ANDREW PRUITT, 1822- ?

   Andrew Pruitt was born in Burke County, NC, in 1822, one of thirteen children in the family of Joseph Pruitt and Nancy White.
   Andrew's first wife was Louisa Verble, and, by 1860, they had eight children, all born in Wilkes County:  Noah, Jacob, Joseph, William Wesley, Carolina, Cicero, Prudence, and Tumas. 
   Between 1860 and 1868, however, there are no more records available for Louisa, or for their son, Noah, who was four years old in the 1850 census.
   In 1868, Andrew married Almeda Lee, and the family moved from Wilkes to the Elkin area of Surry County.
   As for their children:
      Jacob married Sarah Cockerham in Surry County in 1864 and they had four children.
      Joseph:  after the 1860 census, records are inclusive.
      William Wesley's first wife was Nancy Flanagan, then he married Sarah Delia Blevins in Johnson City, Tennessee, in 1892.  He died in 1944 and is buried at Oak Grove Cemetery, Beckley, West Virginia.
      Caroline:  after the 1860 census, records are inclusive.
      Cicero married Mary Ann Fields and they lived in the East Bend area of Surry County.  They are buried at Cool Springs Baptist Church, located on Cool Springs Road, in Elkin.
      Prudence married Thomas William Edmond Hemric, and they are buried at Pleasant Hill Baptist Church, located on Pleasant Hill Drive, in Elkin.
      Tumas married Mary Jane Dunn in Surry County.
   Andrew Pruitt's wife, Almeda, was born in 1840, died in 1911, and she is buried at Pleasant Hill Baptist Church in Elkin. 
   After Andrew's marriage to Almeda Lee on May 19, 1868, his name never appears again on any public record, such as a property deed, census record, death record, or grave marker.  The same can be said for Andrew's first wife, Louisa Verble, and their son, Noah.  All three appear to have vanished without a trace.
   While it is not known if Andrew Pruitt is directly related to my Pruitt family of Wilkes County, I wanted to post this information in case other people are looking for their Pruitt kin.
     
     
     


     

HAMPTON PRUITT, 1838-1863

    Hampton Pruitt was born in Wilkes County to Joel Pruitt, Jr. and Elizabeth Durham.
    On May 31, 1862, Hampton received a marriage bond to marry Mary Wagoner, daughter of Adam Wagoner and Sarah Whitehead of Alleghany County, and, on June 1, 1862, they were married.

     In 1850, Hampton was living with his parents in Mulberry, but, by 1860, he was living with his grandfather, Joel Pruitt, Sr., in Traphill, after Joel had moved there from Wilkesboro. 

     In September, 1862, Hampton enlisted in the Confederate Army, 30th Regiment, North Carolina Infantry, Company G.  On July 10, 1863, he deserted his unit and later returned to duty.  On December 15, 1863, he died in a Confederate hospital in Winchester, Virginia, perhaps from pneumonia. 
    While Hampton was gone to fight in the war, Mary gave birth to a boy, Adam Hampton, on July 19, 1863.
     According to census records, Mary was living with her family in Alleghany County in 1860. By 1870, she had moved with her parents to Union, thirty miles west from Traphill.  By 1880, however, she had moved to Walnut Grove to live with her sister, Lucinda, and her brother-in-law, John P. Adams. When her son, Adam Hampton, married Samantha Blevins in 1885, Mary lived with them and their family until her death in 1909.
    At this time, perhaps it is fitting to offer a tribute for Hampton Pruitt's friend, Owen Absher, a resident of Mulberry.
    When Hampton applied for a marriage bond on May 31, 1862, he was accompanied by Owen, who appeared on Hampton's behalf as his bondsman, or witness.
    On September 22, 1862, Owen enlisted in the Confederate Army and served with the North Carolina 52nd Infantry Regiment, Company F.  On December 17th, 1862, in the Battle of Goldsboro Bridge, Owen was killed.  He was buried at Willow Dale Cemetery near Goldsboro in Wayne County.  He was the son of Jacob Absher and Sarah Hall of Wilkes County and 24 years old.
   Strangely, Hampton Pruitt enlisted in the Confederacy exactly one week after Owen's enlistment, and Hampton died almost one year to the day, December 15, 1863, following Owen's death on December 17, 1862.  Their ages also were nearly identical.
                     

Hampton and Samantha Blevins Pruitt

Children of Hampton Pruitt and Samantha Blevins:

Cordillia...............1886-1886
Ida Victoria..........1887-1957
John Calloway......1889-1976
Adam Wesley.......1891-1978
Myrtle DeEtte.......1894-1970
William Mack.......1896-1968
Charlie...................1897-1980
Sarah Mindora.......1899-1921
Rhoda Fay..............1902-1930
James Garfield.......1904-1962
Sherman Vestal......1907-1989
Martha Zona...........1909-1991
Leonard Dennis......1911-1960

     

PRESTON PRUITT, 1843-1863

   Preston Pruitt was born in Wilkes County in 1843, one of nine children in the household of Isaac Pruitt & Charlotte Richardson.  He was also the grandson of Joel Pruitt & Polly, the brother of Joel Pruitt, Jr., and a first cousin of Hampton Pruitt, my great grandfather.

   According to Wilkes County Sketches, by J. Jay Anderson, "Traphill was a haven for Union sympathizers led by John Quincy Adams Bryan.  Known as the 'Red Fox', Bryan led almost 1,000 men from Wilkes County to Tennessee to join the Union Army."

   In Wilkes County Bits and Pieces, by Fay Byrd, Wilkes Community College, she relates the story of an event in the Civil War that has been called The Limestone Cove Massacre.

   On November 21, 1863, Bryan was leading a company of 57 men from Wilkes County, through the mountains of western North Carolina, planning to cross Tennessee and merge with the Union Army in Kentucky.  They stopped at the farm of Dr. David Bell, a Union sympathizer, located in Limestone Cove, Unicoi County, Tennessee. 

   Just before the men were to eat breakfast on that day, they were attacked by Col. W. P. Witcher and his Confederate calvary from Virginia.  Bryan and his men scattered and fought, and most of the men were able to escape the battle with their lives, including Billie Gambill and Lewis Hanks of Traphill.

   Bryan survived the attack, and, after the war, returned to Wilkes County, where he lived until 1905.

   Matt Pruitt of Traphill was shot in the stomach; he survived the wound, however, and lived after the war.

   But nine other men in Bryan's company did not survive.  They were buried in a mass grave in Bell Cemetery in Limestone Cove, Unicoi County, Tennessee.

   In addition to Preston Pruitt, the names of the others from Traphill that died include:  Calvin Cantrel, John Sparks, Wiley Royal, Elijah Gentry, Jacob Lyons, James B. Blackburn, and two unnamed.

   John Sparks was the son of Reuben Sparks and Phoebe Blackburn.

   James B. Blackburn was the son of Columbus Franklin Blackburn and Sarah Jane Crouse.

   Unfortunately, I have been unable to locate the names of families of the other victims.

   Preston Pruitt was twenty years old when he and the other men from Traphill died in a war less than eighty miles from their homes and families.



WALNUT GROVE

                                               Photo by:  Blue Ridge Mountain Genealogy
   One of the special places in my family, prior to 1900 and in years to follow, was Walnut Grove Baptist Church, located in Wilkes County on Cabin Creek Road.
   According to the history of the Stone Mountain Baptist Association of Wilkes County, North Carolina, church minutes do not reflect the beginning history of Walnut Grove Baptist Church.      
   Based on county deed records, however, there was a Walnut Grove Church as early as December 29, 1884, and it was a member of the Primitive Baptist Association in 1884.  Its pastor was Calloway Blevins.
   Prior to 1848, there was a church, an arm of New Covenant Baptist Church, located in the same immediate vicinity, and the name of that church is not known.  On April 29, 1848, a new name was given, Mount Zion Baptist Church, which ceased to function in 1873.  Mount Zion was a member of the Primitive Baptist Association.  It seems logical that this is the church from which Walnut Grove Missionary Baptist Church had its beginning.  Walnut Grove was organized on or before 1876, a member of the Mountain Union Association, under the leadership of Calloway Blevins.
  The earliest Minutes of Walnut Grove date to 1895.  In 1897, the church called for a pledge to build a new building, and church records reveal that the present church building was completed on the present site before October, 1908, about one half mile north of the original site.  In May, 1909, a dedication service was preached by Rev. Callie Blevins, assisted by Elder W. W. Myers and Rev. Grant Cothren.  In the 1940s, the church was rebuilt and later Sunday School classes were added.
   In 1897, Walnut Grove withdrew from the Mountain Union Association to become a constitutional member of the newly-formed Stone Mountain Association.  Calloway Blevins was the first Moderator of the Stone Mountain Association, an elected position that he served ten times.
   Some of the ordained preachers at Walnut Grove are these:
   Troy Blevins, 1910; S. L. Blevins, 1916; Callie Pruitt, 1916; Gar Pruitt, 1941; Minter Blevins, 1943; Major Caudill, 1949; Andrew Blevins, ?
   Former members of Walnut Grove, but ordained in other churches are these: 
   Fred Blevins, Ernest Blevins, Hilary Blevins, Garfield Gambill, Famon Blevins, A. W. Pruitt, Uriah Hanks, Avery Blevins, Jimmy Pruitt, Gordon Joines, WajTie Blevins, and Chelsie Johnson.
  

MY PEDIGREE

   My pedigree began with my parents, James Garfield Pruitt and Lola Emma Carter. 

   My mother was the only daughter of Walter Franklin and Emma Arrington Carter.  They lived in Patrick County, Virginia, where my mother was born in 1909.  She died in 1997 in Yanceyville, North Carolina, and is buried in Elkin, N.C.

   My father was one of twelve children of Adam Hampton Pruitt and Samantha Blevins, and they lived in the Walnut Grove Township of Wilkes County, where my father was born in 1904.  He died in Elkin in 1962 and is also buried there.

   My parents met in Winston-Salem, N.C, married there in 1928, and had seven children:

•    Jimmie Lee Pruitt..........1932-
•    Hazel Pruitt Trivette......1935-2001
•    Jean Pruitt Whitaker......1939-
•    Betty Pruitt Miller...........1940-
•    Wade Hampton Pruitt....1946-
•    Franklin Garfield Pruitt...1947-
•    Bobby Joe Pruitt.............1949-

   My grandfather, Adam Hampton Pruitt, was born in 1863 to Mary Wagoner and Hampton Pruitt and died in 1916 shortly before his 53rd birthday.  He was the only son of Mary and Hampton Pruitt.
   Mary Wagoner and Hampton Pruitt were married on June 1,1862.
   As for my grandmother, Samantha, she was born to Calloway Blevins and Lucinda Caudill in 1870, and, when she and Hampton were married in 1885, she was 15 years old.  Samantha lived for a short time with us in our house in Elkin before her death in 1957.
   Interestingly, on the marriage record for Adam Hampton and Samantha, Hampton's name is recorded as "A. H. Prewett".
   Interestingly, too, in the Federal census of 1900, Mary's age is written at 54.  If this was her true age in 1900 then her birth year would have been 1846 instead of 1840 or 1842.
   So far, my family tree consists of my father, James Garfield Pruitt, my grandfather, Adam Hampton Pruitt, and my great-grandfather, Hampton Pruitt.  But when we arrive at or about the year, 1860, the water gets to be a bit murky as names and dates get to be confusing.  Therefore, in the next chapter we will begin at the year, 1800, and look for clues in an effort to untangle the limbs.



COUNTING HEADS

   Tracing my Pruitt family tree is and remains to be a difficult endeavor, primarily because of the various ways the Pruitt name is spelled, such as:
   Pruit, Pruitt, Pruet, Pruett, Prewit, Prewet, Prewette, Prewitt, Pruiett, Pruitte.
   It must be said here that from the Colonial era until 1900, many people in American history never learned to read and write.  This was common in many Pruitt families across many states just as it is true in many, many families across many states, which has produced a researcher's nightmare!
   We know, too, that many people throughout history changed their names to change their identity.  Reasons vary, of course, and three reasons could have been because they were running from the law, running from military service, or running from a woman.
   Another reason is found in the fact that many people did not know how to spell their own names.  Even within my own Pruitt tree, I have found the Pruitt name spelled in different ways---in the same family!
   Another fact that contributes to this difficulty of searching my family tree is found in the popularity of male first names, such as Thomas, Henry, Joel, and Joseph.  Add to this Thomas, Sr. & Thomas, Jr.; Henry, Sr. & Henry, Jr.; Joel, Sr. & Joel, Jr.; and Joseph, Sr. & Joseph, Jr.  Now add these combinations together with many Pruitt families, across many states, and in all the various ways the Pruitt name is spelled.  A Joel, Sr., for example, could have moved from Virginia to Wilkes County, North Carolina, while Joel, Jr. moved from Virginia to Wilkes County, Georgia.  And these four popular first names are also common in the many families.
   Four other names must also be considered as links in my family's history include the names of Presnell, Preston, Priest, and dePriest.  For example, in the 1870 census of Wilkes County, seventeen people are indentified with the surname Priest.
   Prior to 1900, Birth & Death Records were not required by the government of North Carolina, and most families did not keep a written record in the births of babies, nor in the deaths of babies or in the deaths adults. 
   Therefore, in searching my family tree for factual information, I have turned to census records, marriage records, Civil War records, to the work of other researchers, and to names and dates etched on tombstones in church cemeteries.  Many people, however, could not afford tombstones, and not all of them were buried in church cemeteries.  Many were buried in family plots on family properties, and, in the course of time and as people moved away from family lands, the graves of their dead became overgrown by trees and brush and lost to history. 
   Nevertheless, regardless of the difficulty this endeavor of counting heads can be, the search of my Pruitt family continues---fueled by this simple human desire of the need to know from whence we came.  If you choose to view these pages in time to come, please feel free to offer any corrections or contributions of information in the comment box and I will get your message.