First Families of Orangeburgh District, South Carolina

AVINGER (EBINGER, EVINGER, UEBINGER)

1a. ADAM EVENGER married ANN MARGARET ____.

Adam Evenger petitioned the Council on 7 Feb 1753, stating that he arrived on the ship John and Mary from Rotterdam. The Council Journal states that "He has a wife and two Children viz Abram 20 years, Anna Margarita 4 and 1/2 and Anna Maria 3 and 1/2." He requested and was granted 300 acres of land. Henrich Ulmer and George Keller were on the same ship[1]. It is possible that Adam Evinger was Adam Uebinger, recorded as having immigrated from Schriesheim, Baden, to Philadelphia in 1752[2]. (Schriesheim is located on the Bergstrasse, or "Mountain Street", about 5 kl northwest of Heidelberg.)

Adam Evinger received his grant for 300 acres on 24 Mar 1756[3] and with the addition of four more dependents, he received another for 200 acres on 2 Nov 1767[4].

Two children, Joseph and George Lewis were christened for Adam and Ann Margaret Avinger in the Orangeburgh parish in 1755 and 1758. The family of Adam Evenger then disappears from the Orangeburgh records, with the exception of Joseph, who was to die in the Revolutionary War.

Children of Adam Evenger and Ann Margaret ____ are:

a. ANNA MARGARITA EVENGER, born abt. 1748[1].

b. ANNA MARIA EVENGER, born abt. 1749[1].

c. JOSEPH EVINGER, born 2 Mar 1755, bapt. 17 Mar 1755 in Orangeburgh District, South Carolina[5,6].

d. GEORGE LEWIS EVINGER, born 4 May 1758, bapt. 28 May 1758 in Orangeburgh District, South Carolina[5,6].

1b. GUTLIEB EBINGER was born bef. about 1750[7] and died bef. 1830[8]. He married (1) ? who died before 1820 in Orangeburgh [9], and (2) MARY ?, who died before 1831 in Orangeburgh [8].

Gutlieb Ebinger established the Orangeburg, SC, Avinger family that settled in the area of Vance's Ferry, later called Vance, SC. The earlier settler Adam Ebinger may have been to be Gutlieb's uncle.

Gotleb Ebinger petitioned for 100 acres of land at the Council meeting of 17 Oct 1766 [10], along with others recently arrived in the colony on the Britannia from Amsterdam [10,11]. The size of the grant suggests that he was alone when he first arrived in the colony. The land granted to him on 24 Aug 1770 was located on the south side of the Congaree River on Sandy Run [12,13,14]. However, he may have been living closer to St. Matthews.

According to family oral tradition Gutlieb Avinger married Mary Horlbeck. It has been believed that she was his first wife and the mother of his children. Documentary evidence suggests that, instead, she may have been his second wife, and the widow of a neighbor. In 1802 John Peter Horlbeck was identified as owner of land adjacent to that of Lawrence Avinger on Horse Range Swamp [15, 16 ]. The 1810 federal census shows "M. Holbac" adjacent "Hr. Avinger" and "Cn. Avinger" (Gutlieb Avinger) [17]. The "Holbac" household included a female 26-45 years old and children but no adult male. It is likely that John Peter Horlbeck had died and that "M. Holbac" (Mary Horlbeck?) was his widow.

The 1810 federal census lists Cn. Avinger with a female in his household more than 45 years old (presumably his first wife, still surviving) and one young male 10-15 years old [17]. The 1820 federal census listed Cutlip Ebinger in a household with 1 male, no females, and 3 slaves [18]. His first wife had died.

An act passed by the South Carolina Legislature on 14 Oct 1831 vested the heirs of Gutlip Avinger with the property and estate of Mary Avinger, widow of Gutlip Avinger of St. Matthew's Parish, who had died intestate[8]. This may have been Mary Horlbeck, the widow of Gutlieb's neighbor John Peter Horlbeck and subsequently of Gutlieb Avinger. If so, the identity of his first wife will probably remain unknown.

In 1778 Gottlieb Ebinnger was among those petitioning for the establishment of "St. Matthew's German Protestant Church in Amelia," the first Lutheran church in the area [19].

Gutlieb Avinger was then involved in the Revolution. Oral traditions of the Avinger family indicate that Gutlieb Avinger served with Gen. Francis Marion during the Revolutionary War. The documentary evidence contradicts this, showing that he served with Col. John Fisher's Regiment, Orangeburgh Militia, in 1780, and continued in 1782 when he served on James Island[20]. A Joseph Evinger, probably the son of Adam Ebinger baptized by Rev. Giessendanner, was in the same Regiment; he was listed among casualties of the war[20,21].

The name Gotleib Evinger later appears in the 1783 Spanish Census of Florida. The census describes him as "a native of Germany who has a wife and 2 sons and inhabits to the north of the St. John's River in the neighborhood of that settlement and is said to be retired." Many British sympathizers immigrated to Florida after the Revolution. Other names of St. Matthews area immigrants appear in the same list, including Joseph Holman and John Keller. A few years earlier Johanes Köller (John Keller) and Joseph Holman signed the St. Matthews church petition with Gotleib Ebinger [19]. (Either the Keller or Holman family might be the origin of Gutlieb's first wife.) In 1783 Florida returned to Spanish control, and at about that time the Avingers returned to South Carolina, as did many others.

In 1790 Gutlieb Ebenger had returned to Orangeburgh and was among those enumerated in the federal census of Orangeburgh County, where he was listed in a household having 2 males over 16 years old (Gutlieb and Lawrence), 3 males under 16 (Henry, John and another underage male), and 1 female [22].

On 2 Sep 1793 the State of South Carolina granted Gutleib Avinger 300 acres on Horse Range, Waters of Four Holes Swamp [23]. This was near the modern town of Vance. The adjacent lands were vacant, and Gutleib's grandson Daniel Avinger related to his daughter Ida Avinger that two Indian camps were their nearest neighbors of the family at the time of their settling at Horse Range.

Children of Gutlieb Avinger and his first wife are:

a. LAWRENCE AVINGER, born about 1768 and died 28 Nov 1864; married Susannah Whitmore; buried Whitmore Cemetery, Santee SC.

b. HENRY AVINGER, born about 1775 and died about 1870; married Miss Scott.

c. JOHN AVINGER, born about 1776 and died about 1818; married Harriet Felder.

REFERENCES:

1. Holcomb, Brent H. 1997. Petitions for Land from the South Carolina Council Journals. Vol. III: 1752-53. (Columbia: SCMAR), p. 178.

2. Brunn, Hermann. 1964. 1200 Jahre Schriesheim. (Mannheim: Südwestdeutsche Verlaganstalt), p. 303.

3. SC Archives, Colonial Grants (Adam Evenger), Ser. S213019, Vol. 0006, Pg. 00019.

4. SC Archives, Colonial Grants, Ser. S213019, Vol. 0009, Pg. 00167.

5. A. S. Salley, Jr., The History of Orangeburg County, South Carolina, 1898, pp 154, 176.

6. Joop Giesendanner, "The Book of Record, Orangeburgh, SC". http://www.xs4all.nl/~sail/.

7. Based upon assumed age of at least 16 when he immigrated in 1766.

8. Legislative Petitions. Year: 1831 Vol. IV, Page: p. 430. South Carolina Department of Archives and History.

9. Federal Census. Orangeburgh District. 1820. p. 135A.

10. Holcomb, Brent H. 1999. Petitions for Land from the South Carolina Council Journals. Vol. VI: 1766-70. (Columbia: SCMAR), pp. 34, 294.

11. Revill, Janie, compiler. 1981. A Compilation of the Original Lists of Protestant Immigrants to South Carolina 1763-1773 (Baltimore: Genealogical Publishing Co., Inc), p. 60.

12. SC Archives, Colonial Plats (Gotlibb Ebinger), Ser. S213184, Vol. 0011, Pg. 00387, Itm. 01.

13. SC Archives, Colonial Grants (Gotlibb Ebinger), Ser. S213019, Vol. 0020, Pg. 00417.

14. SC Archives, Colonial Memorials (Gottlib Ebinger), Ser. S111001, Vol. 0010, Pg. 00242.

15. Orangeburg Clerk of Court Office. Book 7, p. 384.

16. SC Archives, State Grants (John Taylor), Ser. S213192, Vol. 0039, Pg. 00082.

17. Federal Census. 1810. Orangeburgh District. p. 135A.

18. Federal Census. 1820. Orangeburgh District.

19. Quattlebaum, Paul. 1946. "German Protestants in South Carolina in 1788." South Carolina Historical and Genealogical Magazine. Vol. XLVII, p. 198.

20. Clark, Murtie June. 1981. Loyalists in the Southern Campaign of the Revolutionary War. Vol. I: official Rolls of Loyalists Recruited from North and South Carolina, Georgia, Florida, Mississippi, and Louisiana. (Baltimore: Genealogical Publishing Company),pp. 202, 205, 211, 215, 217.

21.Clark, Murtie June. 1981. Loyalists in the Southern Campaign of the Revolutionary War. Vol. III: Official Rolls of Loyalists Recruited from the Middle Atlantic Colonies, with Lists of Refugees from Other Colonies. (Baltimore: Genealogical Publishing Company), p. 414.

22. Federal Census. 1790. Orangeburgh District (North). p. 414.

23. SC Archives, State Plats (Gutlip Evinger), Ser. S213190, Vol. 0029, Pg. 00194, Itm. 02.

Other references to this surname are found in OSGSG Newsletters: Vol 1, #4 p. 24, Vol 2 #1 pp. 6, 7, Vol 2 #4 P. 54, Vol. 2 #7 p. 54, Vol. 3 #4 p. 29, Vol. 4 #2 p. 11, Vol 5 #1 pp. 13, 14, Vol. 6 #2 p. 26, Vol. 7 # 7 p. 152, Vol. 8 #3 p. 40-43, Vol. 8 #2 p. 1-4.

Information provided by Lynn Shuler Teague and Suzann Infinger, September 11, 2003. Updated by Lynn Shuler Teague March 20, 2004 and February 2, 2007.