John Armfield (1695 - 1792)

Born 1695 in Northern England

Descendants

Died 1792 at about age 97 in Guilford County, North Carolina

Problems/Questions Profile manager: Paula Hinkel [send private message]

Biography

Research Notes

Note: Photos in scrapbooks:

1. Hand-drawn map of 18th Century Guilford County

2. Mapquest map of present-day Guilford County

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Guilford County Landowners with date of purchase and map key

Note: Locations of the major Quaker Monthly Meetings are noted

Landowners

We have here included the major names associated with Woodwards and related families. As time permits we will complete the list. In the meantime we would be happy to do lookups on the Land owner list for anyone having ancestors in Guilford County nadin@@c2i2.com

*We also have a copy of "John Tate Store Accounts, Guilford County, 1772-1778" by Mary A. Browning, The Guilford Genealogist, Spring 1992 and would be willing to do lookups in that as well. It gives only the name and a "credit rating" but will tell you if your ancestor was in the area in 1772-1778. Remember that Guilford County was formed from Rowan County in 1770 so any dates previous to that time are actually in Rowan County land records if you are trying to locate an original record. *At the bottom of the page we have posted a 1759 Tax List for Rowan County that M. D. Monk located. No Woodwards were there that early but Thornbroughs certainly were and many, many other names from Chester County, Pennsylvania.

A

John Adams C3 NE 1798

Robert Adams E5 SW 1784

Obed Adelott (see Aydellotte) B5 SE 1787

John Agnew D6 NW 1792

Robert Agnew D6 NE 1779

Alamance Church #5 NW

John Albright E6 NW 1798

William Albright E6 NW 1785

John Alcorn D6 SW 1783

William Aldred F4 NE 1798

Thomas Aldridge C2 NW 1770

Isaac Armfield F4SW 1757

John Armfield F4SW 1784

William Armfield F4SW 1762, F4SW 1784, D3SE 1788

Benjamin Aydellotte C4 SW 1788

John Aydellotte B5 SW 1788

Jediah Aydellotte C6 NE 1788

Full list can be found at: http://www.geocities.com/Heartland/Farm/4038/Gmap.html

The History of Guilford County, NC, by Sallie Stockard (1902)

As far as is known, all the Armfields in America have sprung from the same source, i.e., from English Quakers in the north of England, where the family is still numerous. And although the majority of them have drifted away from the old church, yet they still exhibit many Quaker traits, such as honesty, thrift and simplicity. It is believed that they are of Anglo-Saxon stock, judging from the name and from the florid complexion and light hair of the older members of the family in this country.

The original John Armfield, from whom we descend, was born in the north of England in 1695. He was a strict Quaker and a school teacher by profession. He and his young wife came with a colony of Quaker emigrants to Pennsylvania in 1718. Afterward he moved to Bucks County, Pennsylvania, where he bought a farm and taught school. He had five sons and three daughters. About 1760 John and his oldest son, William, together with a company of twenty men and thirty horses, came to North Carolina on an exploring expedition. For the greater part of the way they traveled through dense forests of unpopulated country and located in Rowan County, now the northern part of Guilford. This proved to be a favored section, as there were no Indian settlements in this particular locality.

This band of adventurers avoided the Indians as much as possible, though the savages did not seem to be very hostile at that time, for they often ran off and slipped away from the white men. These emigrants had no sources of living except game, which was found in large quantities, and consisted of bear, deer, buffalo, wild turkeys and squirrels. Their horses fared sumptuously on the grass and pea-vines which covered every spot not covered with leaves. There was no undergrowth at that time, but the whole country was a vast forest of large timber.

Their horses were herded in a pen, with one or more men to guard them. This pen was built on a creek which therefore became known as Horse-Pen Creek. The Indians once endeavored to stampede their horses, but failed. However, the emigrants became alarmed and moved their camp and settled on Deep River, at a point near the present Coltrane's Mill. Game was not quite so abundant there, but the river furnished quantities of fine fish.

Having remained in North Carolina about three years, they packed up, loading some of the extra horses with furs, dressed hides and a few relics, and returned to Pennsylvania.

In 1765 John Armfield and wife, with their sons, viz., William, John, Robert, Isaac and Thomas and daughter Ann Thornburgh and a number of their neighbors, sold their furniture and set out for North Carolina. Two daughters were married, and remained in Pennsylvania. There were about one hundred men, besides women and children, all traveling horseback. John Armfield acted as leader, as he was acquainted with the route. It took nearly two months to make the journey. Several families came from Nantucket, via Pennsylvania, and John Armfield and others joined them and all came on to North Carolina together. The party reached its destination the last of May, 1765. Some of the other families included the Iddings (from PA or Nantucket), the Ballingers, the Hodgins, the Worths, the Stuarts, the Coffins, the Mendenhalls, and the Gardners).

Upon their arrival in North Carolina, John Armfield and family settled on South Buffalo, about one-quarter of a mile southwest of Pomona or Salem Junction. Their first log-house stood a short distance north of the present railroad track, a little over three miles from Greensboro.

John Armfield died in 1792, in his ninety-seventh year. and was buried in the New Garden graveyard.

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from Carol Levick:

There is confusion about John's real name. The name Isaac has been mentioned by Joyce and some other researchers. It could be a combination of these names. His profession of teacher is also being questioned as it is said William and John could not read or write. The tithables for Rowan Co. NC in 1768 show an Isaac Sr., an Isaac Jr. and William and Thomas. Isaac Jr., William and Thomas were sons of John/ Isaac.

Object

Object:

File: http:\//trees.ancestry.com/rd?f=document&guid=8dcf2e16-21c6-4764-b5aa-0eae7c692823&tid=60339363&pid=3959

Format: com/rd?f=document&guid=8dcf2e16-21c6-4764-b5aa-0eae7c692823&tid=60339363&pid=3959

Title: Strict Quaker and a school-teacher by profession

Sources

• Source: S280 Ancestry Family Trees http://trees.ancestry.com/pt/AMTCitationRedir.aspx?tid=60339363&pid=3959
• Source: S313 Ancestry.com, 1790 United States Federal Census BIBL Ancestry.com. 1790 United States Federal Census. Ancestry.com Operations, Inc. #R15
• Source: S32 Brøderbund Software, Inc., World Family Tree Vol. 14, Ed. 1 (Release date: October 20, 1997) Note: Customer pedigree.

Acknowledgements

Armfield-55 was created by Paula Hinkel through the import of kaitlynancestors.ged on Sep 12, 2014.