The Sons of Andrew Presley Jr.

compiled by Ed Dunn

Three sons of Johann Valentin Pressler, Andrew, John, and Peter, settled in Anson County, North Carolina, in the mid-1700s. This article is about what is known of Andrew Jr., the son of Andrew Sr., and the sons of Andrew Jr., who eventually moved to western North Carolina and/or eastern Tennessee and were the progenitors of many of the Presley families of that region. It is this branch of the Preslar family which has probably caused the greatest difficulty in researching the family tree.

Examination of the known details about Andrew Presley Jr.'s sons might suggest some research possibilities for the families of that area of southern Appalachia. These families must be distinguished from the Pressley families of South Carolina who were of Irish or English origins and branches of which also moved into the mountainous area. The fact that Andrew Jr. and his sons also resided in South Carolina has only added to the confusion.

The greatest difficulty arises in trying to identify all the children of brothers Charles, Andrew (III), John, and Peter Presley. Since the children were probably adults when they moved to the Appalachian region and their fathers were elderly, and since the fathers did not appear to have left any wills, it has been particularly difficult to follow the branches of the family in that area.

Andrew Presler [Jr.], son of Andrew Presler & Ann his wife, grandson of John Vollintine Presler, was born 4 Feb. 1732/33 in St. Stephen's parish, Cecil County, Maryland. The grandfather's name was actually recorded in the christening record.

Shortly after Andrew Sr. arrived in Anson County (he received a grant of 264 acres on both sides of Rocky River in 1751), there was an Andrew Presler who appeared in the records of Rowan County, North Carolina. Andrew Preslar (Presler, Prestler, Pesler) was in the Salisbury District Superior Court Minutes of 1758. This was probably Andrew Presler/Presley Jr.

Andrew Jr. received 100a of land from his father in 1759 in Anson County (Anson Co. Deed Bk. 6, p. 152-53). Andrew Sr. deeded land to each of his sons in lieu of writing a will before he died. In 1767 Andrew Presler Jr. of Mecklenburg County sold this tract of land on the south side of Rocky River to John McIlvail except for the one-quarter acre burial plot (Anson Co. Deed Bk.H1, p. 145-46). In 1774, Andrew Jr. of Mecklenburg County sold 100a that John Preslar Jr., son of Andrew Sr., had received from his father (John Jr. is believed to have died without issue.)(Anson Co. Deed Bk. K, p. 274). No further record of Andrew Jr. has been found in Anson County. Further search of land records in Mecklenburg County is indicated for this period.

Land conveyances in South Carolina prior to 1785 had to be recorded in Charleston. Kershaw County was created in 1791 and after that date records were kept there. In the interim between 1785 and 1791, records were kept in Camden District which included Fairfield and Lancaster Counties. Camden District records are now in Kershaw County.

Kershaw County land records have been searched for Presley/Preslar conveyances. Andrew Prestley Junr., blacksmith, of Craven County purchased from James Betty (Bettie, Beaty) a 150 acre tract on the north side of the Wateree River (said to be then in Craven County) on 19 July 1776. The deed (Deed Bk. B, p. 61-63) was recorded in Kershaw County on 2 July 1791. Craven County, incidentally, included all of northern South Carolina, but was never a record-keeping entity. The above deed was witnessed by Andrew Presly and John Presly, who were presumably the sons of Andrew Presley Jr.

Andrew Jr.'s name appeared in a series of deeds in Kershaw County recorded between 1791 and 1795. In a deed (Deed Bk. B, pp. 66-69) dated 1779, in which Andrew and his wife Elizabeth were the grantors, he was said to be "of Macklenburgh County No. Ca." We can safely assume that he had moved back to Mecklenburg County before that date.

No will or estate record for Andrew Jr. has been found, but again, the Mecklenburg County records need to be searched. He probably died before 1790 (some of the South Carolina deeds recorded after that date may have been by Andrew Presley (III)), since he was not in the 1790 census, even though that hardly constitutes proof (people were missed).

It should be pointed out that in the late 1700s and early 1800s there was another Preslar/Presley family in Kershaw Co. Anthony Preslar raised his sons there, and in 1820 he and all his adult sons moved to southern Alabama. This family is not easily confused with that of Andrew  Presley Jr. even though they both lived in Kershaw County.

Who was recording the early land records of Andrew Presley Jr. in Kershaw County in the 1790s when we know that Andrew Jr. had already moved back to North Carolina, and possibly had died? The logical answer is his sons.

Now, turning to Revolutionary War pension records, it is possible to deduce the names of Andrew Jr.'s sons as Charles, John, Andrew (III), and Peter:

Charles Priestley (W.981) (the name also appears in the file as Prestley, Prestly, Pressly, Presly) was said to have been born in Richmond County, North Carolina, the date of his birth and the names of his parents not given. Richmond County was not created until 1779, so that statement is partly in error, but it was created from Anson County. The pension application was made in 1832 and Charles' then age was estimated as 85 or 90, so it is easy to imagine him being mistaken. He was then a resident of Morgan County, Tennessee.

He enlisted the year after the "Snow Campaign" while residing with his parents in Kershaw County.  He married Polly (Mary) Kiziah of Kershaw County in 1783. After the war, he lived in North Carolina, South Carolina, and Tennessee. He died in 1835 in Bledsoe County, Tennessee. Polly died in 1844 at the age of ninety. They had eight children: John (the eldest, age 55 in 1840), Nancy, Betsey, Patsey, William (the 5th child, born in 1796, living in Bledsoe County in 1840), Charles, Kesiah, and David.

The Minutes of the Kershaw County Court reveal that Charles Prestley served on a petit jury in 1795. Charles Presley was listed in the 1800 census of Kershaw County, South Carolina, with two males 0-10, one male 10-16, one male over 45, two females 0-10, one female 10-16, and one female 26-45.

Andrew Presley [III] (S.21434, B.L.Wt. 28522-150-55) stated he was born in Rowan County in 1754, where he was living when he entered the service in 1779. He did not say where he lived after the war, but when he applied for a pension in 1833 he was living in Claiborne County, TN. In 1855, he was still alive and living in Hawkins County, Tennessee. He would, of course, then have been 101 years old, if he was correct about the year of his birth.

In the 1790 census, Andw Prestly was listed as head-of-household in Camden District, Lancaster County, South Carolina, with one male under 16, one male over 16, two females over 16 and one female under 16 in his household. He apparently lived in Buncombe County, North Carolina, in 1800 when Andrew Presley had one male 16-26, one male over 45, and one female over 45. This suggests that he had one son. Andrew Prestley served on a petit jury in Kershaw County in 1793.

Andrew (III) died in 1859 in Hawkins County, Tennessee. His estate records were found in the Minutes of the Chancery Court of Hawkins County (pp. 228, 248, 288). He died intestate and left no widow. He was said to have had "a son called Robert Presley now emigrated from said county to parts unknown." John Presley was "one of his heirs at law living in Hawkins County," and these were "all the known heirs at law of said Andrew Presley deceased."

John Presley (S.3738) stated in his pension application that he was born in Rowan County in 1748. He was living in Mecklenburg County when he was called into service in 1779 and part of his army service was as a substitute for his brother, Peter. He resided in Mecklenburg County for 20 years afterward, then moved to Kersaw County near Camden, South Carolina, and lived there for 14 years, moved back to Rowan County for several years, then moved to Tennessee to be near his children, "living some times in No Car and sometimes in Tennessee." The lengths of residence in the variously named locations are probably not entirely accurate. He made his pension application in 1833 when he resided in Monroe County, Tennessee.

In the 1790 census of Camden District, Lancaster County, South Carolina, Jno Prestley was head-of-household with two males over 16, three males under 16, four females over 16. In the 1800 census of Kershaw County, John Presley was listed with two males 0-10, two males 10-16, one male over 45, one female 0-10, one female 26-45 in his household. This suggests he probably had four sons and three daughters. Since John moved to North Carolina-Tennessee to be near his children, it is likely that the latter moved to that area as adults.  Several names have been suggested as those of his sons.

Finally, there is Peter Presley, for whom his brother, John, served as a substitute in the Revolutionary War. The evidence is strongly suggestive (after ruling out other less likely possibilities) that Peter Preslar Sr., a resident of Hall County, Georgia, who showed up in the 1827 Georgia Land Lottery, was the Peter who was the son of Andrew Presley Jr. He was charged with fraud regarding the land lottery and was condemned in the Talbot County, Georgia, Superior Court in the September term, 1829. One Caleb Griffith charged that Preslar misrepresented himself as being a Revolutionary War soldier, saying that "if the said Peter ever was in Said war he was a Tory." Whatever the truth of the matter, it does suggest that Peter was old enough to have served, whether he did or not, and thus was probably the brother of Charles, John, and Andrew (III).

Peter Pressly was listed in the 1810 census of Buncombe County, North Carolina, with three males 0-10, one male 10-16, one male over 45, one female 0-10, one female 16-26, and one female over 45. The 1820 census of Hall County, Georgia, lists Peter Presley with one male 10-16, one male over 45, one female under 10, one female 10-16, and one female over 45. The manufacturers census for that year revealed that he was a shoemaker and made 150 pairs of shoes per year. He has been referred to by researchers as "Peter the Shoemaker." He was listed in Hall County tax lists for 1822 and 1824.

An old family Bible record indicates that Peter Presley was born in Rowan County, North Carolina on 8 August 1756 and died in Hall County, Georgia, in 1829/30. He was married twice, the name of his first wife unknown, his second wife named Sarah (surname unknown), born in North Carolina on 6 May 1770 and alive in 1850 in Habersham County, Georgia.

Peter is believed to have probably had two sets of children, the names of which have not all been identified.  They may have included the following:

1) David Presley (born circa 1774), who settled in Lincoln County, Missouri, in the 1820s. David deeded land to Peter Presley in Buncombe County, North Carolina, in 1807. (Peter was grantor in a deed of land in Buncombe Co. in 1815, indicating he was still in Buncombe County at that date.) David was considerably older than the other children of Peter named below, and there may have been other as yet unidentified sons in this older suggested family of Peter.
2)William Presley (father of Ephraim Presley, born 1813, died 1900, of Pickens County, Georgia) was a probable son, based on his close proximity to the other members of the family.
3) and 4) There were probably two unidentified sons, born between 1790 and 1800.
5) John Presley, born circa 1802, was found in Habersham County, Georgia, in the 1850 Census and was most likely a son of Peter.
6) Andrew Presley, born circa 1805, married 13 Jan 1830 in Hall County, Georgia, to Anny Strickland was almost certainly a son of Peter.
7) Finally, Peter Presley, born Buncombe County, North Carolina on 8 Jul 1807, alive on 19 June 1860 in Jonesboro, Craighead County, Arkansas, is described in the above mentioned record as a son of Peter Presley.

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