Sketches of Western North Carolina, Historical and Biographical Part 6

Ephraim Brevard, the reputed author of the Mecklenburg Declaration of the 20th of May, 1775, and one of the "seven brothers in the rebel army," at one time.

3. Violet Davidson married William Bain Alexander, a son of John McKnitt Alexander, one of the secretaries of the Mecklenburg Convention.

4. Elizabeth Davidson married William Lee Davidson, a son of General Davidson, who fell at Cowan's Ford.

5. Mary Davidson married Dr. William McLean, a distinguished physician during and after the Revolution.

6. Sarah Davidson married Alexander Caldwell, a son of Dr. David Caldwell, an eminent Presbyterian minister of Guilford county.

7. Margaret Davidson married Major James Harris, of Cabarrus county.

8. John (or "Jackey") Davidson, married Sallie Brevard, a daughter of Adam Brevard, a brother of Dr. Ephraim Brevard.

9. Robert Davidson married Margaret Osborne, a daughter of Adlai Osborne, the grandfather of the late Jas. W. Osborne, of Charlotte.

10. Benjamin Wilson Davidson married Elizabeth Latta, a daughter of James Latta, Esq.

The third wife of Samuel Wilson, Sr., was Margaret Jack, a sister of Captain Jack, the bearer of the Mecklenburg Declaration to Congress.

By this marriage there were five children:

1. _Sarah Wilson_, married Ben McConnell, who had three children, Charity, Latta and Wilson McConnell. Charity McConnell married Reese Davidson, a nephew of General Ephraim Davidson. This family, and also that of Wilson McConnell, moved to Tennessee.

2. _Charity Wilson_, died at the age of sixteen years.

3. _Robert Wilson_, married Margaret Alexander, a daughter of Major Thomas Alexander, and grand-daughter of Neil Morrison, one of the Mecklenburg signers. He left five daughters, and one son, who lost his life in the Confederate cause.

4. _Lillis Wilson_, (frequently written "Lillie,") married James Connor, who emigrated from Ireland when about twenty-one years of age; volunteered his services at the commencement of the Revolutionary War, and fought through the struggle to its close. He died in April, 1835, aged eighty-four years, and is buried in Baker's graveyard. He left two children, Henry Workman and Margaret Jack Conner. H. Workman Conner was a worthy and influential citizen of Charleston, S.C., where he spent about fifty years of his life, and died in January, 1861.

Margaret J. Connor married J. Franklin Brevard, a son of Capt.

Alexander Brevard, of Lincoln county. She was an estimable Christian lady, survived her husband many years, was beloved by all who knew her, and died with peaceful resignation, on the 25th of October, 1866, in the sixty-eighth year of her age. Her only child, Rebecca, married Robert I. McDowell, Esq., of Mecklenburg county.

5. _William Jack Wilson_, youngest child of Samuel Wilson, Sr., by the third wife, married Rocinda Winslow, the youngest daughter of Moses Winslow. The house in which this old patriot then resided, has long since disappeared. It stood on the public road, about three miles southwest of Center church. A large Honey Locust tree now (1876) nearly points out its original location.

William J. Wilson left four children: 1. Dovey A., (Mrs. Dougherty); 2 Robert; 3. La Fayette, and 4. James C. Wilson.

The house in which Samuel Wilson, Sr., resided, and to which the body of General Davidson was borne by David Wilson and Richard Barry, before sepulture, was a two-story frame building. No portion of it now remains and the plow runs smoothly over its site. Robert and William J. Wilson built on the old homestead property. These two brothers were closely united in filial affection during their lives, and now lie, side by side, in Hopewell graveyard.

Mrs. Margaret Jack Wilson, third wife of Samuel Wilson, Sr., is described by all who knew her, as a woman of uncommon energy, of an amiable disposition, charitable to the poor, and a truly humble Christian. She died at the age of fifty-eight years, was never sick during her life, until a few days before her death, and is buried in Baker's graveyard. When drawing near to the close of her earthly existence, she was asked if she had a desire to live longer; she replied, "No; she was like a s.h.i.+p long tossed at sea and about to land at a port of rest."

In this same spot of ground, (Baker's graveyard,) five miles northeast of Beattie's Foard, on the Catawba, consecrated as the last resting-place of some of the earliest settlers of Mecklenburg county, repose the mortal remains of the Rev. John Thompson, one of the first Presbyterian missionaries in this section of the State, and who died in September, 1753. No monumental slab or head-stone is placed at his grave. Tradition says he built a cabin (or study-house) in the northwestern angle of the graveyard, and was buried beneath its floor, being the first subject of interment. John Baker, who lived in the immediate vicinity, married his daughter, and dying a few years later, gave the permanent name to the burial-ground. Here also repose the remains of _Hugh Lawson_, the grandfather of the Hon. Hugh Lawson White, a native of Iredell county. The only tablet to the memory of this early settler, is a rough slate rock, about one foot high and nine inches broad, on which are rudely chiseled the initial letters of his name, thus combined, HL. In subsequent years, after the erection of Hopewell Church, the most of the Wilson family and relatives were buried in the graveyard at that place.

CAPTAIN CHARLES POLK'S "MUSTER ROLL."

Among the interesting Revolutionary records of Mecklenburg county, which have been preserved, is the "Muster Roll" of Captain Charles Polk's Company of "Light Horse," with the time of service and pay of each member thereof, as follows:

"Dr. The Public of North Carolina,

"To Captain Charles Polk, for services done by him and his Company of Light Horse, who entered the 12th of March, 1776.

"Captain, Charles Polk.

1st Lieut, William Ramsey.

2nd Lieut., John Lemmond.

1st Sergt, John Montgomery 2nd Sergt., William Galbraith (erased).

Drummer, Hugh Lindsay.

John Smith.

John Polk, Sen. (erased).

John Wylie.

John Findley.

John Galbraith.

James Hall.

John Stansill.

William ---- (illegible).

John Miller.

Humphrey Hunter.

Henry Carter.

James Maxwell.

John Maxwell.

Robert Galbraith.

John McCandlis.

Nicholas Siler.

Samuel Linton.

Thomas Shelby.

James Alexander.

Robert Harris, Jun.

John Foard.

Jonathan Buckaloe.

Charles Alexander, Sen.

Henry Powell.

William Rea.

Samuel Hughes.

Charles Alexander, Jun.

William s.h.i.+elds.

Charles Polk, Jun.

John Purser.

William Lemmond, 'Clerk to the said company, and Shurgeon to y'e same.'"

Remarks.--The whole expense of Captain Polk's company in this campaign for sixty-five days, including the hire of three wagons at 16s. each per day, and two thousand and five rations, at 8d. each, amounted to 683 9s. 8d. The account was proven, according to law, before Colonel Adam Alexander, one of the magistrates of the county, and audited and countersigned by Ephraim Alexander, George Mitch.e.l.l and James Jack, the bearer of the Mecklenburg Declaration to Congress. The pay of a Captain was then 10s. per day; of a 1st and 2nd Lieutenant, 7s. each; of a first Sergeant, 6s. 6d.; of a 2nd Sergeant, 5s. 6d.; of the Clerk and "Shurgeon," 6s. 6d.; and of each private, 5s.

James Hall, one of the privates in this expedition, afterward became a distinguished Presbyterian minister of the gospel, and was elected on two occasions by his own congregation, in pressing emergencies, to the captaincy of a company, and acted as chaplain of the forces with which he was a.s.sociated. The late Rev. John Robinson, of Poplar Tent Church, in Cabarrus county, in speaking of him, said, "when a boy at school in Charlotte (Queen's Museum), I saw James Hall pa.s.s through the town, with his three-cornered hat, the captain of a company and chaplain of the regiment." In Captain Polk's ma.n.u.script journal of his march, under Gen. Rutherford, through the mountains of North Carolina, then the unconquered haunts of wild beasts and savage Indians, he says: "On September 15th, 1776, Mr. Hall preached a sermon," prompted, as it appears, by the death of one of Captain Irwin's men on the day before.

This was probably the first sermon ever heard in these secluded mountainous valleys, now busy with the hum of civilized life. (See sketch of his services under "Iredell County.")

Humphrey Hunter, first a private and afterward lieutenant in Captain Robert Mebane's company in this expedition, also became an eminent minister of the gospel, and presided at the _semi-centennial_ celebration of the Mecklenburg Declaration of Independence, on the 20th of May, 1825. (See sketch of his services under Gaston county.)

William s.h.i.+elds was the gallant soldier of General Sumter's command, who discovered a bag of gold in the camp of the routed enemy after the battle of Hanging Rock. Not less generous than brave, steady on the march, and true on the field, he voluntarily carried the gold to his commanding general, and requested him to use it in the purchase of clothing and shoes for his ragged and suffering fellow-soldiers. It is needless to say that this brave and meritorious officer faithfully applied it according to the request of the honest and generous soldier.

Thomas Shelby, a relative of Colonel Isaac Shelby, of King's Mountain fame, James Alexander, Charles Polk, Jun., Robert Harris, William Ramsey, John Foard (one of the Mecklenburg signers), John Lemmond, John Montgomery, William Rea, and others on the list, will awaken in the minds of their descendants emotions of veneration for their patriotic ancestors, who, one hundred years ago--at the very dawn of the Revolution, and before a _hesitating_ Congress, proclaimed our National declaration, pledged their lives, fortunes and sacred honor in the cause of American freedom.

PRESIDENT JAMES K. POLK.