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 1763 - 1814 (51 years)
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| Name |
Abraham Bessent |
| Birth |
28 May 1763 |
SC  |
| Gender |
Male |
| Death |
28 Sep 1814 |
Camden Camden GA |
| Burial |
Camden Camden GA |
| Person ID |
I237 |
Georgia Revolutionary War Graves |
| Last Modified |
3 Oct 2015 |
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| Notes |
- Abraham Bessent was born on May 28, 1763 in North Carolina, and resided in All Saint's Parish, Georgetown District, South Carolina during the American Revolution. After the Revolutionary War, Abraham Bessent, served in the North Carolina Legislature, and moved to St. Mary?s in 1805; where he served Camden County as State Representative, Justice of Peace, Justice of Inferior Court, Surveyor and Tax Collector. He was a lawyer and owned a general store under his home at the northeast corner of Osborn and St. Mary?s Streets. He was a local Methodist preacher, one of the founders of the St. Mary?s Methodist Church and Trustee when City deeded land for chapel which now stands on Conyers Street.
- Abraham Bessent died while in service during the War of 1812 on September 28, 1814, ?of the prevailing (yellow) fever?, and was buried in Oak Grove Cemetery in a low, walled plot. His wife, Ann Gore Bessent lived to be over ninety years old. When she died on September 5, 1852 in Newton County, Georgia, her remains were brought back to St. Mary?s and buried in Oak Grove alongside those of her husband.
- Abraham was Collector of Customs for the Port of St. Mary?s when the British threatened St. Marys during 1814, he took the government funds on hand amounting to about $20,000 in cash and $130,000 in securities and hid them in the woods several miles from St. Mary?s. After the war was over, his son John went to the hiding place on June 13, 1815, and on his way back on horseback to St. Marys with the valuables when he was waylaid, beaten to death and robbed by five Spanish renegades who had come from the Territory of Florida.
- Abraham and Ann Bessent had seventeen children, of whom fourteen survived their father: 1) John was murdered near St. Mary?s in 1815 for port duty taxes; 2) William Wilson lived in Dyer, Tennessee; 3) Ann married Darius Couch, a Major General under Winfield Scott; 4) Matthew William lived in Colquitt, Georgia; 5) Abraham J. was Methodist preacher and merchant in Valdosta, Georgia ; 6) Cornelius and wife, Ann Swearingen lived in St. Mary?s; 7) James married Elizabeth Braddock and lived in Nassau Co., Florida; 8) Peter Gaston died in Atlanta; 9) William Abraham married Sophia Piles and lived in Duval Co, Florida; 10) Robert was buried in Oak Grove in an unmarked grave; 11) Alexis married Mary J. McGillis; 12) Adeline married Willis Lang and lived in St. Marys.
- Ann Gore Bessent was born about 1760 and died on September 5, 1852 in Newton County, Georgia, at the age of Ninety years. Her remains were brought back to St. Marys and buried in Oak Grove alongside those of her husband
- When Abraham Bessent was 18 years old, he joined the South Carolina Militia in 1781, and served in Captain Daniel Morrell?s company, a unit of the First Regiment under General Francis Marion, including the Battle of Eutaw Springs. He eventually obtained the rank of First Sergeant.
Upon the declaration of war against Great Britain in June 1812, the men of St. Mary?s, whose age or infirmities provided legal exemptions from militia duty, nevertheless organized an infantry company. On December 11, 1812, the governor commissioned Abraham Bessent (49 years old) as captain of the St. Mary?s Volunteer Guards, and attached them to the 8th Battalion Georgia Militia during the War of 1812. He died while in service on September 28, 1814, ?of the prevailing (yellow) fever?, and was buried in Oak Grove Cemetery in a low, walled plot.
- 1-- Pioneers of Wiregrass- Folks Huxford- Vol 6, p13.provides list of 8 children.
2--Marriages and Deaths; 1763 to 1820, page 8. by Mary B. Warren
3-- Oak Grove Cemetery, --Kay Westberry page 119? paragraphs & photo of Marker; page 83-
4-- DAR Patriot Index: Vol 1 page # 220
5-- SAR application on file #125190- William A. Bessent,III
6-- Georgia Revolutionary Soldiers & Sailors, Patriots & Pioneers, Vol. 2, Ross Arnold and Hank Burnham; page 67
7?Roster of South Carolina Patriots in the American Revolution, by Bobby Gilmer Moss- page 56
- Grave Marked by Marshes of Glynn Chapter12 Sep 2015
- This is SAR Ancestor #P-114039 DAR Ancestor #A081125
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