The following letter was written by Isaac W. Sherrill about his trip to North Carolina in about 1884. It was addressed to Jacob S. Sherrill. Isaac lived in Indiana.
This is a copy of a letter sent to Jacob S. Sherrill, July 4, 1884.
See footnotes for explanation of subscript numbers.
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Mr. Jacob Sherrill Cousin Jacob (1) I received a letter from you sometime back stating that you were flooded by high waters damaging some $1500. I am sorry to hear this. It seems that you are unfortunate, I was in hopes that you would have better luck in Texas than you had here. Well, you wanted to know something about old North Carolina. I started on my visit there on the first day of December '83, stopped at Louisville with Eddy over Sunday and on Monday eve at 7 1/2 o'clock we took this train for the land of pines and rocks. We landed at Old Hickory about 11 o'clock Tuesday night, having traveled Monday night and all day Tuesday and Tuesday night until eleven took a bed and slept until morning for I was tired and sleepy. When I got there next morn (probably should read "tired and sleepy when I got there"). Next morn after we got our breakfast we started for Uncle Jacob's (2) as he was closest. On our way we met Uncle Wesley (3) coming to Hickory with a wagon and we were told to bring out our valises. Uncle Wesley looks like my father but a smaller man. A little larger than Uncle John (4) a very solid and unpretentious man. I was glad to see him for I could see the Sherrill favor in him. We stopped over dinner with Uncle Jacob's John (5) who lives a few hundred yards from Uncle Jacob. John married a Miss Teague (16) and seems to be doing very well. We then went to Uncle Jacob's. He is a very old man and feeble. One of his arms is paralized so that he keeps jerking it about. He is a tall man, grey headed-puts me in mind of old Johnny Payne. His wife, Aunt Ann, is a hearty stout woman, apparently her maiden name was Ann Harris. Uncle Jacob lives on part of the old granfather (6) place. The old house that Uncle John moved from is in the yard and Crook and his family live in it. I saw the place where the old still house set. Uncle Jacob lives in sight of the Catawba River, being up on the hillside from there. We went to Uncle Wesley's at the old homestead. This place put me in mind of Jesse Johnson's first house. The house is long and has the old fashioned double chimney. I believe that one side of the roof is the same that was there when our father left there, being made of fat pine. The floor was nearly through. From Uncle Wesley's I went to Uncle Joseph's (7), who also lives on part of the old homestead place. Uncle Joseph looks healthy and stout. I don't think that he has done the work that the rest has, but perhpas he is more of a manger. He married Sarah Abernethy. I went to see Aunt Sarah Payne (8), she is quite old. She put me in mind of old Mrs. Swan a good deal. I saw Uncle Joshua (9). He lives on an old poor wornout farm and things don't look very thrifty about the premises. His folks seemed to be very friendly and kind hearted. He lived in an old log hut with a stick and clay chimney. He and his son was hauling wood on a slide when I was there. I also went to see Uncle Caleb (10). I found him in very disturbed circumstances. He was in a little hut about twelve feet square, I guess, sitting in a chair. He was nearly blind and the slobbers were running from his mouth. I guess he has killed himself drinking strong dirnk. Could see that he had been a keen shrewd man. He is a very small man about like old Jack Flinn if you recollect him. He has a great many bees and sells a good deal of honey. He is running a saw mill and seems to be doing well, has a very smart and intelligent wife. He made inquiries about you and all the Crawfords, Stars and all his acquaintances. I saw a great many of our connections while here but I have not space to give you everything. The most attractive things that I saw during my visit were the mountains Table rock. . . . . . . . . You spoke something about geting kind of a history of the family. There is a man by the name of Sherrill who is getting up in history of the family. He is a preacher and a very smart man from what I could learn from the folks. (Probably William Lander Sherrill, author of "Annals of Lincoln Co. North Carolina"). There were a great many years ago two men came into the state and raised families, one of whom had several sons. One of these, named Jacob Sherrill (11) was the father of Babel Sherrill, our grandfather. From what I could learn from Aunt Salle, grandfather Babel built further down the river on the other side, I believe they called it the Moore Place. Now, there is a large graveyard there and the old great-grandfather is buried there. Our fathers were born on this place and they moved over to where Uncle Wesley now lives. It seems that this Sherrill family owned a vast tract of land there. I did not get to go over to the graveyard. The graveyard stands just across the river from the granddaddy Allen (12) farm. I was at the spot where granddaddy moved from. I cut a block out of the old chimney. My throat filled up when I thought of our mother (13). Uncle Elihu (14), Uncle Hyan, Uncle Cyrus, Aunt Polly leaving that lovely spot to come over the rough mountains away here in Indiana. Sally says she recollects going up the road to bid them good-bye --what changes since. This is all I have the room to give this time. I saw the graves of our grandparents. They lie about 60 to 75 yards from the old homestead house. They have tombstones but the lettering is becoming worn off. Write again, From your Cousin Isaac W. Sherrill (15) |