Other Dukes in the Lowcountry

A few additional members of unidentified Duke or Dukes families were documented in the lowcountry and Pee Dee or had lowcountry associations during the 18th century and early 19th century.

James Dukes in Marion County, Pee dee River

James Dukes had a plat surveyed on the Little Reedy Creek, a tributary of the Little Pee Dee River just east of modern Marion, SC, in 1790:

Series Number: S213190

Volume:0026

Page:00069

Item: 02

Date: 1790/03/12

Description: DUKES, JAMES, PLAT FOR 327 ACRES ON LITTLE REEDY CREEK, GEORGETOWN DISTRICT, SURVEYED BY WILLIAM STEWART.

Names Indexed: DUKES, JAMES/STEWART, WILLIAM/MCWILLIAMS, THOMAS/

Locations: GEORGETOWN DISTRICT/LITTLE REEDY CREEK

Type: PLAT/

He appears again in this plat for Peter McWilliams two years later:

Series:S213190

Volume -003

Page:00307

Item:00

Date: 1792/05/05

Description: MCWILLIAMS, PETER, PLAT FOR 1,732 ACRES ON LITTLE REEDY CREEK, GEORGE TOWN DISTRICT, SURVEYED BY WILLIAM STEWART.

Names Indexed: MCWILLIAMS, PETER/STEWART, WILLIAM/PRYOR, LUKE/DUKS, JAMES/KERBEY, ARCHIBALD/ALSTON, WILLIAM/

Locations: GEORGETOWN DISTRICT/LITTLE REEDY CREEK/PEE DEE RIVER

Type: PLAT/

Little Reedy Creek is now in Marion County, in the fork of the Pee Dee and Little Pee Dee rivers, west of Kingston Township. On the 1776 Mouzon map, there is only one surname in the area – “Rothmaller”, probably land belonging to the family of Job Rothmahler. William Alston also owned land adjacent John Frasier, apparently the same John Frasier who married Mary Duke, daughter of Thomas Goodman Duke.[1]

A William Stewart earlier was associated with William Duke of Christ Church Parish. The James Dukes of the Little Reedy Creek was presumably born by 1765 or so.

Elizabeth Duke Dubose

A WorldConnect database dated 2001 by lists a marriage between Elizabeth Duke and James Lawrence Dubose, born 1818. James Lawrence Dubose is listed as a son of John Dubose and Margaret Dick, and that John Dubose is identified as a son of Isaac Dubose IV and Catherine Dutarque. No source is given for the information. John Dutarque was executor of the John Snow will, witnessed by Thomas Goodman Duke, much earlier.

“Mr. Duke” on the Althamaha

On 9 February 1768, Henry Laurens wrote to John Polson regarding his affairs in Georgia:[2]

This goes by Mr. William Bruce who if he likes Turtle River will carry some of his own & some of my hands there to saw Pine Lumber. . . He will also pay you a Sum of Money for which you will send a Receipt on my Account and as I have engaged a Complete Carpenter to send to Altamaha shall have no further Use for Mr. Duke, therefore have order’d Mr. Noble to discharge him, & send me his Account. In the meantime perhaps the poor Man may be in want of a little Money; in such Case be so good as to let him have Part of his balance & Charge it to me.”

The Altamaha flows through Tatnall Co GA. SCDAH records show many grants on the Altamaha, principally to the usual suspects in Charleston, including Henry Laurens, in 1763. There were numerous previous associations between the Dugué and Noble families in Charleston, including joint ownership of a ship, along with others including Benjamin Marion, in 1695.[3] Henry le Noble was among the three individuals who posted bond for the estate of Jacques Dugué.[4] In the records preserved at SCDAH, the name Le Noble appears primarily as Noble after the 1740’s. However, the reference here is to a Mark Noble, overseer of Lauren’s property on the Altamaha, whose relationship to that family – if any – is unknown. The same Laurens letter speaks ill of young Mr. Noble; he apparently did not follow Laurens’ directions properly. “Mr. Bruce” in this reference is William Bruce, a carpenter from the Black Mingo.

Reuben Duc

Reuben Duc is listed in the 1810 Colleton Co SC census, page 598. Colleton borders Orangeburg and Barnwell counties. His data:

Reuben Duc, Colleton 00101020100

The “Duc” spelling is otherwise found only in the Charleston family of Francis and Henry Duc, who were apparently unrelated to the Duke families.

Reuben appears to be 45+ (thus born 1765 or earlier), with a male16-25, a female 26-45, and two females 10-16. He is practically next door to Josiah Langdale, in Colleton Co. Langdale was one of the two witnesses to the will of our Joseph Duke's second wife, Barbara Dukes. According to Langdale family researchers, 1774, the year he witnessed Barbara's will, was the first year he was in SC. He and William Mason, the other witness to her will, suggest that Barbara was northeast of Walterboro when she made her will.

Reuben Duc is also close in the census to to Mary Ann Hyrne, William Fishburne, Thomas Robeson, Thomas Boone, Crispan Canady and Lewis O’Brian.

The name Fishburn appears on the 1825 Mills Atlas of Colleton Co on Scull Creek, which is consistent with information that places Josiah Langdale between Walterboro and the Edisto River. Beach Hill appears on the 1773 Mouzon map of South Carolina in St. Paul’s Parish north of Spoons on the east side of the Edisto.

Lowcountry Dukes Index

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[1] State Plats. Series No. S213192. Vol. 0036. Page 00020. Item 01. 1706. South Carolina Department of Archives and History.

[2] Rogers, George C., Jr., David R. Chesnutt, Editors, and Peggy J. Clark, Editorial Assistant. The Papers of Henry Laurens. Volume Five: Sept. 1, 1765-July 31, 1768. Columbia: University of South Carolina Press.

[3] Moore, Caroline T., compiler and editor. 1978. Records of the Secretary of the Province of South Carolina 1692-1721. Columbia: R. L. Bryan. P. 131.

[4] Salley, A.S.Jr. Jan 1909. Abstracts from Records the Court of Ordinary. South Carolina Historical and Genealogical Magazine Vol. X (1): 88.