Wardlaw Family
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GENEALOGY OF THE WARDLAW FAMILY WITH SOME ACCOUNT OF OTHER FAMILIES WITH WHICH IT IS CONNECTED DATE MICROFILM GENEALOGICAL DEPARTMENT ITEM ON ROLL CAMERA NO CHURCH OF JESUS CHRIST OF LATTER-DAY SAINTS CATALOGUE NO. iKJJr/? 7-/02 ^s<m BY JOSEPH G. WARDLAW EXPLANATION OF CHARACTERS The letters A, B, C, D, E, F, G, H denote the generations beginning with Robert (Al). The large figures indicate the heads of families, or those especially mentioned in their generation. Each generation begins with 1 and continues in regular sequence. The small figures show number, according to birth, in each particular family. Children dying in infancy or early youth are not mentioned again in line with their brothers and sisters. As the work progressed, new material was received, which, in some measure, interfered with the plan above outlined. Many families named in the early generations have been lost in subsequent tracing, no information being available. By a little examination or study of the system, it will be found possible to trace the lineage of any person named in the book, through all generations back to Robert (Al). PREFACE For a number of years I mave been collecting data con cerning the Wardlaw and allied families. The work was un dertaken for my own satisfaction and pleasure, without thought of publication, but others learning of the material in my hands have urged that it be put into book form. I have had access to MSS. of my father and his brothers, Lewis, Frank and Robert, all practically one account, and presumably obtained from their father, James Wardlaw, who in turn doubtless received it from his father, Hugh. Judge D. L. Wardlaw's manuscript was put into print some years after his death, and is a valuable epitome of family affairs up to about 1885. Recent investigation of official rec ords, and histories of Augusta and Rockbridge Counties, in Virginia, has enabled me to furnish additional information concerning our early ancestors who settled in Augusta, sub sequently Rockbridge, County, Virginia, about 1740. Libraries, court records, church rolls, histories, manuscripts, old letters, voluminous correspondence, and personal visiis to cemeteries, and old home sites have all contributed to the historical accuracy of what is written. Little satisfying information could be gathered from a visit to England and Scotland—from whence our forbears came—but Mr. Alexander Wardlaw, Bank President of Glas gow, gave us a list of books bearing on the subject, aud which proved most interesting and helpful in an attempt to unravel the intricacies of foreign ancestry. There is, perhaps, no special merit in the arrangement of material in this book; indeed, there are recognized objections to the plan adopted; and there is certainly no claim for lit erary merit in the production; it is simply the effort of a busy man to preserve, in permanent form, some account of his family. Kinsmen have, in most instances, responded to requests for details concerning their immediate families—Clayton J. Wardlaw, a lawyer of Columbus, Ohio, furnished the account of the Western branch—Judge Thomas P. Cothran's publica tion, "The Perrin Family," has been helpful. Indeed, it would be impossible to enumerate all of the sources from which facts have been secured. I have traveled miles in order to verify certain information, and yet there are statements that cannot be guaranteed as being absolutely correct. Whatever may be the views of others, I have thought the family genealogy of sufficient importance to spend "time, money and attention" in its preparation. I am aware of its imperfections—there are, doubtless, some errors and many omissions—but it is offered to those con cerned with the hope that it may prove of interest, and that the compilation will, at least, serve as a nucleus for a more complete and perfect genealogistic endeavor. JOSEPH G. WARDLAW. York, S. C., October, 1929. An interesting note is found in Judge Wardlaw's book, which is worthy of preservation, and is, therefore, presented here as sound doctrine. He says, "I believe firmly in hereditary influence, not only upon bodily form, movements, appetites, and other physical qualities, but upon the moral propensities and feelings con nected with these qualities, and upon all the mental faculties. "I believe that inherited qualities often disappear for one generation or more, and then reappear; so that often a de scendant resembles as much an uncle or granduncle as a father or grandfather. "Further, I believe that by free and judicious selection, the human race might be so improved that a man of the new species would be as far above one of the present, as a Cau casian is now above a gorilla. "Sunday, January 5, 1873." COAT-OF-ARMS Various publications confirm the statement that the Ward- laws of Scotland were for long years owners of well recognized, registered and authenticated Coats-of Arms, and if the Amer ican branch is the same as the Scottish family, then ours is more than an "assumptive" right to the armorial insignia of the Wardlaws of Petreavie and Balmule. There is much sim ilarity in the Arms of the Wardlaws of Wilton and Torrie, of Raccarton, of Warriston, and of Petreavie and Balmule; however, only a slight change in color or character of metals, etc., is sufficient to cause a distinct difference in armorial bearings. I imagine that the good old Scotchmen, Robert and William Wardlaw, who first came to America, were not greatly concerned about the intricacies of heraldry. Burke's Peerage, Baronetage and Knightage, in several editions, says, "Sir Henry Wardlaw, 1st Knight Baronet of Balmule and Baron of Petreavie, County Fife, created March 5, 1630." "Arms Quarterly: 1st and 4th AZ, three mascles Or for Wardlaw; 2nd and 3rd AZ, three water bougets Or for Val- lence. Crest An estoile Or Motto Familias firmat pietas It is hoped that the colors of the Coat-of-Arms in my pos session will be sufficiently developed in the cut representing the arms. The shield or field is blue (AZ); the mascles Or lozenges are gold (Or) ; three water bougets Or. The crest is a golden star (estoile Or). The motto commends itself and I believe has not lost its meaning for the family of today. RANDOM NOTES The first Secession meeting was held at Abbeville, and the last Cabinet meeting, or Council of War, four or five members being present, was held at the residence of Major Burt, while President Davis was on his way to Georgia and the Trans-Mississippi. Judge Edward McIver told me that he had frequently hear- his father, Chief Justice McIver, who was a member of the Secession Convention, say that there was no doubt that Chan cellor Francis H. Wardlaw was the author of the original draft of the Ordinance of Secession, and that this fact was acknowledged by Chancellor Inglis, Chairman of the Com mittee. I have heard that Uncle Robert Wardlaw, Mr. Charles Has kell, and two other old gentlemen, whose names are not re called, met on the streets of Abbeville, and, counting up, found' that the four had thirty-two sons in the Confederate States Army. As an instance of unusual tenure of office, it is worthy of mention that James Wardlaw was Clerk of Court for thirty- eight years, having previously been Deputy Clerk for four years. For forty-nine years he served as Secretary of the Long Cane Society, being succeeded by his son, Robert, who was Secretary for forty-five years; father and son filling the office for ninety-four years. An elderly lady told me she had heard men say that "Old man Jimmie Wardlaw would hold office until Gabriel blew his trumpet." Mr. George Syfan was another man who served long and well; he was an engineer on the old "Abbeville Branch," now Southern Railway, from Hodges to Abbeville, for about fifty years; his faithfulness being recognized by a life pension granted by the railroad authorities. Referring to the Scotch- Irish ancestors of Judge Wardlaw, Major Burt said: "They were distinguished by the love of liberty, appreciation of education, decorum of life, and deep religious sentiment which so distinctly characterize these stout champions of the free dom of conscience." It is written that John Ewing Calhoun (nephew of Patrick) 2 GENEALOGY OF THE WARDLAW FAMILY was the first person in the up country to receive a college education, he having been graduated from Princeton. McCrady says that to the good "Dr. John de la Howe was given the privilege of naming Abbeville County, which he did in compliment to the French Colony." History records the activities of the men of the district by saying that a fight was had at Ninety-Six in 1775 about eight months before the Declaration of Independence. The Department of the Interior, Bureau of Education, in Circular No. 24, speaks of the "Lethe Foundation," or Dr. de la Howe's Industrial School, as the oldest manual training school in America. ABBEVILLE The attempt to present some account of the Wardlaw and allied families would be incomplete without some reference to Abbeville District or County, where hundreds of the de scendants of the original settlers were born. Abbeville, Edgefield, Laurens and contiguous sections ap pear to have been rapidly settled after 1755, when the Chero kee Indians ceded a large territory in the upper part of the State. John, Hugh and Joseph Wardlaw, sons of William, left Rockbridge County, Virginia, about 1766 to 67, and, as far as can be determined, came direct to Abbeville County, without stopping or tarrying at Waxhaw—where many other settlers moving to South Carolina had halted for a time.