North Carolina Grant No. 2997 gave James Fortenberry 27 acres on the Beech Shoal Branch of Second Broad River in Rutherford County, entered in 1814 and granted in 1816. James Leath Fortenberry was in Missouri by 1809, so this James was possibly a different man, which is not yet confirmed.
The 1814 territorial tax list for Cape Girardeau County shows James L. Fortenberry in German Township, taxed $2.00 on five enslaved people with no land listed. The index also names Henry Fortenberry and the Ables' neighbors in other townships.
In July 1810, James L. and Henry Fortenberry sat together as jurors in the Cape Girardeau Court of Common Pleas. James L. also heard a debt case against Ezekiel Able, the same man who had given him a title bond the year before.
The 1800 federal census for Morgan District, North Carolina, lists a James Fortenberry heading a small household. It is one of the earliest records placing a James Fortenberry in western North Carolina. The household tallies are uncertain because the column headings are missing from the scan.
A War Department service card records James Fortenberry enlisting in the 5th South Carolina Regiment on 24 March 1776. The card gives no middle name, so whether this soldier is James Leath Fortenberry has not been confirmed.
