Person:Thomas Dougan (3)

In early 1776, Thomas Dougan was a known Captain under Lt. Col. James Martin in the Guilford County Regiment of Militia. His company was too late to participate in the battle of Moore's Creek Bridge or the subsequent rounding up of Loyalist prisoners. It is very likely that he was commissioned as a Captain as early as September of 1775, but this Author has found no definitive evidence thereof.

On February 2, 1779, the NC Provincial Congress created Randolph County out of Guilford County, and soon thereafter Capt. Thomas Dougan reported to Col. John Collier of the newly-created Randolph County Regiment of Militia.

In September of 1780, Capt. Thomas Dougan was assigned to Col. William Richardson Davie in the newly-created NC State Cavalry-Western District. Capt. Thomas Dougan led his company at the battle of Charlotte on September 26, 1780. This unit was disbanded in December of 1780, and upon his return to his old regiment he was promoted to Major under Col. John Collier.

Maj. Thomas Dougan led a detachment of the Randolph County Regiment of Militia at the battle of Eutaw Springs, SC on September 8, 1781.

Sometime during late September of 1781, the Loyalist Col. David Fanning captured Maj. Thomas Dougan (probably on his way back from the battle of Eutaw Springs, SC) and took him to Wilmington, where he was retained until the British evacuated the town on November 13, 1781. Prisoners were simply left behind as the British marched out of the town and boarded their troop ships.

In March of 1782, Maj. Thomas Dougan led a small detachment of the Randolph County Regiment of Militia against the Loyalist Col. John Elrod and two of his men at the skirmish known as the Forks of the Yadkin. Col. Elrod and one man were hanged after their capture.

In mid-1782, Thomas Dougan was promoted to Lt. Colonel in the Randolph County Regiment of Militia under Col. James Dougan, who had recently been promoted due to the resignation of Col. John Collier.

In the 2Q of 1783, Thomas Dougan was promoted to second Colonel, alongside Col. Edward Sharpe, in the Randolph County Regiment of Militia, replacing Col. James Dougan, who had recently resigned. He retained this position until the end of the war later in 1783.

Thomas Dougan, the son of Thomas Hill Dougan and Mary Kerr, was born in 1746 in Lancaster County, PA. In 1782, Thomas Dougan married Isabella Sharp, and they had six known children - Sarah, Thomas S., Mary, Eleanor, Jean (Jane), and Washington. He died on September 7, 1795 in Randolph County, NC.

After the American Revolution, Thomas Dougan was elected to the NC Senate for three terms - 1783, 1784, and 1788. Earlier, he had donated 100 acres for the settlement of a new Court House in Randolph

https://www.carolana.com/NC/Revolution/patriot_leaders_nc_thomas_dougan.html

Thomas Dougan Jr.
BIRTH
1746
Paxtang, Dauphin County, Pennsylvania, USA
DEATH
30 Sep 1795 (aged 48–49)
Randolph County, North Carolina, USA
BURIAL
Bell Welborn Cemetery
Randolph County, North Carolina, USA

Father: * Thomas DOUGAN SR. b: C 1719 in ?
Mother: * Mary KERR b: CAL 1726 in ?

Marriage 1 * Isabel SHARP b: CAL 1766 in Paxtang Twp. PA

* Married: 1782/1783 in Randolph Co.,NC

Children
Sarah DOUGAN b: 25 JUL 1784 in Deep River Waters, Randolph Co., NC
Thomas S. DOUGAN b: 27 JAN 1787 in Randolph Co., NC
Mary DOUGAN b: 19 MAR 1788 in Randolph Co., NC
Eleanor DOUGAN b: 3 MAY 1790 in Randolph Co., NC
Jean (Jane) DOUGAN b: 19 FEB 1793 in Randolph Co., NC
Washington DOUGAN b: 1 MAY 1792 in Randolph Co., NC

https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/62838646/thomas-dougan

The eldest, Colonel Thomas Dougan (1746-1795), was described as a plantation owner and community leader. He married Isabelle Sharp (1756-1804), 20 years younger, whose family had moved from Pennsylvania with the Dougans; they produced four daughters and a posthumous son, Thomas. The son, who died in Clark County, Indiana, in 1853, produced five daughters and five sons - an example of Dougan family proliferation (and that this was a 3rd Dougan branch to settle in Indiana).

What did Thomas Dougan senior die of at such a young age that he remade his will a week before his death, leaving a third of his plantation to Isabelle as long as she remained his widow (she remarried), and making provision for the unborn child she carried, his only son Thomas. Of some importance was his giving his brother Robert and his brother-in-law Anthony Sharp testamentary power to sell or dispose of his "lands lying in the Western Territory," nearly 3,000 acres of bounty land granted him for his military service. This Western Territory land, as we shall see, was unsettled land at the western edge Tennessee on the Mississippi River in what became Dyer County. His brother Colonel James Dougan and their father-in-law, Colonel Edward Sharp (our 6th great-grandfather), also received large land grants in the same place. At the time, North Carolina owned the territory that became the state of Tennessee. As an aside, Thomas owned 9 slaves in the 1790 census.

http://raneygenealogy.blogspot.com/2017/08/the-dougan-brothers-after-american.html