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Date:         Tue, 15 Dec 1992 16:34:00 EST
Reply-To:     SLR2@CCDDCD1.EM.CDC.GOV
From:         SLR2@CCDDCD1.EM.CDC.GOV
Subject:      Masters, Bowman, Lewis, Woody, Peterson
Comments: To: ROOTS-L@VM1.NODAK.EDU

SEEKING FURTHER INFORMATION ON SURNAMES:  MASTERS, BOWMAN, LEWIS, WOODY,
PETERSON.  Geographic area of focus is Washington County, Tennessee, and
Mitchell County, North Carolina, during late 1700's to present.

In this message I'll try to accurately communicate to you what information I
have about the Masters and Bowman of the Brethren faith who are my ancestors.
I may need to send you more than one message containing the information of
persons, places and dates.  This information was reported to me in written
form by the following amateur genealogists:  Susan Masters Harp, Laura
Deyton, and Joyce S. Masters.  All of these women are middle-aged or older
and have resided in the TN/NC area where many of Jacob Bowman's and Henry
Masters I decendants live.  Susan Masters Harp is a direct decendant of Henry
Masters I; Joyce Masters and Laura Deyton are connected with the Masters and
Bowman clans by marriage.  I have met each of the women in person, and have
interviewed them.  They have a wealth of information, yet a lot of legal or
published documentation is still lacking from their work that would
corroborate what they have pieced together thus far.  I plan to share with
them what ever I also find and believe to be true and accurate about our
ancestors by blood or marriage.


Item #1 - Newspaper article from Jonesborough, TN "Herald and Tribune", 31
Oct 1990

"Digging for Your Roots - by the Jonesborough Genealogical Society".
"The Masters Family of Burke County, North Carolina - by Laura Deyton, JGS"

     "One of the early settlers who moved into the Old Southwest Territory
via the Valley of Virginia was a German Baptist Brethren (Tunker, Dunker,
Dunkard) clergyman by the name of Henry Masters I.  Masters settled in the
remote wilderness section of Northwest Burke County that became part of
Yancey County in 1833, and finally Mitchell County, North Carolina in 1861.
The Masters family were immediate descendants of the wave of immigrants that
fled Germany in search of religious and political freedom and better lands in
the New World.  This was in the 1719-1729 era."

     "Henry Masters' son, Henry Masters II, was born in Burke county on 24
November 1792.  Like his father, he was a staunch Brethren, and became a
Dunkard preacher.  He is credited with organizing the Lower Brummett's Creek
congregation in cooperation with Peter Peterson, and building the first
Brethren churchhouse there in 1840 (around 1840)."

     "Henry Masters II (1792-1870 - buried in Masters family maintained plot
near Bakersville, NC) married Hannah Bowman (1793-1872) in 1814.  Hannah was
the daughter of Elder Jacob Bowman, another Pennsylvania Dutchman who moved
via Franklin County, Virginia and East Tennessee, to Burke County in 1797."

     "Henry Masters II and Hannah Bowman were the parents of 8 daughters and
2 sons:  Susannah b. 9-18-1815, m. Thomas Burleson; Levina b. 11-9-1817, m.
Obadiah Edwards; Roseanna b. 1-30-1820, m. Elhanan Griffith; Nancy b.
6-6-1822, m. Solomon Evins; Jason b. 11-14-1824, m. Jane Woody; Clarissa b.
2-27-1827, m. Posey Griffith; Malinda b. 4-18-1829, m. Garrett Bailey; Eliza
b. 12-22-1830, m. John Street; Phoebe b. 4-4-1832, m. Tom Bailey; and Jacob
b. 1-7-1835, m. Cordelia Hughes."

     "The Bowmans and the Masterses still taught their children to speak
German.  There is an amusing tradition in our family that Jason and his
brothers, as boys, used to tease their mother to exasperation to get her to
'bless them out' in German."

     "Another family tradition and historical fact is that visiting Dunkard
preachers came in pairs and one would deliver the sermon in German, and the
other would deliver it in English, because the older settlers still spoke in
German and did not yet understand English very well."

------End of quoted newspaper article ------------

Lower Brummett's Creek Church of the Brethren is still standing and appears
to be well maintained in Mitchell County, NC.  I have seen the structure and
been inside the church in July 1991.  I don't think that weekly church
services are still held there but I could be wrong about that.  The Brethren
church, although not large in membership, still seems to be going strong
amongst my relatives in the TN and NC area.  Jonesborough, TN, is in
Washington County, which is directly across the TN/NC border where Mitchell
County, NC, is located.

I am a member of the Jonesborough Genealogical Society, but I haven't found
much there in my research into my family.  I am glad the society exists, and
I remain a member hoping that eventually they will be able to provide
information for some of my letters of inquiry.

I also have been subscribing to the "Herald and Tribune" and the "Mitchell
News-Journal" weekly newspapers for about 2 years.  Some of my dad's brothers
and sisters also subscribe to these papers so they help me by lending some
relevant description and insight to the current people described in these
papers.  The "Mitchell News-Journal" used to be called the "Tri-County News".
It is a hometown paper that serves Bakersville, Little Switzerland, Spruce
Pine, and the rest of Mitchell County, NC.  Harvey J. Miller, a very old man
b. 1909, has written a weekly column for the "Mitchell News-Journal" for
about 60-70 years.  I have been writing and speaking to Harvey on the phone.
He is somehow hooked into my family through a common distant relative.
Anyhow, Harvey's lived in Mitchell County for all of his 80+ years of life
and knows the scoop and stories on everyone practically.  I don't know how
accurate his tales are or how good his memory is now, but I figure his
stories might give me a springboard for some of the Lewis' family material to
research in legal documents.  It certainly can't hurt to hear or read what
Harvey says.  In 1974, Harvey Miller published a book called the  "News from
Pigeon Roost".  The publisher was the Rabun Gap, GA, company called Foxfire
Press.  You may be familiar with their Foxfire Series of Appalachian Mtn
peoples' lives and stories.  Pigeon Roost is a small old-time place in
Mitchell County, NC, where some of my and Harvey's ancestors' lived.
Harvey's book is a compilation of his "Mitchell News-Journal" weekly articles
from 7-6-1950 through 12-20-1973.  The book  "News from Pigeon Roost" serves
as Vol. 8, Number 4 (Winter, 1974) of "Foxfire" magazine.

Back to the "Michell News-Journal"......  Every year Joyce Masters organizes
the annual Masters family reunion in Bakerville, NC.  The reunion is usually
the second or third Saturday in July and is held at a Brethren Church near
Lower Brummett's Creek Church of the Brethren.  Joyce publishes the date of
reunion in the "Mitchell News-Journal".  I attended the reunion in July 1991
and hope to attend it again in July 1993.  There were at least 125-150 people
at the reunion in July 1991.  I learned a great deal about the Masters but I
still have to gather much more information about my specific ancestors.  The
general location of this family reunion is Bakersville, NC - which is about a
6 hour drive from my home in Stone Mountain, GA.

How do I connect with Henry Masters II and Hannah Bowman?  Their son, Jason
Masters married Jane Woody.  Jason and Jane Masters are my great-great
parents.  Jason and Jane Masters had several chidlren including Thomas Dosser
Masters.  T.D. Masters married Polly Peterson.  T.D. and Polly Masters are my
great-grandparents.  T.D. and Polly Masters had 8 children - 6 daughters and
2 sons.  One of their daughters was Susie Masters who married Stokes Gudger
Lewis.  Stokes and Susie Lewis are my paternal grandparents.  All of the
people that I name here are deceased.

A second e-mail message with more information on names, places and dates will
arrive in your account shortly.

Any advice, books, societies or other recommendations that could help me
further the veracity and detail of this material would be greatly
appreciated.  Thanks for your help - I really value it as a new genealogist!

Sincerely,

Susan Lewis Arday
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