Family Tree Maker's Genealogy Site: User Home Page Genealogy Report: Descendants of Fredrick Hefner

[ Home Page | First Page | Previous Page | Next Page | Last Page ]

Descendants of Fredrick Hefner

3. GEORGE² HEFNER (FREDRICK¹) was born May 10, 1775 in PA., and died in Fannin Co., GA.. He married REBECCA WETZEL, daughter of JACOB WETZEL and MARGARET SUMMY. She was born 1773 in N.C., and died in Fannin Co., GA..

Children of GEORGE HEFNER and REBECCA WETZEL are:

	i.		SARAH 'SALLY'³ HEFNER, b. Buncombe Co., N.C..
	ii.		PETER HEFNER, b. 1802, Buncombe Co., N.C.; d. 1879, AL..
	iii.		GEORGE WASHINGTON HEFNER, b. October 30, 1802, Buncombe Co., N.C.; d. April 14, 1876, Leansboro, Hamilton Co., Il.

4. DANIEL² HEFNER (FREDRICK¹) was born 1778, and died November 13, 1835 in Buncombe Co., N.C.. He married ELIZABETH MACKEY October 27, 1852 in Buncombe Co., N.C., daughter of JOEL MACKEY and SARAH JOYCE. She died in TX..

Notes for DANIEL HEFNER:

                  Daniel Hefner
                  Of
            Buncombe County, NC
Research by
Wylene Alston
P.O.Box 2163
Winnie, Tx. 77665

Contrary to popular belief, the Daniel Hefner who lived in Buncombe County, North Carolina, and appears on the 1810 through 1830 federal censuses there, could not have been the son of Johann Heinrich (John Henry) and Anna Catharine (Kohler) Haeffner.

The first son of Johann Heinrich and Anna Catharine (Kohler) Haeffner was named Daniel. He was born in 1778 and married Elizabeth Graeff. Two of his brothers married Graeff girls, of whom two, if not all three were daughters of Abraham Graeff. John Henry Haeffner married Maria Graeff and Solomon Haeffner married Rachel Graeff. We believe these marriages records are in Bellman's Church in Pennsylvania.

No proof has been found that Daniel Hefner of Buncombe County, North Carolina, was the son of Johann Heinrich and Anna Catharine (Kohler) Haeffner. We now believe we have enough documentation to prove that he could not have been their son.

Thomas H. Hefner, in his book, Hefner Family History and Genealogy, wrote that "Daniel and Elizabeth (Graeff) Hefner must have migrated to North Carolina shortly after their marriage, as the records of all of their children give Buncombe County, North Carolina, as their place of birth".

He also wrote that Robert A. Hefner, "who for several years was an Oklahoma Supreme Court Judge, began research as early as 1939, and after several years of searching proved to his satisfaction that he was a direct descendant of Johann Heinrich (John Henry) and Anna Catharine (Kohler) Haeffner".

Daniel Hefner of Buncombe County, North Carolina, served in the War of 1812 as a private in Captain George C. Neill's Company of North Carolina Detached Militia. He volunteered for six months, but served from the 13th of February to the 11th of March 1815, traveling two hundred and twenty miles. He was discharged in Wadesborough, North Carolina, and received seven dollars and twenty cents for his service.

On the 28th of April 1852, his widow, Elizabeth Hefner, was in court in Cherokee County, Alabama, where she resided at that time. She was making an application for Bounty Land under the Act of 1850. John G. Mackey signed as her witness. She received forty acres of land at that time, Bounty land No. 72087.

On her application, Elizabeth Hefner swore on oath, that she had married Daniel Hefner in Buncombe County, North Carolina, on or about the 27th day of October 1805. She testified that she and Daniel Hefner were married by Lambert Clayton, a Justice of the Peace. She gave Daniel's date of death as on or about the 13th day of November 1835, in Buncombe County, North Carolina. She further stated that before her marriage her name was Mackey.

Elizabeth Hefner made a second application for bounty land in Hunt County, Texas, on the 8th of January 1856. At this time Alexander Joice Hefner and George Huston Mackey signed as witnesses. She received one hundred and twenty acres on the 21st of July 1856.

We now believe that Daniel Hefner of Buncombe County, North Carolina, was a brother of Samuel and George Hefner. Their father was probably Frederick Hefner.

Frederick Hefner moved his family to Buncombe County, North Caroli na, from Lincoln County, North Carolina, between 1800 and 1803. Samuel and George Hefner had married sisters, Catherine and Rebecca Wetzel, before moving to Buncombe County, North Carolina. Catherine and Rebecca were both daughters of Jacob and Margaret (Summy) Wetzel. Jacob Wetzel and his family also made the move to the new land.

In 1803, the legislature of Georgia created a new county and called it "Walton County". Governor Milledge of Georgia ordered a census to be taken and it was, soon after. On this census Frederick Hefner was listed with four whites in his household, Samuel Hefner with seven whites, George Hefner with five whites and Jacob Wetzel with eight whites.

When Walton County, Georgia, was formed, the boundary between Georgia and North Carolina had not been located. North Carolina believed that most, if not all of Walton County was actually in the boundaries of Buncombe County, North Carolina, which had been formed in 1791. North Carolina issued land grants and tried to collect taxes in this area it considered to be Buncombe County. Georgia denied the validity of these claims.

The confusion and arguing over the limits of each state's authority led to what was called the "Walton War". The absence of a legally recognized boundary by either Georgia or North Carolina aggravated the problem. Violence continued between pro-North Carolina and pro-Georgia settlers for some time. The 35th latitude was the border recognized by both North Carolina and Georgia. A commission was formed in 1807 to survey the area, and it was discovered that all of Walton County lay in North Carolina. Walton County was returned to North Carolina as part of Buncombe County in 1813.

On the 17th of December 1804, Lt. Col. William Whitson, Commander of the Buncombe County Militia, was distressed to "hear that the Walton Bandittey had taken armes and are Commiting Deprodations on the honest Civil Citson of this County", he ordered Major James Brittain "to raise as many Militia of your Battalion as you shall think necessary and pursue them from place to place and from day to day until you have taken their Leaders, if possible and show them that we have Law sufficient to suppress unruley Citisons".

Daniel Hefner served in this Buncombe County Militia. He was listed on the payroll in December of 1804. In 1805, Daniel Hefner married Elizabeth "Betsy" Mackey. Lambert Clayton, J. P. performed the ceremony.

Samuel Hefner had married Catherine Wetzel and George Hefner had married Rebecca Hefner, while still in Lincoln County, North Carolina. Both were daughters of Jacob and Margaret (Summy) Wetzel. Two other daughters of Jacob and Margaret (Summy) Wetzel married John and George Clayton, both sons of Lambert Clayton. Another of the Wetzel daughters married John Mackey.

On the 1810 federal census of Buncombe County, North Carolina, starting at the top of page 84, we find Frederick Hefner listed first, second is Lambert Clayton and fourth is Joel Mackey, aged over 45 years.

Daniel and Elizabeth (Mackey) Hefner's children were: Alfred, born 27 October 1806; Nancy, born 9 July 1808: John Frederick, born 15 September 1810; Joel M., born 17 December 1812; Daniel, born 4 February 1820; Alexander Joyce, born 21 September 1817; Samuel N., born 16 January 1825; Francis M., born March 1827; and Elizabeth J., born 1831.

Samuel and Catherine (Wetzel) Hefner moved to Georgia after 1830. They settled in Rabun County and appear on the 1840 federal census in that county.

George and Rebecca (Wetzel) Hefner also moved to Georgia after 1830. They were enumerated in Gilmer County in the 1840 federal census.

Daniel Hefner died "on or about the 13th day of November 1835, in Buncombe County". After his death, his sons migrated. Some went to Cherokee County, Alabama, and were living there in 1852 when their mother, Elizabeth "Betsy" (Mackey) Hefner, went into court and applied for a pension based on her husband having served in the Buncombe County Militia during the war with England in 1812. She swore on her oath that the facts given by her on her pension application were true.

Alfred, her oldest son, moved his family to Titus County, Texas, before 1850. Elizabeth "Betsy" (Mackey) Hefner probably moved to Texas with her sons, Samuel N. Hefner, Alexander Joyce Hefner and Daniel A. Hefner in 1855. She died after 1880.

Samuel and Catherine (Wetzel) Hefner's son, Samuel Hefner, Jr., married Hannah Trammell, daughter of Javan Trammell, in Buncombe County, North Carolina. Their children were: Sarah R. A. Hefner, born in 1845 in North Carolina; Columbus L. Hefner, born 23 January 1847 in North Carolina; Thomas Hamilton Hefner, born 23 March 1856, Cherokee County, Alabama; and Milligan Montgomery Hefner, born 22 December 1861, in DeKalb County, Alabama.

Milligan Montgomery Hefner, grandson of Samuel and Catherine (Wetzel) Hefner, was our great-grandfather. He grew up in Colbert County, Alabama, and married Julia Ann Brooks there on the 24th of December 1888. She was the daughter of Elizabeth (Matlock) Brooks. In 1900, he left Colbert County, Alabama, and traveled to an area in Indian Territory that later became Carter County, Oklahoma. He sent for his family and they settled near what is now Wilson, Oklahoma, where they owned a dairy farm.

                              *      *      *

Robert Alexander Hefner, son of William Lafayette Hefner and grandson of Alexander Joyce Hefner, was born 2 July 1874 on a farm in Hunt County, Texas. He moved to Stephens County, Texas, with his family when he was 10 years old. He had planned on leaving home when he turned 21, but his father's paralysing illness forced him to stay home and work for a year to satisfy the last payment on the unpaid mortgage on his parent's land.

The next year, he began his formal education at North Texas Baptist College, which was then located in Jacksboro, Texas. After graduating there, he then taught school for two years to earn money to attend the University of Texas, which granted him his law degree in 1902.

Robert A. Hefner began his first law practice in Beaumont, Texas. He moved to Ardmore, Oklahoma, in 1907, where he served as a legal advisor to several oil firms. When the Healdton oilfield came in, he founded the Hefner Company and specialized in oil and gas cases. While living in Ardmore, Robert A. Hefner served as city attorney, mayor and Chamber of Commerce president.

Wilson, Oklahoma, is between Ardmore and Healdton in Carter County, and is where Milligan M. Hefner lived. It has always been common knowledge in Milligan M. Hefner's family that he was a cousin of Robert A. Hefner. Milligan had said they were cousins. Robert A. Hefner visited him in his home many times. They were second cousins once removed.

                              BIBLIOGRAPHY

1. Family Records of the Descendants of Henry Haeffner 1754-1886 by George H. Heffner, printed 1886
2. Obitrary of Robert A. Hefner, "The Oklahoma Journal", 23 Jan.
1971
3. Hefner History and Genealogy, by Thomas H. Hefner
4. Transylvania Beginnings: A History, by Mary Jane McCrary
5. Daniel Hefner's War of 1812 muster roll record
6. Bounty land application of Elizabeth Hefner, dated 28th April 1852, Cherokee County, Alabama; from the National Archives
7. Bounty land application of Elizabeth Hefner, dated 8th January 1856, Hunt County, Texas; from the National Archives
8. 1800 federal census of Lincoln County, North Carolina
9. 1810-1820-1830-1840 federal censuses of Buncombe County,
North Carolina
10. 1840 federal census of Rabun County, Georgia
11. 1840-1850 federal censuses of Gilmer County, Georgia
12. 1850 federal census of Cherokee County, Alabama
13. 1860 federal census of Dekalb County, Alabama
14. 1870-1880 federal census of Colbert County, Alabama
15. 1850 federal census of Titus County, Texas
16. 1860-1870-1880 federal censuses of Hunt County, Texas


Children of DANIEL HEFNER and ELIZABETH MACKEY are:

	i.		ALFRED³ HEFNER, b. October 27, 1806, N.C..
	ii.		NANCY HEFNER, b. July 09, 1808.
	iii.		JOHN FREDRICK HEFNER, b. September 15, 1810.
	iv.		JOEL M. HEFNER, b. December 17, 1812.
	v.		ALEXANDER JOYCE HEFNER, b. September 21, 1817, Buncombe Co., N.C..
	vi.		SAMUEL N. HEFNER, b. June 16, 1825, Buncombe Co., N.C..
	vii.		FRANCIS M. HEFNER, b. March 1827, Buncombe Co., N.C..
	viii.		ELIZABETH J. HEFNER, b. 1831, Buncombe Co., N.C..

[ Home Page | First Page | Previous Page | Next Page | Last Page ]