Part One: BY ROBERT A. IVEY
The surname of Henderson is derived from Henry–Henry’s son, which in time became Henrison, Hendrickson, Henderson. The name is Scottish, the family having lived there since the fifteenth century with the chief seat being at Fordell, County Fife.
(People Family Search, Our Family History, the Barnard Family Story, Introduction to the Henderson Chronicles, Internet.)
Sir James Henderson of “Fordell”, Scotland, was one of the progenitor of the Hendersons in the Ninety Six District of South Carolina. He married Jean Murray and had four sons: Sir John, his heir,
Robert, James and Francis. The last three were Colonels and brave officers in Danish, Swedish and French wars.
(RootsWeb’s WorldConnect Project: Carrie’s Family Tree, ID: 107579, Sir James Henderson, Contact R. C. Karnes.)
Thomas Henderson was born in Virginia circa 1653. He married Ursula Keeling, daughter of George and Ursula Fleming Keeling, in 1676, in Hanover County, Virginia.
She was born in New Kent County, Virginia, circa 1660, and had two brothers and a sister. Her sister, Mary, was born September 26, 1664, in York County, Virginia.
George Keeling was born circa 1635. He married Ursula Fleming, circa 1658. She was possibly the daughter of Thomas and Judith Ursula Tarleton Fleming, and was born circa 1639.
George was elected Captain of the Militia on July 4, 1702, and Sheriff of New Kent County, on April 28, 1708. He was a Justice of the Peace in New Kent County, Virginia, and served as a member of the Vestry of St. Peter’s Parish. Ursula Fleming Keeling died circa 1700, in New Kent County, Virginia, and her husband, George, died circa 1720, in Granville County, North Carolina.
(RootsWeb’s World Connect Project: My Family, Past & Present, ID: 11589, Thomas Henderson, Contact Jennifer; RootsWeb’s WorldConnect Project: Carrie’s Family Tree, ID: 107579,108482 &108483, George and Ursula Keeling Henderson, Contact R. C. Karnes.)
(The Ancestry and Family History of Louise Ann Booth at Grand Forks, North Dakota, Some Descendants of Capt. George Keeling, Internet; Genealogy.com—GenForum, George Keeling/Ursula Fleming, Posted by Hewitt Ryan, Internet; Family Tree Maker’s Genealogy Site: Genealogy Report: Ancestors of Richard Anthony McKoin Cos…Internet.)
Thomas and Ursula had the following children: John, Richard, Thomas, Edward, James and Sarah Henderson. Their son, Richard, was born circa 1674. Ursula died in 1697, and he married Sarah Wilkinson, daughter of Thomas and Judith Fleming Wilkinson, on November 16, 1698.
Thomas and Sarah had the following children: William, Samuel, Jane, Susannah and Ursula Henderson. He was a parish collector for St. Paul’s Parish and their neighbor.
He died in February of 1711. Date of the death of Sarah Wilkinson Henderson is not known to this writer.
(GenCircles, Carrie’s Family Tree, Thomas Henderson, Contact R. C. Karnes; RootsWeb’s World Connect Project: Dave’s Bohemian, Canadian, and Southern Kin, ID: 134393, Thomas Henderson, Contact David V. Hughey.)
(RootsWeb’s World Connect Project: Mostly Southern, ID: 106491, Thomas Henderson, Contact Mark Freeman; RootsWeb’s WorldConnect Project: Carrie’s Family Tree, ID: 108482, George Keeling, Contact R.C. Karnes; Genealogy. Com, Thomas Henderson/Ursula Keeling, Starting New, Internet.)
Richard Henderson married Mary (Polly) Washer. She was born circa 1655, at Lawnes Plantation, Isle of Wight, Virginia, the daughter of Thomas and Mary Bruce Washer. Her father was born circa 1625, and her mother was born circa 1629. Her parents died in Hanover County, Virginia.
(RootsWeb’s Worldconnect Project: David E. Leleux Family Tree, ID: 1033118, Thomas Washer, Contact David E. LeLeux; RootsWeb’s WorldConnect Project: Louisiana Melting Pot, ID: 1035136, Thomas and Mary Bruce Washer, Contact Jody M. Larousse.)
They had six sons and two daughters: Joseph, Edward, Leonard, Richard, Samuel, Nathaniel, Christian and Jane. Their son, Samuel, was born March 17, 1700.
Richard owned a plantation in Hanover County, Virginia, where he served as a Judge and Sheriff. Mary died in Hanover County, Virginia, in 1714, and he died June 21, 1749, in Goochland County, Virginia.
(Genealogy.Com, Family Tree Maker Online, Richard (the Sheriff) Henderson, Internet; RootsWeb’s WorldConnect Project: A Goode American Family, ID: 132156, Richard Henderson, Contact David Goode.)
(RootsWeb’s WorldConnect Project, Carrie’s Family Tree, ID: 11936, Richard Henderson, Contact R. C. Karnes; RootsWeb’s WorldConnect Project: Carrie’s Family Tree, ID: 11937 & 107578, Mary Polly Washer, Contact R. C. Karnes.)
Samuel Henderson married Elizabeth Williams on November 14, 1732, in Hanover County, Virginia. She was the daughter of Lt. Col. John and Mary ? Williams and was born on September 14, 1714, in York County, Virginia.
(Some Descendants of Samuel Henderson & Elizabeth Williams of Granville County, North Carolina, Internet; RootsWeb’s WorldConnect Project, Family of Legends, ID: 1255265, John Williams, Contact David A. Blocher; John Williams (1679-1735) – Genealogy, Internet.)
John Williams, Elizabeth’s father, was born in Llangollen, Wales. He was the son of John Williams II and his wife, Ann Whitley. He emigrated to America in the 1690s, and appears to have first settled on Queens’ Creek in York County, Virginia. He married Mary ? on July 26, 1704, in York County, Virginia, where she was born.
The following was written by J. E. Williams and entitled, A Williams Line. He wrote: “JOHN WILLIAMS, a native of Wales, came to Virginia, about the beginning of the eighteenth century, and settled in Hanover County. He was born January 26, 1679, and died about 1735. The court records of Hanover County show that John Tyler, with Thomas Prosser, as his bondsman, qualified as administrators of his estate on June 5, 1735. His wife, Mary, whose maiden name is not known, was born September 26, 1684.”
John later moved to Hanover County, Virginia, and built his ancestral home, Studley, before 1712. He was a member of the Colonial Militia and served as a Lt. Col. and was referred to in some databases as a judge.
They had four sons and four daughters: John, Mary, Ann, Daniel, Nathaniel, Elizabeth, Sarah, and Joseph. Their daughter, Elizabeth, and her husband, Samuel Henderson, were the direct progenitors of the Carroll (Grindal) Shoals Hendersons.
Mary ? Williams died in 1730, in Hanover County, Virginia, and John, her husband, was married a second time to Ann ? . He died in Bertie County, North Carolina, on January 11, 1741.
(RootsWeb’s WorldConnect Project: ID: 159538100, John II Williams, Contact Dave; John Williams (1679-1735)–-Genealogy, Internet.)
(RootsWeb’s WorldConnect Project: The McMillin & Williams and Allied Families, ID: 105865, Mary Keeling, Contact Deb; Early Descendants of John Williams, “The Wealthy Welshman” of Hanover County, Virginia, Born 1679, Llangollen, Wales, Internet.)
(RootsWeb’s World Connect Project: Charles McDonald, ID: 1532085360, Mary Keeling, Contact Charles McDonald; RootsWeb’s World Connect Project: Family of Legends, ID:1255265, John Williams, Contact David A. Blocker; RootsWeb’s WorldConnect Project: Family 2010 Tree, ID: P2170662786, John Williams III, Contact Gary W. Wood.)
Samuel Henderson was first a High Sheriff of Hanover County, Virginia. Before 1740, he and his wife, Elizabeth, moved to Granville County, North Carolina, to lands on Nutbush Creek. He built Ashland Plantation in 1740. He became Sheriff of that county in 1754. He was one of the Justices of the County Court from 1747-1758.
The Ashland Plantation is still standing on Satterwhite Point Road and now houses the Vance County Historical Museum.
Samuel and Elizabeth Williams Henderson had the following children: Mary Ann, Richard, Nathaniel, Elizabeth, Anna, Susanna, John, Samuel Jr., William, Pleasant and Thomas Henderson.
Samuel died at his Ashland plantation August 25, 1783, and was buried at Williamsboro, N. C. Elizabeth, his wife, died in Rockingham County, North Carolina, on September 5, 1794, at one of her son’s houses. She was buried at Williamsboro, N. C.
(Samuel Henderson (1700-1783)—Genealogy, Internet; RootsWeb’s WorldConnect Project: VOLZKAI, ID:155219, Elizabeth Williams, Contact Denise Volzka; RootsWeb’s WorldConnect Project: Persephone’s Prize, ID: 13689, Elizabeth Williams, Contact Terri Miles.)
(RootsWeb’s WorldConnect Project: OUR FAMILIES, ID: 103107, Samuel Henderson, Sheriff, Contact Fletcher; NC Vance/Local, Vance Co. Contacts, Internet; Vance County, NCGenWeb Project, Internet; RootsWeb’s WorldConnect Project: Fisher and Grimes Ancesters, ID: 134144, Elizabeth Williams, Contact John Merrill Fisher.)
THE CARROLL (GRINDAL) SHOALS OR PACOLET RIVER
SETTLEMENT OF THE HENDERSONS, WILLIAMS AND CONNECTING FAMILIES
By September of 1766 or before, several families from the Granville County, North Carolina, area came to the Carroll (Grindal) Shoals section of what later became the Ninety Six District of South Carolina, and received grants of land from what was then believed to be Mecklenburg or Tryon Counties in North Carolina.
Zachariah Bullock, son of Richard and Ann Henley Bullock, from Granville, N. C., moved to the area and surveyed a lot of grants in the Carroll (Grindal) Shoals area. Two of his sisters lived at least for awhile in the area: Agatha and her husband, John Nuckolls Sr., and Agnes and her husband, John Williams. Their husbands were both Patriot officers during the American Revolutionary War.
(North Carolina Land Grants in South Carolina by Brent Holcomb, p.95; RootsWeb’s WorldConnect Project: My Family Tree and Twigs, ID: 114078, Richard Bullock, Contact Leonard Turnbull; RootsWeb’s World Connect Project: The Ridner and Bender Families, ID: 15497, Agatha Bullock, Contact David A. Ridner.)
(Rootsweb’s WorldConnect Project: The McMillin & Williams and Allied Families, ID: 108443, Agness Bullock, Contact Deb; Roster of South Carolina Patriots in the American Revolution by Bobby Gilmer Moss, p. 121.)
His brother, Leonard Henley Bullock Sr., owned property in Carroll (Grindal) Shoals as did Leonard’s daughter, Susannah. Leonard was High Sheriff in Granville County, N. C. in 1769; Commander of Governor Tryon’s Calvary Unit in 1771; Manager of the Translvania Land Company in 1775; and was a Major with the Patriot or Continental Forces during the American Revolutionary War.
(Union County, South Carolina, Deed Abstracts, Vol. I, by Brent Holcomb, pp 59, 119, 259; RootsWeb’s World Connect Project: My Family Tree and Twigs, ID: 114080, Leonard Henley Bullock, Contact Leonard Turnbull.)
Zachariah Bullock owned a great deal of land in the Carroll (Grindal) Shoals area and served as a Major with the Continental forces under Col. Benjamin Roebuck. Angelica Mitchell Nott wrote: “The place on which he lived was settled by one Pacolet, after whom the river was named.”
(Union County, South Carolina, Deed Abstracts, Vol. I, by Brent Holcomb, p. 17; History of Grindal Shoals by Rev. J. D. Bailey, p. 74.)
He died unmarried in 1791, and left his estate to his brother, Len, and Len’s four daughters: Lyne, Lucy, Agnes and Nancy. He was a friend and neighbor to the Williams, Hendersons and Mitchells.
(Union County, South Carolina, Will Abstracts, 1787-1849, pp. 15-16.)
John Beckham apparently received one of the early grants in Mecklenburg County circa 1765 or 1766. Beckham’s land or grant was mentioned in the survey that Joab Mitchell had made on September 27, 1766, for one of his grants.
Beckham had a 400 acre tract on both sides of the Pacolet River that he sold to William Hodge in 1775 or 1776. He had probably built his cabin here and lived in it until several years after his brother-in-law, William Henderson, moved to the area in 1771 or before. From records it appears that Beckham moved his family to the William Henderson lands circa 1774.
(North Carolina Land Grants in South Carolina by Brent Holcomb, p. 95; South Carolina Historical and Genealogical Magazine, Vol. XXVIII, pp. 108-111, Article on General William Henderson compiled by B. F. Taylor; History of Grindal Shoals by Rev. J. D. Bailey, p. 24.)
During the Revolutionary War, Lieut. Col. Banastre Tarleton of the British army visited the William Hodge cabin in November of 1780, and had his men set the torch to it. This was probably the house that Beckham had constructed. He carried William Hodge to Camden, S. C., where he remained a prisoner until he and Daniel McJunkin escaped in April of 1781.
In his History of Grindal Shoals, the Reverend J. D. Bailey wrote: “When twelve, or fourteen years of age, the writer passing this ancient settlement one beautiful summer evening, in company with Frank Hodge, he pointed out to us three black rocks standing at right angles near the roadside, and said, ‘There are the pillars of great—grand-father’s house, which was burnt during the Revolution.’ The site was about one hundred and fifty yards a little south of west from the old graveyard. They are not to be seen there now.”
(History of Grindal Shoals, Article on William Hodge, by Rev. J. D. Bailey, pp. 53-56.)
All of Hodge’s personal papers were burnt and on August 27, 1784, he had John Hodge and John Grindal Sr. appear before J. Thompson, J. P. and they stated that they saw John Beckham of the Ninety Six District in the year 1775 or 76 deliver to William Hodge of Pacolet River a lease and release for 400 acres, being the plantation whereon the said William Hodge now lives.”
(Union County, South Carolina, Will Abstracts, 1787-1849, by Brent Howard Holcomb, p. 17.)
Joab Mitchell received four separate grants totaling 1300 acres in September of 1766, in what was then thought to be Mecklenburg County, North Carolina. He received a later grant for 1888 acres on February 10, 1775, “on the Mill Creek at the mouth of School house branch.”
(North Carolina Land Grants in South Carolina by Brent Holcomb, p. 95; Union County, South Carolina, Deed Abstracts, Vol. I: Deed Books A-F, 1785-1800 (1752-1800) by Brent Holcomb, p. 51.)
Richard Henderson, his brother-in-law, received six grants in 1767 and 1768, for a total of 2100 acres of land in the Pacolet River area. The land was thought to be a part of Mecklenburg and Tryon Counties in North Carolina. He never lived on the land. By 1771, William Henderson had purchased his brother, Richard Henderson’s lands, and had moved there to oversee the property.
(North Carolina Land Grants in South Carolina by Brent Holcomb, pp. 70, 71, 140, 156.)
In a History of the Upper Country of South Carolina, Vol. II, p. 38, by John H. Logan, is found the following: “Col. William Henderson settled, a single man on the Pacolet, and lived there with his sister, Mrs. John Beckham.”
He lived for several years with his sister until he constructed his own cabin. He allowed the Beckham’s to settled on his land just off Sandy Run Creek in possibly a cabin that had already been built by “squatters”. In his will, William Henderson gave the land (200 acres) to the Beckhams and his brother, John, an executor of the estate, deeded the land to the daughters of Beckham.
(Union County, South Carolina, Deed Abstracts, Vol. I: Deed Books A-F, 1785-1800 (1752-1800) by Brent Holcomb, p. 208.)
John Williams, son of Daniel Williams Sr. and Ursula Henderson Williams, and his wife, Mary Atwood Williams, were living (squatting) in a cabin in 1768 or before, on land that was later granted to John Kirconnell on the north side of Pacolet, the upper side of John Portman’s land. Kirconnell received the grant in 1771, in what was then regarded as in Tryon County, North Carolina.
John Williams received a 300 acre grant on the Pacolet River in 1768. This land was then thought to be a part of Mecklenburg County, North Carolina. He received an additional grant of 500 acres that included “Clark’s Old Field” in 1770. This land was in Tryon County, North Carolina. A part of John Clark’s (father of Col. Elijah Clark) land was re-granted.
(North Carolina Land Grants in South Carolina by Brent Holcomb, pp. 121, 125, 141, 154, 158.)
John Williams probably moved to the area with his brother, Daniel Williams Jr., and his wife, Ann. Two of Ann’s sisters had also moved there in the 1760s. Daniel may have purchased John’s property on the Pacolet River after his brother moved to what later became Laurens County, S. C.
Their brother, James Williams, in 1773, moved to the Little River section of what became Laurens County, and John later joined him there circa 1775. John moved to Edgefield County, S. C., circa 1785.
Some of his brother, Daniel’s children, later moved there. Davis, a son of Daniel and Ann Henderson Williams, sold land in Edgefield District, S. C., in 1801. Daniel’s wife, Ann, lived in Edgefield after the death of her second husband, Adam Potter, in 1801. She died in Edgefield County.
(James Williams, An American Patriot in the Carolina Backcountry, by William T. Graves, p. 6; SCC-Template, South Carolina Connections, Disk5Chp68, Internet, pp. 1-2; RootsWeb’s World Connect Project, SCSALUDA-L Archives, Ancestry.com, Internet; RootsWeb’s WorldConnect Project: Norris/Verbois Family Tree, ID: 1533945254, Anne Henderson, Contact Toni Verbois.)
John Williams Jr., son of John and Mary Womack Williams, from Granville County, N. C., received a 300 acre tract on both sides of the south fork of Pacolet River in 1767, and a 600 acre tract on both sides of the south fork of the Pacolet River in 1768. This land was thought to be in Tryon County, North Carolina, at the time. There is no record of John Jr. living on these grants. He may have sold his land to his brother-in-law, Zachariah Bullock.
His wife was Agness Bullock Keeling, widow of George Keeling, and sister of Zachariah. Her first husband was the grandson of George and Ursula Fleming Keeling.
(RootsWeb’s WorldConnect Project: Ancestors and Cousins, ID: 148323, George Keeling, Contact Karen Higgins.)
“Along with his cousin, Richard Henderson, Williams (John Jr.) organized the Louisa (later the Transylvania) Company in 1774, in order to develop and sell land between the Cumberland and Kentucky rivers.”
(North Carolina Land Grants in South Carolina, by Brent Holcomb, pp. 154-155; RootsWeb’s World Connect: Family of Legends and The Unknown, ID: 1255007, George Keeling, Contact David A. Blocher.)
(RootsWeb’s WorldConnect Project: The McMillin & Williams and Allied Families, ID: 116309, Southern Historical Collection, Col. John Williams, Contact Deb.)
John Haile moved to this area in 1766, and served as a chain bearer for Joab Mitchell when he was receiving his grants. He received a grant for a 289 acre tract of land on Mill Creek of Pacolet River “about one mile above the fair forrest path…” on October 27, 1767.
Zachariah Bullock had surveyed the tract on February 17, 1767. William Coleman and Joab Mitchell were his chain bearers. He married Ruth Mitchell, daughter of Joab Mitchell, circa 1770.
(North Carolina Land Grants in South Carolina by Brent Holcomb, pp. 52, 53, 67, 95, 128, 152; RootsWeb’s WorldConnect Project: Blick’s Family Workbook, ID: 13242, John Haile, Capt., Contact Phyllis Blickensderfer.)
Joab Mitchell apparently received a part of the John Clark land when he was receiving his grants and in 1769, sold land on Mill Creek to David Robertson, father of James (Horseshoe) Robertson. “The land Joab Mitchell sold him contained a grist mill, which he operated until three days before he made his will.” His will was written on July 8, 1771.
This area was first called Clark’s Mill Creek, and the mill was originally constructed by John Clark, Col. Elijah Clark’s father.
On February 20, 1767, Charles Robertson, David Robertson’s brother, carried the surveyor’s chain for Joab Mitchell near the Pacolet River and on August 12, 1767, Charles and his brother, David, carried the chain for James Hanna on the south fork of Fishing Creek.
Charles carried the chain for James Bridges for a grant on both sides of Thicketty Creek also on August 12, 1767. He did not receive a grant for himself. His brother, David, sought to protect Charles assets in his will, but the state rejected the will.
(North Carolina Land Grants in South Carolina by Brent Holcomb, p. 51; The Robertsons of Tennessee: Myth and Reality, by Tom Robertson, pp. 5-7; Union County, S. C., Deed Abstracts, Vol. I, p. 54.)
CHILDREN OF SAMUEL AND ELIZABETH WILLIAMS HENDERSON
PART 1
1. Mary Ann Henderson was born January 10, 1734, in Hanover County, Virginia. She married Joab Mitchell on October 14, 1751, in Granville County, North Carolina. He was born February 13, 1721, in Henrico County, Virginia. He was Christened on September 16, 1722, in Bristol Parish, Henrico County, Virginia.
He was the son of Thomas and Hannah ? Mitchell. Thomas was born circa 1698, and Hannah was born circa 1700. Thomas’ will was filed on October 5, 1767, in Amherst County, Virginia.
He listed Charles, Joab, Elizabeth and Nancy as his children.
(Genealogy.com: My Genealogy Home Page: Information about Mary Henderson, Internet; Mitchell Family Records of Hawkins County, Tennessee, by Willie Blount Mitchell, 1847, Internet; Family: Joab Mitchell and Mary Henderson (1) – Genealogy, Internet.)
(RootsWeb’s WorldConnect Project: OUR FAMILIES, Swallow, Schaeck, Bond, Henwood, Kortum and Allied Families, ID: 104319, Joab Mitchell, Contact Joseph; Person: Thomas Mitchell (2) – Genealogy, Internet; Amherst County, Virginia, Abstracts of Wills Before 1799, Internet.)
“Joab Mitchell was listed as a soldier on the Granville County Muster Roll of a Company of Foot in the Regiment of Granville, N.C.—September 6,1755.”
On March 3, 1757, “Mary Stuart, 13 years old, was bound to Joab Mitchell to learn housewifery and to get 1 Years schooling after 15 years.”
(RootsWeb’s WorldConnect Project: Spirit Walking, ID: 1114595, Joab Mitchell, Contact Sandra; From ORPHAN BONDS OF GRANVILLE COUNTY, N. C., 1749-1786.)
Joab and Mary probably had at least six of their children while living in Granville County, North Carolina, and at least four of their children while living in the Carroll (Grindal) Shoals area of what later became South Carolina.
Joab Mitchell sold 150 acres of land to Peter Copland of the Province of Virginia, on May 13, 1773. It was a part of a 450 acre grant to Joab by North Carolina on October 26, 1767.
He sold 300 acres on both sides of the Pacolet River near Carrol Shoals to Susannah Bullock, daughter of Len Henley Bullock, brother of Zachariah Bullock, on October 2, 1773.
On May 12-13, 1775, he and his wife, Mary, sold 300 acres of land on Mill Creek to Richard Hawkins.
He and his family were still living at Grindal Shoals on December 18-19, 1775, when he sold 300 acres of land on Clarks Mill Creek to Thomas Draper. The land was granted to him on September 6, 1774.
(Union County South Carolina Deed Abstracts, Vol. I, by Brent Holcomb, pp. 2, 54, 59, 78.)
The Battle of Lexington occurred on April 18, 1775, and the Snow Campaign in South Carolina, occurred in November of 1775. Apparently, Joab had not enlisted and was not involved in the early skirmishes and battles of the first year of the American Revolutionary War.
It is speculative, but the writer doubts that Joab started for Tennessee before early spring of 1776. Mary was expecting a child, and they probably remained at Grindal Shoals until after the birth of Polly Mitchell on April 6, 1776. So there could have been five children born in South Carolina.
There seems to have been a problem for the traveling party, perhaps one of illness, or Joab would not have left one of his younger children with his wife’s sister, Ann, who was at that time married to Daniel Williams Jr. Their daughter, Angelica, remained and was raised by her Aunt Ann.
Joab moved to Hawkins County, Tennessee, near the village of Rogersville. Joab and his son, Mark, signed the Watauga Association petition, and the new Washington District was officially accepted by North Carolina on August 22, 1776. “All the men signing the petition were frontier soldiers.”
(Kings Mountain Men by K. K. White, pp. 7-8.)
Davy Crockett’s grandparents, David and Elizabeth Hedge Crockett, lived in what today is downtown Rogersville, near a spring that bears their name. David and Elizabeth were massacred in August of 1777, by a group of Indians led by “Dragging Canoe”.
Davy Crockett wrote: “The Indians wounded Joseph Crockett, a brother to my father, by a ball, which broke his arm; and took James a prisoner, who was still a younger brother than Joseph, and who, from natural defects, was less able to make his escape, as he was both deaf and dumb. He remained with them for seventeen years and nine months, when he was discovered and recollected by my father and his eldest brother, William Crockett; and was purchased by them from an Indian trader.”
(David the Elder Crockett, 1 (c. 1730-1777)—Genealogy, Internet; Davy Crockett’s Own Story p. 17.)
The remaining Crocketts sold their property to a French Huguenot, named Colonel Thomas Amis. He built a fort at Big Creek in 1780, with the assistance of fellow settler and Scots-Irish John Carter, on the outskirts of Rogersville. Colonel Amis erected a fort-like stone house, around which, he built a palisade for protection against the Indians.
(Rogersville, Tennessee—Wikipedia, the Free Encyclopedia, Internet.)
The last child of Joab and Mary, Susannah, was born in Hawkins County, Tennessee, on November 18, 1779, just a few months before the death of her father.
(Family: Joab Mitchell and Mary Henderson (1)—Genealogy, Internet.)
On one occasion several families were gathered at the fort called Big Creek, and because they were greatly in need of salt, Joab Mitchell, volunteered to go and secure it.
“He had procured a supply of salt and had nearly reached his friends in safety, when he was suddenly fired upon by some Indians concealed in the hollow. His left arm was shattered by a (musket) ball. In a few minutes he was with his friends in the fort. There being no skilled surgeon present, and the weather being excessively warm, mortification and death ensued in about 3 days.”
His remains were interred in a depression, which has since borne the name of “Mitchell’s Hollow”. He died on March 13, 1780, almost three years after the Crockett’s lost their lives.
(RAMBLIN—pfg. 273—Generated by Personal Ancestral File, Internet; Goodspeed’s History of Hawkins County, Tennessee; Sketches of Hawkins County by James W. Rogan—1859.)
(RootsWeb’s WorldConnect Project: Swallow, Schaeck, Bond, Henwood, Kortum and Allied Families, ID: 108011, Joab Mitchell Jr., Contact Joseph G. Swallow.)
From, Watauga and Its Records, is found the following in the May term of 1780: “Ordered that Mary Mitchell have leave of administration on the Estate of Joab Mitchell. Mark Mitchell and George Russell her security.”
(Kings Mountain Men by K. K. White, p. 33.)
Mary Henderson Mitchell died in Hawkins County, Tennessee, on August 25, 1803.
(RootsWeb’s WorldConnect Project: VOLZKAI, ID: 155216, Contact Denise Volzka, Mary Henderson, Contact Joseph G. Swallow.)
Children of Joab and Mary Henderson Mitchell
(a). Ruth M. Mitchell was born on August 1, 1753, in Granville County, North Carolina. She married John Haile, son of John and Elizabeth ? Haile, circa 1770, in Carroll (Grindal) Shoals. He was born in 1746, in Virginia.
(RootsWeb World Connect Project: from the present to the beginning, ID: P210344164, Ruth Mitchell, Contact Richard Finch; RootsWeb World Connect Project: Reaves-Wilson Family, ID: 1101, John Haile, Contact William Reaves.)
(RootsWeb World Connect Project: Blick’s Family Workbook, ID: 13242, John Haile Capt., Contact, Phyllis Blickensderfer.)
He was a Patriot soldier in the American Revolutionary War and served as a horseman and quartermaster under Capt. John Thompson. He “lost a horse in service during 1779”. He was a Captain under Col. Thomas Brandon, and was listed in several databases as Capt. John Haile Sr.
(South Carolina Patriots in the American Revolution by Bobby Gilmer Moss, p. 399.)
They had five daughters and five sons. Her husband was the first Clerk of Court in Union County, S. C., in 1785.
(Ramblin-pafg274—Generated by Ancestral File, The Tangled Web, Internet; GenCircles, Global Tree, The White Family & Other Connections by Carol Robertson White, John Haile.)
His obituary appeared in the Saturday, June 29th Issue of the Marion Star, Marion, S. C., in 1816:
“Died, at his residence in Union District on Monday the 17 th, inst. JOHN HAILE, Esq. in the 70th year of his age..he was a parent to a numerous offspring, a valuable citizen, generous neighbor, a sincere friend. His door was never shut against the poor and indigent, and by repeated acts of benevolence he has gained the esteem of all who knew him..His associations in life, only knew how to appreciate his worth.”
Ruth Mitchell Haile died May 9, 1840, in Pendleton District, Anderson, S. C.
(RootsWeb’s WorldConnect Project: from the present to the beginning, ID: P-210344164, Ruth Mitchell, Contact Richard Finch.)
Their daughter, Elizabeth, born January 24, 1772, married a Patriot Revolutionary War veteran, Thomas Stribling. “He served in the militia from 1 April to 29 June 1782 under Capt. Joseph Hughes and Col. Thomas Brandon.”
(RootsWeb’s WorldConnect Project: The Stribling Family in America, ID: 111632, Thomas Stribling, Contact Barbara Beers; South Carolina Patriots in the American Revolution by Bobby Gilmer Moss, p. 903.)
Their son, Benjamin, born October 23, 1774, married Sally Henderson, the daughter of John and Sarah Alston Henderson.
(RootsWeb’s WorldConnect Project: Reaves-Wilson Family, ID:1101, John Haile, Contact William Reaves; History of Grindal Shoals by Rev. J. D. Bailey, p. 52.)
Their daughter, Mary (Polly) Haile, born December 29, 1783, married Richard Thomson, son of William (Gentleman) Thomson and his wife, Sarah Hatton Thomson. Polly Haile was his second wife.
William and Sarah Thomson were both born in England. They first settled in Williamsburg, Virginia, after moving to this country.
(Rootsweb’s WorldConnect Project: Reaves-Wilson Family, ID: 1101, John Haile, Contact William Reaves; Thomson/Thompson from the Ragland Genealogy, Internet.)
Richard was first married to Mary (Polly) Hopson, daughter of Neville and Sarah Ragland Hopson, on November 8, 1802, in Rutherford County, North Carolina. She was born July 10, 1780, in Halifax County, Virginia. They had four sons and two daughters. Mary Hopson Thomson died circa 1813.
(RootsWebs WorldConnect Project: Sexton, Basil, Roller, Walden and Related Families, ID: 111234, Neville Hopson, Contact Teresa Sexton; Richard Thomson and Mary Hopson, Internet.)
Mary (Polly) Haile and Richard Thomson married circa 1814, and had two sons and two daughters. She was living in 1837, when she relinquished her dower rights to Joshua Tapp, Justice of the Quorum, on May 8th. Her husband had sold 37 acres of land west of the Village of Spartanburg, S. C., to Thomas Poole.
(Spartanburg District, South Carolina Deed Abstracts, Books U-W (1827-1839), p. 394; York County, South Carolina, Will Abstracts, 1787-1862 (1770-1862), by Brent Holcomb, pp. 145-146.)
William (Gentleman) Thomson fought as a horseman under Capt. John Mapp and Col. Benjamin Roebuck during the Revolutionary War. He may have fought in the Battles of Kings Mountain and Cowpens.
(South Carolina Patriots in the American Revolution by Bobby Gilmer Moss, p.930; The Patriots at Kings Mountain by Bobby Gilmer Moss, p. 290.)
“Col. (William) Washington was at Wofford’s Iron Works, on Lawson’s Fork, having his horses shod. Receiving the message delivered by Major (Joseph) McJunkin, Gen. (Daniel) Morgan called out to a little Frenchman, who had just come in from the Iron Works, but was then asleep: ‘Barron, get up and go back to the iron works and tell Billy, that Benny is approaching, and tell him to meet me tomorrow evening at Gentleman Thomson’s on the east side of Thickety Creek.’
William (Gentleman) Thomson, lived where Thickety station on the Southern Railway now is (was), and is buried in an unmarked grave on the old homestead.”
(History of Grindal Shoals by Rev. J. D. Bailey, pp. 18-19.)
In William (Gentleman) Thomson’s obituary, published in the Yorkville Pioneer, Yorkville, S. C., September 27, 1823, is given the following account of his life:
“Died on the 14th inst. at his residence on the Beauty Spot, in this District, Mr. William Thompson, in the 73rd year of his age.
He was among the first, who resisted the arbitrary measures of Great Britain. Under the celebrated Patrick Henry, he assisted in expelling Lord Dunmore from Virginia, and from thence to the close of the struggle he continued to present his breast to the shafts of battle.”
The oldest street now in the city of Gaffney, S. C., is named for William (Gentleman) Thomson (Thompson Street). He and William Lipscomb owned a tract of land that faced the street later called “Thompson Street”. It had “lime on it” he stated. In his will he wrote: “He (William Lipscomb), now deceased, willed it (his share) to me.” The street was called “Thompson Street” after his death in 1823.
(York County, South Carolina, Will Abstracts, 1787-1862 (1770-1862), by Brent H. Holcomb.)
His son, Richard Thomson, applied for Letters Testamentary on September 22, 1823.)
Richard, surveyed and drew a plat of the land that Michael Gaffney used for the construction of a race tract near Limestone Springs, S. C., in 1837.
(150th Anniversary Souvenir Program, Gaffney, S. C., The Gaffney Story Through the Years, 1837; A History of Limestone College by Montague McMillan, p. 4.)
John and Ruth Haile’s daughter, Ruth, married George McKnight. McKnight gave to the Gilead Baptist Church trustees: Robert Coleman, John Hames, John Gibson, Nathaniel Gist and William Henderson a tract of land containing 2.35 acres on October 15, 1819. Charles Jones and Hiram Coleman witnessed the transaction.
(RootsWeb’s WorldConnect Project: Blick’s Family Workbook, ID: 13473, George McKnight, Contact Phyllis Blickensderfer; Union County Deed Abstracts, Vol. III, Deed Books L-P, by Brent Holcomb, pp. 244-245, P-355-356.)
(b). Mark Mitchell was born on January 17, 1756, in Granville County, North Carolina. He was a frontier soldier in what later became Hawkins County, Tennessee.
He sold 200 acres of his father’s property in the Grindal Shoals area on branches of Mill Creek to Maharshalhasbaz Lile of Union County, January 2nd & 3rd , 1786. The property was part of a grant of 300 acres to his father, Joab Mitchell, on September 6, 1775. He received the property from his father’s estate.
The land was adjacent to lands owned by Thomas Draper and Edward Pickett. Witnesses to the transaction were: John Haile, Adam Potter, and Philip Saunders. He was living in Washington County, North Carolina, at the time. The area, where he was living, later became the state of Tennessee.
He was married but the name of his wife is unknown to this writer. They had five sons and three daughters. His first child, Thomas, was born November 21, 1794, and his son, Mark, was born January 17, 1800. Date of his death is not known to this writer.
(RootsWeb’s WorldConnect Project: Tangled Web, ID: 18070, Mark Mitchell, Contact Judith Ramblin; Union County, South Carolina, Deed Abstracts, Vol. I, Deed Books A-F, 1785-1800, p. 17.)
(c). Elizabeth M. Mitchell was born on March 14, 1758, in Granville County, North Carolina. She married Jesse Bean, son of Capt. William and Lydia Russell Bean, in 1778, in Washington County, North Carolina, later a part of Tennessee.
(Jesse Bean and Elizabeth Mitchell (1)—Genealogy. Internet.)
Jesse’s father, William Bean, was a Captain in the Virginia Militia. While living in Pittsylvania County, Virginia, he traveled to Holston Country on hunting expeditions with Daniel Boone numerous times. During the American Revolution, he was a Captain with the Watauga Riflemen.
(Generations Gone By, Captain William Bean, St. Stephens Parish, North Cumberland County, Virginia, Internet; My Genealogy Home Page: Information about Capt. William Bean, Internet.)
George, Jesse, John and Robert were all Watauga riflemen under Col. John Sevier. Draper calls them the “sharpshooters from Watauga”.
(King’s Mountain Men by K. K. White, p. 146.)
In his book, The Overmountain Men, page 34, Pat Alderman wrote:
“Jesse’s mother, Lydia Russell, daughter of George and Mary Henley Russell, was captured by a group of Cherokee Indians, while hurrying on horseback to the safety of the Watauga Fort. She was taken to their camp on the Nolichucky River, where Indian warriors threatened to kill her.
Mrs. Bean was taken to Togue, where she was condemned to be burned. She had given up all hope as she was bound to the stake and the fire lighted, when suddenly Nancy Ward appeared and scattered the burning embers and stomped out the fire.
After untying Mrs. Bean, Nancy turned to the subdued warriors and remarked: ‘It revolts my soul that the Cherokee warrior stoops so low as to torture a squaw.’”
“Nancy took Mrs. Bean into her own home to nurse her back to health. Mrs. Bean, like most ‘settler women’, wove her own cloth. She taught Ward how to set up a loom, spin thread or yarn, and weave cloth. This skill would make the Cherokee people less dependent on traders, but it also Europeanized the Cherokee in terms of gender roles.
Women came to be expected to do the weaving and house chores; as men became farmers in the changing society, women became ‘housewives”. Another aspect of Cherokee life that changed when
Ward saved the life of Mrs. Bean was that of raising animals. Lydia owned dairy cattle, which she took to Ward’s house. Ward learned to prepare and use dairy foods, which provided some nourishment even when hunting was bad.
However, because of Ward’s introduction of dairy farming to the Cherokee, they would begin to amass large herds and farms, which required even more manual labor. This would soon lead the Cherokees into using slave labor. In fact, Ward herself had been ‘awarded’ the black slave of a felled Creek warrior after her victory at the Battle of Taliwa and thus became the first Cherokee slave owner.”
(Bean Notables and Anecdotes, Bean Genealogy, Lydia (Russell) Bean, Internet, pp. 1-2.)
Pat Alderman in, The Overmountain Men, p. 7, wrote: “ Without the timely warning by Nancy Ward, most of the settlers of the Watagua, Holston and Carter’s Valley could have been surprised by the Indians and killed. Without these settlements there would not have been an Overmountain Men’s Army to defeat Ferguson at King’s Mountain. Without that victory the story of America could have been different.”
Nancy’s mother, Catherine Tame Doe Raven, was an Indian, the sister of Chief Oconostota, and her father, Francis Ward, son of Edmond Bryan and Abigail Ferrell Ward, was an English Indian trader, who lived for awhile in Chota, a Cherokee Indian Village, with his wife, Tame Doe. Francis Ward was born in Ireland in 1710.
(Edmond Bryan Ward (1675-1770)—Genealogy, Internet.)
Tame Doe was born circa 1712. Francis and Tame Doe were married in 1728, and had two children: Longfellow, born circa 1729, and Nancy, born circa 1731.
(Sisney Legacy: Information about Catherine Tame Doe Raven, Genealogy. Com, Family Tree Maker Online; My Mother is Cherokee and so was her Mother and Her Mother before, (17.) Nancy of the WolfClan; Abigail Ward Ferrell (1675-1739)—Genealogy, p. 1, Internet.)
Francis Ward was banished from Chota before the birth of his daughter, Nancy.
He moved back to the Tyger River area, where he and his brother, Edmond, had originally settled. He was a civil engineer by occupation. This area is in Spartanburg County, S. C., near Walnut Grove where there is still a Ward Creek.
He married two more times. His second wife was a Ward, possibly the widow of his brother, Edmond Ward. One source lists Edmond Ward’s wife as Ann ? . His third wife was Nancy March Ward, daughter of Patrick March.
(The Wards of Ireland by Robert G. Adams, Covenant College, Lookout Mountain, Tennessee; RootsWeb’s World Connect Project: Boles, Johnson, Wright, Ladd, Houser, Ward, ID: 1239, Francis Bryan Ward, Contact Rhonda McCulley.)
Migrations into Spartanburg County, S. C., by Frank Scott, p. 3; Spartanburg County/District, South Carolina, Deed Abstracts, Books A-T, 1785-1827 by Albert Bruce Pruitt, p. 395.)
He was the writer’s wife, Elizabeth Reeves Ivey’s, great, great, great, great, great, grandfather through his second wife, and the writer’s great, great, great, great, great, grandfather through his third wife. Thus, the writer and his wife are related to Nancy Ward through her father, Francis Ward.
“Lydia’s brother, George Russell, husband of Elizabeth Bean, was killed by Indians, while on a hunting trip to Grainger County, Tennessee, in 1796, and her daughter, Jane Bean, was killed in 1798, by Indians, while working her loom outside the wall of Bean’s
Station.” Both Lydia and her husband, William, were deceased at this time.
(Bean Notables and Anecdotes, Bean Genealogy, Internet.)
Jesse Bean was born in Pittsylvania County, Virginia, in 1756. He served as a Captain in a North Carolina Militia Unit under the command of Lt. Col. John Sevier and fought under him at the Battle of Kings Mountain.
(The Patriots at Kings Mountain by Bobby Gilmer Moss, p. 16.)
He and his family settled in the Mulberry Valley (present day Pleasant Hill, Crawford County, Arkansas) before the Indians were driven out. He was living in Pleasant Hill in 1818 or before. He organized the first Sunday School (possibly Baptist) in Pleasant Hill.
All whites were driven out of the valley except Jesse and Judge Reuben Saunders, who were allowed to remain because they were blacksmiths.
(Jesse Bean and Elizabeth Mitchell (1) Genealogy, Internet.)
Capt. William Russell Jr., husband of Jesse’s daughter, Lydia, also later moved his family to Crawford County, Arkansas. He fought in the War of 1812, with his father, Major William Russell Sr., who fought in battles during the Revolutionary War and in the War of 1812. The Russells were included in the book written by Davy Crockett. President Andrew Jackson wrote a personal letter to Capt. William Russell Jr.
(Major William Russell Sr., Internet article; Davy Crockett’s Own Story as written by Himself; The Patriots at Kings Mountain by Bobby Gilmer Moss, p. 220.)
Jesse and Elizabeth had five sons and four daughters. Jesse died in Independence County, Arkansas, on September 10, 1829, and Elizabeth Mitchell Bean died September 10, 1837, in Independence County, Arkansas.
(Rootsweb’s WorldConnect Project: Jordan and Allied Families, ID. 1407, Jesse Bean, Contact Amy Stier; Rootweb’s WorldConnect Project: Julieo Wollard Trout’s GEDCOM Files, ID: 112828, Elizabeth Mitchell, Contact Julie Wollard.)
(d). Joab Mitchell was born on May 28, 1760, in Granville County, North Carolina. He apparently did not marry. One database article stated that he died in April of 1779, in Rogersville, Tennessee.
(RootsWeb’s WorldConnect Project: Ryan A. & Kellie W’s Family Tree, ID: 11511, Joab Mitchell, Contact Ryan.)
(e). Richard Mitchell was born on September 11, 1762, in Granville County, North Carolina. He was with his father, Joab, when he died from the Indian attack.
He was with Daniel Boone at his fort in Kentucky for more than twelve months. He married Elizabeth Sanders, daughter of William and Elizabeth Jordan Sanders, on January 9, 1794. She was born on October 13, 1772.
He was a Hawkins County Court Clerk for 20 years and a Collector of the Revenue in 1813, 1814 and 1815. He was in one of the battles against the Indians in Tennessee and was a member of the First Tennessee Constitutional Convention.
He and his wife had nine children: five daughters and four sons. He died March 16, 1853, in Pearl River, Mississippi, and his wife, Elizabeth, died in Hawkins County, Tennessee, November 1857.
(GenCircles, Global Tree, Richard Mitchell; RootsWeb’s WorldConnect Project: Swallow, Schaeck, Bond, Henwood, Kortum and Allied Families, ID:100821, Richard Mitchell, Contact Joseph G. Swallow.)
(RootsWeb’s WorldConnect Project: Brown Family of Cove, Polk County, Arkansas, ID: 1072747, Elizabeth Sanders, Contact Sandra Hunter.)
(f). Samuel Mitchell was born on April 13, 1765, in Granville County, North Carolina. Samuel was a lawyer and was appointed by Thomas Jefferson, President, Agent of the Chickasaw and Choctaw nation of Indians, which post he held to the time of his death.
(Descendants of James Logan Colbert: Third Generation, 11. Delilah ‘Liley’ Love.)
He first married Mary (Molly) Folsom, daughter of Nathaniel and Iahnecha Folsom, in 1798. Nathaniel was white, but married two full blooded Choctaw sisters: Aiahnechaohoyo and Iahnecha.
Molly was born circa 1780. She and Samuel had two children: Alzira and Sophia. She died circa 1802, after the birth of Sophia.
(RootsWeb’s WorldConnect Project: Mary Jane Wilson–Indian Connecton, ID: 11711904018, Nathaniel Folsom; RootsWeb’s WorldConnect Project, Johnston Family, ID: 111508, Mary (Molly) Folsom, Contact Ian Johnston.)
Samuel was engaged to Margaret (Peggy) Allen in the Chickasaw Nation of Mississippi, circa 1804. He proposed and was promptly turned down by Peggy. “Samuel carried his suit to her grandmother, a dominating dowager Colbert. Th old lady considered it an excellent match. Pre-emptorily, she sent Peggy off to the agency, where Mitchell presided with a string of well-loaded packhorses and ten Negro slaves as her dowry.
The lovely Peggy, whose mother had been only one-eight part Indian, was as determined as her grandmother. Peggy made the trip to Mitchell’s house. That was as far as she would go. She stubbornly refused him, saying, according to Claiborne, that she ‘would never marry a drinking man white or Indian.’ She married instead Simon Burney.” Peggy and Simon had two sons and four daughters.
(Descendants of James Logan Colbert: Third Generation, 11. Delilah ‘Liley’ Love.)
Samuel married secondly, Delilah (Liley) Love, daughter of Thomas and Sally Colbert (House of Incunnomar) circa 1807. They had two children: Joseph Greer Mitchell and Catherine (Kitty) Mitchell. Samuel died circa 1811, in Mississippi.
(ramblin—pafg275—Generated by Ancestral File—Samuel Mitchell;
RootsWeb’s WorldConnect Project: Swallow, Schaeck, Bond, Henwood, Kortum and Allied Families, ID: 102144, Samuel Mitchell, Contact Joseph.)
His widow, Delilah, married John Basset Moore circa 1813. They had two sons and five daughters. She died before 1847, at Fort Washita, Chickasaw Nation, Oklahoma.
(RootsWeb’s WorldConnect Project: Jones/Johnson Ancestors, ID: 113446, Delilah Love, Contact Lissa Johnston.)
(g). Thomas Mitchell was born on September 19, 1767, on lands of the Pacolet River in what later became South Carolina. He was an early settler of Tennessee and led a volunteer expedition against the Cherokee Indians.
He married Frances Dyer, daughter of Joel Henry and Sophia Weston Dyer, April 10, 1794, in Tennessee.
(RootsWeb’s WorldConnect Project: Schaeck-Kortum Family, ID: 104345, Thomas Mitchell, Contact Joseph Swallow.)
Frances’ father was born in Prince Edward County, Virginia, and her mother was born in Yatesbury, Witshire, England. She was born in 1771.
(RootsWeb’s WorldConnect Project: Ancestors and Descendants of Larry and Jan Sroufe, ID: 11895, Joel Henry Dyer, Contact Jan Sroufe.)
(RootsWeb’s WorldConnect Project: ID: 1588, Sophia Weston, Contact Denise Carpenter Gregory.)
Joel moved to Tennessee circa 1792, and settled on Poor Valley Creek, near Mooresburg, in Hawkins County. He was a member of the Senate, of the 2nd General Assembly, 1797-99, representing Hawkins County, Tennessee.
On October 4, 1796, Joel received his commission in the Tennessee State Militia. He was appointed Major in the Hawkins County Militia. In 1800, he removed to Rutherford County. He possibly was a soldier in the War of 1812.
He moved to Madison County in 1821. He helped to form the new government of this county and was one of the first Commissioners.
Major Dyer died, June 11, 1825, and his obituary was in the first newspaper for the new county.
“Died at his residence in this county (Madison) on Saturday morning last, Major Joel Dyer, aged seventy-one, one of the few surviving soldiers of the Revolutionary War. He was a man much respected for his benevolence of character and esteemed by all who knew him, as a good Citizen and an honest man. He has left an affectionate wife, and upwards of 100 descendants.
Thus, we see the soldiers of the Revolution falling around us like the leaves of the majestic oak, before an autumnal blast; but although they are consigned to their mother dust, their deeds of valor and the glorious result of their patriotic devotion to their country, will live in our recollections, and their names be handed down to the latest generation.”
Major Dyer owned land in the area that was to become Dyer County, and had the county named in honor of his son, Robert Henry.
(ramblin—pafg—Generated by Personal Ancestral File, Internet; Major Joel Henry Dyer, First Settler of Crockett County, Tennessee, Internet.)
Thomas and Frances moved to Middle Tennessee and became the parents of three sons and five daughters. He died in 1812, in Middle Tennessee.
(RootsWeb’s WorldConnect Project: Schaeck-Kortum Family, ID: 104345, Thomas Mitchell, Contact Joseph Swallow.)
(RootsWeb’s WorldConnect Project: Cracker Crumbs, Thomas Mitchell, Contact Lisa Bowman; ramblin-pafg274-Generated by Personal Ancestral File, Internet.)
Frances was married a second time to John P. Byrne circa 1813. Date of her death is unknown to this writer.
(RootsWeb’s WorldConnect Project: Ancestors and Descendants of Larry and Jan Sroufe, ID: 110448, Frances Dyer, Contact Jan Sroufe.)
(h). Edward Mitchell was born on December 3, 1769, on lands of the Pacolet River in what later became South Carolina. He married Betsy Smith in May of 1794, in Hawkins County, Tennessee. He was an agent to the Choctaw Indians.
(ramblin- pafg-Generated by Personal Ancestral File, Internet.)
They had four sons and two daughters. Their first child was named Angelica Mitchell, for the sister who remained in South Carolina.
(RootsWeb’s WorldConnect Project: Tangled Web, ID: 18076, Edward Mitchell, Contact Judith.)
Edward died in Pearl River, Mississippi, date unknown. Betsy’s date of death is also unknown to this writer.
(RootsWeb’s WorldConnect Project: Jennifer Steelman Family Feb 27 2006, Edward Mitchell, Contact Jennifer Steelman.
(i). Angelica Mitchell was born December 22, 1771, in what later became South Carolina. She was four years old when her father moved his family to Hawkins County, Tennessee, in 1776, but stayed behind with her Aunt Ann, and Uncle Daniel Williams.
(RootsWeb’s WorldConnect Project: Jennifer Steelman Family Feb 27 2006, ID: 12206, Angelica Mitchell, Contact Jennifer Steelman.)
Additional information will be included on Angelica under Ann Henderson Williams Potter.
(j). William Mitchell was born on February 4, 1774, in what later became South Carolina. He married Nancy Dyer, sister of Frances Dyer Mitchell and daughter of Major Joel and Sophia Weston Dyer in 1798, in Hawkins County, Tennessee.
He was in the War of 1812. He was a Private in Coffee’s Brigade, Calvary & Mounted Gunman, in Tennessee Volunteers. He attained the rank of Major in 1818. He fought in the Seminole Indian War in Florida, and was a member of Company I, Volunteer Mounted Gunman, Western Tennessee, and rose to the rank of Lt. Col.
(RootsWeb’s WorldConnect Project: Jennifer Steelman Family Feb 27 2006, ID: 10513, William Mitchell, Contact Jennifer Steelman.)
He and his wife, Nancy, had three sons and two daughters. Nancy died in Sparta, White County, Tennessee, in 1807, and he died there in September of 1827.
(RootsWeb’s WorldConnect Project: Jennifer Steelman Family Feb 27 2006, ID: 10524, Nancy Dyer, Contact Jennifer Steelman.)
(k). Polly Mitchell was born on April 6, 1776, possibly in the area near Pacolet River that later became South Carolina. She married John Hall, son of John and Priscilla Fanning Hall.
(RootsWeb’s WorldConnect Project: New Updated Family Tree For Weaver/Sanders, ID: 1125863, Polly Mitchell, Contact David Weaver.)
John was born in Staunton, Virginia. His father was born in Sunbury, Northumberland, Pennsylvania, and his mother was born in Canandaigua, Ontario, New York.
(RootsWeb’s WorldConnect Project: Lareau Family Master File, ID: 19977, John Hall, Contact Paul.)
John and Polly Mitchell Hall had two children: Langley Swan Hall and Edward Park Hall. Their son, Edward, was a Presbyterian preacher and taught school in Newport, Kentucky. Edward later moved to Ohio.
(RootsWeb’s WorldConnect Project: Spirit Walking, ID: 1115246, Edward Park Hall, Contact Sandra.)
The writer has been unable to secure any dates that relate to this couple except Polly’s date of birth.
(l). Susannah M. Mitchell was born November 18, 1779, in Hawkins County, Tennessee. Her father was killed several months later. She married Robert Henry Dyer, son of Major Joel and Sophia Weston Dyer, on June 27, 1799, in Rogersville, Hawkins County, Tennessee. He was the brother of Thomas Mitchell’s wife, Frances, and
William Mitchell’s wife, Nancy.
(RootsWeb’s World Connect Project: Ancestors and Descendants of Larry and Jan Sroufe, ID: 111983, Susannah M. Mitchell, Contact Jan Sroufe.)
Robert Henry Dyer was born in Halifax County, North Carolina, in 1774, but grew up near the Holston River in Tennessee. He was commissioned as a Lieutenant in the cavalry regiment of the 5th Tennessee Brigade by 1807.
“He was promoted to Captain in 1812, before being elevated to the rank of Lt. Colonel the following year. It was in that year that he went with General Andrew Jackson on the Natchez Expedition.”
“He was Col. Commandant of the 2nd Regiment of Tenn. Volunteers and was in the celebrated night attack on the British lines below New Orleans the 23rd December 1814, under Gen. Coffee, where his horse was killed under him, and he was wounded in the leg.”
He was in the Battle of New Orleans on January 8, 1815, and was recommended for a promotion by General Andrew Jackson.
He ended his military career with General Jackson’s expedition against the Seminoles in North Florida, where he commanded the 1st Regiment of Tennessee Volunteers.
When West Tennessee was opened up for settlement, he became a Justice of the Peace and opened up a saloon and register’s office on his North Forked Deer settlement in Madison County.
His father was one of the first lawyers in the same county. When the neighboring county of Dyer was established in his honor, he moved there and became its first Postmaster and served on the first County Court.
Robert and his wife, Susannah Mitchell Dyer, were parents of two sons and seven daughters.
At Robert’s death in May of 1826, the following obituary was run in the Jackson Gazette. “Departed this life, on May 11th instant at his residence in this county, after a short illness, Col. Robert H. Dyer, a distinguished hero in the service of his country, under General Jackson, during the late war. His remains were interred at his late residence, on yesterday with military honors.”
His wife, Susannah, died after 1830, in possibly Gibson County, Tennessee.
(RootsWeb’s WorldConnect Project: Vaughn and Hood Family Heritage, ID: 106378, Robert Henry Dyer, Contact Sherry Parks.)
(RootsWeb’s WorldConnect Project: Kortum-Swallow, ID: 110292, Robert Henry Dyer, Contact Joseph.)
(GenealogyForum, Genealogy.com, Dyer co. TN….Robert Henry Dyer, son of Joel H. Dyer, ID: 7036, Posted by Larry M. Stegall.)