Monday, February 14, 2011





MAP
This map shows the approximate location of points of interest.

1. Property of William and Charity Rees.
2. Guilford Court House Battlefield.
3. New Garden Monthly Meeting.
4. Joseph and Ann Armfield Thornburg.
5. Stokes County. Surry County is directly west of Stokes.
6. Deep River Monthly Meeting.
7. Property of Mordecai and Charity Mendenhall.
8. Springfield Monthly Meeting.
9. Property of Richard and Charity Beeson.
10. Centre Monthly Meeting.
11. Sandy Spring Meeting.
12. Property of Joseph and Ann Jones Morgan Brown.
13. Cane Creek Monthly Meeting.






There are several families to cover in this area so I have split this post into two parts.
PART 1.…
Anson, Orange, Rowan, Surry and Guilford Counties, North Carolina.

To simplify matters, I am mentioning only counties that were formed in which we have a family interest. Anson County was formed in 1750 and was a very large territory with undefined northern and western boundaries. In 1753, the northern part of Anson County became Rowan County. Orange County was formed in 1752 from parts of Bladen, Granville, and Johnston Counties; in 1770 the western part of Orange and the eastern part of Rowan County were joined to form Guilford County. In 1771 the northeastern part of the remains of Rowan County became Surry County. Stokes county was formed in 1789 from Surry County. In 1849, the western third of Orange County became Alamance County which now borders Guilford on the east. (I think.)

Richard and Charity Grubb Beeson were received at New Garden Monthly Meeting in Rowan County, North Carolina on November 20, 1754, on a certificate issued from Hopewell Monthly Meeting in Virginia on September 2, 1754.< Hopewell Friends History. It would appear that the Beesons made the trip in a relatively short time. It would also appear that both Richard and Charity were in ill health during this time period. I have included the following two letters in some family papers before but some of you may not have seen them so I will include them here.

A Letter From Charity Grubb Beeson to her sister, Phebe Grubb Hadley.
"Loving Sister,
This is to let thee know that we have Received three letters from ye and three presents therein I sent the[e] no letters; I had not freedom Last winter was a year, I had a long time of sickness which brought me very loe in body, and mind and now I am troubled with short breath so that I think I am going home softly. I thought it would Trouble Thee more to let thee know my condition Then send no letters.

I goes to meeting sometimes; we have a meting every other fifth day at our house, my husband grose weakly; the Lord who Lited our candles hath not put them out. Our children Remember their loves to you all. I have sente two presents to the[e] as a toacon of Love and youenity. We donte know that thear heath bene any mischif done in the government as yet by the Indins, but dont know how soon thear may be for some is doubtfull thear my be before the truble some times be over. I desire the[e] to remember oure kind Loves to all oure neare Relations and friends. We under Stand that oure brother John Grubb is desesed, but we have no Cartunty of it. I desire thee to let me know what is become of Peter Grubb's widow. Remember my Love to brother Henry Grubb in particular. So we ad no more at present but Remembering our kind Loves to thee and thy family the 28th of ye fifth month, 1758.

Richard Beeson
Charity Beeson
the tocens which I sente was Love and Youenity"
^Source: Beeson Genealogy, by Jasper Luther Beeson. North Carolina State Archives, Raleigh, North Carolina

The return letter From Phebe Grubb Hadley to her sister, Charity Grubb Beeson.
"Ye 9th of ye 9th mo; 1758;
West Bradford, Chester County

Loving Brother and Sister;
I received Your Letter this day, Dated ye 5th Month 1758, in which I had Great statisfaction to hear of You, Except that Impediment and Stopage in my Sister's Breath and my Brother's Weakness for which I am Ready to Sympathise With, Still hoping that Light, the Grace of God, may be your instructor Until it may Please Him to Call us Unto Himself Which is my Desire Both for you and myself, it Gives me Great Satisfaction to hear of your Keeping to meeting knowing by Experience the Benefit of Waiting Upon the Lord of help in this time of trouble. I have at this time no Child at home But I Acknowledge for myself on the Behalf of my children the Love My cousins has Remembered to us. The Present you have sent to me I Acknowledge and hope to keep as a Sure token of friendship. My desire is that you may be Still kept from the Merciless hand of the Enemy [Indians] and Above the fear of them by trusting in the god of all strength. We have frequently heard of their doing Mischief in the Province.

According to Your desire I shall Let our Relations Know the Contents of your Letter as soon as Possible; the time being so short I have not as yet had no Opportunity But I shall be Carefull. Brother John Grubb is Certainly Deceased this Life he Died with the Gravel and Was decently Buried at Chichester in Friends Buring Ground, the Corps Accompanied by Brothers Emanuel, Samuel, Nathaniel and my self, With a great Company of Others. Brother John has set his two oldest Negroes free and the Rest to be set free at twenty five Years of age. Sister Hannah Grubb Lives at Wilmington & among her Children. I saw her Lately. She lives Exceeding Well full and Plenty. My Children and family is at Present in health as Usual and their families. My son Nathaniel and Isaac is out at Work at the mason trade. Joseph is at John Wall's. John Wall, my son in Law has a daughter about nine months old and Calls Her Name Charity.

Our Brothers is all in Good health Except our Living and Beloved Brother Samuel; he is at this time in Kingwood in Hunterton County in West Jersey or Was there Lately to be Cured of a Cancer in his Under lip which is Very Painfull. Brother Richard, I have heard Lately of Joseph Gregg and his family they are all in Reasonable Good health. I have heard nothing to the Contray from thy Cousins by the River. So I Conclude Still Remembering that Love and Unity Which ought to subsist among Brethern and Sisters in the fellowship of truth.

Please to Remember my Love to My Children and Grand Children by My Late husband and to William Cox and his Wife Rachel Wright, With all Other Enquiring friend. Do no Neglect Writing to me as often as Possible and the Circumstance of Your Affairs and Condition if you please, Concerning these Troubelsome times.

This from your sister Phebe Hadly."
^Source: The Beeson Family Homepage

Richard appears on the 1759 Rowan County, North Carolina tax list as Richard Beason.
Both Richard and Charity are listed as Quaker ministers at various web sites however I have not been able to find verification of this in any record. Charity Grubb Beeson died November 22, 1761 in Rowan County (now Guilford County), North Carolina and is buried at Centre Monthly Meeting. Richard Beeson died January 1, 1777 in Guilford County and is also buried at Centre Monthly Meeting. Centre Meeting is located near Polecat Creek in the southern part of Guilford County east of the Deep River.

“Named for its location halfway between Cane Creek and New Garden meetings, Centre Friends Meeting began in 1757. Seven years before, William Hockett purchased 640 acres near Polecat Creek in present-day Guilford County. John Bales, Matthew Ozborn, Richard Beeson, and Peter Dix settled soon after Hockett’s 1750 arrival. Friends living in the area had to travel eighteen miles on foot to attend worship at New Garden. To relieve them of the thirty-six mile round trip, New Garden Meeting granted Centre Friends permission to hold worship. A deed for the land given by Matthew Ozborn for the meeting house to be built was made in Salisbury in 1763. At that time, the land was in Rowan County. The first building was completed in 1763. Cane Creek Meeting authorized Centre Friends as a Monthly Meeting in 1772.”

“The original building at Centre was a log cabin 20 feet square. “
http://www.stoppingpoints.com/north-carolina/sights.cgi?marker=Deep+River+Friends+Meeting&cnty=Guilford ^

Will Book 1, page 58, Randolph County, North Carolina.
Richard Beeson Sr. lived near Deep River in southern Guilford County but his will was filed in Randolph County which boarders Guilford to the south. I assume that it was closer and easier to go the county seat of Randolph County.

Whereas I Richard Beeson of Deep River in Guilford County North Carolina being fair advanst in years and knowing the uncertainty of life and certainty of death do therefore (unreadable) fit to make this my last will and testament in manner and form as follows first I recommend my soul to the lord and my body to the earth to be berried in a Christian like manner at the discression of my executors hearafter to be named and as touching such worldly substances where withal that it hath pleased the lord to bless me with this life which I despose thereof in the following manner and form:
First of all I order all my just debts to be paid and funeral charges to be paid by my executors hearafter to be named
2d I give to my grandson Stephanus Haworth two hundred acres of the land I now live on including all improvement to him his heirs and assigns and no more
3dly I give to my two sons Benjamin Beeson and Isaac Beeson and to their heirs and assigns the remaining part of the said tract of land to each and equal and
4thly I give to my son Benjamin two fether beds and all the furniture belonging thereunto. I give to my son Isaac to have the feather bed I now ly upon and all the furniture belonging thereunto
5thly It is my will that the remaining part of my moveable estate shall be equally divided among all my children to wit Benjamin Isaac Pheby and Charity in the best and most suitable manner it can be done by my Executors
6thly And further I do give to all or any of my isue that doth or lay claim hearafter to any right of heirship by my Executors hearafter to be named
7thly I ordain and constitute and appoint my two sons Benjamin and Isaac to be and sole executors of this my last will and testament hearby utterly disallowing and revoking and making void all other and former wills testament and leageacies by me maid Retifying and confirming this and no other to be my last will and testament in witness whereof I have hear unto set my name and affixed my seal this 29th day of the month called march in the year 1775.

Signed Sealed pronounced to be the said Richard Beesons last will and testament in the presents of us
Jeremiah Reynolds Richard Beeson Seal
Joseph Lamb
Isaac Beeson, Jr.

Charity Beeson, daughter of Richard and Charity Grubb Beeson, was married to Mordecai Mendenhall. The Mendenhalls, including their 13 year old son Richard, obtained a certificate from Hopewell Monthly Meeting in Virginia on March 6, 1751 and were received at Cane Creek Monthly Meeting, then in either Bladen, Granville, or Johnston County (then Orange County now Alamance County), North Carolina on March 7, 1752.
Mordecai was in Anson County (now Guilford) in 1751 when he made a land entry for 640 acres on Richland Creek. And then, “1752 June 12 Deed. Thomas Ridge of Anson County, planter, to Mordecai Mendenhall of same, lease 5 shillings, release £1 Virginia money, 1,134 acres on north side of Richland Creek below Benjamin Well, 2 tracts granted to Ridge by Earl of Granville 15 March 1752. Signed: Thomas Ridge (seal); witnesses: James Carter, Elijah McCoy”
^http://www.mindspring.com/~baumbach/cody/ridge/ridge03.htm
Over the years Mordecai and Charity sold tracts of this land to some of their sons. I did not, however, find a sale to son Richard who was my direct relative..

Mordecai Mendenhall is listed in the DAR Patriot Index as furnishing supplies for the militia during the Revolutionary War. It was a common practice for militias to forage and take food stuffs and animals that it needed to sustain their operations and it appears that the Mendenhalls were one source of supply. One can not be sure if they were willing suppliers. It also appears that after the Battle of Guilford Court House the Mendenhall property and some buildings were used as a hospital foe troops on both sides.

Following quoted from: http://www.stoppingpoints.com/north-carolina/sights.cgi?marker=Deep+River+Friends+Meeting&cnty=Guilford

"The minutes of Cane Creek Monthly Meeting for November 4, 1753 record the beginnings of the Deep River Friends Meeting. Minutes from that meeting note that Friends of Deep River, living near present day High Point wished to hold worship amongst themselves. A year later on November 30, 1754, Deep River Friends received permission from the New Garden Meeting to hold meetings. Most members had relocated to the Piedmont from Pennsylvania and Nantucket prior to 1750. By the end of the meeting’s first decade, it had gained 423 members through transfers. In 1778, Deep River Friends became a Monthly Meeting."
" From 1754 until the construction of the first meeting house in 1758, the meeting met in the homes of Thomas Mills, Mordecai Mendenhall, Walter Thornborough, and Benjamin Beeson. Built in 1758, the original meeting house had a barn like appearance and included a partition in order to separate the men and women for their business meetings."
"Like many churches in the area during the Revolutionary War, Deep River Friends Meeting found itself in the middle of the warpath. In 1781, 3,000 of Colonel Banastre Tarleton’s Redcoats, used the meeting grounds as their campground in route to the Battle of Guilford Courthouse." Forgive my digression here but some of you will remember that Charles De Pauw’s unit of French Calvary participated in a battle against Tarleton’s unit at Gloucester Point across the York River from Yorktown in October of 1781. The result of this action drove Tarleton from the field and forced the English back into the fortifications where they were trapped. Charles De Pauw may have been wounded in this action.

Mordecai wrote his will on January 9, 1796 which was probated and recorded in Guilford County Will Book A, page 239 in November of 1803. His death date is listed as November 3, 1803. Mordecai willed five shillings to the heirs of his son Richard. Charity Beeson Mendenhall died September 20, 1809 and both are buried at Springfield Meeting House Cemetery, High Point, North Carolina.

“For a quarter century beginning around 1750, immigrants, many of them members of the Society of Friends, swarmed into Piedmont North Carolina. The first meetings in the colony were organized in 1751 in Alamance County at Cane Creek and in Guilford County at New Garden, since that time the historical center of Quakerism in North Carolina. Other Friends meetings soon developed, among them Springfield, the site of which is today encompassed by the city of High Point. From Springfield and other meetings in the Piedmont were launched in the early nineteenth century the westward migrations of Quakers to the present Midwest.”
“Meetings were begun at Springfield in 1773. In 1780, at the request of the Deep River meeting under whose guidance they remained to that time, Springfield was set up as a Preparative Meeting. In 1786 church members received the deed for five acres on which their meeting house was then standing. Springfield was established as a Monthly Meeting in 1790.
http://www.stoppingpoints.com/north-carolina/sights.cgi?marker^
Mordecai and Charity probably did not move, Springfield Meeting was probably just closer to their residence.

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