By Gretchen Witt
Rowan Public Library

The Edith M. Clark History Room at Rowan Public Library has a substantial array of materials to facilitate anyone’s genealogical research. RPL holds marriage, birth, death, church, tax, court and land records from Colonial times up to the present day housed in the History Room. Materials cover the current area of Rowan County as well those counties of North Carolina and Tennessee that were once Rowan County. The eastern seaboard and most of the Southeast is also represented with numerous resources.

In preparation for the upcoming 250-year anniversary of the United States, the History Room is expanding its collection of American Revolutionary materials. Included in some recent acquisitions is “Chaplains of the Revolutionary War: Black Robed American Warriors,” by Jack Darrell Crowder. Crowder incorporates short biographies of many chaplains, among them some from North Carolina such as James Hall, William Hill, Alexander McWhorter and James Tate. These biographies include genealogical information as well as military service details.

Crowder has written a similar book “African Americans and American Indians in the Revolutionary War” wherein he lists some of the men who hoped to obtain their freedom from enslavement by volunteering to serve in the army. One free gentleman of color, William Guy, born in 1763, fought under Colonel David Mason who marched through Salisbury on his way to Stono Ferry. Guy was also present at the battle of Yorktown. He lived to 1857 and after his death his wife Abigail received a widow’s pension. Unfortunately, many men due to their peculiar situations as enslaved persons, free or indigenous could not always prove their service and their contribution to the fight for freedom from England has not always been acknowledged. Honyere Tewhangarahken who served as captain in a company of Native Americans was not aware of the possibility of a pension for his service, but his son Peter applied. That pension file numbers 131 pages and contains important information on Tewhangarahken’s contributions and the activities of his fellow soldiers.

For anyone interested in beginning research into their ancestry — Colonial, Revolutionary War or any other eras — a genealogy conference hosted by RPL’s History Room, and the Genealogical Society of Rowan County will take place Saturday, Nov. 16 from 9:30 a.m. to 4 p.m. at the West Branch of RPL in Cleveland. Entitled “Overcoming Obstacles: Insights to Genealogical Success” the conference is free to attend and will feature genealogist Rhonda Roederer. Historian Dr. Gary Freeze will lead the opening session on Early Rowan Immigrants. Registration is encouraged but not required; to register go to bit.ly/RPL_Conf2024. For questions about the upcoming Genealogy Conference, contact RPL History Room Supervisor at 704-216-8232. For more information about Rowan Public Library and other program offerings, go to www.RowanPublicLibrary.org or call 980-432-8670.

Gretchen Beilfuss Witt is supervisor of the Edith M. Clark History Room at Rowan Public Library.