William Franklin Eads Sr-1824-1928
William Franklin "Frank" Eads Sr was my 2nd Great Grandfather. He was born 10 December, 1824. Census records give his year of birth as being anywhere from 1830-1839 so I am not certain who came up with the actual date of day, month and year of his birth that is recorded on his tombstone pictured below. We do know he was born in December because the 1900 Census gives his birth date as December 1839.
Frank marries Amanda McDaniel in Davie County, North Carolina
Franklin Eades married Amanda McDaniel on 10 November, 1860 in Davie County, North Carolina. Amanda's family lived in Davie County, North Carolina. They purchased their bond for their marriage on the same date. The record lists the bondsman as simply these words:" Washington made his Mark": no clue on who this Washington is, more research is needed. Bond #: 000040325,Image Num: 005253,Record #: 01 029- Witness to the marriage was one: A.A Harbin, marriage performed by one J.R Williams, Justice of the Peace. Amanda was the daughter of Allen McDaniel and Rebecca Bart. More on Amanda's family can be found HERE. This A.A Harbin looks to be a County Court Clerk, my research of him turned up an 1860 census for the household of A.A Harbin in which occupation is listed as C.C Clerk. So I must assume he was just the clerk of the court and no relationship between him and the Eads or McDaniel family that I am currently aware of and further research reveals his name to have been Alten A Harbin. I am not certain who this Washington person was that made his mark on the marriage bond. More research is needed.
A Glimpse of Frank Eads
In a newspaper article written by the Wayne County, Historian; David Bollinger he cites a 2001 interview he had with the late Freda Ward Leach, also an Eads descendant in which she states the following:
"Frank Eads left his Lake Creek farm and started for the county seat of Greenville to pay his taxes. This was on a Monday morning. By Thursday morning his wife began to worry as to why her husband had not returned home. She sent their oldest son, Eli Wyatt Eads, to look for his father. The Eads youth did not go too far until he met his father on the road returning back home. Upon arriving home, Frank Eads informed his family that they were moving to Frazier’s Creek. Mrs. Eads was quite livid with her husband for being gone four days on what should have been a simple overnight trip. She wanted an explanation. Frank Eads accommodated her and said that while in Greenville he met an old time fiddle player by the name of Henry Leach. Leach persuaded Eads to go home with him for the night and enjoy a “grand ole time” of fiddling and dancing with his family and neighbors. The few days of Leach hospitality was really soaked in by Eads. Before the week was over Leach had sold Eads an 80 acre tract of land and the rest is history."
This same article goes on to give us the following glimpse into the life of our Grandfather Franklin Eads:
" The Eads family migrated to Wayne County sometime during 1864 along with his mother, two brothers and sister. Migrating across several states during the Civil War was no doubt someone chancy. The family made it safe and settled in the Lake Creek and Mill Spring communities. Frank and Amanda Eads were the parents of 11 children. The first three were born in North Carolina and the last eight born on the 125 acre Lake Creek farm that Eads settled on. While living on Lake Creek, Amanda Eads was a member of the Big Lake Baptist Church. Upon moving to Frazier’s Creek she united by letter with the New Prospect Baptist Church. In 1901 she became one of the charter members of the New Hope General Baptist Church. Frank Eads was converted and united with New Hope in 1915 at the age of 91. He was baptized by Rev. W.C. Davis, who also preached his funeral in 1928 after he succumbed at the age of 104. In 1998, Eads grave was finally marked 70 years after his death by the Sons of Confederate Veterans.
Five of the eleven children of Frank and Amanda Eads died in infancy and are buried in unmarked graves in the Green Hill Cemetery on Lake Creek. Their oldest child, Roxanna America (1861-1893), was united in marriage to Jefferson F. “Jeff” Vannoy and is also interred at Green Hill. The other five children are interred at New Prospect and are as follows; Eli Wyatt (1862-1942), who married (1) Mary Alice Allen and (2) Katherine Priscilla (Berryman) Allen; Andrew Houston “Hous” (1865-1927), who was married four times (in order), Martha Magdalene Gentry, Mary Roseann Gentry, Callie V. Parton and Alice (Luttes) Bennett; William Franklin Eads, Jr. (1870-1914), who married Dorthula “Dalue” Smith; Nancy Jane (1874-1895), who married Joseph Dempsey “Joe” Johnson; and Mary Bell “Molly” (1878-1974), who married three times (in order), William “Bill” Campbell, James W. “Bill” Ward and Grover C. Montgomery."
( Copyright goes to David Bollinger, Wayne County Historian, shared here for informational purposes only)