| Notes |
OCCUPATION: Farmer and Merchant. Joseph was co-partner with Robert Hall and James Truitt, as merchants, under the name of Joseph Welch and Company in Franklin. This business was sold to John Hall December 25, 1835.
BIOGRAPHY:
Joseph Welch's Road
There was no road down the little Tennessee into Tennessee, so in the 1830's my g-g-g-grandfather, Joseph, sold several of his slaves and went into debt to build the first road down the river from his place to Bushnell. Neither the state nor the county could afford to build any roads unless completely necessary so they encouraged everyone who wanted to risk their own money, to build toll roads or turnpikes, as they were called in those days. Grandpa Joseph had hopes of making a wagon load of money but the venture proved unprofitable and he was forced to file bankruptcy. The road, which was built, by Grandpa Joseph's remaining slaves and who ever else he could get to help, was 25 or more miles long. They used picks, shovels and drag pans to build the road that became a way for the settlers to reach Chambers, Hazel and Eagle Creeks.
BIOGRAPHY: From Heritage of Macon County (Thomas P. Welch)
Joseph Welch, pioneer settler of Macon County. Joseph purchased land from the State of North Carolina when the lands acquired from treaty with the Cherokees were put up for sale in Waynesville in September 1821. This property was in the Cowee Community where Joseph first settled. In September 1831 Joseph sold to Joshua Hall 224 acres on the Tennessee River including the old Indian town house. In November 1833 he sold other lands to Humphrey Posey. Later Joseph moved his residence to the mouth of the Tuckaseegee River. An election precinct was established at his residence in September 1847, and in census records it is called Welches District.
Note: A little revision for your records; the river here is called the Little Tennessee which flows through the Cowee Community. Keith Nicholson, June 2001.
The General Assembly of North Carolina appointed 33 leading citizens to serve as the first Board of Magistrates for the newly formed Macon County, and Joseph Welch was among those taking the oath of office on March 29, 1829. He was a prominent citizen of the early days of the county. He served faithfully throughout the years in all activities of the county, as a Magistrate, juror, tax lister, election official and road overseer. Joseph had a charter for a turnpike from the mouth of the Tuckaseegee to the Tennessee line.
The Magistrates presided at the sessions of the Plea and Quarter Courts, which were regular jury courts. The affairs of the county were decided at these sessions. The tax rate was set each March, and Juries were appointed to view and lay off the county roads. The appointed overseers and neighborhood men were required to build the roads and keep them passable. The Magistrates appointed guardians and Administrators.
Joseph was given as security for the performance of the contract for the building of the first Macon County jail in 1829. He was one of the Commissions appointed for the reviewing and laying out the streets of Franklin April 9, 1835.
Joseph was co-partner with Robert Hall and James Truitt, as merchants, under the name of Joseph Welch and Company in Franklin. This business was sold to John Hall December 25, 1835.
The Cowee Baptist Church was organized March 15, 1828, and among the charter members was Joseph Welch. All of the charter members came from the Franklin Baptist Church.
Cowee Baptist Church Records:
1828 Aug 16 Cowee Baptist Church Records: Church met, worship attended to. Fellowship tried and found, proceeded to business. Appointed Brother S. Rose to inquire of brother Joseph Welch the reason for his non-attendance at church meeting.
Rule 8, any male member missing 2 meetings will render satisfaction and if not the church will admonish them and if they should persist they shall be excluded. The aged and afflicted are to be excused.
1828 Sep 20 Church met and after preaching fellowship tried and found. Brother Rose reported that he had inquired of Brother Welch for the reason for not attending church meeting, which was a multitude of business, which did not satisfy the church. Therefore, appointed Brother Rose to invite him to church to give them better satisfaction.
1828 Oct 18 Church met in fellowship. Brother Welch came forward and gave satisfaction for not attending church.
1833 Feb 23 Dismissed Brother Joseph Welch by Letter. (this was probably when Joseph moved to the mouth of the Tuckaseegee River.
Joseph grew old in service to the new county and his sons; Thomas, Joseph Jackson and Albert Burton Welch followed his example as good and useful citizens of Macon County. In their later years Joseph and Catherine moved back to the Cowee Community near their daughter, Narcissa Welch Shepherd.
NOTES - census
1800 census Rutherford County (00100-10100)
NOTES - land
1800 Aug 14 Sold 200 acres on Robinsons Creek patented to Thomas Welch, adjoining Reuben Melton. Joseph and his mother, Agnes, sold this land to John Cancellor. Witness: Whiteside, Carter. (DB 20/21-99)
1801 Jan 27 Land Grant, 35 acres on Hunting Creek adjoining Welch & McGaughey. (DB 20/21-295)
1801 Feb 11 Buys 200 acres on Hunting Creek. Witness: Cornelius Melton, Jacob Deck.
1801 Dec 10 Buys 12 acres on Hunting Creek from brother David A. Welch adjoining John Melton. Witness: John Cancellor, Barbery Cancellor. (DB 20/21-72)
1821 Nov 17 Sold land on Indian Creek and South Fork Catawba River. (On the road from Lincolnton to Yorkville)
1821 Jan 4 Joseph Welch pays Elizabeth, relict of John Alexander, deceased, 500 pounds to relinquish all dower claims vs. estate of her husband. Witness Robert Williamson. (Lincoln County DB 30-116)
1821 May 18 Elizabeth McGaughey (Mrs. John) of Rutherford County, heir-in-law of John Alexander, deceased, appoints her brother Joseph Welch of Lincoln County as attorney to sell her share of 200 acres on the West side of the South Fork (Catawba River) Rutherford County. (Rutherford DB 34-41)
1821 Aug 11 John Welch and James Welch of Monroe County, Kentucky heirs-at-law (as above) have right to share in 255 acres on South Fork, Catawba River in Lincoln County and appoint their brother Joseph Welch to sell the land and divide among the heirs, etc. (Lincoln County DB 30-89)
1824 Jan 24 Joseph Welch of Lincoln County, etc. (DB 34-233).
NOTES - other
1826 Joseph Welch, John Parsons and Edward L. Poindexter acted to establish a Tennessee River Turnpike to the Tennessee line. An act of the General Assembly of 1830-1831 authorized a loan of $5000.00 to them. Benjamin Brittain, Aspaph Enloe, Gideon Morris, Isaac Truitt, and Drury Weeks were security.
1829 Along with the law creating Macon County, from Haywood County, the North Carolina General Assembly appointed 33 leading citizens to the area to serve as magistrates. Joseph Welch was one of the men appointed. A Court of Pleas and Quarter Sessions governed the counties. These courts consisted of two-dozen or more men, or justices, who received their commission from the Governor. Our Joseph was one of the justices. They held office for life and received no pay. The court met four times a year, hence the name Quarter Sessions. Joseph was in faithful attendance at all sessions of the Pleas and Quarter Sessions Courts in Franklin until he was an old man, following the footsteps of his father who had done the same in Rutherford County.
Joseph was a very busy man. He was given as security for the builders of the new jail. Joseph was one of the members of the jury to lay off the road from Franklin down the river to the mouth of the Tuckaseegee to connect with a turnpike which Joseph had a charter for to the Tennessee line. He was also in the group of men to lay out the streets of Franklin. (Joseph's father, Thomas Welch, Sr. was on similar committees when the town of Rutherfordton was laid out in the 1700's.)
1866 April 17, Macon County Court records: It appearing to the satisfaction of the Court that Joseph Welch, late of Macon County, died without leaving Last Will and Testament, A.B. Welch was appointed Administrator of the estate. He filed bond in the amount of $1000 with B.W. Bell and James Shepherd as security.
25 Jul 2003
Cool! I got the dates on the courthouses. It looks like the nails came from the courthouse that was built 2 years before Joseph Welch died. He would have been about 85 then, so I doubt that he presided there, but I bet he got a chance to walk through it's halls if his health allowed. It would have been maybe 6 miles from his farm (as the crow flies, 10 or 12 miles by road). The first one was built and in use from 1829-1863, then the second courthouse was built in 1863 and razed in 1972. I guess historical preservation wasn't a priority in the 70s. Some old-timers scrounged up the lumber and it's been sitting in piles in various yards and farms for decades. Believe it or not, the pile that these came from was being used as fire wood. That's why one of the nails is rusty-red. He dug it out of the ash pile for me.
Keith (received 4 old rusty nails from Keith 30 Jul 2003)
Also see WestMill NRN Sec8.doc sent to me 1 Aug 2003 from Keith Nicholson.
Family Note:
Adolphus Burton Welch, son.
BIOGRAPHY: Burton and Sarah lived near his father on the Little Tennessee River. It was hear they were witness to the terrible Trail of Tears, the Indian removal of 1838. The Cherokees were rounded up like animals and moved to Oklahoma. Of course the only reason was that our government wanted more land for the white settlers. Some of the Cherokees were kept in a stockade at the foot of Guardhouse Mountain, as it soon came to be called, on Burton's land.
From this terrible event in American history came the story of Tsali (Charley), a Cherokee martyr. Sarah, Burton's wife told this story. Tsali, his wife, brother, and three sons were captured and locked in the stockade. (This stockade had earlier been built by Burton because the mountain contained a fault out of which came hot air and steam and he wanted to protect children and cattle from falling into the hole.) That night, the Cherokee women, who had concealed knives in their clothing, gave the knives to the men. The next day during the forced march towards Oklahoma, the men attacked the soldiers killing three and injuring two. In all the confusion Tsali and his brother escaped into the mountains and hid in a cave near Clingmans Dome. Because the area was thick with tangled vegetation the soldiers were unable to find Tsali and his brother. Word came to Tsali from William H. Thomas, adopted white Chief of the Cherokees, that if he would surrender, his family could remain in their homeland. Tsali believed the adopted white Chief and surrendered. The Indians who captured him not the soldiers shot him. In retaliation for the deaths of the soldiers, Tsali was put to death. He was buried on John Hyde's farm. John's wife, Nancy went to the grave and wept as she heaped sand and rocks on the grave in Cherokee fashion. The Indians began again their long, cruel journey to Oklahoma, a journey on which many Indians died from starvation, exhaustion, disease, mistreatment and the winter cold.
The death of Tsali was later investigated and several versions of the story were told. Depositions were sworn to Burton's father, Joseph Welch, the local magistrate and on whose land the soldiers had encamped during that terrible time.
Note: In some correspondence I asked Keith if he was related to the Welch family, his reply: "No, not at all. Just checking on the local history. It turns out that the property he bought along the Little Tennessee was once allocated to a Cherokee named Euchella. Euchella was responsible for the capture and ultimate execution of a Cherokee hero called Tsali. The old property is now known as the "Euchella Site" and is now listed among others in Cowee's West's Mill District in the National Registry of Historic Places." Keith Nicholson June 2001.
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