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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: |
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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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