Josiah Downen ca. 1740 - ca. 1802
Josiah Downen was born ca. 1740, probably in South Carolina, now part of the USA but at that time part of British America. Josiah's parents are unknown.
He married Mary Elizabeth Smith (ca. 1747-1835) around 1765 in South Carolina. They had the following children:
Job Downen (1768-1842)
Hannah Downen (1770-1820)
William Downen (1774-1849)
Timothy Downen (1777-1828)
Polly Downen (Unknown-Unknown)
Josiah Downen (1780-1845)
Elizabeth Downen (1784-1850)
David Downen (1789-1838)
Patsy Downen (Unknown-Unknown)
The information in this paragraph specifically and much of this page comes from the Downen genealogy wiki. The earliest documentation on Josiah was a Royal Land Grant in the name of King George III dated 13 February 1768. The grant was made to Josiah Downing, giving him 150 acres of vacant land in Granville County, South Carolina (now Abbeville County, South Carolina). Land grants were also made to James, John and Thomas Downing, who may have been Josiah's brothers.
Josiah Downing Plat For 150 Acres on Parks Creek
(Original here at South Carolina Department of Archives and History)
Interestingly enough, after I wrote the above paragraph I found some fascinating stuff on a website which has indexed very old South Carolina land records from Abbeville County -- here is a link to the site which in turn points to copies of the images on the website of the South Carolina Department of Archives and History. According to the index site the grant was made to Josiah Downing, map section 4D, the date the plat was certified by the surveyor was 16 May 1765, reference ID was C10:206 (volume and page number of the plat in the original plat book), size was 150 acres, location was Parke's Creek, surveyor Jno Pickens, and there were no adjoining property grants or owners (all sides vacant).
Between 1780 and 1782 Josiah fought in the Revolutionary War on the American side as part of the South Carolina Militia under the command of General Andrew Pickens. He was wounded in action in 1781. Josiah's revolutionary war service has been recognized by the DAR so female descendants of his are eligible for membership in the organization.
The Revolution apparently led to another change that has been signficiant to Josiah's descendants. Before the war, Josiah's last name was rendered as Downing, not Downen. During the war Josiah began rendering his last name as Downen. This may have been his way of "americanizing" his name to differentiate himself and his cause from the British Isles. In any event, from then on Josiah and his descendants were known as Downens.
Josiah showed up in the first U.S. census in 1790 in what was then known as Pendleton District or Pendleton County, but the area is now part of Anderson County, South Carolina. (census image here)
According to the Downen wiki, the last record of Josiah in Anderson County is in 1794, and some time between 1794 and 1800 Josiah and his children left South Carolina and took the pioneer route through Tennessee to Kentucky. Josiah received 200 acres in Muhlenberg County, Kentucky, in 1799. Some of his family remained in Tennessee and the family name was found in southern Tennessee for several generations afterward.
Even though he should have been living in Muhlenberg County by then, for some reason Josiah shows up in the 1800 tax list for Kentucky (the census was lost for that year and state, so the tax list is used as a form of substitute census) and is listed as living in Christian County. His name was rendered as Josiah Downey and his son Job also showed up in the tax list, also listed as living in Christian County. (tax list image here)
Josiah died in Muhlenberg County in 1802 or 1803. His wife Mary paid taxes on the farm there from 1803 to 1807. She died in Illinois in 1835, at age 88. Josiah and Mary's burial places are not known.
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