THE WARNOCK CONNECTION

One item on my “Bucket List” was to visit the original home area of my U.S. ancestors.  John Warnock migrated from County Antrim, Northern Ireland, to Delaware (some accounts say Charleston, SC) in 1774 before heading down to the Pendleton District of South Carolina which is now Anderson County.  He married Eleanor Dowdle and they raised 11 children there.  My great great grandfather, Robert, was the fourth child born in 1794.  Robert migrated to Autauga County, Alabama, and later to Ouachita County, Arkansas, where it appears some other siblings did as well.  I, along with my father, grandfather and great grandfather were born there.

My recent online research as well as other research done over the years had given me little information as to where my ancestors’ land and graves might be located.  We arrived in Anderson, SC, Tuesday, April 2^nd and my first impression of the area was how much it reminded me of southern Arkansas.  Even though it is a few miles north in latitude the flora and terrain was so similar that if you had told me I was in Ouachita County, Arkansas, I would have believed you.  It was easy to see how my family members moving from there to southern Arkansas would have felt right at home.  Our first stop was at a small lake in rural Anderson County where I thought some of my relatives may have lived and incidentally, where some geocaches were located.  We later discovered that a distant relative lives there now.

After spending some time at the lake we made our way to the town of Anderson.  After a lengthy search for a parking spot we made our way to the Courthouse downtown only to find that we needed to go to the Annex located somewhere else to find the Assessor’s office.  The Assessor was unable to trace land back but she did give us the names of current Warnock land owners in the county.  She helped us find phone numbers and I began making calls.  I got no answer on the first two calls but struck pay dirt on the third one.  I reached 58 year old Walter (Buddy) Warnock whose great great grandfather was John, brother to Robert who was my 2g grandfather.  So we were both 5^th generation descendents of the first John Warnock.  He told me that the other Warnocks in the area had moved in from California and were not directly related to us.

Buddy retired early from the State to take care of his 90 year old father who recently passed away.  He lives in nearby Belton and offered to meet us in the parking lot in 15 minutes.  We took him to lunch and then spent the afternoon visiting various cemeteries in the county where Warnocks were buried.  We weren’t able to locate the original Captain John Warnock’s grave (he fought in the Revolutionary War) but we did locate his son John’s who was Buddy’s 2g grandfather.  Incidentally, Buddy’s mother was a Jones as was mine.  He had no information about my branch of the family after they left S.C. but he said he did have information which I hope to get from him about the family in Northern Ireland and before that when they were in Scotland.  I already have fairly good information on our family after they left S.C.

After visiting the cemeteries Buddy took us to visit his 95 year old cousin Sarah who had more family information and some family quilts one of which was over 200 years made by Eleanor, my 3great grandmother.  Aunt Sarah who lived alone in a nice country home in Belton was active, alert and very gracious. [Sarah and Buddy's father were first cousins, both grandchildren of one Andrew Pickens ("Pick") Warnock.]

All in all, it turned out to be a great afternoon with much more family contact and information than I ever imagined I would find.  M/W