1797 Deed of Gift for Sundry Stock, George Lounsdell Rudd to four sons,

George, Ely (E-lee) James and Lias (Elias)

This Deed of Gift by George Lounsdell Rudd was filed in Scriven County, Georgia on January 30, 1797. It was later recorded in the Will Book of Charleston County, South Carolina on May 4, 1804. A few things I will point out that I researched about this document.

First, it had caused a lot of confusion in researching the family structure by assumptions that have been made that do not have any facts to back them. For example, this is a gift of sundry stock (miscellaneous items) that are located in Screven County, Georgia which is directly across the Savannah River from where the Burlingham Rudd 2nd family settled in Barnwell County, South Carolina. The timeline fits into the migration that the family made out of Anson County, North Carolina and before settlement in Barnwell and Charleston counties in South Carolina. The Deed does not mention land, but it does list stock and moveable property. It does not mention household furnishings. It does state "my four sons" but does not mention any daughters. So it leaves us with unknown information. Was the property a homestead? It does sound like a homestead rather than grazing property. But since is does not mention land and I never found a deed for land, did someone in the family remain behind? The stock, hogs, cattle, two mares and one gelding are not given immediately but placed in the guardianship of George and Ely (two oldest sons) to hold until James and Elias (two younger sons) come of age. This seems to indicate the stock was left behind and not moved to the property that George Lounsdell had purchased in Charleston earlier that month on January 5, 1797.

Also, the deed indicates that in 1797 both James and Lias were not yet 21 years of age. 

Other issues of confusion came from the common use of the names Burlingham, George and Elias in the family. In land records, wills and civil petitions I found in Charleston County I never found a George Jr. that would have been the son mentioned in this deed. But there is a Burlingham that shows up in Charleston that is not Burlingham 2nd. So it's possible that George Jr. became the Burlingham in Charleston. Later several of the civil records in Charleston do indicate that the use of Burlingham and other shortened versions (Burrell and Burl) were added as a middle name by George Lounsdell's sons. Also, Lias is indeed Elias of Charleston and he is not the Elias David Rudd that migrated out of Barnwell, to Alabama and settled in Gadsden County, Florida. Finally, Elias of Charleston did name a son George who became the executor of his Last Will and Testament. 

Lastly, the deed was recorded on May 4, 1804 in Charleston and entered into the Will Book which may  indicate that Lias (Elias) and James have reached majority age and there was a distribution of the items listed. But it seems a clear indication that George Lounsdell Rudd has died. There is a deed of sale for a parcel of land by George Lounsdell in February 1803 but it is missing his signature L mark as he has used in all previous documents. It could be he was unable to write, perhaps from an injury or stroke. His wife, Margaret, waived her dower rights in April 1803. That deed would infer that George Lounsdell died within the following 12 months.