52 Cousins~Eli W. Brock

 Eli W. Brock

A Chesterfield County Life, 1832/1836 – 1905

Born	1832 (tombstone) or February 1836 (1900 census), Chesterfield County, South Carolina
Died	February 1905, Chesterfield County, South Carolina (intestate)
Buried	Old Brock’s Mill Baptist Church Cemetery (also called Brock Cemetery), Brocks Mill, Chesterfield County, SC
Parents	Samuel W. Brock (1796–1884) and Martha (1808–1880)
Spouse	Mary Jane White (8 Feb 1844 – 19 Mar 1917), married about 1862
Children	Eight born, seven living in 1900; seven are named on this sheet
Military	Confederate private, 1862 (Co. D, 6th SC Cavalry, and Co. I, 1st SC Artillery, per service records)
Lived	Chesterfield County and the Cheraw area, South Carolina
Find a Grave	Memorial #32255936

 

Meet Eli

Some folks leave behind a long paper trail, and Eli W. Brock is one of them. Between a tombstone, two Confederate service records, the 1850 through 1910 censuses, a land deed from Mississippi, and a family agreement dividing his estate, we can follow Eli from a teenage boy in his father’s household to the head of a house full of children, and then to the patriarch whose seven grown sons and daughters sat down together in 1907 to divide up what he left behind.

Eli spent his life in Chesterfield County, in the northeastern corner of South Carolina, near the town of Cheraw and the Pee Dee River country. This biography follows him through the records, one chapter at a time, and introduces each of his children along the way.

Roots: Parents and Family Background

Eli was the son of Samuel W. Brock (1796–1884) and his wife Martha (1808–1880), both of Chesterfield County. Samuel lived to be about 88 and Martha to about 72, so Eli had his parents with him well into adulthood. Samuel’s household is where we first find Eli in the records.

The 1850 and 1860 censuses show Eli living in Samuel’s home. Those two census years did not record how people were related, so the names below are simply the others listed in the household. Most of them were very likely Eli’s brothers and sisters, but this sheet does not individually document them as siblings.

Household member	Age in 1850	Age in 1860
Samuel Brock (head)	54	61
Marcia / Martha Brock	45	52
Sarah Brock	24	26
William Brock	23	—
Joel Brock	21	—
Samuel Brock	19	24
Eli Brock	16	22
Calvin Brock	14	21
Thomas Brock	12	19
Elizabeth Brock	8	16
James Brock	6	14

 

Notice that the 1850 census lists Samuel’s wife as “Marcia,” while the 1860 census says “Martha,” and Eli’s Find a Grave page names his mother as Martha. Census takers often wrote what they heard, so this is probably the same woman.

Growing Up in Chesterfield County

Eli was a boy in the 1840s and a young man in the 1850s, when Chesterfield County was a rural corner of the Pee Dee region. The household that census taker recorded in 1850 was a big one: eleven people under one roof, with children ranging from a six-year-old up to a young woman of 24. Eli, at 16, was right in the middle of the pack.

By 1860 Eli was listed as 22 and still at home. That same year, the young woman who would become his wife, Mary Jane White, lost her father; we will meet her shortly.

Why Eli’s birth year is a puzzle The records do not agree on when Eli was born. His tombstone says 1832. The 1850 census (age 16) points to about 1834, the 1860 census (age 22) to about 1838, his 1862 service record (age 25) to about 1837, and the 1900 census says February 1836 (age 64). Until a birth record turns up, 1832 and February 1836 are the two dates carried on the family group sheet. The tombstone date is the earliest, and the 1900 census is the only source that gives a month.

 

Answering the Call: Civil War Service

When the Civil War came, Eli joined the Confederate army. Service records show him as a private, age 25, in Company D, 6th South Carolina Cavalry. One record gives his enlistment as 2 June 1862 and another shows 19 July 1862. A separate card in the Civil War Soldiers database lists an Eli Brock as a private in Company I, 1st South Carolina Artillery. Both sets of records are cited on this sheet, and he is shown as a private with no promotion in either one.

The sheet also notes that Co. D, 6th SC Cavalry became Company D of the 1st Regiment, South Carolina Partisan Rangers. Partisan ranger units were authorized by the Confederate Congress in April 1862, which fits the timing of Eli’s enlistment that summer.

This sheet does not tell us where Eli served, whether he saw battle, or when he came home, and it would be wrong to guess. What we do know is that he was back in South Carolina, married, and starting a family by 1866.

Historical context: Cheraw in 1865 Chesterfield County did not sit out the war’s final months. In early March 1865, General William T. Sherman’s army moved through Cheraw on its march north through the Carolinas. Nothing on this sheet places Eli in the county at that moment, but it gives us a sense of what the Pee Dee country looked like as the war ended.

 

Marrying Mary Jane White

About 1862, Eli married Mary Jane White, born 8 February 1844 in Chesterfield County. The 1900 census says the couple had been married 38 years, which gives us the 1862 date. Mary Jane would have been about 18, and the wedding fell in the same year Eli enlisted.

Mary Jane’s parents were John G. White (1816–1860) and Katherine J. White (1816–1869). Her father had died in 1860, a couple of years before her wedding, and her mother lived until 1869, long enough to see the first of her Brock grandchildren arrive.

Mary Jane would be Eli’s partner for the next four decades and then his widow for twelve years.

A Household Full of Children

Eli and Mary Jane’s first child that we can document, Massey Catherine “Katie,” was born in October 1866. Over the next sixteen years the family grew by one or two children at a time: Hattie, Emma, Daniel, Lucy, Sarah Ann, and finally John Calvin in 1882. The 1900 census records that Mary Jane had borne eight children, seven of them still living. The sheet names seven, so one child, who is not identified here, apparently died before 1900.

The 1880 census is our best snapshot of the full family. Living in Cheraw, Chesterfield County, were:

• Eli, 39, and Mary, 36

• Catherine, 14

• Mary (Hattie), 11

• Emma, 9

• Daniel, 7

• Lucy, 5

• Sarah, 3

That is six children in the house, ranging from a teenager to a toddler. John Calvin, the baby of the family, would arrive in September 1882.

Historical context: the missing 1890 census Researchers studying this period quickly run into a gap. Most of the 1890 U.S. census was destroyed in a fire in Washington, D.C., in 1921. That is why the Brock family appears in 1880 and then not again until 1900, and why the 1890s are quieter in the records, including the years when several of Eli’s daughters married.

 

Eli in His Later Years

The 1900 census finds Eli, 64, and Mary Jane, 56, still in Cheraw, with two grown children at home: Emma, 22 by the census, and John C., 16. By then most of their children had married and started families of their own, some close by and one as far away as Arkansas.

Eli died in February 1905, in Chesterfield County. He was laid to rest in Old Brock’s Mill Baptist Church Cemetery, also recorded as Brock Cemetery, near Brocks Mill. His tombstone, as copied in the 1995 Chesterfield County Cemetery Survey by James C. Pigg, reads simply “Eli Brock, 1832–1905.”

Eli died intestate, meaning without a will. That is why the next chapter exists.

Settling Eli’s Estate: The 1907 Agreement

On 21 January 1907, nearly two years after Eli’s death, his widow and all seven children signed a family agreement to divide his land and estate without a lawsuit. The document names every heir, which makes it a wonderful family record: Mary Jane Brock (wife), Katie McLaurin, Emma Brock, Hattie Bivens, Sarah Ann Brock, J. C. Brock, D. F. Brock, and Lucy Rivers, all described as of age.

Here is how they split things up:

• The “house place” (about 80 acres) went to Sarah Ann, J. C., and Lucy, to be divided among the three as they saw fit.

• All other lands, known as “the James P. Brock land” plus “a small tract gotten by said Eli Brock from his father,” went to Katie, Emma, Hattie, and D. F., to divide among themselves.

• Mary Jane’s share: in return for her signing the deeds, each child gave up any claim to Eli’s personal property in her favor, and each agreed to pay her $10 a year for the rest of her life, due every 1 October. The payments were secured by a lien on the land each child received.

Emma signed with her mark, the “x” that people used when they could not write, and the witnesses were J. A. Brock and L. J. Rivers. The agreement was not formally sworn and recorded until 17 December 1914, in Miscellaneous Book 4, pages 9–11, with J. A. Brock swearing before the Deputy Clerk of Court that he saw the parties sign.

One more detail: the “small tract” Eli received from his father is the only direct mention we have of land passing from Samuel W. Brock to Eli.

Mary Jane After Eli

Mary Jane was about 61 when she became a widow. In the 1910 census she was living in Cheraw in the household of her son Calvin, with her daughter Emma also at home. The census lists her as 66, widowed, and the mother of eight children with seven living.

Mary Jane died on 19 March 1917, about 73 years old, and was buried in the same Brock cemetery as Eli. No death certificate has been found for her, so her dates come from her tombstone, which reads “Mary J. Brock, Feb. 8, 1844, Mar 19, 1917.”

Eli and Mary Jane’s Children

Child	Born	Died	Spouse(s)
Massey Catherine “Katie”	Oct 1866, Chesterfield Co., SC	Not recorded	(1) Daniel Franklin McLaurin, 1889; (2) John Samuel Gulledge, 1908
Mary Hattie	abt 1869 or 7 Aug 1873, Chesterfield Co., SC	29 Nov 1949, El Dorado, Union Co., AR	(1) Egbert Jesse Bivens, abt 1892; (2) Henry McCann
Emma	Nov 1871, Chesterfield Co., SC	Not recorded	No marriage recorded
Daniel Franklin	1 Nov 1874, Chesterfield Co., SC	11 Apr 1931 (see note)	(1) Emma Ernestine White, abt 1895; (2) Marie B. Edwards, abt 1924–1927
Lucy Ellen	27 Aug 1876, Chesterfield Co., SC	26 Oct 1936, Chesterfield Co., SC	Emerson Coyt Rivers, abt 1899
Sarah Ann	10 Oct 1880, Chesterfield Co., SC	12 Sep 1946, Chesterfield Co., SC	(1) William Washington Brock, 1900; (2) Earl Eugene Teal, 30 Jan 1915
John Calvin	12 Sep 1882, Chesterfield Co., SC	12 Jan 1938, Cheraw, Chesterfield Co., SC	No marriage recorded

 

Massey Catherine “Katie” Brock (b. Oct 1866)

Katie was the firstborn we can document, born in October 1866 in Chesterfield County, and she was 14 and still at home in 1880. In 1889 she married Daniel Franklin McLaurin (1851–1909) in Chesterfield County, and she appears as “Katie McLaurin” in the 1907 estate agreement. The sheet also lists a second marriage, to John Samuel Gulledge (b. 1883), in 1908. That date falls a year before McLaurin’s listed death in 1909, so one of those dates needs another look. She turns up again in the 1930 census, and her Find a Grave memorial is #189271108, but her death and burial are not recorded on this sheet.

Mary Hattie Brock (b. abt 1869 or 1873)

Hattie’s birth is recorded two ways: about 1869 (from her age of 11 in the 1880 census) and 7 August 1873 (from Find a Grave). She married Egbert Jesse Bivens (1850–1922) about 1892 in Chesterfield County, and the couple moved to Union County, Arkansas. They show up in Jackson, Union County, in 1900, with two living children, Lola and Marie, and in El Dorado, Arkansas, in 1910, with five of six children living: Gladys, Joe, Ruby, and Barney, and one more not listed at home. Arkansas was a common destination for families leaving the older Southeastern states in the decades after the Civil War.

Egbert Bivens died in 1922. Hattie’s later married name was McCann: the sheet lists a marriage to Henry McCann (1874–1942) but gives no date for it. She died on 29 November 1949 in El Dorado at about age 75 (the Arkansas death index records 30 November), and an obituary titled “Mrs. Hattie McCann Dies Suddenly” is noted on the sheet. Find a Grave places her burial in Woodlawn Cemetery in El Dorado. She is called “Hattie Bivens” in her father’s 1907 estate agreement.

Emma Brock (b. Nov 1871)

Emma was born in November 1871 in Chesterfield County. She stayed home with her parents well into adulthood, appearing in the 1880 and 1900 censuses with Eli and Mary Jane. After her father’s death, she lived with her brother John Calvin and her mother in 1910. In the 1907 agreement she signed with her mark. No marriage, death, or burial is recorded for Emma on this sheet.

Daniel Franklin Brock (1874–1931)

Daniel was born 1 November 1874 in Chesterfield County and was the first son in the family. He married Emma Ernestine White (1879–1923) about 1895, and the couple settled near the Chesterfield Court House community. Their census households show a growing family: by 1920, the children in the house were Alfred C., Lillie, Connie, Blanche, Howard F., Alma J., Edith, and baby Daniel E.

Emma died in 1923, and between 1924 and 1927 Daniel married Marie B. Edwards (1909–1992). The 1930 census shows them together with several children at home. Daniel died on 11 April 1931 and was buried on 13 April in Brocks Mill Baptist Church Cemetery. The sheet lists his death place as Chesterfield County, but his South Carolina death certificate says Richland County, and it gives his age as 55.

Lucy Ellen Brock Rivers (1876–1936)

Lucy was born 27 August 1876 in Chesterfield County. About 1899 she married Emerson Coyt Rivers (1878–1924), and the 1900 census shows them with a baby son, Bryan, born that May. Later census years show a lively household with children including George, Sallie V., Vera, Emerson, Bessie M., and Lila.

Emerson died in 1924, and in the 1930 census Lucy was head of her household in Cole Hill, living with her teenage son Emerson. She died on 26 October 1936 and was buried the next day in the Brock cemetery. She signed her father’s estate agreement as “Lucy Rivers.”

Sarah Ann Brock Teal (1880–1946)

Sarah Ann was the daughter whose memorial is linked on both of her parents’ Find a Grave pages. In 1900 she married William Washington Brock (Jan 1879 – 27 Dec 1910), a son of Samuel Washington Brock and Sarah Jane Lee, per Find a Grave. They had at least four children by 1910: Eva, Pearly, Beatrice, and Clarence. William died in 1910, leaving Sarah Ann a widow with young children.

On 30 January 1915 she married Earl Eugene Teal (1878–1937), and the 1920 and 1930 censuses show a blended household of Brock and Teal children, including Andy, Wade, and Ruth M. Teal, and stepsons Clarence O. and Willie M. Brock. In 1940 Sarah Ann, 60, was living in Cheraw with her son Milton Brock, his wife Nellie, and her Teal sons Andy and Wade. She died on 12 September 1946 and was buried the next day in the Brock cemetery.

John Calvin Brock (1882–1938)

John Calvin, the youngest, was born 12 September 1882 in Chesterfield County. He was still at home at 16 in 1900, and he registered for the World War I draft in 1917–1918. The 1910 census lists him as head of the household, with his widowed mother and his sister Emma living with him. He died on 12 January 1938 in Cheraw and was buried that month in the Brock cemetery. His tombstone reads “J. Calvin Brock, Sep. 12, 1882 – Jan 12, 1938.” No marriage is recorded for him on this sheet.

Research Notes: Where the Records Disagree

Family group sheets bring together records that do not always match. The Civil War, Courthouse fires in both Anson County, NC and almost total destruction during the Civil War in Chesterfield, SC  have destroyed many of the needed documents, Here are the main conflicts on this one, noted so future researchers know where to dig. Comments (highlighted) are the comments of the owner of this blog.

• Eli’s birth year: 1832 (tombstone) versus February 1836 (1900 census), with other census and military ages falling in between.  Eli and Mary Jane have matching period tombstone. Eli’s tombstone read 1832-1905; Mary Jane’s tombstone reads (8 Feb  1844- 19 Mar 1917).

• Mary Jane’s birth: the tombstone says 8 February 1844, while the 1900 census says April 1844. Eli and Mary Jane have matching period tombstone. Eli’s tombstone read 1832-1905; Mary Jane’s tombstone reads (8 Feb  1844- 19 Mar 1917).

• Hattie’s birth: about 1869 (1880 census) versus 7 August 1873 (Find a Grave).

• Emma’s birth: November 1871 on the sheet, but the 1900 census says November 1877 (age 22). Nov 1877 was used throughout most documents referring to Emma Brock.

• Lucy’s birth: 27 August 1876 on the sheet and her death certificate, 1877 in the 1900 census, and 1878 on Find a Grave. SC Death Certificate#17131 for Lucy Ellen Brock Rivers shows she died 26 October 1936, age 60 y 1 m 29 d which calculates to a 27 August 1876 birth date. 

• Sarah Ann’s birth: 10 October 1880 on the sheet, yet the 1880 census lists her as age 3, and the 1900 census says October 1879. Since Sarah was definitely enumerated in the 11880 Census its obvious all the 1880 plus dates are erroneous and she was either born in 1877 or October 1879.

• John Calvin’s birth: 12 September 1882 (tombstone), 8 September 1882 (WWI draft card), and August 1883 (1900 census). John Calvin has so many dates I think its best to say he was born abt September 1882. 

• Daniel’s death: 11 April 1931 (death certificate, Richland County) versus 16 April 1930 (Find a Grave). FindAGrave and Tombstone is wrong. He died 11 April 1931, SC Death Crertificate#006755, Volume 12. 

• Katie’s marriages: her second marriage (Gulledge, 1908) is dated before her first husband’s listed death (McLaurin, 1909). The  1910 Census show that Katie & John Samuel Gulledge hab been married 2 years (1908). Her 1st Husband Daniel McLaurin did not passed away until 18 April 1909. Were they divorced? If you have an answer contact me.

• Earl Teal’s death: 1937 on the sheet and 1938 on Find a Grave. Earl Eugene Teal died 9 Dec 1937, SC Death Certificate#18576.

 

Eli W.  Brock is my 1st Cousin 4X Removed.

Sources

• Tombstones of Eli Brock (1832–1905), Mary J. Brock (1844–1917), Daniel Franklin Brock, and J. Calvin Brock, Old Brock’s Mill Baptist Church Cemetery, in James C. Pigg, Chesterfield County Cemetery Survey (Chesterfield County Genealogical Services, 1995), pp. 148–149.

• U.S. Census, Chesterfield County, SC: 1850 and 1860 (household of Samuel Brock); 1880, 1900, and 1910 (Cheraw, households of Eli and Calvin Brock); and related census households for the children.

• Civil War service records for Eli Brock, Co. D, 6th SC Cavalry, and Co. I, 1st SC Artillery (Fold3 and the National Park Service Civil War Soldiers database via Ancestry).

• Pike County, Mississippi, Deed Book A, p. 175, James Brock & Wife to Eli W. Brock (9 Dec 1882, recorded 12 Dec 1883), via FamilySearch.

• Chesterfield County, SC, Miscellaneous Book 4, pp. 9–11: Eli W. Brock estate agreement (21 Jan 1907, recorded 17 Dec 1914).

• South Carolina probate records, Chesterfield County, FamilySearch; South Carolina death records, 1821–1955; Arkansas Death Index, 1914–1950.

• Find a Grave memorials for Eli Brock (#32255936), Mary Jane White Brock (#32256045), and the children.

• Family Group Sheet for Eli W. Brock-7790, dated 24 October 2026.

Prepared by

Charles Purvis

714 W. Holly Hill Rd.

Thomasville, NC 27360

CPurvis1@gmail.com

Draft prepared 24 October 2026 from a family group sheet of the same date.