USA > North Carolina > Western North Carolina; a history, 1730-1913 > Part 16
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"On Richland creek, about the year 1800, the neucleus of a village had been formed on the beautiful ridge between its limpid waters and those of Raccoon creek. The ridge is less than a mile wide and attracted settlers on account of the pic- turesque mountains on either side and the delightfulness of the climate. At that early time a considerable population was
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already there. Several men, who were well known in the State and who afterwards became prominent in public affairs, had built homes upon that nature favored spot and were living there. Such men as General Thomas Love, Colonel Robert Love, Colonel William Allen, John Welch, and others of Rev- olutionary fame were leaders in that community. Without changing his residence General Thomas Love was a member of the State Legislature, with two or three years intermission, from 1797 to 1828, for nine years as a member from Buncombe county and the remainder of the time from Haywood. Most of the time he was in the House of Commons but for six years he was also in the Senate. Colonel Robert Love served three years in the senate from Buncombe county, from 1793 to 1795. William Allen and John Welch were veterans of the Revolu- tion and men of considerable influence in that community.
"As already stated that law was ratified on December 23, 1808, but it did not become operative until early in the year 1809. On the fourth Monday in March of that year the justices of the peace in the territory defined by the act erect- ing the county met at Mount Prospect in the first court of pleas and quarter sessions ever held in the limits of Haywood county. The following justices were present at that meeting: Thomas Love, John Fergus, John Dobson, Robert Phillips, Abraham Eaton, Hugh Davidson, Holliman Battle, John Mc- Farland, Phillip T. Burfoot, William Deaver, Archibald McHenry, and Benjamin Odell.
"One of the first things the court thus constituted did was to elect officers for the new county. There were several can- didates for the different positions, but after several ballots were taken the following were declared duly elected: Clerk of the court, Robert Love; Sheriff, William Allen; register of deeds, Phillip T. Burfoot; constable of the county, Samuel Hollingsworth; entry taker, Thomas St. Clair; treasurer, Rob- ert Phillips; stray master, Adam Killian; comptroller, Abra- ham Eaton; coroner, Nathan Thompson; solicitor, Archi- bald Ruffin; standard keeper, David McFarland.
"Thus officered the county of Haywood began its career. The officers entered at once upon their respective duties, and the county became a reality. The first entry in the register's book bears date of March 29th, 1809, signed by Philip T.
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Burfoot, and the first in the clerk's book is the same date by Robert Love.
"Until the court house and jail could be built the county officials met at private residences at Mount Prospect and prisoners were carried to jail in Asheville. Such proceedings were inconvenient and the commissioners appointed by the legislature, therefore, made haste to locate and erect the public buildings. It was expected that they would be ready to make their report to the court of pleas and quarter sessions as to the location of the county seat at the March session. Instead, however, they asked at that session to be indulged . until the June term, and that request was granted.
"On Monday, June 26, 1809, the court met at the home of John Howell. The old record names the following justices as being present: Thomas Love, Philip Burfoot, Hugh Da- vidson, John McFarland, Abraham Eaton, John Dobson, Wil- liam Deaver, Archibald McHenry, and John Fergus. At this meeting the commissioners named in the act of the legislature erecting the county made their report, in which they declared that it was unanimously agreed to locate the public buildings somewhere on the ridge between Richland and Raccoon creeks at or near the point then called Mount Prospect. As the commissioners were clothed with full power to act, it required no vote of the justices, but it is more than probable that the report was cheerfully endorsed by a majority of the justices present.
"At this June term of the court, the first for the trial of causes, the following composed the grand jury: John Welch foreman, William Welch, John Fullbright, John Robinson, Edward Sharteer, Isaac Wilkins, Elijah Deaver, David McFarland, William Burns, Joseph Chambers, Thomas St. Clair, John Shook, William Cathey, Jacob Shock, and John St. Clair. The following grand jurors for the next term of the Superior court that was to be held in Asheville in September: Holliman Battle, Hugh Davidson, Abraham Eaton, Thomas Lenoir, William Deaver, John McFarland, John McClure, Felix Walker, Jacob McFarland, Robert Love, Edward Hyatt and Daniel Fleming. This was done because of the fact that no Superior court was held in Haywood for several years after the formation of the county; but all cases that were appealed from the court of pleas and quarter sessions came up by law
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in the Superior court of Buncombe county at Asheville. For this court Haywood county was bound by law to send to Asheville six grand jurors and as many more as desired.
"At the June term inspectors of election, that was to take place in August, were also selected. There were then two voting precincts, and this election was the first ever held in the county. For the precinct of Mount Prospect the follow- ing inspectors were appointed: George Cathey, William Deaver, John Fergus, and Hugh Davidson. For the precinct of Soco, Benjamin Parks, Robert Reed, and Robert Turner were appointed.
"In the location of the public buildings at Mount Prospect, there was laid the foundation of the present little city of Waynesville. Tradition says and truthfully, no doubt, that the name was suggested by Colonel Robert Love in honor of General Anthony Wayne, under whom Colonel Love served in the Revolutionary War. The name suited the community and people, and the village soon came to be known by it. In the record of the court of pleas and quarter sessions the name of Waynesville occurs first in 1811.
"Some unexpected condition prevented the immediate erection of the public buildings. The plans were all laid in 1809, but sufficient money from taxation as provided for in the act establishing the county had not been secured by the end of that year. It was, therefore, late in the year 1811 before sufficient funds were in hand to begin the erection of the courthouse. During the year 1812 the work began and was completed by the end of the year. Mark Colman is said to have been the first man to dig up a stump in laying the foundation for that building. On December 21, 1812, the first court was held in this first court house."
HAYWOOD'S SIX DAUGHTERS. Formerly belonging to Hay- wood were Macon, Cherokee, Jackson, Swain, Clay and Gra- ham counties. Of many of the pioneer residents of these counties when they were a part of Haywood Col. Allen T. Davidson speaks in The Lyceum for January, 1891. Among them were David Nelson and Jonathan McPeters, Jonathans creek having been named for the latter. David Nelson was the uncle of Col. Wm. H. Thomas, and died at 87 highly respected and greatly lamented. "He was of fine physical form, honest, brave and hospitable." "Then there were
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Joshua Allison, George Owens, John and Reuben Moody, brothers, all sturdy, hardy, well-to-do men and good citi- zens, who, with Samuel Leatherwood constituted my father's near neighbors." "Joseph Chambers of this neighborhood moved to Georgia about the opening of the Carroll county gold mine, say, about 1831-32. He was a man of more than ordinary character, led in public affairs and reared an elegant family. His daughters were splendid ladies and married well. His wife was a sister of John and Reuben Moody." John Leatherwood was well known for his "thrift and industry, fine hounds, fine cattle and good old-time apple brandy; a good citizen who lived to a good old age. James McKee, father of James L. McKee of Asheville, lived on this creek, was sheriff of Haywood for many years, and died at an advanced age at Asheville. Near him lived Felix Walker. He was a man of great suavity of manner, a fine electioneer, insomuch that he was called "Old Oil Jug." He went, after his defeat for Congress in 1824 by Dr. Robert Vance, to Mississippi, where he died about 1835. The manu- facture and sale of gensing was begun on Jonathans creek by Dr. Hailen of Philadelphia, who employed Nimron S. Jarrett and Bacchus J. Smith, late of Buncombe county, to conduct the business. It was abundant then and very profitable, the green root being worth about seven cents a pound. A branch of this business was established on Caney river in Yancey county. I well remember seeing great companies of moun- taineers coming along the mountain passes (there were no roads then only as we blazed them) with packed horses and oxen going to the "factory," as we called it; and it was a great rendezvous for the people, where all the then sports of the day were engaged in such games as pitching quoits, run- ning foot-races, shooting matches, wrestling, and, sometimes a good fist and skull fight. But the curse and indignation of the neighborhood rested on the man who attempted, as we called it, "to interfere in the fight, or double-team," or use a weapon. The most noted men were John Welch, John McFarland, Hodge Reyburn, Thomas Tatham, Gen. Thomas Love and Ninian Edmundson. The leading families of Hay- wood were the Howells, being two brothers, John and Henry, who came from Cabarrus about 1818; the Osborns; the Plotts, Col. Thomas Lenoir; the Catheys, Deavers, McCrackens, Pen-
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lands, Bryers; David Russell of Fines creek, Peter Nolan, Robert Penland, Henry Brown, James Green, who was born in 1790, and was living in January, 1891, and many others.
JOSEPH CATHEY. He was born March 12, 1803, and died June 1, 1874, was a son of William Cathey, one of the first settlers on Pigeon river; was a delegate to the State conven- tion of 1835, and in the senate and declined further political honors.
NINIAN EDMUNDSON. He was born in Burke, October 21, 1789, of Maryland ancestry, and came with his father to Pigeon Valley prior to 1808, where the family remained. He was in the War of 1812; was four years sheriff of Haywood. He served several terms in the State senate and many in the house. He was a most successful farmer and useful citizen. He died in March, 1868, highly esteemed.
JAMES ROBERT LOVE. He was born in November, 1798, and died November 22, 1863. He represented Haywood county many times in the legislature. He married Miss Maria Williamson Coman, daughter of Col. James Coman of Raleigh, who died January 9, 1842, aged 75 years. This marriage occurred November 26, 1822. Charles Loehr, a German professor of music, taught his children music for years, and Loehr's son afterwards became professor of music at the Asheville Female college. Love was so anxious to encour- age the building of a railroad that he set aside a lot for the depot long before he died. He bought large boundaries of vacant and unsurveyed lands, and died wealthy.
DR. SAMUEL L. LOVE. He was born August 5, 1828, and died July 7, 1887. He received his diploma as a physician from the University of Pennsylvania; but was soon elected to the legislature, where he served many terms. He was a surgeon in 1861 on the staff of Gov. Ellis, and a delegate to the Consti- tutional convention of 1875. In 1876 he was elected State auditor.
THOMAS ISAAC LENOIR. Was born on Pigeon river August 26, 1817, a son of Thomas Lenoir of Wilkes. He went to the State University, and did not return to Haywood till 1847. He was a farmer and stock raiser and a progressive citizen. On June 13, 1861, he married Miss Mary E. Garrett. He died January 5, 1881. His brother, Walter Lenoir, was a captain in the Confederate army, and spent much of his life
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at Joseph Shull's in Watauga county, where he died July 26, 1890, aged sixty-seven years. He was graduated with high honor at the State University. He studied law and was admitted in 1845. He married Miss Cornelia Christian of Staunton, Va., in 1856, but she died soon afterward. He lost a leg in the Civil War at the battle of Ox Hill, September, 1862.
WILLIAM JOHNSTON was the fourth son of Robert John- ston, Sr., and was born two miles from Druhmore, the county town of Down county, Ireland, July 26, 1807, his ancestors having emigrated from Scotland to Ireland in 1641. He came with his father's family to Charleston, South Carolina, in December, 1818, and settled in Pickens District, South Caro- lina. About 1828 he moved to Buncombe county and mar- ried Lucinda, the only daughter of James Gudger and his wife Annie Love, daughter of Col. Robert Love of Waynes- ville, March 18, 1830, and settled in Waynesville, where he accumulated a large fortune. About 1857 he moved with his family to Asheville. After the Civil War he, with the late Col. L. D. Childs of Columbia, South Carolina, became the owner of the Saluda factory, three miles from that city. It was burned, however, and Mr. Johnston returned to Ashe- ville, where he died. He was admittedly the most success- ful business man in this entire section of the State; and some think that the same business ability, if it had been exerted in almost any other field, would have produced results that would have rivaled the fortunes of some of our merchant princes.
JERRY VICKERS was a tinner who worked for Wm. John- ston, and also made gravestones out of locust, paradoxical as that may appear; but his head-boards in Waynesville ceme- tery, with names and dates neatly carved in this almost inde- structible wood, are still sound and legible today.
WM. PINCKNEY WELCH. He was born in Waynesville November 14, 1838, and died at Athens, Ga., March 18, 1896. His mother's father was Robert Love, and his father was William the son of John Welch, one of the pioneers. The Welches came from Philadelphia soon after the Revolution- ary War. He attended school at Col. Stephen Lee's school in Chunn's cove, after which he went to Emory and Henry college, leaving there in May, 1861, to join the Confederate army. He was a lieutenant in the 25th N. C. regiment, and
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took part in the battles of from Gaines Mills to Malvern Hill, Sharpsburg, Fredericksburg and in the campaign near Kinston and Plymouth, Petersburg, Bermuda Hundreds, and surrendered as a captain with Lee at Appomattox. The sur- vivors of that war have named their camp after him. He practiced law after the war, was in the legislature in 1868 and 1870 and helped to impeach Gov. Holden. He was mar- ried first to Miss Sarah Cathey, a daughter of Col. Joseph Cathey of Pigeon river, soon after the war, and on the 26th of January, 1875, he married Miss Margaretta Richards White of Athens, Ga., his first wife having died soon after marriage. No braver man ever lived than Pink Welch.
THE PEOPLE OF MACON. Macon was organized into a county in 1828 "and was singularly fortunate in the char- acter of the people who first settled it. 18 It was first repre- sented in the legislature in 1831 by James W. Guinn in the senate and Thomas Tatham and James Whitaker in the house, and was thereafter represented in the senate four times by Gen. Ben. S. Britton, with James Whitaker, Asaph Enloe, James W. Guinn and Jacob Siler and Thomas Tatham in the house." Luke Barnard, Wimer Siler, and his sons William, Jesse R., Jacob and John; John Dobson, John Howard, Henry Addington, Gen. Thomas Love, Wm. H. Bryson, James K. Gray, Mark Coleman, Samuel Smith, Nimrod S. Jarrett, George Dickey, Silas McDowell, George Patton, and William Angel were typical men of the early population. "Wm. and Jacob Siler having married sisters of D. L. Swain, and Jesse R. Siler having married a daughter of John Patton of Bun- combe, sister of the late lamented Mont. Patton, it is not difficult to account for the great moral worth of the county that now exists and has from its first settlement. · Samuel Smith was the father of Bacchus J. Smith and Rev. C. D. Smith, and volunteered as a messenger to bear a letter from Gen. McDowell, at the Old Fort, to the principal chief of the Cherokees, at the Coosawattee towns about the close of the Revolutionary War. 19 The undertaking was full of peril, the whole country west of the Blue Ridge being then in the Cherokee Nation, then in arms, and before any white men lived in this country. The Coosawattee towns were on a river of that name in Georgia at least 250 miles away; but the mission was accomplished by this valiant man who aided
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largely in bringing these people into peaceable terms with the whites. He moved to Texas, after having raised a family of distinguished sons in North Carolina,-dying in Texas when over ninety years of age. " 20
FRANKLIN. This was called the Sacred Town by the Cher- okees 21 and was not named for Benjamin Franklin, as so many think, but for Jesse Franklin, once governor of this State. ?? The county was named for John Haywood, treasurer of the State in 1787. According to Rev. C. D. Smith in his Brief History of Macon county, p. 2, Macon was never a part of Buncombe county, because its western boundary line never extended west of the Meigs and Freeman line of 1802, and the territory embraced in Macon and a portion of Jackson and Swain was acquired from the Cherokees by treaty in 1817-18. In the spring of 1820 the State commissioners, Jesse Franklin and James Meabin, in accordance with an act of the legisla- ture, came to the Tennessee valley and organized for the survey of lands "a corps of surveyors of whom Captain Rob- ert Love, a son of Gen. Thomas Love, who settled the place at the bridge where Capt. T. M. Angel recently lived 23, was chief. Robert Love had been an honored and brave captain in the war of 1812, was much respected on account of his patriotic devotion to American liberty, and was consequently a man of large influence." Watauga plains, where the late Mr. Watson lived, was first settled upon for the county site and 400 acres, the land appropriated for that purpose, was located and surveyed there; but Captain Love favored the present site, and by a vote of all six companies of surveyors then in the field, on the ridge where Mrs. H. T. Sloan resided in 1905, the 400 acres appropriated was located.
FIRST SETTLERS IN FRANKLIN. Joshua Roberts, Esq., built the first house on the Jack Johnston lot, "a small round log cabin;" but Irad S. Hightower built the first "house proper," one built of hewn logs on the lot where stands the Allman hotel. Capt. N. S. Jarrett bought the first house proper, then Gideon F. Morris got it, and then John R. Allman. Lindsey Fortune built a cabin on the lot where the Jarrett hotel stood in 1894, and Samuel Robinson built on the lot occupied in 1905 by Mrs. Robinson. Silas McDowell first built where the residence of D. C. Cunningham stood, and Dillard Love built the first house on the Trotter lot. N. S.
-
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Jarrett built on the lot owned by S. L. Rogers, and John F. Dobson first improved the corner lot owned in 1894 by C. C. Smith. James K. Gray built the second hewn-log house on the lot owned by Mrs. A. W. Bell, and Jesse R. Siler, one of the first settlers, built at the foot of the town hill where Judge G. A. Jones resided. He also built the second house on the Gov. Robinson lot and the brick store and dwelling owned in 1894 by the late Capt. A. P. Munday. James W. Guinn or Mr. Whitaker built the house afterwards owned by Mr. Jack Johnston. John R. Allman opened the first hotel in Franklin, followed soon afterward by a house at the "foot of the hill" built by Jesse R. Siler. 24
PROMINENT RESIDENTS OF MACON. 25 James Cansler was born February 22, 1820, in Rutherford county, and died in Macon, July 24, 1907. He aided in the removal of the Cher- okees in 1836-38, and was a captain in the Civil war. Cap- tain James G. Crawford was born May 6, 1832, and in 1855 was appointed deputy clerk, being elected sheriff in 1858. He was a captain in the Civil War in the 39th regiment, serving till the end. He was in the legislature, and in 1875 was elected register of deeds, which place he held till near the end of his life. He married Miss Virginia A. Butler. One of the early settlers was Henry G. Woodfin, a physician and brother of Col. N. W. Woodfin of Buncombe. He was born December 27, 1811, and was married June 5, 1838 to Miss E. A. B. How- arth. He settled first on Cartoogechaye, but later moved to Franklin. He was a member of the county court, serving as chairman, and was in the legislature two terms. He died in 1881. He stood high as a physician and citizen. Dr. James M. Lyle came to Macon before the Civil War and formed a copart- nership with Dr. Woodfin. He married Miss Laura Siler, and after her death, he married Miss Nannie Moore. Dr. G. N. Rush, of Coweta station, was born in 1824, in Rock- ingham county, Va., and read medicine under Dr. A. W. Brabson, graduated in medicine at University of Nashville in 1854. He served in the legislature in 1876-7. In 1854 he married Miss Elizabeth Thomas. He died December 12, 1897. Dr. A. C. Brabson was born in Tennessee in 1842, served through the Civil War, graduated from the College at Nashville in medicine, 1866-67, married Miss Cora Rush, March 30, 1881. Mark May, son of Frederick and Nellie
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May, was born in Yadkin county December 7, 1812, and married Belinda Beaman at the age of 24. Early in life he was ordained a Baptist minister, coming to Macon county after serving as a minister 17 years in Yadkin and two years in Tennessee. He is the father of Hon. Jeff May of Flats, N. C. Rev. Joshua Ammons was born in Burke, February 14, 1800, and moved to Macon in 1822, settled on Rabbit creek, was ordained a Baptist minister at Franklin in 1835, and died September 27, 1877, after a very useful life. Logan Berry was born December 18, 1813, in Lincoln county, and died February 8, 1910. He married Matilda Postell of Bun- combe, served as county commissioner, and was a useful and respected citizen. Stephen Munday was born in Person county about the beginning of the nineteenth century but moved to Buncombe county before the Civil War, where he built a mill at Sulphur Springs. He then moved to Macon, and lived with his son, the late Alexander P. Munday at Aquone, till his death in the seventies. 26 He was a useful and highly respected citizen. His son Alexander P. Munday married Miss Addie Jarrett a daughter of the late Nimrod S. Jarrett, and they resided first at the Meadows in what is now Graham county about 1859, where they remained till after the Civil War, moving thence to Aquone where they died early in this century. Captain Nimrod S. Jarrett was born in Buncombe county in 1800, married a Miss McKee, and moved to Haywood county in 1830, engaging in the "sang" business, till he moved to Macon, where he resided at Aquone in 1835, afterwards at the Apple Tree place six miles down the river, and still later at Jarretts station on the Murphy railroad. He owned large tracts of mountain lands, and the talc mine now operated at Hewitts. He was murdered in September, 1873, by Bayless Henderson, a tramp from Ten- nessee. Henderson was executed for the crime, at Webster, in 1874.
JOHN KELLY. He was born in Virginia, married a Miss Pierce, a neice and adopted daughter of Bishop Pierce, and moved to Buncombe where he lived till about 1819, when he moved to Macon to what is now known as the Barnard farm, but soon moved to the Hays place, waiting for the land sale, at which he bought a boundary of land lying in both Georgia and North Carolina, including Mud and Kelly's creeks in
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Georgia. His third son, Samuel, was born in Westmoreland county, Va., and in 1825 bought land six miles from Franklin, where he lived till his death in 1852. He married Miss Mary Harry. Three of his sons enlisted in the Confederate army, where one was killed in battle, the other two serving till the close of hostilities. They were N. J. and M. L. Kelly. 27
NATHAN G. ALLMAN. 28 He was born in Haywood, Jan- uary 5, 1818, and came to Franklin in 1846, where he lived 46 years continuously. He was a merchant and hotel keeper, and died February 17, 1892. He was a useful and influential citizen.
DR. W. LEVY LOVE. He was born in Chautauqua, N. Y., Sep- tember 30, 1827, and early in life went to Kentucky with his father. There he joined the army and went to the war in Mexico, taking part in several battles. Returning, he was educated at Bacon college, Kentucky, where he also studied medicine, completing his course at Philadelphia. He then moved to Franklin, where, in 1868, he married Miss Maggie, a daughter of N. G. Allman. In this year he was elected to the State senate, where he served six years. He was also a lawyer, enjoying a fine practice. He died July 29, 1884. He was generally known as Levi Love.
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