John Thomas Flournoy

Male

January 3, 1775

July 24, 1857

Prince Edward County, VA

Augusta, GA
Georgetown, KY

Catherine Augusta Howell Flournoy (October 7, 1834)
Sophia Davies Flournoy (1801)

Thomas Flournoy's family moved from Virginia to Kentucky when he was a child. He attended the Litchfield Law School from 1797-1798. He married Sophia Davies and bought a large plantation in GA. Flournoy practiced law in Augusta, GA. In 1807, he advertised in the Augusta Chronicle that he had taken James St. John into partnership and opened an office at the corner of Ellis and Center streets. He went on to say they would be at the office "except when absent on the circuit." Flournoy served in state and city government and was appointed a commissioner to establish a boundary with North Carolina.

Flournoy fought and killed John Carter Walton in a duel over a court case in which Walton's uncle had presided.

With the outbreak of the War of 1812, Flournoy was appointed Brigadier ...General and was engaged with troops fighting against Native American tribes in FL and GA. He was then appointed commander of Military District Number 7, which included Louisiana, Tennessee, and Mississippi. He succeeded General Wilkinson and planned the defense of New Orleans, LA. Until October of 1813, Flournoy practiced defense rather than undertake offensive maneuvers. At that time, he reversed course and ordered General Claiborne to attack the Native Americans who were fighting with the British. Flournoy resigned in 1814 when he was replaced by General Andrew Jackson.

In 1817, Flournoy entered a year-long law partnership with Jonathan Montgomery, and the two advertised that they would accept students. The partnership was dissolved in January of 1818. In 1820, he announced that he had taken his nephew, Thomas Flournoy Wells, into partnership.

Flournoy was appointed a Commissioner to treat with the Creek Indians. He came into conflict with commissioners from the state of Georgia and requested Secretary of War John C. Calhoun remind them that the power to negotiate treaties resides with the Federal Government. Instead, Calhoun told him to work with the Georgia commissioners, and Flournoy resigned. He returned to the practice of law in Georgia, from which he retired approximately twenty years prior to his death. Flournoy and his wife Sophia had eleven children. Following Sophia's death in 1829, Flournoy married Catherine Howell of Philadelphia. They had no children.

Flournoy was an enslaver. In January 1823 letter to Bolling Hall of Alabama, he asked Hall to assist him in finding a buyer in Alabama for 20-30 enslaved people.
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"Lawyers, doctors, & merchants should have nothing to do with plantations & negroes--Overseers are proverbially unfaithful and require as much looking after as the slaves they oversee. I have not time for this--Besides, I dislike the slave driving trade, and would most willingly own none, no not one of them." Thomas Flournoy to Bolling Hall, January 3, 1823

"We learn that Thomas Flournoy, Esq. of this state has been appointed Brigadier General in the Army of the United States in the place of General Polk, who declines."
Georgia express. (Athens, Ga.) 1811-1813, July 10, 1812

"Gen. Thomas Flournoy, we are informed, having resigned his commission in the army, returned home last evening." Augusta herald. (Augusta [Ga.]) 1799-1822, September 15, 1814.

“Sheriff’s ...Sale. On the first Tuesday in March next, at the Market House in the City of Augusta, between the usual hours. WILL BE SOLD, THE following Negroes towit, a woman named Rose, a girl named Rosetta, a boy named Branchty, and a boy named Randal, levied on as the property of Lewis M’Coy, to satisfy an Execution in favor of Thomas Flournoy, against said M’Coy, on the foreclosure of a mortgage. Dec. 30. tds. P. Donaldson, Sh’ff.” Augusta chronicle. (Augusta, Ga.) 1806-1817, January 13, 1815

“THE SUBSCRIBER, tenders his Professional Services to the Public, particularly to the inhabitants of Jackson, Wilkes, Hancock, Columbia, Richmond and Burke Counties; the Superior Courts of which, he will attend regularly—and upon special application, at other Courts, not interfering with these.
Every part of the Profession, except the collecting branch, will be attended to.
When not absent on the Circuit, he may be found, and consulted, at his Plantation, five miles above Augusta. Thos. Flournoy. August 24.”
Augusta herald. (Augusta [Ga.]) 1799-1822, August 24, 1815

“25 Dollars Reward. MY indentured Servant, calling himself JAMES CAMPBELL, absconded from my service on Sunday last, having with him a certified copy of the deed of his emancipation, dated in Charleston.
CAMPBELL is a Mulatto, stout and well made, a full and rather comely countenance, high forehead, some of his side teeth missing. He is artful, insinuating, and very polite—by trade a carpenter. The above reward will be paid for his apprehension, and delivery to the Jailor, Augusta, if taken within sixty miles of this place, if above that distance, on securing him in any county jail, and notifying me thereof. Thomas Flournoy. July 28.”
Augusta chronicle. (Augusta, Ga.) 1806-1817, July 05, 1816

“NOTICE—About the first of this instant, the Indians brought a negro man to this place, who says he belongs to Capt. Flournoy of Montgomery county. The negro has the appearance of a very active fellow, is nearly 6 feet high, says he is 31 or 32 years old, and that his name is Jamaica, though he is commonly called Jim. The owner is requested to pay charges and take him away. Jos Wood Hartford, October 10"
The Georgia journal. (Milledgeville, Ga.) 1809-1847, October 16, 1816

“The subscribers Having entered into a Copartnership in the Practice of the Law, will attend to any professional business which may be entrusted to them in the counties of Hancock, Wilkes, Columbia, Warren, Jefferson, Burke, Scriven, Washington and Richmond, and also in the Federal Court. Their office will be kept next door above Mrs. Montgomery’s, where one of the subscribers will attend at all times, when not on the circuit. A few students will be taken. Thomas Flournoy, Jno. H. Montgomery. January 1st, 1817.”
Augusta chronicle. (Augusta, Ga.) 1806-1817

“LAW. The public are informed that I have taken my nephew, Thomas Flournoy Wells, Esq. into partnership in the practice of Law. We shall be able to do business in the counties of Hancock, Warren, Lincoln, Burke, Seriven, Richmond, and the Mayor’s Court. When not absent at the Courts, the business will be attended in all its branches at their office on Centre Street, South of the market. Thomas Flournoy. March 28”
Augusta chronicle, and Georgia gazette. (Augusta, Ga.) 1817-1820, April 11, 1820
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1797-1798

Lawyer; Military; Political Office; Agriculture

Commissioner

State Representative (Midgeville, GA) 1804-1806
Commissioner (Midgeville, GA) 1806

Intendant (Augusta, GA) 1806

"Moothall Society Record Books." Litchfield Law School Collection, Series 1, Subseries 3, Litchfield Historical Society.

Hannings, Bud The War of 1812: A Complete Chronology with Biographies of 63 General Officers McFarland, Incorporated, Publishers, p. 322

Heidler, David Stephen and Jeanne T. HeidlerEncyclopedia of the War Of 1812, Naval Institute Press, 2004 pages 189-190.

Columbus Tri-Weekly Enquirer, July 30, 1857; Volume: III; Issue: 106; Page: [2]; Columbus, Georgia.

Find a Grave https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/19549946/thomas-flournoy accessed 2023-05-30

Rivers, Flournoy, "The Flournoy Family" The Virginia Magazine of History and Biography Vol. 2, No. 2 (Oct.,1894), pp. 190-213: Virginia Historical Society
Accessed at https://www.jstor.org/stable/4241809 ...May 30, 2023

SNAC Cooperative http://n2t.net/ark:/99166/w6g16m5g Thomas Flournoy, 1775-1857
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