By By LYDIA GRIMES – Features Writer
This week I am covering the Brewton family and their coming to this area.
The Brewton family has been covered before in this column but maybe some of you missed it the first time around. It can be traced back to John Bruton (abt 1725) and his wife Isabella. It is believed that they had at least seven children who were, George Bruton (abt. 1755-60) who married Elizabeth Cannon, Benjamin Bruton (abt. 1769-1863) who married first, Jemima Johnson Fontaine and second, Mary, Nathan Jackson Bruton Sr. (abt 1765-1855) who married Nancy Fontaine Thompson, Mary Bruton (abt. 1756-1800) who married Benjamin Peter Fontaine, Clarissa Bruton (1753-1796) who married Thomas Fontaine, Cecelia Bruton (abt. 1760) who married first, William Waters and second Josiah Jones and Joseph Brewton Sr. (abt. 1768) who married Elizabeth Pringle.
George Bruton and his wife remained in South Carolina. He and Elizabeth had five known children.
Benjamin Bruton moved first to Georgia and then to south Alabama before 1816. He had no children with either of his wives and left a considerable fortune to his nieces and nephews. He worked as a wagon master and had his own wagon train, which hauled supplies from the Alabama River to Fort Crawford. After the closing of the fort, he hauled hardwood from south Alabama to a furniture factory in Milledgeville, Ga. He also owned and operated a large plantation in Sparta.
Nathan Jackson Brewton was the founder of a large Georgia Brewton family. His wife was a young widow and one of the children of Francis Fontaine III and Jemima Johnson Fontaine. Francis died during the Revolutionary War and Jemima remarried to Nathan's brother, Benjamin. Therefore, Jimima was both Nancy's mother and her sister-in-law. Nathan and his family settled in what was then Liberty County, Ga. They later lived in Tattnall County and are buried in the Brewton Cemetery, one of the largest and oldest cemeteries still in use in Evans County. They were the parents of twelve children.
Mary Bruton was married to Benjamin or Peter Fontaine, a brother to Francis Fontaine, mentioned above. They also moved to Georgia and after the death of her first husband, she married John McCoy in 1797 in Warren County. She and her first husband are known to have had at least two children.
Clarissa Bruton married Thomas Fontaine, a brother to Francis Fontaine. They moved from North Carolina to South Carolina and later to Georgia. They were the parents of seven children before her death abt. 1796. Thomas later remarried to Sally Threewits and they had one daughter.
Cecelia Bruton was married twice and she had one known child.
Joseph Brewton and his family lived for some time in North Carolina and then moved to Morengo County, Alabama before moving to what is now Escambia County. Joseph appears on a tax list in 1816, along with his brother, Benjamin and his first cousin, Benjamin.
Joseph and Elizabeth settled on Alco Hill. He is known to have purchased property there in 1837. They were members of the Catawba Springs Baptist Church until 1854. Joseph appears as a charter member of Pilgrims Rest Baptist Church in 1854. He died in 1858 and is buried at Pilgrims Rest Cemetery. Elizabeth died in 1866 and is also buried there. Joseph and Elizabeth had seven confirmed children and there are three other possible children that are unconfirmed.
This family had several members to come to south Alabama. Benjamin Bruton and his brother, Joseph came to live here as well as Emanuel and Benjamin Bruton who were sons of Nathan Bruton. Next week I will cover the children of three of them as Benjamin Bruton, brother of Nathan, never had children.
Happy Hunting!
She may be contacted at lydia.grimes@brewtonstadard.com