Benjamin Blitch Jr., and Harriet Wilson Blitch
— with Notes on Harriet’s Parents and Sister
Benjamin Blitch, Jr., was born in Effingham County, Georgia, Nov. 17, 1811, was a third-generation native to Georgia . His great grandparents, Spier and Judith Blitch were part of a group of English settlers that arrived in the Georgia Colony in the 1740s. Most of these settlers arrived at Charleston, South Carolina Colony before making their way to Georgia. Spier and his wife found their way to an area a few miles northwest of Savannah that would become St. Matthews Parish in the 1758 and later Effingham County in 1777, as part of the newly created state of Georgia in the new republic of the United States of America. Little is known of Benjamin’s parents, Benjamin Sr., and Sarah Spier Blitch, except that they were born in Effingham County, made their lives in that place and died there.
From his detailed obituary, it is recorded that Benjamin Jr., became a member of the Baptist Church (presumably baptized) at the age of 16. In 1832/3, when he was 21, Benjamin “connected himself with the Turkey Branch Baptist Church” which is still operating as of this writing.
It seems that he was zealous in his activity there, as within a year, brethren of that church elected him to the office of deacon in Cowpen Branch church, about three miles to the northeast. These “Branches” refer to nearby creeks, tributaries to the Savannah River. The large number of churches Benjamin served in six local counties make me think he was a circuit preacher/pastor/evangelist for, at least, the later part of his career.
The following summary of his career in the Baptist church is taken directly from Benjamin’s obituary:
In the year 1832, he was married to Miss Harriet Wilson of Effingham County, who bore him fourteen children, eight sons and six daughters. Four of their sons were ministers of the Gospel… In 1835, he moved to Florida, where he united with Black Creek church (now Sanders) at which church he was licensed to preach, which he continued to do as a licenseate 12 years.
In 1846, He removed to Effingham County and connected himself with Little Ogheeche church, Screven County. He was ordained on the Second Sabbath in April, 1853. In 1859, he moved to Ware county and connected himself with Hopewell church, about 10 miles west of Blackshear. In 1860, he moved to Blackshear and worked as a carpenter for two years. In 1862, he moved to Appling County and joined the Baptist church, at which church his membership remained on the day of his death. He served the Piedmont Association as moderator 14 years in succession and clerk 7 years, and again as moderator 2 years. Bro. Blitch was the first to preach a missionary sermon on the South side of the Altamaha river. He was appointed to preach about 12 missionary sermons. He served as missionary 4 years in Effingham County. He served as pastor in Calvary church, Union church and in Ware County, Hopewell and in Blackshear in Pierce County; In Appling County, he served Bethel, Ten Mile Creek, Consolidation, and Zion; In Wayne County, he served Bethel, Flynt Branch, Union, Jesup, Goose Little River, and Zion; In Coffee at Elizabeth. He served some churches as long as 18 years continuously… in respect of the memory of our brother a copy of this tribute be placed on memorial page of our church book, a copy be furnished for publication in our County paper, Baxley Banner, and Christian Index, and a copy to the bereaved family. Ordered by the Bethel Baptist Church, in conference, May 1887.
Copied from the Jesup Sentinel of June 9, 1887
The Old Bethel Baptist church still stands on its original location, about 7 miles west of Jesup just off of Holmesville Road at 110 Old Bethel Church Rd, Jesup, GA 31545. Benjamin is buried there.
As evidenced in Benjamin’s obituary above, he and Harriet were Baptist missionaries starting in Georgia who moved from Effingham County, their birthplace also, to diverse places around Georgia and Florida. Most of their 14 children were born in Black Creek, Florida, just south of Jacksonville. The family arrived in Appling County, in 1862, settling on a farm there, with my great-grandmother, Keziah, then 13 years of age, and at least some of her 13 brothers and sisters, she of which she was the 11th. This was, of course, in the midst of the Civil War, although the horrors of this war didn’t reach Georgia for another year.
I have discovered no evidence that the Blitch family farm included enslaved people. In fact, it may be assumed that they were abolitionists as evidenced by the fact that they named their youngest son William Wilberforce Blitch, after the great British abolitionist, parliamentarian, and evangelical Christian, William Wilberforce.
The following is a list of the children of Benjamin and Harriet. It is the same list found on the page for Charles Levi Youmans and Keziah Blitch Youmans with Keziah added.
- James Elias Blitch b.1833 Effingham County Georgia – d.1876 Lithia, Florida
After serving as a corporal in Company G of the 7th Georgia Cavalry, Confederate States Army, Rev. James Elias Blitch was a historian, minister, missionary, and evangelist. - Esther Ann Blitch b.1835 Effingham County Georgia – d.1922 Baxley, Georgia
- Daniel Isaiah Blitch b.1836 Black Creek, Florida – d.1889 DuPont, Clinch County, Georgia
Baptist minister, a Confederate soldier, an artist, a theologian and a machinist - Joseph Luke Blitch b.1839 Black Creek/Duval County, Florida – d.1882 San Luis Opispo, California
Doctor of Divinity, itinerate and gifted Preacher, and Evangelist, work acclaimed by Charles Spurgeon - Martha Elizabeth Blitch Middleton b.1840 Effingham County, GA – d.1884 Hortense, Brantley County, GA
- Mary Ruth Blitch b.1841 Black Creek/Duval County, Florida – d.1843 Black Creek/Duval County, Florida
- Benjamin Samuel Blitch b.1843 Black Creek/Duval County, Florida – d.1865
Enlisted in the Confederate Army in Apr. 1861, joining Clinch’s Light Battery in 1863. Among other battles, Captain Clinch’s Light Battery fought to defend Fort McAllister near Savannah, GA, during the Second Battle of Fort McAllister (1864) where it was stationed to provide support and to occupy field works along the route from the railroad and river to the fort during the attack by Sherman’s forces on December 13, 1864. Benjamin was captured at Ft. McAllister during that battle and was a seven month P.O.W. After Lee surrendered, Benjamin was on his way home and died 2 Mar 1865 near Greensboro, NC. Obediah, his brother who was with him, fell out of rank, rolled him in his blanket and buried him in a location unknown to this date. - Obediah Thomas Blitch b.1844 Black Creek/Duval County, Florida – d.1931 3802 N Dartmouth Avenue, Tampa, Florida
Served in Company A of the 24th Battalion Georgia Cavalry until the 7th Regiment, Georgia Cavalry was organized. At this time Company A of the 24th Battalion became Company G of the 7th Regiment. Private Blitch was captured on June 12, 1864 during the Battle of Trevillian Station near Louisa Court House, VA. He was received at Fortress Monroe June 20th, sent to Point Lookout MD and transferred to Elmira Prison, NY Jul 25, 1864. He was selected for exchange of prisoners Oct. 11, 1864 and the actual exchange took place on Oct. 29th. It appears that Obediah met his brother Benjamin (see above), possibly in the Elmira prison because they marched together back toward Georgia. O. T. Blitch surrendered and was paroled at Thomasville, Georgia May 23, 1865. - Mindora Amanda Lucille Blitch Street b.1846 Black Creek/Duval County, Florida – d.1924 Milledgeville, Georgia
- Solomon Elihu Blitch b.1847 Effingham County, Georgia – d.1926 Atkinson County, Georgia
Served as a private in the CSA in 1864, and suffered much from the adverse conditions especially from later confinement in prison. Post war married, had four sons, became a missionary Baptist minister and preacher. appointed missionary by the Pleasant Hill Church, Colquitt County, Georgia - Keziah Abigail Blitch Youmans b.1849 Effingham County, Georgia – d.1929 Baxley, Georgia
My Great Grandmother. Mother four sons, five daughters, and three motherless granddaughters. She also served in various capacities with the Ten Mile Baptist Church. - Leonidas Wyley Blitch b.1850 Black Creek/Duval County, Florida – unknown
- Emma Azealia Blitch Wolfe b.1852 Black Creek/Duval County, Florida– d.1928 Appling County, Georgia
Superintendent of the Sunday School in the Elliott neighborhood, walking two miles with her five children in tow. She was a close student of the Bible and a regular life-long attendant at church. - William Wilberforce Blitch b.1854 Brunswick, Georgia – d.1930 Tampa, Florida
Baptist Minister. Married Elizabeth Johns in 1887. Had one daughter and two stepdaughters
Benjamin’s wife, Harriet Wilson Blitch, daughter of Luke Wilson and Patience Crawford Wilson was also born in Effingham County, on January 25, 1814. Like Benjamin, Harriet’s great grandfather, James Wilson was part of the group of English settlers that arrived in the Georgia Colony via Charleston, South Carolina, in 1743. That made her, like her husband, a third-generation native to Georgia. She died in, , ans was buried at Thomas Cemetery in Appling County, Georgia.
Harriet’s Parents:
Luke Wilson and Patience Crawford Wilson
Harriet’s parents were both born in a tiny settlement called Egypt, in Effinghan County, Georgia. It appears that they both died there as well. Harriet’s father, Luke, was born on June 21, 1785. Patience Crawford, b. September 6, 1787, married Luke on March 6, 1806. They had four children, three girls and a boy. Patience was the second. Luke was a private in Capt. Donehoo’s Company of Georgia Militia in the War of 1812. He was Justice of Peace in the 13th District, Effingham County, from 1818 to 1824 and later Coroner of his county from 1838 to 1840. Luke died at his home in Egypt, Effingham County on April 23, 1861. As towns go, Egypt, Georgia is a tiny place – a little over 1/4-mile from one end to the other. Egypt had a post office from 1850 until 1956. It was never separately listed in the census and there is hardly any information about it anywhere. Egypt, Georgia is better described as an old rural plantation. Egypt’s claims to fame are a long-divided 1,572-acre plantation (built in 1870-75), later called the Foy House (for most of the 20th century). Currently, it looks like less than 50 people live in Egypt, Georgia. The plantation house underwent a major remodel in 1990 and now has 6 bedrooms and three full baths, but sits on only 15 acres and is valued at about $140,000. There was also a train station (now on the property of the plantation house), the Elam-Egypt Baptist Church (build in the late 1800s), and the fact that my 3rd great-grandparents spent their entire lives there from a time decades prior to the arrival of the plantation.
As to the origin of Egypt’s name: Confederate Major General Lafayette McLaws purchased 1572 acres in Effingham County in January 1870. His daughter, Virginia, wrote that the plantation was “named Egypt because of the fine corn raised there. The house was quite large, two stories and a very high attic–a nice porch downstairs and upstairs with columns…(there were) eight large rooms with high ceilings, large closets in each, and every one with a nice fireplace. In those days there were no toilet facilities, no electric lights. There was an outdoor kitchen, also one on the large back porch.”
Harriet’s Sister Lydia Ann Wilson Blitch:
It is worth remembering that the Blitch and Wilson families had common origins in America, both starting here with the British push to populate St. Matthews Parish, Georgia, in the early 1740s. Given the small population and adverse conditions of the place they occupied, they may have crossed paths occasionally and it is likely that they at minimum would have known of each other. It isn’t unusual to see siblings from one family marry siblings from another family, especially when the number of families is few in a given locale. In the case of Lydia Wilson b. May, 1, 1809, she married the paternal uncle of her brother-in-law, Benjamin in February, 1827, in Effingham, Georgia. His name was Thomas Blitch, Jr., b. 1777.
Aside from sharing a marital name with her sister Harriet, a few other remarkable facts are found. At age 21, he was 29 years younger than her 50-year-old groom. The year Thomas was born, His father, also named Thomas, left his pregnant wife, Ann Hodges Blitch, to fight the British in the Revolutionary War. He never returned… killed at the Battle of Brandywine, Pennsylvania, fighting alongside James Wilson, who would become the great-grandfather to Thomas’ grandchildren. The only other mention I have found about Thomas’ younger years is a note that his left hand was injured in the Florida Indian War of 1819.
It was Thomas’ first marriage. Lydia had three sons with Thomas. The first, Henry, was born in November 1825 3-1/2 months before their marriage and the others, Thomas III and Nathaniel, were born in 1831 and 1836. Sadly, Lydia died in November of 1839. This left Thomas, now age 62, with the three boys aged 3, 8, and 13. Undeterred, Thomas married again almost two years later, to Ann Marlow. Ann was 33, Thomas was 64. There is no evidence that Thomas was rich or handsome, but something must have attracted these much younger women to him. He and Ann went on to have three more children, two boys and a girl. The last was born when Thomas was 75, five years before he died, in 1857.
Five years later, Lydia and Thomas’ son, Thomas III, enlisted as a private in Company I, 54th Regiment Georgia Infantry on May 6, 1862 at Guyton, Georgia. He was captured by the enemy at Jonesboro, Georgia on Aug 31, 1864. He was sent to the POW camp at Camp Douglas, Illinois, where he died of pneumonia on Jan 19, 1865.
Next: Charles Levi and Keziah
—
Related Links:
Royalty/Nobility Quick-Reference
Dennis McClendon: Procession to my “XIV” Designation
—
DMCXIV 
You must be logged in to post a comment.