By By LYDIA GRIMES Feature Reporter
I want to continue with information on the Fontaine family. It is quite interesting just how much material there is on this family that can be obtained online. One website you might want to check is www.geocities.com/bevmahon/.
James Fontaine and Anne Elizabeth Boursiquot (daughter of Aaron Boursiquot and Jean Guillot) were married 8 Feb. 1686 in Par Church, Barnstable, North Devon, England and they became parents of at least eight children, all born in Ireland.
One of those children was Francis Fontaine (16 Sept. 1696 in Cork, Ireland-1749 in York County, Va.) He was the first of this line to settle in America. He entered Trinity College in June 1712. He enrolled in the Inns of Court at the Temple, in London, to study law, but later returned to Dublin to enter the ministry. He received a degree from Trinity College in 1719, married in 1720 and sailed for America in 1721 where he became Rector of St. Margaret's Parish in King William County, Va. In 1723, he became Rector of York-Hampton Parish where he remained for the rest of his life. In 1727, he was appointed Chaplain of the House of Burgesses and was appointed to the faculty of William and Mary College.
He married first Mary Glannison, and they were the parents of four children. He later married Susannah Brush Barbor and had a couple of more children. The oldest child of James and Mary was James Fontaine (1721 in St. Margaret's Parish, Va.-bef. 1790 in New Bern, Craven County, N.C.)
This James was apprenticed to a carpenter about 1736, and completed his apprenticeship in 1743. He moved to New Bern, N.C., with his brother, John, and they became house joiners. He also lived in Dobbs County, N.C., Charleston Precinct, S.C., and in Edisto, S.C. He married Ann Jasper and they were the parents of at least seven children.
This is where the Fontaine and Brewton families began to connect. They may have been living in the same areas of North Carolina and South Carolina before some of them moved into Georgia.
Francis Fontaine and his wife, Ann Jasper had Francis Fontaine (1746-1783 in South Carolina) who married Jemima Johnson, John Fontaine, Thomas Fontaine (abt 1752) who married Clarissa Brewton, Mary Fontaine (24 Dec. 1753), Peter Benjamin Fontaine (1754) who married Mary Brewton, Lucy Fontaine and Sally Fontaine.
Francis Fontaine who married Jemima Johnson was, according to Georgia Archives, a Revolutionary soldier who was killed by Tories about 1780. His wife, Jemima, is said to have sold provisions to the Revolutionary Army. They were the parents of three children, Nancy Thompson Fontaine (1777) who married Nathan Jackson Brewton, Mary Frances Fontaine (abt. 1779) and Sarah Elizabeth Fontaine (1782).
Nancy Thompson Fontaine (1777-7 July 1864) married Nathan Jackson Brewton 18 May 1794 in Liberty County (or Warren County), Ga. They were the parents of 12 children. Escambia County became the destination of some of these Brewtons. Others remained in Georgia and became well known residents in that area.
The children were Fountain Brewton (10 Jan. 1795), Elmire Germima Brewton (9 Dec. 1795), Benjamin Brewton (22 Aug. 1796), Emanuel Brewton (3 May 1801), Nathan Jackson Brewton (26 Feb. 1803), Elizabeth Brewton (29 April 1807), Samuel Brewton (16 June 1809), Mary Brewton (11 Aug. 1811), Martha Brewton (16 July 1813), Clarissa Brewton (27 Dec. 1815) and Simon Johnson Brewton (25 Sept. 1819).
This brings the Fontaine and the Brewton families together.