Early Union County Settler Adam Corn Noted as a Minister

He was likely referred to as “Elder” Corn among those who knew him. His name was Adam Corn, an ordained Baptist minister, who was living with his family in Union County Georgia by the time of the 1840 census. Extant family stories about this pioneer state that he moved here from North Carolina by 1839. In the 1839 census, his household had four males and four females. By age distribution, one male was five to ten, one was ten to fifteen, one twenty to thirty, and one fifty to sixty; females were two aged fifteen to twenty, one thirty to forty, and one fifty to sixty. The elder two listed in the household would likely have been Rev. Adam Corn and his wife, Hannah Heatherly Corn. Although the last name of another family living in Union at the time of the 1840 census was spelled Carne, it was likely intended to be Corn, the eldest son of Rev. Adam Corn. In that household were John Carne (Corn) who was between thirty and forty, his wife, and one child, a female under five.

As we shall see, this early Baptist minister was what we call today a church planter, for everywhere he went, including Union and Towns Counties in North Georgia, he started new churches. He was aided in this work (especially in the North Carolina area) by two more noted ministers of that early settlements era, the Rev. Humphrey Posey and the Rev. Stephen Smith. Bonded together in their work with frontier settlements and mission work with the Cherokee Indians, these men contributed significantly to early church establishment and mission work in Virginia, North and South Carolina and North Georgia.

Adam Corn was born May 2, 1783 in Albemarle County, Virginia, the son of John Peter and Elizabeth Parr Corn. His father was a Revolutionary War soldier. His grandparents were Matthew and Millie Corn and John and Miriam Parr, all of Henry County, Virginia. When Adam was a young lad of about eleven, his family moved from Virginia to Surrey County, North Carolina, then on to Wilkes County where so many who migrated from Union County had settled.

Adam Corn met Hannah Heatherly in Buncombe County, North Carolina. Her parents had migrated there from the old Pendleton District in South Carolina. Adam and Hannah were living near her parents, the John Heatherlys, in the 1810 census of Buncombe County. Adam was ordained as a Baptist minister in 1812 by the Mud Creek Baptist Church in Henderson, North Carolina. Thus began his career as a minister, church organizer and itinerant preacher and pastor. We trace several moves over the next years as he assisted the Rev. Humphrey Posey of the Board of Domestic Missions and the Rev. Stephen White, sometimes called a “hardshell Baptist preacher” to organize churches. “Hardshell” often referred to an anti-missions position of doctrine. Since Corn and Posey were obviously quite missions-minded, one wonders how the three then cooperated. Perhaps the demarcations in beliefs were not as divisive in those early years and people welcomed ordained itinerant preachers to deliver sermons, perform funerals and weddings, and baptize converts at the locations of scattered churches.

We trace Adam Corn’s ministry to the Cullowhee District in Jackson County, North Carolina where their eldest son, John, was born in 1813, and where he assisted with missions to the Indians and in organizing the Cullowhee Baptist Church. He was also an organizer of the Tuckaseegee Baptist Association at Cullowhee and presided at the meeting. He was present and led in organizing the Waynesville Baptist Church in 1823. He, the Rev. Stephen White and the Rev. Humphrey Posey organized the Cowee Baptist Church on March 15, 1828, and Rev. Posey served as its first pastor. Other churches he and the Rev. Humphrey Posey founded were the Locust Field Baptist Church in Canton (now First Baptist of Canton, NC), Mt. Zion Baptist Church at the Arneechee Ford of the Oconaluftee River, as well as the Luftee Baptist Church, the latter in 1836.

Then when Indian lands opened up in Union County, Georgia, Elder Adam Corn moved his family there about 1839. Within that area Rev. Corn led in organizing Macedonia Baptist Church which is south of present-day Hiawassee in Towns County, Brasstown Baptist Church, and Old Union Baptist Church in Young Harris. Towns County was formed from Union in 1856. Without moving, Rev. Adam Corn became a resident of the new county. Their farm was in the Bell Creek Community. He continued active in the ministry for all of his long life. Records show that he baptized his two older sons, John and Alfred, in the Hiawassee River in 1841 and they became members of the Macedonia Baptist Church their father had helped to organize. Alfred himself became a noted minister. Adam’s son John Corn served as the first moderator of the Hiawassee Baptist Association in 1849.

The graves of Rev. Adam Corn and his wife Hannah Heatherly Corn are in the Lower Bell Creek Baptist Church Cemetery. She died February 8, 1859 and he died September 12, 1871, at age 88. He had served as a minister for sixty years.

c2012 by Ethelene Dyer Jones. Published March 15, 2012 online with permission of the author at the GaGenWebProject. All rights reserved.

Honoring Early Settlers in the Duncan Family and Sheriff Harlan Duncan, a Descendant

One Duncan family was present in the new Union County when the first census was taken of residents in 1834, two years after the county was formed. When Alexander Duncan and his family settled here is not certain. In 1834, his household had three males and three females listed as residents.

By 1840, four households of Duncans were registered in the U. S. census in Union County. These included Alexander Duncan, still residing in Union from 1834, whose household had a son between five and ten, one between ten and fifteen, Alexander himself, between 40 and 50 and three females under fifteen and his wife, between 40 and 50. The second Duncan household was headed by David, with two males under five, and David himself between twenty and 30, and his wife in his same age category. In another household was Charles Duncan, between fifty and sixty, two sons, one 15 to 20 and one 20-30, and evidently his wife, between 40 and fifty, and an elderly lady, aged between 70-80. The fourth and final Duncan household was headed by Elisha who was between 30 and 40, two sons between 10-15, and evidently three daughters, one under 5, one 5-10, and one 10-15 (no wife, or no female who would have been the approximate age of a wife and mother).

In the interim period between the 1840-1850 census tabulations, more Duncan households had been set up, so that by 1850, the first census with names of all residents in a family listed, we note eight with Duncan as the household head. These, listed as found in the census (even with spelling as given then) were:

Household # 9: Charles Duncan and his wife Mary, both age 75, both having been born in Virginia.

Household # 75: Joseph Duncan, age 29, and Mary, age 27, both born in North Carolina. Union marriage records show a Joseph Duncan married Mary Thomas on September 28, 1840.

Household # 111: David Duncan, age 44 and his wife Nancy, age 38, both born in North Carolina. Their children listed were Elisha, 14, William, 11, John 8, Moses 3. I found a listing of marked graves in the Duncan Family Cemetery with David Duncan’s birth date as March 14, 1806 and his death date February 11, 1877. Nancy Duncan, according to her tombstone, was born July 17, 1811 and died November 4, 1890.

Household # 129: James Duncan, 39 and his wife Elizabeth, 36, both born in North Carolina, and their children William, 15, Frances 13, Elizabeth 11, Henry 9 and James, 5. Living in their household was Mary Lunsford, age 72, also born in North Carolina. She perhaps was Elizabeth’s mother.

Household # 169: William Duncan, age 32 and Sarah Ann, 27, both born in North Carolina, and their children Mary 3, and Aryadey (sp.) 1. In the Union County marriage records, I noted that a William Duncan married Ann S. Neal on September 14, 1856, with the Rev. Thomas M. Hughes performing their ceremony. And much later, Areadna (so spelled), their daughter, married Elam A. Scruggs on August 15, 1883 with Rev. C. A. Sullivan performing the ceremony.

Household # 415: Mary Duncan, age 52, was head of household, born in North Carolina, and in her household were John, 21, Mary, 18, Jesse, 15, and Caroline, 11.

Household # 679: Havey (sp) Duncan (should this have been Harvey?), 26, and Nancy, 23, both born in North Carolina, and Louesa, age 1.

Household # 682: Jonathan Duncan, age 63, born in Virginia, Sarah, age 55, born in North Carolina, and their two children, both born in North Carolina, Elizabeth, age 10 and Andrew, age 15.

By 1850, those with the Duncan surname in Union County numbered 33. And by 1850, the first settler, Alexander, had passed away already and was buried in the Duncan family cemetery with his birth and death dates noted: February 28, 1797 – August 17, 1849. Probably several other in the unmarked Duncan graves there had passed before 1850 as well.

Duncan is a very old family name, having derived from Scots and Gaelic “Donnchadh,” the Donn meaning brown and the “chadh” meaning warrior. The first syllable was shortened to “Dun” by the Scots and meant a fortress, and the “chadh” became “chean” and later “can” which meant “the head or a chief.” We are all familiar with the story of King Duncan whom Macbeth killed in William Shakespeare’s play entitled “Macbeth.” Traces of the name go back in history to the Turpillian Stone carving of the 4th century AD in Crickwell, Wales. Dunchad was one of the earliest forenames in Scotland, originating with the Dalraidan Celtic Scots from Ireland that settled in the southwest of Scotland as early as the 4th century. On the Duncan family crest is the motto, “disce pate” which means “learn to suffer.”

One of the lofty and notable Duncan citizens of Union County was Harlan Thomas Duncan (September 14, 1818-May 5, 1985), son of Tom and Gertrude White Duncan. Harlan Duncan served as sheriff of the county for 21 years, from 1964 until his death. Add to those 21 years as respected and efficient sheriff, a time as a member of the City Police force of Blairsville, 18 years as a Georgia State Patrolman, and his term as deputy sheriff and then sheriff and he clocked over 40 years in law enforcement.

Handsome of demeanor, tall and rangy, and always impeccable in character and conduct, he was the “John Wayne” figure of Union County. It has been recounted that he was so intent on maintaining law and order that sometimes just a finger pointed by Sheriff Duncan and directed toward anyone infringing on the law, like speeding teenagers, was sufficient to slow them down and remind them what awaited if their behavior did not improve. Although a tough law man, he is remembered, too, for his congenial personality, his fairness, and his devotion to family and citizens of the county. He was married to Ruth Jackson, daughter of Marion and Emma Davis Jackson. Ruth was a teacher for many years in Union County Schools. They had two sons, Thomas Harlan Duncan, Jr. and Jack Sidney Duncan. His stately funeral procession, with Sheriff Duncan’s beloved horse with an empty saddle except for his sheriff’s hat on the saddle, saw over 500 law enforcement officers and others citizens paying tribute to this man who had stood tall for right in Union County. He served our country in the U. S. Army during World War II. Sheriff Duncan was laid to rest in Union Memory Gardens, Blairsville.

c2011 by Ethelene Dyer Jones; published Nov. 17, 2011 in The Union Sentinel, Blairsville, GA. Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.

The 'Sacred Harp' Tradition of Singing

Sometimes it is called 'fa-sol- la" singing. Passed at first by oral tradition long before they were published in tune books, the metrical hymns and psalms of Isaac Watts and others were an important part of frontier worship as groups met first in homes and then in a church house built where they set aside an acre or so of land for a church.

This method of singing was taught in widely-practiced singing schools in the south, beginning in the 19th century. The song leader would announce a tune, known to most people, and then "line out" the words to go with that tune. The preacher or the song leader would often be the only one in the congregation to have a book. By repetition, the members would soon learn the words of the song. When "New Britain C. M." was announced as the hymn tune, the singers would know that "Amazing grace! How sweet the sound," the inimitable words by John Newton (1725-1807), would be sung to the announced tune. "C. M." stood for common meter, a metrical count of syllables in the phrases of the song being 8.6.8.6. The version of this beloved hymn we so often sing now was published in Virginia Harmony in 1831 and repeated in subsequent hymn books even to the present day. It was also in Jesse Mercer's Cluster.

Much of this singing tradition has been attributed to the "Old Baptists," although other denominations like Presbyterians, Mennonites and Methodists also sang the old tunes to sacred words. Why, then, were so many of them attributed to Baptists? George Pullen Jackson formerly a professor of music at Vanderbilt University in his Story of the Sacred Harp, states that "freedom" has always been a watchword of the Baptists. Prior to and during the Revolutionary War, Baptists worshiped freely, without centralized religious authority. They wanted no part of the established religious orders and state churches practiced in some of the colonies. They did not want even their singing linked to what they considered governmentally controlled denominations.

Most of the Old Baptist tunes found in the early years were secular songs with religious texts. They were remembered tunes that our ancestors sang in the hills of Scotland, Ireland, England and Wales and brought to America with them. These tunes had been "spiritualized" with words written to show Christian experiences. For example, the minor-key hymn, Wondrous Love was set to the tune of a song about Captain Kidd, pirate.

Fortunately for the hymn, the tune name was given Wondrous Love, not Captain Kidd. The meter in the old folk song in a minor key carries well the words of "Wondrous Love": "What wondrous love is this! Oh! my soul, Oh! my soul! What wondrous love is this, oh! my soul! That caused the Lord of bliss, To bear the dreadful curse for my soul, for my soul, To bear the dreadful curse for my soul!" We don't know who penned the words for the four-stanza hymn in its irregular (12, 9, 6, 6, 12, 9) rhythm. Even modern hymm books list the words as being An American Folk Hymn. It was published in William Walker's Southern Harmony in 1835. Benjamin Franklin White collaborated with Walker in compiling Southern Harmony, but when Walker took the manuscript to New Haven, Connecticut to be published, he did not include White's name as co-author/compiler.

Evidently, this breached the friendship of the two musicians. Ben White packed up his family and moved from Spartanburg, S.C., to Hamilton in Harris County, Ga. There he became editor of the local newspaper, The Organ. He also began working on The Sacred Harp songbook. Many of the songs he published in the newspaper. In 1844 the whole collection of songs was compiled by B. F. White and Joel King and published by Collins Press, Philadelphia. Subsequent editions came out in 1859 and 1860. The hymnbook was reprinted in 1968 by Broadman Press, Nashville, Tenn. White and King's Sacred Harp became the official music book of the Southern Musical Convention in Upson, County, Ga., (1845), the Chattahoochee Musical Convention, Coweta County (1852), and the Tallapoosea Singing Convention in Haralson County (1867) and countless other Singing Conventions as they organized in counties after the Civil War. The book was popular not only for its songs but for the Rudiments of Music, a 21-page manual of music instruction which was often used by singing school teachers.

The Union County Singing Convention held at the court house in Blairsville was an all-day event and well attended by singing groups from the mountain areas of Georgia, North Carolina and Tennessee. Some of the singing school teachers of the 1930s and 1940s were the Rev. James Hood and Mr. Frank Dyer of Union County, and Mr. Everett Prince Bailey of Fannin County, GA and Polk County, Tenn. Groups of Sacred Harp musicians still meet and sing the old songs. Noted names among them are descendants of B. F. White and the Denson Brothers, Howard and Paine; families of McGraws, Kitchens, Cagles, Lovvorns, Parrises, Manns, Drakes and others, some in the fifth generation of those who contributed to the Sacred Harp back in 1844.

In Watson B. Dyer's Souther Family History, (1986), page 154, he printed in our great grandmother's handwriting (Nancy Collins Souther [1829-1888], wife of John Combs Hayes Souther [18271891]), a copy of a song they were learning at church. She had written the words April 13, 1868. I was thrilled to see the words of the song that had been "lined out" as my great grandmother wrote them. She wrote:

"Come all ye righteous here below,
O hal-le, hal-le-lu-jah.
Let nothing prove your overthrow,
O hal-le, hal-le-lu-jah.
But call on Me both day and night,
O hal-le, hal-le-lu-jah.
And I'll visit you with delight,
Sing glory, hal-le-lu-jah!"

She penned words to other stanzas as well. I looked in the reprint of White & King's Sacred Harp for the song my great grandmother wrote out to help her memorize the words. I found the tune, "The Good Old Way" (L.M.-long meter) with the refrain, but the words given for the stanzas in the song book were not a match for what my ancestor wrote. There were many versions of the stanzas, as various people were inspired to write verses to fit tunes. I felt a deep kinship with her. The words she wrote fitted a commonly used tune she sang as she worshiped in the little New Liberty Baptist Church in sight of her cabin. She had a desire to participate more readily in the services by knowing the words to a song they enjoyed singing there. She was the mother of ten children. Maybe she gathered them all around and they had a little Souther choir at home as she taught them the words to The Good Old Way tune.

c2006 by Ethelene Dyer Jones; published June 22, 2006 in The Union Sentinel, Blairsville, GA. Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.

Virgil Marion Waldroop, lawyer and merchant

A citizen who was wellrespected in Union County during the last quarter of the 19th and the early part of the 20th century was Virgil Marion Waldroop, lawyer and merchant. His tombstone at the Shady Grove Methodist Church Cemetery shows his birth date as October 28, 1849 and his death date as October 31, 1933. He lived to be 84 years of age.

The surname Waldroop (spelled in various ways-Waldroup, Waldrop, Waldrip) is said to have originated in England and was given to "the keeper of the Royal Wardrobe." The earliest indication of the name was in 1210 in England. There Thomas De La Wardrobe was in charge of the royal dress for the court, but also kept watch over furniture not in use and saw to proper storage of imported confections such as spices and sugar. In Scotland, as well, the keeper of the King's Wardrobe was a royal trade name. The name evolved from Wardrobe to Waldroop and other spellings of the surname.

Virgil Marion Waldroop was a son of Thomas and Mary White Waldroop. At age 16, he joined the North Carolina 69th Infantry, a unit of the Army of Northern Virginia. His father, Thomas, also served in the Civil War.

Virgil learned the trade of tintype photography, and left North Carolina (Macon County) in 1880, following the Cherokee Trail from Asheville to Augusta, Ga., and then to Cleveland, Ga., where he married his first wife, Harriet West. They moved on across the mountain and settled in Union County. To Virgil and Mary were born four children, Arlie Knox, Vasco, Naomi and Nell.

Virgil and Harriet Waldroop made their home in North Choestoe about where "Booger Holler" road leads off from Highway 129. There Virgil established one of several stores, building his reputation as a merchant. Other general stores owned and operated by him were at Coosa near the gold mines, in Gum Log, at Blairsville, the county seat, and at Young Harris (in the Jacksonville community). Harriet died, leaving her husband and four young children.

Virgil Marion Waldroop married, second, Mary Jackson, daughter of Richard LaFayette and Sarah J. Prater Jackson. Mary was born December 22, 1869 and died December 6, 1946. To Virgil and Mary were born five children, Edgar, Ulma, Rouss, Brabson and Jura. Mary was a young bride, being only 13 when she married Virgil Waldroop who was 33 at the time, 20 years her senior.

In addition to his five general stores, Virgil Marion Waldroop found time to study law. He read law under the tutelage of Judge Carl J. Wellborn Sr. and passed the Georgia Bar. Twice he was elected representative from Union County to the Georgia Legislature, first in 1882 and again in 1931. His terms were 50 years apart. Many changes had come in state government between his first and second times at the state capitol.

He was able to get a $60,000 bond issue passed to build a road from Blairsville to Neal Gap. However, the amount was not enough to complete the road the whole distance. Money ran out when road building reached the Waldroop Store at Choestoe. That stretch of road was called "Waldroop's Road." He did live long enough to see the road completed over Neal Gap in 1925. He served for several terms as ordinary of Union County.

One of the famous trials on which Virgil Marion Waldroop served as a lawyer was the murder trial of the Rev. John H. Lance in May 1890. Joined with Lawyer William E. "Buck" Candler, they represented the Lance family against the two Swain brothers, Frank and Newt, indicted for the crime of murdering Rev. Lance on February 17, 1890 and leaving his almost-decapitated body on the bank of Wolf Creek. Frank Swain was found guilty and spent 19 years incarcerated in the Georgia Penitentiary before an appeal gained his release and he went West never to return to Choestoe. Charles E. Hill, author of "Blood Mountain Covenant," (2003, Ivy House Publishers) captures the spirit and compassion of Virgil Waldroop as he traces Jim Lance's determination to gain justice for his father's murderers.

Entrepreneur, lawyer, civil servant, philanthropist, Virgil Marion Waldroop left behind a legacy of good works in Union County and beyond.

c2006 by Ethelene Dyer Jones; published May 25, 2006 in The Sentinel, Blairsville, GA. Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.

Born in Union County, a noted teacher in Fannin County

When I first began researching area history and heard the name Zenobia Addington Chastain, I was fascinated by it. When I learned further that she was a noted teacher in the latter half of the 19th century and a few years into the 20th century, I knew I had to find out more about this outstanding mountain lady and what motivated her noble work.

It is interesting that I would call her work “noble,” for indeed it was. Her nickname was “Nobie,” short for Zenobia. Her parents were March and Amy Elizabeth White Addington. By his first wife, Sarah Moore Addington, 11 children were born into the March Addington family. Two daughters, Emily Elizabeth and Mary Zenobia, were born to March’s second wife. Mary Zenobia’s birthday was May 10, 1848.

Zenobia was not a common name to give a girl in 1848. It can be assumed that her father March was a history buff, naming his baby daughter for Queen Zenobia of Palmyra, an ancient province in present-day Syria. Perhaps March Addington had read about the well-educated queen, who after her husband, King Odenathus died, led his armies in a successful revolt against the Roman occupation army of Palmyra. Later when she was captured by Roman Emperor Aurelius, Queen Zenobia was led captive through the streets of Rome with a gold chain in respect to her position and bravery.

March Addington was a slave owner. When secession came, he was 60 years of age. He enlisted in the Confederate Army, Georgia Cavalry Volunteers, in the Sixth Regiment in 1862. His enlistment was for three years. Life was not easy for March’s wife Amy Elizabeth, who was looking after her two children, Emily and Zenobia, and the younger ones of March’s first wife, Sarah.

The story is told of how March Addington bought his first land in Union County. He was riding his horse one day and found two men digging and searching along Coosa Creek. When they saw him, they fled. March saw that the land had gold, so he sold his beloved horse and bought the land for $40. It has been reported that the gold extracted from the Coosa mines was the yellowest gold of any from several mines in Union County. March Addington (b. 1802) died in 1885, 20 years after he returned from the Civil War. He was buried beside his first wife, Sarah Moore Addington (b. 1804) who had died November 25, 1844. Sarah’s marker bears the oldest date in the Old Blairsville Cemetery located north of the Blairsville Middle School.

Zenobia Addington, like her namesake Queen Zenobia of Palmyra, loved learning. Early on, she showed intellectual acumen, and read as many books as she could get at the place and age where she lived. She had the good fortune to study under one of the outstanding teachers of the area, Professor M. C. Briant. She learned Latin and Greek as well as the classics. In Ward’s History of Gilmer County, Briant was praised as a teacher of distinction and Zenobia Addington was noted as one of his outstanding students. It is assumed that she boarded and attended the Academy where Briant taught at Ellijay, GA.

Zenobia Addington began a school in Fannin County at Morganton in 1868. Called “Zenobia’s Academy,” the school drew students from a wide area. They found places to live with citizens of the town, then the county seat of Fannin County, formed in 1854 from parts of Union and Gilmer counties. Records show that Zenobia employed three or four teachers, besides herself, depending on the enrollment. She was enterprising, applied for a grant from the Peabody Foundation, and received money for the school at Morganton. In the summers, students could attend free, but in regular sessions, the cost was $1.00 per student for tuition, with the parents making arrangements for room and board.

Then romance came along for school administrator, Zenobia Chastain. At the time of their courtship, Oscar Fitzallen Chastain was working in a store in the city of Morganton. They were joined in holy matrimony on December 18, 1872 in Union County by the Rev. Thomas M. Hughes. No doubt he had been attracted to the industrious school teacher who had a good reputation as a fine educator. Oscar Fitzallen Chastain had been old enough to serve in the Confederate Army during the Civil War. His father, Colonel Elijah Webb Chastain, also served with the South. The elder Chastain had been a representative to the state legislature at the capitol in Milledgeville when Georgia seceded from the Union on January, 19, 1861. Mary Zenobia Addington’s and Oscar Fitzallen Chastain’s marriage joined two outstanding families, one of Union and the other of Fannin.

On May 17, 1884, Oscar Fitzallen Chastain was ordained as a minister at Morganton Baptist Church. Teacher and minister were to join forces to extend the educational outreach even beyond Zenobia’s Academy at Morganton. (To be continued)

c2006 by Ethelene Dyer Jones; published Jan. 26, 2006 in The Union Sentinel, Blairsville, GA. Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.

Revolutionary War Patriot John Little Ingram

John Little Ingram, Union County, Georgia early settler, the subject of last week’s column, with his twenty-one children reared to adulthood, was a son of Revolutionary War patriot John Little Ingram of South Carolina.

The records on the father of John Little Ingram born about 1755 in South Carolina are hard to determine. Since John seems a common given name for Ingrams, we note several John Ingrams who immigrated from England to Virginia. The first among these came in November, 1643 and claimed 300 acres in Elizabeth City. Another John Ingram settled in Virginia in 1652, the third in 1656, and the fourth in 1662. A Joseph Ingram immigrated in 1652. Two Richard Ingrams settled in Virginia, one in 1642, another in 1653. Toby Ingram arrived in Virginia in 1653. An indentured servant, who had to work seven years before he received his freedom, was William Ingram transported from Kent, England to Virginia on the ship “Forward Gally” in December, 1731.

On March 1, 1790, President George Washington signed into law the Census Act and ordered a compilation by heads of households of citizens in the thirteen states of the Union. There were 104 families of Ingrams (also spelled Ingraham) enumerated that year in eleven of the thirteen states, with none listed in New Hampshire and Rhode Island. North Carolina had the largest concentration with 32 Ingram (Ingraham) families, South Carolina had thirteen and Virginia had thirteen.

A year after his order to enumerate the colonists in the first US Census, President George Washington made a trip to South Carolina. His diary entry of May 26, 1791 stated that he “lodged at James Ingram’s fourteen miles farther” from Camden, SC. Further entries in President Washington’s diary show that “Mr. Porter and Mr. Ingraham” “dined and spent the night at Mt. Vernon (January 16, 1787). Between that date and July 21, 1788, the said “Ingraham and Porter” again were guests of Washington on these dates in 1788: January 20, February 3, 13, 15, 28 and July 21. They seem to have enjoyed the president’s Mt. Vernon hospitality and, on February 15, a fox hunt with a distinguished guest, the Marquis de Choppedelaine of France. Whether this James Ingram of South Carolina, friend of George Washington, was a brother or other close relative of John Little Ingram, research has not proved.

Later, on March 4, 1795, Washington again spent the night in the home of James Ingram near Camden, SC on the Wateree River. James may have been a son of William Ingram who settled on land at the Wateree River in 1752.

That William Ingram migrated from Wales to Virginia. He asked for and received a land grant in South Carolina. The land is described thus: “Persuant to a precept to me by George Hunter, Esq., bearing date 7 April 1752, I have measured and laid out a tract of land containing 300 acres, being in Craven County, north side of the Wateree River butting and adjoining land laid out to William Harrison and part of vacant land and to the N. E. and S. E. of vacant land, and hath such shape and marks as the above plat. Certified to me this 23 day of April 1752. (Signed William Ingram).

That William Ingram had three known sons named John, James and Arthur. It seems reasonable (though not proven) that John Little Ingram of Union County, SC could have been the John Little Ingram, Revolutionary War soldier, and the James Ingram the friend who had received President George Washington into his home on the Wateree and who was also entertained by the president at Mt. Vernon. However, Watson Benjamin Dyer in his research on the Ingrams stated that “John Ingram was evidently the son of Benjamin Ingram of Lancaster County, SC, because there were boys named Benjamin on down in the family” (p. 390, Dyer Family History). Since we have not seen a definitive record of the parentage of John Little Ingram, born about 1755 in South Carolina, we can only surmise who his father was, but this writer tends to lean toward William Ingram as the father.

Wedding bells rang for Rutha White and John Ingram in 1778. They were married at Fair Forest Baptist Church in Union County, SC, with the Rev. James Crowder, Rutha’s pastor, performing the ceremony. Married only two years after America’s Declaration of Independence in 1776, John Little Ingram, Sr. was caught up, as were his neighbors, in the spirit of patriotism sweeping the colonies. He enlisted as a private in Captain John Putnam’s Company of South Carolina militia, Colonel Brandon’s Regiment. His service number was R-5483.

Years later, when Rutha White Ingram applied for a pension for her husband’s Revolutionary War service, she recorded that he was in the Siege of Charleston, and the Battles of King’s Mountain and Cowpens. The Charleston Siege confrontation with British and Loyalist forces ended in great disappointment. Fought from March 29 through May 12, 1780, Patriot Major General Lincoln surrendered Charleston. It was occupied by British forces until the British evacuated Charleston On December 14, 1782.

Ingram fought at the Battle of King’s Mountain, SC, on October 7, 1780. Frontier militia from South Carolina, North Carolina, Virginia and Georgia converged and surrounded Patrick Ferguson’s forces, defeating them. King’s Mountain was a turning point in the Revolution, a decisive victory for the American Patriots.

Three months later, on January 17, 1781, John Ingram was with the militia forces under the notable Patriot Brigadier General Daniel Morgan as they attacked General Banastre Tarleton’s forces of British Regulars at the Battle of Cowpens in South Carolina. Historians have recognized that battle as one of the most important of the American Revolution. It was customary for militia members to sign on for three month terms and fight in battles near their homes. Those frontier soldiers bravely defended America, turning the tide of war and leading to the surrender of British General Cornwallis on October 19, 1781 at Yorktown, Virginia.

After the war, John and Rutha Ingram moved from their home at Padgett’s Creek, Union County, SC, to a land grant received for his Revolutionary War service in what was then Franklin County, Georgia. The area where they settled became Hall County in 1819, in the vicinity of what is now Lula, Georgia. There the patriot John Ingram died September 16, 1828. Even though his widow, Rutha White Ingram, made petitions for pension, she did not receive any payment for her husband’s Revolutionary War service. Rutha White Ingram died at the home of her son, Tillman Ingram, in Cherokee County, Georgia near Ball Ground (date unknown), but she was alive at age 89 in 1847, still applying for a widow’s pension. The pension quest did not rest with Rutha’s death. John Little Ingram, son and executor, of Union County, Georgia, made petition for himself and Tillman Ingram and Elizabeth Riley Ingram, three living children of the patriot, on October 26, 1852. Like their mother Rutha’s petition, this one was also denied.

Many descendants of John Ingram have established a direct line to this patriot and received admission into the Sons and Daughters of the American Revolution. Even though Rutha White Ingram did not receive monetary remuneration in the years of her widowhood, subsequent intrinsic benefits to their heirs in past, present and future generations are testimony to the significant contributions this couple made to America’s freedom.

c2005 by Ethelene Dyer Jones; published June 9, 2005 in The Union Sentinel, Blairsville, GA. Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.