UNMARRIED.
Stephen and Mehalie owned land near Pilot Mt., and Westfield, Surry, NC. They gave one acre of land to the School Board of Ed. in Surry, NC to build a school house and their youngest daughter, Bertha, was a teacher at the Taylor Schoolhouse for several years.
Wm. was the 5th child of Killis and Sarah. He married Lydia shortly after turning 19. The ceremony was performed by her father, Rev. Johnny Jones who was a prominent land owner and leader in the Fisher River Primitive Baptist Assn.
Wm. (Bill) was a farmer who bought 300 acres in 1848 from his father-in-law on Bull run Creek (in what is now th Eldora Community). He built his home near the creek (a great-grandson Rev. Davis Key, now owns the home, which has been remodeled and a part of the original farm?. He also continued the tradition of milling and built a mill on the upper end of the creek.
The Civil War brought haardship to Surry Co. and to Wm's family. Two of his sons, Lewis and Achillis, joined the Confederate Army in 1861. they participatesd in Jackson's Campaign of the Shenadoah Valley in VA in May, 1863, where Achillis was wounded. The brothers deserted in June following the battle and apparently returned home. According to family legend, the two brothers hid out in a room under their father's mill or in a cave on the creek which could only be entered by wading upstream.
Wheneverf the home guards came looking for the deserters, neighbors would pass the word and the brothers would go into hiding. When it was safe for the boys to come out, Lydia would hang a certain piece of clothing on the clothes line. Once, as their father had started to the hideout with the boys' supper in a bucket, he ran into one of the home guardsl. When asked where he had started to, Wm said he was going to grind grain all night and was carrying his supper and a snck. This saatisfied the guards who let him continue on. Wm.'s personal wealth declined during the war, as did most of the county's, with the vgfalue of his real estate declining from 1800 d. on the 1860 csensus to $1000 on the 1870 census, and his personal property going from $1500 to $500.
In 1888, at the age of 68, WM left his home and family and headed west. According to family legend, Wm had several cousins who had gone out west and struck in rich, so he decided to follow. Why his wife and family stayed behind is unknown. Wm. traveled by train to Weston, Or. where a cousin, Hezekiah Key lived. He spent Thanksgiving there,where he developed pneumonia and died on 6 dec 1888. A picture was made of himn in his casket, and was sent home to his widow and many of his bo\rothers and sisters ..CALLED (BILL).Wm. was the 5th child of Killis and Sarah. He married Lydia shortly after turning 19. The ceremony was performed by her father, Rev. Johnny Jones who was a prominent land owner and leader in the Fisher River Primitive Baptist Assn.
Wm. (Bill) was a farmer who bought 300 acres in 1848 from his father-in-law on Bull run Creek (in what is now the Eldora Community). He built his home near the creek (a great-grandson Rev. Davis Key, now owns the home, which has been remodeled and a part of the original farm?. He also continued the tradition of milling and built a mill on the upper end of the creek.
The Civil War brought haardship to Surry Co. and to Wm's family. Two of his sons, Lewis and Achillis, joined the Confederate Army in 1861. they participatesd in Jackson's Campaign of the Shenadoah Valley in VA in May, 1863, where Achillis was wounded. The brothers deserted in June following the battle and apparently returned home. According to family legend, the two brothers hid out in a room under their father's mill or in a cave on the creek which could only be entered by wading upstream.
Whenever the home guards came looking for the deserters, neighbors would pass the word and the brothers would go into hiding. When it was safe for the boys to come out, Lydia would hang a certain piece of clothing on the clothes line. Once, as their father had started to the hideout with the boys' supper in a bucket, he ran into one of the home guards. When asked where he had started to, Wm said he was going to grind grain all night and was carrying his supper and a snck. This satisfied the guards who let him continue on. Wm.'s personal wealth declined during the war, as did most of the county's, with the value of his real estate declining from 1800 d. on the 1860 csensus to $1000 on the 1870 census, and his personal property going from $1500 to $500.
In 1888, at the age of 68, Wm left his home and family and headed west. According to family legend, Wm had several cousins who had gone out west and struck iy rich, so he decided to follow. Why his wife and family stayed behind is unknown. Wm. traveled by train to Weston, OR. where a cousin, Hezekiah Key lived. He spent Thanksgiving there,where he developed pneumonia and died on 6 dec 1888. A picture was made of him in his casket, and was sent home to his widow and many of his bros and sisters ..
Drowned in mill pond 1860