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Seventh Generation
59. William Darnell1,3
was born on 12 Jul 1824 in North Carolina.4
He died on 24 Dec 1907.3
He was buried in John Tucker Cemetery, Lansing, North Carolina.
Having originated in Wilkes County, N.C., William Darnell (July 12, 1824-Dec.
23, 1907) and wife Sarah York Darnell (Dec. 10, 1825-Nov. 15, 1905) moved to
Mouth-of-Wilson, Grayson Co., Va. where they reared their family of nine children.
[NOTE - actually twelve children. MED]
After two children married and had families, William and Sarah moved to
Ashe Co., N.C. about 1880 and settled on Big Helton Creek in a big log house
in the meadow below Zion Hill Cemetery. William tended the Byrom Sturgill Rolling
Mill which stood on Big Helton Creek in front of Zion Hill Baptist Church. He
worked at the mill several years until a flood came and washed it away about
1890.
Moving their family upon the Whacker Mtn. near Mud Creek, William &
Sarah lived many years on a farm where they raised sheep, cattle, hogs, chickens,
turkeys, geese, & ducks. Working their yoke of oxen, they grew corn, rye,
wheat, oats, buckwheat, and large gardens. Almost all essential things came
from the farm. They used poultry feathers to make pillows & fetherbeds;
they milked cows for liquid consumption and for making butter, buttermilk, &
curd (cottage cheese). Hogs and beef were slaugtered, and the meat was salt-cured
and dried. For food during the winter, the family dried apples, peaches, cherries,
beans, pumpkins, and squash. Beans, corn, and cucumbers were pickled; and cabbages
were made into sour kraut. Wild blackberries, raspberries, and strawberries
were dried or processed into jams & jellies. Also peaches and apples were
slowly cooked in outdoor cauldrons to make peach butter and apple butter. To
sweeten the foods, they made molasses from homegrown cane and honey from homekept
honey bees.
After growing flax and shearing the wool from the sheep, the women spun
and wove cloth to make most of the family's clothing. All of the men's shirts
were handmade as well as their Sunday suits. Particular skills in spinning and
weaving were required in making light-weight summer materials and woolen winter
clothing. They made and designed all of their personal clothing including their
bonnets. Also woven were blankets, bedspreads, and other bedclothes. The women
also spent much time in piecing handmade materials into beautifully designed
quilts where cotton or wool was used for filler. In addition they spun and wove
the bedticks which were filled with straw from the thrashed wheat, oats, or rye
to be used as mattresses under the featherbeds. Their woven unbleached muslin
was used for tablecloths, napkins, diskcloths, & curtains.
Any extra items grown or raised on the farm were sold to the local stores
which provided a small financial family income. They also gathered Elder flowers,
catnip, mint, mullen, & "lowbeely" which they sold at the stores.
In addition they dug roots such as mayapple, bloodroot, sassafras, & ginseng
to dry and sell. Chestnuts were picked up and sold in the fall. Stripping and
drying the bark from the wild cherry trees was an additional means of income.
All of these gathered plants, roots, & herbs were bought by local stores
to be sent to pharmaceutical companies to be processed into medicine.
William and Sarah were very outstanding people, kind to everyone and always
ready to lend a helping hand to friends, neighbors, or needy strangers. They
belonged to Big Helton Primitive Baptist Church and were very faithful members.
After William and Sarah grew older and were unable to care for themselves,
their sons Louis and Silvester took them into their homes & cared for them
until their deaths. Since Lewis and Silvester lived on the head of Big Windfall
Creek, William and Sarah were buried in the John Tucker Cemetery on the Big Windfall
Road. This community was then Weasel Post Office, then Park, Va., later Tuckerdale,
and now Rt. 1, Lansing, N.C.
The children of William and Sarah Darnell were:
1. SILVESTER: Born 1850?-Died Oct. 1925. Merchant and Farmer. Married (1) Martha
Weaver and they had three children: Avery, Sarah, & Rilda; (2) Nancy Caudill
and they had no children. Nancy is buried at the Bauguess Cemetery (1907); and
(3) Millie Brooks in 1909 and they had four children: John, Cecil, Ancil, &
Click. "Uncle Ves" and his last family loved [moved MED] to Kentucky
in 1918 where he died and was buried.
2. LEWIS: Born 1857-Died April 1939. Farmer. Married Margaret Peak. (See The
Lewis and Margaret Peak Darnell Family).
3. WADE HAMPTON: Born ?-Died 1926. Union Baptist Minister. Married Matilda
Jones. 2 sons: 1 died as a teenager and Tommy who lives in Pa. Wade H. buried
in the Jones Cem. in Silas Creek near Lansing.
4. HAYWOOD: Married Fanny ? and they had one chil, Maude. Haywood died as a
young man and is buried in the Zion Hill Cem. in Helton Comm.
5. HOUSTIN: Born 1867?-Died 1925. Twice married. Several Children. He was
buried in the Cole Cem. at Mt. Rogers, Va.
6. ROXANN: Born 1865-Died 1923?. Married (1) George Hart. One child, Ida. (2)
David Tucker. Two Children: Ada and Frank, who is now a Bapt. preacher in Ashe
Co. "Aunt Roxie" then lived with brother Silvester,and she moved to
Kentucky with them in 1918. Buried there.
7. KIZZIE: ? 8. BETTY: ? 9. NANCY JANE: ?
Sources: Lewis Darnell, Father Wade Darnell, John Tucker Cemetery
Blannie Darnell Hart Rt. 1, Box 330 Lansing, NC 28643
The 1870 Census for Helton, Ashe County, North Carolina shows:
Dwelling and family numbers 146 (all born in North Carolina)
DARNAL, William 45 Farmer
Sarah 42
Sylvester 21
Wade 19
Nancy 16
Elizabeth 15
Lewis 12
Sarah 10
Haywood 8
Roxan 3
Houston 1 Sarah York1,3 was born on
10 Dec 1825 in North Carolina.4
She died on 15 Nov 1905.3
She was buried in John Tucker Cemetery, Lansing, North Carolina.
Sarah MAY be the daughter of Nimrod York. IF she was born in Surry County,
he is of the right age. Census records of Nimrod are:
1850 Census, Surry County:
Nimrod York age 55 born NC
Mary (Nancy) 52 NC
Nancy 27 NC
Jesse F. 18 NC
Mary K. 12 NC
Miles (Milis) 7 NC
1840 Census, Surry County:
#117 NIMROD YORK 0112001-1110001
1830 Census, Surry County:
#138 NIMROD YORK 121001-20000101
1820 Census, Surry County:
#69 NIMROD YORK 100010-42010
Need to search Surry County for estate records. William Darnell and Sarah York
had the following children:
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