Alleghany Historical-Genealogical Society, Inc.

P.O. BOX 817, Sparta, N.C. 28675

President: Mildred Torney			
Vice President: Pauline Jolly
Secretary-Treasurer:  Elvira Crouse

Vol. 12, No.4	 	           		 December 1990		BULLETIN NO. 44

From the President:

	Another year has rolled around and I hope everyone is looking forward to a happy and successful New Year.  I also hope that everyone will work to keep our Society active and working toward our dream of a museum.  If we continue to work and plan for this dream, surely it will become a reality some time in the future.

	In December we had a very interesting display of antiques and collectibles in the Library, which drew a lot of attention.  It showed some of the things that are available to us if and when we get a place for them.

	Our thanks go out to Ralph Baldwin of Speedway, Indiana and to Audrey Waddell Schiffler of Wendell, Idaho for sending material of interest for our Bulletins.  We have included some of this material in this issue and will feature more articles in future Bulletins.  

LONG AGO AND FAR AWAY:

	From an Idaho Cousin.  Dear Cousins: My dear sister in North Carolina sent the Union Republican to us here probably 2000 miles from Winston-Salem.  It comes in a hurry too for we receive it every Monday.  We are glad to have it to read it through.  It seems like a friendly visitor from our home State. Our home was in Alleghany County, between Scottville and Piney Creek at Topia.  Now I'm sure some of you will know who I am even if you have not already looked at the bottom of this letter.  We sold our home there in March 1926 and came to Idaho and bought a nice little home just out of the town of Kimberly.  We came here because we like this place and because all our children are here.  Crops of all kinds are looking fine so far and better than usual they tell me.  As we pass through the country we see such fine heavy wheat standing just as thick as it can and every head looks the same height, level across tops and large heads.  Many of the fields are estimated to yield 60 to 75 bushels to the acre.  And oh such pretty beans, beets, barley, etc.  All kinds of garden vegetables are grown here and most all kinds ready for use now.  The sun shines warm nearly every day, so when the crops are irrigated they grow rapidly.  We had a very late spring with several inches of snow the 28th of May, but strange to say that snow did...( to be continued) 

Continued from previous Bulletin's....*These passages can be found in the original Bulletin or in the source below.
	
Manarin, Louis H.  N.C. Troops: 1861-1865: a Roster: Volume IX: Infantry, 32nd-35th and 37th Regiments. Comp. Weymouth T. Jordan Jr. Vol IX Division of Archives & History, 1983. 597-600.

MARRIAGE RECORDS ALLEGHANY COUNTY

DATE		NAMES OF COUPLE			GROOM'S PARENTS		BRIDES PARENTS

17 Nov 1874	Wesley Buris Anders & Daska Crouse	I.D. & Margaret Anders		John & Lena Crouse

18 Sep 1874	William Anders & Celia Jane Edwards	I.D. & Margaret Anders		John Edwards

10 May 1874	Robert T. Anderson & Sarah Osborne	Johnathan & Nancy Anderson	Andrew & Melvina 												Osborne

30 Dec 1874	James N. Atwood & Hanah D. Cole	F.W. & Aley Atwood		Wilborn & Hanah Cole

15 Nov 1874	James Robert Billin & Margaret Toliver	David & Louise Billin		Larkin & Felicly Toliver

24 Feb 1874	Creed Carpenter & Susan Willey		William &  Sedeley Carpenter	Andrew & Polly Willey

28 Aug 1874	Daniel J. Caudill & India Jones		Daniel & Minney Caudill		John & Elizabeth Jones

17 Jan 1874	Columbus Creed & Jane Harris		Enoch & Mary Creed		Henderson & Rhody 												Harris		

9 Oct 1874	Joseph Duncan & Catherine Dunavin	Joseph & Amy Duncan		James & Rebecca Dunavin

17 Oct 1874	Berry Edwards & Sarah Ann Cheek	Starling & Amy Edwards		Henderson & Lucy Cheek

22 Mar 1874	John F. Holbrook & Margaret Jane Crouse	David & Margaret Holbrook	William & Jane Crouse

20 Dec 1874	Calvin Green & Mary E. Pierce		John & Martha Green		Rufus K & Elizabeth 												Pierce

26 Apr 1874	Elijah Hash & Rosa Pugh			Jacob & Marion Hash		Stephen & Mahela Pugh

(Found on page 6 of Bulletin No. 44: This list contained many names that were copies and had already been typed up in Bulletin No. 32. Those names are checked off on the original Bulletin.)

	The following article is from an area newspaper dated March 14, 1922 and was submitted by Audrey Waddell Schiffler of Wendell, Idaho:

NINETY YEARS OLD—MARRIED SIXTY-NINE YEARS

	The many friends of Also Waddell and wife will be glad to know that both are in very good health considering that he has just passed his 90th birthday and she her 89th, their birthdays coming a week apart.  Mrs. Waddell does almost all her housework and moves around more spry than many who are much younger. These two old people were married in their 20th and 21st years, having lived together more than 69 years.  They have 74 descendants, 7 children, 24 grandchildren and 43 great-grandchildren.

	Mr. Waddell served three years in the Civil War, in behalf of his beloved south.  With the exception of these three years he has lived  all his life within ¼ mile of his birth-place and his wife within 3 ½ mile of her birth-place, neither of them ever having been far from home after the war, and he never ties of talking of his experiences during war time,

	On the 14th of March, Mr. Waddell's birthday, their children, relatives and friends around Scottville surprised them by preparing good things to eat, and gathering in the home of this beloved couple.  When we began to arrive about 11 a.m. Grandmother Waddell began to be anxious about what she should have for dinner for so many, and wanted her son to fix some chickens.  We soon made her easy about the dinner and told her not to worry for we would manage to get a good dinner for all. We kept them both talking to friends and id not let them see until a long table, decorated in green was nicely arranged with many delicious eatables that everyone had brought.  When it was all ready their two oldest sons brought their father and mother in and seated them side by side at the table, Jones Waddell seating Aunt Martha Waddell by their side and Mrs. Dancy next. Then all the children present Jesse, Billy, Lee, Eliza and Muncy, were seated on the other side.  The rest standing while the dear old father returned thanks to God for His goodness and blessings of life, asking God to bless his children and each one present, talking to us all in a most beautiful and touching manner.  We were all moved to tears and felt that our coming together was not in vain.  Elma Waddell, the youngest granddaughter made a nice birthday cake with “happy birthday” and the age on top, which was delicious and much admired by all. W e all enjoyed the day.  

	I hope the remaining days of these dear old people will be blessed with all the comforts they may desire and that their faith in the power and goodness of God may be strengthened, that they may say like the Psalmist: The Lord is my shepherd: I shall not want.  He leadeth me beside the still waters.  Yeah, though I walk through he valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil: for Tour are with me; they rod and thy staff they comfort me.

								Written by Sarah Fowlkes Waddell

	The Spencer Isom Family History was submitted by Ralph E. Baldwin of Speedway, Indiana.  It was written in the ASHE COUNTY HERITAGE book and is of interest to many residents of Alleghany County.

	SPENCER ISOM FAMILY.  Spence Isom was b. July 13, 1811 in Grayson Co., Va., son of John  Jr. and Charity Isom, who lived near the mouth of Little River.  Some of their close neighbors in 1810 were Spencer, Sr. and Susannah Sr. Isom, John Robinson, James Blevins and Andrew Hampton.  Spencer had one brother, Hugh, b. abt 1820., and four sisters, Elizabeth who married Johnson Pool in 1828, Polly, Leah and Sena.

	His father died in 1829, leaving a will which left him 215 acres known by the mill on Ben's Creek joining John Robinson land.  In 1833 his mother, Charity, married James Blevins in Grayson Co.  On July 10, 1837 James Blevins sold 300 acres in Grayson Co. to Spencer and his brother Hugh, located on the waters of Chestnut Creek and Meadow Creek on the North Carolina state line.

	We find in the original records of the Meadow Creek Baptist Church in Grayson Co., Va. Where Spencer joined that church Sept. 26, 1840, along with his brother Hugh, three of his sisters, Elizabeth, Leah and Sena and 37 others.  Spencer was the church clerk for a few years around 1840-42.

	On Oct. 12, 1843 Spencer received a grand of 100 acres in Ashe Co., NC on the waters of Little Pine Creek, joining Richardson's land.

	The records in Spencer's family Bible indicate that he was married Dec. 2, either 1841 or 1847 to Mary Simcocks (Simcox) who was b. Nov. 15, 1823.  She was born in Va., the daughter of Aaron and ________Simcocks.  Aaron was b. in Kingwood, New Jersey, a Quaker, and came to Va. As a boy, where he also joined the Meadow Creek Baptist Church.

	It is not clear exactly when Spencer Isom moved to Ashe Co., NC.  He had another land grant of 40 acres in Ashe Co. on Dec. 13, 1848 on the waters of Little River, again joining with Richardson's line, as well as Joseph Cochram and Hardin Phipps. Spencer and Mary were Ashe Co. residents when the 1850 census was taken, along with their first two children Artilia J. b Sept. 3, 848 and Martin C. b. Jan 28, 1850, both b. in NC.  Although they lived in Ashe Co., NC, Spencer remained active in the Meadow Creek Church.  In 1855 he was a delegate to the church association from there.  Since the area they lived in became part of Alleghany Co. in 1859, they are listed in that county in the 1860 census.   By that time they had additional children as follows: Assenith P. b. Jan 31, 1853, Rosemond M. b Mar. 5, 1855, Aurelia K. and Cordelia A. b. April 2, 1856 (twins) and John M. and Charity Sheffie b. June 23, 1858 (twins).  Charity was my grandmother.  Aaron F. was b. Oct. 24, 1860 and William C. was b. Oct 11, 1863.  

	Our family tradition handed down says that Spencer was a school teacher and a court clerk.  We do know that he was an early Justice of the Peace in Alleghany Co. and that he had beautiful handwriting.  

	Spencer and his family left NC about 1865 and went to the Kingsport, Tenn. Area, where they remained until abt. 1868-69, when they came on up the Wilderness Road to Lawrence Co., Indiana, leaving behind their oldest daughter, Artilia, who had married William Sullivan, a confederate soldier. Their youngest child, Owen Thomas was b. in Tenn. Feb. 22, 1866.  Another bit of family folklore says that Spencer sold his land in NC for part cash, perhaps confederate money, and a slave, and that when the Civil War ended, he was broke.  

	They were welcomed to Indiana by their cousins George Isom and his sisters Ally, Susannah and Dorcas, along with other former residents of the New River Valley: Baldwins, Tolivers, Maxwells, Landrethes, Connellys, Edwards, halls, Blevins, Phipps, Koons, Burtons, Bakers, Greers, Millers and many others.  Spencer and Mary joined the Spice Valley Baptist Church when it was built in 1870.  On March 2, 1875 Spencer bought 66 acres near the other Isoms who had come to Ind.  As early as 1822.  The Isom school was built about a mile west of his house.

	Mary Simcox Isom died Jun 24, 1878 at the young age of 54.  Spencer survived her by some 15 years and died Dec. 2, 1893 at the age of 82.  They are both buried in the Isom family cemetery about three miles west of Mitchell, Ind. On land that is presently (1984) owned by Escoe and Gladys Isom, descendants of John Isom and Rebecca Cole of Grayson Co., Va.

								-----Ralph E. Baldwin

From an Idaho Cousin (Continued from first page)

not kill our corn and beans which were up in the garden, but turned them yellow and stopped them from growing for a while.  I would like to say more of crops and other things here and tell you about the many interesting things but it would make my letter too long.  I will not give my age this time for fear you will not want me on the young peoples page, but I always read it.  Maybe I'm young in spirit if not in years.  But I hope I do not give any of you the headache, for i want to write again sometime.  We like this country and are satisfied here, but to me there is no place quite so dear and so much like home as my native North Carolina.  There where are two dear sisters and many friends who are near and dear to me.

								Mrs. J.J. Waddell
								Kimberly, Idaho