While researching in old land records, where sometimes you can find genealogical treasure, I often come across the names of unknown landmarks. Knowing the names of local waterways and archaic areas or even long lost towns helps to figure out exactly where an ancestor lived. Sometimes, as in my recent passion, it can show a chain of occupancy, where a deed my no longer even exist, most especially in burned counties, of which Montgomery was one.
All in all, I'm not just fascinated by genealogy, or even just history, but also the topography of my little piece of Eden. I love old maps and sometimes, it's really not so easy trying to pinpoint the location of an old town, or a plat of land. So one of my newest pursuits is Mountain Chasing.
Now, they don't move, but sometimes they do hide, in plain sight, I'm discovering, We just haven't noticed them.
Stanly County, North Carolina is part of a small, ancient mountain range known as the Uwharries. Most people think of Montgomery County when thinking about the Uwharries, but they really cover 4 counties, Montgomery, Stanly, Randolph and Davidson. The foothills of the Uwharries even range down into Cabarrus, Anson and Union. While Montgomery boasts the Uwharrie National Forest, a federally protected forest preserve, Stanly County boasts Morrow Mountain State Park.
When most locals think of the Mountains of Stanly County, they think mainly of the area of the park and the mountains contained therein. Morrow Mountain is the largest, once known as Naked Mountain because of Cyclone damage. The park also includes Sugarloaf, Tater Top, Hattaway, Mill and Falls Mountains. More observant local could probably name as many as 10 Stanly County mountains that are still recognized by road names or other markers, the 6 within the park, but also Stone Mountain, because of the winery and housing development, Nelson Mountain, because of the road of the same name and treacherous golf course, Morgan Mountain near Norwood, because of the campground at the foot of it, and Palmer Mountain, because of the canal that now separates it from the mainland. I've grown a tad more knowledgable in the names of local mountains, found through research, Shepherds Mountain and Lowder Mountain, which are literally in the City of Albemarle.
So, in addition to my normal genealogy, I am going to be starting a series called "The Mountains of Stanly County", trying to determine which bumps in the local terrain correspond to names in old deeds, and it might help folks pinpoint more exactly where their ancestors lived.
I'm also hoping to give some of these old Uwharries their names back in the process.
Going through old Montgomery County deeds before 1841, it helps to know what citizens lived on what side of the Pee Dee and the location of creeks and other landmarks to determine if the deed applied to Stanly County (West Pee Dee) or Montgomery (East Pee Dee). Yet, even prior to that, we have deeds in Anson County, as Montgomery, including present Stanly County, was part of Anson until 1779.
Take this deed, dated January 6, 1778:
"John Hardy, 100 acres, Anson County, warrant # 41, David Love to John Hardy, 100 acres on Ugly Creek Mountain, at the old road on the South side of Mecklenburgh Road, surveyed April 16, 1799 by George Davidson, in Anson, now Montgomery, on NW side of Rocky River & waters of Ugly Creek, border, begins at a chestnut oak, near Mecklenburgh Road, & crosses the road twice, Henry Stokes and James Fletcher, chain carriers, Grant #31 issued October 23, 1782. I know that George Davidson lived in what is now Stanly County and was a prominent figure in the area, serving in several distinct political offices and with a distinguished military careet to boot. I know where Ugly Creek is, running between Norwood and Aquadale to the Rocky River. This deed was most definately in present Stanly County. John Hardy may have even been the person who gave Hardy Creek it's name.
But Ugly Creek Mountain? That's a new one on me. Where oh Where was Ugly Creek Mountain?
I am very familiar with Ugly Creek. It flows through Tyson Township, an area rife with family origin in my Family Tree, and flows into the Rocky River, which then shortly feeds into the Pee Dee, every southward flowing through South Carolina to the Atlantic. It even has two branches, South Ugly Creek joins Hardy Creek and lies just west of Ugly Creek. Ugly Creek is featured on this map of area counties prior to the 1840's when Stanly was carverd from Montgomery. Still, here borders are very clear, the Yadkin being her eastern border and the Rocky being her southern.
Given this scant information, I knew that John Hardy was my key. Finding that "Hardy" wasn't a common name in Stanly County, it seems John was the only one, and had to be the individual for whom Hardy Creek was named. As Hardy Creek and Ugly Creek run in fairly the same direction and were close together and interconnected, it narrowed the area of my search.
John Hardy first entered a grand for 100 acres on April 16, 1779, "On the North West Side of Rocky River on the Waters of Eagle Creek." Eagle Creek, that's a new one on me. Could it have been renamed Hardy Creek for John Hardy?
Name:
John Hardy
Gender:
Male
Birth Date:
1765
Birth Place:
North Carolina, USA
Spouse:
Mary Tyson
His neighbors appeared to be William Irby, David Miller, and James Roper. James Roper was among a group that migrated to Tennesee around 1820. William Irby appears in the 1790 and 1800 census of Montgomery County. John Hardy does not. However, I believe he was there, perhaps his name misspelled. He married Mary Tyson. Tyson was a very prominent name along this section of the Rocky River. The township in which John Hardy lived even came to be known as Tyson.
Name:
John Ard
State:
NC
County:
Montgomery County
Township:
No Township Listed
Year:
1780
Database:
NC Early Census Index
This John might have been him.
Name:
John Hardin
Home in 1790 (City, County, State):
Montgomery, North Carolina
Free White Persons - Males - Under 16:
2
Free White Persons - Males - 16 and over:
1
Free White Persons - Females:
3
Number of Household Members:
6
And "John Hardin" from the 1790 Montgomery County census might have been him. He was still listed as living in Montgomery County in this 1792 deed:
"William Irby 100 acres warrant #707 issued March 2, 1792 from John Crump to William Earby for 200 acres, joins John Hardy & included David Miller's improvements; 200 acres surveyed May 10, 1794 by John Christian on NE side of Pee Dee River & on waters of Little Creek of Long Creek, includes improvement where said Irby lives that formerly belonged to David Miller; border begins at John Hardy's beginning Hickory, on the road near said Irby's improvement, joins a branch and James Roper. William Lee and Tyre Robinson, chain carriers; grant 906 issued July 15, 1795. Research appears to show that Ugly Creek Mountain was located at the "headwaters of Ugly Creek" which began at a Spring.
My search took me to the Map Collection at the Stanly County Museum and History Room. We are so fortunate to have outstanding resources for research in Stanly County. Many other counties I have visited are not so lucky.
This map shows Ugly Creek in conjunction with Hardy Creek.
Ugly Creek Mountain
This map shows John Hardy's 100 acre grant lying at the headwaters of Ugly Creek. Silver Springs Church is shown on Hwy 138 west of the Hardy Grant.
By the time that Stanly County came into existance in 1841 and Silver Springs Church was founded in 1857, the family names owning the property in this area were Kimrey, Cooper, Hudson, Mauldin and Foreman. By the 1880's, Ugly Creek Mountain seemed to be in the possession of the heirs of Manlove Kimrey.
On December 14, 2014, Lewis Bramlett, for the Stanly County History Center, featured the following post on Facebook concerning Silver Springs.
First organized in 1857, the Silver Springs Baptist Church near Norwood began with 7 charter members. It was named Silver Springs because a large spring nearby was thought to contain silver.
The church members originally met under a brush arbor and then built their first building in 1858. The first meeting of the Stanly Baptist Association was held here in December 1885.
The first building was used until a new sanctuary was built in 1889. The church continued to grow and by 1908 it was one of the larger congregations in the county with 312 members. The current church building was constructed in 1927. An educational building was added in 1970 and a fellowship building was dedicated in 1987.
Silver Springs 2nd Building from Facebook Post Orginally from Stanly Enterprise, August 13, 1908
Knowing that Silver Springs Church was named for a nearby spring said to contain silver, brings together mentions in much earlier deeds mentioning a spring in the area that fed into Ugly Creek, which began as runoff from this small nearby mountain.
Looking at old maps, deeds and church information, I believe I have zeroed in on Ugly Creek Mountain on current topographical maps.
Ugly Creek Mountina lies to the East behind Silver Springs Baptist Church. There is no longer a road to it or on it. One bank can be seen rising behind the church over the cemetery. Glimpes of it can be seen to the South from Cooper's Road, toward the west from Cagle Road, and to the north from Silver Springs Church Road that comes out on 138 below the cemetery.
Silver Springs Baptist Church, to the left, the foot of Ugly Mountain can be seen rising.
16279 Cagle Rd, Norwood, NC 28128, USA
Lng:-80.20004788632201
Lat:35.26277955277928
Elevation: 197m / 646feet
Seen in the distance from Cooper's Road.
Slope of Ugly Creek Mountain going up as seen across the fields from Cagle Road.
Wolf Mountain is one of the small mountains now considered inside of the City of Albemarle, or close to it. I found mention of it in several deeds and from it's earlies descriptions, was never considered a large mountain. As far as its name, I am not sure if it came from the animal, Wolf, and perhaps a wolf den was once on it, as in the early days of this area, Wolves, Bear and even Buffalo dwelled and were commonly seen. There were also people named "Wolf" who lived here, so it could have been named for an early owner.
It began, however, as part of a huge tract that belonged to Will Stone, who, like Henry Mounger, Hugh Ross, and the Crump Brothers, John and James, then sold it in 100 acres lots to other settlers coming into the area from Virginia, Pennsylvania and more northern counties of North Carolina like Warren, Franklin and Chatham.
John Ozier 100 acres Warrant #7348 Issued Feb 1, 1816 by Will Stone to John Ozier for 100 acres on the West side of Rocky Creek (Rock Creek that most Stanly Countians will be familiar with because of Rock Creek Park), and joins a hill called Wolf Mountain.; entered Oct 30, 1815. 100 acres surveyed June 18, 1816 by David Cochran, on West side of Rocky Creek, border begins at John Birds corner Blackjack, Tinch Carter and Allen Ozier, chain carriers. The Ozier family is not one that I am familiar with. They did not leave a significant mark on Stanly County, but herein two of them are named, John and Allen.
John Ozier first shows up in 1800 census for Montgomery County, NC (keep in mind Stanly County is still part of Montgomery at this point, until 1841). He is not the only Ozier. Also listed is William, Jacob and William Jr.
In 1810, he is still here, living near McCorkles and Greens. There is no 1820 census for Montgomery County, it was lost or burned. In 1830, John Ozier is still in Montgomery County, Stanly County side, and living right next to a Jeremiah Ozier, with other neighbors being Edward Slaughter, Tyron Morris, Tobias Kendrick, Martin Hill, Seth Andrews and Marmaduke Hogan. If none of those names, with the exception of Seth Andrews, sound familiar to those expert in the beginnings of Stanly County, it is because they all belong to a huge swath of people who migrated to Tennesee in the 1830's.
The Oziers were a very interesting family. A William Ozier was the first one to show up in the 1790 census. According to an Obituary for Jacob Ozier Jr., a son of Jacob Ozier Sr. and a grandson of this William, he was born in Montgomery County, North Carolina and his family was of French Hugenot origin. John who lived in what turns out to be the area currently occupied by Walmart and Hobby Lobby in Albemarle now, was the Uncle of this Rev. Jacob. While Jacob Sr. moved to Alabama and Georgia, John and Allen, who turns out to be his son, end up with a lot of their Stanly (Montgomery County) neighbors in Carroll County, Tennesee.
William Ozier Sr. first filed a land grant in Montgomery County on May 16, 1792 on the "North East Side of the Pee Dee River. He was also listed in a 1787 Tax List, so the family arrived her quite early.
John Ozier is listed in the 1829 Will of Samuel Parker of Montgomery County.
John himself was issued 5 Land Grants.
The first, in 1797 was listed as being on "Mountain Branch" and consisted of 50 acres.
Name:
John Ozer
Issue Date:
4 Apr 1797
Residence Place:
Montgomery, North Carolina, USA
Certificate Number Range:
044-0227
Description:
Montgomery 044-0227
The second, entered June 21, 1800 and issued May 12, 1804 is for 50 acres "on the banks of a branch".
Name:
John Ozier
Issue Date:
29 Nov 1817
Residence Place:
Montgomery, North Carolina, USA
Certificate Number Range:
1933-2177
Description:
Montgomery 1933-2177
The third, this one 100 acres, is "on the West Side of Rocky Creek" and was issued 17 years later. John is now up to 100 acres. He continues to prosper.
A month later, he enters another 100 acres on the "East Side of Rocky Creek". John Ozier pretty much has Rock Creek sewed up.
Name:
John Ozier
Issue Date:
7 Jan 1818
Residence Place:
Montgomery, North Carolina, USA
Certificate Number Range:
0228-0462
Description:
Montgomery 0228-0462
In January of 1818, just two months later, he makes his largest acquirement to date, 400 acres. Add that to the 300 he has already accumulated and John Ozier has 700 acres, that takes him all the way up to Wolf Mountain. But where exactly is Wolf Mountain?
Another deed, dated Nov 24, 1835 states: " David Laton 100 acres, warrant 11097 issued July 7, 1835 by Duncan McRae to David Laton for 100 acres joins Wolf Mountain "OWNERS OF GRANTED LAND NOT KNOWN" on waters of Jacobs Creek, entered Aug 24, 1835 100 acres surveyed Dec 21, 1836 by Joseph Cauble, border begins at Huckabee's corner black jack, crosses Morganton Road & joins William Ragsdale. John Laton and Baily Sanders, Chain Carriers. The sons of John Ozier show up in the 1836 and 1839 Tax Lists of Carroll County, Tennesee. Some of them show up in the 1830 census. So does a John Ozier who was born between 1770 and 1780. The John Ozier who shows up in the 1830 census of Montgomery County was born between 1790 and 1800. He has a wife and 4 small children in the home, along with 2 old ladies, one in her 70's and another in her 80's.
Name:
John Ozier [John Cryer]
Home in 1830 (City, County, State):
East of Pee Dee and Yadkin River, Montgomery, North Carolina
Free White Persons - Males - Under 5:
2
Free White Persons - Males - 30 thru 39:
1
Free White Persons - Females - 5 thru 9:
2
Free White Persons - Females - 30 thru 39:
1
Free White Persons - Females - 70 thru 79:
1
Free White Persons - Females - 80 thru 89:
1
Free White Persons - Under 20:
4
Free White Persons - 20 thru 49:
2
Total Free White Persons:
8
There is also a William Ozier nearby, probably William Jr. This John is obviously too young to have recieved the land grants. He is probably a nephew of the older John. I believe the older John to have left for Tennessee sometime in the 1820's. This younger John might have even been his son, and stayed behind to take care of the older female relatives, but neither he nor the younger William remained until 1840.
So, we know that by 1840, the Oziers were gone and Wolf Mountain was occupied around by Laton's and William Ragsdale. Stanly County land records begin in 1841 and there is no William Ragsdale, but his land appears to have transferred to Timothy Ragsdale, who I know died in the Civil War. In December of 1850, Timothy Ragsdale sold a tract of land to Eben Hearne for debts owed that bordered John Laton, James Palmer and Isham Talbert. It appears to be in the same area as the William Ragsdale land would have been.
The below notice from 1925 mentions a tract of land on the North-East side of Wolf Mountain and located 3 miles Southeast of Albemarle. Remember, at this time, the town of Albemarle was pretty much only what we would count as the center of downtown and the nearest neighborhoods thereinto. Notice that among the names mentioned is John Laton, and other Latons. It also bordered the land of Dr. Richard Anderson, which gives a huge clue as to the exact location of Wolf Mountain.
I found Wolf Mountain on an old map. It lay south of the Anderson Heights area and east of the old Albemarle Airport, where Walmart and Olive Place shopping centers now exist. With this information I went looking both in person and on modern Topographical maps and found Wolf Mountain. It lies east of Groves Road and the foot of it marks the beginning of Stonehaven Development. Yorkshire Drive climbs up its eastside.
Some folks found the relatively unoccupied hill a good place to make alchohol and have fun. Unfortunately for them, the cops found them out.
Wolf Mountain is located just beyond Anderson Heights, which was part of the old lands and farm of Dr. Richard Anderson, who deeded Anderson Grove Baptist Church to the Congregation and whose name the Anderson Grove area still bears. It has been wholey unoccupied until just recently, when additions to the Housing Development have started to climb up its Southeastern side.
The above dirt road climbs to the top of Wolf Mountain. I did not go there. You can see the landscape in the distance. Wolf Mountain lies behind Walmart, less than half a mile. Groves Road is the closest to it on the south side, at the foot.
Looking out from the side of Wolf Mountain toward Albemarle. All you see is hills and woods.
The housing development at the base of Wolf Mountain. Yorkshire Drive crawls up the side.
From the pool house at the beginning of Stovehaven Drive, you can see Wolf Mountain rise in the background.
Beyond the pavement, the road climbs.
Looking out toward Albemarle and the foothills of the Uwharreis.
In researching the Murray family of Stanly County, I have found it very useful to research the families they had connections to, either by living with them, near them or interacting with them in other ways. Sometimes, and just sometimes, you are able to find things and solve mysteries.
This particular mystery involved the "Elizabeth Emmanuel" that "Anna Murray" was living with in the 1870 census.
As you can see, we find a household of women, which was not unusual in the first census after the Civil War. So many families lost their men, due to War, disease, and flight westward to avoid the first two. Stanly was a County of women, boys and old men. The young men of working and marriageable age were few and far between.
Southern women posing for a picture during the Civil War (Omar Mouna, Laura Nelson)
It did not take long to discover that Elizabeth Emmanuel (the surname most often seen as "Manuel", Susan Cagle and Evie L Cagle were sisters, daughters of Charles and Elizabeth Springer Cagle, of the Big Lick community.
A look at the 1860 census and 1850 census, ten and twenty years prior would reveal that. In 1860, we see all three women, Elizabeth, Susan and Evie L. with their parents. In the 1850 census, their brother David M. Cagle, is also still at home.
Also in both censuses, living with the family, as conspicuously, is Mary A Murray. Land records would corroborate that Elizabeth Emanuel was the daughter of Charles Cagle.
Stanly County Register of Deeds, Book 6 Page 32 Charles Cagle to Sussannah Cagle and others This Indenture made the 20th day of January A D 1862 between Charles Cagle of Stanly County, State of North Carolina of the one part and Susannah Cagle, Elizabeth Manuel and Eve Cagle, my three daughters, of the county and state aforesaid, Witnesseth that said Charles Cagle, of paternal love and affection has given, demised, transferred and conveyed and by these presents doth give, devise, transfer and confirm to my three above named daughters their heirs and assigns forever, a certain tract of land situate (sic) in Stanly County and N. Carolina on the waters of Stony Run.....100 acres..... It then goes into all of the poles and the oaks and the behoofs, etc. But you get the picture.
Sussanah would pass away in 1880, and was included in the Mortality schedule of that year, of "dropsy".
Name
A Sussan Cayle
Gender
Female
Race
White
Marital Status
Single
Estimated Birth Year
abt 1820
Birth Place
North Carolina, USA
Age
60
Death Date
Mar 1880
Cause of Death
Dropsy
Census year
1880
Census Place
Big Lick, Stanly, North Carolina, USA
Enumeration District
206
Line
18
But 25 years after Charles Cagle conveyed land to his three daughters to ensure their future, as two were single and one was widowed, as he must have known his heath was failing and was concerned over their future, the surviving two daughters enacted transactions with the land to ensure their care and well-being into their old age.
The 1880 census lists Elizabeth as a Cagle again, living with younger sister Evie, and a four year old "John" is listed as her grandson.
He is as much a mystery at this point as the 17 year old Sarah Whitley in the 1870 census, who I believe was a niece as the family had strong connections to the Whitley family. Also, I am not sure John's surname of Cagle was correct.
What follows is an interesting set of deeds and bonds involving the two surviving sisters, Elizabeth Cagle Manuel and Evie L. Cagle.
Stanly County Register of Deeds Book 16 Page 125 December 12, 1881 This is the deed between "Elizabeth Manuel and Evy L. Cagle of the state of North Carolina and County of Stanly to Alexr Whitley and wife Mary E. Whitley" for the land mentioned in the below indenture and bond.
Stanly County Register of Deeds Book 16 Page 554 Alexander Whitley to Elizabeth Manuel and Eva L Cagle North Carolina Stanly County Know all men by these presents that I, Alexander Whitley of the said county and state am firmly bound unto Elizabeth Manual and Evey L. Cagle of the aforesaid county and state for the sum of two hundred dollars...for such payment I bind myself my heirs and assigns firmly by these presents signed sealed and delivered this the 12th day of December 1881. The condition of the aforegoing obligation is such......that Elizabeth Manuel and Evey L. Cagle executed and delivered to the said Alexander Whitley a deed for 100 acres of land more or less under the condition of paying for said land the said Alexander Whitley is to take care of and provide for Elizabeth Manuel and Eva L Cagle a suitable Reasonable and just maintenance during their natural lives Stony Run Creek is in the Frog Pond area of Stanly County.
Mary E. Whitley was Mary Elizabeth Cagle, their neice and daughter of their brother David M. Cagle and his wife Michelle Hinson Cagle, who had married Alexander Whitley, the son of Susannah Whitley and Joshua Christian Burris on April 17, 1881.
Alexander Whitley - Burris was a troubled man, the product of an illicit relationship between and married man and his single mistress, who fell into a life of crime and alchoholism. He remains in the annuls of Stanly County history as the only man in Stanly County to be hung. His crime was supposedly his involvement in the death of a school teacher named Burton Tucker in Arkansas. The two Stanly County men had ended up in Arkansas with Judy Burris, the young half-sister of "Alec" Whitley, for whom both men were rumored to have had a fondness for.
Burton Tucker via digitalnc.com
Among the other rumors surrounding the legend of Alec Whitley was that he was also somehow involved in the disappearance of his brother-in-law, Phillip "Bud" Cagle, his supposed partner in crime in a series of Cabarrus County breakins, that the "boys" would hit across the county line and then slither back into Stanly to hide.
I've also heard that he may have had some hand in the death of his wife Mary E. Cagle Whitley. The two had a daughter, Nealie Ann, who was born in 1885, and afterwards, Mary disappears.
For all facts and purposes, it seems that Alec Whitley did not fullfill his duties, and perhaps Mary died by 1886, when the sisters Cagle struck the same deal with George L. Whitley.
I believe this is George Lindsey Whitley who first married my Great Great Great Aunt Rosetta Aldridge and then after her death, married Sarah Elizabeth Burris and was the son of Benjamin Lindsey Whitley and wife Margaret "Peggy" Eudy Whitley. He eventually migrated to and passed away in Hot Springs, Arkansas in 1929. Stanly County Register of Deeds Book 16 Page 111 March 11, 1886 Manuel E & Cagle Evy L to Whitley G. L. This is the deed for the 100 acres on Stony Creek adjoining E. Williams and P Smith mentioned in the below bond.
Stanly County Register of Deeds Book 16 Page 112 10 March 1886 State of North Carolina County of Stanly George L. Whitley bond to Elizabeth Manuel and Evy L. Cagle Know all men by these presents that I, George L. Cagle of the County of Stanly and State of North Carolina am held and firmly bound unto Elizabeth Manual and Evy L. Cagle of the county and state aforesaid......200 dollars.....10th day of March AD 1886..100 acres of land....Lying on the waters of Stony Run Creek, adjoinnig the lands of E. Williams, P. M. Smith and others and more particularly described in said deed and whereas the said George L. Whitley as payment for said land is to take care of provide for maintain and support in a suitable reasonable and proper manner the said Elizabeth Manuel and Evy L. Cagle during their natural lives......etc. A. C. Freeman clerk But who was the Mr. Manuel that Elizabeth had married?
The Manuel family is one I want to study a little more in depth due to their connections to the Murrays, but for this post, I only want to concentrate on one Manual, John the husband of Elizabeth Cagle.
John was the son of Henry Manuel and his wife Winny Almond Manuel. He grew up in Almond township in Stanly County.
According to the 1850 census, he was born about 1831, meaning he was about 6 years younger than Elizabeth. No marriage license can be found for John Manuel and Elizabeth Cagle, but they were married prior to 1856.
John Manuel must have had an ailment of which he knew would lead to certain death. He wrote a will on May 19, 1856.
I John Manuel of the County of Stanly being of sound mind and memory but considering the uncertainty of my earthly existence, make and declare my last will and testament, in the manner and form following, that is to say, First that my executor hereafter named shall provide for my body a decent burial suitable to the wish of my relations and pay all funeral expenses together with my just debts howsoever and to whomever owing out of the money that may first come into his hand as a part or parcel of my estate. Items I give and convey to my beloved wife all the property which she had at the time that we were married (this indicates that maybe Elizabeth was in possession of some lands or other property at the time of the marriage).
Item I give and devise to my father all my land, mare crops and everything else, this to pay my just debts and after they are paid, if anything left him to have and to hold forever. And lastly I do hereby constitute and appoint my trusty father H. Manuel my lawful executor to all intents and purposes to execute this my last will and testament...whereas I the said J. Manuel do hereunto set my hand and seal this 19th day of May 1856. John X Whitley his mark Witnesses John R. Whitley Oliver Whitley The Will was proabted in the Stanly county court during the May 1857 session. Also in the same session of Court, Elizabeth Emanuel made an appeal for her year's allowance as widow.
"Your petitioner Elizabeth Emanuel humbly complaining would represent unto your worship that she is the widow of John Emanuel who lately died in the county aforesaid seized and (illegible...hopeless? haseples?) of a considerable personal estate out of which she is entitled to her years allowance..etc. Elizabeth is represented by A J Dargon in the petition and the committe signed at the bottom was Wilson B Herrin, Esq., Jesse Hathcock and Joseph Morton.
Next page
"State of North Carolina County of Stanly To the Worshipful the Justices of the Court of Pleas and Quarters Lesprove (illegible) for said County for August term 1859, We Jordan C Kennedy Justice of the Peace of said county, and E. D. Ingraham, Tillman L:ittle and G. W. Dunn freeholders in obedience to the (illegible) omnet? order proceeded on the 13th day of July to view the estate of John Manuel deceased and out of the property on hand we have laid off and allotted to Elizabeth Manuel widow as follows, that is to say, One cow and half vaulued at $12.50 1 tray, 1 sifter, 1 water bucket .60 1 Lot table furniture 1.00 1 Pot 1 Oven 1 Lid and Hooks 1.50 3 chickens 1 Hog 3.30 1 chest 2 chairs 1.00 1 pan & bottle .25 _______________________________ $20.15 And there being no crop or provisions on hand to make a comfortable provision for the said widow for a year we assay the deficiency to the sum of $54 & 85 cents to be paid to the said widow by the executor or administrator of the said John Manuel deceased and we have further laid off and allotted to the said Elizabeth Manuel one bed and it's furniture & one wheel and pair of cards as her absolute property and put her in possession of the same. Given under our hands and seals this 13th day of July 1859 J C Kennedy Tillman Little E. D. Ingram G. W. Dunn Freeholders. I can not acertain the exact date of death of Elizabeth Cagle Manuel or her final resting place. Many have her listed as being the same person as a Millie Elizabeth "Betty" Cagle who married Lewis Brown, but they are most certainly two separate people. And Bettie Cagle Brown, is an entirely different story herself.
The above rustic-looking gentleman is Rufus Alexander Lambert, my Third Great-Grandfather. He was born November 17,1847 and died July 24, 1921, living his entire life in Stanly County, North Carolina. Rufus farmed in the Almond Township, in the Western part of Stanly County.
Rufus was the second son of William "Buck" Lambert and Talitha Matilda Delphia Herrin Lambert. He was the grandson of John Quincy Lambert and his wife, Mary Almond Lambert and on his mother's side, he was the grandson of Hezekiah Herrian and his wife Amelia "Milly" Hatley Herrin.
Caleb Wiley Lambert, older brother of Rufus
Rufus first shows up in the 1850 census as a two year old with his older brother, Caleb Wiley Lambert and his two young parents.
Neighbors now included John T. Howell and William R. Howell, Caleb Osbourne and Wilson Hartsell. Rufus now has three little sisters, Leah, Mary and Martha and a younger brother John William Lambert.
Then came the War. William "Buck" Lambert served in Company H. 42nd Regiment. His oldest son Wiley, served in Company K, 28th regiment. Rufus did not serve. He was 14 at the onset of the war. It is assumed he stayed home and helped his mother take care of the farm and younger children.
Name:
William Lambert
Side:
Confederate
Regiment State/Origin:
North Carolina
Regiment:
42nd Regiment, North Carolina Infantry
Company:
H
Rank In:
Private
Rank Out:
Private
Film Number:
M230 roll 22
In 1870, William "Buck" Lambert is shown living in the same area as before, with his wife Talithat and children Julia (Leah), John William, Mary and Martha, and three more have joined the family since the end of the Civil War, Sarah, Josephine and Milly, named for her maternal grandmother.
Name
William Lambert
Age in 1870
46
Birth Year
abt 1824
Birthplace
North Carolina
Dwelling Number
36
Home in 1870
Almond, Stanly, North Carolina
Race
White
Gender
Male
Occupation
Farmer
Male Citizen Over 21
Y
Personal Estate Value
500
Real Estate Value
700
Inferred Spouse
Talitha Lambert
Inferred Children
Julia Lambert
Household Members
Name
Age
Talitha Lambert
William Lambert
Julia Lambert
William Lambert
Mary Lambert
Martha Lambert
Sarah Lambert
Josephine Lambert
Milly Lambert
But two oldest sons, Wiley and Rufus are not there. Caleb Wiley Lambert married Martha Eudy on November 29, 1863, in the heat of the war. He made it home and had started farming on his own.
Rufus "Mack" Lambert was not to be found that year. I believe he was close by, however. He may have been working for a neighbor or relative as farm labor and was missed.
On December 5, 1872 Rufus Alexander Lambert married Sarah Ann Burris.
Sarah was the daughter of Solomon Burris (son of Taylor) and Elizabeth Morton. The family gene pool gets a little murky here. I also notated Solomon Burris as the son of Taylor, as there were multiple Solomon Burris's in Stanly County, going back to Taylor Burris's father Solomon Burris the Revolutionary War Veteran. He was married to Judith Taylor, whose maiden name her son Taylor carried as his Christian name.
So, Solomon Burris, Patriot, was the grandfather of Solomon Burris who married Elizabeth Morton.
Now, before I go back stirring up that pot of murky soup, I want to harken back to my discovery that my paternal Grandfather Lambert was already descended from two of Solomon Burris the Patriot and Judith Taylors children. His mother was Rowena Burris, who married Elias Lambert, the son of Rufus Alexander and Sarah Ann Burris.
Rowena's Family Tree to Solomon and Judith Taylor Burris looks like this:
Rowena Burris Lambert - Parents - Father Mother David T. Burris Ellen Honeycutt Grandparents Gideon Greene Burris Obedience Hathcock Great Grandparents Great Grandparents Solomon Burris Jr. Benjamin Franklin Hathcock & & Sarah Morgan Nancy Ann Burris Parents of Solomon Burris Jr. and of Nancy Ann Burris, Rowena's Great Great Grandparents were: Solomon Burris, The Patriot and Judith Taylor Burris. Gideon Greene Burris and Obedience Hathcock were first cousins. And now we are adding that Elias Lamberts mother was Sarah Ann Burris. Sarah Ann Burris was the Granddaughter of Solomon and Judith through their son Taylor, giving my grandfather now 3 lines back to them.
To look at it in another way:
Taylor Solomon Jr Nancy Ann -Siblings Solomon III Gideon G. + Obedience -First cousins Sarah Ann David T. (son of Gideon & Bedie) - Second Cousins Elias - who married --- Rowena - Third Cousins. So alot of Burris lines there, but Elias and Rowena were distant cousins.
Rufus acquired his first track of land in 1878 at the age of 31 when he purchased 33 and a half acres from John Q. Lambert and his wife E. E. Lambert. This was John Quincy Lambert Jr. who married Eunice Ellen "Nicey" Whitley, a relative of Rufus. This tract was on Running Creek and bordered William Lambert, Nathan Lambert and W J Carter.
By 1880 Rufus and Sarah had added 4 children to their family. Neighbors were William J. Carter, his younger brother John William Lambert and John W. Harvell.
Children were Jenette "Jenny" C Lambert (1874), Elias Marion (1875), James Franklin (1877) and baby Albert L. Lambert, who was born that August and would die in 1881 at the age of 2.
Albet is buried at Lambert Cemetery # 1 in the Lambert Community in Western Stanly County.
His tombstone reads "This child is a son of Rufus and Sarah Burris. Diseast by blood by the flu." Born: 19 Aug 1879 Died 23 Aug 1881.
On January 25, 1882, Rufus bought a tract of land from his parents, William and Talitha Lambert, of 129 acres, part of which Talitha had recieved from her father, Hezekiah Herrin in 1851, on Stony Run Creek. The land bordered William J. Carter, brother John William Lambert, Leonard Lambert and his parents.
In 1884, he bought a tract of land from his brother-in-law James M. Burris and wife Jane, on the west side of Little Bear Creek of 95 acres, bordering the property of Solomon Burris, A C Burris, called the "John Almond Tract".
On January 5, 1887, he bought 100 acres for $250 from his parents-in-law, Solomon Burris and Elizabeth Morton Burris on Hay Meadow Branch (Book 19 Page 497) bordering Solomon Burris and the lands of Edmund Almond heirs.
In the meantime, Rufus and Sarah added two more children to the fold:
William Solomon Lambert was born on June 7, 1882, named for his two grandfathers, William "Buck" Lambert and Solomon Burris III.
Talitha Elizabeth Lambert was born on June 21, 1884, named for her two grandmothers, Talitha Herrin Lambert and Elizabeth Morton Burris.
Talitha did not appear with her parents in any census as she was born after the 1880 census and married before the 1900. On February 2, 1899 she married Jonah Lee Burleson. Unfortunately, she did not live very long. About two weeks after giving birth to her fifth child child, a daughter named for her, she passed away at the age of 25.
Sarah's youngest daughter suffered the same fate as her mother, because Sarah also passed away young.
On December 9, 1885, Sarah Ann Burris Lambert passed away at the age of 35. She was buried at the old Wiggins Cemetery off of Sam Road in the Endy Community.
The next fact in this story may seem a bit strange for us, in this day and age. On December 10, 1885, the day after he buried his first wife, Sarah, Rufus A. Lambert, 38, the father of 5 young living children, married Martha M. Morton, the 20 year old daughter of Jesse and Morning Morton.
The wedding was performed at Snotherly's Store in Almond Township by D. A. S. Hatley, Justice of the Peace. Witnesses were W. A. Tucker, R. W. Moody, J. A. Almond.
This seems a bit rushed, huh? Perhaps the survivial of his children depended on it. It was obviously a very rushed arranged marriage.
Martha J Morton was born on March 30, 1865 in Hardin County, Tennessee, where her father, Jesse A. Morton had migrated to from Stanly County, prior to 1860. He had married Morning Ellen Saunders there and the oldest 4 children of their marriage had been born there. By 1870, Jesse had returned to North Carolina, living in Long Creek, Mecklenburg County. By 1880, he was back in Stanly County in the Almonds Community, now with a family of 6 children.
Rufus would add another 8 children to his family from his marriage to Martha. They were:
1888 Fetzer J Lambert 1891 Ephraim Levi Lambert 1893 Wiley Jerome Lambert 1896 Morning Ellen Lambert 1895 Hettie Cornelia Lambert 1902 Theodore Roosevelt Lambert 1904 Mary Jane Lambert 1907 Martin Rufus Lambert
The 1900 census has Rufus and his new wife living in Almond Township. Her name is given as Morina, probably a middle name. With them are two of his older children, Jenny and J. F. and the 5 of his younger children as 3 had not been born yet.
Jennie, the oldest daughter, was still unmarried and living at home. Fetzer had married, to Lillie and his young bride was living with them. The youngest three children had been born, Martin being only two. Morning Morton, Martha's mother, was living with them, along with two grandchildren.
Talitha Burleson was the daughter of Rufus and Sarah's youngest daughter, Talitha, who had passed away. Johnie Lambert was an infant grandson I have not yet identified. It is possible he was a son of Fetzer and Lillie that did not survive childhood. I am continuing to search for any more information on him.
New technology was not lost on Great Great Grandpa Rufus Lambert. In 1907, he is listed as living in Bloomington, which is now just a sign along the old Austin Road designating its location, one of rolling hills and ranch style housed. R. A. Lambert had a telephone with the Locust Exchange. His number was 22. This was during a time when very few people had a telephone.
1920 is the last census that Rufus Alexander Lambert appeared in. The family was living along the Charlotte Road in Endy, a community just outside of Albemarle about 5 miles.
Living with him was his second wife, Martha, and their three youngest children, Theodore, Mary Jane and Martin. Also living with them was oldest daughter Jennie and her son William Davis. She had been widowed twice, having married Martin Burris after the death of her first husband, William Jacob Davis. Elvie Lambert was a daughter-in-law and Lula Lambert was a grand-daughter.
Lula was the daughter of James H. Lambert, who had died in 1913. Lula would thereafter live with her Aunts and Uncles, having lost her mother young, to TB. She was living with William in 1930 and Eli in 1940. She also died young, at age 36, her death certificate giving a hint as to why she was unable to work or marry. She had been suffering from infantile paralysis for 33 years from something that had happened at age 3, which eventually was given as her cause of death.
Elvie was the first wife of Theodore Lambert. They had married very young.
Burley Lambert, my Grandfather and a Grandson of Rufus A. Lambert
Rufus passed away on July 24, 1921 at the age of 73. His death certificate stated he had become paralyzed on the right side. The seventies were a grand old age to live to in the 1920's, so I'm sure the physicians attributed it to old age.
His widow, Martha Molina Morton Lambert, his second wife, would live another 22 years. Her parents were from Stanly County, according to her death certificate, but Martha was born in Tennessee. She is not my direct line, but a Step-Great Great Grandmother, but this was an interesting twist, so I decided to look a little close into who Martha was.
Martha was the daughter of Jesse Alexander Morton and Morning Ellen (or Ellendar) Saunders Morton. Jesse Morton was born in Stanly County, North Carolina, the son of Joseph Calvin and Margaret "Peggy" Hatley Morton. In 1850, he was an 11 year old living with his parents and large group of siblings in the Almond Community.
By 1860, for unknown reasons, he had left North Carolina for Tennesee and was working as farm labor for J. A. Russell in Hardin County, Tennesee. There he met Morning E. Saunders.
Morning was the daughter of Mariah Mitchell Saunders and an unknown Mr. Saunders. Her father died before 1850 and in the 1850 census, Mariah and her 4 children, were living with her parents, Jesse and Mary "Polly" Cooley Mitchell in Hardin County, Tennesee. Both Jesse and Polly were born in North Carolina (Stokes County), but had married in 1811 in Kentucky, where Mariah was born. The family moved around a bit, because the oldest 3 children of Mariah and Mr. Saunders, Mary, Morning and William, were born in Alabama, while only the youngest, Nancy Charlotte "Lottie" (who would later become Mrs. Thomas J. Cupples) was born in Tennesee.
Mariah would remarry to Stephen Gilbert in Hardin County, a widower with a large family himself, and have more children by 1860, where Morning and William are found living with them while Mary has married and Lottie is still living with her Grandmother Polly Mitchell, Aunt Elenor and cousins John W. and Jesse C. Mitchell.
After marrying in Hardin County, Tennessee, Jesse decides to move his family back to North Carolina. Based and where records reveal the children were born, we can determine this happened about, between 1867 and 1870.
1860 Joseph Alexander Morton, Hardin County, Tennesee 1863 Mary Ann Morgana Morton, Hardin County, Tennesee 1865 Martha Molina Morton, Hardin County, Tennesee 1867 Margaret A Morton, Hardin County, Tennesee
Found on Long Creek, Mecklenburg County, NC in 1870. The three younger children, William A., Eva Tennesee and Sylvester, were all born in North Carolina, William in Mecklenburg and Eva and Sylvester in Stanly County. By the time Rufus Alexander Lambert married Martha Morton, the family had settled back in the Almond Community where Jesse Morton had grown up.
In 1940, she has moved in with the family of William Solomon Lambert, her stepson. Martha dies on June 18, 1943 and lies beside Rufus Lambert in the Canton Church Cemetery.
The following is a list of the descendants of Rufus Alexander Lambert as best as I can determine, children and grandchildren, nearly all deceased. Great Grandchildren for the most part, are still living.
Rufus Alexander Lambert (1847-1921) Married 1st Sarah Ann Burris (1850-1885) 1) Jennette C "Jenny" Lambert (1874-1958) Married 1911 William Jacob Davis (Randolph County, NC) A) William Alexander Davis (1914-1987) Married 1917 Martin Luther Burris Sr. (1858-1918) Brother of Rowena Burris who married Elias Lambert 2) Elias Marion Lambert (1875-1943) Married 1894 Rowena L. Burris (1872-1915) A) William Rufus Lambert (1895-1974) B) Beulah E. Lambert (1897-1979) (Mrs. Jesse Lee Burris, Mrs. Monroe David Sides, Mrs. Charlie Maxwell Brown). C) Roy Lee Lambert (1898-1974) D) Roby Lambert (1900-1902) probably named Robert, but died as a toddler. E) Cheldy David Lambert (1901-1959) US Army Retired, Fort Bragg F) Mathew Marion Lambert (1904-1986) G) Claude Duncan Lambert (1907-1975) H) Toffey Lambert (1908-1912) 4 years old. In photograph, a beautiful child. Died of illness. I) Fred Lee Lambert (1911-1965) J) Lucille Lambert (1913-1978) Mrs. Charlie Sides K) Burley Melvin Lambert (1915-1986) His mother died shortly after his birth. He was raised mostly by his mother's sister, as a Smith. Married 1918 Emma Fairybell Honeycutt (Widow of James E. Eury, came with 2 children, Rosetta and Walter Eury) L) Lilly Alma Lambert (1920-2002) (Mrs. Emanuel Nesbit Carter, Mrs. Bratton Howard Burleson, Mrs. Hartsoe) M) Robert Earnest Lambert (1925-2000) N) Zora Bell Lambert (1927-2008) Mrs. William Robert Almond 3) James Franklin Lambert (1887-1913) Married 1900 Henrietta "Hettie" Burleyson A) Lawson Lambert (1901-1919) Died as a teen, no descendants B) Clyde Lambert (1903-1922) Died at 19, no descendants. C) Esther Lambert (1904-1927) Married at 16 to Luther Farenton Furr (6 children, 3 lived to adulthood) Died at age 22 D) Lula Lambert (1906-1943) Never married. Crippled at age 3 E) Unnamed Daughter (1908-1908) Died as infant F) Vernon Ray Lambert (1909-1978) G) Gladys Odessa Lambert (1912-1908) Mrs. Thomas Ivey Gottis * Note: Frank Lamberts children lost their father in 1913 and their mother in 1917. The 1920 census found Clyde living with his Maternal Uncle, Esther living with her Paternal Uncle, Lula living with her Grandfather Rufus Lambert and the younger two, Vernon and Gladys, were found in the Thomasville Baptist Orphanage in Thomasville, Davidson County, NC. Vernon would return to Albemarle and marry a Whitley and live out his life here. Gladys was still a minor and in 1930, is at the Kennedy Orphanage in Lenoir. She worked as a nurse in Raleigh before her marriage in 1935 to Thomas Ivey Gattis, who was from Raleigh. They married in Virginia but settled in Raleigh and lived out their lives there.
4) Albert L. Lambert (1879-1881) Died as a toddler. Made the 1880 census and has a marked grave.
William Solomon Lambert, his first wife Jenny and their children.
5) William Solomon Lambert (1882-1964) Married 1898 Jenny Burleson (1881-1915) A) William Albert Lambert (1899-1988) B) Sarah Ann Lambert (1900-1985) (Mrs. Albert Oscar Furr - 5 children, Mrs. Claude Wilford Hatley -later in life. C) Rosa Belle Lambert (1902-1904) Died as a toddler D) Corinthia Lambert (1904-1983) Mrs. Joseph Virgil Kepley E Wade Fonzo Lambert (1905-1965) F) Cletus Lambert (1907-1990) G) Marvin Lambert (1908-1909) H) Martha Mae Lambert (1910-2004) Mrs. Ben D. Eudy 3 children, Mrs Tom J Huneycutt Married 1915 Rettie Lou Lambert a distant cousin on both sides, daughter of James Mack Lambert and Tiney Burris Lambert I) Thomas Riley Lambert (1917-1995) J) Richard Boone Lambert (1918-1991) K) Jennie Irene Lambert (1921-1996) Mrs. Earl Durant Whitley L) Mary Lois Lambert (1924-1998) Mrs. Burley William Barbee M) Helen Alene Lambert (1929-1939) Age 9 6) Talitha Elizabeth Lambert (1884-1909) Age 25 Married 1899, Jonah Lee Burleyson (1881-1964) She was only 14 A) Infant son (1900-1900) B) Theadosia "Dosie" Burleson (1902-1917) Age 15 C) Grover Simeon Burleyson (1904-1988) D) Richard Grover (or Gomillion) Burleyson/Harelson (1906-1985) * A bit confusing, see Note below. E) Talitha Elizabeth Burleyson II (1909-1997) Mrs. Fred M. Story The Albemarle Press (Albemarle, North Carolina) • Page 7
Note: The story of Richard G. Burleyson (or Burleson) / Harleson, is an interesting one indeed. As can be seen in the division above from 1925, he is listed as one of the three surviving children of Telitha Lambert Burleson and is listed as a Burleson. Curious, I had to know more about this cousin and why his name was changed. First, there is the middle name "G". Why, with his older brother clearly and consistently seen as "Grover Simeon Burleyson", would Telitha and Jonah have named the next son Richard Grover? The other seen 'G' was Gomilllion, which I've seen bounced around Stanly County, not commonly, but consistently. I tend to think it was Gomillion indeed, but when Richard joined the Army and became a man of the world, he serendipitously borrowed his older brothers more commonly accepted 'Grover'. The second issue is the last name Harelson. He was born a Burleson or Burleyson, as it is commonly interchangeable, even in the same family.
In his first two census records as a minor, Richard is clearly a Burleson. Even after his marriage to Flora Belle Burleson in 1929, he is still a Burleyson in 1930, however, his marriage license may have been a clue as to the families future.
The surname, Burleson, is very smeared and looks like it could be Harleson or Burleson, on Richards end. The marriage license is filed in Stanly County, NC, but took place in Darlington, SC.
Then there is the whole issue with Flora Belle and the name confusion with her two husbands. It becomes an entire Burleson Soup. Flora Belle was born a Burleson. She was the daugther of David Rutherford Burleson and Wincie Ann Springer. She was the Granddaughter of Howell Burleson and Judith Burris Almond Burleson. She was the Great-Granddaughter of William "Billy" Burleson and his first wife Sarah "Sallie" Harwood Burleson.
The reason for all of that lineage will be seen in a moment.
Wade and Flora Bell Burleson
Flora Belle Burleyson married Richard Wade Burleson on March 3, 1923, in Stanly County, at the age of 15. That's right, a different Richard and another Burleson. Wade, as destiny would have it, was a double-Burleson. He was the son of Shem Burleson and Jane Alice Burleson. Shem was one of the twin sons (He had a brother named Ham...very biblical) of William "Billie" Burleson and his second wife, Rhoda Springer (also another Springer). So David and Shem were half-brothers, making Wade and Flora - half cousins? But that is only one side of the equation. Shem's wife, Jane Alice aka "Janie", was also a Burleson, a daughter of Noah H. and Sophronia Whitley Burleson and a granddaughter of Lee Burleyson and Elizabeth Almond Burleson. While more distant, Janie's line does lead back to the original Stanly County Buleson progenitors, the same as Billie's does.
Flora Belle and Wade had two children, Edith Marie, known as Marie (1924-1996) and Wade Clinton (1926-1926). Little Wade Clinton died at the age of 4 months of pneumonia. The couple would divorce soon afterwards and Wade would move on to his second wife, Mary V. Hildreth, as his third child, Wade Jr. would be born in 1928. Richard Wade Burleson was as much a character as Richard G. Burleson Harelson. Flora Belle could pick those cousins! He would go on marry at least 5 different women and had between 14 and 17 children. He spent his last days in Davidson County, NC and is buried there. Richard Gomillion Grover Burleson/Harelson's father , Jonah Burleson, also spent his last days in Davidson County, living with his daugther, Talitha Burleson Story.
On April 30, 1929 , in Dillon County, South Carolina, Flora Belle Burleson would married another Richard Burleson, Richard G Burleson. This document, filed in Stanly County, would show a rather smeared Burleson beside Richards name. I wonder if this document was somehow used as ID when he entered the service, or if in S. C. there was just too much Burleson in the mix, that Richard readily welcomed the misreading of his surname and ran with it.
Burleson Harelson
It's easy to see where a transcription error or a hastily written handwriting could misconstrue the two.
Jonah Lee Burleson, who married Talitha Lambert, was the son of Adam Burleson and Sarah Poplin Burleson and the Grandson of Lee and Elizabeth Almond Burleson, so while he was not a close couisin of Flora Belle, but a distant Burleson relative all the same, he was a second cousin to Richard Wade Burleson on Wade's mother, Janie's side.
Richard G -2nd cousins- Richard Wade
son of son of Jonah Lee Burleson Janie Alice Burleson
son of daughter of Adam Burleson -brothers - Noah H. Burleson
son of son of Lee Burleson and Elizabeth Almond Burleson
I was thinking that the name changing Richard deserved his own post, and decided to try and research him a bit deeper, when I discovered that just a month ago, someone had posted an entire story about him online already, a grandchild, Sandy Lee Wilson Martin, for The Burleson Family Research Group. Richard Burleson/Harelson Mystery Explained:
And another story by Sandy Martin, this one on Flora Bell Burleson called, "The Silver Rope". The Silver Rope Part Two: Rufus Alexander Lambert descendants, The Children of Rufus and Martha Morton Lambert. 7) Fetzer J Lambert (1888-1971) Married 1909 Lillie Lowder ( 1887-1931) A) Edgar Lambert (1911-1988) B) Earnest Lambert (1913-1952) C) Henry Lambert (1916-1974) D) Ruth Lambert (1917-2001) Mrs. Ray E. Dick E) Grover Lambert (1920-2012) F) Bertha Lambert (1921-2001) Mrs Clyde W. Cagle G) Herman Lambert (1924-2000) H) Victoria Lambert (1925-2003) Mrs. William Edward McClendon I) Mildred Lambert (1930-2014) Mrs. Fred Alexander Barbee 8) Ephraim Levi Lambert (1891-1982) Married 1913 Evangelina "Evansy" Burris A) Elsie Lambert (1915-1992) Mrs. Marvin E. Hatley B) Julia Vann Lambert (1917-2004) Mrs. Martin Roy Bowers C) Pauline Lambert (1920-2017) Mrs. Marvin Thomas Bowers D) Buford Elsworth Lambert (1924-2011) *Note: Three infants girls, all born in 1913 and one dying in 1920 have been attributed to Ephraim and Evansy Lambert, their names Pearlie, Autrybell and Minnie. I have not been able to verify that, and doubt the validity, as I can't find a tombstone, or any documentation and they are all born the year the couple were married. Noting it as it could be true they had tripletts the same year as they married in January of 1913.
9) Wiley Jerome Lambert (1893-1977) Married 1913 Scrappie Lowder A) Rufus Franklin Lambert (1914-1980) B) Ruby Lee Lambert (1917-2008) Mrs. Merlin Clegg Swaringen (Wallace) C) Rosa Mae Lambert (1918-1983) Mrs. Theodore R. Smith D) Rachel Van Lambert (1919-1997) Morris E) Raymond Alexander "Dave" Lambert (1922-2009) F) Roxie Novella "Pete" Lambert (1925-2012) Mrs. Craven Coolidge Morton G) Alice Blue Lambert (1926-1952) Mrs. Leroy W. Melton H) Grace Helen Lambert (1927-1997) Mrs. Hubert J. Burleson I) Katherine Rebecca Lambert (1930-1981) Mrs. Ned Wesley Love (Mrs Bozzone) Died in West Palm Beach Florida as did sister Rachel). J) Beulah Ann Lambert (1934-2014) Mrs. Claudie Dale Mabe 10) Morning (Mornen) Ellen Lambert (1896-1967) Married 1916 Ezra Cline Almond (1895-1974) A) Jewel Lambert-Almond (1924-1992) Mres Keith Nichols Carter B) Newell Lambert-Almond (1924-1971) Note: Twins, see Theodore Roosevelt Lambert
Hettie Cornelia Lambert Almond family
11) Hettie Cornelia Lambert (1898-1973) Married 1915 Achillie "Killis" Almond A) Craven Poe Almond (1918-1955) B) Clyde Edward Almond (1920-2014) C) Edith Almond (1923-1927) died as a child D) Doris Ophelia Almond (b 1927) Mrs. Amos Cletus Burleson E) Billie Van Almond ( 1929-2008) F) Tommie Almond (b 1932) G) James Allen Almond (b1933-1934) died as a child
12) Theodore Roosevelt Lambert (1902-1984) Married 1919 Elva Burleson (1901-1924) A) Geneva Elliott Lambert (1920-2007) Mrs. George Beverly Martin, Mrs. Grady Columbus Honeycutt B) Velma Victoria Lambert (b 1922) Mrs. Roy Joseph Earnhardt C & D) Newell and Jewel Lambert Almond Twins, *See Morning Ellen Lambert Married 1925 Bertha Cumy Almond (1899-1988) E) Rufus Alton Lambert (1927-2011) F) Lucia Ricardo Lambert (1936) Mrs. Kenneth G. Small *Note: Theodore lost his young wife, Elvie, shortly after the twins, Newell and Jewell were born. He also had 4 year old Geneva and 2 year old Velma to take care of and was now left with 4 month old twins. He place the twins in the care of his older sister, Morning Ellen Lambert Almond, who was childless. She and her husband adopted the twins and raised them as their own. They were still in the same community and the twins grew up knowing who their biological parents and siblings were.
13) Mary Jane Lambert (1904-1995) Married 1916 Paul Edward Herrin (1905-1973) A) UnNamed Girl Herrin (1924-1924) B) UnNamed Boy Herrin (1924-1924) C) Norman Carroll Herrin (1925-1926) Died as an infant from Whooping Cough D) Carrie Louvene Herrin (1927-1927) Died at 2 months old E) John Clegg Herrin (1932-2005) 14) Martin Rufus Lambert (1907-2003) Married 1928 Delsie Herrin (1901-2001) A) Max Leavern Lambert (1931-1934)
Rufus Alexander Lambert had 14 children and 82 grandchildren. Many of his grandchildren were born after he died and he never knew them. While his grandchildren that lived to adulthood had fewer children than he or their parents, most had at least 1 or 2, some more. It is a safe estimate to say his Great Grandchildren are double in number to his grandchildren. While the generations of his latter children are younger, and I descend from one of his younger children, in my direct line, he is a Great, Great, Great, Great Grandfather now.
While researching the family of my Second Great-Grandfather, I discovered that his oldest child, daughter Jeanette "Jenny" C. Lambert had an untold tale to tell. None of her descendants had figured it out. Loving a mystery, I decided to give it a toss. This is what I discovered.
Jenny was born on a late summer day in the rolling hills of Western Stanly, in the Endy Community to a 27 year old farmer, Rufus Alexander Lambert, whose nickname was Mack, and his first wife, 23 year old Sarah Ann Burris.
A Mr. Freeman was taking a petition to Raleigh from the citizens of Stanly County to stop the felling of trees in Bear Creek. The petition may have held the signature of Rufus Lambert as he lived right on Little Bear Creek in Almond Township, not far from the old Canton Church, where he and many of his progeny lie waiting on the Rapture.
Mr. Pemberton was campaigning for Solicitor from Stanly County. The Rev. Mr. Strobel was holding a missionary service in the County. A "Confidence Man" had found his way through nearby Big Lick and swindled the poor county citizens out of money for an orphanage at Oxford, when found out to be nothing more that a "horse-stealer" and " house-breaker".
And Mack and Sallie were welcoming their first child, a baby girl. It was August 23, 1874. Many more children would follow. Five by the time Jenny was ten, but she had lost her little brother Albert when he was but two. And at 10 years old, Jenny would lose her mother, Sallie, herself only 35.
There were 3 little brothers, Eli 9, Frank 7 and Billy 3. Baby sister, Talitha Elizabeth, named for her grandmothers, Telitha Herrin Lambert and Elizabeth Morton Burris, was only 18 months old.
They buried her in the old Wiggins Cemetery in the Endy Community. Her tombstone lovingly engraved.
"In Memory of Sarah A Burris Wife of R. A. Lambert January 7 1850 December 9 1885 Age 35 years 1 m & 2 d by J. R Burris" Sarah's parents were buried here. She was laid to rest with her people.
The next event creates a black hole of speculation. The facts are this, Sarah's tombstone gives her date of death as December 9, 1885.
The marriage license of Rufus Alexander Lambert and his second wife, Martha Morton, gives their marriage date as December 10, 1885.
All we know about Sarah Burris Lamberts death is from her tombstone. Death Certificates would not start being filed until 30 years later. She did not die in a census year and end up in the mortality schedules. The newspapers did not print an obituary for her that I can find.
Mack Lambert marrying again a day after his wife's death is mind-boggling by todays sensibilities. However, I don't believe anything nefarious transpired and here is why.
I. W. Snuggs is the clerk who filed the marriage license and D. A. G. Hatley, Justice of the Peace, performed the ceremony at Snotherly's Store.
When Rufus A. Lambert married Sarah Ann Burris, the ceremony was performed by I. W. Snuggs.
Isaiah Wilson Snuggs served as Sheriff of Stanly County from 1889 to 1894. All in all, his career was that of a Civil Servant. If there was anything untowards involved in this hasty marriage immediately following a spouses premature death, I'm sure this well-respected man of the law would have a had a serious problem filing this marriage certificate. The same goes for the esteemed Daniel Alexander Graham Hatley who performed the ceremony.
As for the Snotherly's Store mentioned as the place that the ceremony took place, it was locted in Plyler, a community which lies basically along where the Austin Road, which is one of Stanly Countys' oldest surving roads, crosses the Concord Road, formerly the Morganton Road, currently known as Highway 73.
The 1880 census only showed one Snotherly family in Stanly County, that of William Snotherly, in Harris Township, which is up about New London, Stanly County. It is no doubt this Snotherly, along with his sons, who had established this store in Plyler by 1885.
While there may be some family stories out there somewhere that better explains the reason Rufus married Martha before Sarah's body was cold in the ground, but I have not yet heard it. If any Lambert, Burris or Morton descendants have heard it, please leave a comment. This is a mystery just waiting in the stands to be solved.
My own speculation leads back to the Old Wiggins Cemetery where Sarah was buried "among her people". Those people, meaning the Morton family.
There is only one known Wiggins buried in that cemetery, and that is Hardy Wiggins who passed in the far off year of 1837. There are likey many more, their bodies interred, but the stones marking their graves lost to history. Wiggins seems to me like the Ozzier family. They occupied this land for decades, and while a few married in to what became the base Stanly County stock of that area, Burris, Almond, Harwood, Hatley, Burleson, Lambert, Whitley, Herrin, Efird, Morton and so forth, the rest migrated west and away.
Tombstone of Elizabeth Morton Burris
To me, this seems more like a Morton Cemetery. Alot of Mortons buried here and people who married into the Mortons and their Morton descended children, like Sarah and her parents, Solomon Burris and Elizabeth Morton Burris.
Yes, Sarah Burris Lamberts parents are buried her, but so are her grandparents, Joseph Calvin Morton and Margaret "Peggy" Hatley Morton. Rufus Lamberts second wife was Martha M. Morton. While she was born in Tennesee and her mother, Morning Ellen Saunders, brought in fresh blood, being born in Alabama and raised in Tennessee, her father, Jesse Alexander Morton, was from Stanly County. Jesse was the son of .....Joseph Calvin Morton and Margaret "Peggy" Hatley Morton. Jesse was Elizabeth Morton Burris's younger brother, thus making Rufus Lamberts two wives first cousins.
Elizabeth Morton Burris passed away in 1895. Her father, Joseph Calvin Morton passed away in October of 1889. Her mother, Peggy Hatley Morton passed away in May of 1889. That means, that when Sarah Burris Lambert died in 1885, her Morton mother and her Morton Grandparents were all still alive.
Old Slate Tombstone of Joseph Calvin Morton
1885 was 20 years after the Civil War. Martha Morton was 20 years old. There was not the dearth of marriageable men like there was immediately following the war, when this county, indeed the entire South, found itself a land of widows and orphans, with a few scattereed old men and young boys and crippled leftovers of soldiers remaining. No, an entire generation of young men had grown up, with Martha, in those two decades. Still, the South was bleeding out and the blood was flowing Westward. I believe it was the Morton family, possibly Elizabeth herself, who proposed that her newly widowed Son-in-law marry one of her nieces to help take care of those 5 young motherless children. It was a much different era, a vastly different pool of thought and sensibilities, than we experience in 2018.
For whatever the circumstances, married they were and Jenny was spared from growing up overnight at 10 and becoming the woman of the house. She had a cousin only 10 years her elder for that. Despite this fact, Jenny seems have become the Jana Duggar of her family.
Jana, of "19 Kids and Counting" and "Counting On"fame, is the oldest daughter of the reknowned Duggar family, a large Christian family of the 'quiverful' movement who do not practice birth control, but instead, welcome with open arms every child God will give them, and he has given them plenty, 19 living. A twentieth passed away. Being the oldest daughter, with an older and twin brother, Jana, a very beautiful young woman, has shouldered her share of childcare for not only her younger siblings, but now, also her nieces and nephews. While all of her younger sisters, and now a few brothers, over the age of 18, are marrying and becoming parents, Jana, at 28, remains single and the public sympathizes, calling her "Cinderella Duggar". Jenny was the Cinderella Lambert.
In the 1900 census, Jenny, seen here as "Genetta", is 26, single and still living at home. All the rest of mothers children, with the exception of brother John Franklin, but including her baby sister, Talitha, are already married and on their own.
Ten years later, Jeanette is now 36, an old maid by Victorian standards, languishing in her fathers' household, while even the oldest of her father's second family, Fetzer, yet livng at home, has married and his bride Lillie lives with them. Also, two grandchildren, Johnie and Talitha and Martha's mother Morning. I know Talitha Burleson was the daughter of Talitha Lambert, who died young. I still haven't solved the mystery of who little Johnie Lambert was. I have speculated that he was possibly the firstborn of Fetzer and Lillie, and passed away before 1920, but I have not found a tombstone for him, and many other of the Lambert infants who were lost during this time are well-marked at Canton Church, or other nearby cemeteries. Another idea was that possibly he was Jenny's child, and later went by a different surname, that of his father. This needs much further research before any conclusions can be made.
The next decade became Jenny's turn. The next year, on March 24, 1911, Jenny married William J Davis at Allen Motley's home in Albemarle Township. The service was performed by Rev. M. A. Dry and witnessed by R. A. Holt, W. D. Lowder and A. L. McDaniel.
But Jenny's happiness was short-lived. On October 24, 1913, William J. Davis passed away, after only 2 and a half years of marriage, leaving Jenny a greiving widow. But that is not all, probably unbeknowst to her at the time, the 39 year old Jenny was expecting.
Eight months later, a son arrived, on June 9, 1914. The widowed Jenny named his William Alexander Davis. William for his father and Alexander for his Grandfather, Rufus Alexander Lambert. His arrival was bittersweet. She was at last a mother, but her son would never know his father.
The exact date of William J. Davis's death was apparently heretofore unknown to Jenny's descendants. And I will get to that in a minute. All they know is that he had passed away before Jenny married again, this time to a distant Burris cousin, Martin Luther Burris, a widower, who was 59 to her 44. Martin was the son of Gideon Greene Burris and wife Obedience Hathcock Burris. His first wife was a Sarah Elizabeth Burgess by whom he had 11 children. He was a brother to David T. Burris whose daughter Rowena would become the bride of Jenny's oldest brother Elias.
The couple married on August 21, 1917 at the home of Rev. J. E. Williams in Almond Township. The bride was listed as Jennie Davis, daughter of R. A. Lambert, living and S. A. Lambert, deceased. Witnesses were W. M. Harkey, Ada Williams and Margaret Morton.
THE WIDOW by Anders Zorn
Jenny's second marriage was shorter than her first. Martin L. Lambert died on October 9, 1918 of pneumonia. They had been married for 1 years and 2 months.
The 1920 census would find Jenny, now a Burris, living back with her father, this time with her 5 year old son in tow.
Jenny would lose her father the very next year, in 1921. The census had already told us she was working in the Cotton Mills, so she had a means of support. By 1930, Jenny was boarding with a friend about her own age, Lou Burleson.
Her son William, now 15, was also working and not living with his mother, but working as Farm Labor with a young couple just starting out, Sylvester and Effie Poplin Huneycutt.
William, himself, would marry before the next census, to Ruth Inez Helms. The 1940 census would find Jenny living with her son and Ruth, and their two little boys Kenneth Laverne and Jimmy Rowland Davis.
They were living on Canton Road, in Almond Township, where Jennie had spent her whole life, living next to her sister Morning, and brother Theodore and very close to her sister Hettie.
Jennie would remain in the household of her son until her death on February 19, 1958. She was 83 years old. Her Death Certificate gives her name as "Jennie Lambert Burris" and her husband as Martin Burris, as he was her most recent. Her tombstone, no doubt erected by her only son, William, gives her name as Jennie L. Davis, no doubt to match his own. She was a Davis but a few short years, and a Lambert most of her life.
But this post in titled "Jenny and Delilah", not just Jenny, and Jenny was no mystery. The mystery, it seems, to the descendants of Jenette C. Lambert Davis Burris, was in her first husband, William J. Davis. Really, all they had to go on was their marriage certificate. I found a handful of family trees with his name listed in them, with his wife and son and no mother, but a mysterious father. Some guy they labeled "Hack". But they had gotten no further. This is the mystery I decided to take on. So I started with that single document, that mysterious marriage license, to decode, who was William J. Davis and from whence did he come?
It didn't take me long.
R. A. Holt applied for the license, perhaps a friend of the couple who was more edcated and experienced at filling out forms than William. Luckily, I've been reading old documents and old handwriting so long, I'm a fairly apt transcriptionist. The descendants of William and Jenny had his father as "Hack Davis" and no mother.
But if you look at the whole document and forgive Mr. Holt, and perhaps a very nervous William, for losing themselves in the blocks, the document was not so hard to decipher. William J Davis was 51 years old and was said to live in Albemarle. His father was -this awkward scribble in a very different handwriting - that everyone had decided was "Hack" Davis and where his mother's name was supposed to be it said " Bara plaph CV". But it wasn't Hack, I believe instead it was "Jake" and I will explain why shortly. And where the mother's name was supposed to go, they instead had written "Randolph County" or"Randolph Cy", which is where William Davis was from.
Now, on Jenny's part, underneath where it gives her father as Rufus Lambert and her mother as Mary Ann Lambert (which is wrong, her mother was Sarah Ann), is the spot where it says, the father -and handwritten is the word "living" and the mother - handwritten word "dead" resident of -handwritten "Almond Township". Under Williams part, it appears the shaky handwriting that wrote "Hack" for father's name has written "living" and beside the word mother, it does NOT say deceased, it says "Delilah" and where the residence is supposed to be is a check, which I take as a carry down of the word "Randolph".
So first, the document claims William was living in Albemarle. 1910 was the closest census record to their 1913 wedding. Was William living in Albemarle? He most definately was, and he was not alone.
Will J Davis, Widowed, aged about 50, was living on the Wiscassett Mill Hill and working as a Sweeper at the Cotton Mill. He wasn't able to read or write (not very well in any case) and was out of work 4 weeks that year. He was living with his 4 children, Debbie 18, Wiley 15, Liza 12, and Paul 10. Knowing Jenny had worked in the Cotton Mills, at least for part of her life, it made sense that this was were she met him, and the work was most likely what brought him from Randolph County to Albemarle.
A postcard showing the old Wiscassett (foreground) and Efird Mills. Courtesy of the Stanly County Museum.
The next step was to find his parents, and I did, well, at least one of them for sure, and his grandparents and his great-grandparents, and his great-great grandparents.
The Randolph County, NC Davis family that William J Davis hailed from were Quakers. I have a bit of info on these Randolph County Davis's because they had a couple of Job Davis's in their midst, a particular one born in 1825, and Job Davis is my brickwall ancestor that I named this blog for.
William's Great Great Grandfather Joseph Davis was related to this 1825 Job. The Randolph Quaker Davis's had drifted into Randolph from Guilford and I'm onl going to touch base on them. Suffice to say they kept good records and tried to avoid conflict. Joseph had a son named Joseph and Joseph Jr. had a son named James and James had a daughter named Delilah.
Delilah was not a good Quaker.
Clip from Gunsmoke "The Quaker Girl" 1966
I first found Delilah in the 1850 census, of course, as this is the first one that names more than the head of household.
Oddly, little Delilah, only 11, is counted in the household of her next door neighbors, the Giles family. In the listing, right up above the Giles is the household of James and Rebecca Davis. They were Delilah's parents.
It seems the Giles family, along with James Davis, and a free black woman named Sally Cousins with her 7 children, all labeled as Mulatto, were laborers on the farm of a man named Absolom Myers. It could be that the day the census taker came through, Delilah was just over at the neighbors playing with their children, perhaps with their 12 year old daughter Eleanor. You see, the odd thing about this census reading of the Giles family, is that William Giles is also recorded as black and free, 25 years before the Civil War. His wife Mary and daugther Eleanor are listed as Mulatto, while the younter 4 children and boarders Delila Winkler, 20 and Hudson Foreman 45, are recorded as black. Delilah Davis is the only white person in the household. But that is not the only thing different about Delilah.
By 1860, Delilah is counted back in the household with her parents. They are living next to Joseph ,63, and Polly Davis. Those are her grandparents. The Giles and Cousin families are gone. Below the James Davis family is listed a Martha Davis, 25, with a two month old male named "Goldlan". I'm not sure of her connection. Other neighbors are a young Daniel Boone with a wife named Melinda. No, not that Daniel Boone, but possibly a grand-nephew. There's also a James and Eliza Floyd and a Harrison Hicks, who was also a neighbor in 1850, but living with his father at that time, Bishop Hicks. Harrison is listed as mine labor and is 22, with a 21 year old wife, Sarah, and a 1 year old daughter, Susan.
James Davis, Delilah's father, is a shoemaker now. Besides Delilah, he and Rebecca have two other children, a son Henry and a daughter Cassandra. And there is a one year old, Jacob. That's our mysterious William Jacob Davis, who married Jenny Lambert. He was born on April 9, 1859, and Delilah was his mother.
Now, the history of Randolph County in the Civil War is a complicated one. They are said to have been the predominant religious group in the county at that time and to have participated in the Underground Railroad. By 1870, Delilah's father James and brother Henry have disappeared. They did not fight in the war.
Delilah is alone now. She did not only have one son, but now she has 3. William Jacob is 12, James Madison is 8, and Henry Harrison is 5.
But she is in good company. All around her are single young women with their children. There's a 28 year old Rachel Kindley with her 3 children. There's 38 year old Malinda Boone with her 3 children. Remember Daniel Boone from 1860? He is no more. Neither is James Floyd, but his wife, 35 year old Elizabeth remains in the area with her 5 children. She's next to 35 year old Margaret Smith and her 5 children. Then ther is Delilah Kindley, 36, and her 3 children. Delilah was a really popular name in this area.
Widows and orphans everywhere, but one guy that was still alive and still in Tabernacle was Henry Harrison Hicks, who was up to 5 children now, and his father Bishop still living next to him.
The area of Randolph County where they all lived was called "Tabernacle". It's a township west of Asheboro and borders Davidson County. The Uwharrie River runs through it and its very hilly. There's not a town in it. It's a simply beautiful and sparsely populated area.
1880 finds Delilah still in Tabernacle. Her boys are now teens and all working as farm labor. I am assuming on their own farm. The only member of her family, besides her boys, who now seem to be alive is her grandmother, Mary "Polly" Davis. She's nearby, living with a granddaughter, Susan.
This is Delilah's last census. She doesn't make it to 62, or the 1900 census, which is the next available one. In 1880, Delilah is still single. She never married. The Davis name that was passed down to her sons was her own surname. I have yet to find her burial place
While Delilah didn't make the 1880 census, her sons did. I have not yet discovered where, or exactly when, Delilah was buried. The most likely places are at the Tabernacle Church cemetery, where he youngest son, Henry Harrison Davis, and his wife are buried, as it is near where she lived. Other options may be a Quaker cemetery somewhere near Sophia. Being a single woman, and no doubt a pauper, she may have been interred without a permanent marker, unless one of her sons bought her one later.
Vacant land near Franklinville
Her middle son, James Monroe Davis, and his wife, Martha Jane Leonard, were married on May 11, 1898 in Davidson County, and began housekeeping in the Silver Hill district of Davidson County, just west of the area he grew up in, and then moved to the town of Franklinville, where he farmed, for the remainder of his days. Franklinville is a small town that lies just north of Ramseur in Randolph County. It was established in the mid 1800's along Deep River and began as a mill village of the Franklinville Manufacturing Company, that was established in 1838.
There, James raised a family of 10 children: Fannie Alice, Ada L., Robert Jefferson, James Roy, Mamie L., Fred, Viola, Jenny, G. H. (George Henry), and Lee (whose whole name, oddly, was Henry Lee or Lee Henry).
Deep River at Franklinville
James Monroe Davis passed away on February 9, 1942. He and Martha Jane, who preceded him in death by 7 years, are buried at Gray's Chapel, near Franklinville. His death certificate gives his birthplace as Davidson County, NC and his mother's name as Delila Davis. Under father is written "Not Known." He was 82 years, 9 months and 3 days old. He was the longest-lived of Delila's sons.
Youngest son, Henry Harrison Davis followed his brother James to Franklinville and they were living side by side in the 1920 census.
Henry married Elizabeth "Bettie" Richardson on January 18, 1891 in Randolph County. His brother J. M. Davis was one of the witnesses. Henry Harrison Davis and his wife Bettie started out housekeeping in Tabernacle Township, where he grew up and where he is buried. The 1900 census states that he owned the property. I wonder if he inherited this land from his mother, and previously, from his grandfather, James. By 1910, however, he had purchased land in Franklinville and he owned that property to. He farmed there until his death at the age of 54, of Bright's disease on April 5, 1921.
His death certificate also lists Delila Davis and his mother and his father as Unknown. His brother, James was the informant.
Henry and Bettie raised a family of 7 children: Addie Bessie, Jane C., Robert Albert, Hattie E., James Lone, Julia Corrina, and Lewis Henry.
On neither sons documents, anywhere, does it list a father, or even hint at it. Only the marriage license of William and Jenny lists the nervously scribbled "Hack". Going back to the document, I noticed that there are "X's" beside where William's father and mother's names, their life status, and residence was supposed to go. The handwriting above that, his name and residence, etc., are in a beautiful, legiblie script. The handwriting beside the X's is shaky and barely, if at all, legible.
I believe the shaky handwriting to be Williams, possibly. It would be easy to assume he had been too embarrassed to tell his new bride he had no father. It was a shame in those days. Kind of like admitting to being a conservative, or a child molester in 2018. Perhaps he could have been told as a boy that he was named for his father. He went by his middle name, Jacob as a child. Perhaps the shaky "Hack" was actually "Jake", as it appears to me. Maybe his father was named Jacob, but he was not a Davis.
The meaning of the name, Delilah, is "Delight, languishing, amourous, temptress". Think of Sampson's wife, Delilah, from where most people got it. It is of Hebrew origin, from the word that means "to flirt". Why the devout Quakers would chose to name their daughters after the "bad girls of the Bible", I do not know, but there were several Delilah's, Jezebel's and Bathsheba's aka "Bashie"'s in those days. As I had previously seen, Delilah had its trendy season in old Randolph.
Many women who had children out of wedlock still named them for their fathers or their father's family, albeit with a different suraname. One Great Grandfather of mine was born when his mother, a Civil War orphan, was born fatherless when she was 15 years old. His name was James Robert Hudson. His mother later married and had a legitimate family. While his own descendants were never privy to who his father was, I discovered that his mothers legitimate descendants knew, and did not have a problem owning up to it. Turns out his father's name was James Robert Thompson. He carried the name of his father all along.
So, was there any possible "Jacob's" around young Delilah who could have fathered William Jacob?
Well, actually, there was one. Below James Davis, Delilah's father, was Martha,(maybe another daughter or daughter-in-law?), then Henry Harrison Hicks, whom I've mentioned, and then there is the household of Jacob W. Hunt, age 70, with Eliza, 40 and Robert 4. Could this elderly Jacob, who was also a Quaker and who had a much younger wife already and had fathered a son, Robert, in the not too distant past, could HE be the mysterious "Jake"? Well, it was certainly possible. I've seen more unusual relationships in the 19th century. He didn't actually marry Eliza until 1866, but he didn't make it to 1870. His son Robert remained in Tabernacle and eventually even married a Davis.
Second son James, was likely named for his grandfather, James Davis. Then there was youngest son, Henry Harrison Davis. Could it be more than coincidence that Delilah's neighbor of a comparable age for her entire life was Henry Harrison Hicks? This is all just speculation. It could have been that H. H Davis was indeed named for H. H. Hicks, but that Mr. Hicks was just a kindly neighbor that helped poor single Delilah with her crops and things to help her and her boys survive, and was such a good friend she named her youngest in his honor. Could be.
The facts in all of this is that I've not found any documentation of a father for any of Delilah's three sons. It all states that she was single and their father, or fathers, were unknown.
But, back to William Jacob Davis. He did exist and was the father of William Alexander Davis. And he had had a whole life before he met Jenny.
We last saw him at age 18, as William J Davis, in his mother's house in Tabernacle, with his mother and his younger brothers.
On May 15, 1887, at the age of 28, he married Bettie Young Shaw. Bettie was the daughter of Feilden Kendall Shaw (may have supposed to have been "Fielding" and was hillbillized to Feilden) and Lucinda Sanders Shaw. Bettie grew up in the New Hope area of Randolph County.
William and Bettie had 4 children:
Deborah A. "Debbie" Davis (1892-1911) Wiley Clayton Davis ( 1894-1933) Eliza D. Davis (1897-1893) Henry Paul Davis (1900-1966)
In 1900, the young family is living in New Hope, near the Shaws, renting and farming. Very shortly after this census was taken, on April 7, 1910, tragedy strikes and William's wife Bettie passes away.
She is buried at Eleazer United Methodist Church near Asheboro. By 1910, as I have previously shown, William J. took his 4 children and moved to Albemarle to work in the Wiscassett Cotton Mill.
His oldest daughter Debbie, died tragically at age 18 on January 21, 1911. She died in Albemarle, but is also buried with her mother at Eleazer.
Two months after his daughter's death, William marries Jenny Lambert. He still has 3 young children. They are married 2 and a half years when William dies on October 24, 1913.
He is buried at Eleazer with his first wife and daughter. He probably never knew that Jenny was expecting. His tombstone reads "God's finger touched him and he slept". William was 54.
We've already seen that Jenny and her little boy were living with her father in 1920. But what about William's older children. Did little William ever know that he had siblings?
Wiley Clayton Davis, his oldest son, returns to Randolph County at some point, marries Lilly Johnson in 1923 and becomes the father of a daughter, Leona in 1925. He served in WWI and dies in 1933, at the age of 38, of Addison's disease. He is also buried at Eleazer.
Eliza Delilah "Lila" Davis, third child and second daughter, decided to stay in Albemarle and work at Wiscassett Mills.
She boarded with a Thompson family, co-workers, likely a friend of their daughters Ada and Cora.
While at the mill, Lila met a boy from Montgomery County, Gurley William Hardister, son of Lindsey Hardister and Betty Talbert of Ophir. They went to Randolph County, among her mother's people, to marry. The wedding took place on September 21, 1921. In the next few years, 2 children would arrive, a boy and a girl. Herbert was first in 1924 and his sister Opal, just a little while later in 1926.
By 1942 the couple had moved to Troy, in Montgomery County, where they would remain. Gurney's 1942 draft card gives the information. Gurney died on April 30, 1948, of a brain tumour. He was 46. Lila buried him at Eleazar, with her family. Eliza outlived her husband by 35 years. She probably lived in Troy with her son Herbert Paul Hardister and his wife Beatrice Bruton Hardister. She died on February 28, 1983 and is also buried at Eleazer. Her two children were:
Herbert Paul Hardister b 12 Jun 1923 Ophir, Montgomery County d 17 March 1997 Pinehurst, Moore County. Married Beatrice Bruton. Buried at Eleazer in Randolph County with the rest of the family.
Opal May Hardister b 30 May 1925 Ophir, Montgomery County d 14 Jun 2014 Cornelius, Mecklenburg County. Married Willard W. Norbert. Buried Bethel Presbyterian Church, Mecklenburg.
William Jacob Davis's youngest son by his first wife was Henry Paul, born on June 24, 1900. After his father's death, Henry returned to Randolph County and married Nancy Louella Johnson on August 19, 1922. She was the daughter of Harmon Lee Johnson and wife, Nancy Louella Martin of the Little River Community in Montgomery County.
Henry Paul and his wife settled in Thomasville in Davidson County, North Carolina and raised their family there. They had 3 children, Josephine Young Davis, Edna and William Stanton Davis.
The Thomasville Big Chari
Paul died on March 10, 1966 and is buried at Holly Hill Memorial Park in Thomasville.
I can't say if the older half-siblings of William Alexander Davis knew of his existence or not. I believe that they did. If, and how often they kept up with him, I'm not sure. But from what I can see, the modern descendants of both families are unaware of the connection. William does not show up in their descendants trees as a sibling, nor do they show up in his.
One hopeful, but inaccurate Davis has Delilah as a McLain and married to a "Smith Davis" who took off to Missouri. If she was a Davis by marriage and not by birth, the marriage occured before she was 11 years old and many many years before any of her sons were born.
The simple truth, and the cause of the brickwall, on both sides, is that Delila Davis was a single woman who never married. She had 3 sons. As of yet, their father or fathers have not been identified and possibly never will. The reason no one ever got beyond the mysterious Hack Davis is because there never was a Hack Davis.
Many a brickwall occurs because of such relationships. Descendants trying to find a husband for a widow who never married. Oddly, some people can't contrive that their ancestors were, well human. They were just like us. They were not saints. They were human beings. They lived, they breathed, they worked, they prayed, they bled, they died, they loved, they made mistakes, they made sacrifices. They were people.
I hope I have left enough information in here that the different lines of William Jacob Davis's, and his brothers descendants as well, can find each other and at least find their Quaker Davis roots.
While looking for the death certificate of one of my Lambert ancestors, which I did not find, I came across an unusual death certificate for a young woman named Jessie Bell Whitley. She had not one, but two death certificates, and an unusual note written across them by P. J. Huneycutt, Undertaker.
"Dr D. P. Whitley and T. C. Spludes both attended @ a s c and neither one will sign certificate" P J Huneycutt Undertaker She was buried at Pleasant Grove on February 13, 1919, a cemetery filled with Burris family members, her parents names being given as Ellis Burris, born in Stanly County and Juna Burris, born in Albemarle. The informant's name was given only as "Whitley". Could this have been her husband? The Certificate said she was a white female, only 26 years old, and a Housekeeper by trade, but it did not having anything in the box labeled "Single, Married, Widowed or Divorced". Her surname was Whitley, however, and her parents names were Burris, so it can be easily assumed that she was born a Burris and married a Whitley.
I discovered that "Jessie Bell" was actually Jezebell. She was indeed the oldest daughter of Ellis Burris and Junie Cloelia Burris. She was a very Burrisy Burris. Her father Ellis was the son of Davdison Burris and wife Mary Coley. Junie was the daughter of Zachary Ephraim Burris and Margaret Victoria.........................Burris. So here I go with another Burris family tree.
Ellis married Junie
son of daughter of daughter of
Davidson Burris Zachary E. Burris Margaret V Burris
son of son of daughter of
David Wright Burris David Green Burris James Allen Burris and and and Sarah Whitley Sarah Vanderburg Lucy Hinson
son of son of son of
JC Burris Solomon Burris Jr. Joshua Christian Burris and and and Sarah Springer Sarah Morgan Sarah Springer
Joshua Christian Burris and Solomon Burris were brothers, both sons of Solomon Burris, the Revolutionary War Solider and his wife Judith Taylor. I always put that "Revolutionary" in there to keep him from being confused with his many namesakes.
This chart shows that James Allen Burris, Margarets father and David Wright Burris, Davidson's father, were brothers and that David Green Burris was their first cousin. So Davidson Burris and Margaret V. Burris were first cousins and Margaret and her husband Zachary were second cousins. With Davidson being a first cousin of Margaret and a second cousin of her husband Zachary. So the relationship of Ellis and his wife Junie was a combination second and third cousin, with enough shared dna to make them first cousins.
Davidson Burris and wife Mary Catherine Coley Burris
PJ Huneycutt, who had written the puzzling statement was a man who wore many hats. First, he was a coroner for the county.
And from the same issue of The Enterprise, he was also an undertaker.
He sold appliances.
He opened his business in 1905. This article gives a great deal of information about where he located his business and where other businesses in early Albemarle were locate.
Philas Jerome Huneycutt was a busy man. But what would cause him to write such a statement on a young woman's death certificate? And why would two physicians refuse to sign it?
I determined that Jezebel was a very rooted member of the Burris family tree, but where did her married name "Whitley" come from?
Temple Irenius Whitley II
The below page from the old Whitley Family Bible shows that on the 6th line down, Temple Whitley married Jezabelle Burris on December 5, 1910.
It also shows on the 11th line that he married Rozilla Burris in 1919 and on the 12th line that he married Bedie Hinson in 1929. This guy kept the JOP's in business.
The 1910 census was taken before Jezebell's December wedding. She is still at home with her parents and the oldest of 7 children.
So, who was this Mr. Whitley she married in December?
Temple Irenus Whitley was born on April 17, 1893. He was the son of Israel Irenus Whitley and Oma Jane "Omie" Morton. If anyone familiar with the history of Stanly County, a little, and recoginizes the name of Temple Whitley, they might think, "That's not right, he lived far before then", then they are a little bit right, but also quite a bit wrong. There was more that one Temple Irenus Whitley. The first one, born in 1820, was a Civil War soldier and died in 1865. He was the father of Israel Irenus Whitley, so Temple II was named for his grandfather.
Isreal and Omie Whitley
Temple and Jezebel both grew up in the community of Big Lick, near the present town of Oakboro, which today encompasses it. They grew up in a community full of Whitley's, Burris's, Barbee's, Tuckers, Coley's, Hartsells, Efirds and Hinsons. They were not next door neighbors, but the families appear to be pretty close in the census records. They were the same age, born the same year, and probably went to the same little country "Common School".
Big Lick School 1903 from the Stanly County Musuem Collection
The above school picture is from the Big Lick School Class of 1903. The only identified people were teachers Mr. Stallings and Professor C. J. Black, sitting in the front and Miss Florence Osborne, standing at the back, right, behind a row of girls. Both Temple and Jezebel would have been 10 years old at this time and this would have been the school that they attended, with their siblings. The chance that they are in this photo are very good.
Townships of Stanly County
People outside of Stanly County, upon hearing the mention of some of our more colorful community names, like Big Lick, Frog Pond, Red Cross, or Finger, find them quite humorous. But there's an interesting story behind each one. Wikipedia gives the following explanation for the naming of Big Lick. It's accurate and as good as any explanation I could devise.
Early settlers observed deer trails that all went to the same destination. When they investigated, they found that deer licked the ground. It turned out there were several salt licks in the area, but this was the big one and was referred to as "Big Lick". A store became a place to meet, and the community had a post office by 1860. The town, officially named Big Lick, was built on land from Jesse and Elizabeth Morton.[2] 2) Morgan, Fred (January 26, 1961). "Big Lick Was Thriving Community About 1900". Stanly News and Press.
Temple Irenius Whitley's first census was the 1900 one, just like Jezebel's. He was number 8 of 12 children and was attending school. Most likely the picture Big Lick School in the above picture, as the reknowned (in its day) Oakboro/Big Lick Academy, would not be built until 1916.
In 1910, the record told us that the family lived on the Albemarle Road and most of the older children had already started their own families and households. Temple was 16 years old.
On December 5 of that same year, after he had turned 17, he married Jezebel Burris, also 17. It was what was known as a "shotgun wedding." Being the same age and having grown up in the same area, however, the union was no doubt one of teenage sweethearts.
Two children would be born to the young couple. Just 5 months later, on May 15, 1911, a son James D. Whitley was born, but sadly died as an infant on November 5, 1912. He was only 18 months old.
Name:
James D Whitley
Birth Date:
15 May 1911
Birth Place:
Stanly County, North Carolina, United States of America
Death Date:
5 Nov 1912
Death Place:
Stanly County, North Carolina, United States of America
Cemetery:
Pleasant Grove Baptist Church Cemetery
Burial or Cremation Place:
Oakboro, Stanly County, North Carolina, United States of America
A daughter, Truly Odessa Whitley, would be born on May 9, 1915 in the spring, three years after her brother's death. Truly would marry back in to the Burris family, when she would become the bride of Claude Isaac Burris at age 15. Truly would have two sons and two daughters and a set of twins that died as infants and remain in Big Lick all of her life, a long one, when she would pass in 2002 at the age of 86. Her descendant are Jezebel's only descendants.
And then, we having the passing of Jezebel, at the age of 25 on February 12, 1919. Her little girl, Truly, was only 4 years old.
Tombstone of Jezebel Whitley
Temple grieved for a full 2 months. Then he married her sister.
Rozilla was the second child of Ellis and Junie Burris. She was 21.
The 1920 census shows that Temple and Rozilla wasted no time expanding their family. Their first daughter, Virginia, was already born. They also had moved to Furr, which was around the current town of Locust.
Virginia Belle Whitley, the incorrectly and oddly transcribed "Nirjinat" above, was born on February 7, 1919. Brakes.......
That can't be right. Check it out.
Date of Jezebel's death: February 6, 1919
Date of Rozilla's marriage: April 12, 1919
Date of Virginia's birth: February 7, 1919
Virginia, who has been attributed to Rozilla in family trees, was born the day after Jezebel's death. Wait a minute here. This does not add up. Strange things happened in old Stanly, but I just don't see Temple have a child with his wife's sister that was born the day after his wife died.
Here is what I believe happened. Somewhere on the night of the 6th, morning of the 7th, Jezebel was in labor with her third child. She most likely had a terrible case of influenza at the same time. The infant, Virginia, was born, taken safely away to a relative, or neighbor to nurse. The ailing Jezebel passed away, either of influenze, or childbirth, or a combination of both. Two attending physcians could not save her nor agree on the cause of death. Following are the reasons for my theory.
Osborne Hardware Store in Big Lick aka Big Lick Academy
Temple Whitley began selling his property to raise money. He wasn't arrested for anything, so it wasn't bail money. It was likely a combination of reasons; to relocate, to afford a funeral, to afford a wedding. Perhaps Big Lick had become a place of sickness and tragedy. I've seen this in other towns, where a plaque had gone through, esecially the ones built along waterways, like thypoid, and the surviving citizens would remove to a healthier area.
Surprisingly her funeral, which was already planned for 3 months past her death, was being delayed, waiting on the minister to arrive. By this time, Temple had already married her sister. A closer look at Temple and Rozilla's marriage license shows that Temple applied for the license himself, giving his address as Oakboro and Rozilla's address as Albemarle. The wedding was held at the Ellis Burris residence, his father-in-law. It was performed by R. H. James, a "Baptist Minister" and was witnessed by S. G. Smith and Myrtle Tucker.
I wonder why Rev. James could not also officiate at the funeral? And why they had to wait of Rev. C. J. Black? The next article kind of clears things up a little bit in many aspects.
First, it reports that Jezebel died on the 9th, not the 6th of February. Somewhere, somehow, the date is wrong. Either in the article or either on her tombstone. It is most likely that Jezebel died with a day or two after the birth of Virginia, which was no doubt her daughter, not her niece. Rozilla took over the raising of her niece, but was not the biological mother of her. The above article explains that members of her family were all suffering from influenza, which killed alot of people in this area between 1913 and 1920.
Months after the funeral and the wedding, Temple even sold his car.
Secondly, Temple went on about his business, living a normal, if not tragic life. By 1930, he had been widowed once again. In 1928, Temple found himself another monument to buy, as Rozillia passed away on
Seymore Temple Whitley was born on June 23, 1922. He would died at age 18 on July 12, 1940
His sister Junie Pauline Whitley was born on May 6, 1926. She would marry Carl Gray Hester in Winston-Salem, Forsyth County, NC in 1959 and would pass away in 2004 at the age of 78.
Temple would marry a third time. This time, he did not chose a Burris sister, but that does not mean she was not a member of the Burris family. On February 12, 1929, one year after Rozilla's death, a respectful period of mourning, he would marry Bedie Larcenis Hinson, age 19.
Bedie was the daughter of George Elias Hinson and his wife......Obedience Catherine "Beadie" Burris Hinson (b 1964 - d 1946) . But wait, George E. Hinson was the son of Daniel Columbus Hinson and .......Obedience "Beadie" Burris (1834-1939). Obedience Catherine Burris was the daughter of Gideon Greene Burris and Obedience Hathcock Burris (whose mother was also a Burris), who is mentioned above in the family tree of Jezebel and Rozillia. I feel another Burris family tree coming on.
Beadie Larcenia Hinson
daughter of
George E. Hinson married Obedience Catherine Burris son of daughter of
Obedience Burris Gideon Greene Burris and Obedience Hathcock and Daniel C. Hinson daughter of son of daughter of
David Wright Burris Solomon Burris Jr. Nancy Ann Burris & Sarah Whitley & Sarah Morgan & Benjamin Hathcock
son of son of daughter of Joshua C. Burris Solomon Burris Sr. Solomon Burris Sr. & Sarah Springer & Judith Taylor & Judith Taylor
son of Solomon Burris Sr & Judith Taylor.
As you can see, Beadie Hinson was still very much a Burris and related to Jezebel and Rozilla on several levels.
Beadie and Temple would have 3 children together:
1931 Tommy Keith 1933 Willie Truett 1937 Edna W.
Temple Irenius Whitley died on January 24, 1964 in Albemarle, at the age of 70. His third wife, Beadie Larcenis Hinson Whitley outlived him by 3 decades and passed away in Cabarrus County on September 20, 1993 at the age of 84.
Oddly, neither Rozilla Burris Whitley or her son, Seymour T. Whitley, had death certificates that can be located in Stanly or Cabarrus Counties. Seymour did warrant an Obituary in the Stanly News and Press. The copy was too faint to copy well, but the following is from the July 16, 1940 issue.
"Seymour Whitley Rites Conducted 18-Year-Old Oakboro Youth Dies After Appendix Operation Funeral Services for Seymour Whitley, son of Temple Whitley and the late Mrs. Whitley of Oakboro Rt 1 were conducted Sunday afternoon at 2:30 pm at Pleasant Grove Baptist Church of which he was a member, by Pastor C. C. Huneycutt. Internment followed at the church cemetery. Young Whitley died Friday at 4:40 at a local hospital from complications arising from out of an operation for appendicitis performed some time ago. Active in the farming and social scene of his community, young Whitley was popular and energetic and his demise cut short a promising career. He was a member of the Oakboro 4H Club. He is survived by his father, two sisters, Pauline and Edna Whitley of the home, two half-sisters, Mrs. Claude Burris of Oakbor and Mrs. Carlie Eudy of Albemarle, and two half-brothers, Travis and Truett Whitley of Oakboro." His obituary corroborates my theory that Virginia was the child of Jezebel, not Rozillia, as "Mrs. Carlie Eudy" was his half-sister and not his whole sister.
While the family itself left few clues, what about the doctors who refused to sign the Death Certificate?
The first name mentioned, Dr. D. P. Whitley, was easily read. The other name, well the letters just did not fit together into a name I had ever heard of, and definately not one I had ever seen in Stanly County. And I was right. But when I searched for it as it appeared on the death certificate, I found it easily, and he was not from Stanly County.
Tellable , yes, Tellable Clyde Sprude was born in Marinette Wisconsin in 1885 to French Canadian parents, John B. Splude and wife Delana Deucet. Clyde was raised by his father and step-mother, Louise.
The name was so rare, that his father must have been the progenitor of it, in America, at least. A search reveals only Clyde and his siblings (and their children, etc.) They spread themselves around well, Wisconsin, Wyoming, Iowa, Washington, Michigan, Ohio, Nevada and Califorinia. Clyde would become the most traveled of them all. Despite all the relocated siblings, over half of them remained in Wisconsin. There were a number of them. Between two wives, John B. Splude spawned 15 children.
Sugarloaf Mountain, New Brunswick, Canada
John, himself, was born in Campbellton, New Brunswick, Canada, just north of Maine, in 1862, a place so beautiful, you wonder why he came to Wisconsin. Campbellton sits on the south bank of the Restigouche River, in the shadow of Sugarloaf Mountain, right across the river from Quebec. John would immigrate to America in 1884, at 22 years of age. He married first, Delana Deucet, in 1881 and had 8 children:
1882 Walter John Splude 1884 Gordon F. Splude 1885 Tellable Clyde Splude 1891 John Theodore Splude 1892 Ellen Cluster Splude (Cluster must have been a maternal family name as several of the siblings passed it down to their daughters. 1894 Ruth M Splude 1897 Sidney Roy Splude 1899 Francis Margaret Splude
Tombstone of Delana Deucet Splude
Delana passed away on February 10, 1890 and is buried in Martinette, Wisconsin.
John B then married Mary Louise Deucett in the same year. The two wives were sisters, showing up in the 1870 census, with their mother, Angeline, who was "living with sister" Lucy , and her husband Patrick White in West De Pere, Brown County, Wisconsin, all born in Canada.
John and Louise would then have 7 more children.
1901 Jane Delana Splude 1902 Virginia P Splude 1903 Raymond L Splude 1906 Edmund Gerald Splude 1910 Marie M. Splude 1911 Genevieve Maude Splude 1913 Wesley William Splude
Campbellton, New Brunswick, Canada
And John would put them all to work. In 1900, 13 year old Clyde was a mattress maker and his father an electrician. He was also the first member of the family to be born in America, as his older brothers, Walter and Gordon, were born in Canada.
Marinette, Wisconsin sits on the bay, just north of Green Bay and close to the Michigan border. It may have reminded John of his coastal hometown of Campbellton.
His sons were not raised in Canada, however, and apparently had the American travel bug, because they went everywhere. Clyde struck out on his own fairly young, following in the footsteps of his older brothers, most particulary Gordon.
From Marinette, he first went to Milwaukee, Wisconsin, where the City Directory has him as an Assitant Bookeeper. Several other members of the family, including his father, were in Menominee, Michigan, just across the Menominee River from Marinette.
A year later, he is in Youngstown, Ohio, where he works for the J. H. Fitch Company. He was there for about 3 or 4 years, before he moved to Davenport, Iowa, where he is listed as a student. He was enrolled in college. His sister, Cluster, was also a student in Davenport a few years later. They attended the Palmer School of Chiropractic, which is still in operation.
The young doctor Splude first plied his trade in Wyoming, before chosing to make his home in Albemarle, NC. Why a young man from the Great Lakes area would chose the small southern town of Albemarle to practice in is a mystery to me, but settle here he did indeed, in the fall of 1916.
A group of young men in front of Hall's Drug Store circa 1900. Courtesy of the Stanly County Museum archives
Dr. Splude's practice seemed to do pretty well in Albemarle as it entered the roaring twenties. He was mentioned quite often in the local papers and became an active member in the Albemarle and Mt. Pleasant,( a college town at the time), social scene. Within a few years, he would meet and marry a preachers daughter, Miss Mary Christina Barringer, daughter of The Rev. Paul Barringer and wife, Alice EvaAnn Foil Barringer.
They were married on November 25, 1919. The Stanly County Herald gave the following report of the lovely wedding.
Dr. Splude was also a ground-breaker for Albemarle, introducing a female practioner, Dr. Mary Lou Miller, to his practice in 1922. She was a recent graduate of the same school, Palmer, that Dr. Splude had graduated from. Mary Lou was a local girl, daughter of John Maxwell Miller and Nancy C. Dry Miller. Dr. Splude had no doubt encouraged her to attend the school.
Dr. Splude kept up with his education and visited his family frequently. He and Mary Christina would also become the parents of two daughters, Mary Catherine Splude Holder (1921-1954) and Florence Fay Splude Riddell ( 1924-1999).
Dr. Sprude went on to inspire other North Carolinians to attend his Iowa Alma Mater and even convinced the state association to hold their convention in Albemarle. He retired in 1944 and turned his practice over to a Dr. Ivester from Nashville, NC.
Dr. Splude and wife would spend the majority of their retirement years (from 1945-1952) in St. Petersburg, Florida, where their daughter would marry in 1949. They would then relocate back to North Carolina, to Randleman in Randolph County, near their oldest daughter, Mary Catherine Splude Holder.
Dr. Splude would pass away on June 4, 1957 and is buried in Asheboro. His wife Mary died on February 14, 1983, in Maryland, where youngest daughter Florence was at the time, and was brought back to NC to be laid to rest next to her husband in Asheboro.
From Find-a-Grave:
Clyde was the son of John B. and Delana (Deucet) Splude. He married Mary Christina Barringer in 1919 and they were the parents of two daughters: Mary Catherine and Florence Faye.
Greensboro Daily News, NC June 5, 1957
Dr. T. C. Splude Dies In Hospital
Sr. T. Clyde Splude, 71, of Route 1, Randleman, died at 4;30 p.m. yesterday at Moses Cone Hospital where he had been a patient for one day. He had been in declining health for three months. Dr. Splude, a retired chiropractor, was a native of Wisconsin. He practiced in Albemarle for 40 years. he was a member of the Albemarle Presbyterian Church. He is survived by his wife, Mary B. Splude; one daughter, Mrs. Florence Riddel of California; several brothers and sisters of Wisconsin and five grandchildren. The body was taken from Forbis & Murray Funeral Home to the McEwen Funeral Home in Monroe last night. Other arrangements are incomplete.
Greensboro Daily News, NC June 6, 1957
SPLUDE FUNERAL
RANDLEMAN, June 5 - Funeral services for T. Clyde Splude, who died Tuesday in a Greensboro hospital, will be conducted at 3:30 p.m. Friday at the chapel of Pugh's Funeral Home by the Rev. Elbert Newlin, pastor of the Centre Friends Meeting. Burial will be in the Randolph Memorial Park.
As I expected, Dr. Daniel P Whitley was a local boy, born on March 15, 1866 in the Big Lick Community, the son of Columbus Whitley and Marintha (or Maranatha) Eudy Whitley. I am not going to gamble on what the "P" in his name stood for. I've seen it as Paul, Pressley and Polycarp.
Dr. Whitley attended the University of Maryland School of Medicine in Baltimore and was graduated from the College of Physicians and Surgeons there in 1889. His specialty was in Allopathic medicine.
He practiced in Millingport and Albemarle and in 1888 had married Eliza Lavinia Esmerelda Efird, the daughter of Ireneus Polycarp Efird and Mary Catherine Treece Efird. There's those odd names Ireneus or Irenus and Polycarp again. Dr. Whitley married well, as his father-in-law was a Stanly County industrialist, who began as a Teacher and farmer who ran both a Grist Mill and Cotton Gin, while eventually partnering with J. W. Cannon, of Cannon Mills fame, and founded the Efird Manufactoring Company in Albemarle, which would eventually become known as the American Efird Mills.
Dr. D. P. Whitley and his wife, Eliza, would welcome 6 children:
1889 Ora Allis Whitley 1891 Elsie Agnes Whitley 1893 Ida Victoria Whitley 1894 Daniel Polycarp Whitley 1900 John Efird Whitley 1903 Elbert Lee Whitley
Dr Daniel P Whitley and family
The below newsarticle from the Concord Times chronicles the location of his residence in 1890.
Dr D. P. Whitley was a busy man. In this same issue that announced his move, it also reported on a very busy weekend he had. He had to attend to a drug overdose, a "horse accident" (as compared to an auto accident) and a drunken brawl that resulted in severe lacerations to the victim.
It is reported, that during the "Teens" and in the era of Jezebel Whitley's death, an Influenza epidemic was devasting Stanly County and keeping all local doctors busy. This coincides with the report that most members of her family were too sick to attend her funeral, causing a postponement.
So, back to my leading question, What happened to Jezebel Whitley? I can only divest to my predrawn conclusions. As she had evidently just given birth to daughter, Virginia, and as an Influenza epidemic had overtaken the community, and especially her own family, I would attribute her premature death to either or both of these factors. Perhaps that is why the two doctors would not sign her death certificate. Her death was so complicated, it's attribute to one factor or another could not be easily determined. But that's just my theory. Perhaps some Burris or Whitley descendants have heard an old story passed down the line that can shed more light.
As the years pass, every family tree has its gains and losses. Recently, our family tree has experienced both.
As I sit here this morning mourning the loss of my aunt, Shirley Eudy Davis, many childhood memories come runing back. Memories of spending the night at her home, exploring the woods with my cousins, of her gracious parents, the Eudys, who lived next door, playing with a dog named Trixie, her repairing my hair when I had gotten a bad perm.
Aunt Shirley was a gifted hairdresser and crafter. She was quiet-natured, sweet and thoughtful. She will be greatly missed.
Born November 15, 1937, Shirley Elaine Davis was the only daughter of Horace Vaughn Eudy and Florence Marie Vanhoy. She grew up in Albemarle, or just outside of it.
I first met Lowder Mountain when viewing the below picture from the Stanly County History Center, presented by Lewis Bramlett, who issues a daily Facebook post for the Center. I grew up in Albemarle, and had never heard of Lowder Mountain, yet here it was, easily seen from the top of the hill that is the square of Albemarle, the intersection of Main and Second Streets. Over the past several years, I have spent hour upon hour perusing old deeds and newspapers, researching this family or that one either I or my children (via their two fathers) are descended from. Often, I have encountered the mention of this creek or that mountain, some branch or ridge, that I had never heard of. These geographical features had been mapped within the political boundaries of Stanly County, but their names had been lost to modern generations. Thus begins my endeavor to give them their names back. But where are they?
Post Card of Albemarle dated 1907, Courtesy of Lewis Bramlett and the Stanly County History Center
The above 1907 Postcard is labeled "Lowder Mountain looking west - Albemarle, NC".The building under the red arrow was built in 1903 and sits at the corner of First Street and West Main Street. It's popularly known as the old Roses building and currently holds Top Dollar Pawn Shop.
A modern view of Lowder Mountain from the Albemarle Square
Lowder Mountain and a few other small mountains, while still considered part of the Uwharrie Range, arise not from the banks of the Uwharrie or Yadkin River, as most of the other Uwharries do, but are actually part of a group of hills that rise up in peaks and ridges from Long Creek, the longest and widest creek in the county not named as a river. In places, it rivals the river it feeds into, the Rocky River.
Long Creek as seen from the Charlotte Road/West Main Street, Albemarle
Long Creek is fed by various other small creeks and branches, that roll off a myriad of springs and culverts from the higher elevations in the northern part of the county. I had long heard that the New London area was the highest elevation in the country and it appears these high grounds give birth to Long Creek, which runs through Albemarle all the way to Rock River.
Looking down on Long Creek from Central Avenue
Long Creek winds from City Lake Park through the western part of town. This old watery snake has created steep banks, long ridges and high braes in it's wake. In old records, I've entercountered several named Mountains in its family, several I have not determined their location, Long Creek Mountain, Lowder Mountain, Nelson Mountain, Burns Mountain, Thomison's Mountain, Adderton's Peak, Pennington's Ridge, Poplin's Point, Hearne's Hill. Some might have a familiar ring, while others are complete question mark.
Pouring through old deeds, I see mentions of land that involve the Lowder Gold mine. It sat at the foot of Lowder Mountain. I knew from the descriptions of the Gold Mine, that if I could locate it, I should find the mountain rising above it.
The above is a photograph of a turn-of-the-century map in glass, thus the glare. On the left in tan, is an area that was known as "Burleson". The area or community of Burleson encompasses an area from the beginning of St. Martin Road, at it's Albemarle origins, across the Charlotte Road and down Canton Road from it's Albemarle end. It's a vast area covered in Burlesons. It adjoined the Lowder lands. In green, just above the "A" that spelled "Albemarle", you can see the name "T. F. Lowder" whose home sat on a road that looped and connected to the Concord Road, up above it in red. To the west of T. F. Lowder is a Miller and an another Lowder, whose house was on the same road as the Miller and right on Long Creek. That road, from what I can gather from deeds and newspaper articles was called Lowder Road. It connected to the Charlotte Road, that can be seen at the bottom of the picture in red. Also above the "A" and the road that "loops" to Concord Road is a little cross that marks the location of a Gold Mine. That was Lowder's mine.
The mine is mentioned in an article in The Enterprise as a possible source of the city's water supply.
I had now gathered enough information to determine the whereabouts of Lowder Mountain. How can you not know where a mountain is, some may ask? It's a mountain. Well, Albemarle itself sets on several high hills. There are hills, valleys, ridges, all around. Stanly County, especially near its multiple waterways, is full of these hills. The names of these hills, once referred to as mountains, has been lost to time. We drive down the roads that go between them, and seldom go up them and tend to really not pay attention to them, except in autumn, when they turn into colorful patchwork ramparts against the sky.
Now that I am actively searching for them and acknowledging them, I am pointing them out to my children and grandchildren. We'll crest a hill where the view is clear, and I will point, "What is that?" They look, and lo and behold, "It's a mountain." And they really never noticed it was there. Because like Lowder's Mountain, roads cut all around the base of it, but until sometime in the 1980's, none went up the sides of it, and none yet to it's peak. But someone decided to build a school onto the side of it, and a housing developement climbing up that same side now.
The things I had first determined about Lowder Mountain was:
1) It lay west of Albemarle. 2) It's name derived from Thomas A. Lowder and his descendants. 3) It lie between the Concord (73) and Charlotte (West Main/24/27) Roads. Although the exact trajectories of the roads have ebbed and flowed over the decades, the general direction has not.
Traditional oral Lowder family history maintains that two brothers, Thomas and William Henry, came from Pennsylvania to what is now Stanly County during the later half of the 1700's. Some add a third brother, who supposedly settled in the Canton area. Thomas settled on Long Creek and William settled on Bear Creek. Our focus is on Thomas and the Long Creek area. He acquired a massive amount of land in his time. Not much of it was "developed", but he owned it. I found a total of 6 grants in his name. The grants are listed in Montgomery County as Stanly was part of Montgomery at the time.
The first 2, Grants Number 1596 & 1597, were entries numbered 4015 and 4016 and entered on August 21, 1797, Book 101 Pages 259 & 260. There descriptions only as being on the South West side of the Yadkin River. I discovered that the terms "on ___ side of ___ River" does NOT mean the land adjoined the river. It simply meant that the tract lay within the named county on that certain side of the river. It could be 15 miles away, just depending on how wide or long the county was, it could be 50 miles away, or before the counties were subdivided, even further depending how far one river was from another.
The third grant came 4 years later on January 31, 1801, Entry number 5549, for 300 acres, described simply as "Beginning at a small pine".
Two more came later that year, both on August 24, 1801, Entry numbers 5660 and 5661. 5660 was for 50 acres " Beginning at a pine on top of a hill" and 5661 was for 100 acres "Beginning at a post oak."
The last grant was # 2841, entered on December 17, 1828 for 200 acres located "6 miles South West of the Pee Dee River".
Thomas Lowder and wife, Elizabeth, are buried at the Old Freedom Cemetery, which is located down St. Martin Road about 3 miles out of Albemarle.
In 1828, Thomas Lowder granted to his children tract to certain portions of his land, these tracts, so large themselves, show the massive amount of land he owned and controled. It is commonly accepted that he had 6 children to live to adulthood, 3 sons: George, Daniel and Samuel and 3 daughters, Amy (Mrs Benjamin Franklin Cagle), Catherine "Caty" (Mrs. Jesse Poplin), and Rebecca (Mrs. Brian Deese) .
Portions of this land encompassed certain portions of Lowder Mountain, his children settling round about its feet. These tracts were given with the "natural love, good will and affection" Thomas Lowder had for his children.
Amy Cagle, in Book 2, page 109, was given a tract on 'both sides of Long Creek", part of a 300 acre tract deed James Pickett and William Coleman on July 25, 1774, in line with the Lee tract.
Caty Poplin, in Book 2, page 110, was also given a portion of the tract orginally granted James Pickett and William Coleman, her borders and angles marked by sweet gums, black gums, white oaks and dogwoods, elms and hickory's, meetine Amy Cagle's corner.
Lowder Mountain as seen from Hedge Road
Warrant 403 Granted to James Pickett and William Coleman in Anson County, NC (remember that at this time, what we now know as Montgomery and Stanly was part of Anson)
"You are forthwith to admeasure and lay out or cause to be admeasured and laid out a Plantation containing 640 acres of land in the county of Anson on Jones Creek joining Thomas Bailey's land on the Southwest side of the PeeDee river'. Given at New Bern on May 21, 1773
Warrant 406 lists 300 acres on the South West side of the PeeDee River and Long Creek on Camp Branch that runs into the Cloverfork Branch of Long Creek.
These are only two of 7 Grants James Pickett and William Coleman were given in what is now Stanly County. William Coleman, at least, also lived here as his name appears on a 1770 petition to divide Montgomery from Anson.
Lowder Mountain as seen from Poplins Grove
So sisters Amy Lowder Cagle and Caty Lowder Poplin shared adjoining properties, sharing portions of a tract originally granted James Pickett and William Coleman in 1774.
On this 1968 map of Albemarle, locate Long Lake in the upper left hand corner. The lands of Amy Lowder Cagle and Caty Lowder Poplin both lay south of Long Lake, west of Albemarle. The connection of roads that start just north of the bridge at Hwy 73 at the top of Long Lake (a), goes around it and at the bottom of the lake (b), connects to another road that follows a trajectory south (c) are City Lake Drive (a and b), with the straight offshoot being Bobcat Drive and Poplin Grove Church Road, which connects to West Main Street before West Main intersects with the Hwy 24/27 Bypass.
Amy Cagle (1795-1848) is said to be buried at the Cagle Confederate Cemetery, which is located near the interection of Poplins Grove road and Kingsley Drive, not far from the old City Lake dam
This view shows how close the Cagle Cemetery, which is on part of the old Thomas Lowder property, was to this section of Long Creek. Cemetery is on the left, Kingsley Drive is on the right side of the photo. The green sign on the right side of the road marks Long Creek at the Albemarle City limits and just beyond is the bridge over Long Creek.
Caty Lowder Poplin is said to be buried at Poplins Grove Church, which is near the Poplins Grove Church Roads intersection with West Main Street.
Poplins Grove looks like a modern church and from the road, looks like it has a fairly small, modern cemetery. Information states that the church was constituted on May 28, 1939.
A portion of Poplin's Grove Cemetery
Upon closer inspection, the cemetery is much larger than the view from the road, and the graves are far, far older than the church itself. It's highly likely that is was a family or community cemetery long before the church was built and that the community was largely made up of descendants of Caty Lowder Poplin and her husband B. F. Poplin, thus the name "Poplins Grove".
This old marker is thought to mark the grave of Caty Lowder Poplin
The size and age of this cemetery is very misleading from the view from the road.
Gravestone of Isaac Lowder
Marker of David T. Lowder with marker of Henry Lowder and wife in the upper left corner.
Poplins' Grove is full of unmarked graves. Here, the graves are clearly laid out and spotted, but the markers have long eroded away and gone.
Many Lowder family members are buried here. This is the grave of Sophia Lowder Morton (1839-1931) daughter of Samuel and Nancy Marbry Lowder, wife of Rev. William Green Morton and granddaughter of Thomas Lowder.
Samuel Lowder (1808-1885) and his wife Nancy Marbury Lowder are buried at Old Freedom with George and their parents.
Youngest daughter, Rebecca M Lowder would migrate to Tallahatchie Mississippi with the family of her husband, Bryant Dees, who had been born in Chesterfield County, South Carolina. It is assumed she died in Tallahatchie.
In the Stanly County deeds, Book 3, Page 55, Bryant (or Brian) and Rebecca are seen selling their portion of Thomas Lowder's land to Nelson Pennington. This section of land encompassed another neighboring lump in the Stanly landscape to Lowder Mountain and this one would become known thereafter as "Nelson's Mountain".
In the early part of the 20th century R. L. Lowder planned to open a park for local residents as he already owned a number of exotic animals. Less than a decade later, he sold this property and auctioned it off in 1922 before moving to Virginia.
These lots became the area located in front of the old West Albemarle School and the old R. L.Lowder house still stands. The streets were named for the trees listed in the Lowder deeds, White Oak, Hickory, Cedar, Maple and Holly, with crossover streets, Forest and Brookwood.
With the evidence presented, it appears Lowder Mountain was in the center of Thomas Lowder's massive land holdings just west of present day Albemarle.
Lowder's Mountain is shaped roughly like a fat "L" with the top of the L beginning and the head of Long Lake (or City Lake). Hatley Farm road crosses its northern foot. It's east of Burleson road and lies between Burleson road and the lake. Canton Road runs south of it and several roads from Cantons southern end run toward it, and dead end. Hedge and Crystal stop short of the rise, but Imperial Way and Northlake trail begin to climb it. Very close to these, College Drive also climbs the southern border of the "L" and Stanly Community College sits along the side of Lowder Mountain, but its highest points are west of there. A housing development climbs the same side as the college, connecting to Poplins Grove Church Road, which sits at the foot of it and runs to meet the bottom of the lake.
Albemarle circa 1930's, Lowder Mountain in the background.
A few years ago, I acquired a substantial group of disks from the State Archives, that contain old court records from Stanly and Anson Counties. One day soon, I intend to transcribe the entire things, to make them more accessible to needed information.
More recently though, I've picked a few cases of possible genealogical interest to research, for people who may be a descendant of these individuals and stuck behind a brick wall.
Such is the case of this entry from the Fall Term of the 1891 Superior Court of Stanly County:
"State and Sarah Ann Pickler vs Hezekiah Morton - Bastardy"
These two individuals had created a child outside of the bounds of marriage, which was a crime in those days. The County wanted to ensure the child would not be a burden on society, as women in those days typically had no means of support available to them unless they were married, or lived with a parent or other relative. Hezekiah Morton was held on a bond to pay the Victorian era version of child support to begin with $15 up front for Sarah Ann Carter, and $20 the next term of court (a month away) and then a regular sum after that. Usually the sum was only paid until the child was old enough to be "bound out", or old enough to work for their own keep, typically about the age of seven. It was an archaeic practice, intended to teach a child a trade, and also intended to punish, or defer, the guilty parties from repeating the immoral behavior. Sometimes the child ended up with a relative, sometimes a neighbor. As in todays foster system, sometimes the child was treated and loved as a family member, other times mistreated and overworked. I've seen where bound children were beloved and left property in wills by their guardians, and other times where they never made it to adulthood for being 'worked to death'. Othertimes, in the instance of girls, I've seen where the bound girl became an unwed mother as a teen, by her guardian or his sons, and the cycle continued all over again. This happened in my own family tree. Othertimes, the courts have shown cases of the bound children on the docket, requesting a change in guardians as they report mistreatment.
Other children fared better by being allowed to remain with their mother, if her father or brother paid the bond, and sometimes later, the mother married and the stepfather took on the responsibility. This became the case of the child of Sarah Ann Pickler and Hezekiah Morton.
To discover the individual involved in this court case, I first looked for Sarah Ann Pickler. Of course, there were several in the county.
There was Sarah Ann Pickler, who was born a Palmer and married RGD Pickler (Richmond Gates Davidson). She passed away in 1854, far before this court case appeared, but was the matriarch of the Sarah Ann Picklers.
She had a daughter, Sarah Ann Pickler, who appears to have died as a child. There was an African-American Sarah Ann Pickler, who was born a Delamothe or Dillamont, and this Sarah was not. There was Sarah Ann Pickler, born in 1882, a daughter of Dock Franklin Pickler and a granddaughter of the Sarah Ann Palmer Pickler who was born in 1821 and died in 1854, but she would not have been old enough in 1891 to have been the mother of this child.
Then there was her cousin, Sarah Ann Francis Pickler, daughter of RGD Pickler Jr. of the family who favored three first names.
Sarah Ann Frances Pickler was born on January 12, 1874 in the Ridenhour Township of Stanly County, North Carolina as the third child and first daughter of Richmond Gates Davidson Pickler, Sr. and his wife, Talitha Jane Miller Pickler.
Kendall's Baptist Church is a beautiful old white church that sits on a knoll above a branch of Town Creek just off of the Old Salisbury Road in the Kendall Valley area. It was established about 1830 for the Baptists in the Northern part of Stanly County in the Kendall Valley area. Sarah Ann Picklers family were members of this church. Her parents, however, are buried in the old Pickler family cemetery closeby at the intersection of Poplin and Kendalls Church Roads.
Despite, no doubt, a strict Baptist raising, Sarah Ann Pickler found herself in court in 1891, at the age of 17, having to answer to the judge about who the father of her child was.
The loss of the 1890 census is a huge one as it gives this 20 year gap that we have to rely on other documentation to fill in. So from 1880 to 1900, we find Sarah Ann Frances Pickler go from a 7 year old child to a 27 year old woman. What makes things even more difficult in her case, is that she can not be found in the 1900 census, so we have to jump all the way to 1910, to find her in her 30's.
The one document that can be found that gives a hint of what happened to her in these years, aside from her 1891 court appearance, is that she became a bride in 1896, at the age of 22, so in the 1900 census, she would have been Mrs. Davidson Edward "Ed" Ridenhour. A newspaper clipping near to this time gives the report that Mr. Ridenhour lived in Gold Hill in 1901.
So who was D. E. Ridenhour, the man who would marry Sarah A. F. Pickler?
Davidson Edward Ridenhour was born August 5, 1836, rather fittingly, in the Ridenhour section of Stanly County, which is the northwestern corner, near the Cabarrus and Rowan County lines. He was the third of the nine children of Phillip and Elizabeth Harkey Ridenhour.
Name:
Elizabeth S or L Moose
Gender:
Female
Spouse:
Davidson E Ridenhower
Spouse Gender:
Male
Bond Date:
7 Dec 1855
Bond #:
000009805
Marriage Date:
11 Dec 1855
Level Info:
North Carolina Marriage Bonds, 1741-1868
ImageNum:
005644
County:
Cabarrus
Record #:
02 166
Bondsman:
Alexander Misen
Witness:
John Wilkinson
Performed By:
John D Scheck, Lutheran Minister
On December 12, 1855, at the age of 19, he would marry 20 year old Elizabeth Sarah Moose, daughter of George and Mariah Peck Moose. Ed was a man on the move. Farming was apparently not his gig.
His military stint was peppered. Documents at Fold3 indicate he was conscripted on August 8, 1862 by Colonel Davis, who would have been my Great, Great, Great Uncle Edward Winfield Davis.
On the 19th of Novembert of 1862, he was in Richmond, Virginia signing for his $11 a month pay for the time of August 8 to November 19. It was mentioned on the receipt that he recieved $30.43 and was going on furlough.
In the January and February muster he is shown as Absent Without Leave.
A Muster Roll for Company F, 5th Regiment, North Carolina Infantry at a Camp near Orange Courthouse dated December 29, 1863, over a year later, states D. E. Ridenhour, Stanly County, 7th congressional district was a "Deserter, at home, fit for duty, can't be gotten back". He was listed as being in the hospital in Richmond at one point.
There is no record of any charges related to his desertion, however, this time was a very sad time for his family.
Ed and his first wife, Sarah Moose had 4 children. The first two were born before he was conscripted, evidentally with protest, into the Confederate Army.
Julian Adolphous Ridenhour was born March 24, 1857
Martha Alice Ridenhour was born August 14, 1859
Sadly, his oldest son lived barely a year and Ed and Sarah buried him at Bear Creek Church, near the Stanly County, Cabarrus County line.
When Ed was conscripted, he and his wife Elizabeth Sarah, had their 3 year old daughter, Mattie and a brand new son, George T. B. Ridenhour, who was born on June 10, 1862. George was only 2 months old when his father was conscripted. Sadly, little George passed away shortly after his father was marched away on October 13, 1862.
Tombstone of George T. B. Ridenhour
Perhaps Ed had heard of his second sons demise when he claimed his pay and took off on furlough. And never came back.
Name:
D E Ridenhour
Residence:
Northampton County, North Carolina
Age at Enlistment:
26
Enlistment Date:
8 Aug 1862
Rank at enlistment:
Private
Enlistment Place:
Northampton County, North Carolina
State Served:
North Carolina
Survived the War?:
Yes
Service Record:
Enlisted in Company F, North Carolina 5th Infantry Regiment on 08 Aug 1862.Mustered out on 29 Dec 1863.
Birth Date:
abt 1836
Sources:
North Carolina Troops 1861-65, A Roster
Oddly, a roster list of NC Confederate Soldiers has D. E. Ridenhour enlisting on August 8, 1862 in Edgecomb County, 10 days before the actual Fold3 records have him being conscripted in Stanly County, in the same Company, Co F 5th NC Infantry and had "Mustered Out" on the same date that Fold3 copies said that he was deserted, at home and "can not be gotten back".
To add to their sorrow, a third and last son was born to Ed and Sarah on December 31, 1863 and passed away on February 22, 1864. He was named John E. Ridenhour and laid to rest at Bear Creek Church with his two brothers.
Tombstone of John E. Ridenhour
Davidson Edward Ridenhour, wife Elizabeth Sarah and daughter Martha Elizabeth, are shown in Stanly County, as a Merchant.
But the families experience for the next 10 years is told best in the obituary of their only daughter, Martha Alice Ridenhour Wallace, aka "Mattie".
According to her obituary, the small family migrated to Gibson County, Tennessee in the fall of 1873. Mattie joined the church there. Three years later, in December of 1876, they moved again, this time to the town of Hillsboro in Lawrence County, Alabama. Mattie married there on Valentine's Day in 1878 to William Calvin Wallace. Her happiness was short-lived as she passed away just 6 months later at the age of 19 on September 10, 1878. She said she would be meeting her "three little angel brothers" in heaven.
They were reported to be living in the Unity community in Rowan County, when Sarah passed away in her sleep in 1891. Elizabeth Sarah Moose Ridenhour was laid to rest with her sons at Bear Creek Church, the old meeting house, just inside the Stanly County line.
D. E. Ridenhour was still in North Carolina, and probably in Gold Hill, Rowan County, when he married Sarah Ann Frances Pickler on November 18, 1896 in Stanly County. He was 60, she was 22.
While the family is not found in the 1900 census, the 1910 census is the only one in which Ed and Sarah Ann Francis Pickler Ridenhour are shown together. By this time their only child, a daughter named Pearl Elizabeth, has been born. She arrived on November 12, 1903.
At this time, Ed and Annie, as I will refer to S. A. F. Pickler Ridenhour, are operating a boarding house in the town of New London, which was formerly Bilesville, from which he had ran a mail route. Living with the in the Boarding house, besides their 6 year old daughter, are J. B. Spencer, a carpenter, and Thomas Spencer, a Gold Miner. New London was still a very active Gold mining town at this point. These two men may have been brothers, considering their ages. Also boarding was Garrett Pickler, Annie's little brother, who was a mail carrier.
Things get a bit confusing and interesting by 1920. Annie and Pearl, now 16, are living at what appears to be the corner of Main and Church Streets in the town of New London. While her house is listed on Main Street, she is right next door to her brothers Garrett and George W. Pickler, who both live on Church Street. She is listed as a widow, which would not be surprising as Ed is now in his 80's. But.....he is not dead, so she is not widowed.
Old Map of Bilesville and the Parker Gold Mines
D. E. Ridenhour is listed as living on Depot Street, in the "Village of New London". He is now 84 and his occupation is given as "An Ex-Confederate Soldier." It is likely he was drawing a pension. He is also listed as "Widowed", despite living just around the corner from his wife and daughter. Something major must have happened to cause this split. That would require more intense research into the Stanly County court records of the years 1910 to 1920. That, I have not done. It could have meant they were divorced,
Ed did not make it to the 1930 census. Shortly after the 1920 one was taken, he was transported to the Old Soldiers Home in Raleigh. Despite being a deserter, a reputation that had most likely faded away with time, he appears to have recieved military benesits and was honored in the papers as a "Surviving Confederate Hero", with other living soldiers.
Davidson Edward Ridenhour passed away on January 3, 1923, at the Soldier's Home in Raleigh, Wake County, NC of pneumonia, stemming from influenza. He was 87 years, 5 months and 4 days old. His death certificate states he was buried in Richfield, NC, not with his first wife and sons at Bear Creek.
But before progressing further with the life of Annie Pickler Ridenhour, we must return to the beginning of this post. Who was the other party in the court case, Hezekiah Morton, and what of the child the court case was concerning?
Like there were multiple Sarah Ann Picklers who lived in Stanly County, there were also multiple Hezekiah Morton's. Even these unusual names, like Hezekiah, can become common in an era when multiple members of younger generations are name in honor of a common ancestor.
First there was the Rev. Hezekiah Morton, who was born in 1836. He was the son of Jesse G Morton and Elizabeth Burris Morton. He was born and married the first time in Stanly County, but after his young bride died, he married a second time in Montgomery County and was found there in 1870, by the 1880 census, he was listed as a minister and was living in Harris Township in Stanly County, but by 1881, he had moved to Thomasville in Davidson County, where he was a Minister, Inventor and active in the community, until he moved to Greensboro in Guilford County by 1914, where he died in 1922. It is unlikely this Hezekiah was the guilty Hezekiah, due to his age, status and location.
Captain John Morton of Viriginia, Morton family Patriarch
Then there was Jacob Hezekiah Morton, the son of Jesse Allan Morton and Sarah Efird Morton. He was born in November of 1878, so would have been only twelve years old approaching 13 when this court case took place, so I believe he was far to young to be the Hezekiah we were looking for.
And then there was Hezekiah Alexander Morton. He was the son of Rev. William Green Morton and Sophia Lowder Morton.
To explain the Morton connections a bit, Rev. William Green Morton was the son of an even older Hezekiah Morton who married Susannah Hathcock and died in 1846. This Hezekiah was the son of Ezekial Morton and Elizabeth Brumbelow.
The above mentioned Jacob Hezekiah Morton, who was the son of Jesse Allan Morton, was also a grandson of Hezekiah Morton and Susannah Hathcock. Jesse Allan Morton and William Green Morton were brothers.
Jesse G. Morton, who was the father of the Rev. Hezekiah Morton who resided in Thomasville and Greensboro was a brother of the Hezekiah Morton who married Sussanah Hancock. Both were sons of Ezekial Morton who married Elizabeth Brumbelow. This line leads even further back into Virginia into more Hezekiah's, Ezekials and Jesse's, with plenty of Johns, Josephs and James to match.
Hezekiah Alexander Morton was born on January 28, 1869 in the shadow of Lowder's Mountain in the Poplin's Grove area.
His actions between the 1880 and 1900 census are not clear, but a few things are.
1) At the time of the court appearance in 1891, he was 22 years old to Sarah Ann Pickler's 17 years. A more likely age to be the Hezekiah in the case, than his 12 1/2 year old cousin.
2) Sometime shortly after the court appearance, he managed to go to Arkansas. A common destination for young Stanly County men who were running from responisibilities, trouble, or just looking for greener pastures during this period of time.
3) He married Alice Mazona Diffee about 1895, who was born in 1878 in Bizamark, Arkansas County, Arkansas and was found living with her parents, Samuel Diffee and Sarah Amanda Faulkner Diffee in 1880.
4) By 1900, he had returned to Stanly County, North Carolina. The family had not been there long, as daughter Jesse Alice Morton Smith, was born on September 29, 1898 in Bismark, Garland County, Arkansas.
The Frances Turner living with them in 1900 was Hezekiah's aunt, Mary Frances Lowder Turner, sister of his mother Sophia and widow of Isaac Turner.
H. A. Morton would become the adminstrator of his father's estate, when William Green Morton died in December of 1900.
On November 9, 1901, Hezekiah's Aunt Mary Frances Lowder Turner deeded property to him "for and in consideration of the support, care and maintenance through sickness and health during her natural life to be rendered by said H. A. Morton, party of the second part hereto in the same plight, way and manner as becomes or is his duty, according to his station in life to care for, maintain, support and provide for the members of his own family, including food, clothing, all medicine and medical attention necessary for the proper care of her during her natural life, with the express agreement and understanding that the said M. F. Turner is to continually live with the said H. A. Morton the remainder of her natural life', with the addition of $ 75.00 paid to Frances by Hezekiah, a tract of land in Albemarle township that bordered the property of John S. Efird, Lindsey Hathcock and others that lie on the Albemarle Road and also bordered a creek. This tract was 58 and 1/2 acres and part of an inheritance left to her by her father and Hezekiah's grandfather, Samuel Lowder. On the same day, she also signed over her personal property, including cattle and furniture, to Hezekiah, in addition to the property.
H. A. appears to have kept his end of the bargain, because 20 years later in the 1920 census, his Aunt Francis is still living with him, along with his mother Sophia and other boarders.
Mary Frances Lowder Turner died on February 12, 1929 and was buried at Old Freedom Cemetery off of the St. Martin Road with many of her Lowder relatives. Her sister Sophia was buried at Poplins Grove Cemetery.
Over the next few years, Hezekiah would add to his land holdings by buying land around him. In 1905, he bought a 57 1/2 acres tract bordering George Foreman on the west bank of Long Creek, that was a part of Lot 3 of the Samuel Lowder division from William Sidney Kimrey and wife Julia Ann Holt Kimrey, William C. Thompson and his wife, Mary Ann Kimrey Thompson, and Jacob A. Hudson and his wife Rebecca Caroline Poplin Hudson. William Sidney Kimrey, Mary Ann Kimrey Thompson and Jacob A Hudson were all children of Araminta Lowder Kimrey Hudson, daughter of Samuel Lowder and wife Nancy, and therefore relatives of Hezekiah.
In 1907, he bought another 51 1/2 acres also bordering George Foreman and also on the west bank of Long Creek, from A. M. Morton, guardian of Walter and Alonzo Hudson.
Hezekiah Alexander Morton and wife Alice Diffee Morton, would raise their family on this property, on the banks of Long Creek. The 1940 census gave their address as the Oakboro, St. Martin Road in Albemarle. They would have 4 that lived to adulthood:
1) William Washington Morton (1897-1970) Born in Hot Springs, Arkansas and died in Albemarle. 2) Julia A. Morton Smith (1898-1984) Born in Bismark, AK and died in Winston-Salem, NC. 3) Homer Rufus Morton (1901-1964) Born and died in Stanly County, NC. 4) Gladys Viola Morton (1903-1949) Born and died in Albemarle, Married Wayne Burelson
A fifth child, Edgar Diffee Morton, died as a toddler.
Alice Mazona Diffee Morton would die first, on March 31, 1947 and was buried at Poplin's Grove. Hezekiah Alexander Morton followed on August 21, 1956 and was buried beside her.
But finally, who was the child, the product of this union that would end the young couple in court, facing charges of bastardy. Could he be found and could he be named?
I discovered he could.
Frederick Hamilee Pickler was born on March 5, 1891 in New London, NC. He could not be found in his first census, that of the 1900, but neither could his mother. He may have been living with her and his step-father, as he was not to be found among his other Pickler relatives. Or, he could have been in one of the several orphanages around in neighboring counties.
The 1910 census was telling. The 1900 and 1910 censuses are the only two that asked the questions of how many children a woman had given birth to, and how many of those were still living. It was an excellent, but sad way to have a view of the child mortality rate, which was terrible at the time. It was not uncommon to see families with more children deceased than living.
In 1910, Sarah Ann Pickler Ridenhour informed that she had given birth to two children, but stated that only one was living. Her answers were 2 and 1. Her daughter Pearl was living with her, so it made it look like her other child was deceased. He was not. It could have been that she misunderstood it to mean, how many were living with her.
Name:Fred Pickler Age in 1910:18 Birth Year:abt 1892 Birthplace:North Carolina Home in 1910:Jerusalem, Davie, North Carolina Street:Salisbury Road Race:White Gender:Male Relation to Head of House:Nephew Marital Status:Single Father's Birthplace:North Carolina Mother's Birthplace:North Carolina Native Tongue:English Occupation:Laborer Industry:Odd Jobs Employer, Employee or Other:Wage Earner Attended School:No Able to Read:Yes Able to Write:Yes Out of Work:N Number of weeks out of work:0 Neighbors: Household Members:
Frederick Hamilee Pickler was living with Levi Pickler, his uncle, in 1910 and working odd jobs as an 18 year old. Jerusalem is just a little spot on the road now, on Highway 601 between Salibury and Mocksville, just above the crossing of the South Yadkin. Daniel Boone family territory.
I looked to see where Levi John Calhoun Pickler was in 1900. He and his young bride were already in Davie County by then, but Fred Pickler was not with them.
Name:
Frederick H Pickler
Residence Year:
1915
Street address:
313 E 5th
Residence Place:
Charlotte, North Carolina, USA
Occupation:
Salesman
Publication Title:
Charlotte, North Carolina, City Directory, 1915
Fred next shows up in the Charlotte City Directory in 1915, working as a Salesman. As a young man of the early years of the 20th century, footloose and fancy free, public transportation was expanding to make the world his oyster. He did not have to be stuck in a farming community for life and he didn't.
Military records indicate he served in the Navy for a time.
He would marry Anna Augusta Kerr, whose family originated in Pennsylvania and the 1920 census found the young couple living in Hillsdale, Michigan, where Fred was working as a foreman in a construction company.
Fred and Anna were living in Chicago, Cook County, Illinois where Fred was working as a building contractor. They had take in several boarders including Blair Male, an electrical contrator from West Virginia, Lawson Miller, Anna's nephew, the son of her sister Hazel and Pearl Ridenhour, Fred's half-sister, the daughter of Sarah Anna Pickler and Ed Ridenhour. Pearl was working as a school teacher and Lawson was working for an electrical contractor. It's possible that Fred, Blair and Lawson all worked for the same company.
Pearl would marry her brothers brother-in-law, Lawson Miller, and 10 years later the combination of siblings were still living together. Fred was working as a carpenter and Pearl was still a School teacher, while her husband, Lawson was a relay adjuster. In the meantime, Fred and his wife Anna had welcomed their first son into the fold, Frederick James Pickler. A second son, Ronald W. Pickler, was somehow missed, but should have also been in this census.
Frederick Hamilee Pickler, son of Sarah Ann Frances Pickler and Hezekiah Alexander Morton, would move from Chicago to L. A. and there he died on January 19, 1952. He is buried at Roosevelt Memorial Park in Los Angeles, California.
His wife Anna Augusta Kerr Pickler died on October 17, 1954 and was buried beside her husband.
Their oldest son, Frederick James Pickler, would marry Virginia Lauricella in the 1952, the year his father died. Frederick James would remain in California and died there on August 16, 1996 in Fresno. He was buried at the San Joaquin Valley National Cemetery
Ronald W. Pickler, second son, would marry in California, but returned to Illinois. He died there on December 23, 1981, in Cook County, Illnois. He was buried at Hillcrest Memorial Gardens in Bradley County, Tennesee.
Sarah Ann Pickler's daughter, Pearl Elizabeth Ridenhour Miller, would return to Stanly County. She passed away on July 4, 1979. Her husband Lawson (or Losson) J Miller passed away on December 30, 1984. Both are buried in the New London town cemetery in New London, NC where Pearl grew up.
As for Sarah Ann "Annie" Pickler Ridenhour, she would remain in New London, Stanly County, NC.
The 1940 census found Annie in the same house she had lived in for decades, with her younger sister Josephine Pickler. Josephine had been living with their brother Levi in 1930, who had slid a little closer to home down Hwy 601, and was found in Franklin, in Rowan County, just south of Jerusalem, and on the southern bank of the South Yadkin. Living with the sisters was James B Spence, who had been boarding with Annie for decades.
Sarah Ann Frances Pickler Ridenhour passed away on November 29, 1962 in Concord, North Carolina, where she was hospitalized. She had been living in a nursing home there. She was 88 years old. The informant on her death certificate was her daughter Pearl, who was still in Chicago at the time. It might have been the inheritance of property that caused Pearl to retire back to New London.
Annie was also buried in the New London Town cemetery.
Descendants of Frederick Hamilee Pickler seem lost as to his origin. There are some who have his mother correct and his father as D. E. Ridenhour, seemingly not concerned with the different surname. Others have his mother listed with no surname, as if Pickler were her married name, and then his father as "Pickler" with no first name. Most just have no parents for him at all. My hopes is that his living descendants will be able to find this post in their research and be able to fill out their trees a little more and connect with their Stanly County roots.
This is not a "How to" post. I am not that good at it. No expert here. Just a bit of good luck and providence added to years of stop and start.
This is just a quick monologue of another project I've started that I will probably be posting on more later, as if I don't have enough already.
The bit of providence is the discovey of a brother, through DNA, that I never knew I had. This is a post all of its own, that I will not go into so much at this time. Suffice to say, we share a father and made first contact about a month ago. This is a very exciting discovery that everyone in the family is over-the-moon happy about. But the one very significant fact about my brother's discovery, is that his mother is from an entirely different nation, across the pond, and therefore free of any what I call "cross-pollination".
What I mean by cross-pollination is that there is no chance of dna contamination by the sharing of dna from multiple sources. For instance, I have along this genealogical journey came across multiple distant cousins who join me in descent from not one, but two or three, or four different families. We might be third cousins down one line and fifth cousins down another, or quadruple fourth cousins, as these close knit families in our 1800 century farming communities intermarried in such a way, it looks more like a family spider web than a family tree.
With the discovery of my half-brother, we only share dna on our father's side. This allows me to be able to look at our shared matches compared to all of my dna matches, and separate without doubt, those on my mother's side from those on my father's side.
The most frustrating part are those folks who do not connect to a family tree or who keep their tree private. Some, I guess, just wanted to know their ethnicity and not neccesarily their ancestry. Others have this idea that their genealogy is like land that belongs only to them, unbeknownst that with every generation, the pool of individuals who share in that genealogy increases, and the more you can compare, prove and disprove, the more mysteries of who is who and what is what disolve. Knowledge is power.
So those secretive individuals become the ones you must try to connect with through a message. They might want to know more about their heritage. They may not.
So the first thing I have done is separated Momma's side from Dad's side on my list of cousins. I'm starting with the closest of cousins. Second. No first cousins have tested. I have two matches in very close family and know, of course, who those are. I have 6 second cousins. 3 from my Dad's side and 3 from my Mom's side. Of the 3 on my Mom's side, I know exactly who two of them are. That leaves one to contact. This close, and as full as I have my tree, this should not be too hard to figure out if this cousin is willing to communicate.
Third cousins. I have 24 on my Dad's side and 22 on my Mom's side. I've already started looking into some of these who have trees connected. Thank you cousins who allow me to see how we connect!
Of the few I've began to look at, most seem to be coming from my maternal grandmother's side. Another interesting thing is they show up dna-wise, maybe a bit closer than they should. For instance, I just started on 4th cousins and this one had a tree, not much of one, but enough that I could trace a few generations back and see where we connect, and I ended up going back about 6 generations instead of 4. The kicker is, my Great Grandmother and Great Grandfather on that side were first cousins. That made their descendants doublely thick on the Mauldin side.
I've also learned through "DNA Detectives" that there is such a thing as a 3/4 sibling. When I first heard this I couldn't wrap my head around it. You have two parents. With a sibling, you either share both parents, which is a full-sibling or one parent, which is a half-sibling. How does a third party get in there? Turns out, there is a situation in which individuals can share more dna than a half sibling, but less than a full sibling. This occurs when the parents that two partial siblings don't share are closely related to each other. In the old days, this could happen if a couple were married and the wife died young and her husband remarried to her sister. Genetically, his children from each marriage would share less dna than full siblings, but more dna than half-siblings. They are 3/4 siblings.
In modern times, some "DNA detectives" are discovering this same phenomena, but more likely from a different source. A couple is married and has two children, but one tests out as a 3/4 sibling and not a full sibling. Turns out she was having an affair with her brother-in-law. Or her niece tests out as a 3/4 sibling to her child, rather than as a first cousin, meaning her husband had an affair with her sister. It happens.
I've currently been chasing down the family tree of a distant dna cousin who only had her tree back to her grandparents, and she is from another state. In fact, all of her ancestors are from another state just about as far back as I can take her, which I've made it pretty far back, into the 1600's down some lines. If it was just one individual, I would think it could have been a blurb. But I match her son, too. I did find that the sibling of one of her ancestors came to this area from Rhode Island and died here in 1780. That is one possiblity, even though the name does not show up in my family tree. I do have a few female ancestors that show up in the family tree as older ladies in the 1850 census with maiden names unknown.
Another possibility is one of her ancestors that did come from a familiar area with a familiar group of names, and that is Southside Virginia, where a great deal of my ancestors came from. Several individuals in that family line did arrive in Anson in the late 1700's, at the same time, and even probably in the same wagon train, or neighborly/familial group as mine. But I don't see any of my directs among them. Unless I am entirely wrong on one branch, as a daughter from this line did marry a person with the same surname as my mother. And that 'branch' also ended up in this area. But it looks like most of this family clan went right on through NC down to Georgia. But did one stay long enough to marry and spawn children and maybe pass away before the siblings went down to Georgia?
It's going to take me awhile to figure out this one.
Mary Anna Burris was my third Great Grandmother. That fact is not disputable. Other facts that are not disputable are that she was born in Stanly County, North Carolina around 1833 and died in the same in 1880. She married Charles McKinley Honeycutt on March 11, 1856 in Stanly County and together, they became the parents of 6 children, the firstborn being my Great Great Grandmother, Ellen Honeycutt Burris.
Where the mystery falls is who her parents were.
There is little doubt that she was a granddaughter or great granddaughter of the Patriarchial couple of Solomon Burris and Judith Taylor Burris, who settled in the area and spawned a huge family of Burris's and Burris descendants.
The first census that Mary Anna shows up in is the 1850, as it is the first one that lists the names of women and children. In this census she is living in the home of her futures husband, Charels McKinley Honeycutt as a boarder.
Name:Mary Ann BurrisAge:17Birth Year:abt 1833Birthplace:North CarolinaHome in 1850:Smiths, Stanly, North Carolina, USAGender:FemaleFamily Number:663Household Members:
I first encounter Mary Anna in the court records, however. The August 1844 Session of the Minutes of the Court of Pleas and Quarters has this entry:
"Sherriff to bring Ann Burris, orphan, to next term of court to be bound out, now lives at Susanna Huneycutt's." This happened, as during the December 7th, 1844 session of court, we find this additional entry"
"Anna Burris bound to John Huneycutt until age 18. For condition, see bond filed." Then, of course, Mary Ann Burris shows up in the home of John and Sylva Honeycutt as a 17 year old in 1850 and 6 years later, marries their oldest son, Charles McKinnley Honeycutt.
By 1880, Ellen was already married and 5 children remained at home. Mary Ann would die later that year, as her husband, "Kin" would remarry to Sarah Ann Hathcock Efird, daughter of Lloyd and Polly Hathcock and widow of Simeon Howell Efird on September 16, 1880.
As Mary Anna was still alive when the census was taken on June 16, 1880, so that narrows the time of her death between those two dates.
So, what was my theory? It goes back to that very first mention of her as a child in court in 1844.
She was living with Susanna Honeycutt. So, who was Susanna Honeycutt?
She was the sister of John Honeycutt, who Mary Anna was bound to by the court and whose son, Charles M. Honeycutt, she eventually married. Susanna apparently lived very near John Honeycutt, right next door, and even more likely, on land he owned. Maybe in a "tenant house".
1860 finds her living near her brothers John and Edmund, with her daughter Sylvia and a 14 year old girl Fanny Robbins. Another neighbor is a 70 year old Francis Robbins.
Ten years later, Susan and Silvia are listed living right next to C M Huneycutt and wife Mary Anna Burris Huneycutt and their family on one side, and the family of Margaret Perry on the other side.
The very next year on March 1871 Silvia Lovina Burris, daughter of Susie Honeycutt and Joshua Burris married next door neighbor, Caswell Perry, son of John and Margaret Perry. Lovina is 28, Caswell is 42.
This document is one that leads me to the conclusion of where the name "Burris" on my GGG Grandmother, Mary Anna Burris came from.
It doesn't appear that Susanna Honeycutt made it to 1880, when she would have been 75. Caswell Perry and wife Sylvia Lovina Burris (Honeycutt) Perry have had 3 daughters, however, and are still living in the western Stanly community of Big Lick.
Oldest daughter Mary Ann, would marry Ulysses S. Whitley, son of Benjamin Lindsey Whitley and Elizabeth Eudy, about 1891 She would give birth to one child, Benjamin Lindsey Whitley II, and then pass away. Her husband would marry her younger sister, Sarah Elizabeth Perry, the year of her death and her son's birth, in 1893, at the young age of 21.
This marriage would last a little while longer and produce 3 children: James Alfred, Mary Ann and Manorah "Nora" Whitley, and then Sarah Elizabeth Perry Whitley would also die young, in 1902, at the age of 25. Her husband would marry a Great Great Aunt of mine, Flora Jane Aldridge, and they would have a large family together.
Third daughter, Sylvia Samara Perry, was the longest lived. She was born on March 10, 1879 and on November 16, 1897, she married Titus Monroe Tucker. They became the parents of 8 children and Samara would pass away on April 11, 1955 in Stanfield, Stanly County, at the age of 78.
Oddly, in the 1900 census, we find Caswell Perry living alone and giving his marital status as "Widowed". His daughters were married and the eldest already passed, but one person who was still very much alive was his wife, Sylvia Lovina was still very much alive.
Caswell and Sylvia Lovena Burris-Honeycutt Perry did not make it to the 1920's.
Caswell "Cazell" Perry died September 27,1915. He was buried at Running Creek Church near Locust, Stanly County, NC. He was 87 years old.
Sylvia Lavina Burris (Honeycutt) Perry passed away on July 23, 1915 at the age of 73, two months before her husband. She was also buried at Running Creek.
Now, back to Mary Anna. I fully believe that she was the daughter of Joshua Christian Burris Sr and Susanna Huneycutt. And not just Mary Anna. She had a brother, Joshua.
Back to the pleas and quarters. In the February Session of Court, 1844, before Anna was said to be living with Susan Honeycutt and then later to be bound to John Honeycutt in the August and December 1844 Sessions of Court, there was another entry. And it was very telling.
"Sheriff to bring 'Ame' Hunycut and Joshua Hunycut to next term of court to be bound out. (Huneycut or Burris)."
The above is what was transcribed in the book, but having the ability to look at the original scrip on a CD, it's not 'Ame' but Anne, and at the end of the statement, it clearly identifies the children's surnames as "Huneycut or Burris', meaning they went by either surname.
Then, in the May 1844 session, "Joshua Huneycutt bound out to George Cagle Jr, who gave bond."
Then, in the 1850 census, there is Joshua, age 15, living with George Cagle and family.
What is certain, is that Susan Honeycutt's youngest daughter, Sylvia Lovina, is definately the daughter of Susan and Joshua Burris, Sr. She lists her father on her marriage license and she also went by both Honeycutt and Burris as surnames. In the census records with her mother, she is listed as a Honeycutt, but on her marriage license to Caswell Perry, she is listed as a Burris.
The "bounding out" system for children in the 1800's typically left children born out of wedlock with their mothers for the first several years of their life. A bond, referred to as a bastardy bond, was placed upon the father of the child or children, for their care until the reached the age to be able to be educated or perform manual labor. This was a much younger age than we would consider in modern times, normally between 7 and 10, to end at age 18 for girls and 21 for boys.
So, in February of 1844, Anne and Joshua were ordered to be brought to court to be bound out. At this time Anne would have been 10/11 and Joshua would have been 8/9. Their surnames were noted to be Burris or Honeycutt, an ambivalence seen in records for person born outside of marriage.
Anna was said to be living with Susan Honeycutt in August of 1844.
She was bound to John Honeycutt, the married brother of Susan Honeycutt, who lived very near to Susan, in December of 1844. Joshua was bound to George Cagle, who also lived in the same community.
Susan's youngest daughter, Sylvia Lovina, is recorded as being the daughter of Joshua Burris. So, we know Susan was one of his mistresses. He had at least one other, Jane Murray, sister of my 3rd Great Grandmother, Priscilla Murray Aldridge. So, he was known to stray outside of marriage. He and his namesake son, both.
With these facts in hand, it certainly appears to me that Susan was one of Joshua Burris's long held mistresses. She named her son for him. All 3 children went by both Honeycutt and Burris. She never married.
The other theory is that Anna was the daughter of William Burris, who was the most mysterious of the sons of Solomon Burris, Sr. and Judith Taylor Burris. The problem with that theory goes back to the court records. The Burris/Honeycutt children were brought to court to be bound out in 1844.
William Burris was called for jury duty in May and February of 1845. He served on the jury again in 1846. And again in 1848 and 1850. In other words, he was alive. Any child of his would not have been bound out in 1844.
As an aside, there could have been 4 children born to this union of Joshua Burris and Susan Honeycutt.
In the February Session of 1848, a John A. Honeycutt was brought to court and bound out to James W. Hartsell. In the 1850 census he was living with Wiley Hartsell. I am not so sold on this one. There is ambivalence in his surname. Susanna isn't mentioned. It's not sure where exactly this young man came from, it's just possible that he could be a sibling of Mary Anna too. The ages fit.
There may never be more known than this about Mary Anna Burris Honeycutt. There is little doubt she was a grandchild of old Solomon and she is definately my third Great Grandmother. If my theory is true, her marriage with C. M. Honeycutt was a first cousin marriage, and was fairly common in those days.
Then, her eldest daughter Ellen, turns around and marries another Burris. Maybe that is why David T. and Ellen look more like siblings than a married couple in this picture.
God only knows we Americans were an adventurous and westward -moving bunch. We all have it in us. And at the same time, we all have the 'settling gene', from those more home-bodied individuals, who pretty much stayed where they landed and made babies, some who would remain and others who would venture forth into the unknown. It was those adventuresome individuals from whatever country of origin they came, who got us here. Whether the brave were those ancient Asians who crossed the Bering Strait, the warring Vikings who explored the wide seas, the intrepid French following game across a frozen ocean, the daring Polynesians whose boats would land on the rugged shores of Oregon, the hopeful Welsh escaping chaos with Prince Madoc, the Spanish explorers in search of cities of gold, or the English religious refugees seeking a place to worship in peace, all of them had that gene that drove them to go. Even those Americans who ancestors arose from individuals who were brought here against their will, when here, some had the drive to flee elsewhere to seek freedom, or later, when freedom came, some ventured penniless and hopeful into the great unknown, while the more timid stayed behind and adapted to the change upon the lands they had always known for their lifetime.
The science of DNA and using it for ancestoral research is a rather recent phenomena, but is helping us to visualize the exact times and means and places these migrations took place.
Most of the research I do within my own tree has been touched upon by generations past, and I much admire this work. They did not have computers to access information halfway across the country, like we do today. It was gotten by relentless legwork and pouring through stacks of dusty books in courthouse basements, foraging through trunks in grandparents abandoned farmhouses and the like. But one other disadvantage these past generations had was their sense of propriety and civility. Those dirty little secrets swept under the rug were not touched upon. Everything in its due were left to lay, and the prickly little briar bushes were left to twist and weave their deceipt into impassable barriers for generations to come. Children born 5 years after their "father" died during the Civil War were conviently explained as someone got their year of birth incorrect, yeah, that had to have been it, even though the 1870 census shows them as 3 and the 1880 shows them at 12, really, you know, they must have been 18.
Or ancestors were given no background at all. The beginning and ending was with Grandpa Bob. He had no parents.
For some odd circumstance, it seems to have been given me the role to clear these thickets, break down brickwalls, tie up loose ends, and sometimes, I can. I am now discovering people using my research and dna is confirming and corroborating it.
Just this morning, I discovered a young Hispanic guy in Colorado (well, he's not entirely Hispanic of course) who had accessed my research on Jane Murray.
Jane was the oldest daughter of Jesse Murray, my 4th Great Grandfather, whose remain lie in one of those cornfield cemeteries on a high bluff above Long Creek near its confluence with the Rocky River in southern Stanly County. Jane was likely born in Chatham County, where her family was before arriving on the Rocky River and was born about 1800 or 1801. Her nickname was "Jincy" and she never married. She first appears in the 1830 census living next door to Joshua Burris and with two little boys in her home under the age of 5. She later has a daughter who she names Judith Wilmertha Murray, who was born in 1834.
Murray Cemetery, Prince Road, Stanly County
The court records report that her daughter Judy had been bound to Alexander McLester in the 1840 session of Montgomery County, NC, of which Stanly was part of in 1840, and then released from that bond in the first session of the new county of Stanly Court in 1841. She is found at 16 in the 1850 census, living with her mother.
Tombstone of Jesse Murray
Her son Solomon was first living with his paternal grandfather, for who he was named, Solomon Burris, the old Revolutionary War Soldier, and was brought to court a few years later and bound to McCamey Willis and Obedience Burris Willis, a childless couple who became his foster parents and were biologically his Aunt and Uncle. He so loved them that he named a son for McCamey. Likewise, it appears Judith Murray was also named for her paternal grandmother, Judith Taylor Burris. The other son of Joshua Christian Burris and Jane Murray, who was less than 5 years old in 1830 has not been determined. He may have passed away as a child, as the child mortality rate was very high in those days.
So I know that Jane Murray and Joshua C. Burris Sr. had at least 2 children who lived to adulthood and went on to procreate.
Judith Wilmertha Murray married Thomas Jefferson Poplin and they settled around Lilesville in Anson County. Her mother lived with her. Tom outlived her and remarried, so his older children are by Judy and his younger children were by his second wife.
Solomon inherited his father's wanderlust gene and had children with multiple ladies, some he married, others he didn't. He ended up settleling most oddly, in Eastern North Carolina. Some of his children remained here, others lived on the coast.
So this morning I discovered this young man had attached into my research and hooked himself up to Jane Murray's wagon. I check his profile and "Wah-Lah"! We share DNA. He is my 5th to 8th cousin, which would be consistent with the generations between us and our common Murray/Burris ancestors.
Congratulations Hispanic- named millenial from Durango! You have found your Stanly County roots.
Lucinda Ramsey was one of the 5 daughters of Holden Ramsey. She left as scant records, nearly, as her father. She married Michael Honeycutt, son of Samuel and Nancy Helms Honeycutt, who also left very scant records of his existence, making this a very difficult family to follow.
Marriage license of Michael Honeycutt and Lucinda Ramsey Burgess
Holden Ramsey, one of the older sons of Starkey "Stark" Ramsey, first shows up as Head of Household in 1830, in Anson County, NC.
Total - All Persons (Free White, Slaves, Free Colored):
4
He looks to be married, between 20 and 29 years old, putting his year of birth between 1801 and 1810, having a wife of the same age. We know from the 1850 census that his wife Mary aka "Polly" was born about 1815. He has two sons under 5 years of age. One of these could be William R. Ramsey born 1827, who named one of his sons "Holden". He is married by 1850 to Lavina Barbara Springer, daughter of Lewis Springer and Rachel Sides, from Stanly County, not to be confused with his cousin, William Riley Ramsey, son of Samuel Ramsey, of a comparable age. The other, I believe, was Herbert.
Name
Holden Ramsey
Home in 1840 (City, County, State)
Bomgarners District, Wilkes, North Carolina
Free White Persons - Males - 5 thru 9
1
Free White Persons - Males - 10 thru 14
1
Free White Persons - Males - 30 thru 39
1
Free White Persons - Females - Under 5
1
Free White Persons - Females - 5 thru 9
1
Free White Persons - Females - 30 thru 39
1
Persons Employed in Agriculture
1
Persons Employed in Manufacture and Trade
1
No. White Persons over 20 Who Cannot Read and Write
2
Free White Persons - Under 20
4
Free White Persons - 20 thru 49
2
Total Free White Persons
6
Total All Persons - Free White, Free Colored, Slaves
6
By 1840, Holden has moved his young family to Wilkes County, North Carolina. He now has 4 children, but it looks like one of his first young sons may have died as a child. He has one son between 10 and 14, but 3 others had been born between 1830 and 1840, a daughter between 5 and 9, a son between 5 and 9, and a daughter under 5. One of those daughters was Lucinda. The other, Emmaline.
Total All Persons - Free White, Free Colored, Slaves:
1
Michael Huneycutt first shows up in the 1840 census of Cabarrus County. He is a single man between 20 and 29 years old. And in the 1850 census, he is no where to be found, or either, I can't find him yet. But his parents, Samuel and Nancy Honeycutt, can be found, and the census page they are on, is an interesting one, that explains some things and makes a lot of sense.
Samuel and Nancy Honeycutt are shown living in Burnsville, Anson County. Samuel is 70 and Nancy is 60. Living with them is Mary, 25, Betsy 16, Ander 13 and Lucy 8. Are these grandchildren? Mary is actually the only one old enough to be a daughter. But their neighbors are the interesting point, James Ramsey, Holden Ramsey's brother, lives next door. He is married to Beadie Ledbetter, and next to them in Nelly Ledbetter, her mother.
On the previous page, it reveals that other Ramsey family members are closeby as well.
Polly Ramsey, 35, is Mary, widow of Holden Ramsey. 17 Lucy is Lucinda. Nelly,5, Polly 3 and Annice, 9, appears to be living with neighbors James and Martha W. Ramsey, are also daughters of Holden Ramsey. Not too far away, yet another dauhter, Emmaline, is living with Cornelius and Rebecca Dunn Cox. The family progenitor, Holden's father and Polly's father-in-law, Stark Ramsey, is living next door with his wife Lisha, his son John, and John's wife Tempy. Next to Stark is more of my family, Wilson Turner and then his father George Turner, who is a 5th Great Grandfatehr of mine. He married Beadia Nancy Broadaway, and was the son of James Melchor "Jaspar" Turner and Lucy Marshall. The Turner, Broadaway and Marshall families had all settled on the Rocky River and originated in Southside Virginia and most of my maternal line did.
Lucy, 17 in this census, was now of marriagable age. Although Michael Honeycutt was nowhere to be found in 1850, and they were not each others first marriages, this shows his parents as neighbors to the Ramseys, so he must have known Lucinda as a young girl.
In 1854, Lucinda Ramsey married Allen Burgess of Stanly County. He was born on May 9, 1825, son of Basketmaker Akel Burgess, Jr. and Sarah Ledbetter Burgess. He was a son of Akelley Burgess and Sarah Mainor Burgess of Wake County, and himself named a son Akel Burgess, so there were 3.
The 1860 census shows Allen and Lucy living near Albemarle with a 4 year old son, John Franklin Burgess.
Michael Honeycutt reappears in 1860, and he too has gotten married. His wife is only shown as "Mrs." Honeycutt and they have a 14 year old daughter, Margaret and a 2 year old son, Joseph. The 12 year age differenct suggests that maybe Mrs. Honeycutt was not his first wife, and Margaret's mother had passed away, or there were children in between who might not have made it. This big age span was not typical for this era.
Then came the Civil War. Michael Honeycutt volunteered in Albemarle and at age 42, became a Private in Company H, 42nd Infantry. He was signed for a period of 3 years, or the term of the War, by J. M. Hartsell. From the sound of it, he spent a great deal of this time in the hospital in Wilmington. But Mike, unlike so many others, made it home.
Allen Burgess did not. Lucinda is nowhere to be found in 1870. She may have been somewhere attempting to find her missing in action husband, Allen. There are several Lucinda Burgesses about in 1870, some which could have been her. There are several Burgesses in Alexander County, North Carolina, where her sister Elenor "Nellie" gets married (to a guy from Stanly County), or even two Lucinda Burgesses, close together in age, living in the same house and working at a Cotton Mill in Randolph County, very near the Randolph/Montgomery County line. But I can't pin her down.
She left her son, John F. Burgess , now 14, with Alfred and Tempy Ledbetter, probably relatives of his grandmother, Sarah Ledbetter Burgess, in Big Lick, Stanly County. There was a Ramsey/Ledbetter connection in Burnsville, Anson County, too, suggesting the possibility that Lucinda's mother, Mary aka "Polly" Ramsey, may have been a Ledbetter. But there is no proof of that.
Schools had ceased, for the most part, during this time and young John could not read and write. John F. Burgess lived to marry and have descendants.
He married a girl named Rose and moved to Roan County, Tennesee. They had two sons, Harley Gay Burgess, born in 1890 and William Augustus Burgess, born in 1894.
Harley joined the military and later married Maude Rollins in Polk County, North Carolina. They had a large family of 9 children: 1913 Palmer H., 1914 Delmar Samuel, 1916 Edna Mae, 1918 Bertha Burgess Moore, 1920 Ethel Rue Alice Burgess Moore, 1923 J. Howard, 1914 Carl F, 1925 Everett Harris, 1928 Mary Frances Burgess Daly.
Maude died in 1939. Harley moved from Ruffin in Rockingham County, NC to Mount Crogan in Chesterfield County, South Carolina to Augusta, Georgia. By 1950, he was back in Charlotte, North Carolina where he married at 61 to Ida Inman Osborne. Harley Gay Burgess died September 25, 1868 in Mathews, Mecklenburg County, NC.
His younger brother, William Augustus Burgess, did not live as long as Harley. He did grow up to marry, to Ruth Henderson Gilbert, and they had one daughter, Elsie Mae Burgess, who lived a long life in Florida, married twice and had two children.
Allen and Lucinda had descendants.
Elsie Mae Burgess Summers, Granddaughter of Lucinda Ramsey Burgess Honeycutt
While Lucinda, was nowhere to be found in 1870, Mike Honeycutt was living with his family in New Salem, in Union County, not far from Burnsville. His wife is named in this one, "Vina", probably short for Lavina. His daughter Margaret is now Mary, her name being Mary Margaret. Mary Margaret and Joseph have been joined by two other siblings, Nancy and Julius. Vina would not live long after this. Michael's name is incorrectly transcribed as Mitchell.
But back to Lucinda. Whereever she was in 1870, she was back to Stanly County in 1873. Exactly when Vina died is unknown, but she is gone by 1873, because Mike Honeycutt, son of Samuel and Nancy, marries Lucinda Burgess, daughter of Holden and Mary Ramsey.
The 1880 census shows that Mike and Lucinda have had a chld of their own, Eva. While Mike's oldest children are adults and on their own, Julius would only be 16. Oddly, he is not living with his father. Perhaps Lucinda would not allow it.
The family is living in Big Lick, in Stanly County, due north of New Salem and an area infested with Honeycutts. 65 year old Mike Honeycutt is working as Farm Labor. He never owned anything himself. Lucy is Keeping House, and unlike Mike, she can read and write.
And with this last census record, both Mike and Lucy pass into obscurity. It is not known when they died or where they were buried. Perhaps in the Oakboro/Big Lick area, perhaps in Burnsville. Eva was their only child, and she survived to adulthood. Her parents were at least alive until she married, at age 16.
On September 19, 1889, Eva Honeycutt, daughter of Mike and Lucinda, married Richard Holbrooks, age 21, at the home of P. M. Morris, in Township Number 2, Cabarrus County, Mike and Lucy Honeycutt gave their permission for their minor daughter to marry. The service was performed by J. Mc Caldwell, Justice of the Peasce. Witnesses were Leah M. Penninger, an unlegible signature that looks like another Penninger, and her father, M. C. Honeycutt. It appears the Mr. Caldwell wrote Mike's name and then Mike put an X in the signature and it was labeled "his mark".
A year after his daughter married, Mike Honeycutt entered the County Home. He was about 72 by then. No mention of Lucy is made, but instead, it is stated he had been living on the generosity of a Cabarrus man for the past year. Perhaps that man was Richard.
Richard Holbrooks, born in 1868, did not know who his parents were. He was obviously an orphan. But that became a mystery, as his son, upon his death, knew who his parents were, and was exactly right. But that is not the only mystery surrounding this couple. Eva evidently inherited this aire of mystery from her mother.
The 1900 census finds Richard and Eva living in Lemley, Mecklenburg County. As were the sad realities for the day, Eva had given birth to 6 children, with only 3 of them living.
I found him in 1870 as a child, living with his parents, Simpson and Mary Ann Young Holbrooks. He's even living with his Grandmother, Marie and Uncle Larkins.
By 1880, his father had died and his mother had remarried, to John F. Fisher. Zula, his little sister, was a Fisher, not a Holbrook. They were now in Gaston County. While he was very young when his father died, he should have certainly remembered his mother when he married at age 21. The mystery of the unknown parents is simply why did he say he didn't know them?
Back to Richard and Eva. They continued to be on the move. By 1910, they had moved from Lemley Township in Mecklenburg, which is now partially covered by Lake Norman, back to Cabarrus County. where they lived in Township Number One.
The family had increased to 5 children , all boys. Leroy, Arthur, Walter, Lonnie and Otis were all trendy names of the era. Sort of like Steve, Danny, Ricky, Bobby and Jimmy of my generation, or Jason, Justin, Brian, Brandon and Mathew of my kids generation. Now it would be Aiden, Jayden, Caiden, Mason and Cyrus.
Eva had given birth to 8 children with 5 living, so she had lost no more in the last decade. They were on Rocky River Road, in No One, which is the Harrisburg area and passes the old Rocky River Presbyterian Church, one of the oldest in the area.
Richard was trying his hand at farming, but as the tides would turn in the next decade, when waves of farm families would head to town and factory, so it went with the Holbrooks.
1920 found the family split. Only the youngest son, Otis Odell, remained at home. The other sons had left the farm and headed to the Cotton mills. Richard was now farming in Lanes Creek Township in Union County.
Lanes Creek bordered Anson County to the East and South Carolina to the South. But Richard and Eva could not sit still long.
By 1930, Richard was claiming retirement and Eva had no occupation listed. They were empty nesters.
This time they would be found in the town of Raeford, in Hoke County. Hoke became a popular destination in the early 20th century for its tobacco farms. It could have also been due to its proximity to Fort Bragg if a family had a son in the military stationed there.
Name
Richard H Holbrooks
Gender
Male
Residence Year
1932
Street Address
77 Spofford Mills Village
Residence Place
Wilmington, North Carolina, USA
Spouse
Eva Holbrooks
Publication Title
Wilmington, North Carolina, City Directory, 1932
Household Members
Name
Age
Richard H Holbrooks
Eva Holbrooks
But the antsy Holbrook family could not sit still. The 1932 City Directory of Wilmington, North Carolina would find them there, living in house number 77 at Spofford Mill Village with their son Walter and his wife Docie.
Richard and Eva would move one last time, this time to Bladen County, where their oldest son Leroy lived, and where their youngest son Odis Odell would move to after living in Robeson and Cumberland Counties.
Richard Holbrook died on March 8, 1933 of a cerebral hemmorhage. He was 84 years old. The Death Certificate informant was his son Lonnie, now also of Bladenboro. His father's name was given, Simpson Holbrooks, and his mother, Mary Ann Young. He knew who his parents were.
Eva outlived her husband by 6 years. She died in Wilmington, New Hanover County. She was buried in Bladenboro. She was 66 years, 1 month and 11 days old. Informant was her oldest son Leroy, of Bladenboro.
Her father was listed as Mike Honeycutt and her mother as Lucy Ramsey. Her place of birth was Stanly County. She had terminal bronchial pnuemonia.
Cut and dried, huh? No mystery there. But just wait, there was.
On May 18, 1910, Eva Honeycutt married W. M. Whittington. She was the daughter of Tillman and Lucy Honeycutt and her spouse was the 55 year old son of James and Rowena Whittington. This had to be another Eva Honeycutt, didn't it? Our Eva was already married, to a still very much alive Richard Holbrooks. Or, could Tillman be Mike's middle name. His crooked "c" looked very much like a curved "T". This would all be the case of two young women from the same area with the same name, but then....
When we find the older boys working in the cotton mills in the 1920 census, we find Lonnie living with .... the Whittingtons. Was J. F the father of W. M?
Name:
Odis Odell Holbrook
Event Type:
Delayed Birth
Birth Date:
12 Feb 1903
Birth County:
Cabarrus
Parent1 Name:
Richard Holbrook
Parent2 Name:
Eva Whittington
Roll number:
NCVR_B_C016_68001
Volume:
19
Page:
105
And to make things more tangled, in many documents, the boys listed their mothers surname as Whittington.
The one thing about genealogy, don't keep beating your head against a rock. Step back, take a breath and go on to pursue new avenues, as there as always many more. Believe me, as a tree's roots bend and twist outward in all directions, so do the roots of genealogy.
Stark Ramsey is one of those stone walls that I've not been able to get around. He wasn't elusive, but he didn't make too many waves either.
DNA verifies that he is without a doubt, my Fifth Great Grandfather. Checking other family trees of people descended from Stark, even those who live way out west, I find several that have taken DNA tests. In each one, it says with a respectible amount of certainty, that we are 5th to 8th cousins, which is exactly where it should be. I have a bit of Ramsey dna floating around in my cells.
I do know that his name was actually Starky and Stark for short, as I find him as Stark in some land records and Starky as others. Starky is very likely the maiden name of his mother or a grandmother, as per old Virginia customs, and it is very likely Starks ancestors migrated to Anson County from Augusta, Virginia and Maryland before that, but I've not been able to make the family links to the Ramsey's in Anson County who did make that documented path. But they are very likely to be his family.
My search begins again. This is what I do know.
The 1850 census, his last, give his year of birth as 1773, so we'll go with that. He first appears in the 1800 census of Anson County.
He is listed as being between 26 and 44. This is consistent with the 1850 census, making him 27. His wife is between 16 and 25. They have 4 children under 10, a daughter and 3 sons. I know two of the sons were Joseph J. Ramsey, born in 1798 and Samuel, my line, in 1799. The other was probably Holden, who will show up in his own household in 1830, as Joseph also does. I don't yet know the name of the daughter.
Stark's name also appears on a 1799 Petition sent to the North Carolina General Assembly by the inhabitants of "Upper Anson" concerning the location of the Courthouse and the distance they had to travel to "Muster". There is also a Samuel Ramsey on the petition, and it wasn't his son. It could have, however, been the person his son was named for.
Name:
Stark Ramsey
Home in 1810 (City, County, State):
Anson, North Carolina
Free White Persons - Males - Under 10:
5
Free White Persons - Males - 10 thru 15:
1
Free White Persons - Males - 26 thru 44 :
1
Free White Persons - Females - 10 thru 15:
2
Free White Persons - Females - 16 thru 25:
1
Number of Household Members Under 16:
8
Number of Household Members Over 25:
1
Number of Household Members:
10
By the 1810 Census, there appears to have been several changes in the family structure. He now has 6 sons, and Stark, at 37 is still in the 26 to 44 age range. He now has two daughters between 10 and 15, but the female between 16 and 25 is the problem. It could be that the wife in the 1800 census was almost or barely 16 and still about 25 in 1810, but she had 4 children by 1800, so it's not likely. The daughter born betwenn 1790 and 1800 might be old enough to be 16 by this census, but she is probably one of the 10 to 15's as the second could only be 10, as she did not show up in the last one. The most likely one is that the first wife died and he has married a new, younger wife.
Total All Persons - White, Slaves, Colored, Other:
10
In 1820, there is still a household of 10. Stark is over 45. His wife is between 26 and 45. His two daughters are now between 16 and 25. He had 3 sons between 10 and 15 and 3 that had been born between 1810 and 1820.
Name:
Stark Ramsey
Home in 1830 (City, County, State):
Anson, North Carolina
Free White Persons - Males - Under 5:
1
Free White Persons - Males - 5 thru 9:
1
Free White Persons - Males - 15 thru 19:
1
Free White Persons - Males - 20 thru 29:
3
Free White Persons - Males - 30 thru 39:
1
Free White Persons - Males - 50 thru 59:
1
Free White Persons - Females - 20 thru 29:
1
Free White Persons - Females - 30 thru 39:
1
Free White Persons - Females - 50 thru 59:
1
Free White Persons - Under 20:
3
Free White Persons - 20 thru 49:
6
Total Free White Persons:
11
Total - All Persons (Free White, Slaves, Free Colored):
11
By 1830, the family has taken another jump. While the family size has risen from 10 to 11, two sons are already out on their own. Both Stark and his wife are listed as being between 50 and 59. His two daughters are now adults, one between 20 and 29, the other between 30 and 39. Four sons are adults, but still living at home, the oldest in his 30's, three in their 20's, and teenager between 15 and 19 and two young boys, one 5 to 9 and one 5 or less. At the age of Mrs. Ramsey, these last two may have been grandsons and one of the "daughter"s" a daughter-in-law, with one of the actual daughters now married off.
Name:
Joseph Ramsey
Home in 1830 (City, County, State):
Anson, North Carolina
Free White Persons - Males - 20 thru 29:
1
Free White Persons - Females - Under 5:
2
Free White Persons - Females - 20 thru 29:
1
Free White Persons - Under 20:
2
Free White Persons - 20 thru 49:
2
Total Free White Persons:
4
Total - All Persons (Free White, Slaves, Free Colored):
4
Joseph J. Ramsey is married with two little girls. He and his wife are in their 20's.
Total - All Persons (Free White, Slaves, Free Colored):
4
Holden Ramsey also heads a family of 4, but he and his wife, who are also in their 20's, have two little boys. All were in Anson, none in Montgomery. None very close at all either. They were the only Ramsey's in the area.
Name:
Stark Ramsey
Home in 1840 (City, County, State):
Anson, North Carolina
Free White Persons - Males - 15 thru 19:
1
Free White Persons - Males - 20 thru 29:
1
Free White Persons - Males - 60 thru 69:
1
Free White Persons - Females - 40 thru 49:
1
Persons Employed in Agriculture:
2
No. White Persons over 20 Who Cannot Read and Write:
1
Free White Persons - Under 20:
1
Free White Persons - 20 thru 49:
2
Total Free White Persons:
4
Total All Persons - Free White, Free Colored, Slaves:
4
By 1840, Starks household has greatly decreased from 11 to 4 people. Stark is in his 60's. His wife is recorded as being in her 40's. There is supposedly two people under 20, yet only two young males are recorded, one 20 to 29 and another 15 to 19, meaning the one must be 20 and no older.
Name:
Robt Ramsey
Home in 1840 (City, County, State):
Anson, North Carolina
Free White Persons - Males - Under 5:
1
Free White Persons - Males - 5 thru 9:
1
Free White Persons - Males - 20 thru 29:
1
Free White Persons - Females - Under 5:
2
Free White Persons - Females - 20 thru 29:
1
Persons Employed in Agriculture:
1
Persons Employed in Manufacture and Trade:
1
No. White Persons over 20 Who Cannot Read and Write:
2
Free White Persons - Under 20:
4
Free White Persons - 20 thru 49:
2
Total Free White Persons:
6
Total All Persons - Free White, Free Colored, Slaves:
6
Sons Robert and Samuel are now out on their own, both in Anson. Holden has migrated to Wilkes County, Joseph to Barbour County, Alabama, Hubbard was at this time in Troup County, Georgia and would later also migrate to Mississipi, Gilbert to Alabama and Sanders to Iron County, Mississippi. How these young men decided to migrate to other states, I'm not sure, but I've found they were usually not alone. If you study the census records of the area surrounding them, sometimes you will come across other familiar names from the area in which they lived. Like near Hubbard in 1840 Georgia is Robert S. Allen, and I recall having frequently seen Robert S Allen in Anson and Montgomery County records previously. His wife's maiden name is unknown, so perhaps she was an Allen and Hubbard migrated with her family. Some of them were obviously taking advantage of land lotteries, and free land opening up.
Both John Jackson Ramsey and James could fit the bill for the two who remained home with Stark in 1840, leading me to believe that William R and Herbert, who would show up later, were the sons of the deceased Holden Ramsey, and not Stark.
1850 1850 has finally arrived, and with it, names and ages of women, children, and all free persons who were not heads of household.
Name:Stark RamseyAge:77Birth Year:abt 1773Birthplace:North CarolinaHome in 1850:Burnsville, Anson, North Carolina, USAGender:MaleFamily Number:741Household Members:
Living with Spark was his wife Lisha and his son John, and John's young wife Tempy. Next door, perhaps in a tenant house, was Polly (Mary), widow of Holden, who had returned to Anson County. Holden is obviously deceased. Three of their daughters are living with her and 2 nearby with neighbors, perhaps working as housekeepers to help support their family.
Another thing that has occured is that Stanly has been cut from Montgomery and Union has been cut from parts of Anson and Mecklenburg. Robert Ramsey's land had been bought in Anson, but was now part of Union, in the New Salem area. Samuel had married a girl, Rebecca Helms, from the Montgomery side of the Rocky River and was now in Stanly County.
This is Stark's last census. Other information about him holds few clues as well. But the one thing that stood, for a mater of time, he and his children were the only Ramsey's in Anson County, with the exception of a Dr. Wilson C Ramsey who came to Wadesboro and appears to be no relation.
Stark Ramsey was the only Ramsey listed on the 1815 Tax List.
He recieved 3 land grants.
January 14, 1812 150 acres Grant No 2262 Book 128 Page 298 "Joining Wilkenson land (including Williams improvement) from warrant. November 19, 1818 200 acres, Grant 2502 Book 128 Page 319 "Adjoining Ludwell Carpenter Land" But it was the first one, from 1803, that holds the most interest for me.
Here is one of the documents that reveal his real name was Starkey Ramsey, and he was granted 150 acres on the East side of Little Creek, joining John Ramsey, Abercrombie's lines. Could John Ramsey be a clue to who or where Starkey Ramsey came from? Who was John Ramsey? What mark did he leave in Anson County? And, what was his possible relationship to Stark?
He made a few appearances in land records.
"August 7,1797 Elijah Hogan of Anson County to Reuben Hildreth of Montgomery County 2 tracts, 100 acres in the fork of Buffalo Creek, James Ropers line, granted in 1792 to James Roper and (2nd tract) 200 acres on Buffalo Creek where Spencer's Path crosses the creek, granted 1797 to James Roper. Signed Elijah Hogan, Witnesses John Lilly and Starky Ramsey. Oath April 1798 by John Lilly. "
* Several of the Hogan and Ropers would migrate to Tennesee about 20 years after this, with Howells, Randals, Kendalls and Meanly's.
"Dec 20 1800 Nathan Morris of Anson County to John McDaniel of same, 50 acres beginning at a white oak "supposed to be" third corner of John Colson's 250 a survey & joins the upper line of Hough's survey. Signed Nathan Morris. Witness: Starky Ramsey Book H2 p 96
James Norfleet Boggan
Norfleet D Boggan was a very impactful and prominent businessman in the town of Wadesboro, NC. He was the kind of ancestor one would be fortunate to have because he left deep footprints. He also had a unique name, it's much easier to find info on Norfleet D. Boggan than it is John Smith. You know you have the right person.
Under the General Assembly of North Carolina, Norfleet, in 1850, is listed in a group of men in an act to incorporate the Bank of Wadesboro. It is of interest to note this bank had branches. In addition to the one in Wadesboro, Anson County, in which Mr. Bogan was involved, there was a branch in Rockingham, Richmond County and another in Center, Stanly County, which in time would be known as Norwood. The one at "Centre" was under the supervision of William Wall, Sr. , Dr John H. Treadwell, William S. Pemberton, Steven Crump, who was a big Cottonville Cotton merchant and whose family intermarried with my Davis family, William D. Watkins, James L. Gaines, and another ancestor of mine, James S. Turner.
He also served as County Clerk. Norfleet D. Boggan, in the 1830's was in business with Patrick W. Hammond, his wife's brother. The Boggan's and Hammonds are ancestors of my youngest daughter through her Great Great Grandmother West's line.
On December 18, 1837 "Norfleet D. Boggan & Patrick W Hammond, merchants and partners (Anson County) -sold- to Absalom Myers and William B. McCorkle of Anson," their Assets, totalling 6 pages. They owed money to, among others, Edward Kellogg Company of New York City, Bank of Cape Fear at Fayetteville and Merchants Bank at Cheraw. Their assets included a 40 acre lot "known as part of Burnsville". The town of Burnsville, where Patrick Hammonds 'dwelling house and store house is."
My main interest with this sale was the list of names of debtors to Boggan and Hammond.
Many of them were from the Burnsville area, like Benjamin Hutson, Stark Ramsey's neighbor and even several of them from Stanly County, including Henry Davis, who lived on the Rocky River at the time and Bryant Austin, who also lived on the Stanly County side of the Rocky, just south of the present town of Oakboro, both ancestors of mine.
Others of interest listed was:
Starke Ramsey $9.22 next to neighbors of his Ludwell Carpenter $60.94 (another direct ancestor of mine) and John Ledbetter 5.92 John Valentine $5.09 Henry Marshall $2.13 Robertson Pistole $5.29 Joshua Hutson ( who lived on Ugly Creek in Stanly County) Edward Winfield $5.23 (brother of my 4th Great Grandmother Sarah Winfield Davis) Hardy Hatley (Another Great x several Grandfather of mine) Freeman High, Thomas Carpenter (who along with Robertson Pistole and John Valentine will play important parts in following posts, Thomas being another 4th Great Grandfather of mine) Caleb Aldridge (Another 4th Great Grandfather whose Granddaughter will marry Henry Davis's son and Sarah Winfield Davis's Grandson to become the parents of my maternal Great Grandfather) Milton Winfiled (son of Edward and Henry's first cousin) James Broadway and Jeremiah Broadway (neighbors of Stark Ramsey and relatives of Obedience Broadway who was my 5th Great Grandmother and who married Ludwell Carpenter and was the mother of Thomas Carpenter.
But, along with Starke, his neighbors, and all these other ancestors of mine, were several of Starke's sons, now young men, in the year 1837
Samuel Ramsey 32.31 Sanders Ramsey 13.40 John Ramsey 15.37 Robert Ramsey 45.51 Also listed is Christopher Light. He is Sanders Ramsey's father-in-law and will migrate soon with Sanders. These lists, and these census records will help prove theories I've developed in my research, that I will be sharing in further posts.
Before Starkes sons come of age, there were other Ramsey's in Anson County. There was John, whose land bordered Starke's along John Spencer's path, whom I've come across in my research of my Davis and Winfield ancestors.
There was a Samuel, not his son, who also signed the "Upper Anson" petition in 1799, while my Samuel was learning how to walk. There was George William Ramsey "of Chatham" and Mathew J Ramsey, also of "Chatham". There was Richard Ramsey, who witnesses the will of William Davenport in 1798, along with John Broadway, (which places him in the same area of Anson with Starke and John).
The last trace I found of Stark Ramsey was his membership at Rocky River Baptist Church. In May of 1844, he served on a committee with James Benton and 'Mason W. Winfield' (maybe Milton) to investigate the conduct of certain members and report back.
One of his younger sons, Clement, joined the church in October of 1843.
So this is all I know of Starky Ramsey, thus far. Where do I go from here?
I came across John Ramsey, originally, in the land grand of Starkey Ramsey, my Fifth Great Grandfather, and one of my brick walls. Their land was side by side. This fact, leads me to believe, leads me to hope, that they were related, and maybe finding John will help me discover something out about Stark's origins.
Another hint in this very deed is the name Abercrombie. I knew who that was. I've run across him before. Stark lived in an area with a grouping of my ancestors on the south side of the Rocky River.
I am referring to John as "The First" because he lived in Anson County decades before Stark Ramsey's son John was born.
Name:
John Ramsey
Home in 1790 (City, County, State):
Anson, North Carolina
Free White Persons - Males - Under 16:
1
Free White Persons - Males - 16 and over:
3
Free White Persons - Females:
2
Number of Household Members:
6
In 1790, two John Ramsey's actually show up in the Anson County census. This first John Ramsey has a household of 6, Three males over 16, one under, and 2 females in the household, which doesn't tell us a great deal. He was enumerated near Edward Winfield, Drury Robertson and Richard Meanly, who are in my family tree, and which does give me a bit of information. These three all came from Southside Virginia and are related to me through my Winfied/Davis/Freeman lines.
Name:
John Ramsey
Home in 1790 (City, County, State):
Anson, North Carolina
Free White Persons - Males - Under 16:
2
Free White Persons - Males - 16 and over:
2
Free White Persons - Females:
2
Number of Household Members:
6
The other John Ramsey entry has him right next to Phillip Lynch and near Caleb Aldridge. Phillip Lynch was a next door neighbor of whom else, but old Uncle Edward Winfield, esquire. Caleb Aldridge Sr. was also a 5th Great Grandfather of mine. Phillip Lynch also comes into play in my Davis research. This John Ramsey also has six people, 4 males and 2 females. The only difference is that there are two under 16 instead of one.
This page was enumerated by Guilford Dudley. The first one was also covered by Mr. Guilford Dudley, so they were in the same district. It is my belief that this was one and the same family. I've seen this happen several times. Some people were enumerated twice, others were left out entirely on some cenuses. There must have been one teenaged boy who was not quite 16 the first time Mr. Dudley wandered through and by the time Dudley wandered through again, he had turned 16.
There are a couple of facts that add to the mystery of John Ramsey.
1) He only appears in the 1790 census.
2) He does not appear in the 1800 census, although Stark's 1803 Land Grant mentions that his grant borders the property of John Ramsey.
3) Stark Ramsey is the only Ramsey in the 1815 Tax Listing of Anson County.
4) Only Stark appears in the 1800, 1810, and 1820 census records of Anson County. Only Stark and his sons appear in 1830 and 1840.
Land records:
In the old Anson land records involving Stark Ramsey, it mentions "Spencer's Path". It also mentions among his neighbors, "Verhine", Isaac Ambercrombie, Broadway and Edward Winfield. Edward Winfield is a 6th Great Uncle of mine. Researching the Davis and Winfield families, I became a little familiar with the area in which they, and Stark Ramsey, lived.
Peter Winfield, father of Edward, arrived in Anson from Mecklenburg County, Virgina about 1784. He was married to Charlotte Freeman, daughter of Arthur Freeman and Agnes Stokes. They did not traverl alone. With them were Drury Robinson and his sons Drury Jr. and James, who had married nieces of Peter Winfield, Richard Meanly, who had married Charlotte's sister Keziah, and several others of Charlotte's Freeman and Stokes relatives, including her brother Henry. Several of the younger generation, including Drury Sr's sons and Peter's nephews Joel and John Winfield would later move to Marlboro County, SC. Several other members of the party, including Richard Meanly and his children, would move with Howells, Hogan's, Ropers, Randalls and Kendalls, their Anson neighbors, to Tennessee. Peter had bought his land in Anson from Hugh Ross, who also orginatied from the same area of Virginia. Seeing these names repeated helps put things into perspective.
April 7, 1787 Hugh Ross Sr., taylor from Anson to Peter Winfield of Anson, 200 acres on south side of Rocky river of Pee Dee River, begins at John Spencer's third corner hickory........joins Hogan & Preslar. Signed Hugh Ross; Witnesses John Lilly, Richard Randle and Donald Ross.
John Lilly also witnessed a deed with Starky Ramsey. The Spencer's path mentioned in Stark's record was a path, no doubt used by John Spencer.
1786 Deed from Richard Yarbrough to Richard Meanly, 200 acres on the South Side of Lane's creek, begins at Robert Lee deceased's corner red oak....Humphrey Yarbrough's old survey, and joins John Ramsey's beginning. (signed Richard Yarbrough: witness Daniel Young, William Davenport & "Namling" Freeman Manly 1787. This was Hamlin Freeman Manly, one of the Freeman- Manly (Meanley) relatives and a nephew of Charlotte Freeman Winfield.
Sept 19, 1788 Joshua Davis and wife Hannah of Anson to James Marshall of Anson, 65 acres on the south side of Rocky River, begins at the upper corner of the plantation near the mouth of a small branch beginning at a corner of an old grant and above the mouth of the spring branch. Signed Joshua Davis and Hannah Davis. Witnesses by Drury Robinson, Richard Ramsey, & Nathaniel Robinson.
Joshua and Hannah Davis's land also bordered Phillip Lynch's property. Lynch's property would also border Stark Ramsey's property. James Marshall was Peter Winfield's close friend and also among the party that migrated from Mecklenburg County, Virginia. Here are witnesses the Robinsons, who were also members of the Winfield-Freeman party. And there is a Richard Ramsey. How was Richard Ramsey connected to John and Starky, or was he? Where was he from? Where did he go?
Jan 1 1790 Nathan Dabbs (Anson) to George William Ramsey from Chatham County. 200 acres on Southside of PeeDee River. Begins at Thomas Lacy's corner stake on East side of William's Creek. Granted Dec 4 1770 to James Webb. Signed Nathaniel Dabbs, Witnesses William Richardson & Lewis Lanier.
This deed involved an entirely different group of people in an entirely different area of the county. Whether or not Stark was any relation to the Chatham County Ramsey's remains to be seen.
Sept 29, 1792 William Davenport of Anson to Robert Lee of Anson: 60 acres on both sides of Lane's Creek. Begins at John Ramsey's beginning corner, North side of the creek, joins Robert Lee. Signed William Davenport and Aggee Davenport. Witnesses: James Lee and John Lee.
Settled on Lane's Creek
Nov 27, 1793 Joel Yarbrough (Anson) to Darling Allen of Virginia, 180 acres on the North side of Lane's Creek. Border begins on the creek where John Ramsey's upper line crosses the creek, joins a new line made by Humphrey Yarbrough & Daniel Young, North side of Irish Path, the Patent line, Meadow Branch and Persimmon Branch. Includes the land Daniel Young purchased of Humphrey Yarbrough and land in John Ramsey's grant that's on the North Side of Lanes's Creek. Signed Joel Yarbrough. Witnesses James Marshall, Charles Ferrell and Henry Marshall. There's no doubt all of these Yarbrough's are related. And Darling Allen was from the same part of Virginia as the previously mentioned Ramsey, Robinson, Marshalls, Freemans and etc. He did come to Anson and there were Darling Allen's in Anson and Stanly for decades after.
I have not found a deed for John Ramsey on Lane's Creek. I wonder if it was obtained before Anson was Anson?
April 12, 1794 James McIlvale of Anson to John Ramsey of Anson, 150 acres, begins at a poplar on NE side of Little Creek, Granted 1783. Signed James McIlvale, Witnesses: James Marshall, Arthur Davis, Edward Winfield. May 14, 1794 John Auld of Anson to James Campbell of same: 823 acres sold by Alexander Graham and William Cox to John Auld. Witnesses: Mathew Ramsey, Rodrick McLeod and Farquhard Campbell. Can you get any more Scottish than that last name? Mathew Ramsey was also from Chatham County.
April 1, 1796 William Ramsey of Chatham County to Joseph Rosser of Anson County, 200 acres of South side of Pee Dee River, begins at Joseph Rosser's corner, on Williams or Little Brown Creek, east of the creek, Granted in 1770 to James Webb. Signed William Ramsey. Witness William May and Thomas Lewis.
* Note, Little Creek is a branch of Little Brown Creek. This indicates Williams Creeka nd Little Brown Creek were the same body of water.
March 6, 1799 John Sandefur, exector of Joh Mcgregor deceased, to James Marshall, Power of Attorney to recover all money due to me & sue for a Negro boy called Howell in possession of Mary McGregor or detained from me. Signed John Sandefur of John McGrigor. Witnesses: John Ramsey and Isaac AberCrombie.
Isaac Abercrombie has a book about his family
This is not the only time the AberCrombie name is seen in conjunction with John Ramsey. This also shows he was physically in Anson County signing a statement in 1799.
1804 Isaac Cooper 100 acres grant. On Little Bear Creek where Ramsey's Path crosses and on both sides in a long square, West side of Yadkin River & both sides of Little Bear Creek. Witnesses James Carter and Isaac Burleson.
This deed appears to me to be in modern Stanly County, even though this area was part of Montgomery by 1804, not Anson. West Yadkin is the Stanly half of Montgomery. Little Bear Creek is in Stanly. Isaac Burleson settled in Stanly. If anyone knows any different, please let me know.
Nov 1, 1806 John Ramsey of Anson County to Charles Coppedge of same 135 acres, begins at a Poplar on NE side of Little Creek & crosses the creek. Granted 1783. Signed John Ramsey, Enert "Rerhijen" (Verhine), Anne Brewer and D. King.
With this deed, and from here, it becomes really confusing. John Ramsey does not show up in the 1800 census or any others from then on. Just 1790. He does not show up in the 1815 Tax List of Anson County. If he owned land, which he obviously did, he should be in the Tax List.
Cememtery at Concord Baptist Church in Anson County where Griffin Nash and others are buried.
Dec 16, 1806 Gov. Nathaniel Alexander of Raleigh, NC to Solomon Cahoon, Grant 1987 100 acres granted. 69 acres on the waters of Rocky River, begins at his second corner stak, joins Morris, Phillip Lynch, branch & Ramsey. Nat Alexander and Will White, secretary.
* Phillip Lynch....remember that name.
Nov 2, 1807 William Lanier of Anson to Edward Winfield of Anson 350 acres in 4 tracts: 100 acre border begins at a white oak at mouth of a gut on South side of Lane's creek, joins Robet Lee's back line; part of a grant to Robert Lee and willed to John Lee; 100 acres on the South side of Lane's Creek, begins at Richard Yarbrough's corner pine & joins Robert Lee; 50 acres border, begins at Robert Lee deceased's second corner, joins Humphrey Yarbrough's old survery on "the" creek & John Ramsey's beginning. & 100 acres border begins at his old corner stake and joins EdwardWinfield. Signed William Lanier, Witnesss: Frederick Staton, Robert Lee & Frances Lee (female).
1815 Isaac Abercrombie, Edward Winfield, C Coppedge, John Grady & Josiah Allen, commissioners appointed by Anson Co court to divide real estate of Phillip Lynch, deceased: 1 lot about 50 acres to Nancy Lynch, border joins Job Davis & Thomas Avett (Note 1). Lot 2 about 50 acres to Sally Cawton, joins Griffin Nash & Thomas Avett (Note 2). Lot 3 250 acres to Green Lynch joins Griffin Nash & Varhaian (Note 3). Lot 4 100 acres to Caty Lynch, joins Isaac Abercrombie called "Sanders old field"( *Note 4). Lot 5, 36 acres to John Lynch, joins William Marshall and Rocky River. Lot 6, 48 acres to Betsy Lynch, joins Rocky River. Elizabeth Lynch and John Lynch valued at $194. Isaac Abercrombie, Edward Winfield, Charles Coppedge, John Grady & Josiah Allen, July 1816 division returned to court & recorderd Book R, p 279.
The above deed is a genealogy researchers dreams. It names all of the children of Phillip Lynch in one document, in 1815! John Ramsey is not mentioned, but nearly all of his neighbors are, and Charles Coppedge, to whom he sold 135 acres of the 150 acres he had bought from John McIlvale.
Note 1: Previously mentioned in this area bordering Phillip Lynch was Joshua Davis and his wife Hannah. Now it's my ancestor, Job Davis, who this blog is named for. Was there a connection between Joshua Davis and Job Davis? Possibly, I've been looking into it. But Job Davis married Sarah Winfield, daughter of Peter Winfield. Thomas Avett was also a son-in-law of Peter Winfield. He was the second husband of Ancena Winfield. Her first was James Morrison. The first husband of Sarah Winfield was Richard Howell.
Note 2: Griffin Nash was also a son-in-law of Peter Winfield, having married his daughter Jemima Winfield. Here Griffin Nash's property joins that of Thomas Avett and Phillip Lynch. Thomas and Ancena would later migrate to Tennessee. But with the addition of Edward Winfield in the mix, it clearly appears the property of Phillip Lynch adjoined that of what had been the plantation of Peter Winfield, which had been divided between his 4 children: Edward Winfield, Jemima Winfield Nash, Ancena Winfield Morrison Avett and Sarah Winfield Howell Davis.
Note 3: This was Everette, or Ernert Verhine -victim of various spellings, not sure where he came from but they certainly had a hard time with his name.
Noter 4: Sanders old field. This was mentioned in deeds in which Stark Ramsey participated. He had a son named Sanders. Could this name have derived in some way from the Sanders who had owned this field? So many questions. No answers.
Feb 22 1816 Solomon Cahoon of Anson to Godfrey Burnett of same, 3 tracts. 150 acres on both sides of Little Creek, begins at a red oak on the banks of Rocky River and crosses the creek, includes the improvements; 67 acres, border begins at his second corner stake, joins Morrison, Phillip Lynch, a branch & Ramsey; 50 acres, begins at Edward Winfield's corner red oak in Ramsey's line, joins the river & McLendon. signed Solomon Cahoon. Witnesses: Edward Winfield and John Forrest. Recall Morrison was the name of Ancena Winfield's firs husband, and she had already remarried Thomas Avett by this time, so this may have been her son's property. Edward Winfield's property obviously bordered "Ramsey's". John Ramsey is the name mentioned in these properties, but Stark Ramsey is the only Ramsey showing up on tax lists and in census records by this time.
March 12, 1822 John Watson of Marlborough District, SC to Burwell Braswell of Anson, 100 acres on the East side of Little Creek, begins at John Ramsey's corner post oak, joins 'A crombie'& Lynch' except the exclusive right of the Watson family using water out of a certain spring on said land' granted Dec 19, 1803 to John Watson. Witnesses: Armistead Lilly & John Grace.
The land on Little Creek is still being identified as belonging to John Ramsey. A crombie is no doubt Isaac Abercrombie and Lynch, the Lynch family land obviously. This is 1822. Is John dead and the land just stagnantly remaining in his name?
July 11, 1828 Absalom Myers, high sheriff of Anson to William T Caraway of same, 100 acres on the East side of Little Creek. Border begins at John Ramsey's corner post oak, joins Abercrombie& John Ramsey, granted December 19, 1803 (*Note 1) to (Omitted) sold March 10, 1828 due to an execution from Anson County Court against Burrell Braswell for $125 principal & 16.25 interest & $9.55 costs due to suit by John Watson of Anson Co; land sold because no goods or chattels found. Signed A. Myers, Sheriff. Witnesses: W Hammond and M D Watkins.
Note: This is the date on the Starky Ramsey Grant above.
July 14, 1829 William T. Caraway of Anson to John Beard of same, 10 acres on the East side of Little Creek begins at John Ramsey's post oak, joins "Crumby"; granted Dec 19, 1803 to (omitted). Signed W T Caraway.Witnesses: James Horn and Tom Taylor.
This is the same tract of land he bought a year prior. Could this be Stark Ramsey's 1803 grant?
Nov 16, 1841William Lee Jr. of Anson to Young Allen of same, Lee owes $50 to Joseph Medley by note; to secure payment & for $1 paid in trust (a) 50.75 on waters of Little Creek, Border begins at John Ramsey's corner post oak, joins Abercromby, a road and Bryant Braswell....(names farm animals) Signed Willim Lee, witnessed by Bryant Braswell.
Now, this is beginning to get silly. It's 1841 and John Ramsey has not appeared in a census record since 1790, nor any tax records.
Oct 4, 1842 Griffin Nash of Anson County to John S. Kendall of sam, 200 acres on waters of Austins Branch, begins at said Kendalls corner dead hickory and joins Howell (*Note 1), being lot laid off to Nancy Nash (*Note 2) in division of land of Phillip Lynch deceased. Signed Griffin Nash, Witness: Allen Carpenter & James T. Kendall.
These names are getting very familiar. Griffin Nash was the son-in-law of Peter Winfield. Jemima Winfield Nash had died young. Note 1 Howell referred to Peter Howell, oldest son of Sarah Winfield and Richard Howell. Job Davis and Sarah Winfield Howell Davis had transferred this land to Peter when he was just a boy. Note 2 This would be Nancy Lynch in the above Lynch land division. It appears that she was the second wife of Griffin Nash! I never knew he remarried, and I was familiar with Nancy Nash and she and her son George will get posts of their own. She is living next to Stark Ramsey with Benjamin Hutson in Burnsville in the 1850 census. This was not a Ramsey, but Stark lived next to them.
Aug 17. 1842 Joseph White, High Sheriff of Anson County to David C. Lilly of same. 51.75 on waters of Little Creek, begins at John Ramsey's corner post oak, joins Abercrombie, E M Sibley, a road and Bryant Braswelll & William Lee. Signed J White, Sheriff. Witnesses: William Allen and John Rogers.
This is the last deed that mentions John Ramsey.
Odd and odder. Starky Ramsey had 3 Land Grants but never bought or sold land. He only appeared in deeds as a witness.
Then it hit me, What if Stark Ramsey was John Ramsey. What if his name was actually John Starkey Ramsey, and like Griffin Nash, he went by his middle (or less common) name in most records? Not the original John Ramsey of the late 1700's and the 1790 census. Not the John his land adjoined. But maybe that John Ramsey (his father? his brother?) died or migrated away, and the Ramsey on Little Creek was actually Stark?
I had originally not found John Ramsey's Grant, but in a book on Anson County records I found a list of Anson Grants.
John Ramsey, Grant #3633 - 25 July 1774 - Lane's Creek. As John does not appear in any petitions prior to this date. This may be time of his arrival in Anson.
Where did he come from? And where did he go? Who exactly was John Ramsey?
John Ramsey only showed up in the 1790 census of Anson County. He recieved a Grant on Lane's Creek in 1774 and between those two dates, he was mentioned in several land transactions.
He did not show up in the 1799 petition of the residents of Anson County or the 1800 census of Anson County.
My ancestor, Starkey aka "Stark" Ramsey shows up for the first time in the 1800 census and in every census between there and 1850, his last. He recieved a Land Grant in 1803, "bordering John Ramsey and Abercrombie". It is very likely that John Ramsey and Stark Ramsey were related.
But Stark was not the only Ramsey to show up in the 1800 census. There was one other.
Samuel Ramsey also shows up in the 1800 census, near Stark Ramsey, and living in the same neighborhood, among the names listed as bordering the property of John Ramsey, or in whose land transactions Stark served as a witness.
This list is a bit difficult to read, especially at this size, so I will transcribe.
Thomas Stone Charles Ferrell Edward Winfield * This is my 5th Great Uncle Edward Winfield, Esquire, for whom the Winfield Road in Stanly and Anson was named. He is mentioned in several deeds that his property bordered with that of John Ramsey. Mathew Turner Everhart Verhine *This is the poor man whose name was spelled a gazillion different ways, He is also mentioned in deeds involving John Ramsey. Avery Lucky John Stone Reuben Hildreth * Starkey Ramsey witnesses the 1797 deed from Elijah Hogan to Reuben Hildreth, or Heldrith, of Montgomery County. Elijah Hogan moved to Georgia. He was a son of James Hogan of Anson. Others of his family moved to Giles County, Tennesee. Samuel Ramsey **** Jeptha Morris Thomas Threadgill Griffin Nash * Griffin was a son-in-law of my ancestor Peter Winfield and also my 5th Great Granduncle by marriage. His name appears in multiple deeds with land joining that of John Ramsey. He was a brother-in-law of the above mentioned Edward Winfield. When his first wife, Jemima Ramsey died, he married a daughter of Phillip Lynch, another neighbor. His children, over half of them, would migrate at various times to Mississippi, Missourit, Arkansas and on to Texas. Ephriam Adkins Hugh Ross * There were multiple Hugh's. Not sure if this was Jr. or Sr. Hugh Ross is also mentioned in deeds bordering John Ramsey. Hugh Ross originated in Mecklenburg County, Virginia along with my Davis, Winfield, Freeman and Marshall ancestors and sold the property in Anson to Peter Winfield. John Hicks Uriah Tison * Also appears in deeds of land bordering John Ramsey Nathan Morris * Starkey Ramsey witnesses the 1800 deed of Nathan Morris to John McDaniel. Edward Freeman * A nephew of Charlotte Freeman Winfield and cousin of Edward Winfield William H. Davidson Whitwell Ryal Cason Harrell Jacob Tison John Watson George Threadgill This is the age and gender breakdown of the Samuel Ramsey household in 1800.
Name:
Samuel Ramsey
Home in 1800 (City, County, State):
Fayetteville, Anson, North Carolina
Free White Persons - Males -10 thru 15:
1
Free White Persons - Males - 16 thru 25:
1
Free White Persons - Males - 45 and over:
1
Free White Persons - Females - Under 10:
1
Free White Persons - Females - 16 thru 25:
1
Free White Persons - Females - 45 and over:
1
Number of Household Members Under 16:
2
Number of Household Members Over 25:
2
Number of Household Members:
6
The persons enumerated in Samuel Ramsey's household were as follows:
A male and female over 45. A male 16 to 25, a male 10 to 15 A female 16 to 25 and a female 10 to 15.
Was Samuel over 45, or could he have been the male 16 to 25? Could the older couple be his parents and the younger two teenagers be his siblings and the young woman be his wife?
The only other trace of Samuel Ramsey in Anson County is the 1799 Petition to the Assembly by the citizens of "Upper Anson".
In the third section, Samuel Ramsey is listed next to my ancestor, Peter Winfield, who died in 1803, David Helms and Darling Allen.
In the last section, Stark Ramsey is listed near Davis Yarbrough and Robertson Pistole, his 1850 Burnsville Township neighbor.
These are the only two mentions of Samuel Ramsey (the first) in Anson County. Due to the proximity, he was very likely a relative of John Ramsey and Starkey Ramsey.
During the early part of the 1800's, there was a mass migration from there to Tennessee, Alabama, Georgia and even Indiana and areas further west as those areas opened up. Could Samuel Ramsey have been one of those individuals? Most likely. So I decided to look to see where there were Samuel Ramsey's in 1810.
There were actually 11! There was a Samuel over 45 in Burke County, North Carolina. There was a Samuel Ramsey in Abbeville District, South Carolina with a very large family and 13 slaves. This was very likely not our Samuel as the ones in Anson never owned slaves. There were Samuel's in New Hamphire, New York and Pennsylvania. These 3 were also not likely to be our Samuel as migrations tended to be south and west. Not impossible, but not very likely. There was one in Augusta, Virgina, an area I see a great deal in the trees of Ramsey family dna matches, but this one is only between 16 and 25, a young man just getting started. Too young to be our Samuel in Anson 10 years prior. There are two other Samuel's in Virginia, one in Rockbridge and another in Brooke. Not impossible, but also not likely. Those are two counties I've never seen Ansonites heading to or really, never from. There's a Samuel in Kentucky. Possible, but most families who migrated to Kentucky came from Virginia or Pennsylvania, not North Carolina. Then there is a Samuel in Nashville, Rutherford, Tennessee. The most likely candidates to be the Anson Samuel would be the one in Tennessee, or the one in Burke. There was also a Richard Ramsey in Burke.
Richard Ramsey does not appear in any census or petition of Anson County. He only witnesses three deeds.
The first is in September of 1788 Joshua Davis and wife Hannah of Anson to James Marshall of the same, 65 acres on the southside of the Rocky River beginning at the upper corner of the plantation, near the mouth of a small branch, being a corner of an old grant and above the mouth of the Spring Branch. Signed by Joshua and Hannah Davis and witnessesed by Drury Robertson and Nathaniel Robertson, along with Richard Ramsey.
It must be noted that in other deeds, the land of Joshua Davis bordered that of Phillip Lynch, Griffin Nash and Edward Winfield. As did that of John Ramsey. It is also worthy to note that Drury and Nathaniel Robertson were part of the Southside Virginia party who had migrated to Anson just a few years before with Peter Winfield and his inlaws, and the Marshall family.
The second deed, dated January 17, 1793 was between James Fletcher and James McIlvale (of Montgomery and Anson to Griffin Nash of Anson, a tract of land that began near a pole near Ross'es line (no doubt Hugh Ross), joins Camp Branch and Marks Branch (the name of this branch intriques me because of my Marks ancestry, where did it get that name?). It was signed James Fletcher and James McIlvale with Rufus Johnson and Edward Winfield as witnesses.
In April of 1794, James McIlvale was the fellow who would sell 150 acres on Little Creek to John Ramsey. And of course, again, the properties of Griffin Nash and Edward Winfield adjoined that of John Ramsey
October 16, 1792 William Davenport, planter, of Anson to Joshua Williams, esquire (meaning these two were men of substance) 100 acrea on Lanes Creek near a drain of Clemons branch and being near Joshua Williams line and joins the drain of Cedar branch. Signed by William Davenport, with John Broadway and Richard Ramsey as witnesses.
The Broadway family also occupied this area and lived near Stark Ramsey.
In 1793 John Ricketts of Anson sold to John Preslar of Anson 100 acres that begin near Isham O'Neal's line and joined Preslar's path and included an old improvement that was granted to Anthony Preslar in 1790. It was signed by John Ricketts and witnessed by Joshua William, from the last deed, and Richard Ramsey.
And this is the last mention of Richard Ramsey. He either passed away or migrated away before the 1799 petition and 1800 census. Most likely, he migrated. Was he the Richard Ramsey in Burke?
A quick look shows that Richard Ramsey was in Burke County in the 1790, 1800 and 1810 census of Burke County.
Research can be a tedious process of looking first at the most likely scenarios, and through the proces of elimination, whittling those scenarios and individuals down, until you are left with the most probable possibilities, and then you have to dig in those areas for documentation and proof. It could be a biography of their children or grandchildren, documents or letters kept by descendants of migrant kin that documents their origins; involvement of known neighbors who appeared to stay connected during their travels that link back to the place of origin. Sometimes, it was just too long ago to find any concrete evidence that would be considered proof for SAR or DAR membership, but it could possibly be enough, that you know in your heart, that this person was the one you were looking for.
Speaking of...there is a John Ramsey in 1800 in Richmond County, North Carolina. Oh, just beyong Anson, joining Montgomery and Anson...Could this be the John I was looking for? Could the Ramsey be like the Maskes and Christians and Robertson and countless others with plantations and property all up and down the Pee Dee River?
I've been purviewing my CD collection of old Stanly County Court records again. One day, one day, I'm going to transcribe the ones of these suckers, that have not been transcribed already, and make them available to the public somehow. There is so much information in them, but it might be information that some people would rather not find.
As can be expected, at any time in history, really, men dominated the Superior Court docket in the 1880's, the decade I'm currently in on the discs. Lots of land disputes and debts claimed, retailing ( selling illicit alchohol), affray (fighting), assault and battery predominated, but there was the occasional disturbing a religious service, larceny, ejectment, mismarking livestock, damaging crops, damaging livestock, slandering a lady, and even one or two murders a year, yes, even in the 1880's.
But for me, maybe because I am a woman, the most interesting cases, the juiciest ones, seemed to involve women. Perhaps, also, because of their potential genealogical value as well.
There were divorces, sometimes brought to court by the wife, other times by the husband. There were the F & A cases, fornication and adultery, that named the illicit couples, and also perhaps the father of an unmarried woman's children. There were the cases in which a man was charged with "Seduction" and the prosecuting witness was the father of an underaged daughter, or even the husband the 'seduced'.
But women also got into some of the same mischief as the 'fellars'. They stole, they trespassed, they drank, they brawled...just..not as often. In fact, some in my family tree, the female members of a particular family, were notorious for fighting amongst themselves and with neighbors, it seemed. They had such a reputation for it that it has persisted to modern times. As my distant cousin, Don Aldridge, would inform me about my particular branch of Aldridges, who descended from these fighting female Murrays, his Aunt Maudie Scarboro had said of them, "They weren't nice people".
In fact, one story I will cover, when I finally get to the end of the dragged out court case, ( that is not a new phenomena, I've discovered), was a brawl between Sophia Murray Whitaker and Martha Ross Murray. Martha was the wife of Sophia's brother Benjamin Murray. They were bonded out of jail by a brother-in-law, John T. Turner, who was married to another Murray sister, Phoebe.
In fact, there were several names of female Stanly Countians that kept coming up in the court records, year after year, at various times, that I have dubbed them, "The Bad Girls of Stanly County". Some of these 19th century ladies may, and actually, probably do, have living descendants. If you see a name that looks familiar, like a name in your family tree, and you don't want to admit that this naughty young girl was the saintly octogenarian your Dad remembered from his childhood, then don't tell anybody. Just remember, people who sowed wild oats in their youth, often became the most puritan of grandparents as they aged, if they survived their youth. It happens today. It happened then.
I begin this series (while I am also busy researching my Ramsey's and my Mountains), with the story of Sarah Eudy.
In the year 1886, one Sarah Eudy of Stanly County was brought to court, charged with keeping a "Disorderly House". Now, this did not mean she was not a tidy housekeeper.
The online dictionary explains the term "Disorderly House" with one word, a term that most people would be more familiar with.
dis·or·der·ly house
diˈsôrdərlē houz/
noun
LAWarchaic
a brothel.
Wikipedia gives a bit more detail and background for the term, and the criminal charge.
Disorderly House
A placewhereindividualsreside or whichtheyfrequentforpurposesthatpose a threat to publichealth,morals,convenience,or safety,andthatmaycreate a publicNuisance. Adisorderlyhouseis an all-inclusivetermthatmay be used to describesuchplaces as a house of prostitution, an illegalgamblingcasino, or a sitewheredrugsareconstantlyboughtandsold. It isanyplacewhereunlawfulpracticesarehabituallycarried on by thepublic.
So, Sarah Eudy, in other words, was letting her home be used as a place where illegal activities were taking place to the extent it was a nuisance to the surrounding community.
Now, Sarah Eudy was a fairly common name in old Stanly County and neighboring Cabarrus. There were quite a few Sarahs. It was not going to be the Sarah born in 1800, or the Sarah born in 1885. It wasn't going to be the Sarah's who were happily married and having a steady stream of babies by the their husbands, either. So, when all of the "Not" Sarah's were eliminated, it left by one.
Women in these positions opened themselves up to socially-condoned abuse as seen in this article from neighboring Rowan, where a woman's proposed reputation gave some young men impetus to harrass and assault her.
I wondered if Sarah Eudy was connected to or related to this Julia Udy (Eudy), who was also arrested for keeping a disorderly house, about a decade earlier, in Cabarrus County.
As you can see, the Victorian era was rife with women commiting crimes of conduct against social mores. Margaret Earnhardt and John Lumley were charged with bastardy, meaning they had a child out of wedlock, as did Ellen Daywalt and Robert A. Patterson. Cornelia Parker and Adam Winecoff were up for Fornication and Adultery. Harvey Reed, whose name I am familiar with, as he was a man of mixed heritage who had served as Civil War soldier, along with a few other free persons of color in Stanly and Cabarrus County. A white woman called M. J. Bost was charged with Fornication and Adultery in an illicit relationship with him. The morality police were very busy.
In her book, "Unruly Women, The Politics of Social & Sexual Control in the Old South", author Victoria E. Bynum, drew on records from the courts of three counties in North Carolina, one of those being Montgomery, a parent county and neighbor to Stanly. In addressing the issues of 'Disorderly Houses', Ms. Bynum noted:
'Prostitution was usually included within the general charge of operating a "disorderly house", rather than being the sole issue of an indictment.' She also noted that, "Most of those accused of prostitution or of operating "disorderly houses" were poor women who lived in female headed households and lacked extensive kinship networks in their communities". Sarah Eudy skirted the definition of those accusations. Due to the sensitivity of the charges she faced, and the fact that they might be an embarrassment to any surviving family members, I am not going to identify her in any clear way that anyone outside her familial bounds could identify. She shared her name with enough other females in the counties in which she resided that it does not specifically pin her down.
Sarah was by all accounts a beautiful woman. She was born in Western Stanly near the Cabarrus County line. Her family was of an unusual, nearly incestual structure. Like many of her generation, she was the daughter of a Confederate Soldier. Her father had outlived multiple wives. Her mother was his last and was the widow of one of his sons, making the relationship between his and her older children and younger children an unusual one of half-siblings/aunt or uncle combination and a genetic nightmare for descendants attempting to determine relationships among their genetic matches in this line.
Her father died before she was arrested for operating a disorderly house, but her mother had not. She was not alone in her arrest, but accompanied by three other young women, it appears, one of them a family member.
It is unclear what exactly happened to her immediately after she was released from jail, as there was no 1890 census. But 14 years in the future, in the 1900 census, she was living in another county and with a brother. One thing that was clear, she had had a relationship with a single Stanly County man about her own age, and had given birth to a child with him.
The father of her child never married, and was clearly known to his daughter, as he was mentioned on her marriage license and her death certificate. He, however, was probably estranged from her, as he did not mention her in his will.
Sarah was very young upon her arrest and still in her late twenties when she became a mother. But her story was not over. At about 40, Sarah, despite her reputation, was married to a widower about 20 years her senior. Surprisingly, she had another child, while in her early 40's.
It wasn't long before her older husband left her a widow. After 2 years alone, Sarah would marry again, to another old soldier 20 years her elder. He was in his 70's and she had hit 50, but surprisingly, he outlived her by a few years.
Sarah's death seems particularly sad. She was just in her 50's, having only been remarried a few years. She died of chronic nephritis and extreme intoxication. She drank herself to death, and was very likely an alchoholic. The informant was her husband, who correctly named her parents, and she was buried very close to where she was born.
What had taken this woman to her station in life? She was no more or no less situated than most of those who surrounded her. I guess that answer lies in tragic void. Rest in Peace, Sarah, your house is now orderly.
Sarah Swaringen was not as active a participant in her journey to the Stanly County jail as the subjects in my first two "Bad Girls" series. She didn't run a brothel and party house, and she didn't make the papers. But what she had in common with Julia Ann Ross landed her in the hot seat.
Sarah was born in Anson County, probably near the banks of the Rocky River, not far from the forks of the Rocky and Pee Dee rivers, near Norwood, NC. She was born Sarah Flake, daughter of Daniel Flake and his wife, Mary Cole Flake, aobut the year 1856.
She first shows up in the 1870 census, with an older brother, Ephraim and 3 younger siblings. Her father David was listed as a farmer, but had no property value, which probably meant he was working for another farmer, or perhaps share-cropping, as was common at the time. Perhaps he was working in conjunction with his neighbor John Hudson, who did have property, which puts him in the area of East Macedonia Church.
The 1880 census still shows Sarah as being born about 1856 and still living with her parents in Center Township, now a young adult. She, and her younger brother, Willie, were helping their father work the farm. None of them could read or write.
But Sarah's simple life as a farm girl was about to take a big change, when on February 6, 1882, 23 year old Sarah Flake, daughter of Daniel and Mary Flake, married 30 year old Charlie Tillman (Jr), son of Charlie and Jane Tillman.
The problem with that, was well, this is where Sarah Flake fell into the same category, was that Charlie Tillman had married Laura Ledbetter in Anson County, where he was originally from, on November 29, 1873, nearly ten years prior. The 1880 census showed Charlie and Laura as the parents of two children, already.
And Laura was not dead when Charlie and Sarah married in 1882. In fact, the 1900 census shows the couple still living together, and having had more children together as well.
It's not clear if Charles and Sarah actually lived together, or if they did, how long. What is clear is that on October 29, 1884, just two years later, Sarah married Elizah or Elijah Swaringen, of Norwood. She forgot about one little thing, though, she forgot to obtain that complicated piece of paper better known as a "Divorce".
For her benefit, Sarah was probably just a simple country girl. The census records detail that she was uneducated. Her family was also not that far removed from a subculture, where, well, rules did not apply, as her death certificate would detail. Her parents, and Sarah herself, were born into slavery. Slaves were not held to the same social constrictions of marriages, divorces, and legal proceedings as freeborn persons. Then suddenly, they were freed, when Sarah was but an 8 year old girl. And just as suddenly, they were expected to "know all this stuff", to conform to the legal jigamorro that freeborn and better educated persons were expected to uphold. To go from "jumping the broom" to filing for divorce in a court of law. When you could not even read, how could you be expected to know the law?
To his credit, Elijah Swaringen had been married to his first wife, Angelina Huckabee, and had a few children already, but was a widower when he married Sarah Flake. Angelina seems to have died immediatly after the birth of her last child, Clarence.
It took a couple of years for someone to figure out that Sarah Flake/Tillman/Swearingen had more than one husband at a time.
She was first brought to Superior Court at the Spring Term of 1886. She may have been to a lesser court before that, but I disc I am currently involved with was for Superior. She was charged with bigamy. The case would drag on for a few years.
In September of 1887:
State vs Sarah Swaringen - Bigamy Continued for defendant for want of witness, Martha Bennett, ipus subpoena to Anson for witness Deft. recognized with David Flake as surety in the sum of $200 for her personal appearance at the next term of court and not depart the same without leave.
David Flake, her bondsman, also lived in Wadesboro, and was close in age to Sarah. He may have been her brother.
The next time her case came up, Sarah was found guilty of Bigamy and given to the custody of the sheriff until the costs of court were paid.
Fall Session 1887 - State vs Sarah Swaringen Charge: Bigamy Plead: Not Guilty Jury called: T. S. Wright W. A. Calvary Jacob Shankle F. F. Lowder S. S. Lilly Tillman Fesperman F. W. Tally C. A. Dry John Smith W. P. McLester E. M. Osborne Verdict: Guilty Judgement suspended upon payment of costs. Defendant placed in custody of Sheriff I was pretty certain, but I did a little background searching to be sure, but Sarah was judged by an all male, all white jury. Sarah was by far not the only female sent to jail that day. Judge John A. Gilmer had sent quite a few ladies into the custody of the sheriff that session. Sarah Swarengen joined Catherine Bowers and Catherine Hinson, Mary Reap, Ella Yow, Ann Carpenter, Martha Almond and Phoebe, alias Neely, Huneycutt.
Sarah's marriage to Charles Tillman was anulled, he having had a living wife when he married her. His case was remitted to Anson. It appears that Sarah, after her experience on the wrong side of the law, returned to a life of married bliss with Elijah Swaringen, and became a mother.
The 1900 census has the family living in Center, Elijah was a farmer and owned his own farm. What was even more encouraging was that all of the children could read and write. Sarah was noted as being the mother of 5 children, with 3 living. Those three would have been Ella, Jackson and Addie. Isabella and Clarence were the children of Elijah and first wife Angelina. Froney Smith was noted as being a daughter, but with a different last name, she was possibly an adopted daughter. The two that passed away may have been the two little girls in the 1880 census who were named as granddaughters of Daniel and Mary Flake. The couple was noted as having been married for 14 years, but it was actually more like 16.
By 1910, Sarah was said to have been the mother of 6 children, with only two living, Jack (Jackson) and Ada (Addie). This would have meant that Ella had died. But this was incorrect, as just the year before, Ella Swaringen, daughter of "Lige" and Sarah Swaringen married John Deberry, son of Jerry and Violet Deberry, on October 17, 1909. She was very much alive and well in 1910 all the way through 1940 and raised a daughter, Annie Mae and a stepson, Clyde. Perhaps Sarah misunderstood and took it as how many children were living with her.
1910 would be Sarah Flake Swaringen's last census. She passed away on September 29, 1916. Based on the two census records when she was young, giving her year of birth as 1856, which I believe is the most accurate, this would put her at about 60 years old. Her death certificate is rather sad.
She is described as a Laundress and the reason for her death was a "Leaky Heart", which is also called Valve Regurgitation. Her birthdate was unknown, but her age estimated at 55 "about". Her birthplace was given as Anson, and her parents correctly listed as Daniel Flake and Mary Cole. Elijah had preceded her in death, as she was a widow. There was no informant listed, but the Registrar, W. E. Snuggs left a note. The undertake was G. W. Springer of Norwood, although the handwriting is particularly rough. I believe the place of burial says, "near Porter, NC" because that is the area where she grew up.
The note left by the registrar in place of an informant states "The above information is brief due to the fact that no one knows.exact age of deceased having been born of Exslaves".
Sarah Swaringen shared the fact that she became involved with a married man with Julia Ann Ross, however she did not make the papers as all parties involved were of African ancestry. She and Elijah and Charlie and Laura Tillman left descendants to carry on, many of them migrating to larger cities, such as Charlotte and Winston-Salem, and other states, like South Carolina and New York.
