SILVER THREADS

 

Written and Published Online by John Silver

w/contributing articles by various Silver cousins

 

 

A big hello to our cousins, other relatives and friends,

Since the Silver family reunion is to take place on the 23 and 24 of July, we are using an early date to spread the word.  All seems to be going well and the only thing lacking is YOU!  So, please give up those two days’ fishing and come on over. We’ll be looking for you!! The weather promises to be good, so what else could you possibly want.

 

 

SILVER FAMILY REUNION AT KONA, NC.

ANNOUNCES THE 2005 REUNION PLANS

 

 

 

For Additional Information:

Laura Cowan Cooper

1010 Hilltop Lane

Kodak, TN

(865) 932-7625 Home

(865) 659-0509 Cell

mailto:lauracowancooper@comcast.net

 

 

We have an excellent report from Arlie and Billy Joe Lewis.  Billy is a great-grandson of Samuel Marion Silver (Lt. Col. CSA).  Arlie and Bill live in Vancouver, Washington.  They travel a lot and always have news from all over.

Hi John, Got our notice of the family reunion which reminded me we haven’t been real good about keeping in touch.  We miss it and hope to be much better about corresponding. Lots going on here!  We were in Hawaii January 21 to February 28 and loved it every minute. 

Got to be with Sally (Billie’s sister) a lot and always enjoy that.  She is the Trauma Patient Coordinator at Queen’s Hospital in downtown Honolulu and since that is the main trauma center for all the islands, she is very busy.  Her son Van is VP in charge of computers for Bank of Hawaii and her daughter Nova is a Probation Officer.  So, they’re all busy working but we’d all meet at Sallie’s Sunday nights for BBQ and sometimes during the week at the Aloha Tower for dinner after work.

Our son-in-law is a computer engineer and in April was offered a tremendous job in Bothell – a suburb NE of Seattle.  He took it and planned their move. Our daughter, Tammy, had open-heart surgery when she was four.  One of the corrections was a valve and as she grew, it didn’t fit right.  She was exhausted and short of breath and her cardiologist said that the valve had to be replaced. May 3 she had the surgery in Portland and has done beautifully recovering.  Steve was already in Bothell but came back for the week of surgery.  When she got out of the hospital we went down to Hillsboro, a suburb SW of Portland, to her house to take care of her during the week.  Steve came home for the weekends.

Their house sold in one day for $10,000 more than they had asked for it.  Steve found a house in Seattle that Tammy only saw on the internet and his picture phone.  They ended up spending $20,000 more for 1,000 less square feet.  After three weeks, Tammy felt good enough to be on her own during the week.  We did go to Seattle and help set up their bedroom and kitchen.  Now we are trying to catch up here we were gone so much.

One really spooky about their house in Bothell.  She told me they were buying from a Michael Huetson.  That was my Mom’s maiden name and most of the Huetsons stayed in South Dakota except my grandfather’s brother Walt who moved to Spokane. I called my aunt (she’s 87 and still running the world, bless her heart) and she contacted her cousin and sure enough Walter was his great-grandfather.  Turns out that Tammy and Michael have the same great-grandfather, Fredrick George Huetson, born in London and came over as a small child, was in the Civil War, etc. 

My great-aunt had my great-grandfather’s secretary desk and when she died my Mom got it.  When my Mom died, I got it.  We live in a small house, so a couple of years ago we gave it to Tammy.  Frederick Huetson’s secretary is now in a house in Snohomish, Washington, that has been occupied by two of his great-great-grandchildren!!

Have a great time at the reunion.  Our very best to you and Connie. Arley and Bill.

 

 

And a letter from Margaret Heinek: 

John:  Thank you very much for inviting me to the Silver Family Reunion but I cannot attend, much to my dismay.

But I have a request…. I have a “brick wall” I would like to have a solution on.  Will there be anyone at the meeting that has the answer to my questions?  I’m trying to find the name of William Wilson’s father to James and Philip, wife.  I was told that she was Nancey Haney of Rutherford Co. NC.  There was a marriage of a William James Wilson to Nance Haney in 1803, but I do not know if this was James’ and Philip’s mother.

James was born 1808 and Philip was born in 1811 in Burke County.  Also, I was told that William resided with Philip when he died, about 1860, “and the Wilson boys carried their father to the grave of his wife, and was buried in the same grave as Nancy.” The stone does read “Haney and Wilson.” Several people have told me about Nancy, but I would like some proof.  I know there will be many knowledgeable people there and maybe some one will have a clue.

Thank you, Margaret Hainek

 

 

And another note from Karyl Hubbard:

Hi John,

Just got word from Marion, Kansas, that Elfie Sidener Switzer, daughter of Emma Silver and Charles Sidener, died yesterday at age 104.  She had been going downhill ever since her sister Annie died on Memorial Day.  I’ll send you a formal obit if Dale and Toots get one to me.  Down to one of eleven—and she’s nearly 90.

I’m in Fairfax, VA, about to head to exotic locales like Newport, Reading, Mashpie, Boston, Kinderhook and Elmira.  And wishing someone would turn off the humidity!

Got through all three grandkids graduations.  Now it’s time to play —

Later,
Karyl (Hubbard)

 

[WM: The obit from the Marion County Record can be found later in this newsletter]

 

 

I’ve been talking with Archer Blevins of Overmountain Press and he asked me to mention that he has several copies of “Our Young Family” by Perry Dean Young on the shelf.  If you are a descendant of the Young family, this is a book you must have. For family researchers, it is a wonderful tool to use. Perry spent 10 years  putting this book together and he has done a fantastic job.

You may order this book from Overmountain via the internet at ArcherB@Overmountain.com or at 800-992-2691.

 

 

OBITUARIES:

 

Calvin coolidge kent

 

Citizen Times of Asheville, NC
June 27, 2005

Calvin Coolidge Kent, 81, of 115 Old Weaverville Road, died Sunday, June 26, 2005.

Mr. Kent was born April 5, 1924, in Buncombe County where he had lived all his life.  He was a veteran of the U.S. Marine Corps.  Mr. Kent was a member and a co-founder of Morningview Baptist Church and co-founder of Fellowship Baptist Church.  He retired from Cheney-Bigelow.  Mr. Kent was the son of Evie Edmonds and the late Cecil Alonzo Kent.  An infant brother, Cecil Jr. and sister, Betty Holcombe, also preceded him in death.

Surviving are his wife of 62 years, Evelyn Silver Kent; daughters, Lorraine Kent and her husband, Lane Baker, Gail Kent and her husband, Glen Revis and Debra Kent and her husband, Roger Aly, all of Weaverville; sons, Reverend Jerry C. Kent and his wife, Geneva, and David C. Kent and his wife, Wendy, all of Weaverville; sisters, Estella West of Asheville, Naomi Hensley of Manning, SC and Minnie Woody of Leicester; 11 grandchildren and 11 great-grandchildren.

The funeral service will be held at 11 a.m. Wednesday in the Chapel of West Funeral Home, 17 Merrimon Ave., Weaverville, with the Reverends J.C. Wilson and Jerry Kent officiating.  Burial will be in West Memorial Park.

The family will receive friends from 6 to 7:30 p.m. Tuesday at the funeral home.  At other times the family will be in the residence.

Flowers welcomed and appreciated.

(George Silver Sr. > George Silver Jr. > Rev. Jacob Silver > Alfred Leonard Silver > Tilman Blalock Silver > George Delbert Silver > Foy Hopson Silver > Evelyn Silver m. Calvin Coolidge Kent.)

 

 

Elfie mabel switzer

 

Marion County Record
Marion, KS
July 6, 2005

Elfie Mabel Switzer, 102, died June 23, 2005, at Marion Manor.

Born Dec. 20, 1902, near Wonsevu, she was the daughter of Charles and Emma (Silver) Sidener.

She attended Wonsevu Grade School and two years at Burns High School before entering the work force.

Her first job was caretaker of a small child of a Eureka car dealer. Upon moving to Wichita, she served as a hostess at the former Eaton Hotel. She also was a live-in nanny for the well-known Koch family and worked at a drugstore where she met Howard Switzer.

They were married in July 1951. He was an oil well driller and the couple moved often, living in Montana, Wyoming, Arkansas, and western Kansas before settling in Wellington, where they lived until he retired.

The couple owned a trailer at Marion County Lake and spent most summers there, visiting relatives and being near Elfie's mother, who lived in Burns.

In 1975, Elfie and Howard moved to Marion. He died in 1981, and she continued living in Marion.

In 1987, she and her sister, Annie Hanschu moved to September Apartments until last year, when she moved to Marion Manor.

Survivors include a sister, Dorothy and Woody Wilson of Potwin; nephew, Dale and Tootsie Snelling of Marion; and many other nephews, nieces, and longtime friends.

Private graveside services were held.

A memorial fund has been established with Emmanuel Baptist Church, Marion.

(George Silver Sr. > George Silver Jr. > George Silver III > Rev. Edward Silver > Isaac Silver > Emma Jane Silver m. Charles M. Sidener > Elfie Mabel Switzer

 

The 58^th North Carolina Infantry Regiment, Company “K”,
and Civil War Letters to Folks Back Home

by Rex H. Redmon

 

Thanks John and Barney for covering for me during the months of June and July. It is good to be up and running again after many glitches with my PC. Those glitches included a defect in the new memory I installed in May, which resulted in damage to my hard drive, or so I was told by the technician who worked on the PC for me. All of this PC damage occurred both before and after Margaret and I left for and arrived home from Scotland and Ireland in early June.

As one who is involved in Scottish Cultural events, I was not disappointed with our tour of Scotland. The Highlands were beautiful beyond my imagination. Ireland was, well, I suppose Ireland was Ireland.  CEI Tours International certainly kept us busy for fourteen days and we saw more ABCs (another bloody castle) than the mind can imagine.

Now it is time for me to return to the days of the 1860s and write more about The War of Northern Aggression or, The War for Southern Independence (however you choose to label a war between the states) by publishing more stories, personal letters, and history of the men of Company K and the North Carolina 58^th Infantry Regiment.

My last publication in May left the men in Company K of the 58^th North Carolina Infantry Regiment in bivouac at Big Gap Creek in Eastern Tennessee. The company had marched from the area of the Cumberland Gap on the Tennessee-Kentucky border where many members of the 60^th North Carolina Infantry Regiment, who relieved the North Carolina 58^th, were later taken prisoner by Northern Aggressive forces. For now I will leave the 58^th in bivouac for another month where they can rest, recuperate and prepare for the upcoming battle of Chickamauga in September of 1863, some one-hundred forty-two years ago. This August I want to publish and tell you about other material submitted to me by Silver cousins, John Silver Harris, Sherry Wyatt, and Riley Henry. All of the material in this month’s article is inter-connected even though each article is about different people, different subjects and different places. I think the contents of all the articles flow together very nicely. Now, listen to the words if you will from a millennium and forty decades past.

John Silver Harris, the founder and editor of the original Silver Notes, and a loyal Silver Threads contributor, submitted the following article to me by e-mail.

 

 

 

The next article was passed along to us by Cousin John Silver Harris.  It was previously printed in The Morganton, NC, News Herald of June 1, 2005.  (Editor’s note: portions have been reworded for word clarification.)

 

Civil War Cemetery found in Tennessee

 

There has been a Civil War Cemetery found in LaFollette, Tennessee, near the town of Jacksboro, called the Delap Cemetery.

LaFollette, at the time of the Civil War, was called Big Creek Gap.

From October 1862 to April of 1863 there are records to substantiate that there are about 125 (one-hundred twenty-five) Civil War dead buried there, which includes (those from) the 58^TH North Carolina Regiment, 64^th North Carolina Troops, 5^th Battalion Calvary and the 6^th North Carolina Calvary.

Buried in the cemetery are men from Watauga, Ashe, Caldwell, Mitchell, Yancey, Henderson, Madison, Polk, McDowell and Wilkes Counties of North Carolina and Washington and Greene Counties, Tennessee. There are possibly men from other counties in North Carolina and Tennessee buried there as well.

There have been many stones set in memory of each man buried there.

There will be a dedication ceremony on Saturday, June 11, 2005 at 11 A.M. at the Delap Cemetery in LaFollette.

There will be music of the era, some reenactment, a performer acting as Robert E. Lee, a 21 gun salute, and a proclamation from the Governor and the County of Campbell with some awards being given.

The names of the dead are too numerous to mention, but you may call.

Alice Coker, 423-562-2164;
Leta K. Cornett, 828-297-2354 or the
Campbell County, TN, Historical Society, 423-566-2127 for more information

 

I want to thank John for sending the above article. This cemetery may unravel a mystery for many descendants looking for the final resting place of one who was a “Defender of the Cause.” I will follow up and see if any of our Gouge and Silver family cousins were buried there. Also, Deep Creek Gap was where K Company was stationed during the first two weeks in July of 1863.

(Editor’s note; I called the Campbell County Historical Society to see if they have a published list of those soldiers who were buried in the cemetery and was told only fifty men have been identified so far. Those fifty men have white marble confederate grave markers placed on their graves as of June 11, 2005. The person to whom I talked did not have the names of those soldiers, but he did give me two more phone numbers to call. I talked with a Trulene Nash in Tennessee who gave me a website, http://www.tngenweb.org/campbell/cemetery/listings/delap.html where I found the first fifty names in the cemetery that have been identified. While looking at Delap Cemeteries on-line I also found the following website that listed over a hundred of those soldiers from Mitchell and surrounding counties that are buried in the cemetery. The website is; http:///www.geocities.comdiggersbphillips7/DELAPS5.com. The name of William “Little Billy” Gouge is not among them. Mrs. Nash informed me that most of the men in the cemetery died from a measles epidemic that swept the 58^th North Carolina between October of 1862 and March of 1863. According to his Muster Roster, Little Billy was present in February and March but he was very sick according to his letters to his father, William Gouge Sr. The first we know about his death is in May of 1863 when Rosanah Wilson-Gouge writes to her husband, Little Billy’s brother, expressing her sorrow over hearing about the death of Little Billy.)

 

 

Following is the copy of a Civil War letter written in October of 1862 by Greenberry Woody, son of Greenberry Silver and Martha Woody. Cousin Sherry Wyatt has generously given me permission to reprint the letter in its entirety. Greenberry Woody is writing to his “Dear Companion” and is writing from the area of Big Creek Gap, Tennessee.

 

Campbell County, Tenn.

October 29, 1862

 

O Dear Companion,

 

If I can overcome my feelings til I can write at all I will drop you a few liens to let you know that I am well as to health hoping that these lines will find their way to you and find you well and enjoying the health of your little ones.  

 

I can inform you that we left the Gap Saturday the 25^th at 1 O’clock and marched 10 miles west and camped in Powell Valley and just before day if commenced snowing. The ground was gray at daylight. We marched at 8 o’clock and by 10 there was a good tracking of snow. At 12 the large snow commenced flying fast and the wind blew in every direction. It was bad traveling meeting the wind. I gave 50 cents to git my gun and napsachall (carried) and it saved me for I should of gave out. Some of the boys did not reach camp that nite. Wyatt and Jim Slagle like to of gave out. We camped at 4 o’clock and bilt fires. I had a good fire when the boys got there and by dark the snow was ankle deep but I can inform you I slept good and warm. I have got that pillow yet and was a great beautiful morning on Sunday. About 12 o’clock I think you and the children was talking about me. My ear burnt almost off.

 

On Monday at 1 o’clock we reached this place 1 mile south of Big Creek Gap in Cumberland and 40 (miles) north of Knoxville, 5 from Jacksborough in Campbell County and 212 miles from home, about 275 the way we have come. .

 

As I stated above, I am well and have been in hopes that I would not have to rite to you no more til I come and saw you and the children for I thought I could git to come to meeting but last nite I went to the Colonel the first time I ever asked for furlough since I have been in the service and he told hem he would fix and let us go home but I could not go now. I then went to the Captain and he said he wants to go himself and so I must stay. You can’t guess how it hurt me to have to give out and lay down in my tent and don’t know if I shall ever see you again. But so it is a private soldier (who) has to submit to upstart demigods in the name of officers. But the time is coming not far off when them that lives to see it will be free again. Then farewell to camp. I hope that I shall live to see that time. Some people is in great hopes that peace will soon be made but if it ain’t our camp is lost. 

 

I want you to do the best you can and try to git uncle George (Silver) to make you and the children some shoes and tell him I will find him the pay if I ever come home. And take good care of all your leather and save the last of quarts of grain that will make bread, for you have never saw bread scarce before. I will come home the first chance but I am almost out of heart of coming this winter.

 

Tell all my friends I want to see them and particular you and my dear little children. Direct your letters to Noxville to the 58 NC Reg’’t and I will git it. And rite soon and often and if you need paper rite to me and I will send you some rite off.

 

Green B. Woody 

 

Cousins, you know what is great about this letter?  We hear for the first time the voice of one of our family members who has been dead for one-hundred thirteen years. In our minds, he comes alive again. Greenberry Woody was married to Catherine Kisiah Phillips and two of his eleven children, William and Waddell, were four and two years old respectively when he wrote this letter. He was born 28 July 1830 in Old Burke County (that part of Burke County became Yancey County in 1836 and Mitchell County in 1862). Greenberry Woody died on 9 August 1902. Again, thanks to Sherry Wyatt for sharing this letter with Silver Threads and our many hundreds of readers.

 

 

Mr. Riley Henry, from over in East Tennessee sent an e-mail to me in March of this year stating he really enjoys the “Civil War” letters we are publishing about our Gouge and Silver families. He reminded me that when the majority of the letters were written in 1863 that David R. Silver, son of Rev. Jacob Silver, was still in Company E of the 6^th North Carolina Infantry and not Company K.

Riley tells me David received his commission as a 2^nd Lieutenant on August 15, 1863. He was still at a camp near Orange Court House, Virginia, waiting on orders to go to his brothers.  Company K, 58^th North Carolina, The North Carolina 6^th and the North Carolina 54^th were altogether at this time. (Riley, this information tells us why so many soldiers from those units are buried in the DeLap cemetery at LaFollette, Tennessee.)

Riley also included information from the muster roll of David R. Silver. He says the residence of David is not recorded on his Muster Roll but he was listed as a 29 year old farmer. He enlisted in “E” Company, 6^th North Carolina Infantry on June 15, 1861 at Alamance County as a private. He was discharged for promotion on August 15, 1863, when he was commissioned into K Company, 58^th North Carolina Infantry.

David’s battle record reads as follows;

Wounded 5/31/1862 Seven Pines, VA

Wounded 7/1/1862 Malvern Hill, VA (Wounded in leg)

Absent, wounded 7/5/1862 (place not stated) (Estimated day)

Wounded 9/17/1862 Sharpsburg, MD

Returned 11/1/1862 (place not stated) (Returned prior to 11/01/62

Promotions 2^nd Lieutenant 8/15/1863 (AS of Co. K, 58^th NC Inf.)

Other Information, born in Yancey County, North Carolina

 

(Editor’s Note: David survived the war and married three times during his life time. His first wife was Elizabeth Baker. His second wife was Sarah Ledford and his third wife was none other than, Rosanah Wilson Gouge, the widow of Garrett Dawes Gouges and the writer of many of our letters. Garret died from natural causes on September 9, 1892 and David married Rosanah on June 30, 1895 according to family genealogy records. David died August 26, 1911.)

 

 

Following is more information from the battlefields of the War for Southern Independence. Riley Henry also sent me the copy of a letter written by David Parker to his wife, Nancy Silver-Parker. Nancy Silver was the lone daughter of Charlie Silver and Frankie Stewart. However, due to copyright restraints I cannot publish the letter in its entirety; nevertheless Riley has given his permission for me to paraphrase the letter’s contents.

David Parker is writing from his camp in Orange Court House, Virginia, on August 16, 1863, the day after David Silver receives his 2^nd Lieutenant’s commission. David apparently is with the North Carolina 6^th also.

The content of his letter tells his wife his health is good and hopes the same is true with her and the children’s health also. He comments about a letter he received from her which filled his heart with gladness.  He describes a lull in the war which allows his company to remain bivouacked for an indefinite period of time. He says, “The Yankees are quite along the line at this time.” He is happy to tell Nancy that he and David Silver are tented within forty yards of each other. He tells Nancy David has been elected Third Lieutenant of Captain Sam Silver’s Company in the NC 58th in Tennessee but that David will arrive home to Mitchell County before reporting to the 58^th in Tennessee. David tells Nancy about an acquaintance, Wilbur, who has been taken captive by the Northern Aggressors and is imprisoned in Maryland. He tells her also that Robert Howell, brother to her aunt Nancy Howell who is married to Henry Silver, brother to Rev. Jacob Silver, is a prisoner of the Northern Aggressors at Baltimore, Maryland as well. Both Wilbur and Robert Howell were wounded at Gettysburg and two other acquaintances of David, Thomas Morrison is in the hospital, sick, at Richmond and John Morrison died at Gettysburg. David concludes his letter by telling Nancy all the other acquaintances from Yancey Country are well and they want to be remembered by their families and friends.

David signs the letter; “David Parker to his loveing wife, Nancy Parker.”

 

David William Parker was born in McDowell County, North Carolina abt. 1827. He died in Jackson Hospital in Richmond, Virginia on 14 April 1865. He was buried in the Hollywood Cemetery the next day in Richmond Virginia. [1]