Mitchell County, NC – Bad Creek Stories ~~~~~~~~~~ Here are a few of my stories collected from the Bad Creek area about the Garlands and Stanley's. Bad Creek, From Whence Does Thy Name Cometh? No, "Bad Creek' is not a furious fast, moving creek that can suddenly pull you under and take your last breath away. It has no dangerous water falls. It is a stream located in Mitchell Country, North Carolina, (near Red Hill) and is, in fact, so small a healthy rabbit could leap it with one hop and it would not even be a challenge for two daring and robust 8 year old boys to leap over it. In places even a handicap one like myself, with a bad knee can step over it and only barely get my feet wet. It would be interesting to know how Bad Creek got its name. Perhaps it was a name that just evolved with time. One old timer shared that long ago in the yesteryears of his great grandpa's days something in heaven made the angels so upset that they cried for days and the gully washers rains came pushing through the valleys of Mitchell County and flooding the low lands, and yes, one man was said to have been washed away and lost forever and he was said to have lived up the hollow where Bad Creek was located now. But the old critter would not go so far as to say, that from that day forward it as called Bad Creek, noting "Those angel seem to have a lot of down days and wash a lot of hollows out here in these mountains." Another told me that the top soil was washed away so much that for years they could hardly grow anything. Being a collector of oral tradition, I reckoned surely, with a name like "Bad Creek" there is a good story. What I found instead was many stories and each person that shared a story with me believed his or her story was the reason it was called Bad Creek. Many of the stories were primarily about the same but varied slightly in the telling. I have come to the conclusion that just as a boy is not called bad with one misgiving deed, this place earned its name with one story, and then another, another and another. Perhaps you can add another story to the list, but here are the ones that my Pa Glen Francis and others relatives have shared with me. The Bad Thing That Almost Happened. There is a reason Lithia (Garland) Stanley never forgot the "bad" thing that "almost" happened on Bad Creek. It appears Brother Death came for her that day and she locked him out and he had to wait almost fifty years to find her again. Perhaps this story lives on as one of our favorites about Bad Creek for in the telling of it we too, hope we can extend life and shut the door in Brother Death's face a few times before he finally wins the game of live vs death in the end. Old Man Winter was in the middle of his season. His ego was in full focus, sprinkling snow all night long, leaving behind 8 to 12 inches depending on the teller of tales. Lithia awoke to a big white quilt that had covered the ground. It would have been nice to have stayed snuggled under her warm quilt covering her body, but the family needed milk for the nourishment of their bodies. If she skipped the milking this morning there would be less milk the next time, and the poor cow's breast would ache like her own, sometimes did when she too, was delayed with the feeding of her child. Determined now, with compassion and a cause, she decided, the best she could, to try to clear a path to the log barn. Finally she arrived. Like a sharp knife, the wind was brisk and cutting. It was cold, her breath almost turning to ice cycles hanging in mid air. Normally, she would never close the barn door while she milked but this time she quickly, closed the barn door to shut out the cold as much as possible and proceeded to milk. Her fingers were numb. She hated to touch them to the cow's skin, however, for her sake the warm nipples and milk felt good to her fingers. Finally, her bucket was nearly full when she heard her name in a frightful voice being called. "Litha, Litha, Lithaaaaaaaa! Are you okay? Are you alive?" She walked to the barn door and opened it. There stood her Rickles Stanley, her father-in-law, in great alarm and concern. "Aaaa, Thank God, Thank God! You are still alive this morning." "Look. Litha, Look!" he shouted, pointing with his cane to the footprints in the snow. "The biggest panther that this county side has ever seen has trailed you from the house to this door...and only moments ago." It was a wise thing that Lithia had shut the barn door. She had closed out more than just the cold of the morning. It appears she had closed the door in the face of Brother Death and he would have to wait almost fifty years before he called again. This time he came one warm spring morning, April 17, 1881, and since he was not so tragic in his calling, and also, after living 83 good years, she did not close the door in his face. She pulled back the covers from her snug and warm bed, and went peacefully with him. Family oral tradition passed this story down from Lithia Garland. (Some times called Litha or the D is dropped and replaced with a T and she is called Telithia.) Her full name was Nancy Delithia Garland and she was born in 1792. This is her story passed down by oral tradition varies some from person to person, but is basically the same. The story is about Lithia and her father-in-law, Rickles Stanley (born about 1776). Lithia died in Stanley Creek, Fannin County, Georgia. The family left Bad Creek, N.C. in 1842, (what is now Mitchell Co., N.C.) relocating in Georgia where her father-in-law helped found Morganton town named after a town in Burke County, N.C. Lithia loved to tell her grandchildren the story about the time she lived on Bad Creek, N.C., when a bad thing almost happened. Now, over 150 years later, the story is still being told to our grand children and loved as much as ever, even by the adults who trust they too will get a chance to shut the door in the face of Brother Death. +++++ It appears another Garland got a chance to shut the door in Brother Death's face a well. Sarah Garland married Lithia's brother, David Garland. Sarah was also a first cousin to David Garland & Delithia. Sarah is remembered as a strong women being afraid of nothing and as the cousin, aunt and grandmother that all of the family treasured the most because she had a way of looking at the "bad" things in a positive or funny way and facing them without fear. Here is her story. Bad Creek - Panther Haven "Don't go in the wild or stray far from the house without a gun if you live in the wilds of Red Hill but especially if you live on Bad Creek!" Folks knew that warning well. Bad Creek was the home for the wild mountain lions called panthers. They were strong, large wild cats with big claws and sharp teeth. Like the house cat with it shinny black hair, they were a beautiful sight to look at in the distance but you did not want to get close to one. Also like the house cat, they could sit for long periods of time in perfect stillness and wait for the most unexpected moment to pounce upon their prey. The prey never had a chance for they knew not that the cat was even around and there begins our story. Forget milking in the barn on a sunny day. Sarah only used the barn on cold or rainy day. Ole Betsy, the cow, liked it better in the cool of the shade, too. It was not only dark and gloomy, but on a warm day quite stuffy and hot in the old log barn. Outside she could eat green grass while Sarah milked or even better, just chew her cud and dream in her tranquil, meditate and peaceful way. It worked well for Sarah too for she could keep an eye on her children at play while she tied Ole Betsy under the tree and milked her. Ole Betsy and Sarah liked each other as much a animal creature and a human could mold in spirit and likeness. Betsy was a gentle cow that even a child could milk and she gave a good measure of milk for an old heifer, as well. Sarah was a positive, upbeat young lady that everyone liked. As Ole Betsy chewed her cud, Sarah hummed and sang a soft lullaby as her fingers milked in rhyme to the music of her song. Perhaps she made up her own song and was singing to Ole Betsy. "You are my sunshine, Ole Betsy gal, You made me happy every day, With your milk for my little ones, So don't you go a take my love away. You make me happy Ole Betsy gal, You bring joy in simple ways, You're my pal, Ole Betsy gal. I thank the Lord each day for you. You are my sunshine. You are my sunshine. And I am glad that you are mine. Now, from a distance it was a perfect picture for the artist canvas. It was also the delight of a father and husband's heart. Children off in the distance playing, knowing mother was near by and Daddy coming down the path on his horse at the end of a day's work. Mother and Ole Betsy both in heaven, yet neither had even died, they just created heaven with their gentle happy personalities for each other and all those that loved them. As David Garland slowly galloped down the path, he heard his children playing in the distance and heard the sweet soft voice of his wife singing. Then he saw his sweet love and old gentle Betsy as he rounded the curve toward the house, and he smiled with joy. However, his heavenly picture turned bad. He suddenly pulled the reins on the horse's bridle to a stop her, and tied her to a tree. "Think quick! he said to himself. 'God help me what do I do? If I shout for her to run she might not hear me from this distance or she might panic, scream and then his happy world would all be over. She would be the first to get hurt and then perhaps even one of the children or more. He had but one choice and he had only one try. To miss would bring on the attack for sure. "Oh, God this time, just this one time, please, oh please let me hit the target." He aimed. He shot. Out of the tree it came from over her head. Had he hit it or was it pouncing. He ran to her. She was alive. She was well. Great! The panther was dead! "Thank you God." He pulled her in his arms with love and gratitude. One might have thought she would have cried and trembled in fear, but not strong Sarah. Instead, she hugged him back and then with a voice of nervous laughter remarked, "Well honey, what were you trying to do scare the life out me?" And this was not the first time Sarah had stood strong in the face of fear. Once she was doing the daily chores of a housewife, hanging clothes on the line, shaking the dust from the rugs when suddenly a panther leaped from the bushes and made a run for her. She did not turn toward the house and try to outrun him, instead, she took her batten stick that she used to beat the dust from the rugs and she gave the panther a good whack or two and it was he that turned and to run away. David was proud of Sarah's bravery but even prouder that she was his wife. The bad thing that had almost happened, had not. Brother Death had lost this game, too. +++++ Weddings, Weddings and More Weddings on Bad Creek Rickles Stanley raised his family clan in one mountain bend and William Gutridge Garland had his family clan not far away. Each had a bunch of children that had shed their "kid's skins" and were hankering to go off, fall in love, seek their fortunes, and raise a few kids of their own. The families had a little chapel, sandwiched there between them. Who played cupid is not certain but what is certain is that five Garlands from one house married five Stanley's from a second house just around the bend. At first, it seemed wonderful that the children and grandchildren would fill this little church all the fuller on Sunday mornings, and things would get better and better on Bad Creek, perhaps so good they would need to find a new name for Bad Creek. Abe Lincoln, was the United States president. A few years before when he was only 17 he had traveled down the Mississippi River and saw a black man tied to a tree. A white man was beating him until the blood oozed from his back and dripped in big drops. "What did he do?" asked Abe, believing he must have done some great crime. "Aaa, he tried to run away, that's what. You see, that farmer paid big money for him last week but didn't want his wife and children so someone else bought them. So, this black guy from Africa ran away this week to find them, however the farmer found him and brought him back." Abe was almost a grown man but this sad story brought a lump to his throat and moisture to his eyes. He declared if he ever got a chance he would put a stop to man kidnapping his own kind and feeling no guilt because they were of a different color and then selling them to a third person for personal gain. Abe would get his chance to change things. He would become the United States 16th president. The South and the North would divide over this issue and the South would threaten to leave the union if they had to give up their slaves. As a result the Civil War broke out. Tennessee and certain areas of North Carolina were on the border line of division. The Garlands and the Stanley's would divide as well. Yet, here they were ten children stitched together by blood, marriage family and community, five Garlands married to five Stanley's all from two families and dozens of grandchildren who loved to play with one another, but the right and wrong of slavery versed the need for working hands to help with labor on the farms, and hard earned money that had purchased these kidnapped slaves. Even the preachers disagreed over this issue but in most cases it was dangerous to even voice you opinions. Part of them would go off to fight with one side, some another, and few whose feelings were so confused and mixed up that they did not want to take either side and would not go fight. The Confederate Home Guard disliked those who refused to take a side as mush as those who fought against them. Uncle Elisha Stanley was rocking his infant son, Buell, when the Confederate Home Guard arrived. They shot him in the head as he was holding the sleeping child. Making their rounds the CHG visited another Garland home and shot a second Elisha Stanley, (the nephew of Uncle Elisaha) in the leg and left him to die, fortunately he would recover and live to an old man. The CHG proceeded to the bedroom to steal the blankets off the bed. Talitha Stanley had made these blankets and she was not letting them go. She protested and tried to fight them off but was hit in the ear with a gun and was deaf in that ear for life. And finally, at yet another Stanley/Hughes home the husband is tied to a tree and shot by the CHG. The war would finally come to an end and when it appeared that bad times would as well, things got worse. It was election time. The Garlands and Stanley's went to vote at the Election Ground at the junction of Big Rock Creek and Bean Creek. Two Stanley brothers had stopped for a drink of strong mountain brew and were a little high when they started singing a Union song about "flies in the Rebel camp as big as any cat". This song offended the Garland brothers and a big fist fight broke out, then stones flew and finally out came a knife and Brownlow Stanley was cut up in pieces to almost the point of death. The problems would linger in court for months until finally at least some of the Stanley's and Garlands found Bad Creek had too many bad things that appeared to happen on and on and on, and so Swinfield Stanley sold his land on Bad Creek and moved to Georgia with his wife and children on another creek, this time called Stanley Creek where his father Rickles Stanley had already settled a few years before. +++++ Author's Note: This story finds roots through my Grandmother Mary Francis who's father was Garrett Street before her marriage to Glen Francis (note too that Glen's mother, Rebecca, was a sister to Garrett from this same family). The Streets married Garlands and last of all 5 Garlands married 5 Stanley's, and from these two families, are the seedlings from which these stories unfold. Wow, now that is a lot of double first cousins! Perhaps you can double the stories. Do you know more stories from Bad Creek or the Red Hill area or, perhaps even some from the new location Stanley Creek, in Georgia or perhaps you have some historical pictures of the people in these stories? If so, please contact the author at TheFrancisRoots@wmconnect.com Tiger Francis Copyright: 2006 ______________________________________________________________________ Copyright. All rights reserved. http://www.usgwarchives.net/copyright.htm This file was contributed for use in the USGenWeb Archives by Linda Francis - TheFrancisRoots@wmconnect.com ______________________________________________________________________