Early Candlers in the West, ©1999 by Ed Marsh, (revised fall 2000)

Family tradition holds that the Candlers were woodsmen and surveyors. Citations in the Old Augusta County, VA court records reveal John and William Candler (Daniel's sons) traveling into the extreme western limits of Virginia (at the time) to do business for themselves or their neighbor/patron Charles Lynch, Jr. (continue below).

A very dramatic source of information on the early Candlers as woodsmen lies in several letters that are supposed to date from the 18th century. A copy of a copy of a letter, dated 1778 and attributed to Thomas Moorman of Anson County, North Carolina, and was written to Mary Ann Lynch of Amherst County, Virginia. It is available in Jones Library in Lynchburg, VA. Allan D. Candler quotes from this same letter in his book. Below, I provide a side-by-side comparison:

The Yadkin River is in western North Carolina where the descendants of Zacheriah Candler would ultimately settle. When one considers the evidence (from Daniel's 1765 will) that Zed was born about 1746, it's hard to reconcile the above story.

For a full commentary on this and other old Moorman family letters that mention the Candlers, see this link: http://homepages.rootsweb.com/~lksstarr/reports/dougcand.txt

The Indian Wars of the late 1750's sent western settlers back through the gaps in the Blue Ridge mountains to the relative safety of South River Settlement (present-day Lynchburg) which was on the edge of the wilderness. William Candler (Daniel's second-born son and Zedekiah's brother) was living just beyond these gaps along Goose Creek in present-day Bedford Co until the hostilities forced him to retreat temporarily.

Though the history books tell us that the Quakers on Goose Creek abandoned their settlement under threat of attack, one must dig deeper to find what William Candler was doing about the unsatisfactory situation. In 1760, William contrated with one Joseph Ray, to carry supplies to Dunkard's Bottom, VA where he would sell these supplies to the militia. Where was Dunkard's Bottom? Ironically (considering the word dunkard), today it lies under Claytor Lake in Pulaski County, VA; well over a hundred miles west of South River Settlement.

One may read a scant report of this episode in Chalkey's Chronicles of the Scotch Irish in Virginia: Ray vs. Candler under Augusta County Court records.

Col. William Candler of Richmond County, Georgia (Daniel and Hannah Candler's second son) led a group of militia known as the Refugees. They were so called because they were chased from their homesteads by the British Army that effectively conquered and occupied Georgia. These Refugees literally escaped in the night, leaving most of their possession behind, and taking their families to an area "between the Holston and French Broad Rivers" (from Alan Candler's book, Colonel William Candler of Georgia…) in present-day Tennessee.

There is a Zachariah Candler legend that he fought with his uncle William in the Revolution. This could not be true. Zed and Anna were married in 1772 and there is evidence that Zack was born in 1773 (a report in the Kentucky Gazette in 1793 lists Zed as a soldier, enlisted in Bedford, Virginia, age about 20). However, Zachariah Candler eventually did settle in this part of the "west" where his uncle (Col. William Candler) took the refugees during the Revolution. In his will of 1844, he wrote:

Zachariah was at Fort Hamilton, Ohio in 1792-93 with the Army that would eventually defeat the Indian forces at the Battle of Fallen Timbers. He was married in 1793 to Rhoda Pelham of Green County, Kentucky. He is said to have been a surveyor for the government during the time when Indian Treaty boundary lives were being drawn in western Carolina and Georgia. Perhaps his vast land holdings in the Ashville area came from this type of work.

Perhaps not coincidentally, there was another Candler living in the western parts of Virginia in the late 1700's. John Candler, Jr. (born to John, Sr. and Elizabeth Gibson in 1765), Zacheriah's Candler's first cousin, appeared on Russell County, Virginia tax rolls in 1797. In that year, the list reads, "John Candler, (1) [inhabitant]." In July of 1799, John Candler, Jr. married Dorothy Stovall in Campbell Co, Virginia. On the 1799 tax list of Russell County, it is written, "John Candler, (2)."

In Russell County there is a town named Candler, and a Candler Cemetery. Today, Candler is little more than a lonely crossroads, but from the 1780's on into the 19th century, it was on the main route westward -- The Wilderness Road.

On this map you can find Castle's Woods on the extreme eastern side. Castlewood, VA (as it is called today) is just a few miles from the site of Candler, VA and the John Candler cemetery. Though I am told that there is no longer much sign of either, they still appear on U.S. Geological Survey maps.

Candler, Virginia lies on a creek less than ten miles south of the Clinch River (between the Holston and the Clinch). Thus, John Candler also settled on land fairly near to the "Holston and French Broad Rivers."

 One need only look at a map of western NC and VA, and eastern TN to see that these Candlers (Zack near Ashville, and John, Jr. in Russell County) were next-door-neighbors. Certainly in comparison to the distances that they traveled frequently, such as returning to Bedford and Campbell Counties to marry, their separation was negligible.

An article specifically on this topic

John Candler, Jr. was the son of John, Sr. and Elizabeth Gibson. On the 1786 Campbell Co, Tax List, there are no Gibsons. On the 1787 Tax list of Russell County, one finds James Gibson. In 1797 (the year that John Candler, Jr. first appears on Tax Rolls in Russell County) there are Four Gibson households. One has to suspect that John Candler, Sr's son was living among his mother's relatives. The descendants of John Candler, Jr. lived in the Hansonville district of Russell County. It is interesting to note that on the Russell County tax list of 1800 there is one Candler household and three Gibson households.

In 1810 there was one Candler households (and fifteen Gibsons) on the rolls. In 1820 and 1830 there was still the one Candler household. In 1840, Singleton Candler's name appears on the house-to-house census roll (one name removed from that of Wesley Gibson), but John Candler no longer appears. John Candler, Jr. is said to have died in 1832 in Campbell County, VA. Whether he had moved back to his ancestral home or was just visiting I do not know. One way or the other, he now lies with his ancestors on Candler's Mountain.

On the 1860 U.S. Census of Russell County, Lebanon Township, one finds Singleton Candler (age 46), and wife Adaline (age 44), and their 8 children (ages 6 -- 22); and George Candler (age 50), and wife "Dicy" Boedecia (Jesse) Candler (age 45), along with their 10 children (ages 6 - 26). Also in the county was John H. Candler (age 27), ocupation - clerk, who was living with the family of John D. Alderson (farmer). Whether John H. Candler was a son of Singleton or George I do not know. The two brother (Singleton and George) each lived in Lebanon Township while the Alderson family lived in Hansonville.

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