Barnard & Yeatts Family History

By Beth Searle Alexander

Barnard

Family tradition says the Barnards immigrated to England from Germany, possibly as far back as during the Norman Conquest. No documentation exists in our records for this. The first Barnard we know anything about was Zadock Barnard and his wife Lucy. We don't know how many children they had but they had at least one, Charles "Archie" Barnard. Charles was born in England, probably about 1760 because that is the birth date given for his wife, also a Lucy. So it would appear that Zadock Barnard and his family came to the United States sometime after about 1760. They apparently settled in Pittsylvania County, Virginia. Some information gathered by Mary Fosdal indicate that Charles Barnard's wife, Lucy, was party to some kind of land sale in Virginia in 1793 and that the federal census records of 1850 indicate she was living with her son Isham at that time.

Charles "Archie" Barnard and Lucy were probably married in the late 1770's. They had at least three children: Archelius V., Isham, and Molly. Archelius was born 1780 in Virginia. We have no information about marriage or children for Archelius. Molly was married in 1796 to Charles Bolt. Molly had to get permission to marry from her mother. Since her, presumably older, brother Archelius was born in 1780, Molly was probably born about 1782 which would have made her about fourteen when she married. Since it was her mother that gave her permission to marry, instead of her father, in 1796, and since her mother, Lucy, was involved in a land sale in 1793, it would seem that Charles "Archie" Barnard probably died prior to 1793.

The third child of Charles and Lucy, that we know anything about, was Isham. He was born December 23, 1787, probably in Virginia. He died in Kibler, Virginia in 1871. He married Sally (Sarah) Burch in Surrey County, North Carolina February 26, 1805. Sally was born June 19, 1785. She died April 6, 1863 in Kibler, Virginia. Sally's parents were William and Mary Burch; William was the son of John Burch and Elizabeth Lanier Burch who were married in 1742 in Brunswich County, Virginia. John's father was Richard Burch and his parents were John Burch and Elizabeth Washington Burch.

Isham and Sally Burch Barnard had thirteen children. The primary line of descent for this history, and the only one for which we have any real information was their second born child, Tirea Barnard. (His name is spelled Tiria in some records). Tirea was born August 2, 1807, probably in Patrick County, Virginia. He died in 1877. He married Eliza Shelor Scott (1809-1888). Eliza was the daughter of Thomas and Sallie Shelor Scott. We have no information about Thomas Scott but we do know something of Sallie. Lawrence Shelor is said to have come from Germany and his name was originally Shiller. His wife died at sea. His son, Lawrence Shelor, Jr., was the father of Captain Daniel Shelor. Daniel Shelor married Mary Wicham, said to have been born in England and they were the parents of Sallie Shelor Scott. The records indicate that Lawrence Shelor, Sr. came from Germany about 1740-50, and that his grandson Capt. Daniel Shelor was born in 1750. But Capt. Daniel Shelor's daughter Eliza was born in 1809, so some of these dates must be incorrect.

Tirea Barnard and Eliza Shelor Scott probably had several children but we have information about only one, Jehu (1841-1933). Jehu Barnard was born in Mayberry, Virginia in 1841. He died in Meadows of Dan, Virginia in 1933. On February 20, 1873 he married Nancy Adeline Wood (1850-1891). Jehu served in the Confederate Army, as a member of Company K., 50th Virginia Infantry. Jehu and Nancy had ten children, including Stella Susan Barnard, who later married Charles Thomas Yeatts. Nancy died in 1891, the same year their last child was born, possibly in childbirth. Jehu then married Virginia Alice Orander, in May of 1892 and they had five children.

Yeatts

John Y. Yeatts was born January 1, 1812 in Pittsylvania County, Virginia. He married Elizabeth Feline Lipford in Pittsylvania County. They moved to Patrick County in the early part of the 1850s. They had at least twelve children. Their first four sons, William, Henry, George and Richard served in the Confederate Army during the Civil War. Their second son, Henry F. Yeatts, born in 1836, married Caron Aquilla Boswell. Caron was born in Rocky Mountain, Virginia, daughter of Mark M. Boswell and Jane Forest Moore. Both Mark and Jane were born in Chatham, Virginia, Mark in 1805 and Jane in 1812.

Henry and Caron Yeatts had four children: John Henry Yeatts, known as Uncle Dump; George Oliver Preston Yeatts, known as Uncle Georgie; Henrietta Yeatts, known as Aunt Etta; and Charles Thomas Yeatts.

Charles Thomas Yeatts was born November 5, 1875 in Stuart, Virginia and died December 3, 1918 in Nitro, West Virginia. He was buried in Mayberry, Virginia. He married Stella Susan Barnard September 28, 1899 in Mayberry and they had nine children. Roy, Foy, May, Amy and Evy were born in Virginia. Evy only lived about three years (1908-11 ?) Baby Boy Yeatts was born dead in 1910. In 1910 the family moved to Montana and settled in Beaverton, near Saco. We don't know if the Baby Boy was born in Virginia or Montana. The last three children, Ray, Ellen, and Mildred were born in Montana. In 1918 Charles Thomas Yeatts made a trip from Montana to Virginia for some reason and died while on the trip. There are conflicting stories about what caused his death, some say flu epidemic, some say pneumonia and one story says he was conscripted to work in the coal mines for the war effort and that caused his illness.

A Charles Thomas Yeatts footnote: some records give his name as Charles Tobias Yeatts and some of his immediate family called him Tobe.