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- according to records, did not know his birth date; however, based on his age at time of death he was born 11 January 1754. Several sources give his place of birth as North Carolina ? perhaps Scotland Neck, Halifax County, or more likely Scotla nd County or Anson County, both near the South Carolina border. The names of his parents are not confirmed at this time, but the search continues.
According to several sources Henry's paternal grandparents were born in England and his father was in the King's Army and then fought in the Revolutionary War on the side of the colonists with three of his sons, one of whom was Henryl Army about 1778 and served as a private in the South Carolina troops in Colonel Brandon's Regiment. He fought in the battles of Eutaw Springs (8 September 1781) and Cowpens (17 January 1781) and was in the sieges of Ninety-S ix (22 May to 18 June 1781) and Charleston (29 March to 12 May 1780). After the fall of Charleston he entered the ranger unit formed by Captain Avery. For his war service Henry was granted a pension of $80 per annum on 1 November 1833 at age 78.
Yet another source says Henry was of Irish descent. If so, his father may have been one of the Scotch-Irish Presbyterians who came through the Saluda Gap from North Carolina into South Carolina and settled in the north central part of
The first recorded mention of Henry was in connection with a land grant for 250 acres on the Tyger River in Berkley County, South Carolina dated 25 April 1774. (In the Colonial period Union County, South Carolina, where Henry was known to have s
ettled, was considered part of Berkley and Craven Counties.) Interestingly, Henry's surname was given as Thickpenny. Additional land, court and census records for at least the next 30 years give his name as Henry Thickpenny, and so one must assu
me that to be the original family name. There were no other Thickpenny in South or North Carolina in the Colonial Period, but there were several Penny/Penney. One possible scenario is that Henry's father and brothers (if the Revolutionary War s
t ory is to be believed), shortened the family name early on and that Henry himself did not follow suit until he left South Carolina around 1804. Among the records identifying Henry as Henry Thickpenny:
* A 1786 land transaction in which James Adington purchased 535 acres on the Tyger River in Union County, Ninety-Six District, South Carolina adjoining property owned by Henry Thickpenny. (This James Adington [Addington] was the grandfathfdon Graham who married Thomas W. Penny, Henry's great grandson, in Darke County, Ohio in 1849.)
* Union County, South Carolina Minutes of the County Court show that on 29 September 1787 Thomas Brandon won a suit against Henry Thickpenny. Thomas Brandon was a colonel in the South Carolina Militia during the Revolutionary War and Henry'nn says he served under a Colonel Brandon, so this Brandon may have been Henry's superior during the war. It is unclear what the suit was about, but Henry asked for an appeal to the Court of Common Pleas. He was ordered to file his reason s for an appeal but refused, and so the verdict of the jury was confirmed. Brandon was awarded 10 pounds, 14 shillings and 4 pence, and costs of the suit. (Seated on the jury that found for Brandon was Ralph Hunt, the father of Christiana Hun t who married Henry's son Thomas in 1807.)
* In September 1788 Henry Thickpenny was ordered to attend the next court to serve as Petitt Jury for Union County.
* In the first federal census of 1790, Henry Thickpenny, his wife and four young males and 3 young females resided in Union District, South Carolina.
* In 1795, the Union County Court ordered John Clark, John Stokes and Henry Thickpenny appointed commissioners to mark out a road from the court house to Fairforest, then to Tyger River to Mich Lees Ford, and from there to Enoree.
* In October 1795 Henry Thickpenny was one of 30 Petitt Court jurors chosen to serve in Union County.
* Henry Thickpenny proved the will of John Clark 2 January 1797. He was also listed as a witness to the will along with William Morgan and Ishmael Prince.
* On 28 July 1798 Henry Thickpenny was witness, along with John Burgis and David Pugh, to the will of James Addington of Union County.
* On 10 March 1802 Thomas Lamb, Sr. sold for $180 to Henry Thickpenny 100 acres, part of 400 acres granted to Lamb on a branch of the Tyger River called Ragen's Branch.
* On 7 January 1805 William Rice, Sheriff of Union District, sold to William Sims for $250 a tract of 250 acres on the southwest side of Tyger River adjoining Sims' own land, being the tract on which Henry Thickpenny formerly lived. This ie found to Henry Thickpenny. Henceforth his name is seen only as Henry Penney, Henry Penny, or Henry T. Penny.
It is interesting that in the 1800 federal census, when Henry still resided in Union County, South Carolina, and was still using the surname Thickpenny, he was listed as Henry Penney [sic]. The household was shown to contain 1 male under 10; 1 m ale 10 under 16; 2 males 16 under 26 and 1 male 45 years or older, plus 3 females under 10; 1 female 16 under 26 and one female 45 years or older. The young males and females could all be Henry's children since his wife would be of child-bearin g age, or they could be a combination of a male or female child of Henry's and that child's children.
About 1777 Henry married Hannah BROWN who was born in 1759 in South Carolina. Hannah was a member of the Quaker, or Friends, Church; Henry was not. In the late 1700s there were four principal centers of Quakerism in South Carolina,e sys: Bush River Monthly Meeting in Newberry County, established in 1772, and Cane Creek Monthly Meeting in Union County, established in 1789. Initially Friends were slave owners in South Carolina, but eventually they turne d against the institution and those members who refused to emancipate their slaves were disowned, as were members who married outside the Society of Friends or went to war. Out of a desire to live where slavery did not exist, more than 100 Frien ds families moved from the South Carolina counties of Newberry, Spartanburg and Union northward between 1802 and 1807. Many went directly to the Miami Valley in Ohio (Ohio had been admitted to the union in 1803 as a "free state") while another g roup, including Henry and some members of his family, settled first in Ohio County, Kentucky. Henry's presence in that county was first shown on the 1 July 1806 tax roll for personal property which lists Henry Penney [sic], one white male abov e age 21 with two horses. 1814 was the last year in which he was listed (by then he claimed five horses). In the intervening years, in addition to Henry there were listed the following Penny: 1807 John; 1808 John and Thomas; 1809 John and Thomas ; 1810 no tax book found; 1811 Thomas and James; 1812 Thomas and two Jameses; 1813 Thomas, and 1814 Thomas. In the 1810 federal census for Ohio County Henry Penny, James Penny and Thomas Penny were listed on the same page indicating they lived i n close proximity to each other.
By 1815 Henry and remaining members of his family had departed Ohio County, Kentucky for Union Township, Miami County, Ohio. Henry's was the seventh tract of land recorded (1817) in Section 10 of the original Land Patent for the townys60-acre tract on Ludlow Creek to his sons: John and Thomas on 10 March 1826 and to Elijah Penny (relationship not confirmed) on 23 March 1827. Also, on 23 March 1827, for the "consideration of the sum of one dollar," Henry tr ansferred one acre of land in the northwest section of this tract, one-half mile south of Laura, to William Miles and Samuel Thompson of Miami County and David Penny of Darke County for a meeting house and burial ground. (The father of this Davi d Penny has not yet been identified.)
Hannah, Henry's wife, died 3 August 1829 in Laura, Miami County, Ohio at age 70, and was buried in the cemetery created on the acre of land donated by her husband: Old Ludlow Cemetery in Laura. On 13 October 1831 in Darke County, O, an in 1781 in Virginia. She had one son, Edward, born circa 1804 in Virginia. Mary lived for a time in Warren County, Ohio then purchased land in Darke County in 1825. She was found there in Twin Township in the 1830 federal ce nsus. At that time Henry still resided in Union Township, Miami County.
Apparently after Henry and Mary married he moved to her residence in Twin Township, Darke County, for he was found there in the 1840 census and it was here he died 16 April 1841 age 87 years, 3 months and 5 days. Henry Penny was buriesrs by his gravesite acknowledging his service in the Revolutionary War. In his will Henry requested that after all debts were paid the balance of his property, both real and personal, go to his "dearly beloved wife." Edward Gi vans of Darke County, the widow's son, was named executor of the estate and witnesses to the will were Henry's son John Penny and John Sherer.
Mary Penny died 20 December 1853 at age 72. She, too, was buried in Old Ludlow Cemetery, Laura. Mary died intestate and John Penny, Henry's son, was appointed administrator of her estate, likely because her son Edward Givans and famild
Proven children of Henry1 PENNY and Hannah BROWN, both born in Union County, South Carolina were as follows:
+ 2 i. John2 PENNY, born 6 September 1779; married Esther THOMPSON.
+ 3 ii. Thomas PENNY, born 18 January 1783; married Christiana HUNT.
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Carl & Elaine (Grove) Rhodes' Genealogy Pages
1754 - 