GRANDISON PHILPOTT
I thought I knew about my 3rd great grandfather Grandison Philpott, but I had not traveled to North Carolina to look through court records. Prior to recently discovering court records, this is the information I had.
Grandison, born 24 or 27 December 1802 in Granville County, North Carolina, was the oldest son of Jemima Cozart and Thomas Philpott. His younger brothers were James Hubbard, John, Thomas, William Henry, Benjamin and William. In addition, he had three sisters, although only the name of Susan, two years older than Grandison, has been discovered. According to the Federal Census, Thomas Philpott, Grandison's father, owned one slave in 1810, none in 1820, and twelve in 1840--the latter likely having been inherited from Grandfather William Philpott's estate.
At age twenty-two, Grandison married Elizabeth Clements, also from Granville County, on January 25, 1825. Elizabeth, known as Betsy, was a month away from turning nineteen. A daughter, Isabella Ann, born two-and-a-half years earlier on June 20, 1822, joined them. Initially, it was unclear whether Isabella was born to an unmarried Betsy at age sixteen or if she had belonged to Grandison. No previous marriages have been discovered for either parent. (However, correspondence through 23andMe with Charles Cook, a descendant of Isabella, strongly suggests DNA points to Isabella being Elizabeth's daughter.) Isabella was given the Philpott surname and she was the one to care for her father in his elderly years.
Almost four years after the marriage of Elizabeth and Grandison, a second daughter was born on December 7, 1828, whom they named Elizabeth Jemima (my 2nd great grandmother). Sadly, just three weeks later, wife Elizabeth died on December 28, 1828. Grandison took her home to the Clement family farm for burial. "She is buried on the Clement family farm but not within the fenced Clement Cemetery established later by her brother, Samuel William Clement, my great great grandfather," wrote Joe Randal Clement on FindAGrave.com. "There is a tombstone marking her grave in a wooded area." Her tombstone reads:
Grandison took newly-born Elizabeth Jemima and six-year-old Isabella to his parents' home to be cared for by his sister Susan Philpott.1 The girls would remain in their grandparents' home for six years until Grandison married Mary Ann Nichols December 20, 1823 in Wake County, North Carolina.
Grandison was 31 years old when he married 59 year old Mary Ann. Despite the differences in their ages, Mary became a beloved stepmother to Grandison's two daughters. Elizabeth Jemima named her second daughter Mary Ellen (my ancestor) after Mary Ann. Isabella, also, named a daughter Mary E.
The 1840 US Federal Census lists Grandison and Mary Ann owning a plantation with two enslaved people in Wake County, North Carolina.
On January 29, 1842, Isabella Ann married 23-year-old Calvin J Rogers. Isabella, age nineteen, had a four-week-old son at the time of her marriage whom they named John C. Rogers. Isabella would bear an additional eleven children.
Four years later, at age seventeen, Elizabeth Jemima married 22-year-old Umpstead Rencher, Jr. on January 8, 1846. After her marriage, Elizabeth Jemima moved with her husband to Alabama, Texas, Utah and back to Texas. (After husband Umpstead's death, she moved to Arizona.) Grandison possibly never again saw his youngest daughter nor any of her thirteen children.
In early 1848, Grandison's father, Thomas Philpott died at around the age of seventy-two. Grandison, age forty-five, immediately deeded to his son-in-law Calvin Rogers, age thirty, his interest in the estate of his father Thomas in Granville County for $1.11.
In 1853, Mary Ann died on July 8, leaving Grandison, 50, a widower again. Mary Ann is buried in the Rogers Family Cemetery. The inscription on her headstone reads:
The 1860 US Federal Census lists Grandison living with Isabella, Calvin, and their eight children (Northwestern District, Wake County, NC). Calvin and Grandison are both listed as farmers, but Calvin's real estate is valued at 6450 and his personal estate at 38,866 and no amount is listed for Grandison.
Hostilities between the North and the South began April 12, 1861, with North Carolina, geographically surrounded by the rebellion, seceding from the Union three weeks later on May 29, 1861. Living in North Carolina, Grandison was directly affected by the Civil War. Son-in-law Calvin was elected captain of the home guard. Grandson John C. died August 12, 1862 and is buried in the Rogers Family Cemetery. It is not known if he was a war casualty, but at age 20 it is possible. When soldiers were wounded, they often went home to recuperate and would return to their unit when healed.
Union General William T. Sherman entered North Carolina in March 1865 with his army of 60,000 divided into two wings. Living off the land and destroying public buildings and factories, the Union commander brought his "total war" policy to North Carolina. Confederate General Joseph E. Johnston assembled 17,000 troops and on March 19 attacked one of Sherman's wings at Bentonville (50 miles south of Raleigh). More Union troops arrived giving Sherman and 3-to-1 advantage. When the Rebel's only line of retreat was threated, Johnston withdrew his army northward towards the backyard of where Grandison Philpott was living. About Sherman, Johnston wrote to General Robert E. Lee that, "I can do no more than annoy him."
The Battle of Morrisville Station (within 12 miles of the Philpott/Rogers home, but the sheer number of soldiers likely made it much closer) fought April 13-15, 1865, was the last official battle of the Civil War between the armies of Generals Johnston and Sherman. It was the last battle of the Civil War in which cannon were fired, although there still followed minor skirmishes. Confederate President Jefferson Davis fled Virginia for Greensboro, North Carolina, summoned Johnston and desired him to continue with guerrilla warfare. However, after confirmation of Robert E. Lee's surrender at Appomattox just days earlier, Davis allowed Johnston to confer with Sherman. Two days later the two battle-weary adversaries met under a flag of truce at the Bennett farm near Durham Station (near the Philpott/Rogers home). Recognizing the cause was lost and there was no reason to continue the shedding of blood for no reason, Johnston surrendered the Army of Tennessee and all remaining Confederate forces still active in North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia and Florida, totaling 89,270 soldiers. To Jefferson Davis, this was treason.
Sherman generously gave the thin, hungry Confederate soldiers ten days of rations, their horses and mules to "insure a crop," and ordered distribution of corn, meal and flour to civilians throughout the South. Living within the neighborhood, 62-year-old Grandison and his daughter Isabella's family would have received some of this food.
By 1870, three more sons had been added to the family. Calvin Rogers died April 24, 1876, where he had been fishing in Lick Creek, a half mile from his home. He drowned. He is buried in the Rogers Family Cemetery. Isabella is left a widow at age 53; her youngest child not yet nine years old. Five years later, her sister Elizabeth Jemima was left a widow at the age of 52; her youngest child just four years old.
In the 1880 Census, Grandison is no longer living with Isabella and her children. It is presumed he died but no headstone exists in the Rogers Family Cemetery.
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1. LDS Family and Individual Record, a genealogy book belonging to and written by Jessie Mary Wiltbank Burgess, p. 71, in possession of Jessie Larson. (Jessie Mary is a granddaughter to Elizabeth Jemima.)
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