Hamby's at the Oglethorpe Settlement

Top Ten Things a Hamby Should Know

#8 - WE ARE PROBABLY DESCENDED FROM THE OGLETHORPE SETTLEMENT OF EARLY GEORGIA HISTORY

Did you know it is possible that our Hamby ancestors knew John and Charles Wesley personally? And that they were loyalists who fought on the “wrong” side of the Revolutionary War?

According to Uncle C.P. (the last remaining Hamby of his generation on our line), the Hamby’s are descended from the Oglethorpe Settlement, establishing the colony of Georgia in the 1730’s. He couldn’t remember details, but was sure that this was the family story. When he told me this, I began research on the validity of his claim.

If true, this would be how our Hamby surname came from England. This settlement is well known in Methodist history, because it’s where John and Charles Wesley came and did missionary work as young pastors in the 1730’s. Since the settlement had some 2,000 people in it, if this is true, then it is likely that our Hamby ancestors there were acquainted with the Wesleys.

Unlike the other items on my list of “top ten,” I can’t prove this one. Everyone I know working on Hamby genealogy has hit a brick wall and can’t identify the parents of Jesse N. Hamby, grandfather of Grandpa C.P. Hamby, born about 1792 in South Carolina. However, since I have found evidence that there were indeed Hamby’s there in Georgia shortly after the Oglethorpe time period, and since history shows that after the settlement disbanded many of the settlers went to South Carolina, I believe the family story is probably true. Our ancestor Jesse would have been born a generation or two later in South Carolina.

Here are a few facts that support my theory that the family story is correct. On a list of original colonists of South Carolina, two of the names are “Samuel Hanby” and “William Hanvey” who were residents in 1779. Our Clark ancestors were clearly on this same list, and since marriages tended to happen between familiar families, this supports the idea that one of these was also our ancestor, and father or grandfather of Jesse.

Another supporting fact is that there were Hamby’s in Savannah who fought on the side of England. A list of “Loyalists in the Southern Command of the Revolutionary War” included a Thomas Hamby, Nathaniel Hamby, and an Isaac Hamby on the Savannah muster roll. The Camden, SC muster roll included a Thomas Hamby, William Hamby, and Jeremiah Hamby who were listed as “prisoner of rebels.” Several Hamby’s were tried for “sedition” (just short of treason) in 1776 in South Carolina. They were listed as loyalists or “royalists,” condemned to be hanged but later acquitted in 1781. Their names were John Hamby, Isaac Hamby, Nathaniel Hamby, Jeremiah Hamby, and Thomas Hamby.

Another supporting fact is that there was an early Methodist circuit rider named Rev. Milford Gilead Hamby from Oglethorpe County, Georgia, born a bit later in 1833.

So though I can’t prove it because of the brick wall above Jesse N. Hamby, I’d say Uncle C.P.’s family story that our Hamby’s descend from the Oglethorpe settlement of Georgia is probably true, and our ancestors would have known the Wesley brothers.