From the Archives of Annie Greer Heaton, Part 1

by Glenn N. Holliman

Genealogical Treasures saved by Annie Heaton....

One of the great delights of research family history is the discovery of distant cousins who have saved materials of our ancestors.  One of these persons is Annie Greer Heaton who generously shared her knowledge of family with many of us in June 2012 in Banner Elk, North Carolina.

The previous winter she opened her family papers  and encouraged me to scan them and share with other descendants of the Greer and Brown families who occupied the highlands of western North Carolina in the early 1800s.  Below Annie makes a point in her North Carolina home.

One of her documents is a copy of Mary 'Polly' Mitchel Brown's will, the grandmother of Caroline Greer Wilson, or my generation's 4th great grandmother.  I present the will in several sections.  Polly (1791-1838) who died in Ashe County, North Carolina wrote her will in 1838. Her husband, Francis Franklin Brown (1780-1828), was a third generation American descended from German grandparents.  The couple had married in 1815 in Wilkes County, North Carolina.   Unfortunately, we have no information at this time on Polly's ancestry.

In 1838, Martin Van Buren was in the White House and newly independent Texas was a republic, not yet part of the United States. The American frontier was advancing west leaving behind in the highlands of North Carolina, a largely agricultural society of subsistence farms.  As we read the will, one recognizes that our ancestors grew, harvested and stored their own food.  Transportation was by horse, milk directly from one's cows, meat from one's hogs, vegetables from one's tilled soil and clothing from one's sheep. 

Polly left daughter Nancy Brown (1818-1900) one black cow, a calf, saddle, a white cow, six two year old hogs, a portion of the household furniture, four head of sheep, ten bushels of corn, 50 pounds of bacon, 15 pounds of lard and 15 bushels of potatoes.  Nancy would marry twice, first to Alexander Baird and then in 1847 to Joseph Greer .  Today, the Baird House is a B and B and still stands along the Watagua River in Sugar Grove (www.bairdhouse.com) not far from Boone, North Carolina.

 

To her second daughter, Frances (Franky) Brown (1810-1905), my 3rd great grandmother and mother of Caroline Greer Wilson (1828-1911), Polly designated the following items: a three year old red heifer, a two year old red and white yearling, a second black yearling with a White back, a brown yearling, 13 sheep, a chest, and half of of the house hold furniture, a large pot and the balance of my hogs, 175 pounds of bacon, 100 of lard, 150 bushels of potatoes and the balance of her corn.

Next post, the remainder of Polly Brown's will and a deeper glance into the economy and reality of early 19th Century America....

More information on the relationships of Greers and Wilsons can be found at this writer's Ancestry.com site. Please write glennhistory@gmail.com for access or to add information.
Also, several family historians collect, scan, save and post photographs and research of Greer, Wilson, Osborne, Forrester and many related families.  If you have something to share, please let us know at the above email address.