1767 Robert Lebby, the second son of Nathaniel Lebby (1740-1802) and Elizabeth Howard Lebby ( -1801), was born in Charleston (or possibly Beaufort), South Carolina.
1776-1781 The American Revolution against Great Britain took place. Robert Lebby was only nine years old when the American Revolution started. Charleston became a focus English efforts against the Patriots.
1780-1782 May. Charleston surrendered to the British under Sir Henry Clinton in the siege of Charleston. Lieutenant Governor Charles Gadsden signed the capitulation of Charleston. Gadsden was under parole, but on August 27, 1780, he and sixty-five other citizens became prisoners of war. This group included Nathaniel Lebby, Robert’s father. In September 1780 the prisoners were shipped to St. Augustine. In July 1781 they were sent to Philadelphia. Lebby’s family (his wife and four living children, including Robert) had also been banished to Philadelphia by the British. The British surrendered at Yorktown on October 19, 1781. In August 1782 Nathaniel Lebby and his family returned to Charleston. Robert Lebby was about fifteen years old.
1800 At age thirty-three he married Catharine Ann Grattan ( -1811), probably born in Ireland. They lived in Charleston.
1801 Robert Lebby was recorded as residing at 60 Church Street. [Hagy, James W. People and Professions of Charleston, South Carolina, 1782-1802. Baltimore, MD: Genealogical Publishing Co., 1999]*
1805 June 1. The couple’s only child Robert Grattan Lebby was born. Later in life he dropped his middle name and was known as Dr. Robert Lebby Sr.
1810? At age forty-three Robert Lebby died in Charleston. The date of his death is uncertain. He died between late 1804 (the son was born in 1805) and November 14, 1811 (the date of his widow’s will).
1811 December 20. Catharine Grattan Lebby died in Charleston.
SOURCES
Ellis, E. DeTreville, Nathaniel Lebby Patriot and Some of His Descendants (E. DeTreville Ellis, 1967), pp. 42-44
Lavelle, Brittany [*]. Historic Preservation Research. May 2014.