The Barnwell Tabby: Reconstructing the Title History of Cotton Hope

This article reconstructs the title history of Cotton Hope Plantation on Hilton Head Island through deeds, memorials, wills, plats, and estate records. It traces the land from Bayley and Trench through Dawson and Blakeway to Philip Martinangele, John and Mary Bull, the Barksdale family, and William Pope, identifying the transfers that remain unresolved. It also examines how Bull’s 990-acre holding became the 600-acre Cotton Hope plantation and the adjoining Fairlawn, later Fairfield, property toward Crooked Creek, later Jarvis Creek. The records place Henry Ladson’s holdings elsewhere along Scull Creek, later Skull Creek, among parcels later associated with John Leacraft and the Talbird family. Comparisons of the Bull and Currell surveys with the modern landscape place the Barnwell tabby within the Cotton Hope tract. The reconstructed title history contradicts public accounts identifying the site as Henry Ladson’s Mahrabuoy property.