Good Day,


I am the great great grandaughter of Virgie Fannie DILLS who married (1)Will FRANKLIN and (2)Jefferson Davis MATHIS.

I am a descendant of Fannie's son Walter Carlton FRANKLIN born Dec. 1895 in Macon, N.C.

I am looking for FRANKLIN, GIBSON, MATHIS, & DILLS cousins to correspond with.

~Frances Jeanette Franklin Nelson

I am the gggrandson of Thomas Franklin (1804-1891) who migrated from Haywood County and farmed near Dillsboro in the Long Branch Community. Thomas Franklin sired 13 children, one of whom was William Franklin (1842 - ?) his fifth child, four sons, one daughter. I don't know if this is the same Wmn. Franklin, or if the time frame fits your query. Feel free to e-mail me. Good Luck. d. nordan/atlanta

David,

Thanks for your reply. My William "Will" FRANKLIN was born circa 1871 and he had a brother named Joseph. They married sisters Fannie & Anna DILL(S) in Macon, N.C. in the late 1800's. I wish I had more info but I do not live in N.C. and I cannot find a volunteer willing to follow through and look for any information on the FRANKLIN family. It is rumored that we are of cherokee descent but again I have no proof. Thanks.

Hello again: The William Franklin in my reference was born in 1842. However, the geographic area is very close, and there is good possibility of linkage. Both the Franklin and Dills families in that era and that area were large and relatively properous. The old Franklin homestead is next to Dillsboro in Jackson County (created from parts of Macon and Haywood counties (Waynesville) in 1853). Note that the Macon in your reference probably refers to Macon County, Franklin, N.C. is the county seat. I'm sure they have an historical society with a website. Jackson County, just to the north, does. As you may know, most of that area was within the Cherokee Nation until 1838 when Andrew Jackson forced the "Trail of Tears" Cherokee removal. There was a large influx of white settlers in the years following. Franklin, N.C. was in fact the site of a large Cherokee town on the Little Tennessee river. A mound still exists there. The Franklins of Jackson County came in about 1870 from Haywood County, and before that Burke County, N.C. -- where there were a bunch of them, based on census records of the time. I suggest that you tap into the Macon County Census of 1870 and 1880 on the Geneology.com website, the records are suprisingly good. Pull up the image of the actual record, look for Franklins as head of household, then their children and see what falls into place. Having determined the father of William and Joseph, you can travel backwards As for the Indian ancestry, similar legend exists in my own family, as well as almost any family with western N.C. ties. But checking this out proves extremely difficult without some direct knowlege because, as noted, the Cherokees were a seperate nation and not counted by the U.S. during early years. Unlike now, it was also viewed as something of a stigma to intermarry in those times, and its almost impossible to tell who was Indian and who wasn/t by the names on the census records, unless of course a name is obviously Cherokee -- which would only be accounted on the male side. Even then, many Cherokees took on angleocised names. Still, Franklin is the county seat of Macon County. A start might be to find out who the town is named after, if not Benjamin Franklin, and take it from there. Good Luck. P.S. Samuel Gibson was a prosperous minister in Macon County (sold "previously known as Cherokee Land" to one of my ancestors in 1839 in what was then Macon (now Jackson) -- he bought it at auction from the state for 50c an acre after the Cherokees were removed -- the deed was executed in Franklin, N.C. Gibson was also one of the 400 petitions to create Jackson from Macon and Haywood counties in 1853. There are still many Gibsons in the area. Finally, there are a bunch of Franklins in east Tennessee who trace roots to Burke County, N.C. maybe some connection there. Also several Mathis' listed in census records of t he time.

Jackson County was formed in 1851, not 1853. It was indeed formed from Haywood and Macon, and the area you refer to could be in either one. If the area was on the west side of the Tuckaseegie River, it was in Macon, if on the east, it was in Haywood. The Macon County Historical Society does have a website, www.maconnchistorical.org. The records are very good for both Macon and Haywood; probably better than Jackson.

I think the Samuel to whom you refer is not connected to the Gibsons you are looking for. I have extensive history on him as he was my ggg grandfather. We have looked for years for a connection between his line and the "other" Gibson line to no avail. I continually uncover documents in the state archives containing Samuel's name (and sometimes his father Joseph), but none of them have proven any connection between the two families. Would be glad to share any info with researchers of any WNC Gibson line.

The Jackson County Gen. Society website is www.jcncgs.com.

Thanks! Dee

Hi Dee: Tx for the heads up on the formation of Jackson County in 1851. My interest in Macon Co. lies primarily in the fact that my mother's family -- Daltons -- lived in the Cowee Community at least as early as 1850. My ggggrandfather, Columbus Dalton, was listed at age 21 as a resident of "Macon County - Tennessee Valley" in the 1850 Census.
He was born in Rutherford. His wife, ggggrandmother, was Mary Raby, born in Burke County. Burke seems to have been an extremely fertile ground for white settlement of Haywood, (now) Jackson and Macon counties in the early-mid 1800s, which tempts one to delve further into the whys. Probably hinged on the Cherokee removal and the lay of the land, that is they migrated to places they could get to over and around the mountains and where land had become available. Samuel Gibson was indeed the seller of 60 acres on the Tuckaseegee, just west of Dillsboro, in 1839 to a branch, by marriage, of my family, the Davis'.
He bought the tract at auction in Franklin from the state after it was seized during the removal. Seems like an interesting fellow. The Davis' still live in the exact place. S. Gibson also was one of the 400 signators on the Jackson County formation petition to the N.C. legislature. The original petition can be seen on the web, and I have seen the actual deeds and transferes. As you note, the hills and hollows around there are full of Gibsons so who knows. Regards, d.n.

Hi, David,
I too have a copy of that deed. Samuel owned quite a bit of land around that area as a matter of fact. I have more than one land grant for him. His brother, John, was in the area as by 1814, when he married Sarah Messer, daughter of Solomon Messer. The family names are very common in all the records of early Haywood County. We are certain that the Gibsons who live there now and were there in the late 1800s are connected to ours as they all lived in the same area and interacted a lot. Samuel moved to Alarka Creek in Swain County in the late 1850s, then on to Cowee, as did his son. Samuel had only one child, John Stewart Gibson, who had 15 children. (One of John Stewart's granddaughters, Ada Gibson, married John Dalton.) In the 1850 Haywood County Census is a Sarah Gibson with a family, but no spouse. Since the youngest child in her household is about 7, we feel that whatever happened to her husband probably happened 6 - 8 years before. And since she lives in the area with the "our" Gibsons, we feel that this is probably the missing link to connect the present day Gibsons in that area to ours.

Old Buncombe County was formed from Burke and Rutherford in 1792. It included present day Haywood, which was then formed in 1808. In the Treaty of 1819, the area that is Macon was formed, and was briefly a part of Haywood till Macon was formed in 1828. So Burke and Rutherford were indeed "feeder" counties for the Buncombe, Haywood, Macon and all areas west of those counties. In fact, anyone who is on the 1790 Census Burke 11th and 12th Companies and Rutherford 13th and 14th Companies is eligible for First Families of Old Buncombe as those four companies covered what would become Buncombe County.

I look forward to corresponding more with you about these families.

Dee

Tx for the update: My grandfather, Arnold Columbus Dalton, was the grandson of Columbus W. Dalton, 1829 - 1901, and the son of Josephine Margaret, Angebo (?) Dalton. My gf apparently was illegitimate so no male ancestor on that side. He was raised on Cowee Creek by Columbus W. The 1870 census lists Columbus W. Dalton and Mary Raby Dalton, 1830 -- (?) of Cowee Township. Children listed are James, 20, Jake, 19, Christopher, 16, Margaret, 15, Nancy D., 13, Joseph (Josephine ?), 10, Ella, 7, and Mary C., 5.
I think, but am not sure, my gf had a cousin named Emmitt Dalton, who lived in Franklin and was a barber in Sylva for many years. I talked to the old man at home once many years ago. He apparently was the official record keeper for the VFW or some such. He gave me a dowel from a staircase at the old Macon County Courthouse which he said was carved by one Secord Dalton, who later moved to Georgia. I still have it. Other than that, I don't know. My gf married into the Robinson family of Long Branch (Dillsboro) and later moved to West Virginia. His wife, my gm, died in 1920 and some of his children were raised by kin on Long Branch, now mostly covered by hwy 441. My mother was raised on Dicks Creek, the site of the Samuel Gibson 1839 deed. Cousins still live there. Trying not to drag this out too much, I'm sure I have kin in Macon County, but I don't know much about them. I'd like to remedy that. I do know that the grandson of Emmitt (?) served in Viet Nam and later killed himself around the mid 1970s. Going back a bit further, Columbus Dalton was the son of John Jack Dalton and Mildred Milly Metcalf. Also Columbus, by numerous family and non-family accounts appears to have been a whiskey maker of some renown on Cowee Creek in Macon County during his time. The family also had a reputation as musicians, who, in the words of a late great aunt, "made whiskey all week then traveled around to different churches to make music on Sundays." There also seems to be some connection with the Hurst's of Cowee. By the way, now that we've met, my name is David Nordan, I was partially raised in Jackson County, graduated from UNC and am a retired newspaperman living in Atlanta. Hope to here more from you. regards dn

Looking for Gibson family tree of the family of General Harrison Gibson from Haywood County, North Carolina

David,

Do you have a William Franklin Mathis in your family?

Thank you,

Bobbie