From the files of Legacy Keeper Donna Thompson.
JOHN LANGSTON
BORN: 1710, in Ireland, we believe. (Possibly Chowan County, NC or Isle of Wight, VA)
DIED: 11 November 1790, in 96 District, Greenville County, South Carolina.
PARENTS: John Langston was the son of Joseph Langston, who was the son of William Langston, Earl of Jersey.
MARRIED: Mary Agnes Magnum (b. 1712 in Scotland, we believe; possibly NC or GA; d. 1760 in Granville County, NC). Her parents were John Magnum and Frances Bennett.
CHILDREN: John Langston’s will (probated 11 November 1790), dated 1 March 1782, and recorded in Greenville County, SC in Will Book A, page 29, names the following: son James; son Solomon (our ancestor who married Sarah Bennett); son Jechonias; daughter Molley Smith; daughter Beekka (Rebecca) Williams, and son-in-law Thomas Williams; daughter Fanny Langston; daughter Sally Smith; son Samuel; daughter Elizabeth Spann; son Joseph; son Jesse; daughter Patta McVay; Lusia Thompson (no relationship given), and grandchildren Asa, William, and John (son of Jesse). There was also a son named Absalom, who married Christian Bennett (sister of Solomon Langston’s wife Sarah Bennett).
BIOGRAPHICAL INFORMATION: We think that John Langston and his family immigrated to America from Ireland sometime before 1746 and settled in what is now Granville County, North Carolina. Land deeds and other records lead us to believe that John Langston moved to Greenville County, South Carolina sometime between 1773 and 1786.
Listed below are some of the recorded transactions of the Langstons:
14 May 1748 – John Langston bought, for 22 pds., 10 shls., 600 acres on S. side of Reedy Branch, from Joseph John Alston, of Edgecombe County, North Carolina [later Granville County, NC].
15 August 1760 – John Langston gave his son, Solomon Langston, 160 acres in Granville County, North Carolina, on both sides of the Tar River at Ephrm. Merritt’s line on Mountain Creek.
20 December 1760 – John Langston gave his son James Langston 150 acres in Granville County, North Carolina, part of the tract on both sides of the Tar River on John Williams’ line.
29 July 1761 – Solomon Langston was granted 610 acres on both sides of Merritt’s Creek on Merritt’s and Washington’s lines.
12 March 1762 – Solomon Langston sold 420 acres on Merritt’s Creek in Granville County, North Carolina, to Benjamin Merritt for 5 shl.
16 December 1772 – John Langston of Orange County, North Carolina gave to Solomon Langston of Granville County, North Carolina, 40 acres on Mountain Creek in Granville County, North Carolina.
21 February 1787 – Joseph Langston of Greenville County, South Carolina, sold land in Granville County, North Carolina, to Arthur Moore.
