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I'm having difficulty reconciling the Thomas English in Washington County, Georgia with the Thomas English who went to Cape Girandeau, Missouri, although that is who he is reported to be.
Supposedly, about 1769 at the age of 15, Thomas English left Virginia and went to live with a sister somewhere near Macon, GA. Family tradition state that THOMAS was in the Revolutionary War, his son, THOMAS, being born in some fort to which the women were taken for protection when the British invaded the South (which would mean the younger Thomas was born between 1777-1781). "Invaded the South" is a pretty broad statement, and the British were not overrunning Macon.
THOMAS ENGLISH was said to have been wounded in the battle of Eutaw Springs (which occurred in May 22, 1781). WILLIAM WICKER claimed that his brother-in-law THOMAS ENGLISH was wounded and that he was charged with taking him home. In his pension application, Wicker does not say to English's home...he just says "home", and Wicker lived in Cheraw District (Chesterfield County, SC) at the time.
Family story continues... "It is recorded that a band of Tories wearing masks came to their home in Georgia and destroyed the feather beds by ripping them open, he being away from home at the time. His wife, JANE (WICKER) ENGLISH, snatched the mask from the face of one and found him to be a near neighbor. It was after he entered the army that THOMAS' wife was taken to one of the American forts nearby where her child was born." This story is not in Wicker's pension application, so it may just be oral tradition.
Thomas English of Washington County received a headrights and bounty grant on Williamson Swamp in 1785, and Robert Wicker, father of the above William Wicker, received his first grant in 1787, also on Williamson Swamp. Cornelius English recieves a grant on Williamson Swamp in 1788. Thomas English appears in Washington County records until 1811, even though the English family was in Cape Girandeau by 1806.
I find it unlikely (but not impossible) that Robert Wicker settled next to a man named Thomas English in Washington County, Georgia, and that it was not the same Thomas English his son had escorted home. But the Wickers were not in Georgia until 1787...they held property in SC, and by Wm Wicker's own statement, he lived in SC and did not relocate to Georgia until about 1787. He says they stayed in Washingotn County for 17 years, which closely corresponds to the move to Cape Girandeau (although Wm Wicker himself went to Alabama).
Perhaps the family is mistaken about where the featherbed story took place? I have the exact same story in another family line, (popular story!) but they were in same area of SC as the Wicker family. The British and Tories truly were harrassing the families of Francis Marion's men, and William Wicker indicates that he was with Marion at one point.
So exactly who is this Thomas English in Washington County Georgia if he is not the husband of Jane Wicker? And who is the Thomas Wicker in Cape Girandeau? Are they two different men?
I'm trying to connect my Cornelius English to the right family...on the 1850 census, he reported he was born in South Carolina about 1767.
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