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Wilkes

January 29, 2023

Settling The Yadkin – Daniel Boone Was Here

A group of seven Moravians led by Joseph Spangenburg left Pennsylvania in August 1752 in search of 100,000 acres of vacant land on which to make a new settlement. Upon arriving in North Carolina, they became frustrated and disheartened to find that there was no reliable map of the colony showing what land was available. As a harbinger of things to come, on September 12, Spangenburg wrote in his diary,

“Land matters in North Carolina are also in unbelievable confusion, and I do not see how endless law-suits are to be avoided. A man settles on a piece of land and does a good deal of work on it, then another comes and drives him out, -- and who is to definitely settle the matter?”

Truer words were never spoken. That’s exactly what would happen 40 years later.

August Gottlieb “Joseph” Spangenberg (1704-1792) was a leader among the Moravian settlements.

Making the best of a bad situation, the Moravian team decided to make their own surveys as they searched for suitable land at the far western edges of the colony against the “Blue Mountains” where very little land had already been claimed. This would avoid any confusion regarding what land was actually available. In November 1752 they reached the Catawba River where they met John Perkins. Along with two other Carolina men, Spangenburg wrote that he particularly recommended John Perkins if they needed help in the future.

“(He) is intelligent, best acquainted with the forest, industrious, a successful hunter, and I think fond of the Brethren. I suggest using these men because at this time practically no one lives in these parts, and no one else will know our tracts and their boundaries except the Brethren who are in our company, and they will quickly forget the forests, which are as trackless as the ocean.”

On November 29, 1752, while on Little River of the Catawba, Spangenburg wrote,

“We are here in a region that has perhaps been seldom visited since the creation of the world. We are some 70 or 80 miles from the last settlement in North Carolina, and have come over terrible mountains, and often through very dangerous ways.”

On December 14, 1752, they made camp on the “Atkin Waters” at a place they described as being where a north and a south branch unite. (They considered Lewis Fork as being the north fork of the Yadkin River.) Here they made their first survey. Six days later, they camped four miles down the river opposite the Mulberry Fields and camped near the small hut of a Welsh man named Owens who had arrived in the spring. Mr. Owens was living on the Mulberry Fields tract owned by Morgan Bryant. It was here that the Moravians made a second survey. Before leaving, Mr. Spangenburg wrote in his diary that they were 60 miles from any house, except for that of Mr. Owens.

The Moravian’s camped at the mouth of Lewis Fork in December 1752, above Morgan Bryan’s two tracts.

(Larger image)

I wanted to provide this back story to illustrate just how remote the Moravians found this area to be in 1752. The set of books titled Records of the Moravians in North Carolina is much more interesting to read than the title suggests! Volume 1 covers the years 1752 through 1771, and it’s available online at the link above. The account of their exploration of North Carolina begins on page 26. Their accounts of the challenges associated with establishing their Wachovia settlement would make a great movie!

Court Is In Session

Now we’ll move forward by four decades and continue with the court case involving the disputed lands that were granted to the Moravians as a result of their 1752 surveys. This is Part 2 in the “Settling the Yadkin” series. Part 1 can be found here.

Forty-seven years after helping the Moravians with their first surveys, John Perkins gave his deposition on April 19, 1799, at the home of James Welborn. His home was located on the south side of the Yadkin River near River St, perhaps on the north end of Wilkes Community College.

Perkins was the chain carrier whom Spangenburg had praised in his diary. Perkins said that he was living at “Sherolds ford on Catawba River” in 1752 when the Moravians approached him. Mr. Spangenburg and Mr. Antes requested that he show them some large bodies of vacant land on the Catawba River and to assist them as a chain carrier as they made their surveys. They made surveys on the Little River, the main Catawba River, and then on Johns River. They then asked if he would take them over to the Yadkin. By mistake, he took them north to the Three Forks of New River. Once they realized the error, they proceeded east and eventually pitched camp near the mouth of Reddies River on the north side of the Yadkin River. There, the Moravians made the two surveys now known as the Upper Tract and the Lower Tract.

John Perkins signed his deposition on April 19, 1799.

In the Words of George Elmore

George Elmore was called to the courthouse for his deposition on June 28, 1805. He said he arrived here with his father 36 or 37 years ago when he was 18 year old. Doing the math, that means he was born about 1750 and arrived here in 1768. The family settled three quarters of a mile from the mouth of Warrior Creek near the southwest corner of the Upper Moravian Tract.

At the time he arrived, a man named William Barton was living at the mouth of Lewis Fork on the west side. Two years later (i.e. 1770), Barton moved to the other side of Lewis Fork, and he sold his old place to Daniel Boone who “continued in possession thereof about four or five years.” He goes on to say that a court order against Boone caused him to lose his improvement up the river, above the one on Lewis Fork. He believes that Boone also sold his Lewis Fork improvement by a court order to satisfy a debt to Hugh Montgomery.

Daniel Boone painting by Chester Harding in 1820.

George Elmore is telling us that Daniel Boone lived at the mouth of Lewis Fork from about 1770 to 1774. During that time, he also owned an improvement further up the river. Somehow he lost both in court. I’ve heard that Daniel Boone once lived at the mouth of Beaver Creek (4 miles up the Yadkin River) and also at a place that was another 2.5 miles further up the river. Perhaps George Elmore was referring to one of those locations. I’d like to learn more about Daniel Boone’s court case, but that’s a story for another time.

This page from George Elmore’s deposition refers to Daniel Boone. (Larger image)

It's worth remembering that Morgan Bryan was the grandfather of Daniel Boone’s wife Rebecca. Morgan Bryan was mentioned in John Perkins’ deposition as owning the Mulberry Fields tract. He also owned the nearby Bent Plantation. Both tracts had been issued to Morgan only months before the Moravians made their adjoining surveys. But by 1770, when 35-year-old Daniel Boone was living at Lewis Fork, both of those tracts had been sold and no longer belong to the Bryan family.

According to George Elmore, when Daniel Boone lost his land on Lewis Fork, it was bought by Thomas Laxton. It then passed to Hugh Montgomery who sold it to Thomas Holeman in 1777. Holeman entered and received a grant for 320 acres here in 1794, but he surely knew that this land was part of the Moravian claim and that there was a risk of losing it.

Thomas Holeman’s 320-acre grant at the mouth of Lewis Fork in 1794.

Holeman didn’t keep this land for long. A year later he sold the eastern 80 acres to William Hamby who was already living there (DB B1, p518). In 1797 Holeman sold the western 240 acres to David Hickerson (DB D, p430). Hickerson was still living there in 1805 at the time of the deposition. Lewis Fork was the dividing line.

The 320-acre grant to Thomas Holeman is at the west end of the Upper Tract. (Larger image)

The location where the Yadkin River was forded at Lewis Fork was called Holman’s Ford, undoubtedly because that’s where Thomas Holeman had lived. This is also where the assault at Fort Hamby occurred in 1865 perhaps involving descendants of William Hamby who bought the 80 acres here in 1795. Today, most of this original 320-acre tract is under the water of Kerr Scott Reservoir.

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