Yancey County

by Cecelski, David S. Betty Ballew grew up in one of the most beautiful valleys by the Blue Ridge Parkway: the North Fork, just north of Black Mountain. Earlier this century, thousands of Appalachian families were [...] (from Listening to History, News and Observer.)

by Powell, William S. John Green, attorney, judge, farmer, and Indiana official, was born in what became Yancey County, probably in that portion that was then Rutherford County. His parents were James and Catherine [...] (from Dictionary of North Carolina Biography, University of North Carolina Press.)

by Agan, Kelly. Sam Brinkley and His Beard by Kelly Agan, Government & Heritage Library, 2014 21 Sept. 1850-13 Dec. 1929 See also: Beards Standing six feet two with a beard of five feet four inches, [...] (from Government & Heritage Library, State Library of North Carolina.)

by London, Lawrence F. William West Skiles, Episcopal missionary and teacher, was born in Hertford, Perquimans County. Following a few years of formal schooling in the local schools, he worked as a mechanic and later as [...] (from Dictionary of North Carolina Biography, University of North Carolina Press.)

by Powell, William S. Conaro Drayton Smith, clergyman, geologist, and author, was born in Buncombe County, the son of Samuel and Mary Jarrett Smith. The family moved in 1820 to land the elder Smith bought that year when [...] (from Dictionary of North Carolina Biography, University of North Carolina Press.)

by Bailey, Lloyd R., Sr. Elizabeth Van Loon, author, apparently was born in Yancey County. That she grew up there is attested by an explicit statement in one of her works, Hampton Mead (p. 140), and from the fact that [...] (from Dictionary of North Carolina Biography, University of North Carolina Press.)

by Simpson, Marcus B., Jr. Thomas D. (Big Tom) Wilson, legendary hunter and mountain guide, was born at the family home on the Toe River in Yancey County, a region at that time of almost unbroken wilderness in the lofty Black [...] (from Dictionary of North Carolina Biography, University of North Carolina Press.)