Migration of Jacob KERSH and Rachel EASTERLING

1. Jacob KERSH, born 15 May 1789 in Orangeburg District, South Carolina; died 1 Aug 1853 in Rankin County, Mississippi, son of Andrew KERSH and Eva Margarreta GEYSLER. He married on 4 Nov 1812 in Orangeburg District, South Carolina Rachel EASTERLING, born 22 Apr 1797; died 29 May 1889, daughter of Enos EASTERLING and Rebecca Jean BRADWELL.

Notes for Jacob KERSH: Jacob was drafted July 1812 in Orangeburgh District, SC to serve in the War of 1812. He was discharged in March 1815. The Kersh family, with several other families from the Shiloh Meeting in Orangeburg, originally headed for Texas around 1824 or 28 via wagon train. The story goes that an oxen-pulled wagon train was passing through MS on the way to AR and TX. They paused at a spring in what is now the little settlement of Shiloh, MS. During the pause a young girl, whose name has been lost, wandered away to play. Swinging upon a grapevine, she fell and broke her neck. Delayed by a day for a proper christian funeral, which the curious Choctaw Indians watched, several of the families decided that these gentle, wooded hills offered as good a place as any to start a new life. Some of the families pushed on. Among the families who stayed were Jacob and William Kersh whose father Andrew Kersh had immigrated to SC in the 18th century and had served an indentured servitude to pay his family's passage to SC. William Kersh was an enterprising blacksmith who figured that cow bells were hard to come by on the frontier so he had hammered out a barrel full before he left and sold them along the way. Other families who remained were the Rhodes, Myers and Varners. they were joined later by the Colliers, Nobles, Traxiers and Martins(Albert E). The Rhodes family appears to be the most prolific of the families for Rhodes marriages dominate the early Rankin County marriage books. Shiloh Cemetery in Rankin Co, MS was founded in 1828.

Children of Jacob KERSH and Rachel EASTERLING were as follows:

a. Allen David KERSH, born 11 Oct 1816 in Orangeburg District, South Carolina. He married on 14 Jul 1836 in Crossroads Community, Rankin Co., Mississippi Sara Regene RHODES, born May 1821 in Orangeburg District, South Carolina.

b. Andrew Frederick KERSH, born 19 Aug 1818 in Orangeburg District, South Carolina. He married on 23 Sep 1857 in Rehoboth, Ranking Co., Mississippi Minerva Apphira BUCKNER.

c. William Eli KERSH, born 22 May 1820 in Orangeburg District, South Carolina; died 19 Aug 1878 in Rankin County, Mississippi. He married on 27 Feb 1845 in Rankin County, Mississippi Elizabeth Sarah RHODES, born 5 Jan 1828 in South Carolina; died 14 Apr 1910 in Mississippi.

d. Mary Ann KERSH, born 8 Jan 1824 in Orangeburg District, South Carolina; died 4 Feb 1896 in Rankin County, Mississippi; buried in Shiloh Meth. Cem., Rankin Co., Mississippi.. She married Isaac O.J. WIMBERLY, born 19 Nov 1824 in South Carolina; died 1 Jul 1902 in Rankin County, Mississippi; buried in Shiloh Meth. Cem., Rankin Co., Mississippi, son of Abraham WIMBERLEY and Jane RUSSELL.

e. Elizabeth Jane KERSH, died 9 Aug 1865 in Ringgold, Louisiana. She married in Rankin County, Mississippi Abraham WIMBERLY, born 24 Jan 1823 in South Carolina; died in Church Point, Louisiana, son of Abraham WIMBERLEY and Jane RUSSELL. Moved from South Carolina to Mississippi, settled in Rankin County. They moved to Louisiana at some time before the Civil War where Elizabeth Jane died in and where he remarried to Josepheine (Richard) Colligan.

f. Alvin Jacob KERSH.

g. Lewis Evans KERSH.

h. Susannah R. KERSH.

i. Richard Caliway KERSH, died 1 Oct 1854.

j. Ezra Thomas KERSH.

k. Enos R. KERSH.

l. John KERSH.

Information provided by Gene Jeffries 6 May 2000.

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DISCLAIMER: The family information included in Orangeburgh Family Migrations was complied from a variety of sources, many of which are not documented. These pages have not been checked for accuracy and should not be treated as authoritative documentation on these families. They are provided as a hopefully helpful source of leads to further research into these families.

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