Hicks (Hix), Harmon (Harman), Ward and related families in Watauga County- the Beech Mountain NC Area: Fanny Hicks, Nora Hicks, Ben Hicks; Council Harmon; Jane Hicks Gentry; Nathan Hicks; Ray Hicks; Frank Proffitt; Edd Presnell; Lee Monroe Presnell; Hattie Presnell; Buna Hicks
[Although I've edited most of this material, the 1,500 or so pages were created in about 4 weeks, much of it was copy and pasted from sources online. Until I have more time, please excuse the mistakes. Some of the sources I've copied may not be acknowledged and many of them have incorrect information- which I've left for now.
Richard Matteson 2014]
[This was once about the ballads, jack tales and songs of the Hicks, Harmon, Presnell and Ward families. Now it's a collection of information (much undocumented from various sources) about these families. My grandfather, Maurice Matteson, bought a dulcimer from Nathan and Rena Hicks about 1933. In an effort to trace Nathan's lineage I've gone back to Samuel Hicks of Tuckahoe Creek, Henrico County, Virgina (known know as Goochland). The Hix (Hicks, Hixe) line is undocumented after Samuel (b. circa 1695, d. 1772 see his will) who was the father of David (b. 1719 in Goochland, VA; d. 1793) who also ended up in NC. Samuel, with his wife and several family member traveled to North Carolina shorty before he died. David (the tory) Hicks and his son "Big Sammy" also ended up in North Carolina (they didn't go with Samuel) as two of the early settlers of the Beech Mountain area. I believe David first established his residence around 1768 near Banner Elk, NC in a makeshift home called the "improvement" which was referred to as a camp. [Smith] Soon, after with the promise of free land, David and Big Sammy moved to Beech Mountain where in 1770 David acquired a tact of land next to Benjamin Ward. David was known as a British sympathizer and his move to the mountains (Banner Elk) was apparently done to avoid the conflict which became the Revolutionary War. We know don't know David how long served in the militia but we do know his brother Absalom, had a son-in-law Soloman Whitlow who served in the militia in David's stead and that David Hicks "was in service and desirous of going home to his family." Another of David's brothers Goulder, who apparently died in Goochhland by the 1740s, had his name preserved (he was reportedly named after a local man, Samuel Goulder) in the family line when Big Sammy's daughter Sabra married Andrew Harmon and named one of their sons, Goulder (the other was the famous Council Harmon, who also named one of his son's Goulder). Soon after Goulder and Council were born, Andrew was struck by a falling tree and killed. Both Council and Goulder stayed for a time with their father-in-law Big Sammy and his son, Little Sammy. This family group was the genesis of the Jack Tales and ballads. The Jack Tales were apparently from the Harmon/Hermann line of German descent and the ballads were from Virginia possibly brought over by Samuel's father or grandfather from probably England (rather than Scotland). If the ballads weren't brought over during the mid-1600s they were certainly absorbed by the Hix (Hicks) family from friends and new family in Tuckahoe Creek. I believe that Big Sammy was the conduit rather than his father David, a family outsider.
It is my opinion that Samuel Hicks b. circa 1695 is related to John Hix, a doorkeeper at the House of Burgess in 1659, who may be one of the original Hix immigrants. I assume he would be at least in his mid-20s to hold his position. It is probably John's son also named John who married Sarah Preston c1681. There is no documentation or a will for the origination of this line. Daniel Hix (reportedly the son of Robert) John Hix and Nathaniel Hix (b.1682 John's brother?) do appear to be part of the John Hix line; and all end up on Tuckahoe Creek in Goochland with Samuel (b. 1695). This is no coincidence. Samuel Hicks of Goochland (1695-1772) had five male children; David, Goulder (undocumented since he died before Samuel made his will in 1770 and named after Samuel Goulder who lived in Hanover and Goochland Counties), Henry, Samuel Jr. and Absalom. Usually the father's first name is carried to the name of his son's male children. I agree with Kennedy that there is a good chance Samuel's father was named Henry. There are several possible Henry candidates but this is also speculation. According to my research I now believe that Samuel's father, whatever his name, was the older brother of Nathaniel Hix (b. 1686). I also believe that Daniel was Samuel's cousin.
The Ward line comes from Benjamin Ward who was a neighbor of David Hix, both early settlers. Lee Monroe Presnell, Buna Vista Presnell, Eli Taylor Presnell (dulcimer maker c. 1880s), and Edd Presnell (married Ben Hicks daughter) are ballad singers and instrument makers from the region. Tab Ward mentioned his ggg-grandfather is Nathan Presnell.
R. Matteson 2014, 2016]
The Last Chivaree is a book written about Ray Hicks (and his parents, Rena and Nathan) and gives this genealogy:
Rena Hicks, wife of Nathan and mother of Ray, was a daughter of Andrew Jackson Hicks 1877-1949) and Susan Ann Presnell Hicks (1881-1951). Andrew Jackson Hicks was a son of Samuel Hicks III and Rebecca Harmon, he was a brother of John Benjamin Hicks. Stanley Hicks (1911-1989), "double first cousin, of Ray, was a son of Roby Hicks (1882-1957) and Buena Vista ("Buny") Presnell Hicks (1888- 1984). His father's parents were Samuel and Rebecca, and his brothers included John Benjamin Hicks, Ray's grandfather' Stanley married Virgie Pressley; their only son, David Hicks, is still living. Rosa Hicks' wife of Ray, was a daughter of Lee Monroe Harmon (1890-1973) and Mary Ellen McGuire (??-1971). Her grandfather, McKeller ("Kell") Harmon (1863-1950), was married to Susan Presnell (1884-1946). The Harmon line in America began with George Hermann (1710-1787), German-Austrian immigrant. John Henry Hicks, Mattie Hicks, and Barnabas B. Hicks, writing in their 1991 book
The Hicks Families of Western North Carolina (from which most of this genealogy is derived), declare that Council Harmon, born on the Watauga River, is an "oft-cited" source of English folktales handed down by the Hicks family.
Hix (Hicks) Lineage: [under construction, watch out for falling descendants and dangling lines!! Some of this info is from sources that may not be accurate- including mine!!]
Introduction: My father (b. 1928) was only 6 years old when he went to Beech Mountain, NC with my grandfather Maurice Matteson to visit with the Hicks around 1934. My dad remembered playing hide-and-seek with a twelve-year-old Ray Hicks (August 29, 1922 - April 20, 2003) as he waited for my grandfather who was trying to coax some "ballards" from the folks on the porch. Ray himself became of the last of the great story-tellers. He learned the stories from his father and grandfather Benjamin, who learned them from his father and so it goes. . .until at some point the ballads and stories came from old England where they fermented in the vast isolated regions of Appalachia. We can trace the family ballads to "Old Counce" Harmon and further to his grandfather, "Big Sammy" Hicks who was born in 1753 before the Revolutionary War. Big Sammy and his father, David (b. 1719) were among the first settlers in Beach Mountain, coming to the Valle Crucis region around 1777. David has been traced through Revolutionary War oral records given by Absalom Hicks's brother-in-law which validate that indeed, David was the son of Samuel Hicks b. 1695 of Goochland, Virginia. Solomon Witlow, who married Samuel's daughter stated that his son, Harris Hicks had served in the Revolutionary War for David Hicks, his uncle.
We know that David Hicks was a loyalist of England and probably fled Surry County to the Beech Mountain wilderness in the Watuaga County area when the Revolutionary War broke out. He is rumored to have served in the militia but that is unlikely since he is found hiding out in his "impoundment" in Banner Elk, reportedly traveling at night as so not to be seen by locals. His son known as "Big Sammy" moved to Valle Crucis around the same time (1777). David was a neighbor of another early settler, Benjamin Ward, who is the progenitor for the Ward family, another talented family of folk musicians in the region. They both received land grants at the same time in what was then called Washington, Tennessee.
So where and when did Samuel Hicks' father or grandfather come to America? Although not directly related to the Hix of Virginia, the first documented Samuel Hicks (also Hixe, Hicx, Hickes) to arrive in America was Samuel Hicks (Hickes), son of Robert Hicks (b. 1578 in London, Middlesex, England and d. Plymouth MA 1647) who came with his mother and three other siblings to Plymouth MA in 1623, two years after his father arrived. Samuel was born August 18, 1611 in England and married Lydia Doane in Plymouth in 1645. We know Samuel contested his father will and it was settled in court and also that his youngest brother Ephraim suffered a "violent death" in 1649. From his marriage Samuel several children, among them a son named Samuel after his father who was born the 14 of June, 1671.
The Hicks that came to Goochland, Virginia spelled their names Hix and eventually Hicks. From "The Hicks Family Journal" by Tom Keel: "On May 25, 1637, Samuel Hix arrived from England and stepped upon the shores of the Rappahannock River on the Potomac. According to the information contained the 'The Hicks Families of Western North Carolina' by John Henry, Mattie Hicks and Barnabas B. Hicks, copyright 1991. Samuel Hix was the first in the line of the Watauga River, North Caroline Hicks families. This Samuel Hix was also the first of the line of Hicks who followed the migration routes from Virginia to North Carolina, Georgia, Alabama, and westward. By the time Samuel arrived, the population of the Virginia colony was approximately 5,000, including two or three hundred Negro slaves."
So far no one has connected this Samuel Hix (Hicks) 1637 with the Samuel Hix (Hicks) that is kin to Ray Hicks and his pet groundhog. Since many of the indentured servants (and immigrants in general) died shortly after their arrival this Samuel is two generations away from the documented Samuel b. circa 1695 in Henrico County, who is the father of the Watuaga line's David Hix (Hicks). If he lived he would have been the grandfather of Samuel b. 1695. In 1991 Kennedy suggests that the father of Samuel Hix (b. 1695- 1772) is Henry Hix (Hicks) with brother named Stephen and that his grandfather also Henry came to the US in 1658. He was identified from The Bristol Registers of Servants: Sent to Foreign Plantation December 22 1658: Henry Hicks of Tytherington [Wilts], to same, 6 yrs Virginia, to John Morgan [upholsterer]. Henry would be born c.1638 and would have served about 4 years until 1662 and would be about 25 then.
Nathan Hicks (who made my grandfather's dulcimer- see below), who was the father of Ray Hicks (storyteller), can be traced back to David Hicks, b. 1719 in Goochland, who came to Valle Crucis NC area before the Revolutionary War. His son Samuel, (known as "Big Sammy") also came about that time, as his father's family moved from Goochland to Granville county, NC about 1760. Both Samuel and David were among the early settlers in the Beach Mountain area and they have been confused in books written in the early 1900s about Watauga County.
David's father was Samuel b. circa 1695 in Goochland, we know this from an affidavit given by Solomon Whitlow son-in-law of David's brother Absalom. David apparenlty was not part of the family inner circle (not mentioned in Samuel's will) and he moved from Goochland after 1740 as no record of him is found of him in Goochland (the David found later in Goochland is David, son of Samuel Jr.) after that time. David served in the Militia in the Bedford County and moves the Banner Elk "improvement" then to Watauga around 1770 when he is given a land grant next to Benjamin Ward.
After some research I've found David's father Samuel to be associated with the Hicks (Hix) families in the original shires created in 1637 of Henrico, James City County and Charles City County. This family is represented by John Hix, a doorkeeper by 1659 at House of Burgess in Jamestown, James City County. Samuel's family settled in along Tuckahoe Creek in Henrico County, not far from Jamestown. In Henrico (Gouchland in 1727) in the late 1600s we find Samuel, David's father and Samuel's uncle Nathaniel (said to be son of John Hix, the doorkeeper) as well as Samuel's cousin Daniel. Nathaniel and Samuel both had large families. Daniel had two daughters and died fairly young in 1735.
The other large Hix family in Virginia is the family of Captain Robert Hix, Indian trader, who was probably born in Charles City County in 1658 after his father Robert (known as Robert, The Taylor) bought land there with John Evans in 1654. Evan's daughter Winnifred, became Captain Robert's first wife. Captain Robert, nicknamed "Robin," had nine children with two wives, many of whom became Indian traders. He lived to be around 80 years old (his age documented by William Byrd) and died in 1739, leaving a will. This large family and the Evans family settled in Surry County at the Southern edge of Virginia territory and traded with the Indians. Many researchers have concluded that Captain Robert had a younger brother named John (m. Rebecca Rives) who also settled in the county Surry (soon Brunswick, Greenville and others were created from this county).
Below is a jumble of family lines and information- maybe we'll figure it out someday- especially with DNA testing!!
Map Showing Goochland and Henrico Counties c. 1728 Samuel Hix settled in Tuckahoe Creek area located along the James River between Southwestern Henrico Co and Southeastern Goochland Co. Thomas Jefferson also moved into this area.
Generation No. 1
Line of SAMUEL HIX (HICKS), authenticated from SAMUEL[2] or [3] b. 1695 in Goochland, Virginia. SAMUEL b. 1695 could be 2nd or 3rd generation.
1a. SAMUEL HIX (Hickes, Hicks) - b. about 1617 in England came to Virginia in 1637- which is documented. If he survived and married he would be Samuel's (b. 1695 Goochland) grandfather. The name, Samuel, is right but there is no line connecting him to Samuel (b. 1695), only conjecture. Some writers (Tom Keel) have said this Samuel is the father of the Hicks of Western North Carolina line that includes "Big Sammy" Hicks and Old Counce Harmon. Who was this Samuel Hix b. c. 1617 son? Did he live or die soon after arriving as over half of the indentured servants did?
1a[2] JAMES HICKS came to Virginia 1637 on the same ship! He sponsored by Oliver Sprye of the New Norfolk Co. His name is featured in the Captain Robert Hix line from Surry Co. Why couldn't he be the father of the Hicks of Western North Carolina line?
[There's another Samuel Hicks from MA: b. about 1651 in Plymouth, Ma. d. 1764 married Ruth Haskins b: about 1653 in Plymouth, Plymouth Co., MA married: Jan 9, 1678 in Plymouth-- moved at some point to Va.- undocumented. Another Samuel Hicks b. 1611 married Lydia Doane c. 1645 in MA, see on Early Hicks page for info on that line.]
1b. Brother [Unknown, probably JOHN] of Robert Hix (Hicks), the taylor, who is father of Captain Robert Hicks (b. c.1658). Robert Sr., the taylor, was sponsored by Hugh Lee, and had a land holding awarded in 1654 (Surry Co. Virginia) from Lee when he arrived in Virginia. He was born c. 1636 and came into Virginia around 1654. The elder Robert became associated with John Evans Sr. (who owned land near Hix in Charles Co.) when Robert son, Captain Robert, married Evan's daughter, Winnifred about 1679 in Surry Co. Virginia. Captain Robert was born c. 1658 and it's possible he had a brother named Henry who might be Samuel's father.
In 1665 John Hicks, John Evans and John Harris left Bristol (England) Baptist Church for New England (which at that time could have meant America) with three sisters (last name Mogg). The name John Evans may be more than coincidental and this could be part of the Virginia line.
1c. HENRY HIX; born before 1640 in Tetherington, England, immigrated to Virginia circa December 22 1658. Documented- see: The Bristol Registers of Servants: Sent to Foreign Plantation 1654-1686: "Henry Hicks of Tytherington [Wilts], to same, 6 yrs Virginia, to John Morgan [upholsterer]." His age should be. c. 1638 and in Virginia an average of 4 years was served, so he would be free in 1662 and would be approximately 24 years old at that time. It seems likely that another generation would be between Henry and Samuel who was born in 1695. This could be the grandfather of Samuel Hicks (b. 1695) of Goochland, VA. According to some sources online and a book source Henry has a brother, Stephen Hix (Hicks) who has a son Daniel. [This line is may be correct but is not documented] On Oct. 4, 1675, Henry Hicks lived at Varina Parish, north of the James River upon Gyllie's path, merridaes path, Mongoles run, west branch of Herring's Creek to the Chickahominy. Twelve years later, on April 20, 1687, Henry Hicks still was at Varina Parish, Henrico Co., south of Chickahominy River.
Generation No. 2
2a. HENRY HIX- The father of Samuel [3] b. 1695 would need to be born circa 1670. On possibility is the Henry Hix who received land in Varina Parish, Henrico County, Virginia on April 20, 1687. [Virginia Land Grant and Patent Book Seven, page 556]. Hix was transported by Thomas Cock, Junr., and received a land grant from Cock's 671 acres. According to the 1991 book "Ancestors and kin, Davis, Hicks, Kennedy" by Mary Kennedy Reynolds, Henry is teh father of Samuel.
It's also possible that Henry came from the line of Robert Hicks of Surry Co. and was a younger brother. This is all speculative but looking is the first step of finding.
2b. JOSEPH HIX- Joseph is mentioned in one chart line as the brother of Henry who has a son named Daniel.
[Samuel Hix b. 1680 is attached as a son to the line of John Hixe (Hix) b. 1658 the doorkeeper of James City who married Sarah [Preston]. this line is not documented. Another chart has Samuel Hix (should be John Hix) and Rebecca Reeves (should be Rives but it's spelled Rieves in his will). Samuel father could be attached to John Hix from Surry Co. b. circa 1685, who is likely the brother of Captain Robert or the John Hicks who married Denias Christiana. Both have wills in the 1720-1740 time frame.]
3. Samuel Hix (Hicks) 1695- c.1772 and his wife Diana Willis. Samuel Sr.'s will was written March 17, 1770, and recorded November 1772. He died around 1772. In his will, Absolom [also Absalom] is his son and Absolom's son as Bishop, that Nathaniel Witlow married Diana (Hix) and their son is Solomon. That he has a grandson David, who is the son of Samuel Jr.; that Jacob Woodal married his daughter Agnes Hix and they had a son, James; And that the had a son Henry. Apparently David and Goulder were sons not mentioned in the will because they had moved (Goulder moved or died after 1751). The affidavit given much later by Solomon Hicks versifies that David was Absalom's brother. The children of Samuel Hix (1695-1772) and Diana Willis were:
i. David Hicks (Sr.) b. 1719 Goochland Va. – d, 1793 Valle Crucis, NC (see more of this NC line below)
a. Big Sammy Hicks b. 1753 (moved to NC near his father circa 1777). Big Sammy is confused with David and also Samuel.
ii. Goulder Hicks 1720? –
iii. Samuel Hicks Jr. b. 1732 m. Elizabeth Woodlock [Woodall] in 1751. Their son, David, was named in the will. Children David, 1754 and Frederick b. 1756
a. David was born about 1754 in VA, USA, died in 1832 in Elbert Co., GA, USA about age 78. David married Jane (HICKS) in 1775 in Granville Co, North Carolina. The child from this marriage was:
i. Jefferson Johnson HICKS (born on 15 Nov 1787 in Granville Co, North Carolina -died on 3 Dec 1860 in Tallapoosa County, AL, USA). Jefferson married Martha BOOTH. Jefferson next married Nancy Cook (or Good) REAGAN on 19 Jul 1832 in Madison County, Georgia. Nancy was born on 19 Jul 1832 in Granville Co, North Carolina, died Dec 1890 in Tallapoosa County, AL, USA, and was buried in Liberty Methodist Church, 9 miles East of Goodwater, AL, USA. David next married Mary JOHNSON, in 1775 in Granville Co, North Carolina. Children from this marriage were:
b. Samuel HICKS
c. John Wyatt HICKS
d. Mary (Daughter) HICKS
e. David (Jr) HICKS
f. Frederick HICKS b. Mar 12, 1756, Bapt. Jun. 7, 1756
iv. Henry b. 1722 owned land in 1751 married Betty [Elizabeth nicknamed "Zeney" appears as Teney] Willis (Robert's brother)- children:
i. Henry b. October 20, 1756 and
ii Harman b. March 5, 1760
v. Diana m. Nathaniel Witlow [also sp. Whitlock, see: Douglas Regisiter] on Sept. 7, 1756
a. Solomon
i. Solomon Witlow Jr. b. August 20, 1800 (Granville Co. NC) m. Mary about 1820, moved from Granville Co. NC about 1817 with his father.
vi. Agnes m. Jacob Woodall 1763
a. Absalom
b. James
vii. Absolom Hicks b. 1733 m. on April 20, 1760 to Mary Harris (1742-1770), daughter of Sherwood Harris. [also spelled Absalom Hicks] was the youngest son of Samuel Hicks, Snr. and Dianah Willis. He was born in Virginia. He was under the age of 16 in 1747, so he was probably born around 1733.
i. Bishop 1756
ii. Absalom Jr.
iii. Harris- served in the Rev. War for David, he was a lieutenant in the Tennessee militia, who later moved to Christian County, Kentucky.
iv. Jeannie b. 1760
v. Dianah b. 1761
vi. Agnes
In 1750 the tithe list of Thomas Starke includes Samuel, Samuel Jr. and Absolom. 1747 lists Samuel, Henry and Sam Jr. three tithes and Goulder one tithe.
This document proves that David was Samuel's (not mentioned in the will) son:
Solomon Whitlow, aged 70 years on April 22, 1832 [thus born April 22, 1762], made an affidavit on September 11, 1832 in Orange County, NC Superior Court on behalf of his first cousin Harris Hicks, son of Absalom Hicks, regarding Harris Hicks' Revolutionary War service [Revolutionary War Pension Application W4989]. Solomon Whitlow stated:
"That at about the age of three years his parents removed from Hanover County in the State of Virginia and settled on Tabbs Creek in the County of Granville & State of North Carolina. That his mother was the sister of Absalom Hicks who had married and settled in the neighborhood of his father and within about a mile or mile and a half of him – That said Absalom Hicks died and left 3 sons, Bishop Hicks, Absalom Hicks, and Harris Hicks. . . he well remembers that said Harris Hicks, being a young active man without a wife or family or other encumbrance, he was, with but little or at least very short animation in service, almost in constant service in the Army either by draft or as a substitute – This affiant well remembers that he performed a tour of 3 months duty for Jeremiah Frazier Senior but where he was called in this service, he is unable to say but he knows that said Harris received of the said Frazier a mare and 2 cows and calves for taking his place in the Army. He also remembers that Harris Hicks performed part of another tour as a substitute for David Hicks his uncle – David Hicks was in service and desirous of going home to his family. A tour of Harris had just expired and he was prevailed upon to take his uncle's place and did so for some compensation but what this affiant cannot remember – The Term of service of Harris in this Tour this affiant thinks was for 2 months."
Solomon Whitlow was the son of Nathaniel Whitlow and Diana Hicks/Hix, and is named as Nathaniel Whitlow's son in the March 17, 1770 will of Samuel Hix of Granville County, NC (Proven November, 1772). His affidavit establishes that his mother Diana (Hicks) Whitlow was the sister of Absalom Hicks, who had sons Bishop, Absalom, and Harris Hicks. It also indicates that David Hicks was the uncle of Harris Hicks, and thus the brother of Absalom Hicks and Diana (Hicks) Whitlow.
4. David ("the Tory") Hicks, born ca. 1719 in Goochland Co., Virginia "on Tuckahoe Creek which is now within the City of Richmond." He died in 1792 or 1793 in Wilkes Co., NC. He married Sarah Dennis (1720-1790) in 1740, and was the father of at five children:
1. Samuel, "Big Sammy" b. 1753-1835
2. David (1756-1840) Jr.
3. Catherine, (1758-1825) m. John Holzclaw.
4. Sarah D. (b. 1760), 1st m. Charles Asher, Jr., and 2nd James D. Holzclaw.
5. Dinah (b. 1764-1793), m. 1st Thomas Asher and 2nd Henry Heatley.
5. Samuel Hicks (Big Sammy) was born in 1753 in Goochland Co., Virginia. He came to the Watauga area in 1779 or 1780 (note that Avery Co. was not formed until the 20th century), and married Sarah Harmon. Big Sammy died about 1835 in Ashe Co., NC. He and Sarah had nine known children:
1. David (b. 1782-83; living in 1870), m. 1st [Miss] Presnell (2 children- Hiram and John Wesley) and 2nd Susannah Asher (8 children Adam, David, Sally, Millery, Templa, Daniel and Luvenia). According to Smith, David fought in the War of 1812 (Battle of New Orleans). His oldest son was Hiram, whose son Ransome married Emoline (Emily) Harmon-- Ransome and Emily's daughter was Jane Hicks (Gentry), Cecil Sharp's finest informant.
2. Goulder (b. 1790-95)
3. Samuel (Little Sammy) (b. 1798-1800) M. Rebecca Harmon (1841-1919) Seven Children:
1. Susie Hicks
2. John Benjamin Hicks (Ben) 1870 – 1945 [Father of Nathan Hicks 1895- 1945 m. Rena]
3. James Brownlow Hicks 1872 – 1949
4. Alice Adelaide Hicks 1875 –
5. Andrew Jackson Hicks (Andy) 1877– 1949 [father of Rena Hicks who married Nathan Hicks, son Ray]
6. Roby Monroe Hicks 1882 – 1957 [Father of Stanley Hicks 1911-1989 m "Buny" Beuna Vista Presnell (Hicks)
7. Nancy L Hicks 1884 –
4. Harmon (b. 1802)
5. William (b. 1805)
6. Sabra (b. ca. 1785), m. 1st Andrew Harmon (4 Children- Council, Goulder, Mathias, Rachel) and 2nd Duke Ward.
7. Sallie m. Barney Oakes
8. Fanny (b. 1788), died unmarried.
9. Elizabeth (b. 1806) died unmarried.
6. Sabra (b. ca. 1785) Hicks married Andrew Harmon
1. Council Harmon
2. Goulder Harmon, 1807-1900 m Rebecca Louis Ford 1833
3. Mathias
4. Rachel
[This is a brief overview showing some of the inter-marriages and relationships of the Hicks-Harmon-Ward families of North Carolina (the other well-known Hicks' family is from Tennessee with Dee Hicks and Johnny Rae hicks--apparently these families are unrelatad), also to Frank Proffitt, the folk-singer famous for his rendition of Tom Dooley, recorded by Kingston Trio, which was partly responsible for the folk boom. Some of the info in this section from American Folklore: An Encyclopedia edited by Jan Harold Brunvand.
R. Matteson 2014]
Known locally as "Big Sammy," Samuel Hicks (1753- 1835) descended from David Hix (also spelled Hicks) whose great grandfather, also named Samuel Hix (Hicks), came from England to Virginia in 1638. "Big Sammy" was born in Goochland County, Virginia. In 1777 Samuel moved to Watauga County, NC. David's father was Samuel Hix (Hicks) (1680-1774) and his mother was Diana (Willis?). Apparently there is confusion between the various Samuel Hix (Hicks). Samuel Hicks Senior was in Goochland Virginia by the 1740s and his son Samuel Hicks Jr was living with him. Then there's Big Sammy, Little Sammy and Sammy III.
Big Sammy married Sarah and had nine children; five sons (David, Goulder, Samuel known as Little Sammy, Harmon and William; and four daughters (Sabra, Sallie , Fanny and Elizabeth).
One of Big Sammy's sons, known as "Little Sammy" and was born ca. 1800. Big Sammy's daughter Sabra married Andrew Harmon and their sons were Council Harmon (1807- 1896) and Goulder. Andrew's father was Cutliff Harmon who settled in Watauga Co. in 1789. Cutliff's father, George Hermann (Harmon) was German and this, supposedly, is the connection for the Jack Tales, thought to be of German origin.
Council "Old Counce" Harmon was a musician, dancer and storyteller and passed his folk knowledge on to his daughter Sarah (1850-1910) and her husband Andrew Jackson Ward (1848-1944). The Ward children, Roby Monroe (1875-1944), (also Ben Hicks) and Miles (1879-1956) Ward acquired their father's repertoire. Miles son, Marshall (1906-1981), Roby and Ben were featured in Richard Chase's 1943 "Jack Tales" and his 1949 "Grandfather Tales."
Counce's grandson Rev. Lee Presnell (1876-1963) was featured on Sandy Patton's Folk Legacy recording, 'The Traditional music of Beech Mountain, North Carolina."
Council's granddaughter Jane Gentry of Hot Springs, NC was Cecil Sharp's most prolific informant, contributing 64 songs and ballads.
Little Sammy's grandson Samuel III (1848-1929) married Couce's daughter Rebecca (1842-1919) and their sons, Ben, Andy and Roby Monroe carried the family tradition for folk songs and folk tales. Ben's son Nathan is pictured below with a home-made dulcimer, which I have played and recorded a few songs. Nathan and Rena (Andy's daughter) Hick's son, Ray was known as a comic and teller of "Jack" tales. My father met Ray Hicks in the 1930s when my grandfather, Maurice Matteson, went collecting on Beech Mountain. Roby, his wife Buna Vista and their son, Stanley and daughter Rosa all contributed folk songs and tales.
Frank Proffitt, who learned songs from his father Wiley and his Aunt Nancy Prather and her husband Noah, married Nathan Hicks daughter Bessie. After meeting my grandfather in NYC Frank Warner went down to get a dulcimer from Nathan Hicks he recorded Franl Profitt's version of Tom Dooley, learned from Nancy Prather.
The Hicks - Harmon families joined again when Council's son Goulder (b. 1844- ) married Little Sammy's daughter Nancy Jane Hicks (b 1844-- ). Their son Samuel (b. 1869-- ) and his wife, Pollyana were discovered by Mellinger Henry, now living in Cade's Cove, TN. Henry collected many ballads from them and published them in Folk Songs from the Southern Highlands (1938).
Fanny Hicks (1837–1914), who was Big Sammy's granddaughter, passed on her immense repertoire of songs to her granddaughter Nora Hicks, known as the "Mast Gap" Hicks who were discovered by Edith Walker in 1939. Nora was recorded by Abrams c. 1940, but could not read or write so her daughter Addie wrote down some of her ballads and sent them in.
There is another Goulder Harmon, who I believe was named after Big Sammy's uncle Goulder Hicks (from Goochland, Virginia as was Big Sammy). This Goulder was Counce's brother Goulder Harmon (1811-1900) who married Rebecca Louisa Ford (1810-1850) had a son John Wiley Harmon (1838- 1926) who married Malinda Cook Harmon (1847- 1927). John had a number of children including Wiley Smith Harmon (Nov. 7, 1877- 1969) who married Carrie S. Palmer Harmon (1889- 1989). It was John's son Wiley Smith (known as Smith) Harmon who was the postmaster of Beech Creek and sang some of the family ballads such as The House Carpenter (collected circa 1939). Smith also talks about Counce Harmon (his great uncle or grandfather's brother) in Richard Chase's Jack Tales.
Nathan Hicks circa 1935
The photo Nathan Hicks with his dulcimer c. 1935 from the frontis of "Beech Mountain Ballads" published by G. Shirmer in 1936. The mountain folk pronounced it "dul-ci-moor." This is probably my grandfather's dulcimer or another one just like it. It's a three string made circa early 1930s with the heart shaped cut-outs on the top. My father keeps it in the original bag with my grandfather's initials M.M. on it.
My grandfather Maurice Matteson used to play it in his ballad bagging concerts, so I figured I'd look at this dulcimer when I visited my folks during Christmas 2011. When my father pulled it out of the bag I could tell the strings were very old- I'd say sixty or seventy years old. The frets are very short and can only be used to play one string- which is the bass string!
I couldn't tune the strings up without fear of damaging the instrument so I tuned it to G (melody string) then the second string G unison with the top string G an octave higher. It worked.
So I tried playing it- first with my finger to fret the strings, then with an emory board stick and lastly with half of an wooden clothes pin. The clothes pin worked the best. I didn't have a pick but I got one from Bob Hitchcock, my brother-in-law. I figured why not play some of Nathan Hicks songs and record them at Bob's little home studio. Kara Pleasants, my niece, loves to sing and Zach, my nephew, played the violin.
So I wrote out a couple of Hicks songs in G for Zach and we practiced a bit then recorded them the next morning. They did a gr8 job, so did Bob making the recording.
Here's one ballad- Listen: George Colon (collected in 1933 from Nathan Hicks):
Foreward
When my grandfather, Maurice Matteson, first traveled to Beech Mountain, NC in 1932 to collect ballads, it was like venturing into another world. Most of the area was not easily accessible by road [read my grandfather's article, Wanted, Mountain Music!]. Beech Mountain rises above Banner Elk and forms most of the northern border of Avery County. There he met Nathan Hicks and his family and collected ballads and songs from them. He also purchased a dulcimer made by Hicks. Several of the songs collected were published by G. Shirmer in his 1936 book "Beech Mountain Folk-Songs and Ballads," which he published with folk song collector Mellinger Henry. It was Henry who learned about Hicks in earlier hiking and collecting expeditions through the area.
My father, Richard Matteson Sr. traveled with his father to Beech Mountain when he was just 4 1/2 years old. They came back 2 years later and my father still remembers wrestling with Ray Hicks and how the children "hid behind trees" so they could watch them unseen from a distance. This is my father's recollection(s):
"Dad and I left Banner Elk where we he and my mother and I had been staying and headed for a nearby mountain called Beech Mountain. Somewhere up there was an old Hicks relative. Dad was driving his car and as we followed the obvious trail the car scraped the center hump from time to time an finally scraped to a stop! We then walked the rest of the way on foot. My father carried a bag with him When the really old and trashy looking house came into view, he told me to go and find someone to play with as he had to talk with the old "Grannie" who lived there. I saw him greet the lady and then after a while he unwrapped the bottle within and offered her a drink (bourbon). She gladly accepted and they sang songs for almost an hour. He wrote down her words and tunes and I tried to find the children who presumably lived there.
"After many minutes I spotted a movement behind a tree and then another and another. I didn't know what to do so I called out, "I can see you!" One young guy emerged grinning. I called out again and another came out but the first guy had again disappeared. So that was their game -"disapear" So I played that too and did so until my dad called me to come as we were
going back to the car. No one spoke even once during that game!
"Also I stayed with the Hicks family up either that or another nearby mountain. The boys my age and I played amidst the huge boulders on part of that mountain. I believe that I stayed only one night sleeping on the floor with the kids. Nathan
and his wife had a small bed which they used... I remember being cared for quite well!" [Richard Matteson Sr. 2011]
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Excerpt from Wanted, Mountain Music! c. 1934 by Maurice Matteson:
Sinful to Flirt (Hicks)
Oh, they say it is sinful to flirt,
Oh, they say that my heart is made of stone;
Oh, they say to speak to him kindly,
Or else leave the poor boy alone.
Oh, they say he is only a boy,
But I am sure he is much older than me,
And if they would leave us alone,
I'm sure much happier we would be.
I remember the night when he said,
That he loved me far more than his life,
He kissed me and called me his pet,
And asked me to be his wife.
"Oh Willie," I said with a smile,
"I am sure that I'll have to say no."
He took my hand for a while,
And said, "Goodbye, I must go."
"Oh darling," I said, "I am sure,
Your heart is made of stone."
He took a white rose from my hair,
And left me standing there.
Next morning poor Willie was dead,
He was drowned in a pond by the mill.
In the pure blessed water so fair,
That flows from the banks of the hill.
His eyes were forever closed,
And damp was his bright golden hair,
And close to his pale lips he held,
The white rose he took from my hair.
Oh Willie, my darling come back,
I will ever be faithful to you;
Oh Willie, my darling come back,
I will ever be faithful and true.
This charming lyric was sung for me by Mr. Nathan Hicks, a sturdy mountaineer of Sugar Grove, Beech Mountain. He sang very simply, with no trace of embarrassment, his blue eyes sparkling with the unconscious zest of the true artist. The case of Mr. Hicks is an interesting one. Through Edward Tufts, a young boy of Banner Elk, I heard of Nathan Hicks and his reputation as a ballad singer and also a maker of mountain dulcimers, which in his mountain drawl becomes dul-ci-moor.
One evening about sunset, we decided to take a journey to see Mr. Hicks. Young Edward told me that since it was only a half mile off the main road we could get there in half an hour. I shall never forget the climb from McGill Gap where we turned off to ascend Beech Mountain. The road became gradually worse and as the shadows of the evening lengthened over the moun-
tainside, I became apprehensive about getting back before dark.
Edward and his companion assured us that it was only a few minutes ride further until we reached Woods Man Cove where Hicks was supposed to be living. Imagine our great consternation when we, after turning several more hairpin curves, discovered from a callow youth trudging in the evening dusk along the road that Hicks had moved.
I have observed that expeditions having been attempted and seemingly failed could be terminated in an about face and going home. Here was one case where this was not possible because the mountain road had become so narrow. We had climbed until there was a sheer drop of hundreds of feet on one side of the road with rocks and boulders ascending hundreds of feet on the other! My car was a long one and it was impossible to turn back.
The two boys and I held a consultation and decided we might as well go on to where Hicks had moved, "about a couple of miles further on." So we started ahead, I with great trepidation and the boys, quite accustomed to mountain roads and escapades of all kinds, urging me on. The road became more and more difficult to travel and the rocks over which we passed larger and larger. At this point dusk had turned into evening and it had become necessary to put on the car lights to see where we were going. Again I surely would have turned back if it had been possible to do so.
After rounding a curve, a view, such as I shall never forget, greeted our eyes. We had encircled the eastern end of Beech and had emerged on the north side where the final glow of the setting sun was roseately coloring the western clouds. Night itself emerged from the east over the range of mountain peaks, visible for miles to the north. The vastness of that majestic and breath-taking sight will always remain as one of my treasured memories.
At this juncture I refused to go farther and insisted that young Edward climb the mountain slope to a little lighted home several hundred yards up and inquire if we were anywhere near Nathan Hicks. By the time he returned night had descended but a ray of helpfulness was the young moon which made its appearance from behind us over the mountain top.
Edward informed us that Mr. Hicks was only a half a mile farther on. In case you don't believe a half a mile is a long ways, try any of the mountain half miles. It means up, and over, and around, and anything else you would like to add.
In the course of a half hour, we reached a stone barn built right at the side of the road and down the slope we saw a light glimmering. Again the boys were dispatched to see if this was Nathan's cottage. This proved to be the case and at last, after the perilous journey of an hour and a half, we glimpsed Mr. Hicks.
He very cordially invited us to stay and spend the night but I had entirely too much nerve strain to accept. After promising to come to Banner Elk and sing for me, he opened the barn doors (which might be a good one for Ripley) and believe it or not we backed the car into the barn and thus were able to turn around.
When he sang for me in Banner Elk, he accompanied himself on the dulcimer, a three-stringed fiddle-like instrument, which he tuned in octaves and a fifth. Upon this he created a remarkable accompaniment, at times pulsating with rhythm and at other times reflecting the pathos of the lyrics he was singing.
What he accomplished so simply is not so easy. I can testify that I have practiced the dulcimer for months and have not mastered this instrument.
Two other songs contributed by Nathan Hicks were Once I Knew a Little Girl and Away Out on the Mountain. [For the music and lyrics see Once I Knew a Little Girl page 34 and Away Out on the Mountain page 24 in my book, Appalachian Folk Songs for piano and voice- Mel Bay 1996.]
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The older musical and storytelling styles that had died out in other areas were alive and well on Beech Mountain. They survived in several large families, particularly the Wards, Hickses, Harmons, and Presnells. We'll also look at Frank Proffitt, who married Nathan Hicks' daughter.
There are several important recorded collections of musicians and storytellers from that area: The Warner Collection and the Folk Legacy's 2 CDs- The Traditional Music Of Beech Mountain, North Carolina, Volume 1 & 2. Ray Hicks continued and elaborated on the family tradition of storytelling and his telling of Jack tales is now legendary. The tales have been traced through the family from Jane Hicks Gentry (many of her Jack tales were published in 1925- see attached article) to her grandfather Council Harmon. There a recent book about Gentry (Jane Hicks Gentry: A Singer Among Singers by Betty N. Smith), who is the singer Cecil Sharp collected many ballads from in 1916-1917.
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The Hicks Family
From McKinney and Teaster (Tester) site
The history of the Hicks family, sometimes spelled Hix, has been intertwined with the Teaster family since at least around 1825. Sometime close to this date, Nellie Teaster, the daughter of Samuel Teaster (1) married Harmon Hicks. Harmon was the son of Samuel Hicks and the grandson of David Hicks, one of Watauga’s first European settlers. This was the first of many marriages between these two families. In the remote mountain area, potential marriage partners were scarce and marriage between cousins was common. The last Teaster/Hicks marriage in Ransom’s (2) line was between his father Harmon and his mother, Susie Hicks.
The complete story of our relatives on the Hicks side is told in the book "The Hicks Family of Western North Carolina (Watauga River Lines)". It traces and describes the Hicks family since before they came to America. This book is the story of pioneers, Indian fighters, farmers and strong women. (See Section on Family Related Books.)
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"The Hicks Family Journal" by Tom Keel:
The first of our Hicks ancestors to come to America was Samuel Hicks. He came to Virginia as an indentured servant on May 25, 1637 and settled on the lower Rappahonnock River close to Potomac. He was brought over from England, probably from London by Peter and Margaret Rey. They got 100 acres, known as a headright, for bringing him and one other person.
Samuel finished his indenture and moved to Gloucester County , just north of the York river. There is no record of his marriage or names of his children. The names of his children are reconstructed from names of his grandchildren. (From "Hicks Book " - page 386).
A person usually became an indentured servant in order to obtain their passage from Europe to America. The indenture was a formal contract between the owner , or person with the money, and the servant. The relationship during the indenture was somewhat similar to slavery. The owner had to furnish the servant with "adequate" food and lodging. For doing this, he had almost total control of the time and labor of the servant. Some indentured servants were almost like apprentices and learned a trade. Others were just used for hard farm labor or as household servants.
However, at the end of an agreed upon period that might vary from four to seven years, the servant became free of the indenture. In addition to becoming a free person the servant was usually given 50 acres of land, some food, some clothing and various tools necessary for making a living. Many people in the pre Revolutionary War era came to this country as an indentured servant.
The Samuel Hicks who came to Virginia in 1637 was Ransom’s (2) great great great great great great (six greats) grandfather. Samuel Hicks came to Virginia 229 years before Ransom (2) was born in North Carolina in 1866. Samuel Hicks was also the great grandfather of David Hicks, one of the first European settlers of the Watauga area.
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Story Tellers and Singers
Several members of the Hicks family have become famous for their talents in story telling, singing, playing musical instruments and as preservers of traditional mountain songs and stories. A number of books have been written about these individuals and their family traditions. These books are described in the "Family Related Book" section of this story.
One family member , Council Harmon, son of Sabra Hicks and Andrew Harmon, is credited by historians as being the main individual responsible for passing on the "Jack Tales" from the old English versions of the middle ages. One familiar example of these tales is the story of "Jack and the Beanstalk". Council Harmon married Nancy Elizabeth Teaster, one of Samuel’s (1) daughters.
Another family member, Jane Hicks Gentry, is credited with being one of the people most responsible for remembering and saving a large number of medieval English folks songs including the now well known "Froggie Went A - Courting". This song was originally known as "The Frog and the Mouse." Jane’s story is told in the book "Appalachian Medley." Jane was Ransom’s(2) second cousin.
Still another family member, Frank Proffitt, is credited with saving and adding to the old mountain folk song that became the "Ballad of Tom Dooley". This song was based on a real story about a man named Tom Dula. The name Dula was pronounced Dooley in the mountains. Dula was hanged in Wilkes County, North Carolina in the late 1800’s. Frank Proffitt heard the song sung by his father and grandmother. The Kingston Trio recorded the song in the 1960’s and it became world famous. Frank’s story is told in the books "The Last Chivaree" and "Jack in Two Worlds."
And still another family member, Ray Hicks, is a renowned teller of folk tales and has won many story telling competitions. Ray is a featured performer at the yearly National Story Telling Festival in Jonesborough, Tennessee. A recent news article about that festival described him:
Ray Hicks is probably the most famous of that breed (mountain storyteller). Since 1951, he has been publicly passing along Appalachian tales. He dresses in overalls and still lives in the same house in which he was born. Someone said that being introduced to Mr. Hicks is like meeting Rip van Winkle.
According to storyteller Jim Mays, "Ray has been studied by scholars who believe that his particular dialect is closest to the Elizabethan English that we still have among living people. Appreciating a performance by the man who's hailed as the patriarch of storytelling, the large crowd hangs onto every word - most stretched into several syllables (hee-ut for hit, kee-ud for kid, way-lll for well). They roar delightedly at a tale about outsmarting a city slicker."
Ray is shown in the introduction to the TV program "Appalachian Stories" series. This show is produced by the Museum of Appalachia in Norris, Tennessee and is often seen on the Travel Channel. Ray’s story is also told in the books "The Last Chivaree" and "Jack in Two Worlds."
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T H E S I N G E R S
(The Hicks & the Proffits, Beech Mountain, N.C. 1938)
THESE RECORDINGS, MADE in the middle of the last century, contain the sound of two and three centuries ago. The recordings were made during tiny bits of vacation time by two people with two full-time jobs and two full-time boys. Of the singers, the oldest was born just after the Civil War, and the youngest a year after the bombing at Hiroshima. That youngest singer, Frank Proffitt, Jr., is still kicking up dust in his home country. Almost all the others are gone. Marilynne Robinson has said of the past, "By definition it is all we know about ourselves...so surely its complexities should be scrupulously preserved." Here preserved is the complex sound of our ancestors, a sound to which we should harken.
IT WAS HAPPENSTANCE that led the Warners to Beech Mountain [the introduction was made by my grandfather]. They knew a little about the music: Frank had done some singing for lectures by Dr. Frank C. Brown at Duke University in the 1920s. Anne knew the music through Frank and through friends in Greenwich Village. In 1938 they saw a dulcimer on a wall in New York City and ordered one. The maker, Nathan Hicks wrote back, "I can't send it... Postage and glue and nails cost me money and times are so hard and my wife is sick most of the time and we have ten childern and times are so hard I can't get much money." The Warners sent a little money and Nathan wrote again, "I will have the dulcimer finish in a few days... Hope it will please you... we are in Det so much as I kneed money so bad... We all war shore glad to hear that you war going to send some clothing... as it is very coole on this mountain." Frank was a career YMCA executive and naturally responded. Clothes were sent and, a few months later, the car packed with boxes of clothes and food, Frank's guitar and Anne's notebooks, they set off to visit strangers, unaware that they were about to become song collectors.
THE WARNER COLLECTION is a document, most specifically, of families. For example, all of the singers that Anne and Frank recorded over decades in northwestern North Carolina were either in attendance that June day on Beech Mountain or were related to someone who was. A single afternoon cemented decades of friendships. The Warners had no sociology, no anthropology, no musicology, no training at all for collecting; but they had what was needed. As Tim Eriksen said in the notes to the first CD of this set, "Something like love radiated from the recordings... I've come to the conclusion that the Warners really, really, listened." Although there was always so little time, the singers never sound rushed. They sound as if they were friends come to visit. Tim believes that such ease can be heard.
HAD TIMES BEEN better for Nathan and Rena Hicks (b. ca. 1900, 1905), they might never have met the Warners. It was Nathan's troubled letters that pulled the Warners south and Rena's letters later were often full of woes. Once she wrote that she was pregnant again and never felt well except when she was pregnant- but then couldn't work much. Not long thereafter she wrote that she had had a hemorrhage; and there was worse news: "They fix my Baby all Redy for Bureal Heare and our Preacher took it home...it war a little girl I had been sick so long till it coulden live." Then, in 1945, Nathan died, and a few years later, youngest son Jack drowned. "I will haft to stand it some way But it hard to Bear to give up a young youth," she wrote. Rena loved the old ballads. Surely those songs provided-somewhere between prophesy and precaution-a fierce, unpredictable future of uncompromising sorrow and loss. If the charmed Sweet Willie could die, what hope could there be for the unprotected? There was powerful consolation in the ballads for singers. As victims and survivors, they could feel themselves embraced in the company of the sorrowful. In the worst of times-a whole crop lost-Nathan carried his dulcimer to his son-in-law's house to play music and forget. As Rena said, "to play the misery out of his soul."
THAT SON-IN-LAW WAS Frank Proffitt, married to the Hicks' oldest daughter, Bessie. Frank seemed to have had a keener-than-usual interest in history and in the history of the old songs. He was twenty-five when he met the Warners and music was already central to his life. The meeting awakened a passion for the old music and was the beginning of a deep and abiding friendship between the Proffitts and the Warners and between the Franks in particular. The Warners saved two hundred fifty of Frank Proffitt's letters and probably wrote as many themselves. [These letters are in Duke University Library, Special Collections.] Frank Proffitt sang the Warners a hundred songs over the years. A few he wrote himself, some he learned while working jobs away from home-for the TVA, WPA and, for a time, an Ohio spark plug factory-but he felt closest to the oldest songs, songs he had learned from his father, Wiley, and aunt, Nancy Prather; songs that connected him to his past.
IN 1951, WHEN the Warners were able to go back to the mountains for the first time since the war, they discovered that the Depression hadn't ended in Appalachia: Frank had gone away to work again-this time building roads-and he'd sold his guitar and given up music. The Warners knew that only the worst of times could make Frank stop singing-and they had. A small song about a local murder changed everything. Frank Proffitt once wrote, "My earlyest memory was of waking up on a wintry morning and hearing my father picking the Tom Dooly song in a slow mournful way." The first song Frank Proffitt remembered was the third song he taught the Warners; the Warners remembered it as well as they could (they had no recording machine then); Frank Warner sang it to Alan Lomax who included it in Folk Song U.S.A. Then The Kingston Trio learned it from that book, adapted it to pop tastes and sold millions of copies. Long before a legal settlement brought some royalties to his family, Frank Proffitt's association with the song began to be noticed. First there was an article in the North Carolina Farmer. Then the Warners were able to take Frank to the Chicago Folk Festival. His strong performance there was unforgettable for many. Sandy Paton was there that night and soon went to visit Frank to record Frank's singing for Folkways. Later there were two LPs more for Sandy's own Folk-Legacy Records. By 1962, Frank had done solo tours to Chicago and the South. He went to the famed Newport, Asheville and National Folk Festivals; twice went to Pinewoods Camp in Massachusetts and in 1964, represented North Carolina at New York's World's Fair. He once appeared with Doc Watson. Earl Scruggs came to visit. In 1965 he performed solo for 1500 people and shared the bill with the Jordanaires. There were cover articles in Sing Out! and The Little Sandy Review and then stories in Time and Life.
FRANK BEGAN MAKING fretless banjos and dulcimers and selling them across the country. One of those banjos resides at the Smithsonian and another at the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. When Time magazine mentioned Frank in a cover story on James Taylor in 1970, it was as if Frank's lined face and fretless banjo had become the model for the country's sense of Appalachia. When he first heard the Kingston Trio, Frank was sure that they were making fun of him and his people. Five years later he had become known on two continents and had become an ambassador for his people. His unhurried, sometimes introspective performances, his reserve and his quiet, dry humor toppled old stereotypes. When Frank Proffitt died-at age 52-the New York Times devoted a six-inch, double column story for the news.
WHEN FRANK DIED, Frank Proffitt, Jr. was nineteen years old. In early 1965, Frank Sr. wrote, "Frank Jr. is coming along so well with his music I am considering including him in some of my programs." In May he took son Frank off to Berea College. He wrote of his pride in his son, "Frank was a smash in his versatility in dulcimer playing... Fit to bust is mild.-If [he] starts cutting too deeply into my prestige I suppose I'll have to find some way to take him down a few notches! Ha." Frank, Jr. was devastated by the death of his father-but was already a good dulcimer player. He began learning his father's songs, polishing his banjo playing and has worked hard to keep alive the music that his father preserved. When Frank Jr. was twenty-two he, in his turn, performed at the Newport Folk Festival. While his father made relatively few trips out of the mountains, Frank, Jr. has
played all across the country, from Massachusetts to southern California and Texas. Frank, Sr. had probably never imagined going to Scotland, but Frank Jr. toured there in 1995. How pleased and proud his father would be to hear that his son had returned home to "the world of old castles... of those who used the sword." Frank Jr., has for years worked with the North Carolina Arts Council doing performances and in-school residencies. He has a recording, Kicking Up Dust on Cloudlands Records (P.O. Box 278, Mountain City, TN 37683). Frank lives in Todd, North Carolina. Work is soon to begin on a documentary film project about him.
ROBY MONROE HICKS was an uncle of Nathan and Rena. He was born in 1882. His grand-parents were born in a Tennessee that was still Cherokee Indian territory. He recalled learning most of his songs from his mother who had learned the songs from her father, born about 1820. Roby learned them on cold winternights sitting with his mother in the six-feet long kitchen fireplace. Roby and his wife Buna Vista Hicks (b. 1888) were only a generation removed from both Indian Wars and the Civil War. They were full of stories of scalpings and narrow escapes, of relatives hidden under floors and water troughs to evade the Home Guard or invading Yankees. Buna Hicks was a remarkable singer. Her singing seemed clear and bright enough to be heard across the valley. She played one of Roby's fiddles, a viola-sized, dug-out instrument with back and sides made from a single piece of wood and the top nailed on. Mrs. Hicks occasionally sang outside of the mountains (she was at the Asheville Folk Festival at which Frank Proffitt had appeared). She married Roby when she was thirteen and had eleven children. One of their sons, Stanley Hicks, would eventually be a recipient of the National Folk Heritage Award, as would story teller Ray Hicks, son of Rena and Nathan. Another of Buna and Roby's sons was Linzy Hicks born a year or two before Stanley. In 1959 Linzy was ordained in the Missionary Baptist Church but long before that he had stopped singing any songs not contained in the hymnal and would slip out of the room when other kinds of songs were sung.
LEE MONROE PRESNELL (b. 1876) was a minister, too. By the time the Warners met him he was retired from forty-two years in the Primitive BaptistChurch. Mr. Presnell was possessed of a graceful courtliness as old as his style of singing. He learned his singing from two great local legendary sources: his grandfather, Council Harmon, credited with bringing much music to the area, and John Calvin Yonce, called "Lie-Hue," who wandered the mountains, working and staying where he could, and leaving songs behind. Mr. Presnell complained of the quality of his own performances. Often he would end a song by saying, "I am getting old so I can't sing good," or "I can't get it up high enough." (Roby Monroe Hicks once said, "My voice is shattered.") He complained ten years later when Sandy Paton recorded him for Folk Legacy's two-record set Beech Mountain, North Carolina, and he might have complained in 1938 too. Whatever his reservations about his voice, he was a remarkable singer. The apparent idiosyncrasies of his style were probably learned from yet older singers and his singing may be the last example of a style now lost. Tim Eriksen has said that style is "the particular way a singer tightens the join between singer and song." In Lee Monroe Presnell, one can find the perfect dovetailed join. Mr. Presnell often began and ended songs in conversation, lending an air of casualness, but in the singing he seems to inspect and address every detail of text and tune and then, with techniques for which he had no name, ornaments the singing, directing the listener's attention away from the singing to the song.
FRANK WARNER'S MOTHER, Mabel Preston Warner, took Anne and Frank to Crab Tree Creek, near Raleigh, North Carolina, to visit the then seventy-three year old Rebecca King Jones. They became instant friends. Frank took a photo of Ms. King's front room: There is a 1939 calendar on the wall, a cover of a Country Gentlewoman magazine, a large map of North America, samples of needlepoint and hooked mats, a parlor woodstove, a mantle full of tonic and medicine bottles and, at the center of it all, a cheery Rebecca King Jones, dressed in a calico dress and bonnet. Miss Jones lived alone, tended her cows and chickens and raised almost all her food. She was born, she said, "the year the Yankees come through". Much local lore survived and died with her. "I've seen old wizards pass my home right often," she said. There was a remedy for everything: "To cure dropsy, soak nine cut nails in a pint of apple vinegar and pint of black molasses." Rebecca King Jones did not seem to know great numbers of songs but was one of the very best singers in the collection. The Warners visited Crab Tree Creek as often as they could, but one day they went to visit and found her house empty and were never able to discover her whereabouts.
WHEN FRANK WARNER was a young man he used to go fishing at Nag's Head on North Carolina's Outer Banks. There he met Sue Thomas, then working as a cook at a fisherman's boardinghouse. Years later Anne took a photograph of Frank and Sue, a white man and a black woman trading songs on the porch of the inn. Such a scene could not have been common in the Carolinas of that time. Frank knew Sue Thomas for fifteen years before recording her in 1941. Her songs may be heard on the first CD in this set, Her Bright Smile Haunts Me Still. Sue Thomas' son, J.B. Sutton was at that session and recorded a few songs too, blues-based songs that some in Sue Thomas' congregation might have frowned upon.
IN THE SUMMER of 1940, the Warners tracked down Charles K. "Tink" Tillett (b. ca. 1875), a Duke classmate's uncle who had earlier been recorded by Dr. Frank C. Brown. They heard some grand old singing and accordion playing but, because they were rushing home at the end of a too-short vacation, there was only a single afternoon to spend. Tink's wife, Eleazar Tillett, wrote in the spring of the next year that her husband had died and that she had had to rent out most of the house but "I would be glad to have you visit us. And if I can assist you with your work I assure you it will be a pleasure." The Warners did visit again, of course, and discovered to their surprise and delight that Mrs. Tillett knew Tink's songs and her sister, Martha Ethridge, knew songs, too. They met neighbors and friends and heard rare songs long ago shipwrecked on that narrow spit of sand. For decades members of the Tilletts sent along bits of songs that had been remembered from the singing of Tink and Eleazar, and the families have stayed in touch since.
ON THE WAY to see Mrs. Tillett in 1941, the Warners spent another Saturday night on the Outer Banks in Mann's Harbor at C.W. Mann's impressive house. At a hastily organized evening sing, many neighbors stopped in. The son of the family, Curt Mann, sang a few songs that Anne Warner later said were "unprintable...as new and raw and unpalatable as the local East Lake booze", but in church the next morning Curt lead the congregation in singing and Frank sang some of Curt's more polite songs for decades.
ON ANOTHER SATURDAY, the Warners stopped in at the Elliott Cafe in Suffolk, Virginia. Two young waiters there introduced the Warners to Joe Henry Johnson. Mr. Johnson was quite ill-he had had a stroke-and the Warners stayed only as long as Mr. Johnson had strength. Because of his stroke it is hard to hear his tunes and hard to imagine how he might have sounded in his prime but, when Joe Johnson died, the Suffolk News-Herald published a two page obituary. The town is "The Peanut Capital of the World." Joe Henry Johnson was famous there because, for forty years, he had sold peanuts on the street, using an energetic street cry to sell peanuts to the people who sold peanuts.
ON THE WARNER'S 1959 trip to the North Carolina mountains they recorded another relative of the families. Homer Cornett was the brother of the husband of Frank Proffitt's sister. Frank Warner was quite good at getting people to sing who weren't sure they wanted to. Mr. Cornett sang two songs that afternoon and both songs are prized parts of the Warner collection. Frank Proffitt, Jr. recently told us that Homer Cornett is now seventy years old and that some family members have never known him to sing or play the guitar.
-Jeff Davis
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Folk Legacy
The Traditional Music Of Beech Mountain, North Carolina, Volume 1: The Older Ballads And Sacred Songs Songs
1 Awake, Awake, My Old True Lover
2 Sir Lionel (Child 18)
3 Five Nights Drunk (Child 274)
4 Sweet Soldier Boy
5 House Carpenter, The (Child 243)
6 William Hall
7 Two Sisters, The (Child 10)
8 Day Is Past and Gone * (From different album)
9 Farmer's Curst Wife, The (Child 278)
10 Johnny, Oh, Johnny
11 Johnny Doyle
12 Jealous Brothers
13 Young Beham (Child 53)
14 Pretty Crowing Chicken (Child 248)
15 George Collins (Child 85) See All 7
16 Where The Sun Will Never Go Down See All 4
17 Fathers, Now Our Meeting Is Over
The Traditional Music Of Beech Mountain, North Carolina Vol. II - The Later Songs And Hymns
1. Precious Memories
2. I Went To See My Suzie
3. Johnson Boys
4. Courting Case
5. Baldheaded End of the Broom
6. More Pretty Girls Than One
7. Roger's Gray Mare
8. Soldier John
9. Cripple Creek
10. The Soldier and the Lady
11. Old Virginny
12. Where the Soul of Man Never Dies
13. Tobacco Union
14. In Dublin City
15. Three Dulcimer Numbers
16. Fly Around, My Pretty Little Miss
17. Little Maggie [Sung With Banjo]
18. Little Maggie
19. I'm Going That Way
20. Going Away Tomorrow
21. Look Up, Look Down That Old Railroad
22. Angel Band
23. Amazing Grace
Traditional Music of Beech Mountain
Song Notes
1. Hard Time Traveling Here Below. Frank Proffitt
2.Sometimes I'm in this Country. Lee Monroe Presnell
3. Cousin Sally Brown. Tab Ward
4. Going Away Tomorrow. Buna Hicks
Frank Proffitt was one of the only commercially recorded musicians tied to the Beech area. Born in the Laurel Bloomery community of Tennessee in 1913, Proffitt moved to Watauga County with his family when he was young. He raised tobacco and did carpentry work in the Beaver Dam area. Frank and his father Wiley also made fretless wooden "mountain" style banjos and dulcimers during the winter. Proffitt played dulcimer, banjo and the guitar and wrote many songs about life in his community during the Depression, which added to the sacred and secular songs, ballads and dance tunes in his growing repertoire . He learned most of his music from his family: his father, his mother and his wife's people, the Hicks family. In 1938 Nathan Hicks, his father-in-law and one of many prolific musicians from that family introduced him to Frank and Anne Warner, a young couple traveling through the area recording traditional music. One of those early recordings, the murder ballad Tom Dooley inspired the Kingston Trio and helped spark the Folk Revival of the the 1960s. It also made him a national celebrity. He toured around the country and released several records before his untimely death in 1965.
Hard Time Time Traveling Here Below is a Baptist hymn that can be heard on the "Frank Proffitt Memorial Record" released on the Folk-Legacy label.
Lee Monroe Presnell was born in 1876. He was an elder in the Primitive Baptist Church like many other members of his family. The unaccompanied singing style of that church influenced and was influenced by secular singing traditions in the community. (More on that later) "Uncle Monroe" as he was often called, was a source of older songs and stories to aspiring musicians in the younger generation, having learned from two almost mythical figures, his grandfather Council Harmon, and Lie-Hue Younce, (there are many different spellings such as Liehew Yants) an itinerant resident of the community who allegedly hated work but was tolerated because of his musical and storytelling talents. Lie-Hue returned every few years with a gun, a dog, a taste for liquor and more songs picked up on his travels.
Presnell learned Sometimes I'm in this Country from his father. It contains a floating verse found in several ballads and songs but the melody and second verse seem to be unique to him, at least on record. It can be heard on "Nothing Seems The Same" The Second Volume of the Frank and Anne Warner Collection being reissued from Appleseed Records.
Tab Ward was born on Spice Creek in 1903. He began developing his "double-knock" style of banjo playing when he was 12 and was known as one of the best banjo players in the area. Throughout his life he was a farmer and craftsman. At one point he hung up his instruments and stopped playing for over thirty years. Around the age of 57 he rekindled his interest in music and began producing fiddles, mountain banjos and dulcimers with his son and grandson out of his home in the Watauga River Valley.
Cousin Sally Brown is a traditional dance tune. It is taken from an independent release by Tab and local store owner and toymaker Jack Guy under the name Beech Creek Ramblers, which has not yet been reissued.
Buna Vista Hicks or Buny as she was sometimes called sang and played the fiddle, dulcimer, and banjo. She was one of several women string musicians in the area, something not very common for the time. Her unwavering and memorable voice and her playing style are fine examples of the older styles on the Beech recorded first by the Warners in the 1930s. She was born a Presnell (she is Lee Monroe's niece) on Egg Knob in 1888. She married Roby Monroe Hicks another fine banjo and dulcimer player, and raised 11 children, including the singers Linzy and Hattie (Presnell) and Folk Heritage Award winner Stanley Hicks. Buna lived for almost a century, inspiring generations of musicians. The furthest she ventured from the mountain was a trip to Asheville NC to perform at a folk festival.
Going Away Tomorrow can be traced to several ballad variants. It is usually the story of a woman going into battle dressed as a man. This version has a somewhat different narrative structure which may or may not be intentional. The Civil War was a very bloody and complicated time in Northwestern North Carolina and East Tennessee. Many families were divided or were turned against each other as people went across the mountains to the east to join the confederates or the west to join federal forces. There was one famous case of a husband and wife enlisting together in what is now Avery County. Throughout the war the Blalocks served on both sides and collected a pension from each after the war was over. After the recording, Buna tells of her mother who lived through that violent time, teaching her the human side of a war that like many others , is often glorified. The song can be found on "The Traditional Music of Beech Mountain", collected by Sandy Paton and released by Folk-Legacy Records.
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Like Stanley Hicks, Edd Presnell was born into a musical family. Legend says that once night a stranger stopped by the home of Eli and America Presnell in 1885, asking for lodging. That evening, the stranger pulled a dulcimer out of his baggage and began to play it. Eli was so impressed that he asked permission to trace the instrument.
The couple would inspire another branch of the Presnell family to raise a dulcimer maker and player, Edd. Edd made his first dulcimer in 1936, after he married Nettie Hicks, daughter of dulcimer-maker Ben Hicks. In fact, Edd learned much about making dulcimers from his father-in-law. Edd and Nettie received the prestigious Brown Hudson Folklore Award in 1974 for dulcimer-making and woodcarving.
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Descendants of Council Harmon/Ballads, Jack Tales, Dulcimers
by Banjimer- Wed Oct 17, 2007
With things being a little slow in the History of Dulcimers and Songs discussion threads, I thought I'd throw out another URL for interested folks to take a look at:
The above URL will take you to a fairly extensive family history of the descendants of Cutliff Harmon, including Council Harmon and two of his daughters, Rebecca Harmon and Emily (Emoline) Harmon. Council Harmon, of course, was the source of numerous Jack Tales passed down through several generations. Rebecca Harmon and Emoline Harmon were sisters whose offspring were prime tradition bearers.
First, Rebecca Harmon. She would marry Samuel Hicks, and together they would pass on storytelling and ballad singing traditions. Their sons, John Benjamin (Ben) Hicks, Andrew Jackson (Andy) Hicks, James Brownlow (Brownlow) Hicks, and Roby Monroe (Roby) Hicks are credited by many as being among the first dulcimer makers and players in Watauga County, NC. They are thought to have made and played dulcimers sometime around the end of the 19th century (1890's or so). Much of this information was gathered by Ralph Lee Smith and Lucy Margaret Long. Most of us are familiar with Ralph's work. Lucy Long's work is documented in her dissertation, and she includes much more detail regarding the dulcimer tradition in Watauga County. Her dissertation is available online through UMI.
Emoline Harmon was married twice, both times to members of the extended Hicks family. Her second marriage was to Ransom Merritt Hicks, and it was this marriage that produced one of Cecil Sharp's most prolific ballad singing contributors, Jane Hicks Gentry. Jane Hicks Gentry contributed over 60 ballads to the collection of Cecil Sharp. However, she also served as a source of a number of Jack Tales dating to her grandfather, Council Harmon, and beyond. Jane Hicks Gentry's life is recorded in two excellent books, Betty Smith's "Jane Hicks Gentry: A Singer Among Singers" and Jacqueline Burgin Painter's "An Appalachian Medley: Hot Springs and the Gentry Family, Vol. I". Betty Smith's book gives a pretty clear indication of at least part of the repertoire common to the extended Hicks family of Western North Carolina. I say "part of" because Cecil Sharp pretty much limited his collecting efforts to old English ballads. Hymns and other songs played locally were not recorded in Sharp's books.
Anyone looking for a good source for traditional repertoire should give Betty Smith's book a look. Also, the ballads found in Cecil Sharp's "English Folk Songs from the Southern Appalachians" (the source of the tunes included in Betty Smith's book) make great dulcimer material. There is plenty of material for those looking for something traditional to play in Dorian or Aeolian modes.
The URL, cited above, provides the genealogical links between the Watauga County Hicks family and the Madison County Hicks/Gentry family. The books provide all the details necessary to locating some traditional material for playing on the dulcimer.
For clarity's sake, I am not saying that Jane Hicks Gentry played the dulcimer. As far as I know, she sang all of her ballads unaccompanied. What I am trying to say (imply) is that her first cousins in Watauga County likely knew much of the same material she provided to Cecil Sharp. If they were anything like most musicians I know, they may have tried accompanying these same ballads with fiddles, banjos, guitars, and dulcimers. The evidence we do have (particularly Anne and Frank Warner's book and recordings) seems to support the assumption that at least some of these ballads were indeed accompanied by musical instruments, including our beloved dulcimer.
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Query:
I'm trying to determine who the "Captain James Hicks" was. I know some of the old sources such as "Colonial Families of the Southern States," 1911, Stella Pickett Hardy, identify Capt. James Hicks as being the son of Robert Hicks and that James was married to Judith Collier. The problem is, my research, and that of Jane Peyrouse and Carol Morrison (now both deceased) concluded that the James Hicks who married Judith Collier was the son of Robert Hicks' son, George Hicks. The James Hicks whose will was proved in Brunswick court in 1761, identifies his wife as "Fathey" or "Patsey", nicknames for Martha. In 1744, this James conveyed to his brother, George, property he received from his father, Robert Hicks, and wife Martha relinquished her dower right in that conveyance. SO, this strongly points to James Hicks, son of Robert NOT being married to Judith Collier, but rather to a Martha, and the James Hicks, son of George, being the one married to Judith (this is my line - their son James Hicks, Jr., also married a Judith Collier, daughter of Charles Collier, niece of the first Judith who was the daughter of Isaac Collier). Now, either one of these Jameses (son of Robert or son of George) could have been "Captain James Hicks". I found a book referencing official record dates of the Brunswick militia and gives a date of Aug. 26, 1755, listing "James Hicks, Capt." and "James Hicks, Jr. Lt.". Since Robert's son James didn't die until 1761, this record could pertain to him and the James Jr. might be the James Hicks married to Judith Collier, i.e., the Jr. being used to identify the elder from the younger, sometimes done even if they weren't father and son - in this case, James Hicks, son of Robert, would be the elder. So, I'm just wondering if you've come across anything to distinguish who this Capt. James Hicks was. The other question is about this nefarious Aug. 15, 1773 date for the will of Judith Collier Hicks, cited in an old Wm. and Mary Quarterly. Some trees pick up that year as her date of death, which makes no sense whatsoever, since husband James Hicks wrote his will in 1789 and gave her the plantation, i.e., she was alive and well in 1773.So, i've been trying for sometime to figure out who or what that Aug. 15, 1773 might apply to
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I do not know how some folks can be coming up with the James Hicks married to Judith Collier as being the son of Captain Robert - and many are rather stalwart about it. I had worked with Terry Sampson on that issue as well, and he/we tracked Captain Robert's son James - a main distinguisher is that Robert's son James had a son Benjamin, who ultimately was involved in the estate of his brother, James Jr., married to a Frances. James (son of George Hicks, who was a son of Captain Robert) and Judith Collier Hicks had no son Benjamin. BTW, the will of Charles (WILL OF CHARLES HICKS. Written Sept. 6, 1805. Partly proved March 26th 1821.) is one of my sources for proving that my Thomas Hicks (married to Elizabeth Sturdivant) was the son of James Hicks and Judith Collier #2 ("Judah" in Charles' will - M.B. 26 November 1787 "James Hicks and Judith Collier, dau. of Charles Collier. Surety: Isaac Hicks. Married by the Rev. John King, Baptist Minister." Ref: Brunswick County Marriage Records, page 47.) This James Hicks, Jr. (grandson of George Hicks) and Judith Collier #2 went into Greene Co., GA, where son Thomas died c. 1827. Judith lived in the household according to the probate of Thomas' estate - she went to Monroe Co. after his death where she died c. 1829 per her probate. The only researcher who had a clue about this was Jane Peyrouse. I think she'd found the same key record I did, which led me to Brunswick and ultimately determining the lineage:
Emigration to Other States from Southside Virginia,Volume 1, compiled by Katherine B. Elliott, South Hill, Virginia. Page. 33."HICKS, Judith - Green County, GA.Know all men by these presents that I, Judith Hicks, of Green County, State of Geogia, widow of James Hicks of the aforesaid county, deceased, do appoint Thomas Hicks, of the County of Green, State of Georgia, and Williamson Smith of Brunswick County, State of Virginia, my lawful agents, or my attorneys in fact, to demand and recover my dower, or third part, of a tract of land in Brunswick County, Virginia, on Indian Branch, it being a tract of land sold by my late husband to WILLIAM WALKER, and to which I have not relinquished by dower, and my attorneys are to represent me as if I were there in person. Dated 29 January 1817, Recorded 26 Jan. 1818 Ref: Brunswick County Deed Book 24, page 18"
Note: Thomas Hicks was Judith and James Hicks' son; Williamson Smith was Judith's cousin; William Walker was the husband of James Hicks' sister, Nancy Vines Hicks.
I have 27 pages of documentation on this lineage if you ever have need for it. My problem is that I'm at a loss as to what happened to James Jr. (i.e., James Hicks son of James Hicks and Judith Collier #1). No will/probate records in Greene Co, GA. I mention all this because apparently I'm the only descendant of James Hicks and Judith Collier #2 who has researched and found them. Sorry to be so wordy - always a pleasure to find another researcher who shares an interest! Deven
Who was Captain James Hicks? by Deven
A number of old publications and genealogy records, such as “Colonial Families of the Southern States” (1911, Stella Pickett Hardy), state that Captain James Hicks was married to Judith Collier and was the son of Robert Hicks. But with the surfacing of wills and land records over the years, it has become evident that the James Hicks married to Judith Collier (daughter of Isaac Collier) was the son of George Hicks (who was a son of Captain Robert Hicks). It is also evident that the James Hicks who was the son of Captain Robert Hicks was married to a woman named Martha/ Fathy, not Judith Collier. This is supported by two sources:
1) the 1744 conveyance by James Hicks to his brother, George Hicks, of land James received from their father, Robert Hicks; Martha Hicks, the wife of this James Hicks, relinquished her dower right:
Indenture made the 5th day of June, 1744, between James Hicks of Brunswick County, and George Hicks of Brunswick County, Gent., for 150 pounds, conveying 810 acres on North side of Maherrin River, being the plantation whereon Capt. Robert Hicks formerly lived and part of the 1,010 acre of land devised by the Last Will and Testament of Robert Hicks to the said James Hicks. Witnesses were Benjamin Chapman Donaldson, John Wall, Jr., and Henry Beddingfield. Acknowledged in Court on June 7, 1744, at which time, Martha Hicks, wife of the said James Hicks, appeared and relinquished her dower.
Deed Book 2, page 474, Brunswick County, Virginia;
2) the 1760 will of James Hicks, in which he identifies his wife as “Fathey” or “Patsey”, a nickname for Martha, names his children: James, Mary, Patty (aka Martha, who married Benjamin Harrison), James, Lewis, John, Frances, Benjamin and Robert.
The children of James Hicks (son of George Hicks) and wife, Judith Collier Hicks, are identified in the 1789 will of this James Hicks in which he references his wife as “Judith” and bequeaths the plantation to her (clearly, she was still living in 1789 and had not died in 1773, although a William and Mary Quarterly apparently mistakenly references her will as being proved Aug.15, 1773 - a will that has never surfaced, to my knowledge). The children of James and Judith, per his 1789 will, were: Charles, John, Isaac, Vines, Salley, James, Nancy (aka Ann), and George. That Nancy (“Ann”) Vines Hicks Walker was, in fact, a daughter of James Hicks and Judith Collier is supported by her 1860 statement to her nephew R.A. Hardaway, when she was 94 years old, and reported by him in 1886 (William & Mary Quarterly XX, p. 196).
So who was Captain James Hicks? Was he the James married to Martha, who was the son of Robert Hicks, or was he the James married to Judith Collier, who was the son of George Hicks?
According to “Virginia’s Colonial Soldiers” (1988, by Lloyd DeWitt Bockstruck, page 9), a Brunswick County Militia Roster reflects the following:
“26 Aug. 1755 - James Hicks, Capt.; Henry Edmunds, Capt., James Hicks, Jr., Lt.; Dyonisius Wright, Ens.”
In 1755, Captain Robert Hick’s son James Hicks (married to Martha) was still living, and James Hicks, son of George Hicks (married to Judith Collier) was about age 30; either of these men could have been the Captain. In fact, this record may point to it being the elder James Hicks, son of Robert, married to Martha, as being Captain James Hicks, i.e., James Hicks, son of Robert, was the elder, and his nephew, James Hicks, son of George, the younger, thus the “Jr.” if applied to this record. As was the tradition in those days, the “Jr.” was tacked on to distinguish the elder from the younger, father from son, uncle from nephew, or even two unrelated men sharing the same name. Both of these Jameses had sons by the name of James, but both sons were likely to be too young in 1755 to serve in the Militia. It’s possible that James Hicks, son of Robert Hicks, was not in the Militia and that a third, younger James Hicks was in Brunswick, who could have been the “Jr.”, leaving the James Hicks married to Judith Collier as the Captain in this record.
Would appreciate hearing from anyone who can show me the error of my ways or has further documentation to identify which James is the true Captain James Hicks.