A Spinster – Not What You Think!

Exactly, who is a spinster?  I thought I knew but found out today that I really didn’t know the full meaning.  I thought that the term was used in earlier days, perhaps, in those of our grandparents’ time, to label an unmarried lady who was usually a little older in age, one who was past what one would assume was “the marrying age.” 

In my previous blog I mentioned that Nancy Land, the wife of Alexander Balus West, was listed erroneously as a spinster in the 1860 census.  I knew that Nancy was married and had one son; therefore, she just couldn’t be labeled a spinster.

Recently, I have been in contact with a genealogy librarian at the Library of North Carolina in Raleigh.  I enlisted her assistance to help me locate the grave of Alexander Balus West who was killed in action in the Civil War at Winchester, Virginia.  During the course of our e-mail conversations, she learned that I had thought the 1860 census was inaccurate in labeling Nancy as a spinster.  Today, this gracious and most helpful librarian clarified the meaning of the term, spinster.  According to the librarian, “The word, spinster, has a dual meaning.  In the most common usage in the 1900s, it’s to describe an older childless (and often unmarried) woman, but in the 1800s, ‘spinster’ was often used as an occupation for a woman who spins cloth such as wool or cotton.” 

As I read her definition, a bright light came on in my head!  I immediately thought of the coverlet that Nancy Land had made.  According to my 1^st cousin 1X removed, CALT, who has the coverlet, Nancy Land had grown the flax, had spun the thread from the flax, and had woven the cloth into the coverlet.  Therefore, not only was Nancy listed accurately in the 1860 census as the spouse of Alexander Balus West, but she was also listed accurately as having the “occupation” of a “spinster”– one who spins cloth.  She evidently wanted to be known for her skill as a spinner and weaver in addition to being a wife and mother.  Even in the 1860s, wasn’t she a liberated woman!

In 2009 CALT placed Nancy Land’s coverlet in the Banner Elk Heritage Days’ quilt display of local Banner Elk quilts at the Banner House Museum in Banner Elk, North Carolina, during the Banner Elk Heritage Days.  I have quoted below the description, which was most likely written by CALT, of the coverlet as the description was printed in a guide for visitors.

This woven coverlet is over 100 years old and was made by Nancy Land West

who grew the flax, spun the thread, and wove it into this coverlet when she

lived in Wilkes County on a farm in the Stony Fork area.  Nancy, who married

Alexander Balus West in 1851, became a widow in 1864 and moved to Banner

Elk by wagon with her only son, Thomas Harvey West.  She died the following

year and is buried in the Banner Elk Cemetery in the West-Lowe plot.[i]

Nancy Land West's Coverlet

 What a privilege it was for me to see, touch, and photograph this coverlet while it was on display!

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[i] Exhibit of Local Antique Quilts, Banner House Museum, Banner Elk, North Carolina,  September 2009

The West Patriarchs: 4th in a Series, Alexander Balus West

Perhaps, thus far, this is the most heart-wrenching post to write.  It describes the life of a young man who gave his life either for the protection of his family or for a cause, the Confederate cause, in which he deeply believed.  It is the story of a young husband and father who apparently deeply loved his wife and son.  It is a story which exemplifies the great waste of human lives on both sides of the conflict.  It is a story without closure.

Alexander Balus West was the second son of John Balus West and Mary Ann “Polly” Swanson.  He was born in Mt. Zion, Wilkes County, North Carolina, in 1828 and died on Sept. 19, 1864, in Winchester, Virginia, where he was killed in action fighting for the Confederate States of America in the Civil War.

Alexander Balus and Nancy Land West

Apparently, he used the nickname, “Alex,” since that name is found in the early census data.  In the 1850 census Alex West was recorded as a farmer at the age of 22 and was living in his father’s household at the time of the enumeration on Nov. 7, 1850.  On February 4, 1851, he married Nancy E. Land, the daughter of William Thomas Land and Nancy Jane Carlton, of Wilkes County.  From land records, I assume that the two were neighbors.  Alexander Balus and Nancy Land West had only one child, a son, Thomas Harvey West who was born in 1858. 

He began acquiring land shortly after his marriage to Nancy Land.  In November 1852 he received a land grant for 95 acres on the south fork of Stony Fork for which he paid 5 cents an acre.  In March 1855 he received a land grant for 86 acres joining the property of William Tugman and that of his brother, Franklin West, on the “waters” of Stony Fork.  His brothers, John [Witherspoon] West and William [Thomas Jefferson] West, were the chain carriers.  In March 1855 he received yet another land grant for 16 acres on the land near Bull Branch, the “waters” of Naked Creek.  In 1857 he purchased about 230 acres on the “waters” of Stony Fork from his father, John Balus West, for the sum of $300. In 1859, he sold 200 acres on banks Stony Fork to his brother, Franklin West, for $500.  At one point in time, he owned approximately 427 acres in the Stony Fork area.

In the 1860 census Alexander Balus West’s land was valued at $900 and his personal estate at $500. Since these amounts were considerably more than most of those assessed in the same area, one may assume that he, too, like his father, was relatively “well-off.”  Also, in this census, other than his wife, who was mistakenly identified as a spinster, and Thomas Harvey, their one-year-old son, two additional persons were living in his household:  Susan Walker, age 19, who was identified as a domestic laborer, and Hamilton Barnet, age 13, who was listed as a domestic. 

Hamilton Barnett later married Mary Ann West, the sister of Alexander.  Ironically, Mary Ann and Hamilton Barnett’s great grandson was the same farmer I happened to meet on my September 9, 2011, trip to Stony Fork.  I am finding coincidents such as this one to be phenomenal!

As “the war” approached, Alexander Balus West at the age of 34 for unknown reasons, other than that of patriotic sympathies, felt the call of duty and enlisted as a private in the Confederation States Army on April 30, 1862. He was in K Company of the 53^rd North Carolina Infantry.  His military records provide an interesting fact that he was 5’8” tall. 

Interestingly, the military records of his brother, Franklin West, indicate that Franklin also was of short stature with a height of 5’8”.  As I think back on my father, William Charles West, Jr., and grandfather, William Charles West, Sr., they were not tall.  From photographs I have seen of my great grandfather, Thomas Harvey West was likewise short of stature.

On August 1, 1862, Alexander Balus West was promoted to the rank of corporal.  He was wounded in the Battle of Gettysburg on July 3, 1863, and was hospitalized through August 1863 in the Wayside Hospital or General Hospital No. 9 in Richmond, Virginia.  He later saw action in Winchester, Virginia, where, at first, he was listed on the muster rolls for September/October and November/December of 1864 as a prisoner of war.  However, the muster roll for January/February 1865 recorded that he was killed in action at Winchester on September 19, 1864.

So many questions come to mind:  Why did so much time lapse before the army knew of his fate?  Was communication so poor or nonexistent that word could not be relayed to the authorities and to his family?  How much time passed before his wife, his son, and his parents learned of his death?  Where is he buried?  No answers.  No closure.  How sad.

I have discovered, however, that Alexander Balus was granted a leave of absence during January and February of 1864. One may only hope that he was able to return home for one last visit during this leave.   Because he must have had a premonition of his imminent death, Alexander Balus West wrote a letter to his young son, who would have been 5 years old at the time.  In his letter dated March 17, 1864, he wrote “these lines for your instruction” in case he should “see you no more.”  He instructed young Thomas’ mother to “keep this for you til you can read it” and if he saw him no more to “receive this as my earnest and prairful advice to you.”    Most likely, he never saw young Thomas again since Alexander was killed six months later at Winchester.  This letter was kept throughout Thomas Harvey West’s life.  One of Thomas’ daughters, Martha Alice West, saved it from his personal belongings.  Before her death, she gave the letter to one of her nieces, Alexander’s great granddaughter.

Alexander Balus West was certainly “a man of faith” and was active in the Lewis Fork Baptist Association in which he served as a delegate.  According to an article by Irene Hendrix Basey[i], he was a licensed Baptist preacher.  I have not completed researching the various documents related to the churches in the Mt. Zion area.  Undoubtedly, I will find additional documentation regarding his religious participation.

One of my many goals as I work through my West family is to find the final resting place of Alexander Balus West.  I only hope that he has not been buried in an unmarked and/or mass grave somewhere in the countryside of Winchester, Virginia.  However, the location of his final resting place may remain unknown.

[i] Basey, Irene Hendrix, “West Family,” Heritage of Wilkes County, 1982.  Mrs. W. O. Absher, ed., Wilkesboro, NC: Wilkes County Genealogical Society, Inc., 1982.

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New Information Added to Sept. 1, 2011, Post

As frequently occurs in research, new information is discovered which lends new “light” to the story.  This past weekend I attended a genealogy workshop.  As I was examining some Wilkes County land abstract books that were for sale at the event, I discovered evidence of another land grant which John Balus West had received in 1835.  The grant was for 100 acres on the Yadkin River.  During my next visit to the court house in Wilkesboro, North Carolina, I plan to locate and copy this land grant.  I have added this additional information to the 4^th paragraph of the post, “The West Patriarch:  3^rd in a Series, John Balus West.” 

The W. Scott Kerr Dam, Other Wilkes Cemeteries, and the Thomas Clingman West Home Site

In this post I would like to describe more of the places we saw on our trip to Stony Fork and the Mt. Zion Community on Sept. 9, 2011.  In addition, to my husband, Doug, I was with two 4^th cousins, JJL and JP, and BL, the husband of JJL.
  

While we were cruising around the mountain roads in BL’s white pickup truck, our attention was captured by several interesting sites.  First, BL took us to the W. Scott Kerr Dam and Reservoir on the Yadkin River.  The dam is located in the area of Lewis Fork.  Its construction had been opposed by many residents because they feared the loss of land and the changes that would occur in the environment.  However, over the past years the dam has provided important advantages for the area.  It has, first of all, prevented many homes and farms from being flooded.  Furthermore, the lake and the area surrounding the dam are quite beautiful and provide opportunities for recreation for the residents and tourists. The Yadkin River begins from a source in Blowing Rock, North Carolina, and winds its way east for about 100 miles.  It then turns south at East Bend with its name changing to the Pee Dee and continues for about 225 miles where it empties into the Atlantic Ocean.  Stony Fork Creek empties into the Yadkin River and makes it journey to the Atlantic, also. The following multimedia website superbly presents the Yadkin River Story:  http://yadkinriverstory.org/yadkin.html 

The Yadkin River and Lewis Fork areas are significant to those of us who are descendants of Alexander West I and Alexander Balus West.   Alexander West I lived on the “lower end of bottoms on north side of the Yadkin River” in 1778.  Alexander Balus West and Nancy Land apparently lived in the Lewis Fork area in 1860 since Lewis Fork is given in census documents as their post office.



JJL at Her Parents' Tombstone
Arvil Robert Johnson and Hazel Walker
Walker Family Cemetery



Driving back across the spill-way of the W. Kerr Scott Dam, observing the reservoir on one side with the river valley on the other, we continued our road trip.   Next we stopped at the Walker Family Cemetery at Beaver Creek.  The cemetery is owned and maintained by my 4^th cousin, JJL and her husband, BL.  The setting of this cemetery in a private wooded area provides a quiet place for one to reflect as he sits on the concrete bench near the woods.  JJL’s parents, Arvil Robert Johnson and Hazel Walker, and her grandparents, George Hayes Walker and Dicia Albertha “Bertha” West, are buried in the cemetery.  George and Bertha West Walker were also the grandparents of 4^th cousin, JP.  Bertha West Walker was the daughter of Thomas Clingman West and Bethania Triplett, and the granddaughter of Franklin W. West and Cynthia Adeline Holder.  Bertha lived to be over 91 years old.  According to her granddaughters, JJL and JP, she remained



JP at the Tombstone of the Grandparents of JP and JJL
George Hayes Walker and Dicia Albertha West
Walker Family Cemetery



active with a good mind until her death.  Many other Walkers are buried in this cemetery.  While I was walking among the tombstones, I recognized other familiar names such as Barlow, Triplett, and McNeil.  Certainly, I must research these individuals to determine if any relationship exists with anyone in my West family.





Tombstone of Thomas Clingman West and
Bethania Triplett
Beaver Creek Baptist Church Cemetery



From this stop, we continued to Beaver Creek Baptist Church where Thomas Clingman West and his wife Bethania Triplett, the great grandparents of JJL and JP, are buried.  JP showed me a photograph of their great grandfather, Thomas Clingman West.  I was astonished to see how much he resembled photographs I have of his 1^st cousin, my great grandfather, Thomas Harvey West.  Eventually, in a future blog, I hope to post photographs of both Thomas Clingman West and my great grandfather, Thomas Harvey West. 

From the Beaver Creek Baptist Cemetery, we went to the Triplett-Mt. Zion Cemetery where we found the one and only grave and tombstone of Franklin W. West along with that of his wife Cynthia Adeline Holder.  If you missed the resolution to this mystery of the two tombstones, please see my blog of Sept. 10, “Eating Humble Pie.” 

At some point in this route, we visited the home site of Thomas Clingman West and Bethania Triplett.  The house burned some years ago, and the property appears to be used by its current owners for storing equipment and other items.  I can envision a visitor passing between those two boxwoods and climbing a few steps to the front porch to sit "for a spell" and enjoy a glass of lemonade with the Wests!  In its time, the home and setting must have been beautiful and peaceful with trees and shrubbery adorning the lawn.  In fact, many very large boxwoods and trees remain on the property today as a testimony to those by-gone days.



Site of the Home of Thomas Clingman and Bethania Triplett West



The Thomas Land Family Cemetery

So much to share about our wonderful trip to Stony Fork last week with the cousins!  In this post I want to share some additional information about the Thomas Land Family Cemetery and our encounter with a newly found cousin.

Last September, 2010, I first visited this beautiful valley where so many of my relatives lived and still live from the early beginnings of Wilkes County in 1752 to the present.  At that time I came with two 1^st cousins 1X removed and a 2^nd cousin.  The elder of these cousins remembered visiting where Thomas Harvey and America Ann McNeil West, his grandparents, had lived on Stony Fork before moving to Banner Elk in 1902.  These cousins helped get me started on this road to discovery that I am currently traveling.

For my most recent visit, on Friday, Sept. 9, 2011, two 4^th cousins, who had grown up in the nearby community of Beaver Creek, and I arranged to meet in Wilkesboro.  We toured the countryside together with one cousin’s spouse driving us in his truck.  As we drove along those narrow, winding, country roads, I listened to JJL and JP talk about our mutual ancestors and point out the various locations where they had lived and were buried.  I tried to absorb as much as I could but now realize that I had missed or have forgotten a great deal of what I had heard since I didn’t have the prior knowledge to make that permanent connection.  

I greatly appreciate the hospitality and friendship of all of these cousins.  Without them, I would not have known where to go or how to find answers to my questions as I travel my personal road seeking knowledge of the past.

While searching for the West family grave plot on that first visit in September 2010, one of my 1^st cousins 1X removed and I talked with a man who was parking his tractor in an abandoned chicken barn.  He was able to point out the cemetery which was on a small knoll down the road behind a barn and corral west of the chicken barn.  During this recent visit last week with my 4^th cousins, we noticed a man working on the farm across the road from the Mt. Zion Baptist Church.  We drove down the driveway toward the house to inquire about another cemetery which BL thought was nearby.

The man acknowledged the existence of another nearby cemetery which was adjacent to the property on which he was working and across the road from Mt. Zion Baptist Church. He indicated that the stones in the cemetery had deteriorated to mere rocks with only one name, that being the name White, visible on a stone.  A small grove of trees overshadowed those forgotten graves where a church had once stood.  Supposedly, a group of worshippers separated from the Advent Baptist Church where the Triplett-Mt. Zion Cemetery is located and built a church on land the where this forgotten cemetery lies.  Later, after the church burned, the “new” Mt. Zion Baptist Church on Mt. Zion Road was erected diagonally across the road.

Surprisingly, this man with whom we spoke was the same one with whom my 1^st cousin 1X removed and I had spoken on my 2010 visit.  Initially, I didn’t recognize him, but he remembered me and the conversation my cousin and I had with him a year ago.   As we talked, another surprising fact emerged:  he is a grandson, perhaps the 2^nd great grandson, of William Hamilton Barnett and our 2^nd great grand aunt, Mary Ann West.  For those of you following the genealogy, Mary Ann West was the daughter of John Balus West and Mary Ann “Polly” Swanson and a sister of Alexander Balus West and Franklin West.  According to my calculations, Mr. Barnett would a 3^rd cousin 1X removed to my 4^th cousins and me.  I regret that I did not ask his first name.  He appeared to have some knowledge of and interest in his ancestors.  I left my contact information; hopefully, he will contact me.  My belief that I am related to many people in Wilkes County continues to be reinforced as I have had and continue to have many encounters with them in person or through e-mail.



Thomas Land Family Cemetery
The Way It Looks Now



And now back to my topic, the Thomas Land Cemetery.  In my last post, I discussed my meeting with the man operating the Tuscarora Ranch where the cemetery is located.  Through research and mostly though contact with another cousin, George F. McNeil, a 5^th cousin 1X removed, I learned that the cemetery is known as the Thomas Land Family Cemetery.  When Mr. McNeil and his wife verified the cemetery, which, I think, must have been in 1989, they identified 8 marked graves and about 10 unmarked graves in the 75X50 foot plot.  At that time the land was owned by the G. W. Wellborn heirs.  The McNeils commented in their report that “Cattle have turned over all stones.  Cemetery is overgrown with high grass.  Additional markers may be found by probing.”   They also indicated that the plot was not easily identifiable.  George F. and Joyce D. McNeil identified the following graves:

·         Jane Carlton Land (15 Apr 1793 – 15 Mar 1865), spouse of Thomas Land

·         T. C. “Tommy” Land (18 Mar 1828 – 30 Nov 1912)

·         Thomas Land (13 Sep 1788 – 9 Jul 1871), spouse of Jane Carlton

·         Jim Pennell

·         A 1y 8m Robinett infant (28 Dec 1909 – 31 Dec 1909), child of R. Zeb  Robinett and Molly E. Land

·         A. J. West (29 Jan 1884  - 3 Apr 1884), child of Thomas Harvey West and America Anne McNeill

·         Willard A. West (13 Feb 1889 – date of death gone, tombstone broken), child of Thomas Harvey West and America Anne McNeill[i]

The McNeils also listed Molly Land Robinett as being buried in the plot.  However, they did not find a grave/tombstone but had been told by family members that she was buried in the plot near her infant child.  Molly was the daughter of J. C. and Nannie Land and the wife of R. Zeb Robinett.[ii]



Thomas Land Family Cemetery
The Way It Looked Years Ago
(Thanks to G. Land for the Photograph)



At this point, I would like to recognize the work of George F. McNeil and his late wife, Joyce D. McNeil. They have done extensive work compiling abstracts of documents and data bases of cemeteries in the Wilkes County area.  Their works are widely published and found in many libraries.  Mr. and Mrs. McNeil have provided an outstanding service to those of us who are searching for information about our past.

As I related in my post of July 27, 2011, “The Cemetery,” according to my 1^st cousin 1X removed, CALT, her mother, who was my grand aunt, Flora West Lowe, along with Flora’s niece, Edna Triplett Coder, cleaned up the cemetery and installed the split rail fence around it.  They did this sometime before Aunt Flora’s death in 1993.

My desire is that this ancestral cemetery, which dates back to the first burial in 1865, be preserved and maintained. 

Again, may I express my thanks to those cousins and spouse (FL, CALT, NLS, and AML) who took me on that first journey to Stony Fork and to those 4^th cousins and spouse (JJL, JP, and BL) for our recent excursion there.  Thanks to George F. McNeil for his assistance and information.  Lastly, but not least, I must thank my patient husband, Doug, who endures those long hours he spends with me in court houses and libraries and the many jaunts he takes with me across the mountains and through the valleys of western North Carolina as we make these trips.

[i] McNeil, George F. and Joyce D. McNeil. “Wilkes County Database.” Wilkesboro, NC, 2009.

[ii] McNeil, George F. Letter to Charlotte West Dade, July 27, 2011.

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