Trip to North Carolina - 2004

When I started my trip my main goal was to find out who Samuel James' parents were or were not.  I am closer, but I don't know if I have succeeded yet.

The other reason why I like to take these trips is that when I do my research I can see my family.  Does the topography of where they had to go make sense?  How close or far where they?  What was so interesting about this trip is that in Southern Virginia, Northern North Carolina, Eastern Tennessee, and Eastern Kentucky in the late 1700 to early 1800 three sides of my family were living in probably a 500 mile radius.  Did they know each other?  Although my parents and didn't marry until 1946 in Woodinville, Washington a continent away, did my Maternal side know anyone from my Paternal side 200 plus years ago? It is an interesting thought.  There weren't that many people then and the connections between the two side is uncanny.  For example, both sides knew Daniel Boone.  The Priest/Prices were at Penn's Colony with his family and traveled down the Great Wagon Trail with him to North Carolina.  John Halley from my maternal side went with the original expedition to Kentucky with Daniel Boone as was one of the Crabtree descendants from the Price family on my paternal side.  I find it fascinating.

I started my trip at the North Carolina Archives in Raleigh where I spent several days doing research.  I then drove west to Winston-Salem where I headed north on Highway 52 to Surry County.  This is the area where the Deans, Jameses and Priests lived, although at the time I wasn't sure where Samuel James lived.

Mitchell River, Surry County

Mitchell River is located just off of Highway 77 in the western part of the County close to the Wilkes and Yadkin County boarders.  The closest town in Elkin located on the Yadkin River.  There is not much here.

The next few pictures are of the Mitchell River, Surry County area pretty close to where John Dean lived.  John Dean Sr. and his wife Keziah Smith Dean moved here about 1774 from Halifax County, Virginia which was located just across the state line and to the east.  John Sr. died shortly after they arrived and John Dean Jr. and Keziah continued to live here and buy property on the Mitchell River until Keziah died in 1787 and John moved to Floyd County, Kentucky about 1809.  This is a rural wooded area with some cleared areas. As you can see, it is very isolated now although there must have been farms here in the late 1700's.

It is not known why the Deans moved from Halifax County to Surry County.  Maybe it was for more land, or maybe the land in Halifax County was not being as productive.  Maybe the Deans didn't want to grow cotton.  Most of John Sr.'s siblings moved to South Carolina.  I wonder why John and Keziah didn't go with them.  John Dean had slaves (although not many) so maybe it was over the slave issue.  We will never know.

Many of John's siblings were in the Revolutionary war from South Carolina and John Jr. was a documented soldier for the Revolution as a soldier in the North Carolina Continental Line, in fact, it is through him I could document my lineage for the DAR.

Blue Ridge Mountains, North Carolina

The drive from Surry County to Ashe County is beautiful. What the maps don't show, and what I didn't understand is that the Blue Ridge Mountains are between Surry County and Ashe County.  This would not have been an easy trip in 1800 and a trip one didn't take lightly.  It is very hilly and mountainous.  There is no direct route.  It would have been a long and arduous trip from Surry County to Ashe County.  The story is that John Dean and his daughter Peninah came to Floyd County about 1809 and then John left Peninah in Floyd County in a lean-to cabin and went back to Surry County to get Hannah and the other children. The implication was that on the way to or from he talked to Samuel James, his neighbor, about coming to Floyd County.  In 1809 Samuel lived in Ashe County.  And, in fact, he had lived there since at least 1804 when his son Abner was born there.  The fastest way for John Dean to get from Floyd County to North Carolina and back probably would have been via the Old Wagon Trail which was a cleared road and went very close to both places.  Ashe County was way out of the way.  I think this is part of a long string of misconceptions about the James and Dean families that are not based in reality, but myth.  Samuel moved from Ashe County to Floyd County in 1810.  There is no logical reason why John Dean would have made a difficult and lengthy trip from Floyd County, Kentucky to Ashe County just to tell Samuel James he should move to Floyd County.  Especially since he hadn't seen him for some time.  I think it raises a number of questions about whether Samuel James was from Surry County in the first place.

The Blue Ridge Mountains are magnificent.  I felt such a connection to them and their beauty. These pictures were taken as I climbed up the Blue Ridge Mountains looking back on Surry County.

These pictures were taken from the Blue Ridge Parkway

Ashe County, North Carolina

As I drove more into Ashe County the topography changed.  It because far more mountainous that Surry County. Ashe County is really in-between the Blue Ridge Mountains and the southern Appalachian Mountains at the northeast corner of Tennessee.

Piney Creek, Ashe County, North Carolina

We know that Samuel James lived in Ashe County in 1810 from the Census and that Abner James, his son,  put on his Civil War Disability paperwork that he was born in Ashe County, North Carolina in 1804.  We also know that Samuel lived in the Piney Creek area. Piney Creek is a fork of the New River in the north-eastern part of the county close to the Alleghany County line.  The closest town today is Jefferson.

The trip to the James homestead on Piney Creek was very interesting.  It was out in the middle of no-where.  I turned off the main road which was a 2 lane country road and went off down a gravel/dirt road.   After a about a good mile or so I decided I'd better turn back.  It was pretty desolate.  I turned up a side road to turn around and there was a new, large house.  I have never been so surprised in my life.  It was pretty funny.

Isn't it lovely.  I can just picture Samuel and Sarah Charles having a cabin on the creek with a small farm, but wait, Samuel wasn't a farmer.  He was a carpenter, a grist mill owner, and a property owner.  Maybe Ashe County was just too isolated for Samuel and he wanted to move on to Floyd County.  Maybe he knew John Dean in Surry County or maybe he didn't meet him until he got to Floyd County.  This is the fun of genealogy.

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