Joseph Riley Trantham was born in Fairview, Buncombe County, NC, on April 13, 1827. He was the son of Joseph Trantham, who was born in Rowan (now Davidson County), NC, on July 25, 1789, and died in Fairview on May 1, 1850. The elder Trantham had cancer on his hand, which spread and took his life.
Joseph Trantham (the father) married Mary Whitaker in Rowan on July 25, 1789, and they moved to Fairview as part of a wagon train around 1820. They lived on Trantham’s Creek in what is now called Wright’s Cove. Their house was on the left about a half mile up Wright’s Cove. It was across the road from the old Will Miller house. Where they lived was later known as the old well field. The well was where they got the water for their house.
Joseph Riley married four times. His first wife was Mary Sophrona Reed, who he married on September 3, 1848. She was born on August 6, 1828, in Fairview. She was the daughter of Eldad Reed the 3rd (1799–1865) and Elizabeth Gallimore. Elizabeth was born on August 6, 1804, (likely in Buncombe County) and died in Fairview on May 11, 1861. She is buried in Cane Creek Cemetery. Mary Sophrona Reed Trantham died between 1860 and 1866 in Sullivan or Adair County, MO.
Joseph Riley next married Susan J. Gallimore on December 6, 1866, in Sullivan County, MO. She was born in Tennessee and died before January 19, 1871,
in Missouri.
Joseph Riley Trantham next married Sarah J. Smith on January 19, 1871, in Putnam County, MO. She was born in NC and died before January 29, 1877, in Putnam or Sullivan County, MO.
Joseph Riley’s last marriage was to Mahala Irelan on January 29, 1877. She was born in February 1848 in Ohio and died in December 1905 in Amorita, Oklahoma.
Trantham fought in the Civil War. He put in for a pension on February 20, 1883. He claimed to be an invalid, and that he got rheumatism from exposure on duty in Nashville on or about December 20, 1864. He was sent to a hospital in Jeffersonville, IN, for treatment. Trantham was reportedly very much disabled from the rheumatism he contracted. It does not say if he was granted a pension. Joseph Riley died on November 13, 1887, in Pollock, Sullivan County, MO.
After he died, Mahala Trantham put in for a widow’s pension. She was left with three minor children to raise and no way to support them. The children were Benjamin F. Trantham, born on December 27, 1877; Isea Trantham, born on December 1, 1879; and Essa Trantham, born on February 25, 1882.
Bruce Whitaker documents Fairview-area genealogy. To get in touch with him, contact the Crier at [email protected] or 828-771-6983 (call/text).