PaisleyLetter

William Sr. Paisley

Notes

The Paisley Family

(The following letter was written by Rev. Samuel Paisley, son of William Pailsey and Deliverance Paine, to his nephew Samuel Paisley, of Montgomery County, Illinois, who was a son of Rev. Samuel Paisley's brother John and his wife Jane Rankin. This copy is made from a copy in the possession of my grandmother Paisley in her lifetime. It serves as the best introduction I can give to a sketch of the Paisley family.William Marion Sikes).

"Edgefield, Moore County N. C.,

July 22nd, 1850."

"My ever dear Nephew:

I received your kind letter of February 25th and began soon after to write to you, but having concluded to give you some account of our ancestors I stopped writing to try to get more correct information, but not having an opportunity to get that information I shall delay no longer but write what

little I know, believing it will be gratifying to you and to posterity after we are in the eternal world to know even the little I now write.

We have certain information that our ancestors emigrated from Scotland to Ireland. And if we ask how it came to pass that the North of Ireland came to be inhabited by Scotch, history informs us that the English government by conquering the Irish and forcing them to submit to English laws and English governor, and to acknowledge the king's supremacy in religion and consider him head of the Church in England and few privileges that were left them were used by the priest and nobility to promote religion.

In the reign of King James I a conspiracy was formed by the Earls of Tyroonnell and Tyrone, of the province of Ulster, against the government in expectation of aid from the courts of France and Spain; their plan was discovered in time to prevent its execution. The Earls fled and left their vast

estates, containing half a million acres, to the mercy of the king. These lands were divided among the favorites of the king by his directions, preference was given to people from West of Scotland. They were chiefly Presbyterians when Prelacy was afterwards established in Scotland in the year 1637, to which as Presbyterians they could not submit, and being greatly persecuted many more were compelled to emigrate, and in Ireland they found a safe retreat. Among these were our ancestors who settled in the County of Tyrone where my grandfather William Paisley was born, the year of his birth unknown, but must have been between 1700 and 1705. He lived there until he married Elenor (Nelley) McLean in the year 1736 or 1737, and soon after emigrated to this country, then the colonies of Great

Britain, and settled on the Schuylkill River, twenty miles above Philadelphia, where he lived on rented land, where by industry and good management he raised six children in comfortable circumstances and saved money enough to bring his family to Carolina and to purchase land for them.

His first wife, (my grandmother) died in Pennsylvania and he afterwards married Catherine Hamilton. His children were three sons and three daughters. His first child was Jane, born 1737 or 1738, was married to John White in Pennsylvania, but afterwards removed to North Carolina

where he died February 1787. His widow Jane was afterwards married to William Goudy, Esquire. After his death she removed with her daughter Martha, who was married to Joseph McDowell, to Kentucky where he died, I believe, in 1804. Jane had but one child. William and Nelley Paisley's next was Robert, bom in the year 1739. Their third child, William, my father and your grandfather, was born December 23rd, 1741, old style. Their next, John, was bom 1745, Their fifth child Margaret, was bom 1747. Their youngest, Mary, was bom 1750. He removed to North Carolina in the year 1765. My father was married to Deliverance Paine in November 1763, lived in Pennsylvania until his first son John (your father) was bom August 10, 1764. They removed to North Carolina the same fall and lived one year in Orange County, and then removed to Guilford. After they had all come to Carolina their oldest son, Robert, returned to Pennsylvania and married his cousin, Margaret Major. He lived in Orange County till 1780 and then removed to Guilford, and in 1797 removed to Kentucky. He had five sons and four daughters. John, their third son, born 1745, married Mary Ann Denny in 1769, they had four sons and six daughters. Margaret, their second daughter, was married to William Denny, they had ten children. Mary, their youngest daughter was married to James Doak, they had four sons and four daughters

Grandfather had several brothers and sisters, but none of them came from Ireland to this country but his brother John, who settled in the state of Delaware, where he died and left six children, four sons and two daughters. Although it was said that he was an excellent man, yet none of his children did well. Grandmother had two brother and three sisters that came from Ireland to Pennsylvania. Her brothers were John and Joseph McLean. John married Jane Marshall. Their children were Joseph, John, Thomas, Robert, and Marshall, Nelley, Jane, Margaret, Policy, Nancy, and Betsy. Joseph

married Nancy Marshall. Their children were Catherine and Martha, John, Joseph, William and Thomas. John McLean came to North Carolina about 1776, and settled in Guilford in 1780 or 1781.

Grandmother's sisters were first, Martha who was married to Mr. Adams; they both died in Pennsylvania in 1782 or 1783. Margaret was married to Thomas Major; They came to North Carolina about 1782 or 1783. Her third sister, Isabelle, married Mr. Sterling, who died in Pennsylvania; his

widow with two children, a son and a daughter, removed to North Carolina.

Your grandfather, William Paisley, was married to Deliverance Paine in November 1763. She had been rescued from the Indians, when an infant, by the Rev James Davenport. It is said the Indians would not tell who she was or where they got her. The probability is that they had murdered her parents. Mr. Davenport named her Deliverance Paine after his wife's maiden name. After Mr. Davenport's death, his widow removed with her daughter, who was married to Enos Kelsey, to Princeton, from which place Mrs. Davenport sent my mother to a boarding school kept by Mrs.

Chestnut, the wife of Rev. Benjamin Chestnut, in Pennsylvania near grandfather's, where father became acquainted with her and gained her affections. So they agreed to spend their lives together. It was the custom in those days to publish in the church the bans of matrimony between those who

intended to marry before they were joined together. Mr. Chestnut refused to marry them unless the bans were thus published, which they refused, but went to Philadelphia and were married by Mr. Tennent. They lived in Pennsylvania unti'l your father (John) was bom, August 10, 1764, and removed to North Carolina that fall and lived one year in Orange County, and removed to Guilford where they had seven children bom. William was born February 17th, 1767, Elizabeth was bom October 10, 1769. Robert was born September 11th, 1772, Samuel was born April 6th 1773. Their next two died in

infancy. I have no register of the time of their births, but Joseph died when he was between three and four years old. Preston was bom July 6th, 1779. My grandfather's second wife, Catherine Hamilton, died soon after they came to North Carolina. He afterwards married Elizabeth Denny. He was among the first elders ordained in Alamance congregation and was one of the most influential and exemplary officers in that church. I remember him well, he was low of statue but heavy built and stood very erect. He died in March 1787. I could write much more about our ancestors, but perhaps I have already written more than will be interesting to you. They were nearly all members of the Presbyterian

church, and if we so live and so act as to be able to render account at last with joy and not with sorrow we shall meet with many of them in Heaven, where many of them, I have no doubt, are now singing Hallelujah to God and the Lamb. What will be our feeling when we meet them there and join in

rapturous songs and be ever with the Lord! It will be but a little while till we all shall meet to part no more forever."

"Samuel Paisley"

Williams Paisley's six children were as here numbered:

(1) Jane, born 1737 or 1738, who married John White, in Pennsylvania, who afterwards removed to North Carolina where he died. His widow, Jane, was married again to William Goudy.

(2) Robert, the second child, was born in the year 1739. He married Margaret Major in Pennsylvania and lived in Orange County, North Carolina, until 1780 and then removed to Guilford County, and in 1797 he removed to Mt. Carmel, Tennessee.

(3) The third child was William Jr, who was bom December 23rd, 1741, He married Deliverance Paine in November 1763. Since it is from him that our line is descended I shall have more to say about him after mentioning the other children.

(4) Colonel John, the fourth child, was born in 1745, and lived till October 16th, 1811. He was a colonel in the Revolutionary War. He married Mary Ann Denny in 1769. They had ten children, namely,

(a) William Denny, October 6th, 1770 - March 10th, 1857;

(b) James, March 22nd, 1772 - 1849;

(d) John Jr., December 26th, 1776 - May 25th, 1845;

(e) Nellie, May 17th, 1780 - June 14th, 1856;

(f) George, June 24th, 1782 - July 27th, 1830;

(g) Elizabeth, June 25th, 1785 - July 23rd, 1846;

(h) Mary Ann, July 26th, 1787 - January 8th, 1857,

(i) Jean, January 23rd, 1790 - June 20th, 1797;

(j) Ann, July 10th, 1793 - January 2nd, 1796.

William Denny Paisley, the oldest son of Colonel John Paisley, became a Presbyterian Minister, and was the founder of the First Presbyterian Church, Greensboro, North Carolina. He married Frances Nebane in 1798. They had four children,

Polly N., who became the wife of Rev. Jesse Rankin;

Mary Ann, who never married;

Julia Anna, who married Judge John A Gilmer;

Sarah J., who married Robert M. Sloan.

John Paisley Jr., the fourth child of Colonel John Paisley married Hannah Donnell in 1799. They had the following children:

(a) Mary Ann, 1800 - 1845;

(b) Polly, 1803 - 1836;

(d) Jane, 1807-1841;

(e) John III, 1809 - 1845, became a Presbyterian minister, and was pastor of Red House Church

in Orange Presbytery;

(f) William, 1811- 1836;

(g) Thomas, 1814 - 1866;

(h) James, 1816 - 1868;

(i) Nancy, 1818- 1855;

(j), Rev. John Paisley III, 1824 •- 1857, married Emma Bradshaw, and had a son named William

who moved to Arkansas and reared a family of six children. Their names are:

(a) John A Paisley;

(b) William B. Paisley,

Arkansas;

(d)Mattie Paisley;

(e) Rev. James I. Paisley, now a missionary at Kwangju, Korea;

(f) Rev. Edward B. Paisley, now a professor in the General Assembly's Training School,

Richmond Virginia.

James Paisley, son of John Paisley, Jr., and Hannah Donnell, married Minerva Wharton in 1846, an lived near McLeansville, North Carolina. Four of their children were:

(a) John Wharton Paisley, born 1845, married Bessie W. Cannon in 1878, and reared four sons, namely,

James Percy, William

H., Porter, and John C., the last of whom was killed in France

during the World War. (B) James Porter Paisley, born 1858,

and died 1888 while student for the Presbyterian ministry.

He married Sallie Stirewalt, of Davidson College, who still

lives there, (c) Drury Lacy Paisley, born 1860, married Loula

Rankin in 1885, and lives at Little Rock, Arkansas, where he

has been Superintendent of Schools. (D) Mary Annie Paisley,

born 1863, and married James M. Hendrix in 1884. They live

at Greensboro, North Carolina, where they have reared two

sons and two daughters.

(5) Margaret, the fifth child of William Paisley Sr., and

Eleanor McLean, was bom in 1747, and married William Denr

They lived on Buffalo, in Guilford County, North Carolina.

(6) Mary, the youngest child of William Paisley Sr., and

Eleanor McLean, was born in 1790. She married James Doak.

They had four sons and four daughters. They lived on

Buffalo, Guilford County. (See endnote 1)

II. William Paisley Jr. and Deliverance Paine

William Paisley Jr. was bom Dec. 23rd 1741. He was reared at his father's home in the valley of the Schuylkill River, in Pennsylvania. In November 1763, he married Deliverance Paine, an orphan child reared in the home of Rev. James Davenport, at Pennington, New Jersey.

The story of Deliverance Paine forms an interesting bit of early American History. Some time during the year 1743 a group of Indians passed the home of Rev. James Davenport, who lived at Pennington, N. J., having in their possession a little white girl, a mere infant, whom they claimed as their own. They would not tell where they got her, nor would they give her up. They had probably murdered her parents. Mr. Davenport endeavored to get the child from them, but in vain.

About a week later they came back by Mr. Davenport's home still having the child in their possession. They were hungry and wanted something to eat. So Mr. Davenport bought the child and named it Deliverance Paine in honor of his wife, whose maiden name was Paine, but Deliverance was given in significance of the fact that she had been rescued from the hands of cruel savages. The child was carefully reared and educated by Mr. Davenport. When she was old enough to attend a boarding

school she was sent to a school taught by a Mr. Chestnut, about twenty miles from Philadelphia, Pa., in the valley of the Schuylkill River. This school was near the home of Mr. William Paisley, Sr. While Deliverance Paine was attending school in this neighborhood young William Paisley Jr. became

acquainted with her, and gaining her affection they decided to be married. It was customary in those days to publish beforehand the bans of matrimony between those who intended to be married. When these young people failed to have done this the Rev. Mr. Chestnut declined to marry them.

Hence they went to Philadelphia and were married by he Rev. Gilbert Tennent, then pastor of the Presbyterian Church in that city, in November 1763, in the twentieth year other age, and in the twenty-first year of Mr. Paisley's age. They lived in Chester County, Penn. for one year, and then moved to Orange Co. N. C., where they reared their family. Their home was about two miles south of

McLeansville, and adjoining the plantation of his brother, John fought in the Revolutionary War. Rev. E. W. Caruthers, in his "Life of Dr. David Caldwell", says that Captain Forbis's company was made up almost entirely of Paisleys, Wileys, and others, most of whom were his neighbors; and he says that a

braver band of militia was not on the field.

While William Paisley was away from home in the army, an epidemic of small-pox broke out in the neighborhood. During this epidemic, in 1780, a member of Colonel John Paisley's family was stricken with the disease. Deliverance, having had small-pox, went every night to nurse the sick

patient. Her own family had not had small-pox, so to avoid carrying the disease in her clothing, she would take a change of clothes and hide them in the woods every night, and when she returned in the morning, she would change and leave the infected clothing in the woods. This was done continually until the patient recovered; and the remarkable fact is that no one of her family took the disease.

Soon after the close of the Revolutionary War Mrs. Paisley made a visit to Mr. Davenport in New Jersey. She made the trip on horse back in company with her little son Samuel who was about ten years of age. On her return she and her little son each broke a limb from a pear tree in Mr. Davenport's yard for a riding switch. When they reached home they stuck the switches in the ground near the spring, thinking they might grow. They did grow to be large trees, and bore fruit for many years. I have had the privilege of eating pears from those trees in my own lifetime, also I have in my home a souvenir in the form of a candleholder madefrom a limb of one of those pear trees. I cut the limb from

the tree some years ago, and the candleholder was made by Mr. Ed Furness, an English soldier who fought with the English troops in Mesopotamia during the World War. He was living at Canton, N. C., when he made the candleholder for me. So the souvenir is connected with two wars, the Revolutionary

War and the World War. He also made a small cutter for me from the same limb from the pear tree. (See endnote 2)

Endnotes

1. A complete list of the children of these families may be seen in Rev. S. M. Rankin's Book,

"The Rankin and Wharton Families."

2. For article on Deliverance Paine, see Davidson College Magazine, for October, 1899,

pages 11-14.

Also see Foote's "Sketches of North Carolina", reprint edition, p 229. She is also mentioned a

Caruthers' "Life of David Caldwell".

[This wonderful document was shared by Mr. Tom Joyce, also a

descendant of William Paisley and Eleanor McLean. He can be

contacted at <tjoyce5@triad.rr.com>. Since the copy was very

dark and hard to read, and also to facilitate sharing the document

easily over the internet, I have retyped it, hopefully exactly as written.

Although I did correct a spelling mistake or two. Elaine Hendricks,

Dadeville, Alabama ehend@lakemartin.net]