What became of Gambill's Hollow Church?

Judge Johnson J. Hayes, in his book “The Land of Wilkes”  (1) quotes from the surviving records of (old) Roaring River Baptist Church, which is one of the oldest Baptist churches in Wilkes County.  Judge Hayes wrote that Roaring River Baptist Church:

“voted to let a church be constituted in Gambill’s Hollow, if they were found ready and ripe for it. It was constituted April 10, 1786. This was the beginning of the Baptist Church of South Fork of Roaring River. Gambill’s lived on south prong of Roaring River, as shown by numerous grants to William Gambill.” 

Judge Hayes did not indicate in his book when the last reference to Gambill’s Hollow or South Fork of Roaring River Church occurred in the minutes of (old) Roaring River Church. He did say that:

“it has not been possible to determine what became of South Fork of Roaring River Church. There is some speculation that the present church called Walnut Grove is its successor but we are unable to verify it. However, the subsequent fellowship between Walnut Grove and Old Roaring River does indicate Walnut Grove is the successor to the other.”

So where was Gambill Hollow (South Fork of Roaring River) Church located? We don’t know.

In the 1790 census, there were three Gambill households in Wilkes County. One was Martin Gamble, whose deed records indicate that he lived near the New River in what later became Ashe County. Another household was headed by Jno. Gambell, whose land was located along the Middle Fork of Roaring River. The third household was headed by Mary Gambill, widow of William Gambill, who died before February 1779, and who owned about 900 acres of land, at least some of which was located on the South Fork of Roaring River.  Upon William’s death, his plantation went to his wife during her lifetime, and then to his son, Jesse Gambill, who sold the land to his brother-in-law, Robert Johnson (the one born in 1783 – there have been several Robert Johnsons!)  The land was passed down through the Lewis Johnson family, and a portion of that land is now owned by a Johnson descendant, and located on what is now called Cabin Creek Road in Hays.

No references have been found in any old deeds concerning a church building or church property. It was common practice for churches to meet in the homes of members, rather than construct a separate church building, so perhaps this occurred with Gambill's Hollow Church.

While Gambill's Hollow Church (or South Fork of Roaring River Church) has disappeared over time, there is a creek called Gambill Creek, so named since the land containing this creek was purchased by William Gambill in February 1817.  (2)   However, the church at Gambill's Hollow predates the purchase of this particular piece of land by about thirty years. So it makes the location of the church unlikely to have been located on Gambill Creek or along Gambill Creek Road.

Gambill's Hollow (South Fork of Roaring River) Church was likely located on what is now called Cabin Creek Road, where an early Gambill settler, William Gambill, did indeed own land along the South Fork of Roaring River. The church  was almost certainly attended by Gambills and others living in the area.  While land ownership of William Gambill and his widow, Mary Gambill, can be traced through deeds, there is no record of a separate church property. And apart from references such as (old) Roaring River Baptist Church minutes, there are no surviving minutes from Gambill's Hollow (South Fork of Roaring River) Church to help identify the location of this early church.

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(1) Johnson J. Hayes, The Land of Wilkes (Wilkesboro, North Carolina: Wilkes County Historical Society, 1962. Reprint, Wilkes Heritage Museum, 2010)  

(2)  Wilkes County, NC,  Deed Book 24, Page 45, Sheriff's Sale of George Lewis land to William Gambill, February 4, 1817; located at Wilkes County Courthouse, Wilkesboro, NC

The Picture Taken at Cleghorn Baptist Church with all those Blevinses

The spouse of a descendant of John Andrew Blevins has provided the names of some of the people in the picture with Calloway Blevins.  The group includes Calloway, his mother, and five of his brothers. And no doubt a lot of their extended families!

Susan (or Susanna) Joines Blevins

Susan Joines Blevins was the daughter of Thomas Joines and Lydia Hoppers Joines. Susan (or Susanna or Susannah) was born in northwest North Carolina on March 5, 1826 and died July 6, 1918 in Virginia.

Susan married Andrew Franklin Blevins and was the mother of 10 children who survived to adulthood. Two more children evidently died young, but we know about them because Susan indicated on the 1910 census that she was the mother of 12 children.

Of the ten children who grew to adulthood, three were daughters and seven were sons. Several of those sons became ministers - perhaps four, maybe as many as six.

Susan outlived her husband by more than twenty years, and lived in Washington County, Virginia, with her son, Daniel Smith Blevins, in 1900. By 1910, she was living in Marion, Virginia (Smyth County) with her son, Esquire (Squire) Blevins.  Both of those sons have been identified as ministers.

This picture was found online; I am not certain who owns the original. Susan is seated with a dark scarf on her head. The identities of the other people are not known. Likely this picture was made while she was living with one of her sons, either Smith or Squire  (**Correction**) with her daughter, Rhoda Blevins Caudill, in Smyth County, Virginia (according to the distant cousin who sent me this picture).

Susan Joines Blevins  (click to enlarge)

Susan (Susannah) Joines Blevins is buried in the Kell Cemetery in Smyth County, Virginia, where several of her children are also buried.

Susan Joines Blevins is my father-in-law's great-great-grandmother.

Gone a' Preaching

I received a copy of this picture from one of my husband's cousins, and I'm not certain who owns the original photo.  We were told that the picture was made in Smyth County, Virginia, when Rev. Calloway Blevins went to preach a revival at the church of one of his brothers, who was also a minister.

In Smyth County, Virginia  (click to enlarge)

Callie is near the center of the photo, with a long, full, white beard. And his mother, Susan Joines Blevins, is seated beside him with a dark scarf on her head.

The man seated on the other side of Callie is "probably" his brother, at whose church he had gone to preach. 

However, he had several brothers who were ministers. In the Heritage of Wilkes County, Volume 2, descendant Ursula Blevins Proffit stated that Calloway and his three brothers, Ezekiel, John and Linville, were all Baptist ministers.The History of the Stone Mountain Baptist Association states that three of his brothers, John, Ezekiel and Smithe, were "ministers who served many churches in the Cleghorn Valley of Virginia."

According to census data, Calloway had six brothers: John Andrew, Ezekiel, Linville, Squire, William Talmadge and Smith. Two of those brothers are identified in census data as ministers: Ezekiel and Squire.

Thus, reports and records indicate that Callie's minister-brothers were, variously, John, Ezekiel, Smith, Linville and Squire. This totals five brothers who were ministers, instead of three, as various reports state...  So, in the Smyth County photograph above, we were told that the man seated beside Callie was "probably" his brother, at whose church he had gone to preach. But he apparently had several brothers who were preachers, so we have no idea which brother this might be.

I would love to know the identities of any of the other people in this photograph. Please contact me if you can identify any of these folks.


UPDATE:  The wife of one of John Andrew Blevins's descendants contacted me with the following information:

The man in the middle of the picture with the white hair and beard is Calloway Blevins. Immediately behind and to the right of him is his brother Squire Blevins. Sitting beside Calloway is his mother Susannah. Beside her is another brother, John Andrew. Between John and Susannah is Ezekiel. To the left of Calloway is Linville. The man between Linville and Calloway is Daniel Smith Blevins. The seventh brother was in North Carolina when the picture was taken. This photo taken in 1912 was all of the Blevinses who attended a revival at the Cleghorn Baptist Church near Chilhowie. Calloway had come up from North Carolina to preach at the revival.

Thanks, Brenda!

Rev. Calloway Blevins

Calloway C. Blevins was born January 26, 1847 in the Whitehead community of Ashe County, North Carolina. (Alleghany was formed from Ashe in 1859, and Whitehead is now located in Alleghany County. This explains why sometimes his birthplace is given as Ashe and sometimes as Alleghany.)

Calloway was the son of Andrew F. Blevins and his wife, Susan Joines Blevins, the oldest child in a large family.

Rev. Calloway Blevins  (click to enlarge)

Calloway, also know as "Callie", married Lucinda Caudill, the daughter of Stephen Caudill and Huldah Adams in 1865.  Callie and Lucinda had eleven children together.  Following Lucinda's death in 1911, Callie married a second time to Fannie Emaline Adams, who was a widow.

Rev. Calloway Blevins was a well-known Baptist minister who preached in many churches in Wilkes, Ashe and Alleghany Counties in northwest North Carolina and beyond. He participated in the organization of many churches in the area, and was instrumental in forming the Stone Mountain Baptist Association in Wilkes County, North Carolina, in 1897.  The History of the Stone Mountain Baptist Association, 1897-1976, compiled by the Associational Historical Committee, with Paul W. Gregory as chairman, included this statement:

from History of the Stone Mountain Baptist Association   (click to enlarge)

An entry in the Heritage of Wilkes County, Volume 2, written by descendant Ursula Blevins Profitt, includes this information:

Written by descendant Ursula Blevins Proffit  (click to enlarge)

This undated newspaper clipping, in the possession of a descendant, refers to Rev. Blevins' service as Moderator of the Stone Mountain Baptist Association.

Callie and Lucinda  (click to enlarge)

The following obituary was published in a local newspaper following the death of Calloway Blevins on August 7, 1924:

Obituary  (click to enlarge)

Rev. Calloway Blevins and his wife, Lucinda Caudill Blevins, are buried in the church cemetery of Walnut Grove Baptist Church in Hays, North Carolina. Their joint marker is located immediately behind the church sanctuary.

Rev. C. Blevins  (click to enlarge)

Lucinda Blevins  (click to enlarge)

This map shows the location of Calloway and Lucinda's homeplace in the Walnut Grove community (as identified by his great-grandson, my father-in-law) as well as the location of Walnut Grove Baptist Church, where Callie and Lucinda are buried.

Map from Google Earth  (click to enlarge)

Rev. Calloway Blevins was my father-in-law's great-grandfather. Callie Blevins died six years before my father-in-law was born.

Isaac Carter

Isaac Carter may be the father of Evaline Carter Blevins. Her mother may be Sarah Hurt. Thus far, there is not enough information to confirm the identity of Evaline's parents.

A North Carolina marriage bond for Isaack Carter and Sarah Hurt, was filed August 28, 1829 in Surry County, North Carolina.

Twenty-one years later, at the time of the 1850 census in Surry County, a household  headed by Isaac Carter, age 43, included Sally Carter, 44; "Elvoline" Carter, 17; Joshua, age 15 [his name is difficult to read, it could be something else]; Mary Carter, 14; Robert Carter, 13; Rebecca Carter, 11; and Joel James Carter, 5. All family members were born in North Carolina.


Click to enlarge

In 1860, it appears that the same family was living in Ashe County in the area served by the Chestnut Hill post office.  The family included  Isaac, 58; Sarah Carter, 58; Eveline Carter, 28; Mary Carter, 25; Columbus Carter, 23; Matilda Carter, 21; and Joel Carter, 16.  All family members were born in North Carolina.

Click to enlarge

Is this the same family?  Sally was a common nickname for Sarah. Ages for Isaac and Sarah/Sally changed by 15 years in the decade between these two censuses, which is not too unusual. Evaline, Mary and Joel's ages are consistent (all aging 11 years in a decade.)  Joshua, if that is his correct name, had left the household by 1860.  Columbus and Matilda are ten years older than Robert and Rebecca. They could be the same two people, using either a first name or a middle name.

If they are different families, the composition of the families are similar.

Ages for Evaline Carter are consistent between the 1850 and 1860 censuses, and between the 1870 and 1880 censuses following her marriage (ages 17, 28, 38, and 48). The other Evaline Carter Blevins was about 15 years younger (age 33 in 1880) and listed a birthplace of Virginia for herself and her parents.

The 1880 Federal Mortality Schedule listed persons who died during the year ending May 31, 1880, in Jefferson Township, Ashe County, North Carolina. This schedule included an elderly man named Isaac Carter, age 70, listed as married, rather than widowed. He was born in North Carolina, as were his parents. He was a farmer, but died in the Ashe County Poor House in April 1880 of Bright's Disease of the Kidney. Furthermore, a box at the bottom of the page indicated where the families of the deceased lived if they were not living in Ashe County on June 1, 1880. Isaac Carter's family was living in Wilkes County, NC, on that date.



Click to enlarge

There are a large number of Carters in Wilkes County in 1880, particularly in Edwards township. This could be Isaac Carter, Evaline's father, or another individual named Isaac Carter.

Or Evaline Carter may not have been the daughter of Isaac Carter, after all.



Another Evaline Carter Blevins

Multiple online family trees state that Evalin Carter married Bartlett Blevins in December 1865. However, this was definitely a different Evaline Carter, not a previous marriage for the Evaline Carter who married John Blevins and was the mother of William, John Floyd and Millard Monroe Blevins.

In 1880, John Blevins and wife Evaline (age 48) were living in the Walnut Grove township of Wilkes County, North Carolina with their three young sons and John's handicapped son from his previous marriage.

In 1880, Bartlett Blevins and wife Evaline (age 33) were living in the Helton community of Ashe County, North Carolina with their five children (including 10-year-old Samantha, whose information helped sort out this small puzzle, and whose 1942 death certificate listed her parents as Bartie Blevins and Evalin Blevins.)

Identifying another Evaline Carter eliminates the possibility of a prior marriage to Bartlett Blevins before marrying John Blevins.  They were two different women of the same name, in the same county, but with about 15 years age difference and married to different men.

Evaline Carter Blevins

Evaline Blevins is buried at Walnut Grove Baptist Church in Hays, NC. Her tombstone provides a birthdate of October 27, 1832, and a death date of June 23, 1914.

(click to enlarge)

Evaline is buried beside her daughter-in-law, Katherine, with Evaline's son Millard on the other side of Katherine. 

Evaline, whose name is sometimes spelled variously as Evoline (such as her tombstone) or Eveline, was married to John S. Blevins and the mother of three sons, William, John Floyd and Millard Monroe Blevins.

No information has been found about the marriage of John and Evaline among North Carolina Marriage Records. New River Notes, a web site of historical and genealogical resources for the Upper New River Valley of North Carolina and Virginia, provides the only information obtained thus far concerning the marriage of John Blevins and Evaline Carter. Their marriage date is listed as October 15, 1869, and the source is "other material, pension applications, family Bibles, etc."

Evaline appears to be the daughter of Isaac Carter and wife Sarah, who were in Ashe County in 1860, and in Surry County in 1850.

Multiple online family trees state that Evalin Carter married Bartlett Blevins in December 1865. However, this was definitely a different Evalin Carter, not a previous marriage for Evaline.

Evaline was the second wife of John S. Blevins, a man about thirty years her senior. John was first married to Nancy Pruitt, with whom he had seven children, including five daughters and two sons. One of those sons, Ralph, was listed on the 1870 census as "insane" and the 1880 census as "idiotic" and "insane".  As painful as we find that terminology today, the Supplemental Schedules for the Defective, Dependent and Delinquent Classes of the 1880 census provide the information that Ralph had typhus fever at the age of four.

How old was Evaline's husband? He was listed as age 65 in 1870, and 84 in 1880, a difference of 19 years in a decade. The 1850 and 1860 census suggests a birthdate of 1800-1801, indicating that he was several years older than stated in 1870, and several years younger than stated in 1880. 

Evaline's first child was born in August of 1870. The date of the 1870 census was July, with John Blevins, age 65; Evaline Blevins, age 38; and Ralph, age 32. Evaline must have been about seven months pregnant when the census-taker visited.

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By the 1880 census, John, age 84; his wife "Elvira",  age 48; and John's four sons were living in the household - Ralph, age 42; William, age 9; John F., age 7; and Millard M., age 5. (Based upon a birthdate of around 1800, John was 65, 67, and 70 when his last three sons were born.)

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In February 1882, John Blevins wrote a will naming his wife Evaline as executrix. He left his real estate and personal property to Evaline for her lifetime, and after her death, to his three infant children, William, John and Millard. (In legal terms, "infants" means minor children.) He stated that no part of his estate should go to his children with his first wife whose name was Nancy, for the reason that he had already given them as much of his property and estate as he intended them to have.

(click to enlarge)

No mention was made about provisions for Ralph. North Carolina did not keep death records until 1909, and no death record has been found for Ralph. No tombstone, either.

In May 1891, the will of John Blevins was submitted for probate. At age 58, Evaline was a widow. The burial location of John Blevins is unknown. He died before Walnut Grove Baptist Church was built in its current location, and is not buried with his second wife, Evaline. The burial location is not known for his first wife, Nancy, so he may be buried beside her.

With no extant 1890 census, in 1900 Evaline was living with her son Millard and his wife Katherine (and beside whom she is buried.) Evaline has not been located in the 1910 census, although her three boys are listed as living side by side. If her tombstone gives the correct date for her death, she was 81 at her death.

Evaline Carter Blevins was the mother of "Granddaddy John", who was my mother-in-law's grandfather.