Men of the Revolutionary War

For all the years I studied history in school, I really didn't have any concept that I had relatives who fought in the Revolutionary war.  But as I started to research family, I found a couple of individuals who were well documented as being soldiers in that war, and was delighted to know there were a couple. But as I continue to research, I have come to realize that possibly every male ancestor our family has in that time, was a soldier for the Revolution. I began to suspect this was true when I first knew that the frontiersmen who were settling the areas along the Alleghaney and Appalachain mountains along the "western frontier" of  the new "nation" of the United States were traveling there in "Companies."  The early Census records of 1790, 1800, 1810, and 1820 sometimes list the companies to which families were assigned. Settlers from the mid-century of the 1700's are often found in jobs like surveying, formation of court systems, road building, and fort building.  Some of these men are still being called Captain for instance. They ususally arrived to the areas with grants, or to draw lotteries, led by one individual, for whom the company is sometimes named. But as I searched, I found that our ancestors may not all have a plaque or sign erected to support the claim they fought in the Revolution, but so far, I believe that virtually everyone did.  It is in fact by virtue of their participation that the land was made availble to them in the first place.  I can't be sure that all of them were delighted to find their allotment to be on the side of a mountain, but it seems that most were given an opportunity to chose and mark off their land for themselves. 
For example, our ancestor, Isaac Anglin came to Burke Co., NC from Virginia/W. Virginia as a member of the 11 &12th Companies which arrived prior to 1790 when the first US Census was taken. His name is mispelled as Isaac Anging on the document. Initially, records indicate that the Anglin families arrived into the Suannanoah River Township region of what was then Burke but became Buncombe Co., NC and is now Madison Co. (east of Asheville.)  I don't know yet if the lands earned were there, or if the family simply stayed there a few years while they made the necessary development to lands in Yancey Co., to make the claims legitamate. It was Burke Co. before it was Buncombe/Burke (1791) before it was Yancey Co. (1833) where our Anglin families eventually settled.  In General, the 11th and 12th Company lands became part of Buncombe Co, in 1791 when the county was established.  How do I know Isaac got his land this way? In the Revolutionary War Bounty Land Grants, pg 11, Isaac Anglin of Va. is granted 100 acres on 7 Nov. 1783. His record showed he was a Private.  There are other records that verify this. I found:
"Burke County, NC - Deeds - North Carolina Land Grants...Beginning in 1778 to as late as 1956 when Land Grants were discontinued....Burke County Public Library System, Inc., Morganton, NC. (c) 2001-2004...
SURNAME FIRST NAME DATE LG NO.
ANGLING    Isaac                1790     1437
ANGLING    Isaac                1790      1460."
Appearantly two notations if not two locations.  This sometimes occurred to enter the land grant and then again to list improvements, which needed to have occurred in order to keep the platt.
On the census under the 12th Company as well, is found a Lettie Dyer, who most likely is  Isaac's wife's mother, making her an ancestral grandmother one generation further back.  His wife, therefore also our ancestral grandmother, is Nancy Dyer and she is found in 1800 as the head of household, because Isaac died in 1795 - after the first census and before the second.  Isaac was young - just 35. It took two documents to confirm the family continued to be in the area over that 20 year period. It is because this family can be identified and singled out by its location, and singleness of connections in a certain company, area, to certain individuals or neighbors, that we can make comments about their history with assurance. When I find Nancy Anglin in 1800, on the census record, I cannot initially make the connections to all the other men and women on the page, but as I do....I discover that her neighbors, are also our ancestral grandparents, aunts and uncles.  (See the document on the side page , Roland, Anglin, Edwards ancestors.)
 Assumption - perhaps they were also soldiers...therefore I checked it out and find it to be entirely true. In fact, I find that they were still considered military when they arrived as a member of one of these companies, not as a traditional soldier, but as persons commited to the structure of military command until the settlements could be established, and civil rather than military functions could be developed. It was therefore the duty of these men to defend their settlements against Indians and non-American factions, while at the same time developing a homestead under a set of regulations that made it possible for any soldier and his family to keep the designated lands until they would become civil property, held by landowners, not soldiers.  It was a difficult, primitive task and arduous enough that quite a few of these young men and women died young.  So I am going to begin a dialogue from this generation, reflecting back about 50 years and forward 50 years in an attemp to build a foundation for understanding the whole of our family.
To do this I can take the Roland name back to discover the names of their wives, and also take the Anglin name back to discover the names of their wives, and we will discover the names of our ancestral grandparents on the timeline in this area.  We have already discussed the Silvers, and the Edwards family homes and the men who lived in them. Lets try and put them into perspective. We already know that George Silver was a Revolutionary Soldier, and it is portrayed on the sign for those who visit his church. Mr. Edwards from the article on the Taylor House below, I also know was a soldier. Anglin, Edwards, Silver. That's 3 soldiers. 
Names we will be seeking are as follows:
Roland, Robinson/Robertson, Anglin, Dyer, Austin, Silver, Gardner, Ray, Allen, McIntosh, Edwards, Lucas/Jones, Riddle, Renfroe, McMahan and Griffeth. Roland and Anglin being the male ancestral lines of course, but the others are grandmothers and their ancestors. Almost every one of these names is represented in the area census records just before or after the turn of the 19th century - the years between 1750 to 1850. That will carry us up to the discussions involving the Civil War which will be lengthy. These above are the names of our grandparents in that 100 year period. I might have overlooked one so I will note it later if I discover  it. Before 1750, the number of people habitating these areas was incredibly few. These lands were there for the taking once Treaties could be made and who came to take them?  Our ancestors!

Silver Ancestors ~ Getting to know them by name

My last post here was of George Silver, Jr., the Revolutionary War soldier who claimed to have roots in Russia, and has roots tracable to the Eastern most areas of Germany.  He built a log house in the very early 1800's and he and his sons, built a church above the house as well.  There is a great deal of history available for this man, and his family members, but for now I only want to list his relationship to us as an ancestor.

It goes as follows:
  George Silver  married Nancy Ann Griffith  begat...
               Son - Reverend Thomas Silver   married  Ellender (Nellie) McMahan begat...
                     Son - Jacob William Silver   married  Lucinda Jane Rolland (Rowland) begat...
                           Daughter - Nancy Ellender Silver   married  *William Bailous Roland begat...
                               Son - Hobart McKinley Roland   married   Nora E. Belle Anglin begat...
                                    etc.
note: *[William Bailous's mother was Sarah Caroline Gardner who married - 1.James Roland who died, 2. Jasper Roland who died, and was our ancestor,  and lastly 3. married Rev. Leander Ray. (Rae)]

In the cemetery section of this blog, I placed pictures today of  J.W. and Jane's  tombstones, and that of William Bailous Roland's mother - Sarah C. Rae, who is buried along side them. 
See: Cemeteries - this is the place on the right side panel of  this page. > Mountain Memorials/Silver page.