Notes

Note N1927 Index

no IGI

p.31. Pages 121 & 122.
Deed. 27 March 1735. From Alexander West, planter of Sussex Co. DE, and his wife Penelope, to George Chambers, yeoman of the same place. For 6 pounds about 140 acres of land. Land is situated on the south side of Sow Bridge on Sawmill Branch in a neck called Rosemary Neck and is part of the estate of Robert West, dec'd, of the county, who bequeathed the 70 acres of the land to his son, Solomon West, since dec'd without heirs, and for want of lawful issue to his son, Alexander West. Also a second parcel of land containing the same quantity of acres bequeathed to son, Robert West, adjoining the first 70 acres. Alexd. West signs. Penelo: West makes her mark. Wits., Woodman Stockley, Ralph Bassnet. Ack. May Court 1735.

Notes

Note N1928 Index

Notes

Note N1929 Index

Contributed IGI
John West birth: 1760 , Orange, Nc death: 1800 spouse: Margaret Peggy child: John Balus West no dob for child

1810 United States Federal Census
Name: Peggy West Home in 1810 (City, County, State): Wilkesborough, Wilkes, North Carolina
Free White Persons - Males - 10 thru 15: 1 = John Balus West?
Free White Persons - Females - Under 10: 1
Free White Persons - Females - 10 thru 15: 1
Free White Persons - Females - 45 and over: 1
Number of Household Members Under 16: 3
Number of Household Members Over 25: 1
Number of Household Members: 4

North Carolina Marriages, 1759-1979
Name Balis West Spouse's Name Mary Swanson Event Date 21 Aug 1818 Event Place Wilkes, North Carolina

United States Census, 1820
m<10 m16-25 f<10 f16-25

United States Census, 1830 Balus West
m<5 m10-15 m30-40 f5-10 f20-30 f70-80

1830 United States Federal Census
Name: [Balas Wert] [Balus West] [John Balus West] Home in 1830 (City, County, State): Wilkes, North Carolina
Free White Persons - Males - Under 5: 1
Free White Persons - Males - 10 thru 14: 1
Free White Persons - Males - 30 thru 39: 1
Free White Persons - Females - 5 thru 9: 1
Free White Persons - Females - 20 thru 29: 1
Free White Persons - Females - 70 thru 79: 1 = Margaret Witherspoon? mother of John Balus
Free White Persons - Under 20: 3
Free White Persons - 20 thru 49: 2
Total Free White Persons: 6
Total - All Persons (Free White, Slaves, Free Colored): 6

United States Census, 1840 Bailus West
m<5 m5-10 m10-15 m20-30 m40-50 2f<5 f5-10 f15-20 f30-40 f80-90

1840 United States Federal Census
Name: Bailus West [John Balus West] Home in 1840 (City, County, State): Walshs District, Wilkes, North Carolina
Free White Persons - Males - Under 5: 1
Free White Persons - Males - 5 thru 9: 1
Free White Persons - Males - 10 thru 14: 1
Free White Persons - Males - 20 thru 29: 1
Free White Persons - Males - 40 thru 49: 1
Free White Persons - Females - Under 5: 2
Free White Persons - Females - 5 thru 9: 1
Free White Persons - Females - 15 thru 19: 1
Free White Persons - Females - 30 thru 39: 1
Free White Persons - Females - 80 thru 89: 1 = Margaret Witherspoon?
Persons Employed in Agriculture: 5
No. White Persons over 20 Who Cannot Read and Write: 3
Free White Persons - Under 20: 7
Free White Persons - 20 thru 49: 3
Total Free White Persons: 11
Total All Persons - Free White, Free Colored, Slaves: 11

United States Census, 1850
Name Balus West Event Place Wilkes county, Wilkes, North Carolina Age 53 Birth Year (Estimated) 1797 Birthplace South Carolina House Number 1926 Listed between Riley Hamby and Mary Foster families.
Role Sex Age Birthplace
Balus West M 53 South Carolina
Mary West F 50 North Carolina
Alec West M 22 North Carolina =Alexander
Wm West M 19 North Carolina
Malinda West F 18 North Carolina
Mary West F 12 North Carolina
John West M 10 North Carolina
Lucy West F 7 North Carolina

1860 United States Federal Census
Name Balus West Event Place The Upper Divition, Wilkes, North Carolina Age 64 Birth Year (Estimated) 1796 Birthplace North Carolina Page 140
Role Sex Age BirthplaceE
Balus West M 64 North Carolina
Mary West F 59 North Carolina
Ann West F 23 North Carolina
Lawry West M 16 North Carolina = Lucy?

findagrave
John Balus West BIRTH 1798 Spartanburg County, South Carolina DEATH 20 Jul 1871 (aged 72-73) Elkville, Wilkes County, North Carolina
BURIAL Mount Zion Adventist Church Cemetery Ferguson, Wilkes County, North Carolina MEMORIAL ID 178425544
Spouse Mary Ann Swanson West 1798 - unknown (m. 1818)
Children
Franklin W. West 1818-1897
Margaret West Hendrix 1821-1895
Alexander Balus West 1828-1864
Mary Anne West Barnett 1837-1917
John Witherspoon West 1840-1915

Posted 02 Nov 2010 by lindajdunn
Among notes found in my mother's records were multi-paged notes from a letter (the letter itself is missing) which was obviously correspondence between Mother and someone who lived in the area and had done local research. I have keyed in most of the notes here:

The South Carolina location of the family was most likely in the old Pendleton District (comprising the present counties of Pickens, Anderson and Oconee), or possibly in the adjoining Greenville District (now Greenville county). A prominent figure in this section was a wealthy citizen named John Baylis Earle, whose local popularity was such that numerous male infants were named for hm and BAYLIS, as a given name, still occurs with some frequency in that part of South Carolina.

Baylis West was born about 1797 (according to census) in South Carolina, but was raised in Wilkes County, NC, where he was married in 1818 to Mary Swanson (born about 1799) in Wilkes. For some years they continued to live in the same section where Baylis was raised, between Elkville and Ferguson, until sometime in the 1840's, when Baylis West purchased a small farm on the south fork of Lewis Fork. Baylis & Mary had a total of 9 children, four sons and five daughtes.

1. Franklin West (1818 -1897) married Cynthia Holder (1824-1910) they are buried at Mt. Zion Baptist Church on Stony Fork. Thwere the parents of Thomas C. West who married Bethania Triplett and had, among others, the late Carter West of Ferguson.

2. Margaret (Peggy) West (born about 1820 married Wilison Hendrix.

Alexander B. West (born about 1828) married (1851) Nancy Land of Stony Fork; he was a licensed Baptist preacher (i.e., a lay preacher). On 28 Feb 1862 he enlisted in Company K, 53rd North Carolina Regiment, Confederate States Army; was subsequently promoted to Corporal, was wounded at Gettysburg (3 July 1983) , and killed 19 September 1864. The captains of this company were both men from the Wests' home neighborhood - William J. Miler, killed at Gettysburg, & Jesse F. Eller, killed in civil war).

4. William West (born about 1830) married (1855) his cousin Nancy West, daughter of Thomas West of Caldwell county, and died in the Civil war, leaving three children (Selena, Genelia, William)

5. Melinda West (born about 1832) obviously named for her aunt who married Israel Presnell.

6. Elizabeth West (born about 1835)

7. Mary Ann West (1837-1917) married Hamilton Barnett (1844-1904); they are buried at Mount Zion Baptist Church on stony Fork.

8. John Witherspoon West (born about 1840) married his cousin Catharine West (born about 1825) of Caldwell County. Note the large difference in their ages. He was no doubt named for Capt. John Witherspoon, a wealthy planter who at the time (1840) owned and lived on the valuable plantation at the mouth of Elk Creek, and was a near neighbor of the Baylis West family. Capt. Witherspoon's brick is still standing at Elkville; it is the residence formerly occupied by the family of the late Henry Wheeling.

9. Lucy West (born about 1842)

The West family of Caldwell county descends from Alexander West II born about 1750; died 28 March 1834, who was a soldier of the American Revolution from Wilkes county. In his old age he applied for and was granted a pension for his military services, and his widow likewise was awarded such a pension. He was married in Wilkes county in 1781 to Hannah Langley (born about 1750; died 5 May 1839) and removed within a few years to Upper Little River, Burke (now Caldwell) county, where he spent the remainder of his life. He and his wife Hannah are buried at Union Baptist Chruch, near Oak Hill, as are many of their descendants. he was a prosperous farmer who acquired considerable property, and it may be noted here that he and his descendants generally were considered wealthier than their Wilkes county relatives. He and his wife Hannah had at least two sons, Alexander III, and Thomas, and several daughters, one of whom was Mary West (1791-1856) who married Aquila Payne, a rich farmer on Middle Little River, and has had numerous prominent descendants in Caldwell and Alexander counties. She was, for example, the grandmother of the late Abner Payne, for many years a leading attorney in Taylorsville.

Alexander West iii (1783-1864A) is the anestor of many of the Wests now living in Caldwell; he married Patience L. Allen (1782-1855), daughter of Ananias Allen, and had a family of four sons (Ananias, Isaac, James Harvey and Hiram) and one daughter (Elizabeth, wife of Clisby G. Cobb). Two of his sons, J. Harvey & Hiram, became well-known Baptist ministers. His wife, Patience Allen, belonged to a well-known local family; her nephew, J. Warren Allen of Lenoir, was the grandfather of Ed F. Allen, long one of Lenoir's financial leaders (Mutual Savings Loan), now living in retirement on Norwood Street at an advanced age.

THOMAS WEST, born about 1790 and died about 1875, inherited part of his father's lands on Upper Little River, where he spent his entire life. He married ELIZABETH MCCRARY (born about 1800) and had a family of one son and five daughters, as folows:

1. CATHARINE WEST born about 1825 married JOHN WITHERSPOON WEST of Wilkes

2. CAROLINE WEST (born about 1827) married (1852) Gholstoon Smith, a well-to-do farmer who lived in the edge of Burke county, where the present Lenoir-Morganton Airport is located, on Lower Creek.

3. EVELINE WEST, born about 1830, died 1915, unmarried.

4. HANNAH WEST born about 1833, married 1859 JOSEPH H. HARTLEY, and died not many years later, leaving several orphans. Mr. Hartley afterwards married again, and has numerous descendants in Hudson township.

5. NANCY WEST born about 1835, married 1855 her cousin WILLIAM WEST of Wilkes County, a son of Baylis West.

6. C. DECATUR WEST born about 1837, the only son in the family, inherited most of his father's lands.

I might mention here that I have failed to find any record in Caldwell county of the marriage of John Witherspoon West to Catharine West. At that time, North Carolina law required marriage licenses to be issued in the county where the bride resided, so the lack of such a marriage record here is rather puzzling. One possible explanation is that Catherine went to Wilkes county to live with her widowed sister Nancy, after the death of the latter's husband William West, and consequently was residing in Wilkes County when she married John W. West. Another possibility is that Catharine had been married previously, to a Wilkes county resident. In any event, it seems likely that the married John W. West in Wilkes county.

Taking all the foregoing facts into consideration, it seems to me a virtual certainty that the West families of Wilkes and Caldwell were related, with the pioneer Alexander West (I) as their common ancestor.

Geneanet Community Trees Index
Name: John Balus West Birth Date: 1798 Birth Place: Spartanburg, South Carolina Death Date: 20 juil. 1871 Death Place: Elkville, Wilkes, North Carolina Father: John West Mother: Margaret Peggy Witherspoon
Spouse: Mary Ann Polly Swanson