The Damning of Mariah Meggs

"It's a Man's World" sang the legendary James Brown, and at no time was this statement more true than in the mid-nineteenth century. Men would do what they did, and women suffered the consequences of those actions, then struggled to survive the after-effects as best they could.

After George Cagle passed away, I wondered what happened to Mariah Meggs, a woman who had lived with him, and with his second wife, Nancy and all of their children, known in the community of Big Lick, Stanly County, North Carolina, as a paramour of old George Cagle. George, a fairly well off businessman and farmer for the time and place, had an eye for pretty girls, and he also had a knack for making mistakes. But one of the worst mistakes he ever made was hiring this misbegotten teen-age boy name Daniel Alexander Crisco , to tend his stock. Daniel Crisco was the result of an illicit relationship between Blacksmith and Carriagemaker William G. Crisco and an unmarried woman named Rebecca Elizabeth Crisco. George may have felt sorry for the boy, as George had his own illegitimate children, which he embraced to some degree. I've came across several young men in my research of old Stanly County, and the surrounding counties, who were born into similar circumstances and several of the seemed to have carried this seething anger within them, repressed by an inadequate seal. The malice seemed to be caused by a bitterness towards the community for its ostracization of them and the assault to their characters, by simply virtue of the unfortunate circumstance of their birth. 

The last half dozen posts of mine have been about George Crisco, or members of his family and stages of his life. This one will be about his mistress, Mariah. The more I found out about her, the more pity and empathy I had towards her. She had gotten a raw deal in life. 

Mariah had been born to a woman named Elizabeth, around 1844, probably in Union County, North Carolina, near the Rocky River. Elizabeth's maiden name is unknown. Some have her as a Thomas, others as a Meggs, however, I've found proof of neither. She is always called "Meggs" in the documents of her children, and that was her married name. Her husband would later marry a Thomas, after her death, and that may be where the confusion came in. I believe that Meggs may have been a likely maiden name for Elizabeth, and perhaps she was joined into a cousin marriage, than Thomas, simply because Mariah Keziah Meggs, her firstborn child, went by Meggs. In those days, it was much more likely for a child born out-of-wedlock, to go by their mother's maiden name, than the name of any future husband the mother may marry. In this text, we will refer to her as Elizabeth Meggs. Several refer to her as Sarah Elizabeth, as well as her widower's future wife. That is also misleading and I believe, a case of two people being merged into one. Elizabeth was older, and I only see her in records as Elizabeth. Sarah Thomas was younger, and I've not seen her as Elizabeth. 

Elizabeth Meggs, whether the surname was her current or future acquirement, gave birth to Mariah Keziah Meggs, out of wedlock, and as the mistress, or at the hands of, a married man. That man, as is named on Mariah's documents, was Shepherd Myers.

Shepherd Myers was fully named, Wilson Shepherd Myers, was born on March 5, 1811, in Anson County, NC to Marmaduke Ransom Myers (1772-1831) and wife, Rebecca Brewer (1789-1830). He was married twice, first to Clarissa Jane Teal and second to Catherine McDearmind. Isn't it great that we can know so much about Shepherd, and almost nothing about Elizabeth, not even her maiden name?

Shepherd Myers first appears in the 1840 census of Anson County as a young man counted in his 30's, with a young woman in her 20's and two small children, a boy and a girl under 5, in the home. This looks like a young married family. His neighbors indicate that he is near what will become the Union-Anson County border. Preceding his name is Holden Lisenby, Henry Deberry and William Horn, Deberry a name usually associated more with East Montgomery, in this year. Following his listing is Margaret Jone, James Dumas, Moses Sanders and James Tice. Not far down is my ancestor, William Hill, son of Julius Hill, which gives me some perspective of where this census taker was riding his mule. Other familiar names on this page is Wyatt Nance, Hosey (Hosea) Tomberlin, Berry and Coleman Austin, Thomas Polk and a few Mullis's. No Meggs nearby.

Name	Shepherd Myers
Gender	Male
Race	White
Residence Age	39
Birth Date	abt 1811
Birthplace	South Carolina
Residence Date	1850
Home in 1850	Meltonsville, Anson, North Carolina, USA
Occupation	Farmer
Industry	Agriculture
Real Estate	500
Line Number	23
Dwelling Number	894
Family Number	894
Inferred Spouse	Clarissa Myers
Inferred Child	James Wilson Myers; Margaret A Myers; Eliza Myers; Alexander Myers; Hampton Myers; John Myers; Harrison Myers

Household members

Name	Age
Shepherd Myers	39
Clarissa Myers	35
James Wilson Myers	12
Margaret A Myers	11
Eliza Myers	9
Alexander Myers	7
Hampton Myers	5
John Myers	1
Harrison Myers	0

By 1850, Shepherd and his wife, Clarrissa Teal Myers have added five more children in the course of ten years, to the first boy and girl from 1840, which would have been James Wilson and Margaret. Mariah Keziah Meggs was born to Shepherd and Elizabeth in 1844, which would have been the year between the births of his sons, Alexander and Hampton, to Clarissa. They are located in the Meltonsville area, and one would think Elizabeth may have been close by but cannot be found. This census reveals that Shepherd was born in South Carolina, while his wife was born in North Carolina.

Clarrissa is found with Shepherd in the 1850 and 1860 census records, and according to her tombstone, she died on September 20, 1865, at the age of 49, having been born October 15, 1815. She and Shepherd had 11 children together, Mariah Meggs half sibling. They were:

James Wilson Myers (1837-1963). He had married Rebecca Ann Rivers , and had one son, Charlie Shepherd Myers, before James died on September 5, 1863 at Pennsville, Salem, New Jersey, where he died of disease as a POW in the Civil War.

Margaret Ann Myers (1838-1908) Became the second wife of James Ratliff Gulledge. No children.

Eliza Jane Myers (1840-1892) Married James Green Jones, 5 children.

William Alexander Myers (1842-1935) Moved to Madison County, Tennessee, becoming a Grocery Merchant and living to age 92. Married twice, first to Josephine Price, by whom he had one daughter and second to Victoria Mathis, with who he had three sons.

Hampton Myers (1844-1871) Survived the Civil War, and afterwards, joined his brother in Madison County, Tennessee, where he died at age 26.

John Shepherd Myers (1848-1932) Married Sarah Ellen Jarman or Garman, 7 children. Farmed in Gulledge Township, Anson County, where he was born until moving to Rocky Springs in Montgomery County later in life. Lived to 83.

Benjamin Harrison Myers (1850-1936) Moved to Fannin County, Texas, as a young man, where he worked as a Carpenter. Married Bernice Brigance there, three children. Lived to see 86.

Thomas Albert Myers (1853-1924) Moved to Grayson County, Texas, where he worked as a Carpenter. Married Elizabeth Ellen Sharpe, three sons. Made it to 72.

George Franklin Myers (1855-1924) Married twice, 1st to Nora Francis Braswell, no children. Second to Emma A. Tarlton, ten children. Worked as a farmer in Anson, Lee and finally, Richmond Counties, NC. Died at 68 years old. 

Elijah Dorsey Myers ( 1858-1919) Married twice, 1st to Sarah Francis Ratliff, 4 children. Second to Elizabeth Ann Gaddy, 5 children. Remained and farmed in Gulledge, Anson County.

Sarah Teal Myers (1863-between 1900 and 1910) Married John Davis Rushing, 6 daughters. Lived in Gulledge until she died at age 48.

After Clarissa died, Shepherd still had young children, so he married an "old maid", Scottish lady Catherine, McDermaid, who had just inherited property after the death of her mother, Mary.

Above, is the family in 1870, with Catherine and two older ladies boarding, Ann McLaurin, who never married and Kizzie (Kessiah) Meaders Hubbard, recently widowed. 

Shepherd Myers died on Christmas Eve, 1884 and is buried at Bethel United Methodist Church Cemetery in Wadesboro, NC. 

His widow, Catherine McDermaid Myers, became insane and died four years later at the Asylum in Morganton.

Elijah Dorsey Myers and wife Fannie Ratliff Myers. Elizabeth, the mother of Mariah Meggs, is not to be found in the 1850 census. It can be estimated that she married James Meggs by about that time, as their first child together, Jane, was born in 1852.  In 1860, the family is found living in the Beaver Dam Community of Union County. James Meggs is a Miller, and Elizabeth is listed as a Spinster, a one who runs a spinning wheel. They have three young children together, Jane, Ellen and James.

Mariah is shown by her middle name, Lizzy, short for Keziah. She's incorrectly given the age of 22, when she was actually about 16. 

In 1866, Mariah Keziah Meggs is brought to court. Following in her mother's footsteps, Mariah has become pregnant outside of wedlock. Ordered to court on a Bastardy bond, and is compelled to name the father of her child, who she names as Levi Parker, a member of the Parker family that George Cagle was in a business partnership with. 

A portion of this document, shown above, shows that on May 24, 1866, that Mariah Meggs had been delivered of a child, and that child had been born a 'bastard', or outside the legal binds of marriage. Mariah, of Stanly County, confessed that Levi Parker, of Union County, was the father of the child, a girl she named Melissa Ann Meggs.

Levi Guilford Parker

Levi Guilford Parker, born April 26, 1843, was from Union County, and just a year older than Mariah. It can be assumed that by 1866, she may have already taken up residence in the Cagle home, as a boarder, bounded, or laborer, as he was in association with the Parkers.  She would have been about 21 or 22 and Levi 22 or 23.

He was a son of Elijah Parker Jr. and wife, Nancy Laney Rogers, and one of a very large clutch of children.

Name	Levy G Parker
Age	16
Birth Year	abt 1844
Gender	Male
Race	White
Birth Place	North Carolina
Home in 1860	Union, North Carolina
Post Office	Lanes Creek
Dwelling Number	57
Family Number	57
Attended School	Y

Household members

Name	Age
Elijah Parker	40
Nancy Parker
Jerusha Parker	20
Georg N Parker	18
Levy G Parker	16
James E Parker	14
Young R Parker	12
Cullin Parker	11
Thomas Parker	9
William Parker	7
Adolphus L Parker	5
Emoly R Parker	2
Samuel M Parker	1
Manizer A Parker	6

In 1860, the family was living in Lane's Creek Township, and there were already 11 children, and more would follow. Maniza Ann Parker was a niece, daughter of Levi's oldest daughter, Jerusha. Like many young men his age, Levi would serve in the Civil War a few short years after this. He lost a few brothers, but Levi survived.

Name	Levi G Parker
Enlistment Age	18
Birth Date	abt 1843
Birth Place	Union County, North Carolina, USA
Enlistment Date	16 Sep 1861
Enlistment Place	Union County, North Carolina
Enlistment Rank	Private
Muster Date	20 Nov 1861
Muster Place	North Carolina
Muster Company	D
Muster Regiment	37th Infantry
Muster Regiment Type	Infantry
Muster Information	Enlisted
Imprisonment Date	2 Apr 1865
Imprisonment Place	Near Petersburg, Virginia
Casualty Date	30 Jun 1862
Casualty Place	Frazier's Farm, Virginia
Type of Casualty	Wounded
Side of War	Confederacy
Survived War?	Yes
Residence Place	Union County, North Carolina
Occupation	Farmer
Notes	1862-11-15 Returned, Estimated day; 1863-09-15 Returned, Estimated day; 1865-04-03 Confined, (Point Lookout, MD), Estimated day; 1865-06-16 Oath of Allegiance, (Point Lookout, MD)
Additional Notes 2	Casualty 2 Date: 03 Jul 1863; Casualty 2 Place: Gettysburg, Pennsylvania; Casualty 2 Type of Casualty: Wounded
Title	North Carolina Troops 1861-65, A Roster

Enlisting in September of 1861, Levi's military career was one of hardship and endurance. He was first wounded at Frazier's farm, Virginia, near Richmond on June 30, 1862 and the next year, wounded again at Gettysburg on June 3, 1863. Levi was imprisoned at Point Lookout, Maryland and released on June 16, 1865 under an Oath of Allegiance. He was described as being 5 foot 9 3/4 inches tall with a florid complexion, dark hair and gray eyes. He was literate and returned home an injured, but determined man. Shortly  after he must have met, or reconnected with, Mariah Meggs, the bastard stepdaughter of James Ransom Meggs.

After his day in court, Levi Guilford Parker did what most young men in his position died, find a "good girl" and marry her, a respectable one, deserving of wifeling. On April 13, 1867, the spring after the birth of his daughter, Melissa, Levi married Lavina Elliot, 28, of Union County. Lavina ,or "Viney", was the daughter of William and Sarah Elliott, her mother a widow.  She and Levi would raise a family of five; Dora, Ellison, John S., Lewis and Isaac M. Parker, remaining in Lanes Creek, Union County, NC, while the children were small, and then moving to the town of Academy in Lamar, Texas by 1900.

Academy was short-lived, but Lamar sits to the east of Fannin, Texas, where a couple of Levi's siblings relocated. Red River County borders it on the east and it's northern border is the Oklahoma state line. The County seat is Paris, which was made famous by the 1984 movie of the same name, "Paris, Texas'.

Lavina died in 1904, in Texas, and by 1910, Levi is shown living in Muddy Fork, Arkansas, with his son, Ellison. They had returned to Texas by the 1920 census, Levi was alone in his own household, but living near his sons, Ellison and Isaac. They must have had a sense of humor. In the census, these North Carolina born fellows fibbed a bit, obviously. While Levi gave his 'Native Tongue' as Dutch, he stated his mother's native tongue was Irish. Ellison gave his father's Native Tongue as French, which would have been Levi?~!

 When Levi applied for his military pension, he was 78 and living in Windom, Fannin Couty, Texas. The year was 1921 and he stated that he had lived in Texas for 27 years. Levi Guilford Parker would pass away on June 20, 1924, in Windom, Fannin County, Texas.

1870 Mariah Keziah Meggs is living in the home of George Cagle with her daughter, Melissa "Lisy Ann' Meggs.

Her family had left her behind. She is shown as 26, and by her father's surname of Myers. With her is her 6/7-year-old daughter, Melissa, or "Lisy". Because of the way their names are written in this document, some folks have her as Marion, instead of Mariah, and her daughter as Lucy instead of Lisy. They are living with George Cagle, age 58, his wife Nancy, 52, and their youngest daughter Fannie. Eleven-year-old Eli is George's son by Maniza Honeycutt, and the William Huneycutt, also eleven, is George's grandson William, son of his deceased daughter, Elizabeth. While Melissa's father, Levi Parker, is living in Union County, the mother and daughter duo are living across the river to the north in Big Lick, Stanly County. 

The Meggs 

In 1870, while Mariah and her child are living in the Cagle household, her mother, Elizabeth, and stepfather, Ransom Meggs, are still living in the Union County Community of New Salem, and Mr. Meggs is still operating his gristmill. Their three children together, Jane, Eliza and James W. Meggs, are now in their teens. Living with them is William Wesley Meggs, 21 and his wife, Nancy Coley Meggs, a nephew of James Ransom Meggs. Within a few years, Ransom will sell his Grist Mill and his Olive Branch and New Salem properties and remove, like many in the Big Lick area, to Iredell County, North Carolina.

Elizabeth Meggs, Mariah's mother, contracts some ailment after moving to Iredell County, and passes away in September 1879, at the age of 54, of dysentery.  It is unknown where she is buried. 

James Ransom Meggs wasted no time after the death of his wife, Elizabeth, and remarried on December 9, 1879, about two months later. He married Sarah Elizabeth Thomas, who I believe he knew previously, the daughter of Jacob Thomas and Hester Jane Holley Thomas, who grew up in the New Salem/Olive Branch area of Union County, NC. 

The 1880 census revealed that James R. and Sarah T. Meggs were living in Davidson, Iredell County, and Ransom was still a Miller. 

Ransom and Sarah had one child together, a son, the named William James Meggs, who was born November 20, 1880.

After another few years, the Meggs family would move again, this time a little further, to Faulkner County, Arkansas. 

Name	James Ransom Meggs
Gender	Male
Birth Date	1822
Birth Place	Anson County, North Carolina, United States of America
Death Place	Faulkner County, Arkansas, United States of America
Cemetery	Copperas Springs Cemetery
Burial or Cremation Place	Guy, Faulkner County, Arkansas, United States of America

James Ransom Meggs died on January 7, 1904, in Guy, Faulkner County, Arkansas, at the age of 84, and is buried at the Copperas Springs Cemetery. 

Faulkner County sits in the middle of Arkanasas, where the Ozarks give way to the Arkansas River Valley and where a Miller could find a bounty of creeks to operate hisMill.

After the death of Ransom Meggs, his widow, Sarah, married a Mr. Wilson and divorced him, all before 1910. But she didn't rest on her Laurels, oh no.

1910 finds Sarah living with her only son, William J. Meggs, who has started his own family with a wife and two little children.

In 1919, Sarah Thomas Meggs Wilson married,at age 64, married an old Civil War Veteran named Jacob J. Hill, 78. That one didn't work out , either, as in the 1920 census, poor old Jacob is listed as married, but living along.

Jacob J. Hill died on March 31, 1828, and Sarah followed soon after on August 31, 1929, passing away from Bright's Disease at the age of 65, in Clifton, Faulkner County, Arkansas.

Mariah also had half-siblings through her mother. They're listed below.

Jane Ransom Meggs

Jane Meggs was the first child of Elizabeth and her husband, James Ransom Meggs. Elizabeth is thought to have possibly been a double-Meggs. Jane was born November 23, 1852, in the Olive Branch Community of Union County, NC. 

She married at the age of 19 to George Lafayette Hinson, in Stanly County on January 26, 1872.

After starting their family in Stanly County, they first moved to the Leaksville Community in Richmond County, where George died in 1897.  George and Jane were the parents of 10 children, with 8 living until adulthood. These eight were Ida Elizabeth Hinson Miller (1872-1957), Ella Hinson Jarrett (1877-1904), Julia Emma Hinson McCall (1879-1963), Gilena Hinson Brown (1882-1972), Rose Hinson Goldston (1884-1972), Docia Belle Hinson (1886-1965), only son, Lonnie Yeates Hinson, (1888-1945) and Nellie B. Hinson Puckett (1896-1972). 

Jane was left in a mess when George died, her youngest still an infant, but with the help of her older children, they thrived. They moved to Charlotte, in Mecklenburg County, a growing city, with more opportunities for working women and teenagers, and there they remained. At first, she took in boarders and worked as a stenographer. She then moved in with her married daughter, Nellie Hinson Puckett, whose husband was an architect for the Railroad. Her unmarried daughter, Belle, followed. They would remain with the Pucketts until she passed away.

Name	Jane Ransome Hinson
Maiden Name	Meigs
Gender	Female
Birth Date	23 Nov 1852
Birth Place	Olive Branch, Union County, North Carolina, United States of America
Death Date	23 Apr 1931
Death Place	Charlotte, Mecklenburg County, North Carolina, United States of America
Cemetery	Elmwood Cemetery
Burial or Cremation Place	Charlotte, Mecklenburg County, North Carolina, United States of America
Has Bio?	Y
Children	Gilena BrownIda Elizabeth MillerDorcia Belle HinsonElla JarrettRose A. GoldstonJulia Emma McCallLonnie Yates HinsonNell B. Puckett

Jane Meggs Hinson passed away in 1931, at the age of 78, in Charlotte, NC. She was buried in Elmwood Cemetery.

Eliza Ellen Louisa Meggs Speights

Ellen Meggs was born on June 2, 1856, in New Salem, Union County, NC

She married November 24, 1872, just several months after her older sister, at the age of 16. Her husband was William Paul Speights of Stanly County, and the marriage took place in Stanly County.  The Speights first moved to Davidson, Iredell County, NC, where Ellen's parents had relocated and where her mother died in 1879.

Their next stop with their growing brood was to Saline County, Arkansas, where they settled in a community called Marble by 1898. The family remained in Arkansas for two decades, after which, they relocated once again to the town of Fairley in Hunt County, Texas.

This would be their last stop. William Paul Speights died on January 2, 1922 and Ellen followed 7 years later and joined him on August 15, 1929, at the age of 73.

Name	Eliza Ellen Speight
Maiden Name	Meigs
Gender	Female
Birth Date	2 Jun 1856
Birth Place	Union County, North Carolina, United States of America
Death Date	15 Aug 1929
Death Place	Fairlie, Hunt County, Texas, United States of America
Cemetery	Hope-Sweatbox Cemetery
Burial or Cremation Place	Jardin, Hunt County, Texas, United States of America
Has Bio?	Y
Father	James Ransom Meggs
Spouse	William Paul Speight
Children	Martha Jane Quinn; Lillie Mae Pingleton; Charles Green Speight; Rufus Alexander Speight; Mary Magdalene Lovelace; James Preston Speight; John Wesley Ransom Speight; Millard Fillmore Speight

William and Eliza Meggs Speight also had 10 children, with 7 living until adulthood. All of these were recorded. Their first, 'Leuter', was born September 22, 1873, in Stanly County, and died a few weeks later on October 14. She was followed by John Wesley Ransom Speight (1875-1937), Mary Magdalene Speight (1877-1914), James Preston Speight (1879-1964), little Willie Speight was born in Davidson, Iredell County, and lived two years (1882-1884) and is buried there. He was followed by Martha Jane Speight, who was born in Arkansas City, Arkansas (1885-1964), Charlie Green Speight (1888-1964), Rufus A. Speight (1891-1959), Lillie Mae Speight (1894-1900) and Millard Fillmore Speight (1898-1981).

James William Speight

James was born on November 14, 1857, in the Olive Branch Community of Union County. He worked as a farm laborer while a teenage and died on February 22, 1876, in the same and was buried in New Salem, Union County, NC. He was only 18 years old.  His parents moved to Iredell County after his death. 

William James Speight

William James Speight was not a biological sibling of Mariah Meggs, as they did not share either parent, but he was a half-sibling of her mother's other children. He was born by James Ramson Meggs second wife, Sarah Thomas Meggs, on November 20, 1880, in Iredell County, NC, and named for his older half-brother who had died just four years prior, by flipping his two given names from James William to William James. His sisters were adults and married before he was born, so he grew up in an entirely different world to an aging father and a mother late in her child-bearing years. 

William James Speight

William married in Faulkner County, Arkansas on February 15, 1899, to Mary Etta Glover, at the ag of 18. His wife was only 15, and had been born in the little town of Guy.

After his father died in 1904, William, now about 24, took care of his widowed mother, even though she married twice more. 

On his draft card for World War I, it was declared that he was a farmer, and a citizen of Guy, of medim height and weight, and a blue-eyed blonde. He would remain in Faulkner County, Arkansas for the remainder of his life, passing away in 1938 at the age of 58. He and Mary Etta had 7 children together; Henry, Velma, Bertha, Beverly Wayland, Oscar Marion, Opie Hester, and Autie Mae. 

Mariah Keziah Myers-Meggs

When we last saw Mariah, she and her young daughter were boarding with the Cagle family.  Within a few years, George Cagle would hire a young man of the neighborhood to help work his farm. His name was Daniel Alexander Crisco, which decision would become an act of attrition for George Crisco. 

Daniel Alexander Crisco had a background analogous with that of Mariah's. He was son of Rebecca Elizabeth Crisco, a single woman, and William G. Kennedy, a man who would marry, but not to Rebecca. He grew in the shadow of shame, in a reprehensible status eschewing condemnation. The embullient George Cagle, full of spit,vinegar and impudence, yet gifted with empathy and a big heart, hired the young man, gave him honest work, casting aside the wagging tongues of neighbos.

One can not say what the exact circumstances were of the marriage of Dan Crisco and Mariah Myers Meggs, only that we can view it with a little askance. Yes, they were both 'bastards', the term of the day, now hurled only in insults and vagarity. Otherwise, the circumstance were suspect.

The facts are that on August 25, 1872,  Daniel A. Crisco, son of William 'Kennada' and Elizabeth Crisco, applied for the marriage license with 'Marisa K Meggs' ,( or Marian or Mariah, the spelling nearly illegible), daughter of Shepherd 'Mires' and Elizabeth Meggs. Six months later, on November 24th of the same year, the wedding was performed by John Burris, Justice of the Peace.

Dan Crisco was a boy of 17. Mariah Meggs was a woman of 28 with a young daughter. Had they fallen in love over shared space and shared circumstance? Had George Cagle a hand in it, encouraging it, or had it been stronger than encouragment, some kind of deal? Was it an interdiction to keep himself from being blamed for any additional children that might be born of his former mistress, or was it somehow to appease his wife, Nancy, and get Mariah out of his house?  We can't know, but we do know the marriage lasted for about 4 years, without the birth of any known children, before traged struck.

The indepth story can be read at this link: A Woman Was In It:The Cagle-Crisco Murder.

Breifly, I will rehash Mariah's part in it. Mariah was an abused spouse under the hands of the angry Dan Crisco. The couple worked and lived on George Cagle's farm. One night, Daniel had a particularly violent fight with Mariah and 'ran her off', or made her vacate the house. The next day, with seemingly little concern for his wife's whereabouts, Dan Crisco went to work, as usual, and at some point when George and Daniel were working close to each other, the beaten wife reappears, out of habitude or hunger, reason unknown.

Like a beaten dog, wagging tale up to its angry master with it's head down, Mariah made her way towards the two men. Crisco addressed his wife profanely and gesticulated for her to go back to the cabin he had evicted her from the night before. The aging George Crisco, who obviously still had benevolent and empathetic feelings toward the young woman, admonished Dan Crisco for berating his wife and the evident violence. George's protective stance angered Dan and he invited George to an altercation. This threat may have caused the older man to back off, as it seems they continued their work until the end of the day.

The Concord Register (Concord, North Carolina)4 Apr 1876, Tue • Page 4

Daniel Crisco went home and not finding his wife, instinctively knew where he would find her. He returned to the Cagle home, armed with a knife and found his beaten wife seeking safety there. She may have had her child with her, but that is not addressed. The papers reported that he again became abusive towards Moriah, hitting her, kicking her and ordering her home. She refused and at some point, George Cagle stepped in to defend her, and demanded Crisco leave his home. Dan pulled the knife on George, prompting George to pick up a chair in self-defense. Using the chair, the old man pushed Dan out of his house and attempted to force him from the property. Coming upon the hooped frame of a Conestoga Wagon cover, and kept advancing on Daniel to chase him away. Daniel threw a rock at the old man, causing George to dash at him with the wooden object and struck Daniel, after which Daniel stabbed George with the knife, killing him.

Daniel ran, but was later arrested. In jail, only Daniel Crisco was alive to talk. He had hours to sit and think of ways to prune and embellish his side of the story, to spin it in a way to ingratiate himself to whomever would listen. Reporter would come, seeking details of the scandalous tragedy. Daniel Crisco took full advantage of their thirst for drama and dirt, to prevaricate the tale in his favor. 

There were other factors in play, Dan's youth and good looks. He was apparently handsome, boyish and charming, blonde, blue-eyed, affable and loquacious. And Dan Crisco was fully cognizant of his attributes on the inquistive and curious, taking full advantage of it. By the time court came around, public sentiment was changing. 

The community reputation of George Cagle was a factor in the end. George, wealthy for the times in his community, and a shrewd, although fair, businessman, George was known for drunken and depraved behavior. Dan Crisco used this fact to full effect. He was convicted of the murder of George Cagle but later after petitions from the community citizenry, after talk and the pitious portrayals from news reporters, convinced by Dan's whitewashed image of himself as a wronged husband, defending himself against the adulterous lover of his unfaithful wife, true or not, Dan was pardoned and released. He went on with life, first divorcing Mariah on grounds of adultery, which I am sure was a relief for her as well, to release her from his abuse. 

Daniel Crisco would soon remarry and have several children with a woman of his own age, and seem to live a fairly normal, georgian existence, until an act of kismet, where he died at the hands of an angry drunk man, himself a murder victim, at the age of 58 in 1914.

Name	Mariah Meggs
Age	33
Birth Date	Abt 1847
Birthplace	North Carolina
Home in 1880	Big Lick, Stanly, North Carolina, USA
Dwelling Number	284
Race	White
Gender	Female
Relation to Head of House	Self (Head)
Marital Status	Divorced
Father's Birthplace	North Carolina
Mother's Birthplace	North Carolina
Occupation	Housekeeper
Neighbors	View others on page

Household members

Name	Age
Mariah Meggs	33
Melisah Meggs	16

1880 finds Mariah, now 33, living quietly, and obviously, on the former lands of George Cagle. She may have even been in the house she had shared with Daniel Crisco. She is in Big Lick, living next to George's widowed daughter, Adeline Crisco Hartsell, and her young daughter, Nellie, and George's only legitmate son and main heir, David S. Crisco. George's widow, Nancy, had moved to Iredell County, with her two daughters with him,  a few of his  daughters by his first wife, and his son Eli Huneycutt Cagle, who was by another of his mistressess, Maniza Huneyuctt. David S. Crisco lived a quieter life than his father, and seems to have taken care of, not only his own large family, but his sister and Mariah, by allowing her to remain on the property.

Mariah has returned to the surname Meggs, her marital status given as 'divorced', and her daughter, Melissa, now 16.

The next recorded event in the life of Mariah Meggs was the marriage of her daughter, Melissa Ann.

On July, 2, 1886, Levi McIntyre, 21, of Stanly County,  the son of Stokes McIntyre, deceased and Margaret Huneycutt, deceased, applied for a marriage license for the marriage of himself and 'Lis Ann Meggs' of Stanly County, aged 20, father unknown and mother, Mariah Meggs, living. The wedding took place at the office of J. W. Huneycutt, Justice of the Peace, in Big Lick, Stanly County, North Carolina. Witnesses were Leander Austin, Lafayette Walters and 'Boss' Hinson. 

Levi Huneycutt McIntyre, was again, a child born in similar, and shamed, circumstances as Melissa Meggs. 

His father, Malachi Stokes McIntyre, born in 1804, was a married man, in fact, married to the sister of my second Great Grandmother. His wife, Elizabeth Murray McIntyre, outlived him. He served in the Civil War, despite being a middle aged man, and after his return, despite still having a wife and 10 children, took Margaret Huneycutt as a mistress. 

Levi Huneycutt McIntyre 

Levi Huneycutt/ McIntyre was born around 1858. In 1870, shown above, he is living in Burnsville Township, Anson County, in the home of his father, Stokes McIntrye, helping on the farm. Also in the home of Stokes McIntyre is his younger sister, Elizabeth, aged 8.They lived near the Stanly/Anson County border and Stokes often vascillated between counties. His records are found in both counties, Stanly/Montgomery more than Anson, actually. What boggles the mind by todays standards, are that Stokes was not a single man. His wife, Great Great Great Aunt Elizabeth, is still living with him, as is three of their single daughters together. Along with two of his children by his mistress, Margaret Huneycutt. Margaret was 37 years his junior and was 17 years old when Levi was born. Living right next door at this time, perhaps even on land owned by Stokes McIntrye, was the home of Marion Blackmon.

Marion Blackmon or Blackman shows up nowhere else in Anson, or any bordering county. He's 38 years old and his wife, Mary, is listed as 40. Also in his home is Nancy Huneycutt, 68, the widow of Samuel Huneycutt, Margaret, 31, her daughter and mistress of Stokes McIntyre, and mother of Levi, and presumably, Elizabeth, the 8 year old. Also in the Blackmon home are two little girls, Clementine, 6 and Melinda 2, whom also appear to be children of Margaret, corroborated by the next census. I believe due to the dependants, that Mary Blackman was probably also Mary Huneycutt, a sister of Margaret, and daughter of Nancy, as Mr. Blackman soon removes himself to South Carolina, and on later to Georgia, without her, if he be the same, and she returns to Honeycutt, without being found elsewhere in 1870.

Margaret Huneycutt was the daughter of Samuel Honeycutt, who was not a wealthy or well-documented man. Honeycutt was not a common Anson County name, they tended to constellate more in Stanly and Cabarrus Counties. I believe Samuel was part of the Stanly County Honeycutt family, but where he fits in is obscure.

He shows up first in the Muster Roll of Montgomery County, NC, during the War of 1812.

In the 1830 census, he is counted in Montgomery County, on the West Side of the PeeDee (now Stanly), near some Furrs, Daniel Reap, Lewis Springer, William Wall. His household is presented as a male in his 40's and a female in her 20's, with five young children; three boys and two girls, all under 9.

In  1840, he is in Cabarrus County, next to Oliver McLure and near an Elizabeth McIntyre. I'm not entirely sure this is the same Samuel. In Anson in 1840, there is a 'Bry't' Honeycutt living next to Milton and John Winfield, sons of Edward Winfield and cousins of mine, and also near my ancestor Stark Ramsey.

In 1850, Samuel, now 70, with wife Nancy 60, are living in Burnsville Township, next to Stark Ramsey's son, James, Robin McIntyre and another ancestor, Thomas Carpenter. I wonder if 'Bryt' was Samuel, or a son of his? There are three children of his in the home, and not Margaret, Mary 25, Betsy, 16 and Andrew, 13, who will die in the Civil War. There's also an 8 year old named Lucy, who could be a grandchild.

In 1860, Samuel has gotten younger, now counted as 68 and Nancy 60. Ages were fluid. The only child listed is Margaret, at 19, which leads me to believe she may have been the 8 year old Lucy.

In 1880, Margeret is now 29, and Mary Honeycutt is 60. The ages do not line up with the previous census. Mary should have been 50 and Margaret 39. Mary is the head of household, and Margaret is listed as her sister. Neither woman has a listed occupation and Mary is noted as having heart disease. There are now three children in the home. Clementine is now listed by a nickname, Tiny, and shown as 15, was 6 in the previous census. Melinda L. is shown as 11 and was 2 in the previous census. There was another child born in the interim, John William Honeycutt/ McIntyre, age 7, who marries in 1901, naming his father as Stokes McIntrye and his mother as Margaret McIntyre, father deceased and mother living, a resident of Anson County. 

So, Stokes McIntyre was the father of Margarets oldest child, Levi and youngest child, John W., so the odds were that he was probably the father of the sisters in the middle, and probably provided for them as long as he was alive.

On November 30, 1889, Levy McIntyre, 28, of Stanly County, son of Stokes McIntyre and Margaret Honeycutt, marries Jane Spears, 28, of Union County, daughter of Margaret Spears, living, and an unknown father. This was only three years after his marriage to Melissa Meggs. As Melissa is not to be found again, it can safely be assumed she passes away before November of 1889, possibly in childbirth.

This was the last record I find for Levi Honeycutt McIntyre, too and the terminus of my journey. His second wife, Martha Jane Spears, is not found in the 1900 census, but reappears in 1910, living on Marshville Road in New Salem, as a widow, living with her sister and niece. She has returned to her maiden name of Spears, which leads me to believe her marriage was brief. Jane is found again in 1920, still in New Salem, but living with her brother, then again in 1930, living with the niece who was living with her in 1910. This time, she has returned to the surname, McIntyre.

Martha Jane Spears McIntyre died on January 6, 1934 of  myocarditis and hypertension. She lived long enough to recieve a death certificate and her tombstone still stands. She was 83 years old and her niece, Dora Honeycutt was the informant, naming her parents as Allen Spears and Margaret Nance. Jane was a half-orphan, but not a 'child of the wind'. She was buried at Pleasant Hill Cemetery near Marshville.



Mariah Keziah Meggs was alive when her only daughter, Melissa, was married in 1886. I can't find a trace of either of them afterwards. It appears that Melissa Meggs McIntyre died prior to November of 1889, and that Mariah Meggs Crisco died prior to the 1900 census. There was not a generation afterwards, as Levi McIntyre had no children by either wife, that survived to be recorded, at any rate. These children of the wind left little trace, and were not notable enough, prominent enough, or troublesome enough, to have made the papers, yet they deserve to be remembered.

A New 🍂 Autumn Leaf

Our family received a wonderful surprise this autumn, a new little leaf on the family tree. This is my eighth grandchild and seventh grandson. It's a wonderful reminder that while we're busy digging through the roots in our genealogical quests, the family continues to grow in the other direction as well. 

My new little fellow was quite the surprise. Sometimes the good Lord has other plans, despite all efforts of humankind. Midsummer he was discovered mid-journey, and waved his tiny hand on the ultrasound, "Hi! I'm coming! Surprise! Be there in four months." He joins three big brothers and a big sister. He will not have any younger siblings, not by his Mommy at any rate. His poor sister, she received two new brothers this year, as her father, my daughter's first husband, also welcomed a little boy earlier this year. That makes five little brothers. At least she has an Aunt on her Dad's side, just two years older, that is like a sister to her. 

But what a blessing! A beautiful, healthy little guy, and at over 10-and-a half pounds, larger than any of my other grandkids or my kids. He may grow up to be the 'big' brother if his size out-of-the-gate is any indication. 

This may be my last grandchild. My oldest son and his wife stopped at two and my oldest daughter's one son is well into his teens and his mother is not likely to start over at this stage of the game. Yet, I do have a single son still within the range of typical child-bearing years. His concentration is on furthering his education for the moment, but it's possible he could settle down and start a family one day, or join a ready-made one. 

Welcome to the newest branch on my family tree, whose Halloween 'costume' in the photo above, was very fitting. 

A Woman was in it: The Cagle - Crisco Murder

The Concord Register
(Concord, North Carolina)4 Apr 1876, Tue • Page 4

My past several posts involved the family and life of on George Washington Cagle. 

There was Sodom, Gommorah and Big Lick. about his life, affairs and how he may have contributed to the immoral reputation of the little town of Big Lick in Western Stanly County. 

Also, in The Heirs of George Cagle, I attempted to track down who the legal heirs, children and grandchildren, of George Cagle were. 

A Rose by Any Other Name, traced the life, and variations of name, of one of his unmarried daughters, whose name was different in every record or account of her. 

Finally, The Secrets of Adeline told the story of George's oldest daughter, Menece Adeline, who started me on the entire Cagle journey to start with. It will not end here either, oh no, George's legacy was quit widespread. 

This is the story and recount of his passionate ending, his killer, and how karma existed in the end. 

As a quick rehash, George Washington Cagle was a larger-than-life character. He was grandiose, lusty, opportunistic and a maverick. Born in 1813, the was the oldest son of Charles Robert Cagle, Sr and Maranda Springer Cagle, both the Cagle and Springers being steadfast and populous families in the Big Lick and Rocky River area. He was considered wealthy for the area and the times, possession hundreds of acres and invested in several businesses, including a sawmill, a grist mill and a tanning yard. He was not a slave holder and made his money the honest way, with hard work and investments. He owned homes on the farm and in the town. He also carried lots of debt, still, after all were paid, there was still some to divide among his large family from two wives, and his legacy spread even larger as he claimed at least two mistresses. It was because of one of these mistresses, and his attempts to protect her from an abusive husband, who came along in the years after their active relationship, that ended his life. 

There are three main characters in this story, George W. Cagle, who I mentioned above, the ex-lover; Daniel Alexander Crisco, the abusive, jealous husband, and Mariah Myers Meggs, the wife/former mistress. 

We'll begin in 1870.

In the above 1870 census record, we see the household of George Cagle, 58, his wife Nancy Hinson Speight Cagle, a second wife, Fannie, 13, a daughter by his first wife, Eli, 11, a son by another mistress, Maniza Huneycutt, who by the way was living in household number 118, the listing just above George, Mariah Myers, 26, the woman in this story who was at the center of the dispute, her fatherless daughter, Lisy, aged 7, and William Huneycutt, who was the son on George's deceased daughter, Elizabeth. 

Two facts must be clarified before I step further into this lurid event. One, Mariah's name. Some have her as Marian, and in this document, it appears it could be, but having looked ahead into other versions of it, and also having made contact with a direct descendant some years ago, her name was Mariah. Her daughter's name, which looks somewhat like "Lucy" here, was Melissa, born about 1866. "Lisy" or "Lisy Ann" for short. George Cagle was not the father of this child. I will go into that more when I post of the story of Mariah herself. Mariah's father was Wilson Shepherd Myers, known by Shepherd. Her mother was Sarah Elizabeth Thomas. They were not married. Her mother would marry a man by the name of James Ransom Meggs, and Mariah, also known as 'Kizzy' as her middle name was Keziah, would later take on her stepfather's surname. She grew up in the northern part of Union County, south of the Rocky River and just across the river from George Cagle's place in Big Lick Township, Stanly County. 

Enter Daniel Alexander Crisco, a paradigm of the depravity and immoral society that plagued the 19th century area of Big Lick. It began when a group of German immigrants landed in Randolph County, North Carolina. William Lewis Crisco was a first generation American, whose German name had been Anglicized and whose father, George William, had been born in Germany and died in North Carolina. William Lewis Crisco was born in Randolph County about 1788. He married Nancy Throgmorton, from a Virginian family of British stock, who had migrated to Montgomery County, North Carolina. Nancy was agonizingly young upon her marriage and would bear 14 children, the oldest, Mary, at age 15 and the youngest, David, at age 41. Among these was their 11th child, Rebecca Elizabeth Crisco, born about 1830. 

Willilam Crisco is shown living on the West Side of the Pee Dee River in Montgomery County in the 1830 census, so Rebecca Elizabeth was likely born in Big Lick, where the family would settle. 

Name	William Criscoe
Gender	Male
Race	White
Residence Age	62
Birth Date	abt 1788
Birthplace	North Carolina
Residence Date	1850
Home in 1850	Smiths, Stanly, North Carolina, USA
Occupation	Farmer
Industry	Agriculture
Real Estate	187
Cannot Read, Write	Yes
Line Number	40
Dwelling Number	689
Family Number	694
Inferred Spouse	Nancy Criscoe
Inferred Child	Sarah Criscoe

Household members

Name	Age
William Criscoe	62
Nancy Criscoe	52
Sarah Criscoe	25
John Criscoe	21
Elizabeth Criscoe	20
Alfred Criscoe	16
Lucinda Criscoe	14
David Criscoe	11

In 1850, the family is shown in Smith's District, which would become Big Lick Township, with six of the youngest children. Rebecca Elizabeth was twenty years old. 

Around the same time, another family had moved from Davidson County to the Rocky River in what would become Stanly County, the Scotch-Irish Kennedys. John C Kennedy (1794-1870) and wife, Mercy Winifred Daniel Kennedy (1974-1860) led a family of skilled-craftsmen, and innovative daughters that would settle near the Crisco family. The Kennedy's were a lusty, braggadocios family and there are many tales to tell concerning this family.

Name	John Kennedy
Gender	Male
Race	White
Residence Age	55
Birth Date	abt 1795
Birthplace	North Carolina
Residence Date	1850
Home in 1850	Smiths, Stanly, North Carolina, USA
Occupation	Carriage Maker
Industry	Railroad and Miscellaneous Transportation Equipment
Real Estate	250
Line Number	22
Dwelling Number	687
Family Number	690
Inferred Spouse	Mercy Kennedy
Inferred Child	Sarah KennedyEliza Kennedy
Household Members (Name) Age John Kennedy 55 Mercy Kennedy 56 Sarah Kennedy 27 Eliza Kennedy 19 Jordan Kennedy 33 Elizabeth Kennedy 25 Shelby Criscoe 23

In 1850,  Carriagemaker, John Kennedy is listed just a few houses up from the Crisco's, and Crisco son, Shelby, is living with them, working as a laborer. Missing from the household is Kennedy son, William G. 

Name	Wm G Kennedy
Gender	Male
Race	White
Residence Age	25
Birth Date	abt 1825
Birthplace	North Carolina
Residence Date	1850
Home in 1850	Albemarle, Stanly, North Carolina, USA
Occupation	Carriage Maker
Industry	Railroad and Miscellaneous Transportation Equipment
Line Number	8
Dwelling Number	845
Family Number	850

Household members

Name	Age
Daniel Freeman	55
Martha Freeman	55
Martha Freeman	16
Lewis M Gilliam	25
John O Ross	25
Wm G Kennedy	25

William G. Kennedy, also a Carriage Maker and Blacksmith in the emulation of his father and brothers, was living in the small upstart village of Albemarle, the new counties, county seat. He was boarding with merchant and businessman, Daniel Freeman. William wasn't always in Albemarle. At some point he made the interdicted acquaintance of Rebecca Elizabeth Crisco. Around the fall of 1855, with cognizant admonition of antebellum mores, William G. Kennedy and Rebecca Elizabeth Crisco would commit the reprehensible act of conceiving the child that would become Daniel Alexander Crisco. 

Always mindful that he was the boys father, William then did what Big Lick men in these situations seemed to do. When the object of his affections became pregnant without the benefit of marriage, they would turn around and marry a virgin, worthy of legality of relations, which is what William did by marrying his second wife, Eleanor Elizabeth Hooks, on December 10, 1856. His first wife was Hannah M. Hill of Rowan County, who he married on March 3, 1846 in Salisbury, and who passed away November 9th of that same year. The Kennedy's would have eight children, first settling in Albemarle, then relocating to Norwood, where William G. would be appointed Postmaster, before lastly, heading south to Fulton County, Georgia, where he would pass away in 1904.

In the meantime, his bastard son, Daniel Crisco would remain in Big Lick with his mother.

Name	Elizabeth Crisco
Age in 1870	38
Birth Date	abt 1832
Birthplace	North Carolina
Dwelling Number	211
Home in 1870	Big Lick, Stanly, North Carolina
Race	White
Gender	Female
Post Office	Albemarle
Occupation	Keeping House

Household members

Name	Age
Elizabeth Crisco	38
Lucinda Crisco	33
Daniel Crisco	15
Miranda Crisco	2

In 1870, Rebecca Elizabeth Crisco heads a household at age 38, her sister, Lucinda is living with her. As their father died in 1858, and their mother, Nancy, in 1867, just six years earlier, they may have been living in the old homestead, part of their mother's dower in Big Lick. Daniel Alexander Crisco is 15 years old here, and he was not an only child. Elizabeth would have a daughter, seen here as "Miranda", but whose name was or became, Amanda Francis Crisco (1867-1939). While Daniel would name William Kennedy on his two marriage licenses, as his father, there was no documentation as to the father of Amanda. Her marriage certificate to J. A. Taylor gives her mother as Elizabeth Crisco, and permission for her to marry underage was given by Daniel A. Crisco, named as her brother. In the blank space for father was written "unknown" and the same goes for her death certificate. Some attribute her existence to W. G. Kennedy, but that's unlikely, and not documented. There are no court records or bastardy bonds naming Elizabeth Crisco in them either, around the time Amanda was born, so her father remains a mystery.

So in 1870, in the Big Lick community, Mariah Myers-Meggs is a 26 year old woman with a young daughter, living in the home of George Cagle. Daniel Alexander Crisco is a 15 year old boy, living in the same community, with his mother, his aunt and his baby sister. 

Just a few years later, on November 24, 1872, Daniel Alexander Crisco, now about 17 years old, married Mariah or Marion Keziah Megga, aged 28. The preceding article from the April 4, 1876 edition of The Concord Register, out of neighboring Cabarrus County, gives a little backstory to the sordid events to follow. 

Daniel Crisco apparently rented a home from George Crisco and was a tenant farmer, helping the old man run his farm. At this point in 1876, Daniel was 22 years, Mariah was 32 and George Crisco was an aging man of 63. Prior to the confrontation, Daniel and his wife, who had been married about 4 years by this time, and had no children together, had gotten in a fight. Mariah was noted as having been a mistress of George Cagle before her marriage. It was common knowledge in the community. She was not well-respected. Neither was Daniel, as he had been born out-of-wedlock. During the fight, Daniel, who may have been an individual who held alot of anger inside, from his position as a pariah, ostracized only because of the status of his birth, beat his wife 'unmercifully' and made her leave the family home. Mariah was an abused woman. 

The bruised and battered woman must have lingered around the Crisco farm during the night, taking refuge in a barn or other outbuilding. The next day, Daniel Crisco showed up for work as usual and he and George were in the field, a short distance from each other, working, when Mariah showed up nearby, and lingered on the edge of the field. Daniel screamed at her profanely, and instructed her to leave them alone and go back to the house. George, still having a fondness or protectiveness of the woman, or perhaps just a sense of propriety and civility, spoke up and told Daniel Crisco that he shouldn't treat his wife in such a cruel and violent manner. The intervention angered Daniel even more. He threatened George, taking the Lord's name in vain and challenged him to "take it up". 

George must have said no more, and Mariah must have departed from the field, as the two men managed to complete their days work. Daniel Crisco retreated to his own abode, and not finding his wife at home, as he had ordered her to do, armed himself with a 'shoe-knife', a cobbler's tool designed for cutting leather. He set out to find her, angry, and with violence in mind. Returning to the Cagle house, where George lived with his wife, Nancy and unmarried daughter, Fanny, and his son Eli Cagle Huneycutt, and grandson, William Huneycutt, both about 16 or 17. There, he found Mariah, taking refuge among the Cagle's. 

Daniel again ordered Mariah to return home. Fearing for her life, she refused. Angered, Daniel began berating her and beating her again, kicking her and hitting her, as she refused to obey him. George Cagle intervened and told Daniel to leave his house. He picked up a chair in defense at some point, and Daniel pulled out the shoe-knife, but retreated from the house, yelling and cursing as he went. George followed him step by step, ensuring he left. 

In the yard, George reportedly picked up the hoop of a wagon cover, the part use to hold the cover on a covered wagon, and advanced toward Daniel with it. Daniel, in his own words, kept retreating and warned George to not come any closer to him. George did not listen, intent on chasing the young man from his property, armed with a sense of gallantry, continued to advance. Daniel picked up a rock and threw it at the old man, who in turn, swung the wooden wagon hoop at Daniel. With that provocation, Daniel charged at his employer, stabbing him with the shoe knife in the neck and chest. George backed up, grabbing his neck, and stating, "He has killed me". He took 23 steps and fell over dead. With that, Daniel Crisco took off and hid. 

The newspapers reported the next stages of the event. 

Spirit of the South Rockingham, North Carolina • Sat, Apr 8, 1876Page 2

In Rockingham, Richmond County, it was reported that a $50 reward for the apprehension of the murderer, D. A. Crisco, not just for information that would lead to his arrest, but in 1876, barely a decade past the end of the Civil War, one was expected to catch him themselves and bring him to town and deliver to the Sherriff to get the award. Originally reported in the North Carolina Argus, out of Wadesboro, Anson County, a brief description of Daniel Crisco is given. He stood 5 feet, nine inches tall, pale in complexion with blue eyes. The event was said to have taken place on the 28th 'inst.', meaning March, as it was first reported on March 30th. 

The Stanly Banner Albemarle, North Carolina • Thu, Oct 12, 1876Page 1

Crisco apparently stayed in jail in Stanly County throughout the summer months. He had eventually turned himself in, after getting in his mind a defense and an accounting of the events, that he was certain would sway jurors in his direction. He also had his trial switched to another county, where friends or relatives of George Cagle would less likely be called to serve on the jury. In October of 1876, the Stanly County newspapers reported that he had been taken to Monroe, in Union County, by Sheriff Eben Hearne to face trial. 

The Pee Dee Herald Wadesboro, North Carolina • Wed, Apr 5, 1876Page 3

Daniel Crisco, it seems, eventually turned himself in to the Sherriff. In April, it had been reported that the trial would start in April, but it had actually been delayed until October. The reason for the murder, given by the Pee Dee Herald, was that George Cagle had 'interfered' with Daniel Crisco's wife. Interfered by trying to protect her from Crisco's cruel abuse. 

The Courier Asheboro, North Carolina • Wed, Apr 5, 1876Page 2

Stanly County was involved in two murder trials at the same time, in seems. Although both trials were held in adjoining counties in order for the defendants to get an unbiased jury, both had occurred in Stanly. In 1865, Allen Carter had killed Bushrod Lilly, his neighbor, in a disagreement, and fled to Arkansas. In 1876, he was being returned to North Carolina for trial. Unusual that two murders, having happened 11 years apart, were being tried at the same tiem.

The Trial

The youth and good looks of Daniel Crisco seemed to sway the jury. The above report by the Concord papers gave an account of his attitude and his planned defense. He was described as a young man, only 22 years old with a "pleasant face". For some reason, Sheriff Hearne had taken him to Concord before heading to Monroe, which was out of the way for starting from the jail in Albemarle, not in a straight line. The paper gave a bit of Daniel's backstory, stating he married at 17 to 'Mary Meigs', which wasn't' her actual name, but close, and that his job was to work and care for the stock of George Cagle.

The Sun Concord, North Carolina • Tue, Apr 17, 1877Page 2

The date was now April 17, 1877, over a year since the horrific event had occurred. Daniel, and his attorneys, had been given a year to percolate their precise version of the circumstances, in which George Cagle was no longer alive to give his. They had decided to play upon the brusque and sottish reputation of George Cagle and bring up his habitude of lewd and adulterous behavior.

The loquacious and ebullient Daniel had much time to turn the ear of many a reporter, eager for a story to headline and catch the attention of readers. Newspapermen from counties all around had found an audience with him. His story was now that he had his wife quarreled. Gone was the fact that he had beaten her almost to death. He stated that she had left home and went to the Cagle house, not that she had been thrown out and went there for refuge. The article was without doubt influenced by Crisco's input, as it stated so politely, that he had "found her there and tried to persuade her to go home", without reporting that his form of persuasion involved brutality and threats. They extrapolated on the fact that he did attempt to force her to return when his gentle 'persuasion' had not worked, negating the abuse the woman had suffered at his hands. 

This version of the events implied that that Cagle was still in a romantic relationship with Mariah, or 'too intimate', which may have been true, but was embellished with probable falsehoods, as in stating that the old man had interfered by trying to shoot young Daniel, a very pertinent fact that had been overlooked in the report of events immediately afterwards a year prior. This leads me to believe this fact was completely convoluted in order to make Daniel Crisco's case more palatable and sympathetic toward the killer. Another event that was told quite differently in 1877 than it had in 1876, was that Daniel claim he left the house pursued by not only George Cagle, but three other men in his employ. This would have been a big factor that had been completely omitted from the 1876 account, leading me to believe this too was fabricated by Daniel Crisco. He claimed that he had been attacked and beaten with sticks and stones, when in fact, it was he who had thrown a rock at George Cagle, and George had picked up a wooden hoop in self-defense, that is when young Daniel charged at George with the shoe knife that took his life. 

Daniel Crisco portrayed himself as the victim in the confrontation, that he was beaten with sticks and stones and in self-defense, stabbed the much older, and slower, man. George's reputation of being a womanizer and an alcoholic, despite his wealth and many business connections in the community and having taken in the ill-begotten Crisco and giving him employment as a teen. 

Sympathies were also with Daniel due to the illicit relationship known to be had between George Cagle and Mariah. In this continuance of the story, George Cagle became the bad guy in his own murder, instead of the valiant protector of a defenseless and abused woman, that it appears he attempted to be. 

From the CONCORD SUN, Tuesday, April 10, 1877:

"THE FOLLOWING IS THE COURT DOCKET OF DANIEL A. CRISCO, CHARGED WITH MURDER 1876"

STANLY COURT

Monday morning brought a large crowd in attendance upon the Spring Term, 1876, of Stanly Superior Court, about 12 o'clock, a.m., his Honor R.P. Buxton arrived, having been detained at the river, which was very full. Court was called at 2 o'clock, p.m., and his honor delivered one of his brief, but grand charges to the grand jury, after which the court proceeded to the call of the docket. There was no cases of importance tried--some bastardy, assault and battery, larceny, and a number of misdemeanor cases were disposed of.

On Tuesday the case of State vs. Allen Carter for the murder of B.W. Lilly was taken up, the prisoner was arraigned and pleaded not guilty, and after considerable arguing the case on affidavit for continuance and removal, the case was at last removed to Montgomery County for trial at Fall Term, 1876. The prisoner is ably defended by Sol. W.J. Montgomery and Hon. W.S. Robins.

On Wednesday the civil side of the docket was taken up and disposed of. There was but little business transacted on the civil docket, it being very small, most of the cases were continued.

On Wednesday evening a parcel of men came into town with a young man by the name of DANIEL CRISCO, who had been arrested on a charge of murdering George Cagle in the western portion of this county, The prisoner was committed to jail and on Thursday morning the grand jury returned a true bill for murder, and the prisoner was brought to the bar and arraigned, and he also pleaded not guilty. The case was then, by consent, returned to Union County for trial two weeks hence. The prisoner, DANIEL CRISCO, is also defended by Sol. J.W. Montgomery.
We noticed in attendance upon the court, the following
attorneys, viz:W.J. Montgomery, Esq. from Concord, George B. Everette, Esq. from Concord, W.M. Smith, Esq. from Concord, M.S. Robins, Esq. from Asheboro, Gen. A.J. Dargen from Wadesboro, James T. Lockhart from Wadesboro, 

Hon. Neill McKay from Harnett County, Allen Jordon from Troy, Stokes Andrews from Troy, J.W, Mauney from Salisbury, Samuel J. Pemberton, Solicitor from Albemarle ,J.T. Redwine from Albemarle,

Julian A. Turner from Albemarle


The trial drew a Who's Who of central North Carolina Jurists and Solicitors. The minutes of the Stanly County Superior Court would lay out step by step of Daniel Crisco's legal journey. 


Stanly County NC Minute Docket, Superior Court, 1860-1876 (CR 089.301.2)
(Transcribed by Betsy Pittman, 23 April 1996

State v. Daniel Crisco Indictment:  Murder 


Page 522 -  The said Daniel Crisco is brought to the bar of the court in his own proper person by W. H. Hearne high Sheriff of Stanly County, in whose custody he is, the indictment is read over to him, and forthwith it being demanded of him how he will acquit himself of the premises specified and charged upon him, he says he is not guilty thereof and therefore for good and for evil he puts himself upon the country. And Mr. Solicitor Pemberton does the like. Therefore, let a jury come of good and lawful men by whom the truth of the matter may be better known.

Attorney Samuel J. Pemberton was arguably known as the best prosecutor of the times in Stanly and surrounding counties. 

"By consent of Solicitor and of the prisoner at the bar, it is ordered by the Court that this cause be removed to Union County for trial and is assigned for Wednesday of first week of Union Superior Court at Spring Term 1876."

Eli F. Cagle, Wm. A. Huneycutt, James Huneycutt and Calvin Huneycutt acknowledge themselves indebted to the State of North Carolina in the sum of $100 each to be void on Condition that they appear at Union Superior Court Spring Term 1876 and give evidence in the case of State vs. Dan'l Crisco and not depart the same without leave.

The men who gave bond as witnesses in the case against Daniel Crisco were Eli Franklin Cagle, son of George Cagle by Maniza Honeycutt; William Alfred Honeycutt, son of Elizabeth Cagle Honeycutt, George Cagle's daughter, who died young, as did her husband, John, leaving William A. Honeycutt to be raised by his grandfather, George Cagle; James Alfred Huneycutt, another son of Maniza Honeycutt, known to be George Cagles mistress, and mother of Eli F. Cagle. James is accepted as a son of George Cagle, but unlike Eli, there is no documentation of such; and lastly, Calvin Honeycutt, their cousin, a son of Frances Mary Honeycutt, Maniza's sister, and Joshua Christian Burris. 

Page 523 - Eli F. Cagle, Wm. A. Huneycutt, James Huneycutt, Calvin Huneycutt and E. M. Brooks acknowledge themselves indebted to the State of North Carolina in the sum of $100 to be void on Condition that each of them appear at Union Superior Court Spring Term 1876 to give evidence in behalf of the Defendant, in case of the State vs. Daniel Crisco.

It is ordered by the court that the Sheriff of Stanly County deliver the prisoner to the Sheriff of Union County at Monroe on or before Tuesday of 1st week of Spring Term 1876 of Union Superior Court.

The parties and the interest in it were now moved south, to the town of Monroe, in Union County, NC. This was an advantage for Daniel Crisco, as he was able to use his youthful charm and persuasion on ears that did not know of the actual details in the case, and would hear Daniel and his attorney on their own merit, the jury not tainted by anyone who had been blessed by George Cagle's generosity, despite his love of liquor and women. 

Union County, NC Minute Docket, Superior Court, 1866-1877

(Abstracted by Betsy Pittman, 23 April 1996)


Page 409 - #122 State vs. Daniel Crisco
Prisoner brought into Court and is committed to the custody of the Sheriff of Union County.

Page 433 (copied) - continued to Fall Term 1876; prisoner returned to Stanly County jail.

Pages 458-459 (copied) - Fall Term - Union County jail is insecure; therefore prisoner sent back to Stanly County.

Page 512 - 75 men summoned for jury

Pages 519-520 (copied) -Found NOT Guilty.

The Sun, out of Concord, reported the news and the jubilee of how a handsome young man, who went to the house of an old man protecting a woman they had both had a relationship with, and killed the man, had gotten by with the deed and was now a free man. 

 This reminds me of the Luigi Mangioni case of modern times, in a small way. Luigi was a young man, strong and healthy, who had women swooning over him, and some men, when holiday photos of the healthy and muscular youth were released to the press. Many who were of the opinion that insurance companies have hurt people purposely by denying lifesaving treatments, putting costs before health of the individual, and were angry at the entity, cheered the demise of the poor CEO who was just minding his own business on the way to work one day, and was shot mercilessly in the back. This was a savage act of premeditated murder, no matter what bone the perpetrator had to pick with the company or any of its representatives. This man was an employee of a company and had no personal assault against the person who murdered him. In Daniel Crisco's case, he used the reputation of George Cagle in his own favor, and his youth and good looks won him favoritism that led to him being found innocent and freed to fight again. "All were glad to hear of the young man's aquital", the paper proclaimed.

Life seemed to return to normal for Daniel Crisco after his release and acquittal. I assume he had to find a new job, or employer. He returned to court and divorced Mariah Meggs, which was a relief, I am sure, for the both of them.

 Two years after the trial, he remarried, this time to Matilda Kimrey, or Kimmer. Matilda was a girl of good report, and close to Dan in age, just two years his junior. She had grown up in the Tyson Community of Stanly County, and unlike Daniel and Mariah, was from an intact home with married parents and a bounty of siblings. The daughter of Paul Nicholas Kimrey and Rebecca Minerva Mauldin Kimrey, Matilda gave birth to their first child before the wedding. Married on September 24, 1879, the couples first son, William Paul Crisco, had been born on March 14th of the same year. 

The 1880 census of Big Lick Township, shows Mariah Meggs, 33 and divorced, living on what appears to have been what was left of the Cagle farm, probably in the tenant house she had shared with Daniel Crisco. Her 16 year old daughter, Melissa, is living with her. There was no mention of Melissa in the court case, and what the nature of her relationship with her stepfather, Daniel Crisco, may have been. 

Next to Mariah is Adeline Cagle Hartsell, George Cagle's oldest child, and next to her, his only legitimate son, David S. Cagle. George's widow, Nancy, followed others of the family to Iredell County, NC.

While Daniel Crisco has settled in Tyson Township, where his recent bride is from. His occupation is given as Farmer, and other occupants of the household are his wife, Matilda, their infant son, William, his mother, Elizabeth and his little sister Amanda, 9. 

Over the next few years, Daniel and Matilda added three more children that would grow to adulthood. That's a small family for the era. They were:

Shepherd Alexander Crisco (1883-1953)

Malinda N. Crisco Harness (1884-1917)

John Stanford Crisco (1891-1976)

Daniel's little sister, Amanda Frances Crisco, married at the age of 15, to Joseph Allen Taylor, aka 'Jesse', on February 1, 1883. Taylor was from Surry County, originally, and was 23 at the time of the wedding. Daniel Crisco 'Brother' of the bride, gave his permission for the marriage. I stress the relationship of brother, because some have him as her father, despite his only being 13 years her senior. 

Things seemed otherwise quiet during the first thirty years after the trial for Crisco and his family.

1900

Daniel Crisco is now 51, and still farming in Tyson Township, with his wife, Matilda, and four children, aged 8 to 20. His Uncle, Shelby Crisco, in living with him now. It is revealed that Matilda had given birth to 6 children, with the four living.

His mother, Elizabeth, age 70, is still in Tyson Township, but living with a widowed lady, and working as her servant, or caretaker.

His sister, Amanda, is living in Big Lick and raising a very large family of Taylors. She has a very healthy pack of seven children, and had not lost a one. 

Their mother, Rebecca Elizabeth Crisco, would last two more years, passing away at the age of 72, on October 1, 1902. She was buried at Rehoboth Church, near Aquadale. 

Sometime after, Daniel Crisco would leave Tyson and move to Falls Road in what would become Badin.  in 1910, he is found living with his wife, Matilda, and youngest son, John, now 18, as a farmer, renting, living next to his second son, Alex, who is a driller for a well machine company. Alex has been married 5 years to Rosie, and they have three sons themselves, Eddie, Louie and Freddy.

Oldest son, William P. Crisco had married Maebell Foreman, one of their Tyson neighbors in 1904, and remained in Tyson. Only daughter, Malinda N. Crisco, who went by Linda, married Arthur Kepping Hearne in 1909, and lived in Norwood, Center Township, before moving to Albemarle. His sister, Amanda, the Taylor family, remained in Big Lick.

In 1904, in the case of State vs Daniel Crisco, Daniel was sentenced to 18 months in prison for counterfeiting.

It is said a tiger doesn't change its stripes, and that was true in the case of Daniel Crisco. Having gotten by , literally, with murder, he seemed, on the outside, to have led a farily normal life afterwards, farming and raising a family. But everything inside of Daniel had not changed, emboldened by his escape from justice once, the grimy oil of violence seeped back up, on at least one noted occasion. 

Stanly News and Press Albemarle, North Carolina • Thu, Feb 12, 1914Page 1

Live by the Sword, Die by the Sword.

Daniel Crisco 's sordid life came to a violent end on February 8, 1914. Daniel Crisco was at the home of James Miller Sides, called 'Jim'. 

Again, a woman was in it. Daniel Crisco has married  Matilda Kimrey. Jim Sides was at the time married to Julia Ann Kimrey, the sister of Matilda Kimrey Crisco. There seems to have been disturbance between Julia Kimrey Sides and a daughter of Jim Sides. 

The Players: Daniel Crisco was no longer young at this time. Only youngest son, John, may have still been at home, as he wouldn't marry for another four years. Matilda had died in 1912, at the age of 63.  She had been buried at Saint Martin's Lutheran Church, despite the fact that they lived on the Badin Road. Natural causes are expected.

Julia Ann Kimrey was the youngest sister of Matilda and 17 years her junior. Their parents, Paul and Rebecca Minerva Mauldin Kimrey, or Kimmer, had passed away in 1870 and 1871, respectively, when Julia was but a small child of five and six. 

Daniel Alexander Crisco had applied for the marriage license of his sister-in-law, Julia Kimmer (rey), aged 47, to James Sides, 47, both of Albemarle, all parents deceased, on October 16, 1913. They were married at the Congregational Church in Albemarle. James Sides was the son of George Sides and Ithama Cagle Sides. Cagle! Jim was a Cagle descendant, his mother, Ithama, who George W. Cagle, the man Daniel Crisco had previously killed, may have named his daughter of the same name after, or either they were both named for a common ancestor with this same, unusual name. James was a cousin of George W. Cagle, his mother, Ithama, the daughter of Benjamin F. Cagle, brother of George's father. This may have been personal.

We do not know the name of the daughter of James Sides who had gotten in the skirmish with his wife, but it was likely his youngest daughter, Arvy, born in 1897, who would have been about 17 years old at the time. James was the father of five daughters, total. 

Ester Mozella (1882-1959) had married in 1879 to John Zebulon Little. 

Zellie Victoria (1884-1957) had married in 1900 to Jesse Thomas Mills. 

Ida Bellazorra (1886-1929) had married in 1901 to James Watson "Watt" Porter.

Annie Catherine (1887-1963) had married in 1905 to William Davidson "Will" Hinson.

Arvie, 1897-1952), the youngest, would marry in 1916 to Barney McKinley Morris, but in 1914, she was single and at home. 

Daniel Crisco, with a small revolver, shot at the girl, but the bullet apparently missed its mark and hit Jim Sides, the father, instead. Jim must have been infuriated by the danger to his young daughter, and this old man (now 58) interfering in a disturbance among women. James had married as a young man to Cornelia Ann "Nealie" Efird, the mother of these girls, and had been widowed. After Nealie died in 1901, he had several brief marriages. He married Minnie Moore of Anson County in 1902, and she bore him the first son that would survive childhood, Cecil Leroy Sides, (1904-1944). Minnie would leave him again, a widower, in 1908.

On July 15, 1909, Jim would marry a third time to Mary Eliza Farrington Myers, of Yadkin County,  a widow of John L. Myers, with three children. This union was brief, as she is seen only one year later, in the 1910 census, living without Jim, and going by Myers, with her three children, ages 12 to 17, on Poplar Street in Concord. All of them, even 12 year old Hattie, worked in the Cotton Mills. Eliza would divorce Jim, and as she was only 36 years old, remarry, to Ephraim Levi "Lee" Herrin, of Stanly County, on January 4, 1916, and this one would stick.

As for Jim Sides, he would marry Fannie A. Cannon Banks on April 27, 1912 in Cabarrus County. This one didn't work out either, and I don't have a clue what happened there, but on October 16, 1913, he was marrying Daniel Crisco's sister-in-law, Julia.

Daniel Crisco's pistol shot had missed Jim's daughter, and hit Jim in the side. He then grabbed a large, heavy stick and with full force, hit Daniel Aleander Crisco, killer of his cousin, George Cagle, and almost killer of his own child, over the head, crushing his scull. Jim Sides was a strong man. When the police arrived, they found Daniel Crisco in a pool of blood, near death. Jim Sides was in criticial condition and was not expected to live. 

Stanly News and Press

Albemarle, North Carolina • Thu, Sep 30, 1915Page 7

Jim Sides, did, however, live. Julia filed for divorce immediately and Jim's third divorce went through in 1915.

Daniel Crisco was buried beside Matilda at  St. Martin's Lutheran Church. His  estate was divided among his four children.

Jim Sides did not marry a sixth time. He first returned to Tyson Township and farmed until he could no longer work. He then ended up in Albemarle, in the County home for the aged by 1935., and appears there in 1940. His obitruary seems to suggest he went to live with one of his older daughters afterwards and died there at the age of 83 on November 18, 1941.

The News and Observer

Raleigh, North Carolina • Thu, Nov 20, 1941Page 14

There was no obituary for Daniel Crisco.

His descendants were:

William Paul Crisco (1879-1940) Married MaeBell Foreman - 6 children: Lawson, Letha Mae, Dora Lee, George Marshall, Myrtle and Carrie.

Shepherd Alexander Crisco (1883-1953) Married Rosa Perry McAuley. Three sons: Eddie Alexander, Lonnie Lee and Fred Harold.

Malina N. Crisco (1883-1934) Married Arthur Keppling Hearne. 7 children: James Alfred, Effie M., Ethel Mae, Daniel, Bessie, Rayvon, Redwine.

John Stanford Crisco (1891-1976) Married Flossie Mills: 6 children: John Henry, Mayzelle, Lillie Irene, Janie Mae, Reba Jewell, Gwendolyn.

Stanly News and Press

Albemarle, North Carolina • Thu, May 14, 1914Page 3

The End