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Thursday, October 23, 2008

Boston Bess - Lincoln County, North Carolina


My 5th great grandparents are Boston Bess and Polly Carpenter. Their final resting place is Zion Methodist Church Cemetery located about 6 miles west of Lincolnton, Lincoln County, North Carolina.

Boston was born in Lincoln County in 1785, the son of Peter Bess and Christina Whittenburg. Peter's father Sebastian Bess was a pioneer of Lincoln County. Sebastian was granted a patent in 1754 for 300 acres of land in what is now Lincoln County.
Boston's headstone tells us that he was born 30 November 1785 and died 20 October 1869 at the age of 83 years, 10 months and 20 days


Located right next to Boston's stone is that of his wife Polly Carpenter Bess.
This stone is only 15 years older than the one for Boston, yet it is practically unreadable. The elements have all but erased the precious information recorded on it.
I was able to make out her name, that she died 11 April 1850 and was 58 years old.
Polly is the daughter of Peter "Hairy" Carpenter and Susanna Cox.
A quick bit of personal historical information that I am proud of - Susanna Cox's mother is Margaret Morris. Margaret's brother is Robert Morris, a financier of the American Revolution.

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

Hello, I live not far from their graves all my life. They are my grand grandparents. My grandfather was Bert Bess, his Lawson, and so on to the very beginning. I love and I am very proud of my grandfathers. Since I live in Lincoln County NC, so proud my grandfather was the first to settle here and my grandfather was the one to give land, and help builded Bess Chapel Methodist Church in Lincolnton County.

Sheri Fenley said...

Hello Anonymous,

I wish that I had been able to meet you when I took my trip to Lincoln County, North Carolina a couple of years ago. I would love to exchange family information with you. My email address is:

sherifenley@gmail.com

I hope to hear from you soon Cousin!

Anonymous said...

Hello to the Bess Clan, My name is Ralph Wilson and I have been following my Familys roots for a while , I recently decided to look at my Mothers side and stumbled across this site My Mother was a Bess before she was married she was raised in Waco N.C. Lincoln County, it was funny I called her today after reading this and asked if she remembered a Bert Bess she responed by saying she would vist uncle Bert and Aunt Texas all the time when she was girl, what a small world we live in I have pictures of some of the Bess clan I could share from the 1800's just let me know? My E-mail is as follows rpwilson@sc.rr.com would love you hear from anyone from this family.

Anonymous said...

Wow! I just stumbled across this thread after my initial research into my ancestry. I have some scattered notes on my family begining with their arrival in Pennsylvaia in 1737, with some parts eventually settling in present-day Gaston County.
Please feel free to contact me at cbess@comast.net. Hopefully someone is still monitoring this thread!