The place now called Roaring Gap in Alleghany County, North Carolina, along the Eastern Continental Divide is named so because it lies between two peaks of the Blue Ridge that dramatically amplify the sound of the wind.
A few white travelers had found their way into the area by the time of the American Revolution. And the Blue Ridge was a good hide-out for Tories after the war, as the forest was full of elk, deer, buffalo, bear, wild turkeys, and other game.
Agnes Maynard was the daughter of William Maynard (1720-1816) who was originally from England but had emigrated to Norfolk, Virginia, around 1736.
Absolom Smith was also originally from England. He had come to Virginia in search of a better life and was working there, in bondage to Mr. Maynard. Absolom had planned to work out the required seven years of servitude and then make his own way in the New World. But before that time was up, Absolom and Agnes found they had fallen in love.
The couple knew that her parents would never agree to a marriage between their daughter and an indentured servant. So, around November of 1800, they took their belongings, a horse and a slave, and eloped to the North Carolina mountains, where the authority of the law did not extend at that time.
Absolom and Agnes were married somewhere along the way. There exists a record of an Absalom Smith marrying Agnes Manord November 27, 1800, in Wake County, North Carolina. (William Mainord died February 22, 1816, in Wake County. His will, dated February 2, mentions a daughter, Aggy Smith. https://www.wikitree.com/wiki/Maynard-321)
They were chased by Indians near the Yadkin, but narrowly escaped by fording the river. Agnes rode the horse. Absolom could swim, but the slave could not and held onto the tail of the horse in the crossing. Somehow, they managed to make it to the other shore and to safety.
Just outside of what is now Elkin, the couple passed the last settler’s cabin and headed into the real wilderness. They climbed the mountain and when they arrived at the top of the escarpment, at “a good spring,” they decided to settle there. Family tradition says they lived in a large hollowed-out log until they could build a cabin. It was too cold to cut timber or build, but as soon as they could, they did.
Their home was located on Alleghany Heights, in what is now the High Meadows development at Roaring Gap.
From passing white hunters and Indians, they learned, there were people living in Mulberry Field (now Wilkesboro) and that one or two families lived near the present site of Jefferson. These, and the family at Elkin, were their closest neighbors.
This hardy couple survived. They built their cabin and had children who were “hard-working, thrifty, and resourceful.” Absolom and Agnes were buried in their apple orchard, but when the development was built, their remains were moved to the Antioch United Methodist Church Cemetery, nearby.
©2009 Jeff Halsey
Their grave (https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/89352036/absolom-smith) is simply marked:
Absolom Smith
Agnes Maynard Smith
Pioneers
17- – 18 – –
Information from the book Alleghany County Heritage and from
the late Pauline Swisher Meals whose grandfather, Rev. James Ralph Smith’s, farm was located at the present site of Lake Louise.
