He purchased a tract of land on Coddle Creek in 1828, and he continued to buy and sell land in Iredell and Lincoln County, eventually ending up with 1800 acres in southern Iredell County. After three or four years there, he moved to Iredell County. Around 1825 he moved to Spring Grove in Rowan County. His son Rufus was born in 1797, and following his father’s death, he briefly managed their resort, Catawba Springs, in Lincoln County. John Reid moved from Maryland to Lincoln County, North Carolina. Rufus Reid was the son of John Reid, a native of Maryland. There is no information in the records about the names or ages of his slaves. By 1850 he owned $4000 in real estate and 30 slaves, and the 1860 census indicates that he owned 43 enslaved people. When Stinson’s name first appeared in the census for Iredell County in 1840, he owned 17 slaves. Stinson’s house is now used as the administration building for the Woodlawn School, and the school describes it as “a fine example of a Greek Revival/Federal style home, with a fireplace in each of its eight rooms, large entry hall, columns on the front porch, and spiraling staircase.” stood nearby until around the time of the Civil War. It was situated on the original land granted to Alexander Osborne, and Osborne’s home, Belmont. His 1836 plantation, which he named “Woodlawn,” was located on Shearer’s Road about 1.5 miles from the Davidson College campus. At different times he was married to two of James Smith Byers’ daughters, Mary and Margaret. His father was Robert Stinson, who was born in Ireland in 1763. Stinson was born in Lancaster County, South Carolina, in 1809. Stinson’s family was not one of the original families to settle in present-day Iredell County. This was not to come to pass, however, as the South’s enslaved people were freed soon after at the end of the Civil War.ĭr. “Their increase” refers to any children they might have after the will was written, thus consigning an unborn generation to slavery. Byers died in 1863, and it is hard to judge how many enslaved people he bequeathed to others, but it seems to be 65 adults plus their children (and sometimes grandchildren) and their increase, which would amount to many more. By 1860 Byers’ real estate was valued at $14,000 and his personal property, which would have included his 54 slaves, at $97,000. By 1820 he was the owner of 35 enslaved people. In 1812 he married Nancy Cecelia Osborne, the daughter of Adlai Osborne. James and Margaret’s son James Smith Byers was born in 1782. James Byers fought in the Revolutionary War, and in 1779 he bought over 500 acres on Lambert’s Creek, east of the Catawba River, which included the Oliphant Mill, later known as the “Old Byers Mill.” At the time of the 1800 census, he owned 16 slaves. The nails in the old building were home made.” Joseph Byers died childless, but his brother James and his wife Margaret Smith Byers raised a large family. The house…was built of large pine logs beautifully hewn. They settled on Davidson’s Creek, just a mile from Centre Presbyterian Church.Īccording to Laugenour, “The old home was a very large log house standing on the brow of the hill some 50 or 75 yards from the spring east of the branch. They had come to America in 1748, and after stopping in Pennsylvania, came to North Carolina around 1760. Laugenour and published in the Statesville Sentinel on July 20, 1916, the first Byers to settle in Iredell County were brothers Joseph and James. Although some researchers trace the Byers family back to Robert and Margaret Byers, who arrived in Mecklenburg County in 1722, according to a history of the Byers family written by Dr.
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