Part Two - Of the hosts of Hamricks whose ancestors first were farmers there are now prominent lawyers, doctors, business men, craftsmen, textile leaders and workmen in every activity in the county. Marriages and inter-marriages with a score or more leading families have made family records and family traditions and names seem almost like those of one family, especially in the southern part of the county. An anecdote is told of a Civil War captain who was calling the roll of men from a Cleveland County copany and after calling a score of Hamrick surnames came to "Moore" Hamrick, and a wag called out, "There are not any more Hamricks: they are all here." Of all the earlier Hamricks, Dr. Wiley said "Their lots was one of unremitting, grinding toil from sun to sun. Their scant learning consisted in reading the Bible and writing their anmes. They were honest, substantial citizens of their generation, and their history was the short and simple annals of the poor." Probably the most prolific of the progeny of the Hamricks has been the family of the late "Uncle" Berry Hamrick who was bornin 1820 and died in 1917 at the age of 97, possibly the oldest of the Hamricks and who had three wives and outlived all three. He was well acquainted with the earlier Hamricks and said that the first George Hamrick had 21 children and that three of them, the three mentioned by Dr. W.C. Hamrick, came south and that their marriages and connections brought the families of Greens, Blantons, Bridges, Harrells, McSwains, Champions, Washburns, Wrays, Suttles, Bosticks, Ledbetters, Doggets, Conners, Hughes, Magness, McBrayer, Webb, Lovelace, and Williamson under the roof of the family tree. Some of the very earliest Hamricks, according to S.C. Jones who got records from courthouses, land grants and other sources were: Samuel, entered land 1797 near Mt. Sinai; James nearby in 1800; Jones, west side First Broad river, 1800; Frederick, Patterson Springs, 1800; Price, near Beaver Dam, 1800; Nathaniel, Hickory Creek, 1797. Mr. Jones found some very puzzling connections, some of the Hamricks having three great-grandfathers who were all brothers; a number of men were fifth or sixth cousins to their wives, "yet all of them had sense enough to go to mill and back." The prominence of the Hamrick family and connections in public life is revealed in the following summary of service: Housand Harrill, Rutherford legislature, 1804; David Hamrick, R.C. legislature, 1834; William Jones, R.C. legislature, 1846; Amos Harrill, R.C. legislature, 1846; Benjamin Washburn, R.C. legislature, 1858; Charles Blanton, first Cleveland sheriff, 1842-1852. James Y. Hamrick, first legilator of Cleveland County, 1844 and again in 1848 when he died; Richard Champion, first clerk of court of Cleveland, 1842-1866; John Blanton, Rutherford sheriff, 1880-90; Burwell Blanton, trustee N.C. State College, 1890; Dr. John B.Harrill, R.C. legislature, 1885; Capt. G. G. Holland, Cleveland County legislature, 1850; William M. Blanton, Cleveland legislature, 1856; James Y. Hamrick Jr., Cleveland legislature, 1881; Senate, 1895. James L. Webb, legislature 1881; superior court judge many years; Wiley C. Hamrick, Cleveland legislature, 1889 and S.C. Senate 1910; Drury S. Lovelace, legislature, 1909 . . . and many others too numerous to mention. THE END Wanda Rabb (researching Rabb (NC/SC), Penix (NC), Bradshaw (VA>NC), (Gantt (NC), Nix, Robertson, Wilson, Conner, Harris (Rutherford Co.,NC), Laws(Yancey, Rutherford Co., NC), Edwards,Kelly (Yancey Co.,NC), Causby, Patton(Burke/McDowell Co., NC) Paxton(Union Co., NC >Lancaster, SC), Purviance (NC), Farris & Morris (York Co., SC) Lovelace, Hamrick, Green and McSwain (Cleveland Co., NC), Ledford, Black(Cleveland or Rutherford Co., NC), Towery (Cleveland or Lincoln Co., NC) Listmanager for CAUSBY-L, FARRIS-L, FARIS-L, FAIRES-L, FERRIS-L, LAWS-L, NIX-L, PAXTON-L, PAXSON-L, PURVIANCE-L, RABB-L, RAABE-L, RAAB-L Homepage: http://www.geocities.com/Heartland/Cottage/1882/