USA > North Carolina > Watauga County > A history of Watauga County, North Carolina. With sketches of prominent families > Part 26
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Squire, who married a Greene; Allen, who married a Greene; Alfred, who married Elizabeth Flannery; George, who died at eighteen; Patsy, who married a Williams; Rachel, who married Jehiel Smith, and Elizabeth, who married Enoch Greene.
Tarleton P. Adams was elected a county commissioner in 1878, and 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.
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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the Wa- tauga River from Valle Crucis on its left bank, where Walter Baird now lives, though Bedent's old house has been replaced by the present large frame dwelling.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 Alexan- der, 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 Be- dent's; Blodgett, who moved to Tennessee and married a lady near Nashville. He was absent forty years before he was heard of at Valle Crucis. The next was Euclid, named for the geome- trician, and he married Louisa Councill, daughter of Jordan Councill 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 mar- ried James Lowrance; David F., who married Elizabeth Wag- ner; Thomas Carroll, who went to Texas, where he died unmarried about 1861.
Alexander's children were: Bedent, who went West and mar- ried 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 ; Phœbe, 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 mar- ried 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
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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 Eng- land. 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 Park, 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.
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Bingham Family .- George M. Bingham was born July 20, 1805, on Reddy'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 Farth- ing's company, 37th North Carolina regiment, but was dis- charged 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 was ad- mitted 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 was killed in the Civil War on Beech Mountain; Marshall, who died at thirty-four, unmarried; Isidor, who died when two years old, 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 young man. Their children were: William, who married; Sarah, who married, first, Thomas Proffitt, and, sec- ond, Wm. Case; Nancy, who married Joseph Miller; Joel, who married a Miss Miller in Georgia, and Jemima, who died unmar- ried when about grown. It is a family tradition that Benjamin Bingham, brother of William, who came from Virginia to Reddy's River, fired the last cannon at Yorktown. Hon. Thomas Bingham thinks that Benjamin was the ancestor of Robert,
MAJOR HARVEY BINGHAM Soldier and lawyer.
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Steven and Duval Bingham, and that Steven was a Methodist preacher and first cousin of George M. Bingham. This Benja- min was a giant in his day, and it is related of him that a noted fighter, wishing to test his strength 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 mar- ried, 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 Bingham was early elected as- sistant township clerk, and then to the county board of educa- tion; he was then appointed a member of the board 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 mar- ried 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
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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 Mc- Guire 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 Com- pany 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 Mc- Guire had betrayed his men to the enemy, and he certainly had surrendered them under the 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 besť 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 law- yer, and time has fully vindicated his memory of the unjust sus- picion that once drove him from his home, and no one now doubts his entire loyalty to the cause of the Southern Confederacy.
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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 Ten- nessee; 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 Black- burn. William married a Ray and lived in Bald Mountain town- ship. 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 Black- burn 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, many of whom are still living. His chil- dren 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. mar- ried Martha Norris and lives at Boone. He has been postmaster, register of deeds and clerk of the Superior Court, succeeding his
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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 Wilkes- boro, and while residing there was elected twice to represent the Eighth District in Congress. Afterwards he moved to Okla- homa 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 prac- ticing medicine at Hickory, 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 Shadrach 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, Sep- tember 22, 1868; attended common schools and academies, ad- mitted 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 Elizabethton, Tenn., March 10, 1912. Inter- ment 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
HON. E. SPENCER BLACKBURN, M. C.
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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 Wa- tauga 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 Method- ist 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 state. His wife was a Colvert, she and her and his family having accompanied 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 de- scendants 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.
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Thomas Blair was also a son of John Blair, Sr., and his chil- dren were: John C., who married Julia A. Conley first and then Lidia Ann Yelton. Their children were Wm. T., who mar- ried 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 Taylor ; 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 Eliza- beth McLeod, and lived on Little River. Elijah was still an- other son, but died unmarried; also William, who married and moved to Virginia, where he died.
Colbert's children were: James B., who married Harriet Coffey; John, who married in Buncombe; Nancy, who married Martin Dougherty ; Louisa, who married Robert Greer; Sarah, who married a Harman; Elizabeth, who married Joseph Green, and Polly, not married.
The daughters of John Blair, Sr., were: Frances, who mar- ried 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 remem- bered 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; Jesse married a Miss Webb, of Judge James L. Webb's family ; Sallie married Reuben P. Farthing; Nancy married Daniel Brad-
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ley; James married Harriet Farthing, daughter of Rev. Wm. Farthing. James' sons were Eli, James, Frank, Thomas, Hub- bard, 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, daugh- ter 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, set- tled 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 Neva; Sallie, who died when nine or ten years old; Eva, yet living at Neva; Martha, who married Norman Wills and lives at Silver Lake; James Julian, who died at twenty-one, and Dudley, who married a Miss Wil- liams 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
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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 mar- ried 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" was 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 ab- sent, 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 notorious Col. David Fanning, of the Revo- lutionary 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 tri- umph, 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.
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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 its head and the fingers on 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 proceeded 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 him- self 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 Vir- ginia, to the same limb on which they had hanged White and Magaherty.
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