The Book of Job

This is a retype.  Blogspot is a fine host for blogs, but when you lose your internet connection you cannot cut and paste your document!  Enough about that.  I want to speak to you again about separating the man, Francis Marion, from the myth, the Rambo-style family man with wildly romantic war battles.  Historic Brattonsville in South Carolina, is where the Martin family estate was supposedly set , when in reality Francis Marion lived with his brother Gabriel and eventually tended his parents estate [Goatfield Plantation] at Winyah Bay after his father passed in 1770.  Francis eventually had his own place, Pond Bluff, featured here in black and white, right next door to brother Gabriel's Belle Isle Plantation.  Pond Bluff is now at the bottom of Lake Marion.  Way to go, South Carolina.  Why were Francis and his brother so close?  Because their age difference was so great that Francis more or less grew up with his brother's kids.  That happens in families.  Gabriel and Marion enlisted together in 1775, when the Revolution was in its beginnings.

Look at this picture, which I have borrowed from a website whose obnoxious address I cannot get rid of, and take note that Hollywood portrayed Francis Marion as a father, when in reality he was the prized uncle of many nieces and nephews.  His favorite?  Big brother Gabriel's son, Gabriel Marion IV.  He was the one I mentioned who was captured and brutally murdered by the Tories, the colonists who sided with the English, just for being a Marion.  Young Gabriel's death brought out the "highly spiced" inner monster of Francis Marion, and he was peaceful farmer no longer.

So, how does all of it trickle down to yours truly?  I have devoured the family ancestry websites, and uncovered the family line.  I will produce a tree or chart when my research is complete, because for now there are holes in the story and while I've got it figured out, it is confusing as hell.  Allow me to throw in the "begot's" of Old Testament style, as we make our way back in time.

IN THE BEGINNING

Jean Marion (1645-?) and Perinne Boutignon (1650-?) of France had two sons: Gabriel and Benjamin.  The brothers were from Poitou-Charentes Province, France.  It is beautiful there.  Both of these men boarded a boat bound for the Carolinas around 1690.  Gabriel Marion (1666-?) is the grandfather of Francis Marion, our hero.  He is also my great grandfather.  Gabriel Marion's little brother Benjamin Marion, Sr. (1674-1735) is my great uncle.  I am able to keep them separated in my mind because Gabriel and his wife Louisa D'Aubrey bought land and built an estate [Goatfield Plantation] in Winyah Bay, while Benjamin and his wife Judith Baluet settled in Charleston.  The South Carolina French Huguenot Society recognizes Benjamin Marion, Sr , "the immigrant," as a man about town.  So, one brother was town, the other was country.

Benjamin Sr. had a son named Gabriel (1695-1747), and a son named Benjamin Jr.  See, confusing!  I am not descended from this family.

Back to Gabriel Marion, Sr (1666-?) and his wife Louisa D'Aubrey. 

They had son Gabriel, Jr (1695-1747).  I know, it looks as if he and his first cousin are the same person, but they're separate.  Gabriel Jr. married Esther Charlotte Cordes (1695-1757) in 1711.  They had six children.  Return to The Patriot for a moment, and recall that the man character, Benjamin Martin (based loosely upon Francis Marion) uses his concern for the care of his children as a reason not to join the war front.  Change that around and make him the youngest of a large family, and his mother, not his romantic interest, is named Charlotte.  Gabriel Marion, Jr and Esther Charlotte's children were

Gabriel Marion, III (1711-1777)

Issac Marion (1715-1781)

Benjamin Marion (1718-1778)

Job Marion (1721-1778)

Esther Marion (?-?)

Francis Marion (1732-1795)

Francis was the "surprise" of the family, in more ways than one: he was born sickly, with crooked legs, and he became the man who turned the tide of the war.  He was born the same year as George Washington, and many have called him "the George Washington of the South."  He married his cousin, Mary Videau, when he was 54 and she was 49.   They had no children.

Bringing It Home

I am the descendant of Francis Marion's brother, Job.  I'm looking for you, Job!  There's so little information about him, and I am longing to visit Georgetown, read the archives and find his grave.  Job Marion married twice.  His first wife was my great grandmother, Elizabeth de St. Julien (1730-1755), whom he married in 1752.  Do the math and you will see that poor Elizabeth may have died in childbirth or from disease, because she only lived 3 years into her marriage.  Was Job that hard to live with?  They had at least a son, who produced Helen de St. Julien Marion. 

Helen married Robert A. Palmer of Abbeville, SC, along the Savannah River near Clemson.  They had a slew of children, including Sallie Ramey Palmer, who married John James Gray during the Civil War.  Their son John Francis Gray married fiesty Elvira "Elvie" Milford.  Their first son was George Marion Gray (1897-1976), my Popaw.  His daughter Marian Ann Gray (1929-1984) married my grandfather Clayton, and their first son was Steve, my dad.  Took a lot of "begot's" but it's all coming together. 

   My grandfather and I, 2009.