Time passes and the people who first built the communities die or move on. When these communities predate organized government, we find little record of them. This makes us dependent on the memory of their descendants who gathered their information and left it in bibles, letters, and stories both written and oral.
When the communities organized, they formed County and Circuit Courts. The records of court proceedings give the names of people and locations where they lived. County Courts were responsible for roads and one of their first acts was to designate roads to be maintained.
Other sources of information are census records and tax assessments lists. These records have many omissions because the early settlers tried to stay off any lists as they had often to travel over one hundred miles one way to pay taxes.
The location of some farms and the names of the people who lived on them are shown on the original survey records completed in 1822. The farms were in areas that shows records of past occupants and were near springs and Indian ponds.
My information shows families and settlements in the following locations of the Upper Current and Eleven Point Rivers during the years 1880 to 1825.
The earliest and largest settlement was on the Eleven Point River close to the present town of Thomasville. In 1800 Chester Hatcher lived in the Spanish town of "Richwoods", Thomas Hatcher and Samuel Hatcher lived in the town of Thomasville when it was founded in 1817.
Thomasville was founded by Ephrin Thomas. Other people who were in town or near by at this time were John Thomas, William R. Smith, Richard G. Smith, Samuel H. Smith, John Smith, Thomas J. Blankenship, and Joseph Goodman. Families near by were: Perkins, Jobe, Webster, Stubblefield, Campbell, Huddleston, Karr, Allen, and Edwards.
The next largest group that is recorded was along the Old Virginia Warriors Path in Birch Prairie and Delaware Creek, Mahans Creek, Pine Hollow, Open Hollow, and Jones Hollow. They were Abraham Randolph, Samuel Barton, Riley McClellan, James A. Duncan, John Burris, John Alley, James Storr, Henry Mahan, William Sellers, and the families of Williams, Jones and McIntire.
In the year of 1819, Izaak Kelley moved his family west of the Current River and located on Buffalo, Creek. This period records that Truman Chilton, Francis Chilton, Jesse Chilton, John George, Samuel Polk, John Chilton, Benjamin Carter, William Carter, Morgan Carter, Zimri Carter, David Carter, and Eli Job settled in the area of Barren Fork and Pike Creek.
The crossing of the Lead Mine Trail at Current River and the spring at the mouth of Spring Valley was the home of the Watsu-Cott Indian clans. The mill at the spring was the center of trade for James McCormack, John Patton, Wiley Watson, Jim Coot, Thomas Chilton, Joshua Slater, McHenry Martin, and Hodge families.
The Ahsley settlement was the center of trade up and down the Current River. William Kell, William Anderson, James Wilson, George Cross, William Dugan, M. Womick, and R. Golden lived in the area.
Where Gladden Valley and Howell Hollow entered Current River, Humphrey Howell, Harnahan Howell, Lewis, Gladden, Welch, and Crabtree families made their home.
During the period, a large number of emigrant Indians and mixed bloods lived on Upper Jacks Fork Rivers. Trading stands were run by Henry Williams, James Pickett, and Christopher Gist.
To the west along the Virginia Warriors Path (Kings Mountain Road) settlements were at, Sims Valley, Hutton Valley and Wolf Creek. Some of the families were, Jacob House, Elija Reese, David Prime, Asa Pennell, and Turner Sims.
Many of our early settlers did not remain in the, Riverways but moved on to become the new settlers of the west and southwest. Two of the best known was Moses Beam and W. F. Ormsby.