Rev Epaphroditus Gilliam

Rev Epaphroditus Gilliam

• BIRTH: 20 Jan 1768 - James City County, Virginia, USA
• DEATH: 8 Feb 1842 (aged 74) - Buchanan County, Missouri, USA. Date also seen as 28 Mar 1842
• Son of John Gilliam of Albemarle County and Elizabeth "Bettie" (Murrell) Gilliam
• Husband of Sarah Ann Israel, widow Ballew

Biography

https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/48219022/epaphroditus-gilliam

h/o Sarah Ann Israel. Their children included Jesse Israel, Elizabeth Collett, Sarah Shaw, Gen. Cornelius Gilliam of Oregon, John, Catherine Taylor,Robert P, Anna Harris, Eighty (Adie?)Harris, Mary, Nancy T, Mitchell, and Luhella Gilliam. Incidentally, there are several Epahroditus Gilliams, all kin. They were named after their ancestor Epaphroditus Lawson. The first was born ca 1600 and died ca 1638 in Norfolk County , VA.

Family

https://gravesfa.org/gen191.htm

Sarah (“Sallie”) Israel (3) was born about 1763 in Albemarle Co., VA. She first married ‑‑‑‑‑‑ Ballew (or Boylieu, Ballou, Beilieu, etc.), probably in the late 1770’s or early 1780’s in VA or NC. He may have been Bennet Ballew, since he was listed in a tax record in 1785 in Wilkes Co., NC, the only listing of a Ballew in that county, and he lived in the same neighborhood as her father, Michael Israel. He died, perhaps about 1786, leaving Sallie with two young children.

Sallie secondly married Epaphroditus Gilliam, son of John Gilliam and Elizabeth (Murrell) Fields. Epaphroditus died intestate, and on 8 Feb. 1842 Jesse Gilliam posted a bond as administrator of his estate.

http://bakerdesign.com/bakerhistory/a-fascinating-historical-short-...

Sarah Graves Israel (1822 – two years before her death)
Jewel Baldock Israel, Ed.D.
August 2, 2003

Our daughter Sarah, [Sarah, daughter of Sarah Graves & Michael Israel], often called Sallie, married a Ballew. There has been a mystery about him and she heard that he was dead, leaving her a young widow with two children – Micajah Ballew and Patsy Ballew. About 1790, Sarah married Epaphroditus Gilliam whom she had known in Albemarle County, Virginia. Then, they lived near us in Wilkes County. They heard about good cheap land west of the Blue Ridge, so, along with her brothers John and Jesse, they moved to land on the north fork of the Swannanoa River in Buncombe County.

By 1800 they moved to a farm on the French Broad River near where I live now. They stayed there several years and I saw them often. Then they moved over to Haywood County, North Carolina, and then to Cocke County, Tennessee. After a couple of years there, they moved on to Missouri.

Besides the Ballew children, Sarah had 13 Gilliam children – five boys and eight girls. I don’t know how she managed. She always had a baby in her arms and another hanging onto her skirt.

Those Gilliams just keep moving and moving further West and I don’t hear much from them. From what I know about Epaphroditus Gilliam, I think he is probably still a strong Methodist. In Buncombe County he was a local Methodist preacher and he arranged for visits from the Methodist circuit rider.

Origins

“Richard Fields married Elizabeth Murrell, sister of Drury Murrell, all natives of Amherst County, Virginia. After marriage, Mrs. Fields became the mother of four children, namely: Thomas, Joel, Elizabeth and Sarah. Mr. Fields died and his widow married the second time. Her second marriage was to John Gilliam, by whom she became the mother of three sons, namely: Epaphroditus, Cornelius and John.

Epaphroditus Gilliam emigrated from Virginia to North Carolina in Wilkes County and married Sally Israel, daughter of Michael Israel, Sr. He moved with his family to Clay County, Missouri, where he has since died. He was a local Methodist preacher. Cornelius Gilliam married a Miss Wood and moved to Kentucky where he accumulated good property, and died without children.” (R‑100)

References

• https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/48219022
• https://gravesfa.org/gen191.htm
• http://bakerdesign.com/bakerhistory/a-fascinating-historical-short-...
• https://www.wikitree.com/wiki/Gilliam-135