Recd Rutherfordton 18 Jun 1814 of John Logan Thirty seven Dollars sixty two ½ cents in full of all Book Accounts to this date
G. Walton
This receipt was written the same day as the Audly Hamilton receipt that I posted yesterday. This document leaves us to wonder what John Logan had purchased from George Walton. $37 was a significant chunk of change. It’s enough to buy you at least two horses. In fact, I was reading “North Carolina Through Four Centuries” by Powell last week and it mentioned that the average price of land in NC in 1815 was $2.04 per acre. Just to give you some perspective $37 was nearly enough to purchase 19 acres of land. The sad part is that by 1833 the average price per acre in NC dropped to $1.54 due to eroding lands, migration and lack of infrastructure. North Carolina is about to enter its “Rip Van Winkle” period.
I went into great detail about George Walton’s life during my last post about him. I posted the following information:
George Walton was born in Amherst County, VA to parents Maj. William Walton and Elizabeth Tillman. William was drafted in 1780 and served in Capt. John Loving’s company from Virginia. He and his son, William, were at the battle of King’s Mountain in Capt John Brown’s company of mounted riflemen. (The National Society of the Daughters of the American Revolution, Volume 38). William died in Burke County, NC January 31, 1806. Elizabeth died September 8, 1787.
George was living as a bachelor in Morganton, NC in 1800. Shortly after he married Nancy McEntire, daughter of James McEntire and Nancy Young. In 1810 they were living in Rutherford County.
George was elected as Rutherford County’s Treasurer of Public Buildings in January 1813. This was a position that John Logan later held.
In 1820 George was listed in the census in Rutherford County as “George Walton, Con.” Apparently he was constable at the time. I learned from a March 18, 1823 article in the Western Carolinian that “Gen. George Walton” was a candidate to represent the district of Morganton, composed of Burke, Buncombe, Rutherford and Haywood Counties. This seat was for the 13th congress.
According to another article from the Western Carolinian, on June 27th, 1823, “Gen. George Walton” was nominated to the board of the newly formed Auxiliary Society of
Rutherford County, NC. We also find him in Rutherford County in the 1830 census. In 1831, “Gen. George Walton” was nominated President of the Rutherford County Sunday School Union which was organized at the home of “John Logan, Esq.”
George died August 9, 1836 and was buried with his parents at the First Presbyterian Church cemetery in Morganton, NC.
I am very curious to find out about George Walton’s military service. When and how did he get the title of General? Was this a term given to non-military people? Could he have participated in the War of 1812?
If you have additional information of George Walton and his family, please leave a comment below. I am especially interested in his military record.
About the Logan Project: I possess a box of 170 documents passed down 6 generations in the Logan family that originate from John Logan (1775-1841) of Rutherford County, NC. These documents are mainly receipts that show the various business and legal dealings of many different families from Rutherford County, NC. I will be posting these documents on this blog in chronological order. The scanned images of these documents are the copyright of Jonathan Medford. Do not redistribute these documents for the purpose of commercial gain without his expressed written permission.
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