Laney Lineage and Legacy, Guy Funderburk

Titus Laney

According to his son George, Titus was born in Germany. We have already seen that John Laney who married in to the Lord Wentworth family, and who had four sons including Bishop Benjamin Laney, was living in Ipswich, Eng. 1580, where he was the town?s recorder, and d. 1633. The father of Titus and Joseph was possibly a descendant of this John, and a preacher himself, or sea captain, or British foreign diplomat to Germany, and living there with his family when Titus was born.
Hannah, on the other hand according to George, was born in Cork, Ireland, not far from the Laney ancestral home.
       Titus and Hannah were probably m. in Cork, c. 1730, and after the birth of 1 or 2 children, boarded a ship with some neighbor Irish and German Palatines bound for Philadelphia, c. 1732. For ?Jan. 24,1733, Titus (Teter) Laney received a land grant in Lancaster co. , Penna. , 300 acres?. (When Surveyed in 1761 it was 408 ac.) (Warrant no. 73, Land Office, PA). Here he lived, east of the Susquehanna River, for 9years, farming land here and across the disputed Mason-Dixon line Frederick Co. MD. There is an undated document; _?Frederick Co., DeLaney of Annapolis, ? has undertaken to discharge said ?P? . l . from demand of Titus Enyart, and Nicholas Bondrake. __the Sheriff for 5 shilling paid by DuLaney to Titus Laney? Mrs. Julian C. Lane, Genealogist, Atlanta. GA).
       About this time many settlers in this area moved southward into Frederick and Hamphire counties in VA, and among them was Titus. In 1742 Titus Laney received a land grant in Frederick Co., VA. Here he remained for another 9 years, when he sold his land in 1751, and with is family joined a wagon train and headed south down the Shenandoah Valley. Overcrowding be continuous immigrates plus Indian depredations following Braddock?s defeat drove numerous families down the ?Old Wagon Road? into the Piedmont of the Carolina. From 1747 to 1753 there was a continuous stream of migration into the Up-county foot hills, where they founded new colonies on the wild frontier.
       One of the most famous was the German Moravians who settled Winston-Salem. Across the Yadkin and west to the Catawba three other settlements were founded 1747 - 48. The Bryan Settlement was located near Squire Boone Family, including the later famous Daniel Boone. The ?Davidson creek settlement, 1748-51, west ward on the tributaries of Catawba River, was made by Scotch-Irish Presbyterians. A third was the ?Irish Settlement, 1747-49, located in the headwaters of Second Creek thirty miles southwest of shallow ford.? Irish Buffalo Creek flows today just west of Concord.
       At least 14 families comprised this colon y, including such names as: Cathey, Graham, Brandon. , lock, Gillespie, still, Marlin, Bell, Holmes, Kennedy, Dobbin and Withrow. In ?1751, a certain James McManus of North Hampton Co. North Carolina, acquired 4,480 acres of desirable land lying north and west of William Brandon and George Cathey? (N.C. Land Grants, XI, 22-24). McManus had been a resident of Cecil Co. , MD, joining Lancaster Co., PA. Five years later, Oct. 15, 1756, James McManus was granted 33 ac., Lancaster Co. SC, on South Fork of Wildcat Cr., joining land of TITUS LANEY (Court House, Mem. V9, p. 160 ).
       Titus and family doubtless came to S.C. in 1751. Titus and James may have known each other in Ireland, and most certainly in PA & MD. The McManuses trace their lineage back through Ireland to spain as do the Laney?s. Laney?s and McManuses have contained in this original settlement along upper Lynches River to this day, and doubtless consummated many marriages between themselves. Other early Irish in this area were Armstrong (among whom was my Uncle Dickie), Harris Welsh, Lynch (from whom the river was doubtless named) Mullis, O?Toole, and many more.
       The Waxhaw Indians had nearly been decimated by small-pox in 1740. The few survivors joined the Catawba?s, leaving the fertile ?Garden of the Waxhaw?s? for land-hungry white settlers. Soon land agents were advertising in northern colonies, ?Come south where it is cheap.? The first white settlers who came consisted of a few families, May 1751, among whom was probably Titus Laney?s. already. ? Lancaster Co., SC was settled by Presbyterians 1745? (Jas. M. Burgess, St. Mark?s Parish). The follower of migration increased down the ?Great Wagon Road? to its intersection of ?Indian Trading Path? at Salisbury by which it poured into Mecklenburg Co. , NC and Lancaster Co. SC and surrounding areas. ?As late as 1765 it was reported that more than 1,000 wagons passed through Salisbury a year? (Gambel).
       After settling on Wildcat Cr. --1757, Titus Laney appears on St. Mark?s , Presbyterian, Parish Roll. Feb. 1, 1763,Titus Laney recited 200 ac. On Wilcar cr. , bounded on NE by tract of land surveyed for said Laney by John Wade, DS. And 1763, 100 ac. On a branch of Lynches Cr. (Land Grant book, Hist. Com., SC) Aug. 18, 1863. Titus Laney Jr. when Titus Laney, Sr. and wife Hannah conveyed the land to James Menzeas (Charleston, SC records.) ?George Laney named a son Titus and a daughter Hannah for his Father and Mother ? (Mrs. Julian C. Lane).
       Feb. 15, 1769, Titus Laney sold 200 ac. On E. Wildcat Cr., Lancaster Co., SC. To James McManus (register Mesne Conveyance office, Charleston, SC Bk. A-4, p. 146).