A New Life in Virginia

The earliest records show our Culbreath ancestors first appeared in Lunenburg County, Virginia, in 1748. They settled on the Beaver Pond Branch of Grassy Creek, in what is now Mecklenburg County. Most of this area is now submerged beneath Kerr Lake ("Buggs Island Lake" in Virginia). 

Tithes for the period list John, Peter and William Culbreath, who were probably brothers, appear along side Neal, Daniel, and Malcolm McNeal. It is extremely likely that these McNeals are related to the McNeills who appear in the Cape Fear Region of North Carolina. In 1764, the Culbreath family was well entrenched in Lunenburg County. Tithes in the area now include an Edward Culbreath, Mary Culbreath, and Joseph Culbreath. A Wilson Culbreath is also found but his identity cannot be confirmed.

In June 1755, William Colbreath [sic], John Colbreath, Malcolm and Daniel MacNeal, and several other men purchased land from speculators Drury Stith, Michael Cadet Young, and Henry Morris. Almost a dozen men purchased these tracts totaling over 3,070 acres.

This area would become Mecklenburg County, Virginia in 1765.

By the end of the 1760's the Culbreaths had become quite comfortable, but not overly so. If the law would just let them be! The Mecklenburg court records from the period show multiple cases of trespass, assault and battery and debt for the Culbreaths. 

By the 1780's, southward and westward expansion and the promise of cheap land drew many of the Culbreath branches out of Mecklenburg. It is equally likely that the frequent flooding on the Roanoke River also made farming in the region unpredictable.  Peter Culbreath was referred to as "Peter Culbreath of Georgia" in the Virginia records as early as 1775. Columbia County, Georgia was his permanent residence by 1790. The children of Edward Culbreath, John and Mary, had also moved with their families to Georgia by the first decade of the nineteenth century. William Culbreth IV (b. 1787, son of William, grandson of William) moved to Tippah County, Mississippi. John Culbreth (b. 1796, son of John, grandson of William) moved to Smith County, Tenneessee. Daniel Culbreath (b. abt 1730) moved with his wife Jane to Rutherford County, North Carolina. Our direct ancestor, Camp Culbreath (b. 1791, son of Thomas, grandson of William) moved from Virginia to Robeson County to marry Mary McNeill. His brother, Thomas Culbreath (b. 1787, son of Thomas, grandson of William) was so drawn by the allure of cheap land, he  fraudulent entered the 1805 Georgia Land Lottery and earned rebuke from the Georgia Governor and Legislature!

It is probable that some land was made available to the Culbreaths in the form of land bounty. Records show that the Culbreaths fought in the French Indian War, the American Revolution and the War of 1812. 

Our first verified ancestor is William Culbreath (b. abt 1730 - May 28, 1787).

William Culbreath (Colebreath)
b. 1730, Scotland or Ulster, Ireland
d. May 28, 1787 Lunenburg County, Virginia
Married: Margaret [unknown, maybe Camp or McNeal]

This William was a successful cattle farmer on Beaver Pond Creek. He mustered in 1755 and in '57 is described in the rolls as "5'5, planter, Scotch, fair, light hair, pitted, blemish in the right eye." In the American Revolution, he supplied the Continental army with beef and bacon.

At the time of his death, his tithe is listed with 65 head of cattle, 7 horses, and 14 slaves.

His Will lists the following:

Children - Thomas Culbreath, Patty Ramsey, Mary McNeil, Margaret Culbreath, Isabell Culbreath, John Culbreath, William Culbreath
Grandson John Culbreath, son of my son John Culbreath
Grandson William Culbreath, son of my son William Culbreath
Granddaughter Isabel Culbreath, daughter of my son William Culbreath

Thomas Culbreath
b. 1761, Lunenburg County, Virginia
d. aft. 1820, Mecklenburg County, Virginia
Married: Lucy Camp, dau. of John Camp, in 1788

Thomas Culbreath was a planter in Mecklenburg County, Virginia. He may have spent sometime in Granville County, North Carolina. There is additional speculation that he relocated to Georgia to join relatives there. Thomas, like his father William, provided food and arms to the Continental Army during the American Revolution, but there is no evidence that he himself fought. 

Thomas' household was numerous; he housed his six children and two children from Lucy Camp's previous marriage to William Caviness. He operated a mill on Grassy Creek, which he later sold to a nephew.

Children:
James Culbreath, Lewis Culbreath, Lucy Culbreath [Hester], Thomas Culbreath, Mary Culbreath, and Camp Culbreath.

In the Land of the Pines

Camp Culbreath
b. Feb 3, 1791, Mecklenburg County, Virginia
d. June 11, 1856, Robeson County, North Carolina
Married: Mary McNeill, August 6, 1816

Family Tree Link (6MB)

Extended Family Tree Chart

Camp Culbreath was the youngest son of Thomas Culbreath and Lucy Camp. He mustered in the War of 1812 and defended the port of Norfolk until he was discharged January 7, 1814 at Lambert's Point. 

It is likely there were little options in Mecklenburg County, so he traveled south to Robeson County, and married a likely cousin, Mary McNeill- daughter of the recently deceased "Sailor" Hector McNeill. Here, he was able to live on his wife's inheritance, and by 1835 he began purchasing his stake in the property, with his brother-in-law Malcolm Culbreth McNeill. His holdings stretched from Moss Neck to Kersey's Branch, to the Lumber River.

Per the 1850 US Census, he could neither read nor write. He became known as Kemp Culbreath.

Children: Thomas Culbreath, James Culbreath, Mary Culbreath, Malcolm Culbreath, and Lucy Culbreath

Thomas Culbreath
b. May 5, 1817, Robeson County, North Carolina
d. September 19, 1892, Robeson County, North Carolina
Married: Anne Elizabeth Peabody, May 5, 1955

Thomas Culbreath was the oldest son of Camp Culbreath and Mary McNeill. He is often found online as Thomas McNeill Culbreath, but I have found no evidence of this and middle names did not become popular until just before the Civil War.

Thomas married Anne E. Peabody, daughter of Nathaniel Prentice [Prentiss] Peabody, a silversmith from Bennettsville, South Carolina. They had six children, profiled in the "Six Siblings" tab of this site.

Thomas' maintained the farm on which Camp Culbreath had bequeathed he and his sister Mary, and brother Malcolm. His brother James was sent to Charleston Medical College and became a prominent physician in Marion [Dillion] County, South Carolina during and after the Civil War.

Prior to the Civil War, Thomas Culbreath was active in the Whig Party, a party that appealed to planters, entrepreneurs and "improvements men" who favored road, canal and rail construction.

Thomas' younger brother, Malcolm, mustered with the CSA Company E of the 3rd Artillery unit known as the "Scotch Greys" and consisted of men from Richmond and Robeson Counties, with a overwhelming majority of them first and second generation Scots. The Scotch Greys were stationed for a time at Fort Fisher, near Wilmington, North Carolina. The conditions were wet, muddy, and disease-ridden. Malcolm died of typhoid at Smithville, NC on Feb 22, 1864.

With their sister Lucy having died in her twenties, of an unknown illness, and Malcolm now dead. Thomas Culbreath and his wife Ann, his mother Mary McNeill, and his sister "Aunt Mary", were left to oversee the estate. 

Thomas mustered with the CSA Home Guard at Shoe Heel [Maxton, NC] in 1864. This unit consisted of older men not previously eligible for service in the CSA army. Family lore states that he shot a Union Soldier from a telegraph pole near the rail depot at Lowe. The story also goes that during Sherman's March through Robeson (March 1865), the family moved all the livestock, provisions and possessions into the nearby Bear Swamp, and the original "home place" was put to torch.