SALUTATIONS
Editor's Note: TT has received a good response to the question about constructing a data base. More later on this topic as well as the exciting information subscribers have sent about the early related families. As you'll see below, time has not been available to move forward in compiling this information. Please be patient a little longer.
From Thursday through Monday, I was in Patrick Co VA and in Surry, Stokes, and Rockingham Cos. NC. It was a trip of discovery for my fellow travelers - we were on the trail of our Moore/Hanby/Dalton family - it was a visit of nostalgia for me. Among other memory provoking events, I stood on a hillside in Stokes County and saw, for only the second time in my life, the site my parents had selected to build our new home. It is still exactly as I remember it, even to the old 1780s brick Moore home at the top of the hill, the terrace where our house was to be, and the tree line a little further down the slope. I was four years old the last time I saw it in March 1937. As it turned out, we moved to Raleigh and never built on the site. Neither, it seems did anyone else.
While there, I didn't neglect the Taliaferros. You'll find a short
biography of "Skitt" Taliaferro in the Miscellany section, and a couple
of his short vignettes about Surry County folk. Later issues will
carry more of his humorous stories.
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Here may be cause to celebrate with JOHN BRANDT (jbrandt@ucla.edu).
Can anyone carry this information further for him?
******
I hope I can celebrate....VLTP@aol.com sent me the following message:
Re. TT of Dec 4th; Martha Taliaferro was the daughter of Robert and Elizabeth
Mathews (d/o Capt. Samuel, kin of Gov. Mathews of VA). Robert s/o John
"the Ranger" Taliaferro, who was s/o Robert, the immigrant. Has someone
confirmed this information? If so, where can I find dates and places for
these people?
Thanks so much for your help.
QUERIES
VLTP@aol.com
*****Just reading "Notes on Culpeper" by Raleigh Green published in
1900 and came across the following. James Browning m ---------, and
had 1. James of Clarke Co, Ky 2. Caleb m Miss Pendleton 3. Micajah m ______
and went to Ky and was the father of O. H. Browning, US Senator from Illinois,
and a member of Lincoln's cabinet 4. Polly Browning m Taliaferro Browning
5. Anne m -----Overall and went West. Question: Do you know
this family??
(Editor's Note: This is not my Browning line, but does anyone
know of a Browning/Taliaferro marriage?)
RESPONSES
[Editor's Note: I apologize, I don't have the name and address
of the person who submitted this information - it was lost
in transfer from email to TT template. Please let me know and I'll
run a notice in the next issue.) *****Rev War Soldier Jesse Toliver 1756-3/4/1838
of Peach Bottom Mtn, NC m 8
Oct 1782 Martha Frances "Franky" Stamper b2/10/1767 d/o John 1719-1799
and Rachel Stamper...Issue: Jesse, Jr. 7/6/1783
William 1784- m 9/3/1812
Frances Combs
Susan 2/14/1785
m possibly a Crouse
Sarah 5/9/1786-12/28/1859 m Absolom Fender 1790-1899 s/o Nimrod &
Sarah (Summers) Fender **Sarah and Absoloms' daug Susanna Fender
m 3/21/1830 Jesse Toliver 1802-78 s/o Charles & Susan (Edwards) Toliver
Lawrence Co, Ind.
John 6/20/1788
m Anna Long (may have had a 1st wife Patsy)
Martha 3/13/1797 m John Fender 1793-1858
Jacob 7/26/1799-1887 m 10/14/1831 Susanna Isom
Allen 7/18/1803-2/21/1891 m 1. 6/4/1829 Susanna Finger/Fender 1806-47
.......................................m 2. 3/19/1850 Mahala Luswell
Soloman 5/13/1804......m 1. Margaret Calloway 2. Margaret (Blevins)Toliver
d/o John& Catherine (Cox) Blevins
Sterling 3/13/1806-1870 m 3/12/1829 Margaret Ann Spurling d/o Jeramiah
Hiram 3/10/1808-96 m 1. 9/15/1831 Nancy Jones 2. Phoebe Burton
Sarah went to Ill>> Allen and Jacob to Lawrence Co, Ind.>>, Hiram to Wyoming Co, W Va >>.After the death of John , Anna & children moved to Owen Co, Ind>> All born Allegheny Co, NC. >>
You will find Nell Shermans book interesting but full of errors, especially
my contribution to it --I was just a beginner then. But she pointed
the way and for that I will always be grateful.
COLONIAL TALIAFERROS
WELDON ROGERS (hcfr@mindspring.com) *****Although incorrect information
is still being circulated about the mother-in-law of the immigrant Robert
Taliaferro (1626-1671), there is little
doubt for those who have read "The Townleys and Warners of Virginia
and Their English Connections" originally published in The Virginia Magazine
of History and Biography and reprinted in the Genealogies of Virginia Families
from the same periodical. On page 583 of the Broderbund Software copy of
this
article in a footnote numbered 150 the author cites York County Deeds,
etc. 1657-1662 for entries concerning William Debnam (Sr), William Debnam
(Jr), Charles Grymes as guardian of William Debnam (Jr) and intermarrying
with the widow of William Debnam (Sr).
Katherine _?_ I (ca 1625->1660) married first, about 1643, to William Debnam (ca 1620-1657).
They had four children: Katherine Debnam II m Robert Taliaferro (1626-1671), Mary m Lawrence Smith (1629-1700) son of Christopher Smith and Elizabeth Townley; Ann Debnam m Edward Hoyle, s/o Ann Townley and Samuel Hoyle, and William Debnam Jr..
Katherine -?- Debnam born (ca 1625-1660) married second, about 1658 to Charles Grymes and they had one son, John Grymes (1660-1709).
The only Taliaferro given name without a known family precedent is Richard.
All the Williams take their name from their genetic ancestor William Debnam,
father of Katherine Debnam who married Robert Taliferro I (1626-1671).
RESEARCH
RAMONA (Btinn@aol.com) *****This information came from Our Tennessee Cousins by Ray S. Worth published in 1984.
On page 455 he refers to the speaker of the house Sam Rayburn of Texas who had a Taliaferro cousin in Oklahoma.
Another reference in page 496 refers to William Lillard and his wife
Nancey Roth in Monroe County, Tennessee. There first child Andrew
Jackson Lillard born Feb. 20, 1829 is married to Samanthe Taliaferro, an
old Culpepper County family. Samantha is said to be the daughter
of John Taliaferro who settled in Loudon County, Tennessee. Are these
part of our group? Ramona
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ANNE HAMLIN (AHamlin777)
*****I have a little on the Taliaferro/Johnson/Bourne equation... I
hope it can maybe give some clues to anyone working on those families.
It was sent to me by a friend in 1995 in the form of a GED file. I have
added a few details from the past two issues of Tal. Times...
1 JOHNSON, Henry England d: Will dated
1702 src: WILL DATE Src: A.Baker (abaker@searnet.com), from Tal.Times/20,
Information on the Johnson family. NAME & MARRIAGE Source: AOL
member: GHighto cites LDS 1st Wife of Henry Johnson:
.. +TALIAFERRO, Mary (dau. of Robert I) b: 1658 Essex Co., VA
d: Essex Co., VA Source: AOL member: GHighto
Father: Robert TALIAFERRO I Mother: Sarah Katherine (Debnam) GRYMES
2 JOHNSON, Richard b: Essex Co., VA src: NAME:
Src. GED file by G. Hightower (GHighto), 1995.
.... +HARRISON, Jael b: Abt 1676 m: Aft 1712
src: d: Essex Co. (now Caroline Co.), VA src: NAME & INFO
Src: A.Baker (abaker@searnet.com), from Tal.Times/20, Information on the
Johnson family.
Father: James HARRISON Mother: Elizabeth (Mrs.) MOTT
2 JOHNSON, Sarah b: Essex Co., VA
2 JOHNSON, Catherine b: Essex Co., VA
2 JOHNSON, Ann b: Essex Co., VA
2 JOHNSON, Elizabeth b: Abt 1681 Essex Co., VA
Source: AOL member: GHighto
.... +BOURNE, John II b: Abt 1682 VA d: 1721
Spotsylvania Co., VA Source: AOL
member: GHighto
... 3 BOURNE, John III b: September 1707 Fredericksburg,
VA
....... +DAVIS, Ellen 'Eleanor' b: Abt 1707 VA
... 3 BOURNE, Robert b: Abt 1709 Essex Co., VA
... 3 BOURNE, Francis b: Abt 1711 Essex Co., VA
... 3 BOURNE, Andrew b: Bef 1714 VA
....... +MORTON, Jane b: Abt 1722
... 3 BOURNE, Christian b: Abt 1715 VA
... 3 BOURNE, Henry b: Abt 1717 Essex Co., VA
... 3 BOURNE, Sarah b: Abt 1717 Essex Co., VA
... 3 BOURNE, James b: Abt 1719 Essex Co., VA
2nd Wife of Henry Johnson:
+BOURNE, Christain (Mrs.) (Widow of John Bourne, I of England.
Mother of John Bourne, II who married his step sister, Elizabeth Johnson,
daughter of Henry Johnson & Mary Taliaferro.) src: NAME &
FAMILY INFO Src: A.Baker (abaker@searnet.com), from Tal.Times/20,
Information on the Johnson family. *****I also have this little
bit of info from the same source as above. I do not know where Peter
Bourne fits in to the Bourne family, or where Charles Taliaferro fits into
the Taliaferros. I thought the Charles may have been the brother
of Mary Taliaferro who m. Henry Johnson...
Will of "Peter Bourne" written April 24, 1719 that after he had divided
all of his wordly goods to his family, he wrote in the last sentence
of his will:
"The remaining part of my estate unto my executor Charles Taliaferro."
Unfortunately this is all I have, no dates, nothing!
MISCELLANY
Source: An article, "Skitt Taliaferro's Fisher's River," by Richard Walser and reprinted in a Surry County volume no longer in print. The original memoirs, "Fisher's River Scenes and Characters," was published in 1859 by Harper and Brothers.
****Mark Hardin Taliaferro, born in 1811, was the ninth and youngest child of Charles and Sallie (Burroughs) Taliaferro. His family was closely associated by friendship and marriage to the prominent Snows and Franklins. Charles Taliaferro, well-educated and prosperous land-owner and slave-holder, represented Surry County in the State House of Commons, as later did his son Dickerson. Two other sons, Charles and Richard, moved to east Tennessee and became Missionary Baptist preachers, departing from the Primitive Baptist allegiance of their parents.
Meanwhile, Mark Hardin grew up a along Little Fisher River, worked at a tub mill, observed the antics of his neighbors, and listened with relish to the wild yarns of the local storytellers. When hewas eighteen, like other restless young men of the age, he packed his gear and took out across the mountains to join his two brothers in Tennessee. There he became a preacher, attended the Madisonville Academy, and was married to Elizabeth Henderson. Though he continued to be called "Mark," about this time he changed his name to Hardin Edwards Taliaferro, probably to avoid confusion with a cousin Mark Hardin. For twenty years, beginning in 1835, he lived in Talladega, AL, became the father of two daughters, and ministered to a number of churches in the area. . . He moved to Tuskegee to assist his brother-in-law Samuel Henderson edit the weekly South Western Baptist. He stayed on in Tuskegee until 1872, then returned to east Tennessee. At the time of his death on November 2, 1875, he was pastor of the Loudon Baptist Church.
In 1857, on a visit to Surry County after a twenty-year absence, "reminiscences of my early years," he wrote, "naturally revived . . . and I concluded to write out some of the scenes and stories of that age and section.
******A GENERAL DESCRIPTION OF OLD SURRY
Near the base of the mountain, and a few miles East, South, and Southwest of it, lived a healthy, hardy, honest, uneducated set of pioneers, unlike in many respects, any set of pioneers that ever peopled any other portion of the Lord's globe. They came mostly from Virginia, and aportion of them from the middle and lower parts of North Carolina, and a few from other sections -- a sufficient number from all parts to make a singular and pleasing variety. The emigrants from Virginia furnished exceptions to the general claims of Virginians, most of whom claim to belong to the "first families;" but it was honor enough for them that they came from "Fudginny." This section was settled between the year 1770 and 1780.
A large portion of these early settlers were wholly uneducated, and the rest of them had but a rude and imperfect rudimental education. Each settler brought with him the rustic vernacular of his native section, and held on to it with great tenacity, thus making a common stock of the richest, unwritten, rustic literature that ever graced any community. They had no use for grammar nor for grammarians; they had no dictionaries; what few literary questions arose among them were decided by Meshack Franklin, for he was the only well- educated man in the community, and had been to Congress. Jesse Franklin, for several years United States Senator, and afterwards Governor of North Carolina, lived and died here. For his opportunities, he was the greatest man North Carolina has ever produced. But with most of the people a rifle, shot- pouch, butcher-knife, and an article they dubbed "knock-'em-stiff" were of vastly more importance than "larnin';" while the younger ones preferred the sound of the "fiddle," a "seven-handed reel," and "Old Sister Phebe" to a log- pole school-house. Yet, for all this, they were a clever folk, and one raised among them, who knows their worth every way, has ventured to record some few of their deeds of daring.
[Note: You can see from the above why, perhaps, Hardin Taliaferro published his book under a pseudonym. Some of the Surry folk whom he evidently loved very deeply were not amused by some of his descriptions of their early families. After his introduction above, we have no doubt that Mark Hardin Taliaferro was a well-educated, articulate gentleman. The remainder of his book is often written in the dialect of the mountains.]
*******A WEDDING DINNER
The corn-cob stopper was pulled out'nm the gourd, "chug," agin and again, and we kep' bussin the pewter cup, and we chatted away like blackbirds, 'ceptin' the 'squire, with 'bout as much sense. Dinner comed next. The pot hadn't bin idle all the time; it kep bilin' away, pottle, wottle, pottle, wottle. Hollin she sot the table along side uf the bed, to sarve in the place uv chairs on one side, and a long bench on t'other side, and a short bench on each end. It was one uv these cross-leg tables - none uv yer quality cuts. John Senter was none uv yer quality men; he opposed and hated all quality idees; nur would he 'low a quality dinner. He wouldn't 'low but one dish, ef the 'squire was thar. He wouldn't have a pie; nur a puddin,' nut nothing 'o' the sort. Hollin she tuck up the dinner, and ding my skin ef it warn't a sure anuff dinner. Thar was a great big pewter dish full uv stewed chicken and rye dumplin's with chunks uv bacon mixed up, anuff to sorter season it. The rye dumplin's, some on 'um, was as big as corn-dodgers, and some on 'um which the seasonin' hadn't toch, was touch as whitleather, and you mout a knocked a bull down with 'um.
*****HONESTY
The people in that region were scrupulously honest -- more
so than any section I have very seen. They lived remote from commerce,
with its corruptions, and there was not a fleece enough in all the land
for sharpers to come in to corrupt their morals. Not even a wooden-nutmeg
Yankee could make any thing from off them. They knew nothing but
downright honesty. A man who would not pay a debt to the amount of
five cents was scouted and despised most cordially. If a man's honesty
was impeached there was a fight, unless it was "taken back,"
________________________________________________________________
TALIAFERRO TIMES is compiled from email contributions and other sources.
Information distributed by this newsletter is the sole responsibility of
each contributor. Any questions regarding items contained herein
should be sent to the individual submitter. The editor reserves the
right to edit for brevity and clarity.
Distributed by Joyce Browning
cJBrown7169@AOL.com
11 March 1998
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