WATAUGA COUNTY, NC - HISTORY - A History of Watauga County, North Carolina Sketches of Prominent Families, Part 2 ==================================================================== 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. Brown Family - Continued Page 289 Daniel Bradley; James married Harriet Farthing, daughter of Rev. Wm. Farthing. James' sons were Eli, James, Frank, Thomas, Hubbard, Jesse and Ben. Eli and Ben settled in Ashe. Eli had one son, Jesse, who lived on Brushy Fork, and he left a son who now lives there. Benjamin left a son, Asa Brown, who lives near Todd or Elkland, and a daughter, who is now Mrs. Church, and lives at the head of Watauga River. James the second had a son, Eli, who settled in Ashe and married a Miss Sands, and left Newton, who moved to Missouri before the Civil War; Milton, who died on Middle Fork, and married Hannah Shearer, daughter of Jack and granddaughter of Robert Shearer the first. Caroline never married. Nancy married Thomas Brown; David went to Missouri and married a Miss Brown there. Eli, son of James the second, had a number of brothers, of whom Thomas is still remembered. He went to Alabama; William went to Georgia and another Brother, whose name has been forgotten, went to Missouri. James, youngest son of Joseph Brown, settled on Roan Creek, Tenn., and married Harriet Farthing. Their children were Hamilton, who was killed by a tree on Roan Creek when fourteen years old; Nancy, who is still living; Captain Bartlett Roby Brown married Callie Wagner, daughter of "Gray Jake;" Stephen Justice married a sister of B. R. Brown's wife and died in 1913; Mary, wife of William Shull, both now dead, left a son, James A., who lives at Neve; Sallie, who died when nine or ten years old; Eva, yet living at Neve; Martha, who married Norman Wills and lives at Silver Lake; James Julian, who died at twenty-one, and Dudley, who married a Miss Williams and lives near Knoxville. Thomas Brown, eldest son of Joseph and grandson of James the first, was county surveyor of Watauga County, and one morning was out before breakfast making up his field notes while sitting under a tree near Henson's Chapel on Cove Creek, with a number of men around him. There was no wind, but suddenly hearing bark begin to fall, the others ran. But he, waiting to gather his papers, was delayed and unfortunately ran in the direction in which the tree fell. He was caught by its branches and killed. It was an immense tree and prostrated five other Page 290 trees when it fell. His sons were Richard, Joseph, Bartlett, Daniel, Alfred, who was a baby when his father was killed; Mary, who married Rufus Holtsclaw, and Elizabeth, who married Elisha Green, all now dead. James Brown the first entered 640 acres of land on Meat Camp from a description of its boundaries given by Daniel Boone and his companions while James still lived in Wilkes and before he had even seen the place. Rev. L. W. Farthing, his greatgrandson, surveyed the land by the original grant, which was dated in 1789 or 1790. John and Lewis Bryan or Bryant.--This name used to be spelt Bryant, but when it was discovered that the "t" superfluous, it was dropped. Morgan Bryan spelt his name with a "t," as did all who now call themselves Bryan. Battle Bryan, as he was baptized, but changed his name, because the children called him a battling stick, to Bartlett, was the son of Lewis Bryan and Elizabeth White, of Iredell County. Lewis was the first merchant in Jefferson, about 1800, but he had a clerk whose name was Merchison, and on one occasion, when Lewis was absent, purchasing goods, this clerk sold all the goods he could convert into money at a small price, collected all the debts he could at a large discount, and disappeared. When Lewis Bryan returned he remarked to his wife, after looking over his affairs, "Betsy, I'm busted." He returned to Iredell with his wife, and was killed there by a tree which fell on him at a "chopping frolic." Lewis was the son of john Bryan, who was at home on a furlough when the mororious Col. David Fanning, of the Revolutionary period, killed him in cold blood. From "Murphey's Papers" (Vol. 2, pp.397, 398) we learn (p.396) that Wm. Lindley was one of col. David Fanning's men, but took no part in Fanning's cruelties, being beloved by his neighbors. Towards the close of the Revolutionary War, when the Tories began to think the Whigs would eventually triumph, Lindley, with many others of the Tories, "crossed the Blue Ridge and determined to remain on New River until the fate of the war was determined. But before this he had given offence to two Tories, Wm. White and John Magaherty, and they pursued and killed him on his way over the mountains. Page 291 fanning hanged White and Magaherty for this, both on same limb (p. 397). In trying to save his head from the blow of a sword in the hands of one of his murderers the fingers of one of Lindley's hands were cut off, but his head was wounded notwithstanding. White gave his own wife, who was pregnant, an account of all this, and when the child was born it had marks on it's head and the fingers of one hand were declared to be precisely such as White had described (p. 397) Toward the close of the war Fanning did not pretend to fight openly, but went about with from five to fifteen men, murdering, burning and wantonly destroying property of defenceless people. He killed Andrew Balfour in the presence of his wife and daughter and burnt the house of Colonel Collins." From that place they proceded to John Bryant's. He closed his doors; they called on him to come out and surrender (p.398). He refused. They then threatened to burn his house. He agreed to surrender hinself if they would treat him as a prisoner of war, which they promised to do. Bryant came out, and they instantly shot him down. On the same day they hanged Daniel Clifton, of Virginia, to the same limb on which they had hanged White and Magaherty. Lewis Bryan's children were John Gilson, a Baptist preacher, who married the daughter of james Norris, of New River, and lived on Meat Camp where Billy Green now lives. He moved to Alexander County and afterwards to Georgia, where he died at the age of ninety-eight. The four girls all married and reared families. their names were Sarah, Ann, Polly and Fanny. Another of lewis Bryan's sons was Battle, who married Rebecca Miller, a daughter of Hon. David miller, and reared twelve children, four boys and eight girls, and strange to say, there was not a dose of doctor's medicine ever given one of the family until after the youngest child was grown. the other boys in the Civil War, who escaped without a wound, were W. Lewis, John and Joseph. Battle Bryan's children were John, who married Lydia Ann Holder; Henry M., who was killed at Spotsylvania, Va., having been shot in the center of the forehead; William Lewis, who Page 292 lives in Boone; Joseph, who married Sallie Hodges, daughter of Thomas Hodges; Polly, who married Lawson Woodring; Susan, who married Amos Green; Nancy, who married David Norris; Elizabeth, who married Jehiel Eggers; Sallie, who married a Raegan; Jane, who married John White; Carolina, who died young and unmarried, and Ann, who married T. J. Brown. He is dead, but she still lives. William Lewis Bryan.-- He was born on Meat Camp November 19, 1837. His father was Battle or Bartlett Bryan and his mother Rebecca Miller. Battle Bryan was a son of Lewis Bryan, and his wife, Elizabeth White, and was born in what is now Alexander County in 1799, dying in 1894. Rebecca Miller was the daughter of Hon. David Miller, and was born in 1806 and diedin1904. Colonel Bryan moved to Boone in 1857, after having attended several schools on Meat Camp and spending one summer in the home of Paul Hartzogg, near the mouth of Phoenix Creek, Ashe, helping Daniel Moretz build an overshop grist mill for George Bower. While in Boone Colonel Bryan clerked for Jacob Rintils, and made shoes for Jack Horton. Rintils having moved to Statesville about 1858, where he married Betty Wallace, a sister of Isaac and Dvid Wallace, Colonel Bryan followed him there, and clerked for him a few months, after which he returned to Boone and carried on business for Rintils in the James H. Tatum store till early in the Civil War. Rintils having withdrawn, Colonel Bryan and Moretz Weisenfeld continued the business at the same stand till Weisenfeld went into the Confederate army, when Colonel Bryan moved the stock to the store room ;which stood where the J. D. Councill house now stands, buying everything he could that he thought the people needed. Stoneman's men did not molest him or his stock, but robbers who followed that raid stole all he hd. He then returned to Meat Camp and tended a crop on shares for his aunt, Mrs. Polly Lookabill. He married Miss Sarah Hayes, a daughter of Ransom Hayes, on the 12th of December, 1865, and went with her to his Meat Camp home, where they resided till the death of her father in 1868. Then they returned to Boone and farmed till March, 1870, when he opened up a mercantile business Page 393 business in the old Council store for M. V. Moore, buying Moore out in 1873. He continued in this business till his store and dwelling and stock were burned July 4, 1895. Since then he has farmed. He was for years United States commissioner and mayor of Boone. He has done much to preserve local history. Cable Family. --Kasper Cable came from Germany in the British army during the Revolutionary War, but deserted at the first opportunity and went to Dry Run, in what is now Johnson County, Tenn., where he married a Miss Baker. Their children were Jacob, Benjamin, Joseph, Kasper, Daniel, Conrad and several daughters. Of these children, Conrad had the following sons and daughters: Kasper, who married Lucinda Hamby; John, who married Edith Blevens; Andrew, who married a Miss Bradley; Claiborne, who married Lotta Dugger; Edna, who married William Staunton; Polly, who never married; Sarah, who married Morgan Swift; Rhoda, who married John Dugger, and another daughter who married Elias Swift. T. A. Cable is a son of Claiborne, and was borne June 22, 1846. He married Ermine B. Farthing, November 17, 1870. The Coffey Family.--Thomas Coffey was a son of John Coffey, and his wife Jane Graves, of the Church of England. His grandfather came from Ireland to America, where he died, leaving two sons and three daughters, as follows: John, Elizabeeth, Patsy, Anister and Edward. John Married Jane Graves, whose parents came from England. They had six sons and two daughters, as follows: James, who married Elizabeth Cleveland; John, who married Dorcas Carter; Edward, who married Nancy Shenalt; Thomas, who married, first, Eliza Smith, and, second, Sally Fields; Reuben, who married Sallie Scott; Benjamin, who married Polly Hayes; William, who married Elizabeth Ashburn; Elizabeth, who married Thomas Fields, and Winifred, who married Nicholas Morrison. The children of Thomas Coffey and his first wife, Eliza Smith, were Betsy, who married Dvid Allen; John, who married Hannah Wilson; Thomas, who married _________ Coffey; James, who married Delia Ferguson; Polly, who married William Coffey; Smith, who married Hannah Boone. Page 294 The children of Thomas Coffey and his wife, Sallie Fields, were: Martha, who married James Dowell; William, who married Annie Boone, niece of Daniel Boone; Reuben, who married Polly Dowell; Elijah, who married Polly Hull; Sally, who married Samuel Stewart; Jesse, who died unmarried; Lewis, who married Harriet Powell; Larkin, who married Catharine Wilson, and McCaleb, who married Elizabeth Collett. McCaleb Coffey was born August 22, 1803, and married Elizabeth Collett, February 5, 1828. He died February 17, 1881. His wife was born March 8, 1809, and died July 6, 1887. Their children were Thomas Jefferson Coffey, who married Mollie Greer; Charles L., who married Emily Coffey; Sarah A., who married John Steele; an infant who died unnamed; John E., drowned when a child; Mary L., who married George Nelson; Margaret, who died unmarried; W. Columbus, who married, first, Carrie Curtis, and, second, Mrs. Ada Penn; Martha E., unmarried; Henry C., who married Sophronia Coffey; Carrie, who married David J. Farthing; zJames E., who died of diphtheria at Petersburg, Va., in 1864; Rachel M., who married Thomas Coffey; Jennie, unmarried; Laura, died when four years old; Buddie, who died when two years old. Smith Coffey, son of Thomas Coffey and Elizabeth Smith, his first wife, married Hannah Boone, a niece of Daniel Boone and a sister of Anna Boone. Their Children were: Squire, who married Ella _________ ; Morgan, who married _________; Athan, who mrried _________; Sallie, who married Wm. Puett; Leland, who married Myra Day; Isaac, who married Sallie Estes; Millie, who married, first, Wiley Stanley and then John Tritt. Abram Collett came from Scotland and married Margaret Wakefield, by whom he had three children: Betsy, who married who married Thomas Church; Rachel, who married a Mr. Ingmon; Charles, who married Amelia Parks, by whom he had ten children: Margaret, Rachel, Abram, Thomas, John, Mary, James, Elizabeth, Francis and McCoy. Of these, Rachel married William Wakefield; Abram married Mary Stewart; John married Margaret Murphy, who died, and he then married Eliza Jane Page 295 aldwell; James, who married Jane Stewart; Elizabeth, who married McCaleb Coffey, and Frances, who married Alfonso McGimpsey. William Columbus Coffey.--He was born near Patterson in Caldwell County April 3, 1839; went to Butler, Tenn., in April, 1859, in April, 1859, where he arrived with only three cents in his pocket. He went into business there, on the left bank of Roan Creek and a little above the present residence of D. J. Farthing, where the store washed away in September, 1861. He waded waist-deep in water trying to save the stock. In April, 1862, he went into the 26th North Carolina regiment, where he remained till 1863, when he got a transfer to the 58th North Carolina, Col. J. B. Palmer, in which he was elected third lieutenant in April, 1864, in which capacity he served till the 58th and 60th regiments were consolidaed, when he became second lieutenant. He surrendered at Greensboro with Johnson's army in April, 1865. In November, 1865, he came with his brother, Thomas Jefferson Coffey, to Boone and opened a store in the J. W. Councill store. In June, 1866, he left Boone and opened a branch store of Thos. J. Coffey & Bro. At what is now Zionville, near the head of Cove Creek, where he carried on Business in a store room which is now gone, but which stood on Reuben Farthing's land. He returned to Boone and assisted his brother to build the Coffey hotel and store in 1869, and moved into tht hotel before it was completed, which was not till 1870. He married Carrie L. Curtis, daughter of Hezekiah Curtis, of Wilkesboro, in 1866. Their children were Edgar S., who married Anna Parks; Thomas Finley, who married, first, Jennie Council, and, second, kBlanche Wells, of Manning, S. C. After the deth of his first wife, W. C. Coffey married Mrs. Ada Pen in July, 1908. Thomas Jefferson Coffey was born near Patterson, Caldwell County, in December, 1828, and died in June, 1901. He taught school at Valle Crucis before the Civil War, but soon went into business at what is now Butler, Tenn. He joined the Confederate army, finally becoming captain of Company E, 58th North Carolina infantry. He married Mollie Greer about 1866. She is still living in Statesville. There children were Elizabeth, who Page 296 married Judge W. B. Councill; Margaret, who married Stacy Rambo, of Mountin City, Tenn., and Stewart, who married, first, a Miss Sanborn, and then a Mrs. Roby, and lives at Statesville. Before his death he and brother, W. C., entered into an agreement that whichever survived the other should carry on the firm business as long as he thought fit, and then divide the property. Upon the death of Thos. J., in 1901, W. C. carried on the business as before for about two years and until T. J.'s youngest child became twenty-one years old. He then divided the property into two lots. Lot No. 1 contained the stock of merchandise on hand, the debts due the firm, cash on hand and part of the land. In lot No. 2 were the greater part of the land and the live stock principally. T. J. Coffey's heirs were given choice of the two lots, and chose lot No. 1. Thomas J. Coffey had most to do with the building of the turnpike from Blowing Rock to Boone. He got the charter through the legislature and took the contract to build the road, which contract was given to himself and brother, W. C. Coffey. The survey was mde by S. T. Kelsey, the overseeing was done by Alexander McRae, the work was commenced in August, 1893, and the road was finished in October, 1894. Cottrell Family.--Wm. Cottrell, Sr., settled in Caldwell County, and was the father of several children, among whom was William, Jr., who married Llucy Day. Their children were: John, who married a Triplett, and moved to Mississippi, where both died, leaving children, two of whom live in that State and one in Texas. Thomas and William and several girls were other children of William, Jr., and Lucy Day. One of these girls married a Minton and settled near Wilksboro, another married Wm. Brown and moved to Georgia, while a third married a Coffey and settled on Mulberry, where they died several years ago, leaving several children in Caldwell County. William Cottrell married Susan Shearer, settled in Caldwell, where they died. James, a brother of William and Thomas, married a Blair and settled in Caldwell. Thomas Cottrll married Louisa Shearer and settled in Watauga. To them were born ten children, all of whom are dead but four. These are: Louisa and Page 297 Julia, who live in Caldwell; Susan, who lives with Mr. and Mrs. L. N. Perkins near Boone, and C. J. Cottrell, who married Melissa Norris. This gentleman is a justice of the peaxe and is connected woth the Appalachian Training School. He lost an eye at Resacka in 1864. He is a most worthy and highly respected citizen. Council Family.--The following facts have been taken happazard from the family Bible in possession of Mrs. J. S. Williams. They will be valuable to all who trace their ancestry from this family, the first of whom was Jordan, making three Jordans in succession before 1850. Jordan Councill, who lived at the Buck Horn Tree place, just east of the town of Boone, where Jesse Robbins now lives, was born in 1769, having been the son of Jordan Councill. He married Sallie Howard about 1797, and died December 10, 1839. His son, Jordan Councill, was born September 22, 1799. Sarah Councill was born September 23, 1802. The children of Jordan Councill, Jr., who married Sallie Bowers, September 3, 1823, were: John C., born August 1, 1824; James W., born December 29, 1826; William Bowers, born February 23, 1829; Elizabeth, born September 29, 1831; Sarah Louise, born December 7, 1841; Martha Adelaide, born December 8, 1845; George R., born October 12, 1849. Daughters of Jordan Councill, Sr., and his wife, Sallie Howard: 1. Sallie, who married Alfred Martin, of Yadkin County; 2. Lottie, who married John Hardin, Sr.; 3. Elizabeth, who married Willis McGhee; 4. Nancy, who marreied Col. Euclid Baird; Eliza, who married, first, George Phillips, the father of Dr. J. B. Phillips, and, second, Rittenhouse Baird, the father of ex-Sheriff William B. Baird, who lived below Vlle Crucis on the old homestead. George Phillips was the sheriff of Ashe County, and on his return from Raleigh, where he had gone to settle he taxes collected by him, was drowned in the Shallow Ford of the Yadkin. This was long before the Civil War and soon after the birth of his son, Dr. J. B. Phillips. The children of Dr. W. B. Councill, who married Alice M. Bostwick, June 7, 1854, were: Jefferson Bostwick, born October Page 298 3, 1855; William Bower, born August 11, 1857; Margaret, born February 10, 1861; I. Lenoir, born March 25, 1864; Emma A., born June 19, 1866; Mary Virginia, born Jnuary 12, 1862. The children of J. W. Councill, who married M. V. Cocke November 29, 1854, were: Mary Alice, born October 17, 1856; G. W., born December 31, 1859; J. D., born August 21, 1861; R. Lenoir, born April 19, 1864; Sallie M., born September 16, 1866; Bettie Folk, born August 17, 1870; John Hardin, born February 25, 1874; Walter Armfield, born May 14, 1878. George R. Councill ("Toad") married Anna M. Carter June 28, 1881; S. W. Boyden married Margaret F. Councill February 14, 1882; John S. Williams Married Elizabeth F. Councill January 9, 1889; Dr. L. C. Reeves married Sallie M. Councill April 16, 1890; Richard L. Councill married Cora Bryan October, 1889; Geo. N. Folk married Elizabeth A. Councill October 16, 1853; J. W.Councill died November 19, 1884; Jordan Councill, Jr., died July 24, 1875; Sara L. Councill died November 26, 1844; Martha A. died November 3, 1856; Sallie B. died April 23, 1877; George R. Died July 9, 1891; Mary V. died November 26, 1894. Jordan Councill the First.--He married Sallie Howard, daughter of Benjamin Howard, and lived on the right hand side of the old road which led from Councill's store to Jefferson, at what si now caalled the Buck Horn Tree place and where Jesse Robbins in 1914 erected two houses. There is a fine spring near by. Councill's house was of logs. He was a farmer and a man of means. His children were: 1. Jesse, who married Sallie Dixon, of Ashe, and lived where Jerry Ray now lives, nearly two miles east of Boone and off the road to Three Forks. 2. Jordan, who married Sallie Bower, sister of George Bower, and lived at the old Council home, opposite Richard M. Greene's home in Boone. 3. Benjamin, who married, first, Lizzie Mast, daughter of Joel Mast, and lived at Vilas, and, second, Tempe Shull, sister of Joseph Shull, Sr., and of Phillip Shull. There were four children by the first and four by the last marriage.