NATHAN RAWLINGS (MICHAEL 3, DANIEL 2, AARON 1) was born October 1750 in Probably Maryland2, and died on May 10, 1821, in Lawrence County, Illinois3. He married MARY RANKIN in Kentucky.
NOTE: Nathan Rawlings last military promotion came on 16 December 1795, when he was promoted to Lieutenant Colonel in command of the 20th Regiment of the Kentucky Volunteer Militia. (see source 35 below)
NATHAN RAWLINGS: DAR Ancestor #: A093464
History passed down through the descendants of Nathan Rawlings indicate he was born in Baltimore County, Maryland in Oct 1750 (1). He was the son of Michael and Mary Rawlings, owners of the parcel of land known as "Chattom"(2). The first record that may concern Nathan that this author has found is the reference to him in Baltimore County in January 1774 when he delivered a deed in which Michael and Mary conveyed to Aaron Rawlings their rights to Chattom. The reference reads as follows:
"BALTIMORE COUNTY On the third day of January One thousand Seven Hundred and Seventy Four before me the Subscriber, one of the Justices of the Peace for said county came Nathan Rawlings and being one of the people called Quakers did solemnly affirm and declare that the names Michael Rawlings and Mary Rawlings within subscribed are of the proper handwriting of Michael Rawlings herein named and Mary Rawlings his wife and the names of John Nevill and William Patterson two of the Justices of the Peace in and for the County of Berkeley and that he this affirmant was present at the execution of the within deed and did then and there see the said Michael Rawlings and Mary Rawlings execute the same as also the same John Nevill and William Patterson subscribe their names as witnesses thereto altho he the affirmant did not subscribe his name. Affirmed Before Thomas Buchanan and John Neale" (3)
Nathan Rawlings would have been about 23 years old at the time he delivered the deed. A short time after this (1774) Michael and Mary Rawlings settled in what would become known as Washington County, Pennsylvania. In fact, it was in Pennsylvania currency that Aaron Rawlings purchased Chattom from Michael (4).
The next reference to Nathan is on a petition requesting the division of Yogahania County, Virginia, which was signed 27 October 1778 (5). Some of the other names on the petition included David and Thomas Rankin. Provided this was Nathan the son of Michael and Mary, and not the Nathan who died intestate in Washington County, Pennsylvania in 1782 (See Note below), David Rankin would later become Nathan's father-in-law (6).
During the Revolutionary War, Nathan Rawlings was a member of Captain Andrew Swearingen's company of Washington County, Pennsylvania militiamen, and was a ranger on the frontier (1778-1783) serving in Captain Charles Bilderbeck's company from the same county. He was issued a certificate for this service 25 March 1788. He also served in Captain Eleazer Williamson's company from Washington County. Nathan was a Cecil Township resident when he served in Williamson's company (1782).(7)
It wasn't until 1818 that pensions were allowed per se for services during the war. Even then, they were granted only when the veteran demonstrated serious need. Captain Nathan Rawlings was on the list of soldiers who had served in the Revolution from Pennsylvania (8). The rank of Captain, however, referred to his service in later Indian Wars and not to his Revolutionary War service (9).
About 1780, Michael Rawlings died in Washington County, Pennsylvania (10). In a deed recorded there on 7 December 1785, Nathan Rawlings sold the following for 60 pounds Pennsylvania currency to Andrew Swearingen, his former Captain from the Revolution:
"A certain tract of land on the waters of Shertees Creeke containing one hundred acres of land adjoining lands of James Alison on the south side, James Morsin on ye west, James Campbell and Andrew Ritchie on ye north and bounded by the WIDOW ROLINGS on the east." (11)
In May of 1786, Joseph Brown petitioned the Orphan's Court for Washington County, Pennsylvania to allow him to sell the land once owned by Michael Rawlings, deceased, in order to pay the debts of the estate. In his petition, he indicated that "he is one of the administrators of Michael Rawlin, deceased that the widow or relict of the deceased being the other, hath left the state and removed to Virginia,..." (12)
As part of his request to sell the land to settle the estate's debts, Joseph Brown asked that a warrant for 400 acres of land that had belonged to Michael be issued to him in order to prevent the land from being taken by others. This apparently could have been done since the rightful heirs had left the state. This warrant was granted 5 Apr 1786, and, Brown had the land surveyed 7 Jun 1786. The official measure of the tract called "Content" was 377 3/8 acres. The actual survey shows that "Content" was bounded on the South by James Allison, on the West by James Morrison, on the North by James Campbell and Andrew Ritchie, and on the East by the Chartiers and Little Chartiers Creeks (13). This indicates that the land that Nathan had deeded to Andrew Swearingen was from the same tract that had belonged to Michael, and it was the same tract upon which Michael's widow lived for some years after his death. Below is a copy of the outline of the survey as it was taken in 1786 (14): (DIAGRAM OMMITTED HERE, BUT AVAILABLE IN ORIGINAL DOCUMENT FROM AUTHOR)
On 20 September 1786, A public sale was held, and the land called "Content" was sold to Jacob Foster, the highest bidder (15). The money, 235 pounds, 12 shillings, and 6 pence, was used to settle the debts of Michael Rawlings' estate. It is not know if his widow or other heirs ever saw any of the money from the sale.
Several conclusions may be arrived at from the above information. First, it is a certainty that the "Widow Rawlings" mentioned in Nathan's deed was Mary Rawlings, widow of the late Michael Rawlings, who was deceased by 1780. Second, it seems quite clear that Nathan Rawlings, who apparently attempted to sell part of "Content" to Andrew Swearingen in 1785, was an heir of Michael Rawlings, and almost certainly his son (16). Third, it appears that the Rawlings heirs left Pennsylvania for Kentucky (which was part of Virginia at the time) prior to May 1786.
It may be that Nathan Rawlings and several of his brothers and other families left for Ohio prior to their settlement in present-day Kentucky. They may have been among those white settlers who were forced out of the Northwest Territory in 1785-1786 prior to the official opening of the region to westward expansion. There are several references to a Michael Rawlings who was a "squatter" in the territory, and who was one of many who were forced out by the military in 1785 and instructed to settle in Kentucky (17).
The next appearance we have of Nathan Rawlings is in the 1787 census of Fayette County, Virginia (present day Kentucky)(18). His name is spelled "Nathan Rollins" and also listed is a "Darnall" Rawlings. "Darnall" was actually Daniel, Nathan's brother. Daniel Rawlings married Sarah Nuttal, and is mentioned in the 1796 Fayette County, Kentucky will of Elijah Nuttal, his father-in-law (19).
A deposition taken from John Grant 18 May 1801 shows that Nathan was living in Bourbon County, Kentucky (present-day Harrison County) in June of 1789. According to Grant,"In ye year of 1789 I went at request of Laurence Speakman with intent to assist him in reloading his boat which was left on the main Licking River immediately at the junction of ye south Fork and Ye North Fork and returning with him and Jonah Robertson in Bourbon County near where Nathan Rawlings then lived. The 5th day of June of ye year 1789." (20)
A 1791 tax list of Bourbon County lists "Mary Rollins" and "Nathan Rolens". (21)
Family tradition indicates that Nathan claimed he had six brothers, that two died in "the war" and two were killed by Indians (22). Whether that is true or not is uncertain. We do know that some of them were Asahel (died between 1804 -1816). He was married to Nancy Pendergrass; Moses/Michael (1740-1787). He was apparently killed by Indians in Kentucky in the Spring of 1787; Daniel, mentioned above. He died about 1801, probably in Gallatin County, Kentucky.; Joshua (1766-1801) He married twice. His first wife was Verlinda Darnall, and his second was Sophia Kennedy (23).
According to pension Records in the National Archives, Nathan Rawlings was a Captain; however, this rank was achieved several years after the Revolution while a company commander in the Kentucky militia during the Indian Wars of the 1790's (24).
In April of 1790, Nathan Rawlings was recommended for the rank of Lieutenant in the Kentucky militia from Bourbon County. He was commissioned with that rank in November. The following year he was recommended for Captain. He received that rank in October 1791. A reference in the 28 June 1792 entry in the Executive Journal of Governor Isaac Shelby indicates that, "the following persons were duly elected officers of the Regiment." The list included the name of Captain Nathan Rawlings (25).
In the early 1790's, Indian tribes living in the Northwest Territory opposed white encroachment of their tribal lands, and attacked pioneer settlements, killing and driving off many farmers and their families. In response, Major General Arthur St. Clair, the military governor of the region, dispatched two expeditions against the Indians in order to prevent them from continuing their opposition to the settlements. Two successive excursions, the second of which was led by St. Clair himself, suffered decisive defeat by Indians under the command of Chief Little Turtle. As a result, then-President George Washington enlisted the services of his former subordinate, General "Mad" Anthony Wayne. Wayne raised an Army at a place called Legionville, near Pittsburgh, and traveled with them down the Ohio River to Fort Washington (present-day Cincinnati, Ohio). Augmenting the force (called the Legion of the United States) was a brigade of Kentucky militia under the command of Major General Charles Scott. One of the regiments in Scott's command was led by Lieutenant Colonel Horatio Hall. And Captain Nathan Rawlings commanded a company of mounted volunteers in Hall's regiment in the summer and fall of 1793. (26)
Wayne's methods of ensuring a victory over the Indians was to integrate the Kentucky Militia into the Legion's training and to drill his collective force into a very well disciplined army. Having achieved this with a great deal of success, Wayne released the militia in the fall of 1793 to return to their homes and take care of their families for the winter (27). Nathan Rawlings was among the released militiamen, and he returned to his family in Kentucky. In December, he was appointed by Governor Shelby as a justice of the peace for newly formed Harrison County (28). In February of 1794, he took his position as one of the men who made up the first group of justices of the peace for the Harrison County Court. (29)
In the summer of 1794, the Kentucky militia was recalled to participate in General Wayne's decisive campaign against the Indians, now led by Chief Blue Jacket of the Shawnee. Blue Jacket was impatient with Little Turtle's reluctance to fight against the "general who never slept," and took over command of the Indian confederation that would stand in opposition to Wayne. The Kentuckians took up the march in July and joined Wayne in southern Ohio. From their encampments, the Legion continued further north and on August 20, fought the Indians at a place called Fallen Timbers. The battle took place at the rapids on the Maumee river, not far from present day Toledo, Ohio. Nathan Rawlings was again in command of a company of mounted volunteers, this time in Major Notley Conn's battalion. The battle ended in decisive victory for Wayne and the Legion of the United States.
A news account in the Herald, Norfolk and Portsmouth Advertiser showed that Captain Nathan Rawlings was among the wounded at Fallen Timbers(30) . He was also mentioned conspicuously in General Wayne's dispatch to the Secretary of War, in which Wayne stated that, "the wounds received by...Cap't Rawlins...of Mounted Volunteers, bear honorable testamony to [his] bravery and conduct." (31)
Family history indicates that Nathan Rawlings was carried back to Kentucky on a litter and nursed back to health by his wife, the former Mary Rankin. (32)
In 1795, Nathan Rawlings was a state representative in the Kentucky General Assembly for Harrison County.(33) He was also appointed that year by the governor to be one of the Justices of the Court of Quarter Sessions.(34) On 16 December, he was promoted to Lieutenant Colonel in command of the 20th Regiment of the Kentucky Volunteer Militia. (35)
Nathan Rawlings appears in deed and court records in Kentucky (primarily Harrison County) several times over the period from the mid-1790's to about 1801.(36) There is evidence that he had probably re-located to Ohio by 1803. It was in that year that the local newspaper published a list of persons who had failed to retrieve letters at the post office. One of the individuals on the list was Nathan Rawlins, Franklinton.(37) There are also numerous mentions of him as a Justice of the Peace in Franklin County, Ohio. In fact he conducted the marriage ceremony for his nephew Moses Rawlings to Sally McCandliss in Franklin County in 1807.(38)
According to George Washington Rawlings, Nathan's grandson, (son of Benjamin Scott Rawlings), Nathan and Mary Rankin Rawlings were the parents of eight children (5 boys an 3 girls) who grew to adulthood. The sons were Nathan Jr., James, Benjamin Scott, Michael and Provence. The daughters were Letitia, Sarah and Jane.(39)
Nathan Rawlings' final settlement was at Lawrence County, Illinois about 1806, when
"William Spencer built a double log house...Shortly after this, Nathan Rawlings settled on Indian Creek,..." (40)
Another reference indicates that... "The Rawlings family were from Kentucky and located here [Lawrence County] in 1816. The old man was very aged when he made his advent here, and lived but a few years."(41)
Yet another reference describes Nathan Rawlings as, "..a noted hunter in his day, and was a champion of all athletic sports."(42)
Nathan Rawlings entered his claims to land in Lawrence County in 1816. By this time, he was in his late 60's. He died on 10 May 1821 and is buried in the Spring Hill Cemetery not far from Bridgeport, Illinois.(43) Nathan Rawlings was married to Mary Rankin about 1790.(44) She was the daughter of David and Hannah Rankin.(45)
Nathan and Mary's children were:
1. Nathan Rawlings, Jr. was born in Kentucky on 16 September 1793. (46) He married Polly McCleave 2 June 1822 in Lawrence County, Illinois.(47) He and Polly had at least twelve children between 1822 and 1847, all born in Lawrence County.(48) Years after his death, Polly claimed that Nathan JR was a veteran of the War of 1812, having enlisted while living in Pickaway County, Ohio.(49) There is a record of a Nathan Rawlings having served in CAPT. JOB. RADCLIFF'S COMPANY (County Unknown) from July 26 to August 26, 1813(50); however, Polly was never able to prove her husband's service.
During the Black Hawk War in 1832, Nathan Rawlings, Jr., served in Captain Abner Greer's company, Spy Battalion, 2nd Brigade, Illinois Mounted Volunteers.(51) By 1860, he and his family were living in Sangamon County, Illinois.(52) This was his last residence, near Pleasant Plains. Nathan died on 5 September 1865. His estate was probated in Sangamon County, and indicates that the land originally settled on in Lawrence County in 1816 was sold to settle outstanding debts. (53)
2. Provence Rawlings was born between 1795 and 1800.(54) He was named for his maternal grandmother, Hannah Province.(55) Provence married Nancy Glenn (born about 1800)(56) in Crawford County, Illinois on 6 April 1820.(57) They lived in Crawford and Jasper Counties, Illinois, before moving to present-day Coles County shortly after 1835.(58) Here, Provence died, in mid 1839. His estate was probated in Coles County, Illinois and is indexed under the spelling "Province Rollings".(59)
3. James Rawlings was born in Kentucky 31 August 1798.(60) He married his cousin Eleanor Rawlings in Edwards County, Illinois on 27 February 1820. (61) Eleanor was the daughter of Asahel and Nancy (Pendergrass) Rawlings.(62) James and Eleanor became the parents of at least 10 children.(63) Eleanor Rawlings died 20 June 1844.(64) Her husband followed her in death on 6 November 1855.(65) Both are buried in the Lawrenceville City, Lawrence County, Illinois Cemetery.
4. Benjamin Scott Rawlings was born 17 July 1799(66) and was the youngest son of Nathan and Mary Rankin Rawlings. He married Christena (Kitty) Mattox in Lawrence County, Illinois on 9 May 1823.(67) They lived in the Sangamon/Menard County, Illinois area not long after.(68) Records from Fulton County, Illinois indicate that he owned property on an island in the Illinois River in the late 1830's.(69) By 1840, he had moved to Ogle County, Illinois.(70) In 1843, Benjamin settled in Clinton County, Iowa (71), where he died at DeWitt on 15 March 1846.(72)
5. Jane Rawlings was born in Kentucky, probably in the early 1790's. She married Joseph Bogart (Bogard) in Franklin County, Ohio 18 February 1806.(73) From early Illinois records, it appears that Joseph and his wife and children (assuming they had children) moved to southern Illinois with Jane's father Nathan and his extended family. Records concerning Joseph Bogart are found in early Crawford County Court papers.(74) Jane probably died before or during 1830. Joseph Bogart died 11 October 1830, and his estate was probated in Sangamon County, Illinois. Jane is not mentioned in the existing estate papers. (75)
6. Letitia Rawlings was born in Kentucky probably in the early 1790's. There have been claims that Letitia was the daughter of Moses/Michael and Mary Cornwell Rawlings; however, the Gatewood Family Genealogy indicates she was born about 1790.(76) If this was the case, then she certainly was not the daughter of Moses/ Michael, who died about 1787 in Kentucky. Letitia married first to John Denny in Franklin County, Ohio in December 1806.(77) They had two children, Nathan and Peggy. John died during the War of 1812, and Letitia remarried to Phillip Gatewood in Pickaway County, Ohio on 3 February 1813.(78) They had at least two children. One was Jane, born in 1818 in Illinois.(79) Because of this and the following references, Letitia appears to have lived in southern Illinois as well, when Nathan and family were there. A Phillip Gatewood appears in the 1820 Wayne County, Illinois federal census.(80) There is also a reference to a man named Gatewood being involved in a homicide early in Richland County, Illinois. The history shows he was never brought to justice for the crime.(81) (In 1820, the year Phillip Gatewood appeared in the Wayne County census, the western-most part of Richland County was part of then-Wayne County).(82) Letitia was buried on the Denny farm in Pickaway County, Ohio.(83)
Another daughter was born in 1824, so Letitia died sometime after then.(84) Phillip is listed in the 1830 Pickaway County, Ohio census, but does not appear in 1840.(85)7. Sarah Rawlings was born in Kentucky, probably in the early 1790's, and married Robert Higgins in Pickaway County, Ohio. A license for the marriage is dated 16 July 1810;(86) however there was no minister's or justice's return. Nothing further is known by the author at this point.
NOTES: Nathan Rawlings' signature above was found along with the signature of his brother Asahel on a Harrison County, Kentucky promissory note executed in mid-1794 just prior joining the Kentucky militia's expedition with General Anthony Wayne which culminated with the U.S. Army's victory at Fallen Timbers in August. (SIGNATURE NOT INCLUDED HERE BUT AVAILABLE IN ORIGINAL DOCUMENT BY AUTHOR)
1. From Family Notes by Bessie Geraldine Rawlings Lathrop (1880-1961), great granddaughter of Nathan Rawlings (Nathan, Benjamin Scott, Luke, Bessie) copies of which are in the possession of the author.
2. Baltimore County, Maryland Deeds, Folio Y #1, page 234.
3. Baltimore County, Maryland Deeds, Folio Y #1, page 234.
4. Baltimore County Deed Book #1 - 0331
5. Virginia Genealogist, vol. 17, p. 214.
6. Will of David Rankin, JR, Harrison County, Kentucky, in which he names his daughter Mary Rawlings, October Court 1795
7. Military Records from Pennsylvania Bureau of Archives and History - data cards
8. Pennsylvania Archives 2nd Series Vol. XI.
9. From American Militia in the Frontier Wars, 1790-1796
10. Estate of Michael Rawlings, Washington County, Pennsylvania - It appears that a promissory note concerning Michael Rawlings' debt to John Preble was executed in 1780. Estate proceedings were underway by 1782.
11. Washington County, Pennsylvania Deed Book 1-B, page 288.
12. Estate of Michael Rawlings, Washington County, Pennsylvania - Joseph Brown's petition for warrant to sell land previously inhabited by Michael Rawlings - May 1786
13. Estate of Michael Rawlings, Washington County, Pennsylvania - Survey Document showing drawing of survey and dated 24 Mar 1788
14. Ibid. (WRITE TO AUTHOR FOR DIAGRAM)
15. Washington County, Pennsylvania Deed Book 1-D, page 23.
16. There is an intestate record for a Nathan Rawlings in Washington County in the year 1782. A later record indicates that in May 1785, Daniel Rawlings, brother to this Nathan, and administrator of his estate, showed to the court that there was a balance of more than 68 pounds left from the estate settlement and that the "Administrator [was] subject to distribution according to law"-the Nathan mentioned in this intestate record could not then have been the same Nathan who in December of 1785, deeded part of "Content" to Andrew Swearingen.
17. Several references allude to a Michael Rawlings in Ohio during 1785:- Photostat of Northwest Territory Expenses, listing monies paid for various services provided the military under Josiah Harmar. Michael Rawlings and others paid 156-11-6 on 3 August 1785 (Copy from National Archives).- April 1785 petition of inhabitants of the Northwest Territory requesting time to establish homes elsewhere, before being ejected by military forces under command of Josiah Harmar. Petition contains signature of Michael Rawlings.
18. Shreiner-Yantis, The Personal Property tax Lists for the Year 1787 for Fayette County, Virginia (now Kentucky), 1985.
19. Fayette County, Kentucky Estate Records - Will of Elijah Nuttal (1796), naming daughter Sarah and son-in-law Daniel Rawlings.
20. See Register of the Kentucky Historical Society, Vol.37, p. 379 - From Bourbon County, Kentucky Circuit Court Records.
21. Bourbon County, Kentucky tax List - 1791.
22. Bessie Geraldine Rawlings Lathrop Notes - from family history passed down through descendants of Benjamin Scott Rawlings.
23. Bourbon County, Kentucky Marriage Records (Joshua Rawlings to Sophia Kennedy), and Bourbon County Kentucky Wills, will of Joshua Rawlings (1801)
24. From American Militia in the Frontier Wars, 1790-1796
25. Executive Journal of Governor Isaac Shelby - Entry for 28 June 1792.
26. From American Militia in the Frontier Wars, 1790-1796; See also muster rolls and pay rolls for Hall's Regiment - 1793
27. Griswold, Pictorial History of Fort Wayne, Indiana, p. 124.
28. Executive Journal of Governor Isaac Shelby - Entry for 19 December 1793
29. Perrin and Robert, History of Harrison, Bourbon, Scott and Nicholas Counties, Kentucky (1882).
30. See issue for 4 October 1794 - lists injured and killed Kentucky Volunteers.
31. General Wayne - dispatch to the Secretary of War from headquarters at Grand Glaze - 28 August 1794.
32. Bessie Geraldine Rawlings Lathrop Family notes; notes from Dr. Thomas Kirkwood, descendant of James Rawlings, son of Nathan Rawlings.
33. Perrin and Robert.
34. Executive Journal of Governor Isaac Shelby - 1795
35. Executive Journal of Governor Isaac Shelby - Entry for 16 December 1795
36. Several references, among them: 1795 Harrison County, Kentucky Tax List; 6 March 1795 arrest warrant (John Hinds v. Nathan Rawlings); 1796 Harrison County, Kentucky tax List; 19 Apr 1799 Nathan Rawlings purchases from James Chambers, Lot #74 in town of Cynthiana, Kentucky; 12 Mar 1801, Nathan Rawlings and wife Mary purchase 110 acres in Harrison County, Kentucky (land from James Blackburn lying on the south fork of the Licking River).
37. Ohio Newspapers - 1800-1810
38. Franklin County, Ohio Marriages - Moses Rawlings to Sally McCandlis - 4 January 1807 - Justice of the Peace Nathan Rawlings.
39. Interview with Washington Rawlings (1835-1916) recorded by his daughter Ellen Rawlings Eades (1871-1948) in Portland Oregon - 1912.
40. From The Combined Histories of Edwards, Lawrence, and Wabash Counties, Illinois (p.71)
41. Ibid., (p.229).
42. Ibid., (p.327)
43. Spring Hill Cemetery stone, Lawrence County, Illinois.
44. The Denny Genealogy, Second Book (1944) says that Letitia was the daughter of Moses and Mary Cornwell Rawlings; However, it also indicates she was born about 1790. Her first son was Nathan Denny, and in her 1806 marriage, it was with the "consent of her father", Nathan Rawlings.
45. See Fredrick County, Virginia will of Thomas Province (1767), naming daughter Hannah Rankin; also Harrison County, Kentucky will of David Rankin, JR (1795), naming wife Hannah Rankin and daughter Mary Rawlings.
46. Pension affidavit from Polly Rawlings - 1880's - attesting to her husband's military service.
47. Ibid.
48. 1850 Lawrence County, Illinois Federal Census.
49. Pension affidavit from Polly Rawlings - 1880's - attesting to her husband's military service.
50. Ohio Adjutant General's Report of Ohio Soldiers in the War of 1812.
51. Illinois Adjutant General's Report of Illinois Soldiers in the Black Hawk War; also, pension affidavit by Polly Rawlings -1880's- attesting to Nathan's military service.
52. 1860 Sangamon County, Illinois Federal Census.
53. Sangamon County, Illinois Estate Record #1795 - Nathan Rawlings (d. Sep 1865)
54. Comparison of ages in 1830 (federal) and 1835 (state) censuses of llinois.
55. See Fredrick County, Virginia will of Thomas Province (1767), naming daughter Hannah Rankin; also Harrison County, Kentucky will of David Rankin, Jr. (1795), naming wife Hannah Rankin and daughter Mary Rawlings (mother of Provence Rawlings).
56. Coles County Estate Records - Provence Rawlings. Widow Nancy requested appointment of Joseph GLENN as administrator; Nancy's birth year from comparison of ages in 1830 (federal), 1835 (state), and 1840 (federal) censuses of Illinois.
57. Crawford County, Illinois Marriage Records.
58. From Illinois Census information - residence in Crawford County, Illinois during 1835 Illinois state census; then references in jasper County History.
59. Coles County Estate Records - Province Rollings
60. Lawrenceville, Illinois Cemetery gravestone died 6 November 1855 (age 57years, 2 months, and 6 days).
61. Edwards County, Illinois Marriage Records.
62. Gallatin County, Kentucky deed records indicate Jesse was Eleanor's uncle; Jefferson County, Kentucky Court cases show that Jesse and Nancy were brother and sister.
63. 1850 Federal Census of Lawrence County, Illinois.
64. Lawrenceville, Illinois Cemetery gravestone died 20 June 1844 (age 47 years, 6 months, and 21days).
65. Lawrenceville, Illinois Cemetery gravestone died 6 November 1855 (age 57years, 2 months, and 6 days).
66. Bessie Geraldine Rawlings Lathrop Family notes.
67. Lawrence County, Illinois Marriages.
68. 1830 Sangamon County, Illinois Federal Census; also Sangamon County Estate Records - Joseph Bogart (1831 - Benjamin S. Rawlings, administrator).
69. Fulton County, Illinois Deed Records ca. 1836
70. 1840 Ogle County, Illinois Federal Census.
71. The History of Clinton County, Iowa - 1879, p.544
72. Ibid.
73. Franklin County, Ohio Marriage Records.
74. a) Stephen Beck v. Joseph Bogart , for Trespass (1817)
b) Thomas Dunlap v. Joseph Bogart, for Debt (1826)
c) People v. Joseph Bogart, for Assault and Battery (1827)
75. Sangamon County, Illinois Estate Records - original in Illinois Regional Archives Depository at University of Illinois-Springfield's Brookens Library, Springfield, Illinois.
76. Gothberg, Carol J., John and Amy Gatewood, and Their Descendants (1666-1986), 1987, p. 37.
77. Franklin County, Ohio Marriage records.
78. Pickaway County, Ohio Marriage Records.
79. DAR application of Miriam Pratt Matthews, great great granddaughter of Phillip Gatewood and Letitia Rawlings Denny Gatewood)
80. 1820 Wayne County, Illinois federal census, p. 174.
81. History of Cumberlan, Jasper and Richland Counties, Illinois (1884), p.637
82. Origin and Evolution of Illinois Counties, Published by the State of Illinois - Secretary of State - 1984.
83. Gothberg, p.37. . 84. DAR application of Miriam Pratt Matthews (Mentions 1850 census age of second daughter, but does not mention daughter's name)
85. Gothberg, p. 37; Ohio censuses - 1830, 1840.
86. Pickaway County, Ohio Marriage Records
Children of NATHAN RAWLINGS and MARY RANKIN are:
i. LETITIA5 RAWLINGS, b. Abt. 1790.
ii. SARAH RAWLINGS, b. Abt. 1790, Kentucky; m. ROBERT HIGGINS, July 16, 1810, Pickaway County, Ohio.
iii. JANE RAWLINGS, b. Abt. 1790; d. Bef. October 11, 1830, Illinois; m. JOSEPH BOGART, 1806, Franklin Co., Ohio.
iv. NATHAN RAWLINGS, b. September 16, 1793, Bourbon County, Kentucky; d. September 05, 1865, Sangamon County, Illinois.
4. v. PROVENCE RAWLINGS, b. Abt. 1795, Harrison County, Kentucky; d. 1839, Coles County, Illinois.
vi. MICHAEL RAWLINGS, b. Abt. 1795, Kentucky; m. JENNIE JOHNSTON, 1824, Lawrence Co., Illinois.
vii. JAMES RAWLINGS, b. August 31, 1798, Harrison County, Kentucky; d. November 06, 1855, Lawrence County, Illinois.
viii. BENJAMIN SCOTT RAWLINGS, b. July 17, 1799, Harrison County, Kentucky; d. March 15, 1846, DeWitt, Clinton County, Iowa.
Contributed by © Ed Wiessing - http://genealogytrails.com/ill/revwarsoldier_nathanrawlings.html
NOTE: Nathan Rawlings last military promotion came on 16 December 1795, when he was promoted to Lieutenant Colonel in command of the 20th Regiment of the Kentucky Volunteer Militia. (see source 35 below)
NATHAN RAWLINGS: DAR Ancestor #: A093464
History passed down through the descendants of Nathan Rawlings indicate he was born in Baltimore County, Maryland in Oct 1750 (1). He was the son of Michael and Mary Rawlings, owners of the parcel of land known as "Chattom"(2). The first record that may concern Nathan that this author has found is the reference to him in Baltimore County in January 1774 when he delivered a deed in which Michael and Mary conveyed to Aaron Rawlings their rights to Chattom. The reference reads as follows:
"BALTIMORE COUNTY On the third day of January One thousand Seven Hundred and Seventy Four before me the Subscriber, one of the Justices of the Peace for said county came Nathan Rawlings and being one of the people called Quakers did solemnly affirm and declare that the names Michael Rawlings and Mary Rawlings within subscribed are of the proper handwriting of Michael Rawlings herein named and Mary Rawlings his wife and the names of John Nevill and William Patterson two of the Justices of the Peace in and for the County of Berkeley and that he this affirmant was present at the execution of the within deed and did then and there see the said Michael Rawlings and Mary Rawlings execute the same as also the same John Nevill and William Patterson subscribe their names as witnesses thereto altho he the affirmant did not subscribe his name. Affirmed Before Thomas Buchanan and John Neale" (3)
Nathan Rawlings would have been about 23 years old at the time he delivered the deed. A short time after this (1774) Michael and Mary Rawlings settled in what would become known as Washington County, Pennsylvania. In fact, it was in Pennsylvania currency that Aaron Rawlings purchased Chattom from Michael (4).
The next reference to Nathan is on a petition requesting the division of Yogahania County, Virginia, which was signed 27 October 1778 (5). Some of the other names on the petition included David and Thomas Rankin. Provided this was Nathan the son of Michael and Mary, and not the Nathan who died intestate in Washington County, Pennsylvania in 1782 (See Note below), David Rankin would later become Nathan's father-in-law (6).
During the Revolutionary War, Nathan Rawlings was a member of Captain Andrew Swearingen's company of Washington County, Pennsylvania militiamen, and was a ranger on the frontier (1778-1783) serving in Captain Charles Bilderbeck's company from the same county. He was issued a certificate for this service 25 March 1788. He also served in Captain Eleazer Williamson's company from Washington County. Nathan was a Cecil Township resident when he served in Williamson's company (1782).(7)
It wasn't until 1818 that pensions were allowed per se for services during the war. Even then, they were granted only when the veteran demonstrated serious need. Captain Nathan Rawlings was on the list of soldiers who had served in the Revolution from Pennsylvania (8). The rank of Captain, however, referred to his service in later Indian Wars and not to his Revolutionary War service (9).
About 1780, Michael Rawlings died in Washington County, Pennsylvania (10). In a deed recorded there on 7 December 1785, Nathan Rawlings sold the following for 60 pounds Pennsylvania currency to Andrew Swearingen, his former Captain from the Revolution:
"A certain tract of land on the waters of Shertees Creeke containing one hundred acres of land adjoining lands of James Alison on the south side, James Morsin on ye west, James Campbell and Andrew Ritchie on ye north and bounded by the WIDOW ROLINGS on the east." (11)
In May of 1786, Joseph Brown petitioned the Orphan's Court for Washington County, Pennsylvania to allow him to sell the land once owned by Michael Rawlings, deceased, in order to pay the debts of the estate. In his petition, he indicated that "he is one of the administrators of Michael Rawlin, deceased that the widow or relict of the deceased being the other, hath left the state and removed to Virginia,..." (12)
As part of his request to sell the land to settle the estate's debts, Joseph Brown asked that a warrant for 400 acres of land that had belonged to Michael be issued to him in order to prevent the land from being taken by others. This apparently could have been done since the rightful heirs had left the state. This warrant was granted 5 Apr 1786, and, Brown had the land surveyed 7 Jun 1786. The official measure of the tract called "Content" was 377 3/8 acres. The actual survey shows that "Content" was bounded on the South by James Allison, on the West by James Morrison, on the North by James Campbell and Andrew Ritchie, and on the East by the Chartiers and Little Chartiers Creeks (13). This indicates that the land that Nathan had deeded to Andrew Swearingen was from the same tract that had belonged to Michael, and it was the same tract upon which Michael's widow lived for some years after his death. Below is a copy of the outline of the survey as it was taken in 1786 (14): (DIAGRAM OMMITTED HERE, BUT AVAILABLE IN ORIGINAL DOCUMENT FROM AUTHOR)
On 20 September 1786, A public sale was held, and the land called "Content" was sold to Jacob Foster, the highest bidder (15). The money, 235 pounds, 12 shillings, and 6 pence, was used to settle the debts of Michael Rawlings' estate. It is not know if his widow or other heirs ever saw any of the money from the sale.
Several conclusions may be arrived at from the above information. First, it is a certainty that the "Widow Rawlings" mentioned in Nathan's deed was Mary Rawlings, widow of the late Michael Rawlings, who was deceased by 1780. Second, it seems quite clear that Nathan Rawlings, who apparently attempted to sell part of "Content" to Andrew Swearingen in 1785, was an heir of Michael Rawlings, and almost certainly his son (16). Third, it appears that the Rawlings heirs left Pennsylvania for Kentucky (which was part of Virginia at the time) prior to May 1786.
It may be that Nathan Rawlings and several of his brothers and other families left for Ohio prior to their settlement in present-day Kentucky. They may have been among those white settlers who were forced out of the Northwest Territory in 1785-1786 prior to the official opening of the region to westward expansion. There are several references to a Michael Rawlings who was a "squatter" in the territory, and who was one of many who were forced out by the military in 1785 and instructed to settle in Kentucky (17).
The next appearance we have of Nathan Rawlings is in the 1787 census of Fayette County, Virginia (present day Kentucky)(18). His name is spelled "Nathan Rollins" and also listed is a "Darnall" Rawlings. "Darnall" was actually Daniel, Nathan's brother. Daniel Rawlings married Sarah Nuttal, and is mentioned in the 1796 Fayette County, Kentucky will of Elijah Nuttal, his father-in-law (19).
A deposition taken from John Grant 18 May 1801 shows that Nathan was living in Bourbon County, Kentucky (present-day Harrison County) in June of 1789. According to Grant,"In ye year of 1789 I went at request of Laurence Speakman with intent to assist him in reloading his boat which was left on the main Licking River immediately at the junction of ye south Fork and Ye North Fork and returning with him and Jonah Robertson in Bourbon County near where Nathan Rawlings then lived. The 5th day of June of ye year 1789." (20)
A 1791 tax list of Bourbon County lists "Mary Rollins" and "Nathan Rolens". (21)
Family tradition indicates that Nathan claimed he had six brothers, that two died in "the war" and two were killed by Indians (22). Whether that is true or not is uncertain. We do know that some of them were Asahel (died between 1804 -1816). He was married to Nancy Pendergrass; Moses/Michael (1740-1787). He was apparently killed by Indians in Kentucky in the Spring of 1787; Daniel, mentioned above. He died about 1801, probably in Gallatin County, Kentucky.; Joshua (1766-1801) He married twice. His first wife was Verlinda Darnall, and his second was Sophia Kennedy (23).
According to pension Records in the National Archives, Nathan Rawlings was a Captain; however, this rank was achieved several years after the Revolution while a company commander in the Kentucky militia during the Indian Wars of the 1790's (24).
In April of 1790, Nathan Rawlings was recommended for the rank of Lieutenant in the Kentucky militia from Bourbon County. He was commissioned with that rank in November. The following year he was recommended for Captain. He received that rank in October 1791. A reference in the 28 June 1792 entry in the Executive Journal of Governor Isaac Shelby indicates that, "the following persons were duly elected officers of the Regiment." The list included the name of Captain Nathan Rawlings (25).
In the early 1790's, Indian tribes living in the Northwest Territory opposed white encroachment of their tribal lands, and attacked pioneer settlements, killing and driving off many farmers and their families. In response, Major General Arthur St. Clair, the military governor of the region, dispatched two expeditions against the Indians in order to prevent them from continuing their opposition to the settlements. Two successive excursions, the second of which was led by St. Clair himself, suffered decisive defeat by Indians under the command of Chief Little Turtle. As a result, then-President George Washington enlisted the services of his former subordinate, General "Mad" Anthony Wayne. Wayne raised an Army at a place called Legionville, near Pittsburgh, and traveled with them down the Ohio River to Fort Washington (present-day Cincinnati, Ohio). Augmenting the force (called the Legion of the United States) was a brigade of Kentucky militia under the command of Major General Charles Scott. One of the regiments in Scott's command was led by Lieutenant Colonel Horatio Hall. And Captain Nathan Rawlings commanded a company of mounted volunteers in Hall's regiment in the summer and fall of 1793. (26)
Wayne's methods of ensuring a victory over the Indians was to integrate the Kentucky Militia into the Legion's training and to drill his collective force into a very well disciplined army. Having achieved this with a great deal of success, Wayne released the militia in the fall of 1793 to return to their homes and take care of their families for the winter (27). Nathan Rawlings was among the released militiamen, and he returned to his family in Kentucky. In December, he was appointed by Governor Shelby as a justice of the peace for newly formed Harrison County (28). In February of 1794, he took his position as one of the men who made up the first group of justices of the peace for the Harrison County Court. (29)
In the summer of 1794, the Kentucky militia was recalled to participate in General Wayne's decisive campaign against the Indians, now led by Chief Blue Jacket of the Shawnee. Blue Jacket was impatient with Little Turtle's reluctance to fight against the "general who never slept," and took over command of the Indian confederation that would stand in opposition to Wayne. The Kentuckians took up the march in July and joined Wayne in southern Ohio. From their encampments, the Legion continued further north and on August 20, fought the Indians at a place called Fallen Timbers. The battle took place at the rapids on the Maumee river, not far from present day Toledo, Ohio. Nathan Rawlings was again in command of a company of mounted volunteers, this time in Major Notley Conn's battalion. The battle ended in decisive victory for Wayne and the Legion of the United States.
A news account in the Herald, Norfolk and Portsmouth Advertiser showed that Captain Nathan Rawlings was among the wounded at Fallen Timbers(30) . He was also mentioned conspicuously in General Wayne's dispatch to the Secretary of War, in which Wayne stated that, "the wounds received by...Cap't Rawlins...of Mounted Volunteers, bear honorable testamony to [his] bravery and conduct." (31)
Family history indicates that Nathan Rawlings was carried back to Kentucky on a litter and nursed back to health by his wife, the former Mary Rankin. (32)
In 1795, Nathan Rawlings was a state representative in the Kentucky General Assembly for Harrison County.(33) He was also appointed that year by the governor to be one of the Justices of the Court of Quarter Sessions.(34) On 16 December, he was promoted to Lieutenant Colonel in command of the 20th Regiment of the Kentucky Volunteer Militia. (35)
Nathan Rawlings appears in deed and court records in Kentucky (primarily Harrison County) several times over the period from the mid-1790's to about 1801.(36) There is evidence that he had probably re-located to Ohio by 1803. It was in that year that the local newspaper published a list of persons who had failed to retrieve letters at the post office. One of the individuals on the list was Nathan Rawlins, Franklinton.(37) There are also numerous mentions of him as a Justice of the Peace in Franklin County, Ohio. In fact he conducted the marriage ceremony for his nephew Moses Rawlings to Sally McCandliss in Franklin County in 1807.(38)
According to George Washington Rawlings, Nathan's grandson, (son of Benjamin Scott Rawlings), Nathan and Mary Rankin Rawlings were the parents of eight children (5 boys an 3 girls) who grew to adulthood. The sons were Nathan Jr., James, Benjamin Scott, Michael and Provence. The daughters were Letitia, Sarah and Jane.(39)
Nathan Rawlings' final settlement was at Lawrence County, Illinois about 1806, when
"William Spencer built a double log house...Shortly after this, Nathan Rawlings settled on Indian Creek,..." (40)
Another reference indicates that... "The Rawlings family were from Kentucky and located here [Lawrence County] in 1816. The old man was very aged when he made his advent here, and lived but a few years."(41)
Yet another reference describes Nathan Rawlings as, "..a noted hunter in his day, and was a champion of all athletic sports."(42)
Nathan Rawlings entered his claims to land in Lawrence County in 1816. By this time, he was in his late 60's. He died on 10 May 1821 and is buried in the Spring Hill Cemetery not far from Bridgeport, Illinois.(43) Nathan Rawlings was married to Mary Rankin about 1790.(44) She was the daughter of David and Hannah Rankin.(45)
Nathan and Mary's children were:
1. Nathan Rawlings, Jr. was born in Kentucky on 16 September 1793. (46) He married Polly McCleave 2 June 1822 in Lawrence County, Illinois.(47) He and Polly had at least twelve children between 1822 and 1847, all born in Lawrence County.(48) Years after his death, Polly claimed that Nathan JR was a veteran of the War of 1812, having enlisted while living in Pickaway County, Ohio.(49) There is a record of a Nathan Rawlings having served in CAPT. JOB. RADCLIFF'S COMPANY (County Unknown) from July 26 to August 26, 1813(50); however, Polly was never able to prove her husband's service.
During the Black Hawk War in 1832, Nathan Rawlings, Jr., served in Captain Abner Greer's company, Spy Battalion, 2nd Brigade, Illinois Mounted Volunteers.(51) By 1860, he and his family were living in Sangamon County, Illinois.(52) This was his last residence, near Pleasant Plains. Nathan died on 5 September 1865. His estate was probated in Sangamon County, and indicates that the land originally settled on in Lawrence County in 1816 was sold to settle outstanding debts. (53)
2. Provence Rawlings was born between 1795 and 1800.(54) He was named for his maternal grandmother, Hannah Province.(55) Provence married Nancy Glenn (born about 1800)(56) in Crawford County, Illinois on 6 April 1820.(57) They lived in Crawford and Jasper Counties, Illinois, before moving to present-day Coles County shortly after 1835.(58) Here, Provence died, in mid 1839. His estate was probated in Coles County, Illinois and is indexed under the spelling "Province Rollings".(59)
3. James Rawlings was born in Kentucky 31 August 1798.(60) He married his cousin Eleanor Rawlings in Edwards County, Illinois on 27 February 1820. (61) Eleanor was the daughter of Asahel and Nancy (Pendergrass) Rawlings.(62) James and Eleanor became the parents of at least 10 children.(63) Eleanor Rawlings died 20 June 1844.(64) Her husband followed her in death on 6 November 1855.(65) Both are buried in the Lawrenceville City, Lawrence County, Illinois Cemetery.
4. Benjamin Scott Rawlings was born 17 July 1799(66) and was the youngest son of Nathan and Mary Rankin Rawlings. He married Christena (Kitty) Mattox in Lawrence County, Illinois on 9 May 1823.(67) They lived in the Sangamon/Menard County, Illinois area not long after.(68) Records from Fulton County, Illinois indicate that he owned property on an island in the Illinois River in the late 1830's.(69) By 1840, he had moved to Ogle County, Illinois.(70) In 1843, Benjamin settled in Clinton County, Iowa (71), where he died at DeWitt on 15 March 1846.(72)
5. Jane Rawlings was born in Kentucky, probably in the early 1790's. She married Joseph Bogart (Bogard) in Franklin County, Ohio 18 February 1806.(73) From early Illinois records, it appears that Joseph and his wife and children (assuming they had children) moved to southern Illinois with Jane's father Nathan and his extended family. Records concerning Joseph Bogart are found in early Crawford County Court papers.(74) Jane probably died before or during 1830. Joseph Bogart died 11 October 1830, and his estate was probated in Sangamon County, Illinois. Jane is not mentioned in the existing estate papers. (75)
6. Letitia Rawlings was born in Kentucky probably in the early 1790's. There have been claims that Letitia was the daughter of Moses/Michael and Mary Cornwell Rawlings; however, the Gatewood Family Genealogy indicates she was born about 1790.(76) If this was the case, then she certainly was not the daughter of Moses/ Michael, who died about 1787 in Kentucky. Letitia married first to John Denny in Franklin County, Ohio in December 1806.(77) They had two children, Nathan and Peggy. John died during the War of 1812, and Letitia remarried to Phillip Gatewood in Pickaway County, Ohio on 3 February 1813.(78) They had at least two children. One was Jane, born in 1818 in Illinois.(79) Because of this and the following references, Letitia appears to have lived in southern Illinois as well, when Nathan and family were there. A Phillip Gatewood appears in the 1820 Wayne County, Illinois federal census.(80) There is also a reference to a man named Gatewood being involved in a homicide early in Richland County, Illinois. The history shows he was never brought to justice for the crime.(81) (In 1820, the year Phillip Gatewood appeared in the Wayne County census, the western-most part of Richland County was part of then-Wayne County).(82) Letitia was buried on the Denny farm in Pickaway County, Ohio.(83)
Another daughter was born in 1824, so Letitia died sometime after then.(84) Phillip is listed in the 1830 Pickaway County, Ohio census, but does not appear in 1840.(85)7. Sarah Rawlings was born in Kentucky, probably in the early 1790's, and married Robert Higgins in Pickaway County, Ohio. A license for the marriage is dated 16 July 1810;(86) however there was no minister's or justice's return. Nothing further is known by the author at this point.
NOTES: Nathan Rawlings' signature above was found along with the signature of his brother Asahel on a Harrison County, Kentucky promissory note executed in mid-1794 just prior joining the Kentucky militia's expedition with General Anthony Wayne which culminated with the U.S. Army's victory at Fallen Timbers in August. (SIGNATURE NOT INCLUDED HERE BUT AVAILABLE IN ORIGINAL DOCUMENT BY AUTHOR)
1. From Family Notes by Bessie Geraldine Rawlings Lathrop (1880-1961), great granddaughter of Nathan Rawlings (Nathan, Benjamin Scott, Luke, Bessie) copies of which are in the possession of the author.
2. Baltimore County, Maryland Deeds, Folio Y #1, page 234.
3. Baltimore County, Maryland Deeds, Folio Y #1, page 234.
4. Baltimore County Deed Book #1 - 0331
5. Virginia Genealogist, vol. 17, p. 214.
6. Will of David Rankin, JR, Harrison County, Kentucky, in which he names his daughter Mary Rawlings, October Court 1795
7. Military Records from Pennsylvania Bureau of Archives and History - data cards
8. Pennsylvania Archives 2nd Series Vol. XI.
9. From American Militia in the Frontier Wars, 1790-1796
10. Estate of Michael Rawlings, Washington County, Pennsylvania - It appears that a promissory note concerning Michael Rawlings' debt to John Preble was executed in 1780. Estate proceedings were underway by 1782.
11. Washington County, Pennsylvania Deed Book 1-B, page 288.
12. Estate of Michael Rawlings, Washington County, Pennsylvania - Joseph Brown's petition for warrant to sell land previously inhabited by Michael Rawlings - May 1786
13. Estate of Michael Rawlings, Washington County, Pennsylvania - Survey Document showing drawing of survey and dated 24 Mar 1788
14. Ibid. (WRITE TO AUTHOR FOR DIAGRAM)
15. Washington County, Pennsylvania Deed Book 1-D, page 23.
16. There is an intestate record for a Nathan Rawlings in Washington County in the year 1782. A later record indicates that in May 1785, Daniel Rawlings, brother to this Nathan, and administrator of his estate, showed to the court that there was a balance of more than 68 pounds left from the estate settlement and that the "Administrator [was] subject to distribution according to law"-the Nathan mentioned in this intestate record could not then have been the same Nathan who in December of 1785, deeded part of "Content" to Andrew Swearingen.
17. Several references allude to a Michael Rawlings in Ohio during 1785:- Photostat of Northwest Territory Expenses, listing monies paid for various services provided the military under Josiah Harmar. Michael Rawlings and others paid 156-11-6 on 3 August 1785 (Copy from National Archives).- April 1785 petition of inhabitants of the Northwest Territory requesting time to establish homes elsewhere, before being ejected by military forces under command of Josiah Harmar. Petition contains signature of Michael Rawlings.
18. Shreiner-Yantis, The Personal Property tax Lists for the Year 1787 for Fayette County, Virginia (now Kentucky), 1985.
19. Fayette County, Kentucky Estate Records - Will of Elijah Nuttal (1796), naming daughter Sarah and son-in-law Daniel Rawlings.
20. See Register of the Kentucky Historical Society, Vol.37, p. 379 - From Bourbon County, Kentucky Circuit Court Records.
21. Bourbon County, Kentucky tax List - 1791.
22. Bessie Geraldine Rawlings Lathrop Notes - from family history passed down through descendants of Benjamin Scott Rawlings.
23. Bourbon County, Kentucky Marriage Records (Joshua Rawlings to Sophia Kennedy), and Bourbon County Kentucky Wills, will of Joshua Rawlings (1801)
24. From American Militia in the Frontier Wars, 1790-1796
25. Executive Journal of Governor Isaac Shelby - Entry for 28 June 1792.
26. From American Militia in the Frontier Wars, 1790-1796; See also muster rolls and pay rolls for Hall's Regiment - 1793
27. Griswold, Pictorial History of Fort Wayne, Indiana, p. 124.
28. Executive Journal of Governor Isaac Shelby - Entry for 19 December 1793
29. Perrin and Robert, History of Harrison, Bourbon, Scott and Nicholas Counties, Kentucky (1882).
30. See issue for 4 October 1794 - lists injured and killed Kentucky Volunteers.
31. General Wayne - dispatch to the Secretary of War from headquarters at Grand Glaze - 28 August 1794.
32. Bessie Geraldine Rawlings Lathrop Family notes; notes from Dr. Thomas Kirkwood, descendant of James Rawlings, son of Nathan Rawlings.
33. Perrin and Robert.
34. Executive Journal of Governor Isaac Shelby - 1795
35. Executive Journal of Governor Isaac Shelby - Entry for 16 December 1795
36. Several references, among them: 1795 Harrison County, Kentucky Tax List; 6 March 1795 arrest warrant (John Hinds v. Nathan Rawlings); 1796 Harrison County, Kentucky tax List; 19 Apr 1799 Nathan Rawlings purchases from James Chambers, Lot #74 in town of Cynthiana, Kentucky; 12 Mar 1801, Nathan Rawlings and wife Mary purchase 110 acres in Harrison County, Kentucky (land from James Blackburn lying on the south fork of the Licking River).
37. Ohio Newspapers - 1800-1810
38. Franklin County, Ohio Marriages - Moses Rawlings to Sally McCandlis - 4 January 1807 - Justice of the Peace Nathan Rawlings.
39. Interview with Washington Rawlings (1835-1916) recorded by his daughter Ellen Rawlings Eades (1871-1948) in Portland Oregon - 1912.
40. From The Combined Histories of Edwards, Lawrence, and Wabash Counties, Illinois (p.71)
41. Ibid., (p.229).
42. Ibid., (p.327)
43. Spring Hill Cemetery stone, Lawrence County, Illinois.
44. The Denny Genealogy, Second Book (1944) says that Letitia was the daughter of Moses and Mary Cornwell Rawlings; However, it also indicates she was born about 1790. Her first son was Nathan Denny, and in her 1806 marriage, it was with the "consent of her father", Nathan Rawlings.
45. See Fredrick County, Virginia will of Thomas Province (1767), naming daughter Hannah Rankin; also Harrison County, Kentucky will of David Rankin, JR (1795), naming wife Hannah Rankin and daughter Mary Rawlings.
46. Pension affidavit from Polly Rawlings - 1880's - attesting to her husband's military service.
47. Ibid.
48. 1850 Lawrence County, Illinois Federal Census.
49. Pension affidavit from Polly Rawlings - 1880's - attesting to her husband's military service.
50. Ohio Adjutant General's Report of Ohio Soldiers in the War of 1812.
51. Illinois Adjutant General's Report of Illinois Soldiers in the Black Hawk War; also, pension affidavit by Polly Rawlings -1880's- attesting to Nathan's military service.
52. 1860 Sangamon County, Illinois Federal Census.
53. Sangamon County, Illinois Estate Record #1795 - Nathan Rawlings (d. Sep 1865)
54. Comparison of ages in 1830 (federal) and 1835 (state) censuses of llinois.
55. See Fredrick County, Virginia will of Thomas Province (1767), naming daughter Hannah Rankin; also Harrison County, Kentucky will of David Rankin, Jr. (1795), naming wife Hannah Rankin and daughter Mary Rawlings (mother of Provence Rawlings).
56. Coles County Estate Records - Provence Rawlings. Widow Nancy requested appointment of Joseph GLENN as administrator; Nancy's birth year from comparison of ages in 1830 (federal), 1835 (state), and 1840 (federal) censuses of Illinois.
57. Crawford County, Illinois Marriage Records.
58. From Illinois Census information - residence in Crawford County, Illinois during 1835 Illinois state census; then references in jasper County History.
59. Coles County Estate Records - Province Rollings
60. Lawrenceville, Illinois Cemetery gravestone died 6 November 1855 (age 57years, 2 months, and 6 days).
61. Edwards County, Illinois Marriage Records.
62. Gallatin County, Kentucky deed records indicate Jesse was Eleanor's uncle; Jefferson County, Kentucky Court cases show that Jesse and Nancy were brother and sister.
63. 1850 Federal Census of Lawrence County, Illinois.
64. Lawrenceville, Illinois Cemetery gravestone died 20 June 1844 (age 47 years, 6 months, and 21days).
65. Lawrenceville, Illinois Cemetery gravestone died 6 November 1855 (age 57years, 2 months, and 6 days).
66. Bessie Geraldine Rawlings Lathrop Family notes.
67. Lawrence County, Illinois Marriages.
68. 1830 Sangamon County, Illinois Federal Census; also Sangamon County Estate Records - Joseph Bogart (1831 - Benjamin S. Rawlings, administrator).
69. Fulton County, Illinois Deed Records ca. 1836
70. 1840 Ogle County, Illinois Federal Census.
71. The History of Clinton County, Iowa - 1879, p.544
72. Ibid.
73. Franklin County, Ohio Marriage Records.
74. a) Stephen Beck v. Joseph Bogart , for Trespass (1817)
b) Thomas Dunlap v. Joseph Bogart, for Debt (1826)
c) People v. Joseph Bogart, for Assault and Battery (1827)
75. Sangamon County, Illinois Estate Records - original in Illinois Regional Archives Depository at University of Illinois-Springfield's Brookens Library, Springfield, Illinois.
76. Gothberg, Carol J., John and Amy Gatewood, and Their Descendants (1666-1986), 1987, p. 37.
77. Franklin County, Ohio Marriage records.
78. Pickaway County, Ohio Marriage Records.
79. DAR application of Miriam Pratt Matthews, great great granddaughter of Phillip Gatewood and Letitia Rawlings Denny Gatewood)
80. 1820 Wayne County, Illinois federal census, p. 174.
81. History of Cumberlan, Jasper and Richland Counties, Illinois (1884), p.637
82. Origin and Evolution of Illinois Counties, Published by the State of Illinois - Secretary of State - 1984.
83. Gothberg, p.37. . 84. DAR application of Miriam Pratt Matthews (Mentions 1850 census age of second daughter, but does not mention daughter's name)
85. Gothberg, p. 37; Ohio censuses - 1830, 1840.
86. Pickaway County, Ohio Marriage Records
Children of NATHAN RAWLINGS and MARY RANKIN are:
i. LETITIA5 RAWLINGS, b. Abt. 1790.
ii. SARAH RAWLINGS, b. Abt. 1790, Kentucky; m. ROBERT HIGGINS, July 16, 1810, Pickaway County, Ohio.
iii. JANE RAWLINGS, b. Abt. 1790; d. Bef. October 11, 1830, Illinois; m. JOSEPH BOGART, 1806, Franklin Co., Ohio.
iv. NATHAN RAWLINGS, b. September 16, 1793, Bourbon County, Kentucky; d. September 05, 1865, Sangamon County, Illinois.
4. v. PROVENCE RAWLINGS, b. Abt. 1795, Harrison County, Kentucky; d. 1839, Coles County, Illinois.
vi. MICHAEL RAWLINGS, b. Abt. 1795, Kentucky; m. JENNIE JOHNSTON, 1824, Lawrence Co., Illinois.
vii. JAMES RAWLINGS, b. August 31, 1798, Harrison County, Kentucky; d. November 06, 1855, Lawrence County, Illinois.
viii. BENJAMIN SCOTT RAWLINGS, b. July 17, 1799, Harrison County, Kentucky; d. March 15, 1846, DeWitt, Clinton County, Iowa.
Contributed by © Ed Wiessing - http://genealogytrails.com/ill/revwarsoldier_nathanrawlings.html
NATHAN RAWLINGS (MICHAEL 3, DANIEL 2, AARON 1) was born October 1750 in Probably Maryland2, and died on May 10, 1821, in Lawrence County, Illinois3. He married MARY RANKIN in Kentucky.
NOTE: Nathan Rawlings last military promotion came on 16 December 1795, when he was promoted to Lieutenant Colonel in command of the 20th Regiment of the Kentucky Volunteer Militia. (see source 35 below)
NATHAN RAWLINGS: DAR Ancestor #: A093464
History passed down through the descendants of Nathan Rawlings indicate he was born in Baltimore County, Maryland in Oct 1750 (1). He was the son of Michael and Mary Rawlings, owners of the parcel of land known as "Chattom"(2). The first record that may concern Nathan that this author has found is the reference to him in Baltimore County in January 1774 when he delivered a deed in which Michael and Mary conveyed to Aaron Rawlings their rights to Chattom. The reference reads as follows:
"BALTIMORE COUNTY On the third day of January One thousand Seven Hundred and Seventy Four before me the Subscriber, one of the Justices of the Peace for said county came Nathan Rawlings and being one of the people called Quakers did solemnly affirm and declare that the names Michael Rawlings and Mary Rawlings within subscribed are of the proper handwriting of Michael Rawlings herein named and Mary Rawlings his wife and the names of John Nevill and William Patterson two of the Justices of the Peace in and for the County of Berkeley and that he this affirmant was present at the execution of the within deed and did then and there see the said Michael Rawlings and Mary Rawlings execute the same as also the same John Nevill and William Patterson subscribe their names as witnesses thereto altho he the affirmant did not subscribe his name. Affirmed Before Thomas Buchanan and John Neale" (3)
Nathan Rawlings would have been about 23 years old at the time he delivered the deed. A short time after this (1774) Michael and Mary Rawlings settled in what would become known as Washington County, Pennsylvania. In fact, it was in Pennsylvania currency that Aaron Rawlings purchased Chattom from Michael (4).
The next reference to Nathan is on a petition requesting the division of Yogahania County, Virginia, which was signed 27 October 1778 (5). Some of the other names on the petition included David and Thomas Rankin. Provided this was Nathan the son of Michael and Mary, and not the Nathan who died intestate in Washington County, Pennsylvania in 1782 (See Note below), David Rankin would later become Nathan's father-in-law (6).
During the Revolutionary War, Nathan Rawlings was a member of Captain Andrew Swearingen's company of Washington County, Pennsylvania militiamen, and was a ranger on the frontier (1778-1783) serving in Captain Charles Bilderbeck's company from the same county. He was issued a certificate for this service 25 March 1788. He also served in Captain Eleazer Williamson's company from Washington County. Nathan was a Cecil Township resident when he served in Williamson's company (1782).(7)
It wasn't until 1818 that pensions were allowed per se for services during the war. Even then, they were granted only when the veteran demonstrated serious need. Captain Nathan Rawlings was on the list of soldiers who had served in the Revolution from Pennsylvania (8). The rank of Captain, however, referred to his service in later Indian Wars and not to his Revolutionary War service (9).
About 1780, Michael Rawlings died in Washington County, Pennsylvania (10). In a deed recorded there on 7 December 1785, Nathan Rawlings sold the following for 60 pounds Pennsylvania currency to Andrew Swearingen, his former Captain from the Revolution:
"A certain tract of land on the waters of Shertees Creeke containing one hundred acres of land adjoining lands of James Alison on the south side, James Morsin on ye west, James Campbell and Andrew Ritchie on ye north and bounded by the WIDOW ROLINGS on the east." (11)
In May of 1786, Joseph Brown petitioned the Orphan's Court for Washington County, Pennsylvania to allow him to sell the land once owned by Michael Rawlings, deceased, in order to pay the debts of the estate. In his petition, he indicated that "he is one of the administrators of Michael Rawlin, deceased that the widow or relict of the deceased being the other, hath left the state and removed to Virginia,..." (12)
As part of his request to sell the land to settle the estate's debts, Joseph Brown asked that a warrant for 400 acres of land that had belonged to Michael be issued to him in order to prevent the land from being taken by others. This apparently could have been done since the rightful heirs had left the state. This warrant was granted 5 Apr 1786, and, Brown had the land surveyed 7 Jun 1786. The official measure of the tract called "Content" was 377 3/8 acres. The actual survey shows that "Content" was bounded on the South by James Allison, on the West by James Morrison, on the North by James Campbell and Andrew Ritchie, and on the East by the Chartiers and Little Chartiers Creeks (13). This indicates that the land that Nathan had deeded to Andrew Swearingen was from the same tract that had belonged to Michael, and it was the same tract upon which Michael's widow lived for some years after his death. Below is a copy of the outline of the survey as it was taken in 1786 (14): (DIAGRAM OMMITTED HERE, BUT AVAILABLE IN ORIGINAL DOCUMENT FROM AUTHOR)
On 20 September 1786, A public sale was held, and the land called "Content" was sold to Jacob Foster, the highest bidder (15). The money, 235 pounds, 12 shillings, and 6 pence, was used to settle the debts of Michael Rawlings' estate. It is not know if his widow or other heirs ever saw any of the money from the sale.
Several conclusions may be arrived at from the above information. First, it is a certainty that the "Widow Rawlings" mentioned in Nathan's deed was Mary Rawlings, widow of the late Michael Rawlings, who was deceased by 1780. Second, it seems quite clear that Nathan Rawlings, who apparently attempted to sell part of "Content" to Andrew Swearingen in 1785, was an heir of Michael Rawlings, and almost certainly his son (16). Third, it appears that the Rawlings heirs left Pennsylvania for Kentucky (which was part of Virginia at the time) prior to May 1786.
It may be that Nathan Rawlings and several of his brothers and other families left for Ohio prior to their settlement in present-day Kentucky. They may have been among those white settlers who were forced out of the Northwest Territory in 1785-1786 prior to the official opening of the region to westward expansion. There are several references to a Michael Rawlings who was a "squatter" in the territory, and who was one of many who were forced out by the military in 1785 and instructed to settle in Kentucky (17).
The next appearance we have of Nathan Rawlings is in the 1787 census of Fayette County, Virginia (present day Kentucky)(18). His name is spelled "Nathan Rollins" and also listed is a "Darnall" Rawlings. "Darnall" was actually Daniel, Nathan's brother. Daniel Rawlings married Sarah Nuttal, and is mentioned in the 1796 Fayette County, Kentucky will of Elijah Nuttal, his father-in-law (19).
A deposition taken from John Grant 18 May 1801 shows that Nathan was living in Bourbon County, Kentucky (present-day Harrison County) in June of 1789. According to Grant,"In ye year of 1789 I went at request of Laurence Speakman with intent to assist him in reloading his boat which was left on the main Licking River immediately at the junction of ye south Fork and Ye North Fork and returning with him and Jonah Robertson in Bourbon County near where Nathan Rawlings then lived. The 5th day of June of ye year 1789." (20)
A 1791 tax list of Bourbon County lists "Mary Rollins" and "Nathan Rolens". (21)
Family tradition indicates that Nathan claimed he had six brothers, that two died in "the war" and two were killed by Indians (22). Whether that is true or not is uncertain. We do know that some of them were Asahel (died between 1804 -1816). He was married to Nancy Pendergrass; Moses/Michael (1740-1787). He was apparently killed by Indians in Kentucky in the Spring of 1787; Daniel, mentioned above. He died about 1801, probably in Gallatin County, Kentucky.; Joshua (1766-1801) He married twice. His first wife was Verlinda Darnall, and his second was Sophia Kennedy (23).
According to pension Records in the National Archives, Nathan Rawlings was a Captain; however, this rank was achieved several years after the Revolution while a company commander in the Kentucky militia during the Indian Wars of the 1790's (24).
In April of 1790, Nathan Rawlings was recommended for the rank of Lieutenant in the Kentucky militia from Bourbon County. He was commissioned with that rank in November. The following year he was recommended for Captain. He received that rank in October 1791. A reference in the 28 June 1792 entry in the Executive Journal of Governor Isaac Shelby indicates that, "the following persons were duly elected officers of the Regiment." The list included the name of Captain Nathan Rawlings (25).
In the early 1790's, Indian tribes living in the Northwest Territory opposed white encroachment of their tribal lands, and attacked pioneer settlements, killing and driving off many farmers and their families. In response, Major General Arthur St. Clair, the military governor of the region, dispatched two expeditions against the Indians in order to prevent them from continuing their opposition to the settlements. Two successive excursions, the second of which was led by St. Clair himself, suffered decisive defeat by Indians under the command of Chief Little Turtle. As a result, then-President George Washington enlisted the services of his former subordinate, General "Mad" Anthony Wayne. Wayne raised an Army at a place called Legionville, near Pittsburgh, and traveled with them down the Ohio River to Fort Washington (present-day Cincinnati, Ohio). Augmenting the force (called the Legion of the United States) was a brigade of Kentucky militia under the command of Major General Charles Scott. One of the regiments in Scott's command was led by Lieutenant Colonel Horatio Hall. And Captain Nathan Rawlings commanded a company of mounted volunteers in Hall's regiment in the summer and fall of 1793. (26)
Wayne's methods of ensuring a victory over the Indians was to integrate the Kentucky Militia into the Legion's training and to drill his collective force into a very well disciplined army. Having achieved this with a great deal of success, Wayne released the militia in the fall of 1793 to return to their homes and take care of their families for the winter (27). Nathan Rawlings was among the released militiamen, and he returned to his family in Kentucky. In December, he was appointed by Governor Shelby as a justice of the peace for newly formed Harrison County (28). In February of 1794, he took his position as one of the men who made up the first group of justices of the peace for the Harrison County Court. (29)
In the summer of 1794, the Kentucky militia was recalled to participate in General Wayne's decisive campaign against the Indians, now led by Chief Blue Jacket of the Shawnee. Blue Jacket was impatient with Little Turtle's reluctance to fight against the "general who never slept," and took over command of the Indian confederation that would stand in opposition to Wayne. The Kentuckians took up the march in July and joined Wayne in southern Ohio. From their encampments, the Legion continued further north and on August 20, fought the Indians at a place called Fallen Timbers. The battle took place at the rapids on the Maumee river, not far from present day Toledo, Ohio. Nathan Rawlings was again in command of a company of mounted volunteers, this time in Major Notley Conn's battalion. The battle ended in decisive victory for Wayne and the Legion of the United States.
A news account in the Herald, Norfolk and Portsmouth Advertiser showed that Captain Nathan Rawlings was among the wounded at Fallen Timbers(30) . He was also mentioned conspicuously in General Wayne's dispatch to the Secretary of War, in which Wayne stated that, "the wounds received by...Cap't Rawlins...of Mounted Volunteers, bear honorable testamony to [his] bravery and conduct." (31)
Family history indicates that Nathan Rawlings was carried back to Kentucky on a litter and nursed back to health by his wife, the former Mary Rankin. (32)
In 1795, Nathan Rawlings was a state representative in the Kentucky General Assembly for Harrison County.(33) He was also appointed that year by the governor to be one of the Justices of the Court of Quarter Sessions.(34) On 16 December, he was promoted to Lieutenant Colonel in command of the 20th Regiment of the Kentucky Volunteer Militia. (35)
Nathan Rawlings appears in deed and court records in Kentucky (primarily Harrison County) several times over the period from the mid-1790's to about 1801.(36) There is evidence that he had probably re-located to Ohio by 1803. It was in that year that the local newspaper published a list of persons who had failed to retrieve letters at the post office. One of the individuals on the list was Nathan Rawlins, Franklinton.(37) There are also numerous mentions of him as a Justice of the Peace in Franklin County, Ohio. In fact he conducted the marriage ceremony for his nephew Moses Rawlings to Sally McCandliss in Franklin County in 1807.(38)
According to George Washington Rawlings, Nathan's grandson, (son of Benjamin Scott Rawlings), Nathan and Mary Rankin Rawlings were the parents of eight children (5 boys an 3 girls) who grew to adulthood. The sons were Nathan Jr., James, Benjamin Scott, Michael and Provence. The daughters were Letitia, Sarah and Jane.(39)
Nathan Rawlings' final settlement was at Lawrence County, Illinois about 1806, when
"William Spencer built a double log house...Shortly after this, Nathan Rawlings settled on Indian Creek,..." (40)
Another reference indicates that... "The Rawlings family were from Kentucky and located here [Lawrence County] in 1816. The old man was very aged when he made his advent here, and lived but a few years."(41)
Yet another reference describes Nathan Rawlings as, "..a noted hunter in his day, and was a champion of all athletic sports."(42)
Nathan Rawlings entered his claims to land in Lawrence County in 1816. By this time, he was in his late 60's. He died on 10 May 1821 and is buried in the Spring Hill Cemetery not far from Bridgeport, Illinois.(43) Nathan Rawlings was married to Mary Rankin about 1790.(44) She was the daughter of David and Hannah Rankin.(45)
Nathan and Mary's children were:
1. Nathan Rawlings, Jr. was born in Kentucky on 16 September 1793. (46) He married Polly McCleave 2 June 1822 in Lawrence County, Illinois.(47) He and Polly had at least twelve children between 1822 and 1847, all born in Lawrence County.(48) Years after his death, Polly claimed that Nathan JR was a veteran of the War of 1812, having enlisted while living in Pickaway County, Ohio.(49) There is a record of a Nathan Rawlings having served in CAPT. JOB. RADCLIFF'S COMPANY (County Unknown) from July 26 to August 26, 1813(50); however, Polly was never able to prove her husband's service.
During the Black Hawk War in 1832, Nathan Rawlings, Jr., served in Captain Abner Greer's company, Spy Battalion, 2nd Brigade, Illinois Mounted Volunteers.(51) By 1860, he and his family were living in Sangamon County, Illinois.(52) This was his last residence, near Pleasant Plains. Nathan died on 5 September 1865. His estate was probated in Sangamon County, and indicates that the land originally settled on in Lawrence County in 1816 was sold to settle outstanding debts. (53)
2. Provence Rawlings was born between 1795 and 1800.(54) He was named for his maternal grandmother, Hannah Province.(55) Provence married Nancy Glenn (born about 1800)(56) in Crawford County, Illinois on 6 April 1820.(57) They lived in Crawford and Jasper Counties, Illinois, before moving to present-day Coles County shortly after 1835.(58) Here, Provence died, in mid 1839. His estate was probated in Coles County, Illinois and is indexed under the spelling "Province Rollings".(59)
3. James Rawlings was born in Kentucky 31 August 1798.(60) He married his cousin Eleanor Rawlings in Edwards County, Illinois on 27 February 1820. (61) Eleanor was the daughter of Asahel and Nancy (Pendergrass) Rawlings.(62) James and Eleanor became the parents of at least 10 children.(63) Eleanor Rawlings died 20 June 1844.(64) Her husband followed her in death on 6 November 1855.(65) Both are buried in the Lawrenceville City, Lawrence County, Illinois Cemetery.
4. Benjamin Scott Rawlings was born 17 July 1799(66) and was the youngest son of Nathan and Mary Rankin Rawlings. He married Christena (Kitty) Mattox in Lawrence County, Illinois on 9 May 1823.(67) They lived in the Sangamon/Menard County, Illinois area not long after.(68) Records from Fulton County, Illinois indicate that he owned property on an island in the Illinois River in the late 1830's.(69) By 1840, he had moved to Ogle County, Illinois.(70) In 1843, Benjamin settled in Clinton County, Iowa (71), where he died at DeWitt on 15 March 1846.(72)
5. Jane Rawlings was born in Kentucky, probably in the early 1790's. She married Joseph Bogart (Bogard) in Franklin County, Ohio 18 February 1806.(73) From early Illinois records, it appears that Joseph and his wife and children (assuming they had children) moved to southern Illinois with Jane's father Nathan and his extended family. Records concerning Joseph Bogart are found in early Crawford County Court papers.(74) Jane probably died before or during 1830. Joseph Bogart died 11 October 1830, and his estate was probated in Sangamon County, Illinois. Jane is not mentioned in the existing estate papers. (75)
6. Letitia Rawlings was born in Kentucky probably in the early 1790's. There have been claims that Letitia was the daughter of Moses/Michael and Mary Cornwell Rawlings; however, the Gatewood Family Genealogy indicates she was born about 1790.(76) If this was the case, then she certainly was not the daughter of Moses/ Michael, who died about 1787 in Kentucky. Letitia married first to John Denny in Franklin County, Ohio in December 1806.(77) They had two children, Nathan and Peggy. John died during the War of 1812, and Letitia remarried to Phillip Gatewood in Pickaway County, Ohio on 3 February 1813.(78) They had at least two children. One was Jane, born in 1818 in Illinois.(79) Because of this and the following references, Letitia appears to have lived in southern Illinois as well, when Nathan and family were there. A Phillip Gatewood appears in the 1820 Wayne County, Illinois federal census.(80) There is also a reference to a man named Gatewood being involved in a homicide early in Richland County, Illinois. The history shows he was never brought to justice for the crime.(81) (In 1820, the year Phillip Gatewood appeared in the Wayne County census, the western-most part of Richland County was part of then-Wayne County).(82) Letitia was buried on the Denny farm in Pickaway County, Ohio.(83)
Another daughter was born in 1824, so Letitia died sometime after then.(84) Phillip is listed in the 1830 Pickaway County, Ohio census, but does not appear in 1840.(85)7. Sarah Rawlings was born in Kentucky, probably in the early 1790's, and married Robert Higgins in Pickaway County, Ohio. A license for the marriage is dated 16 July 1810;(86) however there was no minister's or justice's return. Nothing further is known by the author at this point.
NOTES: Nathan Rawlings' signature above was found along with the signature of his brother Asahel on a Harrison County, Kentucky promissory note executed in mid-1794 just prior joining the Kentucky militia's expedition with General Anthony Wayne which culminated with the U.S. Army's victory at Fallen Timbers in August. (SIGNATURE NOT INCLUDED HERE BUT AVAILABLE IN ORIGINAL DOCUMENT BY AUTHOR)
1. From Family Notes by Bessie Geraldine Rawlings Lathrop (1880-1961), great granddaughter of Nathan Rawlings (Nathan, Benjamin Scott, Luke, Bessie) copies of which are in the possession of the author.
2. Baltimore County, Maryland Deeds, Folio Y #1, page 234.
3. Baltimore County, Maryland Deeds, Folio Y #1, page 234.
4. Baltimore County Deed Book #1 - 0331
5. Virginia Genealogist, vol. 17, p. 214.
6. Will of David Rankin, JR, Harrison County, Kentucky, in which he names his daughter Mary Rawlings, October Court 1795
7. Military Records from Pennsylvania Bureau of Archives and History - data cards
8. Pennsylvania Archives 2nd Series Vol. XI.
9. From American Militia in the Frontier Wars, 1790-1796
10. Estate of Michael Rawlings, Washington County, Pennsylvania - It appears that a promissory note concerning Michael Rawlings' debt to John Preble was executed in 1780. Estate proceedings were underway by 1782.
11. Washington County, Pennsylvania Deed Book 1-B, page 288.
12. Estate of Michael Rawlings, Washington County, Pennsylvania - Joseph Brown's petition for warrant to sell land previously inhabited by Michael Rawlings - May 1786
13. Estate of Michael Rawlings, Washington County, Pennsylvania - Survey Document showing drawing of survey and dated 24 Mar 1788
14. Ibid. (WRITE TO AUTHOR FOR DIAGRAM)
15. Washington County, Pennsylvania Deed Book 1-D, page 23.
16. There is an intestate record for a Nathan Rawlings in Washington County in the year 1782. A later record indicates that in May 1785, Daniel Rawlings, brother to this Nathan, and administrator of his estate, showed to the court that there was a balance of more than 68 pounds left from the estate settlement and that the "Administrator [was] subject to distribution according to law"-the Nathan mentioned in this intestate record could not then have been the same Nathan who in December of 1785, deeded part of "Content" to Andrew Swearingen.
17. Several references allude to a Michael Rawlings in Ohio during 1785:- Photostat of Northwest Territory Expenses, listing monies paid for various services provided the military under Josiah Harmar. Michael Rawlings and others paid 156-11-6 on 3 August 1785 (Copy from National Archives).- April 1785 petition of inhabitants of the Northwest Territory requesting time to establish homes elsewhere, before being ejected by military forces under command of Josiah Harmar. Petition contains signature of Michael Rawlings.
18. Shreiner-Yantis, The Personal Property tax Lists for the Year 1787 for Fayette County, Virginia (now Kentucky), 1985.
19. Fayette County, Kentucky Estate Records - Will of Elijah Nuttal (1796), naming daughter Sarah and son-in-law Daniel Rawlings.
20. See Register of the Kentucky Historical Society, Vol.37, p. 379 - From Bourbon County, Kentucky Circuit Court Records.
21. Bourbon County, Kentucky tax List - 1791.
22. Bessie Geraldine Rawlings Lathrop Notes - from family history passed down through descendants of Benjamin Scott Rawlings.
23. Bourbon County, Kentucky Marriage Records (Joshua Rawlings to Sophia Kennedy), and Bourbon County Kentucky Wills, will of Joshua Rawlings (1801)
24. From American Militia in the Frontier Wars, 1790-1796
25. Executive Journal of Governor Isaac Shelby - Entry for 28 June 1792.
26. From American Militia in the Frontier Wars, 1790-1796; See also muster rolls and pay rolls for Hall's Regiment - 1793
27. Griswold, Pictorial History of Fort Wayne, Indiana, p. 124.
28. Executive Journal of Governor Isaac Shelby - Entry for 19 December 1793
29. Perrin and Robert, History of Harrison, Bourbon, Scott and Nicholas Counties, Kentucky (1882).
30. See issue for 4 October 1794 - lists injured and killed Kentucky Volunteers.
31. General Wayne - dispatch to the Secretary of War from headquarters at Grand Glaze - 28 August 1794.
32. Bessie Geraldine Rawlings Lathrop Family notes; notes from Dr. Thomas Kirkwood, descendant of James Rawlings, son of Nathan Rawlings.
33. Perrin and Robert.
34. Executive Journal of Governor Isaac Shelby - 1795
35. Executive Journal of Governor Isaac Shelby - Entry for 16 December 1795
36. Several references, among them: 1795 Harrison County, Kentucky Tax List; 6 March 1795 arrest warrant (John Hinds v. Nathan Rawlings); 1796 Harrison County, Kentucky tax List; 19 Apr 1799 Nathan Rawlings purchases from James Chambers, Lot #74 in town of Cynthiana, Kentucky; 12 Mar 1801, Nathan Rawlings and wife Mary purchase 110 acres in Harrison County, Kentucky (land from James Blackburn lying on the south fork of the Licking River).
37. Ohio Newspapers - 1800-1810
38. Franklin County, Ohio Marriages - Moses Rawlings to Sally McCandlis - 4 January 1807 - Justice of the Peace Nathan Rawlings.
39. Interview with Washington Rawlings (1835-1916) recorded by his daughter Ellen Rawlings Eades (1871-1948) in Portland Oregon - 1912.
40. From The Combined Histories of Edwards, Lawrence, and Wabash Counties, Illinois (p.71)
41. Ibid., (p.229).
42. Ibid., (p.327)
43. Spring Hill Cemetery stone, Lawrence County, Illinois.
44. The Denny Genealogy, Second Book (1944) says that Letitia was the daughter of Moses and Mary Cornwell Rawlings; However, it also indicates she was born about 1790. Her first son was Nathan Denny, and in her 1806 marriage, it was with the "consent of her father", Nathan Rawlings.
45. See Fredrick County, Virginia will of Thomas Province (1767), naming daughter Hannah Rankin; also Harrison County, Kentucky will of David Rankin, JR (1795), naming wife Hannah Rankin and daughter Mary Rawlings.
46. Pension affidavit from Polly Rawlings - 1880's - attesting to her husband's military service.
47. Ibid.
48. 1850 Lawrence County, Illinois Federal Census.
49. Pension affidavit from Polly Rawlings - 1880's - attesting to her husband's military service.
50. Ohio Adjutant General's Report of Ohio Soldiers in the War of 1812.
51. Illinois Adjutant General's Report of Illinois Soldiers in the Black Hawk War; also, pension affidavit by Polly Rawlings -1880's- attesting to Nathan's military service.
52. 1860 Sangamon County, Illinois Federal Census.
53. Sangamon County, Illinois Estate Record #1795 - Nathan Rawlings (d. Sep 1865)
54. Comparison of ages in 1830 (federal) and 1835 (state) censuses of llinois.
55. See Fredrick County, Virginia will of Thomas Province (1767), naming daughter Hannah Rankin; also Harrison County, Kentucky will of David Rankin, Jr. (1795), naming wife Hannah Rankin and daughter Mary Rawlings (mother of Provence Rawlings).
56. Coles County Estate Records - Provence Rawlings. Widow Nancy requested appointment of Joseph GLENN as administrator; Nancy's birth year from comparison of ages in 1830 (federal), 1835 (state), and 1840 (federal) censuses of Illinois.
57. Crawford County, Illinois Marriage Records.
58. From Illinois Census information - residence in Crawford County, Illinois during 1835 Illinois state census; then references in jasper County History.
59. Coles County Estate Records - Province Rollings
60. Lawrenceville, Illinois Cemetery gravestone died 6 November 1855 (age 57years, 2 months, and 6 days).
61. Edwards County, Illinois Marriage Records.
62. Gallatin County, Kentucky deed records indicate Jesse was Eleanor's uncle; Jefferson County, Kentucky Court cases show that Jesse and Nancy were brother and sister.
63. 1850 Federal Census of Lawrence County, Illinois.
64. Lawrenceville, Illinois Cemetery gravestone died 20 June 1844 (age 47 years, 6 months, and 21days).
65. Lawrenceville, Illinois Cemetery gravestone died 6 November 1855 (age 57years, 2 months, and 6 days).
66. Bessie Geraldine Rawlings Lathrop Family notes.
67. Lawrence County, Illinois Marriages.
68. 1830 Sangamon County, Illinois Federal Census; also Sangamon County Estate Records - Joseph Bogart (1831 - Benjamin S. Rawlings, administrator).
69. Fulton County, Illinois Deed Records ca. 1836
70. 1840 Ogle County, Illinois Federal Census.
71. The History of Clinton County, Iowa - 1879, p.544
72. Ibid.
73. Franklin County, Ohio Marriage Records.
74. a) Stephen Beck v. Joseph Bogart , for Trespass (1817)
b) Thomas Dunlap v. Joseph Bogart, for Debt (1826)
c) People v. Joseph Bogart, for Assault and Battery (1827)
75. Sangamon County, Illinois Estate Records - original in Illinois Regional Archives Depository at University of Illinois-Springfield's Brookens Library, Springfield, Illinois.
76. Gothberg, Carol J., John and Amy Gatewood, and Their Descendants (1666-1986), 1987, p. 37.
77. Franklin County, Ohio Marriage records.
78. Pickaway County, Ohio Marriage Records.
79. DAR application of Miriam Pratt Matthews, great great granddaughter of Phillip Gatewood and Letitia Rawlings Denny Gatewood)
80. 1820 Wayne County, Illinois federal census, p. 174.
81. History of Cumberlan, Jasper and Richland Counties, Illinois (1884), p.637
82. Origin and Evolution of Illinois Counties, Published by the State of Illinois - Secretary of State - 1984.
83. Gothberg, p.37. . 84. DAR application of Miriam Pratt Matthews (Mentions 1850 census age of second daughter, but does not mention daughter's name)
85. Gothberg, p. 37; Ohio censuses - 1830, 1840.
86. Pickaway County, Ohio Marriage Records
Children of NATHAN RAWLINGS and MARY RANKIN are:
i. LETITIA5 RAWLINGS, b. Abt. 1790.
ii. SARAH RAWLINGS, b. Abt. 1790, Kentucky; m. ROBERT HIGGINS, July 16, 1810, Pickaway County, Ohio.
iii. JANE RAWLINGS, b. Abt. 1790; d. Bef. October 11, 1830, Illinois; m. JOSEPH BOGART, 1806, Franklin Co., Ohio.
iv. NATHAN RAWLINGS, b. September 16, 1793, Bourbon County, Kentucky; d. September 05, 1865, Sangamon County, Illinois.
4. v. PROVENCE RAWLINGS, b. Abt. 1795, Harrison County, Kentucky; d. 1839, Coles County, Illinois.
vi. MICHAEL RAWLINGS, b. Abt. 1795, Kentucky; m. JENNIE JOHNSTON, 1824, Lawrence Co., Illinois.
vii. JAMES RAWLINGS, b. August 31, 1798, Harrison County, Kentucky; d. November 06, 1855, Lawrence County, Illinois.
viii. BENJAMIN SCOTT RAWLINGS, b. July 17, 1799, Harrison County, Kentucky; d. March 15, 1846, DeWitt, Clinton County, Iowa.
Contributed by © Ed Wiessing - http://genealogytrails.com/ill/revwarsoldier_nathanrawlings.html
NOTE: Nathan Rawlings last military promotion came on 16 December 1795, when he was promoted to Lieutenant Colonel in command of the 20th Regiment of the Kentucky Volunteer Militia. (see source 35 below)
NATHAN RAWLINGS: DAR Ancestor #: A093464
History passed down through the descendants of Nathan Rawlings indicate he was born in Baltimore County, Maryland in Oct 1750 (1). He was the son of Michael and Mary Rawlings, owners of the parcel of land known as "Chattom"(2). The first record that may concern Nathan that this author has found is the reference to him in Baltimore County in January 1774 when he delivered a deed in which Michael and Mary conveyed to Aaron Rawlings their rights to Chattom. The reference reads as follows:
"BALTIMORE COUNTY On the third day of January One thousand Seven Hundred and Seventy Four before me the Subscriber, one of the Justices of the Peace for said county came Nathan Rawlings and being one of the people called Quakers did solemnly affirm and declare that the names Michael Rawlings and Mary Rawlings within subscribed are of the proper handwriting of Michael Rawlings herein named and Mary Rawlings his wife and the names of John Nevill and William Patterson two of the Justices of the Peace in and for the County of Berkeley and that he this affirmant was present at the execution of the within deed and did then and there see the said Michael Rawlings and Mary Rawlings execute the same as also the same John Nevill and William Patterson subscribe their names as witnesses thereto altho he the affirmant did not subscribe his name. Affirmed Before Thomas Buchanan and John Neale" (3)
Nathan Rawlings would have been about 23 years old at the time he delivered the deed. A short time after this (1774) Michael and Mary Rawlings settled in what would become known as Washington County, Pennsylvania. In fact, it was in Pennsylvania currency that Aaron Rawlings purchased Chattom from Michael (4).
The next reference to Nathan is on a petition requesting the division of Yogahania County, Virginia, which was signed 27 October 1778 (5). Some of the other names on the petition included David and Thomas Rankin. Provided this was Nathan the son of Michael and Mary, and not the Nathan who died intestate in Washington County, Pennsylvania in 1782 (See Note below), David Rankin would later become Nathan's father-in-law (6).
During the Revolutionary War, Nathan Rawlings was a member of Captain Andrew Swearingen's company of Washington County, Pennsylvania militiamen, and was a ranger on the frontier (1778-1783) serving in Captain Charles Bilderbeck's company from the same county. He was issued a certificate for this service 25 March 1788. He also served in Captain Eleazer Williamson's company from Washington County. Nathan was a Cecil Township resident when he served in Williamson's company (1782).(7)
It wasn't until 1818 that pensions were allowed per se for services during the war. Even then, they were granted only when the veteran demonstrated serious need. Captain Nathan Rawlings was on the list of soldiers who had served in the Revolution from Pennsylvania (8). The rank of Captain, however, referred to his service in later Indian Wars and not to his Revolutionary War service (9).
About 1780, Michael Rawlings died in Washington County, Pennsylvania (10). In a deed recorded there on 7 December 1785, Nathan Rawlings sold the following for 60 pounds Pennsylvania currency to Andrew Swearingen, his former Captain from the Revolution:
"A certain tract of land on the waters of Shertees Creeke containing one hundred acres of land adjoining lands of James Alison on the south side, James Morsin on ye west, James Campbell and Andrew Ritchie on ye north and bounded by the WIDOW ROLINGS on the east." (11)
In May of 1786, Joseph Brown petitioned the Orphan's Court for Washington County, Pennsylvania to allow him to sell the land once owned by Michael Rawlings, deceased, in order to pay the debts of the estate. In his petition, he indicated that "he is one of the administrators of Michael Rawlin, deceased that the widow or relict of the deceased being the other, hath left the state and removed to Virginia,..." (12)
As part of his request to sell the land to settle the estate's debts, Joseph Brown asked that a warrant for 400 acres of land that had belonged to Michael be issued to him in order to prevent the land from being taken by others. This apparently could have been done since the rightful heirs had left the state. This warrant was granted 5 Apr 1786, and, Brown had the land surveyed 7 Jun 1786. The official measure of the tract called "Content" was 377 3/8 acres. The actual survey shows that "Content" was bounded on the South by James Allison, on the West by James Morrison, on the North by James Campbell and Andrew Ritchie, and on the East by the Chartiers and Little Chartiers Creeks (13). This indicates that the land that Nathan had deeded to Andrew Swearingen was from the same tract that had belonged to Michael, and it was the same tract upon which Michael's widow lived for some years after his death. Below is a copy of the outline of the survey as it was taken in 1786 (14): (DIAGRAM OMMITTED HERE, BUT AVAILABLE IN ORIGINAL DOCUMENT FROM AUTHOR)
On 20 September 1786, A public sale was held, and the land called "Content" was sold to Jacob Foster, the highest bidder (15). The money, 235 pounds, 12 shillings, and 6 pence, was used to settle the debts of Michael Rawlings' estate. It is not know if his widow or other heirs ever saw any of the money from the sale.
Several conclusions may be arrived at from the above information. First, it is a certainty that the "Widow Rawlings" mentioned in Nathan's deed was Mary Rawlings, widow of the late Michael Rawlings, who was deceased by 1780. Second, it seems quite clear that Nathan Rawlings, who apparently attempted to sell part of "Content" to Andrew Swearingen in 1785, was an heir of Michael Rawlings, and almost certainly his son (16). Third, it appears that the Rawlings heirs left Pennsylvania for Kentucky (which was part of Virginia at the time) prior to May 1786.
It may be that Nathan Rawlings and several of his brothers and other families left for Ohio prior to their settlement in present-day Kentucky. They may have been among those white settlers who were forced out of the Northwest Territory in 1785-1786 prior to the official opening of the region to westward expansion. There are several references to a Michael Rawlings who was a "squatter" in the territory, and who was one of many who were forced out by the military in 1785 and instructed to settle in Kentucky (17).
The next appearance we have of Nathan Rawlings is in the 1787 census of Fayette County, Virginia (present day Kentucky)(18). His name is spelled "Nathan Rollins" and also listed is a "Darnall" Rawlings. "Darnall" was actually Daniel, Nathan's brother. Daniel Rawlings married Sarah Nuttal, and is mentioned in the 1796 Fayette County, Kentucky will of Elijah Nuttal, his father-in-law (19).
A deposition taken from John Grant 18 May 1801 shows that Nathan was living in Bourbon County, Kentucky (present-day Harrison County) in June of 1789. According to Grant,"In ye year of 1789 I went at request of Laurence Speakman with intent to assist him in reloading his boat which was left on the main Licking River immediately at the junction of ye south Fork and Ye North Fork and returning with him and Jonah Robertson in Bourbon County near where Nathan Rawlings then lived. The 5th day of June of ye year 1789." (20)
A 1791 tax list of Bourbon County lists "Mary Rollins" and "Nathan Rolens". (21)
Family tradition indicates that Nathan claimed he had six brothers, that two died in "the war" and two were killed by Indians (22). Whether that is true or not is uncertain. We do know that some of them were Asahel (died between 1804 -1816). He was married to Nancy Pendergrass; Moses/Michael (1740-1787). He was apparently killed by Indians in Kentucky in the Spring of 1787; Daniel, mentioned above. He died about 1801, probably in Gallatin County, Kentucky.; Joshua (1766-1801) He married twice. His first wife was Verlinda Darnall, and his second was Sophia Kennedy (23).
According to pension Records in the National Archives, Nathan Rawlings was a Captain; however, this rank was achieved several years after the Revolution while a company commander in the Kentucky militia during the Indian Wars of the 1790's (24).
In April of 1790, Nathan Rawlings was recommended for the rank of Lieutenant in the Kentucky militia from Bourbon County. He was commissioned with that rank in November. The following year he was recommended for Captain. He received that rank in October 1791. A reference in the 28 June 1792 entry in the Executive Journal of Governor Isaac Shelby indicates that, "the following persons were duly elected officers of the Regiment." The list included the name of Captain Nathan Rawlings (25).
In the early 1790's, Indian tribes living in the Northwest Territory opposed white encroachment of their tribal lands, and attacked pioneer settlements, killing and driving off many farmers and their families. In response, Major General Arthur St. Clair, the military governor of the region, dispatched two expeditions against the Indians in order to prevent them from continuing their opposition to the settlements. Two successive excursions, the second of which was led by St. Clair himself, suffered decisive defeat by Indians under the command of Chief Little Turtle. As a result, then-President George Washington enlisted the services of his former subordinate, General "Mad" Anthony Wayne. Wayne raised an Army at a place called Legionville, near Pittsburgh, and traveled with them down the Ohio River to Fort Washington (present-day Cincinnati, Ohio). Augmenting the force (called the Legion of the United States) was a brigade of Kentucky militia under the command of Major General Charles Scott. One of the regiments in Scott's command was led by Lieutenant Colonel Horatio Hall. And Captain Nathan Rawlings commanded a company of mounted volunteers in Hall's regiment in the summer and fall of 1793. (26)
Wayne's methods of ensuring a victory over the Indians was to integrate the Kentucky Militia into the Legion's training and to drill his collective force into a very well disciplined army. Having achieved this with a great deal of success, Wayne released the militia in the fall of 1793 to return to their homes and take care of their families for the winter (27). Nathan Rawlings was among the released militiamen, and he returned to his family in Kentucky. In December, he was appointed by Governor Shelby as a justice of the peace for newly formed Harrison County (28). In February of 1794, he took his position as one of the men who made up the first group of justices of the peace for the Harrison County Court. (29)
In the summer of 1794, the Kentucky militia was recalled to participate in General Wayne's decisive campaign against the Indians, now led by Chief Blue Jacket of the Shawnee. Blue Jacket was impatient with Little Turtle's reluctance to fight against the "general who never slept," and took over command of the Indian confederation that would stand in opposition to Wayne. The Kentuckians took up the march in July and joined Wayne in southern Ohio. From their encampments, the Legion continued further north and on August 20, fought the Indians at a place called Fallen Timbers. The battle took place at the rapids on the Maumee river, not far from present day Toledo, Ohio. Nathan Rawlings was again in command of a company of mounted volunteers, this time in Major Notley Conn's battalion. The battle ended in decisive victory for Wayne and the Legion of the United States.
A news account in the Herald, Norfolk and Portsmouth Advertiser showed that Captain Nathan Rawlings was among the wounded at Fallen Timbers(30) . He was also mentioned conspicuously in General Wayne's dispatch to the Secretary of War, in which Wayne stated that, "the wounds received by...Cap't Rawlins...of Mounted Volunteers, bear honorable testamony to [his] bravery and conduct." (31)
Family history indicates that Nathan Rawlings was carried back to Kentucky on a litter and nursed back to health by his wife, the former Mary Rankin. (32)
In 1795, Nathan Rawlings was a state representative in the Kentucky General Assembly for Harrison County.(33) He was also appointed that year by the governor to be one of the Justices of the Court of Quarter Sessions.(34) On 16 December, he was promoted to Lieutenant Colonel in command of the 20th Regiment of the Kentucky Volunteer Militia. (35)
Nathan Rawlings appears in deed and court records in Kentucky (primarily Harrison County) several times over the period from the mid-1790's to about 1801.(36) There is evidence that he had probably re-located to Ohio by 1803. It was in that year that the local newspaper published a list of persons who had failed to retrieve letters at the post office. One of the individuals on the list was Nathan Rawlins, Franklinton.(37) There are also numerous mentions of him as a Justice of the Peace in Franklin County, Ohio. In fact he conducted the marriage ceremony for his nephew Moses Rawlings to Sally McCandliss in Franklin County in 1807.(38)
According to George Washington Rawlings, Nathan's grandson, (son of Benjamin Scott Rawlings), Nathan and Mary Rankin Rawlings were the parents of eight children (5 boys an 3 girls) who grew to adulthood. The sons were Nathan Jr., James, Benjamin Scott, Michael and Provence. The daughters were Letitia, Sarah and Jane.(39)
Nathan Rawlings' final settlement was at Lawrence County, Illinois about 1806, when
"William Spencer built a double log house...Shortly after this, Nathan Rawlings settled on Indian Creek,..." (40)
Another reference indicates that... "The Rawlings family were from Kentucky and located here [Lawrence County] in 1816. The old man was very aged when he made his advent here, and lived but a few years."(41)
Yet another reference describes Nathan Rawlings as, "..a noted hunter in his day, and was a champion of all athletic sports."(42)
Nathan Rawlings entered his claims to land in Lawrence County in 1816. By this time, he was in his late 60's. He died on 10 May 1821 and is buried in the Spring Hill Cemetery not far from Bridgeport, Illinois.(43) Nathan Rawlings was married to Mary Rankin about 1790.(44) She was the daughter of David and Hannah Rankin.(45)
Nathan and Mary's children were:
1. Nathan Rawlings, Jr. was born in Kentucky on 16 September 1793. (46) He married Polly McCleave 2 June 1822 in Lawrence County, Illinois.(47) He and Polly had at least twelve children between 1822 and 1847, all born in Lawrence County.(48) Years after his death, Polly claimed that Nathan JR was a veteran of the War of 1812, having enlisted while living in Pickaway County, Ohio.(49) There is a record of a Nathan Rawlings having served in CAPT. JOB. RADCLIFF'S COMPANY (County Unknown) from July 26 to August 26, 1813(50); however, Polly was never able to prove her husband's service.
During the Black Hawk War in 1832, Nathan Rawlings, Jr., served in Captain Abner Greer's company, Spy Battalion, 2nd Brigade, Illinois Mounted Volunteers.(51) By 1860, he and his family were living in Sangamon County, Illinois.(52) This was his last residence, near Pleasant Plains. Nathan died on 5 September 1865. His estate was probated in Sangamon County, and indicates that the land originally settled on in Lawrence County in 1816 was sold to settle outstanding debts. (53)
2. Provence Rawlings was born between 1795 and 1800.(54) He was named for his maternal grandmother, Hannah Province.(55) Provence married Nancy Glenn (born about 1800)(56) in Crawford County, Illinois on 6 April 1820.(57) They lived in Crawford and Jasper Counties, Illinois, before moving to present-day Coles County shortly after 1835.(58) Here, Provence died, in mid 1839. His estate was probated in Coles County, Illinois and is indexed under the spelling "Province Rollings".(59)
3. James Rawlings was born in Kentucky 31 August 1798.(60) He married his cousin Eleanor Rawlings in Edwards County, Illinois on 27 February 1820. (61) Eleanor was the daughter of Asahel and Nancy (Pendergrass) Rawlings.(62) James and Eleanor became the parents of at least 10 children.(63) Eleanor Rawlings died 20 June 1844.(64) Her husband followed her in death on 6 November 1855.(65) Both are buried in the Lawrenceville City, Lawrence County, Illinois Cemetery.
4. Benjamin Scott Rawlings was born 17 July 1799(66) and was the youngest son of Nathan and Mary Rankin Rawlings. He married Christena (Kitty) Mattox in Lawrence County, Illinois on 9 May 1823.(67) They lived in the Sangamon/Menard County, Illinois area not long after.(68) Records from Fulton County, Illinois indicate that he owned property on an island in the Illinois River in the late 1830's.(69) By 1840, he had moved to Ogle County, Illinois.(70) In 1843, Benjamin settled in Clinton County, Iowa (71), where he died at DeWitt on 15 March 1846.(72)
5. Jane Rawlings was born in Kentucky, probably in the early 1790's. She married Joseph Bogart (Bogard) in Franklin County, Ohio 18 February 1806.(73) From early Illinois records, it appears that Joseph and his wife and children (assuming they had children) moved to southern Illinois with Jane's father Nathan and his extended family. Records concerning Joseph Bogart are found in early Crawford County Court papers.(74) Jane probably died before or during 1830. Joseph Bogart died 11 October 1830, and his estate was probated in Sangamon County, Illinois. Jane is not mentioned in the existing estate papers. (75)
6. Letitia Rawlings was born in Kentucky probably in the early 1790's. There have been claims that Letitia was the daughter of Moses/Michael and Mary Cornwell Rawlings; however, the Gatewood Family Genealogy indicates she was born about 1790.(76) If this was the case, then she certainly was not the daughter of Moses/ Michael, who died about 1787 in Kentucky. Letitia married first to John Denny in Franklin County, Ohio in December 1806.(77) They had two children, Nathan and Peggy. John died during the War of 1812, and Letitia remarried to Phillip Gatewood in Pickaway County, Ohio on 3 February 1813.(78) They had at least two children. One was Jane, born in 1818 in Illinois.(79) Because of this and the following references, Letitia appears to have lived in southern Illinois as well, when Nathan and family were there. A Phillip Gatewood appears in the 1820 Wayne County, Illinois federal census.(80) There is also a reference to a man named Gatewood being involved in a homicide early in Richland County, Illinois. The history shows he was never brought to justice for the crime.(81) (In 1820, the year Phillip Gatewood appeared in the Wayne County census, the western-most part of Richland County was part of then-Wayne County).(82) Letitia was buried on the Denny farm in Pickaway County, Ohio.(83)
Another daughter was born in 1824, so Letitia died sometime after then.(84) Phillip is listed in the 1830 Pickaway County, Ohio census, but does not appear in 1840.(85)7. Sarah Rawlings was born in Kentucky, probably in the early 1790's, and married Robert Higgins in Pickaway County, Ohio. A license for the marriage is dated 16 July 1810;(86) however there was no minister's or justice's return. Nothing further is known by the author at this point.
NOTES: Nathan Rawlings' signature above was found along with the signature of his brother Asahel on a Harrison County, Kentucky promissory note executed in mid-1794 just prior joining the Kentucky militia's expedition with General Anthony Wayne which culminated with the U.S. Army's victory at Fallen Timbers in August. (SIGNATURE NOT INCLUDED HERE BUT AVAILABLE IN ORIGINAL DOCUMENT BY AUTHOR)
1. From Family Notes by Bessie Geraldine Rawlings Lathrop (1880-1961), great granddaughter of Nathan Rawlings (Nathan, Benjamin Scott, Luke, Bessie) copies of which are in the possession of the author.
2. Baltimore County, Maryland Deeds, Folio Y #1, page 234.
3. Baltimore County, Maryland Deeds, Folio Y #1, page 234.
4. Baltimore County Deed Book #1 - 0331
5. Virginia Genealogist, vol. 17, p. 214.
6. Will of David Rankin, JR, Harrison County, Kentucky, in which he names his daughter Mary Rawlings, October Court 1795
7. Military Records from Pennsylvania Bureau of Archives and History - data cards
8. Pennsylvania Archives 2nd Series Vol. XI.
9. From American Militia in the Frontier Wars, 1790-1796
10. Estate of Michael Rawlings, Washington County, Pennsylvania - It appears that a promissory note concerning Michael Rawlings' debt to John Preble was executed in 1780. Estate proceedings were underway by 1782.
11. Washington County, Pennsylvania Deed Book 1-B, page 288.
12. Estate of Michael Rawlings, Washington County, Pennsylvania - Joseph Brown's petition for warrant to sell land previously inhabited by Michael Rawlings - May 1786
13. Estate of Michael Rawlings, Washington County, Pennsylvania - Survey Document showing drawing of survey and dated 24 Mar 1788
14. Ibid. (WRITE TO AUTHOR FOR DIAGRAM)
15. Washington County, Pennsylvania Deed Book 1-D, page 23.
16. There is an intestate record for a Nathan Rawlings in Washington County in the year 1782. A later record indicates that in May 1785, Daniel Rawlings, brother to this Nathan, and administrator of his estate, showed to the court that there was a balance of more than 68 pounds left from the estate settlement and that the "Administrator [was] subject to distribution according to law"-the Nathan mentioned in this intestate record could not then have been the same Nathan who in December of 1785, deeded part of "Content" to Andrew Swearingen.
17. Several references allude to a Michael Rawlings in Ohio during 1785:- Photostat of Northwest Territory Expenses, listing monies paid for various services provided the military under Josiah Harmar. Michael Rawlings and others paid 156-11-6 on 3 August 1785 (Copy from National Archives).- April 1785 petition of inhabitants of the Northwest Territory requesting time to establish homes elsewhere, before being ejected by military forces under command of Josiah Harmar. Petition contains signature of Michael Rawlings.
18. Shreiner-Yantis, The Personal Property tax Lists for the Year 1787 for Fayette County, Virginia (now Kentucky), 1985.
19. Fayette County, Kentucky Estate Records - Will of Elijah Nuttal (1796), naming daughter Sarah and son-in-law Daniel Rawlings.
20. See Register of the Kentucky Historical Society, Vol.37, p. 379 - From Bourbon County, Kentucky Circuit Court Records.
21. Bourbon County, Kentucky tax List - 1791.
22. Bessie Geraldine Rawlings Lathrop Notes - from family history passed down through descendants of Benjamin Scott Rawlings.
23. Bourbon County, Kentucky Marriage Records (Joshua Rawlings to Sophia Kennedy), and Bourbon County Kentucky Wills, will of Joshua Rawlings (1801)
24. From American Militia in the Frontier Wars, 1790-1796
25. Executive Journal of Governor Isaac Shelby - Entry for 28 June 1792.
26. From American Militia in the Frontier Wars, 1790-1796; See also muster rolls and pay rolls for Hall's Regiment - 1793
27. Griswold, Pictorial History of Fort Wayne, Indiana, p. 124.
28. Executive Journal of Governor Isaac Shelby - Entry for 19 December 1793
29. Perrin and Robert, History of Harrison, Bourbon, Scott and Nicholas Counties, Kentucky (1882).
30. See issue for 4 October 1794 - lists injured and killed Kentucky Volunteers.
31. General Wayne - dispatch to the Secretary of War from headquarters at Grand Glaze - 28 August 1794.
32. Bessie Geraldine Rawlings Lathrop Family notes; notes from Dr. Thomas Kirkwood, descendant of James Rawlings, son of Nathan Rawlings.
33. Perrin and Robert.
34. Executive Journal of Governor Isaac Shelby - 1795
35. Executive Journal of Governor Isaac Shelby - Entry for 16 December 1795
36. Several references, among them: 1795 Harrison County, Kentucky Tax List; 6 March 1795 arrest warrant (John Hinds v. Nathan Rawlings); 1796 Harrison County, Kentucky tax List; 19 Apr 1799 Nathan Rawlings purchases from James Chambers, Lot #74 in town of Cynthiana, Kentucky; 12 Mar 1801, Nathan Rawlings and wife Mary purchase 110 acres in Harrison County, Kentucky (land from James Blackburn lying on the south fork of the Licking River).
37. Ohio Newspapers - 1800-1810
38. Franklin County, Ohio Marriages - Moses Rawlings to Sally McCandlis - 4 January 1807 - Justice of the Peace Nathan Rawlings.
39. Interview with Washington Rawlings (1835-1916) recorded by his daughter Ellen Rawlings Eades (1871-1948) in Portland Oregon - 1912.
40. From The Combined Histories of Edwards, Lawrence, and Wabash Counties, Illinois (p.71)
41. Ibid., (p.229).
42. Ibid., (p.327)
43. Spring Hill Cemetery stone, Lawrence County, Illinois.
44. The Denny Genealogy, Second Book (1944) says that Letitia was the daughter of Moses and Mary Cornwell Rawlings; However, it also indicates she was born about 1790. Her first son was Nathan Denny, and in her 1806 marriage, it was with the "consent of her father", Nathan Rawlings.
45. See Fredrick County, Virginia will of Thomas Province (1767), naming daughter Hannah Rankin; also Harrison County, Kentucky will of David Rankin, JR (1795), naming wife Hannah Rankin and daughter Mary Rawlings.
46. Pension affidavit from Polly Rawlings - 1880's - attesting to her husband's military service.
47. Ibid.
48. 1850 Lawrence County, Illinois Federal Census.
49. Pension affidavit from Polly Rawlings - 1880's - attesting to her husband's military service.
50. Ohio Adjutant General's Report of Ohio Soldiers in the War of 1812.
51. Illinois Adjutant General's Report of Illinois Soldiers in the Black Hawk War; also, pension affidavit by Polly Rawlings -1880's- attesting to Nathan's military service.
52. 1860 Sangamon County, Illinois Federal Census.
53. Sangamon County, Illinois Estate Record #1795 - Nathan Rawlings (d. Sep 1865)
54. Comparison of ages in 1830 (federal) and 1835 (state) censuses of llinois.
55. See Fredrick County, Virginia will of Thomas Province (1767), naming daughter Hannah Rankin; also Harrison County, Kentucky will of David Rankin, Jr. (1795), naming wife Hannah Rankin and daughter Mary Rawlings (mother of Provence Rawlings).
56. Coles County Estate Records - Provence Rawlings. Widow Nancy requested appointment of Joseph GLENN as administrator; Nancy's birth year from comparison of ages in 1830 (federal), 1835 (state), and 1840 (federal) censuses of Illinois.
57. Crawford County, Illinois Marriage Records.
58. From Illinois Census information - residence in Crawford County, Illinois during 1835 Illinois state census; then references in jasper County History.
59. Coles County Estate Records - Province Rollings
60. Lawrenceville, Illinois Cemetery gravestone died 6 November 1855 (age 57years, 2 months, and 6 days).
61. Edwards County, Illinois Marriage Records.
62. Gallatin County, Kentucky deed records indicate Jesse was Eleanor's uncle; Jefferson County, Kentucky Court cases show that Jesse and Nancy were brother and sister.
63. 1850 Federal Census of Lawrence County, Illinois.
64. Lawrenceville, Illinois Cemetery gravestone died 20 June 1844 (age 47 years, 6 months, and 21days).
65. Lawrenceville, Illinois Cemetery gravestone died 6 November 1855 (age 57years, 2 months, and 6 days).
66. Bessie Geraldine Rawlings Lathrop Family notes.
67. Lawrence County, Illinois Marriages.
68. 1830 Sangamon County, Illinois Federal Census; also Sangamon County Estate Records - Joseph Bogart (1831 - Benjamin S. Rawlings, administrator).
69. Fulton County, Illinois Deed Records ca. 1836
70. 1840 Ogle County, Illinois Federal Census.
71. The History of Clinton County, Iowa - 1879, p.544
72. Ibid.
73. Franklin County, Ohio Marriage Records.
74. a) Stephen Beck v. Joseph Bogart , for Trespass (1817)
b) Thomas Dunlap v. Joseph Bogart, for Debt (1826)
c) People v. Joseph Bogart, for Assault and Battery (1827)
75. Sangamon County, Illinois Estate Records - original in Illinois Regional Archives Depository at University of Illinois-Springfield's Brookens Library, Springfield, Illinois.
76. Gothberg, Carol J., John and Amy Gatewood, and Their Descendants (1666-1986), 1987, p. 37.
77. Franklin County, Ohio Marriage records.
78. Pickaway County, Ohio Marriage Records.
79. DAR application of Miriam Pratt Matthews, great great granddaughter of Phillip Gatewood and Letitia Rawlings Denny Gatewood)
80. 1820 Wayne County, Illinois federal census, p. 174.
81. History of Cumberlan, Jasper and Richland Counties, Illinois (1884), p.637
82. Origin and Evolution of Illinois Counties, Published by the State of Illinois - Secretary of State - 1984.
83. Gothberg, p.37. . 84. DAR application of Miriam Pratt Matthews (Mentions 1850 census age of second daughter, but does not mention daughter's name)
85. Gothberg, p. 37; Ohio censuses - 1830, 1840.
86. Pickaway County, Ohio Marriage Records
Children of NATHAN RAWLINGS and MARY RANKIN are:
i. LETITIA5 RAWLINGS, b. Abt. 1790.
ii. SARAH RAWLINGS, b. Abt. 1790, Kentucky; m. ROBERT HIGGINS, July 16, 1810, Pickaway County, Ohio.
iii. JANE RAWLINGS, b. Abt. 1790; d. Bef. October 11, 1830, Illinois; m. JOSEPH BOGART, 1806, Franklin Co., Ohio.
iv. NATHAN RAWLINGS, b. September 16, 1793, Bourbon County, Kentucky; d. September 05, 1865, Sangamon County, Illinois.
4. v. PROVENCE RAWLINGS, b. Abt. 1795, Harrison County, Kentucky; d. 1839, Coles County, Illinois.
vi. MICHAEL RAWLINGS, b. Abt. 1795, Kentucky; m. JENNIE JOHNSTON, 1824, Lawrence Co., Illinois.
vii. JAMES RAWLINGS, b. August 31, 1798, Harrison County, Kentucky; d. November 06, 1855, Lawrence County, Illinois.
viii. BENJAMIN SCOTT RAWLINGS, b. July 17, 1799, Harrison County, Kentucky; d. March 15, 1846, DeWitt, Clinton County, Iowa.
Contributed by © Ed Wiessing - http://genealogytrails.com/ill/revwarsoldier_nathanrawlings.html
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