Finding Aid of the Norman, Hobson, and Chitty Family Papers, PC.2074

[Identification of item] PC.2074, Norman, Hobson, and Chitty Family Papers, State Archives of North Carolina, Raleigh, N.C., U.S.A.

Papers include an indenture of 1797 of Frederic William Marshall, Moravian business manager of Wachovia, to Horatio Hamilton, Stokes County; two later Evans and Chitty family deeds, 1885 and 1920, that include a portion of land conveyed in the 1797 document; receipts of David Chandler Norman, 1822-1857, Yadkin County, including those related to his role as executor of the estate of father-in-law, William Phillips; three family letters to Tyre C. Hobson, Norman's son-in-law, 1896-1915; a love letter (1915) to future wife, Sarah Wooten, from Hobson's grandson, Joe Tyre Matthews; one small photograph; and a small quantity of miscellaneous materials. Series consist of David C. Norman Receipts and Notes; William Phillips Notes, Receipts, and Estate Papers; Norman and Hobson Family Letters and Photographs; Indentures/Deeds; and Miscellaneous Materials.

Arranged chronologically within series.

William Phillips (ca. 1777-1854) and his wife, Susannah (ca. 1785-1850), may have been born in Surry County, but eventually lived in Yadkin County. A daughter, Millia (Milly) was wed to David Chandler Norman (1806-1893), a farmer, at the Phillipses home on 12 January 1833. By the 1850 census, the Norman family, with nine children, was shown as living in Surry. By the 1860 census, the growing family lived in Yadkin County, in the vicinity of the Five Mile Fork Post Office. One of their daughters was also named Millia (Milly), born circa 1855, and eventually became the wife of Tyre Caswell Hobson. Note that in 1789 Stokes was formed from Surry and in 1850 Yadkin was formed from Surry. Tyre Caswell Hobson (1843-1925) was born in the vicinity of Fall Creek, Surry County, south of the Yadkin River in the area that became Yadkin County, 1850. His parents were George (ca. 1815-1896) and Zilpha J. Williams Hobson (1818-1895). Tyre was married first to Malinda Tennessee Bovender (ca. 1849-1884). The couple had several children before her death in 1884, including Rosa Ann Hobson (Matthews) (ca. 1869-1834) and George Luther Ray Hobson (1873-1946). In 1886 Tyre married Amelia Millia (Millie) Esteline Norman (1855-1940), a child of Millia Phillips and David Chandler Norman. Together they had several more children including [Suzanah?] Cordelia (Delia) Hobson, born circa 1888.One of the older children of the marriage of Tyre and Malinda Tennessee, Rosa Hobson, was married to Barnette (Barney) C. Matthews (1871-1937). The Matthews's children included Joseph (Joe) Tyre Matthews (1893-1968), who married Sarah Wooten (b. ca. 1898) around 1918. She was the daughter of Thomas J. and Florence Hutchens Wooten, of Fall Creek, Yadkin County. They and many of the interrelated families (Hobson, Hutchins, Norman, Wooten, etc.) are interred at the Forbush Friends Meeting Cemetery, part of the historic Quaker church, with its graves dating back to the late 1700s. Note: The community takes its name from the headwaters of Big and Little Forbush Creeks, which join and flow into the Yadkin River. The Moravians, already established in Pennsylvania, began to settle in North Carolina in 1753. During this period they were called the Unitas Fratrum, or the Protestant Episcopal Church of the United Brethren. The settlements in Pennsylvania were somewhat fragmented, spurring the church to seek a large tract of land to the south in the colony of North Carolina. John Carteret, 2nd Earl Granville (1690-1763), was an English nobleman with vast land holdings in the Carolinas and emerged as a means for the Brethren to realize their dream - to conduct their spiritual life in a large area that they could control in a relatively autonomous way. Their contract with Lord Granville (earlier title) in early 1753 was renegotiated because of various concerns; a second contract was dated 7 August 1753 and signed by Lord Granville and by James Hutton, secretary of the Unitas Fratum. The terms included taking fourteen surveyed tracts, which comprised the large tract on Muddy Creek, and adding them to some sixteen thousand acres to the north and nine thousand to the south that had been tentatively surveyed. All together the land totalled about 100,000 acres known then as Wachovia. On the advice of counsel, the nineteen deeds were made to Hutton, in part because the church was not incorporated. This fact is referenced in the 1797 indenture in this collection. Hutton, a bookseller by trade, was born in London, England. His spiritual awakening as an adult came through an encounter with Charles and John Wesley (founder of Methodism). Once John Wesley had returned to England from Georgia he introduced Hutton to the Moravians. Hutton was ordained as a Moravian deacon, in 1749 and in May of 1752 appointed secretary of the Unity (Unitas Fratrum). Marshall was born in Stolpen, Upper Lusatia, German to an army officer, Georg Rudolph von Marschall, and his wife, Louisa. An excellent student and orator, Marshall attended universities in Leipzig and Herrnhaag. With his father's consent Marshall joined the Unity of the Brethren (Moravian) Church in 1739 and began travelling to England and Holland in service of the church. In England Marshall eventually became involved with matters relating to North Carolina, colonized by the Unity of Brethren in 1753. By 1761 Marshall was appointed senior civilis, a designation for selected church officers who excelled in administration, finance, and the ministry. Two years later the church conference in Europe appointed Marshall as agent for the North Carolina Unity and the chief administrator of Wachovia. By the end of the century Marshall had guided the development of Salem and environs from a wilderness to a prosperous and cohesive community. Called in 1775 to a church synod in Germany, Marshall was unable to return to North Carolina following the outbreak of the American Revolution. He returned in 1779, but in the meantime North Carolinians had sought to seize property of non-resident individuals not citizens of the state. Seizure of Wachovia was a large threat because the trustee, James Hutton was a British subject living in England. By 1778 Marshall had received title to the land; and in April 1783 the General Assembly appointed him as trustee for all Moravian lands in North Carolina and an authorized agent for the Unity of the Brethren. Until the end of the century Marshall continued to represent Wachovia and Salem in political and legal matters, and routinely sought devout and productive men to purchase land and to settle the area.Hamilton was born to Ninian and Margaret Hamilton, Carroll's Manor, Frederick, Maryland. Several families from this area migrated during the early years of the Wachovia settlement. Around 1782 Hamilton, a planter, married Louisa/Lucy Peddycoard (1755- 1800), and they became the parents of three daughters and a son: Mary Hamilton Fisher (ca. 1784-1856); Sarah Hamilton Holland (ca. 1784-1859); Elizabeth Hamilton Vogler (ca. 1787-1869); Samuel Hamilton (ca. 1790-1816). Hamilton may have married secondly Sarah Schneider Frey in 1801 ( ca.1737-1826); there were no children from this marriage. Around 1775, several families of English descent from Carroll's Manor, Frederick County, settled in the Clemmons area of Wachovia, Stokes County, now the southwestern portion of Forsyth County, bordering the southeastern area of Yadkin County. In a section known then as Hope, a church was begun, consecrated March 28, 1780, became fully constituted as part of the Brethren Church and the first English congregation in the area. Hamilton was a long-time member of the congregation of the church at Hope, where he served as steward and possibly held other offices. He, his wives and two daughters, Sarah Holland and Elizabeth Vogler were buried there. (Among the various other family names are Chitty, Jarvis, Peddy coard, Slater, and Stipe. [Source Forsyth County Historical Association website. Old Hope Cemetery.] A North Carolina Marriage Collection record shows that Martha Stipe and Obadiah Evans were married 9 March 1850, in Forsyth County (probably in area that was previously Stokes) . Martha C. [Stipe] Evans (1821-1887) and Obadiah S. Evans (1822-1882) were parents of Mary Jane Evans Chitty (1851-1923), wife of Charles M. Chitty. She was deeded land from them in 1885. Their son, Arthur R. Chitty was born circa 1881, received this same land from his mother in 1920. The Chitties are shown on the U.S. Federal censuses of 1900, 1920, 1940 as living at South Fork, Forsyth County . The Evans and Chitties named above are buried at the cemetery of a former Moravian meeting house, formed in 1867 and now named the Pleasant Fork Baptist Church Cemetery. The cemetery was designed in the Moravian style with a central aisle.

1. David C. Norman Receipts and Notes, etc.,1827-1859

2. William Phillips Notes, Receipts, and Estate Papers,1856-1867

3. Norman and Hobson Family Letters and Photograph,1896-1934

4. Indenture/Deeds,1797; 1885; 1920

5. Miscellaneous Materials,1846-1925; undated

Hamilton, Horatio

Hobson, Tyre Caswell

Hutton, James, 1715-1795

Marshall, Frederic William,

Matthews, Joseph Tyre

Chitty family

Evans family

Hobson family

Hutchins family

Mickels family

Norman family

Courtship.

Estates--North Carolina

Forsyth County (N.C.)

Muddy Creek (Forsyth County, N.C.)

Muddy Creek (Stokes County, N.C.)

Stokes County (N.C.)

Surry County (N.C.)

Yadkin County (N.C.)

black-and-white photographs

color photographs

Deeds

love letters

Poems.

promissory notes

receipts (financial records)

Gift of Sue Smith, Greensboro, N.C., August 2013.

Processed by Fran Tracy-Walls

Finding Aid by Fran Tracy-Walls with revisions, July 2019, for publication in Discover Online Catalog (DOC).