Cabarrus County, NC - Hagler Family History, Part 2

I found that my 4th great grandfather Hägler was a German speaking Swiss
and the first record I have of him in America was in 1749. Philadelphia 
was as you know the largest port in America at that time and thousands 
were fleeing western Europe because there was little hope for a good life 
after The Hundred Years War and The Thirty Years War. There are records 
extant of the people who came in thru that port but I have never been able 
to find my Johannes (John) even using multiple spellings.

Charleston was the second largest port but that city was burned during 
the so called Civil War and there went the records of those who disembarked 
there.

I found an order to survey land for John in 1749 in the territory of 
the friendly Catawba Indians in what later became the "up state" area of 
South Carolina. But in 1749 the dividing line between North and South Carolina 
had not been surveyed. Consequently, as people began to settle along the 
then frontier they and the Colonial Governor thought they were settling in 
Anson County, North Carolina which technically extended westward to the 
Pacific.

In the early days of settlement the English did not call the Indian
chiefs, Chief. They called them Kings and that might be because their 
Indian name was often difficult to pronounce. There is no record in the 
Colonial Records how or why the Catawba Chief took the name King Hagler. 
But that is a fact that he did. And the Colonial Records of both North and 
South Carolina have considerable information about him and his efforts to 
keep the peace between the Indians and the white settlers.

South Carolina did things differently than North Carolina. Deeds and 
such were not kept at the county or district but were sent to Charleston for 
filing. Since the city of Charleston was burned few records exist prior to 
1865.

I am aware who John Hagler`s next door neighbor was and there is an 
extant record of his neighbor leaving his 450 acres of land to two sons 
including  the property that was obtained from John Hagler.

The next record I found for him was in 1752 when he was having land
surveyed for a Granville grant "on the north side of the north fork of the 
south fork of the Catawba River." Where the Henry River joins the Jacobs 
River they then become the south fork of the Catawba. Therefore, John`s 
land was on the north side of present Henry River in the area south of the 
community of Hickory in Catawba County. And that was in the territory of 
the fierce Cherokee Indians.

John was married at least twice as he had two distinct sets of 
children with one set being much older than the other. The name of the 
mother of the first set is not known. The mother of the second set had a 
given name of Barbara.

I don't know whether you know it or not but the first names of the
German/Swiss females were never used except in conjunction with religious 
activities. In day to day activites they used their second name. No one 
knows Barbara`s first name or her maiden surname. She and John were 
obviously married by Banns as there were no Lutheran pastors in the area 
until 1773. The only name I know is simply Barbara and she was my direct 
line fourth great grandmother.

It is likely John's first wife was killed by the Cherokee just about 
the time of the beginnings of the French and Indian War. And there is 
considerable documentation of the settlers fleeing from where they had 
been to a more populated area for mutual protection. The next time I find 
him was in 1758 when he tried to sign in English script a receipt for the 
Sheriff of Rowan County. He had been paid a sum of money for having made 
"two pair of Iron Bolts" for the Salisbury goal (old spelling of jail) and 
the Sheriff had to give an account for the moneys he was intrusted with.

At first I thought a pair of bolts were hinges, but later I found in 
the Colonial Records that a pair of bolts were the cuff-links and leg irons 
for the criminals.

There is no record of John receiving the Granville Grant and there is 
no record of his obtaining a deed to land in or around Rowan County until 
1765.

Governor Arthur Dobbs took a trip from the then capitol which was on 
the coast to the Carolina backcountry. He saw that a large number of families 
had journeyed down The Great Wagon Road that commenced at Philadelphia. 
The reason for their migrating south was because land was very expensive 
or non existant in Pennsylvania and they had heard that good land was 
cheap in the Carolinas. Dobbs saw an opportunity to make some extra money 
so he purchased two 100,000 acre tracts to sell to the new arrivals. (A 
100,000 acre tract is 12.5 x 12.5 square miles.)

John was deeded 255 acres of land on the east side of Dutch Buffalo 
Creek in what was Mecklenburg County in 1765 (that in 1792 became Cabarrus 
County) by the agents of Governor Dobbs.

Back up a bit - Governor Dobbs sent Captain Hugh Waddell to the
backcountry to erect a fort for the protection of the inhabitants from the 
Cherokee in early 1750's. The fort was built just north of I-40 where you 
turn off to go south into present Statesville or north to Harmony. It was 
likely at that time was when John first got to know Waddell who later 
became quite famous as an Indian fighter. Everyone knew about him! 
Evenutally he obtained a 700 acre tract immediately east and south of 
Salisbury and that was not far from where John got his deed for land in 
1765.

The court officials, Sheriff and his men were appointed by the Governor. 
They began to charge extra high fees for their services and the people 
filed a petition to the Governor for relief, but it did no good for he was 
"in on the take." Things got so bad that the men in the Carolina 
backcountry took up arms against the officials. Waddell, who by this time 
had been promoted to General of the backcountry militia, was sent to 
enlist men and to meet the Governor and his forces near Hillsborough 
(present Hillsboro) by a given date to put down the rebellion.

There is an extant record of how many men Waddell was able to persuade 
to fight against fellow countrymen and there were 285 men and officers 
enlisted from Mecklenburg County. The record does not name the men - just 
the fact of how many from each of the backcountry counties that by 1771 
had been established. Waddell's forces were a day late because the Yadkin 
River had been running high. By the time they got to where the Governers 
forces were the Battle of The Alamance had been fought the day before. The 
backcountry men called themselves Regulators and the Regulator War was 
fought near Alamance Creek - hence the name. The Regulators were out 
gunned by a superior well trained force and were defeated and scattered.

Four or five of the ringleaders of the Regulators were captured and 
hung.

The Govenor offered pardon to each man who would come forth, surrender 
and swear allegiance and more than 6000 did just that.

Thirteen days after the battle John Hagler had his will made in Salisbury
where he was well known and the will was then sent to Charlotte for filing 
as John lived in Mecklenburg County. I expect he was afraid what might 
happen if he went to Charlotte to have his will made there. Charlotte was 
heavily populated by Scotch-Irish and just a few years later the British 
during the American Revolution called Charlotte a "hornets nest." At any 
rate, he informs us, per his will, that he had been involved in putting 
down the riots and rebellion by those who called themselves Regulators and 
it is reported that he was in excellant health and sound mind.....the will 
was written May 26, 1771 and John was dead before May 1772.

I am of the opinion the reason why my fourth great grandfather joined 
the force of General Hugh Waddell was because they had been friends 
every since Waddell built Fort Dobbs on the Carolina frontier. They had 
known each other for at least twenty years and John had respect for him.

John left his land to his wife but in the event she died or remarried 
the land was to be divided among all his heirs and Barbara was named as a 
co-executor with the other being "my loving friend" John Paul Barringer. 
In March 1776 Barbara remarried to the widower Phillip Earnhardt and 
that's how I became around about kin to the famous race car driver, Dale.

The records of the estate sale of John Hagler is extant. It shows who
purchased what and the amount paid. One of the items listed was a 
"cutlass." Another name for cutlass is sword. In Colonial times the way 
that men could tell who their officers were in battle was by their holding 
or wearing swords.

I strongly am of the opinion that John died from a heart attack being
brought on by worry what might happen to himself by his neighbors who were 
sympathetic to the Regulator movement. I am further of the opinion that he 
realized too late that he had been on the wrong side and those were some 
of the same reasons that the American Revolution was fought.

I am a preachers kid and therefore did not have opportunity to grow up
among my kith and kin.

My grandfather was born and raised in eastern Mecklenburg County. He met
and married my grandmother in Concord, Cabarrus County in 1907 and my 
father was born there in 1908. My great grandmother was a Shelton who was 
a widow living in Davie County who moved in 1899 to Concord. She opened a 
boarding house for "mill hands" preparing their meals, packing their 
lunches, washing and mending their clothes as a means of an income for 
herself and seven children who also worked while children in the cotton 
mill.

That great grandmother was introduced by James Furr, who was a school
teacher, to his father who was a widower. One thing led to another as they 
often do and in 1909 she and Adam Furr were married and she relocated down 
on Rocky River to his farm. Until I got into doing genealogy and 
historical research no one in our family knew that the land of Adam Furr 
was origially Hagler land.

I have never lived in Cabarrus County but claim it as home country. And I
am a member of that counties genealogical society. I have never been to 
any of their monthly meetings as it's a good two hour drive from here in 
Raleigh to Concord. But I contribute articles of my research to the editor 
of the Golden Nugget which is our award winning journal. The reason it's 
called The Golden Nugget is because it was on the farm of John Reed in 
Cabarrus County that the first gold was discovered in America. And 
considerable gold was mined in the area - so much so that the government 
established a Mint in Charlotte. In excess of $10,000,000 of gold was 
mined in the county and that was back when it brought only $12 an ounce 
(now being sold in the neighborhood of $600 an ounce.)

______________________________________________________________________

Copyright. All rights reserved.
http://www.usgwarchives.net/copyright.htm

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