©1999
©2000 Michael Thrift

I started on this genealogical search almost 20 years ago when I wrote to several relatives to ask them for very specific information about the ancestors they knew or about which they had some knowledge . I wrote to my maternal grandmother, my maternal grandfather's sister to get information about my mother's side of the family, the Gooches.

On my father's side I wrote to my uncle, V. A. Thrift of Winston-Salem, NC, who sent me an entire package of material with some very detailed information about my grandmother, grandfather, their parents and siblings. This information took me back to 1852 when my great grandfather, William Francis Thrift, was born. The information Uncle V. A. so enthusiastically imparted to me in a lengthy letter and documents has formed the foundation from which I was able to confirm our family history in North Carolina since the 1750's and before that, in Virginia to the early 1600's.

Genealogical research is a mystery that has to be solved with hypothesis, research and logical deduction. The first mystery that had to be solved in the Thrift family research was who were the parents of William Francis Thrift? We had several clues that led to the resolution of the question: 1) We knew from The information V. A. furnished that William Francis Thrift was born February 10, 1852. 2) We knew that he was a miner; 3) that he had lived several years in Coal Bluff, Indiana where My grandfather, Vernon Amos Thrift was born in 1890. We did not know where he was born but we had several clues that led to North Carolina.

The first clue that he was from North Carolina was that all of the children were born in North Carolina from 1874 through 1888, except for Francis Silvester , who was born in Williamstown, Pa. in 1877. Each child was born in a different location within the state, which indicated that mining was a very itinerant vocation in those days. However, the most telling clue was that William Francis Thrift moved the family to Winston-Salem when he was in poor health in the final few years of his life. Evidently, these were tough times. V.A. said in his letter to me that Charles and Vernon moved back to North Carolina they went to work at R J Reynolds Tobacco Company at the ages of 9 and 10 respectively. Their father, William Francis Thrift, died in 1899 at the age of 47, inflicted with a lung disease, probably black lung from mining coal. He is buried in the Moravian cemetery in Winston-Salem.

V. A. said he thought William Francis was born in North Carolina , possibly Rowan County, but he was not sure. Twenty years ago when I started this project this was as far as I was able to get. At that time one had to order microfilm copies of the census by county until one happened on the correct county and found the individual one was seeking. The indices for the census records were poor and rare. I quickly grew tired of looking.

Twenty Years Later:

In May of this year I went on a business trip and spent 5 days in Salt Lake City, Utah. I knew the most advanced genealogical library in the world was in Salt Lake City and was operated by the Mormon Church, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. I decided to take my information and see if I could make any progress. My wife, Lynn, worked with a Mormon at First Union Bank. She approached Tony Fenton for me to see where the library was located. It turned out that it was 2 blocks from the hotel where I was going to stay in downtown Salt Lake City.

Tony had moved to Charlotte from Salt Lake City and had many connections with family and friends still in Salt Lake. It was my good fortune that Tony offered to contact one of his friends and former neighbor, Reed Johnson, to have him show me around the library and introduce me to several key people in the library who ultimately helped accelerate my search by light years.

Reed picked me up at the hotel the Saturday afternoon of my arrival an we went to the library where Sister Wright, a young lady from Tennessee on her mission, demonstrated the use of the LDS Genealogical computer.

It was amazing! In 10 minutes we had located every country in the world where a "Thrift" resides. We had found that the name Thrift is Scottish, that they are predominantly from Dundee and Ketting in Angus County as well as Burntisland and Kinghorn in Fife County, Scotland . There are Thrifts living in England and Ireland as well. I later found that our ancestors moved here from England, although it is likely they were actually born in Scotland.

I had a major breakthrough in my research the very first day in the library. This breakthrough was typical and instructive of how one bit of information leads to another and finally cascades into a fairly clear historical picture.

First of all, I found an index for the census in North Carolina for 1850 and discovered a William H. Thrift in Rowan County, N.C. (This proved that Uncle V. A.'s first hunch about the origins of William F. Thrift was correct.)

There was one problem at this point: William Francis Thrift was not born until 1852 and therefore would not show up on this census. I pulled a copy of the microfilm anyway and found yet another set of clues.

The 1850 census was the first census to fist the name, sex and age of each member of the household. Up to 1850 the census listed only the name of the head of household and the number of males and females between certain ages. However this census listed William H. Thrift as a miner and his wife's name was Jane Thrift .

I felt strongly that the occupation of miner was more than a coincidence. William Francis probably learned his vocation from his father, but I needed more information for verification. I then went to the 1860 Census index and found William H. Thrift in Guilford County this time. I obtained the microfilm for Guilford County 1860 and there it was on Page 32: William F. Thrift, age 8. He had 4 older sisters whose names matched the previous census and his mother's name was Linda Jane Thrift .

I then checked the marriage record index and found that William H. Thrift and Linda Jane Mann were married March 10, 183 8. This bit of information turned out to be one of the most significant bits of personal verification I was to find. Four months after my trip to Salt Lake City I visited my father in Richmond, Virginia. I was showing him the information I had uncovered on the charts and one of the first things he noticed was the name Linda Jane Mann. He looked at me with a big grin and said: "Daddy always told us his grandmother was a man, now I finally know what he meant! His grandmother really was a Mann!"

This was the first time I had heard this. I had no idea of the names of any of our ancestors prior to William Francis Thrift before going to Salt lake City.

Did You Ever Wonder?

I had always been curious as to why we never heard anything about how or when our family migrated to America. In the three days researching our lineage in the LDS Library I discovered why.

I had speculated that our family probably migrated here in the early 1800's or even in the 1700's during one of the the Scotch-Irish migrations. The theory was that we did not hear any folklore about our migration because it was so long ago and so many generations ago that it simply was not adequately preserved.

The theory turned out to be correct in the sense that the Thrift family has been in America a long time. What was surprising to me and I think will be surprising to the reader, was just how long the family has been in America. My guess was way off the mark. I missed it by 150 or more years.

What I found is a veritable mountain of evidence, documentation and historical data that the Thrift family, our direct ancestral line, was one of the first English-speaking families to migrate to and permanently settle in America.

You probably have not heard this before, but you are about to read about it. I hope you find it as enthralling as my father and I did as we spent several days in the Virginia State Library, Richmond County, Virginia Courthouse, Old Rappahannock Courthouse and in North Carolina libraries and courthouses researching original family wills, deeds and assorted other documents dating back to 1676.

The 1676 documents are the oldest we can find only because older ones were destroyed in fires during Bacon's Rebellion in Virginia in 1676. The family had been in the New World since Richard Thrift (aka Frith) came to Jamestown with the original party of settlers led by Christopher Newport and Captain John Smith in 1607. There is a strong likelihood that we are direct descendants of Richard Thrift .

We are most certainly direct descendants of Nathaniel Thrift of Richmond County, Farnham Parish, Virginia who in 1676 joined Bacon's Rebellion to retaliate against a Maryland Indian tribe that massacred settlers in the area.

I will attempt to explain some of the background history of the migration of our family as well as describe the events and culture that shaped their attitudes and actions. My focus of research has been primarily on the events documented in wills, deeds and histories prior to the Civil War. I simply ran out of time to do a more complete work because I wanted to finish with what I had completed before Christmas.

About The Title

I chose the title "From James Towne 1607 to North Carolina 1997, A History of the Carolina Thrifts," not because we all live in North Carolina, but because it was the principal destination when our ancestor migrated here from Virginia in 1755. Although it has not been the exclusive home of this branch of the family (I never lived here until 16 years ago) it has been the home of most of the descendants of the original immigrants.

Additionally, there were two existing histories of the Thrift family; one in the archives at Salt Lake City and one in the archives of the Virginia State Library. The one in Salt Lake City was entitled "The Georgia Thrifts". The one in the Virginia State library was The History of "The Thrift Family in Virginia Prior to the Civil War." Interestingly enough, it is the same family, as the Georgia Thrifts trace their ancestry back to the same Thrifts in Richmond County Virginia as we do. Therefore, I wanted to include both the places of origin and the destination in the title to make the connection with the other branches of the original family.

Chapter I: Looking Backwards 1850-1750
1850-1750

In the preface I shared how I found William H. Thrift in the census of 1850. Starting with the 1850 census was not a shot in the dark. I started with this census for several reasons:

It is the first census in the United States that listed the names of each person in the household. Each census before that listed the name of the head of household only and then the number of each person by gender and race in three or four categories of age. Therefore, one would not get the names of the wife or children.

The 1850 census is the first census to list the ages of each person in the household, instead of a range of ages.

It is the first census with a highly reliable index by state and location.

The folks in the genealogical library in Salt Lake City told me to look there first for all of the above reasons . They were my most reliable resource to reduce the amount of effort required to find what I was seeking. Being a true Thrift, I believe very much in the efficient use of resources.

For all these reasons the earlier censuses are not as valuable as a reference tool. However, what they can do is serve as a locater to at least narrow the scope of one's investigation. For example, there may be several William Thrifts. (There were 34 in North Carolina at this time). The census index may indicate 4 different counties, other Thrifts in those counties, etc. What you then have to do is find the father by searching other documents, such as deeds, wills, conveyances of property, marriages and family records. If one is concentrating on a national index the index can narrow the search to one of several states. If one is looking at a state index the search can be narrowed to a few counties. So the use of the North Carolina index in this instance helped narrow the search to 3 - 4 counties out of 107 which exist today.

The second day of my research in Salt Lake City I started looking for the father of William H. Thrift. I had found a marriage index in Guilford County indicating that William H. Thrift had married and I had found him in the census of 1850 in Rowan County. By 1860 he had moved back to Guilford County and appeared in the census there. Therefore, I would concentrate my first efforts in those 2 counties searching for deed abstracts, wills, etc.

I was somewhat stalled for a while because I was not finding any "smoking gun" evidence or documentation. I went back to the computer and started bringing up family records of people who have previously researched their families. What I found was my next breakthrough that would take me back another 100 years.

The document I found was the genealogy of the Stroud family . --Are you lost now? --I did not know who the Strouds were either. However, they had cross-referenced William H. Thrift's name because he was the grandson of their relative, Mary Stroud, who was born in Orange County, NC in 1760. Her husband was Isham Thrift born in North Carolina in 1758.

Mary and Isham had 14 children, one of which was David Thrift. David was born in 1785 in southern end of Orange County, North Carolina near the Haw River . Isham died in 1814 and David acted as executor. His mother inherited most of the land and property until her death in 1834.

David had at least five children, one of which was William H. Thrift, born in Guilford County, (near Greensboro) in 1816.

This family record coincides with the family record of the Parsons of Guilford County as well. James Parsons married Mary Abanatha Thrift one of the daughters of David. Their family tree, which is also filed with the genealogical library, is independent corroboration of the information in the Stroud family file.

So we are now back to 1758. This is about as far as I thought I would get. In fact, I thought that perhaps Isham's record was incorrect and maybe he was the first Thrift to come over. That was my next theory so I started out to try to prove it.

Most stories are told in chronological order. However, with genealogy the thrust of the story is as much how you discovered the information as the story itself So I have decided that I will start with a description of how the information was discovered and the chronology of that discovery. Then we can move on to the historical chronology.

1750-1650

I started researching passenger and immigration lists looking for Isham. I could find nothing on Isham, but several things caught my attention. Most of the passengers and immigrants with the Thrift surname were not transported to America in the 1700's. Most of them came here in the 1600's!

I started checking again in the early census indices. North Carolina had taken 2 census' prior to 1790, one in 1769 and one in 1787. Isham appeared as a head of household in the 1790 and 1787 index. There was also a Nathaniel Thrift and a Jenny Thrift in Northampton County in 1790. In the 1769 index there was only one Thrift: Nathaniel Thrift in Northampton County, North Carolina. But from where did he come?

I only had one more day, (actually about 5 hours because I was working on this project during lunch breaks and in the evenings until the library closed). I had noticed that most of the Thrifts fisted on the passenger and immigration fists had actually landed in either Virginia or Maryland. I thought I remembered reading that most of the migration into North Carolina started around 1750 and that most of the people had moved from Virginia, Maryland and Pennsylvania.

First Stop: Virginia

I first went to the census index for Virginia and found a preponderance of references to the names of William Thrift and Nathaniel Thrift during both the 1600's and 1700's. Most of these references were listed in Old Rappahannock County, Richmond County (not the city) and Westmoreland County.

I tried a shortcut by looking up the family trees for Thrifts in this area already filed away in the computer. A family with the surname Rochester (as in Rochester, New York) had researched a fine of their family by marriage and found a relationship to the Thrifts of Richmond County. The ancestral tree was very complete all the way back to the early 1600's.

Their relation was to an Esther Thrift, born in 1726, who married John Rochester. They had 4 children. Esther had several brothers and sisters. One was Nathaniel Thrift, born in 1736 and another was William Thrift, born 1740.

Had these two brothers moved to North Carolina and become the forefathers of the North Carolina Thrift family? If so, which one was the father of Isham Thrift? This was the thrust of the remainder of my research that day.

I felt strongly that there was a connection. Unfortunately, time ran out before I was able to find any evidence that I would consider being conclusive or even substantiating. But if I could find substantiating evidence we would have an almost complete line leading back to Jamestown, Virginia in the first decades of the settlement of America by British subjects.

This was pretty exciting news.
Chapter II: Looking Backwards 1750-1607

Road Trip to Virginia
I was anxious to step back into this research and uncover more information, but this summer was a difficult time to arrange any extracurricular activity. Finally, in September I was able to arrange three days of vacation. Dad still lives in Richmond and he was interested in seeing what I had found thus far and helping me continue the search. The first day of our search we went to the Library of Virginia in downtown Richmond to see what we could find.

We checked the index to the Archival Records and became totally confused before we finally figured out how to use the search mode and order the records in which we had an interest. The computer at first had seemed hell-bent on showing us much more than either of us wanted to see about institutional thrifts and savings and loans.

After reviewing the institutional Thrift files we found a reference to an archived file titled "The History of the Thrift and Moffet Families in Virginia Prior to the Civil War" by T. E. Pittenger. The Archived section of the library is an area where they have very strict rules about what can be brought in and what can be taken out. Basically, all you can bring in is a notepad and a pencil. All you can take out is what you brought in and copies the librarian makes for you.

The title looked interesting so we went to the Archives section and had the librarian retrieve the file and we reviewed it. The file contained detailed background information of much of the information I had found in Salt Lake City. It referenced wills, deeds, dates and other sources of information backing up the ancestral file of Thrifts going back to 1598 in England. It listed complete family lines by generation and cited original source Parish material. Not only did this archive furnish a wealth of new sources of information, Mr. Pittenger provided an excellent genealogical analysis of the information.

Mr. Pittenger traces his family tree back to the same Thrifts living in Richmond County that I had suspected we were related to. In his history he tells us that Esther Thrift Rochester remarries to Thomas Critcher after the death of her husband, John Rochester. The Critchers moved to Granville County, NC about 1756. He notes that he finds no trace of Nathaniel Thrift, her younger brother after this time, except that both are mentioned in the same sentence of their father's will (William Thrift). The will was written in 1776 and makes the following reference: " To my daughter Esther Critcher and my son Nathaniel Thrift I leave one dollar apiece if they will come themselves to receive it."9

Mr. Pittenger remarks that he "wished he knew what they had done to displease him."10 My father and I knew immediately: They had both moved to North Carolina. This explains the simultaneous disappearance of Nathaniel Thrift from Virginia and the appearance of Nathaniel Thrift in North Carolina.

William Thrift was displeased with them because it was rare for them to visit him from North Carolina. It was simply too difficult to travel the 200 miles through forest, swamps, terrible roads and other hazards, leaving family to fend for themselves, or worse, trying to bring them with you and leaving the responsibilities of a farm behind so one can walk 200 miles to visit relatives. In those days, North Carolina was considered to be backward and less civilized than the more settled and stable state of Virginia. There was also a bit of aristocratic snobbery involved in this view as best illustrated by William Byrd, who was appointed by the King in the 1720's to survey the border between Virginia and North Carolina. In Byrd's diary he refers to North Carolina as the "valley of humility between the two hills of aristocracy."11

Nathaniel Thrift came to North Carolina at the age of 19 or 20 with his sister and staked out his own claim to land after helping the Critchers start their plantation. Nathaniel was the first male Thrift in North Carolina and the only Thrift the correct age to be the father of Isham Thrift.12 All the records of family, the Daughters of the American Revolution, and Revolutionary War pay vouchers indicate that Isharn was an American citizen by virtue of the fact that he was born in the state of North Carolina. If these records are correct, one must deduce that Nathaniel Thrift was the father of Isham Thrift.

The only Thrift's showing in the census of 1769 and 1790 were Nathaniel, William, Jennet and Isham. William was another son of Nathaniel and husband of Jennet. William died in 1790 and in his will he left property to "his father, Nathaniel Thrift and to his wife, Jenny."13 These three form the nucleus of progenitors of the Thrift family in North Carolina.

Thus, Nathaniel Thrift and the onset of migration and settlement into North Carolina provide the missing link. Making this link we can proceed to some additional facts provided through Mr. Pittenger and other resources found during our research in Virginia.

Chapter III: James Towne 1607
Thrifts among the First Settler's at James Towne

One of the many things we learned from Mr. Pittenger's "History of the Thrift's of Virginia Prior to the Civil War" was that the names Frith and Thrift were used completely interchangeably in the 1600's.14 When I read this I remembered that the ancestral file of the Rochesters and the Gowers, which I had copied from the computer files in Salt Lake City, had mentioned some Friths in the early 1600's.
Mr. Pittenger verified this information by matching the land granted in a will dated 1676 to the sons of Nathaniel Frith to the land owned by William and Nathaniel Thrift at a location on Totuskey Creek in 1735. The clerk of Lancaster County in Old Rappahannock County, Virginia Courthouse, had filed Nathaniel Frith's will. The reason for this circuitous route was war with the Indians of Maryland. These Indians had swept down into Virginia and massacred 35 settlers, burning many farms and possibly the courthouse. I say possibly because the reaction to the Indian massacre was the beginning of the famous Bacon's Rebellion of 1676 and it is not known if it was the Indians, or the forces of Governor Berkeley that burned the courthouse.

But burned it was. So the wills were temporarily filed with the clerk of Lancaster County15. The two minor sons of Nathaniel Frith were William and Nathaniel. In 1692 Old Rappahannock County was divided into several new counties: Essex, Westmoreland and Richmond. From that point on their deeds, wills and other documents bear the spelling Thrift instead of Frith.

It is well documented through these deeds, original land patents and other surviving documents that Thrifts were among the first permanent English-speaking settlers in the New World. Mr. Pettinger notes that "Robert Frith (Thrift), aged 23, came to James Towne in 1635. A week later, his brother Thomas Frith (Thrift), aged 17, came to James Towne on the ship Elizabeth." Robert Thrift (perhaps the same Robert Frith mentioned by Pittenger) bought some land in Isle of Wight County in 1638. In fact, one of the first 104 settlers of James Towne in 1607 was Richard Frith (Thrift). Captain John Smith compiled a list of the first 104 settlers and Richard was listed as a "gentleman". (Smith spelled the name wrong and one wonders if he could properly identify a gentleman when he saw one. But if your name has to be misspelled I think we can forgive a misspelling by a dynamic historical figure like Captain Smith.)

Mr. Pittenger notes that the first Nathaniel Frith (Thrift) listed in the family records was born in 1598 in England and places him at the right age to be the son of Richard Frith16 who came over with John Smith and Christopher Newport.

This would make sense given the historical and social background of the period. The first group that came over was all male. They were enticed by the London Company to a land where they could find gold and other precious stones and metals just as the Spaniards had. They were told that the native savages were friendly and eager to help the settlers in the New World. There was plenty of land to be divided among the settlers and land was considered wealth in England.17 These stories were believed in spite of the well known fact that the first colonists on Roanoke Island, which had been settled less than twenty years before less than a hundred miles from James Towne, had disappeared mysteriously.

The reality was that precious metal and stones were not as prolific as in central and South America. There was plenty of land, but few friendly natives. Settlers wandering away from the fort at James Towne were often attacked and killed.

This kept settlements in Virginia in close proximity to James Towne for the first 40 years. In fact most of the settlements were actually along the James River from what is now Hampton to what is now the city of Richmond, Virginia. There were very few successful settlements along the York, Rappahannock and Potomac rivers until after 1650.

About 1650 we start to see land patent transfers to Thrifts / Friths in what is now Richmond County, mostly around Totuskey Creek, which is located about 8 miles southeast of Tappahannock, Virginia on the northern bank of the Rappahannock river. Old Rappahannock County was formed in 1656 to accommodate the growth of the area.

The First Years at James Towne

The journey to James Towne began on December 20, 1606 when the three ships the Susan Constant, the Godspeed and the Discovery started the voyage down the Thames. The flagship was the 120-ton Susan Constant. It was 76 feet in length and carried 71 passengers and crew. The second ship was the 40-ton Godspeed, which was 48 feet in length and carried 52 on board. The third ship was the Discovery with a capacity of 20 tons, measured 38 feet in length and carried 20 passengers and crew.

The passengers quarters were below deck with the cargo and livestock. There were no bedding accommodations. It was strictly find a spot and make yourself as comfortable as possible. They were not often allowed on deck as they would be in the way of the crew.

The journey took over four months because they took the long route to the south Atlantic and across to the West Indies, then north to Virginia. They spotted land near the entrance to the Chesapeake Bay on April 28, 1607. There was much dissension and squabbling during the trip and when the ships reached Virginia, the soon to be famous John Smith was in confinement.

When they reached land the orders from the London Company were opened and Smith was appointed as one of several councilors. He organized a party to search for a suitable location for settlement and began a search up and down the James River. Smith comprised a list of settlers, declaring their trade, occupation or station. Richard Frith was listed as a gentleman.

There were 44 who were listed as gentlemen, 28 who were listed as craftsmen or laborers and the rest were referred to as "divers others."

So what was a gentleman in Elizabethan England? It simply meant "a person who was entitled to possess heraldic anus, but not a member of nobility."18 It also could connote "a man of chivalrous instincts and fine feelings." In short it was a person from the rising middle class, from which Great Britain obtained so much of its dynamic leadership during this adventurous time.

The gentlemen in this band were harshly criticized and accused of idleness and in the beginning and no doubt much of this was true. After all, there was a wide gap between the expectations laid out by the London Company and the reality of settlement. It probably took a while for it to sink in that if they did not dig ditches, slop hogs, build fences and plant gardens their fate was to be killed by unfriendly natives because there was no shelter or starve because there was no food. But the ones who survived learned to earn their keep.

Most of the original settlers did not survive19. On the brighter side, death was the one event about which these first colonists kept meticulous records. Records of everything else were kept sporadically, not at all, or did not survive the many calamities that befell these first settlers. The lack of records about the death of Richard Frith (Thrift) leads one to deduce that he did survive long enough to establish a residence and family. Frith / Thrift is not a very common name now and it was not any more common in the 1600's. The migration of several other Friths / Thrifts in the first 50 years of development of the colony leads one to conclude that not only did Richard Frith/Thrift survive, he was also influential in convincing a host of others in his family to follow his lead.

Family records filed by the Rochester family in Salt Lake City indicate that there were four Nathaniel Friths (Thrifts) in succession in Virginia, first in the Jamestown area, possibly in Isle of Wight County, just across the James River near Smithfield, Virginia. Early land patents were granted to Robert Thrift there in the 1630's. Pettinger notes that Nathaniel Frith I was born in 1598, which means he was born in England or Scotland and he would probably be the right age to be the son of Richard Frith (Thrift). Therefore it is very possible that we are direct descendants of one of the first settlers of James Towne.

If it is not a direct line it is surely not far from it, because that is the way colonization worked. One settler would lead the way and get established, then bring over close relatives to help develop their farms and properties. These additional people would form the basis of small nuclear settlements, communities and villages which would provide for a common defense and labor pool. Each of these newcomers would have ambitions to develop land claims, but would indenture themselves for a period of time to pay their passage and to earn enough to buy some land of their own.

Since there was no silver lining the streets of James Towne, building wealth and making a living was not easy. The entire venture may have ended in failure had it not been for the development of tobacco blends that came to be favored by smokers in England and Europe. John Rolfe blended the first tobaccos for export from seed he had imported from the West Indies and mixed with the native tobaccos of Virginia.

Rolfe started exporting tobacco around 1614 and can be credited with providing the new colony with a means of becoming economically independent of its English benefactors. He also married Pocahontas, the daughter of Powhatan who was the chief of the Algonquian tribes of Tidewater Virginia. This marriage brought peace to the colony long enough to encourage further settlement along the James as well as encourage the development of the new cash crop of tobacco20.

Not only did tobacco become the chief cash crop, it was used as currency well into the latter part of the 18th century. It continued to entice new settlers and settlements for decades to come. Almost all of the early settlers became tobacco farmers.

Chapter IV: Settlement on the Northern Neck, 1650-1750

Expansion from the James River Settlements

Hardships were many, but opportunity was also abundant. In the 1640's the alternative in England was to starve because of shortages and economic dislocations caused by civil war or, of course, one could fight and die in the civil war if one was so inclined. They were fighting over the divine rights of kings and Parliamentary sovereignty. This did not excite many in the lower and middle classes, so many more people decided to migrate to Virginia and take their chances with hostile Indians and the rigors of frontier life.

This increase in population perpetuated the spread of settlements up and down the James, York and Rappahannock rivers in the 1640's and 1650's. Charles I was beheaded in 1649 and there was a great deal of retribution against the Royalist factions by the ruling Roundheads. This spurred farther expansion of the colonies. Virginia became a haven for fleeing Royalists, who were known as Cavaliers.

In 1652 Old Rappahannock County was formed in order to organize the political affairs of the growing settlements along the Rappahannock River. The political boundaries of Old Rappahannock County include the modem counties of Essex, Westmoreland, Lancaster and Richmond Counties.

According to the original land patents, Friths (Thrifts) bought rights to several tracts of land in the Farnham Parish District in the 1650's and 1660's. These tracts of land were mostly near Totuskey Creek on the north side of the Rappahannock a few miles east of the town of Tappahannock, Virginia and a few miles south of the town of Warsaw, Virginia.

The records of the Rochester family indicate that Nathaniel Frith ( Thrift) II was born in 1620 in James Towne. This would have made him the correct age to be one of the first settlers in Northern Neck. There was land purchased by Gideon Frith along Totuskey Creek in 1667. Joseph Frith in 1664 and Thomas Thrift in 1667 purchased lands in the area from original patents. Many of the records of land purchases were destroyed during Bacon's Rebellion, but clearly there is a preponderance of evidence that the Thrift family was investing heavily in land in this area during this period of time.

According to the Rochester/ LDS records Nathaniel Frith ( Thrift) III was born in 1645 in Virginia. This is the Nathaniel Frith (Thrift) whose will dated 1676, we found in Old Rappahannock Courthouse. This is the first direct ancestor for which we have a clear trail of descendancy via Parish records, legal documents and even a reference by name in two histories we found: One on Richmond County and the other on Old Rappahannock County.

Bacon's Rebellion:

William Berkeley was appointed Royal Governor of Virginia in 1642 at the age of 32. He served in this capacity until the end of the English Civil War. Charles I was defeated by the Parliamentary Roundheads and beheaded in retribution. Oliver Cromwell became the "Lord Protector" and appointed Richard Bennett and William Claiborne to succeed Berkeley. Berkeley retired to his plantation for 10 years and the succession of government in Virginia came about peacefully.

In 1660 Cromwell died and the monarchy was restored. Charles II came back to England from exile and reappointed Berkeley Royal Governor of Virginia. Gradually, the settlers in Virginia began to see their rights and privileges begin to erode under Berkeley's second term. Since 1619 all free men had had the right to vote for assemblymen called Burgesses. In 1670 Berkeley proposed a measure to restrict this right to landholders only. This was a set back to those who did not yet own land but who aspired to. These freemen were required to pay a poll tax but now were restricted from voting. This taxation without representation was already un-American 100 years before the American Revolution.

To make matters worse Berkeley exempted his appointees from paying the taxes and levies they were collecting from the general population.

In 1673 Lord Culpepper was granted a 31-year lease on all land on the Northern Neck of Virginia, which was roughly all land lying between the Potomac and Rappahannock Rivers. This in effect added an additional rent or tax to current landowners. Complicating the situation even further the landowners were required to pay in currency. This was a serious problem because currency was scarce. In fact, tobacco was the chief currency at the time. When the farmer was unable to pay, the ownership reverted to the original patent or leaseholder, in this case, to Lord Culpepper.

The colonists sent a delegation to petition the King for relief. This was another expense they could ill afford. As a result, resentment of Berkeley was growing.

Berkeley's poor judgement was becoming manifest in many decisions. One of the worst of these decisions involved the granting of the privilege of a trading monopoly to some of his political supporters. These agents of his government started trading weapons for furs

On January 25, 1676 Susquehanna Indians came out of Maryland raiding Old Rappahannock County killing 36 people near Port Royal, Virginia. They continued their raids for several days working their way down river, killing, pillaging and burning.

Representatives were sent to James Towne to report the massacre and ask for help. Berkeley's reply was that nothing could be done until the Burgesses met. Fearing reprisal against himself, he further ordered that people were not to gather in groups larger than 10 men-at-arms.

This made life on the frontier even more dangerous. Further complicating the matter was another law that allowed the leaseholder to void any current lease if the land was found abandoned. Therefore, if one removed his family from their frontier home seeking refuge from Indian attacks, the leaseholder could void the lease and the land could be re-sold with whatever improvements existed. The county sheriffs were appointees of the governor and they were enforcing this act.

These unbearable circumstances and acts of official arrogance are what moved simple farmers and laborers to rebellion. Our ancestor, Nathaniel Frith is documented as being one of the rebels who defied the dictates of Berkeley and joined a militia band to drive the raiding Indians back out of Virginia.

The historians who write of this have been able to identify him because he was one of about 35 men in Rappahannock County who made out a will before the action. All of these men met to form an armed force and then filed their wills before pursuing the Indians. They filed the documents in Lancaster County because the courthouse in Rappahannock County had been burned.

The decree preventing the organization of militias of more than 10 men-at-arms encouraged more Indian raids in the southern settlements along the James River near current day Richmond. When bands of Indians were spotted in these areas the settlers met and decided to go to James Towne to petition the governor to appoint their leader, Nathaniel Bacon, to be a commissioned officer so that their actions would be sanctioned by law.

Berkeley at first refused, but the settlers grew impatient and angry with him, so he relented and commissioned Bacon as requested. The militia began to pursue the Indians to the southwest, but as soon as they were out of sight of James Towne the two-faced Berkeley denounced the group as rebels and revoked Bacon's commission. The people of the outlying communities responded by demanding the dissolution of the Burgesses and organized the election of a new General Assembly.
Bacon returned to James Towne to confront Berkeley. Berkeley had Bacon arrested, but the man who made the arrest was fined and jailed by the assembly. Berkeley fled to Gloucester because the Assembly was very much against him.
The marauding Indians were defeated and routed out of the state by the militia band organized in Old Rappahannock County. Meanwhile, Berkeley had organized an army of 600 men at James Towne and declared Bacon and his followers traitors even though the Assembly had duly commissioned the action. Bacon marched against James Towne, captured it and burned it. Berkeley once again fled, this time to the Eastern Shore.

Unfortunately, Bacon fell ill from a fever and died. The militia disbanded to return to their homes and farming only to have Berkeley use his position to seek retribution for the indignities he suffered. He charged many of the men in Bacon's band with treason and brought many of the leaders to trial. Twenty-one men were hanged and many others were fined. Both the hangings and the fines imposed were done out of personal spite by Berkeley and his appointees. It was also done in direct defiance of the orders from King Charles who had sent word for Berkeley to offer clemency to the rebels.

Berkeley grew even more unpopular and was finally recalled to England in 1677 where he was severely chastised by the King. Charles II remarked that: "The old fool has taken more fives in that naked country than I have taken for the murder of my father.21" The people of Virginia jubilantly celebrated Berkeley's departure.

Nathaniel Thrift's will (a copy is included on the following page) was probated later that year, which means he died in the action or of wounds sustained in the action, defending his home and family from savages and his honor from an oppressive, arrogant and tyrannical government. This was the first rebellion of Americans to establish and consecrate their rights as individuals. They were demanding to have a government that acts through the will of the people and not in the narrow interests of a self-serving despot.

It happened exactly one hundred years before another rebellion in which the political ties with England were to be dissolved forever. King Charles II acted wisely and kept the loyalty and good will of the American people. King George III would not act this prudently.

Totuskey Creek
Totuskey Creek is a small waterway about 75 yards wide at its mouth and meanders several miles inland into Richmond County. It is navigable by small boat or barge, but surrounded by a grassy marsh that rises to a flat rich sandy soil that encourages heavy forest growth or bountiful crops, when the land is cleared. It is about 30 miles inland from the mouth of the Rappahannock River, where the Rappahannock empties into the Chesapeake Bay. In the 1600's the river served as the road to the markets growing up around James Towne and Point Comfort (Hampton, Va.).

The Thrifts began investing in land in the area by both purchase from patent holders and by lease whenever the opportunity presented itself. I have previously mentioned several transactions in what is today Richmond County (Rappahannock County until 1692) found in the volumes of "Cavaliers and Pioneers" in the Virginia Library. These records document some of the early purchases from original patents granted under Royal Charter.

When Nathaniel Thrift died in 1676 so also died the spelling Frith. He left all personal possessions to his wife, Elizabeth and his lands (150 acres) were to be equally divided by his sons, William and Nathaniel, when they came of age. Elizabeth was appointed executrix. His son, Nathaniel, remained on the land he inherited on Totuskey Creek. He added to this land with various purchases and leases recorded in the deed books of Rappahannock County prior to 1692 and in Richmond County after 1692.

He married Elizabeth Parsons in 1694. (I believe from my research that it must have been unlawful to name females anything other than Elizabeth in the 17th century. I also think the name Nathaniel grew to be an obsession within the Thrift family. Quite naturally if one's name was Nathaniel he had to marry an Elizabeth!).

They had six children, four male and two female. Of course, two of the boys were named Nathaniel and William. Thank goodness we finally branched out into the Williams! (Albeit not for long.) Nathaniel IV died in 1735. We found his will filed in Richmond Courthouse. We also found a conveyance of cattle, which was a gift from a Mr. William Davis in 1684. This was filed in Rappahannock Courthouse. In Richmond County we also found a lease of land dated 1718 conveying the use of some land owned by David Berrick.

There is no mention of slaves in the Thrift wills to this point. There probably were no slaves until the next generation, when they are mentioned and passed on to family members in William Thrift s will dated 1776. Slavery was not very common in the 1600's except for temporary indentures. Even the slavery of negroes was considered to be a temporary indenture until the 1700's. Slavery did not gain in economic importance until the early 1700's and it did not have the character of permanence until legislation was passed giving it such a character in the 18th century. It never became critical on the smaller plantations where family members supplied most of the labor.

Meanwhile, William Thrift married Ann Gower and started a family. William and Am had 11 children. (I think they repealed the law about naming girls Elizabeth) And yes they did mine two of the males Nathaniel and William.

Before we talk about our direct ancestor in this herd of siblings, let's talk about his very interesting older sister, Esther. Esther was born three times according to the records in Farnham Parish. What happened is Ann lost the child through miscarriage, still births or infant mortality twice, once in 1723 and again in 1725. Both of these children were given the name Esther even though they did not survive.

Figure 4 - Farnham Parish, Richmond County, Va. Erected 1736

Ann Gower Thrift was not one to give up. She was determined to have a girl named Esther that survived her. In 1726 Esther the survivor was born. Esther evidently grew quickly into womanhood and in 1740, at the age of fourteen, married the thirty two-year-old wealthy planter, John Rochester of Westmoreland County. John Rochester's house called "Bladensfield" was built in 1680 and survives today. The house has seen a lot of history in that time. It served as a headquarters for Robert E. Lee when he was encamped in the area during one of his Civil War campaigns. In 1863 - 1865 Colonel John Singleton Mosby, the "Gray Ghost" took refuge there several times in between partisan raids.
John and Esther had six children from 1743- 1752. Their sixth child was a boy and was named, you guessed it, Nathaniel Rochester. Nathaniel later became a Colonel in the United States Army. In 1803 he bought a 100 acre tract of land on the Genessee River and Lake Ontario in Monroe County, New York. This was an investment made with two other army officers. They encouraged settlement and had the town incorporated first as Falls Town then in 1817 the name was changed to Rochesterville. The town grew as an industrial and railway center. It is now the corporate headquarters of IBM and Eastman Kodak. We know it as Rochester, New York named for Colonel Nathaniel Rochester.

John died in 1754, leaving Esther a widow with the six children to care for. Esther at age 29 apparently had no trouble attracting a new husband even though six children came with the bargain. In 1755 she remarried. This time she tried the other end of the age scale and married a twenty two-year-old wealthy planter named Thomas Critcher. Not only was Thomas from a wealthy family, he was ambitious and had plans to leverage his inheritance by moving to North Carolina, where land was less expensive and there was greater opportunity. Virginia was getting crowded and there were land incentives for immigrants in North Carolina.

So Thomas and Esther decided to move and start a new life for themselves. They found some land in Granville County, NC (near present day Oxford, NC). They packed their possessions, prepared the children and left for their new home. Along for the adventure and to help his sister Esther and her new husband Thomas Critcher get established was nineteen year old Nathaniel Thrift.

Chapter V : The Migration to North Carolina, 1755

The Carolina Frontier

In 1750 migration into North Carolina was becoming very attractive. In the colonies to the north the population was becoming dense and land was getting relatively expensive. The population of Virginia had grown to be over 250,000 whereas the population of North Carolina was still under 100,000. The price of land in Virginia was about 18 Pounds for 50 acres. In North Carolina 18 Pounds would buy 1,000 acres22.

Between the years 1715 and 1775 the population grew in North Carolina from 30,000 people in coastal areas to 265,000 from the coast to the Blue Ridge. This was a time when people like Daniel Boone's father moved from Pennsylvania to the Yadkin River valley. The Highland Scots, Scotch-Irish and Moravians began to move into North Carolina and settle.

Granville District & County

In 1742 King George 11 ordered that the land inherited by John Carteret, Earl Granville be surveyed due to territorial disputes between Virginia, North Carolina and South Carolina. It was decided that the southem border of Virginia would serve as the northern border of Granville's land grant. The grant went from Hatteras on the coast and inland to the Haw River and then to Cold Water Creek in what soon became Rowan County. This strip of land contained over two-thirds of the population and wealth of North Carolina at this time23.

This land grant was very disruptive to the state as it caused disputes in representation and taxation with other sections of the state. Many of the people in the Granville District refused to pay their quitrents to Lord Granville because they were getting nothing tangible in return for the duplicity. This, in turn, caused the Proprietors to take heavy-handed measures to enforce collection, which gave rise to riots and rebellion prior to the American Revolution.

In 1746 population had increased so that the counties of Johnston and Granville were formed by acts of the North Carolina General Assembly. On today's map Old Granville County of 1746 encompassed the counties of today's Granville, Vance, Warren, Franklin and part of Durham.

In 1755-56 Thomas and Esther Critcher moved to Granville County and bought acreage in an area around the Nutbush Creek. This is where they built their residence according to the will of Thomas Critcher dated 1778. Nutbush Creek is located in what is now Vance County, a few miles south of Kerr Dam and Bug's Island Lake. According to the will, the Critchers bought two more tracts of land in Granville County. One approximately five miles southeast of the town of Oxford, N.C. in Granville County in a place that used to be called Harris Burgh and another called Lowe's Land, which I have not been able to locate.

Harris Burgh no longer exists on any present day map, but it does appear on the Collet map of 1770. It was the location of Granville County Courthouse from 1746 - 1764. It was located between Hachers Run and Fishing Creek (both of which exist today by similar names). James Iredell described the location in 1778 as containing "half a dozen straggling houses and burlesque upon a town.24" The town continued to exist until Oxford became the county seat in 1811.

Nathaniel more than likely lived with his sister and her brother on their land near Nutbush Creek in what is now Vance County just south of Kerr Dam) for several years performing a type of indenture before he was able to acquire enough wealth to purchase his own land. He married early on in this indenture and started a family almost immediately.

According to Nathaniel's will (dated 1814) his wife's name was Jane. We have not been able to find her last name because no formal Marriage Bond exists in the North Carolina archives. This may mean that his marriage was common-law and unlicensed by the state. Records were sparse in this period of time. They could have been lost or simply been part of a local Parish records with no county or state filing. The term Marriage Bond refers to a document that served as a sort of pre-nuptial agreement that the principal sum of the bond was to be owed the wife in the event of separation or divorce. It was a widely used legal device, particularly among the more affluent.

A common-law marriage would not have been unusual at this time because they were living on the frontier where churches and government officials were scarce. It would have been considered ludicrous by these pioneers to travel thirty to fifty miles or so to a seat of government or church and then pay good money to obtain a license for marriage to gain the sanction of the state. No one was very interested in what the state sanctioned at this time as long as it did not meddle in his or her local affairs.

Nathaniel and Jane had three children that we know about: Isham, William and Letitia. Like most of the immigrants to the region Nathaniel was a farmer and tobacco was his primary cash crop. He was evidently a successful tobacco planter. In 1780 there is a record of his purchase of some 150 acres along Canoe Creek in Northampton County25. He paid for the land with 7500 pounds of tobacco. He bought this land from a Mr. William Jones who was a friend and a neighbor. Mr. Jones also owned land on Canoe Creek before and after this purchase. Nathaniel witnessed Mr. Jone's will.

Canoe Creek was a tributary to the Roanoke River, which is the southwestern border of Northampton County. The south side of the river is Halifax County. The district in the state census of 1787 was referred to as Captain Lashley's District. In the Federal Census of 1790 it is referred to as the Halifax District of Northampton County. We could not confirm the location of Canoe Creek, as it is no longer called by that name. Other landmarks that were mentioned in deeds and wills of the period include Fussel's Branch, Spring Branch and Fussel's Spring Branch. These landmarks are no longer called by the same names. However, we do know it was on the north side of the Roanoke River, not far from modern-day Jackson, N.C.

Today there is a creek called the Occaneechee Creek in this area and the term Canoe Creek may have been the colloquial name for this creek. If these creeks are the same, it is about four miles southwest of Jackson and empties into the river in an area called Occaneechee Neck where the river bends south and then meanders sharply east forming the peninsula-shaped neck. The Roanoke River itself is referred to interchangeably in these deeds as the Roan Oak Matoaka and the Roanoke River, so Occaneechee to Canoe is not much of a stretch.

Economics, Social Class and Culture

The Critchers built up a considerable estate by 1778 when Thomas Critcher's will was probated. Critcher left three sizeable tracts of land, a plantation, a mill and a couple dozen Negro slaves to his family. Slavery had become a vehicle for increased production, particularly on the larger plantations, during the latter part of the 1700's. The Critchers were extremely successful and would have been considered to be in the upper class of plantation owners.

Their house was more than likely several rooms, perhaps with an upstairs instead of a loft. Thomas left a considerable inventoried wealth of household furnishings, farm animals and other properties for the time.

Nathaniel and William Thrift had smaller estates (several hundred acres). According to the census of 1790, Nathaniel had two blacks in his household and his son, William, had six. They owned land adjacent to one another. William also owned a mill, which he left to his father in his will dated 1790, when he died a premature death at the age of about thirty years.

They were considered to be in the planter class, but clearly in the lower echelon of that class. They would have been men who worked the fields side by side with their black servants, training them in their jobs and caring for them as both valuable assets and human beings.

They lived as most farmers lived, in a one or two-room house, perhaps with a loft. The house was more than likely a log cabin or clapboard, with a large central fireplace for cooking and gathering. There were probably very few furnishings in the house, probably a table and chairs, some cooking utensils and some crude bedding, maybe some porcelain and silverware used when they entertained visitors. Dressers were uncommon because they would own very few clothes. Extra clothes were hung on pegs on the walls of the house.

In the summer the house would be hot, uncomfortable and probably infested with insects. Life was hard and all of one's labor was directed toward survival. There were probably few windows because glass was scarce and windows provided entrance to roaming bands of Indians who might attack. These people lived hard lives. They were fiercely independent and contemptuous of anyone who tampered with their rights as individuals, meddled in their affairs, or caused them undue hardship that threatened their survival or their property rights.

Isham Thrift is the son from whom we are directly descended. Isham did not remain in Northampton County. In fact he may have gone his own way before Nathaniel and William finally settled there, sometime prior to 1780. In 1779 Isham married Mary Stroud, who was the daughter of a very wealthy planter named William Stroud, Jr. The Strouds were originally from Sturgeon Run on the Nottoway River, Brunswick County, Virginia, (which is south of Petersburg). The Strouds owned several thousand acres of land in Orange County, NC near the Haw River, some of which was along Terrell's Creek.

Prelude to Revolution

1755 - 1785 were tumultuous times in American History. North Carolina, like Virginia and Massachusetts to the north, was a hotbed of controversy. There was a great deal of strife and friction in the Granville District caused by the arrogant tax collectors of the Lord Proprietor and the state. Hillsborough, N.C. became a center of confrontation of these officials as the taxpayers rose to riot and rebellion in the form of the Regulator movement.

Many of the same contentions that motivated those involved in Bacon's Rebellion in Virginia were now causing consternation in North Carolina. The Royal Government and the state General Assembly had never had a permanent capitol in North Carolina. They had met in a circuit of meeting places, rotating between New Bern, Edenton and Wilmington. Many records were lost or damaged because they had to be transported from one place to another when the meeting place changed.

In 1764 William Tryon was appointed Royal Governor, succeeding William Dobbs. He convinced the legislature to appropriate L 5,000 one year and L 10,000 the following year to erect "a convenient building in the town of New Bern for the residence of the Governor." The first year appropriation diverted funds previously earmarked for schools and education. The second sum was to be expropriated from new taxes on imported goods and a new poll tax.

The house built with this appropriation burdened the taxpayers of the backcountry with a debt they could not afford. In 1768 citizens of Orange County asserted that " We are determined not to pay the tax. We want no such house, nor will we pay for it."26 Building a palace for the Governor was simply not a high priority for these people.

Very similar to the Virginia experience prior to Bacon' s Rebellion, the Governor had broad authority to appoint many local offices of County government, including sheriff, magistrates and tax collectors. These appointees often abused their authority. Taxes, as in the Virginia case, had to be paid in currency, which was scarce in the backcountry. So when the taxpayer could not pay in currency, he was stripped of his land and belongings, which were sold at auction. Often the sales were made to friends of the sheriff or tax collector at prices far below market value.

This type of corruption led to retaliation in the form of resistance from organized groups of taxpayers that became known as Regulators. In time these Regulators led attacks against the more obnoxious of these corrupt officials. The Regulators were most active in the Granville District where they had one of the most obnoxious and abusive officials in the person of Edmund Fanning in the town of Hillsborough in what is now Orange County.

Fanning was charged with extortion and three leaders of the Regulators were tried for riot. One of the accused Regulators was acquitted, the other two were convicted, but pardoned by the King as recommended by Governor Tryon. Fanning was convicted of extortion but no punishment was rendered.

In 1769 elections were held for the General Assembly and Regulators were elected to every seat in Orange, Anson, Granville and Halifax Counties. The Governor imprudently dissolved the legislature and prevented the reforms from taking place that would have checked the abuse of his appointed officials.

The abuses continued and in 1770, 150 Regulators resorted to mob action in Hillsborough, breaking into the court of Richard Henderson and chasing him off the bench. They beat Edmund Fanning, demolished his house and terrorized even non-offending people in Hillsborough.

Finally the Governor raised a militia and confronted the Regulators in Alamance defeating them decisively and then hanging, without trial, some of the leaders. The assemblymen of the districts involved were refused their seats in the Assembly. This action resolved the immediate problem, but without government reform the issues that gave rise to the rebellion became a festering sore that was to be lanced and cleansed in the coming American Revolution.

It is not known if Nathaniel Thrift took an active part in the rebellion. However, given his profile it is not difficult to determine where his sentiments would have been. He was about 29 when this controversy arose and 35 when the rebellion was crushed. The sentiments of the voters in these districts clearly were overwhelmingly supportive of the Regulator movement and the reforms they proposed, even though most did not support militia action or mob violence.

These sentiments would prove to have a profoundly positive effect on the rates of enlistment and support for the war from these counties during the War for Independence.

Chapter VI : The War for Independence

Revolution in the Carolinas

North Carolina records indicate that Nathaniel Thrift served in the Continental Army. However, we have not been able to find in what capacity or for how long. We found the general ledger from the state auditor's office indicating that pay was owed for service, but we could not locate the pay vouchers showing where he was paid or for what service.

We found some of the records of both Isham and William Thrift. We found three separate pay vouchers for Isham all dated 1783 redeemable in Hillsborough, Orange County. The vouchers were obviously for services rendered in the past as the war ended in Yorktown with the surrender of Cornwallis in October 1781, but no description of the service is proscribed on the documents. We also found further corroborating evidence of Isham's service as a patriot as the Daughter's of the American Revolution registers him as such.

William Thrift's record was much clearer and stated a specific action for which he was conscripted to serve. He was dispatched under the command of Colonel Ambrose Ramsey to march against hostile Indians who had been encouraged by British agents to attack white frontier settlements.

To the North in Virginia, Nathaniel's brother William, still in Virginia, joined the Fifth Continental Army and served under George Washington throughout most of the war.

Many of the key battles of the final two years of war took place in North Carolina. It was the defeat and befuddlement of Cornwallis by the brilliant strategies and staunch fighting of General Nathaniel Greene, Colonel Daniel Morgan, Lighthorse Harry Lee (father of Robert E. Lee), Francis Marion (the Swamp Fox) and others that beat Cornwallis into retreat from the Carolinas to Yorktown, where he expected reinforcement and rescue.

Taking the Carolinas

In December 1779 the British invaded South Carolina with 13,000 troops and captured Charleston. Within a year they had subjugated most of South Carolina defeating the Continental Army that resisted. Only pockets of Partisans such as the ones led by Francis Marion continued to oppose them.

In 1780 the British were determined to invade and regain control of North Carolina in the same manner. Cornwallis marched north to Charlotte. News of this traveled fast and in Hillsborough once again became a hotbed of activity. Richard Caswell started rounding up and organizing the militia in the area. Then he proceeded to do the same in Salisbury and Charlotte.

Cornwallis defeated the Continental Army of Horatio Gates at Camden, SC. Then he proceeded to move north to Charlotte. His movements were so harassed by partisan bands during this march that they marched only an average of four miles per day. When he finally reached Charlotte the Royal Governor announced that the Royal government had been restored. Within a week of this announcement, Cornwallis was in retreat back into South Carolina and declaring Charlotte to be a veritable "Hornet's Nest" of rebellion. Little did he know that 210 years later these remarks would furnish the city of Charlotte with a name for their NBA basketball team, the Hornets, and the coliseum in which they play, the Hornet's Nest.
Meanwhile, Cornwallis had sent out Patrick Ferguson west to protect his left flank from the Over Mountain Men from western Carolina and Tennessee. Ferguson threatened that he was going to pursue them, lay waste to their settlements and hang their leaders. This contemptuous message would prove to be Ferguson's death warrant. The leaders of the Over-Mountain Men rendezvoused on the 25th of September and set out to confront Ferguson.

They caught up with him on the 7th of October at King's Mountain. The Over-Mountain Men overwhelmed their opponents with accurate long-range fire from their hunting rifles. They soundly defeated the British forces, capturing all they did not kill. Ferguson was killed during the battle, shot through the heart as he tried to rally his troops.

This was a great psychological and moral victory for the American forces. It drew in more recruits who now determined the struggle was winnable.

Cornwallis sent Colonel Banastre Tarleton to seek out and destroy the forces of Daniel Morgan in a campaign that ended in Cowpens, SC. Tarleton was a murderous scoundrel who did not obey the rules of engagement and routinely murdered those who surrendered. The arrogant Tarleton rushed head long into attack as soon as the American troops were spotted, intending to drive them into the river to their rear.

To his surprise, the Continentals gave no ground and launched a devastating fire on the British followed up with an equally effective bayonet attack. The American cavalry had taken up a position on the British left flank and Tarleton had completely overlooked this in his haste. The cavalry charged into the British flank and completely wiped them out capturing 600 and killing 300. Only 270 made it back to Cornwallis. Tarleton fled the field racing away with the American cavalry close behind.

Knowing that Cornwallis would be after him, Daniel Morgan lost no time retreating into North Carolina in order to join forces with Greene. They met at Guilford Courthouse (Greensboro). Greene's leadership had inspired such confidence that his army grew in number by several thousand men.

Cornwallis' defeats led many of his Hessian troops who had no quarrel with Americans to desert. There were many German-speaking settlements in the vicinities of Charlotte, Salisbury and Salem. Everywhere Cornwallis went the people in the settlements were enticing the Hessians to abandon the British and offered them help to elude the British once they chose to dessert.

The two armies clashed at Guilford Courthouse March 15, 1781. Greene fought intensely, turning the British back twice. Cornwallis was calling up fresh troops for another assault when Greene decided to withdraw to preserve his army for another fight.

This was a Pyrrhic victory for Cornwallis because he had lost 25% of his men in the battle. He called for loyal subjects in the Carolinas to join him, but there were no takers at this point. He marched to Wilmington to take the town and seaport, hoping to draw Greene's army in pursuit. '

Instead of pursuing Cornwallis to Wilmington, Greene marched into South Carolina freeing every major area from British control and isolating the British to the coastal towns of Wilmington, Charleston and Savannah. Instead of meeting Greene, Cornwallis thought it would be strategically better to march on Virginia next, so he proceeded up the eastern side of North Carolina terrorizing the countryside, burning and appropriating property all the way to the next and final destination in his American campaigns: Yorktown, Virginia.

The records of men fighting in these skirmishes and battles are haphazard and lacking in detail. What we know is that Nathaniel, Isham and William served and received remuneration for their patriotic service at a much later date. More than likely the services for which they were compensated related to some of these nearby actions, such as Guilford Courthouse. Their love of country and regard for the personal liberties for themselves and their descendants outweighed all consideration of personal safety and payment for their services. They rose to the occasion and helped conceive a nation in liberty.

Chapter VII : Call Me Isham?

Isham, David, Sally and Bath-Lydia

One of the obsessions I had with this research was to find out where the name Isham was derived. Some friends told dad and I that Isham was a shortened version of the name Ishmael. In the Old Testament Ishmael was one of the sons of Abraham. Isham was not exactly a traditional name in the Thrift family up to this point. Why wasn't he named Nathaniel like everyone else?

We were browsing through the 1787 North Carolina census for the area around the Critcher's home in Granville County and found a probable answer. If you recall, Nathaniel probably lived with his sister Esther and her husband, Thomas for several years before striking out on his own. There was a planter by the name of Isham Harris who lived on the property adjacent to the Critchers. More than likely, Harris was either someone Nathaniel admired or he was a close relative of his wife, Jane. (Or maybe they just liked the name!)

Isham was born about 1757. He married Mary Stroud of Orange County in 1779. He lived on Terrell's Creek, which exists by that name even today. However, the boundaries of Orange County were readjusted on several occasions so that Isham's land is located in today's Chatham County. The creek intersects State Highway 87 about one mile south of the Alamance County line. It flows east about one mile to the Haw River where it empties into the river. Isham's land was at this intersection of creek and river.

Mary and Isham inherited some additional land in this area when Mary's father, William Stroud died in 1786. Isham acquired some land by original patent on the north side of the Haw River on Wilkinson's Creek, about 1/2 mile downstream on the Haw River from Terrell's Creek.

Isham and Mary prospered and had 13 children from 1780 - 1805. One of these children was David Thrift. According to the ancestral files in Salt Lake City David was born in 1785. David is next in our direct line ancestry.

In 1807 at the age of 22 David Thrift married Sally Thrift. This appears in the ancestral file without any further explanation.

When we were editing our information checking for errors and omissions in October, Dad called my attention to this. I told him I would check it out. I went back to my files and noticed two things: 1) The ancestral file corroborated the information, so I had not transposed any information. 2) An archived file I had copied from the NC State Library indicated that David Thrift, son of Isham Thrift, had married Lydia Parsons in 1820.

I told Dad that we would have to research this because it seems to conflict. We met in Raleigh at the library the 1st week of November 1997. We found the marriage bonds for both marriages. David married Sally in 1807. Isham not only witnessed the marriage, he co-signed and guaranteed the bond. Therefore, there is no mistake that we have the correct Thrift family. But who is Sally Thrift and where did she come from?

We found Isham's will dated 1814 and read it to see if we could find any further clues. Isham specifically listed all his children in the will. The names of 14 children appear in the will. Sally Thrift is listed as one of the children. Did David marry his sister? Had he been sent to school in West Virginia? Enquiring minds wanted to know.

We figured there were several possibilities: 1) Sally could have been adopted. 2) Sally could have been the daughter of Isham's brother, William, who had died in 1790. Isham may have been the godfather of Sally. Perhaps William's wife died also and his father Nathaniel could not manage all the children without help. 3) Maybe this was an entirely different Sally Thrift. 4.) Maybe this branch just doesn't fork-; which on a positive note, would make us the absolute purist branch of the Thrift family going back to our Revolutionary War ancestor.

Setting aside the issue of sister Sally, who was Lydia Parsons and why did David marry her too? The first thing I wanted to check was the validity of the information on Lydia. How did they obtain it and how reliable are the sources?

The sources cited for the information on Lydia and David are actually pretty impressive. The mother of the lady who filed the ancestral file actually knew David Thrift. She says David died in Goshen Iowa in 1888 and that he was blind at the time of his death. She says he was her grandfather and that he lived with her mother, Mary Caroline Thrift White. According to these records Mary Caroline was born in High Point, NC in 1822 and her mother was Lydia Parsons Thrift, who died in High Point in 1859. He had in his possession family records indicating Isham served in the Revolutionary War.

All of this information seems to check out. David did marry Lydia in Guilford, County in 1820 according to the marriage bond. We independently verified that Isham served in the NC militia during the Revolution.

We crosschecked the census for 1820. Sally shows up as head of household in Orange County. David and Sally had five children between the years 1807 - 1818. The census indicates these children lived with their mother in Orange County. William H. Thrift was born in 1816 in Guilford County. William is our direct line ancestor.

David does not appear in the 1820 census. If he were still living with Sally, he would have been listed as head of household instead of Sally. In all censuses prior to 1850, only the head of household was named. Everyone else was categorized in an age group by sex and race only. This seems to support the notion that David left Sally for Lydia.

However, there are some incongruencies. For example, David reappears in the Census in 1830 and in 1850, but there is an age difference of 10 years with the David Thrift that married Sally Thrift. According to the census, the David married to Lydia was 35 in 1830 and 55 in 1850. This means he would have been born in 1795. This in turn would make him 12 years old when he married Sally. This makes no sense. Isham would not have consented to allow a 12-year-old boy to be married.

Isham died in 1814 and David was his executor. Would he have made someone who was foolish enough to be married at age 12 his executor? I don't think so. I believe the records we have indicating his date of birth to be 1785 are correct.

There is another possibility. What if there were two Davids? Perhaps one was the son of Isham and the other the son of William or a more distant cousin? In this scenario the David who married Sally may have been the outsider and our direct line to Isham is Sally, not David.

There are a number of possibilities, none of which makes much difference in the long run. Prior to 1820 something happened to the David Thrift who married Sally Thrift. If we are talking about two different people, he was not the son of Isham, and lip probably died without leaving a will. If this is true it follows that the David Thrift that married Lydia Parsons was the son of Isham and was probably born in 1795 rather than 1785.

If this is the same person we indeed have a very bizarre situation: A possibility of incest and infidelity. He would have almost a dual personality who lived two lives; abandoning his first family and then successfully raising another, maintaining close ties so that he dies an invalid at the age of 103 while living with one of his daughters in Iowa. He could be a great inspiration for daytime television.

David had me totally baffled, but I think the most likely scenario is that we are talking about the same person, not two different Davids. I believe this for several reasons: 1) Isham not only witnessed the marriage bond to Sally in 1807, he guaranteed it in the amount of L 5 00, which was a considerable sum. I do not believe he would have done this for anyone except his own son. 2) I believe that Sally was an adopted daughter, probably his brother William's daughter. Isham was probably her godfather and it fell on him to support her when his brother died. I think this is the reason Sally was not mentioned in her Mary's will in 1834 as Mary left all her household goods and furnishings specifically to "her three daughters." Sally would have been the fourth daughter had she been her daughter by birth. 3.) David simultaneously disappears from the plantation in Orange County and shows up in a marriage ceremony in Guilford County the same year. There simply was not such a glut of Thrifts in the state that could account for another one with the same name and age showing up at this time and convincingly claiming also to be the son of Isham. Therefore the man who died in Goshen, Iowa at his daughter's home in 1888 was in all probability the same David Thrift and he was more than likely 103 years of age when he died, not 93 as he evidently represented to his second family.

Orange & Guilford Counties, 1820 - 1860

As I said before, Sally Thrift was head of household by 1820 and raised the five children. She is not mentioned in Mary Thrifts will in 1834. She lived in a separate house on the plantation and the children are acknowledged in the census by age and gender.

The population of North Carolina had doubled from the 1775 population of approximately 275,000 to over 600,000 in 1820. The infrastructure of roads, communication, education and industry was still very poor. For these reasons the people in the state remained isolated, independent and self-sufficient.

Visionary state representative Archibald D. Murphy was from Orange County and was beginning to propose improvements to roads, transportation and education. Most of what he proposed was later implemented after the state Constitutional Convention of 1835, which corrected some of the dominance by the political powerbrokers in the eastern part of the state. From 1790 the eastern counties shrank in percentage of population from 62% to less than 50% but still maintained vast majorities in the legislature because they had refused to create counties in the Western part of the state because they wanted to maintain their power. Creating additional counties added to the representation of those political districts and therefore diluted the representation of the existing counties.

Land was still inexpensive in North Carolina and much of the Thrift family left Orange and Chatham Counties seeking opportunity in Guilford and Rowan Counties. Certain industries and growth opportunities were beginning to appear in these areas.

Chapter VIII : The Civil War to the Present.

Figure 9 - William H. & Jane Mann Thrift Marriage Bond 1838

In 1838 William H. Thrift married Jane Mann (She is also referred to as Linda Mann in some records, so her complete name was probably Linda Jane Mann) in Guilford County. William's brother, James, was married to Malinda Williams within a few days of William's marriage to Jane. Although David was living in Guilford County at the time, he did not co-sign the bond with Williams. Instead the bond is co-signed by Benjamin Hanes (or Hines). Since it was customary for the father of the groom to sign, Mr. Hanes is probably William's stepfather. This is further confirmation that David and Sally were estranged.

In 1850 William and Jane were living in Rowan County near Salisbury. They had 4 daughters by this time ranging in age from 4 to 9. In 1860 they had moved back to Greensboro in Guilford County. The census identifies all of the children by name and his occupation was listed as "miner". The 1860 census confirms that William F. Thrift was 8 years of age at he time of this census and therefore confirms the birth date of 1852 from our own family records.

In 1860 the Democratic Convention was held in Charleston, South Carolina. It ended with the nomination of Stephen A. Douglas the nominee. However, there had been a bitter battle that split the party to the point that a second convention was called for to nominate another candidate more to the liking of the "fire-eating secessionists", who thought Douglas much too compromising. Republicans united behind Abraham Lincoln and won the Presidency.

Lincoln was considered to be far too radically opposed to Southern interests for the hotheads, who split their party and handed him the election. These men started calling for secession. On December 20, 1860 South Carolina seceded and began the firestorm that erupted into civil war. By the end of January, 1861 seven states in the Deep South had seceded. North Carolina and Virginia had not.

In April South Carolina opened fire on Fort Sumter. In response Lincoln ordered the governors of all the states to conscript militia to put down the rebellion in South Carolina. This infuriated even the unionists in North Carolina and Virginia who to that point were advising their constituents to remain calm. It was unthinkable to march against their fellow Southerners. They saw the presidential order as a call for an invasion. On May 20 1861, North Carolina seceded from the union.

William H. Thrift enlisted in the Confederate Army on June 19, 1861.27 He was injured by a "kick from a horse" in March 1862 and discharged in June. He recovered from his injury and reenlisted in 1863 with the North Carolina Infantry 66th Partisan Rangers and was stationed in Salisbury, NC in 1863-1864. He became ill in August 1864 and died October 1, 1864.28

His cousin, William Thrift from Chatham County, (probably the son of Isham, Jr.) enlisted in 1861 in the NC
1lth Bethel Regiment, Co. G. On July 3, 1863 he was captured at Gettysburg and confined at Ft. Delaware, Delaware for the remainder of the war.

Distant cousin, Benjamin Thrift, a descendant of William Thrift of Richmond County, Virginia enlisted and served with Mosby's Rangers in Northern Virginia.

We found records of dozens of Thrifts in the Confederate service, mostly from Virginia, North Carolina and Georgia, but a few from Mississippi, Florida and Texas.

Reconstruction - 20th Century

At the age of twelve William Francis Thrift was fatherless and no doubt he had to help his mother, Jane. He more than likely started working in the mines as his father had done. We do not know much about this period of time, but it must have been tough.

North Carolina was in economic ruin after the war and had to undergo reconstruction with the rest of the South. William Francis Thrift married Cynthia S. Varner about 1870. They had 10 children, 4 girls and 6 boys. William was a miner and moved from place to place. In 1877 he was mining in Williamstown, Pa. where Francis Sylvester Thrift was born. 1880-1886 they resided in Thomasville, NC in Davidson County. From about 1888-1895 they lived in Coal Bluff, Indiana where Vernon Amos Thrift was born on May 4,1890.

William Francis was ill with a lung disease, probably Black Lung from coal mining, when they returned to North Carolina. Daisy Thrift said that on the train back to Winston-Salem there were so many kids the smaller ones were tied together to keep from losing them. William Francis died in 1899 and is buried in the Moravian cemetery in Winston-Salem, NC.

Vernon and Charles went to work at R J Reynolds Tobacco Co. at the ages of 10 and 9, respectively. Charles continued to work for RJR until he retired over 50 years later. He and Will Reynolds have been the only two people to work for RJR for this length of time. This was acknowledged in a newspaper article and in R J Reynolds annual report to stockholders.29

He married Cora Elverson September 10, 1916. They had five sons, Vernon Amos, Jr., Billy Patrick, Charles Francis, Bob Gray, and Jack Dean.

Vernon Thrift worked several years for R J Reynolds and then went to work for Southern Public Utilities Co., which is now Duke Power. He eventually left Southern Public Utilities and went to work for the City of Winston-Salem Water Dept. until he retired.

Vernon Amos Thrift died March 24, 1970. Cora Elverson Thrift died less than a year later on January 17, 1971. I have included copies of their eulogies in this work.

Summary and Epilogue

This should not be considered to be a complete work. We have many events and challenges in our time and for the future that will be worthy of recording for posterity. What struck me as we were working on this project is that it is really too bad that we had lost much of this history in the first place.

While at the time it probably would have seemed tedious, I would have loved to have an account from Isham or Nathaniel Thrift of what life was like on a frontier plantation and what they thought about the politics of the day, particularly the forming of the American nation and the American Revolution. An account of the James Towne experience, Bacon's Rebellion, the trek from Virginia to North Carolina written by a relative would be priceless. And can you imagine having an account of what really happened between David and Sally?

I hope that I have done justice to the history thus far. I intend to add to it in the future and welcome any suggestions, corrections etc.