The Players Continued: William H Moffett

Old Wagon in Fayetteville, North Carolina

I have been fortunate in my Family Search to find the most delectable bits of information concerning certain individuals in my family tree. The entire family that contributed to my DNA did not leave as deep of footprints as the Davis and Winfield lines and associated families did. Job Davis and his in-laws were movers and shakers. The more I search, the more I discover. Most of what I know of Dr. William H Moffatt, or Moffett, or Moffitt, or Maffett, as whomever at the time spelled it, I have discovered from the journals of his nephew, John Newland Maffett, a naval officer during the Civil War, of some renown, whom the good doctor adopted.  
The Doctor Maffett was so beloved and trusted, that Mariah Booth Winfield, when marrying his brother, Dr. James Maffett, wished William to be the trustee of her substantial estate, and to safeguard her interests, as she lost all rights when she married.
http://www.jobschildren.com/2013/03/imagining-mariah.html


John Newland Maffett revealed that his Uncle, Dr. William H. Maffett lived at Ellerslie. Dr. Maffett's daughter, Eliza, would marry Thomas L Hybart, from Canada. Roads named for the estates that were there show the approximate location of where the Maffet's and the Hybarts resided.

Ellerslie, Cumberland County, North Carolina , Photos of Ellerslie Courtesy of North Carolina State University

Interior Fireplace, Ellerslie

The Fayetteville Observer gave small glimpses into this small Fayetteville family.

October 14, 1824

Died on Tuesday last, at the summer residence of Dr. William Maffet near this town, Mrs. Janet Mumford

August 9, 1826

In this vicinity, on Monday last, John Adam Maffitt, infant of Dr. William H Maffitt.

Thursday 16 Aug 1827

At the residence of Dr. William H Maffitt, in the vicinity of this place, on Tuesday morning last, Jane Henrietta Goodwin, aged 14 months infant daughter of  Robert T. Goodwin. (Robert T Goodwin was a relative of John Goodwin whom Dr. James Maffitt and Mariah hired to build their home. The individuals dying at Dr. William H. Maffitt's home were likely patients). 

March 29, 1828

Died in this vicinity on Monday, Mrs. Margaret Maffitt, wife of Dr. William H. Maffitt.

December 11, 1839

Died in this vicinity yesterday morning, Dr. William H. Maffitt.

February 22, 1843

Married in this town, Thursday last, Thomas L. Hybart, Attorney-at-law, to Eliza Maffitt, only daughter of the late Dr. William H. Maffitt

January 5, 1847

In this vicinity, Friday last, Thomas L. Hybart, more than 20 Years a member of the Bar of this place, recently County Solicitor, former member of the legislature.

Wed., August 18, 1852 

Married: In Charleston on the 3rd August at St. Paul's Church by Dr. Hanckell, Lieut. John N. Maffit, of the US Navy to Mrs. Caroline Laurens Read. 

Mon. March 21, 1859

Died on March 3rd, Caroline Laurens, wife of Lieut. John N Maffit, of the US Navy, and daughter of the late Hon. John Laurens, of Charleston, SC. 

This family suffered a great deal of loss and short marriages due to death. 

File contributed for use in USGenWeb Archives by:
Carolyn Shank Carolynshank@msn.com December 7, 2007, 9:41 am

Wed. May  2 ,   1827 North Carolina Journal April 11, 1827
                       TRUST SALE
   By virtue, and in pursuance of a Deed of Trust, to us executed by DR. 
WILLIAM H. MAFFITT, dated 3rd March, 1827, and Registered in the Registrar's 
office of the County of Cumberland, we shall upon the 4th day of May next, at 
the Town House, in Fayetteville, proceed to sell the interest which the said 
WILLIAM H. MAFFITT had, and has for certain purposes conveyed in the following 
property, to wit:
   The life estate of the said WILLIAM MAFFITT, in that parcel or tract of 
land, known as the "Beaver Creek Mills" situate about five miles from Town, 
and containing 179 acres adjoining, for and during the above, with the 
privilege of cutting saw-mill timber on three other tracts. Also adjoining, 
for and during the natural life of the said WILLIAM H. MAFFITT -- also his 
life estate in a tract or parcel of land containing 187-1/2 acres being that 
tracy of land upon which he now lives -- also, the like interest in two other 
lots adjoining the last mentioned, the one containing 120-1/2, the other 54-
1/2, known by the name of WILLIAMS Tract. Also, his life estate on three 
tenements or stores on the North side of Hay-street, now in the occupancy of 
C. & P. MALLETT, JOSEPH AREY, C. P. & S. W. TILLINGHAST, subject, however, to 
an unexpired lease in the aforesaid tenants, for the term of one year from the 
1st day of Sept. 1826 -- also his interest, being an absolute estate, in a 
negro man named DUBLIN, about 30 years of age, one wagon and team, and all the 
stock and farming utensils on the sand hill plantation, which are too numerous 
to particularize. Terms made known on day of sale.
                          ROBERT T. GOODWIN
                          WM. F. STRANGE, Trustees
                          L. FITZHARRIS, Auctioneer
Fayetteville, April 11, 1827

File at: http://files.usgwarchives.net/nc/cumberland/newspapers/trustsal391nw.txt

Old Bluff Presbyterian Church, Cumberland County, North Carolina

The Maffits were from Scotland and were Presbyterians. 

The following excerpts are from: 

Collection Number: 01761 

Collection Title: John Newland Maffitt Papers, 1833-1911, 1976

John Newland Maffitt (1819-1886) was a United States Navy officer, Confederate Navy officer, blockade runner, and author. Maffitt was born in Connecticut; grew up in Fayetteville, N.C.; and retired to Wilmington, N.C. The collection includes family, personal, business and official correspondence of John Newland Maffitt concerning his early career in the U.S. Navy; his Confederate service (for which there is also a journal) on both combat and blockade running vessels, particularly the C.S.S. Florida; service as captain of a British vessel after the war; retirement to Wilmington, N.C., and literary activities; and the controversy over the alleged negligence of Commander George Henry Preble, U.S.N., for allowing the C.S.S. Florida to enter Mobile Bay in 1862. Also included are papers of Maffitt's daughter, Florie, and his third wife, Emma Martin Maffitt, who published a book on her husband in 1906; scrapbooks; genealogical materials; photographs, including a snapshot of Amelia Earhart; and a manuscript novel and speeches by Maffitt.

John Newland Maffitt (1819-1886) was the son of Ann Carnic and the Reverend John Newland Maffitt, a Methodist minister. Young Maffitt lived in Connecticut until, at age five, he was adopted by his uncle, Dr. William Maffitt of Ellerslie near Fayetteville, N.C. In 1832, at the age of 13, Maffitt was commissioned a midshipman in the United States Navy. Following a cruise on the sloop-of-war St. Louis, he spent three years in the Mediterranean aboard the Constitution, a frigate, about which he later wrote a novel, Nautilus; or, Cruising under Canvas (1871). In 1838, Maffitt was promoted to passed midshipman, and, three years later, he became acting master of the frigate Macedonian.

Mirabeau Buonaparte Lamar Statue

The Reverend John Newland Maffitt was another brother of James and William H. Dr. James Maffett is recorded as providing the escort for the Marquis Du Lafayette on his 1825 tour of the South from his namesake town of Fayetteville, North Carolina, to Cheraw, in South Carolina, where he attended a ball. . James would marry Mariah the next year in 1826. Perhaps it was at this ball that the young  Physician would meet the beguiling Mariah Booth Winfield, and begin a courtship that would lead to marriage and a daughter.





Link to Information on William Newland Moffett/Maffitt, father of the Maffett brothers


The following excerpt from "Naval Officers, Their heredity and development" by  Charles Benedict Davenport, mentions William H. Maffett and a few of his siblings, nieces and nephews. 

Maffitt was highly intelligent, as evinced by his employment on the coast 
survey. In blockade-running he was full of resources, devices, and deceptions to 
escape capture. He came of intellectual stock, especially on the paternal side. 
His father, Rev. John Newland Maffitt (born at Dublin in 1794; died at Mobile, 
Alabama, in 1850), was a graduate of Trinity College, Dublin, of wealthy parents, 
and a "born preacher"; he traveled in Ireland as a missionary, and occupied the 
highest place in popular esteem. Coming to New England, he was an itinerant 
Methodist preacher there (1822-1830); he then went to Nashville, Tennessee, 
and issued there the first number of the Western Methodist, now the Christian 
Advocate. In 1841 he was elected chaplain to the lower house of Congress. 

His father's sister Emily had a mind that sparkled with wit and intelligence; 
she married into the nobility of England. """Her brother William was a physician, 
who also came to the United States. """"

Of Maffitt's sibs, Eliza was celebrated for her intellectuality as well as for her 
beauty; living in Texas, she was called the "Belle of the Brazos." Another sister, 
Matilda, married a Texas judge and is reputed to have written some of her hus- 
band's speeches. A third sister, Henrietta, married General Mirabeau Lamar, 
the second president of Texas. 
FAMILY HISTORY OF JOHN N. MAFFITT. 
Dr. William Maffitt, who came to Fayetteville, North Carolina. 

Mary Florence Maffitt Wright

Mary Florence, shown above was the daughter of Lieut. John N. Maffitt and niece of Dr. William H. Maffitt and Dr. James Maffitt, husband of Mariah.


The following is from "Dressed in Sunlight" Eleanor Wright Beane as told to Susan Taylor Brock.


Mary Florence Maffitt Wright, Eleanor Beane's grandmother, was born in 1842. She was the daughter of Confederate Naval Captain John Newland Maffitt. Florie, who ran the blockade with her father, in 1862, was “reckoned among the rare beauties of her day. I saw her for the last time in Wilmington, in March 1883,” wrote author Henry E. Shepherd. She died in September 1883, at the age of 41. (Wright-Beane Collection)

Lieut. John Newland Maffitt, Jr. 

Henrietta Maffit Lamar


The above is the Burgwin-Wright House and Henrietta Maffit Lamar.

The daughters and sisters of the Maffitt brothers were known for their charm and natural beauty.











John N Maffitt in later days.

There are so many interesting things to discover concerning this family, that I am sure my research and fascination will continue a long time.