Tom McCabes Genealogy 2022

[samueldescendents.FTW]

!In 1785, Rockingham County was formed by a division of Guilford County. Samuel Gann--the only Gann signature appearing on the petition--and some of his neighbors in the new county are trying to effect the placing of the new county public buildings. During the ten-year interval between the first and second of these petititons, most of Samuel Gann's relatives moved away from North Carolina. Apparently, only Samuel and his older brother, John, stayed behind.

!Pension, S 9664, Deposition of Samuel Gann, Rockingham Co, NC, Aug 25, 1832: "Aged eighty-one years...that he was living in Guilford County, N. Carolina, at the time of the revolutionary war, entered the service of the United States as a private soldier the year not now recollected (but it was to go against the British who were in South & North Carolina under Lord Cornwallis, Lord Rowden & Tarleton) for a term of three or six months, he is not certain which, under the following named officers (ziz) Captain Thomas Cook, Lieut. John Cook, & ensign Thomas Crawley, joined the Regiment under the following Field Officers at Guilford Court House. Davis was Colo. Comd. & Brisbourne Lieut. Colo. & White was our Major, were marched on to Salisbury in Rowan County were we were put under the command of Brigadier Genl. Davidson, this officer was killed in a short time after this by the British not far from the Cataba River, from Rowan we marched on to the County of Mecklenburg where we met with the British at Charlotte Ct. House & had a Battle with them. The enemy was too strong for us & our troops were defeated after which we had a great many skirmishes with the British and Tories, sometime after this we had an engagement with the Tories at Waxsau Creek. Colos. Davis & Brisburn conducted that expedition, which proved successful. We defeated them & took forty-seven horses, saddles and Bridles in a short time after wards our term of service having expired were marched to Salisbury & discharged. I was drafted again in a short time after I reached home. But the situation of my crop required that I should stay home & take care of it or loose it. I hired a substitute to go in my place. But in a very short time thereafter another draft came & I stood my tour. I went into service for a term of three months. Fortunately for me I fell under the same officers. Whilst out on this tour an American officer went to my house & informed my wife that he was a press officer & that he wanted provisions for the troops. He went into my smoke house (as my wife informed me) and took as much of my Bacon as he thought proper, which was I suppose between 50 and 100 lbs. & gave my wife a piece of writing which he said was a ticket on the government for me to be paid for the same. But I never got anything for my meat. The paper was lost & that was the end of my claim. I again joined the army as a volunteer just before the Battle at Guilford Court House in General Green's Army. On the day of the Battle, myself and several others of the troops were detached to take care of some Beef cattle for the army. We were ordered to drive the cattle from a place called the iron works to a field within a mile or two of Guilford Court House and there to guard them closely all day. On the day after the Battle, we drove the cattle to Genl. Green's Army, where they were killed & slaughtered up for the use of the army. In a short time I was discharged & returned home. During the period of the revolutionary war shilst the enemy were so verry troublesome in our part of the country, the militia had to be in continual readiness to march against the British & Tories. I was out in a great many different periods of service beside those above mentioned, sometimes for a term of 5 or 6 days & sometimes for ten, fifteen & as high as twenty days & then permitted to return home again. This Condition of affairs continued for two or three years." He signed with an "x." Petitioner states "he is old and decrepid & labouring under such great bodily affliction that he is unable to ride to the court house a distance of nearly eighteen miles without subjecting himself to serious inconvenience or perhaps endangering his life."

!"I was born in Frederick County, State of Virginia, about 15 miles of Winchester in the year 1748 or thereabouts. I have no record of my age." He also states, "I was living on the Mayo River in Guilford County, North Carolina, at the time I was in the service & have lived in the same neighborhood ever since & do now live on a small tract of land within two miles of the place I first lived on in the time of the Revolutionary War..." He specifically mentions in his pension application that he "never was warranted nor sued in all my life." Samuel was anxious to point out that his own particular slate was clean.

!This application makes it clear that Samuel and Polly and their family were in Rockingham Co, NC in 1790 when the first federal census was taken; but they were missed in that count. Likely, the family was living on property that belonged to John Sharpe, Polly's father, who in 1790 owned a large plantation along the Mayo River that covered most of the area now occupied by the town of Mayodan, North Carolina. The 1800 NC census does list Samuel Gann's family. In addition to Samuel and Polly, there were five children, four males and one female. Nothing is known of one female or one male. The three remaining males are thought to have been James, born abt 1773, Thomas, born abt 1775 and John born abt 1780. In 1793 Samuel bought the only land he ever owned, 200 acres near the present-day intersection of Ayersville and Farris Park Roads in western Rockingham County and very near the Stokes County line where tax records indicate that Samuel's brother, John, was then living. One of the witnesses to the land transaction was his son, James.

!On 26 August 1838, Samuel Gann made a deal with Amy Holt--thought to be a neighborhood widow in her mid-forties with a young son--that "for services rendered, to be tendered to the said Samuel Gann & his wife during their lives, & for and in consideration of the sum of one dollar in hand paid (Anny Holt and her heirs are deeded) one certain tract or parcel of land...'on the Waters of Shepherds Creek of Mayo River containing two hundred acres '...Nevertheless it is agreed & Understood by & Between the parties that the said Samuel Gann will hold possession of the land during his and his Wife's natural lives." Apparently, Polly did not live but a few months, because, Samuel approaching 90 years of age, on 28 Nov 1839 married Anny Holt. On 21 March 1840 Samuel made his will leaving all of his estate, both real and personal, to his wife, Anna Gann, and making Anna the sole executrix of his estate. The land that was originally Gann land is now called "The Old Lewellyn Place."

From Joy Gann Brown, Hillsborough, NC. From Lois Gann Perdue, Mayodan, NC.