Wilson-Greer 2012 Family Tour, Part XV

by Glenn N. Holliman

The Wilson-Greer Tour goes to Banner Elk....

The last day of our Wilson-Greer tour in June 2012 took us to Banner Elk, North Carolina.  There cousin Annie Heaton and her husband, Jim, joined us.  Jim is descended from a pioneer family that gave it's name to Heaton, North Carolina, a near-by town.  Banner Elk now is in ski country with numerous gated second-home communities located in the western highlands.

On the grounds of Lees-McRae College is a Presbyterian church and grave yard.  In the cemetery are the graves of Jesse (1806-1892) and Frances Brown Greer, Jr. (1810-1905).  When Isaac Wilson (1822-1864) was bushwhacked in June 1864 during the Civil War, Jesse and Frankie raced to Caroline Greer Wilson's side and stayed with her during the trauma of the event and through succeeding months. 

Below, left to right, Gay and Bob Adema, Connie Burns, Betty Ankers,  Charles, Chase and Jennifer Bundy, Bryan Payne, Jackie Burleson, Alice Holliman Murphy, Annie Heaton and Jim Gray at the monuments to Jesse and Frances Brown Greer, Jr.


Caroline's son, The Rev. William A. Wilson, wrote that his grandfather, Jesse, was at the farm when the murder occurred and rushed to his son-in-law's side.  He carried his mortally wounded son to Caroline's home and after Isaac died within the hour, took over arrangements for the funeral.  The father of Isaac, Hiram Wilson, constructed the coffin at Jesse's behest.   Frankie Greer helped protect Caroline and her small children during the deprecations of Union sympathizers home invasions as law and order broke down in the mountain communities near the end of the War.

Above descendant Connie Burns, far right,  remarked over the courage of Frances Brown Greer.   W. A. Wilson described, in the book Neighbor to Neighbor, how his grandmother  confronted Union soldiers who stole food from her daughter's home in the Wilson Cove in Sutherland, North Carolina.  When one young soldier seized the butter pot, the brave Frankie chased him and while scuffling, suffered a deforming permanent injury to a finger from a bayonet thrust!  Left to right: Jackie  Burleson, Jim and Annie Heaton, and Connie Burns.

Above, the monument in Banner Elk to Frances Brown Greer who stood solidly with her family during the darkest days of the American Civil War.  Below the Greer monuments in the foreground, and the Presbyterian Church in the backgound.