c 1749 - He married Patience Raiford and lived in Calhoun Co., west of the Congaree River, then known as the Camden Dist. Calhoun County was not formed until 1908 from Richland County.
[ A History of Richland Co., Edwin L. Green, vol 1, 1732-1805, Regional Pub. Co. 1974 Baltimore]

Patience R. seems correct , this marrriage was the first marriage with the notorious Moses Kirkland. Second wife married in Jamaica, was Catherine Bruce. (re LDS records, Martha Raiford m. Kirkland abt 1779 (b. 1756)[KSBR v2 p356,-8]

c1750 - Moses Kirkland Jr., his first son is born.

1765 Act. This Act established a ferry from New Windsor to Augusta.
"By The same Act a ferry was established from the ferry of Moses Kirkland to the opposite shore on Saludy River, so spelled in the olf printed Act. The same Moses Kirkland became somewhat celebrated in after years as Agent of the Brintish and Tories, acting in concert with John Stuart in rousing the Cherokees to attack their boders settlements at the same time the attack on Fort Moultrie was made." [Chapman. p. 16]

30 Nov 1764- Leah Townsend, Patience Kirkland, Martha Goodwin, John Pearson, Isaac Raiford & William Tucker are listed among early members of Congaree Church. Note that the list does not include Moses Kirkland but rather his wife as a member of the congregation. Isaac Raiford is another relative of the Kirkland family.
[South Carolina Baptist 1670-1805, p. 143]

Moses Kirkland was the most notorious of the brothers. Moses was "naturally acquisitive and hardriving, Kirkland was not above selling rum to the Indians and dealing in fraudulent land warrants, he soon accumulated numerous tracts of land in the interior, built a sawmill, ran a ferry on the lower Saluda until he had accumulated the labor of enough slaves to develop a large tract on the tributary of Stevens Creek, a branch of the Savannah." He eventually becomes a Colonel in the Loyalist Army.
[Lambert p.4]

It may be unfair to consider Moses as a Loyalist, my own assessment is that he was more interested in his own welfare than any particular cause. He and his family had been important settlers of the South Carolina backcounty on the fringe border of Cherokee indian territory. One of the Kirkland family is said to have even married and Indian woman. He had been very active as an organizer of Regulators around the 1760's. Many of the people who associated with the Regulators were given a pardon for their activities about 1769. The list included William Kirkland, Francis Kirkland, John Kirkland, and John Roden but no Moses Kirkland.

"We did by our Proclamation under the Great Seal of our said province bearing date the sixth day of August 1768, promise our most Gracious Pardon for the said Outrages & Acts of Violence, committed by any person or persons on or before the said sixth Day of August 1768, to all such Persons as should thenceforth peaceably demean themselves & should keep our peace & duly observe the laws of our said province enacted for the preservation of the same. And Whereas very many of the said people who called themselves Regulators did thereupon desist from the illegal practices aforesaid & peace & tranquility hath in a manner been restored to the inhabitants in the back settlements of our said province."

Moses Kirkland sided with the group know as the Nonassociators. The Nonassociators, also known as the Counter-Association, had believed that King George "had not acted inconsistent with subversive of the principles of the Constitution of the British Empire," and that they saw no reason to "take up arms against him" or to renounce allegiance to him. [McMaster 36] This Provincial Congress's Association was lead by William Henry Drayton and Reverend William Tennet of Charlestown. The back country folks were very suspicious of the Charlestown folks who made the rounds of the various German, Scot, and Irish Quaker settlements and "harangued" them for several days to no avail. Drayton and Tennent's sermons and sales pitch was shortly followed by Robert and Patrick Cunningham and Moses Kirkland who gave their side of the Provincial Congress proposal. When persuasion was not seen to work by Drayton he treatened force and sent small groups out to seize the key leaders of the king's supporters. Moses Kirkland undertook the mission of aquiring ammunition and support of Governor Campbell but Drayton had set guards to intercept anyone coming from the backcountry. Moses slips into Charleston with his twelve year old son. The Governor was so impressed that he sent the two of them north on the sloop-of-war Tamar to convince General Gage in Boston of the need for military support for the back country. His ship was captured by a privateer under Capt. Manley, the rebel schooner, the Lee, and he was taken under guard to Gen. George Washington's headquarters at Cambridge, to 1 Jan 1776. Then he was taken to Philadelphia and imprisoned. The documents that he was carrying were sent back to Charlestown where they were published marking him as a traitor to the American independence cause. When Drayton and the Council of Safety proved by a ruse that Governor Campbell was also against the call for independence he fled to the Tamar to avoid arrest. Due to Drayton's increasingly aggressive tactics Robert Cunningham was able to raise an army of 1200 men for the support of the Nonassociators. [McMaster 40 -41] Moses escapes from prison 1 June 1776 and travels in disguise to the Jerseys and Md., later sailed to Virginia and to British West Florida and finally removes to Jamaica where he remarries and has another son. (more details in documents below) After the Revolution he and his wife are hard pressed to reclaim his property and has to go through the newly elected government to get compensation. The document below was filed by his widow.

Colonel Moses Kirkland is a member of the king's army and directs one of six battalions from South Carolina. He is a loyal Tory distributing propaganda and fighting the colonialist. He just missed the colonialist slaughter of the king's army at King's Mountain, South Carolina.
[King's Mountain and it's heros, History of King's Mtn, Oct. 7, 1780, Lyman C. Dragar. LLD. reprinted Genealogical Pub. Co. Inc. Baltimore, 1974]

"Moses Kirkland had come from the north to seattle on Wateree Creek in 1752. He kept a small store and tavern and was accused of selling liquor to Catawaba Indians. He later settled in the Fork of the Broad and Saluda Rivers where he set up an important mill. During the Regulator movement, Kirkland was a leading figure among the Regulators. He wrote a violent attack upon Joseph Curry as one who tried to protect himself from Backcountry anger by a pretended conversion to Regulator principles. During the American Rev. Kirkland he became an influential Backcountry Loyalist."
[ Council Journal, July 29, 1768, South Caro. Gazette. Apr. 18, 1768]

[Hooker, Richard J. ed. The Carolina Backcountry on the Eve of the RevolutionThe Journal of Charles Woodmen, Anglican Itenerant, Univ. of N. Caro. Press, Chapel Hill, 1953]

1782, Mar 16-20 - Royal Gazette
Moses Kirkland's estate confiscated by an act of the Rebel Assembly at Jacksonburgh. (His was class V, meaning those who had borne commissions, civil or military, under the British Government, since the conquest of Province.) [KSB. vol 1, p. 46]

1783- Sept. 13 - Moses starts the proceeding to regain his property in South Carolina and does a good deal of the paperwork for it. It does not get finalized until after his death by his widow.

Kirkland, Moses, Savannah, GA, and Ninety Six, SC Dec 1774, while inhabitant of Ninety Six, (dist) elected to Provincial Congress of S. C.; Jan. 1775, summoned to attend House of Assembly in Charlestown, but in protest against rebel proceedings, returned to house in the country. After refusing command of Co. of rebel hourse, determined to join Army at Boston; travelled in disguise with only son, then aged 12, through the woods to Beverley Harbor and from there under guard to Gen. Washinton's headquarters at Cambridey, where he was confined until 1 Jan 1776, escaped and travelled in disguise to the Jerseys and Md; sailed to Va., joined Dunmore's Fleet, and performed many services during war [detailed account] From there he went to Staten Island and was employed carrying despateches. Oct. 1779, was captured with 100 men at Savannah, taken to enemy camp and confined in irons with son, then put aboard a galley and sent to Charlestown. While in Tybee Harbor, galley was captured by H. M. S. Comet and claimant rejoined Army in Savannah. Bought lands at Ebenezer but the place was given up soon after Fort Augusta capitulated. In 1782, sailed from Tybee for Jamaica with many other loyalists and is now (1783) settled there with remains of his fortune. Memorials 13 Sept, 1783 and Dec. 1783 Kingston, Jamaica. Claim: 950 acres on branch of Stephen's Creek called Turtle Creek in Ninety Six Dist.; 150 acres in Berkely Co. on Ryerbush Creek, Saluda River; 150 acres on Turkey Creek; 100 acres in Saxe Gotha twp. on Congaree River; 113 acres on north side of Broad River in Craven Co.; 50 acres between Broad and Saluda Rivers called Crim's Creek; 800 acres on Turkey Creek and another 300 acres there in Grenville Co.; 500 acres on Enoria and Tiger River, Craven Co.; 50 acres above Saxe Gotha Twp.; 500 acres on brach of Edisto River called Rocky Creek; 500 acres in Craven Co. on Saluda and Little Rivers; 50 acres on branch of Nobles's creek, River Savannah; 350 acres on Cloud's creek, Saluda River; 100 acres on Rocky Creek; 100 acres in Grenville Co. on Spring branch of Charious Creek; 250 acres between Gilder's and King's Creek, Santee River; 802 acres on Rocky Creek; 250 acres near Turkey Creek, Savannah River; 100 acres in Craven Co. on Anderson's Creek; 50 acres on Shaw's Creek, Edisto; 200 acres on Barnet's Creek, Tiger; 100 acres at fork of Wagon Road near the Ridge; 300 acres on Rocky Creek Edisto River; 300 acres between Savannah and Saluda River; 100 acres on ridge of Colleton Co. at head of Cloud's Creek, Little Saluda River; 198 acres on Turkey Creek in Grenville Co.; 147 acres on fork between Broad and Saluda Rivers; 50 acres and house in Ebenezer; 400 acres in Six Mile branch, five miles from Pensacola, W. Fla.; cattle; negroes; debts owed, etc.
Evidences:
Deposition 13 Sept. 1783 Jamaica by Thomas Edgehill and Henry Rugeley, late of S. C. and Late Cols of Militia, that claim for estate in S. C. is just.
Letter 22 May 1777 Pensacola appointing claimant Deputy to Supt. of Indian Affairs to Indians of Seminole Creek. Note that Claimant by his will dated 8 Nov. 1786 devised estate to wife Catherine and son Richard Bruce Kirkland.

Issac Kirkland says he served as Private in the Militia before & after the reduction of Charles Town. He also provided provisions for Militia use in oct. 1779. Col. Anderson. He asked for his indents to be paid to JOHN OWEN - 22 June 1784. On 28 Dec. 1782, Ninety Six Dist., concerning MOSES KIRKLAND, SR., ISAAC KIRKLAND swore before AQUILLA MILES, JP that Moses had took & carried off a Negro fellow slave to the value of 700 pounds. Isaac then made a petition to the General Assembly stating, "there is two Negro boys of the property of MOSES KIRKLAND left in sd. state plundered & concealed by force for the use of R. KIRKLAND- and as am both heir & looser I hope your Honors will make me a lawful rite to sd. Negroes which would be a discharge for the above account - (with authority to make them also) So no more but desiring an answer if you please from an unworthy friend." Signed - ISAAC KIRKLAND [KSBR v.1 p. 67] Isaac Kirkland in this record is possibly the son of Richard Kirkland Sr. , cousin of Moses Kirkland Jr. [Wilma Kirkland letter 8 Aug 00]

Deposition 8 Oct. 1788 Jamaica by William Waters, late of S. C. and W. Fla. and now of Port Royal, that property claimed for belonged to deceased claiment.
Letter to Commissioners from Lewis Wolfe 22 June 1789 London saying that claimant's widow asks for return of papers and will of her late husband (A013/36/259-305)
[Coldham, Peter Wilson , American Loyalist Claims, NationalGenealogical Society, Wash. DC 1980]

Source:

Chapman, John A. History of Edgefield from the Earlist Settlements to 1897, Elbert H. Hull, Pub. and Printers, Newberry, S. C., 1897
Lambert, Robert Stairsbury. South Carolina Loyalists in the American Revolution. Univ. of S. Carolina. 1987
Lyman C. Dragar. LLD. King's Mountain and it's heros, History of King's Mtn, Oct. 7, 1780, reprinted Genealogical Pub. Co. Inc. Baltimore, 1974
McMaster, Fritz H. History of Fairfield Co., S. C. 1946, State Commercial Printing Co., Columbia, S. C. Green/Kirkland/Leonard/Schelandensky,ed., Kirkland Source Book of Records (KSB), two volumes, 1977 & 78, a collection of records about Kirkland heirs from mostly southern states. Mrs. John H. Kirkland Jr., Greenwood, S. C. out of print

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