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Archibald Sinclair, Tithingman at Frederica



Does anyone know who this Archibald Sinclair was, or where he came from?

(He is apparently not from my line of Sinclairs, who arrived in Georgia
from Thurso more than 100 years later.)

This is all referring to land on St. Simons Island, Georgia.
The author apparently doesn't know that St. Clair and Sinclair
are variants of the same name.  The Lachlan McIntosh who
owned the place later was the Brig. Gen. Lachlan McIntosh famous
in Georgia history.  His family were supporters of the Stewarts
and spent time at the Stewart residence in exile in France.
In another book is a narration of a typical dining event at
the St. Clair Club.

``Archibald Sinclair, Tithingman at Frederica, had a plantation
on Sinclair Creek, later called Village Creek,...''

p. 109

The above took place in the 1730s.

``Soon after the end of the War of 1812, James Gould bought
his first St. Simons property, a tract that included land
purchased from the Commissioners of Confiscated Estates
and acreage from the estate of Major Samuel Wright.
The entire 900-acre plantation, known as St. Clair,
or New St. Clair, lay across the center of the island
from Black Banks River to Dunbar Creek.

``Research has uncovered no record of any of this property
ever having been claimed by Archibald Sinclair, tithingman
at Frederica, whose ``Sinclair'' tract on the northeast side
of the island was known in plantation days as `St. Clair.'
It is possible however, that part of the `New St. Clair'
land had also been claimed by Archibald Sinclair and that it,
too, had been called `Sinclair' in the early years.''

p. 162.

In a chapter on St. Simons Plantations:

`SINCLAIR, the property that was developed in Oglethorpe's time
Archibald Sinclair, was known in plantation days as `St. Clair,'
evidently a corruption of the name `Sinclair.'

``In 1745 this tract was named as one of the successful plantations
on St. Simons Island.  However, the property was not listed in the
1755 Entry of Claims, which indicates that the family had left the
island and that the Sinclair grant was vacant.

``In 1765 the land was granted to Donald Forbes.  Forbes sold
to Lachlan McIntosh whose son, Major William McIntosh, lived
in the old plantation house until his death in 1799.
A headstone placed by the Daughters of the American Revolution
marks Major McIntosh's grave, and nearby are the little brick
tombs of his two children.

``In 1805 the property was bought from the McIntosh estate
by George Baillie who sold to his cousin, Alexander Wylly; and
Sinclair, known at that time as `St. Clair,' was included in
Wylly's Village Plantation.  When Mrs. Wylly's mother,
Mrs. Ann Armstrong, came from the Bahamas to make her home
on St. Simons, she lived in the old St. Clair house where she
died in 1816.  And when the Wylly's daughter, Frances, was married
to Dr. William Fraser, `late of the Royal Navy' and brother of
John Fraser, the couple lived for a time at St. Clair before
moving to Darien where Dr. Fraser served as mayor.

``The property was later bought by Major Pierce Butler who
gave the house, for a nominal rent, as a meeting place for the
<em>bon vivant</em> St. Clair Club.  It was also headquarters
for the Agricultural and Sporting Club organized by island planters
in 1832.  The old plantation house burned in 1857.

``Over the following years the place belonged to various oweners,
and in 1954 a bronze marker was erected on the Sinclair tract
by the Georgia Historical Commission.''

pp. 155-156.

<em>Georgia's Land of the Golden Isles,<em>
by Burnette Vanstory,
The University of Georgia Press,
Athens, 1956, 1970,
LCCN 56-13004,
SBN 8203-0081-0.

Thanks,
John
-- 
John S. Quarterman <jsq@mids.org>
President, Matrix Information and Directory Services (MIDS)
mids@mids.org, http://www.mids.org, +1-512-451-7602, fax: +1-512-452-0127
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