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Georgia and SC Loyalists- Hilburn family

Georgia and SC Loyalists- Hilburn family

Posted: 18 Apr 2015 1:48AM GMT
Classification: Query
Surnames: Hilburn, Hilbun

In researching my Hilbun/Hilburn ancestors found in 1788 in Burke Co., GA, I discovered that there were several Hilburns who apparently were aligned with the Loyalists in the American Revolution. Records show that a William Hilburn of SC was fighting with the Loyalists and taken prisoner with others in 1775 in what is referred to as the Snow Campaign. This is referenced in a book by Robert Lambert. If I remember correctly this William Hilburn was from the Newberrry District. Later in the war, in 1781, a John Hilburn was listed as being a private with the King's Carolina Rangers (Loyalist troop). He mustered in at Augusta, GA and many of the soldiers were from Newberry area of SC (i.e. Thomas Fletcher, Richard Pearis). At the close of the war, when the Loyalists were defeated, many Loyalists fled GA. A British document enumerated the "Georgia Loyalists who fled to East Florida (British Territory) as "refugees"". This was in July 1783 (source- dissertation by Robert G. Mitchell entitled "Loyalist Georgia". Among those GA Loyalists listed were "Hollum Hilburn and William Hilburn". A Holiman Hilburn bought land in Burke, GA in 1788 and a William Hilburn was a CC (chain carrier) in the same area as Holiman in same time frame. What we don't know if these Hilburns in Burke were connected to the Wm. Hilburn, Loyalist, in Newberry, SC.

After the Rev. War, some Americans filed claims with the British government, regarding their losses during the Revoltuion. William Hilburn, Sr. and William Hilburn, Jr. of Newberry did file Loyalist claims with England acc. to Peter Wilson Coldham's book: American Migrations, 1765–1799: The Lives, Times, and Families of Colonial Americans Who Remained Loyal to the British Crown before, during and after the Revolutionary War, as Related in Their Own Words and through Their Correspondence.

This information about the SC William Hilburn family and the Burke Co., GA Hilburns sheds new light on these families and makes me wonder if they are actually related.

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