end of kin

Mar 26, 20246 min read

Updated: Jul 10, 2024

It's sad to think about a family line coming to an end. It's even more sad to stand in a family cemetery and realize that you might be one of the only people left on earth who knows or cares about this site aside from the property owner. There are no direct descendants to tend to the cemetery.

BUT...

Enough of the gloom! This blog is about how EVERY BURIAL IS A STORY and my job is to celebrate every life that was once lived regardless of whether there are descendants left or not. Today I'm talking about the Andrews family of northern Iredell County, North Carolina.

The patriarch of the Andrews family was James Andrews (1762-1822). We have no records of who his parents were nor of his birth place, although it's possible he was born in Pennsylvania and migrated down with his family at a young age as many other families in that area did. In 1822, James' will mentions a brother named Robert living in Kentucky, but I have been unsuccessful in tracking him down. James married Isabella Locke (1767-1849), daughter of George Locke and Elizabeth Steele. George's will from 1804 tells us that Isabella was one of eight children and they all inherited a portion of his land and his mill which was located near Turnersburg. I cannot find a marriage record for James and Isabella, but according to the family Bible, their first child, Mary, was born in 1792. The couple went on to have eight more children: Peggy (Margaret) in 1796, Betsy (Elizabeth) in 1798, Hannah in 1800, John in 1802, Agnes (Nancy) in 1804, James Locke in 1806, Prudence in 1808 and Sallie (Sarah) in 1811. Quite a large household! Of course, this was common during this time to have big families, mainly for two reasons. First, the infant mortality rate was incredibly high during this time, so it was expected for a woman to bear many kids not knowing how many would survive into adulthood. Another reason, which could have played a role in the case of the Andrews family, was that prior to the Civil War, families who could not afford slave labor or morally disagreed with the concept needed large families to support the family farm. I could not find any record of the Andrews family owning enslaved people.

In the 1822 will, James bequeaths all his property and possessions to his wife in her lifetime and then to his daughter Margaret. The interesting aspect behind this is that Margaret was first, a woman, and second, not the oldest child. James also refers to her as his "lame daughter" which leads me to believe that she was singled out in the will in order to provide her with perpetual care and resources following the death of her mother. I do not know to what extend her disability reached, but the term "lame" would indicate a trouble with walking or improper movement of her legs. Despite her disability, Margaret lives until 1851 and dies at the age of 55, which is incredible for someone of her health in the 19th century. She is buried in the Andrews cemetery with a stone marker.

Isabella Andrews dies in 1849 and we do not have a will for her, so it is assumed that all her property, which she inherited from James, passed to her children in the order which was recorded in his will. The south and east portion of the property passed to Margaret and her brothers, John and James. The remaining sisters received the north and west portion.

I noticed a peculiar feature about the sibling dynamic of the Andrews family following the death of their parents. This dynamic is similar to what I learned when researching the Crawford family in West Iredell. Mary and Prudence are the only two sisters who get married. I'm assuming Mary gets married to a Mitchell, although I don't have a marriage record. Her daughter, Sarah Emeline Mitchell, is recorded in the family Bible and she marries Andrew Baggerly. They are both buried in the Andrews cemetery and the Baggerly property sat adjacent to the Andrews line. Prudence marries Francis Barnard somewhere around 1843 and they have four children. Along with their son John (1846-1877), the Barnards are also buried here (Prudence is buried first in 1859).

In the 1850 census, all the unmarried Andrews siblings are living together on the family property. Mary is living on the adjacent property with her daughter and her Baggerly son-in-law. In 1860, the unmarried siblings (minus Margaret who has died) are still living together, but by now James Locke Andrews has a wife named Susan living with them as well. According to the North Carolina Presbyterian, a religious publication, James married Susan McLain in 1858. They did not have any children and their marriage was a short one because Susan dies in 1861. She is buried with her parents at Fourth Creek in Statesville.

Two Andrews siblings die in the 1860s: John in 1865 and Hannah in 1868. I have no record of their death nor information about where they are buried, but I have every reason to believe they are also resting in the Andrews cemetery. Why wouldn't they be? Their parents are there, as are two of their sisters. James Mitchell Baggerly, grandson of oldest sibling Mary Andrews, is also buried here in 1838. This is obviously a tightknit family and I can't see a reason to bury John and Hannah anywhere else. The 1870 census shows the Andrews siblings, now short by two, still living together. James Locke Andrews is now the head of the house at age 64 and his remaining sisters range in age from 58 to 70. Francis Barnard, husband of Prudence Andrews, dies early in 1870 leaving his three children and a former enslaved young woman, now listed as a domestic servant, to live with the Andrews siblings. Sometime during the 1870s, the Barnard children leave or pass away and we find the Andrews family alone again in 1880. James is 74, Elizabeth is 82, Nancy (Agnes) is 76, and Sarah (Sallie) is 69. During the 1880s, all the sisters pass away in 1884, 1889, and 1886, respectively. Mary Andrews Mitchell, living next door with the Baggerlys also dies in 1880.

I do not find any obituaries for any of the sisters during this time, but I again suspect that they are also buried in the family cemetery. I don't see them recorded in any other cemetery and by this time they have lived on this land for near or over 80 years. I cannot imagine James burying his sisters anywhere else. He served as an elder at Tabor Presbyterian Church as early as 1847, but there is no record of anyone with the last name of Andrews being buried there. James himself dies in 1890 and he receives a generous obituary in a time when a full-length death announcement was not common in the newspapers. The Andrews family Bible is recorded by someone in the Baggerly family and I believe the obituary was also written by a Baggerly, connected to James through the marriage of Sarah Mitchell and Andrew Baggerly. The obituary states that James was buried "in the family burying ground, by the old home place." He does not have a stone. This also makes me think that all the siblings are resting here. According to The Landmark, the paper who published the obituary, James was the "last surviving member of a large family and with him the family name become extinct." I had yet to see a declaration like this in an obituary and it surprised me.

Not having anyone to leave the land to, the estate of James Andrews sold the land to S.W. Little in 1891. It changed hands several times before being sold to the Mayberry family in 1941 who still owns it today. I visited this site in October 2023 and I observed about 15-20 unmarked graves. Here's to the Andrews family and the extended families of Baggerly and Barnard who all rest in this place. You will not be forgotten.