FURTHER NOTES OF OUR RESEARCH

By Baxter Ollis

We are most fortunate to have found Boston's application, which is a revelation of our roots in America. It started from one simple clue from a lady in Illinois that an older Boston had been turned down in his application for some kind of pension. One lady in California started searching in 1969 for this story, spent much time and money and finally gave up about four years ago.

It is most interesting that Boston chose to cast his lot with the Colonies struggle for freedom, in the face of the strong Loyalist and Tory sentiments that were so evident in North and South Carolina. It is more impressive when it is realized that he was a new immigrant from the Mother country and it would have been most natural to have defended her against the Colonies.

It is regrettable that we have no details of Boston's movements after the war. The story reveals an adventurous, restless type of man and we have to rely on historical statements of the area of those times and persons involved to draw conclusions, whether they be true or circumstantial. Horton Cooper's History of Avery County tells of Samuel Bright bringing families from the Piedmont and Yadkin River valleys into the mountains that would include the Orange County area. Then before 1810, Bright disappeared westward across the mountains and was never heard from again. There are other references from various sources to a migration of families to points west of the mountains and we have to conclude that among them was Boston taking his family to an area beyond Knoxville.

The 1830 Census of Roane County, Tennessee lists Boston as between 80-90 years old and Barbary between 70-80 years old. Then four years later they appear in adjoining Morgan County where they died. I recently corresponded with a 90 year old John Ollis from Roane County.

Boston was about 38 years old when his first child Peter was born and 60 when his last child Sarah was born. We see a Peter in Illinois in 1850 which is probably Boston's son and father of the Illinois Ollises. The story of Boston's Tennessee descendants is a blank chapter to us at present, while we pursue further the records of our local lineage.

Our interest is in Boston's 3rd son, John Swansea (Swansey), called "Soonsy" (So-onsy) by Jake Carpenter in his records. Jake recorded that John died in 1871 at 84 years of age, which agrees with his birth date in 1787 as given by his mother. He is buried, according to records, in Pisgah Cemetery and his grave is identified by a little concrete marker No. 10. His wife's grave is either No. 9 or No.11.

While John was alive, he was locally called "Swansey", which some have thought was a Dutch or German name for rank, meaning "three" or "third". I thoroughly researched this angle and it is in error. The thinking was the it was a German name because an early Watauga County History says he was "of German extraction". It has come by word of mouth down the line from Swansea's descendants that his mother Barbary may have been German, which would support the above statement.

It is found that Swansea is the 2nd largest city of Wales, located on the southern coast near the western edge of England. Boston most likely named his son John "Swansea" from this city, perhaps from his native area or his port of embarkation to America. The local name was pronounced with "y" instead of "a" at the end. Swansea served in the War of 1812 and was released after 60 days at Salisbury because of a physical ailment.

The 1850 census of Yancey County shows that John Swansea's son Boston (II) was born in Kentucky and all the others in North Carolina. This means that he was in Kentucky at this time around 1815 but is back in North Carolina when his 2nd son, John Jr. was born in 1819 proven by the fact that his name shows up in the 1820 Burke County Census. Kentucky is one county away from Morgan County, Tennessee.

According to historical records, Boston's account of the war is accurate as to names, places and events of the war. Two points of his account are a bit unclear, one, regarding the identity of General Caswell and the other the account of the surrender at Yorktown. The latter has become the most puzzling and ambiguous account in our history that I have looked into. I have read it thus so.

1. Lord (Charles) Cornwallis, the British General surrendered his sword to General Benjamin Lincoln, who gave it back to him.

2. Lord Cornwallis surrendered to the French General Rochambeau at Yorktown.

3. Lord Cornwallis was "indisposed" and let his aide Ohara surrender the sword.

4. General George Washington was asked if he wanted Cornwallis' sword. He answered, "No I could not take the sword from such an honorable soldier".

Boston's account would be more accurate to the latter account if indeed Washington took the sword, uttered the above words, then handed the sword back to Cornwallis. Boston, so right on other references could have been right here, or, his memory could have been fuzzy as to whether it was General Washington or General Lincoln. All these versions--who is right?

It is appropriate that we look into some of Father Boston's illustrious descendants. His son John Swansea gave him 8 grandchildren. Swansea's oldest son, Boston (II) had 8 children, one of them Martha Jane, whose history is given in Heritage Volume II, pages 208-9. Her story is a treasure of how life was lived back in those long ago days. Another of Boston's (II) children was Joseph Ollis. He married Katy Buchanan and they had 10 children. His 2nd wife was Delzie Mace and they had 11 children. Some of Avery County's finest citizens came from this family. Uncle Joe and Aunt Delzie were known as God-fearing, community leaders and church builders. Sometime after Joseph was born in 1847, his father Boston (II) left North Carolina and moved to Missouri and died there.

Swansea's son John Jr., who later became Reverend John was 6'11" tall and had a booming voice to match his height. He took care of the older Avery's slaves and Avery's cattle and lived on what in now the Lick Log area. He felled two trees and cut notches along their trunks to hold salt for the cattle to lick, hence the name, "Lick Log". He was a soldier and served in the Mexican War around 1846-47. His wife Francis (Fanny) died October 5, 1871, and is buried at Cranberry. He died 20 years later, October 18, 1891, and is buried at the Whitaker Cemetery. Mrs. Pollugus at Newland has a tin type picture of him. It is interesting that after the slaves were freed that Avery let them have land on the south side of Lick Log to build their homes and settle there.

Rev. John Jr., was also known as being the father of two preachers, namely, Rev. (also Squire) William Ollis and Rev. Nelson Ollis, the latter lived mostly in South Carolina after the Civil War. Another brother, John Leonard went to Georgia and became the "Big Daddy" of the Georgia Ollises. He has a granddaughter living in Detroit who sent me a copy each of two letters Rev. William had written to his brother John, one in 1893, the other in 1900. They are treasures and most revealing of the times and events of the area of those years. Politics was a lively issue in 1900 as it is today. In this letter he said, "For the sake of prosperity and sound money and good government, let us pull for that great and good man, Wm. McKinley, and be prosperous and happy". Both letters reveal a man quite educated considering the lack of educational opportunities of that era. Another brother, Joseph M., settled on Henson Creek and is buried there. A Confederate marker identifies his grave.

The youngest son of John Swansea was my great grandfather, James, who was an officer in the Cavalry during the Civil War. He died in service and was buried at Cumberland Gap in 1863. Two English brothers buried him with only a flag wrapped around his body. They later, after the war, built the old English Inn at Spruce Pine. One of them may have been Col. J.M. English, who died March 2, 1893.

James married Eliza Weatherman and they had 6 children. Their oldest son, Boston (a good name in the Ollis line), went to work as a boy to help support the family. He worked on Ade Wiseman's farm for a peck of corn per day. He learned many skills for making tools, shoes, leather, knives, combs, barrels and things that could not be readily bought at stores or found after the Civil War. A comb was made from a cow's horn from which a portion of it was cut and by some process was flattened and then and then teeth was cut by a very fine saw. I still have a small barrel hoop he made from a hickory strip. "Uncle Boss" as he was called was very well known everywhere, even being called upon to settle church disputes. He was one of my heroes, the other one being my other grandfather, W. Isaac Cooper, both men giants in my eyes.

It would be appropriate for mention that in North Carolina Troops 1861-1865, compiled by Louis Manarin, there are listed 11 Ollises that served in the Civil War, six of them deserted their ranks --five re-enlisted, while in service. We must consider that the sentiment ran high in the mountains against the Confederate cause. So many of the young men were forced into the service of the Southern army and they probably saw the ultimate defeat of the South and deserted. I would have done likewise at the time. This sentiment ran very deep in Eastern Tennessee and Western North Carolina and is the reason to this day that this region is politically Republican, even to the extent that one lady of recent years had it etched on her tombstone that she died a good Republican. She is buried at Cranberry.

Old Boston and Barbary would have been proud of the sons and daughters from their ancestry, if they could have looked down the vistas of every generation since his experience at Yorktown. They have been in their places: preachers, business men, church leaders, singers, builders, printers, soldiers, community leaders, craftsmen of every trade. They have made the world a little better place to live. By the same token, recognizing the foible and fickleness of human nature, Boston probably would have seen a few of his lineage that had brought dishonor to his name. Like Shakespeare, in his Welsh dialect, he may have said, "He that filches from me my good name, robs me of that which not enriches him, and makes me poor indeed".

Submitted by Baxter F. Ollis, Midland, Michigan