There certainly was a lot of hate in Madison County on all sides. The 1863 raid on Marshall by unionists made worse by them breaking into the home of a Confederate colonel home whose children lay deathly ill of scarlet fever, followed shortly afterward by the Shelton Laurel Massacre. Then the killing of Granny Franklin's sons a year later in the same area of the county.
An interesting account of the later in a family history.
Scroll down to page 159.
http://sites.rootsweb.com/~tnmcmin2/SheltonCIVP151.htm
The link above is a great work by Arthur Paul Shelton dated 1987. What were his sources for the Norton boys being killed and the massacre? Wellman's
The Kingdom of Madison and Paludan's
Victims. Below is a short article running down sources:
September 9, 2004
For Madison County, NC Genealogical Society newsletter:
Greetings fellow researchers! I hope this newsletter finds you all doing well. Writing a little column for this publication is just about one of the hardest things for me to do. What do I write about? Last night's browsing a few genealogy pages on the internet answered that question for me.
How many of us, while researching our families, have come across some great family information we had never seen or heard before? The information could have come from a book, newspaper article, census record, birth or death record, family tradition story, or any other source--- and it fit in exactly with what we would have expected. We included this great find in our genealogy! But wait! Did we consider that this new and exciting piece of information might not be true or accurate? It probably cannot be stressed enough that we should always try to verify the accuracy of what we find. We should always strive to identify the source of the information, and even further than that; we should consider what the background, knowledge, and intent was of the author. If we do a little diggin', we just may find that the story is not quite as accurate as we had thought. One good example follows.
There is a story of widow Nance Franklin and her sons in THE KINGDOM OF MADISON: A SOUTHERN MOUNTAIN FASTNESS AND ITS PEOPLE,by Manly Wade Wellman, 1973. According to the story, three of Nance's sons, Balus, James, and Josiah Franklin were Confederate sympathizers, at home with their mother, when they were killed by George Kirk's Union men in 1864. Before Josiah's death, he had killed two of the "bluecoats". One of the soldiers even fired a shot toward Nance, and "his bullet snipped a lock of her flying hair." The Union soldiers also burned Nance Franklin's home. Manly's sources of the event were oral tradition, "widespread and consistent." He names as sources; Bascom Lamar Lunsford, Obray Ramsey, Mrs. Rilla Ray, and Byard Ray.
We find basically the same story in BUSHWHACKERS: THE CIVIL WAR IN NORTH CAROLINA-THE MOUNTAINS, by William R. Trotter, 1988. Trotter does not give his source for this particular story, but it is evident he had read THE KINGDOM OF MADISON. He had also read the book by Phillip Shaw Paludan (discussed below), as he cited Paludan's work numerous times.
Wow, what a great story to include in a genealogy work-to be preserved for future generations! After all, it is included in a couple of well known author's books. It must be true! But now after finding this exciting piece of information, we do a little diggin', and find a few other very important bits of information.
The story of Nance and her boys is retold by Phillip Shaw Paludan in his 1981 book, VICTIMS: A TRUE STORY OF THE CIVIL WAR. Paludan lists his source: "Wellman, Kingdom of Madison, 88-89, 94-95; story repeated during interview April 4, 1977, by Mrs. Shelton, who insists that Nance Franklin was not the Confederate sympathizer that Wellman says she was." Ahhhh-haaa! Mrs. Shelton gives us the first indication that our story may not be accurate!
Nancy Franklin filed for a pension in 1875. Her pension file is a great source of information, and proves Mrs. Shelton to be correct. The following information is gleaned from her pension application to the United States government:
Nancy was first married to Drury Norton. Drury died, and about five years before the war, she married George Franklin. Nancy's sons were by Drury Norton, so they were Nortons, not Franklins. Nancy says, "Bayliss, James, and Josiah were killed by the Rebels sometime in Sept 1864." She also states, ".... they were soldiers in the U. S. Army. Bayliss and James belonged to Co. E 2d N.C. Mtd. Infy. Josiah belonged to Co. G, 3d N.C. Mtd. Infy. This is as near as I can remember. They were killed while visiting me, in Township No. Madison Co., N.C. by the Rebels, who surprized them. I heard the shooting and I saw them after they were dead. They were all buried in one grave without a coffin. I did not see them actually shot down. I couldn't see it done."
The pension office agent had the following to say about Nancy Franklin: "Nancy Franklin is perhaps one of the most remarkable women of the war. If one half of the stories told about her are true she must have been a real heroine. There can be no question raised as to her loyalty to the Union during all the war. After her three sons were murdered she became desperate and was one of the most efficient spies in the whole Union Army. She is a thoroughly immoral woman however and is certainly a hard case."
Service records of Balus, James, and Josiah verify that they were in the United States Army, as stated above. Balus could have also been the Balis Norton who served in the 29th North Carolina Infantry (Confederate), previous to serving in the Union Army.
Now which versions of the story are true???? Were the Norton boys Confederate or Union soldiers? Did someone really shoot at Nancy and "snip a lock of her flying hair"? I'll place my bet on the documented evidence from the pension file and service records; not on "widespread and consistent" oral tradition--even though published in at least 3 books. Thank you Mr. Paludan and Mrs. Shelton for leading us to question those published accounts!
WHEN YOU FIND A GREAT STORY, DO A LITTLE MORE DIGGIN'. THE STORY MAY CHANGE.
© Dan Slagle, 2004