Sometime
between 1767 and 1769, Jurg and Elizabeth moved their family to Berks County, Pennsylvania. They were
blessed with another son named Jacob in 1765. Jacob was baptized at Christ (
Mertz's ) Lutheran Church in
Rockland Township, Montgomery County, Pennsylvania on August 25, 1765.
The names of Jacob's parents
listed on his baptismal record were George and Elizabeth Margaretha Silber.
In 1767 George and Elizabeth were
still living in Berks County, in Ruscomb Manor Township. The tax list for that year
show George's name as being
George Silver instead of Silber.
Sometime between the year 1767 and
1774 George moved his family to Frederick
County, Maryland where the
court records show he had some land patented.
George and his family built themselves
a plantation and in the will George had made on October 21, 1785 states that
he was a farmer on his
plantation. In his will it also states that in the
event of his death everything would go to his wife, nicknamed, "Sissy Market."
George died soon after making out his will. His son George lists his father
as deceased on December 7, 1785
after attesting his fathers will. George and Elizabeth's son Jacob was
not mentioned in his will.
Johann Jurg Silber, Jr.
Johann Jurg Silber and his twin sister
Elizabeth were baptized on October 28, 1753 in Montgomery County,
Pennsylvania. The names listed on their
baptismal record were Johann Jurg and
Elizabeth Silber. Sometime later his father changed his name to George Silver
or he changed it himself.
George, Jr. moved with his parents to
Frederick County, Maryland between 1767 and 1774. He lived with his parents
until he went into the
Continental Army during the Revolutionary War. He
served between 1777 and 1783. At one time he served under General George
Washington.
On April 12, 1782 he married Nancy Ann
Griffith in Frederick County,
Maryland. She was born in 1766 to Orlando and Elizabeth Gaither
Griffith.
After the war ended in 1783, George,
Jr. received a land grant in Kona, North Carolina. He did not make the move
to Kona until after most of his
children were born. The exact
date of his move is not known. His eleventh child was born in Frederick County,
Maryland in 1803. I believe he made
his move between 1803 and 1804. I also believe
the house was built between 1803 and 1806.
George, Jr. and Nancy had 12 children,
eight sons and four daughters: John, George 111, Elizabeth, Jacob, Sarah,
Greenberry, Rachel, Henry, William, Nancy, Thomas, and Marvin.
George, Jr. settled his family in a
Mountainous region in Burke County, Kona, North Carolina. The County now
carries the name of Mitchell.
I believe George, Jr., with help from
his many children started building the
Silver Ancestral Log House. The house is a two story log structure with
a
porch that runs the length of one
side. It is almost 200 years old and is still in the Silver family.
George, Jr. died of Typhoid
Fever on July 8, 1839 at the age of 79. Nancy, his wife, died on April 30, 1849 at the
age of 93. They are both buried in
the Silver Cemetery, which is
located on a hill behind the house next to the
Kona Baptist Church.
John Silver
My Georgia Ancestor
John
Silver was the first child born to George and Nancy Griffith Silver. He
was born in Frederick County Maryland in the year 1786. He moved with
his parents to North Carolina
sometime between 1803 and 1804. The family settled in Kona, Burke County, North Carolina. The
County was later named Mitchell.
John married Mary, last name unknown,
about 1812. She was born around the year 1796 in North Carolina. John and Mary
lived and raised all of their 11 children in or around Kona, North
Carolina. John and Mary raised 8 boys and
3 girls. Nancy, William, John, Green B., Thomas, Elizabeth, Samuel,
Mary, Marvel, Levi, and Jackson.
In the year 1843 John decided to move
to Gilmer County, Georgia. Some of John and Mary's older children stayed in
North Carolina and moved to
Georgia at a later date.
What caused John to pick up his family
and move to Georgia? Could the reason have been land? The Georgia land lottery
started in 1832. Was the reason
gold? I think the reason was to distance his family from the tragedy of Charlie Silver's death. I think John took
his family to Georgia to start
over and to get some needed piece and
quiet.
John and Mary made their home in
Gilmer County, Georgia. When Mary died, John moved to Talking Rock, Georgia in
Pickens County around 1860. John died
sometime after 1880 in Talking Rock. John was buried next to his wife
in the Ball Creek Baptist Church Cemetery in
Talking Rock, Georgia.
Thomas
Jackson Silver
Thomas Jackson Silver was the second
child born to John and Mary Silver. He
was born around 1825 in, or near Cherokee, North Carolina.
In 1843 at the young age of 18,
Thomas's parents decided to move to Gilmer County, Georgia. Thomas, at that time,
decided not to make the move with
them, instead he chose to remain in North Carolina and work for his father's brother, William Griffith Silver. William
was born June 14, 1800 in
Frederick County, Maryland.
While staying at his uncle's house he
fell in love with his uncle William's daughter, Mary Myra "Polly" Silver. She
was born December 6, 1830 in North Carolina. Being first cousins was not a
concern to Thomas and Polly, they
wanted to get married anyway, but It did matter to Polly's parents, they forbid the union, which forced Thomas and
Polly to elope. They grabbed two
horses and with what clothes they had on their back, started across the rugged North Carolina mountains down into
Georgia.
After they were married they settled
at Cohutta Springs in Murray County, Georgia. The house was a two-room log
house separated with a breeze-way. They lived there until Thomas purchased
the Old Moore's Place at Cisco,
Georgia on two lots of land at the foot of Doogan Mountain. They built themselves a fine house and paneled the
inside with dressed lumber. The
house had a picket fence around it and next to the fence they kept hives of
bees. Out back of the house they had a apple orchard. Thomas also
planted crops which brought in
cash as well as food for his family.
During the Civil War, Thomas and
several other men did not want to go to fight, so they hid out in a cave on Grassy
Mountain. I was told by my
uncle Bill, that beside the cave was a rock that
looked like a chair with a back
and seat, not man made, but natural.
Thomas would make baskets and leave
them at a designated spot somewhere on the mountain for Polly to pick up. In
exchange she would leave food. Polly would take the baskets and sell them for
money for the family. Times were so
hard during and after the Civil War that Polly would dig out the dirt
from her smokehouse floor to
boil for the salt it contained.
Thomas and Polly had seven children,
five boys and two girls: Ervin
McKinzie, William Jackson, Sadina "Demmie", Mary Jane, Samuel Thomas,
Frank, and Harvey McDonald Silver.
Later in life Thomas had a stroke
which put him in bed for 16 years. He suffered two more strokes and the last one
killed him on March 23, 1907.
He is buried at MT. Sumach Baptist Church at
Cisco, GA.
After the death of Thomas, Polly went
to live with her son Harvey McDonald in Tennessee. During the time she was
living in Tennessee the house at
Cisco burned. It is not known how the house
caught fire.
While living in her son's home, Polly
would make dresses and bedspreads from
material woven from her loom. Polly taught her granddaughter, Dora, her ABC's by teaching her a poem. She lived
almost 11 years in Harvey's house
before her death on January 25, 1918. Before her death she had suffered
a stroke and was ill for a long
time. Polly is buried at Ball Play Baptist Church in Old Fort, Tennessee.
It is said that Polly never visited
with her parents, or spoke to them until
the day she died. She held a grudge against them because they did not
want
her to marry Thomas. At one point in
her life someone was sent to her home to see if she would except her inheritance
and she refused to accept any
of it.
Before Harvey's death two men from
North Carolina came to his house and asked him to settle his mothers
inheritance. He refused. He said he would
honor his mother's wishes also.
William Jackson Silver
William Jackson Silver was the fifth
child born to Thomas Jackson and Mary "Polly" Silver on January 2, 1852 in
Murray County, Georgia. On February 28,
1889 William married Martha Jane "Mattie" White. She was born August 1,
1868 in Tennessee.
Not much is known about Will and
Mattie, as they were known to family and friends. They had several residences
around the area at Cisco, Georgia. At one time they lived in Long Hollow a few
miles from Cisco off the Old Number 2 Highway going into the mountains.
Will and Mattie had 10 children, six
boys and four girls. Walter, Benjamin, Eula, Liley, Charlie, Harvey, Ethel,
Luther, Clara, and Clyde. Clara and
Luther were twins. The children did
not have many years with their father. He died at the age of 58. My grandfather
Charlie was 10 years old when his
father, Will, died. His mother Mattie died at the age of 80 on January
14, 1948. They are both buried
at Mt. Sumach Baptist Church at Cisco, Georgia.
My dad does not have many memories of
his grandmother, Mattie. He did say that when he was young he would go check
on her during the day and fix what needed fixing, especially her chicken
coops.
Mattie's parents, David and Sara
Hughes White, lived on top of Doogan Mountain in the house on the left side of
the road. The spring they got
their drinking water from was on the
right side of the road.
I can remember well living in this
house with my family until it burned in the 1960's. This house was called, "The
White House."
David White was the first to run a
post office in the mountains down the road a piece from his house. His wife,
Sara, also ran a post office across
the road from their house. David
always rode his horse beside the wagon his
wife and children rode in to protect them.
David White was born in November 1839
in Tennessee and died in Murray
County, Georgia in 1913. Sara was born March 15, 1840 in Tennessee and died
February 18, 1900 in Murray County, Georgia. They are both buried in the Hopewell Baptist Church Cemetery at Cisco,
Georgia.
Any additional information, or
pictures would be welcome.