Daisy's are simply, my favorite flower, but I've discovered there were also a number of Daisy's in my family tree, albeit indirectly. I had a great aunt, a great-great aunt and a great, great, great aunt named Daisy.
The name increased in popularity in the days following the Civil War and reconstruction. Possibly names with a happy connotation, like those of flowers, were given to children as a sign of hope for a positive future.
The biggest bouquet of Daisy's seemed to be born between 1880 and 1920. It brings to mind a bright-eyed, pretty girl. The Daisy's in my family tree did not live long lives.
Daisy Starnes Herrin
This is the marriage license of Daisy Starnes Herrin. Daisy lived to be 30. She was the youngest daughter of Frederick Fincher Starnes and Mary Louise Byrum Starnes. The L. in her name may have stood for Louise, her mother's middle name. She married Joseph Marshall Herrin at the tender age of 16.
After their marriage, these two seemed to have fallen off the map. While dates of death are recorded, I have not been able to determine where they are buried, if Joseph M. Herrin remarried after Daisy's death, or if they had any children.
The Larcey L Starnes who witnessed their marriage was probably Daisy's sister "Leavy" Starnes, who was my great-great grandmother.
Daisy Foster
The above is the death certificate for Daisy Hill Foster. She was the daughter of William Mathew Hill and Sarah Jane Hooks Hill and sister of my great-grand mother Lottie Hill. Lottie would marry the nephew of the first Daisy, Daisy L. Starnes Herrin.
Daisy Hill Foster also lived a relatively short life. She was born on June 16, 1891 and died July 20, 1927 , suddenly, her death certificate states, of acute dilation of the heart. This condition can affect younger persons and often appears with no previous symptoms and can be caused by infectious, toxic or metabolic agents. Daisy may have came in contact with one of the many viruses that circulated in those days untreated, or she may have been employed in an industry unaware or unconcerned with the effects of toxic chemicals used in productions on their human workforce.
Daisy Hill married Henry Durant Foster and become the mother of 4 children, 2 sons and 2 daughters. Both of her sons died as young children. Woodsley died at the age of 3 months, suddenly, of no apparent reason, possibly crib death. Charles Lee died at age 4 of bronchial pneumonia, he possibly had contracted an influenza virus or any other plague that killed many children in the early part of the 20th century. Oldest daugther May, born in 1909, survived the ailments of her younger brother Charles, who was born in 1911, and grew up to marry R. E. Daniels. She had two children and died at the young age of 28 of acute nephritis, which probably began as strep throat.
Third born child, Frances Louise Foster, was the only child who lived to old age. She married Leonard Wade, had several children before receiving a divorce, moved to Palm Beach Florida, but eventually returned to North Carolina and died while living in Denton, Davidson County, at the age of 83 in 1996.
Daisy Burris
Daisy Burris was the daughter of my great-grandmother, Lottie Hill and Duncan Burris. She was my grandmother's half-sister. This little Daisy did not grace us with her presence upon the earth for very long. She died at the tender age of 7 months of Lobar pneumonia. She was the niece of Daisy Hill Foster and was probably named for her aunt.
Daisy was a name that brings to mind springtime, sunshine and happy days. The Daisy's in my family tree did not live very long lives. Whether they were happy, short lives, would be a matter of opinion. Like a spring time daisy, they graced us for a brief time with their existence and beauty, and then they were forever gone.
For Valentines Day, I have the story of my Great Grandparents, Harvey and Lottie Lemmons, and a good love gone bad. The newspaper article says it all. The story goes that Lottie went out dancing while Harvey was at work. Their marriage went sour. They had two children and one on the way.
In this post, I am just sharing the link to an article about my fourth cousin, Julian's beautiful wife Krishauna, a PHD student doing research for her dissertation, published in the Winston-Salem Chronical.
Julian Gaither, her husband, is the great-grandson of Matilda Aldridge Cannaday and I am the great-great granddaughter of her sister Julina Aldridge Davis.
On January 28, 2013 the Stanly County Genealogical Society was gifted by the speaker Mr. Ralph Ganis. The topic of his presentation was the James Gang's connections with North Carolina and in particular, Stanly County. Almost every one has heard the legend of the Outlaw Jesse James, his brother Frank James and their group of reconstruction era bandits, the James and Younger Gang. It is widely know that the James brothers were confederate veterans from Missouri. What is not widely known is their connection to Stanly and surrounding counties in North Carolina.
Ralph Ganis
Mr. Ganis is the author of the book "Desparate Measures" which deals with the subject of Jesse James and the James Gang. We he began his research many years ago, any of the characters who would have heard of Jesse James or any of his gang trekking through the Carolinas, were in the very twilight years of their existence, and most of them gone. He was able to talk to a few old timers who remember rumours or the meeting of persons when they were children. That window of opportunity is now closing forever.
Jesse James not only had a connection to Stanly and Union Counties, but also to Rockingham, Guilford, Alamance and Caswell counties as well. Several of these families had migrated from North Carolina to Clay County, Missouri, home of the James family. In fact, the James' home was sold to them by a man from Greensboro, North Carolina. Sarah Cole, a cousin of Jesse James, married Joel Albright, a man from Greensboro. There was every reason, Mr. Ganis states, for Jesse James to come to North Carolina after the war, to visit relatives and to travel with neighbors.
Jim Cumming, a member of the James Gang, was from Rockingham County, N.C.
Buffalo Presbyterian Church, in Greensboro, was built by Jacob Albright, James first cousin.
The Holt family from Alamance County, NC played a pivotal role in Clay County, Missouri.
Mr. Ganis stated how the town of Lawrence, Kansas was burned to the ground. Targeted in 1863 by Confederates for it's support of abolitionists and known as a haven for vigilante groups that had led raids on several of Missouri's western plantations. The James and Holts were said to have taken an active part in the raid. Part of the reason for the raid was the set up there of a Women's prison, in which Union forces incarcerated women and girls who aided the Missouri guerrillas, typically sisters and mothers of Rebel soldiers. During the raid, the prison collapsed, killing several of the women in the jail, including the 14 year old sister of "Bloody Bill" Anderson. Lawrence Massacre
In his book and in his lecture, Mr. Ganis told of how John Dixon Holt commanded one branch of the KKK, that was born in the office of an attorney in Alamance County, North Carolina. There were 10 men in the room, and every one of them had a relative in Clay County, Missouri.
In 20 years of research, Mr. Ganis has not uncovered one family connection from Stanly or Union Counties, NC to Jesse James. His presence in the area was not to visit family. His connection was Lorenzo Merriman Little.
Lorenzo Merriman Little
Merriman Little was born and raised in the southwestern section of Stanly County, near present day Stanfield or Locust. He went to California, on a search for fortune, as many men of his day did. There he met the men from Missouri. The formation of the James gang began in California. There were the Youngers, Cole, Jim, Bob and their brother-in-law, John Jarrett, the future members of the gang.
Merriman returned to North Carolina after the war. First, to his old home on the Rocky River, and then later to Marshville, just south, in Union County, to be near the railroad at Beaver Dam.
What was going on here after the war? Reconstruction. The population resisting the efforts of Washington. Mr. Ganis wrote in "Desperate Measures" that Jesse James came to North Carolina with his neighbors after the war. No one knew him here in 1869. A decade later, he would come in to visit Merriman Little, about 1879-1880, and by then, could not use his real name, but went by John Davis Howard, or another alias. At this point he was known.
And this is where a member of Mr. Ganis was brought in, his Great GrandUncle, 'Mome Diggs'. The Diggs family, according to Mr. Ganis, was very close to the Littles.
He can't say how long the James's stayed in North Carolina, by documentation. The preponderance of the evidence is circumstantial. He stayed for a while at Locust Hill in Caswell County. He lived there prior to becoming a known figure. Frank was nearby. They always had a way of living within a hundred miles of each other. It was most likely that Jesse was in Caswell County, and Frank here in our neck of the woods. Frank knew Merriman better and Merriman knew Cole Younger.
Tom, his grandfather's uncle, was told that as a child he had looked into the eyes of Jesse James. Tom was born in 1882, the year that Jesse James died. Mome Diggs was a pallbearer. It could have been that he had been to visit the Diggs and Littles, who lived close to each other, and Mome said, "Jesse, look at my nephew", and the legend peared into the eyes of the infant, and there the story was passed down to the boy, Tom, as he grew up.
Stories from old timers were consistent. When old timers from Stanly or Union were asked if he lived here, they would reply, "No, he was just passing through". However, in Caswell County, if asked if he just visited, they would correct, "No, he lived here." A man in Caswell County even showed Mr. Ganis which house he lived in, and it was still standing. When asked how truthful he thought it might be that the house was the genuine home of Jesse James, the old gentleman replied, " Let me tell you something, the people who told me , they believed it. They didn't tell me a lie."
In his book, "Desparate Measures", Mr. Ganis tells the story of Mr. James in Missouri and the tough times after the war. His research was authenticated by Duke University. There was no system to protect Southerners, so they began to take things into their own hands.
Jesse James was born in 1847 and died on April 3 1882. He was shot by Bob Ford.
Bob Ford
A week before he shot Jesse, the 'coward' Bob Ford, as he was known, had shot the James's first cousin,
Wood Hite. The Ford brothers, Bob and Charlie, had joined the James Gang in it's latter days.
Frank James was a tough guy. It is said that none of the rumors that Jesse James had faked his death circulated while Frank James was alive.
Andrew Moorman "Mome" Diggs
In Marshville, there is a barber shop called Buford Barber Shop. Behind that building was the Russel farm. It is said that Jesse James was hiding in that building. In those days a doctor lived there. Jesse could have went there for treatment of pre-existing wounds, and laid up and healed at the Russel House. He believed in the healing effects of spring waters and visited the areas of Rocky River Springs in Stanly County, and Healing Springs in Davidson.
He had friends in Ed and Clell Miller from Yadkin Co, North Carolina. In his constant movement to stay one step ahead of the law, it is said that he visited them as well.
Andrew Moorman Diggs, aka Mome, was the ancestor of the speaker. He is buried in Peachland, North Carolina.
Mome Diggs was arrested in 1883 after being in a saloon, coming out druck and shooting and killing a man named Sandy Cash. The atmosphere of the times was extremely different than it is today. Mome sat in the jail on the third floor of the Union County Courthouse for 2 years awaiting trial. He was shackled so heavily when they brought him into the courtroom, he could not walk, and stiff from being caged up for all that time. Inmates were not allowed exercise as they are today and he was heavily watched and incarcerated as officials were wary of a jailbreak given his past and his associations.
The judge talked to him, hoping to have a loophole to set him free. The issue was that Mome Diggs was a bit of a celebrity, the dashing desparado who had rode with the legendary James Gang, but most of all, Diggs was a white man. His innocent victim, Sandy Cash, was a black man. In the 1880's, a judge did not want to convict a white man in a crime against a black man. "Mome", the judge asked, "Did you mean to kill the man?" Mome replied, "Yes, Your Honor, I meant to shoot the SOB." He would not lie to save his life, literally. He would rob and he would kill, but by his honor, he would not lie.
Mome was sentenced to 20 years in prison. He served 5 years in the State Penitentiary in Raleigh and then was pardoned by Governor Daniel Gould Fowle. He came home, got a job with the railroad and in a most ironic and almost humorous twist, was given a job guarding payroll for the railroad. Criminal backgrounds were more expungeable than they are today. It did not matter that he had robbed banks, he could shoot.
In 1897, he had rode with the train to Tennesse, when the train returned to Monroe, a group of men were waiting on him to inflict their own sense of justice, suspected to be friends of Sandy Cash, the man Mome had murdered 14 years earlier. They beat him up to near death and laid him on the railroad track to be beheaded. His body was in such bad shape, the authorities did not know him.
After his disappearance, his family heard rumors of the man executed by being laid upon the track. They had the unknown man exhumed, claimed the body and had him buried in Peachland.
An old man that had known of him, Mr. Tommy Allen, would later tell Mr. Ganis, "Twelve men killed Mome Diggs. They always said it would take 12 men to kill him.".
Mome Diggs was said to have given Jesse James his favorite race horse, "Stonewall". James was looking at at picture or painting of that horse on the wall when he was shot. He had let his guard down.
When a member of the gang, Bill Ryan got drunk and was captured, the James brothers were near Nashville, Tennessee. They gathered their families and Jesse went to Mississippi and Frank to Texas. Frank sent his wife to California. He would later give an account of his travels. He would later meet up with his wife in Nelson County, Kentucky. He was tried twice and acquitted both times.He went to Greensboro, North Carolina and stayed at the McAdoo House. He then went to Salem, now Winston-Salem, to look for work. There, he contracted diptheria. After recovering, he went to Jonesboro, North Carolina, or present day Sanford. Frank's wife Anna Ralston was from North Carolina, and her brother attended law school in Raleigh.
Frank was working at a mill in Norfolk, Virginia when he heard Jesse had been shot. Having more states wanting his arrest for violations in each of them, Frank surrendered himself in Missouri and was found "Not Guilty." At his trial in Alabama, he had a black juror, and was also found not guilty. After the trial, the gentleman came up to him, and the juror told him, "I sure am glad I met you." Frank replied, "I sure am glad I met you."
Frank said at his trial, "My intentions were to go to North Carolina and remain there.
So this was the tale of the James Gangs connections to North Carolina. The James Gang members from Stanly County and Union County were Merriman Little and Mome Diggs. Not your ordinary fellas. Handsome and full of derringdo, they inspired lies and legends. Criminals, for certain, but to many distraught and destroyed families after the war, they embodied a spirit of rebelliousness and bravado that many others would not and could not undertake. Modern day Robin Hoods, they were called.
Mome Diggs is buried in the Peachland cemetery. Merriman Little is buried on a hilltop in the old Davis cemetery in Union County.
Jesse James was rumoured to have had a girlfriend in Rockingham County, North Carolina, and also another in Caswell. His wife Zerelda died in 1890. Were there any little unknown J.J. descendants out there? We many never know.
Sorting through all the information I can find on the Howells in Stanly, Montgomery, Anson and surrounding counties, I've been making thrilling discoveries and definate connections, but at the same time, uncovering more mysteries.
As a researcher, sometimes you just want to go shoot every one who named their kid John. Couldn't they have been more imaginative than that? . . . even if they've been dead 200 years.
While the documents themselves are upcoming posts, it's going to take some serious organization and laying out of all of the information to make sense of it.
I had always felt that John Randall Howell had another tie back into the family, being a Howell, because he had married a Howell cousin. It just felt right. And all his ties-ins to James G. Howell, I felt they must have been brothers. In a trip to Wadesboro, I discovered two documents that not only cemented their relationship, but told who their father was and what had happened to James G Howell.
John Randall Howell is in the early Stanly County court records dealing with guardianship of his aging mother, Martha. Along with other citizenry type duties as road-building and jury duty. He married Elizabeth Nash, called Betsy, daughter of Griffin Nash and Jemima Winfield Nash, sister of Sarah Winfield who married Richard Howell. That much is known.
Two land records indicate Martha as mother of both John R. and James G. Howell. Then another, James G. of Mississippi is selling to his brother John R. of Stanly County, his portion of land that thier father 'Jordan' gave them.
BABOOM!
There is that name. Jordan Howell signed as a witness to Richard Howell's 1802 will. A Jordan Howell shows up in the 1800 and 1810 census records of Montgomery County. One of Richards sons (too young to be this Jordan), was named Jordan.
What makes the most since at this point is for Jordan the first to be a brother of Richard. Neither of them are in the 1790 census, but that is the year Richard married Sarah, meaning he was counted in someone else's household.
Now, there was a Jordan Howell who moved to Tennessee, and then Missouri, where he spent his final days. Descendants of this Jordan have the Montgomery County censuses linked to him, and indeed, he was from North Carolina and the age is right to be our witness and father of JG and JR Howell. The problem is . . . Martha. She is alive and well for several decades living with John Randall Howell and Betsy after Jordan the first disappears out of the records and censuses of Carolina.
Was Martha a widow and NC/TN/MO Jordan another Jordan entirely? Or did Jordan take off west in the 1830's and never look back, marry a new young wife in Tennessee and have more children? It happened. There were other Howell's. There was one out of Wayne County
much younger than ours, who was born in the early 1780's. Then there was Richard's son Jordan and HIS son Jordan L. Howell. Jordan, Richard's son was called 'Jr.' on his marriage license, which meant the older Jordan was still in the area at the time. Junior was used differently in those days. Father did not have to be senior. It just meant there was knowledge of two men of the same name. Could be uncle/nephew, grandfather/grandson, or no relation.
And then there is Sarah. I found a Montgomery County document where Thomas Moore gave property to his daughter, Sarah Howell, in affection. Also mentioned is her two sons, A. Dodd Howell and Thomas Jordan Howell. There is that name again, Jordan. Thomas was certainly for his grandfather, Thomas Moore, but could the name Jordan be for his paternal grandfather?
A. Dodd Howell ended up in neighboring Anson and was a Carriage Maker. He lived long enough to qualify for a birth certificate. His mother is recorded as Sarah Moore. No surprise there. His father was recorded as James Howell.
Mont. Co. Marriage records show TJ Howell marrying Regina Moore in 1859.
The 1850 census shows a 17 year old Thomas J in the household with his mother as head, his younger brother, and a 70 year old Judith Howell, most likely a grandmother. There is also a household nearby headed by a woman, Regina Howell, who has a little girl named Judith Howell and a one year son, John T. It appears as if the older Judith was the grandmother, making her the mother of James, and also possibly the grandmother of little Judith.
The Regina in the 1850 census is over 20 years older than Regina Moore, whom Thomas Jordan Howell married.
In fact, I discovered that Regina Moore was the daughter of John Moore, son of Thomas Moore, mentioned above as father of Sarah.
If you are not confused yet, let me toss another wrench in the machine. James G Howell, son of Martha (possibly Randle, family trees have her last name as Randle), and Jordan Howell, migrated to Carroll County, Mississippi. He would later end up in Texas. Thomas Jordan Howell would also end up in Carroll County, Mississippi, and is buried there. So what was his relationship to James? Was James G Howell the father of A. Dodd and Thomas Jordan Howell? Did he also take off west leaving a wife, Judith, at home and take up with a younger woman and start a new family? It happened.
The deeper I dig into the bottomless pit of Howell research, the deeper the well, the How-Well, that is.
The above photo is of a group of young people from the Victorian era enjoying an outing at the Narrows or the Yadkin River. The Rivers that border Stanly County were the lifesblood of the early settlers that made this area their home, and was the main draw for settlement to start with. Stanly County, although with an area of only 404 square miles, is a land of water. Bordered on the east by the Yadkin, which intersects with the Uwharrie and becomes the PeeDee and on the south by the Rocky River, where most of my ancestry came off of.
The area of the Narrows today, had changed due to the construction of several dams in or near Stanly County. There was a time when this waterway was the highway of those in Stanly, Montgomery, Anson, Randolph, Davidson, Rowan, and other counties. The road to the courthouse, the road to trade, the road to greener pastures.
The Narrow, as they were known, was simply the area, less than a mile north of the Great Falls, where the river narrowed. There were also several islands in the river and it made it easier for persons to cross. There was a time prior to 1841, when Montgomery and Stanly were one county. The site of the Courthouse changed many times. Only once, when located in the town of Tindallsville, was it on the West Side of PeeDee, or 'our' side. At other times, when it was in Henderson or Lawrenceville, or other defunct towns on the East Side of the PeeDee, or in present day Montgomery. The photo on the right is the boat landing or the barge launch at the Narrows dam and the view of the Uwharries in the distance.
The town of Badin is actually the newest town in Stanly County and was began by a French Aluminum Company called of course "L'Aluminum Francois" in 1913.
This company did not complete the project, however, the beautiful and unique French archetecture remains in this quaint little community perched on the side
of Falls Mountain and in the subsequent valley on the shores of Badin Lake.
Looking downhill on Falls Road in Badin
Narrows Dam as it looks today from the road into the dam
The construction of the dams, Narrows, Falls, Tuckertown, High Rock and Norwood, brought jobs and industry to the area.
Dynomite and Dredging paved the way. Lives were lost and riverside towns went under water. Towns like El Dorado, Uwharrie and Blaine in Montgomery County, Tuckertown and Allenton in Stanly and Newsome in Davidson are now for the most part underwater. A few houses remain that were not covered by the creation of the Lakes.
The photo on the right is the boat landing or the barge launch at the Narrows dam and the view of the Uwharries in the distance.
