Sarah Hobbs

Sarah "Sally" Hobbs

1781–1860

3rd great-aunt

Sarah Hobbs was born in 1781 in Spartanburg, South Carolina. Her family moved to Georgia when she was about 9 years old. She lived in Greene County, Georgia, for more than 70 years from 1790 to 1860. She died in June 1860 in Greene County, Georgia, having lived a long life of 79 years.

Spouse  

John Southerland 1790–1860

Children

Mary Ann Southerland 1813–1849
George J Southerland Sutherland 1815–
Priscilla Mazilla Southerland 1816–1860
Elizabeth Eliza Southerland 1818–
Emily W Emelee Southerland 1825–1900

She was born during a time of turmoil in this country and her being born right in the middle of it all, she was the 1st generation of babies born as a Free little girl, a Patriot Daughter.  Her mother must have been a very strong lady to handle all she had to with tiny little children and fiercely protecting them.  Not knowing if what was going to happen to her family, knowing her father was fighting on the opposite side of her husband, Sarah's father.   

I am pretty sure it broke her heart that her father died and didn't get a chance to know her babies, but thankful too her husband was home safe to make a family FREE from tyranny.   

Sarah witnessed so many things in her life of all the changes in this country, the new inventions, the security of a farm to grow up on, and help raise the siblings that her parents had.  She was the eldest surviving child once they made the move from South Carolina to Georgia.  

1781

AGE : Infant

Birth
Sarah Sally Hobbs was born in 1781 in Spartanburg, South Carolina.

1781

AGE:  Infant

South Carolina during the Revolutionary War

The Battle of Kings Mountain in October 1780, marked an important Patriot victory in South Carolina; the British had invaded Charleston earlier that year. 1863. Credit: Alonzo Chappel/Wikimedia Commons/Public Domain

In 1781, Sarah Sally Hobbs was living in South Carolina during the American Revolutionary War. Her father was also drafted into the War leaving her mother and her alone for months at a time.  During some of the war it was fought in the neighborhood around them.  I imagine her mother Mary fled with her infant and other children during the war to hide from the enemy.  

I have to wonder though, Mary's father was a Tory, fighting on the other side of the war, leaving his wife and any younger children with her, I have to wonder if they hid together protecting each other along with other wives, sisters, friends and any slaves they had.  They all had to watch out for each other when the Men were off fighting.  

The Siege of Charleston led to the worst Patriot defeat during the war; it also precipitated increased statewide violence between Loyalists and Patriots. 1780. Credit: George Sproule/Wikimedia Commons/Public Domain

MAY 1781

AGE 26

Military

Robert L. Hobbs served in the military on May 22, 1781, in Ninety Six, South Carolina, when he was 26 years old, while Sarah and her brother Curtis were babies.  Their father marched into Georgia to scout and ended up fighting Indians and capturing several.  

8 SEP 1781

AGE 27

1781 Fall

Robert Hobbs served 3 months Colonel White Captain John Mapps company. Robert volunteered under Captain John Mapp, 1st Lt. Nathaniel Robinson. 

Our company marched and crossed the Savannah River at the Cherokee Ford, General Pickens, commanding the South Carolina Volunteers, and joined the Georgians under the command of General Elijah Clark on the Buffalo Fork of Long Creek in Wilkes County, Georgia. From thence we took the Highland Trail and marched to the Long Swamp Town in the Cherokee Nation between the Chattahoochee and Hightower River. 

We had 2 engagements with the Indians, killing ten and taking eleven of them prisoner. After taking the Long Swamp Town, the Indians came in with a flag of truce. Then a talk and at which time ceded the County that comprised of Franklin County in the State of Georgia or Pendleton and Greenville Districts in South Carolina and Buncombe County in North Carolina. 

We volunteered for three months tour, and were six weeks in the Nation. But I can not positively state how long we were on our march in going to ____ from the Nation on this expedition. But the best of my recollection we were on duty about three months, which was the last part of my service in the Revolutionary War.

I served in many scouting parties against the Indians and Tories for the period. These scouts were ____ on emergencies whenever the Indians or Tories committed depredations in the region of the country where I was, as many men would be raised as could be in the neighborhood, ____ would then go in pursuit which trips would last from two days to a week. 

I served as a private in every expedition I was in; I never was wounded nor in any engagement with the exception of those mentioned as having occurred with the Indians. 

I am of opinion that I was subject to service in draft and otherwise between 3 and 4 years. He further states he never took up arms against or acted against the welfare of his country, neither avoided any duty that was imposed upon him by his country. He further states that he has no documentary evidence but one written discharge for his service and that was for the tour to the Ten Mile Home on Charleston Neck in South Carolina and which I have previously stated was lost of destroyed many years ago. 

Ref: Revolutionary War Pension Record in Greene County, Georgia Court, which was spoken in his own words. 

During these times fighting came to their neighborhood, her mother had to protect her babies.  Where did she go?  It's funny that was a question and when the movie The Patriot with Mel Gibson, showed how some of that operated, the families went to the beaches to hide out.   I wonder if that's what Sarah, Curtis and her mother Mary had to do.  

The Patriot Soldiers in the south were different in that they would work their farms to feed their families and during harvest they were home, but after that they were out at war protecting their Freedom.  

During the American Revolutionary War, the British campaign largely focused on South Carolina, where more battles took place than any other state.

Politically divided between Patriot and Loyalist sympathies, South Carolina became one of the more hotly contested regions during the American Revolution; more than 200 battles and skirmishes took place there. Although the British inflicted much damage, the Patriots fought hard. 

John Rutledge, South Carolina delegate to the Continental Congress , ordered the construction of Fort Sullivan to stop the British.  Credit: Stock Montage/Archive Photos/Getty Images

In 1776, Colonel William Moultrie successfully stopped the British in their attempt to take Charleston at Fort Sullivan, aided by the soft palmettos logs that absorbed British cannonballs. 

The British tried two more times to take Charleston, finally succeeding in 1780. South Carolina Patriots benefited too from leaders such as Thomas Sumter in the back county who organized the militia, and Francis Marion, “The Swamp Fox,” who, with his guerrilla band, attacked British supply lines and camps. 

Gadsden also presented a copy of this flag to the Congress of South Carolina in Charleston, South Carolina. This was recorded in the South Carolina congressional journals on February 9, 1776:

Col. Gadsden presented to the Congress an elegant standard, such as is to be used by the commander in chief of the American Navy; being a yellow field, with a lively representation of a rattlesnake in the middle in the attitude of going to strike and these words underneath, "Don't tread on me."

By 1780, most of the state was in British hands; but by 1781, the tide had turned under Nathaniel Greene as Patriot forces finally pushed the British out.

Hessian Soldiers

In 1781, Sarah Sally Hobbs was living in Spartanburg, where Hessian troops fought in battle alongside the British.

As soldiers-for-hire, the Hessians helped the British army in their fight to subdue the colonists during the American Revolution.

Long vilified as paid agents of the British Crown, the Hessians have been an overlooked and misunderstand chapter of the American Revolution. In fact, Hessian soldiers were actually a well-trained fighting unit and part of a long-standing European tradition of auxiliary armies. 

By the time war broke out, King George III was strapped for soldiers and so turned to the German states for men. The soldiers were not paid for their services; the money went to the German princes of those states. 

Hessians were citizens of Hesse-Cassel, one of the most militarized of German states. Known for their exemplary training and fighting skills, Hessians were highly sought after as an auxiliary army, a common practice where nations hired soldiers as needed. During the American Revolution, the Hessians fought in every major battle; over 30,000 German soldiers fought during the war; of that number, 12,000 were true Hessians.

Many of the Hessians who fought in the American Revolutionary War were not willing recruits, but were press-ganged into service. 1799. Credit: C. Ziegler/Wikimedia Commons/Public Domain

Wilhelm von Knyphausen, commander of the Hessian troops during the American Revolution, came from a military family background. . Credit: Wikimedia Commons/Public Domain

To raise money for his treasury, Frederick II, Landgrave of Hesse-Kassel, “rented out” Hessian soldiers to the British government. . Credit: Johann Heinrich Tischbein/Wikimedia Commons/Public Domain

With the capture of the Hessians at the Battle of Trenton, the Patriots received an important victory and boost to morale. December 26, 1776, Trenton, New Jersey. Credit: Hulton Archive/Hulton Archive/Getty Images

American Revolution–

The Battle of Cowpens

In 1781, Sarah Sally Hobbs was living in Spartanburg around the time of the Battle of Cowpens.

British commander Banastre Tarleton, both known and feared by the Americas, was forced to retreat despite his great military skill. 1782, London. Credit: Joshua Reynolds/Wikimedia Commons/Public Domain

The battle was fought in an open field dotted with trees that was about 500 square yards in size. 1781, Cowpens, South Carolina. Credit: MPI/Archive Photos/Getty Images

General Daniel Morgan positioned his troops to allow the militia to fire first and retreat behind lines of Continental soldiers. About 1794, Philadelphia. Credit: Charles Wilson Peale/Wikimedia Commons/Public Domain

The Battle of Cowpens in January 1781 was the first step toward a final American victory at Yorktown, Virginia, later that year.

In 1781, Sarah Sally Hobbs was living in Spartanburg around the time of the Battle of Cowpens.

The American victory at the Battle of Cowpens on January 17, 1781, set in motion events that would lead to the final British surrender at Yorktown nine months later.

With recent defeats at Savannah, Charleston, and Camden, this battle in South Carolina was an important victory in the South. In about one hour, Patriot militia and seasoned Continental soldiers routed a force of mainly regular British troops. 

A Patriot militiaman described the uncertainty of battle for the average soldier: 

“This day, I fired my little rifle five times, whether with any effect or not, I do not know.” 

As the short battle subsided, about 600 British soldiers were taken prisoner and immediately moved to North Carolina to make it more difficult for them to escape. As a consequence of the American victory, British General Cornwallis was forced into a defensive mode and would soon leave the South for Yorktown, Virginia.

American Revolutionary War—

The Treaty of Paris

During the American Revolution, Sarah Sally Hobbs lived in one of the colonies fighting for independence.

At the negotiations, Great Britain was reluctant to recognize American independence, and wanted to hold on to Canada. September 3, 1783, Paris, France. Credit: Wikimedia Commons/Public Domain

The Treaty of Paris may have ended America’s war for independence, but the negotiations were as dramatic as any battle.

The 1783 Treaty of Paris between the United States and Great Britain started with peace talks following the American-French victory at Yorktown, when even the British prime minister recognize Britain’s defeat and said, 

“Oh, God, it is all over!” 

John Jay, John Adams, and Benjamin Franklin represented America and succeeded in forcing Great Britain to recognize the United States as an independent nation. 

They also secured national boundaries that favored Americans by allowing fishing rights in Canada and ceding land between the Allegheny Mountains and Mississippi River. 

When it was signed, Franklin wrote, 

“the great and hazardous enterprise we have been engaged in, is, God be praised, happily completed.” 

John Adams believed that John Jay was the “Washington of the negotiation.” When the Continental Congress ratified the treaty in early 1784, Americans across the country toasted everyone from the army to French King Louis XVI.

Within weeks of Washington's return to New York he resigned as Commander-in-Chief of the Continental Army. December 4, 1783, New York. Credit: Print Collector/Hulton Archive/Print Collector/Getty Images

17 APR 1818

AGE 37

  Marriage John Southerland 1790–1860 in Greene County, Georgia

Name:	Sally Hobbs
Spouse:	John Southerland
Marriage Date:	17 Apr 1808
Marriage County:	Greene
Marriage State:	Georgia

Name:	Sally Hobbs
Spouse:	John Southerland
Marriage Date:	17 Apr 1808
County:	Greene
State:	Georgia

Source Information

Ancesrty.com. Georgia, Marriage Records From Select Counties, 1828-1978 [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2013.

Original data: County Marriage Records, 1828–1978. The Georgia Archives, Morrow, Georgia.

Name:	Sally Hobbs
Gender:	Female
Marriage Date:	17 Apr 1808
Marriage Place:	Greene, Georgia, USA
Spouse:	John Southerland
Spouse Gender:	Male

1820

AGE 39

Residence

Name	John Southerland
Home in 1820 (City, County, State)	Capt Greers District, Greene, Georgia
Enumeration Date	August 7, 1820
Free White Persons - Males - Under 10	1
Free White Persons - Males - 26 thru 44	1
Free White Persons - Females - Under 10	4
Free White Persons - Females - 26 thru 44	1
Slaves - Males - Under 14	1
Number of Persons - Engaged in Agriculture	1
All Other Persons Except Indians not Taxed	8
Free White Persons - Under 16	5
Free White Persons - Over 25	2
Total Free White Persons	7
Total Slaves	1
Total All Persons - White, Slaves, Colored, Other	16

Sarah Sally Hobbs lived in Greene County, Georgia, in 1820.



1820 • Capt Greers District, Greene, Georgia, United States

Source Citation

1820 U S Census; Census Place: Capt Greers District, Greene, Georgia; Page: 235; NARA Roll: M33_8; Image:172

4 AUG 1821

AGE 40

The Saturday Evening Post

In 1840, Sarah Sally Hobbs was living in Georgia around the time the beloved Saturday Evening Post first delighted entertainment-hungry Americans..

The premier issue of the Saturday Evening Post hit the streets August 4, 1821, as a four-page newsletter without illustrations. It came along at a crossroads for the American magazine industry. Earlier years had brought magazines only for the educated elite as they were too expensive for most to purchase. 

By 1800, however, over 100 magazines gave Americans great choice and over the next few decades magazines became both more affordable and less elitist. The Saturday Evening Post presented original fiction that was neither literary nor highbrow; it was chosen to appeal to the broadest audience possible, the “everyday” American. Illustrations soon joined the existing artistic elements of poetry and cartoons. 

By 1840, it was considered “a family newspaper, neutral in politics, devoted to morality, pure literature, foreign and domestic news, agriculture, the commercial interests, science, art, and amusement.” It was redesigned as a journal in 1898 with a focus on public affairs, business, and romance, presumably to entice both genders. It expanded to 30 pages in 1899 and a whopping 200 pages by 1913. Today’s Saturday Evening Post offers health, fiction, and current event articles with a heavy dose of nostalgia.

1830

AGE 49

Residence

Sarah Sally Hobbs lived in Greene County, Georgia, in 1830.

Name	John Southerland
Home in 1830 (City, County, State)	Greene, Georgia
Free White Persons - Males - 10 thru 14	2
Free White Persons - Males - 15 thru 19	1
Free White Persons - Males - 30 thru 39	1
Free White Persons - Females - 10 thru 14	2
Free White Persons - Females - 15 thru 19	1
Free White Persons - Females - 30 thru 39	1
Slaves - Males - 10 thru 23	1
Free White Persons - Under 20	6
Free White Persons - 20 thru 49	2
Total Free White Persons	8
Total Slaves	1
Total - All Persons (Free White, Slaves, Free Colored)	9

Source Citation

1830; Census Place: Greene, Georgia; Series: M19; Roll: 17; Page: 272; Family History Library Film: 0007037

12 NOV 1833

AGE 52

The Night the Stars Fell

In 1833 Sarah Sally Hobbs was living in Georgia where they may have witnessed one of the most spectacular meteor showers in history on “the night the stars fell.”

Thousands woke their families and rushed into the streets in the wee hours of the night to watch thousands of shooting stars dance across the night sky. 1833, Florida. Credit: Adolf Vollmy/Wikimedia Commons/Public Domain

In the hours just before dawn in November 1833, the skies across the United States were lit up by thousands of meteors.

Though meteor showers are common, no one predicted the explosion of shooting stars that illuminated the night sky on November 12, 1833. Just before dawn, people threw on clothes and gathered in roads and fields to watch the 150,000 meteors (about 30 per second) dance in plain view during the storm’s peak. 

One eyewitness told the Pantagraph newspaper in Illinois that, 

“the very heavens seemed to be ablaze.” 

Though many were spellbound, not all rejoiced in the cosmic celebration. At the time, the South was a hotbed for the national religious revival known as the Second Great Awakening. Some awoke terrified, fearing it was the End of Days, as predicted by a Bible verse: 

“and the stars of heaven shall fall.” 

But in the weeks following, newspapers demystified the showers with science.

News of the event reached all parts of the globe. By 1851 a scientific poster from Great Britain included a scene of the epic 1833 meteor storm. 1851. Credit: Science & Society Picture Library/SSPL via Getty Images

1834

AGE 5

Death of Sister
Sarah Sally's sister Nancy died in 1834 in Greene County, Georgia when Sarah Sally was 53 years old.  Nancy Hobbs Greer 1789–1834

27 MAR 1838

AGE 57

Death of Brother
Sarah Sally's brother James H. died on March 27, 1838, in Columbus, Mississippi when Sarah Sally was 57 years old.  James H Hobbs 1783–1838

Cotton in the Deep South

Sarah Sally Hobbs was living in Georgia in 1840 when the cotton crop reigned as lifeblood to the state’s economy.

Cotton played a major role in the success of the American South as well as its demise during the Civil War.

1800 cotton was king. The Deep South in the United States supplied most of the world’s cotton—in booming British factories, it was spun into fabric then sold around the empire. 

Farmers across the region were producing larger harvests than ever before thanks to the cotton gin, and more cotton required more labor. Four million slaves lived in the South by 1850, most toiling on plantations 16 hours a day, pruning, watering, and harvesting. 

"First cotton gin" from Harpers Weekly. 1869 illustration depicting event of some 70 years earlier.

The cotton gin is a mechanical device that removes the seeds from cotton, a process that had previously been extremely labor-intensive. The word gin is short for engine. The cotton gin was a wooden drum stuck with hooks that pulled the cotton fibers through a mesh. The cotton seeds would not fit through the mesh and fell outside.

Cotton Gin Patent. It shows sawtooth gin blades, which were not part of Eli Whitney's original patent.

Whitney occasionally told a story wherein he was pondering an improved method of seeding the cotton when he was inspired by observing a cat attempting to pull a chicken through a fence, and could only pull through some of the feathers.

A single cotton gin could generate up to 55 pounds (25 kg) of cleaned cotton daily. This contributed to the economic development of the Southern states of the United States

A cotton gin on display at the Eli Whitney Museum

Small farms with few or no slaves also tried their hand at the crop, but the 1 percent of families in the South who owned more than 100 slaves dominated wealth and power in the region. They devoted their days to entertaining and politics, sending their children to elite schools in the North and abroad. At the onset of the American Civil War, cotton would financially sustain Confederate troops and even play into war strategy. By war’s end, the cotton industry and the American South were transformed forever.

1844 Jul 15

Robert Hobbs Sr. to Sarah and James Sutherland note recorded Oct 10, 1844 Vol. B Book OO-174.

7 JUN 1845

AGE 64

Death of Father

Sarah Sally's father Robert L. passed away on June 7, 1845, in Greene County, Georgia, at the age of 91.  Robert L Hobbs 1754–1845

16 Sep 1845

John Southerland mentioned on this page is the husband of Robert L Hobbs' eldest daughter Sarah Hobbs Southerland.

29 Oct 1845

John Southerland bought several items from the estate of Robert L Hobbs. 

31 Oct 1845

Sep 1847

1849

AGE 68

Death of Daughter
Her daughter Mary Ann passed away in 1849 in Greene County, Georgia, at the age of 36.  Mary Ann Southerland  1813–1849

1850

AGE 69

Residence
Sarah Sally Hobbs lived in Greene County, Georgia, in 1850.

Name:	Sarah Southerland
Age:	69
Birth Year:	abt 1781
Birthplace:	South Carolina
Home in 1850:	District 149, Greene, Georgia, USA
Gender:	Female
Family Number:	155
Household Members:	Name Age John Southerland 59 Sarah Southerland 69 Wm J Bradshaw 14

Source Citation

Year: 1850; Census Place: District 149, Greene, Georgia; Roll: M432_71; Page: 82A; Image: 169

20 NOV 1853

AGE 72

Death of Mother
Sarah Sally's mother Mary Marion passed away on November 20, 1853, in Greene County, Georgia, at the age of 94.  Mary Marion Caldwell 1759–1853

1853 Jul 4
Mary Hobbs United States of America State of Georgia County of Greene S.S. Court in Chambers on this 4 day of July 1853 personally appeared before me James M. Davidson one of the Justices of the Inferior Court of same county.

Mary Hobbs a resident of said county and state aforesaid. Aged Ninety four years who being first duly sworn according to law, doth on her oath make the following declaration. In order to obtain the benefit of the provision made by the act of Congress passed Jul 1, 1848 or such other acts in force as may be applicable to her oath. As will entitle her to the benefit of her husband's pension from the time of his death.

That she is the widow of Robert Hobbs of the county of Greene and state aforesaid. Who was a private in the Revolution and received a pension in conformity with the laws of the United States of the 7th of Jun 1832 so will now fully appear by the organized ???????????? Robert Hobbs in Spartanburg District South Carolina in a formed by a Magistrate by the name of Tait. ????? She knows of no person now living by who she can prove the same, nor has she any Marriage Certificate or record in her possession, which would establish the same. And she further declares that her husbandRobert Hobbs aforesaid died on the 7th June 1845, and that she had remained a widow ever since that period, as will more fully appear by refamance to the ferouf hereson to ????? State of Georgia County of Greene

Mary her X mark Hobbs

I James M. Davidson one of the Justices of the Inferior Court of said County the sworn being a ????? of record I hereby certify that Mary Hobbs is the widow of the aforesaid Robert Hobbs, and I have the fullest confidence in the truth of her declaration as regarded of her age and the date of her marriage. She has children living in this state who was born in 1780. She has lived with her husband for upwards of sixty years in the county and is refutable and of good credit and from personal knowledge I have reasons to believe her declarations fully true and entitled to the highest credit. Giving under my hand at chambers the day and year same  (NOTE:  The child born in 1780 was Sarah Sallie Hobbs Southerland, grandmother in law to James M Davison, as he married Sarah Hobbs Southerland's daughter Mary Ann Southerland.)

James M. Davidson State of Georgia County of Greene

I Vincent Sanford clerk of the Inferior Court of the County of Greene and State of Georgia certify that James M. Davidson aforesaid is a Justice of the Inferior.

Note: James M. Davidson is her grandson in law. The statement regarding children in this state being born in 1780 is his mother in law Sarah Hobbs.

1853

AGE 72

Civil
1853 • Greene, Georgia, USA

Name:	Sarah Southerland
Year:	1853
District:	District 138
District Number:	138
Place:	Greene, Georgia, USA    Source Citation Militia District Number: 138 Source Information Ancestry.com. Georgia, Property Tax Digests, 1793-1892 [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2011. Original data: Georgia Tax Digests [1890]. 140 volumes. Morrow, Georgia: Georgia Archives.

18 MAR 1854

AGE 73

Death of Brother
Sarah Sally's brother Isham died on March 18, 1854, in Tippah County, Mississippi when Sarah Sally was 73 years old.  Isham Hobbs 1792–1854

27 MAR 1856

AGE 75

Death of Brother
Sarah Sally's brother Robert died on March 27, 1856, in Gwinnett County, Georgia when Sarah Sally was 75 years old.  Robert Jr Hobbs
1805–1856

1860

Residence
Sarah Sally Hobbs lived in Greene County, Georgia, in 1860.

Name:	Sarah Southerland
State:	GA
County:	Greene County
Township:	No Twp Listed
Year:	1860
Record Type:	Slave Schedule
Page:	040
Database:	GA 1860 Slave Schedule

JUN 1860

AGE 79

Death
Sarah Sally Hobbs died in June 1860 in Greene County, Georgia, when she was 79 years old.
Jun 1860 • Greene, Georgia, USA