This week, we are spending time with the Embersons of Dodson, along the banks of Puppy Creek in Patrick County, Virginia. Samuel and Sallie Holley Emberson (sometimes spelled Emmerson) brought their young family from Pittsylvania County to the Puppy Creek area around 1840. In the 1850 census, children listed living at home were Allison William, age 15; Wade Allen, age 14; Susan, age 11; Matilda, age 8; and James Bannister; infant.
Samuel and Sallie’s daughter, Susan married Samuel Lewis in Patrick County on the 16th of December 1852; she was fourteen years old. Susan Emberson Lewis died only 18 months later at the age of sixteen; her cause of death was recorded as dropsy on the 24th of May 1855 in the Patrick County Death Records.
Samuel and Sallie Holley Emberson also may have had a son named Jabez who was born in 1833 and served in the Civil War. In 1850, he was seventeen and living with Elkanah Turner who lived beside John B. Martin and Elizabeth Moles Martin. He died in 1863 so he may have been killed in the war. Samuel and Sallie also had a son named John Smith Emerson who was born in 1835 and died in 1922 in Surry County. He is mentioned in the 1850 census.
Allison William Emberson married Miss Phoebe Cox, the daughter of Randolph Cox and Jane Bryant of Patrick County, on the 12th of January 1853. Allison and Phoebe moved across the line to the Endicott community of Franklin County where they raised at least five children. Phoebe Cox Emberson passed away on the 25th of July 1873; Allison married Frances Buckner Turner on the 9th of November 1873.
I have not had any luck finding information about Samuel and Sallie Emberson’s youngest daughter, Matilda, so the remaining part of our column will focus on their second son, Wade Allen Emberson. Wade married Miss Easter Jane “Ellie” Martin on the 12th of February 1857; Ellie was the daughter of Moses Josephas Martin, Jr. and Sarah “Sally” Moles of the Green Hill area of Patrick County.
Ellie’s siblings include Nancy Elizabeth Martin who married Creed Allen; Catherine Martin who married Isaac Dixon; Reed Martin, who wed twice, once to Mahala Bryant and after her passing at the young age of twenty-eight; he married Louisa Foster. John B Martin was also Ellie’s brother; he was featured in an earlier Patrick Pioneers column. John was conscripted to fight in Captain C. W. Fry’s Company, Orange Artillery, Carter’s Battalion when he went AWOL on the sixth of June 1863 to come home to see his expectant wife. Twenty-six-year-old John B. Martin was executed by firing squad on January 9th, 1864, he was survived by his wife and three children.
Ellie’s younger brothers were the progenitors of many descendants in Patrick County: William Green Martin was married three times, first to Celia Hancock Bryant; next to Amanda Foster, then to Elizabeth Bowman, David Harbour Martin married Harriett Elizabeth Bowling; and James Moses Martin married Wilmouth Ruth Martin.
Wade Allen Emberson and Ellie Martin married on the 12th of February 1857 in Patrick County; their first child, Susie was born the 4th of June 1858. In the actual birth records book in the courthouse, it states that Susie’s place of birth was Puppy Creek, Virginia. Susie’s grandfather, Samuel Emmerson, reported her birth. Susie never married and remained at the home at Puppy Creek her entire life; she passed away in 1927; six days past her sixty-ninth birthday.
John William Emberson was born to Wade and Ellie on the sixth of February 1861; John also never married and remained on the family farm until his death in 1940 at the age of seventy-nine. On the first of April 1862, Wade was conscripted to serve in Captain C. W. Fry’s Company, Orange Artillery, Carter’s Battalion, (the same company as his brother-in-law, John B. Martin) and they both went AWOL in June of 1863 on the march to Spotsylvania Courthouse. Wade was captured alongside his brother- in-law John; it is likely that he witnessed his execution at Frederick’s Hall. because Wade went AWOL again shortly after this horrible event.
Wade came home to Puppy Creek and on the 20th of April 1864, he and Ellie’s third child, Matilda Nancy Elizabeth “Nannie” was born. Nannie never married and remained at home with her sister, Susie and brother, John, her entire life. Nannie passed away on the 5th of January 1930 at the age of sixty-five.
Wade and Ellie’s fourth child, Lucinda, was born on the 2nd of February 1866. Lucinda married James Bryant on the 31st of January 1892; the couple settled in Endicott where they raised four children. Martha Jane Emberson was born on the 20th of January 1868 and remained on the family farm with her siblings, Susan, Nannnie, and John. Martha Jane passed away at the age of sixty-five in March 1933.
The sixth child of Wade and Ellie, David Wade Emberson was born on the 11th of June 1870. David married Miss Malinda Moran on the 7th of June 1892. David and Malinda raised a large family along Puppy Creek where they remained until David and Jeff Turner were convicted of operating a large still in the area. According to an article in the Danville Bee on October 28th, 1910, the distillery was in Dodson, which was described as a “dense mountain forest in a very remote section of Patrick County and illicit manufacturers of liquor have thrived in that community for many years.” After David’s conviction, he moved his family to Draper in Rockingham County, North Carolina where he found work as a carder in a cotton mill. David Wade Emberson passed away on 18th of March 1946 at the age of seventy-five.
Wade and Ellie’s seventh child, James Isaac Emberson, was born on the 23rd of May 1872 and married Miss Mollie Nichols of Franklin County on the 12th of July 1894. James found work as a carpenter at the Norfolk and Western rail yard and moved his young family to Goodview, Virginia. Apparently, James and Mollie were history lovers because their sons were named General George Washington Emberson; Colonel Monroe Emberson; and Theodore Roosevelt Emberson.
Samuel Jack Emberson, Wade and Ellie’s eighth child, was born on the 16th of November 1874. Samuel married Miss Senora Catherine Setliff on the 27th of October 1895. Samuel and Senora had five children before Samuel passed away at the age of thirty-nine on Christmas Day 1913.
Sarah Frances Emberson, child number nine, was born on the 16th of July 1877. Like Susie, Nannie, and John, Sarah never married and remained on Puppy Creek for her entire life, passing away at the age of eighty on the tenth of November 1957. The tenth child of Wade and Ellie, Pleasant Wade Emberson was born on the 22nd of March 1880. Pleasant married Miss Delia Nichols (who was the sister of Mollie Nichols, who married James Isaac Emberson) on the 20th of August 1899. Pleasant and Delia moved to Ridgeway where they raised seven children and are buried at Roselawn Cemetery.
Wade and Ellie’s eleventh child, Henry Harrison Emberson, was born on the 27th of May 1882. Henry married Miss Sarah Lou Setliff on the third of October 1907, and they had six children. Henry and Sarah were married for sixty-one years before passing away only thirty days apart, with Sarah passing on March 18th, 1968, and Henry passing on April 17th, 1968.
The twelfth and youngest child of Wade and Ellie Martin Emberson was Mary Augusta, born on the 25th of May 1886. Mary Augusta married John Robert Setliff on the 27th of June 1907. John was the brother of Miss Sarah Lou Setliff, the wife of Henry Harrison Emberson. Mary and John Robert Setliff had nine children
In addition to running a grist mill on his property, the same year that Mary Augusta was born, Wade Emberson received approval from the Internal Revenue Service to become a licensed distiller. Wade’s license was dated August 15th, 1886.
Ellie Martin Emberson passed away on the 5th of June 1920 at the age of eighty followed by her husband Wade Allen Emberson on the 5th of March 1922 at the age of eighty-five. Oh, what he must have witnessed in his lifetime. Ellie and Wade were laid to rest on the banks of Puppy Creek in the Emberson family graveyard, along with many of their children.
Thank you so much to Ron Martin for doing so much research on the Emberson family, particularly photographing the Emberson gristmill and homestead sites and the family graveyard. Ron has been working diligently to document and register all the forgotten cemeteries in this part of the county. If you know of a forgotten cemetery, please let me know so I can pass the information along to Ron before the cemetery is lost forever. Woody may be reached at rockcastlecreek1@gmail.com or (276) 692-9626.
