KIRKLAND
Kirkland Family of Virginia; Granville County, North Carolina; Edgefield County, South Carolina; Wilkes County, Georgia
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Sarah Kirkland, born 1805 in Wilkes, Georgia (maiden name as yet unknown), is in my matriarchal line, and I have only begun to research this family.
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I am fairly confident of this family through Snowden Kirkland, born about 1770, probably in Georgia, and hope to extend them back into North Carolina and Virginia soon. I believe the following excepts of Dr. Peacock applies to our earlier family, but cannot verify it as yet:
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Although we have little hard evidence from Snowden's records, Dr. J. R. Peacock after about 20 years of research and studying newly discovered documents from Georgia believes that Robert is his father. He was probably born on the family home near Occaquan River, (now Fairfax Co.) Virginia that had belonged to Richard (d.1743). Snowden apparently moved to North Carolina and then to Georgia and then the short distance to South Carolina. After 1750 children seem to have been born in rather rapid succession but there are no known documents that lists their dates of birth. Snowden, as he is known to most researchers, seems to have been named for his uncle and this has caused much confusion for researchers. He generally attended to his business of farming with few records to fill out his life story. Recent research by Dr. J. R. Peacock whose extensive arguments, highly recommended and abbreviated greatly here, have given us a more complete picture of Robert and Snowden's lives. I don't have the space to devote to all the children of each of the major Kirkland lines as Dr. Peacock does in his volume.
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Dr. J. R. Peacock says, "Snowden remained in Virginia, with Robert, after the departure of his Uncle, Richard Snowden Kirkland, from that colony. The relocation of Snowden, and the assumed relocation of Robert, to Granville County, North Carolina, and their presence there 1754-ca 1759 is reported in the Narative on Robert. Likewise, their point venture to Georgia in 1759 and their removal to the Mathews Bluff area of Savannah River in South Carolina are documented in the same report. Records cited in the earlier Narrative prove the service of Robert as a minister of the Seventh-Day Baptist faith. They also prove the commitment of Snowden to that faith. " [Peacock 100]
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The History of Baptism in Georgia, web site, contends, "The Tuckaseeking Baptist Church (Effingham County) existed only from 1759 to about 1763, when persecution forced its members out of Georgia. " Effingham County Baptist churches had three Kirklands listed as parishioners, one was Robert who was identified as a minister and another was his son, Richard Snowden according to Peacock. [History of Baptism in Georgia]
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The wife of Snowden, Sybil, may have been the daughter of Abraham Odom who's family and immigration pattern follows closely to the Kirklands. Richard Odom, Abraham's father, owned land in Nansemond County, Virginia and moved by 1715 to Chowan County, North Carolina. This region eventually becomes part of Edgecombe and Granville Counties in which the Kirklands are documented to have lived.
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