The information that I posted on the pension application for Giles Davidson
came from another (excellent) researcher who has been doing genealogy work
for 50+ years in VA (she is now in her 80s and lives in Baltimore, MD). I
do not know, however, how much of that wording was taken directly from
another/original source, versus if some of it was her "own words." While
Giles Davidson was a member of my overall Davidson family (proven by DNA
testing on some living family members), he was not a member of my "direct
line."
By the way, there were also other/unrelated Davidson/Davison families in the
Buckingham, Appomattox and Campbell Co., VA areas in the 1700s-1800s, and at
least one of them married into the Diuguid family. If anyone is interested
in that information, I will be glad to supply it. There was also yet
another Davidson/Davison family in Pittsylvania Co., VA in the late-1700s,
and a member of that family married into the Shelton (sometimes shown as
"Chilton") family there. I can also supply information on that.
Bill Davidson
----- Original Message -----
From: "Oakett" <[log in to unmask]>
To: <[log in to unmask]>
Sent: Friday, November 18, 2011 11:12 PM
Subject: Re: Hollows of the Dan River
> On 11/18/11 8:22 AM, "marsha moses" <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
>
>> Bill, Do you have any additional information on:
>>
>>> Later he volunteered under Capt. Francis Shelton, of Henry, who was
>>> raising a
>>> force to put down the Tories, then causing alarm in the hollows of Dan
>>> River,
>>> on the North Carolina line. Shelton's men visited persons known to be
>>> disaffected to the American cause and prevented injuries from tories.
>>> The
>>> headquarters was with a tory named McGowan, who lived in Henry
>>
>> Dates? Specific events?
>
> This bit quoted by Bill Davidson appears to be from the pension
> application
> of Giles Davidson, but is a little bit garbled as the Capt. Shelton
> referenced here was Eliphaz, not Francis, Shelton. There are quite a few
> pension applications that refer to service against the Tories in the
> Hollows
> area of then Henry Co., now Patrick Co.. I wouldn't call the McGowan farm
> an
> official "Headquarters" though. That kind of implies something it was not.
> This was just a local tory sympathizer & community leader, not anything
> official or government related.
>
>> My Silas Wooten says in his pension application that he enlisted in March
>> 1781
>> at Boyd's Ferry. My own research shows that to be a Ferry across the Dan
>> River about where the railroad tracks cross the river at New Boston.
>> Silas
>> says that this was on the Roanoke River.
>>
>> Silas called the Dan River the Roanoke. A variant name for the Dan is
>> the
>> South Branch of the Roanoke River. The question is: Was Silas a local?
>> Was
>> this river more often called the Roanoke in that time period than the
>> Dan?
>
> Have you looked at the Fry-Jefferson map, from 1751? This map shows the
> Roanoke river as the river downstream of the confluence of the Staunton
> and
> the Dan rivers. So Boyd's Ferry would have been on the Dan river, not the
> Roanoke, but close to the Roanoke portion of the river. Maybe Silas was a
> little confused on the exact location, easy to happen during wartime, or
> so
> many years later in his pension application, especially since this area
> was
> so close to where several rivers merge and the names of the rivers change.
>
> You can view the Fry-Jefferson map on the LOC web site & download a copy
> for
> yourself -
> http://memory.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/h?ammem/gmd:@field(NUMBER+@band(g3880+ct
> 000370))
>
> The Fry-Jefferson map also has Johnson's & Lovill's Creeks marked. They
> both
> start at the SE side of the Blue Ridge & flow S. into the Ararat River,
> which then empties into the Yadkin. This is the area known as the
> "Hollows"
> that was being referred to in those pension applications. Lovill's Creek
> was
> sometimes called Loving's Creek and is in present day Carroll Co..
>
> Here's a map showing the general location of the Hollows, at the bottom of
> this web page -
> http://www.freestateofpatrick.com/ararathistory.htm
>
> I've seen "The Hollows" labeled in this same location on several late
> 1800's
> maps. It's the area around Willis Gap road, in VA, north of Mt. Airy, NC.
>
>> ... I am interested in knowing the time period
>> that the Tories were particularly active in northern NC .....trying to
>> recruit.....and other details to fill out my "story" in this time period.
>>
>> In addition my Salmons family and Hensley family would have been living
>> in
>> Pittsylvania/Henry area in this same time period. I have reason to be
>> interested in any information about when and details of anything anyone
>> has on
>> these events. Marsha Moses
>
> There are quite a few pension applications of men who served from the
> Henry
> Co. area transcribed on the Southern Campaign web site. You can search on
> names or keywords, places, etc. and find a lot more background information
> in these records.
>
> http://southerncampaign.org/pen/#pensions
>
> There is also more background information in several local history books,
> if
> you haven't seen these before -
>
> "History of Patrick and Henry Counties, Virginia", by Virginia G. Pedigo,
> Lewis Gravely Pedigo - which is in the Heritage Quest database & many
> libraries.
>
> "A history of Henry County Virginia: with biographical sketches...", by
> Judith Parks America Hill (on several pay web sites and many libraries).
>
> "Henry County: a proud look back" by Lela C. Adams, et al.
>
> There's also good background information in the Maude Carter Clements
> books
> on Pittsylvania Co. history. There are some excerpts here -
> http://www.victorianvilla.com/sims-mitchell/local/clement/mc/index.htm
>
> And the New River Notes web site has Revolutionary War information too -
> http://www.newrivernotes.com/nrv.htm
>
> C.Etter
>
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