This is the second Capt. Oswell Eve, Oswell Jr., who was the second child of his parents. ®1893 His will which was signed on 24 July 1829 and probated on 28 September 1829 is in the Georgia History Collections of the D. A. R. Books, vol. 2, p.308, Richmond County, Georgia. ®1890 He went sailing out of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania with his father and brother John prior to 1768. He was the Master of his own ship by age 19. Following his marriage to Aphra Ann Pritchard in Charleston in 1783 he stopped sailing and became a planter near Charleston, South Carolina on a plantation he called Middleton and they lived there until they had six daughters. They then moved to Ninety Six, South Carolina where five children were born. He owned a saw and grist mill on Willfon's Creek in the District of Edgefield, South Carolina, which together with the land, still, contents, horses and "upwards of 4000 gallons of gin and whiskey" he offered for sale on 19 June 1800. They moved to Augusta in 1800 and settled in the Sand Hills in the early history of Augusta, Georgia. ®1890He bought a fine planation on the Savannah River, called Goodale, and later sold it to his brother in law Christopher FitzSimons. In 1808 he and his wife were charter members of the new First Presbyterian Church in Augusta, and Oswell was one of five members of the building committee. ®129 He built the plantation called "The Hall” (Frog Hall or Forrest Hall), at Augusta which was near the site of the "Cottage” the weekend getaway house that was used extensively in the summer. ®99 The Cottage Cemetery, established about 1800 on 2 acres was nearby and holds about 150 relatives of the Eve extended family, including the Pritchards, the FitzSimons and children and descendants. The first burial, in 1803, was that of Augusta Belinda Eve, Oswell and Alphra Ann’s one year old daughter.

CAPTAIN OSWELL EVE, JR: Born at Philadelphia, Pennsylvania on 25 July 1754; died at Augusta, Georgia, at his plantation "Forest Hall" on 14 August 1829. Captain Oswell Eve was a ship's captain, like his father before him, also named Oswell Eve. Captain Eve, Sr., was a leader of 18th century Philadelphia merchant society, having a fleet of some 25 vessels that plied the Atlantic and Caribbean, with warehouses and facilities in the Bahamas, Nassau, Jamaica, Honduras and Belize -- and perhaps more. He also owned the only gunpowder manufactory in the Colonies at the outbreak of the Revolution, which no less than Paul Revere visited under a subterfuge in order to learn the secrets of Eve's production, and then returned to Massachusetts to set up his own.

Captain Oswell Eve (Sr.) had four sons and a daughter; two of the sons ultimately settled in Augusta. His daughter, Sarah, sister of Augusta's Captain Oswell Eve, was engaged to be married to Dr. Benjamin Rush, a Signer of the Declaration of Independence, and the generally acknowledged founder of the medical profession in the United States. Unfortunately, Sarah died three weeks before their scheduled wedding; portions of her 18th diaries have been frequently published, and were once in Augusta, in the possession of her great-niece, Eva Berrien Eve, Mrs. Charles Colcock Jones, Jr., whose husband was the famous Augusta attorney, historian, anthropologist, author of The History of Georgia and The History of Augusta , and, one of the subjects of the acclaimed Civil War volume, The Children of Pride.

Two of Captain Oswell Eve, Sr.'s four sons became ship captains like himself, and commanded their own ships while still teenagers. Another of the sons, Joseph Eve, fell under the influence and tutelage of his brother-in-law-to-be, Benjamin Rush, and became a medical doctor. When the Eves moved south to South Carolina and Georgia, some of the Rushes moved with them. Out of this association ultimately grew the Medical College of Georgia, and founders of the medical profession in the state.

In 1783 Captain Oswell Eve, Jr., married Aphra Ann Pritchard, one of two daughters of Paul Pritchard, the famous Charleston, South Carolina, ship builder. Oswell Eve, Jr., then left the sea and while retaining his wharfs and wharfage rights in Charleston, settled on his first plantation, "Middleton", where he became a successful planter. The first six of fifteen children were born at his "Middleton " plantation.

Then the Eves moved to an upland plantation at Ninety-Six, South Carolina, where the next five were born, and finally, in 1800, the Eves moved to Augusta and purchased their temporary home for about a year, "Goodale ", which still exists on the road to Beech Island. They sold it to Christopher FitzSimons. The Eves had moved to Augusta in the company of their business associates and in laws, Christopher FitzSimons and General Wade Hampton I.

Oswell Eve bought a large plantation south of Augusta on the Savannah River, and there built a new, large, plantation home called "Forest Hall" ("Frog Hall"). Their last four children were born at " Forest Hall ". The Eve home and plantation was opposite Beech Island on which was the home of Oswell's niece, Catherine FitzSimons and her husband which South Carolina Governor James Hammond called "Redcliffe". The Hammond home is now a historic house museum open to the public; Oswell Eve's "Forest Hall" no longer exists. Beech Island was also the location of the Lamar plantation, when the Lamars moved there from Maryland, and of Oswell's sister-in-law, Catherine Pritchard and her husband Christopher FitzSimons.

On the inland, rather than the river, side of the plantation, Captain Oswell Eve built "The Cottage" as a weekend retreat from "Forest Hall " -- this place, near the Old Savannah Road, existed until at least the 1930s and it was here in an idyllic woodland setting that Oswell Eve laid out the family's final resting place, The Cottage Cemetery.

THE COTTAGE CEMETERY: Founded in 1803 by Captain Oswell Eve at the time of the death of his infant daughter Augusta Belinda Eve, the twelfth of his fifteen children, who died on 24 July 1803, three years after he moved his family to Augusta in 1800.

Location: A block and a half off of Old Savannah Road, behind T's Restaurant.

To Go There: Go South on Old Savannah Road, past T's Restaurant to the next intersection, Marvin Griffin Road; Turn left on Marvin Griffin, go one block to Winesap Way; turn left on Winesap Way; go one-half block to a granite marker column on the right hand side identifying the entrance lane into The Cottage Cemetery; turn right into the lane, at the end of which are gates opening to the woodland surrounding the brick walled cemetery. There is a cleared parking area inside the gates, in front of the brick walled compound. Please close the gates behind you when you leave.


ASSOCIATED FAMILY NAMES FOUND IN THE COTTAGE CEMETERY: EVE, FITZSIMONS, PRITCHARD, LONGSTREET, CUNNINGHAM, CARMICHAEL, ADAMS, BONES, COUPER, DOW, CAMPBELL, SCHLEY, SIBLEY, WATKINS, EDGAR, LEITNER AND HAMPTON.

Captain Oswell Eve was a religious man but did not restrict his liberal good works to a single denomination or peer group. We was an elder in Augusta's First Presbyterian Church where he apparently owned three pews for the use of his family and friends, but he also built his own church for the plantation which was dedicated by four different ministers for use by all of his extended "family", Black and White, Free and Slave. That church, the "Butler's Creek" church, reportedly still exists near the Old Savannah Road south of The Cottage Cemetery, although the original building has been replaced; the "Butler's Creek church" may also be the "Rosney Chapel" that Oswell Eve built, and which was also near the Cottage Cemetery.

Some indication of Captain Oswell Eve's belief in the community of human beings is gained from his Last Will and Testament filed in the Richmond County Courthouse. While dividing his estate equally between his surviving children, he also left a home and land to one of his brothers, and substantial bequests to the children of all three of his brothers. In addition he eft large bequests to the Augusta Female Orphan's Asylum, and to the Seaman's Friends Society of Charleston, an organization dedicated to the care of destitute and aged sailors.

Then, " ... Having erected a small Building near Butler's Creek on my Land, and which has been consecrated to the service of God, it is my will & desire that it and the Lot ... remain free and open to all denominations of Christians both white and coloured, forever. The Preacher in every case being approved of by one of the Christian denominations in Augusta, either Presbyterian, Episcopalian, Baptist or Methodist, and not excluding the Roman Catholics ... ."

THAT, was remarkably ecumenical but especially so in 1829 when all sorts of barriers separated human beings along religious, social and racial lines.

Those same beliefs continued into death, for clustered around Oswell Eve's final resting place in The Cottage Cemetery are many of his relatives, friends and dependents, who were important in the development of religion, commerce, politics, medicine and social affairs in Georgia, South Carolina and Augusta.

"3 Oswell Eve (Jr.)

Oswell Eve was born on the 25th July 1755 in Philadelphia. His father was Oswell Eve (1).

He married Aphra Ann Pritchard on 29 June 1783. His wife died in 1821 in Georgia. They had the following children:
• Ann Pritchard Eve - born 28 June 1784. She married Charles Cunningham on 25 Nov 1800 in Richmond County, Georgia.
• Sarah Eve - born 27 October 1785. She married John Strong Adams on 2 Mar 1803 in Richmond County, Georgia.
• Catherine Eve - born 12 March 1787. She married Dr Anderson Watkins on 26 Jan 1804 in Richmond County, Georgia. She later married Robert Campbell.
• Mary Elizabeth Eve (7) - born 22 November 1788. She married James Carmichael on 3 Dec 1807 in Richmond County, Georgia. Mary Eve died in 1855.
• Martha Henrietta, b 22 January 1792, married Gilbert Longstreet.
• Maria Fitzsimmons, b 22 April 1797.married John Bones on 8 Apr 1818 in Richmond County, Georgia. Maria was born in "Ninety-Six", South Carolina. John Bones was born 12 December 1792 in County Antrim, Chequer Hall, North Ireland. Maria died 3 July 1833 and is buried in the Cottage Cemetery in Augusta. John then married his cousin Mary Brown, daughter of Reverend James Brown and sister of William Brown. John died 25 October 1870; he is also buried in the Cottage Cemetery. It is understood that a copy of an article with John and Mary's pictures exists in a book of early Georgia portraits. - source Dorothy Sedgwick
• Emmeline, b 16 November 1798. She married William Smith.
• John Pritchard (8), b 24 June 1800; married Sarah Davis Carmichael. They married on the 14 Jan 1823.
• Joseph William (9), born 17 December 1804. He married Filo Casey.
• Paul Fitzsimmons (10), born 27 June 1806. He married twice Louisa Twiggs; then Sarah Ann Duncan.
• Elizabeth - born 13 May 1790.
• Oswell - born 16 November 1793. He died on 2 Dec 1793.
• Oswell - born 16 January 1795; died in Liverpool on 12 July 1812.
• Augusta Belinda - born 24 October 1802. She died on 24 July 1803
• Aphra Watkins - born 4 June 1808. She died on 16 Sept 1808.

Background

Some details relating to the ancestors of Aphra Ann Pritchard can be found in the PRITCHARD family bible (see extract below page 1888).
Paul Pritchard, an emigrant from Scotland, was a ship builder in Charleston, South Carolina. He was handsome and so wild that his friends put him on board a vessel. Sick with fever, he was left on the coast of Africa. When he regained consciousness he found himself being nursed by an old Negro man, in the wilds of Africa.

Years afterwards he was buying two young slaves in Charleston for his plantation, when he was touched by an old man, in whom he recognized the one who had saved his life, so he bought him and cared for him till his death.

In his will he left all his great possessions to his children: William, Paul, Aphra Ann and Catherine.

Catherine, married Christopher Fitzsimmons, and had issue: Owen Pritchard. Anna, married Wade Hampton. Catherine, married James Hammond. Aphra Ann, married Oswell Eve, 29 June 1783." ®1856

by a lady 80 years of age
Mrs. Emma Eve Smith (1798 - 1882)
copied by Mrs. Mary E. Miller Eve 1907
transcribed by Patricia E. Kruger 1994


My father, Oswell Eve was born in Philadelphia of English parents in 1754 and married a lady in
Charleston, South Carolina by the name of Aphra Ann Pritchard whose parents were of Irish descent. She owned a house in the city and a plantation on the Cooper River and many negroes.

My grandfather Oswell Eve was captain of a vessel named "Roebuck" and his son Oswell followed his father's occupation until his marriage when he abandoned the sea and became a planter. He called his place "Middleton" and resided there till he had six daughters. After selling this place he removed to Ninety-Six, South Carolina and lived there many years. Five children were born while there.

In 1800 Father came to Georgia and purchased "Goodale" near Augusta. Goodale was named for its first owner, J. Goodale from who it was bought by Oswell Eve who lived there many years and then sold to Christopher FitzSimons. While living there he made much powder, furnishing it to the authorities during the War of 1812. He also made brandy using three large boilers holding fifty gallons each. They were taken by his son John P. Eve up to the Eve homestead in Floyd County where one of them is still being used as it was built in a furnace by his grandson, John C. Eve.

He then built a fine plantation on the Savannah River. Here he built a large house called Frog Hall, for a winter residence, and a Cottage near for a summer retreat.

Father was educated in Philadelphia in the class with Shipping [sic] Shippen, Rush and other prominent men of that day, but was so dull at the commencement of his school exercises that the whole school had holiday when he had learned his letters. After commencing however he grasped knowledge with surprising avidity and became prominent in many positions of trust. His mind was very comprehensive.

He brought up his children in the fear of God and by precept and example taught them the way of life.

Himself, the patriarch of his household he conducted the church services at home when no place of worship was within reach and when accessible going through heat and cold, wet or dry weather to worship at altar. He was particularly faithful in his duty to his numerous slaves - having those around him at family worship every morning and evening. He built for his plantation a church on "Butler's Creek" which he had dedicated by four ministers and which is still in use by the negroes. Father was an Elder in the Presbyterian church in Augusta, his contribution to which entitled him to the ownership of three pews.

Father always loved the Indians. A number of Cherokees used to visit us every summer and he would lend them a house and they would do their own cooking as they had a hatred for and suspicion of the negroes. "Old Sawney" was the name of the leader who came for a long time to our house. On one occasion when the doctor had prescribed a dose of oil for him he insisted upon my sister's drinking some first for fear of poison. They used to bring us presents of beads, bows, moccasins , etc.

Father's health declined for a year or two and he closed a long useful life in 1829, having previously buried my mother in 1821. ®1893

“Oswell Eve, Jr 1754-1829: A marble plaque in First Presbyterian Church, Augusta reads: Oswell Eve, a Ruling Founding Elder. He is described a citizen esteemed for his courteous manner, his pure example, his incorruptible integrity and zeal for public good. “The Cottage” was built as a summer home for (sea) Captain Oswell Eve, Jr. In 1800 the cemetery was laid off nearby. ®3633