Facts and Fairy Tales: The Real Story of Lynn Bird

Cucumber Creek originates just north of Hwy 24/27 and just east of Pless Mill Road, between Red Cross and Locust. It ambles south, crossing Big Lick Road until it makes it way to the Rocky River below Stanfield. It's also known as Rock Hole Creek. This was the creek along which the young Cobles made their home on.

The 1860 census shows Melinda, or Linda, as a few years older than James. The first two of their 3 children had been born, Elizabeth and Peter. Hester had not arrived yet, but was probably on her way.

In 1858, the Cobles were involved in a lawsuit over the exact wording of the Will of Peter Pless. The problem arose from a clause pertaining to the distribution of a surplus from the estate. The name of the suit was " Pless vs. Coble 58 N.C. 231. You can read about it here:  Pless v. Coble 1858

James and Malinda had made a home, had acquired a good portion of land and had brought 3 children into the world. Then came war. James Allison Coble, being a young man, was pulled up into it. He seemed to have a bit of an attitude about it, according to his war records. He enilisted in Salisbury, NC on Feb 1, 1862, and it seems to have been a bit reluctantly. A note on his original entistment form states that he refused to sign up for the duration of the War, so they put him in a 12 month Company. The document on Fold3 reads thus:

James A. Coble - Civil War

Pvt 42nd Infantry Co C 42nd

When: Feb 1, 1862

Where: Salisbury, NC by Major Gibbs for 1 year.

Remarks: Refused to reenlist for the War and was thrown into a 12 month Company - now guarding POW's at this point.

'Thrown'.....

The above record states he survived the War, but they did not follow. If you note, he mustered out in May of 1862, just 4 months after he enlisted.  He would then re-enlist in order to serve as a Prison Guard in Goldsboro, NC. Seems he sought to avoid active combat.

Yet he still succombed to the War. Despite his best efforts, it got him in the end. There were more than one danger in this evil event. The last thing written in the three files on James A. Coble was his name on a list of P. O.W's released. He had gotten himself captured and was released, but had he made it home? His wife and his community  knew of his death in 1863, so maybe he did, and died still of the experience.

James A. Coble died in 1863 at the age of 28. In his 26 pages of estate records, there are reciepts that refer to him as 'Allison Coble', so we know what the 'A' stood for. Melinda was widowed at 31 with 3 young children.

The administrator of James's estate was S. H. Efird, which stood for Simeon Howell Efird, son of John Jacob Efird and Catherine Cagle Efrid. He was a gentleman from the Oakboro/ Big Lick area of no apparent relation. Of course, James' heirs were his widow, Melinda and his 3 children: Elizabeth "Lizzie", Peter N. and Hester "Hessie or Hessa".  So therefore, when tragedy struck again, another estate file was in order.

Peter N. Coble was born in 1858. He died in 1867. He would have been about 9 years old. This is, in fact, the youngest person I've ever seen an estate file for. If you think it may have been for a different Peter Coble, just look inside. 

 It's only 3 pages long, but then again, he was a young child.

Malinda Coble, S. H. Efird (who was his father's Executor) and William Harward, settled the estate of little Peter, which was his share of his inheritance from not only James, but also from the 'surplus' designated to Malindas bodily heirs by Peter Pless. The estate file also lets us know that his middle initial was 'N'. Now, it could be naturally assumed he was named Peter for his Grandfather Peter Pless, but while looking into the Cobles for the parentage of James Allison Coble, I noticed that the name Peter N. also ran in that family. David Coble Sr. (father of David Jr. of the 33 children), had a brother named Peter. In fact, Peter was the oldest son of George Adam Coble (Gobel, Koeble) and Anna Margaretha Loeffel Coble, the German progenitors of this line. He lived in Rowan and Guilford counties and died about 1815. He was followed by several Grandsons, Great Grandsons, nephews and grandnephews named Peter N. Coble, and in at least 3 cases, the N translated out to be Nikolas or Nicholas. So, it was a good possibility that this little boy was named Peter Nicholas Coble, and the liklihood that his father, James Allison was a grandson of David Coble, Sr. is good gambling odds, and that they descended from old German George Koeble/Goble, is nearly a certainty.

Before I let go of the Cobles, there is one very evident error in that family tree that is sticking in my craw, and that error is in the person of Ephraim Coble. David Coble, Sr.(of the 7 children, not the 33), in his 1841 will, seemed to have a particlar fondness and closeness to his Grandson Ephraim. Ephraim is mentioned with frequency and was given the 307 acres of property that David, Sr. was currently living upon.

Ephraim was one of only two grandchildren that David mentioned. The other was Iphama Cagle. What did these two children have in common? Their mothers, daughters of David Sr., predeceased their father. Ephriam was the son Elizabeth Coble and Iphama Cagle was the daughter of James Cagle and wife, Abigail Coble Cagle. David had 3 sons, John, Jacob, and David. He had 4 daughters, Elizabeth, Abigail, Margaret "Grete" Coble Efird, and Mary Coble Huneycutt (in her fathers will, married to Levi Huneycutt at the time).

Now, Jacob Efird seems to have never married and does not mention having any children of his own in his will or otherwise. In the Abstracts of the Minutes of the Courts of Pleas and Quarter Sessions of STanly County 1841-1850, published by the Stanly County Genealogical Society, on page 7, we find this event that happened after the death of David Coble Sr., "Court of Pleas and Quarters Sessions at Nancy Hearnes near house of Eben Hearne 2nd Monday, 14 February 1842.........Jacob Coble was appointed guardian of Ephraim Coble, grandson of David Coble decd., gave bond of $1500, Henry Kimra, security.

My own personal estimation of what occurred was that after the death of Elizabeth Coble, between 1825, the birth of Ephraim and 1841, the death of David Sr., Elizabeth had died, probably closer to the former year, and her parents, David and Martha, had raised little Ephraim. Upon the death of David, when Ephraim was 15 or 16 years old, his Uncle Jacob became his guardian.

In 1853, Jacob Coble died at the age of 57 and his will was proved in 1854. In it, he leaves a slave girl named Suffronia, 8 or 9 years old, to his niece, 'Ithaney' Sides, "wife of George M. Sides", which is Ithama Cagle Sides, daughter of his deceased sister, Abigail Coble Cagle and James Cagle. She inherited in right of ther mother.

Next, he leaves a tract of land to Jerusha Hudson," a single woman", whom he refers to as his friend. Jerusha is a post of her own, and quite a coincidence to find mention of, as I have been researching the Hudsons on a different matter. It appears, though single, Jacob may have not been alone. He leaves the residual of his estate to his brothers, John and David Coble (Jr.) and his sister, Mary Huneycutt, (she dies an Efird), and to"my nephew Ephriam Coble son of Elizabeth Coble, deceased."

With minimal research, it's clear to see that Jacob Coble is Ephraims Coble's Uncle, not his Father, and that Elizabeth was Jacob's sister, not his wife. However, on Find-A-Grave, in Wiki-tree, and in numerous family trees, multiple folks have Jacob as Ephriams father. I just had to clear that one up. Unless of course, some family members have some knowledge of incest, -yuck-, which I highly doubt, I think they were grasping at straws trying to find a father for Ephraim. There are two scenarios for the father of  Ephraim, either Elizabeth being a Coble, married a Coble, and they both died young, and cousin marriages certaily occured with some frequency back then, or Ephraim was born out of wedlock, which also occurred with some frequency back then, which some disillusioned descendants are renitent to accept. "That didn't happen back then", well the truth of it is, it did.

In 1867, as the Executrix of her son's estate, we find Malinda/ Melinda as a Coble. In the 1870 census, we find her as a Bird/Byrd with her two daughters, Elizabeth and Hester (Hessa/Hessie) mistakenly nameds as Birds. So how did that happen? 

Remember old Charles Bird, who was 40 in the 1850 census, son of Andrew Bird, with whom James A. Coble had resided? It seems sometime between 1867 and 1870, Malinda Pless Coble, who would have been in her latter 30's, married Charles Byrd, who would have been in his latter 60's, but in the ragged years of the post-war 1860's and 1870's, husband material was hard to come by. One sees, not only these June - November weddings, but even May - December ones, as in the case of my second GrandAunt, Margaret Aldridge, who at 15 or 16, became the third wife of old Miller Easley, well into his 70's at the time. Or in the case of the widow of my 3rd Great Grandfather, Burwell Hudson, (stepmother to my 2nd Great-Grandmother, Caroline Hudson), Sarah, who married old John Norwood, she about 23 and he about 78.

Not only had Charles Byrd married the widow Coble, it appears he then promptly died, as she is alone and he is nowhere to be found in 1870. It brings to mind that 1992 movie with Madonna, Body of Evidence, where she portrays a woman accused of killing her aged husband by having sex with him.

Now, I am not suggesting that is how Charles Byrd/ Bird died...but you never know. We still have the mystery of how Malinda Pless gained her reputation as a witch.

Moving along, I must admit that I have not found a marriage license for Malinda Coble and Charles Byrd, but due to courthouse fires and loss of old records in general, one can't say that because something can't be located , that it didn't exist. So in coming to this conclusion, I had to rely on solid circumstantial evidence.

1) Between 1867, when Malinda was named as still a Coble in her son Peter's estate records, and in the 1870 census, when she is shown as a Byrd, her name changed, meaning she had married a Byrd, some Byrd. In the annuls of Stanly County history and Ghost Stories, she is known as Lynn Bird.

2) There were not a lot of Byrds in the area at that time that she could have married. Luckily she wasn't an Efird or a Burris or a Smith, or God forbid, a Honeycutt. John Byrd was only 30 and happily married to his wife, Elizabeth in 1870, with 3 little kids. Same with Martin and his wife Lovina, married with children and William and his wife, Mary A Byrd. Sarah Byrd, widow of Jackson, was living in Albemarle with her children. Several of the younger Byrd men had lost their lives in the Civil War and the older ones had died off. Then there was Charles.

3) Location, location, location, they were neighbors. They all lived on Cucumber creek on adjoining properties. But here's the clincher, Charles had gotten himself in debt. In 1854, he had mortgaged his property on Cumcuber Creek to Daniel Freeman. Malinda was wealthier than him, having inherited property from her father, her husband and her son. Which leads me to..

4) Later, and I will touch on this again, the description on Charles property, matches up with property that Malindas grandchildren will inherit in the 1890's. 

She had married Charles Byrd.

And now, back to Nancy Robets rendition of the legend.

The Charlotte Observer
Charlotte, North Carolina
10 May 1959, Sun  •  Page 24

Whether Betsy Hartsell and Dicey Morgan actaually saw a black cat dash up from a corner, a gust of ashy smoke, or a black shadow figure like the ones author Dean Koontz referred to as "Bodachs" in his Odd Thomas series, is all lost to history and most likely no more than spice, added for flourish to the telling. But old Lynn Bird lived, and she died, sometime between 1890 and 1900, and it is unknown where she was laid to rest, on the property or at the 'Big Lick Cemetery", where many of her descendants, including the children of  Hester, rest in peace.

But Stanly County citizens had fun at her expense for years to come.

Now, remember, Malinda Pless Coble Byrd had not only 2 daughters, she had 3. The last time we saw Sarah, she was a baby in the home of her Grandparents in 1850. Peter Pless left Sarah $50 in his will, so he evidentally cared about the little girl and what would happen to her. I'm not sure who raised Sarah after her grandfathers death, but she was not with her mother after Malinda's marriage to James Coble. She may have been bound out or bonded to another family, perhaps in another county, until she reached the age of majority. She's not to be found in 1860, before the war. But she is found in 1870, where she is living in  and working in Mecklenberg County. 

Ninteen year old Sarah is found in the Clear Creek Community, living with a fellow named Henry Morris. She had already given birth to her first child, Catherine, and she and Henry were doing more than living together. He was Catherine's father.

Clear Creek is the part of Mecklenburg County closest to Stanly, straight through the southwest part of Cabarrus, Midland area, and just over the Rocky River. Notice the point on the east side of Mecklenburg that looks like a thorn? The tip of that point is the only spot where Mecklenburg touches Stanly County, so Sarah hadn't gone too far.  

Of course, Charlotte is now spreading like a life-sucking cancer, but in those days, it was more of a city than a sprawling mass of  roads and retail, traffic and crime. The Post Office of Coburns's Store seems to have began as Cockburns's Store, operated by one Azariah Cockburn, and covered an area on the boreder of Union and Mecklenburg counties.

Henry Morris, son of Joe Morris and Mary Miller and Sarah Pless, daughter of Henry Pless and Malinda Pless, married the very next year on January 5.

Henry and Sarah, as typical of late 1800 and turn-of-the century families, had a large one. By 1880, they were up to 8. Catherine was actually older than John, however. If you remmeber, she was already born in 1870. the family lived in Morning Star, whic is probably the same spot they were in 1870, as this township still covers that eastern most part.

Sometime between 1890, when their last child, Columbus was born and 1900, Henry Morris must have died. Sarah, ak Sallie, is a widow living still in Morning Star with her youngest children. But Sarah wasn't through.

On July 4, 1904, the 55 year old widow, Sarah Morris, married George W. Gribble.

This copy shows that we have the right Sarah, daughter of Henry Pleas (Pless) and Malinda Coble (married name) and that George was the son of Jake Hutchinson and Synthia Gribble.

By 1910, old George, who was a pauper, ended up as an inmate at the Almshouse. I thought Sarah had died, since he is listed as a widower. However, while tracing her children, I am not so sure.

The children of Henty and Sarh Pless Moriris were typical of second and third generation descendants of freedmen, in that they migrated off the farms and to the industrial centers of America. Some traveled as far as New York, Detroit and Chicago, to better themselves and find work in the factories. Others gravitated to the tobacco and furnitutre factories of  Durham, High Point, and Winston-Salem. Roanoke and Danville, Virginia seemed to be a common destination, too.  

There is a Sarah Morris in Forsyth County the right age and status to be Sarah Pless Morris in 1910. She had 3 children living there at the time. If this was her, she died in 1916, and is buried at Brushy Fork Cemetery. 

 The 13 children of Henry Morris and Sarah Pless Morris (Gribble) were:

1869 Catherine L.

1870 John W. 

1871 Harriett A "Hattie"

1872 Mary Jane

1874 Henry

1875 Sarah E.

1877 Margaret L.

1880 Joseph W.

1881 Richard

1883 Samuel L.

1884 Ames H.

1886 Emma

1889 Columbus

Elizabeth Coble, the second daughter of Malinda Pless Coble and the oldest child of Malinda and James Coble, may have actually, Left Big Lick and never returned", as the article stated. Except it wasn't Hester she left with, but Sarah.

Lizzie Coble is working as a seamstress in  Charlotte and boarding with Elizabeth McConnell Pharr.  Elizabeth Pharr was from Mount Pleasnat. She very well could have known Elizabeth Coble. Was this our Elizabeth? The age is 5 years short, but that is not a rare thing. Women of this era often lied about their age and marital status to increase their social value and reputation. A widow held more respect than an Old Maid. As far as age, the younger, the better, when it came to community value. 

Elizabeth McConnnell Pharr died in 1904 and is buried at Elmwood Cemetery in Charlotte. I can find no other trace of Lizzie Coble, when she died or where she was buried. 

Hester, also seen as Hessa or Hessie, was the youngest child of Malinda and James Coble. She did marry the mysterious Bill Anderson, who was the 'victim' in the Ghost Story. They had one son, James Everette Adam Anderson.  Less than two years later, she would have a daughter by Big Lick reisdent, Enoch Morton, a married man. This child is seen alternately as Ivey, Iva, Ida or even, Emma, which may have been her middle name. 

Hester died in 1886 and left an estate record under the name of Hester Anderson. Hester was only 28 years old, her son Everette was 8 and her daughter, Ivey, was 6 when she died. My guts do not tell me that Hester was an evil woman, but a girl probably swept off her feet by a disreputable traveling man. Betsy Hartsell's tale had him as in his early 30's, but he would have been nearly 50 two years after he married her. The story haled him as a travleer, which makes sense, as he shows up in no permanent record in Stanly County, save his marriage license and in his son's records. 

The first page in Hesters's  estate files is called " Incomes of Everette and Ida Anderson for 1894". Their land, inherieted from tieir mother, was being rented during their childhood and cotton, oats, wheat and corn being grown upon it. It is clear in the estate records of Hester Coble, that her mother, Malinda Coble, outlived her. In fact, notes of provisions for Malinda Coble are noted up to 1890, meaning she was alive until at least then.

J. F. Green was applointed Guradian for Everette and Ivey, alothough the witch tale claimed Everette was raised by a John Tucker. It appears, however that J. F. Green only handled their legal affairs. It appears they actully lived with....Malinda. 

James Farrington Green, 1861-1916,. son of John and Wincy Coley Green, of Big Lick was the Guardian of Everette and Ivey Anderson. William Alfred Cagle, 1857-1933. son of David and Sarah Thomas Cagle, was the executor of Malinda Cobles's lost estate. . Neighbors, not relatives, not a Morgan or a Hartsell.

The children of Hester Coble Anderson grew up. Ivey married first, to Titus W. Coble, son of  David Coble Jr. of the 33 chidren. As her grandfather was a Coble, this marriage between Ivey and Titus may have been a cousin marriage, but they were not first cousins.

At the age of 17, Ivey, seen in her marriage license as "Eva", daughter of Enoch Morton and Hester Anderson, marries 28 year old  Titus Coble, son of David and Malinda Coble, Malinda, not being Ivey's grandmother , of course, but the third wife of Daivd Coble, Malinda Hinson Coble.

Her brother, Everette, had a mistake on his marriage license. First, he was Everette Adam, or E. A., not the other way around. Second, his parents were given as William Anderson and Malinda Byrd, except that, we know Malinda was his grandmother and Hester was his mother. Everette married Dahlia "Dallie" Lugenia Morton, daughter of Adam and Arwelder Hinson Morton. on December 15, 1901. He was 24 and Dallie was 18.

Dahlia Morton Anderson and her daughter, Annie

A year earlier, in 1900, he had being working for the Earl Lemuel Howard/Harward family. 

There were several, actually many, land reocrds invovling the Anderson and Coble families, together and separately. I've chosen to present a few of the most interesting. 

First, in Book 16 page 470 J. F. Greene, guardian of Everette and 'Ida" Anderson to W.A. Cagle Of Stanly, under a judgement of the Superior Court of Stanly County in the Special Proceedings....$160 to the highest bidder, a 60 acres plot adjoining John L Dry and others. 1886

Book 43 Page 82 : A certain tract or parcel of land on Cucumber Creek,. Lot No 2 in the Division of the  lands of Malinda Byrd, Decd' allotted to E. A. Anderson......to wit -planted stone..W. A. Cagle's line.. a corner of Lot No. 1, runs with line crossing Cucumber Creek .. 62 8/10 acres, between E.A. Anderson and Titus Coble and wife Iva. 

Book 48 Page 489: Dated spet. 5 1907 Between E.A. Coble and wife Dallie Anderson and I. R. Coble

"An agreement of division of equal tracts"

"this plat represents Lot No. 1 in the division of the lands of Malinda Byrd decd'. Begining at a stake in the old Monroe Rd. , runs with Andrew Huneycutt's line, ...a planted stone in  W.A Cagles's line, runs with the old line by a dogwood, Miss Hartsell's corner crossing the the public road , just across a branch...to a planted stone at the old Monroe Rd. ..46 1/10 acres. 

Everette and Dallie are later seen swapping lots in Furr City and the West Oakboro Development. Book 71 Page 135, E.A. and Dallie Anderson to Jonah Morton, Lot 136 Plat Book 1 Page 25, Town of Oakboro. Platt Book 2 P 8, Maude and  C. S. Furr to E. A. Anderson, being Lots 49 and 50 of the West Oakboro Development. These streets are now in the center of the town of Oakboro.

In 1910, Everette is shown as a farmer living along the Monroe Road, with his wife Dallie and their daughter Annie Belle.

The  Draft card for WWI describes him as stout and of medium build. He did not have to serve, as he was already past 40.

1920 finds the family living on Pine St.  in Oakboro, and Everette working as a Carpenter. He and Dallie now have a son, Billie Adam Anderson and thier daughter has grown up and moved on. 

1930 shows the family has returned to farming on Malinda's old property as they live right beside his sister and brother-in-law, Titus and Ivey Coble. Son, Billie, is still living with them. The family is sandwiched between familiar surnames with different Christian names: C. A. Teeter instead of George, Joel Hartsell instead of Jacob and Elizabeth., also Milton and Oscar Hartsell, nearby to Son McIntyre. McIntyre Row....

In 1940, Everette is a patient at the State Hospital for the Insane in Morganton, NC. He  died 4 years later of myocardititis at the age of 65. Everette was buried at the' Big Lick Cemetery', now Big Lick Baptist Church.

Dallie outlived Everette by 10 years. She died in 1954 and is buried at Smith's Grove. They had two children, Annie Belle and Billie Adam. In between those two were a few babies born early or stillborn and their death certificates remain. 

Ivey and Titus Coble are also living in Big Lick in 1900. At this time, just a few years into their marriage, Ivey is shown as the mother of 3 children, with none living. Infant mortality soared at this time. 

By 1910, their two oldest daughters were living with them, Bessie Belle and Emma Grace. The big age difference betwee Bessie and Emma suggests the possibility of a lot of lost infants. Also, Bessie was born before the marriage, and was not living with them in 1900. 

A little sleuthing revealed that Ivey was not Bessie Belle's mother. She was the daughter of Titus and a Catherine Poplin. In 1914, Belle Coble of Big Lick married Troy Bascom Honeycutt of Locust.

Titus and Ivey seem to have lived in the one sopt, the lands of Malinda Byrd, of James A. Coble, of Charles Byrd, their whole lives. Titus, being from a large family, may have been glad to have inherited something from Ivey's small one. 

Titus W. Coble

Titus and Ivey had 7 named children, but only six made it to adulthood: Bessie Bell, Emma Grace, Lydia Cozette, Charles Craig, Jack Rayvon, Frank, born in 1911, died as a child, and Horace James. 

After Ivey died in 1934, Titus remarried to Margie Inez Turner. She had one child by Titus, Phyllis, born the year he died in 1938.

Titus and Ivey are buried at Big Lick Baptist Church Cemetery. 

The real Lynn Bird was born Melinda Pless, the youngest daughter of Peter Pless and his wife, she married twice and was the mother of 4 children. What about her created the legend about her as a witch? Did she succomb to mental illness later in life? Was her behavior a result of social ostraziation?  Was she an outcast due to the birth of Sarah, a mixed-race child born of her affair with a slave before the Civil War? If so, it was not enough to cause men to not want to marry her. 

Melinda, or Linda, as she was known, was one of those women who did not exist, except that she did.