William [Wiley] Bishop 1795 – 1863 | his parents
& Mary Louise Horne 1803 – 1881 | her parents
of “Oakland” Bertie County, NC
This is my working hypothesis – the way I see it as of this moment!!
with notes and research by Virginia Powell Street
“Oakland” – 1898
built about 1825 – 1835 by Joshua Browne, a “competent carpenter”
(left to right) Isa Gordon Powell (on porch), John Parker (the attendant), Junius, Jack (in carriage), Gordon, and Edgar Powell – photo compliments of Virginia Powell Street; The Poor Town News No. 85
“The family home, ‘Oakland’ was built by the William Bishops around 1825. Prior to that, there had been another home located nearer the Roanoke River on the same land. One of our Bishop antecedents had married a Brittain (sometimes spelled Britton) and one of the original names of the town was “Britton’s Store.” When I was a small boy, on that land down by the river, on a site that had been a graveyard, was one leaning tombstone bearing the almost indistinct name, “Brittain.”
“The main yard, or grove, at Oakland, was of about seven acres surrounding the dwelling. Alongside, about 250 feet from the house, was a one-room frame building with fireplace and chimney called “the Office.” Here the affairs of the plantation had been conducted. (Isa Gordon Powell also used “the Office” to teach school for the family and neighboring children. ~ Virginia ~The Poor Town News No. 85 )
” I recall that there were buildings on the farm which were hangovers from slavery days: a smokehouse for curing meat, a loom house (used by us as a playhouse in bad weather), a carriage house, barns, stables and many small two and three-room frame houses located near the barns and stables.”– Excerpts from an article by John W.G. “Jack” Powell in the 1972 Bertie Ledger-Advance
William Bishop listed “3rd Co., Bertie Reg., Artillery, War of 1812
Ancestry.com’s “Bertie County, North Carolina Vital Statistics, 1700s-1920s.”
William Bishop and Mary Horn 29 Sept 1827, Thos. Ruffin, Bm.; Thomas P Slade wit.
Marriages of Bertie County abstract by Fouts
William Bishop was born 13 Jan 1795 the son of Moses Bishop and his wife Mary [Polly] Griffin. He died 27 January 1863 in NC. [tombstone]
Mary Louise Horne was born 27 March 1803 [one source says she was born in Southampton County VA] , the daughter of Joseph Horne and wife Winifred Bruce of Bertie County. She died 4 Aug 1881 in NC. [tombstone]
They are buried in Bishop-Hardy-Powell Cemetery in Roxobel, NC.
An undated letter to my father from “Cup” Norfleet notes that “Mary Louise Horne Bishop, our great grandmother, was the youngest daughter of Joseph Horne and Winifred Bruce.” ~ Virginia
Children of William Bishop and Mary L Horne:
1. Louisa Camilla Bishop Feb 1833 – Feb 1862 no issue
married 2 Oct 1860 Joseph H Hardy 1824 – 1897
married by Jos. Blount Cheshire, Rector of Trinity Church, Scotland Neck, NC
2. Cornelia Ann Bishop 8 Jan 1835 – 26 May 1860 Roxobel
married 27 May 1857 Dr. William Lafayette Powell 1831 – 1862
son of Albert J Powell and wife Elizabeth Moore of Hertford Co NC
3. William Junius Bishop ca 1837 – 1889 Bertie Co dsp
“8th Reg. NC Militia.”
W J Bishop listed as magistrate in Roxobel in Brandon 1877-78 Business Directory
Edgar Powell was the Executor of the Wm. J. Bishop Estate. In one document, over a thousand dollars was paid to A. Capehart, M.D., Physician and Druggist, on the 25th of October 1893. ~ VPS
4. Lucy E Bishop 1839 – 1919
married Joseph H Hardy 1824 – 1897
a. Edward Bruce Hardy 1871 –
b. Pearl Mary Hardy 1873 – 1930
married Luther Yeates Holloman 1 July 1877 – 28 Jan 1949
son of George Dorsey Holloman and Mary Ann Boyce
i. Joseph H Hardy Holloman 16 Nov 1912 – 19 Nov 1912
ii. Winifred Holloman
married Gilbert Hall of Jacksonville Bch FL
c. Joseph Bishop Hardy 1875 – 1902
5. George W Bishop ca 1842 – 1905 Northampton Co NC
“2nd Reg. NC Cavalry.”
married 10 Oct 1863 Mary L Jacobs ca 1843 –
a. Edward Lucius Bishop 7 Dec. 1864 – 8 Feb. 1925
married NH Co 15 Jan 1889 Mattie S Jacobs 5 Dec. 1867 – 18 Aug. 1940
daughter of Jacob Madison Jacobs Sr and Christianna Edwards
both buried in the Bishop-Hardy-Powell Family Cemetery, Roxobel
b. William Bishop ca 1866 –
married Della
c. Herbert Bishop ca 1868 –
d. John J Bishop ca 1871 – 1903
married 12 Jan 1898 Eunice Edwards
e. Mabel Bishop 22 Feb. 1873 –
married 23 June 1900 Edward Leroy [Roy] Tyler
buried Tyler Cemetery
f. Mary L [Minnie] Bishop ca 1876 –
married 5 June 1898 Leroy F Alford
g. George Bishop ca 1878 –
h. Fannie Bishop
married J W Spence
i. Fred Bruce Bishop 1883 – 1961
j. Daisy Bishop ca 1888 –
married ca 1906 Brown
6. Mary Frances [Fannie] Bishop 12 Jan 1844 – 20 Dec 1941 no issue
married Dr. John C Jacobs 1 April 1836 – 29 Sept. 1886
both buried in the Bishop-Hardy-Powell Family Cemetery, Roxobel
“Our great-aunt, Mary Frances (Fannie) Bishop Jacobs, born in 1844, lived in our Roxobel home [“Oakland”] with us, and told of driving in a carriage ~ when she was a young lady ~ to Garysburg to take the “cars” for a visit to the mountains of Western North Carolina. The tourists rode in chairs or benches set on flat train cars, with no roof over them, viewing the countryside at a leisurely speed as they went from town to town.”
BISHOP-HARDY-POWELL Family Cemetery Roxobel Location: This cemetery is located 3/4 miles from Roxobel on the highway leading from Roxobel to Kelford and opposite the Roxobel-Kelford School. (School no longer there)
complete list of marked graves at said cemetery – see
http://ftp.rootsweb.com/pub/usgenweb/nc/bertie/cemeteries/bishop2.txt
1800 US Census Bertie Co – – – – img #6
Moses Bishop 0 1 0 1 0 – 1 0 1 0 0 – 24 1m 10/16 1m 26/45 1f 0/10 1 f 15/26
1810 [img #27]
Moses Bishop 0 0 1 0 1 – 0 0 1 0 1 – 24 1m 16/25 1m 45+ 1f 16/25 1f 45+
1820
Wm Biship 0 0 0 1 0 0 – 0 0 1 0 1 – 18 1m 18/25 1f 16/25 1f 45+
1830
William Bishop 0 0 0 0 1 1 – —– 0 0 0 0 2 – – – – – 1m 20/30 1m 30/40 2 f 20/30
1840
Wm Bishop 1m 0/5, 1m 40/50, 1f 0/5, 2f 5/10, 2f 40/50
1850 Bertie County NC
# 791 William Bishop 58 m farmer $3000
Mary L 47 f
Louisa C 17 f
Cornelia 15 f
William J 13 m
Lucy E 11 f
George W 9 m
Mary F 6 f
COUNTY OF BERTIE, AUGUST 15, 1860 POST OFFICE – ROXOBEL
W. A. FERGUSON – ENUMERATOR Page 61 [#117image ancestry]
Household #963
Bishop, William, 68, farmer
Bishop, Mary L., 55
Bishop, Louisa C., 31
Bishop, Lucy E., 21
Bishop, Mary F., 17
Bishop, William J., 23
Bishop, George W., 18
Powell, Leila, 2
Powell, Edgar 5/12
Household #966
Stephenson, George 21 born in VA
Powell, William L 28 Physician
Futrell, James W 25 overseer
also the 1880 census was used
1900 Roxobel, Bertie Co, NC census,
[Mary Frances “Fannie” Bishop Jacobs is living with her sister, Lucy E. Bishop Hardy, and her family. Joseph H. Hardy, who married two of the Bishop sisters, had died in 1897.]
Hardy, Lucy E., head, WF, 7/1841, Wid., 3/3, Farmer
Hardy, Edward B., son, WM, 3/1870, S, Merchant
Hardy, Pearls M., WF, 10/1873, S
Hardy, Joseph B., son, WM, 4/1875, S
Jacobs, Fanie B., sister, WF, 1/1845, Wid.
Halman, Dana, servant, BF, 7/1882, S, servant
http://ftp.rootsweb.com/pub/usgenweb/nc/bertie/census/1900/roxobel.txt
Here is a document written in brown pen on lined paper [as transcribed by Virginia P. Street].
It is folded into fourths and on the back it says: Wm J. Bishop et all, ….order for County to divide Land. Powell et all. To Sept. Court 1868 … Henry Gatling, Esqu., W W? Smallwood, Jas. A Weaver, Lemuel? Maid, Jac. T Lambertson?.
North ampton County, …June? – . A.D. 1868. It is ordered by the laws as it has heretofore been, that the Sheriff of the County – Henry (?) Gatling a Justice of the Peace, ? T. Lambertson (?), W. ? Smallwood; Esqu., James A. (?) Weaver, and Lemeul (?) Maid (?), or any three of them…………, who after having been duly qualified. they having the County lawyer with them, .shall … a certain track of Lands, in this County – Containing about fifteen hundred and eleven acres & three fourths River Land, also two hundred and seventy acres in Lands and formerly the property of one William Bishop of Bertie County, being the same upon which William Bishop lately departed this life, intestate and adjoining the land of Edward Jacobs & others, & divide and allot the same in the following manner, to wit: to allot and set apart to William J. Bishop, Geo. Bishop, Lucy E. Bishop, Fannie Bishop each one fifth in value and to — [Leila] and —- [Edgar] Powell, children of a deceased Daughter one fifth in value of said Lands, as set forth in their petitions, and if an equal division be impracticable as to value, then the County… shall change the more valuable: dividend or dividends, until such time as sums of money as will make the division equal, and report their proceedings to the next term of the County. Regist. ? June ? 29: A.D. 1868 (Signed) Peter N. (?)
“The early history of the cross roads and present day Roxobel must link closely with the early merchants; some of these and their approximate dates in business are: Norfleet & Murdaugh (1815), William Britton (1823), Robert C. Watson (1833), J.L. Andrews (1829), Wm Britton & Son (1836), Britton & Thompson (1840), Powell & Tyler (1844), Wm. Britton & Bro (1844), Capehart & Company (1840), McDaniel & Tyler (1845), Cox & Hardy (1850), Cox and Andrews (1857), Bishop Bros & Co. (1867), W.J. Capehart (1870), Hardy & Peele (1870), Liverman & Tyler (1880), G.W. & A.T. Liverman (1890), and Leroy Capehart (1890). http://www.rootsweb.com/~ncbertie/roxobel.htm#history
From: http://www.rootsweb.com/~ncbertie/roxobel.htm Roxobel was originally known as Cotten’s Cross Roads (1724), then Granbery Cross Roads (1756), and Britton’s Store (William Britton from Petersburg, VA came in 1815) and finally, in 1849, to Roxobel.
Some members of the Norfleet family worked in the Post Office in Roxobel. When I was a little girl, Aunt Janie Norfleet was Postmistress. We visited her there. Later her son, Tom, (Thomas F. Norfleet, Jr.) was Postmaster. Her husband, Figuers Norfleet, served as Postmaster in Roxobel from 24 Dec 1947 to 16 Jan 1949 according tohttp://www.rootsweb.com/~ncbertie/post.htm.
A letter from my mother to my sister dated Friday, May 30, 1969 says that she and my Father “are back in Jackson after an unusual day riding around seeing relatives. We stopped in Roxobel to see Sadie, Cup, also Tom Norfleet, the Postmaster, Sallie, and her son, “little” Billy, who is now 6 feet five inches tall…We were a crowd, all at Sadie’s.”
George Bishop was the Roxobel Postmaster for 9 months in 1865.
Post Offices
Prepared by Dr. W.P. Jacocks of UNC professor Emeritus from the U.S. Postal Service.
BRITTON’S STORE
Nathaniel W. Fletcher 18 Jan 1832
Richard O. Britton 5 Sept 1836
L.M. Jiggitts 29 Dec 1836
Stephen McDaniel 15 Jan 1842
(Discontinued to Roxobel 16 Dec 1847)
ROXOBEL
(Late Britton’s Store)
Perry C. Tyler, Jr. 16 Dec 1847
Alanson Capehart 19 Jan 1849
Reuben H. Cox 6 Feb 1852
John L. Andrews, Jr. 27 Mar 1858
Alanson Capehart 2 Mar 1859
George Bishop 4 Sept 1865
Mrs. Mary C. Cox 18 June 1866
Discontinued 26 June 1877
Re-established 13 July 1877
Mrs. Mary C. Cox 13 July 1877
Roberta Jenkins 10 Dec 1899
Luther L. Bryant 13 Mar 1907
James G. Joyner 20 April 1908
James F. Jilcott 10 Feb 1914
Luther L. Bryant 28 Feb 1925
Wm C. Barnes (acting) 1 Dec 1928
Wm C. Barnes 24 April 1929
William Eston Jenkins 7 July 1930 (acting)
Relegated 1 July 1930
William Eston Jenkins 2 Jun 1931
Josie B. Bryant (acting) 18 Mar 1932
Mrs. Bernice L. Bryant 6 Sept 1932
Mrs. Janie C. Norfleet 23 April 1935 (acting)
Mrs. Janie C. Norfleet 27 Aug 1935
Thomas F. Norfleet 24 Dec 1947 (acting)
Thomas F. Norfleet,Jr. 16 Jan 1949
Thomas F. Norfleet, Jr. 2 June 1949 and further…
http://www.rootsweb.com/~nc
DEED Thomas P. Devereux to William Bishop
March Court 1858
Registered March 1st 1858
Book No 36
Page 619
Benj. E. Peele P.R.
This Indenture made and entered into this the 19th day of November One Thousand Eight-hundred and fifty seven between Thomas P Devereux, of the County of Halifax and State of North Carolina of the first-part, and William Bishop
of the County of Bertie and State aforesaid of the second part. Witnesseth, that for and in consideration of the sum
of Thirteen Thousand Six Hundred and fifteen Dollars, to me in hand paid by the said William Bishop, the receipt
whereof is hereby acknowledged, that I have this day bargained and sold by these presents doth bargain, sell, alien, release and confirm unto the said William Bishop, his heirs, Executors, Administrators, and assigns forever, one
certain tract or parcel of land – known as the Balgra Plantation, lying and being in the County of Northampton, State aforesaid, and containing by survey Six Hundred and Eighty & three fourth acres, butted and bounded as follows, to
wit, Beginning at the center of two cypresses, two Horn Beams, and Mulbery at the fork of the Tillery branch, John
H Whitakers corner, then South 40 degrees West, four Hundred and fourteen poles, to a Maple on Roanoke River, Whitakers corner, thence down said River to Edmund Wilkins corner Maple, thence with the old marked line North
28 degrees East, Two Hundred and Thirteen poles to a corner Pawpaw Gum, thence North, 55 degrees East two
hundred and seventy eight poles to Wm Bishops line Fence, thence with said fence North 34 degrees West, One Hundred and thirty eight poles to the main run of the Tillery branch, thence along the main run of said branch to
Jacobs corner Sweet Gum, on the North side of said branch thence with the margin of said branch North 44 1/2
degrees West, five and one third poles, North 61 degrees West sixteen poles, South 81 degrees West, 6 poles,
South 72 degrees West six poles, South 70 degrees West twenty poles, South 21 1/2 degrees West fourteen poles, South 28 1/2 degrees West ten poles, South 17 degrees East fourteen & a half poles, South 10 degrees East, ten
poles, South 2 degrees East, ten poles, South 7 degrees West eight poles, South 18 degrees East eleven poles,
South 2 degrees East ten poles, South 44 1/2 degrees West sixteen poles, South 4 degrees West, nine poles, to
the beginning to have and to hold the above described tract or parcel of land with all the appurtenances thereto
belonging, or in any wise appertaining to him the said William Bishop, his heirs and assigns forever, and I the said Thomas P. Devereux the party of the first-part, for myself, my heirs and assigns do hereby warrant and forever
defend, by these presents, to the said William Bishop, the party of of the second part, his heirs and assigns all and singular the aforesaid tract or parcel of land, tenements, and premises, and every part and parcel thereof, against
the lawful claim or claims, of all and every person or persons whatsoever, I the said Thomas P Devereux being
lawfully entitled to the said described tract of land, and have full power and lawful authority to sell and dispose of the Same. In witness whereof, I the said Thomas P Devereux the party of the first-part, doth hereunto set my hand and
affixed my seal, the day and year above written.
TPDevereux (seal)
Signed sealed & delivered }
in presence of }
Alanson? Capehart
R.H. Cox
Livermon is correct spelling of my Roxobel family. Hartwell Livermon first here, purchased Richlard Tyler house…house was across road from Jilcott-Livermon cemetery .