Dear Ancestor~

This is Paul Benjamin "Bennie" Arrowood, son of Lewis William and Maude Rose Hull Arrowood, standing on the hillside over looking John Henry Arrowood's homeplace in Pigeon Roost, NC.

Does anyone recognize the smaller boy with him?

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-Dear Ancestor-

Your tombstone stands among the rest;
neglected and alone
The name and date are chiseled out
on polished, marbled stone
It reaches out to all who care
It is too late to mourn
You did not know that I'd exist
You died and I was born.
Yet each of us are cells of you
in flesh, in blood, in bone.
Our blood contracts and beats a pulse
entirely not our own.
Dear Ancestor, the place you filled
one hundred years ago
Spreads out among the ones you left
who would have loved you so.
I wonder if you lived and loved,
I wonder if you knew
That someday I would find this spot,
and come to visit you.

-Author Unknown-

Welzia Weds Isabell~

Welzia was born on February 28, 1860 in Yancey County, NC.
His parents were Samuel Augustus Arrowood and Sarah Ellen Winters Arrowood. Isabell was born August 05, 1862 in Yancey County, NC.

On the 1880 Census records for Harrell’s Township in Mitchell County NC, Welzia was working as a farmhand on James and Elizabeth Garland’s farm. He is listed as single and 19 years old. On the same census, living just two house's down from the Garland farm is Isabell Correll with her family. Isabell's father David, and her mother Nancy E. Correll, along with six younger brothers and sisters are living in the household. One can just imagine that first sighting. There had to be the exchange of smiles and quick looks between them. And with that, their love story begins.

Welzia and Isabell married not long after, about 1880. They had a baby and they named him Sam. Little Sam tragically died after choking on a peach pit. He must have been still a toddler.

They then have a son, named James Edward Arrowood. James Edward was born on May 08, 1882 in Erwin, Unicoi County, Tennessee. He married Mary Etta Willis and they had seven sons and one daughter. Edward remained in the mountains after the rest of the family went down into the piedmont of NC. He later moved his family to West Chester, Pennsylvania.

From Arrowood Family Movie File

James Edward and Mary Etta Willis Arrowood

Welzia and Isabell then had a son, Fielden Winfred Arrowood. Fielden was born in Tennessee on July 13, 1883. Fielden married Lillie and they had six sons and daughters. Apparently, Lillie was pregnant with the last daughter, Helen, when Fielden died in 1918. She gave birth to Helen early in 1919. Fielden died young ,of a stomach ulcer, at 36 years old. He came down from the mountains to find work in the mills with the rest of the family in Gastonia. Fielden is buried at Mt. Olivet Church in Gastonia, NC.

From The Arrowood Trail Thru the Mountains

Fielden Winfred and Lillie Arrowood

Next was a daughter, Cordelia "Cora Delia" Texas Arrowood. She was born on November 09, 1888 in Mitchell County, NC. She married Samuel Aldridge and they had three girls and two boys. Sam passed away young, at the age of 42. He is buried at Mt. Olivet Church Cemetery in Gastonia, NC.
Cordelia is buried at Greenwood Cemetery, Belmont, North Carolina.

Another daughter was born to Welzia and Isabell, Lydia "Liddie" Arrowood. Liddie was born in November 1891 in Mitchell County, NC. Liddie married Oliver T. Evans in Gaston County, NC and they had eight children.

From Arrowood Family Movie File

Arrowood Siblings:
Left back row: Edward, Fred, Nora, Lewis William,
Left front row: (Lucinda) Minnie, Cora(Delia), (Liddie)Lydia, and Esther Ruth.


Next came daughter Lucinda "Minnie" Arrowood. Minnie was born June 13, 1893, in Mitchell County, NC. Minnie married Walter Lankford. She and Walt are both buried in Gaston County, NC.

Another daughter was born to this union on May 02, 1894. Mary Jane “Janie” Arrowood. Mary Jane had two young boys and no father for the boys when she came home to see Isabell and Welzia. Isabell convinced Jane to leave the boys with them to raise. So Welzia and Isabell took the boys and raised them. I am not sure what became of the boys' father. Mary Jane later married Pleasant Alexander Davis about 1920. Mary Jane had son Jake C. Arrowood, at about the age of 16 in 1910. She had son James O. "Runt" Arrowood, about two years after Jake. She had a son and a daughter with Pleasant Davis. Jane and Pleasant are both buried at Elmwood Cemetery, Richland County, Columbia, South Carolina.

From Arrowood 2

Mary Jane Arrowood and Pleasant Davis

Another son was born, Joseph H. Arrowood in November 1895. He married a woman named Anna. I am still looking for the rest of his story. He and Anna had two daughters and two sons.

Next came a set of twins! Lewis William Arrowood and Esther Ruth Arrowood, born January 06, 1900. The twins were born in (Relief) Hollow Poplar, Mitchell County, N.C. Lewis William married Edith Davis and had a son, Ray Everette Arrowood. Edith passed on October 13, 1925 and William Lewis remarried to Maude Rose Hull on May 14, 1927.
Lewis and Maude had seven more children. Edith Davis Arrowood is buried at Armstrong Cemetery in Gastonia, NC. William Lewis and Maude Rose Arrowood are buried at Gaston Memorial Cemetery, Gastonia, NC.
Esther Ruth Arrowood married George Henderson Long, Sr. in 1920.
They lived right beside Lewis William and Maude. Esther Ruth and George had three sons and two daughters.

From Arrowood Family Movie File

Esther Ruth and Lewis William Arrowood ~ Twins

Next was Nora Belle Arrowood. Nora Belle was born March 10, 1903 in Mitchell County, in the community of Relief. Nora Belle married Thomas McCollum Sherrin and they had three children. Nora helped me dress on my wedding day. She was a spry and alert woman, up until the day of her death, at age 86 years, still driving herself. She and her husband, Thomas are both buried at Hillcrest Gardens Cemetery, Mount Holly, Gaston County, North Carolina.

Born last to Welzia and Isabell, was a son, named Fred Arrowood. Fred was born May 08, 1904 in Mitchell County, NC. Fred married Lonie Willis and lived in Los Angeles, California at the time of his death. They had four children.