Verner Family

I have not spent a great deal of time on my Verner ancestors since there are others that have compiled detailed histories which appear to be fairly accurate.  I found one of these histories in my grandmother's files that appears to be dated in the 1960s or 1970s.  This history was compiled by Clara Verner Wallace [1].  I have made Clara's book available here. [2]  In addition to Clara's work, we also have an extensive study by Gerald H. Varner who published a two volume book entitled "Varner Families of the South".  In Volume 1, published in 1994, he covers the Varner family and in Volume 2, published in 1995, he covers our Verner family. According to Gerald, the Southern Varners and Verners are all related and descend from John Verner and Mary Pettigrew (see below) - they simply spelled their names differently.  Gerald's book is copyrighted so I cannot reproduce it here but it is available in many libraries and a digital copy may still be available online through the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints website.  If you are interested in the Southern Varner/Verner family, I strongly suggest you locate his books as they are a great resource for detailed information on the Verner family.  Lastly, there is a book entitled Varner, Verner, Werner Families of America by Janice B. Palmer written in 1995.  It contains over 700 pages of family research on the family.

There is no proof of where our Verner ancestors were living before arriving in America.  Some say they were in Northern Ireland.  Before that, they might have been in France or Germany.  The French spelling would have been Vernier or Le Verne or something similar.  The German spelling would have been Werner.  Another spelling of the name appears to have been Varner. [2a]  Regardless of where they were before arriving in Ireland, they were likely Protestant refugees, most likely Presbyterians.

One thing that seems to be clear however is that the progenitors of the southern USA Verner family are John Verner, Sr. and wife Mary Pettigrew.  According to Clara Wallace, John and his family immigrated to America from Northern Ireland with his future father-in-law James Pettigrew and they arrived in America at New Castle, Delaware about 1740.  He then lived in Pennsylvania (Lancaster County) before moving to Virginia (Lunenburg County) and then North Carolina (Granville County).  According to his son's Revolutionary War pension application[3], they left NC about 1774-1775 and headed south where they settled along the Savannah River near present day Calhoun Falls, SC.  They then moved to the western part of South Carolina on Richland Creek (Near Westminster, present day Oconee County).  

South Carolina Marriages 1777-1852, Abbeville District, compiled by Pauline Young, 1964
I believe this info was taken from the Will of James Pettigrew that was dated 1784.  James lists his daughter "Mary Verner" but her husband is not listed.

The graves of John Sr. and his wife Mary Pettigrew have not been located with any certainty.  Some say John Sr. is buried in the Old Pickens Presbyterian Church cemetery.[4]  Others claim that he is buried in Anderson County near his son David in the historic Providence Church cemetery.  Mary was still alive in 1827 and might have been living with one of her children when she died so she could be buried in Habersham, Franklin or Stephens Counties (GA) or alongside her husband, wherever that may be.  There are several Pettigrews buried in the Providence Church cemetery - born in the 1800s.

John, Sr. left a Will in 1799 naming his wife and children.  This Will can be found in the Anderson County Probate Court records.

Wife -Mary

Children:

1. George
2. James
3. David
4. John, Jr.
5. Jenny
6. Nancy
7. Dianah Wakefield
8. Sarah Montgomery
9. Mary Ewing
10. Charles

It is likely that John Verner Sr. and most of his sons served as Patriots in some capacity during the Revolutionary War as they were all Presbyterians and devoted Whigs living in the Long Canes area of Abbeville District, SC when the war reached the South.   James died as a POW of the British in Charleston.  Interestingly, David and John served with their mother's brother, Captain James Pettigrew. [5]   My grandmother became a member of the D.A.R. using David Verner as her Patriot ancestor (he was a Sergeant). George is listed in at least one publication as a soldier but I have not found any proof of his service other than a land bounty awarded to him. The pension applications of David and John can be found here:  David S21550 ,  John S7793

On his pension application, John stated that he was born in Granville County, NC and he moved to Abbeville District when he was 10 years old (approx. 1753).  He served as a Private at various times in Colonel Andrew Pickens' Regiment under Captains Anderson (probably Robert), William Wilson, John Norwood, and Robert Carruthers.  He was at the Battle of Cowpens and the Siege of Ninety Six.  His service began in 1778 or 1779 and continued, off and on, until 1783.  

On his pension application, David stated that he was born in Virginia, in 1760.  He served from 1776 through 1782.  He was in Colonel Andrew Pickens' Regiment under Captains Robert Anderson, James Pettigrew, McCall (James?), William Harris, Prince (Francis?), James McCall.  He served as a Private, Sergeant and adjutant.  Service included the Florida Expedition and the Siege of Ninety Six.   He was also in various skirmishes and Indian scouting ventures.

Both brothers were very young when they enlisted (15-17 years old) but the pension application states that they were recruited by their uncle (James Pettigrew) with the promise of 200 acres each of bounty land and the stipulation that they could refuse to march to "distant country".  John was only 18 years old when his service ended and David was 22.

The pension applications of their cousin James Pettigrew and his brother William Pettigrew [6] can be found here: James W5522 , William S21421  James and William were the sons of John Pettigrew and Sarah Mathews and the grandsons of James Pettigrew and Mary Cochran.  Like the Verners, there were many sons and grandsons of James and Mary that served in the American Revolution.  They lived in the same area of South Carolina (Long Canes).  James' (W5522) pension application notes that he worked as an Overseer for Patrick Calhoun, the father of John C. Calhoun.  Patrick was the firebrand Presbyterian who is one of the earliest white European settlers of the Long Canes area.  He is said to have immigrated from Northern Ireland to Pennsylvania before then moving to South Carolina in the mid-1750s - a route that the Verners may also have taken a few years later.

As of 2015, the Revolutionary War era rifle used by John Verner, Jr. at the Battle of Cowpens is still in the possession of one of his descendants.  Interestingly, there was a rifle manufacturer named Andrew Verner in the late 1700s.  The rifle below does not appear to have been made by Andrew (markings do not match).

This rifle was supposedly used by John Verner, Jr. at the Battle of Cowpens

(Source: A descendant of John Verner, Jr.)

Note that John Verner, Jr. became a lawyer and his name can be found on many of my Blair and Harrison family records as well as living close to them in Pendleton District (later Pickens and Oconee Counties) SC.  His name can be found on hundreds, if not thousands, of documents for early Pendleton District families - not just my own ancestors.  

The well cared for grave of John Verner, Jr. near present day Westminster, SC

The graves of John and his wife Rebecca are located on land that once was his plantation 

near the confluence of Harbin Creek and Choestoea Creek - just south of the Old Bachelor's Retreat Presbyterian Church.

Death of Lemuel Verner, son of John Verner, Jr. and Rebecca Dickey, 1898

Montford Stokes Stribling death in 1890
His wife was Anna Maria Verner, daughter of John Verner, Jr. and Rebecca Dickey

A grandson of John Verner, Jr., Colonel John Verner Stribling, was intimately involved with the design of the first automobile.  See article here.  

Another of John's descendants (Samuel Philips Verner) was largely responsible for the exploitation of the African pygmy named Ota Benga.  Interestingly, Samuel was a devout Presbyterian and a Missionary to Africa.  Also of interest to me personally is that Samuel is buried in the same cemetery in close proximity to my paternal 5th great-grandfather Benjamin Davidson (Davidson River Cemetery in Brevard, NC).  I found no link between these men and their families except that they were both devout Presbyterians.  Benjamin's son-in-law (Rev. Samuel Davis) was a Presbyterian minister in western NC and SC in the late 1700s to the early 1800s.

I have a double dose of Verner DNA being a descendant of two of John's Sr's children: David & George.  My grandmother, Rubye Lois Bailey Blair descends from David Verner and my grandfather, Henry Lee Blair, descends from George Verner.  Thus, my grandparents were 4th cousins.  Based on Revolutionary War pension applications, there is no doubt about the descendants of David and John Verner.

1. David Verner married Esther (lnu)

• Their daughter Mary Verner married John Ledbetter. 
   
• Their son John Ledbetter married Susan Williams
  
  
• Their son Joel Ledbetter married Mary Miller
  
  
• Their daughter Rosa Murl Ledbetter is my great grandmother

2. George Verner married Mary Dobson 

• Their son Robert P. Verner married Susan Moss daughter of Frederick Moss and Barbara Berry

• Their son George E. Verner married Anna/Annie Guest
  
  
• Their daughter Sarah E. Verner is my great grandmother
  
  

The grave of the Revolutionary War soldier David Verner, Providence Church

The original stone marker is no longer legible

A more recent marker and Revolutionary War plaque have been added.

Mary Verner Ledbetter grave marker 

Providence Methodist Church cemetery, Hart County, GA

The old field stone marker is hardly legible today - it is located very close to the other Ledbetter graves.

My 2nd great grandfather, George Edwin Verner, was a Minister of the Gospel, Justice of the Peace and a soldier for the Confederacy.  He was with the 3rd GA Cavalry (State Guards), Company E.  His unit appears to have been headed by Colonel Robert Toombs and it was only active 6 months.  Of course, he may have served in other units for which there are no records.  He signed a reconstruction oath in 1867 while living in Franklin County, GA.  According to my great grandmother who was born in 1860, she remembered his return home. She was in the yard and saw a man hiding behind some clothes that were drying on a clothesline in the yard and it turned out to be him playing a game with them.  George married Annie Guest, granddaughter of Captain Moses Guest the Revolutionary War soldier.

Here is a link to a great online article about the Verners and the Bachelor's Retreat area.

The following information was found in the files of my mother and it is likely that these records were obtained by her or her mother - both of whom did research on our Verner ancestors.  I have compiled these records into one PDF file.  

>>Click here to view the PDF file<<

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[1] Unknown date - probably written in the 1960s.  Clara is a descendant of John Verner, Jr.

[2] The copy I have available is not easy to read: It appears to be a copy of a copy and which I then scanned.  It was in my grandmother's files.

[2a] While watching an "Isle of Man TT" motorcycle documentary on television recently, the author saw a mention of a "Verner Bridge" and a "Vernersbridge" railway station in Northern Ireland in County Armagh - just west of Belfast.    This could be a clue as to where our Verner ancestors were before arriving in America.  Note that the "Crilly House" of my Pettigrew ancestors is located in this same general area.

[3] S7793, John Verner

[4] Note that when Ms. Clara Verner Wallace wrote this history, she thought the church would be flooded; However, the church and cemetery remain intact.  The church and cemetery are adjacent to the Duke Power Company's nuclear power plant and the Keowee River and Highway 183.  This may also have one time been the location of the old Pickens County Courthouse.  The numerous graves are spread out all across this property. 

[5]  Captain James Pettigrew died of smallpox in Charleston as a British POW. 

[6] William apparently wrote a Pettigrew family history about 1820 which was published in the Pettigrew family newsletter "Pettigrew Family Quarterly" which apparently is in the library of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints in Utah.

(This page was created on 8/7/2023; Last modified on 8/27/2024)