An Ancestral Home in Ashe County

by Glenn N. Holliman

Cousin Debbie Porter found this advertisement on line and forwarded it to me.  Take a look at  https://www.presnc.org/properties/sarah-boone-wilcox-cabin/ and read the real estate copy.

Fascinating, but knowing not if the history was correct, I advanced the site to several of the authorities in our Greer, Wilson, Oborne, Forrester, Wilcoxson, Boone et al lines.

Connie Burns quickly enlightened me:

"They have rewritten history a little. ....  Land granted in 1798 to Samuel Wilcockson and maybe he married yet another Sarah Boone because John Wilcockson died c. 1785.  John's wife Sarah Boone, sister of Daniel Boone, lived in the home they built in Mocksville, Rowan Co. until she moved to her daughter's in Kentucky according to my research.......  Very probable Sarah and her brother, Daniel did come by to visit at times!   Thanks for sharing the info about the house, I hope someone takes good care of it."

Then later today, Gary Hodges, an ever fountain of family history, wrote: 

"Here is the story as I see it from my own research, with background information.

Samuel Wilcoxson moved from Rowan County to Wilkes. The portion of Wilkes is now Watauga. Samuel and his family attended the Three Forks Baptist Church, the church that Benjamin Greer and his second wife attended till they were basically kicked out for their fondness for apple spirits. It seems Samuel moved to Ashe about the same time Ben and his second family moved to Ashe. This Samuel was a son of Sarah and John Wilcoxson. BTW, Samuel is my other Sarah and John ancestor. Remember the marriage of Samuel's son Isaiah to Nancy's granddaughter Fanny Greer?

John Wilcoxson died in Rowan (now Davie) County in 1789. He is buried in the old Joppa Presbyterian cemetery in Mocksville. He is supposedly buried about 20 feet from his in-laws Squire Boone Sr. and Sarah Morgan Boone." 

Below the burial  site of the Boone and Wilcoxson families in Mocksville, North Carolina, less than a mile from the I-40 exit. GNH

"Forget about John being killed by Indians at Bryans Station in 1784. There was a Wilcoxson (only last name recorded) there for a while but I don't think it was John. I think it was one of his sons.  Rowan court records show John Wilcoxson Sr. doing land transactions in 1789. It seems Sarah moved up to Ashe to live with her son Samuel after John died.  Nary a record John ever lived in Ashe but he may have visited Samuel after he moved there. 

The house for sale is the one Samuel had and Sarah lived in for a while before moving to KY to live with a daughter or grandson. Samuel later moved to Kentucky and is buried there.

Buyer Beware!

I first heard about this place  few years ago. The owner at the time had a $225,000 price tag on it and only wanted to sell three acres with it. Later I saw the owner had a price tag of $125,000 on it. Now there are five acres and the price is down a lot from the first one I saw. 

But it is Family!

Be as it may, this is definitely a home Samuel Wilcoxson lived in and his mother Sarah lived in for a while. It's family land. For me it's even closer since I am a descendant of Samuel. Cousin Sharon Buck and another cousin visited the place and were not impressed with it. Too many renovations and only three acres with it at the time.

I contacted one of the owners last year and clarified some information for him. He was of the opinion it had a closer connection to Uncle Daniel Boone and that John Wilcoxson also lived there. As I said, he may have visited Samuel but never had a residence in Ashe, Wilkes, or Watauga Counties. I researched this subject a while back.   So does this fill in any blanks?"

Yes, this fills in the blanks.  Thanks for sharing Debbie, Connie and Gary, all relations connected by family and Internet sharing. 

All are invited to join in building a master family tree at Wilson-Greer-Osborne-Forrester-Donnelly and Associated Families of Western NC at Ancestry.com.  Just write to glennhistory@gmail.com for an invitation.