Pack Genealogy - North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee

Marty and Karla Grant

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Welcome to my Pack genealogy pages. I am interested in the Pack surname in North Carolina, South Carolina and Tennessee.

Pack is not a common surname in the United States. It didn’t rank in the top 1000 in either 2000 or 2010.

My most recent Pack ancestor is my 4 times Great Grandmother, Jane Pack, born ca 1803/04 in Rutherford Co., NC. She, some siblings and probably her parents, moved west to Sumner Co., TN where she married James Henderson in 1818. He was also from Rutherford Co., NC, so they may have known each other prior to the move. The frontier must not have suited them, for they, and her relatives went east again right after that, into what is now McMinn Co., TN where they were through ca 1835. Then they moved to Union Co., GA where he died in the 1840s. Jane died there in the 1860s. Her parents are not proven yet, but I have some theories.

My primary suspect is John Pack Sr, born 1760/70. He was living in Lincoln Co., NC in 1790 and in Rutherford by 1800, along with a Benjamin Pack (1765/84) a likely sibling of his. Benjamin moved to Wayne Co., KY after 1800, so probably isn’t Jane’s father. John Pack and his first wife (name unknown) had a very large family. He married 2^nd, in 1810, to Sarah Ellison, daughter of John Ellison. He had more children with her who would be half siblings to my Jane, if she is in fact John Pack’s daughter.

Using circumstantial evidence, I believe the following are Jane Pack Henderson’s siblings. They all fit very well to be children of John Pack Sr.

1. Elias Pack (1780/90-aft 1840) was from Rutherford and John is the only likely suspect to be his father.

2. Samuel Pack (c1790-aft 1870) was bondsman for Jane’s marriage in 1818, and also returned east, dying in Polk Co., NC. He also married one of John Ellison’s daughters (Judah Ellison).

3. Jeremiah Pack (c1796-aft 1870) was near the other Packs and Hendersons in Sumner Co, TN and McMinn Co., TN and near Thomas Pack in 1850 Cherokee Co., NC.

4. Thomas Pack (c1805-aft 1870) was near the other Packs and Hendersons in 1830 McMinn Co., TN, was next to James Henderson and Jane Pack’s daughter in 1840 Union Co., GA, then was in Cherokee Co., NC as was Jeremiah Pack in 1850.

5. Unidentified male Pack who married James Henderson’s sister, Rebecca Henderson. I haven’t yet identified who this Mr. Pack was, but he is obviously part of the same family. I found two widow Rebecca Packs on the 1840 census, one in Sumner Co., TN (where Jane married 22 years earlier) and one in Greene Co., TN where Elias was then living. I don’t know which of these, if either, is Rebecca Henderson Pack.

6. William Pack (c1810/20), if John Pack’s son, was from his 2^nd marriage. He was also in McMinn Co., TN (in 1840).

As noted, the above are all linked to my Jane Pack Henderson by circumstantial evidence, except Samuel Pack who was bondsman for her marriage. That proves some connection with him at least.

I’ve found an online tree that lists several of these same Packs, including my Jane, as children of James Pack instead. The tree is undocumented of course. James Pack (c1774/80-aft 1840) was from South Carolina, and I suspect he was a son of Simeon Pack, though I don’t know that for certain. James was in Spartanburg SC in 1800, not found in 1810, in Pendleton SC in 1820, then moved to Buncombe Co., NC by 1829 where he was on the 1830 census. By 1840 he was in Macon Co., NC. No record of him after that. Due to the dates and locations, I don’t see him as a father of my Jane Pack nor most of the others mentioned above as her likely siblings. He does seem to be the father of a John Pack (1790/1800) and an Elias Pack (c1802), names used in John Pack Sr’s family, so there may be a connection.

My Pack family lived in the part of Rutherford Co., NC that became Polk Co., NC (in 1855), and they were very close to the Spartanburg Co., SC line, where Packs also lived, presumably part of the same extended family.

More research is needed to properly sort out the Pack family.

Revised: March 4, 2023

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