A History of Yancey County
1914

Yancey County was formed in 1833. It was cut off from Burke and Buncombe. Three counties have since been partly formed out of Yancey. They are: Watauga in 1849; Madison in 1851; and Mitchell in 1861. Yancey County is now bounded on the north by Mitchell County and the State of Tennessee; on the east by Mitchell and McDowell counties; on the south by McDowell and Madison; on the west by Madison and Buncombe counties and the Tennessee line. Mt. Mitchell, the highest mountain in the eastern half of North America, is in Yancey County. It was named for Dr. Elisha Mitchell, a teacher in the University, who explored it. Mt. Mitchell is a part of the Black Mountains which extend partly across this county. Yancey County contains eighteen mountain peaks that rise above 6,300 feet. These mountains are very fertile and are covered with great forests of gigantic trees. Cherry trees in Yancey often grow four feet, the walnut eight feet, and the poplar ten feet in diameter.

The county was named for Bartlett Yancey, a native of Caswell County. He was educated at the University of North Carolina, studied law, and became eminent in his profession. He was twice a member of the Congress of the United States, and eight times a member of the senate of North Carolina. He was one of the first men in the State to favor public schools for all the people.

The county seat of Yancey is Burnsville, named in honor of Capt. Otway Burns, of Beaufort, N. C. He won fame in the war of 1812 against England. With his vessel, the "Snap-Dragon," he sailed up and down the Atlantic coast, capturing many English vessels and destroying the British trade. He had many wild adventures, and his name became a terror to British merchants. Finally the English government sent a war vessel, called the "Leopard,'' to capture Captain Burns.

The "Leopard" succeeded in capturing the "Snap-Dragon" while Captain Burns was on shore sick. After the war he was frequently a member of the legislature. A monument to his memory was recently erected at Burnsville.

Yancey has an approximate area of 193,000 acres, with an average assessed value of $2.60 per acre. Over 40 per cent of the land is held in large tracts of 1,000 acres or more in extent. These holdings are valued chiefly for their timber and are held principally as investments.

The topography is generally rough and the average elevation is high. The Black Mountain range in the southern portion of the county contains many peaks more than 6,000 feet high, and Mount Mitchell, the highest peak east of the Rockies, rises to an elevation of 6,711 feet above sea level. In the northern and western sections of the county the ridges have an average elevation of about 4,000 feet above sea level, Bald Mountain rising to 5,500 feet.

Four considerable streams, South Toe and Caney rivers, and Jacks and Crabtree creeks, rise within the county, and flowing in a northerly direction empty into Toe River, which forms the northern boundary of the county.


Mrs. Nancy Anderson Gardner
There are many old people in these mountains, but Mrs. Nancy Gardner of Burnsville was 98 the 15th of January, 1913. She was in full possession of all her faculties, and in 1912 furnished for this history a list of names of the first settlers of Yancey County. Her husband's father was Thomas Gardner, who was born in Virginia in 1793, and died in Yancey in 1853. He settled on Cane river when a boy. Her father was W. M. Anderson and her mother Patty Elkins, who was born in Tennessee in 1790. Her parents were married in 1809. James Anderson was from Ireland and served in Virginia with the Americans during the Revolutionary War, after which he moved (1870), first to Surry, and then to Little Ivy, where D. W. Angel now lives and where Mrs. Gardner was born, January 15, 1815. Her husband was William Gardner, to whom she was married March 22, 1832. Thomas Dillard, father of the wife of Robert Love, was her mother’s uncle. She died early in 1913.

First Settlers of Burnsville
Mrs. Gardner gave the following as the first settlers of Burnsville:
John L. Williams and his sons Edward and Joshua; Dr. Job, Dr. John Yancey, Abner Jarvis, Dr. Jacob Stanley, Samuel Flemming, Gen. John W. McElroy, James Greenlee, John W. Garland, "Knock" Boone, Amos Ray, W. M. Westall, J. Bacchus Smith, Joseph Shepard, Adam Broyles, Mitchell Broyles, W. M. Lewis, John Woodfin, James Anderson, Milton P. Penland, Jack Stewart and John Bailey.

First Settlers of Yancey
Among them Mrs. Gardner mentioned the following, giving also the names of their wives: Henry Roland, Berry Hensley, Ed. and James McMahan, Thomas Ray, Edward Wilson, Jacob Phipps, Jerry Boone, Hiram Ray, John Bailey, John Griffith, Joseph Shepard, Strowbridge Young, James Proffitt, James Greenlee, Blake Piercy, Thomas Briggs, John McElroy, Wm. Angel, James Evans, W. M. Angelin, John Allen, Rev. Samuel Byrd.

Interesting Facts about Old Times
Mrs. Gardner's grandfather, James Anderson, was said to be the first Methodist west of the Blue Ridge. She remembered Parson Brownlow and the "lie bill" suit and the sale of his bridle, saddle and horse; also that William Angel lived near the present site of Burnsville but moved to Georgia, carrying his family and "One hundred geese, which they drove." She gave not only the names of the wives of the first settlers, but their children, and where the first settlers lived. Also, that John Bailey married Hiram Ray's daughter and donated the land for the town of Burnsville; that Joseph Shepard married Betsy Horton, the grandparents of the late Judge J. S. Adams; that Thomas Ray married Ivey Hensley and lived in Cane river valley; that Jacob Phipps married Nancy Hampton, and lived four miles west of Burnsville; that Edward Wilson married Polly Gilbert and lived on Cane river; that Jerry Boone was a noted blacksmith and married Sallie McMahan. They lived where Burnsville now stands; also that Hiram Ray married a Miss Cox and was a wealthy and influential man. Also that Zepheniah Horton lived one mile west of Burnsville, but none of his descendants now live in Yancey, though some live in Buncombe and the State of Kansas; that Henry Roland married Sallie Robinson and lived on Cane river; that Berry Hensley married Betsy Littleton, among whose descendants were B. S., W., and Jas. B. Hensley. Edward and James McMahan were the first settlers of Pensacola, and Strowbridge Young married Patty Wilson. She spoke of James Proffitt as having lived on Bald creek, and of his direct descendants, but did not give the name of his wife. She also spoke of James Greenlee as having married Polly Poteet and living on Cane River, but having had no children; Blake Piercy who married Fanny Turner, and lived on Indian creek, Thomas Briggs who married Jane Wilson and lived on Bald creek, John McElroy who married Miss Jamison and lived on Bald creek, James Evans who married a Miss Bailey and lived on Jack's creek, W. M. Angelin who married Miss Betsy Austin and lived on Banks creek, John Allen who married Molly Turner, and the Rev. Samuel Byrd who married a Miss Briggs and lived in the northern part of the county, naming many of his descendants.

Fine River Bottoms
Those splendid lands, extending from the mouth of Prices creek up Cane River to within two or three miles of Burnsville, were in possession of white people as early as 1787, and were originally granted to John McKnitt Alexander and Wm. Sharp. The 640-acre tract at the mouth of Bald and Prices creeks is owned by descendants of Thomas L. Ray, who was among the first settlers of Yancey County. The Creed Young place, originally the John Griffith farm, on Crabtree, about two miles from Burnsville, is another fine farm. Milton P. Penland was another early settler, and owned valuable land near Burnsville. He was a man of influence and ability.

Celo or Bolen's Pyramid
What is known on government maps as Celo Peak used to be called Bolen's Pyramid; but why either name should have been given to this northern most peak of the Blacks is not known, though, as there is a Bolen's creek between it and Burnsville, it is probable that a man of that name once lived near what is now called Athlone.


Source: Western North Carolina A History From 1730 to 1913, By John Preston Arthur, Published by Edward Yancey Chapter of the Daughters of the American Revolution, of Yanceyville, N. C., 1914