Cabarrus County, NC - Hagler Family History, Part 1

The following is not my line. But there is an interesting story here 
that should be told.

Charles Hagler was born circa 1793 and was one of the 5 sons of John
Hagler who was a cripple. Per John the cripple's will of 1808 he left 
his land to his wife Catherine Seitz (anglicized Sides) and after her 
death to three of his five sons at Haglers Ford on Rocky River in 
Cabarrus County. John died in 1811 and Catherine died in 1826. The land 
was divided in June of 1826. The sons who received the land were Charles, 
Leonard and Jacob Hagler. And each son received 140 acres of land 
valued at $350.00 each.

The two sons who were not left anything per the will of their father 
were John and Peter. They were already married and had received of
their father while he lived and they were well established.

Jacob Hagler and his wife Catherine both died without issue in
December 1825.

After the land of John was surveyed and allotted to each of the three 
sons the land of Jacob Hagler was resurveyed and divided among his 
brothers and sisters with each receiving 15 1/2 acres valued at 
$43.05 1/2. They were: Peter, Molly File, Charles, Barbara Long,
Leonard, Mary Anderson, Catherine Dry, Elizabeth and John Hagler.

Charles had married Sarah "Sally" Linker August 25, 1823. She was born
circa 1808 and was the daughter of Henrich Linker and Barbara Ehreinfried 
(anglicized Efird) and their family consisted of Allen, John R., Nelson, 
Paul H., Levi, Ephraim, Eliza Rinehart and Catherine Hagler.

For some unknown reason Charles became vastly indebted to his neighbors
one of whom was Thomas J. Shinn who lived on the other side of the river. 
He went to Charles in January 1846 and learned that Charles wanted to do 
the right thing. An indenture (legal document) was drawn up and Charles 
was given until October to plant and harvest another crop to pay off his 
creditors, but was unable. As per agreement, the land of Charles was sold 
in 1847 which put him in the unhappy state of being a tenant farmer. That 
land that Charles lost was along the east side of the Dutch Road (now 
called the South Mount Pleasant Road.)

Neither Nelson nor Paul was listed in the census of 1850. However, Paul
was the father of an illegitimate daughter who was born that year.
Neither Paul`s father nor the father of the girl who had the baby went 
to the courthouse to post the usual $500 bond to keep the county from 
being indemnified. Paul was born November 29, 1829 and thus had not become 
of age (21) when the baby was born.

This writer is of the opinion that Paul`s parents went to the parents of
the girl who had had the baby and apologized for their son's behavior and
offered a solution. They suggested that they would take the baby and raise 
her themselves. And the mother of the child could go away to livewith 
relatives, be courted and married without anyone having to know she had 
had a baby.

Nelson Hagler was born October 3, 1825. He went to the California gold
rush in 1853 and his brother Paul H. Hagler went with him. According to 
the Saturday July 26, 1856 "Concord Weekly Gazette" Nelson Hagler, R.B. 
Klutts and William Castles arrived back home the previous Saturday night 
"direct from the Land of Gold." It is further reported that they had been
very fortunate and that the county was largely represented in the "El 
Dorado of The West."

Paul Hartwell Hagler married Elizabeth Susan Ferguson September 16, 1856
at Yuba City, Yuba County, CA. Elizabeth was born April 15, 1840 in Indiana
and was the daughter of Mr. and Mrs. William W. Ferguson who were
originally from Guilford County, NC.

There is an indenture dated January 15, 1857 at the Cabarrus County
Courthouse between Paul H. Hagler of California and Charles and his wife 
Sarah that in part states: "for and in consideration ofnatural love and 
affection and for the further consideration of $1.00" Paul restored the 
land at Haglers Ford back to his parents. The document went on to state 
that after Charles and Sarah the land was to go to his brothers who were 
named and his sister Eliza who was the wife of William Rinehart and their 
heirs in fee simple forever. Catherine was not named as she was mentally 
defective and as such would likely be unable to inherit property.

When Nelson returned home from the California gold rush he likely told
everyone all about his experiences and all that he saw. And there was his
16 year old brother Levi who "soaked it all up like a sponge."

Apparently Paul learned in 1858 or 1859 that Levi was getting ready to
seek his fortune in California. So Paul wrote home to tell Levi to bring 
his daughter, Martha Jane with him.

Per the 1860 Colusa County, CA. census, 10 year old Martha Jane was 
living in the home of her father, step-mother and their family.

Per the 1860 Yuba County, CA. census 19 year old Levi Hagler was a gold
miner who was sharing a three man tent. It is obvious that he had not 
been there long as his personal estate was listed as only $100.

Eventually, Paul`s in-laws relocated to Healdsburg, Sonoma County, CA. 
and Paul Hartwell Hagler relocated his family to that same county
where he made land purchases in the area of Geyersville in1860 and in 
1862. One night Paul stepped outside barefooted to see what his dogs 
were barking at and he was bitten by a rabid skunk. He died a horrible 
death from hydophobia August 22, 1879. Four months later Elizabeth gave 
birth to their eleventh child.

According to the obituary of Elizabeth S. Hagler she died at the home 
of a daughter in Tulare, CA. on September 4, 1929. She with her parents 
Mr. and Mrs. W.W. Ferguson joined a wagon train at Oskaloosa, Iowa in 
April 1849 not knowing what lay ahead. They journeyed west with great
hardships. Finally with help from Sutter`s Fort on the western side of 
the Sierra Nevada mountains they reached the area that became Marysville, 
CA. on November 20, 1849. After the death of her husband Paul H. Hagler 
in 1879 she held her family together at great personal sacrifice until 
each reached their majority.

For additional information concerning the family of W.W. Ferguson the
writer refers the reader to http://www.patch.net/misc/wwf.html    
".......at Ohio Flat (A ghost town not far from Yuba City)....Here they 
took up claims and panned for gold. They built and ran a boarding house. 
It was one of the very first of it's kind at the mines.

The lumber for this house was hauled out and sawed bythe "HAGLER BROTHERS."

The writer has been unable to determine what exactly happened to Levi
Hagler. There is no news of his death and therefore it is assumed he died 
from natural causes. Levi died in 1865 and was buried in the Beeson family 
cemetery, near Healdsburg in Sonoma County, CA. (The Beesons were originally 
from Guilford County.)

It seems intersting that Silas M. Shinn (brother of Thomas J. Shinn, Sr.)
was from that part of Montgomery County that is now Stanly County, NC. and 
that at an early age he settled in Arkansas for several years before 
relocating to Sonoma County, CA. at the same time that the Beesons, 
Fergusons and Haglers were there from North Carolina.

This past spring I had the good fortune to become acquainted with Anna
Hagler Melvin of Harrisburg, Cabarrus County, NC. She is a great granddaughter 
of Nelson Hagler and it was from her that I got a Xerox copy of a letter dated 
February 3, 1867. It was from Martha Jane H. McPherson of Healdsburg, Sonoma 
County, CA. to her uncle Nelson Hagler of Cabarrus County, NC. That letter is 
what prompted me to write this article.

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This file was contributed for use in the USGenWeb Archives by
John Blair Hagler - johnblair69@msn.com
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