Delaney Elizabeth Braswell Lowthorp is one of those ancestors whose existence is growing dim.
Trace remnants of her extistence remain, but mother nature is taking over and attempting to erase those faint lines.
Laney is one of those women in my family tree who quietly existed and left only soft footprints in the sand.
Laney was born May 14, 1782, in the heart of the Revolutionary War. Her father, Richard Braswell, was a Patriot, several generations of his family being born in America. Richard ,and his daughter, Laney, were both born in Wayne County, North Carolina.
ICHARD BRASWELL Private, North Carolina Militia, $43.33 annual
allowance $179.99 amount received February 18, 1833. Pension started age 80.
He recieved a pension for his service later in years. Below are statements Richard made, at age 78, in his pension application.
Delaney's mother was Penelope Blow. Penelope Blow Braswell,79, also testified for her husbands pension relief.
Burwell Braswell was a son of the couple and brother to Laney. The Rev. John Culpepper also holds a place in my family tree.
The family had moved to Anson County after 1810, when they are found in Johnson County, having remained in Wayne County until 1800.
Richard Braswell named his oldest daughter and second child, for his mother, as her name was Elizabeth Dulaney, who had married Richard Braswell, Sr. Laney's mother, Penelope Blow, was the daughter of Revolutinary War Patriot, Benjamin Blow and Priscilla Braswell Musgrave Blow. Delaney was the second of 9 children to Richard Jr .and Penelope.
Laney must have been a rebellious sort, after all, being born near the close of the Revolutionary War into a family of Patriots, how in the world, or why in the world would she marry an Englishman at the age of 20? But she did.
Francis Norton Lowthorp Jr. was born in Yorkshire, England. When he arrived in the American south, they tore that name up! I've seen it Lathrop, Lowthrop, Lowthorp, they didn't know what to do with it.
St Mary's Church, Beverly, Yorkshire
Francis Norton Lowthorp, Jr was baptized on July 31, 1773 at St. Mary's Church in Beverly, Yorkshire, England. His parents were Francis Sr.( 1740-1806) and wife Elizabeth Gerbot (1741-1791), making them my ancestors, too.
Beverly, in Yorkshire
Francis, Jr. arrived with his father and sisters, Jane and Mary, in 1784 at about 10 years old. 1800, with his parents, his father dying there in 1806.
From St. John's Lodge Number 3 in New Bern
Francis Lowthorp's portrait is displayed in Lowthrop Hall of St. John's Masonic Lodge in New Bern, NC. He was Worshipful Master for fourteen consecutive terms, from 1792 to 1806. The name "Lowthrop" was mispelled. The correct spelling is Lowthorp. - quote from the portriat explanation, author unknown.
Francis, Sr. was born in Yorkshire, England about 1740. His profession was listed as an Exciseman. His three children were baptised at St. Mary's Church in Beverly . He had been married to their mother, Elizabeth Gerbot, in Beverly in 1771. He began an import/export business and it appears he may have settled briely in Jamaica or the Caribbean before chosing New Bern, North Carolina in which to settle. It appears he owned at least one ship, called the "Nancy", and possbly several more, which sailed to Jamaice on a regular basis. It is known he and his daughter Mary Lowthorpe Churchill were in Espando in 1794.
When Francis Lowthorp, Sr. arrived in America, it was only he and his 3 children. His wife, Elizabeth was not with them she may have died before they left, or perhaps on shipboard.
Historic New Bern
Francis established himself well in New Bern. He served as the County Coroner and was elected as a Justice of the Peace. He was a dedicated Mason and served as the Worship Master of the local Masonic Lodge for 14 consecutive terms from 1792 until his death in 1806. There, he continued as a Maritime trader and Merchant selling imports he'd brought from England, the West Indies and other parts of Europe.
He also had sizeable landholdings, including a tobacco plantation. Between 1800 and 1803, he faced some economic failings and lost most of his assetts, including the tobacco plantation and some personal property. At his death, he was in debt and the Masons paid for his funeral and the care of his wife and small child.
Francis Lowthorp, Sr. was obviously not seen as a British loyalist, after having arrived from England as a merchant and trader. That's probably why Richard Braswell had no problem with Lowtharps only son marrying his daughter, Delaney.
The Lowtharp children married:
Mary to Charles Churchill in 1794
Jane to John Pasteur in 1801
Francis Jr. to Delaney Braswell in 1803
So while, a great deal can be known concerning Francis Lowthorp, Sr., not as much can be said for his son.What is known is that he slipped westward into Johnson County, North Carolina.
There on March 29, 1803, he married Delaney Braswell.
Name
Francis Lotharp
Home in 1810 (City, County, State)
Johnston, North Carolina
Free White Persons - Males - Under 10
1
Free White Persons - Males - 26 thru 44
1
Free White Persons - Females - Under 10
3
Free White Persons - Females - 26 thru 44
1
Number of Household Members Under 16
4
Number of Household Members Over 25
2
Number of Household Members
6
By 1810, where the young family is found in Johnson County, they appear to have had 4 children. Richard Braswell and wife, Penelope have also moved from Wayne County to Johnson County in 1810.
By 1820, they all are found in Anson County. Francis, instead of attempting to continue his father's business in New Bern, has taken up with his wife's family. He may have been escaping the debts his father had acquired upon his death. Katherine and her daughter, Sarah, remained in New Bern and are buried there with John, Sr.
It appears to me that the daughters of Francis, Sr. continued with his importing business, and I wonder why Jr. and Delaney did not. In the above add, Misses S. Lowthorp is daughter Sarah, born by his second wife and M. A. Pasteur is his married daughter. The sloop Nancy, and also Betsy, is believed to have been his also. This is in 1828, 22 years after his death and his daughter are wheeling and dealing, going to New York and still importing from Philadelphia, like their father did.
Name:
Norton F Lowthorpe
Home in 1820 (City, County, State):
White, Anson, North Carolina
Enumeration Date:
August 7, 1820
Free White Persons - Males - Under 10:
3 Joseph, Bryant, Churchell
Free White Persons - Males - 10 thru 15:
1
Free White Persons - Males - 45 and over:
1 Francis
Free White Persons - Females - 10 thru 15:
2 Matilda and Jane (Polly married already?)
Free White Persons - Females - 26 thru 44:
1 Delaney
Number of Persons - Engaged in Agriculture:
2
Free White Persons - Under 16:
6
Free White Persons - Over 25:
2
Total Free White Persons:
8
Total All Persons - White, Slaves, Colored, Other:
8
In 1820, the Lowthorp Jr's are in the White Store area of Anson County with 6 children.
Name:
Francis Lockrop [Francis Lothrop]
Home in 1830 (City, County, State):
Anson, North Carolina
Free White Persons - Males - Under 5:
1 Burwell
Free White Persons - Males - 10 thru 14:
2 Bryant and Joseph Erwin
Free White Persons - Males - 15 thru 19:
2 Churchwell and ? Perhaps an employee? Or perhaps one unknown son died.
Free White Persons - Males - 50 thru 59:
1 Francis
Free White Persons - Females - 40 thru 49:
1 Delaney
Free White Persons - Under 20:
5
Free White Persons - 20 thru 49:
1
Total Free White Persons:
7
Total - All Persons (Free White, Slaves, Free Colored):
7
By 1830, the daughters are all married and there are 5 young boys under 20 in the home. Only 4 sons are known, so perhaps one died as a child or either this was a hired hand. Francis Sr was known to have owned slaves and had several he imported from the West Indies to run away, but Francis Jr. never did. That says alot.
Name:
Francis Lotharp [Frances Lotharp]
Home in 1840 (City, County, State):
Anson, North Carolina
Free White Persons - Males - 10 thru 14:
1 Burwell
Free White Persons - Males - 60 thru 69:
1 Francis
Free White Persons - Females - 10 thru 14:
1 Unknown
Free White Persons - Females - 50 thru 59:
1 Delaney
Persons Employed in Agriculture:
1
Persons Employed in Manufacture and Trade:
1
Free White Persons - Under 20:
2
Total Free White Persons:
4
Total All Persons - Free White, Free Colored, Slaves:
4
1840 changes the scenario a bit. It was also the last census for both Francis and Delaney. The next, the 1850, find their children in Anson and Union Counties. Some eventually move to Iredell.
My line, Joseph Erwin and Lavina Lowthorp will have a daughter, Cornelia Angeline, who will marry a Lemmonds and become my ancestor. She dies at 22, possibly of childbirth, so I know less about Angeline than I do Delaney.
Joseph Erwin Lowthorp and wife Elizabeth Lavinia Austin Lowthorp
The Braswell Farm was fairly near Red Hill Baptist Church and the town of Ansonville. A family cemetery was located there. Over time, it became overgrown and neglected, as many old family cemeteries do, and nearly forgotten. But not entirely, at some point, some of the Braswell family, many whom attended Red Hill, placed markers at Red Hill to honor their ancestors. I do not know if their remains are there or not. This included Delaney "Laney" Elizabeth Braswell Lowthorp.
Tabitha Ann Marks was my 3rd Great Grandmother, a little more recent that the last few I've endeavored to feature. However, that does not mean she lived recently. Her entire lifespan was within the 19th century.
Tabby was born on January 12, 1805 in Chartham County, North Carolina to James Marks and Catherine "Caty" Gunter. The Marks family research is ongoing, but we know that Tabitha was the granddaughter of Isham Gunter of Chatham County, due to the mention of her mother in his will.
John and James Marks, presumed brothers, married Mary and Catherine Gunter, daughters of Isham Gunter. James is shown in the 1820 census of Chatham County, so sometime soon after that, the family migrated down to settle in what was then Montgomery County, along the Yadkin/PeeDee River.
James settled upon a hill between Morrow Mountain and Stony Mountain, from what we can ascertain, and died before 1830, as his wife is shown there as the head of household, presumably a widow. His brother John was in Stanly/Montgomery Counties until at least 1838, when he signed a petition to separate the county of Montgomery into two, with the river as a dividing line. His wife, Mary, for unknown reasons, appears to have remained in Chatham County.
Total - All Persons (Free White, Slaves, Free Colored):
5
John had one son to remain in this area, William "Buck" Marks. James and Caty (Katie), had 5 known children:
1805-1891 Tabitha - married Rev. William Solomon 1808-1889 Elias - married Judith Allen 1810-1847 Benjamin F. - married Avey (or Evie) McGregor 1818-1865 Thomas - married Nancy A. Carter 1822-1913 Nancy -married Marcus Princeton Carter
Name:
Will Solomon
Home in 1830 (City, County, State):
Montgomery, North Carolina
Free White Persons - Males - 30 thru 39:
1 Will
Free White Persons - Females - Under 5:
2 Martha Ann & Jane Caroline
Free White Persons - Females - 20 thru 29:
1 Tabby
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
Tabitha is not listed with her mother in 1830, because she is already married and mother to two little girls. Tabitha married in about 1823 to Rev. William Solomon, son of Rev. Bennett Solomon and Ava McGregor Solomon.
Daniel Freeman was a local merchant. When Montgomery was one county, his store was located in the County Seat of Lawrenceville in East PeeDee. When the counties were divided in 1841, he relocated to the new County Seat of Albemarle in West Pee Dee, now called Stanly County. He kept ledgers. The above page is from one of those ledgers showing William Solomon making a purchase for E. Marks. E. Marks was probably the oldest of Tabitha's 3 younger brothers, Elias Marks.
Roads through Chatham into Moore, and to Montgomery there after, circa late 1700's.
By the 1840's, it appears that only the younger generation of Marks remained.
Tabitha's brother, Benjamin Franklin Marks, migrated to Tennesee with some of the Huckabees and McGregors. He had married into the family of Tabitha's mother-in-law. Her other 3 siblings remained in Stanly County.
Total All Persons - Free White, Free Colored, Slaves:
7
By 1840, William and Tabitha are in their 30's and their family has increased to 5 children.
From the Lawrenceville Freeman Ledge, Catherine Marks, mother of Tabitha and William Solomon, making a purchase at the same time in 1832. He probably accompanied her across the river.
William Solomon making a purchase for "B." Marks of a Hoe. Probably Ben Marks, his brother-in-law.
1850 is the first year the children and women are mentioned by name. Oldest daughter Martha has married Franklin Allen Laton. Two new little girls have joined the family, Margaret W and Eliza R.
By 1860, the Solomans are in their 50's. Tabitha has had her last child at age 42, a son George W. Solomon.
The Civil War stuck and changed the lives of everyone in the lovely Pee Dee Valley. William Sidney Solomon, Sr., a minister and long in the tooth was not in the way or mind to join the battle. There were "issues" with him. At his age, he was assigned first to the Home Guard and then later, especially because of his spiritual leadership, he was assigned as a Prison Guard in Salisbury.
Name:
William S. Solomon
Side:
Confederate
Regiment State/Origin:
North Carolina
Regiment:
Howard's Company, North Carolina Prison Guards
Rank In:
Private
Rank Out:
Private
Tabitha would have been home with her younger children.
From the History of Badin Baptist (Ebenezer) Church
By 1870, the Solomons are in their 60's and only youngest daughter, Eliza is home and remains single.
She won't remain so long, as she marries John Simpson, son of Isaac and Lucy Simpson on July 23, 1871.
Rev. William Solomon performed several marriages and other services until his dying day, which was not long to come after the 1870 census. His graveyard is just off of Stony Gap Road, in a pasture. What a sad way for this devout ancestor to be honored. It was not they way it was intended when he was buried.
On the above map, right above the ending of the word "Albemarle" is an intersection. In the Southeastern corner of the map, it says Will Lowder. Across the road, if says William Palmer farm. Up the road was the Old Ingram mine. This map is many decades after the passing of Rev. Soloman, it also crams a great deal of space together, so the distance is much more than it appears in this map. That intersection is the intersection of Highway 24/27, Valley Drive and Stony Gap road. That intersecton indicates the area where the Solomon family had settled. At one time 24/27 was known as the Swift Island Road or Swift Island Ferry Road. While Rev. Solomon is buried on the Stony Gap side of the intersection, the main Soloman Family Cemetery was on the Valley Drive side of the cemetery. His grandfather's cemetery, that of Rev William McGregor, is located within Morrow Mountain State Park. It is thought that is where his father, Rev. Bennett Solomon, is also buried. At the same time, the grave of James Marks, the father of Tabitha Marks, is said to be up Vallley Drive and turn toward the river onto Clodfelter Road, seen on the map as the Grovestone Estate.
William Solomon a founding member of Ebenezer Baptist
The tombstone of William Solomon, now broken and splinted by time and cow hooves, was puzzled back together and the inscription read:
'Rev. William Solomon was born Jan. the 10 1801 Lived a Consistent Member of the Baptist Church for about 50 years Died January the 1 1874." It was adorned with ivy carvings and the artwork of an unknown artist, typical of others in this area, I've heard called "Laton Stones". Perhaps the artist was a Laton.
Tabitha, now a widow, would follow her 2 younger children, Eliza R. Solomon Simpson and George W. Solomon, who married Martha Ussery, to Richmond County, North Carolina. Several other young Stanly County families would relocate to this area. Richmond was at the precipice of the industrial revolution. She is buried in the old Scottish cemetery there, along with her children, Eliza and George, their spouses, and some of her grandchildren.
Her stones says, "Tabitha Wife of Rev W Solomon Born Jan 12 1805, Died May 28 1891. She died as she lived a Christian." Happy Mother's Day Grandma Tabby.
For years, we referred to her as "Phida", due to a census error. Now, after reading the theories of a very observant and consistent researcher, I am in agreement. She was not "Phida", she was Piety, the honored matriarch that a daughter, Piety Caroline Lambert Page and mulitple granddaughters were named for.
In this census, she is next to her beloved husband, labeled "John Lambert Sr Baptist Minister". All this census tells us is that Piety Lambert was born in North Carolina in 1774 and that she was living in a section of Stanly County called "Furrs".
By looking at the census, she is surrounded by a multitude of her children and grandchildren, Lamberts, Almond grandchildren of her daughter, Rebecca, etc. This was the area of West Stanly that would come to be known as the Community called "Lambert", all beginning with Piety and her husband John, the first Lambert to settle in Stanly County.
Even into my teenaged years there was a place called "Lambert Dance Hall" there, and the building still stands, a tribute to a town that is no more, but an area of land and a collection of houses that carry a name.
There is are three old cemeteries in the area that carry the names, "Lambert Cemetery 1, 2 and 3. In cemetery # 3, is a grave labeled "J L. D 1860" This is thought to be the grave of Rev. John Lambert. The only other legible grave is "L. McLure Died 1886". This is the grave of Levina Almond McLure, a granddaughter of John and Piety via their daughter, Rebecca Lambert who married Pleasant Almond. Levina Almond then married James Boley McLure.
John Lambert, we believe, was born in either Franklin or Johnston Counties in North Carolina. He first shows up in Johnston County in 1800, and probably married Piety there about 1790-1794. Research is ongoing. Piety's maiden name is unknown, but John began his ministry there.
John Lamberts origins before 1800 is as foggy as those of Piety's. Three things can be determied; he was poor, he began his ministry there, and he was involved with a miniter named Whitley there. A number of Whitleys also came to Stanly County. Being that Whitleys were the only family in Johnston County that I could find Rev. John Lambert with a connection to, it is my belief he married into the family. Huneycutts were also heavily found in Johnston County as well as Stanly County. So Piety was likely a Huneycutt if not a Whitley.
All of Rev. John and Piety's children came to Stanly County except for their oldest son, William. In talking to his descendants, whom DNA connects us to, William married first to an Angelican, and that fact may have caused the division between William, his parents and siblings. Williams sons were better educated than their Stanly County cousins, perhaps because William tended to stay around populous and more civilized areas while the rest of them were "in the country".
Y-DNA testing of a growing number of Rev.John and Piety's straight male-line descendants have proven that Rev. John was not a Lambert by male descent, but a Pace, a descendant of Richard Pace and Isabella Smyth Pace of Jamestown, Virginia. There are several Lamberts and Lambeths who end up matching the Pace descendants and all are descendants of Rev. John and Piety. It appears that Rev. John was a descendant of a particular Pace named William who married a Ruth Lambert. The couple were married in 1771. John was born in 1772. How he ended up a Lambert instead of a Pace is unknown, we may never know, but I do know there is not room for another generation in there. He was the son of William Pace. This does not mean he was the son of Ruth Lambert, only her husband.
As for Piety, most remains yet unknown. What I do know is for all the people trying to merge her into Mary Bray, daughter of Henry Bray of Chatham, you are wrong. Mary was Mary and Piety is Piety. Mary did marry John Lambert of Chatham, but he is not our John. The Chatham Lamberts were wealthy land owners. Our John Lambert was an intenerant minister for much of his career and was not wealth and never acquired more than 60 acres of land, that I can determine. The children of the Chatham Lamberts migrated to Randolph County, ours to Stanly. Two people can not be in two places at one time, and they were not Mary is never seen as anything but Mary. She is not ours.
I don't know much about Piety, but what I do know is that she was not a daughter of Henry Bray of Chatham.
Piety was the mother of a large family, a dynasty, really, and dna is changing some of my earlier research. The sons are pretty set, and I started a separate tree just to evaluate and look at my Lambert roots and theri descendants more closely. However, I need to clean up my standard family tree, because in my research and in family folders started by others, I had seen the name of a Susan Lambert Misenheimer thought to be a daughter of Rev. John Lambert. I couldn't find any record of her connection, or even existence, on paper however, except those of her descendants. She is not mentined in any deeds, etc. with a Lambert connection. DNA, however, says otherwise. Descendants of Susan have her hooked her up to our train and they match. So Susan may be an otherwise unknown (to me) daughter.
Known children of Rev. John Lambert and Piety were:
1795 Rebecca (married Pleasant Almond) 1797 William (remained in Johnston/Cumberland Counties. His son Thomas moved here later) 1802 George W. (moved to Iredell. Some took name Lambeth) 1802 John Jr. (My Line) 1806 Frederick (mentioned here, but moved to Mississippi) 1808 Nathan 1814 Piety Caroline (married Calvin Page) 1820 Jonathan (possible grandson instead of son. Appears to be a son.
Grandma Piety, if you are listening, I need some help here. Help us to make you whole, and figure out who you were. Happy Mother's Day.
Not all of the Mothers in my family tree are mine. Some belong instead, in the line of my children's heritage. Such is the case of Nellie Kendrat Mandiburr.
Half of my youngest childs roots are not in America, instead they lead back to Canada and to the Russian Ukraine, via Poland, beyond that.
Nellie Kendrat was born in 1911 in the little town of Cowan, Manitoba and is my daughters Great Grandmother.
Her father was Wasyl Kendrat who was born in December of 1868 in Galecia, Austria. I found his name on a ships manifest from Hamburg, Germany. He had settled in by 1901 and is in Manitoba in the census of that year.
Name
Wasyl Kendrat
Gender
Male
Marital Status
Married
Age
44
Est. Birth Year
1872
Birthplace
Galecia
Home in 1916
Manitoba
Racial or Tribal Origin
Ukranian
Spouse's Name
Mary Kendrat
There were two wave of Ukranian immigrants to Canada, with the first begining in 1891with 2 men from Galicia in the Austro- Hungarian province and followed by thousands until WWI. The second wave did not begin until after WWII. During WWI, Ukranians from Galicia were classified as enemy aliens by the Government of Canada and many were interned in camps, their schools closed and their press restricted. I don't believe this happened to Wasyl and his family.
Wasyl would change his name to the anglicized "William". He had married to Maria Oxenkiwchuk Exsentichuk, who changed her name to "Mary". The surname Kindrit, only changed to Kendrat.
Maria was born in Schkochee, Ukraine. She died in 1963 in Arran, Saskatchwan and is buried there.
When Wasyl and Maria arrived, they were the parents of infant twin boys, Denils and Danylo, born in 1899. Denils would become Dennis and Danylo would become Daniel.
The twins would be followed by the birth of 5 beautiful daughters:
Nellie would grow up in Manitoba. Somewhere in the late 1920's, she would meet one Iwan Mandiburr.
Iwan Mandiburr traveld quite a bit before he met Nellie.
Lovan, Poland
He was born in 1899 in Lovan Poland. In 1927, he had made his way to Liverpool, in England. He departed Liverpool on March 19 of that year and arrived in Halifax, Nova Scotia on March 26. He made his way across Canada and somehow met and married Nellie by 1929.
All of their children were born in Canada. Iwan also Anglicized his name to William and shortened his surname to Mandy. My husband remembers his grandfather being a rosy-cheeked man with startling blue eyes who would've made the perfect Santa.
Seven children were born to William (Iwan) and Nellie:
1930 Mary 1933 Helen 1935 Walter 1937 Adam 1939 Sylvia 1940 Billie 1942 Olga
Helen is my daughter's grandmother and has since gained her American citizenship. She is still living, as are most of her siblings. Ukranians are known for their sturdiness and longetivity. Generations of living high in a mountaineous region developed certain physical traits that have carried from them to my husband, daughter and her two children. They are lean, but muscular, strong for their size, with large lungs and large hearts. At 65, my husband can out work people in their 30's and still has a body-builders physique. His 87 year old mother worked well into her 80's and was stopped only by two devastating car accidents, neither her fault, two years in a row. Three weeks after a doctor wondered about whether she would walk again, she was out doing her own grocery shopping. She gardens an mows and cooks some of the most amazing dishes.
My husband as a toddler
Helen would marry and airman and her children were born all over the world. Among the places they lived was Japan, Germany, Hawaii, New Mexico and Colorado. My husband considers Colorado home. He spent his formative years there.
Her brother Adam was a lumberjack and a mink farmer, a mountain of a man who looked like a mountain man, over 6 foot five with long hair like a viking and a fearsome beard to match, all with those startling blue eyes.
Nellie's Ukrainian family had escaped poverty and war to give their children a better future. I believe they achieved that.
Titled:'Poverty in Galicia
William Mandy, originally Iwan Mandiburr, died on July 11, 1868, in Murrayville, British Columbia, Canada. Below is his obituary.
Nellie outlived her husband by 25 years. She spent some time in America and even applied for a Visa, but was denied and sent back to Canada, reason unknown.
Helen would give birth to 4 blonde haired children with startling blue eyes. My daughter is her only grandchild, and inherited my dominate brown eyes, but her daughter would inherit the blue.
Nellie Kindrat Mandy
BIRTH
Manitoba, Canada
DEATH
2 Mar 1993 (aged 81)
Langley, Greater Vancouver Regional District, British Columbia, Canada
Telitha Matilda Delphia "Tilly" Herrin was my third great grandmother. She was a Stanly County girl. She was the daughter of Hezekiah Herrin and Amelia "Milly" Hatley. She was the fourth child and first daughter for Hezekiah and Milly. Amelia, the daughter of Hardy Hatley and wife Isabell Foreman, was a girl with a pretty name who apparently liked pretty names. No Mary, Martha or Nancy for her. After 3 boys, it was almost like Milly, uncertain she would never have another daughter, poured all of her favorite names onto one child.
Telitha Matilda Delphia............Herrin
Tilly was born on Bear Creek, in the northwest corner of Stanly County, nearest its border with Cabarrus. Her father was said to have been a bruiser of a man. Large and domineering, commanding of respect. Tilly was said to have been thick and pretty. A strong farm woman who could milk a cow and drive a plow.
Tilly had been preceded in the family by brothers Wilson, Wiley and John Franklin. She was not her mothers only girl. Born in 1826, she was followed by Naomi "Omie" the next year and Isabell in 1830, named for her grandmother. A last son, and supposedly his father incarnate, Julious Hezekiah Herrin came after and with the arrival of Elizabeth in 1835, the family was complete.
Sadly, Elizabeth succombed died young, marrying William Jackson Carter in 1851, at the age of 16 and dying after the birth of her son, William Hershell Carter, the next year at 17. Their mother, Amelia Hatley Herrin, would also die that year.
Tilly, as was the trend of the time, also married young. She would marry at about 18 to William Lambert, son of John Lambert, Jr. and Margaret Almond, who would be known always as "Buck".
Their first child, a son named Caleb Wiley Lambert, was born in 1846, when Tilly was 20.
In 1851, Hezekiah Herrin sold 164 acres on Stonly Run Creek to Talitha Lambert. He did not put her husbands name on it. The next year, in 1852, the year his wife died, old Hezekiah was considering his own mortality and wrote his will. In it, he said he had 'conveyed to each of my children the lands I designated to them, to have."Hezekiah had accumulated a sizeable estate by this time, although known as ruthless, he was also kind, and dearly loved his children .
Telitha was a mid-19th century woman, meaning she lived her life within the confines of the 19th century and showed up in all four of those census records that named women and children.
In the 1850 she and Buck are the parents of two children and she is seen as 'Tilla'. Caleb Wiley is 4 and my Second Great Grandfather, Rufus Alexander Lambert, is a 2 year old toddler. Above them is Buck's father, John Jr. and below them is his Aunt, Rebecca Lambert Almond.
By 1860, the family has grown, and Buck and Tilly are in their 30's. You can tell they have now moved to their own property as their neighbors are Loves, Howells and Osbornes. Caleb and Rufus have been joined by 1st daughter, Leah Julia Lambert, John William and Tilly has reverted away from her mother' trend of more unique names to the overused, anonymous names of Mary and Martha.
1880 is the last census for Talitha. She and Buck are now in their 50's. The 1890 census was lost and Tilly didn't make the 20 year jump to the new century and the 1900 census. Matilda was Milly in the 1870 census and Talitha's youngest son, Jonah M. Lambert, has been born. Martin Luther Lambert has a story of his own and I have featured him and his mother before.
Above are the sons of Buck and Tilly Lambert. Third from left is my Second Great Grandfather, Rufus Alexander. While I don't know what Buck, himself, looked like, I would bet that similar scowl his sons share came from him.
Telitha's final resting place is unknown. My bets would be in one of the Lambert cemeteries, perhaps Lambert Number One. Many of the old markers have given way to time and abuse, others just unlegible. Buck lived to 1897. Tilly lost sometime in those span of years between 1880 and 1900
Children of Buck and Tilly Herrin Lambert were:
1846-1913 Caleb Wiley Lambert
1847-1921 Rufus Alexander Lambert
1853-1908 Julia Leah Lambert Eudy
1855-1916 John William Lambert
1857-1935 Mary Catherine Lambert Smith
1859-1902 Martha Elizabeth Lambert Moyle
1862-1926 Sarah Adaline Lambert McLure
1865-1941 Jospehine Lambert Hatley
1868-1910 Matilda Amelia "Milly" Lambert Dunn
1870-1917 Jonah M. Lambert
and son of Buck and Julia Ann Eudy:
1873-1892 Martin Luther Lambert (adopted into the family).
Before they died, Buck and Tilly followed in the footsteps of her father Hezekiah Herrin by deeding property to their children that they wanted them to have.
Tombstone of Buck Lambert in Lambert Cemetery No 1. Tilly is probably nearby.
I've got a number of "Virtue" names in my family tree, especially the further back I go. Virtue names were typically used for women, althought I've came acros men named "Devotion" or "Grief". This trend was much more popular in the 18th century than the 19th, but some carried over into 19th Century Stanly County and into my family tree.
I've found their origins to sometimes, but not alway, leading back to the Quakers and Puritans of Pennsylvania or Massachusetts. Names like Prudence, Patience, Deliverance, Temperance, Hope, Faith, Charity, Destiny, Honor, Constance, Mercy, Verity, Purity, Clarity, Rejoice, Redemption, Trinity, Amity, Peace and Grace.
Some of these names are making a comeback and can be found in Kindergarten class lists.
In fact, my mother's name, Joyce, was derived from a Puritan virture name, "Rejoice" and my only granddaughter has a virtue name, "Felicity".
In the branches of my family tree, I find Prudence Jones, Patience Wells and Patience Painter, Charity Huneycutt, Gracey Broadaway, Honor Tucker, Deliverance Tuthill, Deliverance King, Temperance Edgerton and Temperance Randle. But the one virtue name that took up the most residence in my branches was "Obedience".
I have Obedience Broadway, Obedience Carpenter, a couple of Obedience Burris's, either as Grandmothers of various range, Aunts or cousins.
In 19th Century Stanly County, Obedience "Beedie" and Temperance "Tempy" seemed to be the two most popular.
And there is found my Third Great Grandmother, Obedience Ramsey.
Obedience was the daughter of Samuel Ramsey and his wife, Rebecca Helms Ramsey. They were from Anson County, near the Rocky River, above Burnsville.
Samuel settled his family on the other side of the River in the Saint Martin's Church area. This is the southwestern portion of the county, between Albemarle and Oakboro, an area with lightly rolling hills and many creeks and springheads.
Beedy was their oldest daughter and the second of 8 children. She had been preceded by brother, William Riley Ramsey (1824-1865) and was followed by: 1829 Rowena Jane, 1830: Jane Louisa, 1834 James Thomas, 1836 John Franklin, 1837 Gilliam O and 1838 Hubbard K Ramsey, sometimes seen as Harborn or Hurburt.
At the disturbingly young age of 13, on Christmas Eve of 1840, Beedie Ramsey would marry William Hill, son of Julius Hill of the Rocky River.
A year later, the portion of Anson County where her mother grew up would become a part of Union County, and this is where William Hill would settle his family.
1860 finds them living in a little town called "Olive Branch" and the children have increased from 5 to 9. Bedie is working as a Seamstress, if raising 9 children were not enough. Will is working as a farmer, with all of his boys helping.
It seemed the typical life of the Yeoman Farm Family, having a large brood of kids to work the farm. This was not a wealthy family and they did not own slaves. They took care of their own and struggled to survive. But War came, and changed all of that. The War took Will and Beedies oldest sons.
Will and oldest son, James Ramsey Hill did not come back.
Will died on Jan 6, 1863 of disease.
Son Jamsey Ramsey Hill had just married to Aisley Clementine Gilbert in 1860 in Stanly County. He was no doubt ecstatic about falling in love and starting his own family. They had one child, a little girl named Roxanna Then tragedy would strike. James was a Prisoner of War, taken by the forces of General A. E. Burnside on Roanoke Island. It is written in his war records that he was paroled at Elizabeth City on February 23, 1862. He was never heard from again. I am going to do more research on this
Aisley or "Elsie", as she was sometimes called, would go on to marry James's younger brother, David King Hill. Together, they would have a large family.
The tragedy for Beadie, however, did not end there. I believe she also lost her son John W. Hill in the Civil War. He is not shown after 1860, and would have been in the 17 to 19 year old age group during the course of it. There were multiple John Hills who were.
Daughter Sarah J is living in the home of a Charles Burns family in Burnsville, Anson County, near her 78 year old Grandfather, Julious Hill, as is her brother Julius Daniel Hill and his young family. They are living right next door. Oddly, the Burns family is black and Sarah is their housekeeper. She then disappears from record. I must do more research on the Hill family.
Daughter Rebecca is seen as 3 years old in the 1860 census and then is seen no more. This is a tragic decade for Obedience Ramsey Hill. In Thru-Lines, only 4 of her children have descendants matching to my tree: David K, Margaret Hill Deese, Julious Daniel and my line, William Mathew. Samuel Peter did marry and have children, but possibly no one in that branch has tested.
As the ashes fell, and the troublesome and heartbreaking decade of the 1860's came to an end, we find Beadie still living in Olive Branch across the Union/Anson County line from Burnsville. With David King Hill having married his deceased brother's widow and Julious Daniel and Sarah both living near their grandfather, Julious Hill, we find Beadie with her three youngest surviving children, Samuel Peter, Margaret and Benjamin Franklin Hill. Son William Mathew Hill had set his course for Cabarrus County and was building a Mill there near the Rocky Ridge community.
The two year old child, Henry, is a mystery. He is likely one of her grandchildren. Possibly William Henry Hill, son of Julius Daniel, who supposedly was born in 1870, but might have actually been born a bit earlier, or either a son of Sarah, who was 22. Living near Beadie is her brother-in-law, Allen Hill and a widower, Mr. James Whittington, with 3 teenaged children of his own.
Whether for convenience or love, soon after this census was taken, Mrs. Obedience "Beadie" Ramsey Hill would marry Mr. James Whittington. I believe the marriage prolonged Beadie's life, because she lived a long one.
With most of her living children migrating into Stanly and Cabarrus Counties, James and Beadie decided to try their luck in Mecklenburg. James had bought a farm in the Mallard Creek community. He was originally from South Carolina. They would remain there for nearly 20 years.
Obedience Lucinda Ramsey Hill Whittington would make the jump into the 20th century. By 1900, she had James, both now elderly, would move in with the family of her daughter, Margaret. Beadie was a bit older than James, but that seemed not to matter. Her marriage to James was not the families only entanglement with that of the Whittingtions. I will cover that when I look at her daughter-in-law, Sarah Jane Hooks Hill, my Second Great Grandmother.
Beadie didn't live quite long enough to get a death certificate. She did not make it to 1910. We believe she was buried at Rocky Ridge where her son, William Mathew Hill, my ancestor, is buried.
Beadie states in 1900 that she was the mother of 10 children with 7 living. That is going to take some more in depth research as I lost track of several of her children I thought had died who apparently were not. This is my known list of children of Beady Ramsey and William Hill:
1480-1862 James Ramsey Hill
1844-1917 David King Hill
1845-1860's (?) John W Hill
1845 - ? Sarah J Hill (last seen in 1870)
1854 - 1905 William Mathew Hill
1856-1931 Samuel Peter Hill
1856-1918 Margaret Ann Hill
1857-? Rebecca Elizabeth Hill
1861-1927 Benjamin Franklin "Doc" Hill
The children I know were living in 1900 were David, Matt, Sam Pete, Margaret, and Doc. That's only 5, so two more were living, meaning I need to look closer at John W and Sarah as I don't believe Rebecca is the one. I also intended to look closer at 2 year old Henry to discover who he may have been.
I believe her name was meant to be Olivia. However, as a child born in the middle years of the the 19th century, Olivia, which trended in the Starnes family, had been corrupted to "Arleavis" and as a dimunitive, to Leavy.
Leavy and her two daughters, Maude and Minnie.
The one thing my father would recall about his Great Grandmother, was that she had a scar across her face, that she had acquired from being kicked in the face by a cow. Margaret Arleavis Starnes had grown up a farm girl, no doubt. Although several of my Second Great Grandmothers had suffered the Civil War as children, Leavy had been more fortunate than Caroline or Julina, in my mother's day series. Her father had lived, and not only that, had prospered.
Leavy was born on January 19, 1855, in Union County, North Carolina, the daughter of Frederick Fincher Starnes and Mary Louise Byram. She was the granddaughter of Frederick Starnes III and Sarah Fincher Starnes, and William Byram and Martha Phifer Byram.
As a child, the family lived near the state line, and later in the Goose Creek area of Union County, which was a center for the Starnes family.
Leavy holding unknown Great Grandchild with her daughter and Granddaughter.
After the war they would move to Township One in Cabarrus County. She had a little brother, John, who passed away and was buried in the Stallings family cemetery, in Stanly County, near Mission Church, so they were probably living near the Cabarrus/Stanly County line.
The above is the 1880 census. Grandmother Martha Byram is living with them. This is just before Leavy is to marry. She is shown as Margeret A.. 23 in this census. Leavy was the second born child. Sister Sarah Alice had already married and firstborn son, John L. had already passed as well as a younger sister.
The family attended Rocky River Presbyterian Church in Cabarrus County, after their move. Leavy's mother, Mary, is buried there alongside a few of her sisters who died as children: Martha Ann, who died in 1877, before this census and Georgia Ann, who died in 1880, after this census was taken. Mary Louise died in 1894 at the age of 54. One son, Frederick Lafayette Starnes, also is buried here, but he attained adulthood and had a family of his own.
Leavy was married on January 20, 1881, at the age of 24, a bit later than several of her generation, but it served her well. The groom was Robert B. Lemmonds or Lemmons, whose family had originated around Mint Hill and had deep roots in Mecklenburg and Union Counties. She became pregant immediately, giving birth to first child, Maude Alice Lemmonds in November.
Bob farmed, did odd jobs and worked as a postman. I've featured him and Leavy before in posts.
Leavy and Bob had 5 children during their 11 years of marriage:
1881 Maude Alice 1884 Frederick Cleveland 1886 Harvey Lafayette 1888 Samuel Grier 1891 Minnie Louise
Bob passed away in 1892, at the age of 40.
Leavy would move her young family to Charlotte, where her father and his second wife Abigail lived. As the single mother of 5 children, she had to lean on her father quite a bit.
She would settle brieflly in a community in Union County called "Brief" on a small plot of land givent to her by her father, but by 1920, she had settled finally in Cabarrus County, in Concord, where the cotton mills were.
Leavy died at the age of 84 and is buried at Oakwood Cemetery in Concord near her daughters.
It's 2020. Genealogy today is no longer just the hours spent in dusty basements of a small town courthouse or out plundering through abandoned cemeteries. That remains important, however, and I believe always will, but modern technology is opening new doors we never knew existed.
With the creation of DNA genealogy, our very cells can connect us to long gone ancestors, generations back, whose names we have never heard. Yet in our blood, the remains of them exist.
Such is my relationship with Anna Maria Merckle Hite.
I have a Third Great Grandfather named George Washington Turner. He was born in 1835 in Anson County, NC. His mother's name was Mary Turner and her father's name was James Turner and that is as much as I can acertain through a paper trail. Mary was never married and I do not know who George Washington Turner's father is. Despite all this, many family trees have assigned a man who lived in Anson County at the time, George Turner, as his father. But if you study all the available records of the time, you will not find any relationship between George Turner and George Washington Turner. George had one son who remained in North Carolina and that was Wilson Pinkney Turner. He had a sister, Mary, but she was a very different Mary than Washington's mother, so he wasn't G. W's uncle, either. The only possible relationship between the two would be if George Turner's father, Jaspar and G. W's grandfather James, were somehow related. That's possible, but I've not looked into it and it would be rather distant.
So how does Anna Maria Merckle Hite play into all of this? Well, I came into contact with a distant cousin and direct male line descendant of George Washington Turner who agreed to take a Y DNA test for me to try to determine who G. W's father may have been. As my line is from my Great Grandmother Penny Wayne Turner Davis, none of my closer male relatives would have been a straight male line from Washington.
Remains of a Palatine Lutheran Cemetery in West Camp, Ulster County, New York
When the results came back, we discovered, he, and therefore I, am descended from an early Palatinate settler of the Shenandoah Valley named "Jost Hite". Anna Maria Merckle was the wife of Jost Hite.
Another interesting fact was that the primary origins of the Haplogroup this line fell into was Armenian. The Hite family origins being in Germany, this seems odd, but possible and not just possible, but actual.
The Von Der Heydt family originated in Bonfield Germany and the man we came to know as Jost Hite was born there, the son of a Lutheran Civil Warden and City Councilman named Johannes Von Der Heydt and his Catholic wife, Anna Magdalena Merckle. Now, don't trip over the German names here, because I have not typed in error. Jost Hite's mother was named Anna Magdalena Merckle and his wife was named Anna Maria Merckle. The Germans were just as repetitive and unoriginal as the English, if not more so. There is a thought floating out there that Jost and Anna Maria may have been cousins, since his mother was also a Merckle, but it's not been proven.
It has crossed my mind if the Duchess of Sussex, formally known as American actress Meghan Markle, could be descended from these Merckles, as the old German names made some changes as they crossed the Atlantic. I don't know. However, I do know one celebrity who is descended from Jost Hite and that is country singer, Tim McGraw, as his story was featured on "Finding Your Roots" with Dr. Henry Gates.
Ok, so Johannes Von der Heydt had 8 children with his wife, Anna Magdanlena and when she died he remarried and had 4 more children with Anna Maria, the widow of Caspar Schutz. The importance of this will be important in a minute.
Jost Hite was a son of the first marriage and his original name was Hans Justus von der Heydt. He would become the husband of Anna Maria Merckle.
Anna Maria was the daughter of Abraham Merckle and Anna Veronica Landvatter. She was born on January 16, 1687 in Bonfeld, Wimpfen, the second child and oldest daughter of their 12 children.
The list of them is:
1) Jeremiah Andreas
2) Anna Maria
3) Anna Felicitas
4) Anna Veronica
5) Andreas Jeremias
6) Anna Katherine
7) Anna Veronica II (Perhaps the 1st had died???)
8) Regina Christine
9) Isaac
10) Jakob
11) Anna Rosina
12) Abraham
Boy, you'd have a problem calling for Anna in that house, wouldn't you. I also noticed that the name of the fifth child was basically a reversal of the name of the first. Of course, I did know a woman who named her twins Carolyn Ashley and Ashlyn Carol, but that's another story.
By all accounts, the Merckle family was a prosperous one. So with the marriage of Anna Maria Merckle and Hans Justus von der Heydt on November 11, 1704, the uniting of two well-to-do families of high standing in the community had taken place.
I'm sure the young couple was happy for the first few years, but already, trouble was brewing politically and religiously. In this cloud of unsurity and apprehention, more tragedy was to come.
On February 22, 1705, just 15 months after her marriage, Anna Maria was delivered of her first child, a girl, whom she named Anna Maria. The infant was not healthy and lived only 2 days. Anna Maria, only 18 years old, was very soon pregnant again. Only 11 months later, now 19, she delivered her second child, another girl, whom she named Barbara. This little one lasted only 5 weeks and died.
I can only imagine how devasted the young couple must have been, but there was trouble in the area and they were on the move.
During the War of Spanish Succession, the French and the Holy Roman Empire were militarily depleted. France had a large army, however, and was able to cross the Rhine in June of 1713. The war caused many Rhinelanders to flee, including the Van Der Heydts. They moved to Strasbourg, Alsace in France.
Strasbourg is a beautiful area on the border of France and Germany, with a great deal of influence from both cultures. Two years after the birth and loss of her last daughter, Anna Maria would bring her first son into the world, a boy she named John, here in Strasbourg. And he survived.
But joy was shortlived, as the Heydt family, with thousands of other German Protestants, had to make their way down the Rhine River to Rotterdam, in Holland.
Rotterdam became very crowded very quickly and something had to be done with all of the fleeing
Germans. The once comfortable family were now destitute refugees, grouped with impovershed others, their former status meaningless. On July 15,1709, Hans Justus, with young family, accompanied by his stepmother, Maria, embarked on a ship to England. It is unknown what happened to his father, but accepted that he was by this time, deceased. England didn't accept the refugees either, but sent them on to the American colonies, with the intentions of them being laborers in the pine tar industry.
On June 16, 1710, the family arrived in Ulster County, New York, near Kinston, where they were settled into the West Camp, a community where the German influence is still seen. The plans and promises did not come to fruition and the first few years there were hard. The family are found in the Palantinate Subsistence rolls of 1710-1712.
While this was happening, two more children arrived, Elizabeth in 1711 and Magdalena in 1712. It was after this time, the true fortitude and ambition of the man who came to be known as 'Jost Hite' and his family can be seen.
In 1714, they moved to the German settlement in Pennsylvania. Reasonably assumed to be near people who spoke their own language. Germantown, at the time, was 7 miles out of Philadelphia and is now within it. The English of Philadelphia, including Benjamin Franklin, demanded the German stay within their own community and not settle within the town. Here, Jost was able to earn enough money to buy his family a plot of land on Skippack Creek, in 1715.
Skippack Creek, Philadelphia County, PA
By 1718, the family was in much better shape, financially and bought 600 acres on Perkiomen Creek. There, he built a Grist Mill and was able to raise his family very comfortably. There, they built a brick house with walls said to be of brick two feet thick. There was more than a lasting purpose for the fortress. Having escaped from the persecution of the Catholic French troups, the family now faced the rancor of hostile Native Americans. Many of the Germans were captured and, or killed.
Anna Maria would become mother to 11 children, total, including those who had previously died. In addition to Elizabeth, Mary Elizabeth, John and Magadelena, were Jacob, Abraham, Madeline and Joseph.
There was a Quaker settlement near the Hite family. Anna Maria's oldest two daughter would marry Quakers; Elizabeth to Paul Froman and Mary to George Bowman. Soon, an Inn was established and by 1828, the family were considered pillars of the community. They were settled. Anna Maria was able to raise her children in comfort and security, much like she had been raised.
Pennypacker Mills House
Enter a wheeler-dealer named John Van Meter. He was an Indian Trader and land speculator who was trying to convince Pennsylvania families into uprooting to help establish a settlement of his in the wilds of Virginia. Even wilder than their own wilds. Apparently, one was rewarded with a great deal of property and wealth if one could convince a population of so many families to homestead in the territory. John Van Meter had already convinced his brother, Isaac, to partner with him in the deal.
Jost fell for it. In August of 1731, he bought 40,000 acres from the Van Meter brothers. In addition, just two months later, he bought 100,00 acres along with a Scotchman, Robert McKay. The title to the property wasn't altogether clear. There were strings attached, that he would discover later.
I don't know what happened to McKay, but Jost Hite would found a Land Company with Robert Green and William Hoff. With whateve business partnerships he would make, Jost Hite is still considered to be leader of the first permanent settlement west of the Blue Ridge mountains. He settled in the lower Shenandoah Valley and again proceded a third career. The Jost Hite Mill would end up in the hands of one Peter Pennypacker and as Pennypacker Mills it is known yet today.
Anna Maria Merckle Hite would die in1739, just a few years after resettlement in Virginia. Her widower, Jost, would remarry to the widow of Christian Nuschwanger. (Say that 3 times quickly).
Jost would live another 21 years. He died in the Shenandoah Valley on May 7, 1760 in Kernstown, Frederick County. Virginia. He and his wives are believed to be buried in the Old Opequan Cemetery in Kernstown.
Remains of Jost Hite's Tavern
The children of Jost and Anna Maria continued their parents trend of enterprise and adventure. Some remained in Fredericks County, Virginia while the families of his two daughters who married Quakers are said to have ventured into Kentucky. One son supposedly lived and died in what is now West Viriginia and another made it as far as South Carolina.
For me, now is the task of finding which son we descend from, as it is straight down a male line and whose genes made it to Anson County, North Carolina by 1835.
The most obvious candidate would be that of Jacob, the one who migrated to South Carolina. It would not be a streach of the imagination to think a grandson of his would end up in Anson, a county on the NC/SC border.
The above ad for runaways show that they made servants of the Scotch and convicts. The descriptions are quite informative, but I suppose they had to be with no pictures to aid them.
Jacob Hite is said to have been one of the wealthiest men in what is now Berkeley County, West Virginia. He was born in 1719 and died in 1776. Jacob actually knew and corresponded with George Washington. I found this copy of a letter, dated June 29, 1758, from George Washington to Jacob Hite.
To set the stage for this letter, George Washington, at the time a military officer, had asked George Bouquet in a scathingly sarcastic request, how many sick and lame men he should leave to defend Fort Loudon, in Tennesee, as provision were low and the men were in rough shape and getting worse by the day. Bouquet had replied, also being a wiseacre, that Washington could leave "30 men, lame or otherwise unfit". On June 24, George Washington had ordered Robert Rutherford to detach 20 of his worst scouts to Fort Loudon.
To George Washington from Jacob Hite, 29 June 1758
From Jacob Hite
June 29th 1758
Sir
As the Stationing Twenty of capt. Rutherfords men at Fort Loudoun Gives the Greatest uneasyness to the Inhabitants In General for Several Reasons First it being Contrarey to our Ingagements to the Men on Capt. Rutherfords behalf Secondly the Grate Incouragement we have by So Maney Active Men Rangeing on our Frontier Thirdly the Greate Dislike the Men have to be Stationed There and fourthly the Inactive Company of Militia could Part better be Spared from Pattersons Fort as we cannot Expect to Receive So much Sattisfaction from the hole Company of Melitia as we Should Do from Them Twenty Men Besides other Melitia I hope to be had.
Not as I wood have you Think that we Emagen you to be the Auther of Such orders But that we Expect it will be in your Power to have those orders Countermanded and a More Sattisfactorey one Put in Execution that Those men may go to Their former Station.1
I hartely wish you your hea[l]th a Succesfull Campain and a Safe Return and am Sir your Friend and Verey Hum. Servt
Jacob had married first, an Irish lass, Catherine O'Bannon and 4 children were born of that marriage. He later married Francis Madison, an aunt of President James Madison and 3 children were born of the second marriage. Francis was the widow of Tavenner Beale when she married Jost Hite.
Jacob and Frances would settle near present day Greenvilled, South Carolina while Jacob made his fortune trading with the Cherokee. It did not end well.
Indian raids were a consitent problem for the Hites as they pushed their way into Indian territory. The below article refers to Jost and Anna's son Abraham, who remained in Virginia, but in a part that is now West Virginia.
As my research into the Hites and what versions the surname may have taken, as there were no Hites in Anson County when George Washington Turner was concieved. But there were Highs, I've seen spelled Hight in a few old deeds, and there were Hyatts. Could one of those families descend from Jost Hite?
Which ever way it ends up, I do know now Anna Maria Merckle Hite was one of my Grand Mothers.
Margaret M. Buchanon, along with her mother Mary (Ryan or Keys) and grandmother, Catherine Black, represent the Scotch- Irish branch of my family tree. They were a unique group of their own, and followed nearly the same path to the Carolinas as my German ancestors, but they were a fiercely different group and although they may have taken the same route, their story was vastly different.
In his book, The Scotch-Irish: The Scot in North Britain, North Ireland and North America", Charles A. Hanna reaccounts the travels of a Presbyterian minister, Alexander Craighead, who came as a minister to the scattered and widely spread Scotch-Irish families in frontier America.
"Mr. Craighead removed to the frontiers of Virginia between the years 1749 to 1752; and then a few years later to North Carolina, where he settled on Rocky River, in Mecklenburg County. (This area is now in Cabarrus County), "In Carolina he found a race of people remote from the seat of authority, among whom the intolerant laws of the English colonies were a dead letter................A race of men that feared neither the labor and hardships of a pioneer life, not the dangers of a frontier which was the scene of frequent bloody attacks by the savages." "Under the teachings of Craighead, it is not strange that these people should be among the first to concieve the idea of Independence." My Scotch-Irish ancestors were the most patriotic and rebelious of them all. First in fight and first in freedom, and from a son of Mary M. Buchanon came my entrance into the D.A.R.
The Great Wagon Road
Margaret Mary Buchanon was the oldest child of Samuel Buchanon and his wife Mary. I've seen Mary's name as both Ryan or Keys. Margaret, was born in Lancaster, Lancaster County, Pennsylvaniaa in 1728
In 1728, residents living in the backwoods of Chester County complained that “thieves, vagabonds, and ill people” had infested the rural areas of what is now Lancaster County and petitioned for the creation of a new county. Residents also had to travel great distances to reach the Courthouse. Lancaster County was formed May 10, 1729 to address these concerns and bring a new seat of government to residents that were settled in this vast wilderness. It was the first county created beyond the original three counties of Bucks, Chester, and Philadelphia. https://www.co.lancaster.pa.us/195/Lancaster-History
So Margaret was born the year the County was established. Her father, Samuel Buchanan had been born in Omagh, Tyrone, Ulster Ireland in 1705 and her mother in Tyrone as well. But Samuel's roots were not Irish.
His father, John Buchanon, was born in Tyrone in 1676 and died there in 1728, but had married his mother, Catherine Black, in 1703 in Mains Branshogle Killearn Ayre, Scotland.
John Buchanon's father, George Buchanon, was the son of Sir John Buchanon Laird Van Blairlusk, who first escaped Scotland for Holland, before having to seek refuge in Ireland. George's wife and John's mother, Elizabeth Mayne, hailed from Stirlingshire, Scotland.
The below link is on the Buchanans of Tyrone and shows portraits of some of them, including one U.S. President, James Buchanon.
So Margaret Mary Buchanon was of true Scottish and Irish stock.
In Pennsylvania her parents would bring 8 children into this new world. Margaret was followed by 6 brothers: 1730 John, 1732 James, 1734 George, 1736 David, 1737 Samuel Jr., 1738 William and the family ended with daughter Mary in 1739. Can you imagine how tough a woman Margaret must have been growing up with all of those little brothers? Her mother died in Lancaster County, PA in 1866 and the family removed to the Carolinas with several other Ulster Scots. They settled in what was to be known as the Waxhaw Colony. With them was grandmother, Catherine Black Buchanan and several other members of the Black family.
Beautiful County Tyrone
In 1752, Margaret would marry William Marr Lemmond. The Lemmonds were truly Irish. William Marr hailed from Belfast and most likely met Margaret in Pennsylvania. The Lemmond line is less known, but between the two a family of Patriots were born. The Scotch-Irish who settled in Mecklenburg NC and Lancaster SC were greatly intermarried, including the families of the McCoys, McKays, Whites, Blacks, Alexanders, Walkers, Orrs, Queries, and so forth. I have nearly all of these families in this branch of my family tree.
In his book, "World of Toil and Strife: Coming Transformation in BackCountry South Carolina", Peter N. Moore writes;
"A note appended to the 1755 Anson County militia census, which liste sixty-one able bodied adult men, speaks volumes;" guns - 14 - wanting". ............"The Methodist families who settled along Waxhaw and Twelve Mile Creeks after the Revolution also married within their group"........In fact, many of these unions were confined to single congregations; Waxhaw Presbyterians tended not to marry Six Mile or Shiloh Presbyterians and vice versa." So they were very tribal, this leads me to believe the Lemmonds, and there were two in this early group, William and John, were of the same Presbyterian Group as the Buchanans. This means they may have lingered for awhile in the Washington and Augusta county area of Virginia before coming to the Carolinas.
The Waxhaw Settlement
My branch of Lemmonds seemed primarily settled around the area that is now Mint Hill and the part of Union County that once belonged to Mecklenburg. Many are buried at the old Philadelphia Presbyterian Church in Mint Hill. Several lived across the state line in Lancaster County, South Carolina.
Both Samuel Buchanan and William Lemmmond appear in the Mecklenburg County deeds quite often. On February 9, 1771, William recieved a grant from Justina and Abner Nash (Book 6 Page 25) for 100 acres on Coddle Creek. He would also acquire land on Goose Creek and Clear Creek.
In 1783, Samuel Buchanon was appointed Constable in place of James McComb. He held the job of Constable for several years. I tend to believe this was Margarets brother, Samuel Jr., instead of her father. A Samuel Buchanon served on a jury in 1795 and their father was deceased by then.
William and Margaret Buchanon Lemmonds would raise 6 children in this area that is now within Union and Cabarrus Counties of North Carolina.
1753: John Lemmond 1755: Robert Lemmond 1756: William Marr Lemmond, Jr. 1758: Margaret Jane Lemmond 1763: Eleanor "Ellen" Lemmond 1765: Joseph Lemmond
I descend from the oldest, John. John would marry Martha Elizabeth Query, daughter of John Query, a signer of the Mecklenburg Declaration of Independence. Martha Query Lemmonds is another mother in my Family Tree. Both John and William Marr Lemmonds served in the Revolutionary War.
The British had never seen the likes of these fiercly independent Scotch-Irish and refereed to them as a "Nest of Hornets". That is why Charlotte and Mecklenburg County is oftern referred to as the 'Hornets Nest'.
William Marr Lemmonds served in the war as a Surgeon. I can only imagine he may have been more a butcher than a physician.
Samuel Buchanan Lands
Samuel Buchanon would settle lastly in Ebenezer, Florence County, South Carolina, where he is buried. His mother, Catherine Black Buchanan, lived to see 1774 and the onset of American Freedom. My 8th Great Grandmother, I can feel her in my bones as a cantakerous, spirited old Scott.
Philadelphia Presbyterian in Mint Hill
Margaret Mary Buchanon Lemmonds died in 1788 in Mecklenburg County, North Carolina. The place of her burial is unknown, but could be at Philadelphia Presbyterian Church. This part of Mecklenburg is now in Union County. The mother of Patriots and daughter of Scotch-Irish pioneers, I honor my 6th Great Grandmother.
When I was little, my mother and I lived with her parents for a number of years. As I had a working mother, a great deal of time was spent with my grandfather. My father was in the army, but they later divorced. Many a summer night was spent swinging on the front porch while my grandfather sang me to sleep, or told me old family stories that had been passed down to him. My grandfather loved history and I loved my grandfather. My passion for genealogy was born in those nights. The source for many of those stories about people who had lived and died long before he did came from his own grandmother. Her name was Julina.
Julina Aldridge Davis and Horton Hampston Davis
Francis Julina Aldridge had been born in 1856 to Henry Garner Aldridge and his wife Priscilla "Prussia" Aldridge. She was a twin, and she and her twin, Julia, were the youngest daughters. There were two sons that followed, John Adam and Joseph, making 12 in all. She died in 1935. My grandfather had grown up and married by then and his two oldest chidren had been born. He knew her well. I knew her son, my Great Grandfather, William Hampton Davis, he lived until I was in my teens. But Will wasn't the storyteller. It had been Julina.
Name:Julina Aldridge Age:4 Birth Year:abt 1856
Gender:Female Home in 1860:Stanly, North Carolina Post Office:Albemarle Dwelling Number:257 Family Number:257 Household Members:
Julina's life had not been easy. I suppose the first most tragic thing to happen to her was the death of her twin sister, Julia. I don't know exactly when Julia died, but she did not make it to adulthood. I do know she was buried at a farm on Aldridge Road on property eventually purchased by Kimreys, in a small family plot that also included some children that Julina had given birth to early that died as infants. The cemetery had been plowed along with lands around it, which disturbs me to this day. How much cotton can you grow on a childs grave?
The second tragic thing in her life would be the death of her father. She was a Civil War orphan. Garner, in his 40's, was paid to serve in the place of a wealthier man in the community, a Mr. Green. He did not last long and died of disease his first year in. Julina's mother, Priscilla, called "Prussia", was not financially able to care for her large family. Her oldest son, Hamp, as Walker had died as a teen, had also served in the War, was married. The daughters in their teens were married off young and quickly to older men in the community. The younger children, including Julina, were bound out, or place in the homes of neighbors and relatives in intact families. Families with a father.
Her brother, John Adam, went to live with his Uncle, Josiah Aldridge. He was fortunate. Julina was placed in the home of Benjamin Lindsey Whitley. Whitley had a housefull of boys. Julina was used and abused by those boys. She got pregnant by them several times. A few of the babies died or were stillborn. Those were buried with Julia. Some lived, her oldest daughter Mollie and son, Filmore, were the children of Ephraim Whitley, B. L. Whitley's son. Her own mother, Prussia, would have a child, a little girl, Matilda, 7 years after her husband had died, and well into her 40's.
Julina eventually would begin a relationship with an older neighbor, Horton H. Davis. He had came from a family that hdd been wealthy before the Civil War, but devasted after. His own father had become the blacksheep of the family after becoming an alchoholic.
I never knew it, but had shockingly discovered in the old court records of Stanly County, that Hawk and Julina had been arrested for fornication in the 1880's. And indeed, several of their children had been born before 1889, when they got married. But they did.
Hawk was a good man. In the Aldridge family history is a quote of his haned down to Don Aldridge by his Aunt Maudie Scarboro, that Hawk was once told that half those children were not his. He said he knew, but he loved them all the same. This did not mean Julina was unfaithful while they were together, though I do not know. Perhaps it just referred to the ones she already had.
Hawk and Julina Davis and Family
My Great Grandfather, Will, was born 2 years after the marriage. He is the small boy second from left in the above picture. Julina had 11 children whose names we know, and supposed, the two girls who died as infants. Hawk died in 1906 and she lived until 1935. Her obituary states she was a devout Christian lady and notes nothing of her checkered past. In the end, she gained back her reputation. My grandfather only knew her as a loving grandmother.
Happy Mother's Day my Second Great Grandmother, Julina.
Family Trees grow both ways: from the Root and from the Branches. As I chose this month to honor all of the women whose DNA I carry in my cells, I also want to honor the women who are passing MY DNA onward into the future, my daughters, and through my son, my daughter in law.
I have six beautiful grandchildren, as you can see. One day there may be more as my youngest son is still single and my children are still young. As there are many mothers before me, I am old enough to look behind and see mothers passing on the heritage and dna of my forebears, into the future, through me.
These are some of the women in my family tree who were mothers, who passed DNA on to me and many others, who I chose to feature (or mention) in my month long tribute to Mother's Day:
Patsy Palmer, Lisha Ramsey, Leah Julian, Julina Aldridge, Prussia Murray, Talitha Herrin, Tabitha Marks, Nellie Kindrat, Piety Lambert, Delaney Braswell, Deliverence Tuthill, Antje Wells, Bridget Smith, Isabella Pace, Sarah Fincher, Sallie Winfield, Charlotte Freeman, Judith Taylor, Penelope Blow, Keziah Tucker, Nancy Webster, Susan Faulkner, Betsy Carpenter, Caroline Hudson, Vashita Calloway, Catherina Muehl, Mattie Russell, Ava McGregor, Amelia Hatley, Anna Maria Merckle, Obedience Ramsey, Rebecca Helms, Margaret Buchanan, Leavy Starnes, Harriett Means, Elizabeth Fenwick, Catherine Alexander, Wincy Morton, Polly Erwin, Isabelle Foreman, Catherine Black, Prudence Jones, Mary Anna Burris, Cornelia Angeline Lathrop. And last, but certainly not least, my own mother, Joyce Davis.
Happy Mother's Day to all Mother's Today and Every Day.
Isabella Smythe Pace is one of my immigrant ancestors. As yet, I can't tell you exactly what generation of Grandmother she is to me. My best guess is 12th Great Grandmother. I found her through DNA. Through the YDNA tests of now 7 descendants of Rev. John Lambert, born in 1772 and died about 1860 in Stanly County, NC, we know that we are both positively descended from Rev. John Lambert and he, in a straight father to son line, was a decesdant of Richard Pace and wife Isabella Smyth of Jamestown. There are some major suspects as to the father of Rev. John, but that fact has not been nailed down yet.
St. Dunstans and All Saints, Stepney
Recorded in the Marriage Register of St. Dunstans Church, Stepney, County of Middlesex, page 70 is:
"Richard Pace of Wapping married Isabella Smythe 5 Oct 1608". Wapping was a little port, a fishing village, just south of the Tower Bridge. At the time of the marriage of Richard and Isabella, it was a few miles south of London. Today, is throughly within the city limits of London. Richard, we know, was a carpenter, and a Prostestant.
I don't know what brought Richard and Isabella to Virginia, along with their young son, George, but most likely what brought any of the young adventurers to a dangerous and remote land. What we do know is that they arrived on Jamestown Island before April 1616. Isabella was a remarkable woman for her time, no doubt well-educated and very intelligent. Both she and Richard were proclaimed Ancient Planters, due to their early arrival, and both were investors in the Virginia Company.
The Paces obviously did not take to the stiff regalities and harsh punitive penalties, so they took their chances away from the safety of Jamestown and settled on a high bluff above the James River. Richard built a plantation there he named "Paces Paines" with the help of few friends and obviously, some Native American servants.
Isabella owned her own share of the property, likely due to a Petition of the First Assembly of Burgesses in 1619 that had declared shares for wives because, "in a new plantation it is not known whether man or woman be the most neccessary."Richard owned 400 acres and Isabella 200.
Richard had achieved the ownership of 100 acres from "his own personal adventure," but the other 300 was from importing 6 other citizens, at 50 acres a head (called a headright). Their names were:Lewis Bayly (Bailey), Richard Irnest (Ernest), John Skinner, Bennett Bulle, Roger Macher, and Ann Mason. On a trip back to England to find servants to help clear the land and work at Pace's Paines, Richard Pace brought with him a young woman named Ursula Clawson who was named as his 'kinswoeman". She was among several other young women brought to be wives of the Colonists. Perhaps she was a niece or cousin.
The Raid of Jamestown
Richard and Isabella had adopted a young Native Boy named Chanco, perhaps he was an orphan and perhaps a playmate for their son, George. Chanco obviously still had interaction and communication with his tribe, while living with the Paces, as an event is passed down to us through historty that cemented the standing of both Richard Pace and Chanco as heros of Jamestown.
The records state that Chanco was an "Indian" that Richard Pace "used as a son." Chanco warned Richard of an impending massacre in 1622. He had been asked by his tribesmen to cut the throat of Richard during that time, but Chanco, however, loved the Paces and warned them instead. It is said Richard then rowed 3 miles across the river to Jamestown, to warn them. It put Jamestown in a state of defence, they were prepared. The attack was still very deadly, 367 out of about 4000 people died on March 22, 1622, from the attack, but it would have been much more deadly had Richard Pace not warned them.
Current view of what was Pace's Paines
The Paces stayed in Jamestown about 4 months after that, at which time Richard petitioned the Council to "returne (to Paces Paines), with a company of Good Men to Restore" his house and farm after the raid. Richard would be killed in another Indian raid a few years later. Paces Paines is now Mount Pleasant Plantation outside of Jamestown in Virginia.
Isabella, it is written, was born in Stepney, Greater London, the daughter of a John Smythe and Ann Smith. After the death of Richard Pace, she remarried quickly to neighbor William Perry, as was the custom, for young widows to not stay single. They lived in Pace's Paines while Isabella maintained a separate parcel of land for her son, George Pace, when he reached the age of majority. Isabella would have a son, Henry Perry with Capt. William Perry.
ISABELLA PERRY, wife of William Perry, gent., (as her first divident),200 acres in the Corporation of James City on the south side of the main river, formerly granted to her and late husband Richard Pace, deceased, December 5, 1620. Said land adjoined westerly that of John Burrowes, now in the tenure of John Smith, and thence extending east to the land granted George Pace, "bearing date with these presents" - 100 acres due for her own personal adventure as an ancient planter, and the other 100 as the dividend of Francis Chapman (granted him December 5, 1620), and by him made over to Richard Richards and Richard Dolphenby, and by them made over to the said Isabella Perry, at a court at James City, January 20, 1621. Granted by Francis West, September 20, 1628.[4] From Wikipedia
Captain William Perry was one of 4 people who cleared the acreage at Hog Island. He sailed back to England in 1624 to ask the Virginia Company for relief from taxes due to the losses incurred in the Indian attack of 1622. He took a native boy with him and for the funds to raise the child in the Christian faith. I wonder if this was Chanco or another boy?
Captain Perry, Isabella and the boys, George and Henry, were not in Jamestown for the February 1629 muster. On May 9, 1629, Isabella would testify in court, in London. Captain Perry, like the Paces, had preferred his own wilderness to the stiffness of Jamestown and founded an 8000 acres plantation called Buckland, in what would became Charles City.
" Isabell, wife of William Perry, Merchant of Virginia, age 40, desposes 26 August 1629 that about Christmas last one John Riley of London, merchant, died in the house of examiners husband in Virgina."
George Pace patented his fathers 400 acres on September 1, 1638. That year, he would marry Sarah Maycock, daughter of Reverend Samuel Maycock, who was killed in the 1622 Indian raid. This makes Sarah Maycock Pace one of the mothers in my family tree as well, since all of Richards descendants also descend from George.
Isabella would find herself, again, a widow.
“Here lyeth the body of Captaine William Perry who lived neire Westover in the Collony Who departed this life the 6th day of August, Anno Domini 1637”
Isabella would be widowed again and this time would marry the richest man in Jamestown, George Menifee. Menifee was an attorney who brokered in land, tobacco and people (laborers). Isabella's son Henry Perry would later marry Menifee's daughter .
George Menifee (Menifye, Menefie) was born about 1596 and was first listed in the census of the Virginia Colony in 1624. He was married a total of 4 times and only had the one child, Elizabeth. He first married the widow of James Rolfe, Jane Pierce Rolfe and she is thought to be the mother of Elizabeth.
George loved botany and gardens, his plantation, called Littleton or Littletown was described as a place of great beauty, containing the "fruits from Holland and Roses of Provence". George Menifee was the first person to cultivate Peaches in America. His orchard consisted of Apples, Pear, Cherry and Peach trees. He grew a variety of herbs around his house including Rosemary, Thyme and Marjoram.
After his marriage to Isabella, George would leave his homemade paradise and move to Buckland, the plantation of Captain William Perry and obviously the home of Isabella and her younger son Henry Perry. George Pace was on his own at Pace's Paines by then.
There are those who say they don't believe that Isabella remarried to George Menifee, but there are facts that corroborate it. First, why would he leave his beloved Littleton for Buckhorn if not for Isabella? He would have no right to Buckhorn, only the child, Henry Perry would, in time.
Second, he adopted William and Isabella's Native American son. The record of June 10, 1640 reads:
"Mr. George Menyfye, Esq. this day presented to the court an Indian boy of the counrty of Tappahannoch Christened and for the time of ten years brought up amongst the english by Captain William Perry, deceased." It goes on:
Mr. George Menifye: the indian was examined and found to have been well instructed in the principles of religion, taught to read, instructed to writing: and whereas there hath formerly been given by will, a stock of three hundred pounds sterling by Nicholas Farrar, late of London, Merchant, deceased, by [for?] the Indians, whereof 24 pounds sterling was yearly to be paid to any person that should bring up three of the indian children the said Mr. Menifye for his better supportation in the education of the said indian boy desire certificate from the court of the bringing him up and instructing him in christian religion as is said: the governor and council approving and commending the care that hath been used towards this youth have condescended to the request of the said Mr. Menifye and have thought goo to recommend hereby his suit for the allowance of 8 pounds per annum, part of the said 24 pounds. towards the maintenande the said youth and to that purpose in testimony of the premises have thought good to cause the seal of the colony to be hereunto affixed.Given at James city the tenth day of June, a domini 1640.[5] -The Virginia Magazine of History and Biography p 282.
Isabella would not outlive her third husband. Menifee would remarry after her death to a Mary Potts and this is the wife he would mention in his will.
Isabella would be survived by the two sons, Henry Perry and George Pace.
Henry Perry married Elizabeth Menifee, his stepsister. They would have two daughters, both would return to England. Elizabeth Perry married John Coggs, gentleman of Rainslip, Middlesex, England and Mary Perry married Thomas Mercer, stationer of London.
George Pace was left to carry on Richard and Isabella's American Dream. He married Sarah Maycock, "orphan of Jamestown". Her father was Samuel Maycock, a minister educated at Cambridge who had been sent to Jamestown by the Virginia Company in 1617 to pastor it's first church. He established a plantation, "Maycock Plantation" located 6 miles up river from Jamestown. He patented it in 1618 and was then killed in the massacre of 1622. Sarah was just an infant at the time as she is shown in the 1624 census as an infant in the home of Captain Roger Smith and was raised by the Smiths.
George and Sarah would take the Pace line into the future.
Happy Mother's Day both Isabella and daughter-in-law, Sarah.
Recently my distant cousin and fellow Marks descendant, Cyndi, sent me the following page from a bulletin she had been fortunate to find. The bulletin was from a Marks family reunion and was shared with her by a Marks descendant whose last name is Marks. It basically is a listing of the most immediate descendants of James Marks. I never knew there were Marks family reunions, because I descend from his oldest daughter, Tabitha. Cyndi didn't know because she descends from his brother. The family reunion appears to have just been held by descendants of one or more of his sons.
James Marks was from Chatham County, which I was a fact I never knew, until I made contact with Cyndi, but apparently there were descendants of his who did. He moved to Montgomery County in the 1820's, on the side of the river that became Stanly. His brother John was here also. But James did live here long before passing away. However, he left a wife and 5 children. And here we are.
The top part of the bulletin was pure genealogical treasure, however. It included something we did not know.
"Settled near the Yadkin River in the area that is now Morrow Mountain State Park. Buried on the Grove Estate."
I'd never heard where he was, or might have been buried.
James died before 1830, because in the 1830 census for Montgomery County, his wife Caty is shown as Head of Household, which for women, usually meant they were widows.
Total - All Persons (Free White, Slaves, Free Colored):
5
He had married Catherine "Caty" Gunther, daughter of Isham Gunther of Chatham County. Her sister, Mary, had married John Marks .
Name:
Will Solomon
Home in 1830 (City, County, State):
Montgomery, North Carolina
Free White Persons - Males - 30 thru 39:
1 William Solomon
Free White Persons - Females - Under 5:
2 Martha Ann and Jane Caroline Solomon
Free White Persons - Females - 20 thru 29:
1 Tabitha Marks Solomon
Free White Persons - Under 20:
2
Free White Persons - 20 thru 49:
2
Total Free White Persons:
4
Caty is shown with 4 children in 1830. Their oldest daughter, Tabitha, born in 1805, had already married with two little girls. She had married a minister, Rev. William Solomon, who had a familial and long-time association with both Ebenezer Baptist Church in present day Badin, and Stony Hill Methodist Church, near Morrow Mountain. (The Stony Hill congregation had begun as Baptists).
Sign in Brick at Stony Hill
Now having a hint at where James Marks was buried, a task was to hand. Where was the Groves Estate?
The old slate marker for Stony Hill, brought from it's orginal location.
With a little research, I found two possibilities, First, I knew there was a Christmas Tree Farm near Morrow Mountain called "Grovestone". I also searched old newspapers for the mention of a "Groves Estate" and this is what I found.
Remains of old road that led from Lowder's Ferry, through the Groves Estate, on to Rest (Present River Haven area) and on to the Swift Island Ferry.
James Alonzo Groves was born in 1873 in Gastonia to the affluent family of Robert A. Groves and wife Margaret Waddell. He was well-educated, well-connected and arrived in Stanly County in 1903 in Association with Wiscassett Mills. Below he is shown as a boarder in the 1910 census of Albemarle, North Carolina.
J. A. Groves moved quickly up the ranks at Wiscassett Mills and within Albemarle society, where he met and married a local girl, Sarah Ellen "Nelle" Hearne. Nelle was the daughter of Sidney H. Hearne and his wife Ellen. The Hearnes were the founding family of Albemarle, the town literally built on the Hearne plantation, and were scions of Albemarel society.The Groves House in town was located on North Second Street in Albemarle, across from Franklin Street. It has since been demolished.
The Groves had a house in town, but Nelle loved horses and J. A. loved Nell. He purchased 1300 acres in the area between Morrow Mountain and Stony Mountain and there built a weekend getaway house, a place for Nell to ride her horses and have parties.
Nell Hearne Groves and one of her horses
The property where they built the weekend house was called 'The Groves Estate". At first, I wasn't sure if the Groves Estate and Grovestone was the same place. So I called the current owners and spoke with a Mr. Talbert. He was so very cordial and informative. Yes, Grovestone was indeed part of the Groves Estate.Mr. Talbert had been informed somewhat on the history of the property somewhat when he purchased it. The story was that Mrs. Groves had gotten ill and was sent to a sanitorium out west to recover. Before her return, Mr. Groves had built the getaway house as a gift for her.He explained about various caretakers houses that were also on the property and later occupied by Kirks and Spiveys. A stable had been built there for the horses. It had been a magnificent place, parties on the weekends for the Stanly elite and vistors from Gaston and Mecklenburg counties would show up.I have explained to Mr. Talbert who I was and what my interest was, and about the bulletin that stated that my ancestor, James Marks, had been buried on the Groves Estate. That is when Mr. Talbert remembered a group of people who had came to his place in about the mid-1980's. He said they brought flowers to put on a grave, and that they knew exactly where the grave was. These were Marks descendants and the grave was that of James Marks.Mr. Talbert so graciously offered to give me, and my cousin, a tour of the place, anytime. We took him up on his offer.
Mr. Talbert remembered the grave had been somewhere down the hill behind the cabin.
So a few short weeks after I spoke to Mr. Talbert on the phone, we touched base a few times and set a time to meet. So myself and two other Marks family researchers, Cyndia and Leah met with Mr. Talbert for a tour of the former Groves Estate with the high hopes of discovering where James Marks had been buried.
A place in the woods that may have been the site of the Grave
Mr Talbert was able to provide some background on the estate and show us where certain fixtures once were, and where others still were. Remnants of an old road can still be seen crossing the property. A springhead at the bottom of the hill from the house still bubbles, and obviously where ancient residents of the property once got their water.
This mound of stones may have been a Grave, many quartz rocks intermingled .It marked something and is not a natural formation.
One of the more interesting facts our tour guide provided was that the support beams under the house and within, were of a chestnut wood no longer available in the area, as the North Carolina Chestnut has nearly been wiped out. Only a few remain. The building style of the joists and beams also predate the building of the Rock House, which was built in the 1930's, by at least 100 years or more. Primitive. The rock house had not been built from scratch, instead, it had obviously been built over and existing cabin.
Mr. and Mrs. Groves in their later years sitting on the steps of The Rock House. He died in 1955 and she lived until 1970.
Mr. Talbert provided us with blueprints, and maps of the property, along with the above photo of Mr. and Mrs. Groves and several of the Rock House and the view from the front porch of it from many decades ago.
The Rock House as it originally appeared circa 1935
Knowing that the Rock House was built over an existing structure of much older origin, I wondered who had lived in the original cabin. As James Marks grave was on this property, could the structure have existed back that far? Or had some more recent Marks descendants lived there. In searching land deeds in Stanly County, I came across an unusual phenomena. Stanly County was formed in 1841 from the West half of Montgomery County, using the Yadkin-Pee Dee River as the dividing line. There are no deeds in Stanly County involving the Marks family until 1875. This is a space of 34 years, and in this deed, W. A. Marks, a grandson of James Marks, sells property to Dupree Clodfelter, who hailed from Davidson County.
What the Rock House and Property looked like in the 1930's. Check the old car.
Now, in present day, Clodfelter Road comes off of Valley Drive and heads up the hill to the top of a ridge between Morrow Mountain State Park and Stony Mountain. The road goes through the Groves Estate. While the current Grovestone is only on one side of the road, the original Groves Estate covered 1300 acres. A road that leads to Stony Hill Church veres off of Clodfelter Road to the left coming up. At the top of the hill is a community known as Clodfelter Town where descendants of Dupree Clodfelter still live. It's no longer a town, but it is still populated and still lies in the shadow of Morrow Mountain.
Could the property that W. A. Marks sold to Dupree Clodfelter, the progenitor of the Clodfelter family, be where Clodfelter Town sits today? It appears so. And if W. A. Marks sold it in 1875, how and when did he acquire it? There are no records of W. A. Marks buying it before then. Whitson A. Marks was the son of Thomas Marks and wife Nancy Carter. Tom was the youngest son of James Marks and Catherine Gunter Marks. Whitson was born in 1849, so he did not yet exist in 1841 when Stanly became a county. The property was obviously acquired before 1841, when the county was still part of Montgomery, but not by Whitson Marks. How then did he acquire it? I can only feel it was by inheritance.
Another interesting fact is that in the book, "These Hallowed Grounds", published in 2012 by The Stanly County Genealogical Society, a year before I joined, is the mention of a cemetery, located on the property just across Clodfelter Road from Grovestone.
I spoke to a member of the SCGS who had been on the adventure of discovery in locating the old cemetery. It is quite a walk from the house and off to toward the end of what is now Dunlap Road, below the west side of Stony Mountain. Still, not that far from where James Marks grave is supposed to be. The procession was led by Rayvon Shepherd, a descendant of Tom Shepherd, Grandson of Nancy Marks Carter, James Marks youngest daughter. Tom Shepherd lived in this area years ago. The cemetery is believed to be a Marks cemetery. And not far from the area of James Marks Grave!
Mr. Talbert shows us the original plans for the property.
It's not hard to imagine the original cabin, sitting atop the hill where the Rock House now stands, and looking out toward the property where the other Marks cemetery is said to be. Was this area inhabited by the Marks family, spread out with the view of Morrow Mountain in the distance and Stony Mountain in the other direction?
Peeking at the Mountian beyond from the road to Stony Hill Church
We will have to back in the winter if Mr. Talbert so allows, with someone who knows the art of divining, to help us pinpoint James Marks exact grave. At this time, we don't know for sure if the stone covered mound is it or not. Mr. Talbert said he felt it was a little further up the hill, closer to the house.
The old road went right by the house, right across the front yard, above is the picture of the road bed going from the property south. Many of these old places that seem out in the middle of nowhere, were actually located on the byways of the day.
The above is a clip from an old map of Stanly County. Just above Stony Mountain you can see '"Grovestone" J. A. Groves Place'. A little beyond, on the 'loop' road is Stony Hill Church. The below clip picks up a little north of the first one In this map, you can see where the Kron Place was, and Lowder's Ferry. The map identify's an area as Morrow Mountain State Park, but with just a dirt road, or path to the old Ferry, which is now a road that goes past the campgrounds and leads down to the boat landing and canoe rentals .
All in all, we had quite a day and was blessed by Mr. Talberts hospitality and knowledge. I believe we have found the general are where the Marks lived when they settled here. Hopefully, by tracing J. A. Marks purchase of the property backwards, we can find if it does trace back to the Marks.
Special thanks for information, the tour and other assitance to Mr. and Mrs. Jerry Talbert, Cynthia Gordon, Leah Morris, Greg Marks, Phil W. Lowder and the other owners of portions of Grovestone, whose names I do not know who gave Mr. Talbert the okay to take us trapsing across their property.
I made the acquaintance of Drusilla Beasley while researching the family of William and Susanna Gurley Seigler. Their family is piecemeal, several daughters just disappearing with no trace and possible grandchildren appearing out of nowhere.
Drucilla, who, as a newlywed, lived right next door to Susanna Gurley Seigler in 1860, is seen in the census as "Nicey", which is also a nickname for Eunice. As the Seiglers had a daughter by that name who disappears between 1850 and 1860, I considered the possibility that Samuel and Nicey "Cook" were related to the Seiglers and that "Nicey" was Eunice. But, alas, it was another transcription error and Samuel Cook was actually Samuel Crook, a son of Victory Crook, a neighbor along Richardson Creek who had many transactions and contact with the Seiglers as far as thier farms connected, their land adjoined, the families intermingled, purchases at estate sales, witnessing of deeds and the like.
Drucilla is a servant and her husband is a Day Laborer. As they live next to Susanna Seigler and she lives next to her brother, Daniel Gurley, I wondered if the young couple worked for them.
Samuel and Drucilla married the year before the 1860 census in Union County, North Carolina. The marriage was doomed due to one big unforeseen, tragic event called the Civil War. Sam, a young man just starting afoot in his adult life was sucked in as one of the disposable toy soldiers.
Name
Samuel Crook
Residence
Union County
Occupation
Laborer
Age at enlistment
19
Enlistment Date
19 Mar 1862
Rank at enlistment
Private
Enlistment Place
Union County
State Served
North Carolina
Service Record
Enlisted in Company C, North Carolina Co. B 10th Heavy Artillery Battery on 19 Mar 1862.
Birth Date
abt 1843
Sources
North Carolina Troops 1861-65, A Roster
Having enlisted in March of 1862, Samuel first mustered in Salisbury, NC. By early fall, he had made it to Wilmington and from there deserted. Remarks from his military records at Fold3.com for the September- October muster show that he deserted on October 9,1862 and was "now in Jail at Monroe, NC". It appears he was caught after having made it home. Samuel found war not to be to his liking.
He had taken sick, too. A muster from May 21, 1862 stated he was with Youngs Battalion and suffering from Acute Bronchitis.
In December of 1863, it was noted that he was "undergoing sentence of General Court Martial at Smith's Island for Absence without leave".
In March of 1864, "Absent, Was dropped from last roll for desertion, but returned to his (illegible).......undergoing his sentence at Bald Head".
In the May and June muster of 1864, "Undergoing sentence for Genl' Court Martial... Bald Head."
There was no record of an execution, however, we find in his estate papers, in his home county of Union that his widow, Drucilla declared that he had died in December of 1864.
"The Petition of Drucilla Crook complaining.....showeth that Samuel Crook died sometime in December 1864....possessed of some personal property."
Drucilla applied for her dower.
But before I go on to what happened to Drucilla Beasley Crook after the death of Samuel, I found a most riveting story concerning where she came from in the first place. Murder ballads were a traditional form ballad that told the story of a tragic death, written by local peoples that told a story and passed down in generations. They had originated in England and Lowland Scotland and came across the waves with the colonists and survived well into the 20th Century.
Looking into the origins of Drusilla Beasley, I came across the Ballad of Patsy Beasley. Martha "Patsy" Beasley was the mother of Drusilla Beasley, and in the anuls of old Anson and Union Counties, poor Patsy had acquired her own Murder Ballad. The below information comes from the site, "Bluegrass Messengers", concerning "Hand-me-down Ballads"by a Mr. Helms in the 1970's. http://www.bluegrassmessengers.com/hand-me-down-songs-union-co-nc--helms.aspxPatsy Beasley
This local murder ballad and the remnants of its history are a good example of the function of oral tradition music. It has preserved through rong the account of an actual murder which took place in 1844 in a portion of territory then included as Anson County, North Carolina. Some singers try to cover this fact by replacing the precise name with the general state.
The story according to residents today goes as follows: Patsy Beasley had one small child, about a year and a half old, which she left at the house whiie she went down to the spring to do the family washing. Several days later her body was found brutally murdered. Some say her little child was crawling around her, while others believe the child was found asleep in its bed. The only logical suspect at that time was her former boyfriend. Since there were no fencing laws at that time, neighbors built a rail fence around her body to protect it from wild animals until the inquisition. Community feeling was so strong against the boyfriend that he had to be moved to another county for his trial. Three years passed before he was actually convicted and sentenced to hang. Motives for this murder were and still are very vague, with many people declaring to this day that he was innocent. After one unsuccessful attempt to hang him (the rope broke dropping him safely to the ground), officials proceeded to try again, despite the belief that the rope's breaking was an omen signifying his innocence. Several years later a prisoner in a local penitentiary was overheard to say that he was actually the one who had killed Patsy Beasley.
Patsy Beasley
1. Come young and old, Come great and small, The invitation is to all. A harmless one and there she lay, Exposed by night and by day.
2 And Patsy Beasley was her name In North Carolina she was slain. Down by the brook her body lay, The villain took her life away.
3 Her skull was crushed, her hair was torn, Her arms were bruised to the bone, A little child alone was left, To live with others or starve to death.
4 The people asked, they wondered why, How she was killed and how she died. How sad it was, such an awful fate, Get right with God, don't wait too late. Hand-Me-Down Songs (Union Co., NC)- Helms; 1982
So this was the sad beginnings of the life of Drucilla Beasley. She was born in 1843 to a single woman, Martha Beasley, better known as Patsy. Patsy was the daughter of John and Ala Snipes Beasley. These individuals all lived in the area of Richardsons Creek, with the other families there I have been researching. The above census is the 1850 one of Union County, showing Drucilla living with her grandparents and her young aunt. Patsy had made the mistake of involving herself with one Thomas Madison Nash, born about 1819, son of Walker and Edna Nash. He had promised her marriage, but sadly, that never occured. In 1843, a daughter, Drucilla, was born to them, and in 1844, when Drusilla was barely a toddler, her 24 year old mother was found brutally murdered and her 25 year old father was the prime suspect. I followed the story through various accounts in the old newspapers of the day.
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The Greensboro Patriot Greensboro, North Carolina11 Sep 1847, Sat • Page 3 There were varying accounts of the exact circumstances of the death of Patsy Beasley, but a few facts stood out.She lived in a separate dwelling at the edge of her father's property, said to be near the store of one Jesse Parker. She left her one year old daughter, Drusilla, alone in the house, possibly napping, while she went down to a spring to the washing. There she encountered a terrible fate. She had been shot in the arm, and beaten nearly beyond recognition. A twenty-four pound stone had been used to crush her skull. She had been beaten with the butt of a gun and 'stomped" as well, it was reported. Her body was not found for a day and a half, during which time the baby was alone and crawling around.Attempts were made, probably by family and friends on the side of Tom Nash, the accused, to sully her reputation even more than having an out-of-wedlock child would, by saying she was "visited" by other men than just he, a kinder, gentler way of calling her a prostitute. But there was immediate blame and instant knowledge of who the father of her child was among the community. Their thoughts went immediately to Tom Nash.
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The North-Carolinian Fayetteville, North Carolina18 Sep 1847, Sat • Page 3 The trial of Tom Nash bounced around like a ping pond ball for a bit, as his attorneys looked for a place to have a fair trial. So horrid, so brutal, so unimaginally violent was the murder of this young woman, that the community around was enraged. There was not soul in sight with compassion in their heart for Tom Nash. All were biased and eager for justice. But who was Tom Nash? Thomas Madison Nash was born about 1819 in Anson County. He was the son of Walker Nash and his wife Edith (or Edna). The Walker Nashes had 3 known children, Thomas, a younger son named Abner, and daughter named Lovey who is named as a defense witness in the court papers. I believe the Walker Nash family, and perhaps other Nashes in the area, are related to the Governor Abner Nash/ Thomas Walker Nash family out of Prince Edward County, Virginia. Walker Nash died while Tom Nash was in custody, about 1847.
Above is his mother in the 1850 census. I don't know who Mary Whitington was, but as I had a second great grandmother marry a Whittington, I need to look into it.
Youngest son, Abner, married Martha Hill, a GGGGreat Aunt of mine, daughter and they had two sons, Millard Filmore Nash and James Benton Nash. Abner Nash lost his life in the Civil War. All known Nash descendants of Walker and Edith are from these two sons of Abner. And from Drusilla, the baby whose mother their son Tom Nash so cruelly murdered. I don't know what happened to Lovey after the trial, whether she died or married after the trial, or just moved away. Poor Edie is working as a knitter at 71 and the family is living in Olive Branch in Union County. Olive Branch is near Anson and was part of Anson until 1842.
In 1870, they aged Edith a bit, making her 90 and she is living with the McIntyres in New Salem, just 3 miles from Olive Branch. Martha McIntyre is her daughter-in-law, Martha Hill Nash, and Millard and James B are really Nashes and not McIntyres.
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The Raleigh Register Raleigh, North Carolina22 Apr 1848, Sat • Page 2 Martha "Patsy" Beasley was murdered on August 5, 1844. Almost immediately, the name of the most likely suspect came to mind to the people of Olive Branch. Tom Nash, who had "ruined" Patsy Beasley and was now wanting to marry Mary Whitley, but one person stood in the way, the woman whom he went to as he wanted, Patsy Beasley.
New Jerusalem Primitive Baptist Church Cemetery from Find-a-Grave
New Jerusalem Primitive Baptist Church lies between the town of Burnsville, in Anson County and Olive Branch in Union County, two places that can hardly be referred to as 'towns' today. It sits within Anson, on the border of the two counties along Jerusalem Church Road that leads from Olive Branch to Burnsville. One can only assume that the location of Old Jerusalem Primitive Baptist Church was nearby the presently standing more modern building. The names etched on the tombstones in the old cemetery, that carries a mix of older and more modern stones, still reflect the names of families that have lived on this land since before 1844, and still do to this day. Helms, Edwards, Thomas, Baucom, but the name of Nash does not appear. Indeed, they must have been shamed out of the church. Jersalem was the church attended by the Nash family and perhaps also, the Beasley family. As accounted in a 1964 article in 'The Salisbury Post' out of Rowan County, NC by staff writer Heath Thomas, (I wonder if he was related to any of the Thomas family buried in the churchyard?), soon after the gruesome murder, the community gathered in church as always, and a heavy cloud of dismay may have covered the atmosphere in the small building. An unnamed Primitive Baptist Minister made a accusal and a proclaimation that he had likely never made before, as in his congregation was one Thomas Nash, with his family, and the mindset in the community was in accordance on one idea, one suspicion, one allegation. The article recounts the event as follows:
(The minister) "was preaching his Sunday sermon at Jerusalem Church and he laid a rather large flint rock on the pulpit. As he denounced the foul murder of Patsy Beasley, he suddenly seized the rock and said: "The man who killed Patsy Beasley is in this church house and I am going to smash his head with this rock." He picked up the stone and drew back his arm as if to hurl it." This profession stunned and terrified one young man in the congregation. He acted on instinct and thus, gave away his guilt. It was a standard, hot muggy August Sunday in the South, more than a century before air conditioning. Ladies sat fanning themselves on the benches with their carefully folded paper fans. Gentlemen used the hats in their laps to fan away flies. The windows were open in hopes of a breeze to blow through and flys and bees took advantage of the open windows to explore. Tom Nash took advantage of the windows to escape. As the article described; "Young Tom Nash jumped through an open window and ran like a jackrabbit". The sherriff had his suspicions, but now he had an involuntary admission of guilt. Tom's rifle was found and the stock was found to be bloody. He now had the physical and circumstantial evidence to make an arrest, along with a motive. Tom Nash was arraigned in Wadesboro in September of 1844. A Grand Jury, headed by George Dunlap read the minutes in Raleigh and Judge John L. Bailey ordered a continuance until March. The defence asked for the trial to be moved because of the prejudice against Thomas Nash in the area, but also not to move the trial to Richmond County because of the prejudice against him there. Perhaps the Beasley's had relatives there. The trial was transferred to the September Term in Stanly County and again, the defense had appealed for the trial to be moved in order for Tom to get a fair hearing. The people of Stanly had said that hanging was to good for him, that he should be burned at the stake. They also asked for the trial not to be held in Union County, where Patsy's family lived. The Nashes lived on the Anson County side and the Beasley's on the Union side of the Anson/Union line. September 3, 1845, the judge ruled that the trial be moved to Montgomery County, NC at the request of John Beasley and Eben Gurley, witnesses for the prosecution. Again, Tom asked for a continuance due to the fact that Edith Nash, his mother and Lovey Nash, his sister, material witnesses for the defense, were detained at home with a severe illness and that his father, Walker Nash had died "Monday a week ago", meaning February 17, 1845. Elishateal Veal, a jailor in Anson County, was also a material witness. He returned to Troy, Montgomery County, in March of 1846. In Montgomery, C. W. Wooley ordered him transferred back to Wadesboro to be held until August of 1846, until the last Monday in the month, for him to stand trial.
The historic Montgomery County Courthouse
A Union County Ballad was written by Douglas and Karen Helms of Wingate University. The ballad was recorded by Henry Griffin of Marshville.
The Ballad of Patsy Beasley
Come old and young, come great and small,
The invitation is to all.
A harmless one, and there she lay,
Although exposed to night and day.
And Patsy Beasley was her name,
In Anson County she was slain.
Down by the spring her body lay.
The villian took her life away.
The people said, they wondered why?
How she was killed and how she died?
Her skull was crushed, her hair was torn.
Her arms were bruised all through the bone.
Her little child alone was left.
To live with others or starve to death.
How sad it was, this awful fate.
Get right with God, don't wait too late.
August Term of Court in the year 1846, the presiding judge was Judge Thomas Little. The prosecuting attorney was Robert Strange, who had been following him from county to county. This time the State asked for a continuance. John Beasley, Patsy's father, had stated that Mary Whitley was a very important material witness for the state, who he had expected to testify that Tom Nash had admitted that he was guilty of the murder. She had been the girl who had rebuked Tom because of his relationship with Patsy, that threw Tom into a murderous tailspin. He had killed Patsy so he could be with Mary and now she was to testify against him.
John Beasley stated that Mary had attended prior sessions, and could prove admissions of the defendant that he was guilty, but at the moment she was very pregnant, "so far advanced as to render it very unsafe for her to attend the present term of court". Finally, after a number of continuances, changes of venue and a delay of 3 years, Thomas Madison Nash had his day in court. It was a hot, muggy day in August of 1847 in Troy, Montgomery County, North Carolina. about 32 miles from where the murder occured. The judge was the Honorable David Franklin Caldwell, a resident of Rowan County, who was known statewide for his wisdom and fairness. A jury was called from all corners of Montgomery, from the Uwharries to the Sandhills; William Cagle, Kindred Shandley, William Hurley, Edmund Hearne, James Hall, Norman McCaskill, Burgys Goings, Boon McArthur, Norman Martin, John C Nichols, Valentine Moore, James W Hamilton. It lasted 3 Days and Tom Nash was sentenced to hang on Friday, October 8, 1847 for the grievous murder of Patsy Beasley.
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The North-Carolinian Fayetteville, North Carolina06 May 1848, Sat • Page 2 The 4 Ministers: It took my imagination to envision the Death Wagon, which had brought Tom Nash to his demise. A Four-Horse Wagon, wherein the Sheriff had placed Tom in the middle of the wagon, bound, with a rope around his neck. He must have been a sight, a good-looking young man, blonde, dressed all in white, 'including his hat. no doubt his dress was chosen to look innocent, and I dare say, angelic. He was surrounded by 4 ministers, 2 Baptist, 2 Methodist, also described as good-looking, chosen perhaps to make and impact. I want to know who they were and came to the following conclusions"Rev Richard Jacks, Jr. a nephew of Rev. Richard Jacks Sr., a Baptist minister who was a circuit rider who would settle in Ashe County later in life.Rev. Noah Richardson of Moore and Montgomery Counties, a Baptist who preached for 45 years and for 27 sucessive years, elected to preach on Sundays at the meeting of his Association. At his funeral, he was hailed by Rev. James McDaniel of Fayetteville, of being the best Preacher in North Carolina.Rev. William Carlisle of Camden and Bennettsville, South Carolina, a young minister of Irish decenst known for his flashing good looks and fiery oratation. Rev. William Avant of Chatham County, North Carolina. The article from The Carolinian continued in its description of the popular event and of the speech Tom Nash gave before his execution.
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The North-Carolinian Fayetteville, North Carolina06 May 1848, Sat • Page 2 And thus was the end of the life of Thomas Madison Nash. He was said to have been buried at home by his mother, and with help, I am sure, from his brother, if not others, on their property some distance from the Nash Family plot, as he was not wanted among his close relatives, no more than allowed in the church cemetery. A rosebush was planted to mark the site by his mother Edith, and was later proclaimed by a Miss Sandy Thomas who lived there decades later to be quiet beautiful. No one has ever reported seeing the ghost of Tom Nash, so it is expected he rests in peace. But what about the orphaned child, Drucilla (Nash) Beasley?Her mother was murdered by her father when she was just over a year old. He seemed to have no concern of her, nor is recorded to have ever mentioned her in his testimony that I can find.She came into the care of her maternal grandparents, John and Ala "Aley" Snipes Beasley. At the early age of 16, she married a neighbor, Samuel Crook, son of Victory and Nancy Medlin Crook of Union County in 1859.The Civil War left her a widow at 21. In the very brief probate file of Samuel Crook, Drusilla Crook files for her one year's widow's allowance in the January Term of Court in Union County, North Carolina. Within Drusilla states he died in December of 1864.It was during this will that her beloved Grandfather, John Beasley also passed away. Drusilla's young life had been wrought with tragedy.John Beasley, in his will, ensured that his granddaugther, Drusilla, would be taken care of after the event of his death, despite her marriage.
In the name of God Amen. I John Beasley of the County of Union in the State of North Carolina; being of sound mind and knowledg knowing the uncertainty of Life do Therefour make publish ordain and declare this to Be my Last will and Testament that is to say after all my lawfull Debts shall have been paid and discharged I will and bequeath un to my [Beloved] wife all my tract of land where I now live on at this time Except the Portion that I have heretofore give off to Samuel Crook & wife Drusilla During her natural Life also all my house hold and Kitchen furniture consisting of Every thing in the houses of mine also my stock of Horses and Cattle and hogs & All of the produce of corn and wheat and meat on hand And all of the pottery on hand at my death Consisting of everythng on hand at my death to make use of at her Disposal. (2.) I give and bequeath unto my Grand daughter Druscilla Crook wife os Samuel Crook Five acres of land adjoining the Lands I heretofore have give them. (3.) I give & bequeath unto my Daughter Alla Pusser one fourth part of this tract of land where I know live on at the death of my wife & myself it being apart of the south & west ajoining the lands of Wm. H. Simpson And the Big Survey taken the place or improvements where Victor Crook lives Supoosed to be about twenty seven Acres and one fourth of an acre. (4. I give and bequeath unto my three Daughters Lucindy Sikes and Mary Harrison and Annie Sharp the balance of my Tract of land to be equally devided between them the place where I Now live on at the Death of my wife or widow (5.) I give & bequeath unto my daughter Keziah Kelly all of the property I have heretofore have give her and know more Except the Tract of Land which she has onely a Lifetime Rite to of 88 acres ajoining the Lands of Thomas J. Griffin and Daniel Smith and others. (6.) I Direct that the tract of Land above mentioned to be sold the tract ajoining the lands of Thomas J. Griffin and Daniel Smith & others and the proceeds arising from it to be applied to paying Debts and the balance if any to be devided between my four Daughters Lucindy Sikes & Mary Harrison And Annie Sharp & Alla Pusser March The 14th day 1861 In witness whereof I have hereunto subscribed my name and affixed my seal.
John (X)Beasly (seal)A. T. Secrest G. W. Helms
Minuet Dockett Page 328
So this is where I had left off with Drusilla, in the aftermath of the Civil War. It appears family had a hand in her future, even then, as an adult at 21. Following court records seem to suggest she had Aunts who were quite jealous of her. The estate records of John and Ala Beasley (who died 3 years after her husband), are quite lengthy.Drusilla was married off to her first cousin, Noah Sharpe, and sent away. Anna "Annie" Beasley, was the 4th daughter of John and Ala Snipes Beasley. In 1821, at the age of 13, Annie had married Emory M. Sharp in Anson County. They then settled in Jamestown, Cherokee County, Alabama along the Georgia border. Noah Eugene Sharp was the 7th of her 9 children. He was born in 1840 in Alabama.
In 1860, when Drusilla was living in Olive Branch, Union County, NC with her husband, Samuel Crook, Noah is living in David's Crossroads, Cherokee County, Alabama, with his parents, Emory and Annie Sharp, and his siblings, Ellen, Levi and Roena, a widow, and her 3 young children. Noah also served in the Civil War, but unlike Samuel Crook, had made it out alive. Though I can find no marriage record for Noah and Drusilla, they appear to have married soon after the death of Samuel Crook, in 1865. Their first child, Hettie Ann, was born on February 9, 1866, in Elmont Springs, Giles County, Tennesee.
The 1870 census would find the young family in neighboring Lincoln County, Tennesse, both on the Tennesee/Alabama border. Noah was a 30 year old farmer with 3 children, Hettie, Amanda and Sidney Allen Sharp. Drusilla apparently did not have any children with Samuel Crook.
Ten years later, Noah and Drucilla were still in Lincoln County, Tennesee, now ages 40 and 37, and the family had doubled in size from 3 to 6 children. Additions were Henry, Cynthia and Laodocia. Noah's father, Emory, died in 1867. His mother, Anna Beasley Sharp, remained in Cherokee County, Alabama until her death in 1889.
It may have been through some reason of inheritance that Noah Sharp returned with his family to Alabama. Noah and Drusilla would have 3 more children after the 1880 census, for a total of 9.1877 - Delpha or Delphia Sharp1881- John Preston Riley Sharp1883- Joel Wilson Sharp Drusilla was 40 upon the birth of her last child and died in Limestone County, Alabama sometime after his birth and before the 1900 census. Noah Sharp outlived Drusilla for several years. He appeared in the 1900 cenus living in Limestone County, Alabama with 3 of his children and 4 of his grandchildren.
In 1910, he's back in Giles County, Tennessee, living with his youngest son, Joel and his young family. He would pass away 5 years later, on April 16, 1915 in Limestone County, Alabama again, at the age of 74. It is believed that both Noah and Drusilla were buried in the Old Sharp Family Cemetery near Elmont or Ardmore on the Tennesee/Alabama State Line. The cemetery has been destroyed and the graves plowed under according to what I've been told. Some tombstones were saved. Noah and Drucilla's 9 children were: A) Hetty Ann Sharp Culp b 1866 Giles County, TN d 1958 Athens, Limestone County, AL.B) Amanda D Sharp Holloway Esckstine b 1867 Giles County, TN d 1825 Ardmore, Limestone County, AL.C) Sidney Allen Sharp b 1870 Lincoln County, TN d 1935 Athens, Limestone County, ALD) Henry L Sharp b 1872 Madison County, AL d 1907 Rogersville, Limestone County, ALE) Cynthia S. Sharp b 1874 Alabama or Tennesee or North Carolina (NC on 1880 census) Death unknown.F) Ladocia Sharp b 1876 Tennesee or Alabama or North Carolina (Nc on 1880 census) Death unknown. Possibly married Burnett.G) Delphia Savannah Sharp Smith b 1877 Alabama d 1926 Holcomb, Dunklin County, MissouriH) John Preston Riley Sharp b 1881 Lincoln County, TN d 1856 St. Louis, MissouritI) Joel Wilson Sharp b 1883 Limestone County, AL d 1973 San Angelo, Tom Green County, TX http://www.bluegrassmessengers.com/hand-me-down-songs-union-co-nc--helms.aspx
My first encounter with a mysterious woman named Mary Whitley was when I was studying the story and tragic beginnings in life of Drucilla Beasley. Drucilla Beasley had been born in the Olive Branch community of Union County, North Carolina near the Anson and Union County border. Her mother was a young woman named Martha Beasley, known as "Patsy".
Patsy was the daughter of John Beasley and lived alone with her infant daughter in a cabin on the corner of her father's property. Pasty had been disgraced by the birth of her child out of wedlock. The baby's father was one Thomas Nash, son of Walker and Edna Nash. It's recorded that he was a blonde, good looking young man. Tom apparently frequented the home of Patsy Beasley, but would not marry her. About a year afer the birth of their daughter, Drusilla, His attention had been captured by a different lass, a girl named Mary, maiden name unknown. Mary had refused his attentions based on his ongoing sexual relations with his "baby momma", Patsy Beasley. Tom had confessed to Mary that he would get rid of that obstacle. And he did, quite savagely, Tom Nash had murdered Patsy Beasley.
He had found Patsy, as the story goes, washing clothes at a spring. From the scene later discovered by neighbors, they assumed she had decided to do the laundry while the baby napped, as she was found crawling around the cabin unharmed. Patsy had been shot and stomped and her head bashed in with a large stone. It was a particularly grievous crime. One can imagine him shooting her first, and as his aim was bad and had merely wounded her, he either beat her first and then attacked her with the stone while she was down, or he knocked her unconscious with the stone and then proceded to stomp on her lifeless body.
He was soon found out and jailed, having given his guilt away at Jerusalem Church and having had admitted his plot to rid himself of the obstacle, Patsy, to win Mary's heart, to Mary. It took 3 or 4 years of delays and appeals and bouncing the trial from county to county because so many were tainted against Tom Nash, his right to a fair trial was hindered.
In 1964, in the Rowan County newspaper, The Salisbury Post, a staff reporter named Heath Thomas gave an account of the story of Patsy Beasley's murder for the Sunday, April 12 edition of the newspaper. This rendition has been attached to the profile of Tom and Patsy on ancestry.com by user billieranson from an account by Dee Austin Creech quoting the 1964 article. Below is the mention of Mary Whitley, as given in this account. She went on after the romantic leanings of murderer Tom Nash, to marry someone else, an unknown Mr. Whitley, and was expecting her first child.
C.W. Wooly, Clerk of Montgomery Superior Court on February 25, 1846. Clerk Wooly also ordered the prisoner be returned to Wadesboro, and that he be returned to Troy on the last Monday in August 1846. At the August term at Troy, Judge Thomas Little was on the bench and Robert Strange again filled the role of prosecutor. This time it was the state that asked for a continuance. John Beasley (Patsy's father) made oath that Mary Whitley was a material witness for the state, by whom he expected to prove admissions of the defendant that he was guilty of the murder. Mary, it was pointed out, had attended prior sessions, but was then in a state of pregnancy, "so far advanced as to render it very unsafe for her to attend the present term of court." Beasley also swore that he had recently learned that Henry Marshall of Stanly County was a material witness by whom he expected to prove that Nash admitted to Marshall that he had killed the Beasley girl. John Beasley made the affidavit on September 2, 1846. It was then ordered by the court that Thomas Nash be committed to the custody of Col. George D. Boggan, sheriff of Anson, who was to keep the prisoner in Wadesboro until the next term of Montgomery County Superior Court, the first Monday of February, 1847. Thomas Nash made an oath that A. Kael Burger would be a material witness for him in this trial of this cause, that he had been summoned and was absent without the consent of the affiant, who expected to prove by him that the gun of the prisoner was in the same condition on the 1st of August, 1844, as it was on the 5th of August, and that prisoner was not within two miles of the place where Martha Patsy Beasley was killed, between the hours of 10 o'clock in the forenoon and 2 o'clock in the afternoon, on the day of her alleged death. This affiant further swore that on his arrest upon the charge, he was carried before a justice of the peace before whom the examination was taken and many witnesses were examined on the part of the State, whose testimony was reduced to writing by the said examining magistrate; this defendant was informed and believes that the said examining magistrate; this defendant was informed and believes that the said examination was regular and was returned to the clerk's office of the Superior Court of the County of Anson and he could not come safely to trial without the benefit of said evidence. So Nash was ordered back to Wadesboro once more to wait the August term of Montgomery County Superior Court. At last in August, 1847, Thomas Nash was put on trial for the murder of a woman who had died more than three years before.
So, who was Mary Whitley? While over the years in Anson County and most espcially, in neighboring Stanly County, there were a few Mary Whitley's, only one would have been the right age for this Mary, and she had been pregnant in 1847. The others were either far to young or far too old, or were not yet born at all.
Mary first appears in the 1850 census, alone with her 3 children, Sarah, Rosa and James, in Lanesboro in Anson County. She is sandwiched between the family of Joseph J Williams and that of his older son. One might think she may have been a daughter of his, but she isn't. He does have a widowed daughter named Mary living with him and she had married an Allen.
I looked into land records involving Joseph Williams to see if there is any mention of a neighbor named Whitley, and there is not.
The only Whitley mentioned in the 1840 census of Anson County, the one before Mary would have gotten married is a Henry Whitley and he clearly already had a family. In 1830, there is Henry and Allen Whitley. I found this information on Allen and Henry Whitley.
Allen Whitley was born in 1806 in North Carolina. A birthdate of October 10 is given for him. On November 25, 1820, at the age of 19, he purchased land in Anson County from Thomas Trull. Four years later, at the age of 23, he married Mary Ann Price, age 15, and daughter of Abraham and Ester Price. In 1830, the couple is shown next door to her parents. On November 18, 1835. Allen Whitley sells the property to Daniel Sneed. The deed is witnessed by Henry Whitley and David Webb. It is believed that Henry and Daniel were brothers, or some other way related.
Allen moves to Roswell, Cobb County, Georgia. Henry is found in Cherokee County, Georgia in 1850 and then later moves to Fayette County, Alabama where he remains until his death in 1881. He has a large family with a wife named Nancy, who was his contemporary, so he was not the husband of Mary Whitley, although a relative of his could have been. As Henry was born in 1793, he may have even had a son who was old enough to have married Mary.
This set of Whitley's originated in Nash County, in fact ,there seems to have been a very close connection between the Whitley's and the Nashes of Nash County and those of Anson County. In fact, in the Allen Whitley deed was noted that the property adjoined that of Richard Nash.
And then there was Exodus. Exodus Whitley, through grants and census records, clearly lived in Montgomery County, North Carolina. A petition drawn up by the citizens of Montgomery County in 1811 asking to be annexed into Cabarrus County, due to the dangers of having to cross the Pee Dee River in order to go to Court and take care of business, asked that the annexed section include those on the West Side of the River, which eventually became Stanly County, down to Exodux Whitley's ford on the Rocky River.
This meant that Exodus Whitley lived on the (now) Stanly County side of the Pee Dee River, along the Rocky River just across the Anson County border, near the edge of the county.
He had two deeds, however, recorded in Anson County. In the first one, he made a purchase of a tract on Cedar Branch from Daniel Hinson. It's noted that Exodus Whitley was from Montgomery County and Daniel HInson from Anson. Dated March 29, 1809, the property bordered John Robbins property and went to the Gurley's corner stake. I had already researched the Gurleys and may be related to John Robbins, so I am familiar with the general location of this property. It consisted of 150 acres and also bordered the Phillips property. Steven Whitley and Benjamin Grey were witnesses.
The second deed, in Book Y Page 472 is even more interesting. On October 28th, 1833, 24 years after he bought the property on Cedar Branch, Exodus Whitley sold it to Walker Nash. Exodus was still described as being from Montgomery County and Walker Nash from Anson. It was the same property in the same dimensions, still bordering the lines of John Robbins, Phillips and Gurley's corner. It was signed by Exodus Whitley and witnessed by Isham Whitley and Wyatt Nance.
What makes this interesting is the association of persons. Walker Nash was the father of Tom Nash who murdered Patsy Beasley and at whose trial Mary Whitley was called to testify. Wyatt Nance was the father of Robert Nance who would marry Mary Whitley's daughter, Sarah. It would make perfect sense that Mary Whitley was somehow related to this group of Whitley's, due to the fact of the spot she landed and is shown is for 4 census records, being the only Whitley around, nearly. Addison Whitley shows up in Union County, later and supposedly the son of George Whitley. From what I've seen online, George and Exodus were brothers, but I've not done a great deal of research on it myself, so I couldn't swear by it.
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The North-Carolina Star Raleigh, North Carolina04 Aug 1820, Fri • Page 3 I had decided Exodus Whitley deserved a closer look. He recieved 5 Land Grants in Montgomery County, with the first being 50 acres on the West Side of the PeeDee River (now Stanly County), in 1790,and two in 1795 being described as being on Stillwater Creek. Stillwater Creek is now known as Island Creek and empties in to the Rocky River at the site of Old Nance's Mill. Remember the property in Anson bordering that of Wyatt Nance?
He recieved a 4th Grant in 1802 on the Rocky River and the 5th and last one in 1820 on the Rocky River.
Name:
Exodus Whitley
Home in 1800 (City, County, State):
Montgomery, North Carolina
Free White Persons - Males - Under 10:
1 1790-1800
Free White Persons - Males -10 thru 15:
1 1785-1790
Free White Persons - Males - 16 thru 25:
2 1775-1784
Free White Persons - Males - 45 and over:
1 Exodus- born before 1755
Free White Persons - Females - Under 10:
1 1790 - 1800
Free White Persons - Females - 10 thru 15:
2 1785 - 1790
Free White Persons - Females - 45 and over:
1 Wife- born before 1755
Number of Household Members Under 16:
5
Number of Household Members Over 25:
2
Number of Household Members:
9
Exodus Whitley first appears in the 1800 census of Montgomery County, NC, wherein the oldest male in the Household is over 45, meaning he was born in 1755 or earlier. Right next to him is a Cager Whitley, (the nickname for Micajah), a much younger man. They live right next to James Gurley.
Name:
Cager Whitley
Home in 1800 (City, County, State):
Montgomery, North Carolina
Free White Persons - Males - Under 10:
1
Free White Persons - Males - 16 thru 25:
1 1775-1784
Free White Persons - Females - 16 thru 25:
1 1775-1784
Number of Household Members Under 16:
1
Number of Household Members:
3
Exodus appears in the 1800 - 1830 census records. In the 1810, he is still listed as over 45 and near him is a young man named Needham Whitley. Up the page just a little is an older Needham Whitley, with George Springer appearing between that older Needham and a Titus Whitley and Patsy Whitley right next to him, most likely a widow. Below Exodus Whitley and young Needham is Bryant Austin, an ancestor of mine who lived on the Rocky River below Oakboro, and James Gurley. I've done research on James Gurley and he obviously owned property on both sides of the Rocky River in Anson and Stanly. The property that Exodus had bought in Anson bordered that of James Gurley and he will come up again in a minute. Just below them, you find Cager Whitley and a new one, Jonathan Whitley, listed side by side. Keep going and some distance down is not one, but two,George Whitleys, but all within two pages.
In 10 years, the family of Exodus Whitley went from 9 members to 5. There is no longer an older lady, presumably his wife, in the household. The same 3 younger females, (daughters), match up exactly in a decade progression from the 1800 census, but only the youngest son is left at home. The younger Needham and Jonathan could possibly be sons of Exodus.
Again, Cager is still a young man and living close to Exodus in 1810. There are several children in his household. In the late 1700's and early 1800's, a Palantine immigrant from Pennsylvania migrated to this area named John Melchor. Instanly, I began to wonder if he was a relation to Mathias Melchor who settled in Stanly County near Albemarle. John Melchor operated a Grist Mill on the Rocky River in what is now Cabarrus County, but was, in the beginning, part of Mecklenburg. He also ran a country store neat the current village of Mount Pleasant. Portions of his account still exists and can be found online in the archives. The names in the book cover a wide range of territory with citizens of Anson, Cabarrus, Mecklenburg, Stanly, Rowan and Union Counties being his customers. In 1794-1796, he makes the first mention of Exodus Whitley in this area, along with Titus Whitley and George Whitley "Jr.". I've seen it written that these 3 were brothers. That, I don't know, but they were contemporaries.Neighbors of Exodus Whitley are also named in the book, like Richard, Killis and Martin Almond, "Andy" Bird, Harbard Suggs and James and Jacob Gurley.Exodus Whitley is listed in the book in association with a Thomas Motley.Titus Whitley made a purchase for a "Mainor". George Whitley is designated as "Jr.", indicating the older George Whitley, said to be the father of these three, was alive. I mention this because Jonathan Whitley, who makes his first appearance in the 1810 census next to Cager Whitley, is shown as a young man under 25 with a young wife and 3 little girls.
A Jonathan R. Whitley is shown as marrying a Jane Price in 1813 in Mecklenburg County. The surname Price will reappear later. The bondsman was B. Wilson Davidson. Addison Whitley, who would later live in Union County and is thought to be a son of George Whitley II, also married in Mecklenburg County to Samira Medlin.
Cager Whitley the younger, would move to Walton County, Georgia. Several other of the Whitleys did too, like James and Nathaniel.There was an older Micajah Whitley from Wayne County, who was a Revolutionary War soldier. He lived in Wayne County and left a will there about 1835. It's quite possible he was the older "Kager" in the 1810 census, and had returned to Wayne.There is no surviving 1820 census for Montgomery County. It was probably lost in one of the many courthouse fires. Jumping ahead to 1830, the Whitley family had grown, so much that a portion of Stanly County, around the area George Whitley settled, was known as "Whitley". There's a young Zachariah Whitley living near Thomas Motley, Jr.. Not far is a Thomas Whitley, Isham Whitley, George Whitley and Needham Whitley. A second Needham Whitley, designated as "SR." is on the next page living near Bryant Austin, Esq. Exodus is not far behind. James Gurley is no longer listed, but David Gurley is.Thomas Castle and Henry Manuel, supposedly their kin, are listed on the next page, along with John Whitley. William Whitley is living near the Almonds and Solomon Burris. Lastly an 80 plus year old George Whitley is living near John Gilbert, the bondsman for Addison Whitley and Silvia Springer, who will be mentioned again shortly.In the two deeds in Anson County involving Exodus Whitley, Isham Whitley signs as a witness in the first deed in 1809, while a Stephen Whitley signs as witness in the later one.
Name:
Stephen Whitley
Home in 1810 (City, County, State):
Anson, North Carolina
Free White Persons - Males - 16 thru 25:
1
Free White Persons - Females - Under 10:
2
Free White Persons - Females - 16 thru 25:
1
Number of Household Members Under 16:
2
Number of Household Members:
4
While Isham is in Montgomery (Stanly) in 1830, Stephen is in Anson, and I have came across him before in my Gurley Research.
Stephen Whitley married Unity Gurley, daughter of Jacob Gurley and is mentioned in his will. They later migrate to Cass County, Georgia. In 1840, no Whitley's are in Anson County. In Montgomery, Exodus Whitley is no more. He died between 1830 and 1840 and no will is found. As Montgomery is a burned county, he may have had one. Although many of the young Whitleys had migrated away to take that gene pool onward to Georgia and Alabama, many remained in what was soon to become Stanly County. Green D. Whitley makes his first appearance near the Burris and Tucker clans.A cluster of Whitleys appear near the Cagles and Bryant Austin still. There's George, Neeham, Jr., with Isham 'Isam' in this appearance, right next door, and Allison.A different cluster involves Edmund Whitley, near the Castles and Henry Lowder. The Castles were relatives as a Martha Castles supposedly married George Whitley I, father of George II, Titus and Exodus. Also in this cluster is William Whitley, Sr and Mary Whitley, an older lady of 70 +, living with a man about 40 named J or G Mills. I've definitely got to do more Whitley explorations, for a number of reasons. One, I've found that I share DNA with several descendants of a Meredith "Mereday" Whitley from Nash County, NC. Second, I share DNA with the descendants of the only Grandchild of Mary Whitley, the main subject of this post. Although I have no rock solid Whitley ancestry in my family tree, as of yet, I have two viable possibilities.I discovered that a lady named Fannie Robbins, widow of Isham Robbins, who had a close relationship with my ancestor, John Honeycutt, was born a Whitley and was a sister of George II. I believe that she was the mother of John Honeycutt's wife, Sylvia. Some have Sylvia pegged as a Cagle, and while the couple was a neighbor of some Cagles, my leanings are with her being a Robbins.The other possible connection is that of my 5th Great Grandmother, Piety (seen as "Phida" in the 1850 census) Lambert, maiden name unknown. Her husband, Elder John Lambert, was a resident of Johnston County, North Carolina before arriving to the area of Stanly County known as "Lambert". His connection as a Primitive Baptis Minister was under the tutelage of a Rev. Whitley in Johnston County and those Whitleys are related to the Stanly County Whitleys. In fact, some of them became Stanly County Whitleys. He also lived near a Drury Honeycutt, and of course, the Honeycutts also arrived, en masse, to Stanly County. If I took bets on what Piety's maiden name was, which I may never know for sure, my bets would be on either Whitley or Honeycutt. While most of the Whitleys that pop up in 1840 or 1850 are attributed to George, Exodus Whitley definately had children. I believe Stephen Whitley was his, and we know he married Unity Gurley. But I also believe Isham and Cager the younger was probably his as well, and probably Johnathan.Where Mary Whitley of Anson County shows up and the Nash connection points me to the family of Exodus Whitley as her most likely origins. And the one Whitley who disappears between 1840 and 1850, who witnessed a deed with Exodus Whitley, and who doesn't pop up in another state, was Isham.So there is my theory of Mary Whitley. It's going to take a great deal more digging on my part before it is anything more than a substantive theory, but I believe Mary may have been the second wife of Isham Whitley. He most definately had a first one, and all of Mary's children were born after the murder of Patsy Beasley in 1844 and before she is alone with her three children in 1850.
We last saw Mary in 1850 with her 3 children as youngesters. In 1860, we see her with them as teens. She has a laborer named William Thompson living with her. Over the next decade, both daughters marry. Sarah will become the second wife of Robert Nance, a much older man with a large family. Robert was the son of Wyatt Nance.Rosa will marry Andrew Jackson Newton, son of David and Rosanna Haire Newton.There is no further trace of James Whitley. He may have been the 17 year old James Whitley killed in the Civil War, although he would have been too young, and more like 14 that year. Of course, many a young soldier had lied about their ages. If he were large enough to pass as older, it's possilbe, but I have no way to certify this and so all I know is that he disappears from record without trace.
By 1870, Mary Whitley is living in the home of her daughter, Sarah Nance, with her son-in-law Robert Nance and his children. Sarah was not the mother of any of them, just the stepmother.
By 1880, Sarah is a young widow and she and her mother Mary are living in New Salem together.Daughter Rosie Whitley Newton passed away before 1874, when her husband remarries to his cousin, Sarah. She had one son, James David Newton.Sarah Whitley Nance passed away in 1882 at the age of 36, leaving a will and leaving everything to her nephew, James David Newton.It is quite possible that Mary Whitley outlived all of her children, however, she did not make it to 1900. The only grandchild she had that I can discover was J. D. Newton, and sometimes that is all you need to march into the future.I am very curious to Mary's origins because several of the descendants of her grandson share DNA with me and as of yet, I can't determine how. Not Yet.
Montgomery County, North Carolina is its own little study in topography. Located in the geographical dividing line between the Sandhills and the Piedmont, from east to west, the scenery and soil changes in a dramatic way.
North Carolina, herself has a diverse change from east to west and is divided into 5 unique divisons of topography. Begining with the coastal plains,and the outer banks with its beaches and sandbars, swamps and dunes, this landscape gives way to the Sandhills, where the ground rises and becomes less flat, but the soil remains sandy. It's a good area for golf courses and pine forests. This gives way to the Piedmont, with its ancient but small mountain ranges like the Uwharries in Montgomery, Stanly, Randolph and Davidson Counties and the Sauratown Mountains in Stokes and Surrey Counties. This is a rich farming area with several rivers, lakes and streams and scenic rolling hills. Traveling westward, the hills become steeper and the land more lush and rolling. You are now in the beautiful foothills that lead like steps to higher ground. The Blue Ridge can be seen in the distance on a clear day and the farmland is rich, if not lumpy.
The final fifth is the Mountain Region of the Blue Ridge, the Great Smokies, the Appalacians that share with our western neighbor, Tennesee. In Montgomery, the Sandhills meet the Piedmont.
During the mid to late 1700's, due to problems between the English and the Scotts, several waves of Scottish settlers came to North Carolina.The Second Wave, it was called, numbered in the tens of thousands and arrived primarily via Brunswick and Wilmington. They made their way up the Cape Fear River, many settling along the roadways from Wilmington to Cross Creek, a trading post, now known as Fayetteville. Continuing through the Cape Fear Valley, they would populate the modern counties of Hoke, Cumberland, Harnett and Moore.
Moore County is the eastern border of Montgomery County, and these industrious Scots followed the pine forests into eastern Montgomery and made a living producing tar, pitch and turpentine and sending it down Drowning Creek into Cumberland and on down the Cape Fever to the Wilmington shipyards and shipbuilding industry. They also farmed and raised livestock, notabley pigs and sheep, some horses and Scottish cattle. This is why in that area of Montgomery, especially, you find an abundance of Campbells and McQueens, McRae and McQuays, McCaskills and other names one might not think of as Scottish, but were.
It was into this Scottish settlement that Joseph Smith was born in Moore County, and decided to raise his family in Montgomery, along its eastern border with Moore.
Name:
Joseph Smith
Home in 1830 (City, County, State):
Moore, North Carolina
Free White Persons - Males - Under 5:
1
Free White Persons - Males - 20 thru 29:
1
Free White Persons - Females - Under 5:
2
Free White Persons - Females - 5 thru 9:
1
Free White Persons - Females - 20 thru 29:
1
Free White Persons - Under 20:
4
Free White Persons - 20 thru 49:
2
Total Free White Persons:
6
Total - All Persons (Free White, Slaves, Free Colored):
6
I first find Joseph Smith in the 1830 census of Moore County. He's a young man in his twenties with what appears to be a wife of the same age and 4 young children, 3 girls and a boy. As I only know of one, possibly two daughters who were born by this census, this suggests he had other children who were on their own by 1850 that I can't find the names of. Some may have died, others maybe not.
Joseph was the son of Nathan Smith and Jennett Richardson of Moore County. His brother, Isaac Smith, born about 1807, also moved to Montgomery County. Both were in Montgomery by 1840. There was a younger Isaac Smith who lived near Josephs brother Isaac Smith (b 1807). This was not Isaac's son, as he had a son named Isaac who was much younger than this Isaac. Both lived on the Fork Branch of Cabin Creek, which is the same Creek Joseph settled on. Family trees online have Isaac born in 1824, who married a Serena Jordan, as being one of sons of Jonathan Smith, who lived in a different area of Montgomery County. Due to the name, Isaac, and due to the location he lived in, I believe this Isaac may be the missing son of Joseph, who he named for his favorite brother.
The name Joseph Smith was of course, a very common one, even in the early years of the 19th century. There was a Joseph Smith in Mecklenburg County. There was a Joseph Smith in Anson County who had land grants before this Joseph Smith was born. In the 1840 census, there were two Joseph Smiths in Montgomery County, which at this time included the land on the west side of the Pee Dee River which would become Stanly County the very next year. One was a Joseph Smith who lived next to his mother, Mary and by the names of the neighbors, I could tell this was the Joseph Smith who married a Gilbert and lived in the Big Lick area of Stanly County.
The other Joseph Smith in the 1840 census lived near Archibald Campbell and Lockey Jordan and a number of Hurley telling me he was in on the East side of the Yadkin/Pee Dee River. In the book, 1800, 1810, 1830, 1840 Federal Census of Montgomery County North Carolina, published by the Stanly County Genealogical Society in 1985, it clearly lists this Joseph Smith in East Pee Dee, as the book divides them, so I can know this is the right Joseph Smith.
I became interested in the Joseph Smith family and its connected families through a possible genetic link on Ancesty.com DNA Thru lines. I have a 4th Great Grandmother named Mary Smith. She was born about 1795 and married James O. Mauldin, who was born in Moore County, North Carolina. He was the son of Claiborne Mauldin, who originated in Chatham County and moved to Moore. I had never put any effort into researching the roots of Mary Smith because, after all she was 1st, a Smith and second, her name was Mary. It was almost like having no name for her at all.
I felt really bad about Mary, because I have nailed down, after decades of research and now, using genetic genealogy and tracing the links between myself and cousin matches ranging from second to fifth, nearly all of my ancestors to the 5th Great Grandparent level and many far beyond. Except for Mary. I discovered the small but significant genetic links to this Smith family, Joseph and his siblings, some who migrated west. This family of Smiths follow the same migratory path of Chatham to Moore to Montgomery Counties that the family of her husband, James O. Mauldin did. I feel I might be onto something. Might being the big word, they are after all, Smiths, as numerous as stars in the sky.
I found 4 Land Grants attributed to Joseph Smith that I can conclude with a reasonable amount of certainty, belonged to the correct Joseph Smith.
The first one, dated January 18, 1836. was in Moore County. Remember, he was still in Moore County in the 1830 census. Grant 2019, No 2977 Book 143 Page 57, for 50 acres on the North side of Cabin Creek.
Cabin Creek begins just east of Candor in Montgomery County and joins with Cotton Creek north of Robbins in Moore County.
The second Grant came 13 years later and was in Montgomery County. Dated July 19, 1849, Grant 3491, Entry 796 Book 154 Page 685, was to Joseph Smith for 100 acres in Montgomery County, beginning at a Black Oak. Rather obscure.
The third Grant, dated February 20, 1855, was given in conjunction with his brother-in-law, Alexander A. McCaskill. Grant 7062 No. 3770 Book 160 Page 211 was for 100 acres beginning at Joseph Smith's corner Sweet Gum.
The last one, dated November 2, 1858 was in Richmond County, but that is where they lived, in that portion of Montgomery County, near the border of Moore where it met the border of Richmond. Also, later, his children would be involved in a deed of 33 1/2 acres, so I am fairly certain this was the same Joseph Smith. Grant 7853 Book 162 Page 439, began at a stake at 2 small pines.
Bryant McLendon House on Cabin Creek in Moore County
Following grants, I discovered a few land records mentioning Joseph Smith.
to c
3281 Issued November 20, 1847 by Duncan McRae to Joseph Smith for 100 acres, joins Thomas Bunnel and others on the waters of Cedar Creek. Surveyed in December of 1847 by Lockey Simmons, on the waters of Cedar Creek, border, begins at a black oak supposed to be Thomas Bunnels line, joins McCaskills supposed line & Asa Bunnel, G. W. Bunnel and Thomas Bunnel, chain carriers.
Note: Thomas Bunnel was the son-in-law of Joseph Smith, having married his daughter, Sarah. Thomas and George W. Bunnel were sons of Asa Bunnel, who came to North Carolina from Connecticutt. Asa Bunnel's wife was Martha Ann Smith, born in 1791, only 9 years older than Joseph Smith. I don't think it would be a streach of the imagination to believe they may have been related, possibly siblings, due to the breadth of the connections and involvement between the two families. That would make the marriage of Thomas Bunnel and Sarah Smith a cousin marriage, which was quite common in those days.
3309 Issued March 23, 1848 by Duncan McRae to Arthur Davis for 50 acres on White Oak Branch, joins Joseph Smith, Jam MCaskill & Thomas Bunnel, 17 acres surveyed Nov. 13, 1851 by L. Simmons, on waters of White Oak Branch of Cedar Creek, border begins at Joseph Smith's corner red oak, Malcolm Lemons and Calvin McQueen, Chain Carriers. Arthur Davis paid purchase money for 85 acres in entry 830.
James McCaskill was another brother-in-law of Joseph Smith and here again is his son-in-law, Thomas Bunnel. Of note, is one of the chain carriers, Calvin McQueen, who would have been about 16 years old here, ends up marrying Margaret Smith, a daughter of Joseph Smith.
Arrives 1850, Joseph and Martha are living with their youngest known children. Sarah is already married. The 8 year gap between Martha Jr and James Andrew Smith appears like he could have well as been the son of Margaret or another unknown older daughter, but he claims only to be the son of Joseph and Martha Sr., making him a menopause baby.
The Smiths lived in Household Number 462. In house number 463 is 79 year old Arthur Davis, mentioned in the above deed, and his wife Darkus (Dorcas). In number 464 is 73 year old Asa Bunnel from Connecticutt and his 49 year old wife, Martha, from North Carolina. Son Washington, aka George Washington Bunnel, is 17 and still at home. He would have been 15 when he was a chain carrier. Youngest son, Durham was 12 here. They were followed by Norman Martin, Chainwheel maker, Enoch Sheffield, Jr. and Micajah Brewer.
In the other direction, preceding the Smiths were 42 year old John M. McCaskill and his family in 461 and 33 year old Alexander A. McCaskill, with whom he had shared the 1847 land grant, and his family with boarders Malcolm McQueen and his 17 year old son, Calvin McQueen, who was a chain carrier in the deed above and who was a future son-in-law of Joseph Smith.
Not far from them, in Household 455 is Thomas Bunnel and the Smith's daughter, Sarah, both 28, with two little boys, John M. 3 and William M., age 1. The 9 year gap between Sarah and Margaret alerts me that there may have been other siblings, grown and on their own, between Sarah and Margaret. Above them is Sampson A. Wright and his wife, Loveday, who appear on a deed with Joseph Smith and next to them is Sampson's mother, Fereby Wright, 65. Living with her is Wilson Williams, a 22 year old laborer and Alexander McQueen, 14, Calvin's little brother.
Issued Octomber 4, 1852 by W. H. McRae to Washington Bunnel for 100 acres on the waters of Cabin Creek, joins Asa Bunnel, Alexander Leach, & Joseph Smith, 100 acres surveyed Oct 15, 1852 by Lockey Simmons (he was a busy man), on the waters ofCabin Creek, begins at Asa Bunnel's 4th corner black jack, joins his third corner, & Alexander Leach. Sampson A. Wright and Joseph Smith were chain carriers.
So, now Washington, at 19, has his own 100 acres and there is neighbor, Sampson A. Wright, previously mentioned. And it's on Cabin Creek.
And lastly, issued May 6, 1854 ,by D. A. Campbell to Jos Smith & A. McCaskill, 100 acres on the waters of Cedar Creek and Cabin Creek, joins Joseph Smith, Washinton Bunnel & others, survey in 1854 by Mr. L. Simmons again, on waters of Lick Branch & Cedar Creek, border begins at JosephSmiths corner sweet gum in Asa Bunnel's line, Asa Bunnel & George W. McCaskill chain carriers.
So here we are with Joseph Smith and the Bunnels and McCaskills again. I hope this was a younger Asa Bunnel as old Asa would have been 77 by then and chain carrying was hard work. That's why they used strapping young teenagers most of the time.
1860 in Montgomery County, Joseph and Martha are both shown as 58 with their 3 youngest children. They are in Household 223 and both John M and Alexander A. McCaskill are in Households 221 and 222, so they have not moved. Same Bat time, same Bat channel. Polly McCaskill, widow, is in 220 and James McCaskill, the other brother, in 219. Washington Bunnel, now 24 and married is in 216 with Angus Murhinson and his family in 215. Living with Angus Murchinson is a Hireling named Edmund Denson. He will come into play later in the story.
It must be noted at this point that Alexander A. McCaskill was married to Rejoicey Bunnel, a daughter of old Asa and sister to Thomas Bunnel. Rejoicey is a version of the Quaker name "Rejoice", a Virtue name and the source of the more modern "Joyce", my mother's name.
The area where both Joseph Smith and family and that of his daugther, Sarah, was now being called, "Brutons". While I don't know where the Smiths were buried, but some of the neighbors, like Asa Bunnel, were buried in or near the modern town of Biscoe. Others were closer to Candor, and later ones, even near or in Star. The McCaskill Cemeteries are all either in Biscoe, or between Biscoe and Candor, so this gives us a general area of where these families lived and died.
Marker in the old Bunnel Cemetery near East Montgomery High Scholl
In 1860, Thomas is shown as a Blacksmith and Farmer. He and Sarah have added 5 more children to their brood. William M. is no longer shown, and probably died as a child.
Name:
Margaret Smith
Gender:
Female
Spouse:
Calvin McQuean
Spouse Gender:
Male
Bond date:
7 Nov 1850
Bond #:
000084922
Level Info:
North Carolina Marriage Bonds, 1741-1868
ImageNum:
007391
County:
Montgomery
Record #:
01 026
Bondsman:
John McQuean
Witness:
John McLennan
Margaret Smith had married Calvin McQueen in November of 1850, just after the 1850 census. By 1860, the couple had moved to the town of Greensboro in Guilford County, where Calvin was working as a laborer. They had 3 children:Martha Jane, 6, James A, 4 and one month old Margaret E. McQueen.
They also had 40 year old woman living with them named J. A. Manuel and an 8 year old James Manuel. J. A. Manuel's race was given as "I" and the young boys as "M". This was something unusual I had not seen. "I" was for Indian and "M" for mulatto. Up until 1910 at the earliest, and in some places, 1930, I had not seen Native Americans in North Carolina recognized as Native Americans. In these early records, they were always listed as "Free People of Color", along with free African-Americans and people of Mixed ancestry and then in 1850 and after, everyone who was not clearly black or white was just labeled "M".
The transcribers messed up Calvin and Margarets names quite horribly, as they lived with a Scott M. Dunn. The transcribers gave Calvin and Margaret his name, while that of the children, on the next page, were closer to being correct. I found them simply while looking for Martha Jane, their eldest.
Calvin volunteered for service in the Confederate Army on February 22, 1862 in Greensboro, Guilford County. His service didn't last long . Calvin died on July 27, 1862 in Mechanicsville, Hanover County, Virginia, of wounds recieved in battle. Margaret filed for his pension on June 22, 1863.
Calvin McQueen had signed for the marriage bond of George Washington Bunnel to Winnie Jane Smith in 1851. Alexander A. McCaskill was a witness.
Name:
Washington Bunnel
Gender:
Male
Spouse:
Winney Smith
Spouse Gender:
Female
Bond date:
4 Sep 1851
Bond #:
000084577
Level Info:
North Carolina Marriage Bonds, 1741-1868
ImageNum:
007450
County:
Montgomery
Record #:
01 005
Bondsman:
Calvin McQueean
Witness:
A A McCaskill
Joseph and Martha Smith must both have died between 1860 and 1870, as they no longer appear in census records. However, their children do and seem to be living in the exact same place they grew up in.
1870 Thomas and Sarah Smith Bunnel are living near Troy and their youngest, Lucinda, is 5. She is the end of the line for them.
Margaret, now a widow, has moved back to Montgomery County and is living in Troy, working as a housekeeper, her son James A. and daughter Margaret, are nowhere to be found, so undoubtably died as children, which was a horribly common occurance for the times.
Martha Jane is now 13 and has survived. William is her son William Calvin McQueen, who survives to adulthood, and was actually born in 1861, a year before his father was off to war. He would have been more like 9 this year, but may have been small if suffering from malnutrician and numerous children did during those times. As well, Martha Jane should have been 16 instead of 13. Larkin, the last child, is shown as 4. That would have put him being born years after Calvin McQueen died, however, if you add 3 years to age, as in forming the correct years of birth for Martha Jane and William Calvin, who lived to adulthood., it puts him at 7. If Margaret was pregnant when Calvin died, which of course was possible, then Larkin could have been born postmortum and the ages would line up for him to have been Calvins child. We'll really never know because Larking evidentally did not live until adulthood.
The single sisters, Terry and Martha, appear to be living in their fathers old homeplace, surrounded by the same neighbors. Living with them is William Smith, whom if you look at the actual census form, is 8, not 18. He was the son of Martha Smith. Also living with them is hired hand, Edmund Denson, age 26. Ed Denson has alway lived near them. In 1850, he lived with Alexander Morrison, as did Neil McCaskill, as a laborer. In 1860, he lived with Angus Murchinson. In both of those censues, he is recorded as Mulatto. In this one they call him "black". Terry would be pregnant during this census.
Youngest son, James Andrew Smith, is not to be found in this census, but the year before, he had married Susannah Lassister, daughter of Joseph Lassiter and Elizabeth Deaton of Richmond County. She was a Civil War widow, having been married to Mark A. Spivy of the Carter's Mills area of Sheffields Township in Moore County, by whom she had 2 children, Elizabeth and Daniel.
In 1870, her children are found living with their 55 year old Grandmother, Susannah Spivey, and not their mother. She is the head of a household of 14 people, two being her youngest children and the rest her grandchildren. He children were in their 20's and most of her grandchildren in their teens or nearly, so with the help of all of them, she appears to have kept the farm. Ten years later, Daniel would be living with his uncle, Spencer Spivey and Elizabeth in Hills, Montgomery County, near her mother, but with her uncle, Enoch Spivy.
It seems odd to us today that a mother would not have her children living with her when she remarried. It seems heartless, even cruel, but the laws of the day favored the father and his family, so many a family was split. Children without fathers were often called orphans, despite having living mothers.
1880 The area near Biscoe where Thomas and Sarah Bunnel lived is now called Hollingsworth. Here they still live with 5 of their 8 children.
The oldest, John Milton Bunnel, married in 1878 to 17 year younger cousin, Francis "Fanny" Talbert, daughter of John Nixon Talbert and wife, Mary Ann Bunnel, a sister of Thomas. In 1880, they are found in Richmond County and had married in Cumberland. No children are living with them.
Son James Thomas Bunnel had married in 1879 in Amherst County, Virginia to Signora Allen, daughter of James Allen and wife Phoebe Tomlinson. They are living there in 1880.
He was working as farm labor, and they would remain in Virginia for a few decades and then return to North Carolina, settling in High Point, in Guilford County, where they died and are buried.
Here is as good a place as any to recount the children of Thomas and Sarah Smith Bunnel. They were:
A) John Milton Bunnel Born 1847 Died 1907 in Star, Montgomery County, NC Married Fanny Talbert, no children. Age 60.
B) William M Bunnel Born 1849 Died before 1860. Only seen in 1850 census.
C) Daniel Robert Bunnel Born 1852, Died in 1922 in Pinehurst, Mineral Springs Township, Moore County, NC. Married Melinda Ann "Millie" Caddel. 6 children age 70
E) James Thomas Bunnel Born 1853 Died 1925 in High Point, Guilford County, NC ,age 72. Married Sigmora Allen in Amherst, VA, 9 children.
Thomas and Sarah Bunnel had 8 children, 4 boys and 4 girls. The 4 boys came first and the 4 younger children were all girls.
F) Terry Catherine Bunnel - Born 1856 Died 1910 (age 54) in Darlington, South Carolina. Married Jesse Dunn, 8 children.
G) Eleathia Elender "Ellen" Bunnel - Born 1859 Died 1925 (age 65) in Biscoe, Mont. Co. NC Married Beaty T. Dunn 5 children.
F) Sarah Caroline "Duck" Bunnel- Born 1859 Died 1926 (age 67) in Biscoe, Mont. Co. NC. Married 1st: Lockey Alexander Allen, 3 sons. Married 2nd: John Franklin Burns, 1 son.
H) Lucinda Minerva Bunnel - Born 1866 Died 1853 in Biscoe, Montgomery County, NC. Minerva was Sarah's menopause baby, being born when her mother was 44 and was also the longest lived of all the children, making it to 87. She had a very interesting life that deserves a post of its own. Suffice to say, she was married numerous times and had several children.
Margaret remains in Rockingham in Richmond County, where she was found in 1870. Living with her are her two surviving children, who have made it to adulthood. This time, the census is accurate on their ages. Margaret does not make the 20 year leap to 1900, but her children do. She most likely died in Rockingham, but when or where she is buried is unknown.
Her two surving children, Martha Jane and William Calvin, did marry and produce descendants.
1880 Terry Smith In 1880, Terry Smith appears to be living at the old homeplace. Right beside her is her little brother, James Andrew Smith with his family. Jospeh Smith doesn't have a will or estate papers, but that doesn't mean there wasn't any as Montgomery is a "Burned County" 3 times over. When criminals or debters got desparate, they would set the Courthouse on fire to burn up evidence.
The age is wrong for Terry, here, she is more like 45 than 35, and with her is her little daughter Sarah "Sallie" Smith. Terry never married and the interesting thing about Sallie, is that while her mother, Terry, is white....
Name:
Sallie Smith
Age:
8
Birth Date:
Abt 1872
Birthplace:
North Carolina
Home in 1880:
Hill, Montgomery, North Carolina, USA
Dwelling Number:
13
Race:
Mulatto
Gender:
Female
Relation to Head of House:
Daughter
Marital status:
Single
Mother's name:
Terry Smith
Mother's Birthplace:
North Carolina
Sallie is not. Listed as mulatto, it appears there was something going on between Terry Smith and Edmund Denson while he was helping her and her sister, Martha, work the farm. Ed would go on to marry someone else. More on Edmund at a later date.
The name "Terry" for a woman in this part of Montgomery County is rather unique. I haven't seen it anywhere else in this era. But here, along the Montgomery/Moore border, I've seen several Terry's. Of course Sarah Smith Bunnel named a daughter Terry Catherine, but there were others. Terry Reynolds, Terry Brewer, Terry Green, Terry Ingraham, Terry Simmons, Terry Deaton, Terry Bean, Terry Murchison, Terry Cupples, Terry Chaney, Terry Epps...just to name a few. For the most part, they were born during the 1820's - 1840's. It may have started with a very admired Teresa, called Terry for short, and became a trend. On the other side of the county, in the Uwharries, there was a trend of the name "Tero", primarily for males, that bled over into Randolph. It appeared out of nowhere and just became a trend for a few decades. There were so many, I don't really believe it began with a common ancestor of all these people that stated the trend. But someone did, and it looks like a lot of Momma's hunting baby names just jumped on the bandwagon.
Martha is also living in "Hills" in the 1880 census, possibly still on land inherited from her father, but not right up on her siblings, but Joseph had numerous plots. Her teenaged son, William is shown as the Head of the Household and now there are two little girls, Maude and Dora, ages 4 and 2. Their relationship to the head of household is shown as "daughter"s, but whose daughters were they? William or Martha's? I don't know anything as of yet about these two little girls or their future. The census jumps another 20 years by 1900, so they were probably married, if not dead, but I can't find a documentation for either, with some proof it could be them. William, however, does marry so Martha had descendants.
As previously mentioned, James Andrew Smith had married a Civil War widow, Susan Lassiter Spivey, who had 2 children already. Together they had two more, Joseph and Viriginia. He's working his father's ground. I dna match with descendants of Sarah, Margaret and James Andrew, the matches to Sarah's descendants have a slightly higher cm count than those of Margaret and Andrew.
1900
Only two of the children of Joseph and Martha Smith survived until 1900. Sarah Smith Bunnel died in 1886. I have no idea when Margaret died or where she is buried, most likely in Richmond County.
In 1900, Martha Smith, Jr. is living with her brother-in-law, Thomas Bunnel. The transcribers really messed up on this one, as they have deemed her his son-in-law, but it should read 'sister-in-law'. But we can see she it female and we know it was Martha. Her son William is still living in Montgomery County, just in a different, not too far away township. He does not, however, have a Maude or a Dora living with him, and neither does Martha. In fact, he didn't marry until 1884.
Thomas Bunnel dies two years later in 1902 and left a will. I don't know where Martha died or is buried, but I wonder if they buried her in the Bunnel cemetery in Biscoe?
The other surviving child was youngest son James Andrew.
He's still working the farm and the two children have flown the nest and set out into the world of the rapidly changing 20th Century. James Andrew Smith, his wife and both of his children are buried at Dover Baptist Church, which is considered to be in Star, but is actually just across the County line into Moore County. As Andrew remained on his father's property the entirity of his life, this shows just how close the Smiths lived to the county line.
The Smith genes carried on and all of the children have living descendants except for Terry. Her only child, Sallie, grew up and worked as a housekeeper. She never married or had children, but she did have a death certificate. My research of this family and its genetic ties to my own continue, but it all started with Joseph Smith .
When researching the Smith and Bunnel families of the East Montgomery and West Moore County, North Carolina line, I found out that like every family of that era, at some point, especially were my Grandma would call, "out in the sticks", had one, if not more, significant tragedy. The Smiths and Bunnels were no exception.
I love reading the old newspapers articles, because they were not politically correct and no-holds-barred. They told it like they saw it and didn't care whom they embarrassed or insulted. How they saw it, however, was colored by the tones and mores of the era, which has drastically evolved over the last century, so one must look at the story from the views of the times that they came from and not judge them by todays standards. As they say, "it is what it is", it is also, "it is what it was".
This post is full of many newspaper articles, so I can basically just present them and let the story tell itself. Although its the story of a murder, the ending is just as shocking, to myself at any rate. The people mentioned within, I had just read about in documents, that don't really give much in the way of personality to the individuals recounted. Thank Goodness for these old articles. They really put flesh on the bone.
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The Dispatch Lexington, North Carolina23 Jan 1907, Wed • Page 1So there lies the beginning of the story. An old man was murdered. He was really just 60, but I suppose that is old enough, especially in days where so many died young of things we rarely see this day and time, or can treat with a chance of survival. In this story you will hear Milt and Malc and Duck and such, referring to the names people were known by. The full name of the murder victim was John Milton Bunnel. He is referenced in my last post, "It All Started With John Smith". There's a good chance this Milt Bunnel was related to me. It Started with Joseph SmithJohn Milton Bunnel, born about 1847, was the oldest son of Thomas Bunnel and wife, Sarah Smith Bunnel. He was the grandson of Asa Bunnel of Connecticutt who migrated to the Montgomery County Sandhills and his wife Martha Ann Smith, and Joseph Smith and wife, Martha"Patsy" McCaskill Smith.
John is seen with his parents at age 3 and 13, but set out on his own fairly early, working as farm labor for neighbors and relatives. The above census record was a transcription error, the children were Cagles, not Bunnels. John eventually married, at age 31, to Fannie Talbert, in Cumberland County. One would think if a man went all the way to Cumberland County for a wife, she would be fresh blood, but Oh No! Fannie Talbert was the daughter of John Nixon Talbert and his wife, Mary Ann Bunnel Talbert. Mary Ann Bunnel Talbert was none other than the sister of John Milton Bunnel's father, Thomas Bunnel. So he traveled down to Cumberland to marry his first cousin.
Two years after he married Fannie, Milton Bunnel was found working as a laborer. He had taken her down to the community of Williamson in Richmond County, near Mark's Creek and just above Laurenburg. A good distance from her people and a good distance from his own people. Whenever I learn about ones of these figures of the past, something strange happens, I can envision them in my minds eye. It's sort of like reading a book and imaging the charactors. These are real people, however, and I feel like they reveal themselves to me, almost like an author has their own visual image of the characters they write about, that they try to paint a portrait of with words for their readers .When I allow myself to feel the spirit of Milton, a feel a sad man, a tired man. He's worked hard and been frugal, but after bearing 6 decades of gravity, he's bent and worn. He's always been a thin, wan man and not one pleasant to look at, a drawn, bugged look consistent on his face, even in youth. He tried hard to find love, and once he though he had, in a probably arranged marriage, with a young cousin, it was short-lived as she couldn't be faithful. I envision Fannie as wild-spirited and pouty, short and feisty with a wop-sided dark bun crowning her head. So rebelious, her parents in desparation, married her off to an older cousin to preserve her reputation and in hopes of her settling down. But she didnt'.
The 1900 census finds John M. Bunnel living at a boarding house in Star and his marital status as "Single".
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The News and Observer Raleigh, North Carolina19 Jan 1907, Sat • Page 1 Make Smith was the nickname for Malcolm A. Smith, the 8th of 11 children of Pleasant Smith and wife, Emmaline Graham Smith. It's easy to see he may have gotten lost in the mix. At the turn of the century, nicknames like Milt Bunnel or Make Smith were the norm and Malcolm was a shadow of Great Grandparents from Scotland past. Although Milt Bunnel's mother was a Smith, and her people also came from Moore County, there is no sign that there was any kinship between Make and Milt. If there were, it was probably such a number of generations back that neither had a clue. Milt's grandfather, Joseph, was the son of a Nathan and Jennett Richardson Smith while Make's father, Pleasant, was the son of Sampson and Katherine Dowd Smith. Now, echoing back to my Smith connection, Mary who married James O. Mauldin, James O's mother was a Dowd, who married Clayborne or Claiborn Mauldin. There may be a connection there. But Pleasants folks took off to Red River Valley, Texas, leaving him here, so I may never know.
So Make had lived the life of a regular late 19th century farmboy in the sandy soil of Moore County and at the age of 22, he married a fatherless child named Annette Brewer, who was called Nettie, or Annettie even, age 18. She was the daughter of Dorcas Brewer, also seen as Darkus, and grew up very near the Joseph Smith family, as I had came across the name of Dorcas living next door.
He was even named on her death certificate. Nettie's mother Dorcas or Darcus was the daughter of Micajah Brewer and his wife Rebecca and had grown up in the same area as the Bunnels and the Smiths, so they had to have known each and probably very well. I imagine Make Smith as a dark-haired, low-browed man. Sort of like James Brolin, except not as good-looking. Nettie seems tiny and nervous, probably very humble and withdrawn, from years of low-selfesteem, heeped upon her by the neighborhood for being born out of wedlock. But Make was a better man than Nettie's father. Girls born out of wedlock were much more likely to have children out of wedlock themselves, and I've concluded this out of decades of following many Carolina families and what happened to single women and orphans in the years following the devastation of the Civil War. Make and Nettie were married on July 31, 1891. On July 28, 1891, their first son William Charles "Charlie" Smith was born, two days before his parents wedding. Nettie had probably just gotten out of her childbed long enough to stand. The marriage lasted, for as long as it did, anyway and the Smiths would be blessed with 4 more children: Jonah in 1893, Bonnie in 1898, Thomas in 1902 and Mollie in 1906. The gaps show that the marriage may have been rocky. Charlie was the oldest and it was a consensus in the neighborhood that he wasn't the sharpest tool in the shed. His mother may not have had the best in nutrition before and during her pregnancy and it sorely affected the fetus that became Charlie. Pellagra, a horrible disease was rampant at the time and was the cause of death on many an early Death Certificate after they became common, simply from poor nutrition and lack of niacin. Too much corn and potatoes and not much of anything else. Taken from various, yet similar news reports, this is what appears to be the whole of the event. John Milton Bunnel had spent a day walking about between the people of Star and Biscoe that he knew. He had stopped at the home of Dorcas Brewer, mother of Annette "Nettie" Brewer Smith, and had there ran into Dorcas's grandson, Charlie, a teenaged boy and son of Malcolm "Make" Smith and Nettie. He may have been a little drunk, he was certainly boastful, flashing gold piece, greenbacks and silver in front of the unsensible adolescent boy.After he left the Brewer house, he supposedly heading toward the home of "Marth Smith south of Biscoe". This was the home of his aunt, Martha Smith, Jr., the younger sister of his mother. She was only about 7 or 8 years older than Milton.After that, he had planned to go visit his sister, 'Duck Burns, widow of Frank Burns of Moore County'. This was Sarah Carolina Smith Burns, who had ended up with the nickname of "Duck". Very colorful people, and she lived a few miles above the tiny railroad town of Star. The Smiths were expecting Milt to come walking back up the railroad tracks.I discovered a bit of background information in these old papers that Milt Bunnel and the Make Smith family were not just familiar with each other from living in the same small towns. About 5 years earlier, Milts wayward wife Fanny had taken off with one Jim Smith, a brother of Malcolm. Jim was a married man, husband of Clementine Cockman Smith and father of 6 young children. The papers called him the "King of Black Ankle". Now, Jim Smith seemed to move around a bit. He was a minor and tenant farmer and didn't seem to own much, so I don't know what about him would have impressed Fannie. He married in Carthage in Moore County in 1891 and by 1900 was living in Smithville in Marlboro County, South Carolina, which wasn't that far away from Richmond County, a border county, for those who aren't familiar with the area. Smithville suggests he may have even been related in some way to those who founded the town. Five years prior to the murder of Milton Bunnel would have been about 1902, so at that time he was in Black Ankle, an unincorporated area in NorthEast Montgomery County, as described by Wikipedia. Then by 1910, 3 years after the trial, he was living in Rockingham in Richmond County. Now, in this book on the diary of a school girl, Mary Elizabeth Auman of Seagrove in Randolph County, an area known for its pottery,
The Diary of Mary Elizabeth Auman, Seagrove, North Carolina, 1928-1930 ...
By William Thomas Auman, Mary Elizabeth Aumanshe describes a field trip to Black Ankle, where they saw a gold mine and a tar kiln."Black Ankle is a rural community located 5 miles Southwest of Seagrove in Montgomery County. In the 1920's it was a haven for bootleggers. In the nineteenth century the area produced tar and turpentine. The Black Ankle Gold Mine had enjoyed moderate success."So by Jim Smith being described as the King of Black ankle, he may have been lucky finding gold and left his family to go spend it with the childless and wayward Fannie, or maybe his wealth and attraction had been made with white lightening. Whatever the case had been, by 1910, Jim was back with his family and Fannie was described as living in 1907 at John's Station, which was in Scotland County. John's Station was just a railroad station named for the John family which lived in the area outside of Laurenburg. It was never much more than the train station and a drop off for mail, including a small Post Office. Scotland County was accurately named, as it was settled primarily by Scots. It also had acquired a significant Native American population as a spillover from Robeson. Fannie is not to be found in 1900 and no telling what led her to Johns Station, except for maybe D. C. Bryce, whom she quickly married after the murder of her husband, the same year, just a few months after. So, we know that Charley Smith, or perhaps Charley and Make Smith, expected Milt to be coming up the railroad tracks from his Aunt Martha's near Biscoe, to his sisters house above Star. Charley's first version of the story was that his father picked up an axe and said "Follow me" and they went and waited in hiding along the railroad track near the home of a Tom Leach. He said his father ordered him to sneak up behind Milt and hit him in the head with the axe and then to hit him again and then to search the body for money. He also said that on the way back home that it was his father, Make, who instructed him to toss the axe in a mud puddle, probably in hopes of washing off evidence of murder. After he was in jail, Charley made some wild claims. He first said he had only attended school a few weeks in his life and had only been to church two or three times. He was illiterate and hadn't heard of Jesus Christ and only of God a few times and believed he had been told by God to kill Milt. He had never heard the Lord's Prayer or the Ten Commandments. He'd actually painted a portrait of a backwoods, uneducated, amoral, godless young man and in jail he found Jesus, became very religious and retracted the claims that his father had induced him to commit the crime. He also claimed to be 15, turning 16 in July. The townsfolk figured him to be 17 or 18, so he may have been large for his size. Factually, Charlie was correct. His birthdate was July 28, 1891, meaning in January of 1907, he was only 15 years old, and would be turning 16 in July. He was still very much a kid. Above is an artists rendering of a Neanderthal using archealogical remains. I picture him as a stocky, Neanderthal looking type.
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The Carthage Blade Carthage, North Carolina07 Feb 1907, Thu • Page 1 So in the end, Charley Smith was placed on trial for the murder of Milton Bunnel and Make Smith was not. He was found guilty of Felonius Murder in the second degree an sentenced to 30 years of hard labor, at age 15.
Make Smith has returned to Nettie and is found living in Wolf Pit Township of Richmond County, with his wife and all of his children except for Charlie. He must have had to leave Montgomery County to save face. On a side note, in 1900, while Nettie and the children were not to be found, Make was actually found living in the town of Cameron in Moore County with family, including his 93 year old grandmother, Nancy Graham.
Name:
Charles Smith
Age in 1910:
19
Birth Year:
abt 1891
Birthplace:
North Carolina
Home in 1910:
Halifax, Halifax, North Carolina
Race:
White
Gender:
Male
Relation to Head of House:
Boarder
Marital status:
Single
Father's Birthplace:
North Carolina
Mother's Birthplace:
North Carolina
Native Tongue:
English
Occupation:
Prisoner
Industry:
State Farm
And as would be expected, Charlie is found in prison.As for Milton's unfaithful wife, Fanny, she married this charactor named Daniel Charles Bryce in October of 1907, the year Milt was murdered. She was number 4 of his 5 or 6 wives and they were living in Scotland County, which is what the paper had reported in 1907. One would imagine that life in the quiet little hamlets of Star and Biscoe would return to normal and that Make Smith with stay in Richmond County counting his blessings and licking his wounds and the mentally deficient boy-man Charley would stay safely locked behind bars. But no....
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The Montgomerian Troy, North Carolina19 Dec 1912, Thu • Page 3In 1912, only 5 years after confessing to the cold-blooded murder and robbery of John Milton Smith, an innocent older fellow just walking down the railroads tracks to visit his sister, young William Charles Smith was not only out of prison, on bequest of his father, but pardoned of his crimes.And Why?Charley married a girl named Addie Radford and seemed to set out on a normal life. She was from Scotland County and in 1920, she is found boarding with a Stacy family in Marlboro County, SC and only 15 years old, so she was in an independant state at a very early age. So this is who married Charlie Smith.
In 1930, they had settled in at Mark's Creek in Richmond County and were working in the cotton mills. She was far younger than Charley and possibly ignorant of his past.
Here, they had 3 children and in total would have 7. Carrie Mae, their firstborn was born and died in 1923. Daisy was born the next year and only son, William Charles Smith, Jr. was born in 1927. Gina May would also died as a child in 1931. Aline was born in 1931 and Mary Catherine in 1933. Youngest son Tag Monroe Smith was born in 1935. But then came Karma.
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The Charlotte News Charlotte, North Carolina06 Feb 1937, Sat • Page 12 Charley Smith was killed by a drunk driver. Here's a different articile with a bit of extra information.
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The News and Observer Raleigh, North Carolina07 Feb 1937, Sun • Page 20 Addie Radford Smith would go on to live a long and peaceful life from all that I can tell and died in 1989. She would remarry and live to be 80 years old, blessed by many grandchildren and great grandchildren.
I love the old poetic names that arrived in style in the later part of the 19th century. As the population grew, people became tired, and aware, of an ignoble reputition of certain names, that confused one person with another. So middle names, even two middle names, became more common. Some families even became creative and melodic in their choices of names in their growing families.
Instead of John Smith, Mary Johnson, William Carter and Nancy Jones, we begin seeing John Beuaregard Horatio Smith, America Euphemia Johnson, Winston Zebedee Carter and Thomasina Belladona Jones. Of course, in the way of the nickname obsessed South, those would end up as Ratio Smith, Uma Johnson, Zeb Carter and Bell Jones.
During my recent study of the Smith and Bunnel families of East Montgomery County, North Carolina, I made the acquaintance of one Lucinda Minerva Bunnel whose personality seemed to just pop right out of the pages.
She had one of those loveley "Not another Mary" names that were the trend of the times. Sadly, those names would not remain the trend, but parents today are seeking more creative and unique options to baby names. And Minerva was not a typical Victoria Bess.
Born in 1866, Lucinda Minerva Bunnel was the last of the 8 children of Thomas and Sarah Smith Bunnel of Montgomery County, North Carolina. Her grandfather, Asa Bunnel had came to the area as a young man with his family, from Connecticutt, so every Bunnel was related. It wasn't a Carolina name.
She arrived at the close of the Civil War, and although neighboring counties and families had suffered fairly badly, hers had not. Her father was too old to serve and the one brother she had that did made it home in one piece, although there are signs it may have affected his mental state.
Minerva was a full 5 or 6 years younger than her youngest sister, Sarah, known as Duck. I wonder how she had gotten that nickname.
The first 20 years of her life went spent safely and quietyly in the area of Montomgery County near the Moore County line, in the general vicinity of the little town of Star.
In November of 1886, Minerva would marry one Thomas Jefferson Hicks, son of Littleberry and Lucinda Hicks of the Pekin area. He had lost his father to the war. The marriage license said that Sarah Bunnel was living, but she supposedly died sometime that year.
They settled in housekeeping as would be expected and Minerva began having children. Nothing unexpected there. But if one compares the birthdate of the oldest child on a great number of these old documents with the marriage license, something becomes evident.
Annie Bell Hicks arrived on September 17, 1886. Her parents were married about 6 weeks later .
Annie Bell was followed by 3 little sisters;
Willie Lou in 1890 Mary Bessie in 1893 Lillie Esther in 1895
Then Tom Hicks died, on March 4, 1896. He was only 34 years old.
Minerva, only 30 herself, wasted no time. She knew she would suffer a great deal of hardship trying to raise 4 little girls on her own.
William Gaston Kelley was born in Anson County about 1859 to Lattimore Kelley and wife Nancy. He had one brother, Roland. Their father was killed in the Civil War, and his mother, Nancy, would move the family to the community of Williamson in Richmond County and put her boys to work.
Gaston and his mother are found there in 1880, with his brothers little daughter, Lillie. In 1885, Gaston would marry Henrietta Townsend. She was the daughter of Elijah C Townsend and wife, Elizabeth Boggan Townsend. It appears that her father took off right after she was born, and left her with relatives in Anson County, but he kept up. He went to Texas to make his fortune and never returned.
Lockhart, Texas
Elijah Townsend settled in Caldwell County, Texas and there married a widow named Catherine Jane McKellar New, the widow of William Robert New from Duplin County, NC who died in Texas. Catie was from Alabama. Elijah helped raise her children.
Gaston Kelly and Henrietta Townsend Kelly had two daughters, Elizabeth, named for her mother and Nora, born in 1886 and 1890. Henrietta died when they were still small, living Gaston a widower. Then he met Minerva.
But in the beginning, they appeared to be a happy family. Gastons two daughters by Henrietta had inherited property in Lockhart, Texas from their Grandfather. Minerva began giving him sons. Below is the family in 1900.
They had a his hers and theirs family. Bettie and Nora were Gaston's daughters with Henrietta. Leslie and Daniel were the sons of Gaston and Minerva together. Annie, Willie, Mary and Esther were Minerva's daughters with Tom Hicks. Nancy Kelly was Gaston's mother.
Gaston had some good luck farming, as was reported in the papers a few times, but he also had a tendancy to keep rough company. In 1907 he had to testify in a trial of some bootleggers who had ended up in a gunfight and people had died.
They were still making a go of it in 1910, although things were getting a little tense. Mary and Esther Hicks were still at home, the older two girls had married. Robert Leslie Kelley and Dewey Daniel Kelley had been joined by a little sister, Sarah Lola Kelley, named for her grandmother. She was her mother's last child.
Gaston contined to spiral downhill due to alchohol and wild living, making the papers on a regular basis, nothing major, but more than Minerva could handle.
The straw that broke the camel's back was a woman named Sisely Elizabeth Lammonds Bailey Green. Sisely was twice married and the daughter of John Lammonds and Loretta Hicks Lammonds of Montgomery County. She had married Newitt Green and had 5 children by him. Newitt died in 1901 and then she married James Daniel Bailey in 1909 and had one son with him 6 months later. 19 That relationship ended, I might guess in divorce, as he did not die until 1925. Sisely was a party animal like Gaston and liked to 'live up the town'.
That partying would result in the birth of Pearline Kelley in 1912.
Minerva divorced Gaston due to abandonment and infidelity.
Gaston remarried in 1915 to Sicily Elizabeth Lammonds Bailey Green.
She is living in Biscoe. She is divorce and living with Dewey and Lola. She has a hired hand named Lewis living with them.
This is Gaston and Siseley in 1920. Their daughter, Pearline, is living with them and Siseley's son, Victor Bailey, by her second and brief husband, has been given the wrong name. Or perhaps he went by his stepfathers name as a child.
The 20th century was in full swing and things were getting complicated.
And then came Ben Lewis.
Benjamin Franklin Lewis was a Montgomery County boy and a good sort. He was born in Capelsie, in the middle of the county in 1852 to Calvin and Sydney (or Cyndey) Lewis. He married a Lucinda Maner, daughter of Amos and Catherine of Diffies. They had 7 children.
Now this is the marriage license for Ben Lewis and his first wife, Lucinda Mainor/ Manor. They were married in March of 1879. He was 25 and she was 20, giving her a birth year of 1859. Some family members have given Lucinda a date of death of 1936. Others, and even on her Find-a-Grave site, give her a death date of 1953. That would mean she would be pushing 100. For clarification, we have to go to Piney Grove Cemetery.
Piney Grove appears to be located in the middle of nowhere to the northeast of Onvil, which might as well be named "nowhere", its so small, off of Pekin Road and McCallum Road, and south of the Ghost town of Capelsie and Capelsie Road.
Nearly all of Ben and Lucinda Manor Lewis's children are buried at Piney Grove, as well as Ben and Lucinda. This looks to be their family cemetery.
This is Lucinda's tombstone. It's barely legible, but what can be made out is:
"Lucindy Wife of B. F. Lewis Aged 58" Now, if Lucinda Maner Lewis died at age 58, that would make the year about 1917. Not 1936 and Not 1953. 1953 is the year Lucinda Minerva Bunnel etc. etc. died, and I believe descendants have gotten these two Lucindas mixed up because....
On August 22, 1920, just after the census records of that year were taken, "Nervia" Kelley, divorced, married Benjamin F. Lewis, widower.
He was 61 and she was 47 and I get a real feeling of peace about this marriage. The essence of serenity. I feel that Minerva was....happy. Call me crazy for being able to just pick up on these things, I don't know if it's a 7th sense or what, but I just do.
Sadly, the marriage of Minerva and Ben did not last long. He passed away one month before their 5th anniversary.
Ben was laid to rest in Piney Grove Cemetery, very close to where he'd spent most of his life. Minerva buried him next to his first wife, the first Lucinda. She didn't die in 1936 or 1953. She died at 58, and before 1920.
Having been widowed twice and divorced once, Minerva was a strong woman who did not give up. She was now in her later 50's, and her life was not over.
Minerva was the youngest of 8 children and had 3 older sisters.
Terry Catherine Bunnel who married Jesse Dunn. Sarah Caroline "Duck" Bunnel who married Lockey Allen and then John Franklin Burns and Elethia Elender "Ellen" Bunnel who married Beaty T. Dunn.
Her sister, Ellen, and Beaty Dunn had 5 children together and then Ellen died in January of 1925, the same year that Ben Lewis had died.
It appeared the Lewis and Dunn families were familiar with each other.
10 years later, the old couple, now septigenarians, were still happily married and living on the road, "from Ether to Dover".
Ethers 'Haunted Roller Mill"
I hope their last years together were happy ones. Beaty, who was born in Moore County, NC, died in Asheboro in Randolph County, NC on May 20, 1941, while in the hospital there. He was buried in Star, Montgomery County, at the Star Baptist Church, next to his first wife, Ellen Bunnel Dunn.
Lucinda Minerva Bunnel would go on to live another dozen years. She died on March 12, 1953 in Biscoe, Montgomery County, North Carolina. Her children would bury her in Candor, next to her first husband, Thomas J. Hicks.
Name:
Lucinda Minerva Hicks
Birth Date:
4 Sep 1865
Birth Place:
Montgomery County, North Carolina, United States of America
Death Date:
12 Mar 1953
Death Place:
Biscoe, Montgomery County, North Carolina, United States of America
Cemetery:
Macedonia Presbyterian Church Cemetery
Burial or Cremation Place:
Candor, Montgomery County, North Carolina, United States of America
I took an autosomal dna test in 2013 through ancestry.com. I uploaded that data to gedmatch.com, My Heritage and Family Tree. I learned how to use DNA Painter. I've made many fascinating discoveries in the years since.
I've found close and - hitherforeto unbeknownst to me - relatives. I've found familty mysteries, and the answers to family mysteries. I've discovered how to trace paternal lineages beyond the known by using Y-DNA testing of direct line male relatives for that particular surname with varying and continually evolving results.
But one path I had not yet taken was the mtDNA test.
Simply put, mitochondrial dna, or mtDNA, is genetic information passed down from only the mother, to all of her children. Unlike a Y-DNA test, that can only be taken by biological males, an mtDNA test can be taken by anyone. It's been passed from mother to child for generation after genertation. And as with YDNA, mutations occur along the way causing variances. By testing and studying those variances, scientists can visualize the human migration patterns of ancient peoples and the origins of certain groups, called haplogroups, of individuals.
But I'm not here to give a science lesson. The reason I took the test was just out of curiosity. Where did my mother's mother's mother's mothers' mother's roots come from?
I've been able to trace most of my family tree for 5 or 6 generations, and a few more prominate lines even more. Through DNA, I've discovered ancestors I never knew existed, and still not sure of where the genetic trail and the paper trail meets, or diverges. With the mother line, family names are not so important and not at all helpful, as most women in history who married, took their husbands name and passed that name to their children. Each culture is different, but that has been the pattern in the culture from which I descend.
I can trace my mother's family tree from my mother, to her mother, Maude, to her mother, Wincy, to her mother Margaret Catherine Russel, to her mother Elizabeth who married Eli Russell. I don't know Elizabeth's maiden name. I know she was born in 1811 and died in 1861. Now, some have her pegged as the daughter of an Elias Solomon Morris and his wife, Mary West. If so, then Mary is my next mother up. Now, that's 6 generations up from me, which is pretty good, I suppose, as some people can't get that far. But there's just some things in my genetics that I keep trying to get to the bottom of.
My maternal grandmother is the girl between her parents.
My genetic pie is pretty typical for who I am: an American, who is visually Caucasian, whose ancestors have been in the country for several hundred years. I mean, my most recent ancestors arrived to the state I live in prior to the Revolutionary War. I'm a pretty ancient American. And as happens in that situation, my ancestrial origins are pretty diverse.
This isthe pie chart of who I am gentically. This is from Eurogenes K13 from Gedmatch. It's a program that is designed for the genetics of people who are of primarily European origins, which I can scientifically surmise by looking in a mirror.
Each autosomal test can vary a little bit, that's why it's not to worry over small differences because as their databases enlarge, and new discoveries are made, those variances can shift slightly.
From my autosomal testing, I have discovered that I am at least a third from the British Isles, around 20 percent Germanic or from central Europe, with a dash of Jewish, some Potuguese, 12 percent Native American, 8 percent African (with that showing Angolan and West Indies origin) 11 percent Finish and to a smaller degree West Asian and 3 percent East Asian. I just about have the entire globe covered.
The few lines I've been able to get back to an immigrant ancestor has led several times to Scotland, various parts of England, Wales, one to Ireland, one to France, I know the names of my West Indies ancestors and some of my Native American ancestors. I have several Palatinian ancestors from Germany. I've recently discovered Armenian. And I know the name of a Jewish merchant in Monmouth New Jersey who got himself in debt and reinvented himself in Coastal North Carolina around the Revolutionary War and ended up in my family tree. I joined a Finnish ancestry group because that 11 percent Finnish I just have not been able to nail down. So this MtDNA test is just another step in the journey.
So yesterday I got my results back.
Haplogroup - U5a1b1d-T16093C
Your Origin
Haplogroups mark the branches on our shared maternal tree reaching back to Africa. Haplogroup U5 is between 24,900 and 35,600 years old. Researchers believe it was born to a woman living in West Asia. Its presence in both Mesolithic gravesites in Iberia and Iron Age gravesites in the Altai Mountains indicate that it spread early across a wide area in Eurasia. Bitter cold and ice forced members of this haplogroup who traveled to Europe as hunter-gathers during the Last Glacial Maximum into refugia. When the ice began to retreat, they were among the earliest settlers. The most common of these lineages in modern populations are U5a1, U5a2, U5b1, U5b2 and U5b3.</p> The origin of the U5a1 lineage dates to between 14,100 and 19,800 years ago. Members of the U5a1 lineage were among the first people to repopulate Europe and West Asia. However, Neolithic farmers and herders from West Asia crowded out the U5a1 lineage as they entered Western Eurasia. It is now about 3 percent of the population throughout Europe with its greatest diversity in Central Europe and greatest frequency in central and northern Europe and Russia.
So my haplogroup began with a woman living in West Asia. It goes into migrations and mutations and letter segments that mean nothing to the reader, and is still Greek to me.
Then I checked my matches. I am sure there are many more people who have taken autosomal tests and Ytests than Mtdna tests. My 3 closest matches are Americans. No surprise there. They are all on the Number One level, so we could possibly put our heads together and find a common ancestor. So they also descend from this mother who came to America, but that's not where she was from.
Then beginning with my 4th closest match, and all of my Number Two's which mean their a mutaiton beyond the Number One's, I noticed a change. The surnames, instead of Smith, Philbeck and Bates, which are the first 3, I get Westin Fodd Grahan with little dots over the o, and Gustavsson f Larsson and Lendburg and Forsberg and guys named Ulf Israelsson and Lars Erikkson and Juel and Killick.
Some have listed their oldest known ancestor. Number 4 is descended from Sven Wallstrom 1712 - 1776, with those little dots over the "o" again. But there's a cluster of 8 people, in my Number 2 batch, descended from a particular woman, their oldest known female ancestor straight down their maternal line named:
Anna Jonsdotter b. ca 1670 Arnäs, d. 1728 Arnäs
There's those little dots again. Now, I've never heard of Anna and I had no idea where Arnas was, so I had to google her. But I've found my maternal roots and they led to;
I'm a Viking y'all.
Now, how my GGGGGGGGGGGGG Grandmother got from Iceland to the US of A, I have no clue, but I do know her mitochondrial dna arrived to me via Elizabeth, of whom I am sure of, and possibly from Mary of whom I am not. What I do know is that I have yet to find one ancestor who spelled their name with little dots over the vowels.
So, with this information, Family Tree DNA included a nice little video, which I will link to in a minute, explaining the migrations of my maternal haplogroup and when it gets to near the end of where it was leading, up pops -FINLAND. The 11 percent I could not figure out.
The jist of it is, many ancestors we may think were from Western Europe or the British Isles may have sailed from there to American, but that does not neccessarily mean thats where their roots are from. Think about it, 11 percent is nearly an entire Great Grandparent and I don't have a Great Grandparent from Finland...or Iceland.
Each letter in that long haplogroup string they give you is another change, another mutation, that breaks down into a more recent location and individual.
U5a1b1d-T16093C
That's my Finnish ancestor who evidentally ended up in Iceland and was an ancestress of
Anna Jonsdottir born in 1670.
A female descendant of hers migrated to America and here I am.
U5a1b1 is the largest group within U5a1b with 83 members and an age estimate of about 8000 years. U5a1b1* has 29 members, with 10 from the UK, 3 from Poland, 2 from Germany, 2 from Finland and 1 each from Ireland, France, Austria, Switzerland, Italy, Norway, and Russia. U5a1b1 also has six named subclades (U5a1b1a to U5a1b1f). U5a1b1a has 17 members, with 4 from Ireland, 2 from the UK, 2 from Norway, and 1 each from Germany and Italy. U5a1b1b has 7 members with 4 from Russia, 1 from Belarus and 1 from Sweden. U5a1b1c has 12 members include two U5a1b1c* from Russian and England; seven U5a1b1c1 with 3 from Finland and 1 each from Russia, Serbia, Poland and Denmark; and U5a1b1c2 has 3 members with 2 from Russia. U5a1b1d has 8 samples including 2 from the UK, 2 from Poland, 1 each from Germany and Switzerland. U5a1b1e has 8 samples including 2 from England and 1 each from Germany, Poland, France and Norway. U5a1b1f has only 2 samples including 1 from England 1 from India. To summarize, U5a1b1 has its greatest frequency and diversity in Northern Europe from Ireland to Russia, and 54% of all U5a1b samples fall within U5a1b1.
On Gedmatch, one of the neat little tests you can take is that of archaeic dna. These are comparisons with the skeletal remains of ancient peoples found all over the world. I match most to some found in Siberia, Greenland ,Sweden, Russia, Hungary and Luxemburg.
I also match to the ancient dna of a Native American child found in the mountains of North Dakota.
I wonder if that child was descended from early Vikings who discovered Newfoundland ?
Fannie Talbot was the daughter of John Nixon Talbot and his wife Mary Ann Bunnel Talbot. When she was a few months shy of her 18th birthday, she married John Milton Bunnel. Now John Bunnel was 37 years old. When I was first researching the Smith family, of whom his mother was a member, I wondered why Milton, as he was called, who lived in Montgomery County, would travel all the way down to a place in Cumberland County with the troubling sounding name of "Flea Hill" to get married.
Flea Hill is now known as Eastover. It's original name of Flea Hill was because of - you guessed it- a heavy flea infestation. They liked the sandy soil. It retained the name of Flea Hill until the 1920's, when the citizenry decided it needed a more dignified sounding name. They still celebrate their origins with a flea drop, instead of a ball drop, every New Year's Eve.
Mary Ann Bunnel was the daughter of Asa Bunnel and Martha Ann Smith. Her father and his family had arrived here to the Carolina Piedmont from Connecticutt. He married a local girl and they settled in Montgomery County, North Carolina. At the age of 20, their oldest daughter Mary Ann married John Nixon Talbert who removed with her Cumberland County and settled in - you guessed it again - Flea Hill.
Nixon and Mary Ann had a large family, as was the custom in those days and rigth in the middle of the little was a girl named Fannie. Now Fannie was a restless child. Flea Hill was too small for her. She had a restless streak. She wanted more than a Reconstruction era woman was allowed to be or do.
So Nixon and Mary Ann put their heads together and decided the best thing to do with Fannie was to marry her off, before she was "ruined"on her own.
Mary Ann had a brother named Thomas who had stayed in Montgomery County and had raised a large family of his own. His oldest son, a quiet sort, had never married. I'm not certain of the reason why, but it may have been because he was not the best on looks, and possibly a very introverted personality. But he was a hard worker, and no doubt, would become a good provider. So a post was sent and the situation was discussed among the Montgomery County Bunnels, and John Milton Bunnel was sent to Flea Hill to marry his much younger cousin. And that he did, in March of 1878.
Name:Fannie Talbert Gender:Female Age:19 Birth Year:abt 1859 Marriage Date:23 Mar 1878 Marriage Place:Cumberland, North Carolina, USA Spouse:John M Bunnell Spouse Gender:Male Spouse Age:30 Event Type:Marriage
Now, their ages are fudged a little bit on the marriage document. According to their actual birthdates given Milton was 37, not 30, and Fannie was not yet 18.
Milton took Fannie away from Cumberland County and away from Montgomery County. Perhaps he and her parents felt a new area, a place far from all she knew and who knew her, would give her a fresh start in life. They are found in Williamson, in Richmond County, in the 1880 census.
There were no children, there were never any children. Who knows if the marriage was ever consumated. Poor Milton just endured and ran his farm, while Fannie grew more restless.
Daniel Bryce started in this world on the wrong side of society. He was born in Smithville Township on the coast of North Carolina, where she sticks her toes in the waters of the Atlantic. He came into the world at the beginning of a tumultous time, in 1859, as anxiety was high and war was in the near future and Daniel Charles Bryce, or Brice, was a child of the dust in a very antebellum world.
He first shows up as a 6 month old baby in the home of Henry H. Bryce and his wife, Tabitha. Daniel is obviously not the son of 49 year old Tabitha Brice. On his later documentation, he names his parents as Charles Smith and Fannie Brice.
Ten years earlier, before the appearance of Daniel, Henry shows children David, 17, who was probably not a Brice and was Tabitha's by a first marriage as she was considerably older than Henry, and he never comes up again, so I believe he had a different surname. Then "Aphegnege" is really Euphemia, if you read the actual document, followed by Elijah, Elizabeth,Mary and John.
So, the actual children of Henry H. and Tabitha Bryce or Brice, were:
1) David ? probably not a Brice, but a stepson 2) Euphemia 3) Elijah 4) Elizabeth 5) Mary Emmaline 6) John T. 8) Amanda 9) Frank B.
In the home of David R Canaday and his wife, Henrietta, as a student. A little research uncovers the fact that Henrietta ia a Brice by birth. This is actually Henrietta Euphemia Brice Canaday, with her husband David Richard Canaday and their daughter, Marietta. "Emerline" is Mary Emeline Brice, daughter of Henry and Tabitha as shown in the 1850 and 1860 census records as 'Mary E.", and the sister of Henrietta Euphemia Brice Canaday. And then there is Daniel. It seems quite obvious that Euphemia is most likely the mother of Daniel Charles Brice, and Fannie may have been her nickname as a child. She is the only daughter of Henry and Tabitha really old enough to be his mother, and he remains with her after she is married. Fannie and Euphemia are not a streach as nicknames go, either. So there's my theory.
As for the evasive Charles Smith, his father, there was no clear Charles Smith that lived close to them in 1860, the closest census to the birth of Daniel, but they did live in Smithville, named for a Smith family and they lived on the coast where there were plenty of opportunities for travel, so he may have shot the gap, but Daniel obviously knew who his father was.
In 1878, at the age of 21, Daniel marries Sarah Ellen Capps 18, in New Hanover County, next to Brunswick. He has listed his parents as Charles Smith and Fannie Bryce and her parents were Gideon and Mary Ann Capps. Disregard the transcription errors, "Zidears" was Gideon, actually, and he was her father, not her mother and Mary Ann was her mother, not her father.
From St. James Church Historical Records 1737-1852, Vol. I: Baptism 28 Dec 1870 of Sarah Ellen Capps born 23 Nov 1858 daughter of Gideon and Mary Ann Capps.
The marriage was ill-fated. I don't know the fate of Sarah Ellen Capps. Did she die? Was the marriage annuled? There was a Sarah Capps who married a William Waldrup in Craven County in December of 1878, another coastal county. Could it have been the same Sarah? She was mentioned in her father's will in 1869, about a decade before she married and I can't find more mention of her.
As for Daniel C. Bryce, he headed inland about 150 miles. Was he running from something?
In September of 1879, just a year after his first marriage, Daniel C.Bryce married Roannie or Roan, Northam. Here, he named no father, just his mother as 'Faney Ann Bryce". Here it looks more like "Femey" on the actual document. Roan is from Richmond County and they married here in Rockingham.
Roan is found squarely with her parents in the previous census records. But after this one she is found no more.
Daniel Charles Bryce is becoming a BlackWidow(er). Did both his wives died that quickly after marriage? What happened to them? Did they die in childbirth or was there something more sinister happening here?
Maybe the third time was the charm, because this one lasted longer and seemed a little happier. Mary E. Talbert or Tolbert was a Richmond County girl and her parents, Joseph and Sarah Tolbert had links back to Montgomery County, NC. They were married in 1886 and Mary was 22 and Daniel, now on his third marriage, was still only 27.
This marriage would produce his one and only child. There was just one problem, her birthdate.
Name:
Emma E. Blackburn
Birth Date:
21 Jun 1881
Death Date:
10 Sep 1904
Cemetery:
Caledonia United Methodist Church Cemetery
Burial or Cremation Place:
Laurinburg, Scotland County, North Carolina, United States of America
Has Bio?:
N
According to her tombstone, Emma E. Bryce Blackburn was born June 21, 1881. Was Mary Tobert really her mother or had it been Roan Northam? Or had she just been born a number of years before her parents married.
But, I'm getting ahead of myself here. Daniel and Mary were married in 1886, and in the 1900 census, low and behold, after 14 years, they were still married. Mary was alive!
They had moved from Wolf Pit in Richmond County over to Stewartsville in Scotland County. Daniel was working as a Carpenter. He seems rather transient, doesn't he?
In his defense, in 1886, the year he married Mary, Daniel did own something enough to owe taxes, but he didn't pay them, obviously. Perhaps that is why they moved to Scotland County.
Shortly after this census, Daniel's daughter, Emma, would marry Daniel James Blackburn. She would become pregnant and give birth to a daughter she named Callie Emma Blackburn. Sadly, Emma would die on September 10, 1904, just after her daughter was born. She must have died of comlications of childbirth.
Emma's broken tombstone from find-a-grave.
She was buried at Caldonia United Methodist Church in Laurenburg.
Caldonia UMC from Find-a-grave. Photo attributed to "Just Plain Nosey".
The death of Emma was not the only tragedy that Daniel would suffer that decade. He also became a widower for the third time. Mary E Bryce succombed to the grim reaper in February of 1907. She was only 45 years old. This was just before the time when they started issuing death certificates, so we do not know what she died of. There were so many ailments that are treatable now.
Name:
Mary E. Bryce
Death Date:
26 Feb 1907
Cemetery:
Caledonia United Methodist Church Cemetery
Burial or Cremation Place:
Laurinburg, Scotland County, North Carolina, United States of America
I started this post off with Fannie Tolbert, and left off in 1880. Now Fannie Tolbert, who may have been related to Mary E through the Tolbert side, had married her much older cousin, John Milton Bunnel about the same time that Daniel Bryce had married Mary E. Tolbert. It was not a happy marriage.
He was working as a Day Laborer at a Saw Mill in "Hollingsworth" Township, which was the Biscoe/ Star area of Montgomery County, NC, which was ran by the Brown Family.
But he's listed as a boarder, and also as single. So where was Fannie?
Well, she'd hitched a train for Louisville, Kentucky and was boarding with a Holsheimer family from Germany. She was working in a harness shop and actually listed her marital status as married with no children, living or dead.
She didn't always go by her married name, however. She is seen in city directories as Talbot and was self-supporting. This was a girl not born for country life, apparently. Fannie had arrived in Louisville by 1885.
Name:
Fannie Talbot
Residence Year:
1885
Street address:
5201st
Residence Place:
Louisville, Kentucky, USA
Occupation:
Cook
Publication Title:
Louisville, Kentucky, City Directory, 1885
I'm not sure why Fannie came home, perhaps because family needed her, probably her ailing mother. But she was back in Biscoe by 1902. She and Milton never divorced, but seem to have only been married in name only. As tragedy would have it, poor Milton would become the victim of a hideous robbery and murder by a mentally deficient teenaged boy, whose married uncle had succombed to Fannies feminine wiles and had had an affair with her some years before.
Jim Smith was James C. Smith, born on Christmas Day in 1848 to Pleasant Smith and his wife, Emeline Graham Smith in Carthage, Moore County. He was a brother of Malcolm "Make" Smith, whose son Charlie killed Milton Bunnel. There was a very good chance Make Smith had a hand in it too, but he was never charged and his son served only 5 or 6 years for the crime before being granted a pardon. The motive was robbery, plain and simple. There may have been a personal vendetta on the part of Make, but it doesn't appear so.
Jim Smith married a woman named Clementine Cockman and had 6 children. The time of his "running off" with Fannie Talbot Bunnel would have been around 1901 or 1902.
He was in Carthage from birth to the 1880 census and is found with his wife and kids in the 1900 census down in Marlboro County, South Carolina.
He didn't seem to be much of a catch, but he must have been some kind of charactor, because he captured the imagination of the townspeople, whichever town he was in. He was called "The King of Black Ankle in the newspaper, an area known for 3 things: Turpentine, Gold and Bootlegging, and not necessarily in that order. In Marlboro, he was working in turpentine.
He even had a poem written about him.
CLIPPED FROM
The Pinehurst Outlook Pinehurst, North Carolina20 Feb 1909, Sat • Page 6 He was an unapologetic racist, a man of his time in that, I suppose. When a man wasn't much of a man, he was always in search of someone whose situation was worse, to make himself feel better.
He had his own way to spin a yarn. Perhaps he was even easy on the eyes. Who knows what about him attracted Fannie?
In 1910, after the affair and after the murder, Jim Smith is back with his wife Clementine and has up and moved the family to Richmond County. I guessed he'd burned his bridges in Moore, Montgomery and Marlboro.
So here is where the two tales come together. It's 1907. Fannie Talbot Bunnel has just became a widow, even though she was married in name only. She must have came back for the sensational trial. Daniel C. Bryce had just buried his wife Mary Talbot Bryce, who might have been related to Fannie.
On October 13, 1907, just a few months after the trial of Charley Smith was over, for the murder of Milt Bunnel, and Daniel Brice had buried his third wife, Mary, Fannie and Dan found each other and became husband and wife. The widower and the whirlwind had collided. They were both 48 years old.
Three years after their marriage in Scotland County, Dan and Fannie are found making their home in Stewartsville. Her middle name must have been Ann, because here they have her as Nancy, a nickname for Ann and in another document, she is listed as Annie, not Fannie. Dan must have had two middle names, Charles and one that begins with "S". I've been him as Daniel C and as Daniel S. Here, he is Daniel S. C. Bryce, so both must be correct.
With them are Daniel's favorite aunt, Mary Emmaline Brice Baker, who lived with him and his mother and stepfather in 1870, whom I believe he named his only daughter for. Also, his daughter Emma's only child, Callie, is living with them, too. Although her father went on to quickly remarry and have several more children, Dan and Fannie appear to have raised the girl.
Just before this document, Fannie lost her mother, Mary Ann Bunnel.
The papers printed a lovely obituary. It reaffirms that her parents had remained in Flea Hill, now Eastover, and that Fannie and Daniel were living in John's Station, a Railroad stop, near Stewartsville.
Dan, who was in the papers in his earlier days for minor troubles, was now a respectible sort in his middle years, as happens.
The 1920 census shows Daniel as a farmer in a rented home. He and Fannie appear to have had sucessfully raising his grandchild, who is shown as "Katie" E. here instead of Callie, which was her correct name. Although Fannie had no children of her own, she did get to raise one in the person of Katie.
The very next year, Katie Esther Blackburn, 18 (actually 17) would marry LeRoy Thompson in Scotland County. They would settle in Howellsville in Robeson County, NC. Roy and Katie would have 2 children, Leroy, Jr. and Shirley Ann, who would live to adulthood. Daniel S. C. Bryce has living descendants.
The transcribers, again, mistook Blackburn for Blackman, but the David and Emma is correct.
Fannie had raised a child. Not too long after Katie married and left her grandparents with an empty nest, Fannie's time upon the earth had come to an end.
Name:
Fannie R. Bryce
Gender:
F (Female)
Birth Date:
1862
Birth Place:
Cumberland County, North Carolina, United States of America
Death Date:
26 Apr 1923
Death Place:
Scotland County, North Carolina, United States of America
Cemetery:
Caledonia United Methodist Church Cemetery
Burial or Cremation Place:
Laurinburg, Scotland County, North Carolina, United States of America
Fannie was now 64 years old and had succomb to the ravishes of diabetes. She was laid to rest at Caldonia United Methodist Church near Laurenburg, along with Mary E. Talbot Bryce and Emmaline Esther Bryce Blackburn, her step-daughter.
Daniel S. Charles Bryce was not a man to grieve long and not a man to give up. Sometime after the death of his fourth wife, Fannie Talbot Bunnel Brice, he took a 5th , and her name was Laura.
The marriage of Danie Bryce and Laura didn't last long, because this time it was Daniel's time to leave. Six years after the death of Fannie, at the age of 70, Daniel Bryce met his maker of unknown reasons. He is shown as a married man, his wife's name was Laura, and he was a tenant farmer. He was laid to rest at Caldonia with his daughter and 3rd and 4th wives.
I have not located Laura. Just 1 year after the passing of Daniel Bryce, there is not a Laura Bryce in Scotland County or any surrounding counties. She is not buried in the same cemetery as Daniel. Laura disappeared. She either changed her name and went back to where she came from or remarrried before the 1930 census or ....something. I can't find a marriage license for that, neither can I find a marriage license for Daniel and Laura. She remains a mystery.
So the 5 times married Daniel C. Bryce still leaves a waft of mystery in the air. What happened to his first 2 wives and who was his last?
It's 2020. Genealogy today is no longer just the hours spent in dusty basements of a small town courthouse or out plundering through abandoned cemeteries. That remains important, however, and I believe always will, but modern technology is opening new doors we never knew existed.
