Family Stories - Jacob Henry Croft

I skipped a generation with the last posting, but I just had more stuff on John Henry than I did his son Jacob Henry Croft. But here's Jacob....

Just 14 years old when his father died, Jacob Henry Croft had to face life early. This was my great great grandfather. Born in Barnwell County, South Carolina in 1804, he became a farmer, though never very successful. A check of the courthouse records in Barnwell revealed three lawsuits against him for failure to pay his debts. In the last suit he lost his 50 acre farm.

Jacob married Abigail Hunter in 1826, and by 1837 they had six children. That was when he gave up on South Carolina and moved to south Georgia looking for a new start. Abigail’s elderly parents accompanied them on the trip. Nine more children were born in Georgia. With fifteen mouths to feed, they were a poor family.

Abigail’s parents - William and Catherine Hunter - died on the same day in 1857. He was 107 years old. Relieved of that responsibility, Jacob moved his family down to Florida - New River County - where he lived until his death in 1869 at the age of 65. He and Abigail are buried in the cemetery adjoining the Mt. Zion Baptist Church about ten miles west of Lake Butler, Florida.