Samuel Register

Extract from "The Registers And Our Kin," by Lamar Wells, Gateway Press, Inc., Baltimore, 1989.


Samuel Register, son of John and Dorcas, was born in Sampson county, NC., Dec. 1, 1786, and died at his home in Clinch county, GA., April 8, 1869. He was married in April 1806 to Miss Elizabeth Skinner, native of South Carolina where she was born April 5, 1789. She died at her home in Clinch county, August 20, 1871. Her parents are thought to have been Edward and Anna Skinner who lived in Darlington District, SC. That her mother was certainly Mrs. Anna Skinner is evidenced by the fact that she made a deed of gift to home-place of 150 acres and her personal property in Bulloch county, GA. to her son, Randall Skinner, January 4, 1828 (deed book "A", page 525, Bulloch county). Randall Skinner was a known brother of Grandmother Register and was born in 1802 and moved down to this section before 1830 and lived and died in Clinch county. He is the ancestor of te Skinners of South Georgia and a good many of the name in Florida.

Children:

1. Zilpha Register, b. Feb. 4, 1807, m. John Tomlinson (1st cousin).
2. Eady (Edith) Register, b. Mar. 1, 1809, m. Thomas Mathis of Berrien co.
3. Guilford Register, b. Jan. 7, 1811, m. Pricilla Ann DeVane.
4. David Register, b. Apr. 10, 1813, m. Matilda McDaniel of Bulloch co.
5. William Register, b. Sept. 24, 1814, m. Luraney Harnage from Liberty co.
Note: William Register was the father of Samuel W. Register and 2d Great Grandfather of Merle Anita (Young) Coleman of Clinch co.,GA.
6. John Register, June 10, 1819, m1st. Elizabeth Cowart, m2nd. Mary Ann Fiveash.
7. Rebecca Register, b. Apr. 5, 1821, m. Hillery Cowart of Echols co.
8. Phoebe Register, b. Aug. 15, 1823, m. Zachariah Lee of Clinch co.
9. Jincy Register, b. June 15, 1824, m. Moses C. Lee of Berrien co.
10. Ivy Register, b. Apr. 22, 1825, m1st. Leta Lee, m2nd. Lavinia Arold, no issue.
11. Samuel E. Register, b. Sept. 16, 1826, m1st. Seneth Lee, m2nd. Mary Hutto, m3rd. Josephine Guthrie, lived in Berrien co.
12. Elizabeth Register, b. Aug. 21, 1828, m. William Patten of present Lanier co.
13. Reubin Register, b. Nov. 25, 1830, m. Harriet Brown, lived in present Berrien co.
14. Martha Register, b. Dec. 18, 1831, m. Hillery P. Mathis of present Lanier co.



It is not known just where Samuel and Elizabeth Register were married. It is known that the Register family was in Bulloch county at the time of the marriage of his sister, Nancy, to William Tomlinson in 1804 (that marriage being of record there). It is possible that the marriage of Samuel took place there and that the license was never recorded, or, it may have taken place in the adjoining county of Burke (where a large Skinner family lived), the records of Burke having been burned about 1856-58. The court records of Bulloch show that Samuel Register served as a grand juror and as a petit juror at various terms of the Superior Court prior to 1824. No deeds appear of record there to show he was a land-owner there. He moved from Bulloch to Appling county in either 1824 or 1825. He lived there until about 1826, when he moved to Lowndes county and settled in the 10th land district, near the present town of Ray City in present Berrien county, and on a farm in recent years the home-place of the late J.S. "Dock" Shaw. The 1827 Land Lottery showed that he registered to participate in it, as a resident of the 10th district of Lowndes, and was classified as "soldier," thus denoting he had taken part in the War of 1812 ("soldiers" were entitled to free draws in the lottery). About 1840-42, he sold out his home-place referred to above and moved to where the town of Stockton now stands, and acquired lot of land No. 500, 11th district. (This territory was taken out of Lowndes in 1850 and put into the new county of Clinch, and in 1920 was cut out of Clinch into Lanier county.) The deed records do not show anything about the ownership of this lot of land prior to 1860. The town of Stockton was laid out of a portion of Lot 500, by Grandfather Samuel Register, as soon as it became a certainty the new railroad would be built through there from Savannah to Thomasville. He named it "Registerville," but the railroad people changed the name to "Stockton" by 1860, in honor of one of their contractors, a Mr. Stockton, who had charge of the road construction. The railroad was first known as the "Atlantic & Gulf Railroad" and is now the Atlantic Coast Line Railroad. Three or four deeds are on record from Grandfather Register to lots in "Registerville" but the deeds to other town lots have either never been recorded or if recorded, the record was burned when the Clinch county courthouse was burned in 1867 and all records lost. The map prepared for "Registerville" is also lost. A description of the new town of Stockton is found in a news item published in "The Savannah Morning News" of Savannah, in its issue of April 6, 1860:
" A writer in the Thomasville Watchman gives an account of his trip over the Atlantic & Gulf to Stockton, the present terminus of the road, and compliments of Capt. T.J. Naylor, the conductor of the train. The writer was struck with Stockton which he describes as a brisk little place with its hotel and livery stable, to say nothing of its numerous refreshment saloons. The writer said he found 120 bales of cotton awaiting shipment over the road, together with much other freight."
Living on the railroad apparently did not suit Grandfather and Grandmother Register, as they moved from there about 1863-4, to Lot of Land 230, 12th district of Clinch county, which was located about two miles from where their son, William Register, was living at the time. They later lived four or five miles south of old "Magnolia," the former county seat of Clinch. It was there that the old couple spent their last days in quietude, honored and beloved by their large family of fourteen grown children and an ever-increasing circle of grandchildren, and revered and respected by their neighbors.
The first of the fourteen children to die was the daughter, Eady. She had journeyed to Clinch from her home in Berrien county, to visit her aged parents, being called there by the enfeebled condition of her father. Soon after arriving there, she herself was taken sick with a cold which developed rapidly into pneumonia, and she died on the 10th of February, 1869. Her short illness and untimely death bowed her parents with grief. Her father could not long survive the shock, and himself died two months later, the 9th of April.
Grandfather Register acquired lot of land No. 230 aforesaid, from his brother, Abraham, by deed July 13, 1853; and on Oct. 25, 1853, he bought adjoining Lot 275 from the Hon. James W. Staten. He owned these two lots until he died. On Dec. 2, 1869, all the heirs, except Mrs. Jincy Lee and Samuel E. Register, met at the old home of their deceased father, and made arrangements for the care of their mother and disposition of the estate property. The son, William, agreed to take care of his old mother, and support her, and a short instrument to that effect was drawn up and signed. The home-place lot 230 was deeded him for $572.00 Lot 275 was deed to the son, Guilford. Grandmother Register joined in the execution of the instruments which were sent to the two absent children, and signed by them. Thomas Mathis signed for himself and the children of his deceased wife, Eady.
So far as is known, Samuel Register never united with any church. His wife was a faithful member of the Primitive Baptist Church for over forty years prior to her death. She first united with the Fellowship Baptist Church in Appling county; and on Sept. 13, 1828, was received by letter from that church into Union Church. She remained a member there until April 10, 1841, when she , with others, was dismissed by letter and entered into the organization of Wayfare Church in May 1841. She was granted a letter of dismissal from Wayfare Jan. 6, 1855, but came back by letter Sept. 5, 1868, and died a member. Where her membership was from 1855 to 1868 has not yet been ascertained."