The Flooded Ditch

Over the past few decades, I've had the pleasure of assisting several individuals of African American ancestry in assembling their family trees. Those with deeply rooted heritage in the Southern Piedmont of North Carolina, or the entire south, actually, who have taken DNA tests, are often shocked to discover how multi-racial they truly are. African Americans are factually a hybrid race and are a very different ethnicity than those born in Africa. 

When someone begins this journey and receives the results of their DNA testing and sees the multiple countries of origin of their African roots, and then as many countries of origin of their European roots, their minds first go to tales of slavery and the abuse of enslaved women by their enslavers or the supervisory men placed over them by their enslavers, and often, that was the source of their European ancestry. But sometimes, it was not. With the increase in YDNA and MtDNA testing, it is shown that a great deal of racial mixing occurred prior to the plantation era and was the results of Irish indentured servants mixing with the earliest arrivals of Africans to the colonies. A majority of indentured servants did not live long enough to find themselves free with the dangers of the new colonies from disease, starvation, wars and attacks and outright murder. Punishments often ended in death, whether intentional or not. However, men were more likely to make it to freedom than women. An out-of-wedlock pregnancy would lead to more years added to their indenture, and when they were abused, as they often were, pregnancies would occur. Many found companionship among the other enslaved people, including African men. But that wasn't the only other source of European DNA in the African American diaspora.  

Since I have begun researching my roots in Stanly and surrounding Counties that sometimes extends into neighboring states and beyond, I have run into a phenomenon that was not supposed to have existed, that was the existence of free white women who gave birth to mixed race children. A common occurrence now, this was not to have existed in the past, especially in the Civil War and Jim Crow eras, but it did. I have labeled my collection of the stories of these individuals as "The Women who did not exist, except that they did".  I've found many of them, not only in Stanly County, but Montgomery County, Anson County, Rowan County, and I am sure every other county and every other state. They were not numerous, but neither were they rare. 

I recently recounted the story of one of them, Charlotte Melton, a white woman with brown sons. She was a member of the Melton family who came to live in Stanly County from Eastern North Carolina around the turn of the 18th to 19th century. One of her sons married a white girl named Ann Byrd, and in the 1850's, they were brought up on charges of fornication, because the legality of their marriage was in question. These women existed, and for the most part, their offspring married into families that were either mixed, indigenous, or black. They existed prior to the Civil War, like Charlotte Melton, and after, as well. I believe some of the individuals disappeared from records due to foul play that was neither recorded nor reported, like the fate of Harris Melton, Charlotte's son, who died in 1855, just after the trial in Stanly County. Harris had moved to Gold Hill in Rowan County and was working in the mining industry there as a laborer. Mining is and was dangerous, and his demise may have been from that intrepid enterprise, but why was he brought back to Albemarle for burial and not buried in Gold Hill? And why was he buried in the Henry Marshall Cemetery? 

So sometimes those European genes showing up in your 23 and me DNA test were not the result of pre- emancipation rape, but of 'wayward' white women who fell for darker-skinned men. The brief story below mentions one of them. 

While searching for the mysterious "J. S. Honeycutt", the father of a woman named Arwelder who was the subject of my last post, I came across the following entries in the early court records of Union County, NC. 

"Union County, April Session, 1850

Ordered by the court that a baseborn boy of color a child of Martha Honeycutt named Henry now about eight years be bound unto James Beckett until he arrive at the age of twenty-one years and (illegible) he find him good victuals and clothes, learn him the trade of  laying stone and brick and give him fifty dollars when of age."

The next paragraph read nearly the same, a baseborn child of color, the son of Martha Honeycutt, named Monroe, "now about six years old", was bound to James Beckett until he reached the age of 21 to learn the trade of laying stone and brick. These children were not slaves, they were intended to be more like apprentices, but were they?

These were not the children of slaves. Those would not have been brought to this court or mentioned in this record. Martha Honeycutt, the mother, was not a slave or a person of color herself. She was white. Her sons were not.

James Beckett/Bickett in the 1850 census of Union County.

James Beckett is found as a 48-year-old Jailer in the 1850 census of Union County. It is obvious he is living in the fledgling town of Monroe, which only took up a meager four pages in the listing. The listing above him, his neighbors, so to speak, were 'Retailer of Spirits", William G. Winchester, Constable Henry S Neely, Merchants John W. and William B. Twitty, and their clerk, G. B. Broom. Jailer, J. D. Hayden and house carpenter, John Phillips. One unique feature the Union County census had, that surrounding counties did not, was that they gave a little more information in the birthplace column than just the state or foreign country, if that were the case. Because of this, we know Mr. Beckett was born in Union County, while his neighbor was born in Lancaster County, South Carolina, which bordered Union to the South.  

Beckett/ Bickett and his wife, Elizabeth, are shown at the bottom of the page, meaning his entry continues on the next one. 

Here, we find the list of 'Bickett' children, listed in an indicated 'jail'. Of course they were not in jail. It only revealed that their father resided at the place or house that was serving as the jail. These individuals included Harriett Bickett,  18, James S. Bickett, 15, Thomas M. Bickett, 13 and Mary Jane Bickett, 11. Fifteen-year-old James was noted as being a brick mason. He was also born in Mecklenburg County, as opposed to his nearest older and younger siblings, Harriett and Thomas, who were born in Anson County.  Also in the residence was L. A. Winchester, 24, first labeled a merchant. That title was stricken out and replaced with the occupation of 'clerk'. He was related to the previously mentioned Winchesters, a neighbor.

Next in the residence was 22 year old Jacob M. Long, a School Teacher. For some odd reason, the year was written beside his name. He seems to have been the only individual in the Beckett household, aka 'the jail', who was in jail. In the column labeled "Whether deaf and dumb, blind, insane, idiotic, pauper or convict" were the words 'Assault and Battery'. So, he was not a house guest.

Last, but not least, we find the two little boys bound to him by the court. Henry Honeycutt, age 7, male, mulatto, was listed as being born in Anson County, NC. His brother, 'Munroe', just 5, was listed as being born in Stanly County. This gives us three counties in which to search for their mother, Martha Honeycutt.

The page continued a list of those who lived in the small, but industrious town; J T Griffin, Clerk of Superior Court and his family, born in Lancaster County, SC, his wife, Mary, born in Mecklenburg County, NC and their children all born in Union County; House Carpenter A. G. Snipes from Johnston County, NC; Merchant Hugh Houston and his family and boarders, a clerk named James Rogers, and retailer of spirits, Hezekiah William and Mr. William B. Skipper.  Next was Hotel Keeper, William H. Hart from Lancaster County, South Carolina, his family, and the boarders in his hotel, which included teachers, attorneys, saddlers and other tradesmen. 

So, who exactly was James Beckett or Bickett, and by the way, which spelling was correct?

Born March 31, 1802, James Beckett, Jr. was the son of James S. Beckett, Sr., an Irish immigrant from Carha, Silgo, Ireland, himself the son of Samuel Bickett and Mary Stuart Shannon. Notice the change in spelling. James Sr. married in 1794 to Elizabeth Osborne, an American girl,  in Mecklenburg County, NC. They are found in Salisbury, in the 1800 census, so James Jr. may have been born in Rowan County. He grew up in Mecklenburg County, however, and as Union County was formed from portions of Anson and Mecklenburg, it appears they had settled in the part of Mecklenburg that became Union County. 

All of the Bickett children were educated and it served them well in the generations to follow, as they became professionals and leaders in their communities. James Sr. remained in Mecklenburg County until at least 1840, then he and his wife, Elizabeth removed to Tallapoosa, Tallapoosa County, Alabama, with some of their children, particularly William, their youngest son who survived to adulthood, Rev. Samuel Capers Beckett, and their daughters, Margaret and Sarah, who had married two brothers with the surname Wolfe. It appears to be the older children who remained in North Carolina. 

The Bickett Sr.'s are found in Alabama in 1852 and their tenancy there was brief, as James Sr. passed away on September 8, 1852, and his wife, Elizabeth, would return to Monroe, North Carolina, where she is found in the 1860 census living with one of her younger daughters. She died there on July 25, 1861, at the age of 85. The body of Elizabeth Tabitha Osbourne Beckett is thought to have been transported to Tallapoosa, Alabama to have been interred beside her husband. On a train, probably, can you imagine?

Sarah Beckett Wolfe and her husband, George, in old age, sister of James Beckett and last caretaker of their mother, Elizabeth Tabitha Osborne Beckett

James Beckett Jr. remained in Monroe for quite some time after his parents and younger siblings meandered down to Alabama. His name appears often in court records of the era, primarily in reference to his station as jailer, or constable, or in his later métier as an Innkeeper pursuing debts. However, one of his primary and germinal skills appears to have been that of a Stonemason, one he passed on to multiple sons and was bound to impart to children placed in his care, or bondage, however one may chose to regard the condition.

Just before the denouement of the Civil War, James Beckett appears in an indenture ordered by the Court that Harriett Watts, a free girl of color, only ten years old, " be bound to James Beckett to live with  the said James Beckett to live with the said James Beckett after the manner of an apprentice until she arrives at the age of 21 years and the said James Beckett is to feed, clothe, said Harriett comfortably and at full age is to give her one hundred dollars in money and a bed and furniture suitable to her color and a good freedom set of clothes." Did he fulfill his obligations?

On October 25, 1866, James Beckett of Union County, NC appears by signature on a petition found in the US Freedman's Bureau records nominating William Harding Broom for the office of  A.(illegible) Agent for the Bureau, signed by the Governor of the State, Jonathan Worth, who served from 1865 to 1968, during the early years of Reconstruction. While there was a buffet of rationale for signing such a document, it tended to be antipodal to the dominate attitudes of the region which was based in resistance. It was a pragmatic and beneficial action that could have positive results for former slave holders in the possibilities of the restoration of confiscated lands, and aiding in establishing labor contracts between property owners and freedmen, in the face of the attrition of the labor force due to the ravages of War and the migration of many of the manumitted. James Beckett had the discernment to survive the aftermath of the upheaval with little impairment. 

Name	James Bickett
Age in 1870	68
Birth Date	abt 1802
Birthplace	North Carolina
Dwelling Number	5
Home in 1870	Monroe, Union, North Carolina
Race	White
Gender	Male
Post Office	Monroe
Occupation	Keeping House
Male Citizen Over 21	Yes
Personal Estate Value	200
Real Estate Value	1000
Inferred Spouse	Elizabeth Bickett

Household members

Name	Age
James Bickett	68
Elizabeth Bickett	64
Mary J Delorme	30
James E Delorme	8
Harriet Watts	16

In 1870, James Beckett had remained an Innkeeper, still living in the middle of the town of Monroe, between a Lawyer and the Clerk of Superior Court. Among the household was 16 year old Harriett Watts, said to be a Domestic Servant, not an intern. It appears that Harriett, at least, survived her term of Indenture, to marry and become a mother, and live to see the turn of a new century. She is buried at Watts Grove Baptist Church in Monroe. 

James Beckett did not remain in North Carolina in his old age, either. It is my notion that this removal to another state in the winter of ones life was not the resultant of seeking greener pastures as it would have been among a more youthful generation, but instead was a grapple for security and care in the waning years of a life. Hence, James and wife, Elizabeth Ross Beckett, being found in different households in 1880, in Georgia.

James and Elizabeth were the parents of seven well-educated children.

John Wade Hampton Beckett

• John Wade Hampton Beckett (1825-1864), a farmer and married father of five, had also married into the Wolfe family, like his aunts. He was a Corporal in the Confederate Army and met his end at Orange County Courthouse, Virginia.
• Theresa C. "Tressie" Beckett ( 1826-1888) Married Abel Laney Funderburk and relocated to Decatur County, Georgia and was the mother of 13 children.
• Harriett E. Beckett (1832-1850) Married William Franklin Windell and died a newlywed five short weeks after her wedding.
• James Sample Beckett (1836-18700, a Master Stone and Brick Mason, died unmarried at age 34 in Decatur County, Georgia.
• Dr. Thomas Winchester Bickett (1836-1888), a Physician, retained the "Bickett" spelling of the name, and survived his service in the Civil War. He married Mary Ann "Mollie" Covington and remained in Monroe, becoming a father of five.
• Mary Jane Bickett (1839 - after 1900) Married 1st to James Edward Delorme, Sr., having one son of the same name born 2 weeks posthumously to his father's death as a Civil War casualty in West Virginia on October 14, 1862. Her son was born in Atlanta, Georgia. She returned home to her parents and is shown above with them in the 1870 census. She later settled in Kershaw County, South Carolina and married Andrew Jackson Baker, with whom she had two children, Lillian in 1875 and James Edgar in 1879. It is unknown what happened to Mr. Baker, but in 1880, Mary Jane is found in a boarding house with 5 year old Lilly and 6 month old E.J.. He may have been out looking for a new place to settle, or working, or he may have passed away, like her first husband. She is last found in the 1900 census, living with her married daughter, Lilly Simms in Williamsburg County, South Carolina, where both of her younger children settled, while her firstborn took up with his paternal family and settled in Atlanta.
• Rachel Louise Bickett (1829-1909) Married a Funderburk, like her oldest sister, Theresa. Hers was named George Washington, and they also settled in Decatur County, Georgia, raising a family of 11 children, a few who died young. the birthplaces of the children reveal the timing and their path of migration, as the oldest five were born in Lancaster County, South Carolina, ending with James Sample Funderburk, born in 1854 and picking up with the birth of Elizabeth Desdemona Funderburk in 1857 in Decatur County, Georgia, where Rachel died in 1909, at the age of 54.

Record details

Name	Rachel Funderbuck
Age	51
Birth Date	Abt 1829
Birthplace	North Carolina
Home in 1880	Pine Hill, Decatur, Georgia, USA
Dwelling Number	231
Race	White
Gender	Female
Relation to Head of House	Wife
Marital Status	Married
Spouse's Name	George W. Funderbuck
Father's Birthplace	North Carolina
Mother's Birthplace	North Carolina
Occupation	Housekeeper
Neighbors	View others on page

Household members

Name	Age
George W. Funderbuck	57
Rachel Funderbuck	51
Laura J. Funderbuck	21
Jefferson G. Funderbuck	19
Josephine L. Funderbuck	17
Mary E. Funderbuck	14
James S. Funderbuck	25
Elizabeth Beckett	74

The 1880 census shows Rachel as the caretaker of her mother, Elizabeth, 74. 

Name	James Bickett
Age	78
Birth Date	Abt 1802
Birthplace	North Carolina
Home in 1880	Pine Hill, Decatur, Georgia, USA
Dwelling Number	230
Race	White
Gender	Male
Relation to Head of House	Father
Marital Status	Married
Father's Birthplace	Ireland
Mother's Birthplace	North Carolina
Occupation	Farmer
Neighbors	View others on page

Household members

Name	Age
Tricia C. Funderbuck	55
Robert S. Funderbuck	18
Effie Funderbuck	12
James Bickett	78

While Theresa was the caretaker of her father, James, 78. Elizabeth passed away in 1888, while James endured until 1917, being buried at the Brinson Cemetery in Decatur. But, back to the Honeycutt's. I still ponder Becketts motives for garnering the indentures of freeborn, but illegitimate, or orphaned children of color. Was he a benevolent guardian or a malevolent master? Were the children bound to him because of his skill set without his own bartering, or did he seek them out as a source of cheap labor?

But there was one more.

Martha had an older son. In the 1850 census, 11-year-old William Honeycutt, mulatto, was living in the home of Tilman Helms, a farmer in Union County, but not inside the town of Monroe. One of Tilman's sons was a merchant and his neighbors were farmers, save one, Dugald Carter, a Shoemaker whose son was a miner.

I have an ancestor named Tillman Helms, but this was not the same one. 

This was the son of Isaac Helms, as shown in the family tree above. 

The difference between William and the younger Henry and Monroe, is that he is found in the 1860 census, living in Union County, in the Monroe Post Office District. And he's not alone.

William is a Day Laborer, his age given as 19 here, placing his year of birth between 1839 and 1841, from the two census records, so around two to four years older than Henry. He's still living among a number of Helms', next to Levi Helms, a Stage Contractor and Dresser. William is a newlywed, married to Mary, 18, also a mulatto. This is still before the Civil War, so Mary was also a free person of color. That term covered free persons of any ethnicity, or mix of ethnicities, other than white. At this point, in this place, it appeared to be a catch-all, and in the area, most with this labor were either mixed race individuals with black and white heritage, or Native Americans. Free Africans with no European heritage were labeled "B" for black. 

William and Mary were included in the marriage documents, and revealed her maiden name was Richardson. The Richardsons, white, were a large slave-holding family found primarily in Anson and Union Counties. Mary was most likely of black and white heritage, source unknown.

No parents were named and the wedding was performed by G. W. Hargett. They're not found in the 1870. This couple seemed to weave and wave through various counties and even states until William was alone and ended up returning home and living out his last, and very long, days, although not as long as his death records indicate. I've seen this before. In those days, some, when they could no longer press for youth, embraced their long-lived status, claiming to be much older than they were. Papers would advertise an individual's age as near 100, or over, while earlier records would indicate they were factually around 80 or so. 

William was found in the 1920 census, working for a family as a laborer, with his age given as 95. But it was his death certificate that intrigued me most. 

William Honeycutt, the brown William Honeycutt, died on November 13, 1924. His cause of death was labeled Old age, and I recognize the word "palsy", but otherwise, the script is illegible. He was widowed and a resident of the County Home when he died and buried at the cemetery located there.

It was the excerpt above, where his parents' names were to be recorded, that caught my eye. His father was written in as an "Unknown Indian" and his mother as an "Unknown White Woman".  We know that his mother was named Martha Honeycutt because of the Court records. In the death certificate, William had been given "Indian" as his race. 

1920

In the 1920 census, he was listed as "Mu" for mulatto, however, as he had his whole life. 

There are those online who have this William Honeycutt conflated with a William Monroe Honeycutt who married Ophelia Pheobe Medlin, but that William was a white man, and the son of a William Honeycutt and Mary Fairley Love Honeycutt.. His father had passed away in the late 1840's.

Above is shown Mary's petition for her year's allowance as a widow, dated July term, 1850.

Name	Mary Honeycut
Gender	Female
Race	White
Residence Age	43
Birth Date	abt 1807
Birthplace	North Carolina
Residence Date	1850
Home in 1850	Union, North Carolina, USA
Line Number	38
Dwelling Number	1114
Family Number	1114
Inferred Child	Sarah Honeycut; Wm Honeycut; Dempsey Honeycut; Elizabeth Honeycut; Jane Honeycut; Susanna Honeycut

Household members

Name	Age
Jane Honeycut	8
Susanna Honeycut	6
Mary Honeycut	43
Sarah Honeycut	21
Wm Honeycut	20
Dempsey Honeycut	18
Elizabeth Honeycut	10

And this is Mary's household in 1850, with her six children, and William aged 20. He was not the "Indian" or "mulatto" William. William Monoe Honeycutt married Phoebe Ophelia Medlin in 1853. His year of death is unknown, but his descendants, some of them, have commandeered the death records of "Brown William", which is inaccurate.

Martha Honeycutt, who appears to have lived in both Union and Stanly County, appears to have had a great deal in common with Charlotte Melton from my earlier post. She gave birth to several darker-skinned sons, while she was white, outside of marriage. The father in both instances appears to have been Native American.

This leads back to the question of who Martha Honeycutt was, and where did this group of Honeycutt's come from? Searching for a Martha Honeycutt in the 1850 census of Union, Stanly, and even Cabarrus or Anson Counties, we find four Martha's, however, there was only one old enough, (or young enough), to have been the mother of these little boys. The others were just children, in the same age range of the boys, or far past their child-bearing years. This was Martha, the daughter of Lewis and Polly Rowland Honeycutt. She would shortly afterwards marry a Sides and have a lengthy marriage and many children. I do not believe this was the same Martha. There was no indication, and in this time and setting, she would have been a pariah among possible brides. 

The search for the origins of these boys appeared to be a dead end, but there were clues. 

GW Hargett

George Washington Hargett had applied with William Honeycutt on the marriage bond with Mary Richardson. There was only one man in the area that this shoe fit, the son of Daniel Hargett and Mary "Polly" Kesiah Hargett. He was born about 1830 and was a contemporary of William Honeycutt. I've found no other connection between George and William, and one can surmise they were probably just friends. 

Looking back to the 1840 census, for Honeycutt's that may have lived in this same area of Union County that neared the Stanly County border, we have to look in Anson County, as Union would not be founder until two years later. Union was born in 1842 as the child of Anson and Mecklenburg, with its portions from the west side of Anson and east side of Mecklenburg. Knowing Martha's children were born in Stanly, and then in Union Counties, the Anson County census was the one that held the part of Union that now borders Stanly. 

Here, of interest, we find the listing for "Bry T Honeycutt. While not definitive, I believe this given name may have been an abbreviation of "Bryant". I can't find anything else on Bryant, or anything close to this name or abbreviation, in Anson, Union, or any nearby counties in North Carolina. There was a Bryant Honeycutt, born June 15, 1828, in North Carolina, possibly Anson, who married Sureptia Bridges, and previously to a lady named Margaret, to Scott County, Tennessee prior to 1850. He was buried there in 1898.

The above clip shows B. Honeycutt on a list of the area that begins with Henry Marshall and Dominic Morton, both who would also show residence in Montgomery (Stanly) County during their lifetimes. There also is my ancestor Stark Ramsey, who lived around the Burnsville area, and a few Broadways, who did also. His name appears closest to my distant cousins, John and Milton Winfield, brothers, and sons of Edward Winfield, my fifth Great Granduncle. They lived along the Rocky River, which borders Anson and Stanly Counties. 

A variant view of the 1840 census of Union County shows a family of five, with the Head of Household being a young man in his 20's, three females: one in her 20's, a teen between 15 and 19 and a younger girl between 10 and 14. The final family member was a male under 10 who was a free person of color who could have been William. What was this family makeup? A young man whose parents were deceased and his sisters? A married couple in their twenties with two young sisters or boarders? This can't be determined, but one of the older two females could have been Martha, and the little boy, William.

The 1870 census of Scott County, Tennessee, shows an older Bryant Honeycutt, with his family, surrounded by other Bridges (his wife Surepta's family) and other Honeycutt's. Could this have been the same family?

And then there was Sam.

1830 West Pee Dee

In the 1830 census of West Pee Dee, we find a Samuel Honeycutt, listed near William Wall, Lewis Springer and the John Furrs, Junior and Senior, in an area that would become Stanly. 

A different view of the same family reveals a family of seven, two adults and five children, all free whites. 

Name	Saml Honeycut
Home in 1830 (City, County, State)	West Side Pee Dee River, Montgomery, North Carolina
Free White Persons - Males - Under 5	1 ?
Free White Persons - Males - 5 thru 9	2 Mike & ?
Free White Persons - Males - 40 thru 49	1 Sam
Free White Persons - Females - 5 thru 9	2 Mary & ?
Free White Persons - Females - 30 thru 39	1 Nancy
Free White Persons - Under 20	5
Free White Persons - 20 thru 49	2
Total Free White Persons	7
Total - All Persons (Free White, Slaves, Free Colored)	7

However, ten years later, this same family has relocated temporarily to Cabarrus County. 

1840 Cabarrus

Name	Samuel Henrycutt
Residence Date	1840
Home in 1840 (City, County, State)	Cabarrus, North Carolina
Free White Persons - Males - 10 thru 14	1
Free White Persons - Males - 30 thru 39	1
Free White Persons - Males - 40 thru 49	1
Free White Persons - Females - 15 thru 19	1
Free White Persons - Females - 40 thru 49	1
Free Colored Persons - Males - Under 10	3
Free Colored Persons - Females - Under 10	2
Persons Employed in Agriculture	2
Free White Persons - Under 20	2
Free White Persons - 20 thru 49	3
Total Free White Persons	5
Total Free Colored Persons	5
Total All Persons - Free White, Free Colored, Slaves	10

The ages match up somewhat exact with where Sam's family will appear later, with one exception, they have five free children of color in their home, all under the age of ten. Was Martha Honeycutt a member of this family, and were these her children? Did she have more than three?

1850 Burnsville, Anson County.

Jumping ahead another decade, they have relocated once again to the Burnsville area of Anson County. They are living next to James Ramsey, a son of the afore mentioned Stark Ramsey, my kin. This puts them in the same area that had been occupied by Bryant (?) Honeycutt. 

Sam is 70 and his wife, Nancy, is 60. An older, known son, Tillman Michael Honeycutt, was already an adult with his own family, living in the same general area. The others found in the Honeycutt home, in addition to Samuel and his wife, Nancy, were an 8-year-old Lucy, possibly a grandchild, and likely daughters, Mary, 25, Betsy, 16 and son, Ander, 13. 

1860

This year, Sam and Nancy are accompanied by a daughter or granddaughter, perhaps, named Margaret, age 19 and an infant, 6-month-old, Sarah, who may have been her daughter. Margaret is a day laborer, and it is noted that Sam was a pauper, and while it was showing him as 65, although he was counted as 70 a decade prior, this was the same family. I've seen hundreds of instances in my years of research proving that age was tentative and variable in these documents. 

The neighborhood was much the same in 1860. The family is still in the Burnsville District of Anson County. He's still on the same page as James Ramsey and with several Carpenters, descendants of Thomas Carpenter, shown at the bottom of the page in 1850. There is also Ben Hudson, a brother of Stanly County's infamous Joshua Hudson Jr. of Ugly Creek in Stanly County, and Stokes McIntyre, who was the estranged husband of my second Great Grandmother's sister, Elizabeth Murray McIntyre and had resided on the other side of the Rocky River, in Tyson Township, Stanly County, prior to moving to Anson County. He is buried at Rocky Mount Baptist Church, just across the river. On the same page was another Murray sister, Rebecca, and her husband, Richard Poplin. 

Sam Honeycutt apparently died between 1860 and 1870.

His widow, Nancy, is shown as 68, having been enumerated as 66 in 1860. Margaret, who was seen as 19 in 1860, has advanced 12 years instead of 10, and shown as 31. There are two small children living in the home now, possibly the children of Margaret; Clementine, 6, and Melinda, 2. Nancy was living in the household of Marion Blackman, who had married her daughter, Mary. 

The neighborhood reveals that Nancy and her remaining family were still in the same place as they had been since 1850.

They were still among the descendants of my ancestors, Thomas Carpenter and Stark Ramsey, as well as the Ledbetters, again. They lived right next to Stokes McIntyre, now, who was back with his wife, Elizabeth. Living in their home were two Huneycutt children, Levi, 12 and Elizabeth, 8. Future records would show that these were the illegitimate children of Stokes McIntyre and Margaret Honeycutt. Like other Civil Wars Veterans who had returned alive, Stokes McIntyre seems to have maintained, or generated, two families simultaneously. 

The 1880 census was the last one for most of Sam and Nancy's children. 

It would also reveal relationships, showing that Nancy had passed away, and Mary's husband had abandoned her to return to South Carolina, where he was from. She was now the Head of Household and had returned to her maiden name of Honeycutt. Margaret is shown as her sister, and although Margaret was not in the 1850 census, the child, Lucy was, and born within a year of Margaret's probable age, so I believe Margaret and Lucy was one and the same. She had continued to have more children, adding John W. Honeycutt, aged 7, to Tiney (Clementine), now 15 and Melinda, now 11. They seem to have been living in the Honeycutt homeplace, and while Stokes McIntyre had passed away in 1875, this last child, John William Honeycutt-McIntyre claimed him as father as well. It appears that Margaret Honeycutt was the mother of six children with Stokes McIntyre.

Marriage License of John William (Honeycutt) McIntyre, naming his parents as Stokes McIntyre and Margaret Honeycutt. 

The younger son of Sam and Nancy Honeycutt, Ander or Andrew, despite not showing up with them in the 1860 census, died on August 30, 1862, in Richmond County, Virginia, a Civil War Casualty. 

Elizabeth "Eliza" or "Betsy" Honeycutt in 1860

Daughter Elizabeth "Betsy" Honeycutt, struck out on her own, finding work and refuge among the Burnsville Lee family. 

Name	John W. Honeycut
Age	22
Birth Date	Abt 1858
Birthplace	North Carolina
Home in 1880	Burnsville, Anson, North Carolina, USA
Dwelling Number	181
Race	White
Gender	Male
Relation to Head of House	Son
Marital Status	Single
Father's Birthplace	North Carolina
Mother's Name	Eliza Honeycut
Mother's Birthplace	North Carolina
Occupation	Farmer hand
Months Not Employed	3
Neighbors	View others on page

Household members

Name	Age
John W. Honeycut	22
Eliza Honeycut	50

She is last seen in the 1880 census, living with her own son, John W. Honeycutt, not to be confused with her nephew of the same name, who was twenty years younger than his cousin. 

Mary Honeycutt remained childless. 

Oldest son, Michael "Mike" Honeycutt was first married to a woman named Lavina. He is also found in Cabarrus County in 1840, like his father. 

He would marry Lucinda "Lucy" Ramsey in 1871, daughter of Holden Ramsey, another Stark Ramsey son, after the family had relocated to Burnsville, Anson County. He was the father of five. I believe this is the family that Martha Honeycutt sprang from, due to circumstance, location, and the process of elimination. 

The Daily Standard Raleigh, North Carolina • Thu, Apr 16, 1868Page 4

There was another, large Honeycutt family who had settled in the "Winchester" area of Union County, and that was the family of Dempsey J Honeycut (1807-1867), who had married Tabitha Helms and moved to Mississippi. They were the parents of 11 children that bore many of the same names that ran through the Samuel Honeycutt line, including oldest son, Samuel Wilburn Honeycut (1836- 1905). This line has been much better documented, and Dempsey was a common given name among the Honeycutt's hailing back to an earlier Dempsey.  He was supposedly the son of a Dempsey Jr. (1787-1856). They may have been related to Samuel. 

Martha Honeycutt and her sons were square pegs among the Rocky River community in the 19th century. She joins the club of the women who didn't exist, except that they did. While I found no answers, I found possibilities. I wonder who these Indigenous fathers were that left free brown children among the Rocky River population of settlers and crossed the color-lines along with that flooded ditch. 

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 being a name usually associated more with eastern Montgomery County, in this year. Following his listing is Margaret Jones, James Dumas, Moses Sanders and James Tice. Not far down the list I see 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 are Wyatt Nance, Hosey (Hosea) Tomberlin, Berry and Coleman Austin, Thomas Polk and a few Mullises. 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 siblings. 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, Kizzy, 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 wifeing. 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, 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 alone.

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 teenager, and died on February 22, 1876, 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 up 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 circumstances 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 circumstances? 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 tragedy struck.

The in-depth 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 its tail, crawling 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 using that as a weapon, he 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. Reporters 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, 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.