John Earle
Also Known As: "Colonel John Earle"
Birthdate: June 5, 1737
Birthplace: Westmoreland Co., Virginia
Death: Died November 5, 1804 in Earle's Fort, Rutherford Co., North Carolina
About Colonel John Earle
A Patriot of the American Revolution for NORTH CAROLINA - SOUTH CAROLINA with the rank of CAPTAIN. DAR Ancestor # A035426
John and Thomasine Prince Earle, took 3 Hannon children to raise that were born to: William Hannon and Sarah Prince Hannon. The story goes that on a spring morning in May 1776, Edwin Hannon and 7 year old Winnie had been left at home to look after 3 year old John and baby William Jr., while several older children helped their father plant dorn in a nearby field. Suddenly there appeared a band of Cherokee Indians, and before anyone could react to escape, William Hannon and the children with him were all killed with tomahawks, scalped and left dying in the field. The the Indians burned the Hannon home.
When Edwin and Winnie heard the whoops of the Indians and the cries of their victims, they quickly fled the house with Winnie carrying baby William and hiding in a nearby canebrake. Edwin carried John, but when he found the Indians pursuing him, he was forced to drop the 3 year old and run for cover under the river bank. John became the final victim of the Hannon Massacre. After all the Indians had gone, Edwin and Winnie, taking turns carrying the baby, made their way down the Pacolet River to the home of John Earle, who took them in and reared them. Both Edwin and William then married daughters of John Earle.
John Earle was the son of Major Samuel Earle III and his wife Anna Sorrell Earle. He was born in Virginia the fourth child and third son growing up in Frederick, Virginia. John married Thomasine Prince about 1765 in either Virginia or South Carolina. In later years their son, John Earle, wrote, "My father having married and removed to South Carolina before I was born...",and that John was the first child of John and Thomasine we believe that the five children by their union were born in South Carolina.
John was a soldier in the War of the American Revolution. John lost his first wife in 1781 and he married second Rebecca Berry the widow Mrs Wood. These notes for John are from The Earles and The Birnies, by John E. Birnie, 1974. which add, John died on the 24th of November 1815. And, it is added he was buried in Landrum Cemetery.
http://www.geni.com/people/Colonel-John-Earle/4084787303920073375
