Our
Gaunt/Gauntt/Guantt
Family

1. Thomas Gaunt, is believed to be the earliest known member of our Gaunt line. He was born 1570/80 in England. He died April 14, 1621 in Lincoln, Lincolnshire, England. Thomas is believed to have been married three times. First to Cicily Carter March 27, 1600, then to the (widow) Isabelle Wheilewright at Pinchbeck, October 9, 1602 and then to Susan(ne) Bate.
   From the wills of Thomas Gaunt and Susan(ne) Bate we have mention of the following children for Thomas; George (Georgius) Gaunt b. Bap. Dec. 1594, Silkstone, Yorkshire, England, Jacobus Gaunt (Gawnte) b. Bap. Sept. 27, 1596, Silkstone, Dynis (Dynes) Gaunt b. Bap. Sept. 21, 1598, Silkstone, Anne Gaunt, and James Gaunt. The known son of Thomas Gaunt and Susan(ne) Bate from the will of Susan(ne) Bate is Peter Gaunt
   Thomas was listed as a tanner in his will.

2. Peter Gaunt, is said to have been born on December 8, 1608 in Lincolnshire, England and was taken by his father, Thomas Gaunt, for baptism to St. Peter's on Gowts (two miles south of Lincoln) on June 29, 1610. St. Peter's at Gowts was a church of the craftsmen of Lincoln. The Gowts area was named for a sluice between dikes and therefore a low boggy and unhealthy area. This parish served about 58 families in 1560 and the population only increased to 875 by 1706. Birth and death rates were about equal for a long time. This area was a suburb of Lincoln, in Thomas and Peter's time, where craftsmen resided.
   
   Peter Gaunt married a Lydia ---?--- before 1633 and had a least two children born in England. Peter was transported by the London Company from St. Bridget's Parish London, to Scituate, Massachusetts, on a ship named 'Mayflower,' but not the original. With relative certainty, we can say this was in 1636 because his daughter, Lydia Gaunt, was born in England and baptized at Saint Peter's in Lincoln on April 2, 1636 and Peter was in Sandwich, Massachusetts in 1637 where records show that he transferred from Lynn, Massachusetts to Sandwich, Massachusetts.

   Here are some of the records found pertaining to Peter; "Peter Gaunt was fined five shillings on March 6, 1638 for being 'defective in arms;' on December 4, 1638 he was fined for keeping his hogs unringed; on September 7, 1640 he bought four acres of meadowland at six pence an acre to cover 'surveying, measuring, and laying forth the said meddow lands.'...He is listed as able to bear arms in a list of able men of Plymouth Colony of August, 1643. On June 2, 1646, he was appointed Constable of Sandwich and on July 7, 1646, the court appointed him to recover excise tax at Sandwich, Massachusetts. He was reappointed as tax collector at the Courts of June 1, 1647 and June 7, 1648. At the latter court, he served on the Grand Enquest"

   Peter shared the views of many of the settlers in the Plymouth Colony, especially Sandwich, in the last half of the seventeenth century. He was fined for "not frequenting the publick worship of God" in 1651. Their dissenting views prepared them for the arrival of the first missionaries of the new religion of the Society of Friends, who soon appeared in Sandwich.
   Peter became a Quaker and was persecuted along with many others by the Sheriff Marshal Bartlow. Many of the Quakers moved to Rhode Island, Long Island and Dartmouth, Mass. out of the reach of Sheriff Bartlow. There is a gap in the records of Peter during 1661 to 1675 for that reason. Peter returned to Sandwich by 1675. He was appointed Surveyor of Highways for Sandwich 5 June 1677. At the marriage 10 May 1678, of Hananiah Gaunt, the witnesses included parents Peter and Lydia Gaunt and brother Israel Gaunt. This is the last record found of Peter Gaunt. It appears that he died soon after, for his name does not appear when his widow Lydia later signed as witness to other Friends' marriages.

   Peter's wife Lydia ---?--- was born 1610, in Lincolnshire, England, and died in 1692 in Sandwich, Massachusetts. Her will was made December 28, 1691 and was inventoried February 17, 1691/2, The will and inventory were recorded April 26, 1692.

3. Hananiah Gaunt, was born in 1647, and married May 10, 1678 to Dorothy Butler, daughter of Thomas Lynn Butler and wife, Martha Butler of Sandwich Massachusetts, in a Quaker wedding. Dorothy's birth is in conflict: Edwin Gauntt's records have her birth as September 28, 1648 but the 'Records of Plymouth Colony' have her birth date as January 23, 1650, and note that she was a 'Mayflower descendant.'

   Hananiah bought land in Monmouth County, New Jersey from his brother, Zachariah, on January 30, 1668, as a resident of Dartmouth, Massachusetts. He deeded New Jersey land at 'New Eason' New Jersey to brother, Israel, in 1670. A deed of March 4, 1678 identifies Hananiah as 'husbandman,' whereas a deed of February 6, 1677 identifies 'Hanny' as a 'carpenter' and Israel as a 'shoomaker.' Hananiah transferred 'my whole share of lands at a place called New Eason in New Jersey...with cattle and horses...that I then had in said New Eason in the year 1670.' A thorough search of contemporary maps of New Jersey failed to reveal any 'New Eason,' but it was probably a misinterpretation of Eaton, now Eatontown, New Jersey, about two miles south of Shrewsbury. Family tradition stated in the 1820's contends that Hananiah's brother moved to, and settled at Shrewsbury, New Jersey.

   Hananiah apparently moved to Rhode Island circa 1680 and from there bought 500 acres of land at Hananicaon (or as variously spelled: Hanicon, Oneanicon, and Okanickon.) There are many variations of the spelling of this Indian Name that is now Jobstown, New Jersey, in Springfield Township, Burlington County, New Jersey. The deed states that Hananiah Gaunt of Rhode Island bought 500 acres at Oneanickon from George Hutchinson, a Burlington County distiller. The deed is dated May 11, 1685. (After Hananiah arrived at the place called Okanickan, he again purchased the property from the local Indian Chief, Okanickan). The document does, indeed, identify Hananiah Gaunt as yeoman of Rhode Island, not Long Island, as some tradition claims. There is also a parchment deed for 200 acres of land on Burlington Island in the Delaware River that Hananiah purchased from George Hutchinson in 1690. This and several other deeds for land in Burlington County are still extant in the family "archives".

   We have a description of Hananiah from Leah Blackman's text: "Hananiah was said to be a tall and powerful man, well educated, plain, sincere and honest. With a mind capable of penetrating to the truth and right, he was of strong convictions, from nothing but new light could swerve him. The improvement of his plantation, the education of his children, and the duty to his neighbors occupied his entire time...he and his wife and two of their children were buried on the farm, and the outlines of their graves are to be seen to this day within a small enclosure about 100 yards from the southwest angle of Uz Gaunt's dwelling house."

   Hananiah served on the Burlington County Court 1686, 1688, and in 1706, and was the 'Overseer' of Highways of the 'Birch Creek' area in 1691, 92, and 93. Early in the 1700s, he applied for permission to establish a Meeting at Little Egg Harbor, New Jersey and his grandson, Hananiah, was one of the originators of the Friends Meeting at Bordentown, New Jersey, and in '36 was appointed, with others, to receive the deed and sign an acknowledgment of trust for the Quaker Meeting House lot.

   Hananiah Gaunt died in 1721 and is buried on the Jobstown property along with his wife Martha. His will is dated July 17, 1720, inventoried on November 15, 1721, and was probated December 23, 1721.

4. Zebulon Gaunt, was born on July 31, 1694. Zebulon married Sophia Sioerts (Shourds) of Germantown, PA at the Abbington Monthly Meeting on June 8, 1715 and died on March 31, 1772. The marriage certificate is still in the possesion of direct Gauntt descendants. It is interesting to note that the signature of the father, Hananiah Gauntt, exhibits the double 't' spelling, as does Zebulon's in the text. This contradicts the family tradition concerning the second 't', which has been that the brothers Zebulon, Israel, and Samuel, (when the former two moved to the Carolinas) added the extra 't' so that their descendants could identify each other. This concept could still hold true, but relate to the brothers Hananiah, Zachariah and Israel, when they parted in 1680s. Apparently only Hananiah added the extra 't' for the family of Hananicon or today's Jobstown, N.J. There is no evidence that the other brothers changed their spelling. A deed of 1720 transferring some land from Hananiah to his son, Zebulon, also depicts the spelling of two 't's. In addition the marriage certificate of Zebulon's son, Samuel, also shows the double 't' signature of Zebulon, wife, Hannah, and daughter, Sophia Gauntt."
   
   "Daniel Gaunt the oldest child of Hananiah Gaunt, did not remain on the family plantation and apparently moved to the area west of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, so the family estate was left to the next son, Zebulon Gaunt.
   The "Jobstown Family" has in it's possession many original deeds of their ancestors. Some land transactions of Zebulon, evidenced by these deeds, are the transaction of another property bought from George Hutchinson, Burlington distiller, on November 3, 1690 by Hananiah Gaunt and transferred to Zebulon on October 1, 1720. It is described as 1/24th part of one of the ninety equal and undivided hundred parts of West Jersey.
   Zebulon conveyed the family farm, or plantation, to Samuel on the "first day of the first month" 1751. It consisted of the dwelling house and 375 acres minus the land put aside for highway surveys - all that was left of the original 500 acres bought by Hananiah Gaunt from George Hutchinson and again from the Indians that inhabited the area.
   

5. Israel Gauntt, was born in the early 1720s in Springfield County, New Jersey, and died in 1801 in South Carolina. He and brother, Zebulon left New Jersey, in 1753-54 for North Carolina. A certificate issued in New Jersey to New Garden, North Carolina Monthly Meeting was dated, ninth month, third day of 1753. He and Zebulon were received at Cane Creek, Orange County, (now Alamance County) North Carolina on the first month, fifth day in 1754. He married the widow Hannah Ennis (nee Spencer) in 1758 in South Carolina. He was disowned by the Quakers for 'marrying out of unity' dated seventh month, 29th day, 1758, in North Carolina. Hannah had a daughter by a previous marriage named Susannah Ennis...Hannah was married three times before her marriage to Israel. Israel and his bother, Zebulon, and sisters, Sophia Gauntt Mathis and Dorothy Gauntt Teague all moved to North Carolina in 1753 and then to South Carolina in 1758. They settled in the Newberry County area. Hannah (Spencer) Gaunt died in October, 1815. Israel is listed in the D.A.R. Index, page 262, for patriotic service during the American Revolution. Israel was listed as a farmer and as a blacksmith in various documents."

6. Joseph Gauntt, was born circa 1770 and died on January 25, 1818. He married, perhaps his second marriage, Bathsheba ---?---. She was a witness on her mother-in-law's will of 1813. She married a Benjamin Stubbs after the death of Joseph. Joseph moved to Lexington County, South Carolina between 1788 and 1798. According to Fred Gauntt of Alabama, three of Joseph's sons were horse traders."

7. John Gauntt, was born May 01, 1809 in Newberry Co., South Carolina and died April 27, 1858 in the lower Randolph upper Chambers Co. area of Alabama. He married Winnifred Williams who was born May 16, 1808, also in South Carolina and died June 19, 1888.
   
   The earliest record of John and Winnifred in Alabama comes from The Chambers County Tract Book at the Birmingham Library. It lists John Gaunt on 12-01-1835 with 40 acres. The Chambers County Tract Records in Montgomery at the State Archives lists John Gauntt in a number of entries concerning Creek Treaties.
   
   The 1840 census of Chambers County Alabama has John listed as John Gantt. The 1850 census has him listed as John Ghant, with a Real Estate Value of $800.

   In a story titled " History of Bethel Baptist Church " from an issue of a genealogy newsletter called " Tap Roots " Vol. 9, Mr. and Mrs. John Gauntt are said to be the only known two of the six charter members of the church. John and Winnie, along with their son Jacob Seaborn and his wife Sarah Jane, are buried in the cemetery at Bethel Baptist in some of the oldest tombs there.

   John and Winnifred had ten sons and three daughters. Five of the ten sons are known to have died in the Civil War. Two of the other five sons were Civil War veterans, the other three being to young to serve.

   
   
   
   

   Sarah Jane & Jacob Seaborn Gauntt

   Winnie Gauntt & John Gauntt

    

8. Elisha Luther Gauntt, was born March 27, 1833 in Lexington District, South Carolina. He died February 17, 1905. E. L. married Susan Burgess on September 15, 1853. Susan died on April 18, 1881. I have not been able to locate where E. L. and Susan are buried. His second marriage was to Sophia Meacham on August 18, 1881.
   
   Elisha Luther is listed in the 1860, 1870 and 1880 census of Randolph County, Alabama. His occupation is shown as Farmer each time. He was living in the Rock Mills community. Rock Mills is in the south east corner of Randolph on the west bank of Wehadkee Creek and was first settled about 1850. It has a beautiful waterfall, winding flat bank creek, and acres of bare rock, known as Cedar Rock. Three potteries and a cotton mill were located there, the mill being built sometime before the War Between the States. The town appeared on the map as Protho's Mills in 1856 with a population of about 500. In 1897 the town had a high school of merit, a large cotton factory, a tannery, a pottery establishment and a cabinet establishment.
   
   E. L. Gauntt's war record is listed as Garnet E. L. 17th Alabama Inf. Reg. Only the last page has his name spelled as Gauntt. I have the complete record on file. An additional war record is listed under Gaunt, E. L. for Co. C, 2nd Confederate Engineer Troups. I also have this on file. His pension record is listed under Gauntt, Elisha L. I have it on file.

   Combined info from all 3 records; Enlisted the 17th day of Sept. 1861 at Montgomery. Went from Private to Sergeant to 2nd Corporal in Co. E 17th Alabama Infantry. Transferred to the Engineering Troops Aug. 1, 1863. Was wounded at the Battle of Mobile, gunshot laterally through the hips. His Regiment surrendered at Citronelle May 1865 at which time he was listed on a Roll of Prisoners of War. Discharged the 11th day of May 1865 at Meridian. The war record has a "Certificate to be given to Soldier at the time of his discharge" which has some interesting info. He is described as being six feet one inches high, light complexion, blue eyes with light hair.
   

9. John Elijah Gauntt, was born November 26, 1854 in Randolph County, Alabama and died February 28, 1886. He married Georgian Burdett on August 22, 1874 in the brides father's home in Chambers County, Alabama. John and Georgian are listed in the 1880 census of Chambers County as farmers. They must have lead a simple life as not many records seen to be available on them.
   
   Two of John and Georgian's children married into the Hanson family. Susan E. Gauntt married an A. T. Hanson in 1900, Chambers Co., Al. William Luther Gauntt married Minnie Lee Hanson, 1894, Chambers Co., Al. and they moved their family to Morris Co., Texas.

   The third child of John and Georgian was Ellen v. Gauntt (spelled Guantt in some records). She married Lee Osborn in 1896 and died about a year later, one month after the death of one of her twin children. The cause of their death is not known at this time.