Bartholomew Cosnahan

Bartholomew Cosnahan

• Father: Joseph McDaniel Cosnahan b. 24 March 1758
• Mother: Henrietta McGee b. circa 1761

• Bartholomew Cosnahan was born circa 1778 in South Carolina.
• He married Sarah Crosland, daughter of Edward Crosland and Ann Snead, circa 1800 in Marlboro District, South Carolina.
• Bartholomew Cosnahan became a widower at the say 1813 death of his wife Sarah Crosland.
• He married Rebecca Crosland, daughter of Edward Crosland and Ann Snead, say 1815, after the death of her sister Sarah.
• Records show that Richard Carlisle bought 170-1/2 acres on the north side of the Great Pee Dee river for $125.00 from Bartholomew Cosnahan, 12 August 1818, and 100 acres of land on the northeast side of the Great Pee Dee river and on Muddy Creek for $400.00 from Benjamin Stubbs, four years later, 12 March 1822.
• Bartholomew Cosnahan died in 1820 before the 1820 census was taken on 7 August.
• His wife Rebecca Crosland became a widow at his death.
• Margaret A. Lamb vs. Dr. William Crosland.
  
  Where a party claims a right to an easement through another’s land, by adverse use for twenty years, and during a part of the time, though after the commencement of the adverse use, the land was owned by infants, that period must be deducted in the computation of the time, and if twenty years do not remain, the right is not established.
  
  Before Evans, J., at Marlboro’, Extra Term, 1850.
  
       This was an action onthe case for obstructing a ditch.
       The lands of the parties were adjoining. The plaintiff’s land, in 1817, belonged to her husband, one Alexander Lamb. The defendant’s land, then, belonged to one Bartholomew Cosnahan. Near Lamb’s house were some ponds, which, in wet seasons, were filled with water, and produced sickness. Lamb asked and obtained permission from Cosnahan to cut a ditch through his land, for the purpose of draining those ponds. The ditch communicated with an old ditch, called the meadow ditch, by which the water passed off into Crooked Creek. The land through which the ditch was cut by Lamb, was then woodland; it had since been cleared. The ditch had been kept open as a drain for Lamb’s land ever since, and worked on occasionally, when it suited the convenience of those who owned the land. The plaintiff was in possession of Lamb’s land. Lamb died in 1836. No evidence of how the plaintiff derived the title was given; but it was understood, from the course of the testimony, that it had been sold for partition, and she was the purchaser. B. Cosnahan died in 1820, leaving a widow and infant children, one of whom was not of age until 1841. After his death, the land remained in the possession of his widow and the administrator, until 1833, when it was sold for partition, and purchased by one E. Cosnahan, who sold it to one Feagin in 1836. From him it passed to Green. About 1843, he sold to Dudley, and Dudley to the defendant. In 1847, (in January) in consequence of the lower part of the ditch not being kept sufficiently open, four acres of the defendant’s land, on the side of the ditch, were too wet to plough. . . . [Reports of Cases at Law Argued and Determined in the Court of Appeals, Court of Errors of South Carolina. Vol. IV (November 1850 to May 1851 inclusive) by J. S. G. Richardson, State Reporter, pp. 536-544.]
• Published in an 1878 History of Bennettsville: Just below the Old Court House, stands Evan's mill, a spot somewhat remarkable, being distinguished as the place where a cotton gin was first run by water, for the accommodation of the public. Mr. Bartholomew Cosnahan is said to have rented the water power and first applied it to that use. . . .
       The name of Mr. Bartholomew Cosnahan having been introduced it is as well to give some account of his family also. He resided on the hill overlooking the swamp in the back part of the field now [1870s] cultivated by Mr. J. C. Powell. The house is now standing. It was a somewhat pretentious building for those times, being two stories high, with double piazza in front. He was twice married, and when he died, left his widow and two sons and two daughters surviving him. One of his sons, Edward J. Cosnahan, a graduate of the South Carolina College, died afterwards in Bennettsville. He was a young man of brilliant talents, and fully qualified to make his mark in the world, had his ambition led him in that direction. The other son Joseph, married in Virginia and after planting a few years in this county, removed to Texas, where his wife died. He afterwards returned to Virginia and married again, and not very long afterward died, leaving a widow and one child, who since the war have immigrated to Marlborough, to make their home. The two daughters married and settled in Alabama--so that this name also, has in the male line entirely disappeared. Mr. B. Cosnahan owned both sides of the road as you pass down by Mr. Powell's store, and his plantation at that time, was, for it size, one of the most valuable in the State. Sometime after his death his widow had a new house built in the corner of her field just opposite Mr. Powell's store, and removed there with her family, but before many years died leaving her children surviving her.
       Adjoining his plantation on the Marion road lived Mr. Alexander Lamb, who had a large family, and considerable estate--and opposite to him lived Mr. James Forniss. Both these names have also disappeared from this county. . . .

• Last Edited: 9 Mar 2015