THROUGH
MOUNTAIN MISTS
Early Settlers of
Their
Descendants...Their Stories...Their Achievements
Lifting the
Mists of History on Their Way of Life
By: Ethelene Dyer Jones
Tracing the Souther Generations--Some Who Stayed Behind in NC
I have written much in these pages about five
siblings who came to Georgia in the 1830s and settled in Union County,
Georgia,
at least for awhile until two of them (Joseph and Kizziah) moved on
elsewhere. These were sons and a
daughter of Jesse Souther (1784-1858) and Jane Combs Souther (1782-d.
before
1858), namely Joseph Souther (wife Sarah Davis), John Jesse Souther
(wife Mary
Combs), KizziahSouther (husband John Humphries), Jesse Souther (wife
Malinda
Nix), and Hix Souther (wife Malinda Burgess).
If you desire to review information on any of these five
siblings,
please refer to their stories in past articles in this “Through
Mountain Mists”
series. We now begin with a series on
those in this Souther family who remained behind in North Carolina or
who moved
elsewhere other than Union County, Georgia.
It is this writer’s hope that you will find this further
information
about the Jesse Souther family of interest.
Jesse
Souther was born on June 6, 1784, only eight years after America
declared its
independence from England. He was a son
of Stephen Souther (1742-ca 1780) and Mary BusseySouther (ca.
1745-after
1790). Family legend holds strongly to
the story that Stephen Souther enlisted with the soldiers from Wilkes
County,
North Carolina who were launching an attack against the British and
Tories at
the famous Battle of King’s Mountain.
However, either due to a wound or from some other calamity,
Stephen
Souther developed a severe nosebleed (he was believed to be a
hemophiliac) on
the way to or in the battle and bled to death. Descendants
of Stephen Souther (of whom I am one) have done much research to try to
certify
his Revolutionary War service, but we have not been able to go beyond
the story
passed down in our family concerning his joining the Wilkes County
soldiers. No trace of his service has
been clearly documented. However, Mary
BusseySouther was living on a 200-acre land grant which seems to have
been
given to Stephen Souther and recorded first in 1778, and again in 1782
(after
Stephen’s death). Could this have been a
grant for his Revolutionary War service?
The description of the land in each entry (# 234, July 4, 1778
and #
482, October 23, 1782, Wilkes County records) were the same, reading: “Grant Stephen Souther 200 acres both sides
Hunting Creek above William Carnes improvement…between Souther and
Osborne
Keeling.” With no proof of ancestor Stephen Souther’s enlistment in the
Revolutionary Army, we who would like to claim him as a patriot have
not been
able to prove his service registration.
Mary
BusseySouther seemed to be a good wife and mother.
Stories come to us of her having driven an ox
cart herself, after her husband Stephen’s death, “to the west”
(probably to
settlements in Kentucky or Tennessee on the frontier) to visit her
relatives,
and the report was that “she was gone a long time.”
She and Stephen had these known
children: Michael (1760) who married
Elinor (maiden name unknown) who lived in Buncombe County, NC;
Elizabeth (1765)
who married Alexander Gilreath; Jesse Souther (1774) who married Jane
Combs
[her name is also given as Joan in some records] and reared their
family in
Wilkes County, NC near Old Fort, with five of them migrating to Union
County,
Georgia and the others remaining in NC; Joshua Souther (1777 ?) who
married
Libby Profitt; he served in the War of 1812;
Joel Souther (17?) married Patsy Brown; and Sarah Souther (17?)
married
Elijah Hampton. In the 1782 tax list of
Wilkes County, Mary (Bussey) Souther was listed as head-of-household. In the 1790 census, she was again listed as
head-of-household with two males under sixteen, two males over 16, and
3
females. It is not known if some of
these were Mary’s married children and grandchildren.
Stephen Souther may have died intestate,
since no will is listed signed by him in Wilkes Court records.
Stephen’s
son, Jesse Souther, is the ancestor whom we want to trace.
Since we know that his children Joseph, John,
Kizziah, Jesse, and Hix migrated to Union County, Georgia, and since
these
“Mountain Mists” articles have traced those stories, we will
concentrate on
those who remained behind in North Carolina.
Jesse Souther’s will probated in 1858 gives insights into how he
distributed his property.
Our next entry
will examine his will and some of
his children who remained in North Carolina.
[Resource:
Dyer, Watson Benjamin. Souther
Family History, Self-published, 1988. Pp. 45-60]
c2012 by Ethelene Dyer Jones; published online by permission of author at GaGenWebProject and at the Union County Historical Society blogspot addresses:http://tmmearlysettlersofunioncountyga.blogspot.com and http://www.unioncountyhistory.org/page3/page26/page26.html
[Ethelene Dyer
Jones is a retired educator,
freelance writer, poet, and historian. She may be reached at
e-mail edj0513@windstream.net;
phone 478-453-8751; or mail 1708 Cedarwood Road, Milledgeville, GA
31061-2411.]
Back To Union County, GAGenWeb
Site