GIBSON-GIPSON'S of North Carolina

Jeanette,

This is a section from what Bill just referred to. It was written By Forest Hazel, Occaneechi historian, and “the expert” in the opinion of many. Let me know if you need more about things that happened after they got to Macon. But in terms of your Indian heritage, search his posts on this site.

Akhasa

As noted earlier, a group of families from the Texas community migrated to Macon County, North Carolina, in the 1820s, after that land was ceded by the Cherokee Nation. In point of fact, there were still Cherokees living in the area, not far from the settlement formed by these families from Alamance County (U.S. Bureau of the Census 1850). This settlement was called Sugar Fork, and some of the families who first settled there were Bucker and Sylvia (Jeffries) Guy, John and Aggy (Whitmore) Guy, Richard and Patsy (Whitmore) Guy, Walton Jeffries, and Hugh Gibson. This settlement remained distinct for many years, eventually being absorbed into the white population (Lawrence Woods, personal communication). The community is of particular interest, however, since it was mentioned in U.S. Senate Document #144, dated February 1897, and entitled “The Catawba Tribe of Indians” (U.S. Congress, Senate 1897). The report on this settlement says that “Dr. Joseph McDowell, of Fairmont, Ga., under date of October, 1872, stated that the Indians referred to, and asking relief of the Government, were Catawba Indians, and 81 in number.” Dr. McDowell (who had married one of the Guy women and wrote at least two letters to the Indian Office on behalf of her people) also provided a list of the names and ages of the individuals whom he said wished the government to assist them in moving west to Indian Territory. The report further states that “William Guy, of Granville County, Ga. [sic], and Simon Jeffries, of Bellville, Virginia, Catawba Indians, served five years in the Army and were honorably discharged, and these people are their descendants.” The error is that William Guy was from Greensville County, Virginia, although he did die in Granville County, North Carolina. The letters from Dr. McDowell are also interesting. For example, he states in his letter of October 1869, addressed to Eli Parker, U.S. Commissioner of Indian Affairs, that “I take the liberty of addressing to you a few lines on behalf of a remnant of the tribe of Catawba Indians. . . . Some 60 or 70 years since they left their tribe and went to Greenville County, Virginia, and then removed to Orange County, North Carolina. . . . They sold out in Orange and moved to Macon County, N.C. where they purchased land and have remained ever since.”

The identification of these Indians as Catawba presents a dilemma in that anyone familiar with historic Catawba surnames will readily recognize that the names of these families are not traditional Catawba names. It is this fact that led Chapman Milling (1940:260) to note “The petition, in fact, bears all the earmarks of white effort to collect Indian revenue.” Common Catawba surnames such as Blue, Head, Harris, Kegg, or Ayers are conspicuous in the Macon County community by their absence. Why then are these people (as well as the Indians who moved from the Texas community to Ohio) identified as Catawba? The Cherokee name would have been a much better known one, if a name was simply to be chosen out of the air to give credence to claims of Indian ancestry. Witness today the existence of groups of “Cherokees” living from Pennsylvania to Florida, including two groups in North Carolina besides the Eastern Band of the Cherokee.

Buncombe County was created in 1791 from a piece of Burke and Rutherford Co’s.

1820 Buncombe Co., NC Census, p.124, lists Nathan Gibson and George Gibson living next door to each other, both ‘white’ :

Nathan Gibson

3 males under 10

5 males 16 to 25.

1 male 45 and over.

3 females under 10.

2 females 16 to 25.

1 female 26 to 44.

George Gibson

1 male 16 to 25.

1 female 16 to 25.

1830 Haywood Co., NC Census, p.370:

Nathan Gipson (FPC)

3 males under 10.

2 males 10 to 24.

1 male 55 to 100.

2 females under 10.

3 females 10 to 24.

1 female 55 to 100.

1830 Macon Co., NC Census, p.30:

George Gibson (mixed household)

2 males 10 to 14 (white)

1 male 15 to 19 (white)

1 male 24 to 36 (FPC)

1 female 30 to 39 (white)

1840 Macon Co., NC Census

On p.150 are Hiram Gipson and Clark Guy, Buckner’s son who marr’d 1836 Macon Co., Caroline “Catherine” Gibson.

p.147:

George Gipson

1 male 40 to 49 (white)

1 female 50 to 59 (white)

next door to

Soloman Gipson (all white)

1 male under 5

1 male 20 to 29

1 female under 5

1 female 20 to 29

1 female 40 to 49.

Soloman’s son Henry J., b.abt. 1837, marr’d Eliza Reece, b.abt. 1839 Haywood Co., NC and their daughter Mary Jane marr’d Richard Calvin Guy, b.abt. 1867 Haywood Co.

In 1850 Macon Co., George Gipson is 58, Mu, b. Burke Co., NC and his wife Lavina is 58, W. Both are listed as Mu in 1860.

Creasy Gibson, 82, b. Buncombe Co, is listed on the 1860 Macon Co Census next door to John & Margaret Dills.

On the 1830 Haywood census (above), the oldest female in Nathan’s household is at least 55, making her in her 20’s during the 1790s. If this is Creasy, she would have been about 52 in 1830 (and in her 20’s during the 1790s) – seemed pretty close to me.

In Hiram and Margarette Gibson’s 1870 Macon Co household, are Walton Jones, 73, and presumed wife Sylva, 72.

You might want to look in Louise Jeffreys Andrew, “Marmaduke Norfleet Jeffreys, His Ancestors and Descendants” (Atlantic City, NJ: for the author, 1983). The copy I used was at the National Genealogical Society. I think their library is still available for lending (to NGS members), but it’s no longer a place you can visit. Anyway, if Walton is in this Jeffries/Jeffreys family, and acknowledged (like, in anyone’s will, etc.), he’d probably be in the Simon-Osborne-Simon line. I think I xeroxed enough pages to eliminate the other possibilities (no males named Walton — including the many slaves who are named in the wills).

If you click the “post Reply” button, isntead of using the Quick Reply, you’ll see a field for adding attachments. You can use that to post a photo.

Peace To All

It’s Rabun, Ga, if you’re looking for it, very close to Sugarfork.

My Stewarts lived with the Howards when they were orphaned. The children recieved their land inheritance when they came of age.

Nice to see the Macon crowd showing up!

Akhasa