USA > North Carolina > Western North Carolina; a history, 1730-1913 > Part 17
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JACKSON JOHNSTON. He was born in Pendleton district, S. C., November 25, 1820, and at sixteen years of age removed to Waynesville, where for several years he clerked for his brother William. While there, he married Miss Osborne of Haywood county; late in the forties he removed to Franklin, and became a merchant, accumulating a handsome fortune. His first wife having died he married Miss Eugenia Siler in 1859. She was a daughter of William Siler. His hospitality and humor were famous. He died April 10, 1892. He was charitable, intelligent and of high character.
THOMAS TATHAM. He served in the State senate from Hay- wood in 1817, removed to Macon and served in the legislature from that county from 1831 to 1834 inclusive, after which he removed to Valley river where he died. He was a good man and left many friends.
JAMES WHITAKER. He was born in Rowan April 3, 1779, one mile from Lexington, now Davidson. He was a justice of the peace in that county and removed to Buncombe in 1817, from which, in 1818 he was elected to the legislature and
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served till 1823, and removed to Macon in 1828, lived one mile from Franklin, and was elected to the legislature in 1828 and served continuously till 1833. He was appointed Superior court clerk at the first term of Cherokee county, and was elected to the legislature from that county in 1832 and 1842. He died on Valley river November 2, 1871, aged 92 years. He was a man of great intellect, high character and unsullied reputation; a stern man, a strong Baptist and did perhaps as much for his church as any other man in the State.
YANCEY. Yancey county was formed in 1833. It was cut off from Burke and Buncombe. Three counties have since been partly formed out of Yancey. They are: Watauga in 1849; Madison in 1851; and Mitchell in 1861. Yancey county is now bounded on the north by Mitchell county and the State of Tennessee; on the east by Mitchell and McDowell counties; on the south by McDowell and Madison; on the west by Madison and Buncombe counties and the Tennessee line. Mt. Mitchell, the highest mountain in the eastern half of North America, is in Yancey county. It was named for Dr. Elisha Mitchell, a teacher in the University, who explored it. Mt. Mitchell is a part of the Black mountains which extend partly across this county. Yancey county contains eighteen mountain peaks that rise above 6,300 feet. These mountains are very fertile and are covered with great forests of gigantic trees. Cherry trees in Yancey often grow four feet, the walnut eight feet, and the poplar ten feet in diameter.
The county was named for Bartlett Yancey, a native of Caswell county. He was educated at the University of North Carolina, studied law, and became eminent in his profession. He was twice a member of the Congress of the United States, and eight times a member of the senate of North Carolina. He was one of the first men in the State to favor public schools for all the people.
The county seat of Yancey is Burnsville, named in honor of Capt. Otway Burns, of Beaufort, N. C. He won fame in the war of 1812 against England. With his vessel, the "Snap- Dragon," he sailed up and down the Atlantic coast, captur- ing many English vessels and destroying the British trade. He had many wild adventures, and his name became a terror to British merchants. Finally the English government sent a war vessel, called the "Leopard," to capture Captain Burns.
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The "Leopard" succeeded in capturing the "Snap-Dragon" while Captain Burns was on shore sick. After the war he was frequently a member of the legislature. A monument to his memory was recently erected at Burnsville.
Yancey has an approximate area of 193,000 acres, with an average assessed value of $2.60 per acre. Over 40 per cent of the land is held in large tracts of 1,000 acres or more in extent. These holdings are valued chiefly for their timber and are held principally as investments.
The topography is generally rough and the average eleva- tion is high. The Black mountain range in the southern portion of the county contains many peaks more than 6,000 feet high, and Mount Mitchell, the highest peak east of the Rockies, rises to an elevation of 6,711 feet above sea level. In the northern and western sections of the county the ridges have an average elevation of about 4,000 feet above sea level, Bald mountain rising to 5,500 feet.
Four considerable streams, South Toe and Caney rivers, and Jacks and Crabtree creeks, rise within the county, and flowing in a northerly direction empty into Toe river, which forms the northern boundary of the county.
MRS. NANCY ANDERSON GARDNER. There are many old people in these mountains, but Mrs. Nancy Gardner of Burns- ville was 98 the 15th of January, 1913. She was in full pos- session of all her faculties, and in 1912 furnished for this his- tory a list of names of the first settlers of Yancey county. Her husband's father was Thomas Gardner, who was born in Virginia in 1793, and died in Yancey in 1853. He settled on Cane river when a boy. Her father was W. M. Anderson and her mother Patty Elkins, who was born in Tennessee in 1790. Her parents were married in 1809. James Anderson was from Ireland and served in Virginia with the Americans during the Revolutionary War, after which he moved (1870), first to Surry, and then to Little Ivy, where D. W. Angel now lives and where Mrs. Gardner was born, January 15, 1815. Her husband was William Gardner, to whom she was mar- ried March 22, 1832. Thomas Dillard, father of the wife of Robert Love, was her mother's uncle. She died early in 1913.
FIRST SETTLERS OF BURNSVILLE. Mrs. Gardner gave the following as the first settlers of Burnsville: John L. Williams and his sons Edward and Joshua; Dr. Job, Dr. John Yancey,
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Abner Jarvis, Dr. Jacob Stanley, Samuel Flemming, Gen. John W. McElroy, James Greenlee, John W. Garland, "Knock" Boone, Amos Ray, W. M. Westall, J. Bacchus Smith, Joseph Shepard, Adam Broyles, Mitchell Broyles, W. M. Lewis, John Woodfin, James Anderson, Milton P. Penland, Jack Stewart and John Bailey.
FIRST SETTLERS OF YANCEY. Among them Mrs. Gard- ner mentioned the following, giving also the names of their wives: Henry Roland, Berry Hensley, Ed. and James McMahan, Thomas Ray, Edward Wilson, Jacob Phipps, Jerry Boons, Hiram Ray, John Bailey, John Griffith, Joseph Shep- ard, Strowbridge Young, James Proffitt, James Greenlee, Blake Piercy, Thomas Briggs, John McElroy, Wm. Angel, James Evans, W. M. Angelin, John Allen, Rev. Samuel Byrd.
INTERESTING FACTS ABOUT OLD TIMES. Mrs. Gardner's grandfather, James Anderson, was said to be the first Methodist west of the Blue Ridge. She remembered Parson Brownlow and the "lie bill" suit and the sale of his bridle, saddle and horse; also that William Angel lived near the present site of Burns- ville but moved to Georgia, carrying his family and "One hundred geese, which they drove." She gave not only the names of the wives of the first settlers, but their children, and where the first settlers lived. Also, that John Bailey married Hiram Ray's daughter and donated the land for the town of Burnsville; that Joseph Shepard married Betsy Hor- ton, the grandparents of the late Judge J. S. Adams; that Thomas Ray married Ivey Hensley and lived in Cane river valley; that Jacob Phipps married Nancy Hampton, and lived four miles west of Burnsville; that Edward Wilson mar- ried Polly Gilbert and lived on Cane river; that Jerry Boone was a noted blacksmith and married Sallie McMahan. They lived where Burnsville now stands; also that Hiram Ray married a Miss Cox and was a wealthy and influential man. Also that Zepheniah Horton lived one mile west of Burns- ville, but none of his descendants now live in Yancey, though some live in Buncombe and the State of Kansas; that Henry Roland married Sallie Robinson and lived on Cane river; that Berry Hensley married Betsy Littleton, among whose de- scendants were B. S., W., and Jas. B. Hensley. Edward and James McMahan were the first settlers of Pensacola, and Strowbridge Young married Patty Wilson. She spoke of
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James Proffitt as having lived on Bald creek, and of his direct descendants, but did not give the name of his wife. She also spoke of James Greenlee as having married Polly Poteet and living on Cane river, but having had no children; Blake Piercy who married Fanny Turner, and lived on Indian creek, Thomas Briggs who married Jane Wilson and lived on Bald creek, John McElroy who married Miss Jamison and lived on Bald creek, James Evans who married a Miss Bailey and lived on Jack's creek, W. M. Angelin who married Miss Betsy Austin and lived on Banks creek, John Allen who married Molly Turner, and the Rev. Samuel Byrd who married a Miss Briggs and lived in the northern part of the county, naming many of his descendants.
FINE RIVER BOTTOMS. Those splendid lands, extending from the mouth of Prices creek up Cane river to within two or three miles of Burnsville, were in possession of white people as early as 1787, and were originally granted to John McKnitt Alexander and Wm. Sharp. The 640-acre tract at the mouth of Bald and Prices creeks is owned by descendants of Thomas L. Ray, who was among the first settlers of Yancey county. The Creed Young place, originally the John Griffith farm, on Crabtree, about two miles from Burnsville, is another fine farm. Milton P. Penland was another early settler, and owned valuable land near Burnsville. He was a man of influence and ability.
CELO OR BOLEN'S PYRAMID. What is known on govern- ment maps as Celo Peak used to be called Bolen's Pyramid; but why either name should have been given to this northern- most peak of the Blacks is not known, though, as there is a Bolen's creek between it and Burnsville, it is probable that a man of that name once lived near what is now called Athlone.
HENDERSON COUNTY. 30 Until 1838 Henderson was a part of Buncombe, and the story of its first settlement belongs to that county. . . . But in 1838, when Hodge Rabun was in the senate and Montreville Patton and Philip Brittain were in the house, it was erected into a separate county and named in honor of Leonard Henderson, once chief justice of the State, the county seat also having been named in his honor. In 1850 it had only 6,483 population, while in 1910 it contained 16,262.
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"The crest of the Blue Ridge, in Henderson county, is an undulating plateau, which will not be recognized by the trav- eler in crossing. The Saluda mountains, beyond Green river, are the boundary line of vision on the south. The general surface features of the central part of this pearl of counties will be best seen by a glance at the pictorial view from Dun Cragin, near Hendersonville. " 3 1
With a general altitude about that of Asheville, with broad river bottoms along the French Broad, Mud creek and else- where, its agricultural and grazing advantages surpass those of Buncombe; while as a summer and health resort, Hender- sonville, its county seat, with its fine and well-kept hotels and boarding houses, surpasses in many important respects the only town that exceeds it in population, the famed city of Asheville. The social charm of this beautiful place, as well as of Flat Rock and Fletcher, is at least not surpassed in Buncombe or in Asheville itself. Hendersonville has every- thing in the way of hotels, boarding houses, clubs, banks, street railways, parks, lights, water, livery and other advan- tages that could be wished. The points of interest in the immediate vicinity are numerous and appealing. Last sum- mer there were 15,000 visitors in town and 25,000 in the county. The churches represent every denomination.
John Clayton, of Mills river section, was in the legislature in 1827 and 1828, and in the senate in 1833. Largely through his influence Henderson was formed into a separate county. He was the grandfather of Mrs. Mattie Fletcher Egerton, first wife of Dr. J. L. Egerton and great-grandfather of Mrs. Wm. Redin Kirk. He with his son, John, was among the first jurors of this county. R. Irvine Allen, brother of Dr. T. A. Allen, the latter being the oldest male inhabitant of this county, and Jesse Rhodes were among the chain-bearers when the county lines were first surveyed. A committee, consist- ing of Col. John Clayton, Col. Killian, and Hugh Johnston, was appointed to select and lay off a county seat, and their first choice was the land at what is now called Horse Shoe in 1839. But there was so much dissatisfaction with this that two factions arose, called the River and the Road parties, the River party favoring the Horse Shoe site, it having been on the French Broad river. In 1839, however, the Road party enjoined the sale in lots of the land selected at Horse Shoe, and
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the controversy soon waxed so warm that the legislature authorized an election to determine the matter by popular vote, resulting in the success of the Road party. Judge Mitchell King of Charleston, S. C., who had been among the first settlers of this section and owned much of the land where Hendersonville now stands, conveyed fifty acres for the county site; and this was laid off into lots and broad, level right-angled streets, and sold in 1840. Dr. Allen died early in 1914.
HENDERSONVILLE. At the time the Civil War commenced there were on Main street, the Episcopal church, completed save for the spire; the Shipp house, adjoining, which for- merly stood where the Pine Grove lodge now stands, and where Lawyer Shipp, father of Bartlett Shipp, Esq., lived. The present Sample home was then owned by the Rev. Collin Hughes, the Episcopal clergyman. The old Virginia House stood on the corner now occupied by the First National bank, and was built by David Miller and William Deaver, the latter having been killed in the Civil War. It was conducted many years by Mr. C. C. Chase; but about eighteen years ago it became the property of Hall Poole. A still older house was the old hotel built by John Mills, and stood on the present site of the St. John. It later became the property of Colonel Ripley, and was known far and wide as the Ripley House. There was nothing south of the court house site except the old Ripley residence, built by the Kings, and the house that is now Col. Pickens' residence. The only two houses stand- ing prior to the formation of Henderson county in the town of Hendersonville, and remaining unchanged now, are the Arledge house on Main street, and the stone office-building in front of the Pine Grove lodge, near the Episcopal church.
BOWMAN'S BLUFF. About forty years ago a small colony of English people came to this section, and bought a vast acreage of land. Among them were the Valentines, well known in Hendersonville for many years, the Thomases, the Jeudweines, the Malletts (who still live on their place) and the Holmeses, still owning the place above referred to. It would be hard to describe this beautiful place. To the south of the old-fashioned house lies a tangle of garden, with its riot of vines, and its numerous overgrown arbors, and old trees trimmed in fantastic shapes. The house is approached by a long. winding drive, between great old pines, and just in
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front of the house is the immense bluff, whereon wild crab- apples bloom in profusion. This falls away, a sheer descent many feet to the river below, and it was here that Mary Bowman was said to have leaped to her death many years ago, desperate over a hopeless love.
Centrally located to what was this English colony and on top of a hill, sits the little Episcopal church where they were wont to worship on Sunday, and which is used irregularly still.
Mr. Frank Valentine, who came to America in this colony, was educated at Cambridge, England, graduated with highest honor, holding several degrees. He went from Bowman's Bluff to Asheville, and later moved to Hendersonville, where he spent his remaining days. He was known as one of the finest educators in Western North Carolina.
FORMER CITIZENS. Peter Stradley lived at Old Flat Rock, and in 1870 died there almost 100 years old, highly respected and loved; Joseph Dotson lived to the age of 104 on his farm near Bat Cave, and made baskets and brooms. He was cap- tured while in the Confederate army but escaped, running 18 miles over the ice. Govan Edney of Edneyville, also lived to a great age, and had a large experience as a hunter. Harvey Johnston and his wife once owned nearly all the land on the west side of South Main street, Hendersonville, and having no horse, managed to make fine crops notwithstanding. Robert Thomas, first sheriff of Henderson county, was killed by bush- whackers during the Civil War. Solomon Jones lived on Mount Hebron, and was known as a builder of roads, having con- structed one from Hendersonville to Mount Hebron, and an- other up Saluda mountain; lived to be nearly 100, and made his own tombstone.
BUSINESS ENTERPRISES. The Freeze Hosiery mills were opened June 15, 1912; the Skyland Hosiery Co., at Flat Rock make silk and cotton hose and have been operating several years; the Green River Mfg. Co., at Tuxedo, six miles south of Hendersonville, was started in 1909. They make combed peelers and Egyptain yarns, their annual output being 350,- 000 pounds; employing 250 hands, of whom 200 are skilled. They support an excellent school eight months every year; the Case Canning factory on the Edneyville road six miles from Hen- dersonville, at Dana, has a capacity of 500,000 cans a season;
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the Hendersonville Light & Power Co., 712 miles east of Hen- dersonville, have 1,250 horsepower, using only 400 at present; George Stephens operates a mission furniture factory, at Lake Kanuga, six miles out, where also is Kanuga club.
COUNTRY RESORTS. Besides the excellent hotels in Hender- sonville, there is a fine hotel at Osceola lake, one mile from town on the Kanuga road; Kanuga club on Kanuga lake; Highland lake club, one and a half miles out on the Flat Rock road, with cottages, is a stock company; Chimney Rock, twelve miles east, is in the Hickory Nut canon; Buck Forest, now the property of the Frank Coxe estate, was for years a sum- mer resort, and the falls in the vicinity are noted; Fletcher, near the Buncombe line is also popular, and the social charms of the neighborhood are well recognized; Buck Shoals is near, and the famous Rugby Grange, the attractive country estate of the Westfelts of New Orleans, is one of the "show-places" of Western North Carolina.
A LITERARY CURIOSITY. A poem written on white satin in quatrain form, into each of which was incorporated a clause of the Lord's prayer, is known to have been written by Mrs. Susan Baring and is now in the possession of a Henderson- ville lady.
SETTLING THE GRAHAM BOUNDARY LINE. By ch. 202, Pub. Laws, 1897, 343, the county surveyors of Cherokee and Gra- ham were authorized to locate the line between these two coun- ties and Tennessee, according to the calls of the act of 1821.
CHEROKEE AND MURPHY. As early as 1836 the legislature provided that the Indian lands west of Macon should remain under the jurisdiction of that county till a new county should be formed for them, whose county seat should be named Mur- phy. (Rev. St. 1837, Vol. ii, p. 213 and p. 214). In 1842 the State granted to A. Smith, chairman of the County court, 433 acres for a court house, etc. (Deed Book A, p. 429, dated March 23, 1842.) 3 2
OLD COUNTY BUILDINGS. The old jail was back of the J. W. Cooper residence and the whipping post stood near where a street now runs, and the first court house, a very plain and unpretentious affair, stood at the intersection of the two main roads from the country. The new court house was built where the present one now stands, in 1891, at a cost of about $20,000., but it was burned in 1892. In 1893 and 1894 it
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was rebuilt, as the marble foundations and brick walls stood intact after the fire, at a cost of $12,000. There was no insurance on the burned building.
PREEMINENT ADVANTAGES. Murphy's location between two clear mountain rivers, its broad and almost level streets, its fine court house, schools and hotels form the nucleus around which a large city should grow. It has two competing rail- roads, and a climate almost ideal. Its citizens, too, are enter- prising and progressive, good streets and roads being appre- ciated highly
MURPHY'S FIRST CITIZENS. Daniel F. Ramseur kept the old "Long Hotel," with offices, that used to stand near the public square. Felix Axley was the father of the Murphy bar and of F. P. and J. C. Axley. J. C. Abbott lived at the old A. T. Davidson place, and was a leading merchant after the Civil War. Samuel Henry, deceased, was an ante-bellum resident, was U. S. Commissioner for years, and a friend of the late U. S. District Judge R. P. Dick. A. M. Dyche (pronounced Dike) was sheriff, justice of the peace and a good citizen. S. G. R. Mount was postmaster and lived in the southern part of town. Dr. John W. Patton was a leading physician and lived near Hiwassee bridge. Mercer Fain lived where the Regal hotel stands now, and was a merchant, farmer and land speculator. Benjamin S. Brittain lived in East Murphy from the organization of the county till his death, and was register of deeds. Drewry Weeks lived on the northeast corner of the Square and was from the organization of the county till his death clerk of the old county court. Seth Hyatt, sheriff, lived where Capt. J. W. Cooper afterwards resided. John- son King lived where S. Hyatt had lived, and married his widow. He was a partner of the late Col. W. H. Thomas, and the father of Hon. Mark C. King, several terms in the legislature. Dr. C. T. Rogers was another leading physician. Jesse Brooks was a merchant and lived on what is now Church street. G. L. D. McClelland lived first on Church and after- wards on the east side of Main street and lived to be over ninety years of age, being highly esteemed. William Berry was a merchant and farmer; Xenas Hubbard was a tinner; James Grant was a merchant and kept store where the Dickey hotel now stands; John Rolen was a lawyer; J. J. Turnbill was a blacksmith, and a man of unusual sense.
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WILLIAM BEALE. This scholarly man came to Murphy from Canada just prior to the Civil War and taught school; was several times sheriff, and lived on the south side of Hi- wassee bridge.
DAVID AND JOHN HENESEA. Just after the Civil War they moved from a fine farm at the head of Valley river. John kept a hotel, now the residence of C. E. Wood.
JAMES W. COOPER. He moved to Murphy from Graham soon after the Civil War, and was a most successful lawyer and land speculator.
RESIDENTS OF CHEROKEE COUNTY. Among the more prom- inent may be mentioned Abraham Harshaw, the largest slave owner, four miles south of Murphy; John Harshaw, his brother; Abraham Sudderth, who owned the Mission farm six miles south of Murphy, where Rev. Humphrey Posey had established a mission school for the Cherokees; William Strange owned a fine farm at the mouth of Brasstown creek; Gideon Morris, a Baptist preacher, who married Yonaguska's daughter; Andrew Moore; David Taylor; David Henesea; James W. C. Piercy, who, from the organization of the county till his death, located most of the land in Cherokee; James Tatham, the father of Purd and Bent, who lived a mile west of Andrews; James Whitaker and his son Stephen, who lived near Andrews; Hugh Collett and his father, who lived just above Old Valley Town and were men of industry and integrity; Buck and Neil Colvard, who lived at Tomotla; Wm. Welch, who lived in the same neighborhood; and Henry Moss, who lived at Marble, Ute Hyatt living on the adjoining farm. Elisha P. Kincaid lived four miles east of Murphy, and above him lived Betty Welch, or Betty Bly or Blythe, the heroine of Judge Strange's romance, "Yonaguska." John Welch was her hus- band, a half-breed Cherokee, and an "Avenger of Blood." (See ch. 26.) In the western part of the county were Burton K. and George Dickey, Wm. C. Walker, who was killed at the close of the Civil War, having been colonel of the 29th N. C. regiment; Abel S. Hill, sheriff; Calvin C. Vest; and others, who lived on Notla. In the northern part lived Har- vey Davidson, sheriff and farmer; and the Hunsuckers, Black- wells, Longwoods, Gentrys and others. Goldman Bryson lived on Beaver Dam, and was said to have been at the head
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of a band of banditti during the Civil War, and was followed into the mountains and killed by a party of Confederates. Andrew and Jeff Colvard were founders of large and influen- tial families. They were bold and daring frontiersmen and citizens of character and ability. "Old Rock Voyles," as he was affectionately called, lived on Persimmon creek, ten miles from Murphy, and was a man of originality and humor. He lived to a great age.
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