Thirty-Seven Years Ago The Search Began

It has been approximately 37 years since a curiosity about my ancestors and those of my husband ignited into a serious genealogical hunt for names, dates, events, sources and all the other milestones that could bring the dead back to life. For many years, this research took place in courthouses, libraries that shared their census records, cemeteries and lots of visits to older family members. Research today is much easier and I thank my “computer family” as well as many other folks for the multitude of times you have shared information on my ancestors. I am totally addicted to searching for my past. Give me a fourth great-granduncle whose connection to the next generation has not been established and I will work for days on this puzzle that is worth solving. Housework goes undone, ironing stacks up and my meals are those things I can eat at the computer. And there seems to be no rehab for this addiction.

I truly realize who I am and why I am the way I am. I come from many lines of Quaker families, the Jessups, Jacksons, Loves, Inmans, far too many to name and their influence traveled through the years to me. Dorothy Ireland was born May 1580 to Laurence and Jennett Broadhead in Yorkshire, England. Dorothy married William Sonair AKA Jessup. He chose the surname of Jessup sometime prior to his marriage to Dorothy. His occupation was that of a carpenter or cabinet maker or joyner. It is possible he chose the name Jessup to distinguish himself from other carpenters or joyners. Records of him and the early Jessop/Jessup families are found at Kirkburtons All Hallows Church. This church was erected in the 13th century. There was a time in our history when men did not necessarily have a surname. Sometimes they went by “John of Yorkshire, or John son of Abijah.” When I began the search of the Jessups many years ago, I trusted the research that had been done by Luther Byrd, formerly of Westfield, Surry County, NC. During the 1930's and 1940's he spent many weeks in the National Archives and Congressional Library in Washington and many weeks in the state archives and state libraries of NC and VA. He worked with courthouse records of more than 50 counties in NC and more than 50 counties in VA, checking deeds, wills and marriage records. Since the pay for teachers was so low at the time, he branched out into professional genealogy and performed numerous family history quests for the Genealogical Society of Utah. In 1949 Luther Byrd left his teaching position at Westfield School in Surry County, NC and accepted a position as professor at Elon College, teaching Journalism and History and also serving as publicity director for all Elon programs such as athletics, faculty activities and college expansion. He retired at Elon College in 1975 after 26 years of service. (He was my 7th grade teacher in 1944. He made learning fun)

My late husband and I both descend from many different ancestry lines. These folks came to the new world and carved homes out of the foothills of Virginia, the piedmont of North Carolina and crossed the Appalachians into Kentucky and Indiana and further west. Many stayed in the eastern states. Some were slave owners and some were soldiers who would give up their lives in battles to abolish slavery. These ancestors included Pocahontas and John Rolfe; Johan Heinrich Lang, a locksmith who died before he could come to a new way of life; the poor widow who chose to bring her children to a new world and away from religious percecution. A lot of my ancestors came into what would become Surry County, North Carolina. They were of the Quaker faith, did not believe in war nor slavery; eventually many of my collateral relatives moved west. My direct line of Jacksons and Jessups, Loves and Inmans, remained in Surry County but never owned slaves. One Jessup Quaker ancestor had married outside the faith, was excommunicated from the church, and when his father-in-law died, his wife inherited many slaves. Jessup did not believe in slavery, but waited until his wife died to take any action. When she died, he changed his will to leave all of his estate (many acres of land) to the slaves whom he had freed when they came to live with him and his late wife. He named three influential white men of the community to witness the will and stated they would assure the land and money transfer to the freed slaves upon his death. I am so very proud of this history.

Once, while we were visiting an Amish three-family home in Lancaster, Pennsylvania, the mother of the home explained how they served their meals and how the children were taught to act at the table. My husband punched me and said, “my mother used to tell me the same things when I was young.” As time passed I wondered how the Amish influence had impacted his family, and I eventually located the information about his great-great-grandmother who had married into the Petree family of Stokes Co., North Carolina. She was from an Amish family and her teachings and influence had been passed down the line from her daughter to her grandson to his daughter and eventually to my husband’s mother. So turns the hands of time.

Johan Heinrich Lang/Long, the locksmith who died before he could leave for the new world. He was born in either Switzerland or Germany and died in 1742 in Heidelberg, Germany. After he died, his wife, Catharina Kern, married George Happus and the family migrated to America. They landed in Philadelphia, PA on 4 Oct 1751. When they arrived in America, her son George was twelve years old and her son, Frederick, ten. Her new husband bonded the boys out to a Quaker named George Dutton for ten years to pay for their passage. The ship log shows they came to America on the ship, "Queen of Denmark." This ship sailed from Rotterdam with 262 passengers. The family lived in Brandywine, PA in the Lebanon region.

As I stated earlier, George Long was bonded to a Quaker named George Dutton for ten years to pay for his transportation to America. After working his ten years, George Long left PA in 1763, and came to a Moravian Settlement in Forsyth, North Carolina where he worked as a non-member of the Moravian Church for two years. He then moved to the Christian Miller Plantation on Deep Creek in Yadkin Co., NC (formerly Surry Co) and married the daughter of Christian. George was a staunch friend of Rev. Soell, an ordained Moravian Minister. He was a land owner and farmer. In 1784 he purchased 200 acres from the state on Deep Creek for 100 shillings. The value of his property including 600 acres of land was listed by the executors of his will to be 432 pounds and 2 shillings. He and his wife spent their entire married life on the Miller Plantation. He was my late husband’s great-great-grandfather. George Long’s brother, Frederick Long was also bonded to a Quaker named George Dutton for ten years to pay for his transportation to America. After Frederick Long worked his time, he married Sarah Gross in PA and the following year, he and his wife and oldest daughter left PA and came directly to the waters of Deep Creek and Cranberry Creek in Yadkin Co., NC (formerly Surry Co.) Over a period of thirty years, the Moravian ministers from Forsyth, North Carolina , visited in the homes of Frederick and his brother, George Long. These ministers preached, baptized their children and buried the dead. They kept diaries and noted each visit. They tried to organize a Moravian church in Yadkin Co. but were not successful. Frederick and Sarah sent their children to what is now Forsyth, North Carolina to school and the family attended church in Forsyth Co, as there was not a church or school in the area they lived. According to the yearly reports of his guardians, Frederick must have run a bank from his home. After his wife died, Frederick moved to the home of his daughter Sarah and her husband Joseph Spach at Friedburg, Forsyth, North Carolina .

The Jessups and Longs are just two of a multitude of direct ancestors of my children. The DNA in my children comes from strong- hearted, strong-willed and courageous men and women. One hundred years from now, perhaps my children will be researched, and maybe they will also, along the way, have passed the lighted lamp of knowledge to dispel the darkness for other family researchers. We preserve the heritage of our ancestors.