REV. PETER FONTAINE (1691-1759) was born in Taunton in Somerset, England on December 1, 1691, to the Reverend Jaques Fontaine and his wife, Anne Elizabeth Boursiquot. Although his first few years were spent in Taunton, in 1694 the family moved to Cork, Ireland, and remained there until 1699. They then went to live in Bear Haven on the remote and underpopulated southwestern coast of Ireland. In this home Peter grew to manhood and experienced a number of adventures, but none more exciting than the French privateers' attack on the "Sod Fort" in 1708. A full account of this episode is contained in his father's "Memoirs," Following this attack and the general destruction which resulted, Peter's family, with the exception of the oldest son, moved to Dublin in 1709. His father opened a school there, while the rest of the family settled down to life in the city.
In 1711 Peter entered Trinity College, a part of the University of Dublin. In the beginning of his third year at Trinity (1713), an unexpected event occurred which would have a profound effect on the remainder of Peter's life. Captain Charles De Boulay of "Captain La Bully Fields," a mall estate in Carlow Parish, County Kildare, who was a retired calvary officer of the Irish Army and unknown to the Fontaines introduced himself to the Reverend Jaques Fontaine. Stating that he was a French refugee and a Huguenot, he expressed a desire to marry his thirteen-year-old granddaughter to one of Jaques' sons. Captain de Boulay explained that she was an orphan, but was his sole heir and that as he was now past eighty, he could not be expected to live much longer.
Jaques decided that the best course of action would be to take the granddaughter into his home as a boarder and see which of his sons liked her best. In time, as they came to know her, it was mutually agreed by all of the sons and Jaques that she should become Peter's wife. Therefore, on March 29, 1714, Peter married Elizabeth Fourreau, who had been in Portarlington, Ireland, in 1700 she was the daughter of Ayme Fourreau, Sieur de Toucheronde, a refugee from Poitou in France, and his wife Mariane Ingrand. The ceremony was conducted in secrecy by Jaques with only the family and Captain de Boulay present because Peter had not yet taken his bachelor of arts degree from Trinity.
On March 1, 1715, Captain de Bouley died, and as agreed upon, Peter inherited his property, which was worth over a thousand pounds sterling (equal in today's buying power to approximately a hundred thousand dollars). Later in the same month, he received his bachelor of arts degree and shortly afterwards traveled to London for his ordination into the Anglican Church by the bishop of London (who was also the Bishop of Virginia). Peter, like other members of his family, had decided that his future lay in America. Soon after his ordination, he and Elizabeth sailed for Virginia. He arrived in America in October 1716 and were met on landing at Hampton by his brother John and escorted to Williamsburg, where they were given a cordial welcome by Governor Spottswood and where they took up temporary residence. In 1720, he became pastor of an area including 233 families in about 300 square miles surrounding the parishes of Westover, Weyanoke, and Wallingford. During the period 1715-1718, Peter served as the rector of the churches of Wallingford, Martin's Brandon, Weyanoke, and for a short time, in Jamestown. There followed the merging into it all or part of the ancient parishes of Wallingford, Martin's Brandon, Weyanoke and Jamestown. Peter received a presentation of Roanoke Parish and in February in 1717, he, his wife, and brother John moved there in March.
In 1720 Peter Fontaine had the good fortune to become the rector of Westover Parish and Chapline to that "prince of the lordly manor of Westover," the distinguished Col. William Evelyn Byrd. In a novel by Marian Harland, called " His Great Self," founded on the Westover manuscripts of Col. Byrd, Peter Fontaine is shown to be a familiar member of the household, and an intimate friend of the beautiful Evelyn. He is described as "a polished scholar and courtly gentleman of winning manners, with an olive complexion, clearly chiseled features soft, dark brilliant eyes, 'a true descendant of the handsomest man in Navarre" Romance says he was in love with the ill-fated Evelyn Byrd, but realizing the hopelessness of his own suit aided her by every means in his power in her unfortunate love affair with her English lover, Lord Peterborough.
Westover Parish in Charles City County, Virginia, was in close proximity to the original settlement at Jamestown in 1613. [The predecessor of the existing Westover Church was constructed between the years 1630 and 1637 on he Westover plantation. The present church was built about 1730 on the present site on Herring Creek about 1 1/2 miles north of the Westover mansion.] In 1724 Westover Parish became and remains coterminous with Charles City County, an area twelve long and thirty miles wide along the northern banks of the James River, with about two-hundred and thirty families of communicants, and three churches: Westover, Weyanoke and Wallingsford. There were two glebes in his parish, neither of which had houses on them, and the best of them rented for thirty shillings. (glebe was a plot of land that paid money to the parish.) He lived in his own house and on his own farm. His salary, besides perquisites, was from fifty to sixty pounds. He remained in that position until his death. Although thinly populated, this area contained some of the great landed estates of the James River, i.e. the Byrd's, Carters, Harrisons, etc.
Peter, with his inheritance, purchased four hundred acres of land located ear the mouth of Jones Creek, halfway between Swineyards and Weyanoke, and about two miles north of the James River in Charles City County. On this tract of land in 1725, he established a plantation which he named "Bachelor's Quarters". (From several sources, especially Byrd's "Journals" and Meade's works on the ministers of colonial Virginia, glimpses in to Peter's character and life in Westover Parish have been revealed.) As minister, companion, and, eventually, friend to William Byrd, he associated freely with many of the most influential gentlemen in Virginia. These associations, in addition to Peter's independent means and his extended period as a widower, probably provided him with a life of greater refinement and sophistication than most ministers in Viginia would have experienced. Peter's life appears to have centered around the strip of Virginia along the James River from Westover to Williamsburg, and he rarely, if ever, left the vicinity. One exception was during the period of 1728-1729, when at the request of William Byrd he served as chaplain to the commission which was to draw the boundary line between Virginia and North Carolina, and he traveled from the coast to the mountains through the wilderness.
Peter's wife, Elizabeth Fourreau, whom he married in 1714, had died about 1724, probably at the time of the birth of their son, Peter, Jr., or very soon thereafter. Peter remained a widower for several years and was considered a desirable match for many prominent young ladies of the area. There was a twenty-two gap between the children of the first marriage and those of his second marriage. Peter had been left with a daughter, who was about six years old, and an infant son. Mary Anne, the daughter, is known to have gone to live with Peter's sister, Mary Anne Maury, in King William County for six or seven years. It is very likely that Peter, Jr., also lived for several years with his Aunt Mary Ann Maury. For more about sixteen years, Peter lived as a widower. About 1740 he took as his second wife, Sarah Wade, the daughter of Joseph Wade, who was a farmer of Charles City County, and his wife, Elizabeth Lide. She was very much younger than Peter and had been, in fact, one of the first infants baptized by him after he came to Westover Parish in 1718. Although he was middle-aged, Peter settled down to raising a second family. Peter was sixty-four years old when his youngest child was born. He was the mainstay of William Byrd's Westover Parish and accompanied Byrd on his expedition to survey the dividing line between Virginia and North Carolina in 1728. Both Peter and his brother, Capt. John Fontaine, were members of Gov. Spotswood's famous expedition across the Blue Ridge in 1716, which ended on their return in the institution of the "Knights of the Golden Horseshoe," Gov. Spotswood presenting to each member a miniature gold horseshoe inscribed with the motto "Sic Juvat transcendere Nomtes." (the meaning of this Latin phrase is 'thus it is a pleasure to cross the mountains.') The journal of Capt. John Fontaine had been preserved, in which he gives an account of the party reaching the top of the range of mountains, and drinking a health to King George and the royal family. It was on this trip Shenadoah Valley was discovered. Also the beautiful river that eventually was called the Shenadoah River.
Peter prospered as a minister and a planter. Through his son, Peter Jr., a surveyor, he was able to procure six-thousand acres of land in Halifax County, and he acquired twenty slaves, which he planned to divide among his younger children. His goal was to leave each of his children one-thousand acres of land and enough slaves with which to work. Peter died at his home in Westover Parish in July of 1759 and is believed to have been buried under the altar or in the cemetery in Westover Church.
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Peter's Ancestry and Sermon
John de al Fontaine embraced Protestantism in 1535 in the Province of Maine, France. He was later attacked by ruffians who cut his throat for forsaking Catholicism. His wife and eldest son met the same fate. Peter was born in 1691 in England and was ordained by the Bishop of London. He married Elizabeth "Lizzy" Fourreau on March 29, 1714 in Dublin, Ireland. On December 11, 1716, he arrived in Hampton, Virginia from Ireland and was a chaplain to the Virginia commission in 1728 and 1729. After Lizzy died, Peter married Joseph's mother Elizabeth Sarah Wade. In "Old Church Ministers and Families of Virginia" by Bishop William Meade, Meade records that Peter was the minister for Colonel William Byrd. Colonel Byrd often spoke of the reverend preaching to the heathen in North Carolina and baptizing their children. Reverend Fontaine's main mission in life was to preach the gospel. Peter was the son of two pious and valiant Huguenots who fled from France to England. Peter, in his annual Thanksgiving sermon, commemorated the Fontaines' religious persecution in France and the remarkable preservation when attacked by French privateers in Northern Ireland. From that sermon, I will repeat his words.
"Several months was our parent obliged to shift among forests and deserts for his safety, because he had preached the Word of God to a congregation of innocent and sincere persons, who desired to be instructed in their duty and confirmed their faith. The woods afforded him a shelter and the rocks a resting place; but his enemies gave him no quiet until, of his own accord, he delivered himself up to their custody. They loaded his hands with chains, his feet stuck fast in the mire, a dungeon was his abode, and murderers and thieves were his companions, until God by means of a pious gentlewoman, whose kindness ought to be remembered by us even to latent posterity, withdrew him from thence, and was the occasion that his confinement was more tolerable."
He exhorted to his congregation at the close of his sermon never to forsake their annual meetings which were to remember their parent's virtues and sufferings and the wonderful deliverance of God. He said, "Would to God, that you would make it your business to teach them to your children, that they may be qualified to perpetuate them to infinite generations to come, and thereby engage the protection and draw the blessing of the Almighty above them. He hath millions of millions to bestow on those who love and fear Him."
Thursday, March 25, 2010
Thursday, March 18, 2010
Jessup family and other Quakers of Westfield, Surry, North Carolina
The Jessup family of the Westfield area of Surry Co.,North Carolina has one of the most complete historical and genealogical records of any family in the county. Such a history was made possible by the wonderful records in the Quaker Church, the church with which so many Jessups have been associated for more than 300 years. Much of my information has come from these Quaker Records and it is my joy to share what I have learned about my ancestors with others interested in preserving our heritage. My research has been enhanced also by the help of so many Jessup family genealogists who have shared their findings with me.
The Westfield Monthly Meeting of the Religious Society of Friends, better known in this area as "Old Westfield", is the oldest church in Surry or Stokes County and probably the oldest religious group in Northwest North Carolina this side of the Moravian settlements of what is now Winston Salem. The Meeting dates back to the 1760's when pioneer Quakers from New Garden (now Guilford College) crossed Quaker Gap of the Sauratown mountains to plant a new community in the valleys of Big Creek and Tom's Creek. Early Quakers began holding meetings at Westfield by 1772 under the care of New Garden Quarterly Meeting and continued until the monthly meeting was established in 1786. Representatives from New Garden were sent to hold services for them. This is said to have lead to the name, "Westfield." The Quakers at New Garden regarded the work as a mission project and since it was located west of New Garden it was referred to as, "The Western Field." Thus comes the name, "Westfield."
The meeting was officially established November 13, 1786. The Westfield friends would send representatives all the way to New Garden, 67 miles, every month. Bowater Sumner was named the first clerk of the Monthly Meeting.
Quaker records show that between 1801-1822 there were fifty-nine members, including thirty-six families who migrated to Indiana and Ohio and the Monthly Meeting was discontinued in 1832. It was revived again in 1868 when Albert Peele and Isom Cox came from New Garden to Westfield and met on a Sunday morning in the open air with about 150 people. "The people decided from that time to have a Friends Meeting again and made up among themselves to do it." John Y. Hoover began serving as pastor in 1872.
The dates of the erection of the first building is uncertain, but a deed dated 1797 for nine acres of land "including the Westfield Meeting House" seem to indicate that the building was constructed soon after the establishment of the Meeting. Three meetings have served as Meeting Houses for the congregation. The first build in the 1780's decayed before the Civil War. It was rebuild about 1870 and was used until 1885 when a new and more modern building was erected. This building has been remodeled and additions made to it through the years.
The "Old Westfield Friends Meeting" has stood for 200 years as a monument to the faithful foresight of dedicated Quakers. It has weathered the storms of strife, war, and depression, and is a witness to the stability of the Church which Jesus came to establish in the hearts and lives of people.
From Luther N. Byrd, Elon College,North Carolina Feb 20, 1951
Deed records in Surry County and Rowan County show that the earliest settlement of people in the area which later was to center about the Old Westfield Quaker Church was between 1760 and 1770, for there are records of people buying or claiming land in that section between those dates. Since most of the early settlers were Quakers, we may assume that there was some semblance of religious group at or near Westfield before 1770.
Westfield Church was established as an off-spring of the historic New Garden Monthly Meeting at Guilford College, for the church records at New Garden prove that to be a fact. The Quakers at New Garden regarded the church work at Westfield as a sort of mission project in its early years, and since it was located west of Guilford College, it was referred to as "the western field", and thus came the name of Westfield.
The minutes of the New Garden Monthly Meeting for August 29, 1772 state that "Also the Friends near the Mountains request the indulgence of holding meetings on week-days among themselves." The people near the mountains were those at Westfield, so that is proof that there were enough Quakers in the Westfield section prior to 1772 to be interested in holding meetings.
The minutes for New Garden for September, 1772 show that "the committee appointed to visit Friends near the mountains reports that they complied with instructions, …. And its the sense and judgment that they (the Friends near the Mountains) be indulged the privilege of holding such meetings and appoints them the fourth day of he week." These meetings were the first official church gatherings at Westfield. (1772).
The Westfield meeting operated for several years under the guidance and care of the New Garden Monthly Meeting at Guilford College. It was referred to as "the little meeting nigh Tom's Creek" in minutes of the New Garden Meeting for May29, 1773.
The Westfield Quakers expressed themselves in 1779 (during the American Revolution) as opposed to war, which is an ancient Quaker belief.
The church at Westfield was established on a more permanent basis when the Western Quarterly Meeting met at Cane Creek o n November 9,m 1782 and authorized a committee to inspect the Westfield group and report at the next quarterly session. The Westfield Quakers had requested such a preparative meeting in August, 1782. Formal organization of he Westfield Meeting as a preparative body was finally and definitely granted August 14, 1784.
The first recorded minutes of a regular Monthly Meeting at Westfield bare the date of December 23, 1786. Bowater Sumner was appointed first clerk.
The exact date of he first church building at Westfield is not known, but it was probably built soon after the meeting first started, for there is a deed on file in Quaker Archives at Guilford College, dated August 1797 for nine acres "including the Westfield Meeting House." That is proof that there was already a church building there at that date.
I have in my files a hand-written statement from the late Mrs. Effie Ann Hill, who stated that the first church building was build right after the meeting was started, and she states that the first church stood down in the present grave yard and that it was located abut twenty steps west of our father's (Ira Chilton) grave. She writes "when he was put there, his grave was made at the lower side of the East Yard of the church." Mrs. Hill stated that the old church stood on the east side of the road, but in 1939 when they had that big home-coming and celebration at the renovation of the present church, someone located some old rocks just below the present church toward the cemetery (but on the west side of the road along with the present location of Ira W. Chilton's grave, but seems to me that it was not too far down in the cemetery, so it seems likely that the oldest church might have been where those rocks were located to form a square for the old foundation. Ira Chilton died in 1885.
Now, Mrs. Hill also wrote that "the old log walls of he old church was still standing" when services were started again after the Civil War, so evidently that first church was practically gone at that time. Quaker records show that between 1801 and 1822 there were fifty-nine members, including thirty-six families, who migrated to Indiana and Ohio, and the Westfield Monthly Meeting was laid down in 1832. The bulk of the migration began in 1817. The result was that from 1832 until after the Civil War there was no Westfield Monthly Meeting. In April 1860, there was still a meeting house there, for there is a deed on record made by the Trustees of Friends to the trustees of the Westfield community for "a tract of land known as the Westfield Meeting House and graveyard, the same to be known for all time to come as a public burying ground and meeting place for all respectable religious peoples." So the Westfield Quaker property belongs to the community form 1860 to 1872. In 1872 the Trustees of the Friends (Sandy Cook, William H. Pell, and Benjamin F. Davis) paid $125 for the nine acre tract, and it once more became the property of the Friends church, with the provision that it was to be held forever by the Society of Friends.
At this point let us point out the Quarterly Meetings of which Westfield Monthly Meeting has been a part. It was originally founded in 1786 as a member of the Western Quarterly Meeting. It was transferred to the newly organized New Garden Quarterly Meeting in 1787. Within the next few years, Westfield itself branched out and formed new Monthly Meetings at Lost Creek in Tennessee in 1793, at New Hope in Tennessee in 1795, Mount Pleasant and Fruit Hill in Virginia in 1797, at North Providence in 1801, and so in 1803 the Westfield Quarterly Meeting set off. Apparently this Westfield Quarterly Meeting continued until the Westfield Monthly Meeting was discontinued in 1832, but when the Westfield church revived in 1883, it belonged to Deep River Quarterly Meeting. It was transferred to the new Yadkin Valley Quarterly Meeting in 1889 and was again transferred to the new Surry Quarterly Meeting in 1898.
Excerpts from Hinshaw, Volume I Westfield Monthly Meeting
Tom's Creek Meeting, the predecessor of Westfield, was located in Surry County, North Carolina , not far from the Virginia Line. The meeting for worship was organized about 1771; the preparative meeting in 1784. The name was changed to Westfield when the monthly meeting was established, in 1786. Previous to this time, Tom's Creek Preparative Meeting had been attached to New Garden Monthly Meeting.
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Joseph Jessup became the first Jessup to settle at Westfield, North Carolina . He was accompanied to Westfield by three of his brothers but all three of them later moved to Indiana and other western states. Joseph was the only son of Thomas Jessup that remained in North Carolina . He married Priscilla "out of unity, settled on a farm in Stokes, North Carolina , near the headwaters of the Dan River, not far from the southern border of VA. His father, Thomas Jessup, signed the disownment papers at Cane Creek MM. Joseph, alone of his father's sons, lived and died in North Carolina . The children of Joseph and Priscilla Jessup were found on two wills dated 29 Feb 1791 and 10 Mar 1796. Quaker records were submitted to Beth Cox Rowe by Linda Jessup. She also gives credit to Rev. Jasper Newton Jessup.
WILL OF JOSEPH JESSUP:
I, Joseph Jessop, of Surry County & State of North Carolina, being of sound mind and memory, ordain this my last will and testament in manner and form following:
First, my will is that all my just debts and funeral charges be paid in due time by my Executors.
Item 2. My Will is that son Jacob Jessop have five shillings.
Item 3. My Will is that my daughter, Sarah Jackson, have five shillings.
Item 4. My Will is that my daughter, Mary Jackson, have five shillings.
Item 5. My Will is that my son, William Jessop, have five shillings.
Item 6. My Will is that my son, John Jessop, have five shillings.
Item 7. My Will is that my daughter, Rachel Jessop, have five shillings.
Item 8. My Will is that my beloved wife, Priscilla Jessop shall have the plantation, whereon I now live and all the appurtenances thereunto belonging while she remains my widow, the plantation to be equally divided between her and Eli and she to have her choice of halves and at her decease then Eli is to have the aforesaid plantation and all the land lying between the line that divides of my son, William and my son, Jacob, land and sixty acres lying on both sides of the grassee fork joining the county line.
Item 9. My Will is that my beloved wife shall have all the income of my mill while she remains my widow.
Item 10. My Will is that as long as my sons keep my mill up they shall have their grain ground at her clear of expense except the miller's part.
Item 11. My Will is that my daughter, Hannah Jessop, shall have thirty-five pounds
Item 12. My Will is that my survey of land of three hundred and ten acres lying on Forbush Creek in Surry County and one hundred and ninety and one half acres of my land on Arches Creek in Surry County, and fifty acres of land on the waters of the Stock Fork in Stokes County all to be sold and equally divided between my wife, Priscilla Jessop and all my children; namely, Jacob, Sarah, Mary, Joseph, William, John, Rachel, Caleb, Elijah, Hannah and Eli.
Item 13. Thereby ordain, constitute and appoint my trusty and well beloved brother, Timothy Jessop and my son, Joseph Jessop, the whole and sole Executors of this my last Will and Testament to act and dispose thereof according to my Will and desire to the best of their knowledge.
And lastly, thereby utterly revoke and disannul and make void all other will or wills or testaments by me made or done, except such as made and done lawfully in my life time. Rectifying, confirming and allowing this and no other to be my last Will and Testament, whereunto I have interchangeably set my hand and affixed my seal this tenth day of the third month in the year of our Lord, one thousand, seven hundred and ninety-six.
Test_________
Thomas Sumner
Benjamin C________
Seal
Hannah Sumner Joseph Jessop (his mark) ( )
A CODICIL TO A WILL
Be it known to all men by these present that I, Joseph Jessop, of the county of Surry and State of North Carolina, planter, have made and declared my last Will and Testament in writing, bearing date the tenth of the third month, one thousand, seven hundred ninety_______
I the said, Joseph Jessop, by this present codicil do ratify and confirm my said last Will and Testament and do further give and bequeath unto my son, John, the sum of forty-five pounds lawful money to be levied and raised out of my Estate, and so I give and bequeath to my sun, Caleb Jessop, the sum of forty-five pounds lawful money to be raised in the same manner. I also give and bequeath to my son, Elijah Jessop, forty-five pounds lawful money to be raised in the like manner to be paid unto them by my Executors out of my estate and that this codicil is judged to be a part and parcel of my last Will and Testament and that all things therein mentioned and contained be faithfully and truly performed and as fully and amply in every respect as if the same one so declared and set down in my said last Will and Testament witness my hand the seventeenth of tenth month of the year one thousand and ninety ___.
Signed, sealed
Sept
Seal
William Jessop
(name that can't be read)
Caleb Sumner Joseph Jessop (his mark) ( )
The first Surry County deed record was dated October 18, 1786, shows a purchase of land lying along Big Creek near the village of Westfield, North Carolina , but Joseph Jessop may have been living in the area prior to that time. He eventually owned vast holdings of land in both Surry and Stokes Counties, North Carolina . His land extended for twenty-five miles from Chestnut Ridge to the Clemmons Ford of the Dan River and on to Buck Island in the Dan River.
The Westfield Monthly Meeting of the Religious Society of Friends, better known in this area as "Old Westfield", is the oldest church in Surry or Stokes County and probably the oldest religious group in Northwest North Carolina this side of the Moravian settlements of what is now Winston Salem. The Meeting dates back to the 1760's when pioneer Quakers from New Garden (now Guilford College) crossed Quaker Gap of the Sauratown mountains to plant a new community in the valleys of Big Creek and Tom's Creek. Early Quakers began holding meetings at Westfield by 1772 under the care of New Garden Quarterly Meeting and continued until the monthly meeting was established in 1786. Representatives from New Garden were sent to hold services for them. This is said to have lead to the name, "Westfield." The Quakers at New Garden regarded the work as a mission project and since it was located west of New Garden it was referred to as, "The Western Field." Thus comes the name, "Westfield."
The meeting was officially established November 13, 1786. The Westfield friends would send representatives all the way to New Garden, 67 miles, every month. Bowater Sumner was named the first clerk of the Monthly Meeting.
Quaker records show that between 1801-1822 there were fifty-nine members, including thirty-six families who migrated to Indiana and Ohio and the Monthly Meeting was discontinued in 1832. It was revived again in 1868 when Albert Peele and Isom Cox came from New Garden to Westfield and met on a Sunday morning in the open air with about 150 people. "The people decided from that time to have a Friends Meeting again and made up among themselves to do it." John Y. Hoover began serving as pastor in 1872.
The dates of the erection of the first building is uncertain, but a deed dated 1797 for nine acres of land "including the Westfield Meeting House" seem to indicate that the building was constructed soon after the establishment of the Meeting. Three meetings have served as Meeting Houses for the congregation. The first build in the 1780's decayed before the Civil War. It was rebuild about 1870 and was used until 1885 when a new and more modern building was erected. This building has been remodeled and additions made to it through the years.
The "Old Westfield Friends Meeting" has stood for 200 years as a monument to the faithful foresight of dedicated Quakers. It has weathered the storms of strife, war, and depression, and is a witness to the stability of the Church which Jesus came to establish in the hearts and lives of people.
From Luther N. Byrd, Elon College,North Carolina Feb 20, 1951
Deed records in Surry County and Rowan County show that the earliest settlement of people in the area which later was to center about the Old Westfield Quaker Church was between 1760 and 1770, for there are records of people buying or claiming land in that section between those dates. Since most of the early settlers were Quakers, we may assume that there was some semblance of religious group at or near Westfield before 1770.
Westfield Church was established as an off-spring of the historic New Garden Monthly Meeting at Guilford College, for the church records at New Garden prove that to be a fact. The Quakers at New Garden regarded the church work at Westfield as a sort of mission project in its early years, and since it was located west of Guilford College, it was referred to as "the western field", and thus came the name of Westfield.
The minutes of the New Garden Monthly Meeting for August 29, 1772 state that "Also the Friends near the Mountains request the indulgence of holding meetings on week-days among themselves." The people near the mountains were those at Westfield, so that is proof that there were enough Quakers in the Westfield section prior to 1772 to be interested in holding meetings.
The minutes for New Garden for September, 1772 show that "the committee appointed to visit Friends near the mountains reports that they complied with instructions, …. And its the sense and judgment that they (the Friends near the Mountains) be indulged the privilege of holding such meetings and appoints them the fourth day of he week." These meetings were the first official church gatherings at Westfield. (1772).
The Westfield meeting operated for several years under the guidance and care of the New Garden Monthly Meeting at Guilford College. It was referred to as "the little meeting nigh Tom's Creek" in minutes of the New Garden Meeting for May29, 1773.
The Westfield Quakers expressed themselves in 1779 (during the American Revolution) as opposed to war, which is an ancient Quaker belief.
The church at Westfield was established on a more permanent basis when the Western Quarterly Meeting met at Cane Creek o n November 9,m 1782 and authorized a committee to inspect the Westfield group and report at the next quarterly session. The Westfield Quakers had requested such a preparative meeting in August, 1782. Formal organization of he Westfield Meeting as a preparative body was finally and definitely granted August 14, 1784.
The first recorded minutes of a regular Monthly Meeting at Westfield bare the date of December 23, 1786. Bowater Sumner was appointed first clerk.
The exact date of he first church building at Westfield is not known, but it was probably built soon after the meeting first started, for there is a deed on file in Quaker Archives at Guilford College, dated August 1797 for nine acres "including the Westfield Meeting House." That is proof that there was already a church building there at that date.
I have in my files a hand-written statement from the late Mrs. Effie Ann Hill, who stated that the first church building was build right after the meeting was started, and she states that the first church stood down in the present grave yard and that it was located abut twenty steps west of our father's (Ira Chilton) grave. She writes "when he was put there, his grave was made at the lower side of the East Yard of the church." Mrs. Hill stated that the old church stood on the east side of the road, but in 1939 when they had that big home-coming and celebration at the renovation of the present church, someone located some old rocks just below the present church toward the cemetery (but on the west side of the road along with the present location of Ira W. Chilton's grave, but seems to me that it was not too far down in the cemetery, so it seems likely that the oldest church might have been where those rocks were located to form a square for the old foundation. Ira Chilton died in 1885.
Now, Mrs. Hill also wrote that "the old log walls of he old church was still standing" when services were started again after the Civil War, so evidently that first church was practically gone at that time. Quaker records show that between 1801 and 1822 there were fifty-nine members, including thirty-six families, who migrated to Indiana and Ohio, and the Westfield Monthly Meeting was laid down in 1832. The bulk of the migration began in 1817. The result was that from 1832 until after the Civil War there was no Westfield Monthly Meeting. In April 1860, there was still a meeting house there, for there is a deed on record made by the Trustees of Friends to the trustees of the Westfield community for "a tract of land known as the Westfield Meeting House and graveyard, the same to be known for all time to come as a public burying ground and meeting place for all respectable religious peoples." So the Westfield Quaker property belongs to the community form 1860 to 1872. In 1872 the Trustees of the Friends (Sandy Cook, William H. Pell, and Benjamin F. Davis) paid $125 for the nine acre tract, and it once more became the property of the Friends church, with the provision that it was to be held forever by the Society of Friends.
At this point let us point out the Quarterly Meetings of which Westfield Monthly Meeting has been a part. It was originally founded in 1786 as a member of the Western Quarterly Meeting. It was transferred to the newly organized New Garden Quarterly Meeting in 1787. Within the next few years, Westfield itself branched out and formed new Monthly Meetings at Lost Creek in Tennessee in 1793, at New Hope in Tennessee in 1795, Mount Pleasant and Fruit Hill in Virginia in 1797, at North Providence in 1801, and so in 1803 the Westfield Quarterly Meeting set off. Apparently this Westfield Quarterly Meeting continued until the Westfield Monthly Meeting was discontinued in 1832, but when the Westfield church revived in 1883, it belonged to Deep River Quarterly Meeting. It was transferred to the new Yadkin Valley Quarterly Meeting in 1889 and was again transferred to the new Surry Quarterly Meeting in 1898.
Excerpts from Hinshaw, Volume I Westfield Monthly Meeting
Tom's Creek Meeting, the predecessor of Westfield, was located in Surry County, North Carolina , not far from the Virginia Line. The meeting for worship was organized about 1771; the preparative meeting in 1784. The name was changed to Westfield when the monthly meeting was established, in 1786. Previous to this time, Tom's Creek Preparative Meeting had been attached to New Garden Monthly Meeting.
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Joseph Jessup became the first Jessup to settle at Westfield, North Carolina . He was accompanied to Westfield by three of his brothers but all three of them later moved to Indiana and other western states. Joseph was the only son of Thomas Jessup that remained in North Carolina . He married Priscilla "out of unity, settled on a farm in Stokes, North Carolina , near the headwaters of the Dan River, not far from the southern border of VA. His father, Thomas Jessup, signed the disownment papers at Cane Creek MM. Joseph, alone of his father's sons, lived and died in North Carolina . The children of Joseph and Priscilla Jessup were found on two wills dated 29 Feb 1791 and 10 Mar 1796. Quaker records were submitted to Beth Cox Rowe by Linda Jessup. She also gives credit to Rev. Jasper Newton Jessup.
WILL OF JOSEPH JESSUP:
I, Joseph Jessop, of Surry County & State of North Carolina, being of sound mind and memory, ordain this my last will and testament in manner and form following:
First, my will is that all my just debts and funeral charges be paid in due time by my Executors.
Item 2. My Will is that son Jacob Jessop have five shillings.
Item 3. My Will is that my daughter, Sarah Jackson, have five shillings.
Item 4. My Will is that my daughter, Mary Jackson, have five shillings.
Item 5. My Will is that my son, William Jessop, have five shillings.
Item 6. My Will is that my son, John Jessop, have five shillings.
Item 7. My Will is that my daughter, Rachel Jessop, have five shillings.
Item 8. My Will is that my beloved wife, Priscilla Jessop shall have the plantation, whereon I now live and all the appurtenances thereunto belonging while she remains my widow, the plantation to be equally divided between her and Eli and she to have her choice of halves and at her decease then Eli is to have the aforesaid plantation and all the land lying between the line that divides of my son, William and my son, Jacob, land and sixty acres lying on both sides of the grassee fork joining the county line.
Item 9. My Will is that my beloved wife shall have all the income of my mill while she remains my widow.
Item 10. My Will is that as long as my sons keep my mill up they shall have their grain ground at her clear of expense except the miller's part.
Item 11. My Will is that my daughter, Hannah Jessop, shall have thirty-five pounds
Item 12. My Will is that my survey of land of three hundred and ten acres lying on Forbush Creek in Surry County and one hundred and ninety and one half acres of my land on Arches Creek in Surry County, and fifty acres of land on the waters of the Stock Fork in Stokes County all to be sold and equally divided between my wife, Priscilla Jessop and all my children; namely, Jacob, Sarah, Mary, Joseph, William, John, Rachel, Caleb, Elijah, Hannah and Eli.
Item 13. Thereby ordain, constitute and appoint my trusty and well beloved brother, Timothy Jessop and my son, Joseph Jessop, the whole and sole Executors of this my last Will and Testament to act and dispose thereof according to my Will and desire to the best of their knowledge.
And lastly, thereby utterly revoke and disannul and make void all other will or wills or testaments by me made or done, except such as made and done lawfully in my life time. Rectifying, confirming and allowing this and no other to be my last Will and Testament, whereunto I have interchangeably set my hand and affixed my seal this tenth day of the third month in the year of our Lord, one thousand, seven hundred and ninety-six.
Test_________
Thomas Sumner
Benjamin C________
Seal
Hannah Sumner Joseph Jessop (his mark) ( )
A CODICIL TO A WILL
Be it known to all men by these present that I, Joseph Jessop, of the county of Surry and State of North Carolina, planter, have made and declared my last Will and Testament in writing, bearing date the tenth of the third month, one thousand, seven hundred ninety_______
I the said, Joseph Jessop, by this present codicil do ratify and confirm my said last Will and Testament and do further give and bequeath unto my son, John, the sum of forty-five pounds lawful money to be levied and raised out of my Estate, and so I give and bequeath to my sun, Caleb Jessop, the sum of forty-five pounds lawful money to be raised in the same manner. I also give and bequeath to my son, Elijah Jessop, forty-five pounds lawful money to be raised in the like manner to be paid unto them by my Executors out of my estate and that this codicil is judged to be a part and parcel of my last Will and Testament and that all things therein mentioned and contained be faithfully and truly performed and as fully and amply in every respect as if the same one so declared and set down in my said last Will and Testament witness my hand the seventeenth of tenth month of the year one thousand and ninety ___.
Signed, sealed
Sept
Seal
William Jessop
(name that can't be read)
Caleb Sumner Joseph Jessop (his mark) ( )
The first Surry County deed record was dated October 18, 1786, shows a purchase of land lying along Big Creek near the village of Westfield, North Carolina , but Joseph Jessop may have been living in the area prior to that time. He eventually owned vast holdings of land in both Surry and Stokes Counties, North Carolina . His land extended for twenty-five miles from Chestnut Ridge to the Clemmons Ford of the Dan River and on to Buck Island in the Dan River.
Monday, December 21, 2009
Old Naming Patterns
The following naming pattern was once a common practice. Though not an invariable tradition, it often gives a clue regarding the names of grandparents whose names are sometimes elusive in genealogical research:
The first son was named after the father’s father
The second son was named after the mother’s father
The third son was named after the father.
The fourth son was named after the father’s eldest brother.
The first daughter was named after the mother’s mother
The second daughter was named after the father’s mother
The third daughter was named after the mother
The fourth daughter was named after the mother’s eldest sister.
Before 1910, no birth or death certificates were issued in North Carolina. What records escaped fire, war, storms and the emergence of new counties were augmented by family Bibles and word of mouth. As there were relatively few families living on the Outer Banks in the mid to late 1600s and the early 1700s, many of the bloodlines crossed and re-crossed, mingling in the early days with the native Algonqouin population. Thus, beyond the first few generations, relationships became increasingly convoluted.
(author) Dixie Browning
The following naming pattern was once a common practice. Though not an invariable tradition, it often gives a clue regarding the names of grandparents whose names are sometimes elusive in genealogical research:
The first son was named after the father’s father
The second son was named after the mother’s father
The third son was named after the father.
The fourth son was named after the father’s eldest brother.
The first daughter was named after the mother’s mother
The second daughter was named after the father’s mother
The third daughter was named after the mother
The fourth daughter was named after the mother’s eldest sister.
Before 1910, no birth or death certificates were issued in North Carolina. What records escaped fire, war, storms and the emergence of new counties were augmented by family Bibles and word of mouth. As there were relatively few families living on the Outer Banks in the mid to late 1600s and the early 1700s, many of the bloodlines crossed and re-crossed, mingling in the early days with the native Algonqouin population. Thus, beyond the first few generations, relationships became increasingly convoluted.
(author) Dixie Browning
Monday, August 31, 2009
A Pioneer Lady
Talitha Jane Banta Jackson married one of my collateral ancestors, Amer Thomas Jackson, born in 1830 in Surry Co., North Carolina. He was the second child of Ruel and Susanna Whitlock Jackson, and a cousin of my great-great-grandfather, Amer Jackson.
Talitha Jane Banta came from a very large family of Dutch descent who arrived in New York on the ship "De Trow" in 1659. She was a sixth generation descendant of Henrick Epkese (Banta) the original immigrant. The family moved west in three installments. The parents of Talitha Jane Banta were farmers who had emigrated from Madison Co., Kentucky to Missouri about 1833. They acquired a large farm in Henry Co. Missouri, on which a tenant farmer, Amer Thomas Jackson, was employed, following the emigration of his father and siblings from North Carolina to a farm near Preston, Missouri, about 1856. Before coming to Henry Co., Missouri, Amer Thomas Jackson was employed as a school teacher in Tennessee.
Amer Thomas and Talitha were married December 28, 1858 and had six children. The Banta and Jackson families emigrated by wagon train from Missouri to California starting on May 1, 1861. A description of this journey was written in 1935 by Erastus J. Banta, a brother of Talitha. In his description he states he was twelve years old when they began the trip. They had two wagons drawn by oxen with several horses and a number of loose cattle. They passed on the northern border of Clinton, the county seat of Henry Co., Missouri and once they were on the eastern side of Missouri River they did not have to cross it and were in Kansas on their way across the plains. Kansas was a border state at that time, and a little farther on, they passed Fort Laramie, putting them in the beginning of the wilds of the wilderness, filled with Indians. While in Nebraska they passed on the Platte River and became aware of a sad accident that had happened on a wagon train about three weeks ahead of them. A young lady was taking a gun out of the wagon and caught the hammer of the gun on the wagon box and it went off and killed her. She had been buried on the side of the emigrant road, with a board placed at the head of her grave. Many wagon trains were on their way west and of course would see this grave as they traveled. It was ever after known as the “maiden’s grave.’ Erastus mentioned Captain Jack who was an Indian on his way with his warriors to fight another tribe. Captain Jack could speak the English language and would visit the wagons when they stopped at night. He only talked to the men folks, and never bothered the women and children. After they crossed the Green River on a ferry, Captain Jack and his warriors left them.
Amer and Talitha began the trip with their first child, Harvey Flanders Jackson who was born 1859 and died 1939 and their second child, Dora, was born May 5, 1861 on the banks of Cow River in Kansas en route to California. They came through Susanville and then down the Feather River to arrive in Butte Co., California in the fall of 1861. They had planned to remain there, but as they lost a number of cattle due to heavy floods in the winter of 1861/1862 they moved on to Sutter Co., California. The third child, Henry Francis, was born there on July 1, 1865 and died on January 19, 1867. He was the first buried at the Schoolhouse grave site. Their daughter, Alta was born 1868 and died 1945; their fifth child, Don was born 1871 and died 1931. The last child, Lee, was born February 14, 1873; his mother died three days later. He lived until October 5, 1873 and was buried with his mother and brother. It is not believed anyone else in buried on the site other than Talitha and her two children, but there are other opinions on this issue. Talitha’s father, Henry, is buried in Calistoga, California.
Unlike many pioneer women from America's past, Talitha Jane Jackson's story will not be buried with her. A pioneer woman who traveled cross-country in a covered wagon, she made a home for herself and family in California. Her final resting place was located in Roseville, California. On Monday, March 11, 2002, she would have been happy to learn she was being honored by so many of her descendants, at her burial site. Descendants of Talitha B. Jackson ranged from great-grandchildren to distant cousins, all gathered in love and respect to dedicate a granite headstone to mark the isolated 129 year old pioneer grave. They came from many states. It is unknown why the site was chosen to bury Talitha and her children, other than it sits on a high knoll and is surrounded by oak trees. A good guess might be the peacefulness of the area. Besides the sound of traffic from Fiddyment Road, the only other noise is that of chirping birds.
"Talitha is the story of America, large families and continuous migrations," said her great-grandson, Donald Smith of San Francisco, California.” “They are the people who settled the country. We don't think about them anymore."
And I would add she is the epitome of what most women of our day wish to be. A get-it-done lady without a lot of fuss. I was honored to be invited to attend this dedication, but was not able to do so.
Talitha Jane Banta came from a very large family of Dutch descent who arrived in New York on the ship "De Trow" in 1659. She was a sixth generation descendant of Henrick Epkese (Banta) the original immigrant. The family moved west in three installments. The parents of Talitha Jane Banta were farmers who had emigrated from Madison Co., Kentucky to Missouri about 1833. They acquired a large farm in Henry Co. Missouri, on which a tenant farmer, Amer Thomas Jackson, was employed, following the emigration of his father and siblings from North Carolina to a farm near Preston, Missouri, about 1856. Before coming to Henry Co., Missouri, Amer Thomas Jackson was employed as a school teacher in Tennessee.
Amer Thomas and Talitha were married December 28, 1858 and had six children. The Banta and Jackson families emigrated by wagon train from Missouri to California starting on May 1, 1861. A description of this journey was written in 1935 by Erastus J. Banta, a brother of Talitha. In his description he states he was twelve years old when they began the trip. They had two wagons drawn by oxen with several horses and a number of loose cattle. They passed on the northern border of Clinton, the county seat of Henry Co., Missouri and once they were on the eastern side of Missouri River they did not have to cross it and were in Kansas on their way across the plains. Kansas was a border state at that time, and a little farther on, they passed Fort Laramie, putting them in the beginning of the wilds of the wilderness, filled with Indians. While in Nebraska they passed on the Platte River and became aware of a sad accident that had happened on a wagon train about three weeks ahead of them. A young lady was taking a gun out of the wagon and caught the hammer of the gun on the wagon box and it went off and killed her. She had been buried on the side of the emigrant road, with a board placed at the head of her grave. Many wagon trains were on their way west and of course would see this grave as they traveled. It was ever after known as the “maiden’s grave.’ Erastus mentioned Captain Jack who was an Indian on his way with his warriors to fight another tribe. Captain Jack could speak the English language and would visit the wagons when they stopped at night. He only talked to the men folks, and never bothered the women and children. After they crossed the Green River on a ferry, Captain Jack and his warriors left them.
Amer and Talitha began the trip with their first child, Harvey Flanders Jackson who was born 1859 and died 1939 and their second child, Dora, was born May 5, 1861 on the banks of Cow River in Kansas en route to California. They came through Susanville and then down the Feather River to arrive in Butte Co., California in the fall of 1861. They had planned to remain there, but as they lost a number of cattle due to heavy floods in the winter of 1861/1862 they moved on to Sutter Co., California. The third child, Henry Francis, was born there on July 1, 1865 and died on January 19, 1867. He was the first buried at the Schoolhouse grave site. Their daughter, Alta was born 1868 and died 1945; their fifth child, Don was born 1871 and died 1931. The last child, Lee, was born February 14, 1873; his mother died three days later. He lived until October 5, 1873 and was buried with his mother and brother. It is not believed anyone else in buried on the site other than Talitha and her two children, but there are other opinions on this issue. Talitha’s father, Henry, is buried in Calistoga, California.
Unlike many pioneer women from America's past, Talitha Jane Jackson's story will not be buried with her. A pioneer woman who traveled cross-country in a covered wagon, she made a home for herself and family in California. Her final resting place was located in Roseville, California. On Monday, March 11, 2002, she would have been happy to learn she was being honored by so many of her descendants, at her burial site. Descendants of Talitha B. Jackson ranged from great-grandchildren to distant cousins, all gathered in love and respect to dedicate a granite headstone to mark the isolated 129 year old pioneer grave. They came from many states. It is unknown why the site was chosen to bury Talitha and her children, other than it sits on a high knoll and is surrounded by oak trees. A good guess might be the peacefulness of the area. Besides the sound of traffic from Fiddyment Road, the only other noise is that of chirping birds.
"Talitha is the story of America, large families and continuous migrations," said her great-grandson, Donald Smith of San Francisco, California.” “They are the people who settled the country. We don't think about them anymore."
And I would add she is the epitome of what most women of our day wish to be. A get-it-done lady without a lot of fuss. I was honored to be invited to attend this dedication, but was not able to do so.
Tuesday, August 25, 2009
Matoaka Pocahontas Powhatan
One of my ancestors was Pocahontas and in my research of her life I have found that Disney did not do her justice. She became a lady and a mother at a very young age, and took the hardships that life handed her with the dignity befitting the daughter of Chief Wahunsonacock Powhatan.
Matoaka Pocahontas Powhatan was born September 17 1595 and married to Kocoum, an under chief of the Powhatan tribe. She had married Kocoum in 1610 when she was fifteen years old. Her second husband was John Rolfe II. They were married April 5 1614 in the Anglican Church, Jamestown, Virginia. They were my g-g-g-g-g-g-g-g-g-g-grandparents.
Chief Roy Crazy Horse of the Powhatan Renape Nation writes the following bit of history: “Captain Samuel Argall again went up the Potomac and as he returned down river he noticed a herd of buffalo. While he was stopped at this place he heard that Pocahontas was in the region and at that point he plotted to kidnap her for ransom. He carried out he abduction, drew up the ransom note and sent it to her father, Powhatan. He stated that he would use Pocahontas as bargaining tool in exchange of Englishmen who were prisoners of Powhatan and tools and such, with some quantities of corn for the relief of the Colonies.” Captain Argall had enlisted the aid of Iopassus, the lesser weroance of Patawomeck, to help capture Pocahontas. He was convinced that it was in the best interest of all to help Argall in his plan in order to preserve the friendship of the English. Pocahontas accompanied a wife of Iopassus to see Argall’s ship. After all were on board, she was the only one not permitted to leave.
Pocahontas was transferred from Jamestown to the new community of Henrico and placed under the care of Reverend Whitaker and Marshall Dale, never to see her husband again. The kwiokosuk , the Powhatan priests were a powerful influence in the Indian community. Their roles were not just spiritual and medical, but they had strong political control as well. To have the Powhatans reject their own priests and become loyal to the missionaries, the Jesuit missionaries would have had to demonstrate even great powers than the kwiokosuk. If they could have put an end to the drought, the Powhatan people might have been tempted to change loyalties. But now as a prisoner, Pocahontas was forced to learn the ways of the English religion. She was subjected to it day and night. John Smith, in his General Historie wrote, “How careful they were to instruct her to Christianity and how capable and desirous she was thereof.” Among the three men instructing her was her soon-to-be husband, John Rolfe. (After she had been tutored for some time, she openly renounced the idolatry of her tribe. Today we call this brainwashing and torture.)
In 1613, John Rolfe had forced his affections on Pocahontas and in the farce of doing his Christian duty, married her. Chief Roy Crazy Horse states: “the only reason John Rolfe married Pocahontas was lust and greed. He saw the chance to be a wealthy man, which he later became”. John Rolfe was a very religious man who agonized for many weeks over the decision to marry Pocahontas, “a strange wife, a heathen Indian.” After she converted to Christianity, was baptized and changed her name to Rebecca, he married her “for the good of the plantation, the honor of our country, for the Glory of God and for mine own salvation.” John Rolfe had introduced tobacco to the Virginia Colony in 1612. A general peace and spirit of goodwill between the English and the Indians resulted from this marriage. The American Colonies of the seventeenth and early eighteenth centuries had very stringent laws prohibiting interracial marriages. Because Pocahontas and John Rolfe were married very early in the seventeenth century with the approval of the then Governor of the colony, and because Pocahontas was of royal (albeit aborigine) blood, the statutes in Virginia made an exception in their case. The laws of the other colonies were very strict and the punishment severe. Thus, Thomas Rolfe, son of John and Pocahontas was safe but only in Virginia or back in England. He chose to return to Virginia to claim the vast amount of land Powhatan had given the couple when they married.
In 1616 John Rolfe and his wife, Pocahontas ventured to England to show off the Princess to the King and Queen. While in London, she gave birth to their only child, a son, Thomas Rolfe. Not long after this, Pocahontas died at Gravesend, England, possibly of smallpox. The original burial registry of the Gravesend church indicates that she was buried on Mar 17 1617 in a vault beneath the Chancellor the Church. A representative of the church stated “you don’t get buried under a church in a private vault unless you are quite important.” The church burned in 1727 and a new one was built on the same site. Several graves were opened during the construction and the remains were re-interred in the church courtyard. There is no record indicating which graves from the hundreds on site were moved. So it is not know exactly where her bones are.
John returned to Virginia with his young son and when Thomas was old enough to attend school, he was sent to England for that purpose and he took lodgings and was under the care and tutorship of his uncle, Henry Rolfe. After this, Thomas returned to Virginia and settled on a large estate in old Henrico County (now Chesterfield County,) He married Jane Poythress and by her had one daughter, Jane Rolfe, before his untimely death.
Jane Rolfe was born 10 Oct 1650 in Virginia and died about 1676 in Virginia. She married John Robert Bolling born 1646 in London, England, on Nov 23 1675 in Petersburg, Virginia. One of their three children was John Bolling, born about 1676 who married Mary Kennon in 1697 in Henrico, Virginia. Their daughter, Jane Bolling, born 1698, married Richard Randolph in 1720.
Richard and Jane Bolling Randolph had a daughter, Frances Randolph, born about 1725 who married twice. Her first husband was John Jones. Her second marriage was to Joel Halbert, born 1712, Virginia. Frances and Joel Halbert had a daughter named Martha Halbert, who married Robert Hill, Sr. To give you a line of reference, Martha and Robert were my g-g-g-g-grandparents.
Robert and Martha Halbert Hill had a son, Robert Hill, Jr. He married Elizabeth Vest and their daughter, Sarah Sally Hill, born 1809, married Amer Jackson, born 1797. Their son, William Buck Jackson, married Sarah Shelton in 1867 and they were my g-grandparents. Their second son was William Caleb Jackson, born 1875, who married Alice East, born 1886, on 13 December 1903. According to family members, they had fifteen children. (two died, unnamed, at childbirth).
My Grandfather Jackson did so many fun things, he let me help when he gathered honey from the bee hives, and this had to be an act of love on his part. He allowed me to help him sort apples that he used to make cider. I could help him count out sweet potato slips, as he sold these to other farmers in the area. He would always be able to find a "copper or two," which is what he called pennies, for me. After being cautioned not to say anything to my Grandmother, he would walk with me to Royal Hunter's store and we would spend a lot of time deciding just exactly how to spend those pennies on candy. Those BB-Bat all day suckers, or packages of Kits were hard decisions to make.
When W. Caleb Jackson was a young man, he was rabbit hunting and the gun accidentally went off and his arm was so severely damaged that it had to be removed. I was always amazed at what he could do with one hand. He rolled his own cigarettes. He would hold the small white wrapping paper in one hand, have the tobacco sack in his mouth and gently shake the tobacco into the paper (without dropping any) and then slowly roll the paper around the tobacco with one hand, lick the edge of paper and seal it. He could tie a neat bow on his shoe strings. He could swat an unruly grandchild on the behind quicker than one could jump. In other words, there was not much my Grandpa could not do. He was my "hero." When he died in 1959, my second child was just a baby and I mourned that my children would grow up without him in their lives.
My father, Joseph D. Jackson was their second child.. He grew up on his father's farm in Westfield, North Carolina . He attended school in the area. After his marriage to my mother, Della Mae Inman, he went to work for the North Carolina State Highway Department. This job caused us to have to move quite a bit. Eventually he bought a farm in the Brown Mountain area of Stokes Co., North Carolina and they lived there until my mother’s death in 1956. He sold the farm and married again, this time locating in Francisco, North Carolina . After his second wife's death, he married again and lived in Mount Airy, North Carolina until his death in 1989, just four days before his 82nd birthday.
Matoaka Pocahontas Powhatan was born September 17 1595 and married to Kocoum, an under chief of the Powhatan tribe. She had married Kocoum in 1610 when she was fifteen years old. Her second husband was John Rolfe II. They were married April 5 1614 in the Anglican Church, Jamestown, Virginia. They were my g-g-g-g-g-g-g-g-g-g-grandparents.
Chief Roy Crazy Horse of the Powhatan Renape Nation writes the following bit of history: “Captain Samuel Argall again went up the Potomac and as he returned down river he noticed a herd of buffalo. While he was stopped at this place he heard that Pocahontas was in the region and at that point he plotted to kidnap her for ransom. He carried out he abduction, drew up the ransom note and sent it to her father, Powhatan. He stated that he would use Pocahontas as bargaining tool in exchange of Englishmen who were prisoners of Powhatan and tools and such, with some quantities of corn for the relief of the Colonies.” Captain Argall had enlisted the aid of Iopassus, the lesser weroance of Patawomeck, to help capture Pocahontas. He was convinced that it was in the best interest of all to help Argall in his plan in order to preserve the friendship of the English. Pocahontas accompanied a wife of Iopassus to see Argall’s ship. After all were on board, she was the only one not permitted to leave.
Pocahontas was transferred from Jamestown to the new community of Henrico and placed under the care of Reverend Whitaker and Marshall Dale, never to see her husband again. The kwiokosuk , the Powhatan priests were a powerful influence in the Indian community. Their roles were not just spiritual and medical, but they had strong political control as well. To have the Powhatans reject their own priests and become loyal to the missionaries, the Jesuit missionaries would have had to demonstrate even great powers than the kwiokosuk. If they could have put an end to the drought, the Powhatan people might have been tempted to change loyalties. But now as a prisoner, Pocahontas was forced to learn the ways of the English religion. She was subjected to it day and night. John Smith, in his General Historie wrote, “How careful they were to instruct her to Christianity and how capable and desirous she was thereof.” Among the three men instructing her was her soon-to-be husband, John Rolfe. (After she had been tutored for some time, she openly renounced the idolatry of her tribe. Today we call this brainwashing and torture.)
In 1613, John Rolfe had forced his affections on Pocahontas and in the farce of doing his Christian duty, married her. Chief Roy Crazy Horse states: “the only reason John Rolfe married Pocahontas was lust and greed. He saw the chance to be a wealthy man, which he later became”. John Rolfe was a very religious man who agonized for many weeks over the decision to marry Pocahontas, “a strange wife, a heathen Indian.” After she converted to Christianity, was baptized and changed her name to Rebecca, he married her “for the good of the plantation, the honor of our country, for the Glory of God and for mine own salvation.” John Rolfe had introduced tobacco to the Virginia Colony in 1612. A general peace and spirit of goodwill between the English and the Indians resulted from this marriage. The American Colonies of the seventeenth and early eighteenth centuries had very stringent laws prohibiting interracial marriages. Because Pocahontas and John Rolfe were married very early in the seventeenth century with the approval of the then Governor of the colony, and because Pocahontas was of royal (albeit aborigine) blood, the statutes in Virginia made an exception in their case. The laws of the other colonies were very strict and the punishment severe. Thus, Thomas Rolfe, son of John and Pocahontas was safe but only in Virginia or back in England. He chose to return to Virginia to claim the vast amount of land Powhatan had given the couple when they married.
In 1616 John Rolfe and his wife, Pocahontas ventured to England to show off the Princess to the King and Queen. While in London, she gave birth to their only child, a son, Thomas Rolfe. Not long after this, Pocahontas died at Gravesend, England, possibly of smallpox. The original burial registry of the Gravesend church indicates that she was buried on Mar 17 1617 in a vault beneath the Chancellor the Church. A representative of the church stated “you don’t get buried under a church in a private vault unless you are quite important.” The church burned in 1727 and a new one was built on the same site. Several graves were opened during the construction and the remains were re-interred in the church courtyard. There is no record indicating which graves from the hundreds on site were moved. So it is not know exactly where her bones are.
John returned to Virginia with his young son and when Thomas was old enough to attend school, he was sent to England for that purpose and he took lodgings and was under the care and tutorship of his uncle, Henry Rolfe. After this, Thomas returned to Virginia and settled on a large estate in old Henrico County (now Chesterfield County,) He married Jane Poythress and by her had one daughter, Jane Rolfe, before his untimely death.
Jane Rolfe was born 10 Oct 1650 in Virginia and died about 1676 in Virginia. She married John Robert Bolling born 1646 in London, England, on Nov 23 1675 in Petersburg, Virginia. One of their three children was John Bolling, born about 1676 who married Mary Kennon in 1697 in Henrico, Virginia. Their daughter, Jane Bolling, born 1698, married Richard Randolph in 1720.
Richard and Jane Bolling Randolph had a daughter, Frances Randolph, born about 1725 who married twice. Her first husband was John Jones. Her second marriage was to Joel Halbert, born 1712, Virginia. Frances and Joel Halbert had a daughter named Martha Halbert, who married Robert Hill, Sr. To give you a line of reference, Martha and Robert were my g-g-g-g-grandparents.
Robert and Martha Halbert Hill had a son, Robert Hill, Jr. He married Elizabeth Vest and their daughter, Sarah Sally Hill, born 1809, married Amer Jackson, born 1797. Their son, William Buck Jackson, married Sarah Shelton in 1867 and they were my g-grandparents. Their second son was William Caleb Jackson, born 1875, who married Alice East, born 1886, on 13 December 1903. According to family members, they had fifteen children. (two died, unnamed, at childbirth).
My Grandfather Jackson did so many fun things, he let me help when he gathered honey from the bee hives, and this had to be an act of love on his part. He allowed me to help him sort apples that he used to make cider. I could help him count out sweet potato slips, as he sold these to other farmers in the area. He would always be able to find a "copper or two," which is what he called pennies, for me. After being cautioned not to say anything to my Grandmother, he would walk with me to Royal Hunter's store and we would spend a lot of time deciding just exactly how to spend those pennies on candy. Those BB-Bat all day suckers, or packages of Kits were hard decisions to make.
When W. Caleb Jackson was a young man, he was rabbit hunting and the gun accidentally went off and his arm was so severely damaged that it had to be removed. I was always amazed at what he could do with one hand. He rolled his own cigarettes. He would hold the small white wrapping paper in one hand, have the tobacco sack in his mouth and gently shake the tobacco into the paper (without dropping any) and then slowly roll the paper around the tobacco with one hand, lick the edge of paper and seal it. He could tie a neat bow on his shoe strings. He could swat an unruly grandchild on the behind quicker than one could jump. In other words, there was not much my Grandpa could not do. He was my "hero." When he died in 1959, my second child was just a baby and I mourned that my children would grow up without him in their lives.
My father, Joseph D. Jackson was their second child.. He grew up on his father's farm in Westfield, North Carolina . He attended school in the area. After his marriage to my mother, Della Mae Inman, he went to work for the North Carolina State Highway Department. This job caused us to have to move quite a bit. Eventually he bought a farm in the Brown Mountain area of Stokes Co., North Carolina and they lived there until my mother’s death in 1956. He sold the farm and married again, this time locating in Francisco, North Carolina . After his second wife's death, he married again and lived in Mount Airy, North Carolina until his death in 1989, just four days before his 82nd birthday.
Everyday of my life I have thanked God for the two parents I had. I feel that who I am and how I think and reason about life is due to the love and nurturing care I received as I was growing up. We were not rich with money, but very rich in love and the things that mattered. We always had plenty of food, good shelter, warm clothing, and lots of work to keep us busy. We had special events in our lives that to this day are sweet memories.
I hope you have enjoyed reading about my connection to Pocahontas. I treasure and try to preserve my heritage and encourage others to learn about your ancestors.
Sunday, August 16, 2009
My name is Jo. Through the years I have spent much time in researching the ancestors of my children. In doing this I have learned many interesting stories that I wish to share with you. I will begin with a brief story of my life. I received my education in North Carolina. My parents eventually became tobacco farmers when I was about 12 years old. We lived in a log house, cool in the summer and also cool in the winter. It was heated by wood stoves. I remember my mom heating black irons on the stove, wrapping them in towels and placing them at the foot of the bed in the winter time so my sister and I could warm our cold feet. Life on the farm in the late 40's was hard. Water had to be wound from a well. There was no indoor plumbing which meant we normally did not take in a lot of liquids before retiring at night. Food for the table was raised in the gardens and my Mom canned what was eaten in the winter months along with the cured hams, other pork and occasionally some beef that a peddler would bring by. The only food items bought at a store were flour, cornmeal, sugar, salt, pepper and lots of Karo syrup. My sister ,my Dad and I loved mom's big hot biscuits with butter and Karo syrup. After completing my schooling I went to work Western Electric (a subsidiary of AT&T) and met my husband there. We were married in April of 1954 and in 1959 we moved with our children into a home we had built in Pfafftown, NC. By 1984 both of us had retired from our jobs and began traveling across this great nation and all the Canadian Provinces. God has been exceedingly good to me during my life. He gave me great parents, and very loving grandparents. He brought a wonderful, loving and caring husband into my life and blessed me with two lovely, healthy and strong children. I thank Him every day. It is because of my family research that I have written this brief sketch of the story of my life. I hope I have not lived in vain. I hope that along the way, I have had some impact on others that proved a blessing for them. Hopefully one hundred years from now, someone will enjoy reading about me and the fact that I did live, love and laugh a lot. There is much more to add to this story later.
Saturday, August 15, 2009
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.
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.
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