Cabarrus County, NC - Hagler Family History, Part 3 COUSINS OF A PRESIDENT Every family has a heritage which should be discovered and preserved for future generations. Some of you may not be aware that Union County, NC was established in 1842 from Anson and a small sliver of Mecklenburg County. Anson was formed from Bladen in 1750 and the Anson courthouse fire of 1868 destroyed many of the earlier records. Mecklenburg was established from Anson County in 1762. This writer is not a descendant of the subjects of this sketch. However, we are all related as we are descendants of John Hagler who was our immigrant ancestor. The earliest that I have documentation for him is when he was having land surveyed in 1749 in what is now the "up state" area of present South Carolina. I shall refer to this John as ol' John or John l. Ol' John had a son named John who was a cripple and he had a son named John who in April 1795 married Mary "Polly" Love in Cabarrus County and they were the parents of John Hagler, Jr. (while his father lived), a.k.a. John Hagler, Sr. (after the death of his father), a.k.a. John E. Hagler, Jr., a.k.a. "Sober John" because after the death of his first wife he was seldom seen sober. In order to keep all these John's straight Ol' John is John l, John who was a cripple is John ll, his son John is designated as John lll and "Sober John" is John lV. Elizabeth and John Polk of present Union County were the parents of Thomas born in 1787, moved to Tennessee and married a Farabee; John Polk, Jr. was born 1794 and relocated to Tennessee where he died in 1836; Martha Polk`s date of birth, marriage and death is unknown but she was the first wife of John lV who was born in 1797; Margaret Polk was born in 1797 and she was the third wife of Peter Hagler who was born in 1773 and he was a son of John ll. Margaret and Peter were married in 1820. Apparently, Elizabeth and John Polk were the parents of other daughters as yet unknown to this writer. Peter and Margaret P. Hagler were the parents of Hiram Wilson born in 1822 who died in 1864 in the so called "Civil" War. He married Rosanna Rushing in 1848. She was born in 1825 and died in 1907. Rosanna was the daughter of John Rushing and Cathy Tarlton. Hiram and Rosanna were the parents of: Marcus Culpepper, Melton Culwell, Joseph Northlet, Mary Catherine, Reason Needham, Hiram Ingram and William Marshall Hagler. It appears obvious that Margaret was a pretty lady as the records reflect that Peter was literally burned up with jealousy and accused her of having their children by someone else. In early December 1835, two of Peter's sons by his previous marriage were the chain bearers for a surveyor who was surveying a hundred acre tract of land for a State Grant that Peter had applied for. Something drastic happened in mid month because Peter suddenly sold his 715 acre plantation and grist mill for $1000 to Concord lawyer Andrew Hartsell. Peter's land lay immediately west of Crooked Creek where it empties into Rocky River and his mill was a short distance upstream from the creek as was his house which stood on a bluff overlooking the river about a hundred yards downstream from his mill. Peter abandoned Margaret and their three little children and with the children by his previous marriages relocated to southern Alabama. Margaret was deeded land by her father and this writer is certain he also provided livestock and other things necessary for the support of herself and his three infant grandchildren. Ol' Mr. John Polk died in 1846. His son Thomas sued Margaret in an effort to have her 150 acres of land sold. The proceeds from such a sale would be added to the money from their father's estate sale and divided among all his heirs. The court however ruled that she, her husband (Peter) and their three children would be excluded as heirs because her father during his lifetime had been very generous to them. Marcus Austin, a Justice of the Court was appointed to Administer the estate settlement of John Polk and he was required to post a $15,000 bond. In addition to a large tract of land John owned 19 slaves. John Long, per the January 1847 term of the Union County Court of Pleas and Quarter Sessions was appointed guardian of James G., John J., Darling M. and Beedy E. Hagler. At the time they had not become of age and in the "eyes" of the court were considered to be "infants." Each one had inherited 1/9th of a share of their grandfather Polk`s estate. Apparently, the court felt someone other than John E. Hagler a.k.a. "Sober John" should be held accountable for the financial and legal interest of his children feeling he might drink up their inheritance. (Among items that "Sober John" purchased at his father-in-laws estate sale was his liquor still.) It seems apparent that John Polk's wife and their daughter Martha P. Hagler had preceded him in death as they were not mentioned in his estate settlement. It also seems apparent that there were other children of ol' Mr. John as William Blackmon, C.C. Love, Sr. and Benjamin Shinn of North Carolina each received 1/9th of a share of his estate. Other known grandchildren who were heirs were Elizabeth Farabee Polk and Thomas Polk, Jr. of Tennessee. The writer did not find James G. Hagler in the census of 1850. He had become of age and apparently was off visiting somewhere. John J. Hagler was 23 years old, married to a Margaret age 23 and they were the parents of Milus, age 1. Darling M. Hagler was age 19 and living in the home of his uncle Charles Hagler. Beedy E. Hagler was age 15 living in the home of Reason T. Rushing and wife Martha. (Martha may have been a sister of Beedy's!) This writer is 99% sure that Reason T. Rushing was a brother of Rosanna R. Hagler. Per the 1860 census of Union County, NC: John "Sober John" Hagler was 68 years old. His wife was an Elizabeth age 38 (some have suggested her maiden surname was Carriker) and they were the parents of Adelphia M. age 9, Nancy J. age 7 and George Washington age 4. Our ancestors of this time period did not HAVE to keep up with their ages as we do today. It is interesting for instance that Margaret (mother of Hiram) made her home with her daughter-in-law and according to the 1870 census was listed as being age 98. (She may have felt she was that age while in fact she was about 73.) Margaret filed for divorce from Peter. Shortly after arriving in Alabama Peter obtained a paramour in the person of Sarah "Sally" Cooley. Peter died in 1852. His will in part states that Margaret was his "first" wife to whom he left $20 that she could divide with her illegitmate children. The will went on to state that Sarah was his beloved wife. (If Peter in fact married Sarah Cooley he was a bigamist for he and Margaret were never legally divorced. Hiram Hagler was a husband and the father of 7 children. His Confederate records indicate he was a conscript (drafted) into the army. In a skirmish near Silver Springs, MD. he was shot with the bullet passing clear thru his upper torso. He was of course captured and wound up at Lincoln General Hospital in Washington, D.C. His wound was dressed with a "simple dressing." He died as a result of gangrene and his body was hauled across the Potomic River and dumpted in a mass grave with over a hundred others from North Carolina. After the war, during the horrible period of "Reconstruction" the Federal order was that all Confederates buried on Federal property had to be removed. The ladies of Raleigh assisted by some old men and young boys went to what is now Arlington National Cemetery and dug up the rotting corpses and placed what remains that could be found and returned them to the Old North State where they were reburied in the Raleigh Confederate Cemetery. Sons of Confederate Veterans (including the writer) paid for and erected a monument as a memorial to The Arlington Dead and on it are the names, company and regiment of each soldier including Hiram Hagler. And not far away is the grave of Darling M. Hagler who was removed from the battle fields of Virginia and transported to a hospital here in Raleigh where he died of pneumonia. Darling Hagler's brothers James and John served the Confederacy in Company C, 10th Battalion Heavy Artillery at Fort Fisher. Margaret and Martha Polk Hagler were second cousins of President James K. Polk. It is this writers hope that what he has researched will be of interest to all who read it. ______________________________________________________________________ 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 ______________________________________________________________________