ORIGINS OF THE LENOIR FAMILY
Allan Lenoir Poe
As most descendants are now aware, the surname Lenoir is of French origin, and means literally "the black", a term formerly applied to any individual with dark hair and complexion, much as we use the adjective "dark". It was probably first assumed as a personal surname by a remote medieval ancestor in the old French province of Brittany, once a separate dukedom in the Middle Ages, lying just across the English Channel from the south coast of England. The people of Brittany, called Bretons, are of a racial origin different from that of the inhabitants of the rest of France, and speak a French dialect that is almost a separate language, derived in part from Celtic origins and akin to the language spoken by the Welsh and formerly by the Cornish. Because Brittany has a long coastline, many Bretons have been mariners or fishermen for centuries. The largest city of the province is the important seaport of Nantes, and it was with this city and its neighborhood that our Lenoir ancestors were associated, as indicated by the legend which accompanies the family coat-of-arms, "Le Noir de Nantes".
In the Middle Ages the Lenoirs seem to have belonged to the minor nobility of Brittany, owning small estates and holding various public offices. At the Reformation some of them embraced the new Protestant faith and became Huguenots, the term applied to the French Calvinists of the time. In the religious troubles of the late 17th century a large number of the Huguenots were driven from France to find refuge in some of the Protestant nations of Europe, especially Switzerland, the Netherlands, and England, and in the English colonies in America.
The Breton ancestry of the Lenoirs of the southern United States is certain, but the generation-by-generation line of descent has not yet been firmly proven, although research into the matter continues. On the basis of evidence so far found, it appears virtually certain that we descend from a Lenoir family in the vicinity of Nates that produced several Huguenot clergymen in the 17th century, members of which fled to Switzerland, the Netherlands, and America. The Swiss branch of family has for centuries preserved the tradition that their ancestor who first settled in Switzerland had a brother who migrated to America, and that brother was almost certainly Isaac Lenoir, a Huguenot who with his wife arrived in New York in 1696, when their eldest son Isaac was baptized in the Huguenot church of that city. Shortly after, Isaac and family settled at Jamaica on Long Island, later moving to Philadelphia and perhaps to new Jersey, where he acquired extensive lands. He is described at various times as a merchant and as an inn-keeper, and in addition was a ship-owner, which fits with the tradition among the southern Lenoirs that their immigrant ancestor perished at sea in his own ship. He was almost certainly the father of our first proven ancestor, Thomas Lenoir, who was probably born about 1700 and in early life also followed the sea, in the ancient Breton tradition. The pursuit of a mariner's profession eventually led him to the port of Yorktown in Virginia where he found a wife in the person of Mourning Crawley, daughter of Robert Crawley, a well-to-do planter in York county, near Williamsburg, then the capital of colonial Virginia. Mourning's grandfather, the first Robert Crawley, had come to Virginia about 1670 from Ireland, had accumulated a valuable estate, and became one of the early vestrymen of Bruton parish, whose handsome parish church at Williamsburg is now the most noted colonial church surviving in the United States.
After marriage Thomas Lenoir abandoned the sea and became a tobacco planter for the remainder of his life. In the course of a marriage of 35 years, he and Mourning and their family resided in several locations in the colony of Virginia, eventually reaching Brunswick county, where their youngest child William was born in 1751. About 1760 they removed to the Tar River in Edgecombe county, North Carolina, where Thomas died in 1765, survived by his widow and ten children, who soon became scattered in a wide variety of different locations. Mourning survived her husband for more than a quarter of a century, dying at an advanced age in the home of her daughter Mrs. Leah Norwood in Franklin county, North Carolina.
From Thomas Lenoir and his wife, Mourning Crawley, are descended the Lenoir families of the southern states, as well as many families of other names. Of their four daughters, Ann married Robert Westmoreland and died in Spartanburg county, South Carolina, at the age of 92; Betty married John Latimer and eventually settled in Hancock county, Georgia; Leah married Robert Whitaker and John Norwood, and died in Franklin county, North Carolina, at the age of 94; while Mary, the youngest, married William Perry and lived in eastern North Carolina. Many of the descendants of these lines have been traced, forming an important and worthy part of the Lenoir family.
Of the six sons of Thomas and Mourning, one died unmarried; the remaining five married and raised families. Robert, the eldest, remained in Brunswick county, Virginia; Thomas Jr., Isaac and John settled in South Carolina, in the valley of the Wateree River below Camden; while William, the youngest, remained in North Carolina, where he had a distinguished public career and founded the Fort Defiance branch of the family.
From Virginia and the Carolinas the grandchildren of the first Thomas Lenoir soon spred throughout the South into every Southern state east of the Mississippi, and a little later beyond that great river into Missouri, Louisiana and Texas. Subsequent generations, especially after the Civil War, migrated to still other locations, and by the 1870's extended to California. A century later the ever-increasing number of descendants had become scatterd throughout the nation and the world - and even into outer space, in the person of Bill Lenoir the astronaut, of the Tennessee branch of the Fort Defiance family.
It would be a fair assessment of the descendants of the first Thomas Lenoir to say that, on the whole, they have displayed, generation after generation, a remarkable degree of intelligence, talent, and phenomenal success in both public and private life. Few families have maintained more consistently and successfully a reputation for worth and excellence.
By: Ike Forester
I'll try not to drag on too long but here goes. William Lenoir returned home to Wilkes County, NC after the battle of Kings Mtn. in Oct, 1780. Shortly after that on Jan. 17, 1781 Col. Daniel Morgan defeated Col. Tarleton's dragoons in South Carolina. Lord Cornwallis decided to pursue Morgan who was now in N.C. attempting to link up with Gen. Nathanael Greene. Lenoir volunteered his men to join Gen. Greene on Jan. 22. Lenoir and his men joined Captain Benjamin Herndon's company and marched toward Salisbury. There arose a dispute between Lenoir and Herndon as to seniority and it was left up to the men who would lead. All but six chose Lenoir to lead the expedition and he took command. Just outside of Salisbury, NC Lenoir learned that Col. Morgan was moving northeast and Lenoir turned the same direction hoping to catch Morgan.
While marching up the Yadkin River to meet Morgan, Capt. Lenoir's men captured three British officers and several loyalists who had escaped after being taken prisoner by Morgan at Cowpens, S.C. Lenoir crossed the river at Enoch's Ferry near Salem and camped near the Moravian town. The next day he marched northwest to the Mitchell River where he met with Gen. Andrew Pickens and his SC troops. Lenoir selected 40 men with horses and left the rest under the command of Capt. Herndon and rode with Pickens. There numbers swelled as they picked up men from Rowan & Mecklenbury counties before reaching Guilford Courthouse on Feb. 18th and Boyd's Ferry the next day.
Cornwallis was marching toward Hillsborough and Gen. Pickens was ordered to harrass him as much as possible. Lenoir and his men participated in this and on Feb. 23rd camped at Stony Creek near Hillsborough where they were joined by Lieutenant Colonel Henry "Light Horse Harry" Lee (Robert E. Lee's ancestor)and his cavalry. There are several interesting stories of events after joining with Lee but I'll just mention "Pyles Massacre" where Lee tricked the Tory Colonel John Pyle and his 350 troops into non-action until Lee, Lenoir and others were upon them. Capt. Lenoir's horse was shot out from under him and his sword was broken in the battle. His horse was the only Patriot casualty of the engagement while Pyle lost over 100 men.
Word came that Colonel Tarleton was camped at O'Neil's Mill not far away and Gen. Pickens ordered Lenoir along with a few men of his chosing to reconnoiter Tarleton's camp. The next morning (Feb. 26th) Lenoir arrived at Tarleton's camp and found it deserted. Lenoir sent word immediately to Gen. Pickens and an attempt was made unsuccessfully to catch Tarleton before he could join Cornwallis at Hillsborough. After this Pickens marched north to join Gen. Greene at High Rock on the Haw River.
William Lenoir was serving as the Clerk of Court for Wilkes County at the time and was called back home to fulfill his duties as such. On March 4th he requested and was granted permission to return to Wilkes. He did this along with many of his men but soon resigned as the Clerk of Court and again headed with his company to join Gen. Greene at Guilford Courthouse. However the battle at Guilford Courthouse was fought on March 15th prior to Lenoir's return. Lenoir became severly ill on this march and as Greene's army marched north into Virginia, Lenoir and his men were allowed to return home due to his condition, thus ending his 1781 expedition.
On another note, I have inherited thousands of documents of the Lenoir family which was not inventoried in the Southern Historical Collection at Chapel Hill. I'm attempting to get these organized and into archival sleeves and boxes. I feel certain that I have seen references to your ancestor James Fielder in some of these. I'll try to review them and will be happy to send you copies of anything I find along these lines.
I hope you find this interesting and useful. There are many details about this expedition which I've not included but suspect that I've rambled on long enough here.