William Philbeck

Family/Spouse: Caroline. Caroline and died. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

1. John Philbeck was born in 1797 in Union County, South Carolina; died in 1868 in Cleveland County, North Carolina.

Notes:

Wilhelm Ernst was from Felback, Germany. He left there and went to Scotland where he married and had 5 sons (Johan, George, Peter, William, Phillip). Johan (John) left Scotland with the Goss family (cobblers by trade)on the British ship "Good Intent", arrived in America October 23, 1754. John went to the colony of South Carolina. Wilhelm and Maria and 4 remaining sons followed him in October 1771 on the brigantine, "Recovery". They declared their qualification oath in Philadelphia on Oct. 31,1771. Then they followed John. According to E. Hobart Peters (Head of Research, Raleigh, NC, 1965), much of the early tendency to vary the name came from "carelessness on the part of the clerks, poor hearing, etc." From this sprang a variety of misspellings probably unmatched with any other name. In 1797 we find the name spelled "Filpeck" and "Philpeck." Wilhelm Ernst, in bowing to English phonetic pronunciations, not only changed his given names to William and Ernest, but changed his surname to "Felback," which the closest the American tongue could come to the true pronunciation. We also find that his son, William, Jr., was commonly known as William Felpick. As late as 1850, both William and George had settled on the form "Philpeck," which was the commonly used form in the Piedmont region of NC. John, son of William, used "Philbeck" around 1825 and is still used today in that region.

Wilhelm married Maria Elizabeth Hofmann. Maria was born about 1745 in Scottland; died in 1805 in Union County, South Carolina. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]