Stock photo of Young Girl from Vintage photos of Civil War Era
At the moment, I have been indulging myself in the reading of old Superior Court records from Stanly County, North Carolina that were just beyond the realm of the book published in 1991 by the Stanly County Genealogical Society and abstracted and edited by Helen Lefler Garner, covering Stanly's first nine years, 1841-1850.
The C. D's that I have acquired from the NC State Archives, have gaps in the years, but this particular one that I am reading now, covers those first nine years and then goes beyond. I have not yet reached the end of the C. D. and while much of it is repetitive and not informative, here and there, valuable trinkets of information can be found along the way.
In the minutes of the May Session of Court, in 1852, the judge ordered the Sheriff to bring in Louvina and Fanny Honeycutt, children of Susannah Honeycutt at the next term of court for the purpose of binding them out.
Name
Fanny Robins
Age
14
Birth Year
abt 1846
Gender
Female
Race
White
Birth Place
North Carolina
Home in 1860
Stanly, North Carolina
Post Office
Albemarle
Dwelling Number
48
Family Number
48
Household members
Name
Age
Susy Huneycut
55
Sylva L Huneycut
18
Fanny Robins
14
And in the 1860 census, I found them, and they were very familiar. Not just familiar, they were family.
Susannah "Susie" or Susan Huneycutt was my 4th Great Grandmother. She had appeared in the court records sometime earlier, bringing other children to court, one of them, Mary Anna Burris, or Huneycutt, as the courts made note of, who became my 3rd Great Grand mother. Mary Anna had been bound to the John Honeycutt family, and would marry their son Charles McKinley Honeycutt. And there were others, two sons, Joshua and John, son of Susannah, and older than these two, who had been ordered to court to be bound out a decade earlier.
The surprise here was that Louvenia, whose full name was Sylvia Louvenia Huneycutt, is shown as a Huneycutt, but Fanny was a Robins, or Robbins. Then it all came together.
Within the last year, I had been researching the Robbins family, and coming across this Fanny, as their were others, I wondered who she was.
At first, I expected her to be the daughter of Elizabeth Robbins. Here is a link to my post on Elizabeth:
Elizabeth Robbins was a single woman, she had been brought to court and ordered to reveal the name of the fathers of her two sons. Twice, she had to do this. The men listed on the Bastardy Bonds were John Honeycutt (Jr.) and Sam Coley. There had been two sons born to her, Green and Lindsey, why not a daughter? There were gaps in the old court records.
The list above in a clip from the 1860 census of Stanly County. It begins with the name of Charles Cagle, and being neighbors, there were interactions between the Cagles and this group of Honeycutts. Next is the household of my ancestor, John Honeycutt (or Huneycutt, even Hunnicutt), his wife Syliva (aka Sylvania), and some of their younger children, as their family had been large. Next was the household of an elderly Fanny Robbins, her daughter, Betsy, the Elizabeth Robbins mentioned above, and Elizabeth's (Betsy's) two sons, Lyndsey, 11, and Green., 7. Following Fanny Robbins, 80, is Susy (Susannanh or Susan) Huneycutt, 55, Sylvia L. (Louvenia) Huneycutt 18, and Fanny Robins (Robbins), 14. Lastly, there's Edmund Huneycutt, 22, and his family. Looks like a family grouping, huh?
So, now I know who Fanny Robbins, aged 14 in 1860 and living with Susy Honeycutt, was. Susy's daughter, and therefore, my 4th Great Aunt.
The question remains, who was her father? Why was her last name different? That now made sense, too.
Solomon Franklin Robbins had been brought to court on a charge of bastardy, or fathering a child out of wedlock, but no mother had been mentioned. Add to that fact that Solomon F. Robbins was the only living male Robbins old enough to have sired a child at that time and there you go.
Mystery solved.
It's of value and interest, to me anyway, to mention that the oldest daughter of John and Sylvia Honeycutt was named Frances 'Fanny' Caroline. She was born in 1827, and died in 1903. She married Isaiah Coley and had 7 children.
As well, the oldest daughter of Solomon Franklin Robbins by his first, and probably only legal, wife, Sarah Hinson, was named Frances Caroline (or Clarinda) Robbins. She was born in 1850 and died in 1902. She married Robert Lindsey Cagle and had 7 children of her own. In the 1860 census, she is a 9 year old in the home of her parents as 'Caroline'. She and Fanny were not the same people, though I've seen them merged.
Name
Caroline Robbins
Age
9
Birth Year
abt 1851
Gender
Female
Race
White
Home in 1860
Stanly, North Carolina
Post Office
Albemarle
Dwelling Number
1084
Family Number
1099
Attended School
Y
Inferred Mother
Sarah Robbins
Household members
Name
Age
Sarah Robbins
32
William Robbins
11
Caroline Robbins
9
Martha Robbins
7
Franklin Robbins
4
Sarah Robbins
2
George Robbins
5/12
The other sister mentioned in court that day was Louvenia. Her full name was Sylvia Louvenia Honeycutt/Burris.
Ten years after, she is 28, still living with her mother, Susan, now 65. The family listed ahead of them in No. 11, is that of the Perry's. Caswell Perry, 34, is of Note. No. 12, is Susan and Sylvia Huneycutt.
The house listed after them, No. 14, on the next page, is that of C. M. Honeycutt, son of John Honeycutt, and his wife, "M. A." , or Mary Anna, oldest daughter of Susannah Honeycutt.
The next year, on March 2, 1871, neighbor Caswell Perry married 'Laviney' Honeycutt. She named her parents as Joshua Burris and "Sukey" or "Susey" Honeycutt. The script was smeared at her name. They appeared to have gotten married at the Courthouse in Albemarle in the Clerk's Office.
Caswell and Lavinia Perry would have three daughters; Mary Ann (1872), Sarah Elizabeth (1876) and Syliva Samira (1879), a name that ran in the family and was also the first and middle name of one of John Honeycutt's daughters, and his wife, at least the first name, Sylvia, as I don't believe I have seen her middle name in a document.
Sylvia Lovenia Honeycutt-Burris Perry passed away on July 26, 1915 of Dropsy. She was buried at Running Creek Baptist Church Cemetery. The names is this cemetery reflect the surnames of families who had lived in this area for two hundred years, if not more. There are lots of Allmans and Almonds, one family, two speillings, if you go back far enough. Also, Burris's, Lamberts, Eudy's, Pages, Tuckers, Whitley's Furrs, Harwoods, Hatley and Honeycutts, both with a 'U' and an "A".
Albemarle, North Carolina• Page 1
The Enterprise
Her husband, Caswell, joined her just a few months after, on September 23, when he died at aged 85 of paralysis.
Susan/Susie/Susannah Honeycutt is not seen after 1870. Born about 1805, she had probably died before 1880. It is not known where she is buried. But what of her other children?
Mary Anna, born on November 14, 1833 lived in the western part of Stanly County her entire life, with her husband Charles McKinley "Kin" Honeycutt. They had six children together, Ellen, Eva L., Adam E., C. M. Jr,, and Ephraim E. She died sometime between October 23, 1882, when she is recorded as living when her son C. M. married Roxanna Burris and September 23, 1889, when she is recorded as deceased when her son Ephraim married Evy Almond. Her husband outlived here, but was gone between 1900 and 1903, when his property was sold and it noted that he had passed away. The property adjoined that of Caswell Perry.
Joshua, was ordered to be brought into court, along with sister Mary Anna, in the February 1844 Session of Court. It was noted in the Court Record that the children went by either Burris or Honeycutt. In May of 1844, Joshua was bound to George Cagle, Jr., who gave bond.
In the 1850 census, Joshua is seen still living with the George Cagle, Jr., family. His age is given as 15, or a birth year of 1835. In this record, he is listed as a Honeycutt.
John A., was ordered to be brought into court and in the February Session of Court, 1848, was bound out to James W. Hartsell.
In 1850, John is found still living with the James Wiley Hartsell family, in household 707. Worthy of note, in the house listed before him, 706, is the Charles Cagle family? Remember where Susie and John Honeycutt lived in 1860, although Susie and the younger two girls, Lavina and Fanny, were missed in the 1850 census? Next to the Charles Cagle family. In Household 705 is the Perry family, with Margaret Melton Perry, at the time, as a bound out, orphaned child herself, living with them. John is listed as a Honeycutt and his age is 14, or a year of birth around 1836.
This brings the total of Susanna Honeycutt's children to 5.
Mary Anna abt 1833
Joshua abt 1835
John A. abt 1836
Sylvia Lovina abt 1842
Fanny abt 1846.
Mary Anna married Charles McKinley Honeycutt.
Sylvia Lovina married Caswell Perry.
But what about the other three?
I believe Fanny and Joshua died young. I think I might even know where they are buried. There's an abandoned Honeycutt Cemetery and at least some of the people buried there belonged to the John and Sylvia Honeycutt family. It's where the others came from and the child not buried there.
I've found family trees that have the one census, 1850, that John appears in Stanly County in, linked to a John A. Honeycutt in another county. Is it one and the same? He doesn't appear in the 1850 census there. I can't say where because I am still trying to uncover it. The origins of others buried in the old cemetery I just mention just may corrobate the possibility.
All of Susanna's children went by both the Burris and Honeycutt names at some point, except for Fanny. Fanny was a Robbins. Most likely named for her grandmother, Fanny Whitley Robbins. Could Fanny have been buried as a Burris, since her siblings were Burris's? It's out there, but feasible.
If Fanny is the person I believe is buried in this grave, she died in 1863 at the age of about 17. She is buried next to the person I believe is her brother, Joshua Honeycutt/Burris who would have died in 1853 at the age of 18. The cemetery contains members of the Honeycutt family that they lived with and near. The search continues.
It was with a heavy heart that we recently laid to rest my Uncle, Leon Dickson Lambert. He was the last of my father's siblings and the last of that branch of the family tree.
There were three siblings, and my Dad was the oldest, born late in 1939. Uncle Leon was the middle child, being born in 1941 and Aunt Mildred was the youngest, born in 1945. Sadly, the baby of the family was the first to go after years of battling an uncompromising illness, in 2002 at the young age of 57. Dad was second, who left two years ago, in 2021, at 81. Uncle Leon also made it to 81, two years later, and was buried next to his brother.
Both Dad and Uncle Leon were men of the military, Uncle Leon remaining in service for 30 years and followed that with 20 years of dedicated service with the State of North Carolina. He retired to a quite life of farming in the middle of nowhere, with horses and chicklens and dogs and a love of dancing. I was really surprised at his passing at the same age as my father, as I recall he kept up the military regimen of physical fitness and ran 10 miles a day well into his 60's, as opposed to Dad, who really didn't take care of his health at all, had survived a heart attack, wasn't into exercise a great deal, and chain smoked until his passing.
A few resonant memories I have of my Uncle, that gave a deep look into his character, was when I lost a husband at an early age due to a terrible accident. He was in the hospital for several weeks before passing, but when everything first happened and I arrived at the hospital, Uncle Leon had beat me there. He was present and supportive through the whole turbulent and tragic time. Always a pillar of strength and concern.
On a humourous note, on another occasion, when I was stuck at work, and not able to leave to pick my youngest child up after school, Uncle Leon went to pick her up for me. He almost missed the opportunity, as he was asking for her by a version of her fisrt name, Kaitlin instead of Kayla, and by the surname of her older siblings, as she was by my second marriage. He was older and in retirement at this time, so I can't do anything but giggle. He'd forgotten the remarriage, but remembered the general sound of her first name. Thankfully, my daughter saw him and heard him and realized he was there to get her, although she was no more than 8 or 9. She walked up and said. "Here I am, Uncle Leon" and told the school personell that he meant her. They knew her older brother, so they realized the mistake he had made with the surname. Can't fault a man with 37 grandchildren mixing up the name of a great-niece just a little.
Yes, Uncle Leon had a very large family, especially for this day and time. His obituary didn't collect all of them, as the informant was probably his girlfriend, who may not have had knowledge of all who had gone before. As is common in our modern world, Uncle Leon had experienced more than one marriage in his life. By his first marriage, to a lady named Brenda, he had fathered two sons and two daughters, however, the youngest of those, Cara Lynn Lambert, passed away the day she was born, February 18, 1869, the day before my birthday that year.
Name
Cara Lynn Lambert
Gender
Female
Race
White
Event Type
Birth
Birth Date
18 Feb 1969
Birth County
Rowan
Parent1 Name
Leon Dixon Lambert
Parent2 Name
Brenda Mae Ritchie
Her death certificate noted that she was premature. The marriage did not survive long after that, no doubt a victim of the long absences that military sposes endure. Leon remarried to a lady he met in Korea, and this marriage produced two more children, a son and a daughter, in the 1970's. His first wife also remarried and had another son.
His oldest son, the second-born grandchild, myself being the first, married and had 3 children, whose names were in alphabetical order, A, B, and C. Upon his second marriage, quite coincidentally, he gained a stepson, younger than the first three, whose name began with "D". The pattern remained intact and soon the family had added an "E" and an "F". Bringing the total to six. Tragedy would strike a few years ago, when one of the children would pass away, leaving his own two children fatherless.
The second son and third child also had an interesting pattern in the naming of his children, all of them have names that begin with "A". There were 5, but again, the oldest passed away at an early age, leaving a daughter.
Despite those tragic losses, the family continues to grow and is a large one. In addition to the above mentioned grandchildren, the oldest daughter has 3 children and the youngest daughter has 4. The youngest son is married, without children. The older three are all grandparents and the oldest of the grandchildren have become grandparents themselves. This leads to a large family of descendants.
Both of Uncle Leon's wives are still living, as is my stepmom, my Dad's last wife. Other than these three widows, as the firstborn grandchild, this leaves me the oldest of this family line. Uncle Leon was the last leaf on that branch of the family tree. He is missed.
I'm at that point in research again, where I'm waiting on possible records from the State Archives to hopefully bring answers, but the Archives seem to be very busy and understaffed at this time.
Since I can go no further down the road I was on, I will take a path in another direction.
In August of 1849, in the Albemarle, Stanly County, NC Superior Court, the sitting judge ordered the Sheriff "to bring into court Mark Solomon and Goin Morgan, children of Nancy Morgan."
In May of the following year, 1850, it was again pronounced, "Sheriff to bring to next Court two orphan children, Solomon Morgan and Goin Morgan, to be bound out."
In August of 1850, a third and final reiteration was made and the boys were bound out. Solomon Morgan was bound to Edmund Almond, who was to pay Solomon Morgan $75, "at his arrival at a proper age."
Goin Morgan was bound to 'Ivan R. Morgan ', whose name was not Ivan, I would come to discover, but Evan. Goin was to recieve a lesser amount, $30, at his arrival to majority.
When reading about the children in these situations, I always wonder what twists and turns their destiny would take, who they were, and who they would become.
The practice of "bounding out" minors, was an archaeic gesture to ensure the education and training of fatherless children, and to prevent their becoming a burden upon society. The rules applied equally to those children who were completely orphaned, those who had a mother and whose father was deceased, and those who may have had two living parents, but were born outside the bounds of legal matrimony.
In the case of the Morgan boys, they were legitimate children with a living mother, Nancy, but whose father had passed away before they reached adulthood.
I would first look for them in the 1850 census, which was taken just weeks before that final term of court in 1850.
Name
Goen Morgan
Gender
Male
Race
White
Age
13
Birth Year
abt 1837
Birthplace
North Carolina
Home in 1850
Smiths, Stanly, North Carolina, USA
Line Number
9
Dwelling Number
665
Family Number
668
Household members
Name
Age
Elvine Morgan
22
Evan Morgan
22
Goen Morgan
13
Sarah Morgan
3
Goin, also seen as Goen, Gowen, or even Going, is found in the home of Evan and Elvine Morgan, both 22 and their 3 year old daughter, Sarah. Goin is 13 years old.
Name
Solomon Morgan
Gender
Male
Race
White
Age
14
Birth Year
abt 1836
Birthplace
North Carolina
Home in 1850
Albemarle, Stanly, North Carolina, USA
Line Number
23
Dwelling Number
912
Family Number
917
Household members
Name
Age
Edmund Allman
32
Solomon Morgan
14
His brother, Solomon, 14, was found in the home of Edmund "Allman", which is who he was bound to in the August term of court.
With the same surname, and without a vast difference in age, the question comes to mind, was Evan Morgan a relative of Solomon and Goin Morgan? Could he be a cousin, a brother, or even a young Uncle?
I didn't find Nancy in the 1850 census. She may have passed away between 1849 and then, or perhaps she remarried.
Evan Riley Morgan
Evan Riley Morgan was born between 1925 and 1828. In the late 1840's he married Elvina Burris, whose name is also seen as Elmira, Lavina and Dicey E., so may have been a combination of these. She was the daughter of Joshua Burris and Sarah Springer Burris.
Evan raised his family near the village of Big Lick. He was said to have operated a corn and lumber mill on Little Cucumber Creek.
He enlisted in the Civil War in March of 1862 and served in the NC 42nd Infantry. On February 20, 1863, he was captured at Point Lookout, Maryland. Evan was one of the fortunate ones who made it back home.
In 1877, a flood damaged his Mill.
On another occasion, his Mills and two houses were burned. It was thought to have been a work of Arson.
He had large land holdings and at one point, operated a store out of his home. He then built a store in Big Lick. His son, Green, would take it over after E. R. , and operated it a long time after.
Evan Riley and Elvina Burris Morgan would have a family of 8 children: Sarah Lavina, William Green, Nancy R. , Judith E., Joshua, Dicey Elvina and Thomas (who was their adopted son and biological grandson). The eighth was a little boy born between 1860 and 1862, that Evan buried just before he left for the war. A Morgan family history has his name listed as Goen, but I've not seen it.
Elvina died sometime after 1884, when she was recorded as living on a child's marriage certificate. She was buried, along with their son, in a family plot on the property.
Luckily, Evan, who had married the first time before parents were listed on the certificate, decided he didn't want to spend his twilight years alone. At 76, he remarried. This document tells us who his parents were.
E. R. Morgan of Big Lick, 76, son of Goin and Nancy Morgan, both dead, married Mary Ann McIntyre, 65, of Big Lick, daughter of Rowland and Betsy McIntyre, both still living, on the 24th of October, 1904, at the home of the groom. Baptist Minister, P. J. Hartsell performed the ceremony and S.J. Hill, Neatie Hill and Camie Morgan were witnesses.
So, Evan Riley Morgan was the brother of the young Goin and Solomon Morgan, despite every online tree having him as the son of Mark and Mary Green Morgan, neglecting the decade and a half age gap between their actual youngest, Gideon and E. R. and the fact that Mark was probably dead a decade before his birth.
But I'm getting ahead of myself.
Evan and Mary Ann, pictured above, were not able to enjoy but a mere 4 years of wedded bliss.
On June 29, 1908, Evan Riley Morgan was no more, and was buried in the family graveyard with his first wife and son.
It was said in the family records of the Morgans, compiled by a Mrs. Juanita Morris, that Evan R. Morgan had a large tract of land, even before he began acquiring more. The author had questioned where that land had came from. The most logical explanation, in the absence of a grant, is that he had inherited it from family, perhaps after the death of his parents, neither who are to be found in 1850.
I realized while searching through land records that I had encountered E. R. Morgan before, while writing a post on the story of Lynn Bird, whose entire name was Malinda Pless Coble Bird or Byrd, an unfortunate character whose reputation had traveled down through history to us as "The Witch of Big Lick". Lynn was the widow of James A. Coble, a Civil War casualty, and who is mentioned in the following deed.
"Irvin Morgan to James A. Coble"
"This Indenture made this 4th day of December AD 1850 by and between Irvin Morgan of the County of Stanly and State of North Carolina of the one part and James A. Coble (of the same)."
For $38.00 Evan sold to James Coble 70 acres along a "public road" that met the properties of Jesse Morton and George Teeter, and was situatied along Cucumber Creek, where Evan's mills were located. Jesse Morton witnessed the deed. An interesting fact of this deed was the date, 1850.
In the 1850 census, James Coble is living with the Bird family and is only 15 years old. Another record gives James' birth year as 1837, which means he could have been as young as 13. Evan, himself, was only 22, not enough time to have acquired a large amount of land himself, unless through inheritance. The question remains, why had he sold 70 acres to such a young boy? Who was James A. Coble? Have any descendants of James A. Coble, who would have had to come through his daughter Hester with Malinda Pless, DNA tested? Preferably a descendant of her son, Everette Anderson, as her daughter, Ivey, turned around and married a Coble.
George Teeter, mentioned in the above deed, was a son-in-law of Andrew Bird, the 78 year old man James Coble was living with in the above census record. He had married his daughter, Elizabeth. In 1853, three years later, when James A. Coble would have been 18, if the 1850 census was accurate, he bought a tract of land, probably adjoining the first, from George Teeter.
On the 12th day of August, 1853, James A. Coble bought a tract of land from George Teeter, who was mentioned in the first deed. This tract was for 100 acres and bordered that of George Teeter, met Jesse Morton's corner, met A. Bird's corner, (Andrew), ran with Charles Bird's line, and was proved on July 20, 1854.
This Bird family will come into play more in just a little while. If you want more information on the story of James Coble and his wife, Melinda Pless, you can read it here: Facts and Fariy Tales: The Real Story of Lynn Bird .
There's another deed involving Evan R. Morgan that may be where people may have gotten confused on his heritage. In Book 7, Page 330 in the Stanly County Register of Deeds, is found the following transaction;
"Joseph Marshall Shff to Solomon Hathcock and Drury Morgan"
The date was the 30th March in 1870. A court action called a vencitoni exponas, which directed Sheriff Joseph Marshall to sell property of Gideon Morgan and Evan Morgan to satisfy a debt that they had together with the company of Misenheimer and Cox for the sum of $87.38. As there was insufficient personal property between the two men to satisfy the debt, the Sheriff confiscated 535 acres of land, which seems like a very large amount for such a small amount of money, even in 1870. The property he took was described as crossing Cedar Branch, and the new road leading from Big Lick to G. D. Whitleys (Green Deberry Whitley), then crossing Austin Road, then crossing an old road to a rock in a field by an old pine and then up the west bank of Sides Branch, then crossing Cedar Branch, then crossing Austin Road again, then to a stake in the line of Charles Cagle. Solomon Hathcock and Drury Morgan became the highest bidders.
This helps give a good location of where the family lived, even after the sale of property. Now, Gideon Morgan was the son of Mark Morgan and his wife, Mary Green. They are my ancestors, as I descend from a daughter, and that would make Gideon my several Great Uncle. Drury Morgan, who had a reknowned Mill on Rocky River and was quite wealthy at this time, was a relative of Gideon and E.R. Morgan, a cousin, I believe.
In Thru-Lines, a number of people have Evan R. Morgan as a son of Mark and Mary, but as you now know, he was not. He named his parents as Goin and Nancy. Still, Thrulines has me sharing DNA with 57 descendants of Evan R. Morgan, so he was a relative of mine. I'm forming a theory as I work through the lives of the two boys, Goin and Mark Solomon Morgan, sons of Nancy, who were bound out in 1850. I believe Evan was their older brother and that they were all Grandsons of Mark and Mary Green Morgan. If true, that would make Gideon Morgan the uncle of Evan Riley Morgan.
Solomon
When we last saw Mark Solomon Morgan, he was 14 years old and had been bound out to Edmund Almond.
In the February, 1854 Term of Court, Pleas and Quarters, Stanly County, it was ordered that the Indenture of Edmund Almond for Solomon Morgan be cancelled. He was now 21.
On February 22, 1857, at the age of 24, Solomon married Martha Louise Kizer or Kiser, a very young girl from Cabarrus County. She was the daughter of George and Polly Crayton Kiser, and her family has quite a story of their own, but don't they all? The marriage took place in Stanly County by M. Furr.
Name
Solomon Morgan
Age
27
Birth Year
abt 1833
Gender
Male
Race
White
Birth Place
North Carolina
Home in 1860
Salisbury, Rowan, North Carolina
Post Office
Gold Hill
Dwelling Number
997
Family Number
903
Occupation
Farmer
Real Estate Value
600
Personal Estate Value
110
Inferred Spouse
Louisa Morgan
Inferred Child
Mary J Morgan
Household members
Name
Age
Solomon Morgan
27
Louisa Morgan
20
Mary J Morgan
5/12
By 1860, they had moved to Gold Hill, as a number of Stanly County people would. Although the big early Gold Rush was over, Gold Hill was still a prosperous and bustliing town in 1860. His occupation was that of a farmer and he was now the father of a 5 month old daughter named Mary Jane.
Then comes War.
Solomon enlisted on February 21, 1862. His military records suggests he was living in Cabarrus County, NC at that time. He served as a Private in Company C, 33rd NC Infantry. He was discharged at Lynchberg, Virginia.
Solomon died on December 19, 1862, of Typhoid Fever.
Below are s few records regarding his military service, and his wife, Martha's request for a Widow's pension.
In 1870, Martha is found in Cabarrus County, living with her mother, Mary Crayton Kaiser. Before Solomon went to War, another child was born. He and Martha were the parents of two children, Mary Jane and James Franklin. As this family has their own story to tell, we'll stop here. Solomon Morgan died of Typhoid Fever, at the age of 26, during the Civil War. He left a widow and two children.
Solomon was buried in the Old City Cemetery at Lynchburg, Virginia.
Name
Solomon Morgan
Birth Date
1836
Birth Place
Stanly County, North Carolina, United States of America
Death Date
19 Dec 1862
Death Place
Lynchburg City, Virginia, United States of America
Cemetery
Old City Cemetery
Burial or Cremation Place
Lynchburg, Lynchburg City, Virginia, United States of America
Has Bio?
Y
Photo by Darrell Landrum
1860 - Goin
In 1852, Goin Morgan was ordered again to be brought into court to be bound out.
In 1860, he is found living with 25 year old Martin Morgan. Was Martin another brother?
Name
Goin Morgan
Age
22
Birth Year
abt 1838
Gender
Male
Race
White
Home in 1860
Stanly, North Carolina
Post Office
Albemarle
Dwelling Number
401
Family Number
403
Occupation
Farm Laborer
Cannot Read, Write
Y
Household members
Name
Age
Edy Morgan
25
Martin Morgan
25
Goin Morgan
22
Henrietta Morgan
4
Rosanna Morgan
2
In 1853, a list of unpaid taxes were presented by the Sheriff, and accepted into the record.
Among those listed in the record for 1849, were Gowen Morgan, for 200 acres, no location given at a tax of $1.17. Also in the same record near his name was Margaret Bird, who owned 97 acres on Austin Rd, Judith Burris for property on Stony Run and Andrew Bird for 67 acres on Cucumber Creek.
Later in the record, another list for the year 1851 lists Gowen Morgan with 132 acres on Stony Run Creek, taxed at $1.70. His name was sandwiched between Lee Lowder and Solomon Robbins on the same Creek.
Where has young Goin acquired this property? Had the deed been lost or not recorded, or had this property belonged to an older Goin who had been dead for awhile?
Martin
Martin Morgan is not to be found in the 1850 census. However, on June 16, 1855, he married Edith Pennington, daughter of Nelson and Edith Carter Pennnington. So, the 1860 census, with Goin Morgan living with him, is the only census Martin appears in.
Martin would enlist on May 1, 1862 with the North Carolina 52nd Infantry, Company I. A note in his military file states that he was " Left on the battlefield at Gettysburg".
Martin was injured and taken Prisoner to Point Lookout, Maryland on July 3, 1863.
Name
Martin Morgan
Rank
Private
Side of War
Confederate
Company
I
Regiment
52 North Carolina
Death Date
14 Sep 1864
Burial Place
Confederate Cemetery.
He died on September 14, 1864 and was buried at the Confederate Cemetery.
1870
Edith Pennington Morgan is living in Stanly County with her 4 children in the Albemarle District.
Name
Edy Morgan
Age in 1870
39
Birth Date
abt 1831
Birthplace
North Carolina
Dwelling Number
254
Home in 1870
Albemarle, Stanly, North Carolina
Race
White
Gender
Female
Post Office
Albemarle
Occupation
Keeping House
Cannot Write
Yes
Inferred Children
Harriette Morgan; Raina Morgan; John Morgan; David Morgan
Household members
Name
Age
Edy Morgan
39
Harriette Morgan
14
Raina Morgan
11
John Morgan
8
David Morgan
6
Widows and orphans abound. Solomon's widow, Martha was living in Cabarrus County with her mother and two children. Evan R. Morgan is back in Big Lick with his family, alive, but not without damage. Goin Morgan is no where to be seen, but he was alive, somewhere.
The 1880 census record carried several additional schedules including The Agricultural Schedule, The Special Schedule for Manufactures, The Mortality Schedule, and lastly, The Supplememtal Schedule for The Defective, Dependent and Delinquent Classes. Even these were broken down further to 'Insane", 'Idiots', Deaf Mutes, Blind, Homeless Children, Poorhouse and Inhabitants in Prison.
Goin Morgan, spelled 'Gowen', as I suspected it was supposed to be, was to be found in the column labeled 'Idiots'. This meant someone mentally deficient, whether from birth, or in Goin's case, by some other event. There was nothing by his name under description, but in the column that asked at what age the condition had begun, it said '40'. There were more columns, one asking if the individual was impaired beyond the capacity to care for themselves or support themselves. In Goin's case, the answer was 'No'. Whatever had happened to him, he was still able to support himself and take care of his own needs.
The census itself declared that he was 40, when he was in fact 43, from the birth date a future tombstone would carry, so he had acquired the infirmaty rather recently. He was working, as a Farm Laborer, and boarding with Joshua Christian Burris, spelled Burroughs in this record. The census did check off that he was insane, as well as maimed in some manner. I've found no report or reason for what had happened to him. Perhaps the condition had predated the census, as he did not serve in the Civil War, like his brothers, and he would have been of age.
Goin wasn't the only Morgan on that list.
There was also his niece, Juda E. Morgan, or Judith Eveann Morgan, daughter of Evan Riley and Elvina Burris Morgan. She was suffering from 'Melancholy', or depression. In 1880, she was living in a separate house on her parents property, with her 10 year old son, Thomas. It turns out that Thomas Riley Morgan was the grandson, not the son, of E.R. and Elvina. On his marriage certificate, he gave his parents as "L. Morgan and Evanne Morgan." As Judy's middle initial was 'E'., this was probably referring to her, the feminie version of Evan. But who was "L"?
Thomas was evidently raised by his grandparents most of his life and that's what was on his death certificate.
Judy, who suffered from depression, we are told, never married and didn't live as long as her parents.
The other Morgan, also suffering from Melancholy, in Big Lick, was A. James Morgan, who in 1800, was a 36 year old man living with his two younger sisers, Mary and Jane.
Gowen, or Goin, was found in the Schedule of Defective classes, but he was also in the census, itself, too. There is J. C. Burroughs, Proprietor, with his family, but he has also taken in a few boarders, Mrs. Nancy Bosworth (Boysworth), 65, Mrs. Katie Eudy, 80, and Gowen Morgoan, 40, Farm Laborer. Expanded out, it is also marked that Gowen is disabled and Mrs. Bosworth was blind.
Three years later, something interesting would happen. Goin would get married. On February 17, 1883, not long after Valentines Day, Jonathan Burleyson would apply for the marriage license of Goin Morgan, 40, son of Goin Morgan and Nancy Morgan, both dead and Eady Bird, 71, of Stanly County, daughter of unknown parents, both dead. I suppose they were unknown to Jonathan Burleyson, but I wish he would have asked her.
The marriage took place the next day, February 18, 1883 and was performed by H. H. Honeycutt, a Baptist Minister. The location of the wedding was in Almond Township at the home of Billy Almond. Witnesses were Larkin Almond, Jonas Almond and W. F. Morton.
Those are the facts, but this wedding was a bit more than curious. First, we know that Goin was now handicapped, and second, why was he marrying a lady 31 years his elder? The biggest question of all is, Who was she?
In the 1880 census, we find Eda Bird, 75. She is living in Big Lick Township, between John A. Honeycutt and Michael Dry. Nothing else is noted about her except that she cannot write. I have no doubt that this was her, even though she was 4 years older in 1880 than she was in 1883. Eady, Edie, Eda are all various forms of nicknames for Edith. Age in these old records was very fluid. Even Goin is shown as 40 in both 1880 and 1883. But these are the only traces I can find of Edie Bird.
Now, Martin Morgan, who Goin had lived with 20 years prior, left a widow named Edith. Edith Pennington Morgan is not found in the 1880 census.
But she is found in the 1900 and 1910 census and was still a Morgan, living in Cabarrus County.
She and her unmarried daughter, Rosanna, "Anna" Morgan, are both buried at Kendalls Baptist Church in Stanly, with members of the Pennington family.
Plus, this Eda was thirty years younger than Eda Bird.
Would the folks in attendance to the wedding reveal any clues?
Jonathan Burleson, who had applied for the license for Goin, was a young man who lived in Almond Township. He was the son of Lee Burleson and wife Elizabeth Almond and would have been about 30 at the time. Jonathan had lost his father in the Civil War and was at this time married to Margaret Hatley. I can find no direct ties to the Morgan or Bird families.
Larkin Almond, a witness to the wedding, was a prominent farmer in the area at this time. He would have been in his 50's then. He was the son of Martin Almond and Polly Hatley. His wife, Betsy, was a Burleson. No Morgan or Bird connections.
Jonah Almond was a young farmer in his 20's in 1883. He was the son of Achilles "Killis" Almond and Christina Burleson Almond. His wife was a Morton.
The Morton witness, I believe was probably Allen Green Morton, whose wife was a Burris. He would have been in his 50's.
Billy Almond, who hosted the wedding at his home, I can't be certain of. It may have been Wilson M Almond, who is living near Eda Bird in 1880. Wilson Almond was the son of Calvin Almond and Dolly Dove, and was married to Sarah Herrin.
No Morgan or Bird ties anywhere. It's not surprising to find a lot of Almonds in Almond Township. There is the question of why Almond was the location of the wedding instead of Big Lick? Had Edith been an Almond, Hatley or Burleson before her marriage to a Bird?
She is quite the puzzle. The one census she is in does tell us that she was a widow and that was born in North Carolina. She can't be found as a Bird or Byrd before 1880. The one option I keep returning to is that she had not been a Bird in 1870 or prior. Maybe she had married and lost a Mr. Bird between 1870 and 1880, but who? Any of the Birds she may have married were dead or long moved away by then. More research into the Bird family must be had.
So now I have caught up to speed that Goin Morgan was the son of Goin and Nancy Morton. But who were they? Certainly not the Goin, who was an early arrival and supposedly the father of my ancestor, Mark Morgan. That Goin had died long before the birth of Goin, our Simple Man.
There was another marriage document in Stanly County records of a child of the particular combination of Goin and Nancy Morgan. This was a daughter, and her name was Leah.
Leah was married on January 13, 1871 to Lindsey F. Whitley, son of Hezekiah and Millie Cagle Whitley
Leah was a little long-in-the-tooth for this time period when she married, and I don't believe they had any children.
In 1850, Leah Sarah Morgan is 19, and living in the home of Gideon Morgan, whom I believe was her Uncle. It was Gideon who had gotten in debt with her brother, Evan Riley Morgan.
She manages to hide away until her marriage, nowhere to be found in 1860 or 1870, unless she was under a different name. There was a Scarlett Morgan living with the Valentine Mauney family in 1870, that's a complete mystery.
Then, she appears as a married woman.
Leah died before 1896, when her husband, Lindsey married Mary Page, daughter of Sion Page. He died in 1917, having outlived both wives and had no children.
So as the course of Goin Morgan's life has gone, we've uncovered a family. So, who were Goin and Nancy?
First, I believe that the land taxed in the early 1850's was that of Goin and Nancy. At least one portion of it was on Stony Run Creek. Nancy appears to have been living in 1849, when the court ordered her youngest two boys to be bound out. She's not to be found in 1850, but she may have been there under a different name, or just missed altogether. Maybe as I advance in the old court records, I will discover more information, but there's not a probate record or division of property recorded for Goin or Nancy.
He was taxed for 200 acres in 1849 and 132 acres in 1851. This was not the property of the younger Goin, as he was still a child, at least I wouldn't think so.
Here's my theory.
In the 1830 census of Montgomery County, of which Stanly was still a part, we find this entry:
Goin or Going Morgan, living next to Joseph Cauble and Harman Shinn, and near Andrew Bird. This places him in the general area that Evan Riley Morgan had lived in.
A different look at the same census record, absolutely obliterated by the transcribers. 'Going' becomes George and Morgan becomes ' Magan'. Here we see that Goin is a young man in his 20's in 1830, meaning he was born between 1801 and 1810. Overall, a young family, with parents both in their 20's and two children, a boy and a girl, under 5. I would actually bet both parents were under 25, or born between 1805 and 1810. There's no 1820 census for Montgomery County and they would not have appeared earlier than that.
In 1840, we don't find Goin. Instead, we find Nancy.
Nancy is in a list of Almonds, Whitleys, Criscos, Tuckers, a Treece, a Smith and Stephen Crump. Not the same crowd, but maybe near her family, who we don't have knowledge of.
And a different view shows 5 children now, one boy 5 to 9, Evan, and three under 5: Martin, Solomon and Goin. Two daughters, the oldest between 10 and 14, and the youngest, Leah Sarah Morgan, between 5 and 9. The oldest, unknown daughter would have been between 20 and 24 in 1850, old enough to be married by then.
So had Goin passed away by 1840? If so, why were the tax lists for 1849 and 1851 not in Nancy's name or noted as 'Heirs of Goin Morgan'?
There's another possibility.
What if he took off looking for greener pastures with the intention of coming back, but didn't?
There were other Goin Morgan's. First, his probable ancestor, who had landed in Anson County on Clark's Creek in the late 1700's.
Another Goin Morgan married a Catherine Tucker in Cabarrus County in 1805, about the time this one was born.
A Goin Morgan shows up in White and Jackson Counties, Tennesee, as early as 1812, (Jackson being a parent county of White).
Name
Goen Morgan[Gew Morgan][]
Home in 1830 (City, County, State)
Jackson, Alabama
Free White Persons - Males - 5 thru 9
2
Free White Persons - Males - 10 thru 14
1
Free White Persons - Males - 15 thru 19
1
Free White Persons - Males - 50 thru 59
1
Free White Persons - Females - 10 thru 14
1
Free White Persons - Females - 15 thru 19
1
Free White Persons - Females - 20 thru 29
1
Free White Persons - Females - 40 thru 49
1
Free White Persons - Under 20
6
Free White Persons - 20 thru 49
2
Total Free White Persons
9
Total - All Persons (Free White, Slaves, Free Colored)
9
Another Goin Morgan is in Jackson County, Alabama by 1830. This is a man with a family of 9 in his 50's. All Three of those last ones could have been the same man.
Morgan Family History
It was time to make a trip to the History Center and revisit (as a Morgan Family descendant, I had traced my own route to Mark years ago). There's quite a bit of information on the Morgans of Western Stanly, due to the character of Drury Morgan, and the writings of one of his descendants, Mrs. G. B. D. Reynolds.
I will give a Readers Digest version here, as I am not wishing to explore the whole family line in one post.
Nathan Morgan was born circa 1710 in Essex County, Virginia. He brought his genes and body to Onslow County, NC and established a farm called "Batchelors Delight". He left a Will, but witnessed a land sale from David Jones to Lewis Powell on April 10, 1750, so passing away after this date in 1750. He mentions his wife, Sarah, his brother, William and his chidren, William, Goen and Sukee. Sarah was a young woman when Nathan died and some add a fourth child, a son Joseph, whom she may have been expecting when the Will was written, as there is no Joseph mentioned in the Will.
*As a note, Nathan Morgan was mentioned in the Will of his own father, John Morgan , Sr. in Essex County, Virginia, He was the son of John Sr. and Hannah Barbee Morgan.
A deed in Deed Book H, (1764-1769) in Onslow County includes the wording "...sold by Johnston to Nathan Morgan.. and from him to this two sons, William and Goen Morgan. It is hereby certified that Sarah Johnston, wife of Benjamin and the mother of William and Goen Morgan relinquishes her dower rights in the above Land."
Another deed dated July 7, 1800 mentions a land transaction"excepting one acre on Bachelor's Delight, where the road crosses and one acre where Nathan Morgan is buried."
Goen
Both brothers, Goen and William signed the petition to divide Anson in 1770, in order to form Richmond County on the other side of the Pee Dee River.
Goen served as a Regulator. In 1766, he had a land grant on Clark's Creek. He built a Mill. Later, he living along the Rocky River near Bryant Austin. His wife is supposedly a Thompson.
In Anson County court minutes dated 1768, Book B Page 65. A court order commands a number of men, including Goen Morgan, to open and construct a road the most convenient way from the Salisbury Road near Lawyers Springs and to cross the Pee Dee at Swift Island or "Dairs Ford" (this translation is probably entirely wrong as it matches no place or person in the area) and front there to John Wilson's Ford on Little River where Cross Creek Road crosses Little River and to make s report at the next term of court. Some of these old roads still exist in some form.
An inventory of the estate of Goen Morgan was made on January 31 of 1782, and named the widow Mary Morgan, and Sheriff Jonathan Jackson as those taking and accounting the inventory. So his date of death is accepted as 1782 or 1781.
A memoir from the family of Drury Morgan, a grandson of Goin, recounts that he settled on Clark's Creek and had brought his family down to the Rocky River area, where they remained for generations, after obtaining a license from the state to build a mill on Rocky River.
The mill, a three-story structure, may have looked similar to this old picture of the Bost Grist Mill in Cabarrus County, just a few miles up river from the Morgans, from bostgristmill.com.
Mary Thomson or Thompson Morgan outlived Goin. A family history of the John Thomson family gives the year of her death as 1793. The link is here: John Thomson Family
For more information on the Gowen family of Onslow Cunty, NC, or on Goen Morgan the
Goin Morgan (born in Onslow County, died circa 1782) and Mary Thompson Morgan (b August 18, 1769, died circa 1793), were the parents of 5 known children. The dates of birth given in the Thompson histories were:
1) Jonathan b. August 21, 1770
2) Sarah b. April 24, 1772
3) Susan (Sukey) b. April 15, 1774
4) Mark b. November 18, 1776
5) Goen C. b. January 11, 1780
Having encountered Jonathan during research on my Ramsey line, as one of my ancestor Starkey Ramsey's sons married one of Jonathan's daughters and went west and south with them, I knew a little about his family.
Goen C. Morgan was the one who married Catherine Tucker and followed the same path as Joseph Ramsey, first to Tennessee and then to Alabama.
It's my own line, that of Mark Morgan and Mary Green, that this younger Goen Morgan and his children, would have had to have sprung from, not only due to the process of elimination, but from the close associations that his other known sons, like Gideon and Mark Jr., had with the known children of Goen (3/Sr) and Nancy.
The Morgan family history has Mark with a son named Goen, so it was known, they just didn't know much about him.
Mark
Mark Morgan born November 18, 1776, died prior to Nov. 8,1833.
He married Mary Green. It is speculated that she was the daughter of Gideon Green and Elizabeth Anderson Green. It makes sense, but there's never been found any proof.
Their children were:
Sarah 'Sally' Morgan b 1799 d 1864
Married Solomon Burris III 6 children
Green Drury Morgan b 1812 d 1870
Married Dicy Morton 9 children. Married 2nd Mary Smith
Mark Morgan Jr. b 1816 d 1861
Married Nancy Morton 10 children
Gideon Morgan b 1817 d 1876
Married Sally Burris, 6 children
Others add:
Melissa Eliza Morgan b 1812 d 1856
Married Edmund P. 'Ed' Honeycutt 15 children.
Elizabeth Morgan b 1797 d 1852
Married Ambrose Honeycutt (who had one or two other wives).
Then we have Goen. His family tree seems to be:
Goen Morgan b circa 1805 d between 1837 and 1840.
Married Nancy ,(Maiden name unknown).
5 children:
A) Unknown daughter born between 1825 and 1829.
B) Evan Riley Morgan (1828-1908)
Married Lavina Elvira Burris. 6 children
Married Mary Ann McIntyre
C) Leah Sarah Morgan (1831-1896)
Married Linsey F. Whitley. No children.
D) Martin Morgan (1835 - 1863)
Married Edith Pennington. 4 children.
E) Mark Solomon Morgan (1836-1862)
Married Martha J Louise Kizer. 2 children.
F) Goen/Gowen Morgan Jr. born January 18, 1837, died January 20 1919.
Married Eady (Edith) Bird, a widow, maiden name unknown.
Goen Morgan Jr. avoided detection in the 1900 and 1910 census records. If he had been sent away to a hospital, I've not found him. All signs point toward his remaining in the West Stanly area for the last decades of life.
In March of 1901, the Stanly County newspaper reported that his support from the County, as a disabled individual, be raised from $2.00 a month to $2.50 a month. So, even though he doesn't appear in the census, he was there.
In a 1970's survey of the Canton Baptist Church Cemetery, compiled by Juanita Rogers Morris in a two volume compilation of the cemetery records of Stanly County, NC, the grave of 'Gowen' Morgan is listed. This is where we get his dates of birth and death.
He had just passed his 82nd birthday. Today, his tombstone can't be found. I tried, and it's not located on Find-a-Grave.
I believe it may be in one of the unmarked spots in the above photo I took, pointing towards the church in the front west corner of the cemetery. That's where other Morgan's are buried.
Gowen was a simple man, orphaned before becoming an adult, he made his way through a full life as a Farm Laborer, aided by siblings, uncles and the community at large. Halfway through his life, he sustained an unknown injury that handicapped him for the remainder of it. It appears shortly after that, he may have found love, or some form of it, however briefly, with the much older widow, Edith Bird. He certainly hadn't married her for money or property, as it appears neither of them had any.
At least in his life, his associations and marriages, he aided in the reunification of most of his immediate family in the family tree.
