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The earliest Barlow that we can trace to Robeson County, North Carolina was William Barlow, a very familiar name throughout the Barlow family history. His name appears in 1764 on a land grant of 100 acres in Bladen County, part of which later became Robeson County. We think that other Barlows mentioned in land grants and census reports may be his children: Ralph, Branson, William, Marsh, and Mason. An Elizabeth Barlow is mentioned in the 1800 census, but we have no way of knowing if she was his daughter, his widow, or the widow of a son. Robeson County is a flat swampy area of North Carolina near the border of South Carolina. It was settled in the early 1700s by immigrants from other states and by a large group of Highland Scots. William Barlow's land was on Little Marsh Swamp, and direct descendants of his son, Ralph Barlow, still live there in the Little Marsh and Rockfish Creek area . Linda Barlow, a great, great, great granddaughter of Ralph Barlow has lovingly restored an old log house that she believes was built by Ralph in the early 1800s. The other boys left Robeson County to seek new land and a better life in Georgia, Alabama, and Mississippi. |
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Little is known about this William Barlow. He first appears in the Robeson County , North Carolina census of 1800 where he is listed as having one son under 16 years of age, one son under 10 years of age, and one daughter under 10 years of age. Our ancestor William Barlow who was born in 1796 could have been his son, but we have no proof of that. William Barlow and Anna Nethercut were married in Duplin County, North Carolina on October 1, 1785, and William Barlow is listed in the 1786 census of Duplin County. (Duplin County adjoins Robeson County , and it was quite common for young men to cross county lines to seek a bride.) In 1803 a William Barlow married Feley or Phebe Batten in Robeson County. Perhaps his first wife died, and he remarried soon thereafter to have some one to look after his children. Phebe Barlow, possibly William's widow, is listed in the 1840 and 1850 census of Robeson County. We do not know what happened to William after 1803, but he may have moved to Clarke County, Alabama with his brother Branson. A William Barlow is listed in the 1816 census of the Mississippi territory in Clarke County, Alabama. Since Branson Barlow, who was also listed, had a son named William, we are not sure which William is meant. |
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