Individual Details

Levi Hickman McCarter was the first child of Philander and Thurza (Williams) McCarter. He was born on the family farm in Elk Creek, Grayson, Virginia in 1836. His younger siblings were Van, Jane, Andrew, William, Emily, Frank, Jim, Sarah, and George.

His father Philander, 30, was a traveling tinware salesman from New York City when he married Thurza in 1832. His mother, 24, was a farmer's daughter, the second of eleven children of Susan and Levi Williams who lived near 7 Mile Ford, Smyth, Virginia.

Levi's parents settled in the Elk Creek community of Grayson County where Philander became the postmaster and, according to the 1850 census, was 'engaged in commerce' as well as farming, so may have been the proprietor of a small store.

Levi was named for his maternal grandfather, but his middle name is a bit of a mystery. There are no Hickmans in the family tree, so he may have been named for a family friend, perhaps Edwin Hickman who lived in Grayson County at the time.

When Levi was enumerated for the first time in 1840, he was little more than a tick mark on the census form. Ten years later the census became more detailed and listed all eleven family members by name. Levi was 14 and had attended school that year.

On 6 Jul 1860 he was a 'farmer' living in the home of neighbors John and Mary Cornett. He was presumably working on their farm because the agricultural census shows that he had no farm of his own.

On 24 Apr 1861, twelve days after Confederate forces attacked the federal garrison at Fort Sumter, Levi and his brother Van enlisted as privates in Co. F, Virginia Infantry also known as the "Grayson Dare Devils.”

Because the South believed the war would be short, Levi was mustered into service in Richmond for a period of just 12 months. In June he spent two weeks in the hospital at Winchester, but returned to his unit in time to fight in the first major battle of the war, the First Battle of Bull Run or the Battle of First Manassas as the Confederates called it. It was a Confederate victory and showed the Federals that the war would not be easily won.

In March 1862 Levi's unit fought in the First Battle of Kernstown which was a Confederate defeat. After his unit retreated to Swift Run Gap, muster rolls show that he was AWOL. Some in his unit had been transferred to Co. G, 14th Virginia Cavalry and it appears that Levi decided to join them because he had enlisted in Co. G on April 12th.

The desertion rate of Confederate Virginians was somewhere between 10 and 15 percent and occurred for a variety of reasons including poor food, equipment, and leadership. Levi appears to have fallen into the category of soldiers who took French leave so that they could return home to see family and friends when it became clear that the war was going to extend beyond their one year enlistment.

The Co. G “Border Rangers” weren't fully organized until September 1862 and while Levi was home for the summer he married Nancy Hale, the 20-year-old daughter of Lewis B. and Margaret (Huddle) Hale who also lived in the Elk Creek community.

From the fall of 1862 through the spring of '63, the 14th Virginia Cavalry was involved in a number of skirmishes. During this time Levi was AWOL again for three days in February and detailed as a witness in a court-marital in March and April. In July of '63 his unit was ordered to Gettysburg. After the Confederate's defeat, the 14th Virginia Cavalry retreated and there was little activity for the next three months. A week before the Battle of Droop Mountain, Levi was again AWOL.

Levi never returned to his unit and was eventually stricken from the rolls as a deserter. Desertion had become a riskier proposition after the Confederate Congress passed the Conscription Act in April of '62. Some deserters faced a firing squad, but after the loss at Gettysburg so many fell out of the ranks that Jefferson Davis offered full amnesty to those who would return. Levi's reasons for not returning are unknown, but could have included exhaustion, ill health, or general disillusionment.

Nine months after his return, while the war still raged, Levi's son William Stephen McCarter was born. Just three months later in the fall of '64, Levi lost his wife Nancy. He must have been living with his parents at this time because when his father purchased a 450 acre farm just over the state line in Helton, N.C. in February, Levi and baby Willie moved with them.

After the War's end, Levi began courting young widow Evoline Greer Hackler. They were married on 11 Feb 1866 in Grant, Virginia by J.P. Alexander Young.

Where the couple lived after they were married is unknown, but it was probably with one of their sets of parents. In late 1868 little four-year-old Willie died of fever.

When Levi's father died in February 1870, he inherited 52 acres near Mouth of Wilson. The land fell on both sides of the state line, but their home was on Wilson Creek in Grayson County where they were enumerated a few months later. They had two children – Martha Sedalia “Mattie” and Shadrack Philander “Shady” named after their two fathers. Also living with them were farm laborer Perry Franklin, 16, and housekeeper Hannah Clark, 17. At the end of 1870 Evoline gave birth to their daughter Sarah Ennis.

Over the next two years tensions began to develop between the McCarter brothers on their adjoining farms along Little Helton Creek in Virginia and North Carolina. Frank and George claimed that Levi was “a troublesome neighbor” who “turned his stock on their fields and destroyed their grain.” Levi had been trying to induce neighbor John Little from Chestnut Hill to buy his farm for $2,000, but Little thought it worth only $800 which was its valuation in the 1870 census. Frank and George promised Little a $100 note, if he would agree to Levi's asking price. So Levi sold his farm for more than twice what it was worth, but John Little never saw the $100 even after taking his suit against Frank and George McCarter all the way to the North Carolina Supreme Court.

After selling the farm in the fall of 1872, Levi moved his family to the Rye Valley in Smyth County. The 1880 Agricultural Census shows their 250 acre farm valued at $2,000. In 1879 they had produced 150 bu. oats, 100 bu. corn, 70 bu. wheat, 35 bu. apples, 18 bu. potatoes, 13 gal. molasses, 40 lbs. honey, 100 lbs. butter, 40 lbs. fleece, and 130 eggs. They had the usual assortment of farm animals including 5 horses, 5 'milch' cows, 2 steers, 12 sheep, 14 swine, and 12 chickens.

By 1880 the last of their six children had been born. They were Thurza Belle, Robert Franklin, and Clayborn Baker. Clayborn was just a baby, but all five of the older children had attended school in the previous year and were able to read and write.

Throughout the latter half of the '80s, Levi served as a postmaster for Rock Grove, Smyth, Virginia. His brother James was postmaster for the mining camps at Smoky, Alturas, Idaho at the same time. These were political patronage jobs which meant that Levi and James, like their father before them, were active in the Democratic party. The president at this time was Grover Cleveland, the first Democratic president since the end of the war.

In 1887 Levi and Evoline lost their 14-year old daughter Thurza Belle to an unknown cause. She has no headstone in the family cemetery, but her grave may be marked by one of three field stones there.
In 1894 Levi's mother, Thurza, came to live with the family after selling her farm in Ashe County, N. C. Thurza had been managing her farm for 25 years since the death of her husband Philander. She died at Levi and Evoline's home four years later at the age of 89.

On 13 Mar 1900, Levi and Evoline lost their 31-year-old son Shady two weeks before he was to become a father for the second time. (DNA results support a family legend that Shady fathered a son, George Washington Teaster, by Sarah Elizabeth Teaster in 1892.) Engraved on the back of his headstone is this verse from a 16th century hymn:
Let me not murmur or repine,
Under these trying strokes of thine,
But while I walk the mournful road,
Be still and know that thou art God.

When the census was taken a month later, Levi's grieving household was made up of himself and Evoline, sons Robert and Clayborn, daughter-in-law Anna and two-week-old grandson William Shady, recently widowed brother William McCarter, and their servant Celia Haga who would marry Clayborn the following year.

Levi died eight years later on 3 Feb 1908 at age 71. His death certificate lists 'chronic valvular heart disease' as the cause suggesting that he'd probably had rheumatic fever when he was young and may have never been entirely well.
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Newspaper Clipping of Levi McCarter's Obituary

Levi Hickman McCarter was born on Elk Creek, Grayson county, Va., July 18, 1836 departed this life Feb. 3rd, 1908 at his home in Rye Valley, Va., age 71 years, 6 mos. and 15 days. He was first married to Nancy Hale, to whom was born one son - Willie - who, soon after his mother's death died when but five years old. After going with his parents to Helton, N.C. he married Mrs. Evaline Greer Hackler to whom were born four sons and three daughters, three of which preceded him to "the home of the soul."

He was a faithful soldier in the late civil war being enlisted in the Dare Devil Company; the first to go out from Grayson, during which time he escaped many dangers.

He was one of the "most aged" prominent and highly esteemed citizens of Rye Valley while during his life he, as most of us, was by no means perfect yet his sympathy for those in need was great, caring for and visiting the widows in their afflictions, and we trust he is new and "safe in the arms of Jesus."
He seemed to be warned of his approaching death as he realized the importance of and spoke of his trust being in Jesus the Great Physician who only can heal our sin-sick souls.

During his last days he became calm, patient, praying daily, and humble as a little child, the which if we are not like we "cannot enter the kingdom of God."

May He who came to heal the brokenhearted bind up the wounds and gash made by the grave diggers spade and at last make us a reunited family above as his father "in the long ago" so often prayed.

Birth	18 Jul 1836	Elk Creek, Grayson, Virginia
Residence	1850	He was 14-years-old and living with his parents and 8 younger siblings on their farm in Elk Creek. - Grayson County, Virginia
Residence	1860	Living with and working as a farmer on the John and Mary Cornett farm in Elk Creek probably to get away from his parent's nine person household. - Grayson County, Virginia
Military	1861
Marriage	Aug 1862	Nancy Hale
Marriage	11 Feb 1866	Grant, Grayson, Virginia - Evoline Greer
Residence	1870	Mouth of Wilson, Grayson, Virginia
Residence	1880	Saint Clair Bottom, Smyth, Virginia
Residence	21 Jun 1880	Agricultural Census: - Saint Clair Bottom, Smyth, Virginia
Residence	19 Aug 1885	Postmaster of Rock Grove - Smyth County, Virginia
Residence	1 Jul 1887	Postmaster of Rock Grove - Smyth County, Virginia
Residence	1900	Saint Clair Bottom, Smyth, Virginia
Burial	1908	Smyth County, Virginia
Death	3 Feb 1908	of chronic valvular heart disease - Quebec, Smyth, Virginia
Military

Spouse	Nancy Hale (1842 - 1864)
Child	William Stephen McCarter (1864 - 1868)

Spouse	Evoline Greer (1840 - 1918)
Child	Martha "Mattie" Sedalia McCarter (1867 - 1951)
Child	Shadrack Philander McCarter (1868 - 1900)
Child	Sarah Ennis McCarter (1870 - 1939)
Child	Thurza Bell McCarter (1873 - 1887)
Child	Robert Franklin McCarter (1876 - 1929)
Child	Clayborn Baker "Clabe" McCarter (1879 - 1944)
Child	Dollie McCarter (1879 - 1879)

Father	Philander C. McCARTER (1802 - 1870)
Mother	Theresa Ann "Thurza" Williams (1808 - 1898)
Sibling	Martin Van Buren McCarter (1837 - 1893)
Sibling	Catherine "Jane" McCarter (1838 - 1909)
Sibling	Andrew Cole McCarter (1840 - 1911)
Sibling	William Allen McCarter (1842 - 1914)
Sibling	Emily F. McCarter (1844 - 1903)
Sibling	Hugh Franklin "Frank" McCARTER (1845 - 1926)
Sibling	James Piper McCarter (1848 - 1920)
Sibling	Sarah Caroline McCarter (1850 - 1918)
Sibling	George Croghan McCarter (1851 - 1916)

Notes