A Greer and Allied Families History—From John Grier of the Nolichucky and East Tennessee to the Family and Descendants of John Houser Greer and His Wife Lillie Josephine Holmberg. Author: Sandra Jean Richardson (c 2001, rev. 7/11)
CONTENTS UNDER THIS TAG:
Part I - John Grier and the Crumley Family through John Greer & Catherine Hancher
Events: Settling Watauga, The Free State of Franklin, The Revolution, Battle of Kings Mountain, War of 1812, The Civil War in East Tennessee
Part II. The Hancher, Caudy, Knicely, Dieter/Teeter, Turney/Tournai and related families
Events: French & Indian War, The Revolution, Battle of Kings Mountain, The Civil War in Virginia
Part I – John Grier and the Crumley Family through John Greer & Catherine Hancher
JOHN GRIER 1764 - 1844
Our earliest known American colonial Greer ancestor is John Grier, who was a skilled frontiersman at an early age, an adept survivor, and a Patriot. We do not know his wife’s name. Of her, we know only that her first child was born in North Carolina and that she raised her family on the Dry Creek Farm in Tennessee. She died between 1830-35. It is our hope that our ancestress’ name will emerge through further research. However, at this point, with the many Greer ancestors active in on-line genealogy research and sharing of information, her name has eluded the hundreds of current family history researchers. It is hoped that a family bible may emerge or a descendant come forth with a document naming John’s wife and providing us with a link to her family.
Neither John Grier’s parents nor his place of birth are known. Our ancestor’s Revolutionary Service Pension Affidavit (outlined below) places him at age 15 in the Nolichucky River region of “The Watauga Association” lands (now East Tennessee) in 1779. Because of his youth at that time and considering an even younger age when he would have arrived with these earliest frontiersmen to that region, he was probably related to a local “Greer” family. [See the case for a connection with Absolom Greer on page two.] Grier is the original Gaelic spelling of Greer. Tennessee genealogists believe the handful of Greer families in this specific area during the Revolution were kin. Our ancestor is the only Grier in available records of East Tennessee before and during the Revolution. John retained the older Gaelic spelling throughout his life; but his children standardized the name to “Greer.”
At the very least, what joins the Griers, Greers, Greears, and others of the original name, is the common heritage of the ancient Scottish Clan of MacGregor. They were all “MacGregors.” We, as John Grier’s descendants, are MacGregors. From its early roots in Scotland through its enforced scattering and stubborn revival, Clan MacGregor has withstood 700 years. An overview of the great events that affected John Grier’s ancestors is in the Appendix. To entice you to read it, just know that Clan MacGregor earned the name “The Children of the Mist” and endured 175 years “outlawed” by the crown, under penalty of death if they used the name MacGregor.
What we know of John Grier our Ancestor
John Grier was born February 17, 1764. He may have immigrated with his parents (or alone) from either Scotland or Ulster or have been born in the American Colonies. Considering that he was only 15 when already at the far western edge of the frontier and had learned skills to enable him to be accepted as an Indian spy, he likely came to the Watauga region at a much younger age and with either close family or relatives.
Probable Greer Connections in Early Tennessee—Absolom Greer and John Grier
One on-web resource references a record of John Grier indentured to Absolom Greer in the Watauga area during our ancestor’s teenage years. If this is “our” John, it makes sense. His passage or that of his family could have been sponsored by Absolom Greer; or he may have entered into an indenture contract to learn a trade and repay his living expenses by his labor. Many minor children indentures occurred after the death of the family breadwinner. Absolom Greer resided in the Nolichucky region. Our John Grier resided in the same region and is the only person of his name recorded during the era in this district of low population. Absolom Greer and John Grier signed the December 1787 petition to North Carolina that refused to pay taxes to that state and declared that they resided within the free state of Franklin. Their signatures are in order; that is, they signed one after the other.
Our John Grier is the only verified Grier with his first name at that battle. On a Petition to North Carolina of July 5, 1776 explaining why the men of the Watauga and Nolichuky regions stationed their militia on the frontier instead of sending them to the “common cause on the sea shore,” are found the following signatures of related Greers. Notice the varied spellings:
- Allexander Grear
- Joseph Greear
- Andrew Greear, Jun.
Joseph “Greear”/Greer became the famous Kings Mountain Messenger in 1780. He rode his horse to Philadelphia to announce the victory of the Overmountain Men the Continental Congress.
They Lived West of The King’s Law
By 1779, the date of his first documented event, John Grier was west of the Appalachians in what is now East Tennessee. He was a resident of the Watauga Association lands, an area of pioneer homesteads along the Holston River (now Sullivan County TN and Washington County VA), around Elizabethton (now Carter County—where he later purchased his Dry Creek farm), and the area along the Nolichucky River (now Greene County). These settlers trekked down the Cumberland Valley through Virginia or picked their way directly over the mountains from North Carolina along Indian trails. They moved to where the British said they could not be. Before the Revolution, the Crown’s resources for civilian defense were limited. Britain did not want to actively encourage hostile Indian actions; and France still claimed most of the lands along the Mississippi watershed. A settlement line was drawn in 1773 prohibiting colonists from taking land west of the Appalachians.
John Grier Lived In the First Free Government in America
By 1772, there were enough families in the settlement area to organize the first free government in America independent of any state or colony—the Watauga Association. With no protection from the Crown and under constant menace from the Cherokees, the settlers needed their own system to maintain their civil order and security. They had assumed they had settled into territory within Virginia’s future sphere and were content with that assumption. They learned instead that they were within North Carolina’s future territory. That discovery spurred the settlers to write and adopt the Watauga Compact which declared a government independent of any other.
The communities were uncomfortable living outside of the law and created their own laws. They, under their own terms, were enabled to enter into treaties and purchase land from the Cherokees—which they did with uneasy success until, during the Revolution, the Cherokees responded to Britain’s endorsement of tribal attacks on the settlements. By the early 1770’s the Cherokees realized the consequences of their land sales. More settlers were pushing into lands not under agreement or sale. Indian attacks became constant and furious against the Watauga. The years 1776 to 1782 were punctuated by Indian attacks followed by treaties and uneasy truces and renewed attacks and skirmishes. As Cherokee leaders would settle treaties, dissident groups would break away—like the Chicamaguas—and attempt to recover Watauga lands. Responsive local control was a primary security requirement for the Wataugans.
The Documented Military Service of John Grier, Patriot/Citizen of the Watauga Association
1779 – May - November. John Grier enlisted as a spy at age 15 to serve out of Hardin’s Station, Lick Creek. Capt. John Patterson’s company; Lt. Col. Charles Robinson; Col. John Sevier’s NC regiment. Lt. Simon Kuykendall’s wife and 5 children had been killed by Indians.
Notes: (1) Hardin’s Station was on the Roaring Fork of Luck Creek in what is now western Greene County. In 1779 it was the far western outpost. (2) Simon and Mathias “Cuykendal” signed a 1742 petition for a road from our ancestor John Caudy’s ford out to the south branch of the Potomac River in Frederick Co., VA. Peter Kuykendall reported on the road’s progress. This was just prior to the French and Indian War that drove many settlers out of the Valley of Virginia (see chapters on the Caudy and the Dieter/Teeter Families). The Lt. Simon Kuykendall mentioned by John Grier may be the son of the 1742 petitioner, or the petitioner himself. He is documented as having served at the Battle of King’s Mountain, along with John Sevier (and John Grier).
1780 – February - June. John Grier campaigned for five months under Capt. James Gibson (Sevier’s regiment) on the Washington County frontier. He had just turned 16.
1780 – September - November. John Grier is one of the Overmountain Men at the Battle of Kings Mountain. In Capt. Jacob Brown’s company; Lt. Col. Charles Robinson; John Sevier’s regiment.
1781 – March. In his Revolutionary service affidavit, John Grier was unsure if this service occurred in 1781 or 82. However, the documented death of Captain Davis confirms 1781. Per JG, he was in Captain Davis’ company (J. Sevier’s regiment). They marched to the Cherokee Nation to the Overhill Towns – “burnt the towns; killed 5 Indians; took 15 prisoners.” He relates that Captain Davis was wounded; he got him to Greasy Cove, where his Captain died.
According to The Overmountain Men (pages 137-8), a larger number of deaths and prisoners is reported (50 or more warriors killed in the town of Tuckasgee, alone). We assume then that the deaths in our ancestor’s statement refer to his own kills.
Captain Davis was Nathaniel Davis. He was seriously wounded during an attack on Cowee and:
Sevier sent Davis, accompanied by a member of the force, back home by way of the trail they had traveled going down. Nathaniel Davis did not reach home, as he died in Greasy Cove and was buried there
This campaign is called “The Greasy Cove Muster” as John Sevier summoned his “Nolichucky Indian Fighters” (as his regiment was known) to that place. Their general march was over into western North Carolina, along an old Indian warpath to the Tuckasagee River. More than a dozen Cherokee towns were burned.
1781 – September – November. Again enlisting under Captain Brown (Col. Sevier’s Regiment), John Grier marched to the Cherokee Nation, burning towns including a Chickamauga town. His affidavit mentions they “suffered much from cholera.”
1781 or 1782. Our ancestor John Grier fought at the Battle of Blue Springs “now in Blount County” in John Patterson’s company (John Sevier’s regiment)
“…Killed about 19. Camped at Boyd Creek. Fell off a stump. Broke two ribs.”
Colonel Sevier assigned two men to aid him and accompany him home. Blue Springs was the site of a Civil War Battle as well. It is located mid-way between Bull Gap and present Greenville, TN. It is interesting to realize that Colonel Sevier assigned two men to help John in this instance, but trusted John (alone) to get Captain Davis home back down the Indian war path when Davis was seriously wounded. .
1782 – Last mentioned Revolutionary service was for 18 days, “pursuing Indians.”
TENNESSEE STATEHOOD SETTLED—JOHN GRIER STARTS HIS MARRIED LIFE IN SOUTH CAROLINA AND RETURNS TO TENNESSEE
In 1789, North Carolina reconsidered its position on its claims to Tennessee and allowed the creation of the State of Tennessee. The old Watauga area was formed into a congressional district. John Sevier was its first elected representative. Later, he served six terms as Governor of the State of Tennessee. Over the following years, various counties emerged as we know them today. In 1795, Greene, Washington and Sullivan Counties comprised our ancestral area. Later, Carter County was carved out of Washington County.
John Grier began his married life in South Carolina. We do not know where the Griers lived in that state. He would have been entitled to a land grant after the Revolution. These grants were given during the 1780s and 1790s. Presumably he took advantage of his entitlement, either in South Carolina or Tennessee. During the 1790s the Federal Government granted the Tennessee lands; earlier, the area was under North Carolina grants.
Early Census Records (Which May or May Not Refer to Our Ancestor)
South Carolina:
1790 Census—John Grier (coastal Georgetown District, Prince Fredericks Parish). Lists 1 male and 1 female, both over the legal age of 16. No children. No other John Griers appear in available state census registers for 1790.
1800 Census—Three John Griers:
(1) Union District (part of the Old Ninety-Six District)
(2) Laurens District indicates two of his name
[The 1810 South Carolina census has no John Grier in its index.]
East Tennessee:
1800 Census—Jefferson County. John Grier taxed for a town lot.
[No John Grier in the same county in the 1810 census index.]
His Return to East Tennessee - The Dry Creek Farm
John Grier and his young family returned to East Tennessee at an undetermined time. He purchased his Dry Creek farm in 1805. The land was in the old heart of Watauga, a few miles from Sycamore Shoals where our ancestor gathered with the other Nolichucky Indian Fighters to form the group known as the Overmountain Men prior to their trek across the mountains to hunt down Patrick Ferguson and his redcoats. The road along Dry Creek rises abruptly into the mountains parallel to Gap Creek Road, the trail the men took east to North Carolina. The Grier’s farm was just north of the Nolichucky area (Greene County) where John lived during his Revolutionary service.
The farm is about four miles south of Elizabethtown on Laurels Road (Dry Creek Road on older maps) at the intersection of that road and Whispering Pines Road. Today, the countryside is still rural and very green. Low rolling hills are on either side of the lower portion of the road which is level for a mile before it starts climbing east. Today, there are a few houses along Dry Creek Road that sit on multi-acre parcels along with a white wooden church built in the 19th Century. It is a very beautiful and area. Open pasturelands can still be seen on the north east side of the road. The pastures were cleared from forest and remain ringed with trees. We do not know whether the farm was already cleared when purchased in 1805 or the Griers had to clear and develop their own land. When the farm was sold during the Civil War, it comprised 600 acres.
The Children of John Grier and His Wife
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William (our ancestor)
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6/24/1790 – 1/1/1858
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m. Mary Crumley* 11/11/1812
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Catherine “Katie”
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3/17/1792 – 1/13/1874
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m. Jacob Crumley*
5/25/1816
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Elizabeth
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1798 - ?
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m. Peter Sanders
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Richard
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b. betw. 1790-1800 – d. before 1837
(probably d. about 1835)
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m. (1) Martha Gray;
(2) Sarah Jones
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Robert
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9/5/1809 – 1/12/1885
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m. Nancy Crumley*
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Hannah
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? - ?
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did not marry
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Daughter (name unrecorded)
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? - ?
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m. Mr. Jackson. Moved to Pickens, Alabama
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*Mary, Jacob, and Nancy Crumley were the children of George Crumley, Jr. and his wife Elizabeth of Sullivan County, TN.
Documented Incidents in John Grier’s post-Revolutionary life:
In 1790, John’s eldest son William (our ancestor) was born in South Carolina, per William’s War of 1812 Affidavit.
In 1805, John Grier purchased his family farm on Dry Creek, where the Griers led a vigorous farming life in this most beautiful area of Tennessee. [Carter Co., TN Deeds Book A, p. 552.]
From 1819-20, John Grier served as the road overseer of the Gap Creek Road to Hauns. The old Gap Creek Road is the path he and the other Overmountain Men took as they left Sycamore Shoals for the Battle of Kings Mountain. [Carter Co. TN Min. – Court of Pleas and Quarter, 1819 – 1820, p. 22.]
1830 Census, Carter County, TN page 22 shows John Grier and his sons living close together:
(1) John: 1 male 60-70; 1 female 50-60.
(2) Robert Greer and family
(3) Richard Greer and family
(4) William Greer and family (see full list under William’s section).
In 1833, John Grier applied for his entitlement under the Revolutionary Claim Act of June 7, 1832. He was granted his pension of $56.65 per annum commencing on March 4, 1834—nearly a half century after the close of the war. [Pension Papers S 1906 (1832) Applied for Jonesboro, TN. Gave residence as Carter County.]
In 1835, presumably after his wife’s death and at the age of 71, John Grier moved to Rush County, Indiana where his sons Richard and Robert lived. Mary Ruble had most of a letter John Grier wrote to his children in Tennessee while he resided in Indiana. The letter is dated 1837, Rushville, Indiana, and is signed by Robert, Nancy (Robert’s wife Nancy Crumley Greer), Jacob (presumably Jacob Crumley, husband of Catherine “Katie” Greer), and John Grier. John writes of returning to Dry Creek.
Pension transfer correspondence attempting to obtain the proper authorization dated September 6, 1835 (from Rushville) mentions that “the old man John Greer” had called by the office with his papers. In attempting to hasten the transfer process, the clerk wrote:
He has three sons living in this county, who have been here some years and I have heard them speak of their father as a pensioner—and his determination to come here. He has been here a number of months. He is poor, old and infirm…..I feel confident myself of the old man’s integrity and truth. His sons are hard- working, but not very thrifty men.
A pension letter of 1837 (March 18) sent by the Branch State Bank of Indiana in Richmond, Indiana, mentions that the cashier paid John $56.65 without having received proper “proof” from Washington, D.C. that our ancestor was who he claimed to be. But, the banker paid John Grier because, as he wrote:
His residence is more than 40 miles distant over a bad road, and he having his credentials, as I think, in the proper form, I have taken the liberty to pay him, being satisfied that he is the right man, and that it would occasion him serious inconvenience to call again.
The banker continues his letter requesting that his transaction be “sustained” and promises this is a “license” that he “shall feel no disposition to exercise frequently.”
John Grier’s 1839 pension sum was picked up in Madison, Indiana.
1840 finds John, per his pension transfer papers and Carter Co. Census, living back in Tennessee with his daughter Katie Greer Crumley and her husband Jacob. One son had died (Richard); one returned to Tennessee (Robert, who stayed in Indiana five years after John returned home); “one went to Missouri,” per Mary Ruble. (None of John Grier’s sons remained in Missouri. Robert may have spent some time there as all others are located in that time period.)
In 1844 John Grier died at his daughter Katie Greer Crumley’s home (on his Dry Creek Farm) on June 13, at the age of 80. He is buried on the farm. He left no will. Court papers dated September 2, 1844 (Blountville, Sullivan County) issue Letters of Administration to John’s son-in-law, Jacob Crumley, to settle and disperse John Grier’s goods and chattels.
On October 2, 1844, Jacob Crumley appeared, informing the United States of America that he is the “administrator of John Grier – the identical person who was a pensioner and is now dead.” This document states that John Grier, having served as a private in the “War of the Revolution,” during his natural lifetime, received $56.65 per annum “commencing on the 4th of March 1831 and payable semiannually on the 4th of March and 4th of September in every year.”
The Fate of His Farm
The Dry Creek farm stayed in the family until the Civil War. The 600 acre farm was purchased in 1858 by John Grier’s grandson William Crumley, son of Jacob and Katie Greer Crumley and nephew of our ancestor William Greer.
The sale to William Crumley took place just before the Civil War. William constructed a two story house near the Laurels Park remains in good repair to this day. The various Greer/Grier graves are there as well, including those of John Grier, his son William Greer, and William and Mary Crumley Greer’s children Nancy and Adam who died in their youth. The graves are in a small field slightly downhill from the street, about 30 feet in from the present T intersection.
Value Lost: William Crumley resold the Dry Creek farm during the Civil War for ten thousand dollars. The only trouble was, the transaction was in heavily inflated Confederate dollars which quickly became worthless! As you will read in the Crumley Family section, our Crumley relatives were (mainly) Confederates during the Civil War. John Grier’s grandsons divided along the Greer/Crumley line. William Crumley was run out of “loyal Carter” County by Union “bush-whackers.”
Considering the service of John Grier on the frontier and during the Revolution and those of his son William Greer in the War of 1812 to ensure stability and freedom for themselves and their children, it is probably a blessing that neither ancestor witnessed the division of their family by the Civil War. That era is covered in the following chapters on William and Mary Crumley Greer, their son John Greer, and on the Crumley and Houser families.
John Grier’s Legacy
John Grier’s legacy of service to his community and country remains in the hearts of his descendants. He was like so many early Americans…an anonymous but determined young man swept into the turmoil of his era who probably would have been embarrassed by the pride his descendants take in his actions. When he was alone at 15 spying on the Cherokee at the far border of his region, he was not “special.” He may have had a sense of adventure because of his age; but he was there because he (or someone like him) had to be. He faced death at every service instance. Yet he returned to do his duty when needed.
I imagine that old John Grier enthralled his grandchildren by stories of his Nolichucky Indian Fighter exploits and times with “Old ‘Chucky Jack.” Perhaps he demonstrated his wild Indian war whoop to the delight of the Greer and Crumley children and, when his snug and safe family on Dry Creek complained of winter cold, he would shake his head as old folks do and tell them they hadn’t “seen cold” like he had atop Roan Mountain in October of ‘80 on his way with the Overmountain Men to “git Ferguson” and the Red Coats.
Our family is blessed by having this skilled survivor among our ancestors. Perhaps because of John Grier’s youth and association with John Sevier—and the fact that the story of Battle of Kings Mountain has been written in such detail by authors that one can nearly smell the black powder across two hundred thirty years—he has captured my imagination more than our other Patriot ancestors.
But, John Grier is only one of a number of our ancestors active in our country’s founding who paved the way for our lives in the United States. As you read this family history, you will realize that while John Grier was on the Nolichucky at 15, our ancestor John Hancher, a veteran of the French and Indian War, was fighting in Virginia in his late sixties. Our Teeter, Turney, Knicely, and Houser families were involved in the struggle. All of the families addressed in this history but one were in America prior to the American Revolution and contributed to the success of the young Republic.
References and Historical Bibliography
- America’s First Western Frontier: East Tennessee. Brenda C. Calloway, The Overmountain Press, Johnson City, TN, 1989
- George Crumley Family of Tennessee. Hugh Henry Mottern, (private) 1964
- History of the Lost State of Franklin. Samuel Cole Williams, The Press of the Pioneers, NY 1933
- Kings Mountain. Hank Messick, Little Brown, New York, 1976
- The Overmountain Men. Pat Alderman, The Overmountain Press, Johnson City, TN, 1970
- Ramsey’s Annuals of Tennessee, J. G. M. Ramsey, A.D., M. D., East Tennessee Historical Society, Knoxville, TN (no date)
- “The Greer Family” genealogical history, affidavit copies, and charts provided by Mary Rowe Ruble
- “Kings Mountain” brochure distributed at Kings Mountain National Military Park, South Carolina
See copies of the various affidavits and references documenting John Grier following this chapter. (William Greer’s War of 1812 affidavit placing his father in South Carolina in 1790 follows the chapter on William Greer and Mary Crumley.)
*** END OF CHAPTER ***
WILLIAM GREER AND MARY CRUMLEY
We descend from William and Mary Greer through their son, John, who married Catherine Hancher.
William Greer, son of John Grier (mother’s name not discovered), was born in South Carolina on June 24, 1790. William, his sisters Catherine (Katie) and Elizabeth, and his brother Richard, were born before John Grier purchased his farm on Dry Creek in Carter Co., TN in 1805. After the family’s move to Dry Creek, William’s brother Robert was born as was Hannah and another sister whose name has not survived family records.
Mary Crumley became William Greer’s wife at Mary’s parent’s house in Sullivan County, TN on November 11, 1812. Mary was born February 27, 1793 to George Crumley, Jr. and his first wife. It is assumed Mary was born on George Crumley, Sr.’s family holdings along Weaver Creek in the Holston River area of Sullivan County, Tennessee. (The Crumley family is detailed in the following chapter.) Per Mary’s War of 1812 widow’s affidavits of 1871 (copies in the Appendix), Mary’s brother John said that Mary Crumley Greer was his sister and that he attended her wedding to William Greer at the home of her father George Crumley in Sullivan County, Tennessee, and that Frank Rockhold was Justice of the Peace. In Mary’s own affidavit, she mentions she has no written proof of her marriage as those records had burned during the Civil War when the Blountville Court House was burned.
By the time of William and Mary’s marriage, their part of Tennessee had become a secure environment, although Indian wars continued in West Tennessee and throughout the Mississippi and Ohio River valleys. The young couple farmed John Grier’s Dry Creek property and quickly started to raise a large family of ten children. Against the odds for that time, none of their children died during infancy or early childhood. However, two, Adam and Nancy, died in their late teens before either married.
When his youngest child was an infant, William served in the War of 1812 for a period of 233 days. His unit was part of Andrew Jackson’s famous march to Mobile Bay and William was no doubt in that battle. The text of his bounty land affidavit is found at the end of this chapter.
As you will read in the Crumley Family section, both Mary’s brother Jacob (husband of William’s sister Catherine Greer), and Mary’s nephew Jacob also served in the War of 1812. Mary’s brother Jacob died in service following the Battle of Horseshoe Bend in 1814. This was the last great battle of the Creek War which had continued throughout the War of 1812 because of British encouragement of the Creeks to attack Americans. Both Jacobs served in William King’s Company, Col. Ewen Allison’s Regiment of the East Tennessee Militia. Their Regiment was under the command of Andrew Jackson during this decisive encounter.
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William & Mary’s Children
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Birth - Death
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Sarah
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2/13/1814 – 3/20/1878
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m. B. F. VanHuss
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Mary
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2/4/1816 – not recorded
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m. Ancil Hilton
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John (our ancestor)
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3/22/1818 – 1/22/1906
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m. Catherine Hancher
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Elizabeth
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3/11/1820 – 2/8/1897
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m. Shepherd M. Anderson
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George W.
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3/9/1822 – 4/2/1868
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m. Susan Wilhoit
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Catherine
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4/17/1824 – 6/30/1873
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m. Emmanuel Wilhoit
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Hannah
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11/7/1825 – not recorded
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m. Absalom McNabb
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Adam
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7/23/1828 - 1847
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buried Old Grier Farm
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Susanna
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10/24/1831 – 12/20/1860
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m. Daniel Wilhoit
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Nancy Ann
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7/8/1834 – 5/14/1853
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buried Old Grier Farm
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Allied Families—The Crumleys of Sullivan Co., TN—The Wilhoits and the “Bible Brothers of Greene Co., TN
Mary Ruble wrote that it is family tradition that Robert Greer and William Greer were brothers who married sisters—Nancy Crumley (b. 1807) and Mary Crumley (b. 1792). John Grier's daughter Catherine ("Katie"), a sister of William, married Jacob Crumley (b. 1795), the brother of Nancy and Mary.
Further, of the ten children of William and Mary Crumley Greer, three—George, Catherine and Susanna—were married to a daughter and two sons of Samuel and Elizabeth Wilhoit. In the next generation, two of our ancestor John Greer’s daughters—Sarah (“Sadie”) and Julia—married the “Bible Brothers” of Greene County.
Shared Lutheran Heritage
William and Mary Greer worshiped at Pilgrim’s Lutheran Church in Sullivan County. William served as lay leader to the Lutheran Synods of 1830 and 1842. As outlined below, William’s sons remained in Sullivan County until Pilgrim’s Lutheran Church disbanded in 1852.
Mary’s family had a strong Lutheran background. An examination of the entire Crumley family line during these years mentions that nearly everyone and their spouses were Lutherans. Indeed, it seemed to be a litmus test for marriage eligibility into the Crumley clan. However, one of the Crumley daughters married a Methodist. The young man kept his religious independence and worshipped apart from his inlaws. The Crumleys were so staunchly Lutheran that many of their tombstones in the Crumley Family Cemetery are inscribed “Member of the Lutheran Church.”
They Choose to Remain in Tennessee
William and Mary did not move to Indiana with William’s brothers Robert and Richard and their families, Mary’s brother Jacob Crumley and family, and William’s then elderly father John Grier. Rather, they remained at Dry Creek during the Indiana adventure. (From notes we have on the Crumley family, we learn that Robert Greer remained in Indiana for five years before returning to Tennessee. Jacob and Katie returned soon after arriving.)
William Greer died in Carter County, Tennessee on January 1, 1858. He was buried on the Dry Creek farm next to the grave of his father, John Grier.
Following her husband’s death, Mary moved to Greene County to be near her children…sons John (our ancestor) and George, and daughters Catharine Wilhoit, and Sarah VanHuss.
During the years Mary was in Greene County, Solomon Lutheran Church was served by the Rev. James Knicely Hancher, brother of Catherine Hancher Greer (wife of John and our ancestress). It appears that John and Catherine Greer were the first of the family to relocate to Greene County. Their church life was very important to them. Mary Ruble wrote that Catherine’s brother’s service at Solomon Church was a prime factor in John and Catherine Greer’s decision to relocate to Greene County. (As you will read in the Hancher family section, Catherine Hancher Greer’s father, the Rev. William Hancher, was considered the “father of the Lutheran Church in Tennessee.” He established many congregations and was a beloved pastor and preacher.)
Mary Crumley Greer died in Greene County, Tennessee on February 8, 1877. She rests in the lovely cemetery at Solomon Lutheran Church, surrounded by many Greer and Wilhoit family members. Her grave is tended by descendants who still worship at that church.
Sources of Various Aspects of William and Mary Crumley Greer’s Life
1830 Census Record, Carter County, TN: The following Greer families are shown living close together:
1. John Greer - 1 male 60-70. 1 female 50-60. [Presumably John “Grier” and wife.]
2. Robert Greer and family
3. Richard Greer and family
4. William Greer and family:
1 male age 30-40
1 male age 10-15 (our ancestor John Frank Greer)
1 male age 5 - 10
1 male under 5
1 female 20-40
1 female 15-20
2 females 10-15
1 female 5-10
1 female under 5
Mary Ruble, John Houser Greer's cousin of Newport, TN and our original Greer family historian, provided the following summary:
- Feb. 21, 1851: William applied for War of 1812 veterans’ Land Bounty. Received 80 acres; sold warrant to L. C. Hoss (ancestor of Mrs. Roy Ruble). Service record given in this application. He served 233 days in Capt. Henry Hunter’s Regiment of Carter Co., TN.
- March 30, 1855, William applied for Land Bounty – document witnessed by William Crumley and Peter Harkness. Carter Co., TN
- April 25, 1871, Mary Greer, widow of William Greer, applied for a Widow's Pension. This document provides her marriage date to William Greer as November 11, 1812. [Declaration for a Widow's Pension, Greene Co., TN....War of 1812.]
- April 29, 1871, John Greer (Greene Co., TN) sworn statement concerning widowed mother Mary Crumley Greer. (She was living with children in Greene County since death of husband - William Greer and that on Dec. 21, 1856, gave him a copy of the original family record. Lists children of Mary and William, Carter Co., TN. as those listed in this document.)
- May 4, 1871, Carter Co., TN - John Crumley sworn statement relative to Mary Crumley Greer, widow of William Greer. John Crumley was then 71 years of age. He said Mary Crumley Greer was his sister and that he attended her wedding to William Greer at the home of her father, George Crumley, in Sullivan Co., TN, and that Frank Rockhold was Justice of the Peace.
Summary of William Greer’s War of 1812 Bounty Land Application and Related Documents
Our ancestor applied for his War of 1812 “Bounty Land” entitlement in Carter County, Tennessee, on February 21, 1851.
William Greer’s application states that he served as a private in Captain Henry Hunter’s company of Colonel Anderson’s regiment, having been drafted at Elizabethton, Carter Co., TN on about September 15, 1814. He served seven months and was honorable discharged at Camp Marideville near Mobil, Alabama on March 20, 1815. Then, returning home, he received an additional honorable discharge in Jonesboro, TN. He entered service under Lt. Vanderpool "whose Christian name was Wenant or Wender" and at Knoxville he was attached to the company of Captain Hunter.
Following William’s death, Mary Crumley Greer made a widow’s affidavit to continue her husband’s War of 1812 pension. Its full text and that of her supporting witnesses is found at the end of this chapter. Because the official record of William and Mary’s marriage was destroyed in the burning of the Blountville courthouse during a battle between Federal and Rebel forces, Mary Greer needed witnesses to attest to her marriage. Her brother John Crumley gave an affidavit supporting her marriage, saying it had been in their parent’s home and that he had been present. Her son John Greer provided an affidavit setting forth the names and birth dates of all of Mary and William’s children. Mary took an oath that:
…at no time during the late rebellion against the authority of the United States, did she or her said husband adhere to the cause of the enemies of the Government, giving them aid or comfort or exercise the functions of any office whatever under any authority or pretended authority in hostility to the United States.
The supporting declarations provide facts not provided by other sources:
- That William Greer was in either the 3rd or 4th Tennessee drafted militia under Captain Hunter and after joining, her husband was “soon thereafter marched for the seat of war toward Mobile now in Alabama.”
- That her oldest child, Sarah, was born “in lawful wedlock on the 15th day of February A.D. 1814, and that she knows with certainty, said child was about seven months old when her said husband entered into said service.”
- Mary and William married on November 11, 1812 in Sullivan County, Tennessee and that Frank Rockhold, a Justice of the Peace, performed the ceremony.
John Crumley’s statement informs us that Mary and William married “at her father’s house—George Crumley’s—in Sullivan County “in the fall or winter of the year Eighteen hundred and twelve.
In Greene County Today
From Greene County, a Bicentennial History (as transcribed by Mary Ruble):
A marker has been placed in the Solomon Lutheran Cemetery at Cove Creek in memory of William Greer and two children, Nancy and Adam, who are buried in Carter County on the old Greer farm. The marker is by that of his wife, Mary Crumley Greer, who was buried in 1877. After William Greer died in 1858, Mary came to Greene County to live near her children: John and George Greer, Catherine Wilhoit, Susanna Wilhoit, and Sara Van Huss. (We do not know which household(s) Mary lived with the nineteen remaining years of her life.) Two of her daughters remained in Carter County—Elizabeth Anderson and Mary Ann Hilton.
The William Greer family lived on Dry Creek in Carter County on the farm bought by William's father, John Grier, in 1805. The Greer farm has changed hands many times in the last hundred years. It was first sold to William Greer Crumley, a nephew of both Mary and William Greer. The house he built is still there and after some repairs and addition is in good condition. Part of the farm is now Whispering Pines, a restricted subdivision near the Laurels.
Of the Greer Family’s Lutheran Heritage
Mary Ruble wrote of our family's history in Harvey Huntley, Jr.'s "History," 1976, p 1-2:
The Greer family has a rich heritage in Lutheranism. William Greer was a lay leader to the Tennessee Synods 1830 and 1842 Conventions from Pilgrim's Lutheran Church of Carter County. It was after that church disbanded that the members of the family moved to Greene County to be near Solomon Lutheran church. Fox Greer, son of John and Catherine Hancher Greer, was named for one of the leading Lutheran ministers, A. J. Fox (and was a Lutheran minister himself). The Greers were members of the Solomon Lutheran Church after 1853.
See also the Hancher family entries about Lutheran tradition and our many family members in the Lutheran ministry.
A Remembered Artifact “Lost to the Family”
Both Franklin Dorsey Parker, Jr. and John Greer Waites (grandsons of John Houser and Lillie Holmberg Greer) remember their grandfather owning a very old “pepperbox” pistol. John Houser Greer was not a gun collector nor had he a general interest in firearms. But, he particularly treasured this pistol. Because of its era of manufacture, the gun probably belonged to William Greer (or his son John). Franklin remembered his grandfather saying it was a family piece. Unfortunately, John Houser Greer’s executors disposed of this artifact and the “pepperbox” was lost to the family.
Although we are not descended from William and Mary Greer’s son George, a rich (but poignant) family story about George Greer follows on page 29.
William Greer’s War of 1812 “Bounty Land” Application Paper
State of Tennessee
County of Carter
On the 21st day of February, one thousand and eight hundred and fifty-one, personally appeared before me, James H. Martin, a Justice of the Peace with in and for the county and state aforesaid; William Greer aged 61 on the 24th day of June, A.D. 1861 (sic.) a resident of Carter County in the state of Tennessee who being duly sworn according to law declares he is the identical William Greer who was a private in the company commanded by Captain Henry Hunter in a regiment of drafted militia commanded by Colonel Anderson, whose Christian name he does not recollect in the war with Great Britain declared by the United States on the 28th day of June, 1812, the number of which regiment he does not recollect. That he entered the service of the United States as a drafted soldier at Elizabethton, Carter County, Tennessee on or about the 15th day of September A.D. one thousand eight hundred and fourteen the precise day of the month he does not recollect, for the term of six months and continued in actual service in said war for the term of seven months, as he believes—and was honorably discharged at Camp Marideville near Mobile on the 20th day of March A.D. 1815 and received thereafter an honorable discharge at Jonesboro, Tennessee, the date of said discharge he does not recollect, which discharge he sold to one John McAlister and can not now produce, not having the possession of said discharge he refers to the muster rolls of the company at Washington City which he is advised will show the time he was in service. He further states that in entering the service of the United States in the Campaign referred to in Carter County Tennessee under Lieutenant Vanderpool whose Christian name was Wenant or Wender, and at Knoxville, Tennessee he was attached to the company of Henry Hunter. He makes this declaration for the purpose of receiving the bounty land to which he is entitled under the act granting bounty land to certain officers and soldiers who have been engaged in the military service of the United States, passed Sept. 28, 1850.
Signed—William Greer
(Also signed statement by James H. Martin, J.P. follows.)
*** END OF CHAPTER ***
GEORGE GREER, SON OF WILLIAM AND MARY CRUMLEY GREER
George Greer died of an illness contracted in service for the Union. Mary Ruble wrote in an article on the Greers in Greene County (Harvey Huntley, Jr.,'s "History," 1976):
John and George Greer were Federal soldiers, as was John's son, Will Greer. A War of 1812 marker has been placed by the William Greer marker in the Cove Creek Cemetery. John Greer's tombstone, also at Cove Creek, says he was in Company L, 8th Tennessee Calvary.
George Greer died as a result of an illness he had while in service in the army. He is buried in the Solomon Lutheran Cemetery, Cove Creek, in Greene County, Tennessee by the side of his mother, Mary Crumley Greer, with the inscription: :
"G. W. Greer, B 3-9-1822; d. 4-2-1868--Aged 46 years and 23 days.”
Martin L. Greer, George's great grandson, related the story of George Greer's return home from the War:
It is a family tradition, told many times by his grandson, David Hunter Greer, my father, that George W. Greer, who had measles during the Civil War, was obliged to wade a river as a Union soldier where the water was over his head, holding his gun above the water. This experience caused the disease to settle in his lungs, and he died soon afterwards.
It is related, once again, of the family's Civil War experiences, when George returned home, the three daughters of the family: "Aunt Mollie," "Nan," and "Aunt Sadie," as the grandson would speak of them, none yet in her teens, jumped up and down on the loose boards of the Greene County farmhouse floor, while the father, George Greer, lay in a trundle bed under the regular bed, when a gossipy neighbor woman visited the home as a spy in this sensitive area between the North and the South during the Civil War.
*** END OF CHAPTER ***
THE CRUMLEY FAMILY of Sullivan County, Tennessee
We descend from the Crumley family through the marriage of Mary Crumley to William Greer. Overview:
· Mary was the daughter of George Crumley, Jr. and his first wife (her name is not recorded).
· George Crumley Jr. was born in Pennsylvania in 1769. His parents were George Crumley, Sr. and Elizabeth. George Jr. died 1851. Elizabeth’s death is unrecorded. Because she is not in the Crumley Family Cemetery with her husband, it is assumed that she died before the homestead was established in Tennessee.
· George Crumley Sr. was born in Germany as was his oldest son Daniel in 1766. George Sr. died about 1806.
Some researchers have linked Valentine Kramlich as our family's immigrant ancestor. But, if Daniel Crumley, per his own statement as an adult, was born in Germany rather than America on May 3, 1766, he was born after Valentine Kramlich arrived in Pennsylvania on September 19, 1749 aboard the ship Patience. Of interest on the ship's list: A Hans Adam Gramlich and a Joseph Hauser. Of the many passengers listed, only three show "sick" after their names and only ten signed with "X". This Valentine Kramlich was assumed by prior Crumley family historians to be the foundation for the Crumley family of Sullivan County, Tennessee. It is important to mention “Sullivan County” as there are many Crumleys indigenous to Greene County, Tennessee who are believed to have descended from Irish or English Crumleys.
Recent Crumley descendants’ genealogical exchanges have concluded that Valentine Kramlich is the foundation for the Pennsylvania Crumleys. He may have been a family brother, uncle or cousin.He was born in Wurttemberg, now part of the German Republic. In America, he settled in Weissenberg Township in Lehigh County, Pennsylvania. His wife was Catherine (we lack her last name). Valentine and Catherine had five recorded children: Paul (10/28/1754 - 12/6/1829) who served during the Revolution in the Northumberland Co. Militia in 1778; Christian, the ancestor of the Fairfield Co., Ohio branch of the Crumley family; George; Danie; and Maria
I. GEORGE CRUMLEY, SR. AND ELIZABETH CRUMLEY
As outlined at the beginning of this chapter, George Crumley, Sr. was born on an unknown date in Germany. George and his wife Elizabeth (maiden name unknown) came to America after the birth of their eldest son Daniel in 1766. The couple were in Pennsylvania in 1769 for the birth of their second son (and our ancestor) George Crumley, Jr. They probably farmed there for some years. The migration path from Pennsylvania to Virginia to East Tennessee down the famous “Great Wagon Road” was the norm for the German settlers of East Tennessee; so the family may have spent time in the Shenandoah Valley on their way to their eventual home in what is now Sullivan County, Tennessee.
George Sr. and Elizabeth Crumley had six children:
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Daniel (b. Germany)
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5/3/1766 – 11/4/1850
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George Jr. (our ancestor)
(b. Pennsylvania)
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1769 – 1851
(birth date per 1850 census)
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m. (1) Unk. (our ancestress)
m. (2) Zelphira
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Jacob (d. War of 1812 illness)
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unknown – 4/28/1814
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m. Nancy
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Henry
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4/9/1780 – 9/24/1864
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m. (1) Elizabeth
m. (2) Jane Black
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Stephen
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4/3/1784 – 2/6/1837
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m. (1) Jane
m. (2) Sally Jane Taylor
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Jesse (?)
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(H. Mottern questions this son as belonging to this family)
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The Crumley Family Homestead - Sullivan Co., TN
In Tennessee, George Sr. acquired various parcels of land from 1789 to 1802, comprising a total of 778 acres on Weaver Creek on the south side of the Holston River in what was then called Chestnut Flats, 1.5 miles east of Hickory Tree. The various land records and descriptions are found at the end of the Crumley chapter.
Hugh Henry Mottern writes in his book George Crumley Family of Sullivan County Tennessee that, looking at the Tennessee hills of today:
…one wonders why George (Sr.) should have chosen this site for his homestead. It was called Chestnut Flats in George’s day. In the first place the land was cheap. Secondly, the Cherokees never seemed to have disputed the ownership of this particular spot. Or, as has been suggested, it may have reminded him of the Black Forest in his homeland (adjacent to Wurttemberg) as it was covered with dense forest at that time. But it did have the prime requisites for pioneer life if not to make one wealthy. There was water from numerous springs and fine timber for a log house and enough tillable land to grow corn and other necessary food and textile crops. But mostly, it was CHEAP. Quite likely he logged the land, sold the logs or lumber and bought more land.
George Sr. divided his land from time-to-time, providing for his sons. The Crumley Family Cemetery is on the property and is the resting place of many of our ancestors. The log house that George Sr. built for his family still stands after over 200 years and is owned by a Crumley descendent.
A photo of the Crumley family homestead in Sullivan County appears in a book detailing historical structures still standing in that county. The historical house’s description is as follows (see a contemporary picture in the photos on this site):
The Crumley house on Hickory Tree Road east of Bluff City stands a short distance south of the road near the old Crumley Cemetery. This typical early frontier hewn log cabin with no windows in the sides of the house and a small one-story back wing has a unique single very small window over the front door.
The log house occupies a section of the 1787 North Carolina land grant, "near a road" received by Frederick Keiller (Kahler or Caler). In 1788 Keiller sold 264 acres of the grant to George Crumley, Sr. and the deed stated that this acreage included "the plantation where George Crumley now lives." George also purchased land from Keiller located on Weaver Creek as well as receiving two land grants himself in 1795-1796. Between 1802 and 1806 George Crumley, Sr. divided his farm selling to Jacob Crumley and Daniel Crumley.
Daniel Crumley was born in 1760/1770 in Pennsylvania, and George Crumley was also born in Pennsylvania in 1769. [ SJR Note: these references are in error to George Sr., as it was George Jr. who was born in Pennsylvania in 1769 and Daniel, per his tombstone inscription) was born in Germany.] They settled before 1787 on this land and built this house among other houses (now gone) on the farm. All of the Crumleys were successful farmers and had various other business interests, including Daniel Crumley Jr.'s blacksmith shop located in the area before 1850.
[Historical Sites of Sullivan County, the Sullivan County Historical Commission and Associates. The Kingsport Press, 1976]
From "The Greer Family History” Provided by Mary Ruble
The 1796 census of Sullivan County, Tennessee, lists George Crumley as owning 574 acres of land. This is presumed to have been George Crumley, Sr., as another George was also listed in the census but with no land, and this latter George Crumley is concluded to have been George Crumley, Jr. Daniel Crumley is also listed with 100 acres. The total land owned by George and Daniel in 1796 was 674 acres, and this figure corresponds to George's purchases up to that time. Tennessee’s first census was taken in 1796 to enable the territory to become a state, which is did that same year.
George Sr.’s land purchases along Weaver Creek between 1789 and 1802:
1. 164 acres on September 124, 1789, from Frederick Kahler
2. 100 acres from the same man on March 20, 1790
3. 100 acres on January 7, 1791
4. 100 acres on March 20, 1791
5. 110 acres on March 1, 1796
6. 34 acres on February 25, 1799
7. 70 acres in 1802.
---Hugh H. Mottern, George Crumley Family of Sullivan County Tennessee (Glenview, IL: Privately printed, 1964), p. 1.]
Then, it was in 1802 that George Crumley, Sr. deeded 90 acres to George Crumley, Jr. and 74 acres to Jacob Taylor. Later, on May 22, 1806, George Crumley, Sr. gave all his "goods and chattels" to his sons Jacob and Daniel. Of the 264 acres he had at that time, he retained 100 acres for himself. In 1832, it is reported, George Crumley, Jr. bought these 100 acres for taxes due from 1826, causing us to conclude that George Crumley, Sr. died by 1826 -- perhaps as early as 1806. As a matter of fact, it seems Elizabeth Crumley, perhaps the widow of George Crumley, Sr. at the time, was living in 1824 on the 100 acres that her husband had kept for himself, which, as had been noted, was purchased by the son in 1832. Later, George Crumley, Jr. sold 9 acres near the spring in the center of the tract to his son Jacob, and Jacob Crumley built his home there. It is thought that the Crumley Cemetery lay within the 90 acres that George Crumley, Jr. obtained from his father in 1802. – As provided by Mary Ruble.
Family Artifacts of a German Heritage
Hugh Henry Mottern writes of owning the following Crumley treasures:
I have a small German Old Testament and two German church school books handed down through the Crumleys with the tradition that they were brought to Tennessee by the first Crumleys and used by them. This substantiates the fact that the Crumleys were of German origin. One of the bible school books was printed in 1779 in the Lutheran Orphan Home (Maisenheim) at Halle, Germany.
Official Records of George Sr. and Elizabeth Crumley
1796: Census, Sullivan County, TN (explained above) details 574 acres of land n/o George Crumley.
1812: Census of Sullivan County, TN lists the following land holdings:
Daniel Crumley 150 Acres
George Crumley 90 Acres
Jacob Crumley 150 Acres
1824: National Archives and Record Service: Elizabeth, a widow, was living in 1824 on 100 acres George, Sr. had retained for himself (i.e., not deeded to his sons earlier).
Assumed Official Records: The 1802 deeds of lands to George, Jr. and Jacob, and the May 22, 1806 disbursement of all his “goods and chattels” to Jacob and Daniel. [Source: Hugh Mottern]
George and Elizabeth are buried at the Crumley Family Cemetery on their property outside Bluff City, Tennessee. Their years of death are unverified. One cemetery project transcriptionist lists the year 1789 after “Member Lutheran Church” on George’s tombstone; yet the above records imply that George Sr. was alive in 1802 and created an 1806 document as well. The year on the stone could refer to his church membership date and any birth/death inscription be sunken into the earth. For this reason and to avoid confusion, the date 1789 is not repeated on the following text of his tombstone.
George’s tombstone reads: George Sr. - Pioneer settler Sullivan Co. N.C. & Tn. - Member Lutheran Church
Elizabeth’s tombstone reads: Elizabeth- wife of Geo. Sr.
[See the following section on our ancestor George Crumley, Jr. and his family along with the concluding section covering “Our Crumley Cousins” and their interesting contributions to the fortunes and misfortunes of the Crumleys and the Greers during the Civil War period and later.]
II. GEORGE CRUMLEY, JR. AND FAMILIES
George Crumley, Jr., son of George Sr. and his wife Elizabeth, was born in Pennsylvania in 1769. He moved to Tennessee with his family when he was about twenty years old, as shown by his father’s first land purchase starting in 1789.
Unfortunately, we do not know the name of George’s first wife, the mother of most of his children and of our ancestress Mary Crumley Greer. Hugh Mottern writes:
George (Jr.) was married twice and had a total of 17 children. We do not know the name of his first wife, but his second wife’s name was Zelphera or “Zilphy” as he called her in his will. She was born in North Carolina. At least two of his children, David and Philip, are believed to be sons by his second wife. George’s (Jr.) family forms the bulk of the known descendants, with his younger brother Jacob (Old Jacob) furnishing a fair share.
George’s will is an interesting document. It was a miracle that it was preserved as it was thought to have been lost with the burning of the Court House in Blountville. A Federal shell on the afternoon of September 22, 1863, set fire to the Court House destroying all the minutes of the Sullivan County Court. The registrar, Frederick Sturm, kept the deed books in his home and these escaped destruction, but it was thought the records of wills and marriages were destroyed in the Court House. Credit must be given to Mrs. Belle Tilden for digging it up. They said it wasn’t there, but she found it. The will is presented here with the original spelling.
…..George Crumley Jr.’s will is transcribed in this section.
George Crumley and his first wife (our ancestress) had following fourteen (recorded) children before the mother died. He and his second wife Zelphira had two sons. We do not know the name of George Jr.’s seventeenth child. George Jr. was 58 at the birth of his last child in 1827.
Our ancestress Mary Crumley Greer was already grown when her sister Ruth was born. Ruth is the only later born child of the first family whose birth year is recorded. Zelphira was born in North Carolina in 1785. From the table below, she may have been stepmother to eight or nine children still at home when she married. There is no record of an early marriage for her. This good woman was at least 34 years old when she married (considering the 1819 birth year of Ruth below).
The children of George Crumley, Jr. and his first wife:
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Mary (our ancestress)
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2/27/1793 – 2/8/1877
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m. William Greer
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William (“Jacob”)
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7/28/1795 – 2/6/1865
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m. Catherine Greer
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John B.
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7/28/1798 – 11/28/1886
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m. Rebecca Jones
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Susannah
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6/6/1802 – 5/26/1876
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Isaac Morrell
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Daniel S.
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3/24/1806 – 4/18/1872
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m. Lucy Jones
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Nancy
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1809 – 1890
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m. Robert Greer
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James Andrew
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m. Elizabeth Vance
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Elizabeth
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m. (1) Wm. Deery
m. (2) Christian Crumley
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Ruth
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1819 -
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George
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Margaret (Peggy)
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Sarah
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Savila
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Martha (“Patsy”)
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The children of George Jr. and Zelphira (“Zilphy” or “Sephira” in some records):
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David
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1825 -
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Philip
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10/24/1827 – 10/9/1878
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m. Elizabeth Stoffel
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As detailed in the Greer section, the Crumleys and Greers were united through three marriages within a single generation:
- Mary Crumley and William Greer (our direct ancestors)
- Nancy Crumley and Robert Greer, William’s brother
- Jacob Crumley and Catherine Greer, William and Robert’s sister.
There are numerous offspring of each generation using the name first names for their children: Jacob, William, Catherine, Mary, Sarah, etc. At family weddings or funerals, it must have been a challenge for the older relatives keep all the children associated with the correct parents. For example:
- Both William and Robert Greer had children named Sarah, John and George.
- Three of the Crumley brothers had sons named George
War of 1812—The Two Jacobs
George Crumley, Jr.’s brother Jacob and George Jr.’s uncle Jacob both served in the War of 1812. They were privates in William King’s Company, Col. Ewen Allisons Regiment of the East Tennessee Militia. They joined up on January 6, 1814 and the younger Jacob was discharged May 18 of that year. He had been in the battle of Horseshoe Bend on March 27, 1814 (in the present state of Alabama). Under Andrew Jackson’s leadership, this battle was the decisive and final conflict of the Creek War that had rolled into the War of 1812. A neighbor of the elder Jacob returned home to report that he (Jacob) had died shortly after the battle and that he (the neighbor) had closed Jacob’s eyes.
Documented Records of this Generation
1. 1850 Census: George 81 b. Penn.
David, 25 [son of George & Zilphy]
Ruth, 31 [dau. of Elizabeth]
Sephira, 65 [phonetic spelling “Zilphy’s” first name]
2. George Crumley, Jr.’s headstone in the Crumley Family Cemetery reads: George, Jr. b. Pa. - Member Lutheran Church: 1769-1851
3. Other headstones:
Daniel - b. Germany - Lutheran Church 60 Y - 1766 – 1850
Catherine Greer - wife of Wm. Jacob - 1791 – 1874
William Jacob - Member Lutheran Church - 1795 – 1865
Selphera, 2nd wife George Jr. - b. N.C. 1785
There are many other Crumleys and allied family members at this site. A full survey may be found on the TnGEN website.
WILL OF GEORGE CRUMLEY (JR.)
Transcribed as received incl. name variations, punctuation, spelling and section headings.
I, George Crumley, do make and publish this as my last will and testament hereby revoking and making void all other wills by me made.
1st I direct that my funeral expenses and all my debts be paid as soon after me death as possible out of any moneys that I may die possessed of, or may first come into the hands of my Executor.
2nd I give and bequeath unto my two youngest sons, David and Philip, my plantation containing eighty one acres more or loss and my other property of every kind horses cattle hogs sheap and every other kind which I may (be) possessed of to be equally divided.
3rd I do direct that my beloved wife Zilphy shall be well supported by my two sons, David and Philip, and that she shall have peaceable possession of my house as she may choose.
Fourthly, I do give and bequeath to my daughter Ruth one bed and bedding, one cow, one loom, one woman’s saddle whenever she may need it.
Fifth, I do give and bequeath unto my son Jacob one dollar, and also to my son John one dollar, and to my son George one dollar, to my son Daniel one dollar, to my son Andrew one dollar.
Sixth, I give and bequeath unto my daughter Elizabeth one dollar, my daughter Mary one dollar, my daughter Susanna one dollar, my daughter Sarah one dollar, my daughter Catherine heirs one dollar and I do give and bequeath unto my daughter Nancy one dollar also unto my daughter Peggy one dollar unto my daughter Patsey one dollar, also unto my daughter Savila one dollar, to be paid by my Executor out of my property after my death.
Lastly, I do hereby nominate and appoint my two youngest sons David and Phillip Crumley my Executors, and shall not be bound to give security for this performance.
In witness whereof I do to this my will set my hand and seal.
his
George X Crumly
mark
(Seal)
Signed, sealed and published in our presence and we have subscribed our names hereunto in the presence of the Testator this 4th day of February 1845.
Daniel W. Crumley
Jacob R. Crumley
Prov. 2 June 1851
*** END OF CHAPTER ***
OUR CRUMLEY COUSINS
A Family Divided
As mentioned in the entry for John Greer, son of William and Mary Hancher Greer, the various branches of our family and indeed, individual households, were forced to “take a stand” on the issues of the Civil War. While our Greer family was loyal to the Union, our Crumley relations were divided.
Sullivan County had strong Confederate sentiments throughout the war. It remained in Confederate control until the end of the struggle. Greene County, where most of the Greers resided during the war, remained mostly in Union hands because of strong local sympathy with the north. It must have been difficult for Mary Crumley Greer to witness the division of her family. Her Crumley nephews mainly stood with the Confederacy while her sons and Greer grandsons supported the Union.
Here are various Crumley family stories gleaned from Mottern’s book:
Mary Ann Crumley (Mary Crumley Greer’s niece, daughter of Daniel Crumley) married Philip Mottern in 1853. The young couple left Sullivan County and resettled, along with Daniel Crumley, in Washington County. They lived in Sand Hollow near Jonesboro. Philip was a Confederate soldier. He had served with Robert E. Lee in Virginia. He was granted thirty days furlough on March 27, 1865 due to illness. He received rations on his way home at a Confederate hospital in Farmville, Virginia. He recovered and lived to age 77.
However, of Philip Mottern’s three brothers, two served with the Union, one for the Confederacy:
· William Joseph Mottern served four years in Company A, 33rd Regiment, Iowa Voluntary Infantry, USA.
· John Mottern was a Colorado miner who served in Company H, 3rd Regiment of the Colorado Cavalry Volunteers, USA.
· Henry Mottern, served in the Confederacy.
…this was indeed a family divided.
William Crumley, Mary Crumley Greer’s nephew who purchased the Grier/Greer farm on Dry Creek, was an enrolling officer for the Confederate Army. He sold the old John Grier property for ten thousand inflated (and quickly worthless) Confederate dollars as he was being run out of “Loyal to the Union” Carter County by “bush-whackers.”
James David Crumley (son of William J. and grandson of Mary Crumley Greer’s brother Jacob) was in Vaughn’s Regiment at Greenville when General John H. Morgan was killed. John Greer’s Union regiment history notes that the 8th Tennessee Cavalry encountered General C. J. Vaughn’s Regiment near Greenville, resulting in a skirmish leading to the capture of the 3rd Battalion’s flag.
Against this, we read William Powell Crumley’s compelling 1950 statement regarding his maternal grandfather, The Rev. C. E. W. Lindsey and his strong Union convictions:
During the Civil War my maternal grandfather (Rev. C. E. W. Lindsey) was a loyal Union sympathizer. He could not pass the inspection to join the Army. As a blacksmith he refused to shoe the horses of the rebel army and he was forced to flee from Sullivan County, Tenn. as a refugee. They caught another man that was with him but he escaped by going through Natural Tunnel, Virginia, then up through the Clinch and Cumberland Mountains into Cincinnati, Ohio. During the War the family lived near Abington, Washington County, Virginia. At the close of the War he came home and moved back to Sullivan Count, Tenn. My grandmother (Martha Morrell Lindsey) died October 20, 1869.
William Powell Crumley’s Quest—Uncovering “Murder” and Arson
William Powell Crumley’s parents divorced when he was two years old. He was raised with no knowledge of his father or their family. When he was a very old man, he finally found out what happened to his father and why his parents separated. [See his entire sequence of statements in the Appendix.]
William’s father John A. Crumley (s/o Malichi, s/o John B., s/o George Jr.) disappeared on October 30, 1869. William’s mother secured a divorce, his maternal grandfather sold the family land and they moved by covered wagon to Indiana. It was not until 80 years later that William found out what happened to remove his father from his life:
John A. Crumley’s sister Sarah was married to James F. Patrick. Sarah’s husband was a hard-drinking wife abuser. During one of her husbands drinking sprees, Sara, who was only 18 and had two children, fled to her father’s house for protection. James Patrick appeared at Malichi Crumley’s house with a gun. John Crumley was there and during a struggle for the gun, the gun went off, killing James Patrick.
Following the “murder” and after John A. Crumley fled the area rather than stand trial, the Patrick family came onto the Crumley homestead land and burned our cousin Malichi’s house and outbuildings. Malichi relocated his family to Hiltons, Virginia.
We do not know what happened to the Patrick family. Today, “murder” is too strong a word for the death of John Crumley’s unfortunate brother-in-law; indeed, it is easy to conclude that James Patrick was a victim of his own violence. It certainly sounds as if the Patricks were a dangerous crowd. One suspects that is why William’s father fled. Even had no charges been brought or proven against him, John Crumley would have been a “marked man.”
Indiana Threads—Crumleys and Greers
After the end of the Creek War (after 1814), Indiana became relatively safe for settlement. Jacob and Katie Greer Crumley moved there and settled. The Crumley history mentions George and Robert Greer and their wives following and living close by. The Indiana cousins lineage does not mention Rushville, Indiana as a birth site, but that is where the Greer family letter of 1837 signed by Robert, Nancy, Jacob, and John Grier was written.
Many current Indiana cousins descend from Henry Crumley (1780 – 1864) the son of George Sr. and Henry’s first wife, Elizabeth. Henry moved to Indiana in 1815 from Tennessee and his brother Stephen Crumley followed in 1827. Both Henry and Stephen (1784 – 1837) are buried in the Union Cemetery, Aylesworth, Indiana.
An Indiana Tragedy That Necessitated Intense Genealogical Work
Gilbert Crumley, grandson of Henry Crumley, killed his wife in 1912. The story mentions no details, but there may have been some justification, as the gentlemen served only two years in the state penitentiary. He returned to his prosperous corn and hog farm and lived a long but reclusive life. His only daughter, Arvilla, died in 1921. After Gilbert Crumley died of a stroke in 1951 at age 82 he was found bent over in his chair, his hand tightly clutching an old purse. The purse contained over $8,000 cash.
Because Gilbert Crumley died without a will, the Indiana family (his nieces and nephews and their children and grandchildren, of which there were many by then) all had to be found and listed. This created an enormous genealogical search as every legal heir had to be proved to the court. The estate eventually involved so many heirs-at-law that some of the younger members received checks for only $8.10 out of a total estate of over $10,000. The descendants of Anna Crumley (b. 1854) were never found. When Hugh Mottern received this family information in the early 1960’s, their shares were slated to be turned over to the “public school fund” in Indiana as unclaimed inheritances.
A Love Letter—And the Question: Who was “Very Green”?
Mary Crumley Greer’s niece Catherine (Kate) Crumley, daughter of Daniel Crumley and Lucy Jones, was born in 1832. The Crumley family has a love letter written to Kate which was found in the foundation stones of Daniel Crumley’s old house when it was torn down in 1941. Kate was 26 when she received this letter
The letter to Catherine Crumley that was found in the foundation stones of her father Daniel Crumley’s house when it was torn down in 1941:
Malta an isle in the Mediterranean Sea, January 10th, 1858
My dear and beloved Cate:
It is with pleasure that I seat myself to inform you how I love you. O, Cate, you are prettier than a candy rabbit. I love you harder than a mule can kick. O, Cate, you little devil, how I do love you.
I would rather set my arms around you than to meet my friends in Heaven. All that cheers me up in this world are the thoughts of meeting you at the (….omitted by insect nibbles) depot. Now Cate you have got to come according to promise or I will sue for your promise to marry me in New York.
I will not love you if you let anybody else hug you. O, Cate, you must excuse me for being so plain, for God knows how I love you. If I was able to I would go the North and have you cut into marble. Give my love to longtail blue and tell him I want him to wait on me. (…..unclear words). Write as soon as you receive this and direct your letter to Bran___Street, London, and let me know if you love me as well as you did when I saw you last. You durn little devil.
Very Green
[Very Green’s beloved “Cate” never married.]
NOTE: Nearly all anecdotal information in this chapter, including the family letter on the next page, is from Hugh Henry Mottern’s book George Crumley Family of Tennessee.
See the Appendix (in family hard copies) for historically interesting Crumley and allied families’ references concerning:
· “The Trail of Tears”—Various of our ancestral uncles or cousins were involved in the forced resettlement of the Cherokees. While the information is not family-specific, it links the 1814 Battle of Horseshoe Bend (after which Jacob Crumley died) to the Indian chief mentioned in the article. He saved Andrew Jackson’s life and after the horrors of the Trail of Tears, bitterly regretted his earlier brave action. Many East Tennesseeans were involved in this brutal experience. The document is a participant’s statement of his experience on the infamous Trail.
· The Civil War’s effects on the Booher family, the Morrells, family letter texts, and an interesting report on the Nitre Works (saltpeter mines) of the area out of Bristol.
*** END OF CHAPTER ***
JOHN GREER AND CATHERINE HANCHER
We descend from John and Catherine Hancher Greer through their son John Franklin Greer, called “Frank” throughout this family history, who married Louesa Houser.
John Greer was born in Carter Co. Tennessee on March 22, 1818 to William and Mary Crumley Greer. John and his ten siblings were raised on the old John Grier homestead on Dry Creek Road outside Elizabethtown.
Catherine Hancher was born in Sullivan Co Tennessee on November 23, 1823 to William and Sarah Knicely Hancher. The bride’s father was the pastor termed by the Tennessee Lutheran Synod as “the Father of the Lutheran Church” in Tennessee. [His life and family are covered in the Hancher family chapter.]
John Greer and Catherine Hancher married on November 7, 1844. For the first eight years of their marriage, they lived in Carter County on the Greer family Dry Creek farm.
The Crumley, Hancher, and Greer families were devout Lutherans. This adherence to their own denomination led John and Catherine to leave Carter County after their local congregation, Pilgrim’s Lutheran Church, disbanded in 1852.
For a very short time, John and Catherine and the first five of their eventual nine children moved to neighboring Sullivan County, home base of the large Hancher family. But, within a year, they moved to Greene County to purchase a farm near Solomon Lutheran Church. Catherine’s brother, James Knicely Hancher, had followed his father William into the ministry and served at Solomon Lutheran.
Of interest: Solomon Lutheran Church is in the heart of the old “Nolichucky Region” of Watauga—home territory of John Sevier’s Indian fighters and of the young John Grier, “Indian spy” and Patriot. The church is also known as “Cove Creek” Church in some records and USGS maps.
The Greer family did not arrive in Greene County as strangers. In addition to Catherine’s brother, other kin relocated to Greene County as well:
- John’s brother George Greer, who married Susannah Wilhoit of the pioneer Wilhoit family of Greene County;
- John’s older sister Sarah Greer, who married Benjamin Franklin VanHuss of Greene County;
- John’s sister Catherine Greer, who married Emmanuel Wilhoit of Greene County.
Of John and Catherine’s life in Greene County before the Civil War, we know only that John was a farmer and that the children had Hancher, Wilhoit, and VanHuss cousins nearby. Catherine had “Henshaw” relations in Greene County—Washington Henshaw (son of Captain Levi Henshaw and his second wife Ann McConnel) and his family. The text of Levi Henshaw’s diary “Describing His Journey to Kentucky November 10, 1828 to March 25, 1829” that details his route home through Tennessee and a stay in Greene County with Washington and other relatives and friends is found at the end of this chapter along with the diary text of his brother Captain Hiram Henshaw’s similar trek of 1830.
John and Catherine had nine children between 1845 and 1866. Against the odds for their era, the Greers successfully raised all children but one beyond the perils of childhood. Their youngest, Noah, died when not quite seven.
The children of John and Catherine Hancher Greer:
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Sarah “Sadie”
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11/11/1845 – 10/3/1904
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m. George R. Bible
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William “Will” Hancher
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Union Soldier
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1/18/1847 – 1/16/1920
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m. Laura Neas
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James George .
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Medical Doctor
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3/8/1849 – 2/28/1908
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m. (1) Margaret Holt
m. (2) Martha Gammon
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John F. “Frank”
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Our ancestor
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5/20/1850 – 1933
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m. Louesa Houser
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Mary Catherine
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Mary Ruble’s mother
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4/20/1852 – 1/1/1934
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m. John Wm.. Ruble
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Samuel
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went to KS and TX
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2/13/1854 – not recorded
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?
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Julia
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3/12/1859 – 2/21/1938
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m. Lewis M. Bible
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Fox
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Lutheran Minister
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7/9/1863 – 2/11/1921
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m. Christine Crumb
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Noah
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9/11/1866 – 7/21/1873
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THE CIVIL WAR
The Civil War divided the loyalties of the extended Greer/Hancher and related families. We do not know of specific inter-family problems that time did not heal, but consider this:
- John Greer, his teen age son William Hancher “Will” Greer, and John’s brother George Greer served with the Union. Details of their service follow.
- Nearly all of the Greer’s Sullivan County Crumley cousins sided with the Confederacy (see “Our Crumley Cousins”). George E. Greer, son of Robert Greer (William’s brother) and Nancy Crumley fought for the Confederacy. He joined Co. B., 4th Tennessee, Texas Brigade (Haines Division, “Fighting Joe” Wheeler’s Corp.) on April 20, 1862. George and his cousin John Greer were on opposing sides in the siege of Knoxville during November, 1863.
- After the war, John's son (our ancestor) Frank Greer married Louisa Houser of Sullivan Co., whose brothers, Edward and Josiah Houser, fought for the Confederacy—serving in Co. G of the 60th Tennessee and the 4th Tennessee Cavalry, respectively. Edward’s regiment fought John Greer’s regiment during the Union’s capture of the strategically important Confederate salt works at Saltville, VA.
- Abraham Stine, Catherine Hancher Greer's brother in law served as a private in the 60th Tenn. Mounted Infantry, CSA.
The Civil War bitterly divided East Tennessee and our family was directly involved in that great struggle.
John Greer’s Pension Application
Robert (Bob) Greer, grandson of Denver Hancher Moree Greer, of Sonoma, CA has copies of John Greer's Civil War Department of the Interior Invalids' Pension application, certification, and the closing document dropping John Greer from the pension rolls after his death in 1906. What these documents tell us:
- June 4, 1879 - Dept. of Interior Pension Office, Greene County, TN covers John Greer's statement of service, stating that he enlisted in Company "L" of the 8th Regular Tennessee Cavalry* on September 12, 1862 and was discharged September 11, 1865 in Knoxville. John mentions duty near Booneville, NC about March 15, 1865 that gave rise to his Invalid's Pension claim. He was injured in his groin by his saddle pommel during a downhill charge and still suffered from his injury at the time of his application.
- His post office address is given as “Peach Grove, Greene County.” Along with many other rural small post offices, Peach Grove was closed by the Postal Service decades ago. It is presumably in the general area of Solomon Lutheran Church and near the Nolichucky River.
- Unlike John Grier’s Revolutionary Pension statement and William Greer’s War of 1812 Pension statement, the Invalid’s Pension statement requests information of the circumstances surrounding an injury. It does not request a full narrative of one’s entire service details. The brief history of the 8th Cavalry printed below gives us a general picture of its movements and encounters during the war.
- The Pension Roll document shows John Greer with the rank of Sergeant upon discharge.
- Per the document 843/137 printed under the Act of June 27, 1896, John Greer was dropped off the rolls (Certif. #481510) after his death in 1906. It mentions a final payment of twenty some dollars.
The 1906 pension document refers to John Greer's Civil War unit as the "Tennessee Vol. Cav." A history of the 8th Tennessee Cavalry Regiment, USA can be found on-line at the TNGenWeb Project site: tngenweb.org/civilwarusacav/usa8cav.html
Per this history, the original 1862 unit that John Greer joined on September 12 of that year was no doubt rolled into one of the regiments that kept aggregating until 1864 when a unit called the 8th Tennessee Cavalry Regiment was born.
GENERATIONS TO BE PROUD OF — JOHN GREER AND HIS HERITAGE — HIS CONTRIBUTION TO AMERICA
We are proud of our ancestor John Greer who stood firm throughout the entire Civil War. When his regimental leadership largely dropped away or deserted the Union cause over the first two years of the war, he did not waiver from his convictions.
Matching John's courage was John's oldest son William Hancher Greer, who fought for the Union as well (“Will” was only 13 when the war started).
Also courageous during this time were John's wife, Catherine Hancher Greer, and their minor children, including our ancestor Frank Greer, who maintained the family farm in a contested state when the father and elder brother were away in service.
Considering the length of John's service and the fact that he was neither shot nor killed (like his uncle John Greer, son of Robert and Nancy Crumley Greer), nor did he contract serious illness (like his brother George Greer and so many others in service), John's family was fortunate in his return and that of his son, William.
When we read of the major battles of the war where tens of thousands of men were killed on both sides during each episode:
50,000 at Gettysburg
18,000 in a single day's fighting at Fredericksburg, VA.
25,000 at the 2nd battle of Bull Run
23,000 killed within hours at Shiloah
…the simple odds of John Greer's survival or of not being wounded over a period of service as long as his are extremely slim...especially so early-on during the period when the officer ranks of the original 8th Tennessee floundered and the units’ training was marginal.
- It is gratifying to realize that John Greer lived to a ripe age, having entered his 88th year and seen the turn of the 20th century.
- William Hancher ("Will") Greer lived until 1920, his 73rd year.
Our Legacy
In summation, in John Greer's character there is more than an echo of the perseverance of his grandfather John Grier, the "Nolichucky Indian Fighter," who as a very young man stayed the course, constantly risking his life for his vision of the future of his community.
John continues the tradition of his father, William Greer, who served 233 days in the War of 1812 when his young and struggling country was attacked by Great Britain.
It is sobering to realize that these three successive Grier/Greer generations had war brought to them. The United States of America exists through the efforts of men like John Grier and William Greer; and the scope our country as we know it – the “one nation, indivisible" -- was ensured by men such as John Greer of Greenville, Tennessee, John's son Will, John's brother George and his uncle John Greer, along with all those of his community who took the difficult road and stood for the Union in a Confederate state.
The Churchyard at Solomon Lutheran Church
John and Catherine Greer are buried in the churchyard at Solomon Lutheran Church (Cove Creek) along with their son Noah who died in childhood. John’s marker shows his Civil War unit (“Co. L 8th Tenn Cav. USA”). It is especially sad to realize that Noah was conceived shortly after John’s return from the war. In a sense, he was their “peace child.”
Nearby are the graves of John’s brother George, who died of illness contracted during the Civil War and George’s wife Susannah Wilhoit Greer. Our ancestress Mary Greer, wife of William, is also buried here, along with various Greers contemporary to John and Catherine, and still other Greers of recent date. Mary Ruble wrote that William Greer’s commemorative War of 1812 marker was there as well, although his burial was at the Dry Creek farm property. The plaque Mary Ruble mentioned is not in evidence; but a flat rectangular stone like a very large brick with a small drill-hole where a marker was probably affixed is adjacent to Mary’s headstone.
Today, the church yard surrounds two sides of the sanctuary. It is carpeted by an emerald green lawn and is beautifully maintained by the congregation. There are many Greer and Wilhoit graves. Inside the church hangs a quilt made in 1998 commemorating the congregation’s 200th birthday. It is an album quilt. Each current church family provided a block with their name. There are a number of Greer and Wilhoit blocks. This author was very moved to be able to visit her “Grandpa’s grandparents’” graves and it was a privilege to enter the church where our ancestors worshipped and to see evidence of our family’s presence in the life of the congregation today.
Bibliography (John Greer and Catherine Hancher Chapter)
- “The Greer Family History”. Article provided by Mary Ruble.
- East Tennesee History. Goodspeed History of Tennessee. Reprinted 1978, S. McDowell.
- George Crumley Family of Sullivan County Tennessee. Hugh Henry Mottern, 1964.
- Historic Greene County, Tennessee and Its People: 1783-1992 (portions of the book are found on-line at www.rootsweb.com.
- Tennessee site of the WPA Cove Creek Cemetery headstone transcription project listing all Solomon Lutheran Church (Cove Creek) legible markers (on-line at www.rootsweb.com).
- TNGenWeb Project Tennesseans in the Civil War, 8th Tennessee Cavalry Reg. (tngenweb.org/civilwar/usacav/usa8cav.html).
8. The Loyal Mountaineers of Tennessee. Thomas William Hume. Ogden Bros. & Cos., Knoxville, TN 1888.
*** END OF PART I ***
Part II. The Hancher, Caudy, Knicely, Dieter/Teeter, Turney/Tournai and related families
THE REVEREND WILLIAM HANCHER AND SARAH KNICELY
Catherine Hancher Greer, born November 29, 1823, wife of John Greer (son of William and Mary Crumley Greer), was the daughter of the Rev. William Hancher of Sullivan County, Tennessee and his wife Sarah Knicely. The Rev. William came to Sullivan County from Virginia.
Note: The family name “Hancher” derives from “Henshaw,” “Hinchaw,” and “Handshaw.” Various branches of the same family continue either of these forms. Our family spelling “Hancher” is the least prevalent among the many active “Henshaw” Family Association members. But, we descend from a direct and proven ancestral line from John Henshaw and Sarah Caudy.
The Rev. William Hancher was born on September 7, 1788 at the family home near Bunker Hill in what was then Frederick Co. Virginia (Berkeley Co. West Virginia following the Civil War). Working backwards to our earliest known Hancher ancestor:
William Hancher was the son of William Henshaw/Hancher (Sr.) and Ann Dunn of Frederick Co. Virginia. Ann’s parents were William and Jane Dunn.
William Sr. was the son of John Henshaw and Sarah Caudy of Frederick Co. Virginia.
Sarah Caudy (b. 1739) was the daughter of James Caudy (“The famous Indian fighter”) and Mary Hutchinson.
John Henshaw was the son of Nicholas Henshaw and Rebecca Smith
—See the separate chapters on the Hancher/Henshaw ancestors of the Rev. William Hancher:
1. Nicholas Henshaw and His Descendants through William Hancher (Sr.)
2. James Caudy—“The Famous Indian Fighter”
Sarah Knicely Hancher was born July 5, 1792 in Washington Co., Virginia (just north of Sullivan County, Tennessee). Sarah was the daughter of George Knicely and Mary Teeter of Washington Co. Virginia. George and Mary Knicely moved to Sullivan County near Blountville in 1804 when George purchased a farm there. George Knicely died in 1807 and Mary survived him by 50 years.
Mary Teeter Knicely’s parents were John Teeter and Eve (Eva) Turney of Washington Co., Virginia. John Teeter’s father was George Dieter (Johan George) who immigrated from Germany in 1729 on the Ship Allen. Eve Turney was the daughter of Henri A. Tournai. It is believed that Henri (changed to Henry in the Colonies) was a French Huguenot immigrant. Eve’s brother, Peter Turney, was prominent in the settling of middle Tennessee and Peter’s son Peter, Jr. served as Governor of that state.
—See the separate chapters on the ancestors of Sarah Knicely Hancher:
1. The Knicely Family 3. John Teeter and Eve Tournai
2. The Teeter/Dieter Family 4. The Turney/Tournai Family
William and Sarah Marry—Their Family—Sarah’s Death—William’s Second Family
William Hancher and Sarah Knicely married in either 1811 or 1812 in Sullivan County, Tennessee. We believe that William and Sarah lived in southern Virginia a few years after their marriage. The earliest mention of William in Tennessee is the 1830 Census, which is verified by the following family letter of more recent times:
My father was James Hancher and my grandfather was Thomas Hancher. He and his brother John came from Virginia to East Ohio about 1830. About that time, my father’s uncle, William, my grandfather’s brother, left Virginia for Tennessee.—Letter of John W. Hancher to Virginia D. Hancher of Johnson City, TN dated Apri 24, 1924.
Mary Ruble found indication that the Rev. William Hancher (long before his ordination in 1836) served as Junior Warden of St. George’s Chapel (Episcopal) in Jefferson County, VA (now West Virginia). St. George’s Chapel is now a picturesque ruin on the George Washington History Trail, located 1.5 miles outside the city limits of Charles Town WVA. George Washington’s brother Stuart was the church’s first Senior Warden. The site was abandoned after the development of Charles Town necessitated its own Episcopal Church.
Scattered through the Hancher, Caudy, and Dieter/Teeter family chapters are references to Frederick County, Berkeley County, and Jefferson County, Virginia. Contemporary resources vary in their use of county names depending whether authors cite past or present geopolitical locations. Here is the sequence of our family’s home territory in Virginia (and now West Virginia):
· Pre-Revolution until 1772, Frederick County, Virginia encompassed a vast area, comprising most of the north-eastern section of the Colony of Virginia.
· 1772, Berkeley County formed from the western portion of Frederick County.
· 1801, Jefferson County formed from part of Berkeley County.
· Post-Civil War, most ancestral Virginia locations became part of West Virginia except for Winchester and White Hall, which remain in Frederick County, Virginia.
We learn from his obituary that “Father Hancher” worked with his hands before and after his ordination. It is believed that he served as a lay leader prior to ordination as a Lutheran minister.
Once in Tennessee, the Hanchers raised their children in Sullivan County in the Reedy Creek area where they no doubt had a small family farm. William and Sarah Hancher had the nine children as detailed on the chart on the next page. As recorded on a marker near their graves (see below), William and Sarah also had an unnamed infant daughter.
Sarah Knicely Hancher died on March 3, 1833, when our ancestress Catherine was ten years old.
Following Sarah’s death, William married Elizabeth Wilson. They had daughters:
1. Margaret 1836 - ? who married Abraham Stine of Sullivan Co.
2. Martha Elizabeth 1841 – 1914, who married Abe Cain (b. 1825), a potter whose works are documented by the Blue Ridge Institute & Museum.
William and his second wife also had three unnamed infant sons as indicated on the marker next to William and Sarah’s graves. Elizabeth Wilson Hancher was a kind stepmother to William’s children. Upon William’s ordination, Elizabeth took on the burdens unique to pastors’ wives.
THE CHILDREN (AND GRANDCHILDREN) OF WILLIAM AND SARAH HANCHER
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Children
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Spouse
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Their Children
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Sarah b. 1812
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Mary Ada b. 1814
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George Walford/Wolford
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William “Billy” Walford
Sarah Walford
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Emmeline
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John Barger
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Rev. James Knicely
1819 - 1897
(One of his early calls
was to Solomon Church in
Greene Co. where John &
Catherine Greer and their
family worshipped.)
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_______Graham
Sarah Bushong
Martha J. Rankin
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(1) Children of James and Sarah:
Rev. George Bushong Hancher
William Hancher
Mary Belva Hancher
Ida Blair Hancher
Joseph Rush Hancher
(2) Son of James and Martha:
Rev. Anthony Denver Rankin Hancher
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Jane b. 1823
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Martin L. Roller
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William Roller b. 1841
George Roller b. 1843
Mary Roller b. 1845
Jacob Roller b. 1874
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Nancy b. 1826
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Jacob Rodefer
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George Rodefer
William Rodefer
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John
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Catherine (our ancestress)
11/29/1823 – 12/20/1891
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John Greer
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…see their chapter for their children
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Elizabeth 8/4/1811 – 11/26/1909
(another source lists 1816 as her birth date)
d. 11/26/1909, Brighton, Jefferson County, IA
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Alfred Gray
b. 12/18/1811, Guilford County, NC
m. 5/7/1833, Blountville, TN.
d. 10/13/1899, Batavia, Jefferson County, IA
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Alvin Gray
William Harman Gray
Anderson Gray
George Scott Gray
Elias Beason Gray
Levi Hancher Gray
Clifford Tyler Gray
Anna Mariah Gray
Susan Malinda Gray
Hannah Gray
Sarah Elizabeth Gray
Alfred Marian Gray
Isaac Beason Gray
James Irah Gray
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Our Hancher-Related Uncles and Cousins
Of interest on the sons-in-law of William and Sarah Hancher: Martin Roller is listed on the Sullivan County Slave Schedule of 1850 as owning eight slaves: one female (20); three males (23, 25, and 30) and four children (4, 3, 2, and 1). Various Bargers, Bushongs, Rollers, and Rodefers appear on Sullivan County Civil War lists as Confederate soldiers, or functionaries, or working at the essential nitre mines.
The Rev. James Knicely Hancher is mentioned in many East Tennessee history books as a church builder and founding pastor of various Lutheran Churches. In 1851 he helped found the Evangelical Lutheran Holston Synod. He served as pastor at the church of which our Houser family members George, Sarah, and Lydia were founding members—Zion Lutheran Church near Knoxville. James was the congregation’s third pastor. James Knicely Hancher also served in Greene County, TN. as the pastor of Solomon Lutheran Church where Catherine Hancher and her husband John Greer and their family worshiped.
Anthony Denver Rankin Hancher and George Bushong Hancher, sons of the Rev. James Knicely Hancher, carried on the family tradition of supplying Lutheran ministers that began with their grandfather William Hancher’s 1836 ordination.
· The Rev. A. D. R. Hancher served as a pastor in Virginia and Tennessee before becoming identified with the home mission work of the United Lutheran Church of America. Shortly before his retirement, he again served as a parish minister in Newmarket, Virginia.
· The Rev. George Hancher specialized in education and was principal of the Pennsylvania State Normal School in Kutztown for eleven years before moving to Chicago to serve as a parish minister until his retirement.
Mary Ruble recorded the following family recollection of her mother (Mary Catherine Greer Ruble):
In 1870 my mother visited her aunt Jane Roller on the occasion of an “infare” following the wedding of the son George. Sometime later George met an untimely death in a farm accident. This was told me by my mother, Mary Catherine Greer Ruble. I have her picture that was taken while she was on this trip. Her brother, William Greer, took her on the trip. They went from Greenville to Jonesboro by train. While in that section, they also visited other relatives. They spent the night at the home of Suzanna Crumley Morrell, sister to their grandmother, Mary Crumley Greer.
Documenting the Rev. William Hancher’s Life
1830: Sullivan Co. TN Census lists William, in the 40/50 age range.
1831: The Frederick Co. VA Deed Book 58, page 476, lists a deed of October 27, 1831, showing that William sold his 1/10th share of his father William’s land to Jesse Payne.
1836: William is ordained to the ministry of the Lutheran Church (per his obituary of 1871).
1840: William organized Liberty Church (later Mumpower; now Oak Grove Church) in Washington Co., VA.
1844-1857: William serves as permanent pastor of Immanuel Lutheran Church and is active serving small outlying congregations that either cannot afford or do not warrant a fully time ministry.
1850: Sullivan Co., TN Census lists William, Elizabeth, Martha, and Margaret Hancher. A “Wm. Hanscher” is listed on a list of Sullivan Co. slave owners of 1850. This is probably the Rev. William Hancher.
After thirty-four years working in the “Lord’s vineyard,” the Rev. William Hancher died on September 5, 1870. His ministry and life was honored by his church. A copy of the obituary published by the Tennessee Evangelical Lutheran Synod in 1871 is provided in this chapter. From it, we receive a strong sense of his dedication and resolute sense of duty to his God.
Elizabeth Wilson Hancher died on October 11, 1875. She is buried at the Latture Family Cemetery (also called the Wilson Family Cemetery) in Sullivan County.
The Reverend William Hancher and our ancestress Sarah Knicely Hancher rest next to each other near their unnamed infant daughter (and the three infant sons of William and Elizabeth). Their graves are adjacent to the “Old Harr Cemetery” in the Reedy Creek area of Sullivan County. The cemetery is described in a Sullivan County compendium as across the road from the Dishner Cemetery and half way between Blountville and Reedy Creek. Mary Ruble’s material described the graves as near the roadside along the “old road from Immanuel to Bristol.” A newer resource indicates the small Hancher site is outside an iron fence that surrounds the Dishner family graves.
Cemetery Note: Referring to Mary Knicely’s entry, sixty-two of her dower acres were eventually owned by David Harr. That portion probably included the Hancher grave sites. See Map No. 2, Location (11) for the Droke & Harr Cemetery site and Location (8) for Immanuel Lutheran Church.
Here are the grave inscriptions as recorded in the Cemeteries of Sullivan County:
Rev. Wm. Hancher
d. Sept. 5, 1870
aged 82 yrs. less 2 days
Sarah
July 25, 1792 – Mar. 3, 1833
Here lies 3 infant sons of W. & Elizabeth Hancher
and an infant daughter of W. & Sarah Hancher.
Note: A photo of William Hancher’s tombstone may be found at his entry in this author’s Ancestry.com family tree.
The Rev. William Hancher’s Contribution to East Tennessee
William Hancher’s religion was paramount to his life. His obituary of 1871 brings us a picture of his character and deepest values. He is described as a persuasive preacher of deep conviction and a man of particular talents who was the right person for his time in the history of the Lutheran Church in Tennessee. He was a church builder and started many churches throughout Sullivan and neighboring counties. The Lutheran Synod gave him credit for the strength of the church in that era. Other writers describe him as the “father of the Lutheran Church of Eastern Tennessee.” He was its first English speaking (only) pastor and brought many people into the church from non-Lutheran (or non-German) backgrounds.
Evidence of one the fruits of the Rev. William’s labors for the Lord is found through a Mumpower Family Genealogy Forum posting regarding Peter Mumpower (d. 8/17/1824):
The Mumpower Lutheran Church was built of logs from Peter’s land when it was established in 1841 by Rev. William Hancher. Later these same logs were used to construct Henry’s house.
From the land description in this article, this church was in Washington Co., VA around Wallace Road, very near to where both John Jefferson Houser and his wife Tishmaneus Moree were born—just across the river from Bristol, TN. [Louesa Houser married John “Frank” Greer, our ancestor grandson of the Rev. William Hancher and his wife Sarah Knicely.
Rev. Hancher served Immanuel Lutheran Church in the Reedy Creek Community for many years. (A picture of the current church building and an article written for the Sullivan County Historical Society is provided.) He served other congregations as well during his “church building” years. It would have been normal for him to pastor simultaneous flocks as the second churches grew to the size to afford their own pastors. Also, smaller rural churches often never achieved the size or ability to afford a single designated pastor. Ministers “rode the circuit.”
Both William and his son the Rev. J. K. Hancher are mentioned In Goodspeed’s History of Sullivan County:
Until 1811 the Lutheran Church in East Tennessee had no regular synodical connection, but in that year they united with the Lutheran Synod of North Carolina, with which they were connected until 1820. The Tennessee Synod was then formed, and the churches of East Tennessee remained with this body until January 2, 1851, when the Evangelical Lutheran Holston Synod was organized at Zion’s Church in Sullivan County. It embraced ten ministers of whom only three are now living. They were William Hancher, A. J. Brown, J. M. Schaeffer, J. K. Hancher, J. B. Emmert, J. Fleenor, A. Fleenor, J. A. Seneker, J. Cloninger and J. C. Barb.
Note: The Reverend J. C. Barb listed above may be related through the Hancher, Houser, or Moree families. Frank and Louesa Houser’s son who died in childhood in Kansas bore the middle name “Barb.” Various Barbs appear in genealogical history citations of the 19th Century around Bristol (the Tennessee and Virginia state line divides the city).
While we do not have any of his sermons, we know that William Hancher’s life was an example in itself. He founded a dynasty of Lutheran pastors including his son James Knicely Hancher; grandsons Fox Greer, George Bushong Hancher, Anthony Denver Hancher, and William Walford.
William’s obituary follows on the next page.
See the sections on:
· NICHOLAS HENSHAW AND HIS DESCENDANTS THROUGH WILLIAM HANCHER, (SR.)
· JAMES CAUDY—“THE FAMOUS INDIAN FIGHTER”
· THE KNICELY FAMILY
· JOHN TEETER AND EVE TOURNAI
· THE TEETER/DIETER FAMILY
· THE TURNEY/TOURNAI FAMILY
·
The Reverend William Hancher’s Obituary
From the Minutes of the Evangelical Lutheran Tennessee Synod, 1871
We make up the following in regard to this venerable minister, from an address delivered by the Rev. A. J. Brown, D.D. before the Evangelical Lutheran Synod of Tennessee.
Rev. William Hancher, born in Frederick County, Virginia, September 7, 1788, venerable alike for his long years and successful work in the ministry, is entitled to special mention and honor on this memorable occasion. He was ordained to the full work of the ministry in 1836, and died in 1870 at the age of four score and two years, minus only two days.
From the time he entered the ministry, till crippled by disease, embracing a period of nearly forty years, he labored constantly and assiduously in this calling. His labors in the Holston Synod were confined principally to Sullivan County. He was for years the Pastor of principal churches now composing the charges of his son, Brother J. K. Hancher, his grandson, Rev. William G. Wolford, and Rev. A. J. Brown.
It was at an important and critical time in the history of the Lutheran Church in this country. It was in the midst of her transition state from the German to the English language. At the time of his ordination, Father Hancher was perhaps the only minister in the Tennessee Synod who could speak the English language only. Under the difficult circumstances by which he was surrounded, when so much valuable material was lost to the Lutheran Church in many sections of the country, he not only retained for the Church in the field of his operation his old members, but also brought into it most of their children, and many others whose proclivities were by education and early associations anything else other than Lutheran. To his labors we largely are indebted for the firm hold of Lutheranism in Sullivan County, and for its prosperity in after years.
His youth, his early manhood, and much of his riper years, were spent in manual labor. We speak of him now as a minister of the Gospel. Much as we regret his want of education, it may have been the best for the Church at that particular juncture in its history. While it is important, if not absolutely necessary, for the minister to be in advance of his people generally in education and general intelligence, it is not best that he be too far in advance of them in these respects. For if so, they fail to appreciate his labors and to be benefited to the fullest extent by them.
For his work Father Hancher had many fine and some rare natural endowments. He was a ready speaker, and had a soft mellow voice of sufficient volume and compass to address with ease to himself large audiences in the open air, and there was in his mental organism a deep, pathetic vein, which was clearly seen in his preaching, and seldom failed to be deeply felt by his hearers. We have witnessed moving scenes under the influence of his preaching.
Father Hancher was not a systematic sermonizer. While he attached great importance too soundness in doctrine, and gave prominence in his preaching to the distinctive doctrines of the Lutheran Church, his preaching was mostly practical and oratorical, and looked to the immediate conversion of sinners. His themes were generally such as treat of the deep innate depravity of the human heart, of repentance toward God and faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, the glories and felicities of Heaven, the shortness and uncertainties of human life, and the importance and wisdom of making immediate and speedy preparation for death and judgment. He preached as a dying man to dying men, deeply impressed with the importance of his mission and the tremendous responsibility which it involves. He was successful in bringing many souls to Christ, which shall adorn his crown when the Master comes to take up his jewels.
During his life he received many evidences of the esteem and love of his brethren, and when he died, he died deeply lamented. Like a ripe sheaf, he was gathered home in the heavenly garner, full of years and of honors.
1850 SULLIVAN COUNTY, TENNESSEE SLAVE SCHEDULE EXTRACT
The following ancestral uncles or cousins through marriages into the Hancher and Crumley families appear in the 1850 Slave Schedule. The slave’s ages range from one to one hundred.
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Martin Roller
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1 female age 20; 3 males ages 23, 25, 30; 4 children
ages 4, 3, 2, 1
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Martin D. Roller
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4 total
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William Booher
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2 males; 6 females
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Benjamin Booher
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7 total
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Jonathan Roller
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2 adults; 2 children
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Jno. Seneker
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1 female; 2 children
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Jonathan Morrell
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1 female 100 years old
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Phoebe Morrell
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14 adults
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Jacob R. Crumley
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1 male 28 years old
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George Bushong
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2 males
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There appears a listing in another version of the Schedule that shows only the names of those holding slaves. On that list is found:
Wm. Hansher—probably the Reverend William Hancher
Daniel Odel
William Odel, Jr.
Martin Roller [also on above Schedule]
Considering the many variations of the family names during that time and interpretive spelling by officials recording the names (Martin “Roler” and Martin “Roller” is the same person) we are convinced that the Reverend William Hancher is the “Wm. Hansher” listed and the “Odels” are probably the O’Dell (or Odell) family allied with the Crumleys of Sullivan County.
*** END OF CHAPTER ***
NICHOLAS HENSHAW AND HIS DESCENDANTS THROUGH WILLIAM HANCHER (SR.)
I. NICHOLAS HENSHAW AND REBECCA SMITH
Nicholas Henshaw and his wife Rebecca Smith founded the American Henshaw/Hancher line through which we descend. There is another Nicholas Henshaw of the same era who has been disproved as our ancestor. When Mary Ruble prepared her family history, the Nicholas Henshaw whose father had come from Boston and was related through his mother directly back to John of Gaunt and the Plantagenet kings of England was believed to have been our ancestor. However, the very large and active Henshaw Family Association has explored this in depth; new documentation has surfaced; and Nicholas and Rebecca Smith Henshaw are now looked upon as our family.
What We know of Nicholas and Rebecca Henshaw
The Henshaw Family Association agres that “our” Nicholas as the man listed in The Complete Book of Emigrants in Bondage [6, p. 381]:
Henshaw, Nicholas, T Oct 1720 Gilbert Sy (Surry)
The “T” in this notation means that our ancestor was “transported.” That is, he was forcibly removed from the British Isles. Many people transported were on the wrong side of the Church of England or were considered political “troublemakers.” Some were forced out of England when they fell into debt or stole food to survive land clearances. Many were simply teen aged orphans living by their wits. The Colonies needed labor and transportation provided labor cheaper than the purchase and maintenance of slaves. Those transported to northern ports were not usually dangerous, or they would have been locked up in England, executed, or sent to the crown’s penal colony in Georgia.
We do not know the exact length of Nicholas’ involuntary servitude or labor; but he married six years after his arrival. The average indenture lasted seven years.
Nicholas’ arrival is further documented:
Nicholas Henshaw. Fred. Surry to Maryland on the Gilbert. 18 persons on board. Captain Darby Lux Received on board 22 Oct 1720 [13, p. 231-2]
Thus, Nicholas was English. He was not transported from Ireland or Scotland. Rebecca Smith, from her name, was probably also of English background. We do not know whether she was born in the Colonies or elsewhere.
Of interest: The same source [13] shows an Isabella Henshaw, dying on her 1726 passage on The Rappahannock. “Isabella” was the name given to later Henshaw daughters in Frederick County, Virginia, where Nicholas and Rebecca established the Henshaw/Hancher dynasty.
Nicholas and Rebecca married in Christ Church, Philadelphia, on November 3, 1726. The couple married in the Anglican Church (the Church of England in the Colonies). This does not mean that the couple was Anglican. Until the Uniform Marriage Act thirty years later, all marriages had to be solemnized in the official state church in order to be recognized by the state. To be sure, many couples ignored that requirement; but in this case, their church wedding cannot be taken as proof of church affiliation upon marriage.
The couple lived in or around Nottingham, Pennsylvania in 1737, as that location appears in Quaker church records (following).
The Hanchers Settle the Colony’s Western Frontier
Nicholas and Rebecca joined the Quaker migration of 1737 to Hopewell, Virginia. As you will read below, the family was Quaker for many years. Nicholas appears in the 21 May 1739 Autumn Quaker Migration from PA and NJ to Hopewell as:
Nicholas Hanshaw from Nottingham, Pennsylvania, removed.” [5]
Nicholas was among the very first settlers in the portion of Virginia that eventually became Berkeley County, West Virginia. Geographically, this group settled west of North Mountain. The area was settled early, for it was heavily wooded and provided both timber for housing and protection and good hunting. This earlier settlement location was so harassed by Indian and French attacks during the French & Indian War (called Braddock’s War in Virginia), that many of the early families crossed east of North Mountain and re-settled there. [15]
Nicholas’ area was close to the Tuscarora Indians. In 1712, that tribe became one of the Six Nations. Later in the century and up through the War of 1812, the Tuscarora were known for their ferocious fighting ability and efficiency in battle. Throughout the area where Nicholas settled are found ancient earth works of people who pre-dated the Indians—the Mound Builders. However, during the era of white settlement, many of these features were plowed over.
Mill Creek, where the Hancher family took root, rises in the south-west part of Berkeley County and flows north and east. It empties into the Opequon, relatively near our ancestor John Caudy’s property. The Opequon crosses the county and empties into the Potomac River.
The place names of the streams and features of the area are Algonquin and Iroquois confederation in origin:
· Shenandoah = “stars”
· Capacon River (associated with James Caudy, whose daughter Sarah married Nicholas’ son John) = “the medicine water”
· Potowmack (Potomac) = “the place of burning pine”
· Tuscarora = “hemp gatherers”
The Children of Nicholas and Rebecca Henshaw. (Birth years are approximate):
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John (our ancestor)
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1734 - 1793
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m. Sarah Caudy
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William
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1736 - 1799
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m. Agnes Anderson
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Children of
William and Agnes:
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Nicholas 1763 – 1821
Settled in Kentucky
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m. Margaret McConnel
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Levi 1769 – 1843
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Hiram 1771 – 1845
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m. Mary McDonnell
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Adam Stephen 1772 -
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m. Mary McKenny
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Jonathan 1773 -
Settled in Cashockton, OH
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m. Elizabeth Stafford
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Ruhanna 1778 –
Settled in Kentucky
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m. Seth Duncan
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Washington 1779 – 1853
Settled in Greene Co., TN
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m. (1) Charlotte Malick
(2) Harriet Elizabeth _______ (3) Widow Robinson
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William Slaughter 1783 – 1836
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m. Harriet Lyle
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Uriah 1786 – 1859
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m. Elizabeth McDonald
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Rachel
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m. Joseph Lemmon
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Elinor
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1737 -
Settled in KY
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m. (1) Jeremiah Archer
(2) Robert Brownfield
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Mary
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1739 -
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m. (1) John Stonebridge
(2) David Belcher
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Hannah
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18 Mar 1746 - before 1777
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m. Thomas Berry
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Our Ancestral Uncle William Henshaw and His Sons
Regarding our ancestral uncle William Henshaw: Just before the Revolution, William Henshaw was active in the formation of Berkeley County from part of old Frederick County. He owned sufficient capital to serve as bondsman for General Adam Stephens, the first sheriff of the new county. William is listed from 1771-72 as a subscriber to Blackstone’s Commentaries on the Laws of England which was re-printed in Philadelphia for Americans and sold to interested parties. He was with his elderly father at the Battle of Point Pleasant, October 10, 1774 and also present at the peace treaty signing with the Indians at Camp Charlotte near Chillicothe, Ohio in that same year. William served in the Revolution, having signed up (along with his father) to the first call for troops in 1775 to form the Virginia Continental Army. William was a captain but never collected compensation for his services. It is this ancestral uncle for whom a chapter of the D.A.R. is named. William’s unit quick marched to Bunker Hill, Massachusetts to engage the “Redcoats.” Upon his return home, he named his home area “Bunker Hill” in honor of that great engagement.
Detailed diaries kept by William’s sons Capt. Levi Henshaw and Capt. Hiram Henshaw are reproduced in the Appendix (family copies only). The journals cover their trips of 1828/29 and 1830, respectively, from their homes to neighboring states. The text is richly annotated with family members with whom they stayed along with their daily activities and expense records. [15]
Quaker “Disownments”
The family’s association with the Quakers did not endure beyond the second generation. It appears that most, if not all of the second generation left the Quakers by the time of the American Revolution. Various of Nicholas and Rebecca’s children appear in the Hopewell Friends disownment records: [11]
- Hannah Hancher Berry wife of Thomas Berry – p. 497 – An interesting progression:
April 1, 1762 she appears “married out of unity.” May 5, 1762, she is disowned for having “married contrary to discipline.” She appears to have had a month to disavow her marriage outside the church. But, she did not do so.
- William was disowned for having assisted his sister Hannah in her marriage out of unity.
- Mary Hancher Stonebridge – 1766 – p. 498 – for being married “contrary to discipline.”
- Elinor on June 9, 1762 for her marriage to Mr. Brownfield “contrary to discipline.”
- John Hancher – 1781 (our ancestor) – p. 503 (details not available until we locate a copy of the book)
“Disownments” list the termination of membership from the Society of Friends (The Quakers). Although disownment implies abandonment or rejection, as used by the Quakers, it held no harsh theological implications such as the damnation imposed by Roman Catholic ex-communication; nor did it carry community punishment such as shunning. It was the term of that time for acknowledging (in most cases) that the person was no longer in communion with the teachings of the Quakers. To the Quakers, internal group harmony and accord was paramount. “Disownment” was not a light matter but occurred when the congregation believed the person was truly now outside their framework. In most cases, it carried no condemnation; rather, it was a regretful recognition of what could be termed “another’s life not in accord with ours.”
After disownment, one could reenter fellowship if all became “right.” Some were disowned because their fellows felt they were no longer led by their “inner light” but were guided externally. Many were disowned for marrying outside the church; or assisting other Quakers to do so; or, for any number of actions considered so against Quaker precepts that the person was considered a detriment to the wellbeing of the fellowship. Serious acts against Quaker beliefs included taking up arms against the Indians or in war. See the articles in the Appendix on the Quakers to help us understand the tensions of this era between beliefs and society.
As mentioned two sections ahead, William (Nicholas’ grandson and our ancestor) and his wife Ann Dunn Henshaw were also disowned. William and Ann’s son William was a fervent and active Lutheran before leaving Virginia for Tennessee. It appears the entire family changed beliefs and practices. There were many Quaker disownments during this era and up to the mid-19th Century as Protestant churches became prominent in areas first settled by the gentle and reflective spiritual descendants of William Penn.
Other Documentation of Nicholas and Rebecca’s Life
1755: June 26 – Hopewell Friends Monthly Meeting records show “Rebeckah Handshaw” as a witness and signator to the marriage certificate of John Lupton and Sarah Frost at “Opeckan” (variant of Opequon).
1758: July 24 – Nicholas Hanshaw is recorded as a voter in Frederick County, VA. Listed in the poll of the election of the candidate George Washington for the House of Burgesses, 1758 – 1765 term.
1760: Rebecca witnessed and signed another marriage document—that of Andrew McCoy and Jane Ridgeway at Hopewell Friends Monthly Meeting.
Nicholas Volunteers At an Advanced Age—1774/1775
Information posted to the Hinshaw Family Association site states that just prior to the Revolution, Nicholas answered the first call for troops in 1775 for the formation of the Virginia Continental Army. He served as a Lieutenant in Captain Hugh Stevens’ Regiment.
Both Nicholas and his son William had fought the year before (1774) as part of the Virginia Militia at the Battle of Point Pleasant against hostile Indians. Although it was the duty of all free Virginians of good health and between the ages of 16 - 50 to serve in the militia, Nicholas served when he was (est.) 70 years old. The occasion was “Lord Dunmore’s War,” now an interesting footnote predating the Revolution.
While our Tennessee ancestors were engaged with the Cherokees before, during and after the Revolution, Northwestern Virginia, reaching into the Blue Ridge Mountains, was under attack by the Shawnees. Whites were pushing westward into Shawnee territory and a few were pursuing ad hoc extermination of the Indians. The Shawnee chief ordered the killing of any Virginian on their land and the robbing and whipping of any Pennsylvanians. Many settlers headed east.
Lord Dunmore, Royal Governor of Virginia, was asked by western leaders to approve a military campaign against the Shawnees. Upon his approval, a plan was conceived that took three months to deploy. Many disagreements had to be resolved. Most Virginians were reluctant to serve under officers without experience in Indian fighting (after the early disasters of the French & Indian War twenty years prior). The command was also divided over marching south to the Holsten (Watauga) area along the Tennessee/Virginia border or to go west to the Ohio to engage the Shawnee.
On October 10, 1774, the Virginia militia met the Shawnee at Point Pleasant (in the wilderness of what is now West Virginia). Two hundred sixty-one men crossed the Ohio in pursuit of the Shawnee while others fortified Point Pleasant. Point Pleasant was the only battle of “Lord Dunmore’s War.” But it took Indian pressure off the Valley of Virginia.
Nicholas’ will was dated September 21, 1774. [4] The Hinshaw Family Association records now list Nicholas’ death as August 19, 1777 near Bunker Hill, Berkeley County (a portion that had broken from Frederick County). The text of his will appears in the Appendix.
We have yet to discover Rebecca’s date of death. However, she died prior to the date of her husband’s will as she is not mentioned in that document.
*** END OF CHAPTER ***
JOHN HENSHAW/HANCHER AND SARAH CAUDY
(Parents of William Hancher, the father of the Rev. William Hancher)
John Henshaw was born in Frederick County, Virginia (now Berkeley County, West Virginia) in 1734 to Nicholas and Rebecca Smith Henshaw. Most records of John indicate the spelling “Henshaw.” His children modified the name to the regional speech, “Hancher.”
Johnmarried Sarah Caudy at Hopewell Meeting House in Frederick Co., VA.
Sarah was the daughter of James Caudy and Mary Hutchinson (see the section on James Caudy). Sarah was born in Frederick County’s Capacon Valley in 1739. She and her family, along with the Henshaws, survived the French and Indian War of the mid-1750s. A mass exodus occurred during that war; but the Henshaws and Caudys remained through that dangerous time in Colonial American history.
The Family Homestead Property—The Family
John Henshaw purchased land in Frederick Co. VA in 1766 from Lord Fairfax. The land also appears in a 1793 document dividing his 1766 grant. A copy of the 1766 purchase is in the back of this section. [8 and 15]
John acquired additional land along Mill Creek from its original settlers. On it, he and his father built two houses, one of which eventually became known as “Spring Hill.” This later holding stayed in eight generations of Henshaws until 1951. [2]
John, his brother William, and their father Nicholas built a log grist mill and a saw mill, making the combined families less dependent on their crops.
The Children of John and Sarah Henshaw:
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William (Sr.) (our ancestor)
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1760 (est.) – bef. 5/6/1794
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m. Ann Dunn
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Mary
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- 1840
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m. Cornelius Gard
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Susanna
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-
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m. _______ Chew
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Margaret
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1776 (est.) - 1825
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m. Samuel McGuiness
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Elizabeth
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m. John Jonson
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Sarah
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m. _______ Ellis
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David
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|
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Ruhannah
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1784 -
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Eleanor (Elloner)
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m. Robert Cooper
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Lydia
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1776 - 1856
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m. William Chew
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Rebecca
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m. James Minson
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Revolutionary Service: John was 40 years old when he enlisted as a private in the 8th Virginia Militia Regiment of the Continental Army during the American Revolution. [10]
Sarah’s Pewter Plate
From a book owned by Alma Cole Thompson of Santa Barbara, CA (as taken from “Descendants of Nicholas Hancher”) as posted on the Henshaw Family Association web site, we read:
A pewter plate in possession of Nancy (Gard) Diggle is inscribed: “Mary Nash to Sarah Hanshire.” The listing assumes the gift as pre-1774.
This family treasure has been passed down through the Gard family (John and Sarah’s daughter Mary married Cornelius Gard as listed above).
Other Sightings:
1771: John witnessed and signed the marriage certificate of Henry Lewis and Lydia Barrett at the Hopewell Meeting House. [11]
1781: John Henshaw is “disowned” at the Hopewell Monthly Meeting. [11]
Dividing The Land—“19 acres, 1 rod and 18 poles”
John died December 2, 1793 in Frederick County. Although his estate was settled May 6, 1794, 172 acres of land was finally distributed September 2, 1801. [9]
After a survey, each heir received “19 acres, 1 rod and 18 poles.” When John’s son William (our ancestor) died about a year after his father, William left 110 acres including buildings which were divided among his children.
The house that evolved into Spring Hill was on the portion of land that Nicholas Henshaw left to his son William. Nicholas’ will leaves land and his house to William but money to John. Presumably, John had his own house on adjoining land. Henshaw family sources say that John acquired the land and he and Nicholas built two houses (one for each) and a mill. The then extensive Mill Creek family holdings were apparently divided between the father Nicholas and sons John and William. Siblings, uncles, and cousins lived in close proximity for two generations before younger couples started moving from the area for their best land opportunities. You will notice from reading the diaries of Captains Levi and Hiram Henshaw that their own children had scattered out as far as Kentucky, Ohio, and Tennessee by the late 1820’s. This is the pattern of our ancestors and common to early America.
Perhaps John Henshaw divided his farm between his heirs because, by that time, there was not enough cash to equitably distribute his estate. It is interesting that John included his daughters in the land distribution rather than leaving them the traditional “feather bed” or modest amount of money. This was a very “modern” estate settlement for its time.
Sarah Caudy Henshaw died September 30, 1807 in Frederick County at age 68. Her will was probated that same year.
II. WILLIAM HENSHAW /HANCHER (Sr.) AND ANN DUNN
(Parents of the Rev. William Hancher)
William Henshaw, son of John Henshaw and Sarah Caudy, married Ann Dunn (see below).
Regarding William: We do not yet know William Henshaw’s birth date. However, William’s descent and his marriage to Ann are verified through Quaker church records, property sale documents, estate appraisals, and William’s will. William and Ann raised their family in Frederick County on their family farm and were originally affiliated with the Hopewell Meeting House Quaker church.
Regarding Ann: Our original sources did not know of Ann’s parents or any of her family. According to current Hinshaw Family Association resources, Ann Dunn was born about 1762 in Whitehall, Frederick County VA. A family association inquiry provides the following:
- A William Dunn is traced to Lancaster, PA where he married “Jane” in 1751. His will of December 1, 1760 names his children, including a daughter, Ann.
- The couple moved to Virginia. Whitehall, where Ann was born (or her birth registered) is next to the modern Berkeley County, WV line and still in Frederick County, VA. (The person providing this information listed Berkeley County as the couple’s destination, but the area was entirely Frederick County until 1772.)
- “Jane” was remarried to Thomas Faulkner by 1763.
- In Thomas Faulkner’s 1804 will, he names the children of his wife Jane: “William Dun, Sarah Crumly, Ann Handshaw, James Dun.”
Known children of William and Jane Dunn:
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Sarah
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m. William Crumley
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James
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|
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William
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Ann (our ancestress) b. abt. 1762
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m. William Henshaw
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After the death of Jeremiah Archer in 1761 (husband of William’s sister Eleanor), William Hancher assumed legal guardianship of Jeremiah’s minor children, serving in this capacity until Eleanor’s subsequent marriage to Robert Brownfield. The Brownfields moved to Kentucky and Eleanor was disowned by Hopewell Meeting for marrying “contrary to discipline.”
Considering Ann’s approximate birth year and her married name, William Dunn and “Jane” may be listed with confidence as our ancestors. And, Thomas Faulkner recorded as the stepfather who raised Ann Dunn from infancy.
Coincidences—Crumleys and Rubles in Virginia/Crumleys and Rubles in Tennessee
- Ann’s sister Sarah married a William Crumley (as that couple spelled their last name inspite of Mr. Faulkner’s will above). This William could have been of German or English descent. But, it is interesting that the Caudy children were related to Crumleys as were Ann’s great grandchildren (through the marriage of Catherine Hancher and John Greer).
- A James Crumley is listed on a deed for land in Frederick County as living next door to Ulrich Ruble, the senior member of the Ruble family in Virginia.
- The Ruble family of Tennessee married into the Greer family when John and Catherine Hancher Greer’s daughter Mary Catherine married John Ruble. These Rubles were the parents of Mary Ruble, our original family historian).
- Late in life, Mary Ruble wrote Helen Greer a post card on which she reported she had finally documented her Hancher DAR proofs and had discovered links to “interesting families” on Apple Pie Ridge near Winchester, VA. Apple Pie Ridge is given as the home territory of Crumleys, Rubles, and in-laws of various Henshaw/Hancher daughters in a history of that area. [16]
Leaving the Society of Friends
In addition to William’s sisters Hannah and Mary (and presumably their families), William and Ann also appear in the Hopewell Friends disownments: [11]
- William Hancher – 1782 – p. 497
- Ann Dunn Handsher – 1778 – p. 502
Notice that Ann was “disowned” four years before her husband. Also, the person writing Ann’s name in the records at the Hopewell Friends Meeting House created or assumed yet another version of the family name. Considering that the Virginia generations of the 19th and 20th Centuries spelled their name “Henshaw,” it is interesting that the Disownments list both William and his son John as “Hancher,” the form used by The Reverend William of Tennessee. In Maude Pugh’s book on the Capon Valley, the “Hancher” form is used consistently throughout family references.
William and Ann’s children were:
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James
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1771 -
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Thomas
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1773 - 1862
Moved to eastern OH about
1830
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Hiram
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1779 -
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Jacob
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1783 -
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Abner
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1785 -
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Hannah
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1787 -
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William (our ancestor)
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1788 - 1870
Moved to Sullivan Co., TN
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m. Sarah Knicely
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John
(used “Hancher”)
Served in War of 1812
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abt. 1790 - 1853
Moved to eastern OH about
1830. Later to KY
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m. Nancy Ann O’Rourke
b. 31 Dec 1807, VA
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Smith (?)
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?
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Not on all charts.
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Mary Ruble provided the following family letter text indicating the eventual homes of Thomas, John, and William Hancher (above):
My father was James Hancher and my grandfather was Thomas Hancher. He and his brother John came from Virginia to East Ohio about 1830. About that time, my father’s uncle, William, my grandfather’s brother, left Virginia for Tennessee.—John W. Hancher to Virginia D. Hancher of Johnson City, TN dated April 24, 1924.
William’s Death and Later to Ann’s Death
William died, leaving a young family for Ann to raise. His estate was appraised May 6, 1794 in Frederick County, Virginia. We do not have William’s date of death. The 1792 disownment does not imply William’s death. That would have been recorded separately as the event was noted.
William’s children inherited an undivided interest in 110 acres and his widow dowers rights to same.
After William’s death, Ann stayed on at the family home and raised her children. She did not remarry.
Ann’s estate was appraised October 17, 1825. We know she was alive the prior year, for she is mentioned as William’s widow in the property sale indenture dated November 10, 1824. In this document she is shown “Ann Hansher widow and relict of William Hansher dec’d.”
Mary Ruble’s D.A.R. “Proof” Linking the Reverend William Hancher to This Family (accepted by that society)
Our ancestor William Hancher of Sullivan Co. Tennessee’s execution of the October 25, 1831 Frederick Co. Virginia sale indenture of his 1/10th share interest of the 110 Frederick County, Virginia estate of his father William, establishes William Hancher of Sullivan County, Tennessee as the son of William Henshaw of Frederick County.
That the father William was married to Ann Dunn is established by a prior record of 1824 that sells the Rev. William’s brother John’s 1/10 interest of the same described land to the same party. That earlier document mentions “Ann Hansher, widow and relict of the said William Hansher dec’d.” [3, 7]
William Hancher of Tennessee and his wife Sarah Knicely are covered by their own chapter above
HANCHER/HENSHAW FAMILY HISTORY SOURCES
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Family Members
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1 Donald Henshaw, Taft, California. Editor of the Henshaw Family Association
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2 Hancher/Henshaw family member postings and query answers at the Henshaw Family Association web site
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3 Mary Rowe Ruble research and documentation of the Greer Family ancestry
(ca. 1960-70)
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Publications and Public Documents
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4 Berkeley Co. West Virginia Records (Frederick Co. Virginia was merged into
that county and state following the Civil War)
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5 Bulletin of Friends Historical Association for 1937
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6 The Complete Book of Emigrants in Bondage. Baltimore, 1988 (Coldham)
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7 Daughters of the American Revolution (D.A.R.) verified pedigree proof
#435186; 457335
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8 Frederick Co., Virginia Deed Book 24: B01
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9 Frederick Co., Virginia Deed Book 27:333
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10 The Historical Register of Virginians in the Revolution. Gwathney Publishing,
1938
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11 Hopewell Friends History 1734 – 1934. Baltimore, 1975: Disownments at Hopewell 1759 – 1829, Book I
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12 Minutes of the Evangelical Lutheran Synod, 1871
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13 Original Lists of Emigrants in Bondage from London to American Colonies
1719 – 1744. Marion and Jack Kaminkow, Eds., Magna Carta Book Co.,
Baltimore, 1981
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14 Historic Sites of Sullivan County. Sullivan County Historical Commission and
Associates. The Kingsport Press, 1976. Re: “Immanuel Lutheran
Church” illustration and article.
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15 Chronicles of Old Berkeley—A Narrative History of a Virginia County from Its Beginnings to 1926. Mabel Henshaw Gardiner, M. D. & Ann Henshaw Gardiner, M.S., The Seeman Press, Durham, N. C. 1938.
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16 Frederick County, Virginia: Settlement and Some First Families of Back Creek Valley 1730-1830. Wilmer L. Kearns, Ph.D. Gateway Press, Inc., Baltimore, MD 1995
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A Hancher Family Homestead—“Spring Hill”
“Spring Hill” came to our family’s attention recently by connection with the Henshaw Family Association, a very active and large on-net meeting place for all the various Henshaw/Hancher/Hinshaws of America. Mr. Don Henshaw of Taft, California, currently family newsletter editor and general “glue” for the Association, provided the picture of the property along with a vivid Civil War story that took place at another of his family’s homes.
The old Hancher/Henshaw family property saw eight successive generations raised within its sturdy walls. It finally left family hands in 1951 after running the large house and property became too much for the widow for its last Henshaw householder, Edwin Campbell Henshaw.
Our ancestors, Nicholas (father) and son John, purchased the land in about 1766. The purchase added onto land already in the family. Nicholas and his sons John and William built and operated a grist mill on the family lands. Spring Hill’s original house was constructed before the American Revolution. It appears to have been added onto over time. The house and outbuildings sit atop a ridge above Mill Creek. This author visited Spring Hill in 2008. Its current owner showed her the kitchen with its exposed beams that are original with the house. The entire property is in excellent condition and is looked after with evident care and affection.
The family groups who lived at “Spring Hill” are:
· Nicholas Henshaw, who constructed the original core house. By Nicholas’ will, he left the house to his son William and 100 pounds to John in consideration of the house and land bequest. Our ancestor John lived on adjacent property in his own dwelling. Nicholas’ will is dated 9/21/1774.
· Captain William Henshaw (brother of our ancestor John Henshaw). Captain William expanded the house and was very active in local business. He had enough capital to serve as county bondsman.
· Captain Hiram Henshaw (see the text of the detailed journal created during his trip to Kentucky and Tennessee that appears in the Appendix of this book).
· Samuel Preston Henshaw
· Edwin Smith Henshaw
· Edwin Campbell Henshaw (it is his wife Mary who finally sold the property)
· Evelyn Henshaw and Isabel Henshaw (sisters)
Don Henshaw’s letter to this author of February 20, 2000 reads:
The picture of the homestead is enclosed. There were slaves’ quarters upstairs in the rear as you faced the house. Their quarters did not have an entrance into the house. They had to go out, down the stairs and then into the house.
At age 16, my great grandfather volunteered for the Confederacy. With the homestead just 50 miles from Washington, D. C. he did not endear himself to many of the other family members.
His letter continues with a Civil War story taking place at his great grandmother’s home:
After Gettysburg, 80,000 troops were sent for six weeks to the farm of the parents of the woman who was later to become my great grandmother. She tells of many of the things that happened at that time. One was that a General and his wife were put up in their home. Good thing, too! They posted guards because up to 500 men per day would come begging food or medical supplies. They had neither to offer. When the troops pulled out, one of the prisoners rolled into a locust bush and hid until everyone was gone. Then he went up to the house and asked for food. They gave him the little they had and put him to bed for the night. At midnight, two officers were standing at the head of mother’s bed asking about an escaped prisoner. She said she had not seen him. They asked if they could search. She told them to go ahead. They were going to do it anyway. Because she was so relaxed, they searched downstairs but never went up where the prisoner was sleeping. The next morning, she gave him a cup of coffee and sent him on his way. She never heard from his again so did not know if he ever made it back to his lines.
JAMES CAUDY—“THE FAMOUS INDIAN FIGHTER” and MARY HUTCHINSON
“…James Caudy, the intrepid pioneer and Indian fighter took his stand against the on coming braves, and with super-human strength hurls them one by one from the rock until the last feathered head disappeared into the abyss below.”
We descend from James Caudy (1707 - 1784) and Mary Hutchinson (1710 – before 1761) through their daughter Sarah who married John Hancher.
Early Days in the Valley of Virginia
The "Valley of the Capacon," where James Caudy purchased his farm and raised his family, is part of the greater Valley of Virginia area first settled in the late 1720’s by the leadership of Jost Hite, from Holland, who obtained the permission of Lord Fairfax to bring in settlers. The land was the “far west” of its era, just east of the Ohio River. Sixteen families had established homes by June 1734. That number of families met the stipulation for the settlement grant.
James Caudy’s recorded life starts a few years after those of our Dieter/Teeter ancestor and does not mention specific religious background as a cause for migration. However, these two families (along with the Hanchers, who settled in Fairfax Co. VA) have much in common in that they settled the same over-all area. John Hancher witnessed his father-in-law James Caudy’s will.
Both Dieter and Caudy are mentioned in the 1754 tobacco tax document referred to in the Dieter family section of this document. George Dieter's holding is specifically listed in the available rolls; whereas the historian who gathered this information states that James Caudy would show if all the rolls were recorded, as he was known to be there at the time and have grown tobacco.
All of the Valley of Virginia was granted to Lord Fairfax by the Crown. It was his to hold or to sell as he wished. James Caudy acquired 358 acres in 1748 and, in 1750, the joining 98 acres from Lord Fairfax. George Washington surveyed our ancestor's second purchase, creating the plat map and statement to substantiate the land transfer. [See details below.]
James Caudy Arrives Prior to the French and Indian War
Our ancestor came into the Valley of the Capacon (named for its river) with one of Jost Hite's parties in the early 1730’s. This was about 25 years prior to the French and Indian War. James is placed there with his first wife, Mary Hutchinson (our ancestress), as their children were born there. A list of their children appears toward the end of this document.
Until recently, family researchers were not in agreement on the specifics related to Mary Hutchinson. Mary Ruble listed “Mary Edwards” in her DAR application, that presumed a first marriage. However, the following has finally come to light:
Mary Hutchinson was born in Prince George Co., MD in 1710, married James Caudy 1 Jan 1730 in her birth county and died in the Capon Valley.
1744: James Caudy was appointed to appraise the estate of Elinor Phipp. (Fred Co. Wills Bk. I)
1746: James “Coddy” of Frederick Co. VA had a servant indentured to him, as follows:
…Servants before James Hamilton, Mayor of Philadelphia, p. 174 (1 Oct) Benjamin Burke assigns Barnaby Lynch (a servant from Ireland in the Brig Rebecca) to James Coddy of Frederick Co. VA yeoman for four years from Sep 20, 1746. Consideration 15 pounds; customary dues.
Source: “Emigrants to PA 1641-1819” edited by Michael Tepper – Geny Pul Co., Baltimore, 1978.
By this contract, James Caudy paid Barnaby Lynch’s passage from Ireland in exchange for four years’ service.
As detailed by Dr. Wilmer Kerns in his book Frederick County, Virginia: Settlement and Some First Families of Back Creek Valley 1730 – 1830 (Gateway Press, Inc., Baltimore, 1995), James Caudy along with other early settlers are credited for the construction of a wagon road running east-west through Frederick County from Winchester to Romney. The foundation for the road was a buffalo path and an old Indian trail. Today, the road parallels U. S. Highway 50.
1748 (May): James Caudy and Thomas Lonem acted as chainmen during James Gann’s survey of Joseph Edwards’ property. (Of interest: One chain = 66 feet. A chain divides into for poles or 100 links.)
In the 1754 tobacco tax rolls mentioned above, the document gatherer writes that the reason this list is so valuable is that it shows the great number of families in residence in Frederick County just before the French and Indian War. The war was so intense and savage in that area that many families left for southern Virginia or the Carolinas. George Washington directed the construction of forts during the war to protect the settlers. Their sites are identified as Forts Edwards, Pearsall, and Forman. Washington formed Virginia's first defense 1753. The French and Indian War resulted in a crushing Colonist defeat in this area of Virginia and the British troops were driven back toward the coast. Unlike many families, the Caudys did not abandon their land during this time, as evidenced by James Caudy's will (below).
There is an interesting mention in a web-review of Willard Wirtz's book Capacon Valley Sampler: Sketches of Appalachia from George Washington to Caudy Davis. It states that one sketch on the French and Indian War "raises some questions about American apartheid.”
“George Washington Slept Here—Twice” GEORGE WASHINGTON SURVEYS JAMES CAUDY'S LAND PURCHASE
Washington himself surveyed Caudy's added land purchase in 1752. Washington's diaries are now on line through the Library of Congress and one can read the passage pertaining to Caudy. Listed is the Caudy property survey. In 1983, George Washington’s original map of the Caudy survey was owned by Mr. J. Percy Sabin of Summit, N.J. The provenance document is in the Library of Congress, tucked into the folder containing the survey map for William Hughes, Jr., which was created eight days prior to our ancestor's survey. It mentions another survey for Evan Pugh. In James' will, he names Robert Pugh as an executor, whose land adjoins his. Robert was no doubt related to the original Pugh settler, Evan. Also, the first name "Evan" was given to a grandson of John Caudy and is the first name of his second executor, Evan Hyatt. The families appear to be joined.
The Land - In Washington's Diaries, James Caudy’s purchase is described as 98 acres in Frederick County: Pursuant to a Warrant from the Proprietors Office I have Surveyed for James Caudy of Great Capachon a certain tract of waste and ungranted Land on the So. Fork of Dilans commonly call'd & known by the Name of the Little Meadows. (Survey for Caudy, Vi). The document is dated March 19, 1752, one year before the French and Indian War engulfed this area of Virginia. However, our ancestor's home site was already noted by Washington in 1748.
GEORGE WASHINGTON'S EARLIER STAY WITH JAMES CAUDY
1748 from George Washington's Dairy entries:
Sunday 10th. We took our farewell of the Branch & travelld over Hills and Mountains to Coddys on Great Capacechon about 40 miles.
Monday 11th. We Travell'd from Coddy's down to Frederick Town where we Reached about 12 oClock. We dined in Town and then went to Capt. Hites & Lodged.
Historical note: The maps George Washington sketched of the western Virginia wilderness were the sole resource for military defenses and strategic planning at the outbreak of the French and Indian War. James Caudy's home appears on the map, as Washington carefully noted every stopping place, stream, trail, and geological feature observed during his famous "Trip to the Ohio."
JAMES CAUDY THE INDIAN FIGHTER AND CAUDY'S CASTLE
“Caudy’s Castle” is a spectacular rock formation above the Capacon River. It is upon this rock that James Caudy stepped into Virginia legend. The action at "Caudy's Castle" Monument is summarized on the Hampshire Co. West Virginia web site's History as follows:
Caudy’s Castle—A natural rock formation, has a legend all its own. It seems that a pioneer settler by the name of Caudy was ambushed by Indians and ran into this rock formation. The rocks are formed such that to get behind them you have to go through this narrow passage which is only large enough for one person to get through at a time. This enabled Caudy to save his life as he was able to kill all the Indians one at a time as they came through the passage. Located l l/2 miles south of Rt. 45 near Bloomery overlooking Capacon River.
Another web site says that "Caudy's Castle is very remote. It is easiest to achieve by canoeing or river rafting down the Capacon River from Capon Bridge. The "castle" is about 10 miles from Caudy's land/home.” Another river rafting source writes:
Caudy's Castle is a spectacular rock formation and is worth a hike up to the top. The Capacon River is now a very popular Class II to III river run and is a great fall trip when the foliage is brilliant against the numerous cliffs along the way.
Here is the more romantic version of how James Caudy earned his local nickname (from Maude Pugh's book on Capon Valley, as provided by our cousin Mary Ruble):
James Caudy: The Pioneer James Caudy, from Holland, born ___________, died 1774, married ___________ is mentioned by Washington as a host to him and his party on their return from the Ohio River in 1755* and Caudy's Place is given on his map which is reproduced in Maude Pugh's book of Capon Valley. Caudy's Castle stands as a National Monument to him.
Caudy's Castle: Near the point where the North River empties its waters into Capon, on a part of North River Mountain known as Castle Mountain, a great cliff just out over Capon, facing the river and rising to a height of about 450 feet. In order to ascend this rock one must climb from the west side until near the castle proper, when he is compelled to make a circuitous curve on a narrow ledge, at the north and then along the face over-hanging the River. On this part was a gnarled and stunted tree growing out of the shelf which could be grasped to give the tourist a moment's change for a magnificent view of Capon River, the White Mountain east of it, and his surroundings in general, but not even Wm. C. Finley who has braved the dangers of much of the world with a camera would attempt the hazards of this curve to capture it. It was here that James Caudy, the intrepid pioneer and Indian fighter took his stand against the on coming braves, and with super-human strength hurls them one by one from the rock until the last feathered head disappeared into the abyss below.
There is a space of several feet on top but it is difficult to stand on it because of a sweeping gale. Under the castle is Trinkling Springs.
*Discrepancy noted: 1755 in Maude Pugh's account and 1748 from Washington's own diaries.
THE JAMES CAUDY FAMILY
James’ Origins—Dutch or Scots-Irish?
- Mary Ruble (and most of the the Henshaw Family Association) indicate Holland as James’ country of origin before coming to America, but not necessarily of his birth. Maude Pugh, quoted above regarding Caudy’s Castle, claims that James was born in Holland. That was the consensus of her time in the early 20th Century. However, considering the religious climate of the time, James Caudy could have been English as well, as many non-conforming protestant congregations of English speaking people were still in the Netherlands 100 years after the Pilgrims came to America.
- If and when James’ origins are finally documented rather than being oral history, this book will be updated, as it will be from time-to-time for new “proofs,” corrections, or additions.
Mary Hutchinson (or Edwards—see above) was the mother of the known children known of James Caudy.
The Children of JAMES CAUDY AND MARY HUTCHINSON:
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David
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m. Martha Heitt (Hiatt, Hyatt)
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Anne
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m. __________ Dulain
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Margaret
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m. Daniel Wood
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James Jr.
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Sarah (our ancestress) b. 1738
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m. John Hancher
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Mary
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The Caudys spent their married life along the Capacon River. This is in the area currently called “the Potomac Highlands” where West Virginia and Virginia meet.
Mary died sometime before 1761, as James married the “widow McCoy” in that year. Evidence of the second marriage is found in Wilmer L. Kern’s Settlement and Some First Families in Back Creek Valley, page 404. Gateway Press, Baltimore, MD 1995:
By 1761, James Caudy, the well-known Indian fighter of Capon Bridge had married the widow of James McCoy. Caudy expected to inherit the 369 acres that he been granted to McCoy, by virtue of his marriage to widow McCoy. However, John Capper claimed that he had purchased the land from McCoy prior to McCoy’s death. Capper, however, could not prove ownership because he had neither a deed nor a legal transfer. This dispute created a feud between Caudy and Capper, which continued for several years. Finally, Lord Fairfax decided to settle the dispute and he called both Capper and Caudy into his office on a Saturday of November 1762.
After hearing both sides of the case, Fairfax was sympathetic to all parties involved: To Capper for paying for the land that he didn’t get; to Mrs. Caudy (previously the widow McCoy) in deference to her late husband; and to Caudy. A new survey was presented on Nov. 26, 1762 and referring to this document, Fairfax granted Caudy 165 acres and Capper was granted 204 acres of McCoy’s original 369 acres. Caudy later deeded land to Michael Capper, son of John Capper, and Michael lost the land because of delinquent taxes.
From his renown as an Indian fighter, we know that James Caudy was actively engaged in the French and Indian War that ravaged his valley in the mid 1750’s.
- He lived to see the triumph of the American Revolution.
- He died in 1784 in the “United States of America.”
Clues From A Will
James Caudy’s will was dated December 2, 1783 and was probated March 9, 1784. His son-in-law John Hancher was a witness. The “Evan Hyatt” mentioned as a co-executor may have been a brother or relative of James’ daughter-in-law, Martha “Hiett” who married David Caudy. Considering the evolving spelling of last names, it is fairly safe to venture a guess of relationship between Martha “Hiett” and Evan Hyatt. In Kern’s book (above), the author consistently uses “Heitt” rather than Hyatt, mentioning Evan Heitt (1748 – 1815) as a prominent local Quaker minister.
James Caudy’s will reveals the marriages of his children mentioned in that document and suggests the deaths of two children prior to December, 1783:
1. David Caudy had died. His widow, Martha, was left a life interest (or until she remarried) of all James Caudy’s land. Upon Martha’s remarriage or death, the land was to be divided between David and Martha’s two sons, John (100 acres) and James (the remaining).
2. “Widow McCoy,” James’ second wife, is not mentioned in his will. She, presumably, predeceased him.
3. From this document we learn that James’ daughter Ann married a Mr. Dulain and was widowed, as the portions mentioning James’ living daughters (Sarah Hancher and Margaret Wood) state the husbands’ names for legal purposes (John Hancher and Dan’l Wood, respectively), but Ann’s husband is not mentioned.
4. Daughter Mary and son James, Jr. are not mentioned in the will nor are grandchildren from either Mary or James Jr. While being omitted from the will is not proof of earlier deaths, that is a usual assumption. James gave each mentioned daughter five shillings to “her and her heirs forever,” in keeping with acknowledging children who were not inheriting actual property.
5. We can easily surmise that Martha Caudy, David’s widow, lived in James’ house and cared for him in his old age, as Martha’s support is the paramount consideration of her father-in-law’s will. She still had minor children at home, since their support is specified in the will.
(A copy of the will appears on the following page.)
James Caudy’s grave is maintained by the current owner of his former property. The site is in the middle of a field about 50 feet from River Road, about a mile south of where Highway 50 crosses the Opequon River. A white fence surrounds the grave. A local service club erected a memorial headstone in 2003 with his name and birth and death years inscribed.
Our Descent from James Caudy and Mary Hutchinson
Our ancestresss Sarah Caudy, daughter of James and Mary Caudy, married John Hancher in Frederick County, Virginia on September 11, 1768. John was the son of Nicholas Henshaw and Rebecca Smith.
—See the Hancher Family section for this history’s continuation through the Hanchers and allied families into the Greer lineage with the marriage of Catherine Hancher to John Greer in 1844.
Good Current Sources of Caudy and Hancher/Henshaw Genealogical Information
There is active Hancher/Henshaw family research and information exchange via the Henshaw Family Association and the Caudy Family Forum which are both on-net. It is hoped that more particulars of Sarah Caudy Hancher’s extended family will surface.
James Caudy’s Will
THE WILL OF JAMES CAUDY—INDIAN FIGHTER AND PIONEER
Book No. 2, Page 40, Romney, West Virginia
The second day of December 1783, I, James Caudy, of the county of Hampshire State of Virginia, being of sound mind and memory: Thanks be given to the Almighty God, therefore, and calling to mind the frailty of human nature, as well as knowing that it is ordained, that all men once should die, do make and ordain this, My last Will and Testament, that is to say,
In the first place I give and recommend My Soul to Almighty God who gave it to me, and My body to the earth to be buried in a decent and Christian like manner at the discretion of My Executors, nothing doubting, but at General Resurrection I shall receive the same again by The Mighty Power of God, and as touching such worldly Estate wherewith it hath pleased God to bless Me in this life;
I give and dispose of in the manner and for following, in the first place I give unto Martha Caudy, the widow of My Son, David Caudy, all the land I am now possessed of, during her widowhood or single life, and at her death or marriage my will and device is that My Grandson, John Caudy, son of David Caudy, have one hundred acres of land on the part that joins Robert Pugh, to be laid off with a parallel line to that which joins Robert Pugh’s land, that is at the death or marriage, or Martha Caudy, aforesaid, which said 100 acres of land I give to him and his heirs forever.
Likewise, at the death or marriage of Martha Caudy, My Will and Devise is that My Grandson James Caudy, son of David Caudy, shall have all the rest of My Land which I now possess not before devised to John and Even Caudy, which land I give to him and his heirs forever.
Then I give to My beloved Daughter, Ann Dulain, five shillings, which sum I give to her and her heirs forever.
I give to My Beloved Daughter, Margaret Wood, wife of Dan’l Wood five shillings which I give to her and her heirs forever.
I give to My Beloved Daughter, Sarah Hancher, wife of John Hancher, five shillings which I give her and her heirs forever.
My will and devise is that My movable estate not before disposed of viz.: cattle, horses, hogs, and furniture, pewter, pots and etc. togeather (sic) with all the advantages that may arise from the goods now under distress for the bond due to me from My Son David Caudy, be applies (sic) to the use of maintaining Martha Caudy, relict of My Son David Caudy, and her Children during her widowhood and at her death or Marriage, to be applies (sic) to support of her children. It is My Will and Devise that Robert Pugh and Evan Hyatt be My whole and sole Executors of this, My last Will and testament.
In witness, whereof, I have here unto, set My hand and seal, the day and year first above written.
James Caudy (seal)
his mark
Witness: Elias Poston, Sam’l Edwards, John Hancher, Sam’l Chesher Probated March 9, 1784
GEORGE KNICELY AND MARY TEETER
We are related to the Knicely family through George Knicely who married Mary Teeter. Their daughter Sarah married William Hancher (2) whose daughter Catherine married John Greer.
George Knicely married Mary Teeter on October 31, 1791 in Washington Co., Virginia, where both the Knicely and Teeter families lived.
Mary, the daughter of John Teeter and Eve Turney (Tournai) was born in Virginia. For the ancestors of Mary Teeter, see the following:
(1) John Teeter and Eve Turney
(2) The Teeter/Dieter Family
(3) The Turney/Tournai Family
We have not discovered the birth dates of either George or Mary Teeter Knicely. Nor have we any indication of George Knicely’s ancestors. In various family records, the family name is spelled “Nicely” as well as “Knicely.” Like most of the ancestral names we share, it evolved to mirror American English pronunciation. There are old Virginia records of various “Nicely” and “Knisely” families in that colony during the American Revolution. A William Nicely is listed as a Frederick Co., Virginia soldier enrolling May 5, 1778. A Huguenot Society membership application cited on page 94 indicates Switzerland as George’s birthplace. Because of other problems with that document, that country is being viewed as a possibility rather than as a fact.
What We Know of These Ancestors
George’s original land grand was processed four years after his marriage. The young couple probably settled the land before the formal warrants were recorded.
George Knicely is found in the Washington Co. Virginia Surveyor’s Records of 1781-1797, p. 441. The document records a 127-acre warrant for George listing land situated on the north side of the Holston River, per a Knicely Treasury warrant dated October 28, 1795.
This ancestor also appears in the same Washington Co. Virginia records as an assignor on two Treasury warrants (#2085 for 48 acres and #832 for 50 acres, pp. 411 and 440). While we know nothing of George Knicely’s background, we know by evidence of his Revolutionary War service bounty land grants that he was a Revolutionary Patriot.
Our ancestress Sarah Elizabeth Knicely was born July 5, 1792 in Washington County, Virginia. She was presumably the eldest of George and Mary’s family.
In 1802, the Knicely family moved a few miles south over the Virginia/Tennessee border to Sullivan County, Tennessee, where George Knicely purchased a farm near Blountville. (Source: Mary Ruble). The current topographical map of Sullivan County shows a “Nicely Branch” creek about nine miles southeast of Bristol towards Blountville. It runs between Paperville and Ruthian. This location could be the site of George and Mary’s farm.
When George Knicely died in 1807, his widow, Mary Teeter Knicely (Nicely) was left with four children at home (among them, our ancestress Sarah). Mary inherited 62 acres of land in Sullivan County and other portions of George's estate. She and her brother Jacob Teeter administered George's will.
After her husband’s death, Mary remained for some years on the farm. Jacob Teeter and his family lived nearby. Mary raised her children on the farm and never remarried.
The 1830 Census indicates “Widow Knicely 60/70” living near the Hanchers with “1 female 20/30.” This could have been a last daughter remaining home. Mary later moved to the home of her daughter Sarah and her husband the Rev.William Hancher (still in Sullivan County). Although Sarah died March 4, 1833, Mary remained in her son-in-law’s home until her death in 1856. The 1850 Census lists Mary Nicely, widow, living with the Rev. William Hancher.
An interesting circumstance came to light only because of Mary’s estate and subsequent legal proceedings:
Joshua, Armstead, and Franky—The Value of Three Slaves
A Sullivan County, TN court record dated November 8, 1859 (George F. Gammon Clerk and Master to David Harr) concerns Mary Nicely’s estate. The document is an indenture conveying title of Mary's 62 dower acres of land to David Harr.
The document acknowledges a prior decree to sell the 62 acres to Clifford Tyler, who turned around and sold to Mr. Harr. What is interesting is that the document refers to the "value" of the three slaves Mary owned upon her death three years previously.
The first page lists Mary's Hancher grandchildren and their spouses:
George Wolford and Wife Mary A., John Barger and his wife - Emmeline, Martin L. Roller and his wife Jane, Jacob Rodefer and wife Nancy, John Hancher, Alfred Gray and wife Elizabeth, John Greer and wife Catherine, and James K. Hancher and others…
having:
…filled their bill in said Court against Clifford Tyler and wife Anna Tyler, Amos Malone and his wife Catharine - Christopher Stanbus administrator of Mary Nicely and William Hancher husband of Sarah Hancher dec'd, John Miller, Sr. and his wife Elizabeth, and James Fields, Setting forth among other things that George Nicely died 50 years ago leaving a widow and 4 children, that Mary Nicely widow and Jacob Teter administered, made no distributive, that the funds of the estate were vested in three slaves, Joshua, Armstead and Franky, that the widow's dower was Sixty two acres, she having died in November 1856 and Staubus became her adm. That about 18 years ago, Tyler and wife commenced living with Mary Nicely, got the benefit of the labor of the slaves tied unto the lands, various sums of money and that Joshua was a charge upon the estate and made no provision for his support....
It appears that the Tylers settled with the heirs and spouses previously regarding the value the Tylers received from the slaves and were paid for the 62 acres.
The real estate involved is described as containing a portion of land running alongside William Hancher’s property. A copy of the document is enclosed.
To Discover: Other Descendants of George and Mary Knicely
We lack a clear record of George and Mary’s descendants other than our ancestress Sarah and three first names provided by Mary Ruble.
1. Sarah Elizabeth – b. July 5, 1792 – married the Rev. William Hancher (our ancestors)
2. Mary
3. Jacob
4. Elizabeth
Most of the descendants of Mary Knicely mentioned in the court case are grandchildren through the Hancher connection (Wolford, Barger, Roller, Rodefer, Gray and Hancher). Only Sarah Knicely Hancher is clearly defined through legal records.
When Mary’s dower interest was sold in the above proceedings, the following legally interested persons appear in the documentation:
1. Catherine and Amos Malone
2. John and Elizabeth Miller (John Sr.)
3. James Fields
4. William Hancher, husband of Sarah
5. Christopher Stanbus, Administrator of the Estate
6. Clifford and Anne Tyler (probably no relation; they were a couple who moved in with Mary in the late 1830’s and received “the benefit of the labor of the slaves” disputed in the court case).
While it is inaccurate to assume children from the above list, Elizabeth Miller could have been a daughter. Although Mary Knicely’s sister Catherine is recorded as having married a John Miller on May 31, 1791, it is more likely that John and Elizabeth Miller are descendents of Mary rather than Mary’s nephew and his wife. James Fields could have been a widowed son-in-law (like William, husband of Sarah) or a surviving grandson of another daughter. We hope that future genealogical research will turn up other family charts to fill in these gaps. Research using the above names will no doubt add information to this on-going family history book. And, we may find other Knicely or Nicely families to which we are related.
Other Data
Washington County, VA Survey records abstracts
1781-1797 Part 5 of 5 (pages 401-500)
Page 441 - George Knicely - 127 ac - treasury warrant
- on the north side of the north fork of Holstein River -
October 28, 1795
Page 411 - James Smith, assignee of Jerre Runy,
assignee of George Knicely, assignee of John Lewis,
assignee of Abraham Fulkerson - 48 ac - treasury
warrant #2085 - on the north side of the north fork of
Holstein - to the mouth of a Blue Spring Creek -
January 2, 1794
Page 440 - James Smith, assignee of Jerre Reamy,
assignee of George Knicely - 50 ac treasury warrant
#832 dated November 7, 1794 - on both sides of the
north fork of Holston River including the mouth of
Blue Spring branch - corner to Abraham Fulkersons
land - at the mouth of said branch - October 27, 1795
THE TEETER/DIETER FAMILY
(Ancestors of Sarah Kniceley Hancher, wife of the Rev. William Hancher.)
Our earliest known Teeter family member was Johan “George” Dieter, who arrived in Philadelphia September 11, 1729 on the ship Allen, along with 185 other passengers who were mostly from Germany. He was from Schwaigein in the Wuerttemburg district of Germany. Our ancestor referred to himself as "George" throughout his adult life, and signed the ship's register "Georg Dieter." Four days after arrival, he signed his immigration oaths (see below). It was customary to vet the ship's passengers to be sure all who were indentured were accounted for and to clear people for infectious diseases. These precautions accounted for the normal two or three days between ship arrivals and oath taking.
The majority of the Allen’s passengers were German Dunkards led by Alexander Mack. This migration was twenty years after the first waves of Germans came to America. The Dunkards (who termed themselves “The Brethern”) had a utopian vision of communities of like-minded congregants. Many Brethern congregations came en masse to America. Alexander Mack was one of the most prominent clergymen of his church. Divisions arose between church leaders on interpretation of scripture and other spiritual matters. Mack concluded that life away from Germany and its social and religious controls would enable his flock to stay pure and lead Godful lives with minimal distractions.
The group left Rotterdam in the spring of 1729. The Allen, piloted by Captain James Craigie, sailed to the Isle of Wight and temporarily anchored at Cowes, England. All passenger ships to the British colonies were of English registry, for only English ships could unload passengers in an American port. The ship finally set sail for Philadelphia on July 7, 1729 for its two month voyage.
In Philadelphia, our ancestor signed two oaths:
(1) The Oath of Allegiance to the King of Great Britain
(2) The Oath of Abjuration
During this period, Jost Hite was leading parties of German Dunkards and Quakers into "The Valley of Virginia." These were the first pioneer families of what was then “the far west.” The area settled was along the Opaquen and Capacon Rivers -- Frederick and Berkeley Counties. This is the same area that our ancestors James Caudy and Nicholas Hancher came to.
George Dieter settled on the Opaquen on land Jost Hite had purchased from the Van Meter family. By 1734, there were 54 families in the area, including the Dieters. Recent additions to Ancestry.com show that George’s wife may be Marie Luttman. This is offered at this time as a suggestion and will be researched as information becomes available.
The Reverend John Caspar Stoever, a Lutheran circuit minister throughout Maryland, Pennsylvania, and Virginia, records the baptisms of the children of "Joh. George Dieter, Opequon," including our ancestor:
John George, b. Mar. 9, 1739, sponsors: George Bauman and wife Maria
[Note: The Reverend Stoever is assumed by the Eisenhower family be an ancestor of President Eisenhower. There were various Stoevers in Pennsylvania at this early time who were closely related and from the same area of Germany. Depending which book on early Virginia history one reads, the Reverend is presumed to be a direct ancestor of the President or an uncle.]
This Lutheran infant baptism indicates that the Dieters either fell away from “The Brethern” or were not part of Mack’s congregation upon their immigration. The Stoevers (Senior and Junior) ministered to German speaking Lutherans. During their absence, local lay leaders conducted Bible readings and often taught reading.
Although the American Revolution occurred decades after our ancestor’s baptism, it is of interest to note that the Lutheran Church’s efforts were greatly aided by the influx of German/Hessian mercenary troops who opted to remain in America. In rural areas, the church discovered that the Hessians were better educated than the second and third generation German Americans. A common practice that gained their acceptance in an American community was for ex-Hessian soldiers to become teachers in their local church.
Documents Relating to Our Ancestor George Dieter/Teter:
- George Dieter (now spelling his last name "Teter" in English style) signed a 1739 petition for a road. That George Teter's signature matches the hand of the "George Dieter" of the ship Allen (above).
- On June 9, 1744, George Teter brought suit against Sponsour Jons. The case was decided in his favor (Frederick Co., VA Order Book 1, p. 127).
- On June 3, 1746, "Martin Cartnell having moved the Court to have Margaret Teator, daughter of George Teator bound to him, which was granted to him and sd. Martin having in open Court acknowledged his indenture to the sd. Margaret the same is ordered to lye in the office." [Order Book 2, p. 104]
- Tobacco Tax Roll: 1754: "George Teator" appears in the Frederick County, VA Fee Book (Col. James Woods' Fee Book). The fee (tax) book records pounds of tobacco on which tax would be levied. The Book, dated Jan 17, 1754, was signed by Sheriff Meredith Hehn and James Wood, Clerk of the Court. It lists 502 heads of families with female heads of households listed separately. The roll is important to historians as it provides a family census just prior to the mass migration from Frederick County brought about by the French and Indian War.
Our ancestor was assessed on 103 pounds. The tax roll reveals that tobacco holdings ranged from 10 pounds up to 3,000 pounds (the largest holding). Most families held less than 200 pounds of tobacco and many less than 100. The Book totals 66,451 pounds of tobacco among 502 families, making the average holding 132 pounds. About a dozen families held the largest holdings (2,000 - 3,000 pounds). So, a truer average holding would be closer to George's 103 pounds. We do not know if tobacco was our ancestor's only cash product. However, he would have had a fully integrated farm producing all (if not nearly all) foods and shelter materials for his family.
During this era, animal skins served as a form of currency. Because taxes had to be paid in cash, many farmers earned cash by turning in wolf, fox, and other “vermin” ears for bounty cash. Two ears were evidence of an animal’s death. The hunter kept the actual pelt for barter or sale. This custom, prevalent among the colonies, continued throughout all but the most urban areas of America well into the 1800’s.
Revolutionary Service
Mary Ruble’s research indicates that George Teeter was a Patriot during the Revolutionary War.
That would have placed him in service at an advanced age. Because of his age, he probably would have been used in home guard defense. But then, our ancestor Nicholas Henshaw served in that war when he was approximately 65 years old and was in the Battle of Point Pleasant in 1774 during “Lord Dunmore’s War” (see the entry covering Nicholas Henshaw).
There are no surviving census records of the first two American censuses, as the documents covering 1700 and 1800 were burned by the British during the War of 1812.
KNOWN CHILDREN OF GEORGE TETER (Dieter) OF THE OPEQUON:
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George Teter
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m. Sarah Pearis
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Went to southwestern Virginia, then to Kentucky. A George Teeter is listed as an ensign in the personnel lists of Washington Co., VA militia officers commissioned in 1778-1779.
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John George Teter (Teeter)
b. 3/9/1739
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m. Eve Turney (Tournai)
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Our ancestors
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Margaret Teter
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Mentioned in the above indenture.
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Capt. Samuel Teter
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m. Mary Doddrige, ca. 1769
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Lived in Bedford and Washington Cos., PA. Died in Union Co., OH.
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JOHN TEETER AND EVE TURNEY
We descend from John and Eve Teeter through their daughter, Mary, who married George Knicely. The Knicely’s daughter Sarah married (the future Reverend) William Hancher. The Hancher’s daughter Catherine married John Greer. The Greer’s son John “Frank” Greer married Louesa Houser who founded the 20th and 21st Century branches of the Greer family descended from their sons John Houser Greer and Denver Hancher Moree Greer.
John Teeter, son of Johan “George” Teter/Dieter, was born March 9, 1739 in the Opequon River area of Virginia. He married Eve Turney (Tournai) in Berkeley County, Virginia in 1768. Eve was the daughter of Henri A. Tournai and was born in France or Holland.
From the church records of the Rev. John Caspar Stoever (Lutheran) we learn that John George Teeter was baptized April 26, 1739 by Rev. Stoever. The baby’s sponsors were George and Maria Baumann. The pastor was the circuit minister for areas of Maryland, Pennsylvania and Virginia and a presumed ancestor of President Dwight David Eisenhower.
John Teeter was a farmer. During the era when he left the Valley of Virginia (after the French and Indian War), larger tobacco farmers of western Virginia began purchasing slaves to work the fields. All tobacco had to be shipped to Great Britain for sale and the profit margins were narrowed by a lack of competitive markets. By the mid-1700’s the earlier cost advantage of indentured servant vs. slave reversed itself. Earlier in the century, using indentured servants was more cost effective than purchasing slaves and the average farms were relatively small (see the entry on Nicholas Henshaw and his probable indenture). But, as tobacco farms consolidated into larger holdings, more hands were required to work the land and slaves became the norm for farm labor. The old “yeoman” family farm of English tradition with non-family labor provided by indentured servants rotating in and out of the system (over the 6 or 7 year customary term) gave way to slave-based labor. The new system favored larger farms and their economy of scale. Also, already cleared land was expensive. Many younger couples left the Valley due to these changes and struck out for undeveloped areas in Southern Virginia or beyond the official colonial border.
We do not know when John and Eve Teeter moved to Washington Co. Virginia from the Valley of Virginia. Mary Ruble’s resources suggest John and Eve probably lived at Harper’s Ferry (now West Virginia) before moving south to the area at the Tennessee border. Most settlement in Washington Co. coincided with settlement of the Watauga region (John Grier’s history). The earliest pioneers came in during the 1760/70 era.
We learn the names of the couple’s various children from John’s will (written May 6, 1818 and probated August 18, 1818). We lack birth dates for the entire family, including our ancestress.
KNOWN CHILDREN OF JOHN AND EVE TOURNAI TEETER:
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Marriage
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Mary (“Polly”) Teeter
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George Kniceley
10/31/1791
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Our ancestors
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Catherine Teeter
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John Miller 5/31/1791
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See relationship question re the will of Mary Knicely’s mention of John Miller, Sr. and Elizabeth (page 86).
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Jacob*
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Sophia Speece 1815
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Elizabeth
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John Lowery
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Eleanor
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Dr. A. J. Murphy
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*Jacob and Sophia’s daughters Julia and Emily were wives of Abel Brown, a “notable educator and Lutheran minister of Blountville.” Third daughter Eleanor married Dr. A. J. Murphy. That couple’s son J. L. Murphy was “a well known preacher of Sullivan County and the Midwest.”
John Teeter’s Revolutionary Bounty Land
John Teeter was a Revolutionary War Patriot, serving in Washington Co., Virginia. (NSDAR members 443134; 438907; 457335-Mary Ruble). Our ancestress Mary Teeter Knicely would have been a child during the Revolution.
We find “John Teators 150 acres” of land in the Washington Co., Virginia Surveyor’s Record of 1781-1797 (via the Washington County, Virginia GenWeb site on-line).
This document describes land on the waters of Beaver Creek, a south branch of the “Holstein” River, “corner to the land he lives on” on the line of Walter Preston’s land, etc. Treasury Warrant #2734 dated February 19, 1780 – June 9, 1796. (“Holstein” was a local misspelling of the Holston River used throughout the original document.) Beaver Creek and “Preston’s spring” are a few miles north of Bristol, VA and may be located on current topo maps.
At Rest in Virginia
John and Eve were married fifty years. John died August 6, 1818 in Washington County, Virginia at the age of 79. He was buried by (or at) his home place near Wallace, Virginia. Eve died ten years later, in 1828, and is buried next to her husband.
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THE TURNEY/TOURNAI FAMILY
We are related to the Turney family through female descent from Eve Turney who married John Teeter. Their daughter Mary married George Knicely. The Knicely’s daughter Sarah married (the future Rev.) William Hancher. The Hancher’s daughter Catherine married John Greer (son of William and grandson of John Grier).
Henri Tournai (or de Tournai) who in America became known as “Henry Turney,” is believed to have been born in the Normandy region of France. His status as a Hugeunot (a French Protestant persecuted in his native land) has been accepted by the National Huguenot Society. Ancestral research for the Turney family of Tennessee relates Turney family tradition that Henry’s first wife was sickly, and he took her to Holland for aher health. She died in Holland and Henry married a Dutch woman. We do not know which wife was Eve’s mother, although to this second couple was born their son Peter Turney.
Eve Turney, our ancestress married John Teeter in 1768. They began their fifty year marriage in Berkeley County, Virginia (the Opequon River region home of the Teeters and Caudy family). John and Eve Teeter eventually moved to Washington Co., Virginia, where their children grew up. Please see their story in The Teeter/Dieter Family chapter.
Both Henry and his son Peter were Revolutionary Patriots. Their names appears in the North Carolina Revolutionary Army accounts as soldiers serving in the “western county.” (Colonial and State Records of North Carolina. Henry Turney Act for land to V. 24 pp. 629-30; Peter Turney V 20 pp 322-323. Sheriff of County called Spencer, Nov. 1787.) North Carolina shared wartime personnel administration with Virginia for the area west of the Smokey Mountains because both colonies claimed portions of the territory.
Peter Turney served in Captain Shelby’s Virginia regiment of “volunteers from Watauga Valley” as part of the Fincastle Brigade.
Fincastle comprised a large swath of land sweeping northwest from which many counties were carved after the Revolution. It lay immediately east of Washington County and shared the modern Tennessee border. In histories of the Battle of Kings Mountain we find Peter Turney listed as a probable participant.
Peter Turney married Frances Haines and settled in what is now Smith County, Tennessee. He was a member of the first court of Smith County when the court was organized in 1799. A family story describes of the perils of frontier life. It relates to young Frances Haines Turney:
…on one occasion while her husband was away on an Indian fighting expedition, two Indians intended on mischief came up to the cabin door. The young mother alone in her home with her small children, realizing the danger which threatened, seized a rifle and did not hesitate to shoot and kill the Indians.
A letter written to Governor Blount of Tennessee in September, 1794 by Colonel James Ore speaks of a Negro woman who had been stolen from Peter Turney by Indians.
Peter and Frances Turney’s son Peter (nephew of Eve Turney) was a colorful and passionate Confederate leader who raised his own regiment. He later served as Governor of Tennessee. He is mentioned in Goodspeed’s History of Tennessee (p. 822) and in Ramsey’s Annuals of Tennessee (p. 616). Both authors sketch our ancestral uncle as a strong and somewhat eccentric character.
Peter Turney (Sr.) died in 1805. His grave is in the Turney graveyard on what was his farm in Smith County, Tennessee.
Henry Turney was an appraiser of the estate of Martin Statmer on May 13, 1779, per the records of Washington Co. Virginia. During that year both Henry and his son Peter had cases before the Washington County court (Annals of South-West Virginia, Summers, pp. 1006-1008).
NOTE: The membership application of Bertha Traynor Reddy (1973) to affiliate with the National Huguenot Society provides the following information not available on other sources:
(1) Henry A. De Tournai
b. Normandy, France
d. De Kalb, Tennessee
Second wife “Catherine”
Henry’s place of death is probably correct due to the active interest in his descendents through his son Peter. Normandy is also being accepted as his place of origination, although it may “family tradition” rather than documented fact.
(2) Eve Turney
b. Tournais Ciria, France
Birth year: 1758.
Eve Turney’s birth year presents a problem. The generally accepted marriage year for Eve and John Teeter is 1768. Her birth year is not found on other sources. Seventeen fifty eight would make Eve thirty one in 1791, the year two of her children married. Allowing for her son’s age of 18 (most young men did not marry when younger than that—although young women did), the 1758 birth year would make Eve only fifteen when she had already had two children. For this reason, we are not accepting Eve’s birth year or location- on the Reddy application. (There was another Eve Turney in America during our ancestress’ era.)
Bertha Traynor Reddy is descended from Henry and Eve through Elizabeth Ann Hancher, a sister of Catherine Hancher Greer, our ancestress.
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