First Families of Edgefield County South Carolina Abney Family French. The name was originally D'Aubigue, and was changed to the present from four or five hundred years ago - about the middle of the fifteenth century. Isabella Madison, the wife of Nathaniel Abney, was a great and wise woman, ruling her household of children and servants with a firm but gentle hand, wisely and well. Twelve children were the fruit of this union. Their youngest son, Azariah Abney, lived and died on the original homestead, and it is still in the family, owned in 1891 by Joel Abney, a grandson of Azariah. Dr. M. W. Abney, of Edgefield, was descended from this pair through his mother, Martha Wills, who was a granddaughter of Nathaniel Abney. Isabella Abney Boykin, daughter of Dr. M. W. Abney - died in 1889 - was as queenly and wise as her great ancestress. Nathaniel Abney was captain of a militia company under Major Andrew Williamson at Ninety-Six, November 15th, 1775, but what part he took after the war was fairly begun, and after the Declaration of Independence does not appear. But he was on the side of Independence. REF: Chapman - A History of Edgefield County