by Bruce Whitaker
George Aden Burgin was born on Crooked Creek in McDowell County, NC in 1874. He lived there until 1910, when he moved to Black Mountain. Burgin wrote a series of articles for the Black Mountain News 65 years ago, including one about his early memories of Broad River.
Burgin was the son of James L. Burgin and Elizabeth Soloman. He married Martha Josephine Harris, the daughter of William M. and Mary Stepp Harris. Burgin was a Black Mountain-area farmer, a Justice of the Peace for a number of years, and a 32nd Degree Mason. He died in 1959.
Broad River is the township that borders Fairview on the east. Part of it is now considered Fairview. This area was originally considered part of Rutherford County and Burke County. In fact, the line was not well defined between the two counties. Residents who never moved are sometimes found in both Rutherford County and Burke County records. This area became part of McDowell County when it was formed in the 1840s. In the mid-1920s, heavily Republican Broad River was taken from McDowell County and placed into the more Democratic Buncombe County to make it safer for McDowell Democrats.
Below is a section from Burgin’s “History of Broad River Township,” with dates, names and information that I have added in brackets. Punctuation has been left as in the original.
Broad River Township begins on the headwaters at the Charles Fortune [1872–1955] farm on the Fairview and Old Fort Road [now called Chestnut Hill Road]. When I can first remember there was an old lady, Nancy Reed [1823–after 1880], who lived there. She had a boy named Ephersam [1861–after 1880] and a girl Rhoda [1863–after 1880]. They lived in a double log house called the High Porch Tavern. Level land opens just below where the hills seem to come together and there are some shoals between Broad River and its tributary, Flat Creek. There is a dividing ridge called Chestnut Hill.
About 1880 a man tried to settle a colony of Germans there. It was called the Dutch settlement. The land on Chestnut Hill was not fit for farming, they all left except Otto and Emil Kirstein, who stayed. Otto [1857–1935] lived on Flat Creek for a while and then moved to Black Mountain. [Albert] Emil [1865–1944] married Lee [Leander] Freeman’s daughter [Sarah Jane 1861–1920] and settled on Flat Creek, where he died. They were all fine people. Lee [Leander] Freeman’s wife was a Miss Wright [Zilpha Elmina Wright 1841–1924]. They had two children, a boy [Robert Lawson Freeman 1871–1935] and a girl [Sarah Jane 1861–1920].
Just below Emil Kirstein on Flat Creek, Judson Nesbitt lived; just below him Josiah Nesbitt [1824–1906] lived. He was deaf, and late in life he married a Miss Curry.
South of the Nesbitt [Chapel] Church on Flat Creek is the home of Ebby Marlow [Isabella Clements Marlow 1837–1895; the daughter of Cornelius Clements 1794–1850 and Milly Fortune 1796– ca. 1883. Isabella Clements was married to Benjamin Franklin Marlow 1831–December 9, 1863, who died in Atlanta during the Civil War], she was a widow. She had three sons; William M. [William A. Marlow 1859–1936] married a Miss Gilliam [Lou Gilliam Marlow 1863–1892, his first wife], Alfred Gilliam’s [1828–1907 and his wife Susan Pinkerton 1836–1920] daughter of Broad River. Thomas M. [L. Marlow 1861–1897] married a Miss Harris [Florence Harris Marlow 1868–1928] and Jim M. [James B. Marlow 1866–1927] married a Miss Garrison [Eliza Garrison 1873–1963], a daughter of Calhoun Garrison of Broad River. On down the creek was Alford [Alfred W.] Morgan’s [1830–1921] place, his first wife was a Miss Bright [Annice Morgan 1824–1892] from Rutherford County, and his second wife was a Miss Elliott. They had five sons [Rufus A. 1853–1949, William Burton 1857–1937, John L. 1860–1894, Albert Vance 1862–1941, and James J. 1866–1890] and one daughter [Margaret Morgan Early 1855–1940].
Part 2 will be in November’s Town Crier.
Local historian Bruce Whitaker documents genealogy in the Fairview area. He can be reached at 628-1089 or [email protected].