Source:Stansberry, Thomas Garrison. Short Record and Autobiography of the Garrison Family of North Carolina and Their Descendants

 This is an exact copy of the original RECORD AND AUTOBIOGRAPHY of the GARRISON FAMILY of NORTH CAROLINA and THEIR DESCENDANTS by Thomas Garrison Stansberry.  The original document is in the possession of Verna Noble Woodman, Jerseyville, Illinois. Copied

July, 1961. by I. Pedicord.

Retyped 7/28/89 Jim Garrison _________________________________________________________________

Thomas Garrison and Comfort Roberts Garrison, his wife, and four children William, Absolom, Solomon, and Thomas emigrated to North Carolina, Buncomb County, from Virginia, Patrick Henry County, about the year A.D. 1764. They had five children born to them after coming to North Carolina, James, Elizabeth, Mary, Charity, and Sarah. Making in all nine children, five sons and four daughters. Thomas Garrison and his wife, Comfort Roberts Garrison were born in or near Baltimore, Maryland, and were both of Angle Saxon origin. Their parents were both from England, Europe. Mr. Garrison was a Revolutionary War soldier under General Marion and served until the end of that war, but died shortly after peace was made with an attack of cramp collic, leaving a large family of children and his widow to mourn his loss and struggle to make a living in a new and devastated country. He lived and died on his farm, which was situated on Flat Creek eight or nine miles west of Asheville, the present county seat of Buncomb County, North Carolina. This farm has been in the continuous possession of his DESCENDANTS since his death, with the exception of about one or two years. After his death, his widow occupied it for some years. When Absolom married, he got possession of the farm and when he left for Illinois, he sold it all to his mother and before her death she willed it to him (Absolom of Illinois). He then sold it to James M. Alexander, then Mr. Alexander sold it to William C. Garrison and he and his family has been possessed of it ever since, up to the present time. It now belongs to his son T.M. Garrison and it is hoped that it will be owned by his DESCENDANTS until they become extinct. Five of Mr. Garrison's children were born on this farm and most of his children were reared on it. Some of Absolom Garrison's (his son) children were born and partly reared on it. I was born on it and all of William C Garrison's children were born on it. Mr. Thomas Garrison died on it and his widow died on it. William C Garrison and his widow died on it. While I am giving the incidences connected with this noted little tract of land and home of so many of the Garrisons, I will give one of Revolutionary times. Thomas Garrison, while he was soldier under general Marion, was taken prisoner by the English troops and in order to exhort from him the whereabouts as to location of Marion's troops they hanged Mr. Garrison to a sarvis or May cherry tree that stood in his yard plat until life was near extinct three times, but he proved invulnerable to the last and they left him thinking him dead. When I left that state in 1837 this same tree was yet standing in the yard and I hope it is yet standing as a monument of Revolutionary integrity and fidelity to the cause of American independence. Some years after Thomas Garrison died his widow, Comfort Garrison, married a second time a man by the name of Crook, but it did not prove to be a happy union and they separated, he left the country and has not been heard of since to my knowledge at least. She and some of her children continued to cultivate and live on this old farm, up to the marriage of her youngest child. She then continued to reside on it and hired it cultivated until her death, which took place about the year 1830. She was seventy seven years of age at her death. She was a member of the M.E. Church and my father and mother built a cabin at the Camp Ground near what is now Weaverville for her accommodation, and camped with her as long as she lived. She was a very devout christian woman and when she died I was a lad of ten years of age and my father and mother were living with her at her death. She was the first corpse I had ever seen. She died very peacefully, she went to bed on Saturday night as well as she usually been, and no one knew what time she died in the night. Next morning she was in the position she always assumed when she slept but was rigid. She certainly passed away peacefully as she slept and never experienced the common pangs of death. Her children were all married and had left the state, but two, her eldest William, and Sarah the youngest, they were living there in the neighborhood of their mother's and father's adoption. ______________

Captain William Garrison, Thomas Garrison's and Comfort Garrison's eldest child, married Miss Elizabeth Dickerson of Virginia. They had five sons and three daughters, Jefferson Griffe-Dickerson Garrison and Thomas Garrison, their eldest, were twins and so much alike that no person could tell or distinguish one from the other except their mother, and she could only do so by a mole on one of their necks. Jefferson G.D. Garrison married Miss Matilda Weaver, a daughter of John Weaver of Buncombe County, North Carolina. She was of German descent. He settled on a farm on Flat Creek four or five miles above its confluence with the French Broad River near a place now known as Alexander and about twelve miles from Asheville -- to the north west of that city. He was a very prosperous farmer and was the only one of his father's family that was the owner of slaves. He lived and died on this farm. He and his esteemable wife had ten children born to them and have one hundred fifty six lineal DESCENDANTS. Jane, his eldest, married Mr. F. Alexander of Swananoa and has no children and lives in the state of Georgia. Caroline married John A. Carter, has nine children and 46 grandchildren. Susan married B.J. Carter, and has eight children and 29 grandchildren and one great grandchild. Thomas Jefferson married Miss Susan E. Carter and has five children, three sons and two daughters, and ten grandchildren. He was in the Confederate Army and received a wound in his wrist while in action and has been an invalid ever since. His post office address is Democrat, North Carolina. Harriet married Noah Broiles, has two sons. Mr. Broiles died and she married a second man by the name of Smith, post office Fulton, North Carolina. William C. married Miss Eliza White and has six daughters, two sons, and one grandchild. John W. married Ellen McDowel and has two children, lives on his father's old farm. Alexander is his post office. Margaret A. married Mr. John B. Nelson. They have three sons and four daughters and three grandchildren. She has been dead fifteen years. Jacob M. was killed, not married. He was killed in the Confederate Army at the Battle of Marietta, Georgia. He belonged to the 60 North Carolina Volunteers. James B. married Miss Fanny Pickens, they have six sons and two daughters all at home. He lives on a part of his father's old homestead. This ends the record of J.G.D. Garrison's family. Thomas Garrison, the twin brother of Jefferson G. D. Garrison was a comershal (commercial) man and lived the most of his time during my acquaintance with him in Georgia. After he was considerably advanced in years he married a lady of that state. I never had the pleasure of seeing her but once and have forgotten her maiden name. I learned from some of his connections that he emigrated to the State of Tennessee many years ago and he and wife are both dead, but that they left some children who perhaps are there yet. Their address not known to the writer. This ends the record of Thomas Garrison. _____________________

Catherine Garrison, the fourth child of Captain William Garrison, married Mr. David Merrell. She had three children and died. Mr. Merrell then married Elizabeth Garrison, her sister, and fifth child of Captain William Garrison. Mr. Merrell then emigrated to Lewis County, Missouri about the year 1834 or 1835. He had one child, the fruit of his last marriage, then emigrated to the Republic of Texas, Dallas County. Cedar Bluff was his post office. I have not had any intelligence from him or his hildren for fifteen or twenty years. One of his sons name was Dolphas W., the other was Robert and the others I do not remember their names. I wrote a letter to Dolphas W. or any of David Merrel's children this summer and the letter was returned to me not called for. I suppose that Mr. Merrell and wife are both dead, but perhaps their children are somewhere in Texas. This ends the record of Captain Garrison's third or fourth and fifth child. ______________

Absolom Garrison, the sixth child of Captain William Garrison, married Miss Litteral of Buncombe County, North Carolina. The had four or five children, and about thirty years ago he emigrated to Newport, east Tennessee and was engaged in the hotel business in that city, but he and his wife are both dead, but his children are living about there yet. I do not now remember their names. This ends the record of the sixth child of Captain William Garrison. ______________

James Wilburn Garrison, the seventh child of Captain William Garrison, was in the mercantile business near or at the Hot Springs in North Carolina when I left that state in 1837. He sold out there in 1837 and came to Lewis County, Missouri. Shortly after he sold he stopped a short time with his brother-in-law, Mr. David Merrell, and then went to Dubuque in the then territory of Iowa and was engaged in the lead mining, business until 1853. He married while there, the lady he married I never had the pleasure of her acquaintance, and her maiden name I have forgotten. In 1853 he left Dubuque, Iowa and went to Mt. Vernon, Missouri. He left there in a few years and went to Texas, but did not stay there but one or two years. He then came back to the lead mines in Newton County, Missouri. He lost his wife about fifteen years since. He then made his home with Mrs. Rant, a widowed daughter, in the town of Galena, Kansas and died on the 26th day of October 1892. He had five children, two sons and three daughters. Catherine, his eldest, married a Mr. Rant, he has been dead ten years. Her post office is Galena, Kansas. Miss Ranie Garrison married a Mr. Holman, his address is Granby, Missouri. Miss Maria G. Garrison married Rev. L. W. Pearce, a M.E. South Minister, and they have one child, Walter, 17 years old, he is publishing a weekly paper in Otterville, Missouri in connection with Mr. Holman, one of his cousins. He is a very promising young man, and if he lives, will make his mark in this world. His mother is a cultured christian lady and is a fine worker in her church. Her husband, Rev. Mr. Pearce, was a soldier in the Confederate Army during the war, but is now a fine preacher and is very popular with all denominations of Christians. I made them a visit at Otterville in November 1893. Mrs. Pearce is all of James W. Garrison's family I have seen, but if she is a fair representation of his children we have reason to be proud of them. Thomas Garrison lives near Galena, Kansas. John Garrison lives in the Indian Territory, his post office not known. Mr. James Wilburn Garrison was a sympathizer with the Confederate cause in the South and was very much harassed by the Federal authorities both in person and property. He lost all his property, the toil of years, which it thought by those best acquainted with him to have shortened his days on earth very much. This ends the record of James Wilburn Garrison, seventh child of Captain William Garrison. ______________

William Clayburn Garrison, the third child of Captain William Garrison, married Miss Minerva Wilson of Buncomb county North Carolina. He was a carpenter and joiner by trade, but was a farmer in connection with his trade. After his marriage he purchased from James M. Alexander the old homestead of his grandfather, Thomas Garrison of Revolution fame. He had four sons and three daughters. Namely: William J.M. married Miss Mirah Roberts, post office Stocksville, North Carolina. J.W. Garrison married Miss Martha Anderson, post office Oakland, Oregon. Mary Garrison, yet single, post office Stocksville, North Carolina. Margaret Garrison married a Mr. Malew, post office Jonesboro, Arkansas. T.M. Garrison married a Miss Chambers. He now lives on the old Thomas Garrison homestead, post office Weaversville, North Carolina. Arra Garrison married John Weaver, he died and left one child and she married David Miles Post, Barnard, North Carolina. R.M. Garrison was in the Confederate Army and was killed at the Battle of Gettysburg, Pennsylvania in 1863. William Clayburn and his wife were both members of the M.E. Church South, and were devoted christian workers. He died soon after the close of the war with South. He had three sons in the Confederate Army. One was killed, Robert. T. M., William are yet living. His wife Minerva Garrison survived him about ten years She died on the old homestead. This ends the record of William Clayburn Garrison. ______________

Marissa (Narcissa) Garrison, the eighth and youngest child of Captain William Garrison, married Mr. John D. Edwards, February 1827. They had five children -- four sons and one daughter. Three sons are dead. M.A. Edwards and sister are yet living. The sister's name not known to me. Marissa and Mr. Edwards lived near Democrat on Big Ivy, Buncomb county, North Carolina. She was a weakly woman and never had good health during her married life and was almost helpless for ten years of the last part of her life. She died in her 77th year. She died July 31, 1892. Mr. Edwards followed her in 1893, aged 81 years. His son, M.A. Edwards, is married, has seven children and is 41 years of age. He was the main stay and support of his afflicted father and mother for many years. His post office is Democrat, North Carolina. This ends the record of Captain William Garrison's family and their descendants to date. _______________

Absolom Garrison, the second child of Thomas Garrison (and Comfort Garrison) our grandsire, was born in the State of Virginia, & emigrated to North Carolina with his parents. He married Miss Lucy Huff, she was of Irish descent. He lived on his father's old homestead a few years after his father died. He then sold to his mother his interest in the lands and emigrated to Illinois about 1810 and settled in White county in southern Illinois. He was a farmer and stock raiser. In 1852 he divided his property among his children. He gave his farm to his youngest child, Edward Garrison, and he was to maintain his father and mother the remainder of their days. Absolom Garrison was on a visit to his daughter Mahala Caroline Fuller, in 1853 and while he was there he sickened and died at her home in the western part of the State of Illinois, about 150 miles from his home. His widow, Lucy Huff Garrison, continued to live with Edward, their son, until his death, and then she continued to live with his widow for several years after his death and died. She has been dead about 28 years (ca 1866). Absolom Garrison and Lucy Huff Garrison, his wife, had three sons and six daughters born to them. Comfort Garrison married Dr. Johnson of Enfield, Illinois. They had five or six children, I do not remember their names, except one, W.H. Johnson, who is a Lawyer by profession and lives at Lancaster, Illinois. I think there were two other sons. They had two daughters, the eldest married Dr. Baker and lives at Enfield, Illinois, the other married Dr. McClain and lives in Enfield. Illinois. I believe two of their sons were in the Federal Army during the rebellion of the South. Comfort and Mr. Johnson have been dead for many years. Mary Garrison married John Fuller, a M.E. local Minister. They had, to the best of my recollection, three sons and two daughters. Lucy married James Thompson, a blacksmith by trade, lived in Jerseyville, Illinois had one daughter, Lucy. Has been dead several years. William Fuller married a Miss Moore and has several children and lives on a farm in Macoupin county, Illinois, doing well. John Fuller was living in Macoupin county on a farm, married, but do not know how many children they had nor their names. Richard Fuller married but have forgotten his wife's maiden name. He is a farmer and lives in Jersey county, Illinois. Grafton is his post office. He is doing nicely. The other daughter of Mary Garrison Fuller and John Fuller I know nothing of her history, think she is dead. Mary Garrison Fuller died 30 years ago or thereabout. John Fuller married a second wife but they are both dead. This ends the record of Mary Garrison and her husband, John Fuller, and family so far as I know. Elizabeth Garrison married William Fuller, a farmer, they had six children, four sons and two daughters. John ,the eldest, married a Miss Smith. He was a farmer and grain dealer. They lived in Christian county, Illinois, has three or four children. Post office Morrisonville, Illinois. He has been dead thirty years, his widow was living at the same place the last I heard of them. Lucinda Fuller married Mr. William Slaten, a farmer, he lived in Jersey county, Illinois. They had three children. One died. Lucinda died ten or fifteen years ago. Mr. Slaten married a second wife and he was accidentally killed a few years ago with a load of rock. His remaining child is in the care of DeWitt Fuller in Boles county, Missouri. Thomas Fuller was a Lawyer by profession. He married and lived at Hardin, Illinois, had one child. He was afflicted with consumption and tried several health resorts but finally died in California about 1874. His widow became insane and was taken to the asylum, and there died. Lucinda Slaten took her child to raise but after she died I do not know what became of the child. DeWitt Fuller married a Miss Smith of Illinois and is a farmer. He has two or three children and one of his sister Lucinda Slaten's. Charles Fuller left his father when very young. Went to Kansas, and went into the Texas cow punching business, was surprised by the indians and the herd of cattle stampeded and Charles Fuller with some others were taken prisoners by the Indians. He got away from them somehow, I don't know, and got to a mining camp in Arizona near Prescott, worked in the mines there and in New Mexico a good many year, made some money and returned to the states east and is now living in Bates county, Missouri, not married, but lives with his brother DeWit Fuller. Ardin (or maybe Adrian or Aaron) is his address. Anna, the youngest child of Elizabeth Garrison Fuller, taught school a few terms after her parents died, but she was sore afflicted with consumption and in the seventies her brother DeWitt Fuller took her to Los Angeles or near there, in California. After being there one year she died in the year of 1866 or 1867 of consumption. Mr. William Fuller married a second wife and lived lived one year or two and died. The family are all dead except DeWitt and Charles Fuller. This ends the record of Elizabeth and William Fuller's family. Andrew Jackson Garrison, the fourth child of Absolom Garrison, was married and had quite a family of children, but do not know who he married, nor do I know the number or sex of his children. He has been dead about thirty years. His widow, if living, may be with her children near Enfield, Illinois, as they were when last I heard of them. This ends the record of Andrew Jackson Garrison. Mahala Caroline Garrison married Richard Fuller, a brother of John and William Fuller. Richard was a farmer and lived and operated a farm in Jersey county, Illinois, near Grafton. They had seven children. Mr. Fuller died when his children small, about forty-five years ago. His widow kept her children on the farm and she still resides with some of her children on the farm. William Jefferson Fuller, their eldest son, married Anne Eliza Baugh and has one child, Claudia Augusta Fuller, living. Two children are dead, Charles Leslie and an infant daughter. Martha died of consumption about thirty years ago. Mary married Thomas McDow and have one son, Bert. They live in Wichita, Kansas. James Madison makes his home with his mother, not married. Richard Marcus is not married, is a merchant, lives and does business in Cripple Creek, Colorado. Francis Newton runs the old home stead of his father's. Married Emma Mears and has two children Gladys and Clifford. Laura lives in Texas, is married to Thomas Howell, a Welchman, has children Arlie, Verna, and Winifred. Mr. Howell is a railroader. James Madison served in the Federal Army during the late war with the Southern States and is single. Mrs. Fuller deserves great credit in the care and education of her children. They are all frugal industrious citizens. She is and has been, a member of the M.E. Church, and a devoted Christian and is the only surviving member of her father's family. This ends the record of Mahala Caroline Garrison Fuller. Sarah Garrison married Mr. John Herrian (Herrins?). They have both been dead for many years, they have four children living, three sons and one daughter; William, Virgil, Jasper and Sarah. The last I heard of them they were living in Macoupin county, Illinois. This is the end of the record of Sarah and John Herrin's family. ______________

William Garrison, the second son of Absolom Garrison, after receiving his education, married Miss Bowyer and settled on a small farm near Enfield, Illinois. He was elected one or two terms in White county as County Commissioner and served with honor to himself and his country. He was educated for the profession of the law but never entered the profession. He died in 1864 or 1865 and left two or three children and a widow to mourn. The last I heard of them she and her children were living on the farm he left one half mile from Enfield. This ends the record of William Garrison. Marerva (Minerva?) Garrison, Absolom Garrison's youngest daughter, married Mr. Thomas Crabtree of White County, Illinois. After living in White County on a farm a few years they emigrated to Jersey county, Illinois. They had five or six children but their names and sex have slipped my memory except one -- John. Mrs. Crabtree died in the summer of 1892. Mr. Crabtree and his sons farmed and in 1892 were living in Macoupin county, Illinois. This is the end of the record of Absolom Garrison's youngest daughter. Edward Garrison, the youngest child of Absolom and Lucy Garrison married and lived on his father's old home stead and maintained his mother as long as he lived. I do not remember who his wife was. He died about 1863 or 1864. His widow mother and children were living there up to the time of the death of his mother. Since that time I have not heard from his family. This ends the record of the family of Absolom Garrison, the second son of Thomas Garrison, the grand senior of North Carolina and his wife Comfort Roberts Garrison.

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Thomas Garrison, the third son of Thomas and Comfort Garrison, married a Miss Anderson of Virginia. He emigrated from Buncomb county, North Carolina to Kentucky, near the Yellowbank on the Ohio river in a very early day. He then emigrated to emigrated to Illinois, Hamilton county, about 1822. Thomas Garrison was engaged in the farming business in Southern Illinois as long as he lived. His wife died in 1857 or 1858. Thomas Garrison was Captain of a Company of Malitia in the Blackhawk Wars in Illinois and served with distinction to the close of the same. Politically he belonged to the Jacksonian School of Democracy. He and his amiable wife had four daughters and one son born to them: Evalin, Elizabeth, Catherine, Mary and Thomas. Evelin and Elizabeth married Biekerstaffs, they were brothers. Catherine married J. Lasiter. Mary married a man by the name of Miller, I think. Thomas is married and has two children. I never knew the maiden name of his wife. Evalina and Elizabeth Bickerstaffs are both dead. So far as I know the others are yet living in Hamilton County, Illinois. Captain Thomas Garrison died about the year 1866. He left one son to perpetuate his name and his Democracy in the future which I have no doubt he continues to do, the latter especially. This ends the record of Captain Thomas Garrison and his descendants. ________________

James Garrison, the fourth son of Thomas Garrison and Comfort, his wife, married a Miss Anderson of Virginia, sister of his brother Thomas' wife. He emigrated from Buncomb county, North Carolina to the Yellowbanks Kentucky about the time his brother Thomas did and was engaged in the horse trade to the South and about the third drove he took South he sold his entire drove to a man in South Carolina, on time. He soon found, however, that the man's wife, he had sold to, held all the property in her name and he lost his whole drove of horses, and did not return home for five years. He finally returned to Kentucky and paid for his horses and sent to Virginia for his wife, who had given him up for dead and had returned to her father in Virginia. She met him at his brother Thomas Garrison's who had emigrated to Illinois in his absence. While at the dinner table shortly after his wife returned from Virginia he spoke to his wife calling her a different name than her own Christian name. After dinner was over his brother Thomas took him aside and called to his mind the incident of the name and asked him to give an explanation of the whole matter. His brother James said he had been swindled out of his horses by a woman and he had made it back of a woman and that was all the explanation he gave. He then took his family and went to Arkansas and that is the last account I had of him. He had a brother living at Crockets Bluff, Arkansas many years. Perhaps he settled near him and lived in obscurity the remainder of his life, but he may have descendants in the state. It is unpleasant to me to write the facts in this case but as I am writing history, it must be true to facts as they came to the writer of this autobiography of the Garrison family of North Carolina. There appears to be some extreme circumstances connected with this case, but a thousand wrongs will not make one right. This explanation perhaps will set some of the descendants of Absolom Garrison right on a point referred to me three years ago. It was not as Mr. Johnson was impressed. The simple fact in the case is: He married a rich widow in the South, took enough of her estate in his hands, left her, paid his debt, Took his wife and went to the wilds of Arkansas.

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	Soloman Garrison,  (was) the fifth son of Thomas Garrison and Comfort Garrison, his wife. Soloman Garrison went from Buncomb county, North Carolina to Memphis, Tennessee, when single but married and settled near Crockets Bluff on the White River in Arkansas and was living there thirty years ago (1864).  I know nothing of his family, except one son, who was a river man and a professional gambler and was killed on a boat in the lower Mississippi in a gambling row.  His name was Absolom.  I disremember the names of the other children. I had a correspondence with them thirty or fourty years ago.  I suppose some of them are in that country yet.

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Elizabeth Garrison, the sixth child of Thomas and Comfort Garrison, married a man by the name of Ramsy and went to Kentucky. They had five or six children born to them and Mr. Ramsy died. His widow continued to reside in Kentucky until her death which occurred shortly after the Civil War with the South.

Mary Garrison, the seventh child of Thomas and Comfort Garrison, married Mr. Mayberry of Tennessee. He was extensively engaged in farming and in the live stock business in Warren county, Tennessee. They had quite a number of sons and daughters but I do not remember their names, except their eldest, Thomas. I have learned since I came to Arizona that they are yet - or most of them - living in Tennessee. I became acquainted with a family of Barkleys from that state, that informed me that they were acquainted with them and some of their people had married into the Mayberry family in the State of Tennessee, but Mr. Mayberry and his wife, Mary, had been dead a great many years, but some of their descendants were living there yet.

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Charity Garrison, the eighth of Thomas and Comfort Garrison's children, married Mr. John Brown of Tennessee. Mr. Brown was a freighter of farm products to the South and dry goods and groceries back for the merchants of Tennessee. Mr. Brown emigrated to the state of Alabama about the year 1834 and was living there in 1836. They had seven children, four sons and three daughters, but I have forgotten their names and post office address. Most likely some of their children are yet in the Northwestern part of the state (Alabama).

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Sarah Garrison, the ninth and youngest child of Thomas and Comfort Garrison, his wife, married a Mr. West of Buncomb county, North Carolina. Mr. West was a saddler by trade and carried on his business in the town of Asheville, North Carolina. They had no children, (but he had an apprentice boy learning the trade, by the name of James M. Alexander, who became a very wealthy dry goods merchant of North Carolina and was an extensive farmer and slave owner.) Mr. West volunteered in the United States service in the late war with the England and served under General Jackson and was in the famous Battle of New Orleans, but died with fever in the City of New Orleans, his widow then administered on his estate, wound up his business, then returned to her mother who was also a widow and made her home with her, but shortly after she returned to her mother she went with her brother James Garrison to Kentucky to visit her brothers James and Thomas -- Garrisons then living in Kentucky, also to visit her brother Absolom Garrison then living in White county, Illinois. She spent two years in Kentucky and Illinois. She then returned home with her brother, James Garrison, when he made his last trip with horses to the South. The peculiar circumstances surrounding it referred to in the preceding part of this work. About the year of 1817 she married Mr. Joshua Stansberry of Wilke county North Carolina. He was a main and hydrant builder; or manufacturer and they had seven children born to them as the fruit of their union - four sons and three daughters. They also raised a son of Mr. Job Massa who lost his wife the day her child was born. Joshua Stansberry and Sarah Garrison West Stansberry are my father and mother. I, Thomas Garrison Stansberry, am their first born. I was born December 31, 1818. I will now proceed to give a short history of a long and eventful life. I attended a common school about three and four months of the year from six years of age and worked on a farm the remainder of the year until I was fourteen. I then entered the Swananoa College of North Carolina. I attended two and one half years, would have attended three full years, but for the small pox having been introduced into the College by the carelessness of the president, Rev. Bradshaw D.D. I had the disease myself with eight or ten others of which three died and the people were so incensed at the Rev. Bradshaw it broke up the school. I then left home with the consent of my parents in August in my 18th year with the understanding with my father that I would go to St. Louis, Missouri and learn the machine trade, which I did. Or at least I served nearly two years. I then went to Lewis county, Missouri, to put up some machinery for the firm I was working for and became acquainted with Mrs. Sarah Crawford, a widow lady, eleven years my senior with four children, who in February 14, 1840 I married and adopted her children as my heirs. I then engaged in the milling and in the woolen business, and as my wife was brought up on a farm, to please her I kept a farm also. I built four mills, one lumber and one woolen factory run by water and steam. The lumber by water and woolen by steam. I built two more about eight miles from the former. One for the manufacturing of lumber, the other for the manufacturing of flour. All these mills cost me about $80,000. I had studied law in the mean time and was admitted to the Bar in 1852. I rented my mills and practiced law for five years and in 1857 I entered the ministry of the C.P. Church. Having been very successful with the practice of law, in connection with the milling business, I thought I could support myself in the ministry independent of the church. But in 1861 the war came up between the Northern and Southern States and being a Southern raised man my sympathy was with the South and I had some right to say how her institutions should be disposed of. I did not concentrate my views, every man and woman, white and black knew just where I stood politically. Vengeance was so great against me the Federal soldiers destroyed all my mills, what they could not burn, they broke up and took away what suited their convenience. I was then incarcerated in a military prison charged with disloyalty and a spy in their lines. I was kept under military restraint in a military prison for nine months. My property was all destroyed. I succeeded in making my escape from the prison in St. Charles, Missouri on the 27th of May 1863 and got to Jersey Landing, Illinois, the city of refuge. Myself and what family I then had, was left almost penniless. After hardening my muscles in the sun with exercise I took in Jersey county, Illinois, at an old friend and kinsman, William Fuller and cousin Elizabeth, his wife, and an occasional tramp to some two other cousins in Jersey county. I rolled up my sleeves and started to make a living at my trade which came in in good play about that time with me. I soon got a job, rented a house and sent to Missouri for my wife. I worked at my trade and preached the most of the sabbaths until 1871. My wife lost her health and I went to Drouthy, Kansas and there I made a farm worth about $4,000.00, and continued to preach almost every Sunday for twenty four years. In 1890 my wife died with lagrippe at the good old age of 83 years. The fall of 1890 I was elected to the office of Probate Judge of Butler county, Kansas, for the term of two years. In 1892 I was married a second time to Mrs. Marie A. McGowan of Eldorado, Kansas, but it proved to be a very unhappy union and in September, 1893 we separated and in October 22, 1894 we were divorced and I am now in Phoenix, Arizona Territory, for my health and recuperation. I have one son and two daughters. John Benton Stansberry, my eldest, married Miss Matilda Bacus. They lived in Missouri at the commencement of the war, went to Illinois, when the war was over they went to Kansas, then in 1884 went to Missouri and 1893 came to Arizona. They have five children and one grandchild and are as follows, namely:

Sarah Stansberry, single Thomas Garrison Stansberry, single Charles Otha Stansberry, single Lew Stansberry, married, has one child who is married to John Glover. Burk Stansberry, single They all live in Phoenix, Arizona. I have two daughters, one in Missouri, Glendale is her post office. She has five children -- two married. Her name is Mary Ann Elizabeth. She married Mr. Samuel Triplett. The other's name is Isabelle Louisa. She married G.B. Simpson of Illinois, has five children and two grandchildren, lives in Wichita, Kansas.

John Robert Stansberry, Joshua Stansberry and Sarah his wife's second child, the third Elizabeth, the fourth Sara Jane, the fifth William Hardy, the sixth Mary Ann, the seventh Marshall Rufus. Joshua an adopted son (Massa) My father with all his family emigrated to White county, Tennessee in the fall of 1837 or 1838 and in 1841 or 1842 left there and emigrated to Arkansas that is the last account I have ever had of them. I have made diligent search and inquiry all over the southern states but have been unable to get any tidings of their whereabouts. The cholera raged to a fearful extent many years ago about where they went to and I have come to the conclusion that they all died of that disease. This ends the record of the Grand Sire Thomas Garrison and his descendants of North Carolina.

                                T. G. Stansberry 
                               (Thomas Garrison Stansberry)

Presented to his descendants of Illinois, May the Lord prosper and bless you.

An Appendix -- Containing an account of some other Garrisons other than those of Thomas Garrison.

The Garrisons emigrated to North America about 250 years ago (1644) from England, Europe and are of German descent, of the old Saxon stock.  They first settled in Maryland near Baltimore, some of them are in Baltimore still.  I mean some of their descendants.  They scattered out through New Jersey, New Hampshire, Maryland, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, Virginia, North Carolina, Georgia, Tennessee, Kentucky, Indiana, Illinois, Iowa, Missouri, Arkansas, and Kansas.  I have conversed with some Garrisons from all those states and communicated with others by letter.  I confess I did not like very well to claim relationship with Loid (Lloyd) Garrison of Massachusetts of Abolition renown, but when I investigated his history I had to take him in also -- he was a talented man, but rather eccentric in his views with regard to the African race in America.  Freeborn Garrison a M.E. minister of North Carolina, and a slave owner, was from the best information at my command a brother of grandfather, Thomas Garrison, of Buncomb county, North Carolina, whose autobiography I have just written.  It is said that Freeborn Garrison was the first man in North Carolina to emancipate his slaves. I am satisfied from reliable testimony in my possession, that from this Freeborn Garrison sprang very nearly all of the Garrisons of South Carolina, Georgia, Tennessee, Indiana, and Southern Illinois and a few of North Carolina outside of my grandfather's (Thomas Garrison) descendants of those states that are contained in the preceding part of this history.  One of them S.F.C. Garrison of Eldorado, a very talented minister of the C.P. Church in Kansas. He was educated at the University of Jacksonville, Illinois and at some institution in Ohio. His father and mother, two brothers, and one sister came to Wichita, Kansas about 26 years ago.  The father and mother are both dead, but his brothers and sister are living there yet.  His father's name was John. His brothers' names were Charles and Alexander.  I do not remember his sister's name.  I know one of his uncles in Southeast Illinois, his name was William. He lived on the Wabash River, but emigrated to Iowa after the war, with some of his children.

There is a Garrison living in St. Louis, a wholesale merchant of saddles and harness. I have known him for fourty years, his father lived in Tennessee and his name was John. There is another "Tennessee" Garrison in St. Louis, a publisher. I am not personally acquainted with him but had communication from him through W. Johnson of Illinois. I think he is a descendant of Freeborn Garrison. He is also a minister of the Christian Church, the only Garrison I ever heard of before to be a preacher in that church. In my travels through Kansas, I made the acquaintance of two families from New Hampshire, from their statements to me they were of the old Saxon Race from England. Now I present this imperfect history to my cousins in Illinois and especially to Mahala Garrison Fuller, the only survivor of my Uncle Absolom's family. T.G. Stansberry