Trip to TN and NC
Hi All
The purpose of this note is to let everyone know about my recent to trip to TN and NC.
I went Hershell Madewell's in McMinnville, TN and then we hit the road.
Our first objective was to explore Madewell Hollow and attempt to locate the homestead of John Madewell.Madewell Hollow is in the middle of I-40.The lanes are as far as 1/4 mile apart. The hollow is better than a mile long.The westbound lane was constructed by filliing a part of the hollow covering the old fields and pasture.In the middle of the remaining hollow is a small stream that is mostly spring fed.On the south side of the stream is an old wagon road that entered the hollow from the east or upper end. There are several old homesites in the hollow mainly marked by vegetation.The old flower gardens have taken over is a few places.There is one site where the foundation stones are plainly visible.A fireplace remains with part of the chimney piled on the ground.The stone was shaped and stacked into place without the benefit of mortar.I had read this was possible but had never seen something old enough to be constructed in this manner.The terrain is extremely difficult and only the sound of body should attempt an exploration.Hershell has collected a large number of old deeds or abstracts.A good many indicated the brothers lived on property next to each other.I plan a future project of trying to draw the properties to scale and superimposing them on Madewell Hollow.
Next we went to NC.We looked over the property that John Madewell owned on Flat Swamp Creek.It was, as you might imagine, consistant with the Madewell need for hills, trees, and a creek.The creek has been dammed and the property is partially underwater.A lot of very nice homes have been built along the lake so it is impossilbe to stand on the property.We located a church where you can walk up on the hill behind it and look thru the trees at the area where John once owned property.If you want more info Hershell has a more detailed map and instructions.
In one of the county library's we found a reference to a court case which states that John posted a bond for the appearance of his wife as a witness at a trial on 17 January 1803.We immediately changed our plans and went to Raleigh to the state archives and retrieved the original of the document.After careful reading I believe it identifies his wife as Chris Chaney.I did a quick records scan of the local area and sure enough there was a Chaney family.John's wife's headstone reads Elizabeth.John has a daughter born in 1806 named Christiana.So I am beginning to deduce that John's wife's name is Elizabeth Christiana Chaney.
Previously, while in Rowan County I found a deed showing James Madewell owning land on Toms Creek in Davidson Co.A map inspection revealed the property to be on the county line between Davidson and Randolph Co.
While at the state archives I searched deeds for James Madewell and found him purchasing property in Granville Co., NC in 1762 on Fort Creek.He later sold this property.
James came to NC from somewhere.I think it likely he came from VA or maybe Maryland.He had to be born in the early part of the 1700's marrying in the early 1740's, being in Granville Co.in the early 1760's, settling in Davidson Co. shortly thereafter and likely buried there.Future project:more closely examining Tom's Creek area particuliarly the cemetaries.
Overall, this is a very interesting area.Rowan county and Randolph county have excellent research facilities.Once you identify specific documents a trip to the state archives nets good results.
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Re: Trip to TN and NC
Rebekah Powers 3/31/06