One need only dig up all the early Barnwell County, South Carolina, Stallings records to conclude that there must be a close familial connection between Jesse Stallings and Josiah Stallings. Are they father and son? Brothers? Cousins? Uncle and nephew? Let’s start with estimating when they were born to narrow it down.
You can read my analysis of the earliest Jesse Stallings records here. Based on my analysis of those records, I estimate Jesse Jr.’s birth year to be about 1759. Based on the data reported on three censuses, Josiah Stallings was born between about 1773-1775.Therefore, I would guess that Jesse and Josiah were not father and son because they would only be about 16 years apart. Of course, it’s not impossible that Jesse was Josiah’s father, but it is somewhat unlikely. I also concluded that it is likely Jesse Sr.’s sons were not born before 1746 because they were no sons 16 years of age or older on the 1762 tax list. Of course, this could also mean that Jesse’s sons were old enough to have moved out on their own. However, that is not consistent with the other data that supports Jesse Jr. being born in about 1759.
Of course any analysis to determine 18th century birth years, absent birth or baptismal records, requires making some assumptions. When looking at Josiah’s estimated birth year, one must assume that the 1810, 1820 and 1830 federal censuses for Barnwell County are correctly marked. If we look at the age range marked on these censuses for the Josiah Stallings household, together with the estimated birth year of his oldest child, we might conclude that Josiah was born between 1771 and 1775.
Let’s break that down. Josiah’s oldest child that we know of who survived was Sarah. She is reported to be 53 years old on the 1850 federal census, enumerated in September. Therefore her birth year is estimated to be 1796. Let’s assume Josiah was at least 21 years old when she was born. That would mean he was born no later than 1775. Here is a chart to demonstrate the ages within the range marked on the three censuses.
| Est. birth year | 1775 | 1774 | 1773 | 1772 | 1771 |
| 1810 census 26-44 | 35 | 36 | 37 | 38 | 39 |
| 1820 census 26-44 | 45 | 46 | 47 | 48 | 49 |
| 1830 census 50-59 | 55 | 56 | 57 | 58 | 59 |
It does fit rather nicely together.
As I mentioned earlier, it is unlikely that Josiah is the son of Jesse, Jr. Could he be the son of Jesse, Sr.? In my earlier article, I mentioned a possibility that Jesse, Sr. died between 1768 and 1771. Hey – it looks like Josiah could be the son of Jesse, Sr! It was not unusual to have children 16 years apart. Josiah’s oldest and youngest child were 28 years apart. But then what about that outside-of-probate transfer of property that would usually only happen if Jesse Jr. was the only heir? Well then if Jesse Sr was the one who moved to South Carolina this could work. Still no probate though. Hmmmmm…