2019 03 Glasscock
DAVIE DOSSIER
Issued by
Davie County Historical and Genealogical Society
Mocksville, North Carolina
July 2019, Issue 3
VERIFYING VALIDITY
Davie Dossier, July 2019 page 1
DAVIE COUNTY HISTORICAL AND GENEALOGICAL SOCIETY
President, Linda Leonard
Vice President, Marcia Phillips
Secretary, Pat Mason
Treasurer, Marie Craig
Board of Directors, Claude Horn
Dossier Editor, Marie Craig
Webmaster, Marie Craig
Our Website is https://sites.google.com/view/dchgs .
Historical Data to research is http://www.daviecountync.gov/440/Genealogy-Local-History .
Other Websites about Davie County genealogy and history:
http://wiki.familysearch.org/en/Davie_County%2C_North_Carolina
REVISED URL for Davie County GenWeb:
http://ncgenweb.us/davie/
Meetings are on the fourth Thursdays at 7 pm at Davie County Library History Room.
January 25: old movie night, H. Lee Waters movies of Davie County in the 40’s
February 23, Sat., 10 am: instead of meeting, tour of Family History Center, 2780 Westchester Dr., Winston-Salem
March 28, Tour of Zion Chapel Methodist Church, discussion of renovation of one of Davie’s oldest churches
April 25, Randall Jones lecture and display; books for sale
May 4: Help with Daniel Boone Festival on the Square
June 27: Film of the Harold Frank Story, Prisoner of War in World War Two
September 26
October 24
November 21
FUTURE CONFERENCES
Federation of Genealogical Societies: August 21-24, 2019, Washington DC https://fgs.org/conferences/
National Genealogical Society: May 8-11, 2019, St. Charles MO. https://www.ngsgenealogy.org/
RootsTech: February 27 – March 2, 2019 in Salt Lake City. https://www.rootstech.org/ Talks are archived.
Back issues of the Davie Dossier are online at
http://www.daviecountync.gov/440/Genealogy-Local-History .
More and more research items about Davie County are being uploaded for use on your computer at home.
See http://www.daviecountync.gov/440/Genealogy-Local-History .
Genealogy data in Bibles, Daniel Boone Family info, church history, and Flossie Martin records.
DUE TO LARGE INVENTORY, MR. WALL’S HISTORY and ARCHITECTURE books are now $8 !
Davie Dossier, July 2019 page 2
Is this newspaper article accurate?
This article (see transcript below) had been copied and
filed with the Glasscock Surname information at the
Davie County Public Library History Room. The
situation takes place during the Civil War in Davie
County and involves one of my relatives, so I had
made a copy of the copy and saved it on my own
computer. In rereading it, I wondered about the
authenticity.
There was no date on this page, and the newspaper was
not listed so I decided to research this article. I will
describe the research methods I used.
TRANSCRIPT OF ARTICLE
Legend of Davie ‘Baron’ Lives On
By Heath Thomas
Mocksville --The man and his slaves are dead and
there is no longer any pretense of glory for either.
However,many of his chattels lived until
recent years and their stories helped build the
legend of Abner Glasscock…“For he rode off one
fine Sunday morning to see his true love,but he
met death on the road…”
In slavery times,Abner Glasscock’s barony,
a five-mile-long stretch of country,six miles
northwest of here,was a more spectacular
showplace than anything offered by the new Davie
County seat village which was then known as
Mock’s Old Field.
There was a wildness about Abner
Glasscock that distinguished him from others of his
clan.They were all landed slave owners who
traced their roots back to Glasgow in Scotland.
Many of his kinsmen now reside in this
area.Marshall E.Glasscock of Route 1,
Mocksville,is Abner’s great nephew.In fact,
Marshall bears a striking resemblance to an old
photograph of the doughty slave owner.
Abner,a young bachelor,owned 75 to 100
Negro slaves.A very wealthy man,according to
the standards of that day,he was not satisfied with
the money that he made from his extensive farm
operations.
He was seized with the gold fever that then
flamed in Cabarrus and Rowan.His land is still
scarred from the holes that were dug by his slaves
while Abner hunted for the golden will-o’-the-wisp.
Abner ordered from Rowan an old Chilean
mill,with which ore was ground in that day.Today,
the two mammoth granite wheels lie in the yard of
the Thomas A.Blackwelder Jr.home at Mocksville,
Route 2.
When he failed to find gold,he turned his
fertile mind to another enterprise.He’d convert the
grain from his fields and the fruit from his immense
orchards into products that have always been in
demand: whisky and brandy.
Many of the timbers from the old still house
were salvaged by Thomas A.Blackwelder Sr.who
used some of them for the construction of a smoke
house.A door,its ancient lock still in working
Davie Dossier, July 2019 page 3
order,was taken from the Glasscock residence and
is being used in a granary on the Blackwelder farm.
The old Chilean mill was put to another use
from that which it was intended.It was used to
crush grain and fruit which went into Abner’s
distillery vats.An old Negro,one of Abner’s former
slaves,told Thomas A.Blackwelder Sr.that eight
mules were required to haul the larger stone to the
still house.
Fine horses were one of Abner’s many
diversions.His barony became a favorite roistering
place.Fights were a common occurrence and
according to his ex-slave,at least two men were
killed at the still house.
Coldly mercenary where business was
concerned,he carried on one enterprise that was
frowned upon by many,including some of his
relatives.This was his slave auctions where he’d
put his human chattels on the block as casually as
he would sell a horse.
With the start of the Civil War,Abner
Glasscock was named a home guard with all the
authority of a Confederate provost marshal.Many
in Davie were not slave owners and took a dim
view of fighting with the secessionists.Abner was
efficient in rounding up deserters.
Meanwhile he was courting Mary Campbell
of Dutchman’s Creek.That part of Davie had its full
quota of savagely inclined young men who vowed
they’d have no part of Jeff Davis’war against the
Union.
“Allen Blackwelder,my grandfather,”said
Thomas A.Blackwelder Sr.,“brought word,warning
Ab that there was danger for him up on Dutchman’s
Creek.Grandfather went to Pruitt’s mill to carry
grain.While there,he was asked to carry a
message to Ab which was this:The band of
deserters on Dutchman’s Creek had vowed to die
rather than go to war,and that if Glasscock came
back up there he’d come at the risk of his life.”
Allen Blackwelder was a friend of the
Glasscocks and he wasted no time in carrying the
message to Abner.Little good that it did.Abner
only laughed at the warning.
“I’m not after the deserters on Dutchman’s
Creek,”he said.“But I’ll go up there when I please
for I’m courting Miss Mary Campbell.”
On Sunday morning one of his Negroes
saddled his finest horse and he set out to see “his
true love.”He got as far as the Ab Davis farm,
about one and one-half miles north of Eaton’s
Baptist Church.
Then a hail of bullets rained from the woods
and dashing Abner Glasscock lay dying in the road,
dressed in his Sunday finery.He was picked up
and brought back to his residence that overlooked
his still house and slave quarters.Thomas A.
Blackwelder Sr.heard part of the story from the lips
of Mary Campbell who before her death was Mrs.
Tom Jones.
“‘Abner and I were engaged’she told me,”
said Mr.Blackwelder.“‘And when I came down to
the funeral,’she continued,‘I took off the gold ring
he’d given me and put it on Abner’s finger.’ “
So they buried him with his fine gold watch
and the ring he’d given to his “true love.”
+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+
MARIE’S ANALYSIS OF ARTICLE
The man featured in the article is Abner
Glassock.His mother,Sarah “Sally”Booe
Glasscock,was the daughter of my fifth great
grandparents,Jacob Booe and Eve Coon Booe.
This means that Sally was my fourth great grand
aunt.Abner would be my first cousin five times
removed.Being generally interested in local history
and in my relatives, I did some research.
SLAVES:The author,Heath Thomas,said
that Abner had 75-100 slaves.The 1850 slave
census lists only seven slaves for this family.The
1860 census of Davie County lists him as single,30,
and living with his widowed mother,Sarah
Davie Dossier, July 2019 page 4
Glasscock,75,in the Chinquapin township which is
in northwest Davie.The 1860 Slave Census (one
year before the Civil War)shows his mother as
owning only three mulatto slaves,a man who was
45,a woman who was 28,and a little girl,3.(The
slave census never listed the slaves’names,just the
owners’names.)This great discrepancy of number
of slaves makes me doubt the entire article.
WEALTH:In the 1850 census for
Chinquapin township,we find Abner with his
family:James Glasscock,62,worth is $2800;Sarah,
58;Martha,22;Abner,21,farmer;and Mary
(James’mother),94.Using an online inflation
finder, $2800 in 1850 is equivalent to $85,365.
In 1860,Sarah had $4,000 ($112,956 now)and
Abner had $3,000 ($84,717 now).
BIRTH YEAR:Since he was 30 on the 1860
census,this would make him born about 1830.The
official date of the 1860 census was June 1,so if he
was born before June 1 the birth year would be
different.Example:if he was born between 2 June
1829 and 31 December 1829,he would be 30 and
born in 1829.The article does not mention his age.
(An online tree listed his birth year as 1829,but she
had listed his middle name as Baron.More doubt
of accuracy
CIVIL WAR:The story continues that he
was named a home guard during the Civil War with
all the authority of a Confederate provost marshal.
Some of his neighbors were opposed to slavery and
were reluctant to serve in the war.Abner was
efficient in rounding up deserters.Research shows
that he paid John Bracken to serve in the war in his
place.This is confirmed in Civil War records and
the book The Civil War Roster of Davie County.
This same book described the substitute,John W.
Bracken who also lived in the Chinquapin township.
John returned from the war and married Mary
Graves on Christmas Day in 1866.They had two
sons.He lived until 1905 and is buried at Chestnut
Grove United Methodist Church Cemetery.The
article above does not mention Abner’s substitute,
but the Civil War records confirm his serving as
home guard.
MARY CAMPBELL:Abner was courting
Mary Campbell who lived north of him near the
dissenters.He was warned not to go up there but he
went anyway to see Mary.The article says that he
was dressed up one Sunday morning to go see her,
but was shot dead on the road.A neighbor
interviewed her later in life,and she said that they
were engaged.At his funeral,she put the gold ring
he’d given her onto his finger.Research shows that
there was a Mary Campbell,20 years old,on the
1860 census in that township.
CEMETERY RECORDS:There is no death
certificate or cemetery record for Abner.
FindAGrave.com lists fourteen Glasscock burials in
Davie County,but Abner is not included.The
Davie County cemetery books contain thirteen
Glasscock/Glascock persons but not Abner.A
family tree on Ancestry.com includes Abner and
lists his dates as 1829 -1863.[FamilySearch.org
and Ancestry list an Abner Glasscock marrying
Rebecca Steelman and has later records,but these
are blacks. (This was the term used at that time.)]
AUTHOR:The author of this article was
Heath Thomas.The copy of the article was not
dated or identified by newspaper.An online search
of the Davie papers did not yield this story or the
name Heath Thomas.On FamilySearch.org,I
found a Heath Henry Thomas,newspaper writer.
He lived from 1907 to 1973.He died in Salisbury
and was buried in Union County,NC.In 1910,he
had lived in New Salem,Union County,NC.In
1930,he lived in Birmingham,Alabama.So he was
not native to our area,and he moved around a bit.
He was born about 78 years after Abner,so a lot of
time and embellishing of stories had happened.A
visit to the Salisbury Post might establish date of
the article.
COURT RECORDS:In FamilySearch,I
found 216 pages of court records in Estate records
which described lawsuits that Abner’s administrator
of his will brought against men who had bought
Davie Dossier, July 2019 page 5
items at an auction in selling Abner’s belongings.
The men had not fully paid for the items,and the
administrator,N.S.Chaffin,was attempting to
recover the money.This was in 1866,and the
documents state,“A.C.Glasscock,deceased.”
Various legal terms were used including “plea of
trespass on the case to his damage”.These pages
are all hand-written,and it is necessary to be able to
read old handwriting,such as double s being formed
just like a cursive small f.There’s even another
man,D.Ijames,wanting to replace the
administrator because he is suing that Chaffin was
not doing a good job and he had conflict of interest.
N.S.Chaffin had been appointed administrator in
1864 which means that Abner was deceased at that
time.One page said that the estate was valued at
$50,000 in Confederate money.He owned 125
acres.The value of an acre was about $3.His
siblings seemed to want a piece of his pie also as
there are various lawsuits with their names.There
were documents from Superior Court in Yadkin
County that mentioned “breach of covenant.”
(There are inventories of items sold,interesting to
see and to learn of the value.)
GOLD:“The Chilean mill was a machine
used on gold fields in an early period of gold
mining.The machine was composed of two rotating
wheels that would revolve over a pan filled with
gold-bearing rocks.The idea was that the wheels
would break open the rocks with gold,so they could
harvest gold from multiple rocks at a time.”
(https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chilean_mill)
Branson’s Business Directory listed five goldmines
in Davie in 1878.
HORSES:The article said that Abner liked
fine horses.In 1850,James and his family had five
horses. In 1860, his mother had three horses.
AGRICULTURE CENSUS:In 1850,James
had 90 acres of improved land and 610 acres of
unimproved land.The cash value of the farm was
$2800.The value of farm equipment was $150.He
had 5 horses,8 milch cows,6 cattle,28 sheep,and
40 swine.The value of his livestock was $433.He
had 30 bushels of wheat,1500 bushels of Indian
corn,125 bushes of oats,25 pounds of wool,and 7
tons of hay.The value of his homemade
manufactures was $60 and the value of animals was
$128.In 1860,Sarah Glasscock (Abner is not
listed because she was head of household)had 150
acres of improved land and 180 acres of
unimproved land.The cash value of the farm was
$3,000.The value of farm equipment was $140.
She had 3 horses,4 milch cows,7 cattle,10 sheep,
and 56 swine.The value of the livestock was $600.
She had 395 bushels of wheat,800 bushels of
Indian corn,300 bushels of oats,18 pounds of wool,
and 100 pounds of beeswax and honey.The value
of her homemade manufactures was $35 and the
value of animals was $310.
BIOGRAPHY:There are seven pages of
quotes,legal statements,and family relationships at
the library.There is no date or contributor listed.It
was typed on a typewriter showing that the letters
needed to be cleaned.Little o’s are filled in with
ink from the ribbon.This dates it before about 1985
or 1990,pre-computer time.“Abner Glasscock was
in the Home Guard Guard and killed by
bushwackers according to the family.”Another
quote:“Abner Glassock was the youngest child.
Was killed by a bushwacker after the Civil War.”
(The Civil War ended 9 April 1865.The court
records in 1864 mention that Abner is deceased.)
FINAL SUMMARY:
Bottom line of research:don’t believe everything
you read!And also,it’s better to be poor --it’s a lot
less trouble.Third point --if somebody tells you
not to go into enemy territory -- don’t do it.
Davie Dossier, July 2019 page 6
BOOKS AND MAPS FOR SALE, prices include postage and tax; check to DCHGS (no cash or credit card)
Title Author Total Cost # Cost
Davie County. A Brief History, paperback James W. Wall, 128 pages $6.50
The Boone Families in Davie County Wall, Howell Boone, Flossie Martin $8.00
Davie County Marriages 1836-1900 Nancy K. Murphy $25.00
Davie County Marriages 1901-1959 Nancy K. Murphy $25.00
Davie County Cemeteries, a 2-volume set D.C. Historical/Gen. Soc. $55.00
1850 Federal Census-Davie County Forsyth Genealogical Society $15.00
1860 Federal Census-Davie County Nancy K. Murphy and Everette Sain $20.00
1870 Federal Census-Davie County Nancy K. Murphy and Everette Sain $20.00
POSTCARDS OF DAVIE CO. SCENES, (set of 8) $2.50
Maps: Prices below, postage is $5, mailing tube is $2; example: all 4 maps cost $12
Lagle Land Grant Map, $2
Hughes Historical Map, 1700's, drawn in 1977, $1
J.T. Alderman Map, 1887 , $1
Wilson F. Merrell Map, 1928, $1
Davie County Heritage Book, cost is $45; Make check to Davie Co. Heritage Book. Use DCHGS address below.
The Historic Architecture of Davie Co., $13; History of Davie County, hardback, by James W. Wall, $13 . Make check
to Davie County Public Library. Use DCHGS address below.
Davie County History Books by Marie Craig. Check to Marie Craig, 139 Sterling Dr., Mocksville NC 27028:
●History of Davie County Schools, 318 pages, has photos, locations, longitude/latitude, names of students, and
teachers. There is an 18 page index of 3,222 names. 318 pages. $43
●Davie County in World War One, 670 biographies of Davie men and women who served, photographs, old
letters, description of military bases, and extensive index. 400 pages. $45
●Davie County Veterans’ Memorial, has lists of all war deaths, biographies and photos of WW2, Korean,
Vietnam, and Beirut Bombing deaths. Tom Ferebee’s talk at the dedication in 1987. 190 pages. $33.
●Remembering Davie County Protection and Service Personnel, contains biographies of the five law
enforcement personnel who died on duty and also photos and descriptions of the monument erected in their
memory. The monument also honors all first responders in Davie Co. Paperback, 14 pages. $17.
●Davie County in the Spanish-American War, contains biographies of the 15 men who served in this war and the
resulting war in the Philippines. 65 pages. $20
●Mary Ellen’s Diary, 1924, the fictitious diary of a twelve year old girl in 1924 in Mocksville. Included are
clippings and illustrations to verify the events. Paperback. 49 pages. $15.
Looking Back at Davie County II by Charles Crenshaw and Ron Smith. $45. Mail orders to Charles Crenshaw, 421
Park Avenue, Mocksville NC 27028
Davie County Mavericks, Four Men Who Changed History, the stories of Daniel Boone, Hinton Helper, Thomas
Ferebee, and Peter Ney in Davie County, by Marcia Phillips. $25. Mail orders to Marcia Phillips, 315 McClamrock
Road, Mocksville NC 27028.
DCHGS, 371 North Main Street, Mocksville NC 27028
Davie Dossier, July 2019 page 7
Davie County Historical and Genealogical Society
371 North Main Street
Mocksville NC 27028
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DAVIE COUNTY HISTORICAL AND GENEALOGICAL SOCIETY (DCHGS)
Davie County Public Library, 371 Main Street
Mocksville, North Carolina 27028
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Davie Dossier, July 2019 page 8