Broyhill Family History

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John Norman Broyhill
son of James Broyhill, the 1st  1788?-1826+

   John Norman Broyhill has been extremely difficult to document as he appears in very few records. His actions suggest he was somewhat of a wanderer, as he never stayed too long in one place.  Recently discovered evidence shows that he was the father of Nathan Broyhill, who was born in 1804.  John Norman's parents, James Broyhill and Rebecca Bailey were married in 1785.  If John was born then following year, 1786, then he would have been 18 years old when Nathan was born. 
   I first discovered the existence of Nathan in 1968, but it took 40 years to learn how he was related to the Broyhill Family. The breakthrough came in 2004 when his grandson Paul Broyhill named Nathan as his father and Norman as his grandfather.  This information appeared on his application for citizenship in the Cherokee Nation.  [National Archives, Fort Worth, Tx.; RG 075l Entry # 1896] Two accompanying statements say that Nathan was a Cherokee Indian. 
   John Norman apparently married this Indian woman around 1803.  Her maiden name is unknown, but Paul wrote that he is also connected with the Dawes family of North Carolina.
   The Wilkes County, NC marriage records show that he married Polly Davis in 1810. Either he abandoned his Indian wife or she had died.  His parents obviously knew of this marriage became both Norman's father, James Broyhill, and his son, Nathan Broyhill, provided testimony in an 1828 Wilkes County hunting accident.
    Broyhill family records show that his son Thomas was born October 17, 1816 at Moravian Falls, NC and that his son, John, was born in Tennessee in 1820.   John Norman Broyhill appears on the 1820 Census of Tennessee as John N. Brawhill. The family was back in Wilkes in 1821.  The following year, his younger brother William left for Tennessee, perhaps inspired by John's stories of new land.  His other brother, James Jr., later moved to Tennessee.
    Family oral tradition maintains that his wife and children came home from Church one Sunday to find John's new shoes sitting on the kitchen table.  In them was a note stating, "Norman is gone."  And indeed he was because he completely disappears from Wilkes County records.  His wife May is listed as Head of Household on the 1830 Wilkes Census.  The youngest child, William, was then four years old, thus born about 1826.  From this, we can conclude that John remained in Wilkes as least long enough to get his wife pregnant.
     Many years ago I searched many census records and found one for what appeared to be "Nros Broyhill, listed on the 1830 Tazewell County, Illinois census.  His two brothers .    
     Several years ago, a Broyhill researcher provided me a copy of an Illinois census from either 1850 or 1860 which listed a John Norman Broyhill as Head of Household containing young children.  I have not yet researched this but John Norman, son of  James I and Polly, would then have been sixty to seventy years old, so it may not have been the same person. 
     John Norman's Indian descendents are the subject of their own section.  Click on the link below to see it.  John and Polly had five children:
By unknown Indian Wife    
Nathan Broyhill 1804 1G
By Polly Davis    
James H. Broyhill  1812 1A       
Thomas Davis Broyhill 1816 1B
Elvira (Vira) Broyhill 1818-? 1C
John E. Broyhill 1820- 1D
William Allen Broyhill 1826-1895 1E

About the Kids

James, John and William have living Broyhill descendants.
Thomas had one son, who died in the Civil War.
Elvira or Vira married John Joines on January 11, 1834, in Wilkes county, North Carolina.
No further record.

More information on the Broyhill Indians

Broyhill Family Tree
Introduction | Organization | Starts with James | Index

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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