By Karen Kistler

karen.kistler@salisburypost.com

Stopping in Salisbury during their travels which began in Rhode Island wasn’t just a casual break in the trip for Kate Greene, her husband Rob Migneault and their daughters, Hailee and Casey Greene, but it was a chance to see family history firsthand.

This family trip, which Rob said they had been thinking about doing for years, was a chance to trace the path of General Nathanael Greene, who served under George Washington during the Revolutionary War and is Kate’s ancestor.

In fact, she and her family live in the house where Greene was born.

In information provided by Kate, she is the eighth great-grand niece of Nathanael and the

Tenth Greene family owner in direct descent from James and Elizabeth (Anthony) Greene, who built the house in 1684, where their great grandson, Major General Nathanael Greene Jr., was born in 1742, and lived until 1770. Kate, her husband, Robert Migneault, and their daughters, Hailee M. Greene and Casey M. Greene, live at Forge Farm today.

Forge Farm, Rob said, is a 180-acre farm with multiple buildings including Nathanael’s birthplace, where tours are given, noting that it’s his wife that has “a wealth of knowledge about it,” a modern home he built for the family, a 1700s farmers house, barn, chicken coop and granary.

Rob told how Kate and her cousin Tom, who died and left the farm to her, are direct descendants of Nathanael’s brother, Christopher, and the house was originally purchased from the Native Americans in 1640 for the price of approximately four pounds of wampum (beads) and two winter coats.

The family’s trip to Salisbury on March 14 took them to Thyatira Presbyterian Church where they toured the museum and saw the portraits of King George III and Queen Charlotte and heard once again the story of how the pictures came to be there, plus the family’s connection to Nathanael.

They were met at the church by Glenn McCorkle and Ed Hall, members of the local church and knowledgeable with the church’s history, and Glenn’s brother and sister-in-law Norman and Linda McCorkle, of Columbia, S.C., who had met Kate and her family previously when they traveled to Rhode Island.

Following some time visiting outside, they all stepped into the museum and Kate’s eyes lit up as she looked around and said, “wow, oh my,” and then it wasn’t long before she saw the portraits and went to them and with emotion she said, “I’m shaking, I’m crying.”

While Kate stood looking at the portrait with the family, many pictures were taken to capture the moment of her seeing them for the first time.

She then recorded Norman telling the story, which he also said was included in a booklet by church member Beulah Davis, titled “The Traveling Monarchs.”

The story begins with Elizabeth Maxwell Steele, the fifth great-grandmother of the McCorkles, which made the reunion of the two families even more special.

Steele, first married to Robert Gillespie, owned a tavern on Main and Council streets in downtown Salisbury. She hung the pictures of King George III and Queen Charlotte in the tavern, which, according to Davis in her booklet, were “the gift of a friend of Elizabeth who had a connection that was well-placed in the English court.”

“The site of the tavern is still there,” said Norman. “It’s the 1850s building that houses the Rowan County Museum now.”

After being scalped by the Native Americans at Fort Dobbs, Gillespie lived another 29 days until he died, leaving Elizabeth with two small children, Richard and Margaret.

Margaret would later marry Dr. Samuel E. McCorkle, the first ordained minister of Thyratira Presbyterian.

She continued running the tavern and married William Steele. They had a son John Steele, who became the first comptroller of the U.S. Treasury, serving under the first three presidents.

The story continues in the booklet that one night in 1781, Nathanael, “tired and muddy,” walked into the tavern where he was served a hot meal. Elizabeth listened to all of his trials and needs, and she “pulled from her pocket two bags of coins, telling him to ‘take these.’”

While there, he saw the pictures on the wall and going to them he took George’s picture down and wrote on the back of it, “O George hide thy face and mourn” and then hung it back up with his face turned to the wall.

As for how the portraits made their way into the Thyatira museum, Norman said he knew of the story and knew they were somewhere, but didn’t know exactly where.

Working with the South Carolina Archives in history, he reached out to Dr. H.G. Jones, the director of the North Carolina Collection at Chapel Hill who knew of their location.

“They were in California with the Stanley Art Gallery and they were for sale,” he said.

It turns out that Elizabeth Steele gave them to her son John who passed them to his daughter, who married Archibald Henderson, who was described in Davis’ booklet as “an outstanding Salisbury man and state politician.” Being friends with David Swaim, North Carolina governor, they gave the pictures to be hung in the governor’s mansion.

When Swaim left office and went on to be the president of UNC–Chapel Hill, he took them with him and at his death, his widow took them to Raleigh with her.

Norman and Davis’ booklet tells about a young boy by the name of William Andrews who bought the pictures at auction for a very small amount and after he grew up, married and died, his widow took them to California where she moved to live with family.

“The Stanley Fine Arts Gallery of Palm Springs purchased the two mezzotints of King George III and Queen Charlotte and that’s where they were” Norman said when he contacted Jones. Unable to purchase them himself, his cousin, Pauline McCorkle Neel and her husband Locke had them authenticated, purchased and placed them in the museum they donated to the church.

Learning about the pictures in Salisbury, Kate said that she “grew up knowing of my great-great-great-great-uncle Nathanael Greene and his time here in the south and the story of him coming to Elizabeth Maxwell Steele’s tavern one night alone and how she cared for him and, I believe, really raised him up to carry on at one of the lowest points.”

After their time in Salisbury, Kate and the family were planning to go to a reenactment of the Battle of Guilford Courthouse and then on to Savannah, Georgia. where Nathanael is buried, which Rob said is something he especially wanted to see.

He said Nathanael’s father is buried on their property, along with Christopher and other family members.

Glenn McCorkle asked how Nathanael ended up in Georgia to which Rob said, “after the war, he was given a plantation, Mulberry Grove, by the people of Georgia.”

Greene was only 43 when he died and was buried in Georgia in the town square along with his oldest son, George Washington Greene.

Another piece of history that Kate and the family have and a picture of it is on display in the museum is the dress sword that General Greene gave to Elizabeth. Norman said that “Greene presented (the sword) to Elizabeth Steele for the heroic gift of money to the Revolutionary War effort.”

Norman shared how happy they are that the pictures are in North Carolina again and that the Thyatira museum has received lots of visitors and publicity because of them.

When asked about being able to travel and see all this and what it meant to her, Kate said, “to me, part of the wonder of it all is how the generations are brought together, across time and distance and the legacy that has come down to us is so important of the collaborations and partnerships between people here in this beautiful part of the world and way far away in Rhode Island.”