Part #6 This post includes the surnames of HEITH, GILMER, WHARTON, MEBANE, MOREHEAD, PATRICK Mill Sites in Simpsonville Township Rockingham Co. NC IRON WORKS Mill (site) is located on Troublesome Creek, NC State Road 2423, approximately 1.5 miles north of Monroeton. In operation as early as 1770. ************************************************************ Sometimes prior to 1845, James D. PATRICK moved out of North Carolina and in November 1845 two suits were filed against his property by John A. MEBANE and David WHARTON. Patrick failed to pay the debt of $577.03 or plead his case at Feb Court 1846 and judgement by default was placed on the Iron Works property. On 27 April 1846 the Rockingham County sheriff sold the 1,054 acre tract at public auction to John Turner MOREHEAD and John A. GILMER for $910.00. This sale left PATRICK with a one-fourth interest in the property . The deed to MOREHEAD and GILMER written in 1850 stated that they "enjoy the premises free and clear from all incumberances." James Turner MOREHEAD (1799-1875) a lawyer, congressman, and state senator, born in Rockingham County. He built a large law practice in Greensboro where he and his brother, Governor John Motley MOREHEAD, married sisters. MOREHEAD served on the board of trustees of the University of North Carolina from 1836-1868. He retired to private life after the Civil War, his daughter later wrote of him "For many years in leisure weeks his plantations and mills were recreation to him-never profit-Hamburg mill in Guilford and Troublesome Iron Works gave him frequent occupation." John Adams GILMER (1805-1868) also a Greensboro lawyer, state senator, and U.S. House of Representatives served until the beginning of the Civil War. In 1854 GILMER sold his interest in the Iron Works Mill and plantation to MOREHEAD for $779.00. At that time the deed called for 1,200 or 1,300 acres. By 1850 Preisly HEITH (1813-1882) was the miller at the Iron Works and he continued to operate the mill into the 1870's. In the 1860's he purchased a small farm on Glady Creek and by 1880 had retired from milling. Tradition says that during the Civil War a gold mine was in operation at Iron Works. Others relate that HEITH had some knowledge of gold. The first tradition relates that two Englishmen who dug the mine shaft left the area near the end of the war after covering the shaft with a wooden floor and several feet of dirt. The men never returned, and in the 1920's a group of men clearing a baseball field found what they thought was an old well and filled it with dirt. Many years later certification of the mine's existence was found and that the old well had been the mine shaft. Sources: Rockingham Deeds 2dR page 205, 3dA page 273 The Greensborough Patriot Jan 24, 1846 The County Seat of Guilford, UNC Press 1935 Greensboro History by Arnett pages 58, 426 Greensboro Founders by Caldwell page 95 Rockingham Co. Census 1850-1860-1870-1880 Rockingham Court Minutes August 1862