Keowee courier. [volume] (Pickens Court House, S.C.) 1849-current, 1912-09-11
N HISTORY OF
THE ZACHARY FAMILY
I. Y. Zachary, of Baltimore, Delivered Splendid
Address at Annual Reunion on August 3lst.

many OF us a been ShiDwrecked
ever since. | shall not attempt to
follow up and present such dates and
facts as would constitute a consecu-
tive history Of our honored grand
parents-Col. John A. and Sarah
Hachary-whose sacred ashes lie on
the hill hard by, and of their four
teen children, all of whom have now
passed away, for all such data is al
ready a part Of the associations rec
ords. That they reared fourteen chill
dren until the youngest was grown
without calling a doctor in on ac-
count OF sickness, and that they lived
to sec grandchildren in fourteen fam
lilies, are most remarkable facts: and
each and every one of us here to-day
has reason to felicitate himself that
he is descended from so hardy a race.
1t was not the fad or fashion in
those days to call in a doctor for
every little cold or ailment; when a
doctor was sent for some one was i'll,
If not in eXtremis; or possibly they
thought, as has been said by another,
that doctors pour a lot Of medicine
Of which they know little, for dis
eases Of which they know less, into
patients Of whom they know moth
ing"
Our great-grandfather, VIM. Zach
ary-the son, as understand, of one
of the three shipwrecked English
brothers, who arrived so unceremoni-
ously upon these shores in 1900
was born October 90, 1850, and died
November ID, 1929. at the advanced
age of 70 years. When a young man
he moved from Eastern Virginia to
Surry county, this State, where our
grandfather was born May IS, 1878.
Our grandfather and mother mi
grated from Surry county to this
nameless valley in 1S33---79 years
ago-and long before that historic
colt Cashier" for which the valley
was named, had been folded, lost or
found. They did not come in rubber
tired vehicles or automobiles, rolling
over macadam roads, but, with heroic
f%ortitude, and with axe and Ratchet,
carved their way for many weary
miles through a trackless wilderness
until they reached this favored spot;
and it was here, with the true spirit
and indomitable will Of the brave
pioneer, they made for themselves a
habitation and a homeAtspair only
neighbors being the untutored saw
age and the beasts of the wild.
Among my earliest recollect.ons
was hearing grandfather tell, with
menacing detail, about shooting a
big panther on Chimney Top noun
tain just as he was crouching to
spring upon him. The cat measured
Q feet and 6 inches from tip to tip.
This, to my boyish Imagination, was
the greatest feat ever performed by
man. 1t IA here, in the pure noun
tain air Of this beautiful valley,
where malaria and sickness were un-
known and where they were lords of
all they surveyed. they lived their
temperate, Industrious and happy
life, to which facts, no doubt, may
be largely attributed their great lon
gevity.
Seventy-nine years ago! A glance
at the contemporary history OF their
time and a comparison with the con
ditions Of to-day will show what Il
~stupendous growth we have enjoyed,
both as a nation and a State, within
the lifetime Of the youngest of the
fourteen children-Aunt Matilda
who has just recently passed away.
The United States has grown in popu-
lation from a few millions in 1888 to
an hundred millions in 1912, and our
increase in wealth mounts to many
billions. The State Of North Carolina
has grown from a few thousand in
their day to more than two and one
fourth millions. The rapid strides
we have made in the arts and sci
ences, and in invention and discovery,
have a~stounded the world. Our
grandparents were Of good old Qua
kcr extraction and were among the
best Of the good old-fashioncd peo-
pie. They lived in the day Of the
tallow candle and other kindred CON
~venicnccs. They knew little or moth
ing Of what we call modern improve
ments.
A few months ago the publishers
Of the Popular Mechanics Magazine
sent out 1000 letters to eminent