentence is mostly illegible] profits [words illegible and obliterated] appeartaining and  the reversion or [?] remainder and [from this point, deed is folded or  parts missing] thereof and all the Estate right title I[n]terest use [words illegible] John Green of  into or out of the same premises and every part there[of?] [words obliterated] Concerning the same premises and Every part thereof to have [words obliterated]  aforesaid with Every the premises and appurtenances thereunto [words obliterated]  Robart Green his heirs and assigns for Ever to the only [words obliterated]  [illegible]:

To the [illegible] assignee; and he the sd. John Green doth hereby for himself agree to and with the sd. Robart Green his heir and as [illegible] and under the actions of these presents, Shall stand seized of a good, [words obliterated] the aforesaid plantation of tract of Land containing Two  hundred acres of Land [words obliterated] mortgage, Judgment, execution or incumbrance

Whatsoever to other changes [words obliterated] Shall and may, from  time to time, and at all times hereafter in [words illegible] Land Containing  Two hundred acres of Land, With every the premises [illegible] hesitation, interruption, and denial of him the Sd. John Green [illegible] [from this point, only a fragment remains to end the deed} [illegible] and of Every part and [words obliterated] Evidences, Scripts and Writings whatsoever  [words obliterated] Plantation of tract of two hundred acres of Land [words obliterated] Granted Released and Conveyed unto [words obliterated]  Behalf of the sd. Robart Green his he[irs] [words obliterated]

Executors administrators and assigns Covenant [paper folded and words missing] and form following that is to say That the Sd John Green [words obliterated] indefeasible estate of inheritances, in fee simple, of and in [words obliterated] members and appurtenances. 

Without any manner of condition [words obliterated] the same, and also that the Sd. Robart  Green his heirs and assigns [words obliterated] [directly?] have, hold, use,  occupy, possess and enjoy the plantation [words obliterated] thereunto  belonging Without any maner of trouble, hindran[ce] [words obliterated] all and every other parson or parsons Whatsoever. 

And last[ly] [words obliterated] tract Containing Two hundred acres of  Land.  With the pres[ents?] [words obliterated] Sd. John Green his heirs and assigns and all every other parson [words  obliterated] [prese?]nts.  In witness Whereof he the Said John Green hath hereun[to]

[Signature is on missing part of document]

[Sig]ned Sealed and delivered [in the pre]sents of  John  Calhoun James  Hamilton

 

Recd of Robert Green One Hundred Pounds it Being the Full Consideration Money within [to pay]

Recd by me the Day and Year just written John Green

I am sharing this deed because, given  the loss of Abbeville Co. deeds for this time frame, any original deeds  that have been preserved and can be recovered and shared may help other researchers of the county's history and of families mentioned in these deeds. 

The 1787 deed of John to Robert Green is valuable to Abbeville Co.  Green family researchers for a number of reasons. 

In 1766, a John Green had a warrant for a survey of 300 acres on the  northwest fork of Long Cane in Abbeville (then Granville) Co.  Two years  later, a Benjamin Green who seems to be closely related to this John  Green obtained 150 acres on Sawney's Branch of Long Cane.

The survey warrant to John Green was issued 4 Nov. 1766, with the survey occurring on 17 Nov. 1766 by John Pickens
(SC Plat Bk. 10, 74).  The precept for the survey is in the SC Council Journal of the same date. On 1 Oct. 1767, SC Memorials recorded a memorial for John Green for 300  acres in Granville on the northwest fork of Long Cane bordered on the east by  John and Walter Trimble, on the northeast by Samuel Kerr and Hugh Herron, and on the northeast by  John Boles, granted 28 Aug.  1767.  Signed by John and Andrew Pickens (SC Memorials 9, 333).

A careful reading of the 1787 deed shows that the land being sold by  the man who identifies himself in the 1787 deed as John Green Jr.  is the  same tract as that entered in 1766 by John Green on Long Cane.  The  younger John Green was born 21 Jan. 1768 on Long Cane, and died 18 March  1837 in Bibb Co., AL.  About 1789, he married Jane, daughter of Samuel  Kerr and Mary Calhoun.  As the 1766 and 1787 deed demonstrate, Samuel  Kerr's land adjoined that of John Green the elder.  One of the two tracts  of of Ezekiel Calhoun, father of Mary Calhoun Kerr, was also in this
vicinity.

Since I can track my own ancestry to John Green and Jane Kerr, I have  long attempted to sort out the John Greens in Abbeville Co. in the late  18th century.  The 1787 deed is an extremely valuable document, since  it indicates that the older John had died by 1787, with the man calling  himself John Jr. (who married Jane Kerr) inheriting his land.  This
deed suggests that the younger John was the older son of John Green the  elder, and his heir. 

The deed thus proves the lineage of John Green the younger (m. Jane  Kerr) a generation further back. 

It also allows us to pinpoint when the older John Green died.  The  older John Green gave Revolutionary service in Capt. Thos. Harvey's troops of the State Light Dragoons under Col. Samuel  Hammond, as well as providing service to the Continental troops in various  other ways (indent file 3068, SC Archives).  His indent file shows that he was still
living as of 5 Jan. 1786, so the deed proves that the older John Green died,  almost certainly in Abbeville Co., between that date and the time the  deed was made in 1787.

Sometime after selling his father's land in Abbeville Co., the younger  John Green moved over to Pendleton Dist., where on 1 Jan. 1793, he had a survey for 838 acres in Pendleton Co., 96 Dist.,  on east side of Keowee, with a plat recorded 6 May 1793 (SC Plats 29A, 279).

The land lay between plantations of his wife's uncles John Ewing Colhoun  and Gen. Andrew Pickens.  Letters in the John E. Colhoun papers at the  South Caroliniana collection at the Univ. of SC in Columbia indicate  that John and Jane Kerr Green were already living on the Keoweee   plantation of John E. Colhoun as early as 6 March 1792, with John Green  managing the plantation's affairs and overseeing the construction of a house  while his wife's uncles remained in the lowcountry on his plantations  there.

On 4 May 1818, John Green sold his land on Keowee to Thomas Gates and  moved his family to Bibb Co., AL (Pendleton DB O, 136-7). From the spring of 1830 to 1834, he and his family built  a house now known as the Halfway House on the Elyton-Selma Road in Bibb  Co., where John and wife Jane both died.

The Robert Green to whom John the younger sold the 300 acres on Long  Cane in 1787 is evidently a brother of John Green.  Robert Green died in  Abbeville Co. sometime before 20 June 1805, when his estate was sold.

It had previously been inventoried on an unrecorded date by Benjamin  Terry, Samuel Young, and John Trimble. 

Robert Green married Catherine, daughter of George Livingston and Jane  Wilson.  Around 1819, Robert Livingston Green, son of Robert Green and  Catherine Livingston, left Abbeville Co. to move to Jefferson Co., AL  (contiguous to Bibb), where he settled in Jones Valley near present-day  Elyton, AL, building a house called Greene Springs.  It is this branch of the Green family that has retained the 1787 deed.

I have quite a bit of information on the families of John and Robert  Green, and will gladly share information.  If anyone has clues about the  ancestry of the John and Benjamin Green who show up on Long Cane by the mid-1760s, I would very much welcome information (wdlindsy@swbell.net). 

-William D. Lindsey

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