I see your query on the FTM site regarding the
Eastwood family, so I know you're already on the right track with the basics. I'll send some more items, and you may already have them, but if not you can ask questions and I'll be glad to respond. After this message, we can use direct email.
Henry
Eastwood Ferrill was the 6th of 12 known children born to Henry
Ferrill and Mary "
Polly"
McFadden Walker. McFadden was her middle name and
Walker was her maiden name. Henry's parents were John and Zilpah Morris
Ferrill, and Polly's parents were Robert
Walker and an unknown wife. The use of the name
McFadden makes me think her mother's maiden name was
McFadden, but no proof. Henry and
Polly are buried in a family plot on the Crowell property just off the lower ridge road that goes from US Rt 51 over to
Alto Pass in
Union co. Several others of the family are buried there, but
Eastwood and Permelia are both at the
Cobden cemetery along with several more of the family.
I am connected with the family thru Henry's brother, Thomas. Your Henry, my Thomas, and another brother, James, all came to
Union co at different times from
Stewart co Tn. Thomas in 1819, James in 1825, and Henry in about 1847. All three boys were born in
Martin co NC, and moved to
Hawkins co Tn in 1807, and then on to
Stewart co in about 1809-10. John
Ferrill also had at least three daughters, Elizabeth who married Charles Hooks,
Harriet who married James
Anderson, and Mary who married Eli
Morgan. Mary was by John's 2nd wife, Penelope Luton
Yarbrough.
Texas had a younger brother, Frank
Agnew Ferrill, and the Makanda doctor who delivered some of the children was named Frank
Agnew. A few of the births were recorded at the courthouse in Murphysboro, and it was on one of the certificates that I saw the reference to the 22nd pregnancy. However, some sources maintain there were 18 children.
Eastwood's home site was still standing about 10 years ago within 50 feet of Rt 5l, and the county line ran thru the back yard. The home was on a Makanda mail route during the early 1900s, and one of our cousins, a
Clovis Ferrill, was the carrier for many years and he knew the family quite well. According to
Clovis, the name of
Eastwood was used much more often on the address, and frequently the initials of E. W. were used.
The records of three churches exist which contain various items of the
Ferrill family. The first book of the Skewarkey
Baptist Church in Martin county is in the Z. Smith Reynolds Library at Wake Forest University, and our John
Ferrill was the first church clerk. The first 120 pages are in his beautiful handwriting along with a few personal items that are helpful. The first book of the Saline
Creek Baptist Church in
Stewart co also contains John's handwriting on the first 60 or so pages, along with some personal items. And the only book of the Toledo Christian Church in
Union co has far less information than the other two, but it does contain several
Ferrill entries that have been helpful.
John was the census taker for neighboring
Hyde and Beaufort cos NC for the 1800 federal census. He also did the transcribing of the 1790
Martin co census from the field copies on to the copies that were used for the microfilm and printed versions of that census. His signature from the Skewarkey records and from these census lists makes it clear why his own name is misspelled on the 1790 Martin census as John O'Ferrell. He used the abbreviation of Jno for John, and then raised the o above the line and tailed it into the top of the F. He is also credited with starting the first school in
Stewart co, and the biography of one of his former students contains physical and behavioral descriptions of our John.