17.
Richard PACE IV
Following is a description of Richard Pace IV as given by his grandson Barnabas in a letter to his son (written 1844-1850).
"I have seen the handwriting of my grandfather. He wrote an elegant hand, spelt well, and was a man of good English education. I have often heard him spoken of by old men who knew him as a man of good sound sense, a plain unassuming man, a good citizen, a good neighbor, a kind husband, and as a parent, skilled in managing a family and training his children in the pathway of virtue, honesty and economy. He knew how to govern himself and his family".
RECORD: Pace Society of America Bulletin #7 March 1969; Richard Pace IV
Richard Pace IV married Elizabeth Cain about 1723. She was apparently not the daughter of William Cain whose will of 1732 was witnessed by Richard IV. Cain lists no daughter Elizabeth. His widow was named Elizabeth, but she became a widow nine years after Richard married.
The Bulletin compares Richard Pace IV to the patriarch Abraham. When his land on Urahaw Swamp, in Northampton County, lost its fertility, and when his older sons were reaching maturity and needed plantations of their own, he decided on an exodus to a place where it was still wilderness, and where fertile land could be obtained by grant.
Richard Pace IV sold his 740 acres in North Carolina in 1744 and he set out with his nine sons and four daughters, heading for Georgia. Although Barnabas Pace in his letter states that the exodus consisted of sons, daughters-in-law, daughters and sons-in-law, most of the children were too young to have been married by that time. Probably only his oldest two children had spouses when they moved to Georgia.
The journey was difficult. The Barnabas Pace letter states they took with them 400 head of cattle and a fine stock of horses, and "everything necessary to make a settlement in the Wilderness". They had to cross many rivers and creeks, travelling on horseback and in wagons. By 1749 they had reached Georgia, for it was then that Richard Pace IV petitioned the government of Georgia for a grant of 100 acres of an island in the upper Savannah.
According to Barnabas Pace, Richard Pace IV died in his seventies at about the time of the Revolution. He and Elizabeth had thirteen children.
A later article in the Pace Bulletin No. 10, December 1969, indicated that when Richard Pace IV sold all his land in Northampton County, NC in 1744, he did not, as indicated by his grandson Barnabas, go directly to Georgia. He went only as far as Craven County, NC, where, in November 1745, he recorded two deeds, one for 273 acres, the other for an adjacent 300 acres, along the north side of the Neuse River in a part of Craven County that later became Johnston County. Several of Richard IV's sons also took up land in Johnston County as they came of age.
Richard Pace IV probably traveled to Georgia about 1758 to take a look at the open country. On February 14, 1759 he petitioned the Georgia Council in the city of Savannah "setting forth that he was settled in the Province, had no land, and was desirous to obtain a grant of land for cultivation. Therefore praying for 100 acres on an island in the Savannah River about one-half mile below an island called Johnson's Island, and about thirty-two miles above Augusta, which, if granted, he engaged to cultivate and improve same".
The petition was granted. The record reads: "Resolved that on condition only that petitioner doth take out a grant for such land within seven months from date thereof that his Majesty may not be defrauded of his suit rent."
The Cherokee war evidently caused delay, as the grant was not recorded until November 18, 1762, and included two smaller islands, of 22 and 15 acres each.
Either Richard IV or his son Drury who inherited the islands established a ferry. This would have been a profitable enterprise, for during the years following 1733, a flood of immigrants came down from Virginia and North Carolina into Creek "Indian Lands" on the Georgia side of the river, which opened for settlement in that year.
The whole family did not accompany Richard IV to Georgia in 1758, as Barnabas believed. Several of his sons and their families were established in Granville County, NC. Richard V may have been the only son who came with Richard IV that early.
The first Cherokee War developed almost immediately after the arrival of Richard IV. In February 1759 the Indians turned on the settlers on the South Carolina side and massacred many of them in the Long Can and Stevens Creek area, just east of Pace's Island, in what was later called Ninety-Sixth District. Every able-bodied man, including a Richard Pace (probably Richard V, as Richard IV was about 60 years old), was called up to serve the Militia.
When the war broke out, most of the family moved back to North Carolina, according to the Barnabas Pace account, where they stayed for two years. Following the signing of the treaty in 1761, the Paces in North Carolina began selling out and moving to Georgia.
Richard and Elizabeth Pace returned to their island and probably lived there for the remainder of their lives. They died, according to the Barnabas Pace letter, just before the Revolution, which could mean between 1774 and 1779, when the war reached Georgia.
32.
Thomas PACE