JAMES-2s’ son, BARTLETT YANCEY-3, married “NANCY” ANNE GRAVES-7, who was a descendant of an even earlier and more prominent family, CAPTAIN THOMAS GRAVES-1 of Jamestown. BARTLETT-3 was born about 1734 in Granville County and married ANNE GRAVES-7 sometime around 1765. He probably married her in Caswell County after he moved there. ANNE’s father, JOHN GRAVES moved to the Caswell area probably about the same time he did. ANNE had been born about 1740 in Spotsylvania County. Her father’s sister, Eleanor Graves-6, was married to Thomas Kimbrough-i who also moved to Caswell County from Virginia.
Bartlett was a man of great decision of character. He was greatly afflicted with rheumatism and sciatica and could not walk without crutches. During the Revolution, when he heard the cannon firing at the Guilford Courthouse, he made a servant put him on his horse, hand him his crutches, and he started to go to the battle. His wife, Anne, came out and took the bridle off the horse and would not let him go. He sat on the horse a while and she reasoned with him until she convinced him that he could do more good by not going and he might lose his life. He taught school for many years, but was not physically able to work on the farm. [According to a biographical sketch in the Caswell County Heritage.]
BARTLETT YANCEY-3 had arrived in “Orange” County, [the part that became Caswell], North Carolina, from Granville, North Carolina, about 1765. He is included in the first tax list of Caswell in 1777 and valued his assets at slightly over 976 pounds. It seems that BARTLETT-3 had first come there before 1763, but had trouble procuring a clear title to some land due to the Earl of Granville’s closing land sales. Lord Granville’s district was the source of discord and division in the colony. Grants were issued for the same tract of land to multiple people by one agent, and multiple people by multiple agents. Too, officials were bribed and charged excessive fees and quit rents.
The first Lord Granville probably wasn’t either involved in the abuses or indifferent to them, but was unable to stop them. Eventually, in 1759, an armed mob attacked the agent. The second Lord Granville was, however, indifferent to the plight of the people and closed the land office for a number of years. This stymied the growth of the colony and obviously caused problems for our BARTLETT. It is also why there is a highly disproportionate number of grants filed in the years 1761 and 1762.
Dorothy Gray quotes a source of military records in 1754 that lists BARTLETT as a private in the regiment of Col. William Eaton in Granville. Then again in 1755 in the company of Capt. John Sallis. Tax records of 1755 through 1762 in Granville, no township listed, show BARTLETT. This would date his arrival in Caswell as about 1762 or 1763.
In 1779, in Caswell County, North Carolina, BARTLETT had 259 acres on the South Fork of Country Line Creek and 362 acres on Gooch’s and Rice’s Creeks near present Pinson’s and Burk’s Creeks where they flow into County Line, a few miles south of Yanceyville.
During the twenty years that he was in Caswell County, North Carolina, BARTLETT established a prosperous plantation and supported the Revolutation. He and NANCY ANN GRAVES YANCEY had a large family. Their tenth child, BARTLETT-2, was still unborn when his father died in 1785.
Charles Yancey-1; James-2; Bartlett-3; Thomas-4, Yancy Turner-5
James Yancey-4, was born about 1768 and Yanceyville was named for him in 1833. He was a local politician and chairman of the county courts from 1808 to 1829. He, apparently, was a peace maker and assisted the progress of the county in spite of the many factions. His wives were Lucy Kerr and Zilpha Johnson.
John Yancey-4, was born about 1769, married Elizabeth L. Moore, and moved to Giles, Tennessee, where he died in 1819.
Bartlett Yancey-4 was born February 19, 1875, after his father's death. He married a cousin, Nancy Graves-8, the daughter of John Herndon Graves. They had several children, including Bartlett-5. Bartlett-4 was a famous legislator and a member of the United States Congress who worked hard for progress of the state and nation. His home stands today [1997] and is located west of Yanceyville on U. S. Highway 158. According to a real estate flyer, it “sits well back from the road on 15 acres surrounded by gently rolling terrain with productive fields and dense groves of mixed hardwoods. The home retains its original dependencies, unrestored, including his law office, a smoke house, restored as a work shop, and an early tobacco house with diamond notched logs.” It was built between 1808 and 1814, with a Greek Revival ell added in 1856 by his daughter, Ann Elizabeth Yancey-5 Womack, which defines the appearance of the house today. He served in both the United States House of Representatives and the North Carolina Senate. His family Bible also survived and lists the dates of birth for himself and his wife, who died about 1855. The family Bible also contained the dates of birth and names of about 150 slaves born between the early- and mid-1850s.
Mary [Polly] Yancey-4, married John Graves, February 13, 1794, and moved to Giles, Tennessee. In Giles, she later married a Mr. Riddle and was mentioned as both Mary Riddle and Mary Graves in her mother’s will.
Nancy Yancey-4, married Isaac Johnson December 10, 1795. Her legacy from ANNE was placed in trust with her brothers for her benefit.
Isabella Yancey-4, first married Jim [John?] Kimbrough, Jr. [probably a cousin], and then James [Joseph?] Collier. She was listed in her mother’s will as Collier.
Elizabeth Perry Yancey-4, married Nathaniel Slade June 26, 1792.
Sally Yancey-4 married Isaac [Archibald?] Rice July 6, 1811. Her daughter, Sally Rice-5, was given a bequest in the will of her grandmother, ANNE YANCEY, in 1816, so Sally Yancey Rice may have been dead by that time.
Frances V. Yancey-4 married Alexander Wiley on October 2, 1804, and she died about 1807. They were probably the parents of Yancey Wiley-5, who received one-eighth of the estate of his grandmother, ANNE GRAVES YANCEY.
THOMAS GRAVES YANCEY-4, born circa 1765, was probably the oldest child. He was the father of YANCY TURNER-5, by SUSANNAH TURNER, though they were never married. After that, he married Kesiah Simmons on February 24, 1789. She was the daughter of Thomas Simmons. They had four children: Priscilla-5, Tyron-5, James Jr.-5, and Nancy-5. Kesiah died sometime before 1802, and he then married Elizabeth Tait. She bore Arteitia Yancey-5, his youngest child.