SILVER THREADS

 

Written and Published Online by Rex Redmon, Greenville, SC.

w/contributing articles by cousin John Silver

 

 

Hello Silver Cousins and Extended Family!

 

Spring is bursting out everywhere here in the foothills of the Blue Ridge Mountains in Upstate South Carolina. The Pear trees are blossoming like a winter snowfall, Yellow Forsythia blossoms are popping forth on the bushes and they add a ray of bright yellow sunshine to the landscape. Colorful Tulips and Jonquils look like bright Easter eggs sitting atop green stems and fill every front yard along the roadways. And the sunshine— why it just warms the soul. It seems only yesterday I was asking our Silver Threads readers to tell me what the weather forecasters were predicting in your area for the winter

 

Today is Sunday, (March 14, 2004) and I am what is known as a short-timer. I only have five days and a wake-up left before I get married Saturday, March 20, at 2:00 PM. Short-timer was a term we used in the military to distinguish between those of us who had less than one-hundred days left in the military and those who had more than one-hundred days left on their tour of duty. Am I nervous? Yes! Am I anxious? Yes! Am I excited? Yes! Am I happy? Yes! But Ooooooooh Lord! There has been so much to do to make this little event happen despite the fact we are only having a small wedding at Margaret’s house in Spartanburg with close family members attending. Margaret’s house has sold and after our honeymoon to Orlando and Disney World we will temporarily live into my condo until our new house is built. We hope to sell the condo soon as well. Of course by the time you read the newsletter on April 1, all of the wedding and honeymoon festivities will be over and the two of us will be settling down to marital bliss. Yet I do have schedules and deadlines to meet this month so I’m getting a jumpstart on the newsletter so I can get it posted to cousin Barney by the 20^th.

 

I was looking through some Silver Family history files last week and ran across an interesting page of information on George Silver Jr. While he was still living in Maryland he was registered to vote as a Democratic-Republican in 1796. I have a typed copy of the Official Poll of Presidential Election, 1796 and on Page 293 he is listed as George Silver (D-R). I thought this information interesting, noteworthy and suitable for printing. So just what was a Democrat-Republican? If someone were registered as such today it would sound like someone is splitting hairs or perhaps would be a modern day moderate? Now, another question comes to mind. As there were Democrat-Republicans, what then was the opposition party called? They were the Federalists. The Federalists were Jeffersonians and the Democratic-Republicans were Hamiltonians. Very briefly, the Jeffersonians were definitely opposed to a National Bank of America and the whiskey tax that the Hamiltonians favored. Also Thomas Jefferson felt these measures favored the elite Northeastern commercial class at the expense of the Southern and Western farmers. Jefferson also felt Alexander Hamilton wanted to turn America into a monarchy. Thus, in a nutshell, the party system was born in the presidential election of 1796 and the mudslinging began in earnest.

 

I want to thank everyone for the many e-mails I received after posting Silver Threads for March 2004. I will attempt to respond to each and every e-mail if space allows. Speaking of space, please let me explain why John and I restrict the newsletter to a maximum of ten pages. Simply, because we snail mail about fifty copies of the newsletter, “free of charge”, to many of our cousins who do not yet have PCs and we can mail a maximum of five-to-six sheets of paper for one stamp.

 

Cousin Perry Dean Young wrote to tell us he has four speaking engagements scheduled for the month of April. He expresses a desire, to see any and all Y’all if you get a chance to attend. He tells us he will have copies of his newest book, Our Young Family, as well as copies of The Untold Story Of Frankie Silver for sale and signing at all of the following appearance sights.

April 4, he is speaking at the Rush Wray Museum of Yancey County History in Burnsville from 2-5 p.m. Archie Blevins of the Overmountain Press, who published Our Young Family, will be on hand to answer questions. Also Bill Gregg, director of the Southern Appalachian Repertory Theater, will be there to talk about the two plays he and Perry have written together.

April 7, Perry will be talking with Rhonda Gibson’s class on Minorities in Journalism at UNC-Chapel Hill.

April 13, Perry is speaking to the Peer Learning Group in Chapel Hill on the subject of “Ruts: Learning from the Skeletons in the Family Closet.”

April 24, Perry will attend the general meeting of the Old Buncombe County Genealogical Society from 2 p.m. The OBCGS is located in the Innsbruck Mall, 85 Tunnel Road, Asheville, NC.

You many contact Perry at www.perrydeanyoung.com or pyoung3@bellsouth.net.

Cousin Mary Silver Taylor wrote to tell us she recently discovered our online Silver Family newsletter, Silver Threads, and is now an avid reader. She tells me she has downloaded all past issues and has read them very thoroughly, particularly paying attention to cousin John’s family history section. She tells us she descends from Samuel Marion Silver, who was her great, great, grandfather and a son of Rev. Jacob Silver and Nancy Reed. Her primary objective for writing to us is two fold. She wishes to inform us she is willing to share genealogy information with any and all family members and to tell us also not all of Samuel Marion Silver’s family traveled west to Grouse Flats with him. Her great grandfather, Athen Lafayette Silver, remained in NC and married Rutha Clementine “Tinsie” Quinn of Old Fort, North Carolina. Cousin Mary, a thousand welcomes. You may reach Mary at silvertapper@yahoo.com.

 

Concerning home remedies for cures of all ills, a topic which I solicited information from our readers in March has brought overwhelming results. As a matter of fact, I received so many cures for what ails us I could now hang out a shingle and become a practitioner of folk medicine. Cousin Joy Cole-Lossee from Georgia, and several other cousins scattered across the country, sent the following remedies to me even though some of the remedies are not so folksie.

 

Headache Pain? Drink two glasses of Gatorade; Colgate toothpaste is an excellent salve for burns; For a stuffy nose — chew on a couple of Altoid peppermints; Achy muscles from a bout with the flu — Mix one tablespoon of horseradish in a cup of olive oil, let it steep for thirty minutes and use it as a massage; Urinary tract infections — two Alka-Seltzer tablets dissolved in a glass of water; You will love this one! Puffiness under your eyes — dab on a little Preparation H. Makes sense to me! For skin blemishes — Cover the blemish with honey, apply a sterile gauze and let sit over night. Knocks the infection right out. Got toenail rot? Soak your toes in Listerine mouthwash; Coca Cola removes rust and as well…acid from your car battery posts. (Imagine what it is doing to your stomach!) Got a tough splinter you can’t get out. Apply Elmer’s glue to the area, let it dry, peel the glue and the splinter out. Hunt’s tomato paste will cure boils after applying it as a poultice. A shampoo of Dawn dish washing detergent kills fleas on your pet. Arthritic pain in your hands? Apply a paste of warm Quaker Oates for fast relief.

 

And finally, I learned that vinegar is the cure for all ills, plus everything else for which one needs a quick fix. Example: Sore Throat— Mix ¼ cup vinegar and ¼ cup of honey and take 1 tablespoon full six times a day. The vinegar kills the bacteria. Also the same formula can lower cholesterol according to cousin Roger Ruppe of Spindale, North Carolina. Thanks to all of you who sent your remedies to me. I never knew vinegar had so many uses.

 

Famous ancestors and cousins brought some response from you as well. Carolyn Silver Sutton of Georgia claims kin from the Mayflower through the Warrens and Aldon’s. She also claims kin to the persecutor of Scots, “Long Shanks“ who dismembered the body of William Wallace.  Carolyn tells me her husband has a famous outlaw, “Texas Jack” who is connected to his family. In addition, Sam Houston and Mary Todd Lincoln is connected to his family and finally Carolyn claims kin to Dolly Parton through her grandfather’s line.

 

Carolyn, I might add a little story about Mary Todd Lincoln. According to oral mountain tradition, Abraham Lincoln was not a Lincoln at all but was in fact an Enloe. When Mary was a young girl she became apprenticed to an Enloe man (Abraham Enloe, BVK) who had a homestead near where Bryson City, North Carolina is located today. After growing into a teenager, Mary Todd became pregnant by her master, Mr. Enloe. When Mrs. Enloe discovered the “goings on“, she insisted her husband “get shed” of the young woman. Mr. Enloe wrote to a bachelor family friend who lived in Kentucky and asked for the man’s help. The man just happened to be a Lincoln. Now you know the rest of the story. I went to high school with a descendant of Mr. Enloe and he bears a strikingly resemblance to Abraham.

Barbara Gregory writes to tell us it is
The Spring Parker-Robinson Family Reunion time again.
Mark your calendars now for Saturday, April 24^th.
This annual event is held in the
Coon Hunter’s Building in Franklin, North Carolina. Barbara
asks everyone to please bring a meat, a vegetable
and dessert plus a drink. The building will open at 9:30 a.m.

For more information, please phone Barbara at
(803) 327-3015 or e-mail her at kgregory@cetlink.net.

 This is also a reminder to the rest of you folks who
have family reunions scheduled for the coming summer.
Send your reunion schedule and plans to cousin Barney Kaufman,
our keeper of the Website, so he can post them for you.
You can contact Barney at BarneyK@erols.com.

And, while I ‘m on the subject of reunions, recent conversations between Laura Cooper and myself have resulted in plans for the KONA reunion planning group to meet one Saturday in early May to get things underway for the Big Silver Family Reunion the fourth weekend in July. However, mark your calendars now for Friday and Saturday the 24^th and 25^th of July. As usual, we will certainly have a wonderful weekend planned for you.

 

Silver Family “T” shirts are now available!  Cousin Jerri Howell, one of our reunion planners, has taken on the responsibility of having Silver Family “T” shirts made to sell as a fundraiser. We have very nice white shirts with the Silver Family name printed on the front above a rendering of the little church at KONA and the name, KONA, NC printed below the church. A large selection of sizes are available and the shirts will sell for $10.00 at the reunion or you can order your shirt now from Laura Cooper at mailto:dacooper@usit.net for $15.00 which includes postage and handling. Lets get ‘em while they are hot.

 

Civil War Letters to Home

This month’s two Civil War letters from our ancestral cousins serving in the Confederate Army in Eastern Tennessee to their kin back home in the mountains of western North Carolina are letters #620904 and #620921. The first letter is another letter from Bartley Wilson to his brother-in-law Garrett D. Gouge and Bartley’s sister, Rosanah Gouge. Bartley is still on duty in the defense of the Cumberland Gap where the Confederate Army fears the Union Army might mount an attack on Eastern Tennessee. This particular letter is almost repetitious of the letter Bartley wrote to his sister and brother-in-law on July 14, 1862. Bartley certainly misses his family and does not hide his emotions in telling them so.

 

September the 4, 1862

Headquarters, Cumberland Gap

 

Mr. Garrett D. Gouge:

I will inform you that I feel better than I have with the exception of my head. It hurts me very bad this morning. I hope that it will get better before long.

I hope these few lines will come safe to your hand and find you all well.

I haven’t heard from Rosanna nor from home since Levi (Silver) left home.

Levi told me that little Thomas was not well. You don’t know how bad I want to see them two sweet children and all of you. Rosanna, I can’t help shedding tears when I get to writing and think of them sweet children.

Garrett, I want you to write to me.

I have time to write this morning for two of the boys are going to start to Knoxville to take some prisoners. There are 80 prisoners that are going to Knoxville and two of our boys are going.

Garrett, I want you to stay home as long as you can. But if you have to go, I want you to come and stay with us.

Rosanna, I want you to go and stay with them two sweet (children) as often as you can.

I want you to write for I haven’t never got nary letter from you since I left home. I will close by requesting you to write. So farewell till I hear from you.

B.R. Wilson to G.D. and Rosanna Gouge.

(Editor’s note: Bartley Wilson was Rosanna Gouge’s brother.)

 

Our second letter this month hits a little closer to home because it is written by a Silver man to his father. The letter is unsigned. However, because of the people identified in the letter it is believed by the editors of the letter, John Silver Harris and Sarah Gouge McKee, the letter was written by Tilman B. Silver to his father Alfred Silver. Alfred Silver is a son of Reverend Jacob Silver and Nancy Reed. Alfred first lived in Mitchell County and was married to Elizabeth Gouge. He remarried Sarah Ann Chandler in May of 1861 and moved to McDowell County in Old Fort, North Carolina after Elizabeth died in July of 1860. This particular letter is by far one of the most descriptive letters that gives an account of the events occurring in the Civil War in Eastern Tennessee. The letter is written from Clairborne County on the Tennessee border where Kentucky and Virginia meet.

 

September the 21, 1862

State of Tennessee

Clairborne County

 

Dear Father:

I seat myself to drop you a few lines to let you know that I haint very well at this time. I have got the yellow ganders (jaundice) very bad. I hope these few lines will find you and family well.

Father, the regiment has left me about 18 miles and I haven’t much news to write to you. They have gone to the Cumberland Gap.

I suppose the regiment that Levi and John (Silver) are in has gone to Kentucky. When our regiment met Levi coming to Bean Station to the hospital and when he met them he turned back with them. I suppose that John was well.

The Yankees have left the Gap and the regiment is there. Before the Yankees left there was some of them come to our men and said that they were starving. Our men took 350 prisoners at the ford of the Cumberland River.

When our regiment got to the Gap, they (the Yankees) had buried meat, flour, salt, rice, and guns and had heaped the dirt upon them like graves. The prisoners told our men what it was. They went to digging and they got a lot. They had put rocks at the head and foot of the dirt so that our men would think it was graves and would not dig.

Father , I would like to see you and all the balance. I want to see little Jesse. Poor fellow, I am sorry for him. Alexander, you must be good to him.

I must bring my letter to a close father. If I never see you nor any of my brothers an sisters who are at home, I hope that I meet you all in heaven where parting will be no more. I remain your friend until death.

Direct your (letters) to Tazewell, Clairborne, Tennessee, by Burnsville, Asheville, and Greenville (Tennessee) to Tazewell in care of Doctor Lewis.

 

(Editor’s John Silver Harris and Sarah Gouge McKee note: This letter is unsigned. But it is probably from Tilman B. Silver to his father Alfred Silver. Tilman had sons named Jesse and Alexander.)

 

(Note by Editor of Silver Threads: I will agree the letter in question is probably from a son of Alfred Silver, most likely Tilman Blalock Silver or his older brother, Lewis Perry Silver, because the names Levi, John, Alexander and Jesse are mentioned in the letter. However, upon closer examination of the Alfred Silver Family records versus those of Tilman Blalock Silver, I find Alfred Silver had among his sons, a Lewis Perry, Levi Dewise (Deweese), Tilman Blalock, John, Alexander and Jesse. Lewis Perry served in the Civil War and died as a POW in Camp Chase at Columbus County, Ohio in November of 1864. Tilman survived the war as did Levi and John. The Alexander and Jesse to whom the letter writer refers are Alexander, the oldest of the four brothers remaining at home and Jesse, the younger brother at three years of age. Tilman Blalock does not have children, Alexander and Jesse according to our Silver Family Surname website.)

 

Cousins, it is time for me to wrap things up. Continue reading for cousin John’s history page and this month’s obituaries. Let me continue to push the Silver Family Website. There are many exciting things to see once you open and visit the web page. There are over 33,000 related family names on the surname index and cousin Barney or John will gladly register you for your free tour of the site. Also check out the family reunions in your area and make plans to attend one this year. Until May, take care everyone and may the sun shine warmly upon your shoulders this spring.

 

Cousin Rex Redmon

 

 

John’s History Corner

 

 

William Griffith Silver m. (1) Mary Myra Ferguson (2) Lucinda Roland

 

This month we read about William Griffith Silver, the eighth child of George and Nancy. William was born in Maryland on June 14, 1800. He was christened on October 26, 1800 in St. Peter’s Parrish, Montgomery County, Maryland.

 

William would have been about six years old when the family moved to western North Carolina. What a time for a child of six years to grow up in the wild country of the Carolinas! He, of course, would be expected to do his share of the work on the homestead but after the labors of the day he probably fished in the Estatoe River and went with the hunters in the surrounding forest. As he grew older, he would be taught to shoot a rifle and would be allowed to hunt for game to supplement the family table.

 

About 1820, William married Mary Myra Ferguson. (At this point we have very little information on Myra other than the fact that she was about two years older than William. JS) They were to be blessed with nine children. (1) Joseph Silver, born about 1824, married Mary DePriest. (2) Matilda E. Silver, born June 12, 1824, married (1) Ephriam Piercy and (2) William B. Banks. (3) Nancy M. Silver, born December 17, 1828, married Edward E. “Ned” Wilson, her first cousin. (4) Mary Myra “Polly” Silver, born December 6, 1830, married Thomas Jackson Silver, her first cousin. (5) Jane L. Silver, born about 1836. We have no information on Jane at this date. (6) Martha Caledonia Silver, born about 1836, married George W. Allen. (7) Lucinda Silver, born about 1840, married Connard E. Phipps. (8) Sarah Pauline “Collie” Silver, born about January, 1842, married (1) Canan Drate Young (killed in the Civil War) and (2) Andrew Jackson “Jack” Allen. (9) William Riley Silver, born May 5, 1844, married Nancy Miranda Amanda Livingston.

 

The Yancey County census for 1860, shows that William, age 52 and Mary, age 54 are living in their home with daughters Matilda E., age 31 and Martha Caledonia, age 21. Also living with them is a son, William Riley age 15. Apparently, Matilda was staying with her parents until she married her first husband in 1868. She would have been 39 years old when she wed Ephriam Piercy.

 

The 1880 Yancey County census shows William G. as being age 78 and head of the household. His second wife, Lucinda Roland, widow of George Peek, as being age 55 and as a housewife. They were living alone. William and Lucinda had no children.

 

We have no firm dated for the deaths of William Griffith, Mary Myra or Lucinda. Mary would have passed away before 1872, in that William and Lucinda were married on November 8, 1872. William would have died sometime after 1880. Lucinda would have died some time after 1800 also.

 

William died in, and we presume that he is buried in, Transylvania County, North Carolina.

 

There is no information on Mary or Lucinda at this date. (March, 2004)

 

 

OBITUARIES:

 

Agnes marie mCclellan
Rutherfordton, Rutherford County, NC

 

 

Sunday, February 29, 2004

 

Agnes Marie McClellan Thomas, 84, died Saturday, February 28, 2004 at White Oak Manor Nursing Home. She was a homemaker and a native of Mitchell County, NC.

 

She was a daughter of the late Will and Elisa Woody McClellan.

 

She was preceded in death by her husband, Fonzer Thomas who passed away January 9, 1994. Surviving her are three sons, Bill and Allen Thomas of Rutherfordton and Dale Thomas of Forest City, NC; two daughters, Betty Thomas Henson of Ellenboro and Rosanna Thomas McSwain of Rutherfordton; a brother, Arnold McClellan of Starke, Florida; 11 grandchildren; and 11 great-grandchildren.

 

Funeral services were held at 11 a.m. Tuesday at Gouges Creek Baptist Church in Spruce Pine, Mitchell County, NC. The Reverends Tommy Thomas and Tommy Cook officiated.

 

Burial was in the Church cemetery.

 

The family received friends 6 to 8 p.m. Monday at McMahan’s Funeral Home in Rutherfordton.

 

Obituary sent by Laura Cowan Cooper.

 

George Silver Sr. > George Silver Jr. > Rev. Jacob Silver > Charles Silver > Nancy Silver m. David William Parker > Margaret Alice Parker m. John Henry M. Thomas > Wilburn Thomas > Fonzer Thomas m. Agnes Marie McClellan.

 

 

BRUCE LYNN BROWN
Asheville, Buncombe County, NC

 

 

10 March, 2004

 

Bruce Lynn Brown, 36, of 85 Lakeshore Drive, Weaverville, died Tuesday, March 9, 2004.

 

Bruce was born September 12, 1967, in Buncombe County where he lived all of his life. He loved car racing, fishing and people. He was a graduate of North Buncombe High School, Class of 1987 and a member of Peeks Chapel Baptist Church. Bruce was the son of Edith Mary Brown and the late Billy Joe Brown of Weaverville.

 

Surviving, in addition to his mother, is his brother, Timothy Joe Brown and his wife Wilma of Weaverville; aunts and uncles, Jim and Sharon Proffitt, Vance and Treva Murray, Joe and Rita Murray, Don and Myrtle Murray, Grady and Ernestine Rice, Bernard and Shirley Murray, Doug and Lisa Murray, Harold and Carol Coates, Glenna Jean Robinson, Peter Todd, Carl Ed Murray and his beloved dog, “Weaver.”

 

The funeral service will be held at 2:30 p.m. Thursday in the chapel of West Funeral Home, 17 Merrimon Ave., Weaverville, with the Reverends Conley Hyer, Jerry Wheeler and Keith Watkins officiating. Burial will be in Clarks Chapel Cemetery. Serving as pallbearers will be David Waldroup, Rodney Coates, Lewis and Mike Sprinkle, Jason and Randy Murray and Robert and Scott Conner.

 

The family will receive friends from 6 to 8 p.m. Wednesday at the funeral home. At other times the family will be at home.

 

Flowers are accepted and appreciated.

 

George Silver Sr. > George Silver Jr. > Rev. Jacob Silver > Alfred Leonard Silver > Tilman Blalock Silver > George Delbert Silver > Donnie Mae Silver m. William Walter Brown > Billy Joe Brown > Bruce Lynn Brown.

 

 

A note from your web-master:

 

We have updated our online database of Southern Silver families.  The latest tally from John’s research is now 40,510 individuals from 14,678 families.  Go check them out at SILVER CENTRAL.

 

Cheers!

Barney