Thirty Fathers in Thirty Days: Rev. John McKemie Wilson

 

They that be wise shall shine
As the brightness of the firmament
And they that turn many to
Righteousness, as the stars for ever
And ever

From the tombstone of Rev. John McKemie Wilson

Pastor of Rocky River from April 30, 1802-July 30, 1831.

My family tree is ripe with men of the cloth. From my Scottish Presbyterians, Virginian Methodist Episcopal, German Lutherans and Primitive Baptists from the British shores, I can rattle off an entire list of ministers that went into the recipe that made me. Not one other, however, is as well-documented and revered as John McKemie Wilson. 

First, let me get this out of the way. His middle name can be spelled a gazillion different ways, ending in y, ey, ie , Mc C or Mc K, middle initial e, a or i, in any combination of those. I'll may swing between them myself, and not really sure which is considered correct. John was one of my 5th Great Grandfathers, one of those comfortable middle ground ancestors, not too far back to elude records, but not close enough to be considered recent. 

John was born with Presbyterian in his blood, and the records of it can take me back several more generations beyond the fifth distant, and back to the Plantation of Ulster.

John's roots were not Irish, but Scottish, but in 1610, a huge wave of Scottish Presbyterians had immigrated to Ireland, with a concentration in Ulster. New congregations were established with the protection of Oliver Cromwell. After the restoration of the monarchy, some ministers who were deemed rebellious were removed, while others were left and paid by William III for their conformity. Without going into an entire history, many of the former group opted for transportation to America. New Missions.

John was born about 1769, in the Sugar Creek, or Sugaw Creek, area of Mecklenburg County, NC.

The Church he attended as a child, Sugaw Creek Presbyterian, founded in 1756, still stands, and is still an active congregation. Amazing.

As a young man, this was where he was inspired to enter the ministry and follow in the footsteps of his forebears, Robert Wilson, directly, and Francis McKemie, called the father of Presbytery in America, indirectly, an ancestorial uncle relationship. He graduated from Hampden-Sidney College in Prince Edward County, Virginia in  1791 with the highest honors. He then studied theology privately under the direction of Rev. James Hall D. D., from Iredell County.  He was licensed by the Presbytery of Orange County, NC in 1793. He afterwards was sent out into the field by the Commission of Synod to the frontier, the mountains of North Carolina. He would achieve the title of Presbytery Divine.

Rev. Wilson would find himself in the area of Quaker Meadows, in Burke County, North Carolina. The Quaker Meadows Presbyterian Church was established in 1774, and is the oldest church in Burke County, founded primarily by a large Scotch-Irish population. They were a Presbyterian people, but as the organized council of this church insisted on their ministers being educated, it made the church difficult to grow and increase in the outer edges of the frontier. This was in contrast to say, the Baptists whose congregations would choose a Pastor among their own Congregation, someone called by God, but with little to no education, or the Methodists, who employed Circuit Riding Ministers, who covered large territories.

While in Quaker Meadows, John would meet his wife, Mary "Pretty Polly" Erwin, daughter of Patriot Col. Alexander Erwin and wife, Susannah Robinson Erwin. By 1797, he was serving two churches, not a great distance from each other, the one in Quaker Meadow, and The First Presbyterian Church of Morganton, whose people had been meeting casually since around 1780, without the guidance of an ordained minister.

 John and Polly would have 9 children:

• John McKemie Wilson II (1789-1839)
• James Erwin Wilson (1797-1850)
• Margaret McKemie Wilson (1799-1870) Married John Work Means -my line
• Sarah Robinson Wilson (1799-1864) Married William E. White
• Alexander Erwin Wilson (1803-1841)
• Joseph Harvey Wilson (1810-1884)
• William Erwin Wilson (1815-unk)
• Harriett Ann Wilson (1818-1850) Married Richard C. Carson
• Mary Erwin Wilson (dates unknown) Married James Smith Chambers.

Portrait of Sarah Robinson Wilson White

Polly Erwin Wilson was recorded as having been the perfect minister's wife, "and was found in her an amiable, pious and intelligent companion and pastor's wife, for more that thirty years. He survived her about five years", according to Rev. Dr. William Henry Foote, biographer and author.

In 1801, Rev. Wilson was called for by his hometown, from two churches needing his services. One of those was Rocky River Presbyterian in Cabarrus County, NC, but then part of Mecklenburg, the other was a Mecklenburg County church called "Philadelphia".

Rocky River was one of the seven congregations that covered the region of country represented in the convention at Charlotte, of Declaration memory, and was no disinterested spectator of the doings and catastrophe of the Regulation. The first settlers in the bounds of the congregation were all of the Scotch-Irish race, that landed in Pennsylvania, and after Carrying a short time there, or in Maryland, found their way to North Carolina. As was usual, they came in a company : Col. Robert Harris, on Reedy Creek ; his brother, Samuel Harris, on Clear Creek ; Andrew Davis, on Reedy Creek ; Moses Shelby, on Clear Creek ; Wm. White and his two brothers, James and Archibald, on or near Rocky River ; David Caldwell, on Caldwell's Creek ; and Adam Alexander on Clear Creek. Others probably came with these, but their names are not known. As the tide of emigration was turned by the Indian depredations to the peaceful streams of Carolina, the settlements rapidly increased and formed a vigorous, active and independent part of the county. The Morrison family came early to Rocky River from Scotland, making a short sojourn in Pennsylvania. There were three brothers, two of them lived to a great age. The descendants of the Harris, Alexander and Morrison families have been numerous ; of the latter, nine have entered the ministry, and others are preparing.

Thomas Hugh Spence, Jr., The Presbyterian Congregation on Rocky River (1954).

John McKemie Wilson was a man of peace. He did not participate in the militia or get involved in the War as a teenager, and still was a bit too young to, although brought up into what was referred to by the British as a "Hornets' Nest". His father was a merchant, having come to Mecklenburg from Philadelphia, and it's not clearly recounted, but he was somehow caught up in the fray of it, and died in 1780. Several early members of the daughters of the Revolution have used this lineage to join. 

In the book, Sketches of North Carolina, historical and biographical, illustrative of the principles of a portion other early settlers. By Rev. William Henry Foote, an entire chapter, XXXIII is dedicated to Rev. Wilson

Other authors have drawn heavily on his history, it's easy to tell. The paragraph below tells a bit about his early life, with a mention of his raising and his father.

In another account of his childhood, from William B. Sprague, Annuals of the American Pulpit, vol. 4 (1858), John McKemie Wilson is painted as a playmate of future president, Andrew Jackson. 

The articile continues with a tale from his toddler years, concerning a snake. 

His touching of a snake that didn't bite him must have been a story often told by his mother and reveals the emollient nature he would take into adulthood.

John took the helm of sheparding the flocks of Rocky River and Philadelphia for about eleven years, during the period his children were growing up. During that time several young men in the area or within his congregations exhorted him to open up a school. They wished to enter the ministry under his tutalage.This he did about 1812 and that was his career for the next dozen years. During that time, he produced 25 students that followed his footsteps into the mission field and became preachers.Several of the congregation of Rocky River, which area had consisted of a penurious population, would not have had a classical education without John. His students were young men only. Women were excluded from his school, as it was considered improper at the time. It was said he was a beloved and popular instructor. His school was called The Rocky River Academy. He also helmed the building of a new church building, during his tenure as minister at Rocky River, which took place in 1807.

In 1829, at the age of 60, Rev. John McKemie Wilson was given the honorable degree of Doctor of Divinity from the University of North Carolina, which was the first major college established in North Carolina.

Among the stories told of his like was how Andrew Jackson and his mother, who was a relative of theirs, took refuge in their home when John was a small boy, when the British force invaded South Carolina during the Revolutionary War and remained there for a few months between September of 1780 and February of 1781. Johns father, James, participated in the War effort and was killed during the time, the details unclear,(bet 1775-1780),  but he left three children, John, his brother, James Jr.(1771-1884) who became a sheriff and a sister, Deborah, (1773-1804). A fourth child, named Isaac, born about 1775 is also sometimes included, he may have been born posthumously.

Another interesting tale of his life was how, after graduating college, he rode on a mission trip of 1000 miles through the mountains and foothills of North Carolina, which was a wild and dangerous area at the time.

John spent so much time on the road, it's unknown if he appeared in any of the early census records of his lifespan, 1790 or 1800. He did, however, appear in the 1810, 1820 and 1830 censuses of Mecklenburg County, NC.

Name	Revd Jno M Wilson
Residence Date	6 Aug 1810
Residence Place	Capt Moore, Mecklenburg, North Carolina, USA
Free White Persons - Males - Under 10	4
Free White Persons - Males - 10 thru 15	1
Free White Persons - Males - 26 thru 44	1
Free White Persons - Females - 10 thru 15	2
Free White Persons - Females - 26 thru 44	1
Number of Enslaved Persons	9
Number of Household Members Under 16	7
Number of Household Members Over 25	2
Number of Household Members	18

The 1820 cenus even named him as Reverend John M. Wilson. He had 8 children in the home at the time, and he and his wife were between 26 and 44.

Rev. John was also an author, having penned several recorded sermons, eulogies and books.

He published, a Sermon (1804): — Sermon (1811): — and an Appendix to a work on psalmody by the Rev. Dr. Ruffner, of Virginia. See Sprague, Annals of the Amer. Pulpit, 4:90; Foote, Sketches of North Carolina; Allibone, Dict. of Brit and Amer. Authors, s.v. (J. L. S.)

Two paragraphs from United States Genealogies 1767 recount the ministerial and connected ancestry of Rev. John McKemie Wilson. See below.

Two of John and Polly's sons followed in their fathers footsteps, becoming ministers.John Jr. settled in the American southwest, while brother, Alexander went on to Africa. There's no recorded picture or portrait of John, Sr., but an image of his son Rev. John M. Wilson Jr., is shown in the clip below, a rather imposing and stern looking man.

A story on the parents of  Rev. John M. Wilson is found below. Before reading, let me insert this tad bit of wisdom, the word "freeman" did not mean 'single'. It referred to a free person of color. That record was not of merchang James Wilson. This excerpt is from. "The Annuls of the American Pulpit" by Sprague, Footes Sketches and Laura Wilson Ford

"The parent of John Makemie Wilson, James Wilson, married a daughter of Matthew Patton of Peters Township, Cumberland Co, Pennsylvania and they had two daughters, Mary and Elizabeth Wilson. After the death of his wife, James married the widow of Arthur Alexander, Margaret McCamy, the daughter of John and Margaret McCamy of Letterkenny, also of Cumberland Co, PA. Margaret and Arthur Alexander had three children, Mary, Ann, and Elias Alexander.

There is a James Wilson "freeman," which is said to mean single, on the 1750 tax list of Lancaster PA, in an area which became Cumberland Co within that year. In the absence of other evidence, we suppose he is this James Wilson. James and Margaret must have married about 1768, since they had four children, the oldest born 1769, and James Wilson died in 1776, believed to have been killed in the war for independence. Margaret Wilson is buried in Poplar Tent Cemetery in Mecklenburg Co, NC, where her stone says she died in 1802 at age 60.

The children of James and Margaret Wilson were John Makemie Wilson, James Wilson, Deborah Wilson and Isaac Wilson. John Makemie Wilson (1769-1831) attended Hampden-Sidney College where he graduated with highest honors in 1791. He was licensed to preach by the Presbyterian Church in 1793 and ordained in 1795. He was serving in Burke County, North Carolina when he married Mary Erwin, daughter of Alexander Erwin and his wife Sarah Robinson. They remained in Morganton until 1801when he was called to Rocky River and Philadelphia Churches where John Makemie Wilson is remembered for his long years of service and devoted following. There were numerous examples of little boys whose given names were John Makemie or John Makemie Wilson among his congregation.

The children of Mary Erwin and John Makemie Wilson were James Erwin Wilson, Sarah Robinson Wilson married William Elliott White, Margaret Makemie Wilson married John Work Means, Isaac Wilson, Alexander Erwin Wilson, John McKemie Wilson, Mary Erwin Wilson married Chambers, Harriet Ann Wilson married Richard C. Carson, and Joseph Harvey Wilson."

Source: Annals of the American Pulpit by Sprague, Foote's Sketches and Laura Wilson Ford

The Kids

John McKemie (asa McKamey) Wilson, Jr. (1808-1881) graduated from Washington College in Lexington, Virginia, along with his brother, Alexander, in 1827. While John studied law and was later admitted to the bar, Alexander went in for the study of medicine and became a medical doctor. Oddly, shortly afterwards, both brothers entered the seminary. Alexander's heart led him afar, and he took his medical skills and religious calling to Africa and became one of America's earlies foreign missionairies. 

Junior, the attorney/minister preferred to stay closer to the bone, first ministering to the congregations of Bethany and Tabor in Iredell County, not far from his Rocky River home.  He then took over the ministry of his father's church, Rocky River, after his passing. He married a conspicuous lady that he'd met in Virginia named Philadelphia Herndon Fox. I love how they named children in those days, so haughty and auspicious. 

Their first destination West was to Fulton, Missouri, where Junior became a circuit rider, servicing multiple congregations. Much his father's son, he founded two schools while there, a Seminary, and another for young women that taught a classical education. 

Twenty-five years into their marriage, Junior decided to pack up his village of a family, consisting of himself, his wife, eleven children and 19 slaves, and a caravan of supplies, furnishings, religious and educational books and supplies, including a piano and harpsichord, and made his way to the wilds of Texas.

Once there, he settled in as the minister of the Seguin Presbyterian Church, only the second one to fill that roll. Still interested in increasing the educational opportunities for girls and women, he became the headmaster of the Guadalupe Female Academy. If that was not enough divergence from his original path of study, he became a Potter, and established Wilson's Pottery after the Civil War. 

Joseph Harvey Wilson (1810-1884) was an attorney in Charlotte where he practiced law for 50 years. He had attended Washington College in Virginia where he entered at 13 and graduated with honors at 13. He was referred to as "The Great Solicitor". He was the Speaker of the N.C. Senate in 1866-1867. He was married twice, first to Julia Patton of Burke County with whom he had four children and next to Mary Louisa Phifer with whom he had four more.

Isaac Wilson (1802-1880) Was a co-executor of his father's Will, along with Junior and Alex. He was a quiet country doctor in Mecklenburg County.

James Erwin Wilson was also a medical doctor. He was married twice, first to Elizabeth Kerr and second to Elizabeth Ferguson and had three children by each. He removed first to Tennessee and second to Alabama.

William Erwin Wilson (1791-1871) the second born son, was reared to Farm life and devoted his time to agricultural pursuits.

The four daughters, Margaret, Sarah, Mary and Harriett, all married well and within their class, to Doctors, Merchants and an Attorney. They were dutiful and well educated wives and mothers.

Rev. John McKemie Wilson's Last Days

John's last days included a trip to his wife's hometown and his old stomping grounds, Morganton, in Burke County, to attend a church meeting. He didn't sleep much or well during these things and after returning home, the 61 year old minister appeared exhausted, more so than usual. He never seemed to recover from the weary trip. On his last day of life, he was peaceful, calm and humble, enjoying laughter and conversation with his family. His wife, Polly Erwin Wilson had passed on five years prior. He yelled out to one of his single sons who remained in the home at about 3 am the next morning, and complained that he was cold. He then appeared to have had a stroke, in my opinion. It is recorded that his speech first became incoherent, and then he went silent.

He passed away at about nine the next morning, on July 30, 1831. 

A Dr. Robinson from the Poplar Tent congregation performed the funeral, he was said to have been a lifelong friend of John. The funeral was held under a beautiful grove of trees, because the Santuary of Rocky River was too small to hold the multitude of friends, family, parishoners and former students, and the curious of the community who showed up. He had toucheded so many lives. 

After his father's funeral, Rev. Alexander Wilson, the missionary, set off for East Africa. He came under a lot of duress and danger among the Zulu tribe, who were in the middle of a War. During the course of it, his wife, Martha Jane Smithey Wilson was killed and he was forced to flee home with his infant daughter,  Martha Smithey Wilson. He remained home for awhile, caring for his daughter until she was a few years old, but his heart and mission was called again to Africa. He returned, this time to the West Coast of Africa and lost his life at Cape Palmas in 1842. He is buried in Fishtown, Potupo District, River Gee, Liberia.

Obituary in the Fayetteville Observer

Sources

William Henry Foote, Sketches of North Carolina: Historical and Biographical (1846).

Minutes of the Synod of the Carolinas, vol. 1 (Presbyterian Historical Foundation, Montreat, N.C.).

Annals of the American Pulpit by Sprague, Foote's Sketches and Laura Wilson Ford

Thomas Hugh Spence, Jr., The Presbyterian Congregation on Rocky River (1954).

William B. Sprague, Annuals of the American Pulpit, vol. 4 (1858).

Find-A-Grave, Rev. John Makemie Wilson 

Tombstone of Rev. John 'Makemie' Wilson at Rocky River Presbyterian Church Cemetery, Cabarrus County, NC.

The Secrets of Adeline

 

When reading the records of people long removed into the diaspora of the afterlife, some seem immutable, cold, 'facts and figures'. With others, you can hear the attitude of a swish of their crinolines, the gruff clearing of a throat, the lingering silage of pipe smoke. Adaline Hartsell was one of those people.

While reading the Will of Holden "Golden" Hartsell, a Civil War Veteran, his new wife, Adeline, burst through the pages like an 18 wheeler through a blockade of protesters, nose pert and upwards, her shoes rapidly tapping, a gust of wind from her passing skirts in a flurry, and a "harumph" of ill intent and attitude soaked in by the pages of the probate papers like sponge. It is my belief that Adeline was a bit of an opportunist.

Holden Hartsell was a widower, about 48 years old, when he married Menece Adaline Cagle Coley, a 33-year-old widow, on October 15, 1865. 

Then in the November session of court, 1865, Adeline Hartsell petitions the court for her allowed year's provisions as a widow.

We don't know what Holden Hartsell died of. He had served in the Civil War as a Private in the Senior Reserves. 

He had enlisted at age 47, in Albemarle, Stanly County, North Carolina, by a Leut. Little. He had returned home, possibly sick or injured, but alive, alive enough to marry and alive enough to father an eleventh child, hmm, well maybe, a child he was accepted as the father of, at any rate. 

Holden Hartsell had been married many years to Mary Nancy Huneycutt and had 10 known children with her, the first in 1836 and the last in 1856. He lost his wife in 1862.  He had remarried to Adeline Cagle Coley, who would, within the next year, bear a son she named Aaron. In her years petition, Adeline claimed that Holden had a considerable property to which she, his new bride, was entitled. 

The above page from Holden's probate papers showed he owned 150 acres bordering Solomon Pless and Levi Furr. Adeline requested a third of the estate and her case was vs. the heirs of Holden Hartsell, his living children. 

In April of 1866, Sheriff of Stanly County, Jonathan Mann, who hailed more from the center of the county, put together a jury of "good and lawful men", which consisted of Michael Dry, King D. Brooks, Charles Dry, John Brooks and W. F. Moss, to allot and layoff to Adeline Hartsell, her dower and third of the property of Holden Hartsell. It began at a white oak at the corner of B.L. Green, deceased. It met Nelson Smith's corner, then commenced to a stake in the corner of the 'old Polk Road.' That bit of information intrigued me. Could this be the same road as what we now call Polk Ford Road, that runs south of Stanfield down towards the Rocky River and ends before it?

This document is over 150 years old, and refers to the road as "old". How old is this road, really? I'm sure it's turns, twists and trail has changed tremendously over that period of time, and it's probably just a small piece, now, of a once longer route, but Polk Ford is in the right location, between Stanfield and Oakboro, South, near the river and the Union County line. I often peruse old maps, wondering where the old roads were, or were called. I'd like to know more about this one.

The document continued that the allotment was 50 acres, except one acre cut off for the schoolhouse. Another hint! A school was located on the property. Which school? Could this be found?

In February 1866, in the Stanly County Court of Pleas and Quarters, is found the above document, in which the heirs are named. It states, "The Petition of Adaline Hartsell Widow of Holden Hartsell (inserted), shows unto you Worship that her said Husband died Intestate in the year leaving him surviving the following children to wit; W R Hartsell, John Bird and wife, Elizabeth, Eli Hartsell Julia Hartsell, John A Hartsell, Eva M Hartsell, Joseph M. Hartsell Malinda Hartsell Monroe Hartsell Bitha Hartsell Aaron Hartsell who are his only heirs at law. " Aaron, being the infant of Adaline Hartsell, born about 1865. 

A few years after this, in the 1870 census, Adeline is seen as the head of household number 216, at age 38, her six-year-old son, Aaron, living with her. Also living in her home is her younger sister, Ithama, seen here as Luthina, which may have been a middle name. Her name has many variations. Near Adeline is the John and Elizabeth Hartsell Bird family, a daughter of Holden and living with them was 14-year-old Tabitha Liberty Hartsell, his youngest daughter. On this same page, with a few nonrelated families in between, can also be found Joseph Hartsell, another sibling and son of Holden Hartsell

With Adeline in Household 216, going in the other direction, preceding her, we find Jacob Crisco, in Household 216, whose wife, Malinda, was a sister of Adeline, with single Cagle sister, Martha, in their home. It's obvious that the Hartsells and Cagles were neighbors. 

The fact that piqued my curiosity and disturbed my senses in the case of Adeline and her marriage to Holden was in its brevity. Had Adeline taken advantage of an ailing man to advance her situation? Did she aid to his quick demise following the wedding herself? Was she expecting her son Aaron before the wedding? Did Holden know? Or was he conceived during an extended honeymoon? Why would I think the worst of Adeline, or, of her motives? Maybe it was because of her father, George Cagle, who was one of the characters that flavored the foul reputation of the town of Big Lick. George was the Lemon Pepper of Lemon Pepper Chicken.  

Who was Adeline Cagle Coley Hartsell to begin with? 

Menece Adaline Cagle was born around 1832 in the Big Lick area of what would become Stanly County. She was the oldest child of George Washington Cagle (1813-1876) and wife, Elizabeth Rosa Whitley, (1812-1860). 

She does not appear in the 1850 or 1860 census with her family.  In 1850, she would have been around 18 or 19, and it is assumed, married by then.  She is mentioned in the Will of her father, dated November 30, 1868, and is referred to as "Menece A. Hartsell", and also in the estate files, probated February 27, 1888, as Adeline Hartsell. 

"...... unto my daughter Menece A. Hartsell, fifty acres of land off the Western end if my three-hundred-acre tract commencing on Dunns line.... unto Ely Huneycutt my illegitimate son, one hundred and fifty acres of land the wheron I now live, by his maintaining my daughter Beedy M. Cagle during her natural life, in case she does not marry, and if she marries he be released from the obligation by his paying her one hundred dollars.... and unto my grandson William Huneycutt , seventy-five acres of land adjoining the fifty-acre tract given to Menece A. so as to include the long house place. now in case the above-named Rly Huneycutt and William Huneycutt should be disobedient to me and not serve as dutiful children till attain the age of twenty-one. in that case they shall have nothing of my property and in that case I direct that my daughter Beedy M. have one hundred acres of the land designated for Ely Huneycutt including the dwelling house and outbuildings....... that the remainder of the land designated for Ely and also the land designated for William, and also all the balance of my land not herein disposed of after running off my son David S. Cagle, fifty acres to be divided equally , between my daughters, Sarah Jones, Mary Smith, Martha Cagle, Ann Jane and Fany L Cagle and Malinda Criscoe, also , I direct that my personal estate goods and chattels in every respect be sold and equally divided between my daughters, Sarah Jones, Mary Smith, Martha Cagle, Ann J. Cagle and Fany L. Cagle, Malinda Criscoe, Menece A. Hartsell and Beedy M. Cagle, and my son David S. Cagle. and my son Ely Huneycutt and my grandson William Huneycutt. And also my sawmill with ten acres of land for the cite and privilege of the same, adjoining J.A. Criscoe line be sold and equally divided between my daughters named above.

George had a large collection of daughters, some with inventive names, and a spattering of children born outside the bonds of legal matrimony. He had one legitimate son, David S. Cagle. 

The question remains, who was Adeline married to? Her marriage to Holden Hartsell has her as a Coley, and there were lots of Coley's in the area. The timing suggests she could have possibly been a Civil War widow, before her marriage to Holden. This gives rise to my search for which Coley she may have married that died in the Civil War. What I discovered that Adaline had married a young man even more mysterious than she, who died prior to the advent of the war. 

Tillman Coley died around 1856, in Stanly County, NC, leaving a small estate. 

As she did with her second husband, Adaline petitioned for her widow's dower and year's provisions, with the aid of J. M. McCorkle. She stated in the February 1856, Term of Court that she was the 'relict' of Tilman Coley and that he had died since the last term of court, which would have been in November, placing his death in late 1855, or very early 1856. She claimed he died possessed of 'some' personal property, leaving Adaline, the petitioner, 'wholly unprovided for'. She stated that she was entitled to a year's provisions out of the estate, for the support of herself and her family, meaning she may have had a child, or two, though none is known. 

Four men were appointed as a committee to look into Adaline's petition, Henry Carver, Esq., Jesse Morton, Wright Dunn and Tilman Smith. When the four Freeholders returned to Court in May of 1856, to give their report, they were listed as W. H. Carver, Justice of the Peace, Jesse Morton, Tillman Little, instead of Smith, and G. W. Dunn. 

When looked into the meager estate left behind by Tillman Coley, they found it lacking. 

"the provisions on hand, being found insufficient, we have laid off and allotted to the widow Sundry Articles of the Household furniture, to the amount of $53.05 and font her in possession of the same."

So, Tillman had not much, and Adeline already had in her possession what little he left behind. I believe Tillman was a young man, probably around the same age as Adeline. As I find neither of them in the 1850 census, I believe they were married by then and had been missed by the census taker. Adeline is also missing in 1860, the one after Tillmans death. This doesn't mean there were no traces of him. As did most young men of the era, he was drafted into the building of the roads throughout the county. 

When McCamey Willis was appointed overseer of the Fayetteville Road from Big Bear Creek to the big pond. The men and boys chosen to aid in this clearing and building were chosen from the nearby area. They were named as Allen Burris, George Cagle, Lewis Tucker, David Burris, Gideon Burris, Jesse Whitley, W. R. Huneycutt, Columbus Whitley, Tillman Coley, J. C. Burris, John W. Burris, Solomon Burris, and Loyd Hathcock. Heavy on the Burris's and others suggest an Almond Township crowd, as McCamey Willis married Obedience Burris, sister and aunt to several of these, and he lived in what we now call Red Cross. George Cagle was the father of Adaline Cagle Coley. 

In another Overseer record, Needham Whitley was appointed overseer of the Charlotte Road from the crossroad near Henry Manuels to Big Bear Creek and Temple Whitley, Tillman Coley, William Burris, and George Whitley were appointed hands.  Temple Whitley is important in this document, because he may have purchased property that was taken from Tillman Coley, or sold to Temple by him at some point, although a deed is unavailable. 

In a Temple Whitley deed, he mentioned owning 8 acres known as the "Tillman Coley tract". 

In 1853 and 1854, Tillman Coley is listed as an Insolvent in the Stanly County court records. 

Perhaps one of the most important small mentions of Tillman Coley is his name listed in the 1854 list of taxables for District 7. Although he is only taxed $1.20 for one taxable, himself, and no property, it's who those listed near him were. Isaiah Coley, who would pass away in the Civil War, is listed with 325 acres, right next to Tillman, and below him is George Cagle, and next is Jacob Crisco, one of George's sons-in-laws. There is also Charles Dry and Green W. Dunn, who were two of the freeholders chosen to lay off Adeline's future dower after Tillman's decease. There is also a Green D. Coley, nearby and up the page, above Charles Cagle is Thomas A. Coley, who also passes away in the Civil War. 

The last mention of Tillman Coley is in 1857, when we know he has passed away already. This was probably tax owed by Adeline from his small estate, of .32 cents. Listed above is Henry Carver, Esquire, one of the freeholders of Adaline's dower committee, so although the couple were not listed in 1850 or 1860, it can be assumed the general area of their residence at this time. 

Family trees of Coley descendants who appear to have done accurate and intense research on the Coley family of Stanly and Union Counties have Tillman as a son of Nathan and Nancy Vickers Coley; Nathan having passed away in 1881. He was a younger brother of Thomas A. Coley, their oldest son, who died in the Civil War. His children are mentioned in Nathan's Will and are found in Nathan's home after the War. One of the sons was named Tillman, born about the time the older Tillman Cagle died. The information has Tillman as being born in 1827 and came from a Family Bible. If Adeline had children with Tillman, they passed away before their grandfather. 

The last time we saw Adeline was in 1870, when she was head of a household that included her young son, Aaron Hartsell, and her younger sister, Ithama Luthenia Cagle. Around this time, Adeline would become involved in another relationship of some kind, with whom, I don't know. Probably some rascal around the Big Lick area in which she lived at this time. In 1872, she would give birth to a daughter she would name Cornelia A. "Neelie" Hartsell, and we know she wasn't Holden's child, as he had been deceased some seven years or so. 

The next item of consequence was the death of Adelines roguish father, old Geore Cagle, himself. This event occurred on February 27, 1876, and despite George being 63 at the time, considered an elderly man at the time, his death wasn't natural. He was killed by a jealous man. George must have had some foresight into his own demise, as he had written a will in 1868, eight years prior, as seen above, he named his eldest daughter as Menece A. Hartsell, and when his estate was probated in the spring of 1876, she was referred to simply as Adeline Hartsell. 

Adeline now had a solid inheritance from her last husband, Holden, and now from her father, George. Despite still being a relatively young woman, it doesn't appear that Adeline remarried a second time, not in the records of Stanly County, at least.

In 1880, Adaline is now 48 years old, and living on what can be guessed, part of George Cagle's old place, next to her brother, David S. Cagle. Living with her is her 8-year-old daughter, Neelie. Listed above her is her father's mistress, Mariah Meggs, with her daughter, Melissa. David S. Cagle has adopted William Springer, 12, and near them is Dovey Springer. The Springers are their own story. 

Adeline's son, Aaron Hartsell, is now 18, and has set out on his own, working as a farm laborer for John O. Tucker. 

On February 28, 1893, it is revealed that Adaline Cagle Coley Hartsell has moved to Mecklenburg County, and has sold her 12 1/2 acres of property to her nephew, Alexander Cagle, son of David S. Cagle. While this deed, found in Book 29 Page 26, of the Stanly County deeds, in Book 29, Page 24, just before it, Alexander Cagle has purchased a border property to this one, which bordered his father, D. S. Cagle, as well, from B. F. and Elizabeth Simpson. The small tract was on Stillwater Creek, a common thread in several of my previous posts. 

On the second page of the deed, it is seen that Adeline Hartsell appeared before William D. Alexander , JP, of Mecklenburg County on March 16, 1903. This is the last thing I've found on Adeline. As she did in 1850 and 1860, Adeline defied being counted by the census taker, but from the above document, we know she was alive and well in Mecklenburg County at the age of 71. It is unknown exactly when Adeline died, or where she was buried, whether in Mecklenburg, or returned to home to Stanly County. 

I also have no more information on Aaron Hartsell, that I can be certain is the right Aaron. 

The one survivor of the small family was Neelie Hartsell. 

On October 3, 1892, at Asbury Chapel in Mecklenburg County, North Carolina, Neelie Hartsell, 19, daughter of unknown father and Adeline Hartsell, the father dead and the mother living, married E. M. Ferrell, 24, son of W. G. and Lodeski Farrell, father living and mother dead, all of Mecklenburg County. E. M. stood for Elhannon Mack Ferrell, and he was Mecklenburg born, son of William Gamewell Ferrell and wife, Margaret Lodeska Steele. I love these old unique names, better than John and Mary. 

The young family is found in Huntersville, Mecklenburg County in 1900, where E. M. is farming on rented property. They have three small children, and two teenaged boys helping out as farmhands, Will Billing 18, and a relative, Francis Ferrell, 15.

1910 - They've now moved to Coddle Creek in Iredell County and Mack is operating a Grocery Store. They live in the Dixie Cotton Mill Village on Dixie Cotton Mill Road. While Mack is a merchant, the oldest of their now six children all work in the Cotton Mill while Neelie stays home with the younger three, one a yet unnamed infant. 

1920- The Ferrells have moved to Cleveland, North Carolina and Mack is now a Minister. They only have their youngest two daughters, Inez, 12 and Delola, 10, at home by this time. 

1930- Mack is still a Methodist Episcopal Minister, and the family has moved to the community of North Brook in Lincoln County, North Carolina. Inez and Delola are still at home and a 12-year-old grandson, Billy Ferrell, is living with them. All three of the younger Ferrells are operating a small farm. 

1935 - Still in Lincoln County. 

1940- Mack has decided to give up the Ministry and return to being a Grocery Store Merchant. He and Neelie have moved to Hickory, in Catawba County, and have an empty nest. Mack is 70 and Neelie is 68 by now. 

1950- By 1950, the elderly couple, 80 and 78, have determined that they should not be on their own and have moved in with their daughter, Iva Ferrell Brown and are living in Kannapolis, Cabarrus County, NC. 

Mack passes away first, at the State Hospital in Morganton, on July 3, 1852. He is 81, and his profession is given as a Methodist Minister. His residence is given as Kannapolis, and he is married, his parents given as Game Farrell and Martha Steele. 

Neelie doesn't last long after losing her husband. She passes away in Kannapolis, where she lives, on October 19, 1952, at the age of 79. Her birthplace is incorrectly given as Iredell County. Her mother is correctly given as Adeline Cagle Hartsell. Her father is named as A. L. Hartsell. I believe this is just a fabrication and may have been referring to Holden in some offhand way. There was an A L Hartsell in Union County, born 30 years after Adeline, and I doubt he was Neelie's father. 

Mack and Neelie had the following children:

1894-1962 Alberta Lee Ferrell Beam

1897-1971 Addie L. Ferrell Baxter

1898-1961 Tillman Allen Ferrell

1902-1930 Lura M. Farrell

1908-1969 Inez Iva Farrell Brown

1910-1967 Delola Neelie Farrell Holshouser

Both parents were buried at Willow Valley Cemetery in Iredell County, NC

Name	Neely Ferrell
Maiden Name	Hartsell
Gender	Female
Birth Date	27 Mar 1870
Birth Place	Iredell County, North Carolina, United States of America
Death Date	19 Oct 1952
Death Place	North Kannapolis, Rowan County, North Carolina, United States of America
Cemetery	Willow Valley Cemetery
Burial or Cremation Place	Mooresville, Iredell County, North Carolina, United States of America
Has Bio?	Y
Spouse	Elhannen Mack Ferrell
Children	Tillman Allen Ferrell; Iva Brown; Delola Holshouser; Addie Baxter; Lee Alberta Beam

Menece Adeline Cagle Coley Hartsell had many secrets and liked to hide from the census taker, and she may have learned a trick or two from her nefarious father, George, but in the end, she did leave descendants, with whom we may never know. 

Aunt Ella' s Divorces

 

I recently posted about my Second Great Grandmother's younger sister, Ella Elizabeth Faulkner (1871 - 1935), in a post called "The Black Widow". You can read about it Here:

The Black Widow

Aunt Ella was married five times, but in all fairness, she was only widowed twice. 

She married first on December 23, 1886, to James Stevenson Turner, son of George Washington Turner and Elizabeth Wincy Morton Turner. He was the brother of her sister, my second Great Grandmother, Sarah Frances Faulkner's husband, William Alexander Turner. Two sisters married two brothers. It was not an uncommon occurance in those days.

 Ella was very young at this time, no more than 15 or 16. Her age was very fluid over the years. Her death certificate gives her a year of birth as 1875, but I believe she had whittled away at that over the years and her daughter had no real idea of her actual age. If this was true, she would have been only 11 when she married the first time, which I don't believe was accurate. She and Jim had one son, George Washington Turner III, born in 1894. There were others, but they remain unnamed and didn't survive childhood. 

Jim died of pneumonia, the very next year after his son's birth, in February of 1895.

Ella sent her son to live with his uncle, Robert Turner. She remarried on November 15, 1897, to Charlie May Smith. I must make mention of the fact, that he name "May" in the name of a man in Anson County, NC, had nothing to do with the month of May, as in a woman's name, but rather, referred to the surname May, which was the name of  a prominent Anson County family. May Buchanon was another man in the area who carried the name, son of Benjamin Buchanon and Judith May. 

Photograph by Ruth and Darrell Dunlop

I had came across the May family, as well as the Buchanons, consistently, while researching my Faulkner family roots. 

So, Charlie May Smith was husband number two. This marriage produced a daughter, Virginia May, born in 1899. On January 8, 1900, while in the town of Wadesboro to visit a few of his siblings, Charlie Smith was robbed and murdered while waiting on a train. His daughter was 5 months old. 

So now, Ella had been widowed twice, probably before, or near to, her 20th birthday. She moved from Anson County, to the town of Albemarle, in Stanly County, and moved in with her sister, Fannie and double brother-in-law, Will Turner. She's living there with her baby daughter in the 1900 census. 

On August 5, 1900, nine months after the murder of Charlie, she married a third time to William Thomas Russell. W. T. Russell was from Montgomery County, NC and had moved to Stanly County, where he had married his first wife, Nancy Austin, and had three sons. His first wife had also passed away in 1900.

This marriage dissolved not by death, but by divorce. W. T. divorced Ella on July 2, 1903. It hadn't lasted long.

Not a quitter, Ella tried her hand at marriage a fouth time. This time, she chose a much younger man, instead of an older one. Thomas C. Russell Deas was from York County, South Carolina and was born in 1885, the year before Ella's first marriage. The couple were married on October 8, 1905, in Mecklenburg County, NC. Ella had moved to the big city. 

This marriage lasted about 4 years, and on September 24, 1909, Ella divorce him, instead of the other way around. 

Lastly, Aunt Ella married for a fifth and final time to James Edward Dull, on September 25, 1915. This was about 6 years after her last divorce, and Ella was still in her 30's, somewhere between 35 and 39. She would have no more children, however.

Ella had taken up operating a boarding house in Charlotte, which was one way a woman could create a respectable living. James Dull had been one of her boarders. He was the son of James Bristo and Nannie Hunt Dull.  James was from Staunton Virginia and Ella was his second wife. He was again, a younger man, having been born in 1883. This marriage would last twenty years, until Ella's death in 1935. J. E. Dull would remain in Charlotte and outlive her by 22 years, passing on in 1957.

Although I knew of Ella's divorces, I never knew the details, having to wait on documents from the state archives to arrive. Now they have and this post is to address the interesting details of her two divorces. 

The first was the case of  W. T. Russell vs Ella Russell, held in the Superior Court of Stanly County, North Carolina. 

" I  The plaintiff above named complaint of the defendant and alleges  tha on the5 day of August 1900 in said County and State and in the town of Albemarle, the plaintiff and the defendant intermarried and ever since have been and now are husband and wife.

II That the Plaintiff is and has been a resident of the state of North Carolina for more than 2 years immediately and next of this action.

III That on the 29" day of October, 1901, the defendant willfully and without just cause voluntarily abandoned the plaintiff and has ever since lived separate and apart from him that after the marriage aforesaid while plainfitt and defendant were living together as man and wife. They took to board with them a man by the name of Cliffton James, who was a married man, but his wife was not living with him during  said period, as plaintiff is informed and believes the said James and the plaintiffs wife became too intimate and she was completely alienaated from plaintiff and refused to live with plaintiff as wife, and from their conduct towards each other during plaintiffs absence, as his business frequently called him away from home, the plaintiff has every reason to believe and doe believe that during said period of boarding the defendant committed adultery with the said James that upon plff. best information and belief, the defendant committed adultery with the said James diverse times doing said period. 

IV That as plaintiff is informed and believes the defendant and the said James left his home about the same time and went to the town of Concord and lived in the same house on Factory Hill of the Gibson Mill, the house being kept by Robert Lowder and during said period, between the months of November, 1902 and March of 1903 she committed adultery diverse times with the said James. That each and all  the said acts of adultery without the counsel, connivance or procuement, or privity of the plaintiff and tha plaintiff had not cohabitated  with the defendant since the discovery by him of the commission of the said acts of adultery complained of. 

V That there was no issue of the marriage between the plaintiff and the defendant Wherefore, the defendant. Wherefore, the plaintiff demands judgement tat the bounds of matrimony between himself and the defendant be dissolved and for case of action. 

J W Brown, Atty. for PLFF".

So, basically, the honeymoon was over very quickly on this one. Within the first two years of the marriage, W. T. and Ella took in a boarder named Cliffton James, who was estranged from his own wife. While W. T. was out working, as a Carpenter, according to his professions given in the 1900 census, Ella and this Mr. James began an affair. Ella then left her husband and home in Albemarle and moved with Cliffton James to the Gibson Mill Village in Concord, NC. 

I know nothing about Cliffton James, where he came from, or where he went. Ella ended up moving to Charlotte, NC, at least by 1905, when she remarried to Russell Deas. 

This marriage went sour quickly, as well, but not on the side of Ella, but also, in a very bizarre manner, especially for the time frame in which they lived. 

"North Carolina Mecklenburg County, In Superior Court

Ella Deas, Plff    vs. Thos. R. Deas, Deft

The Plaintiff Complains and alleges

(1). That she was married to the defendant, Thos. R. Deas on the 8th day of Nov. 1906.

(2) That she and defendant lived together as man and wife until about the 10th day of March 1909 when he abandoned plaintiff without cause and has since lived separate and apart from her.

(3) That during the month of February 1909 while she and defendant lived together at 310 South College Street in the City of Charlotte defendant with violence and threats, forced the plaintiff to leave her bedroom, that he then took a heavily veiled negro woman into said bedroom where they both undressed and went to bed together and committed adultery with her.

(4) That in the month of March thereafter the defendant abandoned the plaintiff as aforesaid and as he is informed and believes is now living in fornication and adultery with a woman whose name is not known to plaintiff, in the town of Monroe, NC. 

Wherefore plaintiff prays for a Judgement of absolute divorce from the defendant and for such other and further relief as she may be entitled to and for Costs. 

J D McCall

Atty for Plaintiff.

Russell Deas could not be found and the requested divorce was granted in October of 1909. True, or not, this case was a little wild and 'polyamorous' for 1909, and I am sure was grounds for tremendous gossip. Thomas R. Deas was found living in Marshville, Union County, in 1910.

Name	Thomas R Dees
Age in 1910	25
Birth Date	1885
Birthplace	North Carolina
Home in 1910	Marshville, Union, North Carolina, USA
Street	Marshville Road
Race	White
Gender	Male
Relation to Head of House	Servant
Marital Status	Single
Father's Birthplace	North Carolina
Mother's Birthplace	North Carolina
Native Tongue	English
Occupation	Farm Laborer
Industry	Working Out
Employer, Employee or Other	Wage Earner
Able to read	Yes
Able to Write	Yes
Out of Work	N
Number of Weeks Out of Work	0
Neighbors	View others on page

Household members

Name	Age
Julius W Prichard	42
Thomas R Dees	25

Ella ran her boarding house and married J. E. Dull in 1915.

Russell Deas, a worm in  hot ashes, moved to Pickens County, S.C. due to WWI, then on to LaVaca, Texas by 1920, then to West Virginia, where he remarried in 1923, and died in Nicholas, W. V in 1940. Ella had died in 1935. William Thomas Russell passed away in 1907, just a few years after he had filed for divorce from Ella.