Eleanor, Oh, Eleanor Harbin Triplett

                Oh, Eleanor, what a strong woman you must have been and what courage you must have had.  You were born about 1730 in Virginia, and married William Triplett sometime before 1758 when your first child was born. You and your husband William Triplett had about 11 children, Micajah, Nimrod, Mason, William, Thomas, Francis, John, Priscilla, Verlinda (my 4^th great grandmother), Nancy, and Jesse.  

                An on-line publication, “My Triplett Family,” indicates that Eleanor maintained the home front while her husband and sons were serving in the North Carolina militia during the Revolutionary War.  She continued their tradition on the farm of raising cattle, which became an important commodity when food became scarce during the war.  Her determination, fortitude, and courage were demonstrated when she contributed cattle to feed the troops in spite of any British retribution which may have befallen her.  In fact, according to the on-line article, she was compensated 982.10 pounds for providing beef to the soldiers.

                Family lore implies that Eleanor’s husband, William Triplett, and their two eldest sons, Micajah and Nimrod, died of the measles in 1782 in an army camp at Hanging Rock.  Did he die as family lore describes?  Pension papers filed by his son, William, indicate that the senior William may have died prior to 1780.  Data verified by the NSDAR also lead one to question whether he actually served in the militia.  Nevertheless, Eleanor is recognized for her patriotic service of providing supplies for the Revolutionary War.

                Both Eleanor Harbin Triplett and her husband, William Triplett, are identified by the National Society of the Daughters of the American Revolution as NSDAR Patriots.  Eleanor is identified as a patriot because of her patriotic service of furnishing supplies (food) for the cause.  William is recognized for his civil service of serving as a juror and road surveyor.  According to the NSDAR, William died about 1782 in Wilkes County, North Carolina.

Census records indicate that Eleanor apparently never remarried but remained the head of the household rearing her children on the family farm at Beaver Creek, Wilkes County, North Carolina.  She died sometime after 1830 in Wilkes County, North Carolina.

Eleanor, Oh, Eleanor Harbin Triplett, one of few females recognized as a Revolutionary War patriot, how proud your descendants are of you with such strength, fortitude, courage, and resolve!

Sources:

·        Abbott, Hortense Ethel. Tripping Down the Triplett Path: Descendants of the Triplett Families, 1982.

·        Genealogical Research System, National Society of Daughters of the American Revolution, http://services.dar.org/public/dar_research/search/?tab_id=0

·       “My Triplett Family,” http://home.earthlink.net/~bdvw/debsfamilyhistory/id1.html

               

Melinda’s Legacy

When I began searching for my 3^rd great aunt, Melinda West, I immediately found her and her husband, Israel Presnell, in the 1880 United States Census living in White Water Township, Bollinger County, Missouri. She was 81 years old, and Israel was 85.  Both were listed as paupers.  According to the definition of paupers as used in census records, they may have been individuals who were dependent on some type of assistance or lived in the home of a family member.  However, Melinda and Israel were the only individuals listed at that residence.  Therefore, determining how they qualified as paupers is nebulous.

My first reaction was one of sadness to find that she was identified as “a pauper” in a state many miles from her birthplace of South Carolina and her childhood home of Wilkes County, North Carolina.  At the time of my initial search, I found no information about any children that she may have had.

Little did I know that my Aunt Melinda did, indeed, leave quite a legacy!

My search for Melinda was initiated a couple of years ago with the expectations of learning more about my 4^th and 5^th great grandfathers who were John West and Alexander West I.  John West was Melinda’s father, and Alexander was her grandfather. Since I began my genealogical endeavors, Alexander West I has been my “brick wall.” John West, her father, has been elusive, also.

Family lore and the 1810 census record indicate that John’s wife, Margaret “Peggy” Witherspoon, and their three young children returned to Wilkes, North Carolina, after John’s death in South Carolina.  The couple had moved from Wilkes, North Carolina, to South Carolina sometime after their marriage in 1796.  According to census records, the three children were born in South Carolina.  John Balus West was born about 1798, Melinda about 1799, and another daughter after 1798.

Recently, I learned about Melinda’s legacy from my cousin, Joanne, who discovered it through her research.  Although Melinda never lived to see the accomplishments of her descendants, several of them became prosperous and well-known.

My paper trail revealed that Melinda and Israel married in Wilkes County, North Carolina, on December 12, 1819.  In 1820 they appeared in the census for Wilkes, North Carolina. By the 1850 census, they were living in Brazeau, Perry, Missouri; in 1870 they were in Union, Bollinger, Missouri; and in 1880 they resided in White Water, Bollinger, Missouri. Their five children, Stephen Joseph, Eveline, Isaac, Solomon, and Carolina, were born between the years of 1828 and 1843, one in North Carolina, one in Kentucky, one in Illinois, and two in Missouri.  The lives of Melinda and Israel certainly were typical of those who moved westward to find a better life in the first half of the 1800s.

Surprisingly, the lineage from Melinda and Israel’s son, Stephen Joseph Presnell, and his daughter Susan Frances Presnell led to the Limbaugh family!  The following list represents the direct-line descendants from Alexander West I to the Limbaugh family.

·         Alexander West I (between 1720-1730 - after 1790) and unknown spouse

·         John West (1760-about 1800) and Margaret “Peggy” Witherspoon (1760-after 1840)

·         Melinda West (about 1799-after 1800) and Israel Presnell (about 1795-1884)

·         Stephen Joseph Presnell (1828-1881) and Elizabeth Hudson (1826-1904)

·         Susan Frances Presnell (1852-1938) and Joseph Hadley Limbaugh (1844-1898)

·         Rush Hudson Limbaugh, Sr. (1891-1996) and Beulah Maude Seabough (1891-1977)

·         Rush Hudson Limbaugh, Jr. (1918-1990) and Mildred Carolyn Armstrong (1925-2000)

·         Rush Hudson Limbaugh, III

Rush Hudson Limbaugh, Sr. was a lawyer who served as a Missouri prosecutor, judge, special commissioner, member of the Missouri House of Representatives, and president of the Missouri Historical Society. The Federal Courthouse in Cape Girardeau, Missouri, is named for him.  Rush Hudson Limbaugh, Jr. was also a lawyer.   Rush Limbaugh, III is the conservative talk-show host.

At this point in my narrative, my readers must be curious as to what my relationship is with Rush Limbaugh, III.  According to my genealogical paper-trail, my cousin Joanne, my sister Sandy, and I share the relationship of 5^th cousins with Rush Limbaugh, III.  Our most recent common ancestors were John West and Margaret “Peggy” Witherspoon who were our 4^th great grandparents.

Melinda would have been proud; she left a legacy that will not be forgotten.

Thanks, Joanne, for your discovery!

Sources:

·         Missouri, Find a Grave Index, 1812-2011

·         Missouri, Deaths and Burials Index, 1873-1976

·         Missouri, Marriage Records, 1805-2002

·         North Carolina Marriage Bonds, 1741-1868

·         North Carolina Marriage Collection, 1741-2004

·         Social Security Death Index

·         United States Census Records for 1810, 1820,1850,1870, 1800, 1900, 1920, 1930

·         U.S. and International Marriage Records, 1560-1900

·         West, John Foster. “History of West Family Is Given,” The Journal-Patriot, North Wilkesboro, NC, Nov. 8, 1976

·         Wikipedia.org

John Foster’s Letter

Last week I received a very nice letter from John Foster, 3^rd cousin 1X removed, who lives in Wilkesboro, North Carolina.  His letter was in response to my request for information from the Mount Zion Baptist Church regarding the Wests of Stony Fork.  In his letter he provided some interesting and revealing information.

In regard to the Triplett-Mt. Zion Cemetery, I was aware that Franklin West (son of John Balus West/Mary Ann “Polly” Swanson) and his wife, Cynthia Holder, and Mary Ann West (daughter of John Balus and Mary Ann West) and her husband, William Hamilton Barnett, are buried in that cemetery.  In addition, he indicated that John Balus West and Mary Ann Swanson West are buried there, also.  I have never been able to determine where they had been laid to rest and feared that their graves had been destroyed.  When I was at Triplett-Mt. Zion Cemetery in September, I must have overlooked them.  John Foster said that Franklin and Cynthia West’s daughters, Martha Caroline West and her husband, Tom Watson, and Sarah E. West, are buried in that cemetery, also.  In fact, he stated that all of these graves are in the same row.  John West mentioned that Carolyn West had planted the bush that appears to be a “snowball” bush near her parents’ tombstones.

According to Foster, a young man, Hamilton Barnett, was living with Alexander Balus and Nancy Land West and was “bonded” to them.  When Alexander Balus left for the Civil War, Hamilton Barnett, at the age of 15, went with him.  His military records indicate that he was 16 when he enlisted.  He survived the war and returned to marry Alexander Balus’ sister, Mary Ann West.  According to documentation Mary Ann was about 16 years older than Hamilton.  William Hamilton Barnett and Mary Ann West were the great grandparents of John Foster.  Their son, Gaither Barnett, was his grandfather.

According to my 1st cousin 1X removed, FL, who is the grandson of Thomas Harvey and America McNeil West, Thomas Harvey and America traded farms with the Wellborn family.  According to Mr. Foster, they traded homes with the Norman family who were “timber men.”  The Normans moved into the log house where the Wests had lived, and the Wests moved to Banner Elk.  Mr. Foster said that the Normans later sold the property to John and Ellen Barnett Eller and that the Eller grandchildren still own the land.

In his letter, John Foster stated that the Lands sold their property to Green and Nell Cowr/Couers Wilborn.  [I could not decipher Nell’s maiden name.]  Mrs. Nell Wilborn was from Banner Elk.  According to Foster, Green and Nell Wilborn lived in the Land house until they died.  It burned after their deaths.

A little on-line research in Ancestry.com enabled me to find the Wellborns whom John Foster mentioned in his letter.  Most likely, they were Green Dixson Wellborn and Nellie May Culver.  He was born in 1882 in North Carolina and died in 1960.  She was born in 1889 in Watauga County, North Carolina.  Banner Elk was in Watauga County at that time.  She died in 1986 in Wilkes County.  They were married in 1907 which was five years after the Wests traded farms and moved from Stony Fork to Banner Elk.  According to this data, perhaps, the Wests did not trade homes with the Wellborns but with another family.    

John Foster listed the children of John Balus West and Mary Ann Swanson.  Most of this information I already had and have included in my blog “The West Patriarchs:  3^rd in a Series, John Balus West” which was posted on September 1, 2011.  However, I learned from his letter that Elizabeth West’s husband was Henry Hamby.  Foster also said that John Balus and Mary Ann had a son named Lowery who, in addition to two other sons, was killed in the Civil War.  I had previously seen Lowery’s name in the 1860 Census. He was 16 years old and was listed as a farm laborer.  Since he had not been counted with the family in the 1850 Census, I assumed that he was a hired worker.  Foster did not mention their daughter, Lucy, in his letter.

I assume that Mr. Foster must be quite elderly but with excellent memory.  I truly appreciate his taking the time and effort to pen his note to me.  He indicated that he couldn’t write which, I assume, means that writing was difficult for him.  He is one individual I would certainly like to visit.  If only winter weather weren’t upon us, my husband and I would make that two-hour trip back on those winding mountain roads through the “high country” to Stony Fork!

Mr. Foster has certainly given me “food for thought” and questions to resolve. I want to know more about the family with whom the Wests traded their Stony Fork land for the Banner Elk land.  Was it the Wellborns, or was it the Normans? I want to know who really lived on that home site across from the old Mount Zion Post Office just east of where Mt. Zion Road forks into Stony Fork Road and Lee Mountain Road.  Was it the Thomas Harvey West family, or was it the William Thomas Land family?  I want to know where the log house is that, Foster said, the Wests lived in and the Eller grandchildren currently own.

If anyone of my readers has answers to these questions, please help me!

Assumptions

Those of us who are descended from Alexander West I are only assuming, based on handed-down family history, that we are descended from him.  Unless someone has additional information which provides primary documentation, we are basing our connection to him on the oral family history of which only two individuals, of whom I am aware, have recorded for posterity.  I am extremely grateful to these two, John Foster West and Irene Hendrix Basey, who recorded family history that had been passed down to them.  Both of these individuals also referenced our forefather, John West (son of Alexander West I), about whom we also know so little. Without their efforts, we would not have anything on which to base our heritage prior to John Balus West.

John Foster West (descended from Alexander West I through John West, John Balus West, John Witherspoon West, and John Wilson West), a noted author and professor at Appalachian State University, wrote an article, “History of West Family Is Given,” which appeared in the November 8, 1976, issue of the Journal-Patriot of North Wilkesboro, North Carolina.  He described Alexander West I as being “the deep taproot of many who still live in Wilkes, Caldwell, and Watauga counties as well as across the nation.”  He also described John West who moved to South Carolina shortly after his marriage to Margaret “Peggy” Witherspoon.  He related the story of “Miss Peggy,” as he said she was affectionately called, returning to Wilkes with her children after John’s early death to live in the “area where her father-in-law, Alexander West I, lived.”  Furthermore, in another newspaper article, “West Writes About Revolutionary War Relative,” for which the publication source and date are unknown, John Foster West identifies himself as being the sixth generation from Alexander West I.  In this article he described his great, great grandfather, Alexander West II, who fought in the American Revolution, and he identified him as the son of Alexander West I and the brother of John West.  Unfortunately, Alexander West II’s Revolutionary War Pension papers indicate that no names of parents were given.  John Foster West passed away in 2008.

In the 1982 publication of The Heritage of Wilkes County, Irene Hendrix Basey, who is descended from Alexander West I through John West, John Balus West, and Franklin West, published an article, “The West Family,” in which she named Alexander West I as “the earliest known ancestor of the West families of Wilkes County.”   Likewise, she described John West’s family, telling how his widow, Margaret, returned to Wilkes after his death “to live near her relatives in the same general neighborhood where Alexander West I had lived prior to his settlement on Upper Little River.”  Irene Hendrix Basey’s daughter has posted Mrs. Basey’s family tree, Basey Family, on Ancestry.com.  I had tried for a year to locate Mrs. Basey and certainly appreciate Irene’s daughter recently helping me make the connection and sharing information with me.  What would we do without those dear souls who are willing to help and to share information!

Many thanks to 2nd cousin, DFK, and 4th cousins LBD and JJL for sharing information.

Even though, we are basing our knowledge of our ancestors on “assumptions,” I believe that these assumptions are valid for several reasons.  Recorded oral history has validity and value and should be respected. Naming patterns in families reflect the recurring use of the name Alexander in their descendants.  After Alexander West I, we find his son Alexander West II, who named a son Alexander West III.  John Balus West, the grandson of Alexander West I, named a son Alexander Balus West.  John Balus West also had a great grandson named Alexander T. West.  Furthermore, I suspect that two of the sons of Thomas Harvey West (son of Alexander Balus West/Nancy Land) and America Ann McNeil West may have had Alexander in their names.  These sons, A. Judson West and Willard A. West, died at early ages with A. Judson living only approximately two months and Willard A. most likely living only about two years.  In addition, Solomon West, who may have been a brother of Alexander West I, named his son Alexander West.

Obviously, we who are descended from “The Wests of Wilkes” are in need of primary sources with which to document our heritage.  Obviously, I have reached, as genealogist say, “a brick wall” in my search for our ancestors.  I have researched land, census, birth, marriage, will, and probate records in the county court houses and libraries of Orange, Surry, Wilkes, and Burke.  I have also researched at the State Library of North Carolina in Raleigh and the State Library of Virginia in Richmond.  Through this blog, I have hopes that I may reach someone who has greater knowledge than I do about the West ancestors, particularly, John West and his father, Alexander West I.

My intentions are to keep my posts short, but I have just gotten carried away with this and the previous one.