Individual Notes

Note for: David Cutler Braddock, c1717 - FEB 1769 Index

Individual Note:
The rice ship of which he was first mate was captured by a privateer in 1740 and carried into St. Augustine. he escaped and made his way to Fort Frederica on St. Simons where General Oglethorpe placed him in command of a schooner protecting the young colony. In 1742, his vessel was among the fleet that chased the Spanish, who had tried to capture St. Simons, all the way back to St. Augustine and bombarded Castillo de San Marcos. William Lyford Sr., commanding the South Carolina half-galley "Charles Town," was also in the fleet. Apparently, he like what he saw in the young commander because he placed him in command of the "Charles Town's" sister ship, the "Beaufort," Braddock promptly married the bosses daughter, Mary Lyford. The southern tip of Hilton Head Island, where his vessel was for awhile stationed, his still called Braddock Point, after him. After serving on the "Beaufort" until 1746, he moved to the Savannah, Ga area, where he served in the colonial government, while operating as a highly successful privateer in the Caribbean. A chart he did of the Keys in 1756 while on a privateering venture is in the Library of Congress.

He is one of the mariner heroes of the book, "Wooden Ships - Iron Men."

Individual Notes

Note for: John Braddick, c1675 - 24 DEC 1733 Index

Individual Note:
He was an active mariner in New England waters operating out of Southold, Long Island. He served in the Queen Anne's War against the French in Canada. He was killed on his vessel by an Indian.

From the Record Commissioners Report 150 (1700 - 1751) Published 1898
Mary & John Braddock, Apr. 24, 1715 by Rev. Samuel Miles, rector of King's Chapel, Boston.

Individual Notes

Note for: William Lyford, - 1753 Index

Individual Note:
He wrote on a bill of sale that he was from the island of Jamaica. No records have been found to substantiate this. He came to South Carolina from New Providence in 1728 and, in addition to owning and commanding a commercial vessel, was harbor pilot of the port of Beaufort, SC and commanded the colony's southernmost fort. In 1742, he was placed in command of both half-galleys built to counteract Spanish shallow-draft vessels. After losing his command for trading with the Spanish while exchanging prisoners in St. Augustine, he returned to the Bahamas where he was placed in command of the largest privateer of the Bahamas, on which he was highly successful.

Individual Notes

Note for: Elizabeth Spatches, - Index

Individual Note:
Bahamas baptismal records for 1721 say: Nov 19 Elizabeth, daughter of William and Mary SPATCHERS, sr, aged 19

Individual Notes

Note for: William Spatches, - Index

Individual Note:
He was a member of the Bahamas Governors Council and , at one time, president of the Bahamas. An entry in Deed book 4, page 442 dated 4/9/1707 reads, "Exhuma Pond [in the Bahamas]. Know all men &c that I, William Spatchurst, of Bahama Islds. mariner, appoint Thomas Bostock of Bermuda my true & lawful attorney . . . to come upon lands of mother Mrs. Elizabeth Spatchurst in Bermuda after her decease, sd. lands now in occupation of my sd. mother." This effectively establishes that William Spatchurst/Spatchers/Spatches was a native of Bermuda.

Individual Notes

Note for: John Cutler, - 1717 Index

Individual Note:
A surgeon arriving from Holland, he changed his name, Johannes DeMesmaker, to its English equivalent, John Cutler. One of his direct descendants was Julia Ward Howe, who wrote "Battle Hymn of the Republic."

Dr. Johannes Demesmaker, a surgeon, had arrived on American shores in 1674.[8] Soon afterward, he moved to Hingham, Massachusetts, the town founded by Samuel Lincoln, a native of Hingham in Norfolk. He then became one of the earliest Americans to adopt the custom of Anglicizing his name to blend more smoothly into the society of his neighbors — now he was Dr. John Cutler. For many years in Hingham, his neighbor to the south was Thomas Lincoln, one of Samuel's sons.[9] Another neighbor was Thomas' brother, Mordecai, the great-great-great-grandfather of the president.[10]