Jonathan Abercrombie (c.1776-1862) lived in Laurens County, South Carolina where he was a farmer known as "Squire Abercrombie" or "Crumbie." His grandchildren called him "Grandsir."

Grandsir's birth date is unknown, but based on federal census records for Laurens County from 1800 to 1860 he was born in South Carolina about 1775 or 1776, at the beginning of the American War of Independence. According to family tradition the Abercrombies of South Carolina were Loyalists during that war.

The family tradition is that Grandsir was a son of "James, son of Sir James," and a Gordon or a Pickard. Emma McSwain Dial (1859-1944), a never married school teacher who lived at Gray Court, South Carolina and was a great-granddaughter of Martin Dial (1744-1834) and Chrystie Abercrombie (1746-1804), recorded the family history of the Abercrombies and Dials of that area. Some told "Miss Emma" that Jonathan's mother was a Gordon, others told her that she was a Pickard.

If Jonathan was a son of James (1713-?), son of Sir James -- one of three brothers who are said to have come to South Carolina in the mid-1700s -- then his father would have been quite old, about 63, when Jonathan was born. But this was not unusual in the Abercromby family. Sir Alexander Abercromby (c.1608-1684), 1st baronet of Birkenbog, was about 60 years old when his son and heir, Sir James (1668-1734), was born to his third wife, Elizabeth Baird. And Sir Alexander was 67 years old when his son, Alexander Abercromby (1675-1753) of Tullibody, father of the South Carolina attorney general, was born.

Grandsir lived in Dials township near Rabun Creek and the modern town of Gray Court, Laurens County, South Carolina. His old home place was about two miles west of Dials Methodist Church. He is said to have owned and operated several distilleries and mills. Some say that he owned the second power driven loom in America, but it was ruined by the big August freshet of 1847.

An account of the August freshet of 1852 from the Laurensville Herald, included in the appendix of Judge O'Neal's Annals of Newberry, describes another freshet a few years later that damaged Grandsir's son. It states, "Laurens, September 3: We were congratulating ourselves last week on escaping from the August freshet, which, for two years past, did so much injury to the crops in this part of the country, but our paper had scarcely gone to press before the sky became darkened by black and lowering clouds, and the whole face of the earth covered with water. We have never seen such a rain..."

" On Raibun's creek, we learn Rodgers' grist and saw-mills are both gone. Studdard's saw-mill gone, and his grist-mill moved from its foundation. Bolt's saw-mill gone. Crumbie's [Abercrombie's] saw-mill and grist-mill both gone. The loss which Captain Crumbie [Jonathan Abercrombie, Jr. (1807-1886)] has sustained is very serious. He had gone to great expense in their erection, and had just completed them. Mrs. Goodgion's and Joe Crew's saw-mill were both washed away, and Crew's grist-mill moved from its foundation. Garlington's and Culbertson's gin-houses were washed away and their dams much injured."

The earliest record of Grandsir is a deed dated 20 September 1799 showing that Jonathan Abercrombie purchased for $500 from John Abercrombie 150 acres of land in Laurens County, South Carolina on "Rabourns Creek" bounding on Lewis Saxon, Thomas and William Johnson. This land had been conveyed by indenture from Job Smith in 1788. Witnesses were John and Margaret Cochran with Charles Smith, Justice of the Peace [Laurens County Deed Book F, page 471].

Grandsir appears in the 1800 census for Laurens County as head of a household with two males aged 16-26 years [including himself], two males 10-16, one female 16-26, and three females under age 10.

The 1800 census for Laurens County was organized by military regiments and companies to indicate geographical subdivisions. Jonathan Abercrombie appears in Captain John Cochran's militia company # XXI of the Upper Battalion of the Saludy [Saluda] Regiment. Others of interest in this company of 103 men were: James Abercrombie, Esq., John Abercrombie, William Abercrombie, Hastings Dial, Isaac Dial, Thomas Johnson, Lewis Saxon, John Harriss and David Hellums.

Jonathan Abercrombie (c.1776-1862) married Mary “Polly” Woods (1778-1851), who is said to have been a daughter of John Woods and Susannah McHarg. Polly died 24 November 1851 according to Bible records of her son, Jonathan Abercrombie, Jr. (1807-1886).

Jonathan Abercrombie, Sr. (c.1776-1862) and Mary "Polly" Woods had twelve children: Elizabeth (1796-1889) who married Simon Peter Adams (1790-1834); Hannah (1797-1889) who married William Babb (1796-1868); Christie (1799-before 1882) who married Austin Moore (1805-before 1882); Susan (1801-after 1885) who never married; Alexander (1803-1878) who married Alsey Gray (1812-?); Elihu W. (1805-1878) who married Nancy Ball (?-1845) and Martha Clark; Jonathan, Jr. (1807-1886) who married Jane "Jennie" Armstrong (1812-1889); Mary “Polly Ann” (1809-1892) who married John Armstrong (1801-1888); Jane (1811-1863) who married John Hellams (1798-1878); Harriet (1813-1888) who married Jefferson J. Rowland, Sr. (1811-1839); Clarinda Woods (1818-1892) who married Henry Preston Johnson (1822-1889); and John Harris (1821-1912) who married Mahala McMahon (1823-1851) and Emily Hyde (1832-1918).

Eight of Grandsir's twelve children died in Laurens County. Five of them -- Elizabeth Abercrombie Adams, Jonathan Abercrombie, Jr., Mary "Polly Ann" Abercrombie Armstrong, Jane Abercrombie Hellams and Harriet Abercrombie Rowland -- are buried with their spouses at Dials Methodist Church where Emma McSwain Dial was an active member. Hannah Abercrombie Babb is buried at Rabun Church with her husband.

But four of Grandsir's children left Laurens County and died elsewhere. Christie Abercrombie Moore died in Chattooga County, Georgia. Elihu W. Abercrombie died in Pickens County, South Carolina and is buried at Cross Roads Church cemetery. Clarinda Woods Abercrombie Johnson died in Greenville County, South Carolina and is buried at Siloam Baptist cemetery. John Harris Abercrombie died in Oconee County, South Carolina and is buried at Salem Methodist cemetery.

Jonathan Abercrombie's death on 9 September 1862 was recorded in Bible records of his son, Jonathan "Jot" Abercrombie, Jr. (1807-1886). Grandsir is buried in an Abercrombie family cemetery in Laurens County. Grandsir did not leave a will, but his heirs are named in Laurens County court documents. His son, Jonathan Abercrombie, Jr. (1807-1886), was administrator of his father's estate.

His son Jonathan Abercrombie, Jr. was born 30 April 1807 and died 12 June 1886. He married Jane "Jennie" Armstrong, who was was born 28 December 1812 and died 29 September 1889. She was a daughter of John Armstrong (1778-1855) and Hannah Dial (c.1775-c.1850) and a granddaughter of Martin Dial (1744-1843) and Chrystie Abercrombie (1746-1804). The old home place of Jonathan Abercrombie, Jr. was located on Rabun Creek in back of Rabun [Baptist] Church on the opposite side of the creek from the church.

Jonathan Abercrombie, Jr. (1807-1886) and Jennie had eleven children: Lewis Abercrombie (1833-?) who married Mary Blitch; Bartlett Thomason Abercrombie (1835-1900) who married Lucinda Atwood (1839-1920) and Elizabeth Green (1848-1902); Christie Abercrombie (1838-1917) who never married; Charlotte Abercrombie (1839-1922) who married Thomas Jefferson "Jeff" Watkins (1835-1910); Clarinda Abercrombie (1842-1914) who never married; Clarentine [Clementine?] Abercrombie (1844-1934) who married Pinckney Hellams (1849-1922); Jonathan Hosea "Bud" Abercrombie (1846-1867) who married Laura [Larcia?] E. Spruell (1855-?); Eunicy Caroline "Nicy" Abercrombie (1848-1929) who never married; Jane Abercrombie (1849-1851); John Collier Abercrombie (1852-1928) who married Martha Ellen Leake (1854-1885) and Ella Ann Hellams; and William D. Abercrombie (1853-1885) who married Melvina Reid (1858-?).

Grandsir, having been born at the outset of the War of Independence, died during the War between the States. At his death his grandson, Bartlett Thomason Abercrombie (1835-1900), son of Jonathan Abercrombie, Jr. (1807-1886) and Jane "Jennie" Armstrong (1812-1889), was away at war in the 40th regiment of the Georgia infantry.

Bartlett had moved to Rome, Georgia with his first wife, Lucinda Atwood, and their infant daughter, Susan Henrietta Abercrombie (1859-1940), sometime after the 1860 census was taken in Laurens County and before 4 March 1862 when he enlisted in Company B of the 40th Regiment of the Georgia infantry at Cass Station, Bartow County, Georgia.

On 3 July 1864 Bartlett was captured near Marietta, Georgia and sent as a Union prisoner of war to Camp Morton in Indianapolis, Indiana where conditions were terrible and many died. There, on 24 March 1865, just two weeks before the war ended at Appomattox, he was pressed into service of Company G of the 6th Regiment of United States Volunteers, Infantry to fight the Indians out west "for three years or until the end of the war." Dee Brown has written about this episode in American history in the book, The Galvanized Yankees [University of Nebraska Press, 1963].

In Dakota Territory Bartlett was attached to Laramie [now in Wyoming] saw mill. At some point he must have learned that the War between the States had ended, and he deserted with several others on 5 March 1866. He returned to Bartow County, Georgia, where he learned that his wife, Lucinda, having heard that he had been killed in battle, had remarried and moved west with his two young children, Susan and Barton Abercrombie (1862-1942). Bartlett never saw them again nor learned what happened to them. His son Barton had been born in Bartow County, Georgia on 24 September 1862, just two weeks after Grandsir died in Laurens County, South Carolina.

Bartlett remarried on 8 January 1867 at Bartow County, Georgia to Elizabeth Green, daughter of William Green for whom Bartlett worked in a saw mill. He and Elizabeth and their first two children returned to Laurens County, South Carolina to be near his aging parents sometime before 30 June 1871, when their daughter Anna was born.

Bartlett Abercrombie was born 16 November 1835 and died 4 June 1900. Elizabeth Green was born 12 May 1848 and died 19 May 1902. Bartlett and Elizabeth had seven children: John Walter Abercrombie (1867-1950), a merchant at Honea Path, South Carolina who married Dora Robertson (1872-1957); William Bartlett "Bud" Abercrombie (1869-1961) who married Lida E. "Ida" Willis (1880-1932) and lived at Woodruff, South Carolina where he owned a bottling company producing "Bud's Cola"; Anna Abercrombie (1871-1953) who married James Tolbert Armstrong (1867-1940) and lived near Gray Court, South Carolina; an infant daughter who was born and died on 6 August 1873; Lewis Henry "Lude" Abercrombie (1877-1956) who married Ella Bess Robertson (1882-?) and lived near Gray Court, South Carolina; Warren Oscar "Warnie" Abercrombie (1879-1960) who married Ella Mae Armstrong (?-1955) and lived at Greenville, South Carolina where he worked for an insurance company; and Paul Relford "Ford" Abercrombie (1881-1967) who married Lida Odessa Owens (1886-1956) and lived in Gray Court, South Carolina. "Ford," born 4 August 1881, died 9 July 1967, was a merchant in partnership with Will Owings in Gray Court from the early 1900s until 1951 when Ford retired from active participation in the store at age 70, though he continued to visit it every day.

Bartlett and Elizabeth Abercrombie are buried near his parents at Dials Methodist Church in Laurens County.

P.R. "Ford" and Lida Owens Abercrombie are buried at Woodlawn cemetery in Greenville, South Carolina.

Grandsir left many descendants, only a few of whom are mentioned here.