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Subject: Re: [NCROWAN] Index C-D
Date: Sun, 30 Nov 2008 14:02:57 -0500
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-----Original Message-----
From: Debra Black <>
To: ncrowan county rootsweb <>
Sent: Sun, 30 Nov 2008 1:09 pm
Subject: Re: [NCROWAN] Index C-D
Thank you so much Jan, my husband and I both suffer from disabilities too; so
going to do research is difficult...I will only ask for a few names at a time,
because I do not want to over whelm you or wear out my welcome:
Chambers
134
Michael Brown was married several times, and the following is a list of his
children so far as known. In the absence of complete records we depend to a large
extent upon the memory of one who knew personally most of the individuals
named. It is not positively certain that the sons of Michael Braun are mentioned in
the order of seniority. They were named John, Peter, Moses, James, and Jeremiah.
1. John, the eldest, for some reason or other, was called “Continental John,”
probably because he served in the Continental army during the Revolution. He
was the father of the late Mrs. Jacob Myers of Salisbury.
2. Peter married Miss Susanna Bruner, a daughter of Mr. George Brurter, who
lived at the place which is the present residence of Dr. Albert Powe, now
known as the “Powe Place,” formerly called the “Bruner Place.” This couple
were blessed with a number of children. Their daughter Elizabeth married
Thos. L. Cowan of Salisbury, and was the mother of the late Mrs. Charlotte
Jenkins and Mrs. Mary Ha
ll. Mary, another daughter, married Barny
Bowers. Susan married a Mr. Thompson, of Randolph. Margaret married
Joseph Chambers, of Iredell County, and was the mother of Major P. B.
Chambers, now of Statesville. Sally married Dr. Satterwhite.
149-152,
As General Washington approached Salisbury, on the Concord Road, some
half-mile from town, and at a point near where Mr. Samuel Harrison now lives, he
was met by a company of boys of Salisbury. Each of these boys had a bucktail in
his hat-a symbol of independence, and their appearance was quite neat and
attractive. The President expressed himself much pleased by the boys’ turnout,
saying that it was “the nicest thing he had seen.”
The illustrious visitor was of course the guest of the town, and lodging was
provided for him at Capt. Edward Yarboro’s residence.
149 HISTORY OF ROWAN COUNTY
This house is still standing, on East Main Street, a few doors east of the Public
Square, and nearly opposite the entrance of Meroney’s Hall. The house is now
marked by a set of semi-circular stone steps. Many have supposed that Washington
stood on those steps and addressed the people. It is almost a pity that this is not the
truth, but the fact is that those stone steps were placed there since 1830, by Sam
Jones, who kept a hotel there. But the President did occupy that house for a night,
and he did stand on steps where those semi-lunar steps now stand. And as he stood
there the people from all the country around stood packed and
crowded in the
street, gazing with reverence and admiration at the soldier and patriot who was
“first in the hearts of his countrymen.” And as the people gazed the President stood
bareheaded, while the afternoon sun illumined his hoary locks. And this was what
he said: “My friends, you see before you nothing but an old, gray-headed man.”
Lifting his hand, with his handkerchief he shielded his head from the rays of the
sun, in silence. That night there was a grand ball given to the President at Hughes’
Hotel, attended by the prominent gentlemen and ladies of Salisbury and
vicinity-Maxwell Chambers and his wife, Spruce Macay, Esq., Adlai Osborne,
Esq., Capt. John Beard, Edward Chambers, Joseph Chambers, Lewis Beard, Hugh
Horah, Edward Yarboro, Miss Mary Faust, Mrs. Kelly (née Frohock), Mrs. Lewis
Beard, Mrs. Giles, Mrs. Torrence, and many others whose names are no longer
preserved in a vanishing tradition. There is still in the county a relic of this ball-a
brown satin dress, worn by Mrs. Lewis Beard-the daughter of John Dunn, Esq. It is
in the possession of Mrs. Mary Locke, granddaughter of Col. Moses A. Locke, and
great-granddaughter of the lady who wore it. How far the “Father of His Country”
participated in the amusements and festivities of the occasion, tradition saith not. It
was probably a mere occasion for a reception on his part, and we may well imagine
that the “old, gray-headed man,” as he claimed to be, husbanded his strength by
retiring
early, and thus securing the rest needful to fit him for his next day’s
journey to Salem. Captain Beard and his Company of “Rowan Light Horse”
escorted the Presidential party as far as Salem.
As the reader has incidentally learned the names of a few of the citizens of
Salisbury one hundred years ago, it will probably be of some interest, especially to
those of antiquarian tastes, to have a list of the principal householders of our city in
those early days. Fortunately the mayor of the city, Capt. John A. Ramsay, has
succeeded in securing a number of the old records of the “Borough
150 HISTORY OF ROWAN COUNTY
of Salisbury,” the earliest dating back as far as 1787. On the twelfth of March of
that year, Messrs. Maxwell Chambers, Michael Troy, John Steele, and John Blake
were duly qualified as town commissioners, and Matthew Troy as Justice of police.
James McEwen was elected clerk, and Thomas Anderson, constable. The records
are quite fragmentary, those of several years being lost. In 1793, the
commissioners adopted several ordinances. One ordinance forbade the citizens to
allow their hogs or goats to run at large in the streets, and any person was allowed
to kill any hog or goat so found, and the owner sustained the loss. Another
ordinance forbade the keeping of any hay, oats, straw, or fodder in
dwelling-houses. Another ordinance required each house-holder to keep on hand,
for use at fires, a number of leather water buckets, holding not less than two
gallons each. And
in this connection we have the first list of householders of
Salisbury, graded according to the number of buckets they were supposed to be
justly required to furnish. As the Chinese mandarin is graded by the number of
buttons, and the Turkish pasha by the number of “tails” he wore on his cap, so the
Salisbury citizen was graded by the buckets he was required to keep on hand.
Richmond Pearson was expected to keep four, and Dr. Anthony Newnan three. The
following were rated at two each, viz.: Richard Trotter, Joseph Hughes, Conrad
Brem, Tobias Forrie, Michael Troy, Andrew Betz, John Patton, Lewis Beard,
Henry Giles, Edward Yarboro, David Cowan, Albert Torrence, Charles Hunt,
William Alexander, Maxwell Chambers, M. Stokes, John Steele, William Nesbit,
Peter Fults, and Michael Brown. The following householders were let off with one
bucket each, viz.: Henry Barrett. Robert Gay, Matthew Doniven, Richard Dickson,
Daniel Cress, George Lowman, John Mull, Hugh Horah, George Houver, Charles
Wood, Fed. Allemong, David Miller, Mr. Stork, George Moore, John Beard, Mrs.
Beard (widow), Leonard Crosser, Martin Basinger, Peter Faust, John Blake, Henry
Young, John Whith, George Kinder, Jacob Utzman, Barna Cryder, William
Hampton, Samuel Dayton, and Charles Shrote. It seems that at a subsequent
meeting of the commissioners, Mr. Pearson at his own request was reduced to the
grade of two buckets, and Dr. Newnan, Peter Fults, and Evan Alexander to the
grade of one bucket. These commissioners enacted stringent laws against “Bullet
Pl
aying”-whatever that was -horse racing, and retailing liquors on the streets. The
taxes for 1793 were four shillings (5Oc.) on every, hundred pounds ($250.00)
value of town property, and four shillings (50c.) on every white poll that did not
hold one hundred pounds (£lOO) value of town
151 HISTORY OF ROWAN COUNTY
property. It was certainly not much of a privilege to be a poor man in Salisbury, in
those days.
According to the above list there were fifty householders in Salisbury in 1793. It
has been usual to estimate an average of five inhabitants to each family. This
would make a population of two hundred and fifty. But besides these white
families, there were a few families of free negroes as well as the household
servants in the various wealthier families. There were also a number of ordinaries,
or village inns, in the borough, with their attendants and boarders. From these
sources we may suppose there might be counted probably one hundred and fifty or
two hundred more, making a total population of four hundred, or four hundred and
fifty, in Salisbury at the close of the last century.
About the close of the Revolutionary War, in 1782, the records of the Inferior
Court show the following licensed ordinary keepers in Salisbury, viz.: David
Woodson, Valentine Beard, Archibald Kerr, Gasper Kinder, William Brandon, and
Joseph Hughes. In those days the Inferior Courts fixed the tavern rates. The
following are the rates of 1782: For a half-pint of rum is. 4d; do. of whiskey 8d;
do. of brandy is.;=2
0one quart of beer 8d; for breakfast is.; for dinner is. 6d; for supper
is.; for a quart of corn 2d; for hay or blades per day for a horse is.; for lodging per
night 6d. A shilling was 121/2 cents. According to these rates, a dinner, supper,
breakfast, and lodging, not including any spirits or horse feed, would amount to the
sum of fifty cents. And, speaking of money, we notice that the commissioners
begin, about 1799, to speak about dollars and fourths of a dollar, instead of pounds,
shillings, and pence, indicating the substitution of the Federal currency for the
sterling. About this time an ordinance was adopted disallowing sheep to run at
large in Salisbury between eight in the evening and sunrise in the morning. The
same year an “order” is directed to be published in The Mercury, thus indicating
that a paper of that name was published in town. The location and the size of a
market-house engaged the attention of the commissioners for several years. At
different times it was ordered to be built on three different sides of the courthouse.
In 1803 it was ordered to be erected on Corban Street southwest of the courthouse,
between the courthouse and the next cross street; to be thirty-two feet wide, and to
be set on eight or more brick pillars. In 1805 the commissioners resolved to issue
forty-two pounds and ten shillings (£42/10) in bills of credit, and employed Francis
Coupee to print the bills. In 1806 they required every dog to be registered, and
allowing every family to k
eep one
152 HISTORY OF ROWAN COUNTY
dog free of tax laid a tax of one dollar on each surplus dog. Provided a dog should
become mischievous, the magistrate of police was to issue a warrant against him,
and the constable was to kill him. None of these laws, however, were to apply to
dog* “commonly called foists or lap dogs.”
In 1811 the following citizens were divided into classes for the purpose of
patrolling the town:
1. Samuel S. Savage, captain; Peter Brown, John Murphy, Ezra Allemong,
James Huie, John Trisebre, Jacob Smothers, and William Hinly.
2. George Miller, captain; John Utzman, John Wood, John Smith, John Bruner,
Christian Tarr, and Horace B. Satterwhite.
3. Moses A. Locke, captain; John Fans, Henry Under, Abner Caldwell,
William Moore, George Rufty, and Henry Poole.
4. Jacob Under, captain; Joseph Chambers, Peter Bettz, Edwin J. Osborne,
Hugh Horah, Archibald Ruffin, and Samuel Lemly.
5. John Smith (hatter), captain; Lewis Utzman, George Utzman, Robert
Blackwell, Epps Holland, Benjamin Tores, and Peter Crider.
6. Henry Sleighter, captain; Jacob Utzman, Daniel Jacobs, Abraham Brown,
Andrew Kerr, Epps Robinson, William Horah.
7. Robert Torrence, captain; Alexander Graham, Micahel Brown, Horace B.
Prewit, George Goodman, James Wilson, Robert Wood.
8. William Hampton, captain; John Albright, Willie Yarboro, Jacob Stirewalt,
John L. Henderson, John Fulton, and William C. Love.
9. William H. Brandon, captain; Benjamin Pearson, Michael Swink, Francis
Marshall, Joshua Gay, Abraham Earnhart, John Giles.
10.Daniel Cress, cap
tain; Abraham Jacobs, Peter Coddle, George Bettz,
William Dickson, David Nesbit, Stephen L. Ferrand.
11.Thomas L. Cowan, captain; Joseph Weant, James Gillespie, William
Pinkston, Francis Coupee, William Rowe, and William Davenport.
12.Francis Todd, captain; Thomas Reeves, Jeremiah Brown, Henry Ollendorf,
Henry Allemong, George Vogler, and Charles Biles.
These were the able-bodied men of Salisbury in 1811-sixty-nine years ago.
153-154
CHAPTER XXI
FAMILIES LIVING ON THE YADKIN RIVER
ONE HUNDRED YEARS AGO
Amid the ever-shifting scenes of domestic and social life, it is extremely difficult
to get a picture of any one neighborhood. During the period of current life, events
are regarded as of so little importance, and they are so numerous and crowded, that
nobody takes the time and trouble to make a record of passing events. But when a
generation or two has gone by, and children or grandchildren would love to know
the history of their ancestors, only fragments remain. Now and then a curious
chronicler arises, and by searching into records in family Bibles, old wills and
deeds, and by the aid of some survivor of past generations stranded on the shores
of time, succeeds in sketching an outline of the old days. But the picture can never
be complete, and seldom absolutely accurate. With such aids as these, the author of
these pages proposes to give a running sketch of the people who lived in a part of
Rowan County at the close of the last century.
About six miles northeast of Salisbury, where Grant’s Creek pours its
yellow
waters into the Yadkin, there was a large farm and spacious dwelling, owned by
Alexander Long, Esq. Somewhere about 1756, there appeared in Rowan County a
man who is designated in a deed, dated October 7, 1757, as John Long, gentleman.
He purchased a tract of land-six hundred and twenty acres-on the ridge between
Grant’s Creek and Crane Creek, adjoining the township land. In 1758 he received a
title from the Earl of Granville for six hundred and eight acres on the “Draughts of
Grant’s Creek.” Also six hundred and forty acres on Crane Creek, adjoining his
own. Also six hundred and four acres on Second Creek; besides some town lots in
Salisbury-altogether between twenty-five hundred and three thousand acres of
land. According to records on minutes of the Inferior Court for 1756, p. 400, John
Long had some transactions with William and Joseph Long, of Lancaster County,
Pa.-perhaps brothers, or other relatives of his. According to deeds and letters of
administration, his wife’s name was Hester. These were the parents of Alexander
Long, Esq., of Yadkin. In the year 1760, the Cherokee Indians were on the
warpath, and Col. Hugh Waddell was stationed with a regiment of infantry, at the
new village of Salisbury, for the protection of the western settlements. Tradition
says
154 HISTORY OF ROWAN COUNTY
that John Long was killed by the Indians in an expedition against a settlement of
them in Turkey Cove, on the North Fork of the Catawba River, not far from
Pleasant Gardens. The
records of the Inferior Court of 1760, p. 293, have this
entry: Upon motion of Mr. Dunn, ordered that Hester Long, relict of John Long
deceased, have administration of the estate of her late husband, John Long [and
that] Martin Pipher, John Howard, and Thomas Parker be bound in six hundred
pounds (L600). She took the oath of admiaistratrix.” Tradition states that Hester
Long afterwards married George Magoune, by whom she was the mother of a
daughter who became the wife of Maxwell Chambers. The Court records of April,
1763, p. 461, have this entry: “William Long vs. George Magoune et uxor.,
administrator of John Long.” Alexander Long, probably the only child of John
Long, was born January 16, 1758, and became heir to the vast area of fertile lands
entered and purchased by his father. When he became of age he added to this large
estate. In 1783 he purchased a tract on both sides of the road from Salisbury to
Trading Ford, and in 1784, he entered six hundred and sixty-five acres on the north
side of the Yadkin River. He first married a sister of Gov. Montford Stokes, by
whom he had one daughter, named Elizabeth, who became the wife of Alexander
Frohock, Esq., who was the sheriff of Rowan County. He was married a second
time to Miss Elizabeth Chapman, a lady from Virginia, October 12, 1786. Besides
his extensive landed estate, Alexander Long was the owner of a hundred or more
slaves, and had a valuable ferry over the Yadkin at the mouth of Grant’s Creek,
besides valuable
fisheries on the river. In those days the Yadkin abounded with
shad, and immense quantities were caught in Mr. Long’s fisheries. He had a large
family of sons and daughters-John, Alexander, William, Richard, James, Nancy,
Maria, Rebecca, Harriet, and Carolina.
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