Tuesday, November 13, 2007

Quite Possibly My Coolest Ancestor

Okay, so you've heard about various veterans, preachers, and at least one possible con man so far on the blog, but the subject of this post may be my favorite: Martha McFarlane McGee Bell, who tradition tells us was a spy for the patriots in the American Revolution. The stories about Martha are a little vague in some places and sound a little . . . enhanced . . . in others, but the idea that she surreptitiously gathered intelligence about Cornwallis's troops has persisted for two centuries and has made her a heroine of the Revolution in the area where she lived, Randolph County, North Carolina.

Before I get started, though, let me tell you to whom she is related. Martha was Blanche Branch's great-great-great-great-grandmother, one of a succession of Grandmother Marthas: Blanche's own grandmother Martha Burrow Vermillion, her grandmother Martha McGee Burrow, and finally her grandmother Martha Bell, the spy herself. (Martha Bell was also the mother of the revival preachers John and William McGee, who I wrote about a while back.)

Martha McFarlane was born in Alamance County, N.C. in 1735, and we're told she was from a Scottish Presbyterian family. I haven't ever read anything about her family's social or economic position, but she married a well-to-do widower named John McGee and had five children with him before he died in 1773, leaving her "the richest widow anywhere in that region," according to Eli W. Carruthers, whose biographical sketch of her from 1854 is the earliest source for most of the lore about her. Carruthers goes on to say that she was "much sought after, especially by the young widowers and middle-aged bachelors; and it was then said that she was a 'little haughty,' but this probably originated with those who could not succeed in gaining her affections."

She married another wealthy citizen named William Bell in 1779 and moved to his home on Deep River, where he operated a mill and store. (A historian found ruins of the mill a few years ago—see photo above—but the site is now covered by a lake.)

Her biographer Carruthers goes into some detail in trying to describe Martha's looks, personality, and character, obviously walking a tightrope to make her at once boldly heroic yet acceptably feminine. His awkward attempts to justify her assertive and decisive actions suggest how difficult it must have been to reconcile those traits with femininity in the 19th-century South:

"She was not, at any time remarkable for personal beauty nor for the opposite, but was what, in common parlance, is called a good-looking woman.’ There was nothing about her that could be regarded as masculine and nothing in her deportment, ordinarily, that was at all inconsistent with the modesty and delicacy of her sex; but she was a woman of strong mind, ardent in her temperament and remarkably firm and resolute in whatever she undertook, which just fitted her for the trying scenes through which she was called to pass."

And later:

"If this should appear to the reader inconsistent with the modesty and delicacy of her sex, he must recollect that 'circumstances alters cases.' At all times, there may be occasions, and they were of almost daily occurrence at that period, when those qualities, so becoming ordinarily, must be subordinate to the higher principles of self-preservation and the public good. . . . the woman whose energy, prudence and dignified firmness were adequate to any emergency was sure to command a respect which would not be shown to more lovely or attractive qualities."

Carruthers is also curiously reluctant to say it outright, but it appears that Martha was a practicing midwife, albeit one who did not charge for her services until late in her life. He refers to her as "a sort of 'professional character'" who would travel throughout the county to attend to her duty "no matter what hour of the night the call was made"; he also alludes to her "medical skill" and even says she went on one of her spy missions "in the character of a midwife" but never says specifically what her profession was.

At any rate, it was not long after she married William Bell that she earned her fame. The Revolution was on by that time, and in 1781 Lord Cornwallis's British troops were trying to hold onto the Southern colonies, having taken Charleston, South Carolina, in the previous year. The area where Martha lived was divided between Patriots and Tories, and there was a great deal of violence off the battlefield as well as on. William Bell was a well-known business and political figure in the area who was also a prominent patriot. He spent a good deal of time away from home during the war, not as a soldier but under the protection of local militias, as his life was in danger from the local Tories.

In March 1781, Cornwallis and his troops faced the Americans at the Battle of Guilford Courthouse, which is seen by history as a costly pyrrhic victory for the British. After the battle, Cornwallis's army sought to regroup and set up camp at Bell's Mill, where Martha Bell—but not William—was living. The locals must have enjoyed the idea of Cornwallis and his Redcoats meeting their match in this"woman of strong mind," for they told all kinds of stories about this brief encounter. The most repeated of these stories was told to Carruthers by a General Gray, who knew Mrs. Bell after the war. Cornwallis, after inquiring about the whereabouts of Mr. Bell, told Martha:

"‘Madam, I must make your house my headquarters, and have the use of your mill for a few days, to grind for my army while I remain here.'

'Sir, you possess the power, and, of course, will do as you please without my consent; but, after using our mill, do you intend to burn it before you leave?’

'Madam, why do you ask that question?'

‘Sir, answer my question first, and then I will answer yours in a short time.’

His lordship then assured her that the mill should not be burnt or injured; but that he must use it to prepare provisions for his army, and further added, that by making her house his head-quarters, he would be a protection to herself, her house, and every thing that was in or about it; for, said he, ‘no soldier of mine will dare to plunder, or commit depredations near my quarters.’

To which she replied: ‘Now, sir, you have done me a favor by giving me a satisfactory answer to my question, and I will answer yours. Had your lordship said that you intended to burn our mill, I had intended to save you the trouble by burning it myself before you derived much benefit from it; but as you assure me that the mill shall not be burned, and that you will be a protection to me, and to the property about the house, I will make no further objections to your using our mill, and making my house your headquarters while you stay, which, I think you said, would be only for a few days.'"

Among the other tales of Cornwallis's two-day occupation of Bell's Mill: Martha had hidden her cash under a rock and had to slip out to the yard to get it right from under the noses of the Redcoats camped there. When the Redcoats were trying to raid her cellar and steal her cider, Martha threw herself in front of the cellar door and dared them to come through her. When a soldier uttered something profane in her presence as he rode by on his horse, she wished for the horse to throw him and break his neck—and he did so only a few minutes later.

The story that made Martha a heroine of the Revolution, however, comes immediately after Cornwallis left Bell's Mill. Writes Carruthers:

In the evening of the day on which the British left her premises, she made a visit to their camp, for the purpose, it is said, of reconnoitering, but under some other pretext. What was her precise object, or what induced her to engage in the enterprise, no definite or reliable information can now be obtained; but the tradition has been so uniform and so well sustained, that there can be no doubt of the fact. . . . her familiarity with every road and every bye-path, with every plantation and hill and dale, in addition to her patriotism and intrepidity, just fitted her for such an enterprise; and she would be in no danger, for Cornwallis, having been so lately sheltered under her roof, could not do otherwise than treat her with courtesy and respect. . . . Equipped and mounted on a first-rate horse, she set off alone and fulfilled her mission with entire success. the object, was to ascertain, as far as possible, the condition of the British army, and especially whether they were receiving any considerable accessions of Tories. Under the pretext of making complaint against the soldiers for depredations committed on her property, which had not become known to her until after they were gone, she went into the camp and hunted up his lordship or requested to be taken to his tent, to whom she made her complaint, but in doing this she had her eye upon everything, and managed so as to get the information she wanted, when she returned home in safety and much pleased with what she had done.

Carruthers goes on to suggest that Martha made another reconnaissance mission by night to check out "an embodiment of Tories which was said to be forming on the other side of the river." On the pretense that she was making a call in the area as a midwife, she went around to various houses asking about the presence of Tories in the area, ostensibly out of concern for her safety. Armed with the information she passed on, Carruthers writes, Colonel "Light Horse Harry" Lee "took them by surprise and broke up the whole concern" the next night.

Martha lived nearly forty more years after the Revolution; she died in 1820 at the age of 85. Carruthers notes that she became a Christian early in the nineteenth century, at about the time the Second Great Awakening was sweeping the country—and her sons William and John McGee were preaching to nearly hysterical revival meetings on the Kentucky-Tennessee frontier.

Martha's fame seems to have a lot to do with Carruthers's recounting of her story. A monument to her (see photo at the top of this post) at the Guilford Courthouse battleground, erected in 1928, reads:

Mrs. Martha McFarland [sic] McGee Bell
1735-1820
Loyal Whig—Enthusiastic Patriot
Revolutionary Heroine

We are indebted to E. W. Caruthers for the eventfull story of her life.

But the Daughters of the American Revolution, which had approved the 1928 monument, was less impressed with Carruthers as a source in 1997, when members of the local chapter wanted to erect a DAR marker at the site of her grave. The national organization at first turned them down, arguing that "no contemporary evidence can be found" to support Carruthers's stories. With a bunch of angry North Carolina Daughters on their hands, the national DAR finally compromised: on the basis of pay vouchers to Bell from the Revolutionary army (for unspecified goods or services) they allowed that she was in fact a patriot, even if Carruthers's tales could not be verified, and they gave her her grave marker (left). (There is also a highway bridge named for Martha just north of Randleman, North Carolina, on U.S. 220.)

More recently, a descendant of Martha's named Jennifer Wellborn wrote a book making the case for Martha's exploits. Unable to find further documentation, she instead took the tack of comparing the other Revolutionary stories in Carruthers's book with other contemporary documents. She argued that Carruthers was a reliable source in these other cases, and thus could be trusted as a source in the case of Martha Bell. She told the Greensboro News & Record that she wasn't surprised by the lack of contemporary evidence about Martha: "As a general rule, men of that era rarely wrote about women's feats of derring-do."

So here's to Carruthers, Wellborn, and especially to Martha Bell!

21 comments:

gStrader Photography said...

I liked your commentary on Martha, and the fact that you remarked on the efforts of Jennifer Welborn to make the Case for Carruthers. I think your photo looks a lot like the ones that I took of the North Wall of the Mill, but I am sure that if you used it I either gave you permission, or something. I am most happy to share the photos that I have on the Mill, and this Historic Place, that is now flooded by the waters of the cesspool called Deep River.

Cathy D.. said...

Thank you for the story about Martha. I am also a descendent of hers, from her daughter Jane/Jean.
I am so amazed to find her story.

25MTNf@n said...

Google books online has an article about Mrs. Martha Bell by Eli Caruthers found here:
books.google.com/books?id=IeQQAQAAMAAJ
Scroll down and you will find a link to the story about Mrs. Martha Bell.
Thanks for sharing this page which led me to the Google entry. I descend through daughter Martha Jane McGee who married John Welborn.

Anonymous said...

This is my Great......grandmother, so if she is your ancestor then we are related.
She is my absolute favorite ancestor. Her strength is a family trait. Her Scottish roots, coming from Highlanders is part of her strength. The McFarlanes are quite notorious in Scotland. I was there, in the Highlands, last year and discovered much about the McFarlanes and it explained a lot about Mattie.

Unknown said...

I too am a descendent of Mattie. I believe she is my 5th or 6th Great Grandmother.
I would enjoy any information on Mattie as well as the McGee or McFarland side of the family.

Carol Potter Reinen said...

I am related to Mattie through her son Minister William McGee and his wife Anna.
She is my 5th great grandmother. She must have been a woman of courage and and much character.

Hershel Parker said...

It sounds as if you don't know the 1847 account of Martha Bell by Alexander Gray in the Salisbury CAROLINA WATCHMAN for June 4, 1847, reprinted in the Raleigh REGISTER for Sept. 11, 1847. Gray by his letters to Caruthers is the source of much of what Caruthers says about Martha Bell in 1856. These newspapers can be read in Newspapers.com. I used Gray in a piece online in 2015, "Fanning's Bloody Sabbath as Traced by Alexander Gray," JOURNAL OF THE AMERICAN REVOLUTION---http://allthingsliberty.com
Now, all you descendants, find that missing diary!!!!
Hershel Parker

Unknown said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
BelieverInChrist said...

Martha is my 5th great grandmother. John and Martha had a son named William. His wife, Rachel Beckley and he had a son named Andrew. His wife, Rebecca Hoffman had a son named Leroy. His wife, Lydia Eunice Creighton had a son named Ousten. His wife, Helen J. Baughman had a daughter named Dorothea. Her and her husband had a son named Obert who is my father.
I believe that I have gotten my stubbornness, going my own way, and believing in the greater good from her. She was a proud, stubborn woman. Unafraid to stand up for what was right. It's an honor to be her great granddaughter.

BelieverInChrist said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
BelieverInChrist said...

Read my post down below. Looks like you and I are distant cousins

BelieverInChrist said...

Melissa, the McGee's came from Donegal Ireland.

Unknown said...

Do you know if Bells Mill is underwater from Deep River? I am trying to locate my 6th grandfather's Samuel Clark's Plantation location where he is buried. My 5th grand father is Joseph Clark, DNA hit with Anestry.com. I am also attempting to locate Joseph;s burial location. Brothers of Joseph are William (married his Colonels sister), John, Samuel and others. Clarks were maybe the closest neighbors to Bell Mill and served in Revolutionary War with Captain Bell. I have some information by JD Davis about NC Captains and three actions about Joseph. By looking at the land records, the 6th Samuel Clarks land maybe under High Point City Lake. Martha Bell's story is most interesting. Glady to learn of such an outstanding neighbor. It looks the neighborhood had very intersting events and people who were good friends. Did you by chance come across any information about the Clark neighbors?

25MTNf@n said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
25MTNf@n said...

Thanks so much sharing this information!
I've found and saved this article!

25MTNf@n said...

Yes, we are related, cousin!
As a female myself, I especially admire her. I'm quite shy so if I only had half the strength and courage that she possessed, I would be much less so! I need to print and frame her exploits for encouragement!
Yes, those Scottish Highlanders are quite admirable and I have much respect for them. I have multiple surnames in my ancestry that are Scottish as does my husband. Our children are truly blessed but perhaps a bit stubborn! Haha!
It's awesome that you've been to Scotland. I would love to go someday! Do you happen to know who her parents were? I've never seen any definitive parentage. I'm studying a genforum that mentions DNA matches in Tennessee but haven't looked at it closely yet. It could just be descendants of McGee/McFarland. I'll let you know if it seems constructive.

25MTNf@n said...

The comment by Hershel Parker above mentions a newspaper article about our Mattie Bell.
I found it on a free newspaper archives page here:
http://cdm16062.contentdm.oclc.org/cdm/compoundobject/collection/p15016coll1/id/1034/rec/1

Enjoy!

Hershel Parker said...

You see that this document by Gray shames the DAR for their reluctance to give you patriot status! But all the historians had ignored Caruthers's mentions of Gray. What Gray provides is an extremely valuable account of Fanning's raid on Randolph County.

25MTNf@n said...

Gray's accounts should definitely not have been ignored. They are invaluable.

25MTNf@n said...

Yes, Bell's Mill is unfortunately covered underwater.

Personally, I do not know where Samuel Clark's plantation was but I am familiar with the Clark family. I'm currently working with others on the surname of Joseph Clark's wife. For some time it has been thought that she was Nancy Merrill, daughter of Benjamin Merrill that was killed during the Regulator movement, but recent revelations seem to suggest she was Nancy Ann Smith, daughter of David Smith and Ann Bryant originally from Virginia.

My interest in this is that after Joseph Clark's death, Nancy married my ancestor, Benjamin Mendenhall as his second wife. I descend through Benjamin Mendenhall's first wife, Mary (last name unknown).

Good luck with your research. Sorry, I couldn't be of further help concerning the Clark's. Which of Joseph Clark's children do your descend from? I have daughters Hannah, Jane, Nancy and Mary "Polly" in my records. Also, it seems that there was some contention during the settlement of Ben's estate from what little familysearch.org has available on their site. It kind of leaves you hanging!

Anonymous said...

From Jerry M Clark, Richmond, VA. Born in Knox Co. Indiana.

I am descended from my 4GGF George Washington Clark 1786 to 1862, my 5GGF Joseph Clark’s only son with Nancy. George and his sister Mary Polly "Clark" Hill, along with Mary's husband John Hill are buried in Ocklitree Cemetery, Knox Co., Indiana with three other generations of my Clarks. The 1790 Randolph County, NC census shows Joseph Clark with one male under 16 and six females (Jim Shaw book of 1888 was wrong with no son!!). The Indiana State library only has the tombstone names for both Mary and George along with another sister buried in Hendricks County Indiana--No other family members listed. The Friends Meeting in Guildford County, NC has a copy of DAR survey of their cemetery from 1930's stating Hannah’s mother "Nancy Smith? Clark". Not sure what”?” means. Then there is the will of William Smith the brother of David Smith, Nancy’s father--why a payment to Benjamin Mendenhall and wife Nancy and Power of Attorney? OK to delete this posting since not directly related to Martha Bell and until the Nancy issue is resolved, if ever. I have requests out to Gifford College about the original document from Friends Meeting and another church in Trinity were another sister is buried. My email is jerrymclark1@prodigy.net