WATAUGA COUNTY, NC - HISTORY - A History of Watauga County, North Carolina Sketches of Prominent Families, Part 1 ==================================================================== USGENWEB NOTICE: In keeping with our policy of providing free information on the Internet, data may be used by non-commercial entities, as long as this message remains on all copied material. These electronic pages may NOT be reproduced in any format for profit or for presentation by other persons or organizations. Persons or organizations desiring to use this material for purposes other than stated above must obtain the written consent of the file contributor. The submitter has given permission to the USGenWeb Archives to store the file permanently for free access. This file was contributed for use in the USGenWeb Archives by: Sharon Williamson ==================================================================== A History of Watauga County, North Carolina John Preston Arthur Sketches of Prominent Families NOTE: These family histories are from the last 75 pages of A History of Watauga County, North Carolina, with sketches of prominent families by John Preston Arthur, Copyright 1915 John Preston Arthur. Page 279 The Adams Family. -- Alfred Adams was born in 1811, July 10th. His wife was Elizabeth Flannery, born in Lee County, Virginia, November 28, 1815. These were married on Cove Creek December 29, 1839. Their children were Sarah, who married Carroll Wilson, who was killed in the Civil War, and, after his death, she married Jacob S. Mast; George F., born December 8, 1842 and was killed in the Civil War; Tarlton P. Adams was born March 14, 1846, and married first, Rebecca Adams, June 7, 1877, and second, Mollie Tugman, December 15, 1910; Leah E., who married Isaac Dougherty about 1876, and Abner, who married Elizabeth Combs about 1875. The father of Alfred Adams was John, who was born in France of English ancestry and came with Lafayette's soldiers as a drummer boy of sixteen years. He stayed till the Revolutionary War was ended, but when Lafayette's soldiers were about to return, John hid himself in a flour barrel at Philadelphia and escaped. There he joined a whaling ship and went with it two years, after which he apprenticed himself to a cabinet maker for seven years in Philadelphia. It becoming rumored that the French were about to search the city for deserters, John set out for North Carolina and reached the head of the Yadkin, where he met and married Easter (*1) Hawkins. Their children were Frank (*2), who married (*3)_______________; (*4) Tarleton, who married a Harman; (*5) Squire, who married a Greene; (*6) Allen, who married a Greene; Alfred, who married Elizabeth Flannery; George, who died at eighteen; Patsy, (*7) who married a (*8)Williams; Rachel, who married Jehiel Smith, and Elizabeth, who married Enoch Greene. Tarleton P. Adams was elected a county commissioner in 1878, was appointed on Board of Education in 1882, and, with the exception of four years, from 1896 to 1900, has been a member ever since and will be six years longer --by far the longest service in the State. Page 280 BAIRD FAMILY. -- Ezekiel Baird was the father of Bedent and William Baird, and came to North Carolina from New Jersey. William went West, where he died. Bedent married Mary, a daughter of Cutliff Harman, and lived one mile down the Watauga River from Valle Crucis on its left bank, where Walter Baird now lives, though Bedent's old house has been replaced by the present large frame dwelling. Bedent's sons were Alexander, who married Nancy Vanderpool, and lived on the waters of Brushy Fork; Franklin, who married Catharine Moody, daughter of Edward, who lived at what is now Foscoe. Franklin lived one mile down the Watauga, where James Church now lives, and just above Walter's; Palmer, who married, first, Elizabeth McBride, and lived on Beech Mountain, three miles from Bedent's; Blodgett, who moved to Tennessee and married a lady near Nashville. He was absent forty years before he was heared of at Valle Crucis. The next was Euclid, named for the geometrician, and he married Louisa Council, daughter of Jordan Council the first, and lived where ex-Sheriff W. B. Baird now lives. Franklin's children were: Jackson, who married Tempe Shull; William, who married Sarah McNab; Susan, who married James Lowrance; David F., who married Elizabeth Wagner; Thomas Carroll, who went to Texas, where he died unmarried about 1861. Alexander's children were: Bedney, who went West and married Susan Jane Merchant; Abram, who married Elizabeth Hartley; Warren, who married Rebecca Hartley; Ezekiel, who married Sarah Wilson; Jonathan, who died in the Civil War; Phoebe, who never married; Elizabeth, who married Hiram Wilson. Palmer's children were: John, who married Miss Shupe; Andrew, who died in the Civil War, unmarried; Ann, who married Wm. Grimsley; Caroline, who married _____________; Eliza, who never married. Blodgett's children are not known to his Watauga relatives. Euclid's children were: Benjamin, who married Celia gragg; John, who married Emeline Shell; Hiram, who died in the Civil Page 281 War; Thomas, who went West and died unmarried; Sarah, who married John Hackney; Charlotte, who married Eli Brown; Mary, who married Hiram Gragg. Rittenhouse's children were: William B., who married Eliza Gragg. David F.'s children are: Victoria, who married T. H. Taylor; Allie, who married J. M. Shull; Nora, who married D. C. Mast; Susan who married Jack B. Horton; Emma, who married W. W. Mast; Lula, who married J. C. Moore; Thomas C., who married Emma Mast Banner Family.- - From Murphey's Papers (Vol. II, p. 381) we learn that Joseph Banner was born in Pennsylvania in 1749 and moved to Stokes County, North Carolina, in 1751. Stokes was then Anson County, and it was there that Joseph's father settled. His home was on Town Fork, near the present village of Germantown, N. C. One of the Banners entered land in Ashe soon after its formation. Banner is a Welsh name and used to be written Bannerman. It seems, however, that Henry Banner was the first of the name to come to America, arriving between 1740 and 1750, and married a Miss Martin from England. They settled on Buffalo Creek, then Rowan, now Stokes County. He bought land from Lord Granville in 1752. There were three sons of this union: Ephriam, Joseph and Benjamin. Ephriam was the father of Joshua, and Joshua of Lewis, and Lewis of Edward J. Banner. Lewis Banner's brothers were Martin, who married Mary Ogburn; Anthony, who married ___________; John, who married a Miss Shiposh: Edward, Mathew and Joshua, who married, but the surnames of their wives have been forgotten. All these came to Banner's Elk about three years before the Civil War, except Martin, who came in 1849. Martin died at Montezuma, Anthony and John at Banner's Elk, Edward at Elk Part, Mathew in Texas in 1914, and Joshua in Surry County. Martin Banner's children were: Virginia, born in 1832; Napoleon, in 1834; William, in 1836; Oliver, in 1838; Columbia, in 1840; Newton, October 8, 1842; Luther, in 1844; Martin, in 1846; Mary, in 1848, and Missouri, in 1850. Newton Banner married Sophronia Mast in 1866. Page 282 Bingham Family. -- George M. Bingham was born July 20, 1805, on Reedy's River, Wilkes county, and married Mary Ann Davis, who was born in 1813, on waters of cove Creek. He died January 21, 1880. They were married in 1833 or 1834. Their children were: William G., born in 1835, and who married Roxanna Presnell; Louisa, who married Marshall Miller in 1856, lived on Cove Creek till 1892 or 1893, when she moved to Idaho, her husband having died during the Civil War. She died in Idaho in 1900. Harvey was the next child, and was born February 13, 1839; died March 17, 1895. He married Nancy Ann Miller in 1861 and went to the war in Young Farthing's company, 37th North Carolina regiment, but was discharged in the latter part of 1862 because of bad health, having been slightly wounded twice. He became major of the battalion at Camp Mast of the Home Guard. After the war he went to Haywood County and taught school at what is now Canton, but was then Ford of Pigeon River. Then he went to school at Sand Hill, Buncombe County, to a Presbyterian minister named Hood. Then he came back to Watauga County and admitted to the bar in 1869, and practiced here till 1881, when he moved to Statesville, where he taught a school of law and engaged actively in the practice of his profession. The next child was Harrison Bingham, who died in infancy; then came Violet Emeline, who died when barely grown; then came Elliott, who died at thirty-four, unmarried; Isidor, who died when two years ole, and Carolina, who married E. L. Presnell. George M. Bingham's father was William, and his wife was Elizabeth McNeil. William was born in Virginia and came to Reddy's River when a yound man. There children were: William, who married Sarah, who married, first, Thomas Proffitt, and second, Wm. Case; Nancy, who married Joseph Miller; Joel, who married a Miss Miller in Georgia, and Jemima, who died unmarried when about grown. It is a family tradition that Benjamin Bingham, brother of William, who came from Vifginia to Redd's River, fired the last cannon at Yorktown. Hon. Thomas Bingham thinks that Benjamin was the ancestor of Robert, Page 283 Steven and Duval Bingham, and that Steven was a Methodist preacher and first cousin of George M. Bingham. This Benjamin was a giant in his day, and it is related of him that a noted fighter, wishing to test his strength as well as a wrestler, came to Reddy's River and lay in the shade of some trees and watched Benjamin lead the reapers in the wheat harvest till sundown, when he made his business known. It was then that Benjamin, without resting or eating, girded his loins and threw his opponent as often as he wished to try conclusions with him. Thomas Bingham was born february 3, 1845, and he married, first, Sarah Ann Farmer, February 17, 1870, and, second, Laura E. Combs, July 4, 1885. There were two children by the first marriage, one of whom died unmarried, and the other, Etta, married Ed. Madron. There were fourteen children by the second marriage. Thomas Bingaham was early elected as assistant township clerk, and then to the county board of education; he was then appointed a member of the bord of county commissioners in 1895, to fill out the unexpired term of Critt Horton, and was then elected to the legislature in 1880, 1886, 1896, and clerk of the Superior Court in 1902 and in 1906. He was stricken with paralysis October 7, 1910. He was also editor of the Watauga Enterprise from February till November, 1888. John H. Bingham, Esq.--This distinguished attorney was born in 1867, and was a son of William G. Bingham. He married Alice Smith about 1890, and was elected Superior Court clerk in 1898. Filmore and Richard Bingham are physicians, and are brothers of John H. Bingham. Major Harvey Bingham.--In the winter of 1864-65, the Home Guard battalion of Watauga was camped on Cove Creek near what is now Sugar Grove, the name of their camp having been Camp Mast. Harvey Bingham was the major, and Geo. McGuire, who had been absent from the county for a long while before his return and election, was captain of Company A. Jordan Cook was captain of Company B, of which Col. W. L. Bryan, of Boone, was first lieutenant. Major Bingham and his adjutant, J. P. Mathewson, left camp to go to Ashe to confer with Captain McMillan, who commanded a cavalry company Page 284 there, about co-operating with his battalion in a raid he then contemplated. During his absence Company B, under command of Lieutenant Bryan, was camped at Boone, and Captain McGuire sent him word about dark that he expected an attack on Camp Mast that night. Lieutenant Bryan, however, did not start for that place till the following morning, and when he got near it, discovered the cabins in smoking ruins and all of Company A absent. McGuire had surrendered them to Colonel Champion, of the Federal army, the night before. They were taken to Camp Chace and kept till the close of the war. It is said, however, that McGuire was not treated as a prisoner, but was allowed a horse and rode away with the officers to whom he had surrendered his men. It was thought at the time that McGuire had betrayed his men to the enemy, and he certainly had surrendered them under protest of many of his subordinate officers; one of whom, Paul Farthing, told him that if the company was surrendered Farthing's life would be surrendered, meaning that he would not survive captivity. He and a nephew who was surrendered with him shortly afterwards died in Camp Chace. After the war Major Bingham was a candidate for the State Senate before a Democratic convention held at Lenoir, and the late W. B. Farthing stated that Bingham was suspected of complicity with McGuire in the surrender of the troops at Camp Mast, and that if he was nominated the people of Watauga would not support him. This led to his defeat and there was talk of a duel between these two, but both decided it was best to leave the issue to the future rather than to two leaden bullets, and the matter was dropped. But feeling still ran high against Major Bingham, and he and his wife, a daughter of John B. Miller, of Wilkes, left Watauga together and rode on horseback to one of the western counties, where they taught school till a better feeling pervaded their home county, when they returned. He studied law and practiced in Statesville, to which place he soon removed. He died there, a respected citizen and able lawyer, and time has fully vindicated his memory of the unjust suspicion that once drove him from his home, and no one now doubts his entire loyalty to the cause of the Southern Confederacy. Page 285 Blackburn Family.--The first of the name to come to this section, according to Mr. Clyde C. Miller, of Sands, N. C., a member of the Blackburn Family, was Benjamin, a soldier of the Revolution, who settled on the South Fork of New River at what is now called the Cal Tucker place, near the new town of riverside. He and another Revolutionary soldier named Jones are buried on the opposite side of the river in the same graveyard. Benjamin had three sons and one daughter, Sarah, who married Levi Morphew or Murphey. Their children were Edmund, Levi and John. Edmund had a daughter who married Joseph Williams, and two sons, one named Benjamin and the other Levi, the latter of whom married a Greer, from whom there were Noah, William, Isaac, Edmund, John and Hampton: his daughters were Rebecca, Hannah, Nancy, Elizabeth and Sarah. Rebecca married Jonathan Miller; Hannah married John Campbell, Nancy married John Gentry and moved to Tennessee; Elizabeth married William Miller, and Sarah, W. S. Davis. Noah Blackburn lived and died in Carter County, Tenn. Among his children were Dr. Larkin Blackburn and Milly Blackburn. William married a Ray and lived in Bald mountain township. He had a large family, principally of girls, several of whom died in childhood, Margaret living to womanhood and marrying Asa Clawson, and Martha, who married Julius Graham, and Elizabeth, who married Dr. Graham. Isaac Blackburn married Martha Tatum and moved to Missouri. He was killed in the Civil War, leaving three sons, all of whom now live in Missouri. Edmund lived and died on Meat Camp, where he reared a large family, mamy of whom are still living. His children were: Martha, Mary, Alexander, Smith, Wiley, Manley B., Martitia, Eugene Spencer and Thomas. Martha married Wm. Blackburn and lives at Virgil, Mary married T. B. Miller and lives on Meat Camp; Alexander, who married Rhoda Howell and lives at Elkland. Smith died when young. Wiley married twice, first, Mary Norris, and then Nora Houck, and lives on Meat Camp, near the old home place. Manley B. married Martha Norris and lives at Boone. He has been postmaster, register of deeds and clerk of the Superior Court, succeeding his Page 286 brother, Eugene, who died unmarried while serving as register of deeds. Martitia married Jonathan Greene and moved to Missouri, where she now lives. E. Spencer became a lawyer and located at Jefferson, and was elected to the legislature from Ashe, becoming speaker of that body. A few years later he was appointed assistant United States District Attorney for the Western district of North Carolina. Then he moved to Wilkesboro, and while residing there was elected twice to represent the Eighth District in congress. Afterwards he moved to Oklahoma and then to Elizabethton, where he died in 1912. Thomas studied medicine, located at Boone and afterwards became assistant surgeon in the United States navy. He is now practicing medicine at Hicory, N. C. John married a Case, and had three children, Silas, Levi and mary. Silas is married and lives in Tennessee. Levi is married and lives at his father's place in Ashe. Mary married Mack Edwards and lives at Wilkesboro. Hampton married a Snyder, dying at Todd and leaving two boys and five girls: The boys, Roby and George, are married and live at Todd. Roby studied medicine and is now a practicing physician. Victoria married shadrack Graham; Florence married B. Bledsoe; Callie married Caleb Green; Rosa died unmarried; Sophronia married K. Edwards and lives in Ashe. Edmund Spencer Blackburn born in Watauga County, September 22, 1868; attended common schools and academies, admitted to the bar in May, 1890; was reading clerk of North Carolina senate 1894 - 1895; representative in State legislature 1896 - 1897; was elected speaker pro tem of this Legislature; appointed assistant United States Attorney for western district in 1898, and assisted in the prosecution of Breese and Dickerson in the First National Bank case; elected as Republican to 57th Congress (March 4, 1901 - March 3, 1903); re-elected March 4, 1905, and died at Elizabethon, Tenn., March 10, 1912. Interment at Boone, N. C. Edmund Blackburn was the first of his family to settle in Watauga, then Ashe County, and married a relative of Levi Morphew, who died in 1914 on the New River well up in the nineties. Edmund's children were Levi, Sallie Page 287 and Edmund, Levi having been the grandfather of E. Spencer and M. B. Blackburn, of Boone. Levi Morphew is a son of Sallie Blackburn. Among the first methodist Churches in Watauga was the one built by the Blackburn family on Riddle's Fork of Meat Camp Creek, called Hopewell, the Methodists having worshipped in Levi Blackburn's house prior to that time. Henson's Chapel on Cove Creek was probably the first Methodist Church in Watauga. The first church built in Boone was built about 1880. About 1904 Mr. Blackburn married Miss Louise Parker, daughter of Myron T. Parker, of Washington, D. C. from which union two girls were born. Blair Family. -- James Blair came from England and went to the Jamestown Settlement of Virginia at some period of its existence, but exactly when tradition does not staqte. His wife was a Colvert, she and her and his family having accompained him over, one of their sons having been named Colvert. This son after awhile returned to England and married a Miss Morgan and returned with her to Virginia. Some of their descendants came to this State and settled in Randolph county, John Blair, Sr., having been born there July 6, 1764, where he married a Miss Hill. Their children were James, who married a Barnes; William, whose wife's name has been lost; Thomas, who married Susannah Edmisten; Colvert, who married a Barnes; Henry, who married Mary Steele, June 28, 1832. Of these, Henry Blair was born April 22, 1806, and Mary Steele February 10, 1806; John Culbison, born April 9, 1833; Nancy Rebecca, born August 26, 1835; Elijah S., born June 14, 1838; Wm. Morgan, born December 27, 1840; James Thompson, born October 16, 1843; George Henry, born March 25, 1847. Of these, James Culbison married Susan C. Powell, June 21, 1871; Nancy Rebecca married Wm. Horton, October 16, 1860; Elijah S. married Corrinna Finley, May 17, 1870; Wm. M., killed in Civil War, having been wounded March 31, 1865, and died April 19, 1865, near Petersburg, Va.; James Thompson was accidentally killed September 25, 1850; George Henry married, first, Mary E. Councill, January 2, 1872, and then Mary A. Rousseau, September 27, 1882. Page 288 Thomas Blair was also a son of John Blair, Sr., and his children were: John C., who married Julia A. Conley first and then Lidia Ann Yelton. their Children were Wm. T., who married Mary E. Boyd, April 15, 1866; James B., who married Emeline Curtis; Mary S., who married Wm. Glenn; Julia Caroline, who married L. R. Jones. By John C. Blair's second marriage there were; Sarah Jane, who married Richard Taqylor; Alice M. A., who married Valentine Reese; Lou Ellen Rebecca, who married Mathew Hammons; Margaret I., who married John Hammons; Margaret, daughter of Thomas, married Reed Moore, of the Globe. John was another son of John, Sr., and married Abigail McCreary and lived on Little River. Morgan was another son of John, Sr., and married Elizabeth McLeod, and lived on Little River. Elijah was still another son, but died unmarried; also William, who married and moved to Virginia; Elizabeth, who also married, and another who married Martin Cox in Caldwell County. Brown Family.--James Brown Came from Holland to Wilkes County and settled near Holman's Ford of the Yadkin -- the Dutch equivalent of Brown sounding very much as the English word is pronounced. He had ten sons, of whom is still remembered Joseph, who settled just below Three Forks Church, He married a Miss Hagler, of the "Big Waters of Pee Dee," in South Carolina. Their Children were; Thomas, Elizabeth, Jesse, Sallie, Nancy and James, Thomas Married Susan Greene, a daughter of John "Flatty;" Joseph married Nancy Farthing, daughter of Rev. Wm. Farthing; Elizabeth died unmarried; Jessee married a Miss Webb, of Judge James L. Webb's family; Sallie married Reuben P. Farthing; Nancy married Daniel Bradley