1940 Laurel Twp, Ashe Co., NC - Penningtons (Part 3)

Photo of Big Laurel Creek - taken by Mary Almaroad

Onward to the rest of the census – in Laurel Twp in Ashe Co., NC.  I’m sorry to say that I don’t have a lot of insights into the remaining pages of the census records.  Mostly because we are out of the Pennington area that I know about.  That isn’t to say that we are completely out of Pennington relations in the area, though.

There is a close relationship in that township amongst several families.  They may not be related by blood but they are by history.  Most of the Farmers in the next several pages of the census are descended from Thomas Farmer and his 10 children,  I don’t even have anywhere close to a good database on theses Famers…but there are a few mentioned that are interesting.  On page 7A, there is a Ettie Farmer listed in the middle of the page.  Her maiden name is Pennington  (Her name should be Campbell and not Pennington - she was married to William Farmer as his second wife)  – I don’t know as yet where she fits.  Her son, Elmer, married Dora Pennington, daughter of Ephraim Stacy Pennington Maggie Roark.  In this census, Etta is the widow of William M. Farmer (he was the son of Calvin Farmer and Emeline Graybeal) and she is listed with 5 children and I still have to search for the rest of her children as she had 10 children.

This may be somewhat disappointing – but there really aren’t any other names that I recognize right away.  I recognize the last names of Eastridge, Graybeal, Osborne and Farmer and the Shepherd name on Page 7B is particularly interesting.  There are few cemeteries in the Laurel Twp that I have either visited or know about.  The Mock cemetery is one of them and there is also a Farmer cemetery – but the one that is probably most interesting to Pennington researchers is the Elijah Shepherd Cemetery.  This is where many of the Penningtons are buried.  Isaac and Elijah are there with many of their family members.  The remaining pages of the census must cover the lower section of the Laurel road.  Just because I don’t have the names in my database right now…this will be something that I will spend some time on. 

Elijah Shepherd Cemetery - taken by Carolyn Waters

Mock Cemetery sign near the road
Below the Mock Cemetery on the hillside
 - Taken by Mary Almaroad

Whenever you spend any time on a family that has lived in a specific region for a long time – you generally spend some time researching allied families.  There is a lot to be learned from this research.  Sometimes there are intermarriages; sometimes it is another location to search for cemetery records.  I am reminded of this because of an experience I had many years ago in Johnson Co., TN.  I was talking to a lady who had lived in Shingletown for most of her life.  She was at that point taking care of her elderly mother.  The lady shared with me some photos that she had of my cousins.  While I was there, I got some information on her family because she didn’t know all that much.  As I started tracing her line back, I found out that she was part of the same Pennington family as I…just a few generations back.  I also found that at least 60 % of those buried at the Wesley Methodist Cemetery in Shingletown had some relation to Andrew Pennington and his wife, Mary Elizabeth Pope.  So, even though I don’t have a complete picture of the rest of these families – if I take the time to get the basic information down on them, it may lead me down some research paths that I had not considered.  So…while I don’t know where the rest of these families fit – I will keep looking in my research materials to see if I can figure it out!