Last month’s 12 for ’25 subject was Thomas Brasher, looking for documentation for his parents, himself and his wife, Sarah Constant, and their children.

I definitely have a better understanding of Thomas Brasher, his life and his immediate family members. Thus, it is time to move on so this months’ family sketch will cover Thomas’s and Sarah’s son, Aquilla Brasher, who is my husband’s direct line.

I actually have two research questions regarding Aquilla and his family –

Can the children of Aquilla Brasher be proved?

Was Aquilla Brasher in Christian County, Kentucky in 1809 the one born in 1740 or one of his namesakes in the family?

Aquilla Brasher was a person on the move for his entire life, having lived in the British colonies of Maryland and North Carolina and then in North Carolina, South Carolina and Kentucky in the newly formed United States of America.

Aquilla Brasher was born on 28 July 1740 in St. George’s Parish, Baltimore County, Maryland, the sixth of seven children born to Thomas and Sarah and their youngest son.

Aquilla likely lost his mother before the age of ten, but whether she died in Maryland or after the family moved to North Carolina is uncertain. Since there is no death entry for Sarah in the St. George Parish records or a record of Thomas’s second marriage to Hannah (MNU), it seems more probable that she died on the way to or after the family settled in Orange County, North Carolina.

Aquilla’s father, Thomas, was not a wealthy man. Aquilla’s grandfather, William, died when his father Thomas was only seven years old. William’s estate was valued at just £1 and Thomas was bound out until he reached the age of 25 years.

The young Brasher family lived on 50 acres of land gifted to Thomas and Sarah soon after their wedding day. Thomas’s occupation is not known.

The family appears in no official records (that have been found as of 2025) between 1744 in Maryland and 1762, when Thomas recorded his land grant of 259 acres in Orange County, North Carolina.

So, the exact location where Aquilla grew up is not known either. He certainly spent part of his childhood in Maryland, but he was of legal age by 1762 in North Carolina.

It is suspected that Aquilla may have lived on his father’s land and, possibly even in his home, during his young adulthood. That is in spite of the fact that Thomas married again to Hannah (MNU) and had seven more children with her.

Aquilla’s father wrote his will on 17 May 1770 in Orange County, North Carolina. Although Thomas’s exact date of death is not known, his children may have been told that his surviving sons born to Sarah Constant – Thomas, John and Aquilla – received only one shilling each (worth perhaps £4 or $5.00 today). His second set of children inherited his modest estate.

Therefore, Aquilla, like his father, had to make his own way in the world.

How Aquilla made his living is also unknown, but it appears he didn’t own any land of his own until he recorded his land grant in Chatham County, North Carolina (formed from Orange County in 1771) of 200 acres on 23 October 1782.

Interestingly, his father’s will was proved in Orange County, but here is the land description and Aquilla’s land bordered that of his father:

Know ye that we have Granted unto Aquilla Brazier Two hundred Acres of Land in Chatham County On Terrell’s Creek waters of Haw River Beginning at a white oak in Thackson Line Adam Wright Corner then North sixty six degs East on his Line two hundred and four pole to a Black Oak then North one hundred and thirty two pole to a red oak in Thomas Braziers Line then west on his line twenty three pole to his Corner red oak then North fourteen pole to a hicory then South sixty six degrees West one hundred and eighty Pole to a Stake in Thackston’s line then South one hundred and sixty Pole to the beginning To Hold unto the said Aquilla Brazier his Heirs and Assigns forever dated the 23rd day of October Anno Dom 1782

By his Exelly’s Comd
J. Glasgow Sec.
Alex Martin

Aquilla didn’t remain long in North Carolina after the close of the American Revolution, as he removed to Greenville County, South Carolina.

The Brashers’ political beliefs in terms of support for King or independence may lie in the fact that they were friends with and married into the Hamby and Bobo families, which have been the push factor for their next move. The Hambys are also part of my husband’s line and they were offered a choice in North Carolina – get out or get hung! They wisely decided the better choice was to move and they relocated to the Greenville-Spartanburg area of South Carolina before heading en masse to Kentucky.

Aquilla Brazor and wife Mary sold his 200 acre grant in Chatham County, North Carolina on 5 August 1784 for £150 to Eli Newlin. Aquilla only appears once in the court minutes, on 9 August 1784, when the deed of sale of land from William Wilkie and his wife to Jesse Buckner was proved by the testimony of Aquilla Brasher.

However, on 27 October 1784, Aquilla’s brother, Thomas ‘Brazor’ and his wife Sarah sold their land to two buyers -165 acres to Thomas Lindley and 135 acres to Joshua Hadly, both on Terrells Creek.

It may be that in the fall of 1784 or early 1785, the extended Brasher family decided to leave North Carolina.

The Brashers followed the same path as the Hambys and Bobos, as the 1790 census shows Thomas, Aquilla, Samuel and William all enumerated in Greenville County, South Carolina.

On 19 November 1786, Tapley Henson of Fauquier County, Virginia, planter, sold to Aquilla Brasher of Greenville County, South Carolina, planter for £60 Virginia money 200 acres of land on the Reedy Fork of the Reedy River in Greenville County. Witnesses were “Cinner” Hudson and Sarah Hudson. However, while the acreage is detailed in this deed, there is NO metes and bounds description of the property, just that it was on the Reedy Fork of the Reedy River.

On 25 November 1787, Henry Machen [Mahen?], Michael Robins, John Brazer (thought to be Aquilla’s other brother) and Aquilla Brazer were appointed to inventory Samuel Pyle’s estate in Greenville County, South Carolina.

Then, per Charles Brashear’s research, a “colony” of Brasher families soon took up land near him. A grant of 240 a to William Brasure, 4 December 1786 was on Baker’s Creek, the middle branch of Reedy Creek, a fork of Reedy River. William’s parentage has not yet been determined, but he was probably one of the orphans of William Brasher whom Aquilla Brasher was guardian of when he was young. John Brasher’s 208 acre SC grant in 96 District is dated 5 Feb 1787 and located on Reedy Fork of Reedy Creek (Bk D, p. 195). John and Aquilla had sons named Thomas, who received grants a little later on the same watershed. John’s son Lawrence, got a 295 grant “on the waters of Reedy River, GrnvlCo” Bk D, 204). John, Aquilla and their brother in law John Pyle Jr., and their sons did not find the Greenville District all to their liking, and they began migrating to KY before 1800. By 1810 John is found living in Christian Co., KY.”

Notice that Charlie Brashear commented above that JOHN’s son, Lawrence, got a land grant. . .because there wereapparently TWO Lawrence Brashers, as we will see on this journey.

Because the children of these brothers all had the same given names, it has been quite difficult to determine which Thomas, William, Lawrence, John and Aquilla belonged to whom – which created my research question above about verifying the children of Aquilla. It might be that my husband’s Lawrence Brasher is a son of Aquilla’s brother, John.

Now, back on topic – The 1790 census seems to be that of Aquilla, born 1740), his wife Mary, and their children still at home. There is no Brasher household in 1800 in Greenville County, South Carolina that has a male over 44 years old living there. However, if Aquilla and his wife had daughters, which seems reasonable since families were large back then, it’s possible that he was living with a married daughter’s family. Since Greenville County has no marriage records that early, any daughters might be lost to time.

Furthermore, the Aquilla and Mary Brasher who sold land in Greenville County, South Carolina in 1808 to Thomas Jones described the land as only 138 acres and being part of a tract of land granted to Cadwalder Jones. Although it is on the Reedy Fork of the Reedy River, I odn’t think this is the same land that Aquilla Brasher purchased in 1786.

At this point, I also tend to believe that Aquilla died in South Carolina and that only his children moved on to Christian County, Kentucky, leading to my second research question as to where Aquilla Brasher died. Of course, it’s possible he moved with the family, but wasn’t a land owner and died soon because I don’t find a Brasher household with a male over 45 in 1810 Kentucky either. There is an Aquilla Brasher on the 1808 tax roll of Christian County, but the “Equila” Brasher in the 1810 census has 3 males under the age of 25 at home and no males older than that.

From what I have uncovered so far, I continue to believe that Aquilla Brasher died, probably in Greenville County, South Carolina, possibly before 1800 but most likely before 1810. I find no evidence of a man his age in census families in South Carolina or Kentucky.

So, the answer to this research question: Was Aquilla Brasher in Christian County, Kentucky in 1809 the one born in 1740 or one of his namesakes in the family? is that I believe he was one of the younger namesakes.

As Charlie Brasher mentioned in his book (above), the Brasher stay in South Carolina was quite short as, by the turn of the 1800s, the family began their final migration to Kentucky.

Possible children of Aquilla Brasher and Mary (MNU):

1. Lawrence, born c1768, probably Orange County, North Carolina; died 24 September 1847, Christian County, Kentucky; married Elizabeth Black, c1792, probably Greenville County, South Carolina.
2. Thomas, born c1773, probably Chatham County, North Carolina; died 7 September 1852, Christian County, Kentucky; married Catherine Croft, c1800.
3. Jane, born c1782, probably Chatham County, North Carolina; died between 1850-1860, probably Christian County, Kentucky; married Benjamin Armstrong, c1803. He died before 2 November 1846, Christian County, Kentucky.
4. Aquilla, born c1786, probably Greenville County, South Carolina; died before 5 December 1865, Cedar County, Missouri, when his estate administration was presented at court; married Lucy (MNU), c1809.

Now, down the rabbit hole to piece together an extended Brasher FAN club! Can all these same-name Brashers be reliably sorted into family units in order to answer my second research question: Can the children of Aquilla Brasher be proved?

Time will tell. . . .