| Notes |
- !Marion 0001, Pg. 81 - The "Marion Family", by Ola Marion Atkinson, Siloam, NC,
February 21, 1964. - Not authenticated; see Isaac Marion (Rin 9676).
________________________________________________________________
From: Karen B Tauber [mailto:ktauber@carolina.rr.com] Sent: Sunday, November 25, 2007 10:55 PM To: 'David Marshall' Subject: RE: Marion Family Genealogy
Hi David,
I was pleased to receive your email today. I have been working on documenting my direct Marion line for the past year or so. I have actually spent much more time working on my Brown family history, than my mother’s Marion line. I do have quite a bit of information on the Marions, however.
What I can tell you is that my mother was Bettie Alma Marion and she married my father, Carmel Louis Brown in Surry County in 1952. My mother was the next to the youngest of Riley Marion’s 10 children. Riley Marion was married to Nora Gillespie and they lived down a dirt road just off the Red Brush Road between Dobson and Mt. Airy. Riley was a tobacco farmer and he and Nora were very hardworking people.
Here is the break-down of the Riley Marion family:
Riley Martin Marion b. July 6, 1887, d. July 23, 1967, married on Feb. 6, 1912 to Nora Gillespie b. April 9, 1896, d. May 15, 1967, buried at Union Hill Friends Church, Mt. Airy, NC.
Children:
Roxie Ann Marion b. Jan. 10, 1913, Surry Co., NC, d. Dec. 10, 1996, Fisher River Primitive Baptist Church Cem., Mt. Airy
Dolly Marion b. Oct. 25, 1916, Surry Co., NC, d. Nov. 12, 1916, buried near Old Gillespie Family, Fisher River Church Rd.
Bessie Catherine Marion b. Nov. 21, 1917, Surry Co., NC, d. Nov. 11, 1995, buried in Dobson, NC
Dorothy Alice Marion b. Jul. 15, 1919, Surry Co., NC, d. Mar. 30, 1995, Skyline Memory Gardens, Mt. Airy, NC
Herman Edward Marion b. Feb. 16, 1921, Surry Co., NC, d. Nov. 3, 2005, Surry Co., NC
Charles Ellis Marion b. Aug. 26, 1922, Surry Co., NC, d. Jul. 4, 1997, bur. Zion Hill Primitive Baptist Church, Surry Co., NC
Dallas Lee Marion b. Jul. 17, 1924, Surry Co., NC, d. Mar. 21, 1986, Shasta, California, bur. Union Hill Friends Ch., Mt. Airy
Glenn Elvin Marion b. Oct. 1, 1926, Surry Co., NC, d. Jul. 11, 1981, bur. Carolina Biblical Gardens, Archdale, NC
Bettie Alma Marion b. Dec. 24, 1932, Surry Co., NC d. Aug. 18, 2000, bur. Glenwood Memorial Park, Mooresville, NC
Arlie Marion
Ola Marion Atkinson, in her book on the Marion family, unfortunately, got Riley out of place in her documentation. She has incorrectly stated that Riley was the son of Bird Marion, however, he was actually the son of Nathaniel Matthew (Mat) Marion and Sarah J. Collins. I do have copies of the death certificate for Riley Marion verifying this information, although I grew up knowing that portion of my family history. Mat Marion is buried in the Old Fisher River Church Cemetery in Mt. Airy. Bird is Riley’s brother - his name was actually Burden Marion, but he was known by the nickname “Bird”. I am attaching a link below to a story about Bird Marion and his link to the Carroll County (Hillsville, Va) Courthouse shoot-out.
The Nathaniel Matthew (Mat) Marion family is as follows:
Nathaniel Matthew (Mat) Marion b. April 21, 1847, d. Mar. 28, 1914; married Sarah J. Collins on Dec. 16, 1868 in Surry County, NC; Sarah J. Collins b. 1843, d. 1903, they are buried in the Old Fisher River Church Cemetery, Mt. Airy, NC.
Children:
Sea Marion b. 1869
Burden (Bird) Marion b. 1872
Richmond A. Marion b. 1877
Cora Reece Marion b. 1879
Banner Marion b. 1881
Riley Martin Marion b. July 6, 1887
Here is a link to a story about Burden “Bird” Marion that you may find interesting. My daddy used to tease my mother about the fact that her uncle was an “outlaw” accused of holding the reigns of the horses for the Allen boys who murdered the court officials at Hillsville, VA. <http://appalachiacoal.com/Hillsville,%20Virginia,%20Allen%20Feud.htm>
[I copied and pasted the story from the URL above. You will find it at the bottom of this message. - DWM 12/24/2007]
I do happen to have a tin-type picture I have scanned that I will attach, so you can see what Bird Marion looked like. I’ll also include a picture of my great-grandpa Mat’s tombstone and my grandpa Riley and grandma Nora’s 50th wedding anniversary…Front Row: Riley and Nora Marion, Left to right: Dallas Marion, Herman Marion, Alma Marion Brown (my mother), Arlie Marion, Ellis Marion, Dorothy Marion Barker, and Bessie Marion Hutchens.
I hope this information is helpful to you. I will take a look at your website tomorrow when I have a little more time and see how closely we match up. I am very interested in learning where Bartholomew Marion is buried, if you have any contacts or resources to point me in the right direction. I am interested in joining the Daughters of the American Revolution and I would like to join on the basis of his service. I do have a copy of his application for Revolutionary War Pension.
Also, I wonder if you have information on our immigrant ancestor Marions who settled in Berkeley County, SC. I did recently purchase a book on the French Hugenots who settled in South Carolina. It mentions our Marion lines in it.
Please let me hear back from you, as I am very interested in pursuing documentation on the Marion family.
Thanks again for reaching out to me via your email!
Sincerely,
Karen
From: David Marshall [mailto:dmarshall3@sc.rr.com] Sent: Friday, November 23, 2007 8:09 PM To: ktauber@carolina.rr.com Subject: Marion Family Genealogy
Karen,
I read the Queries section in the SCGA Journal today and saw your query about the Marions. I probably can’t add a lot to what you have, but I was hoping that you might help me fill in my data.
If you go to my web site at www.marshallgenealogy.org <http://www.marshallgenealogy.org/> you will find Sarah J. Collins and Mat Marion. Also I have a Riley Marion, son of Bird Marion and grandson of Mat Marion. However, I do not have information about Riley Bettie Alma Marion. Since this is your family line I was hoping that you could fill in some of that line for me.
Attached is a document that shows everything I have on Daniel Marion’s line (son of Bartholomew Marion). As you can see my data is sparse and I am interested in filling in what I am missing.
Thanks.
David Marshall
________________________________________________________
From: http://appalachiacoal.com/Hillsville,%20Virginia,%20Allen%20Feud.htm
December 224, 2007
Annihilating the Hillbilly page 9
.....notorious Allen feud of the second decade of this century in my hometown of Hillsville, Virginia.............
The Massacre at Hillsville
From early March of 1912 until mid-April when the Titanic sank, the big news in the nation was the gun battle in the Carroll County, Virginia courthouse that took place during the trial of Floyd Allen. The battle, which only lasted about two minutes, resulted in the death of five people and the wounding of seven others. The aftermath produced the state execution of a father and son, the incarceration of four of the participants and the probable related executions of three others.
Floyd Allen, born in 1858, lived below Fancy Gap Mountain not far from the North Carolina state line and was something of a community leader though he was noted for his temper and his fighting ability. He and his brothers had some awesome battles around the county as well as with each other. Being a tight family, they were quick to defend family members against attacks from others. Being mountaineers, they were fearless, proud and probably more than a little defiant.
The Allens were staunch Democrats in a county that had turned predominantly Republican since the end of the Civil War. As a result, they were not on the best terms with the local county administration. He had refused to serve a one-hour jail sentence for wounding a neighbor and was often heard to declare that he "would never spend a minute in jail as long as the blood flowed through his veins."
On Thursday morning, March 12th, members of the Allen family exchanged over 50 shots with county officials and lawmen in a courtroom crowded with over 200 people.
Although the actual root of the conflict is traceable to the struggle for political control of the county, the gun battle itself stemmed from one of the nephews of Floyd Allen kissing the wrong girl at a corn shucking in 1910. Having found a red ear of corn, Wesley Edwards kissed the girlfriend of Will Thomas and then had words with young man. Next morning, they had a fight at church services being held at the Thomas Schoolhouse on Fancy Gap Mountain. This altercation led to criminal charges filed against Wesley and his older brother, Sidna, and they fled to North Carolina.
They were arrested by Surry County, NC law officers and delivered to the state line where they were met by Carroll County deputy Thomas Samuels and another man he had deputized for the occasion, Peter Easter. The Edwards boys kept trying to escape and the lawmen tied them in the back of the buggy and set off to Hillsville, some fifteen miles distant. Samuels chose to travel the road over Fancy Gap Mountain over objections by Easter. This road led by the homes of both Floyd Allen and his younger brother, Sidna Allen, who also owned a store along the same road. He could have taken a shorter road by way of Ward`s Gap.
As they passed by Sid Allen`s store, Floyd stopped the deputies and demanded that they untie the Edwards boys and transport them like men instead of animals. Words were exchanged and Floyd gave Samuels a pistol whipping. History isn`t clear whether the deputies set the Edwards boys free or if Floyd took them. Regardless, he turned them into the sheriff the next Monday morning and they were tried, convicted and served brief jail terms.
Samuels brought charges against Floyd, his brother Sidna and his nephews, Friel and Barnett Allen. After about a year of postponements, Floyd`s trial was finally held. In fear of his reaction, the county court officials armed themselves and were ready. Floyd was found guilty of rescuing prisoners and sentenced to a year in prison. When the sheriff started toward him to escort him to jail, he stood up and declared "Gentlemen, I ain`t a`going."
Clerk of Court, Dexter Goad, then pulled his gun and shot at Floyd and was in turn fired upon by Floyd`s brother, Sidna along with Floyd`s son, Claude. The prosecuting attorney and the Deputy Clerk pulled their guns and returned fire. This brought on fire from Floyd`s two nephews, Friel Allen and Wesley Edwards along with five deputy sheriffs also stationed in the room.
The judge, the sheriff, the prosecutor, a juryman and a witness were killed in the crossfire. Floyd and Sidna Allen were wounded along with the Clerk of Court, a jury member, two bystanders and a deputy sheriff. Floyd was wounded in the hip and knee and was unable to ride so he spent the night in the Elliott House Hotel in Hillsville accompanied by his oldest son, Victor. The rest of the family thought he was dying, said their good-byes and fled.
Governor William Hodges Mann commissioned the Baldwin-Felts Detective Agency to run them to ground… the same agency that was later to gain notoriety in the coal mining wars in West Virginia in the 1920`s. They arrested Floyd in the hotel next morning and began a reign of terror on the county. Within a month, they had captured or negotiated the surrender of the rest of the Allens except for Sidna Allen and Wesley Edwards who fled to Des Moines, Iowa where they were betrayed by Wesley`s girlfriend six months later.
Friel Allen`s father, Jack, negotiated his son`s surrender in exchange for a five-year prison sentence. Floyd`s son, Victor, (who had no part in the shooting) was arrested as well as a neighbor, Burden Marion.
Floyd and his son, Claude, were sentenced to death by electrocution. Sidna Allen drew 35 years, Wesley Edwards drew 27 years, Sidna Edwards and Friel Allen both drew 18 years. Victor Allen, Barnett Allen and Burden Marion were cleared.
Jack Allen began making a lot of noise about his deal with Thomas Felts for a five-year sentence for his son Friel. Jack was shot in a roadhouse in 1916 and the man who shot him was put to work the next week for Baldwin-Felts in West Virginia. However, before long, another detective shot him, allegedly for cheating at cards.
Burden Marion was prosecuted for moonshining not long afterwards and sent to Federal prison in Moundsville, WV. He officially died from pneumonia in November 1913, but family members say every bone in his body was broken.
To this day, bullet holes in the steps of the old courthouse can be seen and descendants of the participants still feud over who was right and who was wrong. Historians simply mark it down as a footnote to the troubled post-Civil War era in the South.
It was a dark and cloudy day when I visited the old court room and I was the only one there. Even the young lady from the Clerk`s Office, who had so kindly unlocked the door for me, had stepped into the other room on some legal errand. There, alone in the quiet and the gloom, as I stood reflecting on the men and the emotions that had filled this room on that day, I decided yes… if you tried really hard, you could once again smell the wood smoke, wet woolen clothing and tobacco of almost a hundred years past.
And I was sure that if you closed your eyes halfway and concentrated on the vaporous scenes that play on the very limits of your vision, you could once again see dark clad and somber men in mustaches and beards. And there in the silence, I knew… if you listened really hard, with the blood rushing through your ears with a sound like a waterfall, once again you would hear a ghostly voice proclaiming over the ages; "Gentlemen, I ain`t a`going."
By Ron Hall
Author "The Carroll County Courthouse Tragedy"
Howard Smith, The Carroll County Historical Society, Carroll County, Virginia
|
1872 - 