Thanks for the information that you sent in regards to David hicks. This is what got me wondering about David and his first wife. No one really knows for sure that he married a miss Presnell this I believe is all speculation. If I remember right there is no record of his first marriage. I spoke wrong in the previous email when I referred to Hiram. according to the Perkins trail that took place in Johnson County Tn. Trying to prove the Perkins family as being black it states that Hiram Hicks was a son of graves. (See below) Now Harmon as you can see from below states that Peggy graves was his brothers wife. And I do believe if I not mistaken that Hiram was a son of David. Please correct me if I am wrong. This is just food for thought and information that you may have to correct this would be appreciated Harmon HICKS p.4.Between 55 and 60 ( Harmon is testifying) Saw Joshua's father once, when small, and was scared at him. The general report they were mixed with Negro. Knew the GRAVES. Peggy GRAVES was my brother's wife. Brother's marriage objected to. Generally supposed to be mixed with Negro. William ROWLAND The General report that the PERKINS and GRAVES were mixed. HICKS said old Jock was a Negro. Objections. Hiram HICKS a son of GRAVES. Goulder HICKS 69 Lewis dark and bushy headed. Jacob PERKINS. Knew Ben and Nancy GRAVES. My opinion is they are mixed blooded. Thanks for your attention to this matter. Subj: RE: [NCWATAUG] David hicks / hix Date: 6/19/2002 4:59:29 PM Pacific Daylight Time From: <A HREF="mailto:[email protected]">[email protected]</A> To: <A HREF="mailto:[email protected]">[email protected]</A> Sent from the Internet (Details) Here are the "Remarks" I have for David Hicks. Appears his first wife was a Presnell. Audrey He settled in Banner Elk NC. His love of life was hunting. He had the land at Valle Crucis but kept his hideout. (Watauga River Hicks) David Hicks was born about 1782 at Valle Crucis on the Watauga River. Little is known about his youth except that he evidently served in the War of 1812 and participated in the Battle of New Orleans. He married and moved into what is now Avery County, probably at Banner Elk, where he set up housekeeping in 1818. At that time, he is reported to have been bothered by ghosts. He lived under primitive conditions and acquired all the skills that accompany that life style. He sustained himself and his family by hunting and trapping. The best account of him at that time is as follows: "David Hix, who had been with General Andrew Jackson at the Battle of New Orleans, moved near the Big Falls of Elk, in what is now Cranberry Township, about 1818, founding the Hix settlement. It was he, it seems, whom the first ghosts followed into what is now Avery County, for he often complained that they 'pestered him lots'. He used to think "they mought 'av been the ghosts of the bloomin' Henglish' whom he helped slay in that belated battle, for one particular ghost always carried a bale of cotton with bullet holes in it. Hix hunted, fished, killed poisenous snakes and wild animals, brewed homemade medicines when members of his family were ailing. When his beard and hair became too long, he trimmed them with his hunting knife, with which he picked his teeth and trimmed his toenails. He tanned hides, made shoes for his family, and often pounded chestnuts and acorns into a course meal for bread to be eaten with the wild meat which he obtained from the wilderness. At bedtime, his wife shook the 'kivers' pillows and skins for any snakes that might have hidden among them since the previous night. This was called 'snakin' the beds. Scores of women who later followed their men into the mountains or were born here, did the same thing, for it was an easy matter for copperheads and rattlers to slither through the cracks of floors and walls and hide in the semi-darkness of the windowless cabins. A crude sundial on the outside and hacked notches about the doors helped to measure time on sunny days. But David Hix could calculate almost the exact time whenever he looked at sun and stars." The above account of David Hicks appears in the "History of Avery County" by Horton Cooper. It should be noted that the records of the War of 1812, available at the National Archives in Washington, D.C., contain no reference to David Hicks (Hix) but these records are incomplete and he could have taken part in the Battle of New Orleans. David first married a Presnell, according to local tradition, and had thirteen children before his wife's death. While there is no documentary support for this marriage, it is clear that David had two wives and two families. His first family, by ( ) Presnell, probably included four girls, who have not been identified, and two boys, Hiram and John Wesley. In 1821, David married Susannah Asher, most likely a near cousin, and record of that marriage is available in Ashe County. David does not appear in North Carolinas during the Census of 1810 or in 1820 and the possibility exists that he lived elsewhere for a time, perhaps in Virginia or in Tennessee. By 1821, he had joined other members of his family at Watauga Falls and in the Census of 1830 he was listed with three male children born before his marriage to Susannah. David died at Watauga Falls some time between 1870 and 1880, judging from census records, at the age of 79 or older. Local tradition holds that Susannah Asher also bore thirteen children to David but the record does not entirely support that number. In the Census of 1840, nine children were listed in his household and, altogether, ten children have been identified who are traceable to David and his two wives. David and ( ) Presnell had Hiram and John Wesley. David and Susannah Asher had: Adam, David, Sally, Millery, Margarite, Tempa, Daniel, and Luvenia. "The Hicks Families of Western North Carolina" by John Henry and Mattie Hicks and Barnabas B. Hicks. Printed by Minor's Printing, Boone, NC.