Benjamin Culpepper son of Joseph

Male, #20883, (say 1724 - before 1771)

ParentJoseph Culpepper of Edgecombe Co., NC (say 1696 - 1745)
ParentMartha (?) (say 1700 - 24 Jan 1764)
Benjamin Culpepper son of Joseph|b. say 1724\nd. before 1771|p20883.htm|Joseph Culpepper of Edgecombe Co., NC|b. say 1696\nd. 1745|p3209.htm|Martha (?)|b. say 1700\nd. 24 Jan 1764|p3210.htm|Robert Culpepper of Lower Norfolk Co., VA|b. say 1664\nd. circa 1742|p834.htm|(?) (?) Unknown wife of Robert CULPEPPER of Norfolk Co., VA|b. say 1666\nd. before 16 Oct 1739|p840.htm|||||||

Birth*say 1724 Benjamin was born say 1724. 
 He was the son of Joseph Culpepper of Edgecombe Co., NC and Martha (?). 
Marriage*say 1745 He married Lydia (?) say 1745. 
Deed*14 Mar 1752 He granted a deed to Benjamin Culpepper the Ferryman on 14 Mar 1752 at Edgecombe Co., North Carolina.
(Edgecombe County NC Deed Book 4, p. 265 – North Carolina – To all to whom these presents shall come – I BENJAMIN CULPEPPER Junr. of Edgecombe County in the said province planter, send greeting. Know you that I the said BENJAMIN CULPEPPER Junr. for and in consideration of the sum of sixty pounds current money of Virginia to me in hand paid by BENJAMIN CULPEPPER Senr. Ferryman of the said County the receipt whereof I do hereby acknowledge and myself fully satisfied contented and paid. Have given granted bargained sold conveyed and confirmed and do by these presents fully freely and also lately give grant bargain sell convey and confirm unto the said BENJAMIN CULPEPPER Senr. A plantation and tract of land containing by estimation one hundred and sixty acres be the same more or less situate in the county of Edgecombe on the south side of Fishing Creek beginning at a Beech thence to a White Oak thence to a White Oak thence to a Red Oak, thence to a Pine, thence along the patent line west 160 poles to a Pine, thence north 110 poles to a Red Oak on the said Creek, thence down the water course thereof to the first station, being part of a patent granted to John Edwards for 320 acres dated the 4th day of August 1720. Together with all woods under woods waters profit commodities and appurtenances to the said land belonging or in any wise appertaining with the reversions and remainders thereof and every part and parcel thereof; to have and to hold the said one hundred and sixty acres of land and premises hereby granted unto the said BENJAMIN CULPEPPER Senr. To the only proper use benefit and behoof of him the said BENJAMIN CULPEPPER Senr. his heirs and assigns forever, and I the said BENJAMIN CULPEPPER Junr. for myself my heirs Executors and Administrators do covenant and agree to and with the said BENJAMIN CULPEPPER Senr. his heirs and assigns that he the said BENJAMIN CULPEPPER Senr. his heirs and assigns shall and may at all times forever hereafter peaceably and quietly have hold use occupy possess and enjoy the said one hundred and sixty acres of land with all the appurtenances thereto belonging freely and clearly acquitted and discharged from all former and other gifts grants bargains sales leases mortgages and all other encumbrances whatsoever and the same will warrant and forever defend unto the said BENJAMIN CULPEPPER Senr. his heirs and assigns against the clams and demands of all persons whomsoever. In witness whereof I the said BENJAMIN CULPEPPER Junr. have hereunto put my hand and seal the fourteenth day of March One Thousand Seven Hundred and fifty two; BENJAMIN CULPEPPER Junr. (“B” his mark) (seal) In presence of William West, Nathan Powell (“N” his mark) – Edgecombe County May Court 1752 – the within deed of sale was in open Court duly proved by the oath of William West, an evidence thereto and on motion was ordered to be registered. Benjamin Wynns, Clerk Court). 
Death*before 1771 He died before 1771. 
Biography* Benjamin Culpepper's life history has not yet been accurately or fully pieced together. Based on DNA evidence, this Benjamin was the son of Joseph Culpepper. This conclusion is also supported by naming conventions used this Benjamin and his family. See also the discussion of the Fishing Creek deeds in the Theories Section of this web site, for further details.
     It would appear that Benjamin was born either in Norfolk County, VA, or in early Bertie Precinct, NC, in the early 1720's. He moved with his family to Edgecombe County, NC, in the late 1730's. He married his wife, Lydia, there, in the early 1740's.
     When his father Joseph died intestate in 1745, he inherited one, and possibly two tracts of land as Joseph's eldest son, by right of primogeniture. He may have lived on one tract, on Swift / Sandy Creek. And his mother Martha lived on the other Fishing Creek tract until she remarried around 1751, to Benjamin Dumas, and moved with Dumas to Anson County, NC.
     After his mother's re-marriage, Benjamin then sold the Fishing Creek tract to his first cousin, Benjamin Culpepper (ferryman), in 1752. And by 1754, he had decided to move on, and so sold the tract on which he then lived on Sandy Creek to Thomas Davis.
     Here the record on Benjamin becomes murky for about 13 years, until 1767, when his eldest son Joseph Culpepper first appears in records in South Carolina. So it seems likely that Benjamin moved to South Carolina around 1754, probably with one or more of his wife's relatives. Where he settled has not been discovered. And he must have died there prior to 1771, when his widow Lydia received a grant as "the widow Culpepper."
     That this Benjamin was the son of Joseph is based in part on the interpretation of two deeds involving Joseph's Fishing Creek property. In 1741, Joseph sold one-half of his Fishing Creek property to Benjamin Culpepper. This was probably Benjamin his brother. Joseph also had a son named Benjamin, but analysis shows that he did not sell the land to his own son. By 1746 both brothers were deceased, and their two sons, both named Benjamin, were each in possession of one half of Joseph's original 320 farm on Fishing Creek.
     Although it is impossible to tell, due to the poor wording of the 1741 deed, the current analysis presumes that Joseph's son Ben inherited the WEST half of the property by right of primogeniture, and Benjamin's son Ben owned the EAST half by right of primogeniture. In 1752, Benjamin (son of Joseph) sold the WEST half to his older cousin, Benjamin, ferryman, son of Benjamin. See the footnote for a detailed look at these land transactions.
     Since after 1746, there were only two Benjamin Culpeppers in early Edgecombe, it would be useful if we could distinguish them, by the way they signed deeds. Unfortunately, this is not the case. The surviving deed books in early Edgecombe are later copies of the original deeds, so the original marks from the original deeds have not survived. In all cases in which a Benjamin sold land or witnessed a deed, the "B" mark was apparently used, and except for Benjamin's will in 1767, the original mark itself has not survived.
     By 1752, and perhaps as early as 1743 Benjamin Culpepper (son of Joseph) was living on a 300 acre farm on Sandy Creek, in Granville Co., NC. This was about nine or ten miles northeast of his first cousin Benjamin's land on Peach Tree Creek, considerably closer to his cousin Benjamin, and to Peach Tree Creek, than was his old Fishing Creek land. This writer speculates that this may have been the same 300 acres on Swift Creek, which Benjamin's father Joseph may been granted as early as 1743. Land Grants, Vol. 1, page 59, NC Archives, Raleigh, 27 February 1743, Joseph Culpepper enters 300 acres in Edgecombe County, on the north side of Swift Creek....and RUNS ACROSS THE CREEK; includes his improvements; made out; paid: rights returned. The entry has survived, but not the actual grant.
     In 1754, Benjamin Culpepper, sold the 300 acres on Sandy Creek in Granville Co., NC "where I now live" to Thomas Davis. (Granville Co. Deed Bk. B, p. 391-2) Witnesses were Lewis Davis, Moses Harris, and Samuel Chaivis. Benjamin signed this deed with a 'C.' This land was described as "beginning on the north side of the said [Sandy]Creek at a Road Oak running thence along a line to a corner tree a Road Oak thence along a line CROSSING THE CREEK to a White Oak a corner tree of the south side of said creek thence along a line to a corner tree a White Oak thence along a line CROSSING THE CREEK to the first station it being the plantation whereon I now live."
     That Benjamin's 300 acres on Sandy Creek was the same land as Joseph's 1743 land entry on Swift Creek is speculation. But note that Sandy Creek becomes Swift Creek at Hilliardston community in present day Nash County (according to "The North Carolina Gazeteer" by Wm. S. Powell). And this could have been about the point where this land was situated. And this was also near the boundary between what was then Edgecombe and Granville Counties. So the land entry might have mentioned Edgecombe, and the later sale, Granville, as the location. Also, note that both the land entry, and the later sale, mention that the land was on both sides of the creek. So this unusual feature of the property is found in both documents. Further, assuming the land entry became a grant to Joseph, there is no further mention of the sale of the land by his estate. Likewise, there is no other mention of Benjamin buying his Sandy Creek land. So by assuming that these two records refer to the same property, one has a complete history of its purchase and later sale. And if this is correct, then it strengthens the idea that this Benjamin was the son of Joseph, as he would have inherited this land from Joseph by right of primogeniture, just as he apparently inherited the west half of the Fishing Creek property.
     An anomaly, which remains to be explained, is that this Benjamin apparently signed his sale of land in Edgecombe with a 'B' and yet signed this sale of land in Granville with a 'C'. Was the 'B' in the Edgecombe sale an error by the copyist? Since the surviving deeds in Edgecombe are copies, not originals, it would be hard to speculate.
     There is no further record of this Benjamin. He seems to have moved in the direction of, if not to, Richland or Camden District, SC, where records have been lost. No surviving records on Benjamin in South Carolina have been found.
     Research on his wife and her family might eventually provide additional clues. Since Benjamin did not follow the migration path of his siblings, chances are, he was migrating with his wife's family, and not with his own. Perhaps she was related to the John Griffin, who was an adjacent land owner to Joseph Culpepper in early Northampton County, and who may have been the same John Griffin who lived next to Benjamin's widow Lydia in early South Carolina.
(Names referenced above: Benjamin Culpepper son of Joseph Benjamin Culpepper son of Joseph).1 

Family

Lydia (?) (say 1725 - after 1775)
Marriage*say 1745 He married Lydia (?) say 1745. 
Children

Charts Descendants of Joseph Culpepper of Edgecombe Co., NC (Six Generations)
Lew Griffin's Culpepper Ancestry Chart (Great-grandmother Clarissa Eugenia Culpepper Griffin)
Last Edited 5 Jan 2008

Citations

  1. Lewis W. Griffin Jr., 4307 North 34th Street, Phoenix, AZ 85018, e-mail address, Phone: (602) 955-2597.