History of Western North Carolina - Chapter 8-A



CHAPTER VIII.
COUNTY HISTORY

BUNCOMBE COUNTY.(l) In 1781 or 1782 settlers from the blockhouse at Old
Fort, McDowell county as it is now, crossed the mountains to the head of
the Swannanoa river, and became trespassers on the Cherokee territory, the
Blue Ridge at that time being the boundary line. Samuel Davidson, his wife
and child were among the first. They brought a female negro slave with
them, and settled a short distance east of Gudger's ford of Swannanoa
river, and near what is now Azalea. He was soon afterwards killed by
Indians, and his wife and child and slave hurried through the mountains
back to Old Fort. An expedition to avenge his death set out, with the late
Major Ben. Burgin, who died at Old Fort in November, 1874, at the age of
ninety-five, among the number and conquered the Indians at tile mouth of
Rock House creek. By this time, however, several other settlements had
been effected on the Swannanoa from its head to its mouth by the
Alexanders, Davidsons, Smiths and others, the earliest being about the
mouth of Bee Tree creek, a little above this being the Edmundson field,
the first cleared in Buncombe. Soon another company passed through Bull
gap and settled on upper Reems creek, while still others came in by way of
what is now Yancey county and settled on lower Reems and Flat creeks. Some
of the people who had been with Sevier at Watauga settlement, settled on
the French Broad above the mouth of Swannanoa, and on Hominy creek. Some
from South Carolina settled still higher on the French Broad.

THE CHEERY NAME OF BUNCOMBE.(2) The Swannanoa was now recognized as the
dividing line between Burke and Rutherford counties, from portions of
which counties Buncombe was subsequently formed, and named for Edward
Buncombe, who had been a colonel in the Revolutionary War.(3) In 1791
David Vance and William Davidson, the former representing Burke and the
latter Rutherford, agreed upon the formation of a new county from portions
of both these counties west of the Blue Ridge, its western boundary to be
the Tennessee line.

FIRST COURT AT THE GUM SPRING.(4) In April, 1792, at the residence of Col.
William Davidson on the south bank of the Swannanoa, half a mile above its
mouth, subsequently called the Gum Spring place, Buncombe county was
organized, pursuant to the act which had been ratified January 14, 1792.
On December 31, 1792, another act recited that the commissioners provided
for in the first act had failed to fix "the center and agree where public
buildings" should be erected, and appointed Joshua Inglish, Archibald
Neill, James Wilson, Augustin Shote, George Baker and John Dillard of
Buncombe, and Wm. Morrison of Burke, commissioners in place of Phillip
Hoodenpile, William Brittain, Win. Whitson, James Brittain and Lemuel
Clayton, who had failed to agree, to select a county seat. There was
rivalry for this position, many contending for the "Steam Saw Mill Place
on the road afterwards known as the Buncombe Turnpike Road about three
miles south of Asheville, where Dr. J. F. E. Hardy resided at the time of
his death," says Dr. Sondley in his Asheville's Centenary. They selected
the present site, which at first was called Morristown. As the Superior
court was at this time held at Morganton, five men from Buncombe were
required to serve there as jurors, for the July term, 1792. These were
Matthew Patton, Wm. Davidson, David Vance, Lambert Clayton and James
Brittain. The first court house stood in the middle of the street upon the
public square at the head of what is now Patton avenue, and was of logs.
The first county court held there was on the third Monday in July, 1793.
In January, 1796, commissioners were appointed to lay off a plan for
public buildings; but in April, 1802, the grand jury complained that the
county had no title to the land on which the jail, etc., stood, and in
April, 1805, steps were taken to secure land for a public square. In
April, 1807, the county trustee, or treasurer, was ordered to pay Robert
Love one pound for registering five deeds made by individuals for a public
square.... The next court house was made of brick, a little further east,
in the erection of which the late Nicholas W. Woodfin, while a poor boy,
carried brick and mortar. This gave way to a handsome brick building
fronting on Main street, which was destroyed by fire on the 26th day of
January, 1865. Some years later a small one-story brick structure was
built nearly in front of W. O. Wolf's storeroom, the late Rev. B. H.
Merrimon having been the contractor. In 1876 this gave way to a larger
building with three stories, J. A. Tennent being the architect. In the
erection of this a workman fell from the southwest corner of the tower to
the ground and was killed. His name has been forgotten. The first jail was
succeeded by a brick building now a part of the Library building; but a
new jail was built afterwards on the site of the present. city hall, its
site being sold to the city when the Eagle street jail was built some
years afterwards. The first jail was a very poor structure, every sheriff
from 1799 to 1811 complaining of its insufficiency. In 1867 the county
began to sell off portions of the public square on the north and south
sides, thus reducing it to its present dimensions.

MORRISTOWN. John Burton's grant was "by private contract laid out .... for
a town called Morristown, the county town of Buncombe county, into 42
lots, containing, with the exception of the two at the southern end, one-
half an acre each, lying on both sides of a street 33 feet wide," which
runs where the southern part of North Main street and the northern part of
South Main street now are.(5) There were two cross streets across the
public square. "Nobody seems to know why the name of 'Morristown was
bestowed upon the place ...but there is a seemingly authentic tradition
that it was named for Robert Morris, who success fully financed the
American Revolution, yet himself died a bankrupt."(6) About this time he
owned large bodies of land in Western North Carolina; indeed it is shown
in the record of one case in the Federal Court here (Asheville) that
Robert Tate of York county, Pennsylvania, and William Tate, of Burke
county, N . C., conveyed to him in one deed 198 tracts of land, only one
tract of which, containing 70,400 acres and lying in what are now Yancey,
Burke, and McDowell counties, was involved in that litigation. The State
grant for these lands was issued to Robert and William Tate on May 30,
1795, and they conveyed the same lands to Morrison August 15 of the same
year..."The Tates were evidently the agents of Morris... Morris was one of
the heroes of the Revolution, and ... it is small wonder that the
people...should name it for him." His will (dated in 1804) was probated in
McDowell county on April 21, 1891. In November 1797, the village was
incorporated by the legislature as Asheville in honor of Samuel Ashe of
New Hanover, governor.

OLD ASHEVILLE. On Thanksgiving Day, 1895, Miss Anna C. Aston, Miss Frances
L. Patton and other ladies published a "Woman's Edition" of the Asheville
Daily Citizen. It contained much valuable and important information of
that city. But in February, 1898, Foster A. Sondley, Esq., a descendant of
the Fosters and Alexanders of Buncombe count-, and a leading member of the
Asheville Bar, published a historical sketch of Buncombe county and
Asheville, containing practically all that could then be ascertained
concerning the early history of this section. Hon. Theo. F. Davidson and
the late Albert T. Summey also contributed their recollections. There was
a woodcut reproduction of an oil painting of Asheville by F. S. Duncanson,
which was taken from Beaucatcher, and it appears that there were not more
than twenty five residences in 1850 that were visible from that commanding
eminence, all the buildings, including outhouses, not exceeding forty, and
they were between Atkin, Market and Church streets. The painting itself,
now owned by Airs. Martha B. Patton, shows five brick buildings, the old
Presbyterian church, on the site of the present one, with the cupola on
its eastern end, because the street ran there; the little old Episcopal
church, on the site of the burned Trinity; the old jail, standing where
the city hall now stands; Ravenscroft school, and the Rowley house, now
occupied by the Drhumor building. The old jail was three stories high. The
other buildings were white wooden structures, and included the central
portion of the old Eagle hotel and the old Buck hotel. Mr. Ernest Israel
also has a similar picture.

Dr. J. S. T. Baird's facile pen has given us an equally vivid picture of
Asheville in his "Historical Sketches of Early Days," published in the
Asheville Saturday Register during January, February and March, 1905, as
it appeared in 1840. He records the facts that the white population then
did not exceed 300, and the total number of slaves, owned by eight or nine
persons, did not exceed 200. In the 400 acres embracing the northeastern
section of the city, between the angle formed by North Main and Woodfin
streets, he recalled but two dwellings, those of Hon. N. W. Woodfin and
Rev. David McAnally, both on Woodfin street. There was an old tannery and
a little school house near the beginning of what is now Merrimon avenue,
the school having been taught by Miss Katy Parks, who afterwards became
'Mrs. Katy Bell, mother of Rev. George Bell of Haw Creek. This 400-acre
boundary, now so thickly settled, was then owned by James W. Patton, James
Al. Smith, Samuel Chunn, N. W. Woodfin and Israel Baird. There was a
thirty-acre field where Doubleday now is, and was called the "old gallows
field," because Sneed and Henry had been hanged there about 1835. Standing
south of Woodfin and East of North and South Alain streets to the southern
boundary, there were but eight residences, not including negro and
outhouses.

SOUTHWEST ASHEVILLE. Just north of Aston street was the brick store of
Patton & Osborne, and later Patton & Summey, adjoining which was the
tailor shop of "Uncle" Manuel, one of James W. Patton's slaves. Then came
a white house which was kept for guests when there was an overflow crowd
at the Eagle hotel. Between this house and the Daylight store, J. M. Smith
some years later erected a two-story building for the use of Dr. T. C.
Lester, a physician who came from South Carolina and settled here about
1845. He kept a sort of drug store, the first of its kind in Asheville.
The negroes called it a shot-i-carry-pop, in their effort to call it an
apothecary shop. Hilliard Hall now stands where it stood. Just above was
the residence and place of business of James B. Mears, now the Daylight
store. Then came Drake Jarrett's place-better known as the Coche(7) place
"where for many years the little short-legged 'monsieur' and his 'madam'
dealt out that which Solomon .says biteth like a serpent and stingeth like
an adder." Thus was reached what was the Chunn property, which, beginning
at the lower side of T. C. Smith's drug store, ran straight back to Church
street. Samuel Chunn had lived in a large brick house which fronted north,
and which was later replaced by a building used as a banking house, known
as the Bank building. This was about 1845. The Asheville branch of the
Bank of Cape Fear occupied it till the Civil War period. The residence of
A. B. Churn stood on the corner now occupied by Pat McIntyre's grocery
store. An old stable stood at the corner of Patton and Lexington avenues.

CHURCH STREET. The grounds of the Methodist church extended from Patton
avenue and Church street to the Aston property and several rods back,
forming an oblong plat of several acres. On the corner of Patton avenue
and Church street stood a large brick building used as a boarding house in
connection with the school for girls which was taught for many years in
the basement of the Methodist church. The late William Johnston afterwards
bought and occupied this building as a residence. The land south of the
Methodist church was used as, a cemetery till long after the Civil War.

The Presbyterian church of that day stood nearly where the one of this day
stands, opposite that of the Methodist church, and its cemetery extended
down to Aston street. Near where Asheland and Patton avenues join the late
James M. Smith had a large barn, which stood in a ten-acre field.

NORTHWEST ASHEVILLE. In the angle formed by North Main street and Patton
avenue, in 1840, there were not many houses. Beginning at the north end,
Mrs. Cassada--"Granny Cassie"--occupied a one-room house which stood where
the Rankin tan house afterwards stood. She baked and sold ginger cakes,
and brewed cider. Coming up North Main street was a house built by Israel
Baird in 1839, now known as the Brandt property. Israel Baird had lived
two and a half miles north of Asheville at what is now the Way place, but
about 1838 lie bought 40 acres, commencing at the junction of North Slain
street and Merrimon avenue, running west to the present auditorium, thence
to Starnes avenue and thence back to North Main street. The only other
building within this area was the wooden store and shoe-shop opposite the
old Buck hotel, now occupied by the Langren hotel, and the barns, stables,
sheds and cribs of J. M. Smith, which covered a large portion of the lot
lying between West College street, Walnut and Water streets. From the
foregoing it is evident that the artist Duncanson did not get all the
house into his oil painting of 1850.

EAST AND SOUTH ASHEVILLE. In these sections of the town the land was owned
by James M. Smith, Sames W. Patton, Montraville Patton, Dr. J. F. E.
Hardy, Mrs. Morrison and Thomas L. Gaston, principally. The old Buck
Hotel, a small frame building near it, what was known as the Dunlap store,
the court house, the jail, the office of the Highland Messenger on what is
now North Pack Square, east of the Gazette News office, were then the
oldest houses in town. The old jail stood where the new Legal building now
stands; the court house stood where Vance's monument stands, with the
whipping post and stocks immediately in its rear. Mrs. Rose Morrisons'
residence occupied the site now covered by the present court house, while
the store of Montraville Patton occupied the corner now used by the Holt
Furniture Company. Lower down on South Main street lived William Coleman
in a brick building in a part of which the post-office was kept. Later on
Col. R. W. Pulliam lived there and Rankin and Pulliam did a large
mercantile business. Just below this, embowered in green vines and
fragrant flowers, was the stylish wooden dwelling occupied for years by
Dr. J. F. E. Hardy, and was later to fall into such disrepute as to be
called "Greasy Corner." This, however, was about 1890 after the handsome
old residence had for years been used as a negro hotel and restaurant. On
it now stands the large Thrash Building.

EAGLE HOTEL. Just below Eagle street stood and still stands the building
then and for years afterwards known far and wide as the Eagle hotel, then
owned by James Patton and later by his son James W. Patton. There were a
large blacksmith shop just below this hotel, where Sycamore street now
leaves South Main, and a tannery on the branch back of and below this.
Joshua Roberts lived on the hill where Mrs. Buchanan lived until her
recent death, and it was the last house on that side of the street.

LARGE LAND OWNERS. In the angle formed by Patton avenue and South Main
street, according to Dr. Baird, the lands were owned principally by James
M. Smith, Col. James M. Alexander, James W. Patton, and Samuel Chunn, but
James B. Mears and Drake Jarrett owned from T. C. Smith's drug store down
to and including Mears' Daylight store. The Methodist and Presbyterian
churches owned and occupied the land now used by them for their present
places of worship. Within this area were eleven residences, two stores,
two churches, two stables, one tanyard and one barn. At the corporate line
on South Main street, at the forks of the road, lived Standapher Rhodes,
and north of him was the blacksmith shop of Williamson Warlick whose sign
read "Williamson Warlick Axes," his axes being especially fine. He died
and was succeeded there by Elias Triplett. Two hundred yards north was the
home of Rev. William Morrison a Presbyterian minister and the father of
Mr. Theodore S. Morrison. J. M. Alexander afterwards lived in this house.
Then came a tannery of J. M. Smith's, while David Halford occupied a
residence at the corner of South Main and Southside avenue, known as the
Goodlake curve because of the reverse curve of the street railway tracks
at that point There was a frame house about halfway between the Halford
house and Mrs. M. E. Hilliard's residence. Mrs. Hilliard's home site was
formerly occupied by a large two-story frame house which stood upon the
street, and was occupied at one time by Col. J. M. Alexander before he
removed to "Alexander's," ten miles down the French Broad river. Then John
Osborne occupied the Alexnader (Hilliard) house for a long time, to be
followed by Isaac McDunn, a tailor. It was finally bought by the late Dr.
W. L. Hilliard, and occupied as a residence. From his house to Aston
street there was no dwelling, though a large stable belonging to the Eagle
hotel stood where now stands the Swannanoa-Berkeley Hotel.

GEORGE SWAIN. He was born in Roxborough, Mass., June 17, 1763, and on
September 1, 1784, he left Providence, R. L, for Charleston, S. C.; but as
a storm had required that much of the cargo be thrown over board, Swain
arrived at Charleston penniless. He walked to Augusta, Ga., where he lived
a year, and then removed to Wilkes, afterwards Oglethorpe county, where he
engaged in hat-making, and was a member of the legislature of Georgia five
years, and of the Constitutional convention held at Louisville about 1795,
in which year he moved to Buncombe county and settled in or near
Asheville, soon afterward marrying Carolina Lowrie, a sister of Joel Lane,
founder of the city of Raleigh, and of Jesse Lane, father of Gen. Joseph
Lane, Democratic candidate for Vice President in 1860. She was the widow
of a man who had been killed by the Indians. In the early part of his
residence George Lane lived at the head of Beaverdam creek, where the late
Rev. Thomas Stradley afterwards resided and died, and where, on January 4,
1801, David Lowrie Swain, afterwards judge, governor and president of the
University, was born. Here the future statesman saw the first wagon ever
in Buncombe brought up the washed out bed of Beaverdam creek in default of
a road. At this sight, "he incontinently took to his heels and rallied
only when safely entrenched behind his father's house, a log double
cabin." "About 1805 a post-route was established on the recently
constructed road through Buncombe county. In 1806, the postoffice at
Asheville was made the distributing office for Georgia, Tennessee and the
two Carolina', and George Swain became postmaster," the commission issuing
in 1807. He was a ruling elder in the Presbyterian church. He used to say
his father was a Presbyterian and an Arminian, and his mother was a
Methodist and a Calvinist. He was a trustee of the Newton academy. He
afterwards carried on the hatter's business in the house now called the
Bacchus J. Smith place in Grove Park, where his son-in-law, William
Coleman, succeeded him as a hatter. For some time before his death he was
insane. He died December 24, 1829.

SAMUEL CHUNN. In 1806 he was chairman of the Buncombe county court, having
been a tanner for years, his tanyard being where Merrimon avenue crosses
Glenn's creek. In 1807 he was jailer, and from him Chunn's Cove took its
name. He died in 1855, on the bank of the French Broad in Madison county
at what is known as the Chunn place, where he had resided in his old age.

WILLIAM WELCH. He was at one time a member of the Buncombe county court,
and in January, 1805, was coroner. He was interested in lands on what are
now Haywood and Depot streets. He afterwards removed to Waynesville and
married Mary Ann, a daughter of Robert Love. In 1829 he was a senator from
Haywood county, a member of the constitutional convention of 1835 and for
many years clerk of the court. He was born April 8, 1796, and died
February 6, 1865.

COLONEL WILLIAM DAVIDSON. He was a son of John Davidson and first cousin
of Gen. Wm. Davidson, who succeeded Griffith Rutherford in the generalship
when the latter was captured at Camden. Gen. Davidson was killed February
1, 1751, at Cowan's ford of Catawba river. Col. Davidson was a brother of
the Samuel Davidson who was killed by the Indians in 1781-2 at the head of
the Swannanoa river, and was the first representative of Buncombe county
in the State Senate, taking a prominent part in the preparations made by
the North Carolinians for the Battle of Kings Mountain. He was the father
of William Mitchell Davidson of Hay wood county, whose son, Col. Allen T.
Davidson, was a prominent lawyer and represented this section in the
Confederate Congress.

WILLIAM MITCHELL DAVIDSON. He was born January 2, 1780, and died at Rock
Island Ferry, on the Brazos river, Washington county, Texas, May, 31,
1846, and was buried in the Horse Shoe Bend of that stream in the private
burying ground of Amos Gates. On January 10, 1804, he married Elizabeth
Vance (who was born on Reem's creek, Buncombe county, North Carolina,
March 23, 1787), the ceremony being performed by the Rev. Geo. Newton. She
died at the home of her son, Col. Allen Turner Davidson, on Valley river,
Cherokee county, April 15, 1861. They settled on a beautiful farm on
Jonathan's creek, in Haywood county, where they remained until October 24,
1844, when the family went to Santa Anna, Ill., where they remained until
the first of March, 1845, when they again set out for Texas. They settled
on Wilson's creek of Collin county in April. From there they moved to Rock
Island Ferry, where Mr. Davidson died. The family then returned to North
Carolina-April, 1847. One cause of his removal to Texas was an unfortunate
mercantile venture which he had made with his sons, W. E., H. H., an A.
T., at Waynesville, in 1842. The story of the adventures of this family to
and from Texas at that early day, as preserved in a manuscript written by
John M. Davidson, one of W. M. Davidson's sons, reads more like a romance
than a sober recital of real facts. (See Appendix)

ISAAC B. SAWYER. Was born on Tuskeegee creek in Macon, now Swain, county
in 1810. James W. Patton, John Burgin and 'Squire Sawyer were, for years,
the three magistrates composing the Buncombe county court. He was the
first mayor of Asheville and was clerk and master for many years before
the Civil War and until the adoption of the Code. He was the father of
Captain James P. Sawyer, who for years was the president of the Battery
Park bank, a successful merchant and a public spirited and enterprising
citizen. Isaac B. Sawyer died in 1880.

JAMES MITCHELL ALEXANDER. He was born on Bee Tree creek, Buncombe county,
May 22, 1793. His grandfather, John Alexander, of Scotch-Irish descent,
was a native of Rowan county, where he married Rachel Davidson, a sister
of William and Samuel Davidson, and resided in Lincoln county, during the
Revolutionary war. They were afterwards among the first settlers of
Buncombe, but moved to Harper's river, Tenn. His son, James Alexander was
born in Rowan, December 23, 1756. He fought on the American side at Kings
Mountain, and Cornwallis's camp chest, captured by him, was in Buncombe in
1898 when "Asheville's Centenary" was written by F. A. Sondley, Esq. March
19, 1782, He married in York district, South Carolina, Miss Rhoda
Cunningham, who had been born in Pennsylvania, October 13, 1763. They then
moved to Buncombe with their father and uncle and settled on Bee Tree,
where he died in the Presbyterian faith. James Mitchell Alexander was
their son, and on September 8, 1814, he married Nancy Foster, oldest child
of Thomas Foster, who was born November 17, 1797. In 1816 he removed to
Asheville and bought and improved the Hilliard property on South Main
street. He was a saddler, and at this house he lived till 1828, carrying
on his trade and keeping hotel. In 1828, upon the completion of the
Buncombe turnpike, he bought and improved the place on the right bank of
the French Broad, ten miles from Asheville, afterwards famous as
Alexander's hotel, also carrying on a mercantile business there. In the
latter part of his life he turned over this business to his son, the late
Alfred M. Alexander, and one of his sons-in-law, the late Rev. J. S.
Burnett, and improved the place three miles nearer Asheville called
Montrealla, where he died June 11, 1858. His wife died January 14, 1862.

ANDREW ERWIN. He is the man to whom Bishop Asbury referred as "chief man."
He was born in Virginia about 1773 and died near the War Trace in Bedford
county, Tenn., in 1833. When seventeen years old he entered the employment
of the late James Patton, afterwards becoming his partner as inn-keeper
and merchant at Wilkesborough. In 1800-01 he was a member of the House of
Commons from Wilkes. He was Asheville's first postmaster. In 1814 he moved
to Augusta, Ga.

THOMAS FOSTER. He was born in Virginia October 14, 1774. In 1776 his
father, William Foster came with his family and settled midway between the
road leading to the Swannanoa river by way of Fernihurst from Asheville.
He married Miss Orra Sams, whose father, Edmund Sams, was one of the
settlers from Watauga. After his marriage Thomas Foster settled on the
bank of Sweeten's creek, afterwards called Foster's Mill creek, the first
which enters Swannanoa from the south above the present iron bridge on the
Hendersonville road. He was a member of the House of Common from Buncombe
from 1809 to 1814, both inclusive, and represented that county in the
State senate in 1817 and 181[?]). He died December 24 (incorrectly on
tombstone December 14), 1858. He was a farmer and accumulated a
considerable property. A large family of children survived him. His wife
died August 27, 1853. He is mentioned in Wheeler's History of North
Carolina, Bennett's Chronology of North Carolina and Bishop Asbury's
journal.

WEAVERVILLE, BUNCOMBE COUNTY. The greater part of the early settlers of
this country was made up of men and women seeking religious liberty. This
motive no less prompted the immigrants from Northern Europe than the great
body of Scotch-Irish that emigrated to this country from Scotland and
Ireland. In Pennsylvania and down through the valley of the Shenandoah we
find the Dutch of Holland and the Scotch-Irish, living side by side
dominated by a single purpose.

One of the pioneers in Buncombe county came from the valley of Virginia
from this large Dutch settlement into what is now Buncombe county, and was
the ancestor of the large family of Weavers not living in that section.
Previous to 1790 John Weaver and wife, Elizabeth, with their infant son
(Jacob), came from Virginia via the Watauga in Tennessee, crossing the
Ball mountain in what is now Yancey county, and settled on Reems creek,
near the present town of Weaverville. From the first census of the United
States 1790 (see page 110) it appears that John Weaver was a resident of
Burke county, which then included what is now Buncombe county. His family
then consisted of wife, two daughters and one son under sixteen years of
age. From this it is evident that he reached North Carolina sometime
between 1786 and 1790. In the office of Register of Deeds for Buncombe
county, in Book No. 1 at page 100, is recorded a deed from John McDowell
of Burke county, conveying to John Weaver of Buncombe county 320 acres of
land; consideration 100 pounds; description, "On both sides of Reems creek
and on both sides of the path leading from Green river to Nolachuckee."
This is interesting inasmuch as it seems to locate the old Indian trail
from the east to the lands west of Unakas. There is little doubt that this
young pioneer brought his young wife and infant son from the Watauga over
this trail in quest of a permanent home.

John Weaver was born December, 1763, and died December, 1830. In his will,
probated April Session, 1831, was found the following name: wife,
Elizabeth; daughters, Susannah, Christiana, Mary, Elizabeth, Matilda and
Catherine; sons, Jacob, James, John (better known as Jack), Christopher
G., and Michael Montreville. From this family of six daughters and five
sons sprang the largest number of descendants, or most numerous group of
related families in Buncombe county, springing from one ancestor. Some of
the oldest related families living in Buncombe county have their origin in
more than one ancestor; for instance, the Baird family sprang from two
brothers, Zebulon and Bedent; the Alexander family, from James Alexander,
followed by a brother, nephew and other kinsmen; the Davidson family, from
Samuel and William. These last named pioneers entered Buncombe county from
the east through the Swannanoa gap. John Weaver, as stated above, came
from Virginia and entered this county from the northern section and what
is now Yancey county. His oldest son, Jacob, married Elizabeth Siler of
Macon county. From this union were born four sons and three daughters,
John S., Jesse R., William W., and James Thomas, Elizabeth, Saphronia and
Mary. All these children of Jacob Weaver married and became the heads of
families living in Buncombe county. Their descendants constitute the large
majority of Weavers and Weaver relations now living in this county. John
S. Weaver first married Mary 'Miller of Bolivar, Tennessee; she died in
1867 and his second wife was Mary McDowell of Macon county, daughter of
Silas McDowell. Jesse R. Weaver married Julia Coulter of Greenville,
Tennessee. William Weimer Weaver married Evalin Smith of Buncombe county,
daughter of Samuel Smith. James Thomas Weaver married Hester Ann Trotter
of Macon county. Elizabeth Weaver married Burdie Gash. Saphronia Weaver
married Jamison McElroy. Mary Weaver married Robert Z. Blackstock. Nearly
all of the living descendants of these families now live in Buncombe
county, except the McElroy family, which moved to Arkansas shortly after
the Civil War.

The next child of the pioneer, John Weaver, was Susannah, who married a
Mr. McCarson; from these are descendants living in this and adjacent
counties.

The second daughter, Christiana, married Samuel Vance, uncle of Z. B.
Vance, who later moved to Bedford county, Tennessee. The third daughter,
Mary, married Henry Addington of Macon county, where many descendants
froth this union still live. The fourth daughter, Catherine, married
Andrew Pickens from South Carolina, who settled in Buncombe county. Rev.
R. V. Pickens, Tarpley Pickens, Christly Pickens, Mrs. Eliza Gill, and
Mrs. Martha Carter, who became the heads of large families in this county,
were sons and daughters of Andrew and Catherine Pickens. The fifth
daughter, Elizabeth, married Robert Patton Wells. From this union were
many sons and daughters, some of whom, known to the writer and living in
Buncombe county, were Robert C. Wells, W. F. Wells, Saphronia, who married
Capt. R. P. Moore, Jane, who married Dr. Micheaux, and Matilda, who
married Mathias Faubion of Tennessee. The sixth daughter of John Weaver,
Matilda, married Jefferson H. Garrison. From this union were born sons and
daughters in this and adjacent counties. Two sons, William and John, were
gallant soldiers in the Civil War.

Referring to the sons of John Weaver, other than Jacob, who has already
been referred to, James first married a Miss Barnard. Their daughter,
Christiana, married William R. Baird, and these were the parents of Capt.
I. V. Baird, William Baird, Zebulon Baird, Dr. Elisha Baird, John R.
Baird, Misses Mollie and Catherine Baird, all now living in Buncombe
county, except Dr. Elisha and John R. Baird, who died within the last ten
years. James Weaver's second marriage was to Mrs. Gilliland. Children were
born to James Weaver by both of these unions, but they moved in early life
to Tennessee and Missouri.

James Weaver first represented Buncombe county in the lower house of the
legislature in 1825, serving with David L. Swain. He was subsequently re-
elected to this office in 1830, 1832, 1833 and 1834, serving with William
Orr, John Clayton and Joseph Henry resepectively. Later he moved to Cocke
county, Tennessee, died July 28, 1854, and was buried on the old
homestead, at the place known as Weaver Bend, just below Paint Rock.
Subsequently, one of his daughters removed his remains and re-interred
them at Knoxville, Tenn. Overlooking this grave, and on the very apex of a
high, steep mountain, at Weaver Bend, is a small white cross set in a
rock, by whose hands no one knows. It can be seen from the car window as
the train moves through the river gorge 500 feet below. It is a tradition
that some Jesuits placed a few of these crosses on conspicuous
promontories through the Smoky mountains long before any of the
settlements had been made by white men. However, this may be, this little
emblem has rested on this western "Horeb" for possibly two centuries,
looking out and towards the rolling rivers and alluvial valleys of East
Tennessee, which to the early settlers was a real land of promise flowing
with milk and honey.

John, or Jack, Weaver married and lived on the French Broad river just
above the mouth of Reems creek. Some of his descendants are still living
in this county; of those who moved elsewhere little is now known.

Christopher G. Weaver married a Miss Lowry and lived on Flat creek three
miles north of Weaverville. He died in early life and has no descendants
now living in Buncombe county.

Montreville Michael Weaver was the youngest son of John Weaver. He was
born August 10, 1808, married Jane Baird. To this union was born four sons
and five daughters. The sons were Fulton, who died unmarried, and Capt. W.
E. Weaver, who married Miss Hannah Baird and is now living at Weaverville,
N. C. The third son, John, married Miss Garrison, neither of whom is now
living. Dr. Henry Bascomb Weaver married Miss Hattie Penland, daughter of
Robert Penland of Mitchell county, N. C. Dr. Weaver is now living in
Asheville, a practicing physician who possesses the confidence and esteem
of those who know him. The daughters of Montreville Weaver: Mary Ann,
married Dr. J. A. Reagan; Martha, married Dr. ,l. W. Vandiver; Margarette,
married Capt. Wylie Parker; Catherine, married Dr. I. A. Harris; Eliza,
married D. H. Reagan; all of whom have many- descendants living in
Buncombe county. Montreville Weaver, the last surviving child of the
family of John Weaver, died in September, 1882.

Among these people are many strong men and women who have left their
impress upon the communities in which they lived and have largely
contributed to the upbuilding of the country. John Weaver the First. left
the information with his children that his father was a Holland gentleman.
Other information obtainable indicates that his father came from Holland
to Pennsylvania, and in company with other brother and kinsmen of the same
name settled near Lancaster, Pennsylvania, later migrating across Maryland
into the valley of the Shenandoah in Virginia. The name of Weaver appears
frequently in the public records about Lancaster, Pennsylvania, and in
Virginia. From the report of Mr. H. J. Eckerode, the Archivist of the
State of Virginia, it appears that there were two men by the name of John
Weaver in the Revolutionary War from Virginia. One of these men was from
Augusta county. In the same report also appear the following Weavers:
Aaron Weaver, Princess Ann county, Tillman Weaver, Captain of Fauquier
Militia. From the Pennsylvania Archives, Third Series, Vol. 23, appear the
names of Captain Martin Weaver and Captain Jacob Weaver of Fifth and
Seventh Companies of the Tenth Pennsylvania Regiment (see pages 31-I and
383). The commissions of these men bear date July 1, 1777, and January 13,
1777, respectively. Other Weavers who figured in the Revolutionary history
of Pennsylvania are George, Dolshen, Daltzer, Daniel, Henry, Adam, Jacob
and Joshua. In fact this name appears in some muster roll of United States
forces in every conflict in which the country has been engaged, beginning
with the subjugation of the savage tribes, through all the wars with
England and down to the Spanish-American war of recent date.

It is easy to believe that these Dutch people found congenial friends and
neighbors in the Scotch-Irish people that were thrown together in the
valley of the Shenandoah. They were all dominated by a single purpose, to
hew out for themselves and their posterity a civil and ecclesiastic
system, free from the domination of king or pope. There is no doubt but
that the ancestors of these Dutch people were the loyal supporters of
William, Duke of Nassau, called "William the Silent" who broke the power
of Catholic Spain over the Netherlands in his defeat of Philip the Second
in the latter part of the Sixteenth Century.

ASHE COUNTY. The act to establish the county of Ashe is one of the
shortest on record. It was passed in 1799 (Laws of N. C., p. 98) and
provides that "all that, part of the county of Wilkes lying west of the
extreme height of the Appalachian mountains shall be, and the same is
hereby erected into a separate and distinct county by the name of Ashe,"
followed later by an act to establish permanently the dividing line
between Ashe and Buncombe counties, the same to begin at "the Yadkin
spring, and thence along the extreme height of the Blue ridge to the head
spring of Flat Top fork of Elk creek, thence down the meanders of said
creek to the Tennessee line."

The first record of the county court of Ashe is at the May term, 1806,
with Alexander Smith, John McBride and Charles Tolliver, esquires,
present. The following were the jurors Sidniah Maxwell, foreman, James
Sturgill, Allen Woodruff, Samuel Griffith, Seth Osborn, George Koons, John
Green, James Dickson, Levi Pennington, Benjamin Hubbard, Charles Kelly,
James Murphy, Win. Harris, Alex. Lethern, Sciras Fairchilds. Edward King
was appointed constable to attend the grand jury. Elisha Collins was
excused from road duty "by reason of infirmity." At the February Term,
1807, James Cash recorded his "mark" for stock, being a crop and slit and
under keel on the right ear; and Elijah Calloway and Mathias Harmon were
qualified as justices of the peace. The jury appointed to "view the road
from Daniel Harper's into the Elk spur road" made report that it "was no
road."

FROM THE OLD COURT RECORDS. If there was a term of the Superior Court held
in Ashe county prior to the March term, 1807, there is no record of it. On
the 9th day of March of that year, however, Francis Locke presided as
judge, and appointed John McMillan clerk, with bond of L2,000. Thomas
McGimsey was appointed clerk and master, but resigned at the September
Term, 1807. The grand jurors were Nathan Horton, foreman, James Bunyard,
David Earnest, John Brown, Eli Cleveland, Joseph Couch, John Koons,
Jonathan Baker, Elijah Pope, Jesse Ray, Samuel C. Cox, John Holman, Joshua
Cox, Elijah Calloway, John Judd, Alex. Johnson, Morris Baker, Wm. Weaver.
Henry Hardin, constable, was sworn to attend the jury. Only two cases were
tried, the first of which was John Cox v. Isaac H. Robinett and Nathan
Gordon, debt, judgment for L596, 14-6d and costs. At the September term,
1807, Judge Spruce McCay presided and fined the delinquent jurors L10
each, but afterwards released them. Six cases were tried. Judge Francis
Locke returned for the Spring Term, 1808, and Judge Samuel Lowrie followed
him at the Fall term. At the September term, 1810, on motion of Robert H.
Burton, who was to become judge and preside at a future term, Samuel Cox,
sheriff, was amerced, nisi, for not returning execution in the case of
Robert Nall v. Jno. Burton and others. At the March term, 1811, Peter Hart
was committed to jail for 24 hours and fined 40 shillings for making a
noise and contempt of court, and Gideon Lewis and John Northern were fined
20 shillings each for not answering when their names were called. Judge
Henderson presided at the March term, 1812, when John A. Johnson resigned
his appointment as clerk and master. John Hall presided at the September
term, while at the March term, 1813, the jury acquitted Win. Pennington of
rape. At this term Waugh & Findlay recovered judgment for $55.06 against
Elizabeth Humphries, but judgment was arrested and a new trial ordered.
Duncan Cameron presided at the March term, 1814, while at the September
term, 1815, the jury found that Win. Lambeth, indicted for malicious
mischief (Betty Young prosscutrix) had taken "a mare from his cornfield to
a secret place and stabbed her to prevent a repetition of injuring his
crop, but were unable to say whether he was guilty or not and the judge,
Hon. Leonard Henderson, ordered that a transcript of the bill of
indictment and verdict be sent to the Conference court. At the September
term, 1817, Judge Lowery did not get to court on Monday, but arrived the
following Tuesday, and ordered Thomas Calloway, county surveyor, to survey
the land in dispute between Thomas -McGimsey and Elisha Blevins. There is
a grant to Gideon Lewis to 200 acres on Spring branch, entered September
16, 1802, of date November 27, 1806, and a grant to Reuben Farthing for
200 acres on Beaver Dams, entered July 4, 1829, of date December 5, 1831.
Benjamin Cutbirth conveyed 100 acres on South Fork of New river to Andrew
Ferguson, the execution of which deed was proven by the oath of Joseph
Couch at the May term, 1800, of the county court.

SECOND JAIL WEST OF THE BLUE RIDGE. The first jail stood behind what is
now the Jefferson Bargain store, conducted by Dr. J. C. Testerman, from
which some of the logs were removed to and made into the old stable in
east Jefferson, where they are still visible. The next jail was of brick
and stood on the site of the present jail on Helton road, and was built,
probably, about 1833. It was burned in the spring of 1865 by men in the
uniform of the United States army. A prisoner set the jail on fire about
1887 and Felix Barr repaired it.

JEFFERSON. A tract of fifty acres was deeded to Ashe county on which the
town of Jefferson was built early in the 18th century; but the records of
the grantor and grantee are lost. A map in the possession of G. L. Park,
Esq., is supposed to have been made about 1800. It was made by J. Harper
and shows the location of all lots, the court house and the crossing of
the Helton road. The first court house was of logs and stood at the
intersection of this road and the road running east and west, and now
known as Main street. The next court house was of brick, and stood flush
with Main street, in front of the present structure, and was built about
1832 or 1833, according to statement of Edmund C. Bartlett to Felix Barr,
who also remembers seeing the date on a tin gutter, the tin work having
been clone by Lyle & Wilcox of Grayson county, Va. The present court house
was built in 1904, the old road for Helton still going by it, but passing
on both sides now, in narrow alleys or lanes, but coming together again
before crossing the gap of the Phoenix mountain, nearly two miles to the
north. There is a conflict of opinion as to where the first court was
held, some claiming that it was in an old log church in the meadow
immediately in front of the present court house and known as the McEwen
meadow, and others that it was held in an old Baptist church half a mile
from Jefferson on the Beaver creek road, near which a Mr. and Mrs.
Smithdeal kept a tavern and on the opposite side of the road. The three
rows of black-heart cherry trees on the main street give not only shade
but an air of distinction not noticeable in newer towns, while the
colonial style of several of the houses indicates a degree of refinement
among the earlier inhabitants sadly missing from many places of equal
antiquity. Like Charleston, S. C., Jefferson has the air of having been
finished years ago; but as the Methodist Conference has appropriated $20,
000 and the citizens of Ashe $10,000 to build a school and college, and
Mrs. Eula J. Neal, widow of the late J. Z. Neal has conveyed eight or ten
acres of choice land for that purpose, and as a railroad from Virginia is
expected soon, Jefferson is looking to the future with pride in her past
and a determination to achieve greater and greater results. Before the
coming of railroads Asheville was no larger than Jefferson is now, nor had
it any greater evidence of culture and education than is here indicated by
the citizenship of Jefferson. The large numbers of negroes in and around
Jefferson indicate that the former residents were men of wealth and
leisure. In 1901, the legislature incorporated the Wilkesboro and
Jefferson Turnpike company, and five years later a finely graded road was
completed between those two places. By the terms of this act the State
furnished the convicts while the stockholders furnished the provisions and
paid the expenses. This road has been of greater help to North Wilkesboro
than to Jefferson; but if the town of Jefferson and the county of Ashe
would secure trackage rights over the narrow gauge road now operated for
lumber exclusively between Laurel Bloomery, Tenn., and Hemlock, N. C., and
then secure convicts to complete the line to Jefferson, under the same
terms as were granted for the building of the turnpike, and operate it by
electricity, it need not wait for the pleasure of lumber companies to
construct a standard gauge road at their convenience

OLD BUILDINGS. The building now known as Jefferson Inn was built in two
parts by the late George Bower. The part used by the Bank of Ashe was
built first, but the date cannot be determined definitely, and the eastern
part some years later. The frame building next to the east was George
Bower's store, in which the postoffice was kept, and holes in the
partitions are still visible which had been used for posting letters.
James Gentry was killed one snowy Christmas night about the year 1876, in
front of this building while Mont. Hardin was keeping hotel. Douglas Dixon
leas tried for the murder, but was acquitted. It was in this building also
that Judge Robert R. Heath, sick and delirious, inflicted a wound upon
himself from which he afterwards died (May 26, 1871). The hand-forged
hinges and window fastenings indicate that the building is old.

WAUGH AND BARTLETT HOUSES. But what is still known as the Bartlett house,
east of the present postoffice, is probably the oldest house in town. It
was occupied by Sheriff E. C. Bartlett, grandfather of the Professors
Dougherty of Boone. Another old building is that still known as the Waugh
house, notwithstanding its modern appearance. It is now a part of the
Masonic building, apparently, but its main body, like the Bartlett house,
is of logs. In it Waugh, Poe and Murchison sold goods in the first part of
the nineteenth century. Certain it is that to this firm there were grants
and deeds to land at a very early (late, and the first map of Jefferson
was made by J. Harper for Wm. P. Waugh, the senior member of this firm;
Mathias Poe, the third member is said to have lived in Tennessee; but Col.
Murchison for years occupied the large old residence which still stands on
the hill at the eastern end of town.

EARLY RESIDENTS OF JEFFERSON, ASHE COUNTY. Nathan H. Waugh moved to
Jefferson from Monroe county, Tenn., in 1845. He was born April 24, 1822.
Among those living in Jefferson in 1845 were Col. George Bower, Rev. Dr.
Wagg, a Methodist preacher, and the Rev. William Milam, also a Methodist
preacher, and the jailer; also Sheriff E. C. Bartlett, Cyrus Wilcox, a
tinner, George Houck, blacksmith, whose daughter married Cyrus Grubb of
the Bend of New river; and Wm. Wyatt. Daniel Burkett, who lives one mile
South of Jefferson and whose daughter married Rev. Dr. J. H. Weaver of the
Methodist Church, South. William Willen, an Englishman and a ditcher,
lived one mile east of Jefferson on the farm now owned by D. P. Waugh.
Mrs. Lucy A Carson moved to Jefferson in 1870, and remembers as residents
at that time S. C. Waugh, Wiley P. Thomas, Mrs. America Bower, Dr. L. C.
Gentry, Rev. James Wagg, J. E. and N. A. Foster, E. C. Bartlett. The
Fosters delivered salt to Ashe county during the Civil War. Mrs. Milam
owned a residence opposite J. E. and N. A. Foster's, but gave the lot to
Adam Roberts, colored, who subsequently sold it and built the brick house
on the hill to the south of town. The Carson house, brick, was built in
1845, Geo. Bower giving John M. Carson, his brother-in-law, the lot on
which it stands. Captain Joseph W. Todd built the house to the west of the
Carson residence in 1870, and the Henry Rollins house had been built long
before that time. The Negro mountain was so called because a runaway
negro, during or before the Revolutionary War, escaped and hid in a cave
on the mountain till his hiding place was discovered and he was recaptured
and returned to his master east of the Blue Ridge. The Mulatto mountain is
said to have taken its name from the color of the soil, but no plausible
reason was given for the names applied to the Paddy and Phoenix mountains.

ARAS B. COX. Aras B. Cox was born in Floyd county, Va., January 25, 1816,
and married Phoebe Edwards, February 23, 1845. They settled in Ashe
county. In 1849 he was elected clerk of the Superior Court, and also in
1853. He sold his farm in Alleghany county, and bought one seven miles
from Jefferson. He was in the Confederate War. He was a distinguished
physician and the author of "Footprints on the Sands of Time," published
at Sparta, N. C., in August, 1900. He died soon after.

COLONEL GEORGE BOWER. So higly regarded was Col. Bower for his wisdom and
sagacity that he was almost universally called "Double Headed Bower," or
"Two Headed Bower." He was born in Ashe county, January 8, 1788. His
father was John Bower, whose will as recorded in Ashe county disposed of
considerable property.(8) George was a merchant, farmer, livestock raiser
and hotellist at Jefferson. He married a Miss Bryant first, and after her
death Miss America Russeau. He was elected State Senator when Andrew
Jackson was elected president both times.(9) He became one of the bondsmen
of John McMillan as clerk of the Superior Court as early as the September
term, 1813.(10) At subsequent terms he was appointed clerk and master and
gave bond as such.(11) He owned a large number of slaves and many State
bonds. He was drowned in the Yadkin river, October 7, 1861. His will was
probated in 1899, Book E, p. 387. His widow married Robert R. Heath, who
was born in New Hampshire October 25, 1806, and died at Jefferson, May 26,
1871. "He was an able lawyer and an upright judge," is engraved on his
tomb. Mrs. Heath then married Alston Davis. She was born February 26,
1816, and died May 25, 1903. Her will was probated in 1903, Book E, p. 524.

A TRAGIC DEATH. In October, 1861, George Bower followed a runaway slave to
the ford of the Yadkin river. He was in his carriage, and the negro driver
told him the river was too swollen to admit of fording it at that time.
Col. Bower, insisting, however, the colored man drove in. The current took
the carriage with its single occupant far beyond the bank. Col. Bower was
drowned, but the driver and horses escaped.

STEPHEN THOMAS. This gentleman was a progressive and valuable citizen of
Creston, having kept a store and tavern there. He was born in May, 1796,
and died in May, 1864. His wife was a daughter of Timothy Perkins. He
reared a splendid family.(l2)

DAVID WORTH. He was descended from William Worth, who emigrated from
England in the reign of Charles the Second. His father had owned
considerable property under the Commonwealth, but at the Restoration it
had been confiscated, and his family scattered in search of safety.
William had a son, Joseph, born in Massachusetts, and Joseph's son Daniel,
married Sarah Husey. Daniel Worth was a son of Joseph and was born in
Guilford county, October 15, 1810. Daniel Worth was the father of David
Worth, who came to Creston about 1828, and died December 10, 1888. He was
a tanner by trade. He also was a most valuable citizen and highly
respected. He married Miss Elizabeth Thomas, daughter of Stephen Thomas.
She was born January 18, 1821, and died October 22, 1895.(13)

ZACHARIAH BAKER. He lived at Creston and was a successful farmer and stock
raiser. His wife was Miss Zilphea Dickson. They reared a large family of
influential and successful citizens. One of his sons, John, married
Delilah Eller, and the other, Marshall, married Mary Eller, a daughter of
Luke Eller.(14)

THE GRAYBEALS. They are said to be of Dutch ancestry. are generally
thrifty and successful folk, and own much real estate and live stock. They
are honest, frugal and among the best citizens of Ashe.

JACOB, HENRY AND JOHN ELLER. They were sons of Christian Eller, once a
resident of the Jersey Settlement in Davidson county. The two former came
to Ashe and settled on the North Fork of New river, reared large families,
and were successful, useful, respected citizens. Their sons were Peter,
Luke, William, John, David and Jacob. John settled on the South Fork and
later moved to Wilkes. His sons were Simeon, David, Absalom, John and
Peter, who reared large families which are scattered over Western North
Carolina, Tennessee, Virginia, Iowa and Nebraska.(15)

SOME EARLY SETTLERS of ASHE.(16) "These noble, selfsacrificing men and
women of the early times endangered their lives and braved many hardships
in the wild Indian coutry to open the way to happy homes, schools,
churches and the blessings of our present civilization. Some of these were
Henry Poe, Martin Gambill, Thomas Sutherland, Timothy Perkins, Captain
John Cox, Henry Hardin, Canada Richardson, James Douglas, Daniel Dickson
and Elijah Galloway. Besides these were many others whose names awaken
much unwritten history: Miller, Blevins, Ham, Reeves, Woodin, Barr, Baker,
Eller, Goodman, Ray, Burkett, Graybeal, Houck, Kilby, Ashley, Jones,
Gentry, Smith, Plummer, Lewis, Sutherland, McMillan, Colvard, Barker,
Senter, Maxwell, Calhoun, Sapp, Thomas, Worth, Oliver and others."

HAYWOOD COUNTY.(17) "In the legislature of 1808, General Thomas Love,
whose home was near where the 'Brown' house now stands back of the McAfee
cottage in Waynesville, and who was that year representative from Buncombe
county in the General Assembly, introduced a bill having for its purpose
to organize a county out of that portion of Buncombe west of its present
western and southwestern boundary and extending to the Tennessee line,
including all the territory in the present counties of Haywood, Macon,
Jackson, Swain, Graham, Clay, and Cherokee. The bill met with favor, was
passed, ratified and became a law December 23, 1808.

"On Richland creek, about the year 1800, the neucleus of a village had
been formed on the beautiful ridge between its limpid waters and those of
Raccoon creek. The ride is less than a mile wide and attracted settlers on
account of the picturesque mountains on either side and the delightfulness
of the climate. At that early time a considerable population was already
there. Several men, who were well known in the State and who afterwards
became prominent in public affairs, had built homes upon that nature
favored spot and were living there. Such men as General Thomas Love,
Colonel Robert Love, Colonel William Allen, John Welch, and others of
Revolutionary fame were leaders in that community. Without changing his
residence General Thomas Love was a member of the State Legislature, with
two or three years intermission, from 1797 to 1828, for nine years as a
member from Buncombe county and the remainder of the time from Haywood.
Most of the time he was in the House of Commons but for six years he was
also in the Senate. Colonel Robert Love served three years in the senate
from Buncombe county, from 1793 to 1795. William Allen and John Welch were
veterans of the Revolution and men of considerable influence in that
community.

"As already stated that law was ratified on December 23, 1808, but it did
not become operative until early in the year 1809. On the fourth Monday in
March of that year the justices of the peace in the territory defined by
the act erecting the county met at Mount Prospect in the first court of
pleas and quarter sessions ever held in the limits of Haywood county. The
following justices were present at that meeting: Thomas Love, John Fergus,
John Dobson, Robert Phillips, Abraham Eaton, Hugh Davidson, Holliman
Battle, John McFarland, Phillip T. Burfoot, William Deaver, Archibald
McHenry, and Benjamin Odell.

"One of the first things the court thus constituted did was to elect
officers for the new county. There were several candidates for the
different positions, but after several ballots were taken the following
were declared duly elected: Clerk of the court, Robert Love; Sheriff,
William Allen; register of deeds, Phillip T. Burfoot; constable of the
county, Samuel Hollingsworth; entry taker, Thomas St. Clair; treasurer,
Robert Phillips; stray master, Adam Killian; comptroller, Abraham Eaton;
coroner, Nathan Thompson; solicitor, Archibald Ruffin; standard keeper,
David McFarland.

"Thus officered the county of Haywood began its career. The officers
entered at once upon their respective duties, and the county became a
reality. The first entry in the register's book bears date of March 29th,
1809, signed by Philip T. Burfoot, and the first in the clerk's book is
the same date by Robert Love.

"Until the court house and jail could be built the county officials met at
private residences at Mount Prospect and prisoners were carried to jail in
Asheville. Such proceedings were inconvenient and the commissioners
appointed by the legislature, therefore, made haste to locate and erect
the public buildings. It was expected that they would be ready to make
their report to the court of pleas and quarter sessions as to the location
of the county seat at the March session. Instead, however, they asked at
that session to be indulged until the June term, and that request was
granted.

"On Monday, June 26, 1809, the court met at the home of John Howell. The
old record names the following justices as being present: Thomas Love,
Philip Burfoot, Hugh Davidson, John McFarland, Abraham Eaton, John Dobson,
William Deaver, Archibald McHenry, and John Fergus. At this meeting the
commissioners named in the act of the legislature erecting the county made
their report, in which they declared that it was unanimously agreed to
locate the public buildings somewhere on the ridge between Richland and
Raccoon creeks at or near the point then called Mount Prospect. As the
commissioners were clothed with full power to act, it required no vote of
the justices, but it is more than probable that the report was cheerfully
endorsed by a majority of the justices present.

"At this June term of the court, the first for the trial of causes, the
following composed the grand jury: John Welch foreman, William Welch, John
Fullbright, John Robinson, Edward Sharteer, Isaac Wilkins, Elijah Deaver,
David McFarland, William Burns, Joseph Chambers, Thomas St. Clair, John
Shook, William Cathey, Jacob Shock, and John St. Clair. The following
grand jurors for the next term of the Superior court that was to be held
in Asheville in September: Holliman Battle, Hugh Davidson, Abraham Eaton,
Thomas Lenoir, William Deaver, John McFarland, John McClure, Felix Walker,
Jacob McFarland, Robert Love, Edward Hyatt and Daniel Fleming. This was
done because of the fact that no Superior court was held in Haywood for
several years after the formation of the county; but all cases that were
appealed from the court of pleas and quarter sessions came up by law in
the Superior court of Buncombe county at Asheville. For this court Haywood
county was bound by law to send to Asheville six grand jurors and as many
more as desired.

"At the June term inspectors of election, that was to take place in
August, were also selected. There were then two voting precincts, and this
election was the first ever held in the county. For the precinct of Mount
Prospect the following inspectors were appointed: George Cathey, William
Deaver, John Fergus, and Hugh Davidson. For the precinct of Soco, Benjamin
Parks, Robert Reed, and Robert Turner were appointed.

"In the location of the public buildings at Mount Prospect, there was laid
the foundation of the present little city of Waynesville. Tradition says
and truthfully, no doubt, that the name was suggested by Colonel Robert
Love in honor of General Anthony Wayne, under whom Colonel Love served in
the Revolutionary War. The name suited the community and people, and the
village soon came to be known by it. In the record of the court of pleas
and quarter sessions the name of Waynesville occurs first in 1811.

"Some unexpected condition prevented the immediate erection of the public
buildings. The plans were all laid in 1809, but sufficient money from
taxation as provided for in the act establishing the county had not been
secured by the end of that year. It was, therefore, late in the year 1811
before sufficient funds were in hand to begin the erection of the
courthouse. During the year 1812 the work began and was completed by the
end of the year. Mark Colman is said to have been the first man to dig up
a stump in laying the foundation for that building. On December 21, 1812,
the first court was held in this first court house."

HAYWOOD'S SIX DAUGHTERS. Formerly belonging to Haywood were Macon,
Cherokee, Jackson, Swain, Clay and Graham counties. Of many of the pioneer
residents of these counties when they were a part of Haywood Col. Allen T.
Davidson speaks in The Lyceum for January, 1891. Among them were David
Nelson and Jonathan McPeters, Jonathans creek having been named for the
latter. David Nelson was the uncle of Col. Win. H. Thomas, and died at 87
highly respected and greatly lamented. "He was of fine physical form,
honest, brave and hospitable." "Then there were Joshua Allison, George
Owens, John and Reuben Moody, brothers, all sturdy, hardy, well-to-do men
and good citizens, who, with Samuel Leatherwood constituted my father's
near neighbors." "Joseph Chambers of this neighborhood moved to Georgia
about the opening of the Carroll county gold mine, say, about 1831-32. He
was a man of more than ordinary character, led in public affairs and
reared an elegant family. His daughters were splendid ladies and married
well. His wife was a sister of John and Reuben Moody." John Leatherwood
was well known for his thrift and industry, fine hounds, fine cattle and
good old-time apple brandy; a good citizen who lived to a good old age.
James McKee, father of James L. McKee of Asheville, lived on this creek,
was sheriff of Haywood for many years, and died at an advanced age at
Asheville. Near him lived Felix Walker.

He was a man of great suavity of manner, a fine, electioneer, insomuch
that he was called "Old Oil Jug." He went, after his defeat for Congress
in 1824 by Dr. Robert Vance, to Mississippi, where he died about 1835. The
manufacture and sale of gensing was begun on Jonathans creek by Dr. Hailen
of Philadelphia, who employed Nimron S. Jarrett and Bacchus J. Smith, late
of Buncombe county, to conduct the business. It was abundant then and very
profitable, the green root being worth about seven cents a pound. A branch
of this business was established on Caney river in Yancey county. I well
remember seeing great companies of mountaineers coming along the mountain
passes (there were no roads then only as we blazed them) with packed
horses and oxen going to the "factory," as we called it; and it was a
great rendezvous for the people, where all the then sports of the day were
engaged in such games as pitching quoits, running foot-races, shooting
matches, wrestling, and, sometimes a good fist and skull fight. But the
curse and indignation of the neighborhood rested on the man who attempted,
as we called it, "to interfere in the fight, or double-team," or use a
weapon. The most noted men were John Welch, John McFarland, Hodge Reyburn,
Thomas Tatham, Gen. Thomas Love and Ninian Edmundson. The leading families
of Haywood were the Howells, being two brothers, John and Henry, who came
from Cabarrus about 1818; the Osborns; the Plotts, Col. Thomas Lenoir; the
Catheys, Deavers, McCrackens, Penlands, Bryers; David Russell of Fines
creek, Peter Nolan, Robert Penland, Henry Brown, James Green, who was born
in 1790, and was living in January, 1891, and many others.

JOSEPH CATHEY. He was born March 12, 1803, and died June 1, 1874, was a
son of William Cathey, one of the first settlers on Pigeon river; was a
delegate to the State convention of 1835, and in the senate and declined
further political honors.

NINIAN EDMUNDSON. He was born in Burke, October 21, 1789, of Maryland
ancestry, and came with his father to Pigeon Valley prior to 1808, where
the family remained. He was in the War of 1812; was four years sheriff of
Haywood. He served several terms in the State senate and many in the
house. He was a most successful farmer and useful citizen. He died in
March, 1868, highly esteemed.

JAMES ROBERT LOVE. He was born in November, 1798, and died November 22,
1863. He represented Haywood county many times in the legislature. He
married Miss Maria Williamson Coman, daughter of Col. James Coman of
Raleigh, who died January 9, 1842, aged 75 years. This marriage occurred
November 26, 1822. Charles Loehr, a German professor of music, taught his
children music for years, and Loehr's son afterwards became professor of
music at the Asheville Female college. Love was so anxious to encourage
the building of a railroad that he set aside a lot for the depot long
before he died. He bought large boundaries of vacant and unsurveyed lands,
and died wealthy.

DR. SAMUEL L. LOVE. He was born August 5, 1828, and died July 7, 1887. He
received his diploma as a physician from the University of Pennsylvania;
but was soon elected to the legislature, where he served many terms. He
was a surgeon in 1861 on the staff of Gov. Ellis, and a delegate to the
Constitutional convention of 1875. In 1876 he was elected State auditor.

THOMAS ISAAC LENOIR. Was born on Pigeon river August 26, 1817, a son of
Thomas Lenoir of Wilkes. He went to the State University, and did not
return to Haywood till 1847. He was a farmer and stock raiser and a
progressive citizen. On June 13, 1861, he married Miss Mary E. Garrett. He
died January 5, 1881. His brother, Walter Lenoir, was a captain in the
Confederate army, and spent much of his life at Joseph Shull's in Watauga
county, where he died July 26, 1890, aged sixty-seven years. He was
graduated with high honor at the State University. He studied law and was
admitted in 1845. He married Miss Cornelia Christian of Staunton, Va., in
1856, but she died soon afterward. He lost a leg in the Civil War at the
battle of Ox Hill, September, 1862.

WILLIAM JOHNSTON was the fourth son of Robert Johnston, Sr., and was born
two miles from Druhmore, the county town of Down county, Ireland, July 26,
1807, his ancestors having emigrated from Scotland to Ireland in 1641. He
came with his father's family to Charleston, South Carolina, in December,
1818, and settled in Pickens District, South Carolina. About 1828 he moved
to Buncombe county and married Lucinda, the only daughter of James Gudger
and his wife Annie Love, daughter of Col. Robert Love of Waynesville,
March 18, 1830, and settled in Waynesville, where he accumulated a large
fortune. About 1857 he moved with his family to Asheville. After the Civil
War he, with the late Col. L. D. Childs of Columbia, South Carolina,
became the owner of the Saluda factory, three miles from that city. It was
burned, however, and Mr. Johnston returned to Asheville, where he died. He
was admittedly the most successful business man in this entire section of
the State; and some think that the same business ability, if it had been
exerted in almost any other field, would have produced results that would
have rivaled the fortunes of some of our merchant princes.

JERRY VICKERS was a tinner who worked for Wm. Johnston, and also made
gravestones out of locust, paradoxical as that may appear; but his
headboards in Waynesville cemetery, with names and dates neatly carved in
this almost indestructible wood, are still sound and legible today.

WM. PINCKNEY WELCH. He was born in Waynesville November 14, 1838, and died
at Athens, Ga., March 18, 1896. His mother's father was Robert Love, and
his father was William the son of John Welch, one of the pioneers. The
Welches came from Philadelphia soon after the Revolutionary War. He
attended school at Col. Stephen Lee's school in Chunn's cove, after which
he went to Emory and Henry college, leaving there in May, 1861, to join
the Confederate army. He was a lieutenant in the 25th N. C. regiment, and
took part in the battles of from Gaines Mills to Malvern Hill, Sharpsburg,
Fredericksburg and in the campaign near Kinston and Plymouth, Petersburg,
Bermuda Hundreds, and surrendered as a captain with Lee at Appomattox. The
survivors of that war have named their camp after him. He practiced law
after the war, was in the legislature in 1868 and 1870 and helped to
impeach Gov. Holden. He was married first to Miss Sarah Cathey, a daughter
of Col. Joseph Cathey of Pigeon river, soon after the war, and on the 26th
of January, 1875, he married Miss Margaretta Richards White of Athens,
Ga., his first wife having died soon after marriage. No braver man ever
lived than Pink Welch.

THE PEOPLE of MACON. Macon was organized into a county in 1828 "and was
singularly fortunate in the character of the people who first settled
it.(18) It was first represented in the legislature in 1831 by James W.
Guinn in the senate and Thomas Tatham and James Whitaker in the house, and
was thereafter represented in the senate four times by Gen. Ben. S.
Britton, with James Whitaker, Asaph Enloe, James W. Guinn and Jacob Siler
and Thomas Tatham in the house." Luke Barnard, Wimer Siler, and his sons
William, Jesse R., Jacob and John; John Dobson, John Howard, Henry
Addington, Gen. Thomas Love, Win. H. Bryson, James K. Gray, Mark Coleman,
Samuel Smith, Nimrod S. Jarrett, George Dickey, Silas McDowell, George
Patton, and William Angel were typical men of the early population. "Wm.
and Jacob Siler having married sisters of D. L. Swain, and Jesse R. Siler
having married a daughter of John Patton of Buncombe, sister of the late
lamented Mont. Patton, it is not difficult to account for the great moral
worth of the county that now exists and has from its first settlement.
Samuel Smith was the father of Bacchus J. Smith and Rev. C. D. Smith, and
volunteered as a messenger to bear a letter from Gen. McDowell, at the Old
Fort, to the principal chief of the Cherokees, at the Coosaw attee towns
about the close of the Revolutionary War.(19) The undertaking was full of
peril, the whole country west of the Blue Ridge being then in the Cherokee
Nation, then in arms, and before any white men lived in this country. The
Coosawattee towns were on a river of that name in Georgia at least 250
miles away; but the mission was accomplished by this valiant man who aided
largely in bringing these people into peaceable terms with the whites. He
moved to Texas, after having raised a family of distinguished sons in
North Carolina,dying in Texas when over ninety years of age."(20)

FRANKLIN. This was called the Sacred Town by the Cherokees(21) and was not
named for Benjamin Franklin, as so many think, but for Jesse Franklin,
once governor of this State.(22) The county was named for John Haywood,
treasurer of the State in 1787. According to Rev. C. D. Smith in his Brief
History of Macon county, p. 2, Macon was never a part of Buncombe county,
because its western boundary line never extended west of the Meigs and
Freeman line of 1802, and the territory embraced in Macon and a portion of
Jackson and Swain was acquired from the Cherokees by treaty in 1817-18. In
the spring of 1820 the State commissioners, Jesse Franklin and James
Meabin, in accordance with an act of the legislature, came to the
Tennessee valley and organized for the survey of lands "a corps of
surveyors of whom Captain Robert Love, a son of Gen. Thomas Love, who
settled the place at the bridge where Capt. T. M. Angel recently
lived(23), was chief. Robert Love had been an honored and brave captain in
the war of 1812, was much respected on account of his patriotic devotion
to American liberty, and was consequently a man of large influence."
Watauga plains, where the late Mr. Watson lived, was first settled upon
for the county site and 400 acres, the land appropriated for that purpose,
was located and surveyed there; but Captain Love favored the present site,
and by a vote of all six companies of surveyors then in the field, on the
ridge where Mrs. H. T. Sloan resided in 1905, the 400 acres appropriated
was located.

FIRST SETTLERS IN FRANKLIN. Joshua Roberts, Esq., built the first house on
the Jack Johnston lot, "a small round log cabin;" but Irad S. Hightower
built the first "house proper," one built of hewn logs on the lot where
stands the Allman hotel. Capt. N. S. Jarrett bought the first house
proper, then Gideon F. Morris got it, and then John R. Allman. Lindsey
Fortune built a cabin on the lot where the Jarrett hotel stood in 1894,
and Samuel Robinson built on the lot occupied in 1905 by Mrs. Robinson.
Silas McDowell first built where the residence of D. C. Cunningham stood,
and Dillard Love built the first house on the Trotter lot. N. S. Jarrett
built on the lot owned by S. L. Rogers, and John F. Dobson first improved
the corner lot owned in 1894 by C. C. Smith. James K. Gray built the
second hewn-log house on the lot owned by Mrs. A. W. Bell, and Jesse R.
Siler, one of the first settlers, built at the foot of the town hill where
Judge G. A. Jones resided. He also built the second house on the Gov.
Robinson lot and the brick store and dwelling owned in 1894 by the late
Capt. A. P. Munday. James W. Guinn or Mr. Whitaker built the house
afterwards owned by Mr. Jack Johnston. John R. Allman opened the first
hotel in Franklin, followed soon afterward by a house at the "foot of the
hill" built by Jesse R. Siler.(24)

PROMINENT RESIDENTS OF MACON.(25) James Cansler was born February 22,
1820, in Rutherford county, and died in Macon, July 24, 1907. He aided in
the removal of the Cherokees in 1836-38, and was a captain in the Civil
war. Captain James G. Crawford was born May 6, 1832, and in 1855 was
appointed deputy clerk, being elected sheriff in 1858. He was a captain in
the Civil War in the 39th regiment, serving till the end. He was in the
legislature, and in 1875 was elected register of deeds, which place he
held till near the end of his life. He married Miss Virginia A. Butler.
One of the early settlers was Henry G. Woodfin, a physician and brother of
Col. N. W. Woodfin of Buncombe. He was born December 27, 1811, and was
married June 5, 1838 to Miss E. A. B. Howarth. He settled first on
Cartoogechaye, but later moved to Franklin. He was a member of the county
court, serving as chairman, and was in the legislature two terms. He died
in 1881. He stood high as a physician and citizen. Dr. James M. Lyle came
to Macon before the Civil War and formed a copartnership with Dr. Woodfin.
He married Miss Laura Siler, and after her death, he married Miss Nannie
Moore. Dr. G. N. Rush, of Coweta station, was born in 1824, in Rockingham
county, Va., and read medicine under Dr. A. W. Brabson, graduated in
medicine at University of Nashville in 1854. He served in the legislature
in 1876-7. In 1854 he married Miss Elizabeth Thomas. He died December 12,
1897. Dr. A. C. Brabson was born in Tennessee in 1842, served through the
Civil War, graduated from the College at Nashville in medicine, 1866-67,
married Miss Cora Rush, March 30, 1881. Mark May, son of Frederick and
Nellie May, was born in Yadkin county December 7, 1812, and married
Belinda Beaman at the age of 24. Early in life he was ordained a Baptist
minister, coming to Macon county after serving as a minister 17 years in
Yadkin and two years in Tennessee. He is the father of Hon. Jeff[part of
word missing] of Flats, N. C. Rev. Joshua Ammons was born in Burke,
February 14, 1800, and moved to Macon in 1822, settled on Rabbit creek,
was ordained a Baptist minister at Franklin in 1835, and died September
27, 1877, after a very useful life. Logan Berry was born December 18,
1813, in Lincoln county, and died February 8, 1910. He married Matilda
Postell of Buncombe, served as county commissioner, and was a useful and
respected citizen. Stephen Munday was born in Person county about the
beginning of the nineteenth century but moved to Buncombe county before
the Civil War, where he built a mill at Sulphur Springs. He then moved to
Macon, and lived with his son, the late Alexander P. Munday at Aquone,
till his death in the seventies.(27) He was a useful and highly respected
citizen. His son Alexander P. Munday married Miss Addie Jarrett a daughter
of the late Nimrod S. Jarrett, and they resided first at the Meadows in
what is now Graham county about 1859, where they remained till after the
Civil War, moving thence to Aquone where they died early in this century.
Captain Nimrod S. Jarrett was born in Buncombe county in 1800, married a
Miss McKee and moved to Haywood county in 1830, engaging in the "sang"
business, till he moved to Macon, where he resided at Aquone in 1835,
afterwards at the Apple Tree place six miles down the river, and still
later at Jarretts station on the Murphy railroad. He owned large tracts of
mountain lands, and the talc mine now operated at Hewitts. He was murdered
in September, 1873, by Bay less Henderson, a tramp from Tennessee.
Henderson was executed for the crime, at Webster, in 1874.

JOHN KELLY. He was born in Virginia, married a Miss Pierce, a neice and
adopted daughter of Bishop Pierce, and moved to Buncombe where he lived
till about 1819, when he moved to [M?]acon to what is now known as the
Barnard farm, but soon moved to the Hays place, waiting for the land sale,
at which he bought a boundary of land lying in both Georgia and North
Carolina, including Mud and Kelly's creeks in Georgia. His third son,
Samuel, was born in Westmoreland county, Va., and in 1825 bought land six
miles from Franklin, where he lived till his death in 1852. He married
Miss Mary Harry. Three of his sons enlisted in the Confederate army, where
one was killed in battle, the other two serving till the close of
hostilities. They- were N. J. and M. L. Kelly.

NATHAN G. ALLMAN.(28) He was born in Haywood, January 5, 1818, and came to
Franklin in 1846, where lie lived 46 years continuously. He was a merchant
and hotel keeper, and died February 17, 1892. He was a useful and
influential citizen.

DR. W. LEVY LOVE. He was born in Chautauqua, N. Y., September 30, 1827,
and early in life went to Kentucky with his father. There he joined the
army and went to the war in Mexico, taking part in several battles.
Returning, he was educated at Bacon college, Kentucky, where he also
studied medicine, completing his course at Philadelphia. He then moved to
Franklin, where, in 1868, he married Miss Maggie, a daughter of N. G.
Allman. In this year he was elected to the State senate, where he served
six years. He was also a lawyer, enjoying a fine practice. He died July
29, 1884. He was generally known as Levi Love.

JACKSON JOHNSTON. He was born in Pendleton district, S. C., November 25,
1820, and at sixteen years of age removed to Waynesville, where for
several years he clerked for his brother William. While there, he married
Miss Osborne of Haywood county; late in the forties he removed to
Franklin, and became a merchant, accumulating a handsome fortune. His
first wife having died he married hiss Eugenia Siler in 1859. She was a
daughter of William Siler. His hospitality and humor were famous. He died
April 10, 1892. He was charitable, intelligent and of high character.

THOMAS TATHAM. He served in the State senate from Haywood in 1817, removed
to flacon and served in the legislature from that county from 1831 to 1834
inclusive, after which he removed to Valley river where he died. He was a
good man and left many friends.

JAMES WHITAKER. He was born in Rowan April 3, 1779, one mile from
Lexington, now Davidson. He was a justice of the peace in that county and
removed to Buncombe in 1817, from which, in 1818 he was elected to the
legislature and served till 1823, and removed to Macon in 1828, lived one
mile from Franklin, and was elected to the legislature in 1828 and served
continuously till 1833. He was appointed Superior court clerk at the first
term of Cherokee county, and was elected to the legislature from that
county in 1832 and 1842. He died on Valley river November 2, 1871, aged 92
years. He was a man of great intellect, high character and unsullied
reputation; a stern man, a strong Baptist and did perhaps as much for his
church as any other man in the State.