Person:Jacob Magee (2)

Jacob Magee, son of John and Sarah ___ Magee, was born before 1755 in Edgecombe County, North Carolina, shortly before his father John removed to Duplin County. His birth date is estimated from his first “appearance” in the records, as a witness to a 1773 deed from John Ryal to William Ryal in Duplin County (Duplin Co DB 5, 535). His coming of age shortly before the outbreak of the American Revolution raises the question of his involvement in that conflict. Indeed, we have evidence that Jacob Magee performed at least one militia tour during the war. North Carolina Revolutionary Army Accounts Book W-1, 24 shows that Jacob was issued warrant for £13.14.6. This has been interpreted by some as evidence that Jacob Magee furnished supplies to American forces, however the repetition of the sum £13.14.6, sandwiched between the names of Capt David Dodd and Capt David Jones proves, in fact, that the men on this page were being paid for their services as Duplin County militiamen. While impossible to state precisely for what militia services Jacob was paid, it is quite likely that he was called into service to counter one or both of the raids into Duplin County conducted by British Major James Craig from Wilmington in 1781, Craig being a subaltern of Cornwallis. Craig's raids are described in an interesting article in "The Quarterly Review of the Eastern North Carolina Genealogical Society," vol XIV, 169.

Jacob Magee married to Mary Scott, daughter of Nehemiah Scott about 1775, and they settled on the west side of Great Coharie Creek in Duplin County (Sampson County 1784 onward) near to his father and brothers. They also lived near to her father Nehemiah Scott (Nehemiah gave to “my daughter” Mary Magee a negro girl Rose on 8 March 1801, per Sampson County DB 11, 410). Jacob and Mary lived and farmed on the west side of Great Coharie until 1791, when he appears to have begun selling out in anticipation of a removal to South Carolina. At the Sampson County Court for February 1791, two deeds were proved from Jacob Magee to his father-in-law Nehemiah Scott, recorded in Sampson County DB 8, 409-12: (1) the first, which was made out on 29 Aug 1786, shows Jacob selling to Nehemiah Scott, for £12, a tract of land on the west side of Great Coharie, on both sides of Shepherd’s Branch, containing 100 acres; the date of the deed is “29 Aug 1786,” but the date is preceded by “in the 15th year of the American Independence,” which leads me to believe that it may have been executed in Aug 1790 along with (2) the second, made on 13 Aug 1790, by which Jacob Magee sold to Nehemiah Scott, for £50, three feather beds and furniture, two iron pots, one pan, one skillet, one dutch oven, one chest, three bed steads, nine pewter plates, three pewter dishes, four “basans,” one hunting saddle, one smoothing iron, seventeen geese, one linen wheel, one “woollen” wheel, and one pair cotton cards. The selling off of his property was completed later in 1791, on 30 Dec, when Jacob sold his remaining two tracts of 100 and 200 acres to Solomon Magee “Junior” (Sampson Co DB 9, 89).

The composition of Jacob Magee’s household in the 1790 federal census of Sampson County, North Carolina included 1 male +16 years, 1 male -16, 3 females and 21 (!) slaves. The number of slaves is quite high for a yeoman farmer. If the number is not an error, it shows that, combined with his property as outlined in the previous paragraph, this man was fairly well off. On a curious note, there is a second Jacob Magee enumerated in the 1790 census of Sampson County, in a completely different part of the county, surrounded by a different set of neighbors from the present Jacob Magee. This household, which has been an enigma to me for quite some time, included 1 male +16, 3 males -16, 5 females and no slaves.

The present Jacob Magee removed southwesterly into South Carolina, where he was enumerated on the 1800 census of Chesterfield District with 2 males -10, 1 male 10-15, 1 male 16-25, 1 male +45, 2 females -10, 2 females 10-15, 1 female 16-25, 1 female 26-44 and no slaves (!). His brother Philip was enumerated “3 doors” away and his brother Solomon was enumerated two pages previously, so we may be assured that we are dealing with our man, here. Unfortunately, the available records for Chesterfield County, South Carolina are meager, indeed, making it very difficult for us to discern much about Jacob’s life there. We do have record of his patenting of 100 acres of land on the south side of Fork Creek, a prong of Great Lynch’s Creek in Chesterfield District on 16 Nov 1803 (SC State Plats, Columbia Series, vol 40, p 187). This area is near the present-day community of Jefferson, South Carolina. Jacob’s brother, John, would also patent land on Fork Creek, the next year.

We have no further record of Jacob in South Carolina. The Mississippi Territory beckoned, and the first record we have for Jacob in Mississippi is on the 1810 Mississippi Territorial Census, in which he was enumerated in Amite County. Other Magees enumerated “nearby” were his sons Henry and Daniel, his brothers Phillip and John, and his nephew Willis Magee. When Marion County was formed off of Amite County in 1811, Jacob's property fell into Marion. His first mention in Marion County records was the recording of his brand in Marion County on 9 June 1812, a “swallow fork in the right ear a slit and a half moon in the left.” His son Myer Magee (Nehemiah) and brother Phillip Magee recorded brands on the same date, with Phillip’s being very similar...a “swallow fork in the right ear, a crop and slit in the left” (Russ Williams, Marion County, Mississippi Miscellaneous Records, 75). We do not have a record of Jacob Magee purchasing land in Mississippi. However, we know that he lived in or around the Northwest Quarter of Section Four, Township One, Range Twelve East of the Washington Land District in Mississippi, which is immediately north of the present-day community of Dexter, Walthall County. This is demonstrated by a case of ejectment argued before the Mississippi High Court of Errors and Appeals (i.e., Mississippi Supreme Court), by which Jackey Magee, Jacob’s son, brought suit against the heirs of Fleet Magee, another of Jacob’s sons. Testimony given in the case indicated that “the father, and mother, and the first wife of Jackey Magee, are buried in the land in controversy” (William Smedes, "Cases Argued and Decided in the Supreme Court of Mississippi," vol 37, 138-54). Jacob Magee died before 27 May 1816, when (his sons) Daniel and Fleet Magee were appointed administrators on his estate (Williams, 4). His widow Mary survived him by roughly sixteen years. She died before 23 July 1832 in Marion County, at which time (her son) Fleet Magee was appointed administrator on her estate (Williams, 39).

Contributed by: Bevin Creel

1. ↑ Duplin Co NC Deed Book 5, 535.

   1773 deed from John Ryal to William Ryal, with Jacob Magee as witness. Jacob's birth estimated from this date.

2. ↑ Russ Williams, "Marion County, Mississippi Miscellaneous Records," 4.

   27 May 1816, Daniel Magee and Fleet Magee appointed administrators on the estate of Jacob Magee.