-------·-286.175675 St2 · OF ROCKY RIVER MISSIONARY BAPT. BICENTENNIAL HISTORY BY: John Samuel Staton

. "EDMUND LILLY

1728 - 1815

Revolutionary Patriot

BAPTIST PREACHER

PLANTER

MILLER

Sponsored by

YADKIN RIVER PATRIOTS

D. A. R. CHAPTER"

J. Paul Lilly, son of John U. Lilly, P.O. Box 252, Plymouth, North Carolina (with the U.S. Department of Agriculture) has done very much research on our first pastor, Rev-erend EdmWld Fleming Lilly; born in Stafford-shire, England, in 1728, and buried m Montgom-ery County, North Carolina, in 1815.

Since so much of our church history has been lost, I would like to begin with Reverend Edxnund Fleming Lilly's great, great grand-father Jolm:

Jolm Lilly, born at Tamworth, Strafford-ahire, England; christened on April 1, 1604; married Mary ______ • Left Gravesand, England, in the ship "ARK" on October 18, 1633.

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Left the Isle of Wight, Virginia, on Nov-ember 22, 1633, and landed at Point Com-fort, Virginia, on June 20, 1642; he and Mary were granted 350 acres of land in Caroline County, Virginia, His home was called Roxbury in Milford Haven and he died in 1644.

His orphan son, John Lilly, was chris-tened in 1640, and his mother married (second time) to Edmund Chisman in 1646. John marri-ed Dorothy Wade, daughter of Armiger Wade in 1667 and lived at Milford Ha~en, Virginia.

John Lilly, son of John Lilly and Dorothy Wade_· of Milford Haven, in Pocosin Parrish, Virginia, was christened August 3, 1669. He married Jane Chisman, daughter of Captain Thomas Chisman. John and Jane's children were: Armiger, John, Mary (married Robert Reid), Robert (1696- -1810 and married Mary Fanny Moody and established the West Virginia, Lilly family), Elizabeth (married Dr. Robert Phillipson), and Edmund born in 1694 married a Miss Fleming.

The Edmund Lilly, above, 1694, and wife Miss~---.,....Fleming had the following child-ren: Thomas (Captain in Revolutionary War, Virginia, navy, married Lucy Burrel and lived ln Gloucoster County), William (lived in Flu-vanna County, Virginia), Mary Ann (married John Shepard), John who died in 1759 and left will in Albemarle County, Virginia, and Rev-erend Edmund Fleming Lilly, 1728-1815. Rev-Lilly joined the Quaker Church in Lousia County, Virginia, in 1748, but separated from that church two years later when he married

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Sara Dumas, in 17501 daughter of wealthy Benjamin Dumas in the same county. Ben-jamin Dumas purchased land in Anson County, North Carolina, from John Clark on October 29 1 1748, and deeded land to his daughter Sara and her husband Rever-end Edmund Lilly on January 15 1 17531

according to the Register of Deeds at Wad-esboro, North Carolina. Reverend Lilly had first lived briefly in Halifax County, North Carolina, but according to a manuscript in Anson County library by Mary Allen HunUey called "Annals of the Allens, 11 the fertility of the soil attracted him to ·Anson County.Miss HunUey was his great grand daughter and

I · stated he owned land in England, a fortune, but the Crown took this away .when Edmund came to America and began working for America I s independence. The Lillys claim-ed decent from the House of Bedford, and heirs to a b.rge fortune left in England by the Bedfords and FaunUeroys.

We believe Rever~nd Lilly was a mem-ber of the Anglican (Episcopal in America) Church in England but his wife Sara Dumas was perhaps a Baptist, and no Episcopal church was near when he purchased thousands of acres of land in Anson and Montgomery (form.ed in 1779 from Anson) counties and had dwellings in both counties. On January 15, 1773, Reverend Lilly got a permit frmn Ansqn county to build a grist mill on his own land on Rocky River opposite Walter Gibson's land at the Great Shoals for public use. "The McLend-ons of Anson County, 11 page 371 says, 11He was a deeply pious man, and a man of education, culture, and wealth. 11 He married three times and the descendants follow:

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Reverend Edmund Fleming Lilly first married Sara Dwnas about 1750 and their children are:

1. Frances Lilly, 1750- -1790, and she married Joel McLendon in 1768 (see McLen-don history, 1957).

2. John Lilly, 1753- -1825, married Eleanor Dumas in 1777.

3. Jaxnes Pleasant Lilly, married · Nancy Hendrix.

4. Robert Lilly married Martha Rich-ardson in 1760.

Reverend Edmund Fleming Lilly married 1econd time to Miss ____ Lightfoot in 1760, and their children are:

1. Edmund Lilly, Jr., October 27, 1761--August 21, 1819; married Mary Marshall in 1792, born March 1, 1775, died March 10, 1859.

2. Arminger Lilly, born 1763, married Mary Mccutcheon.

3. Wil,iiam Lilly, born 1765, married Lucy Bybee.

4. Henry Lilly. 5. Betsy Lilly, born 1787, died 1866,

married Thomas Scarboro. Reverend Edmund Fleming Lilly married

third time to a widow, Mrs. Elizabeth Billings-• by in 1807. She was born in 1769 and died in l830. Their children are:

1. Elizabeth Bedford Lilly, born 1808 and died 1883, married David Carpenter in 1828.

2. Sarah White Lilly, born 1812 and died 1895, married Walter Farr Burns. ·

3. Mary Lilly married William May.

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Church of England (Anglican). He became a. Baptist in 1738 •. He received his early education at Bristol and was ordained in Ireland, June 1, 1757. He arrived.in Phila-delphia on May 9, 1761, and had char.ge of the diurch until 1771. Then he resigned and we11,t to reside in Pencader Hundred; near Newark, Delaware, where he lived until his death, January 28, 1795. He was the founder of Brown University, at Providence, Rhode Island." .

Dr Paschal said, "In 1772, Edwards spent several months in North Carolina visit-• ing churches and associations, gathering in-formation in notebooks, which is in the librarJ at American Baptist Historical Society at Chester, Pennsylvania. 11

"The Montgomery County tax Ii.st in 1782 shows Edmund Lilly as an invalid with 23 slaves and 1,450 acres of land. 11 However, he seems to have been carried around to preach for 9 years more until Reverend John Culpepper, Sr., became pastor of I' R_;cky River in 1791. Lilly remained an invalid until l;ae died in 1815 and was buried about one mile northeast of the Hydro Dam in Montgomery County. I quoted his mon-ument inscription early in this history. One of Reverend Edmund Fleming Lilly's descendants, Anna Maria Turner, born June 2, 1856, married John Emery Efird, I, on September 17, 1873. They later rebuilt the Lilly Mill and operated it as Efird Mill for many years at the same location, north end of highway No. 1607, nine miles nOJ:.theast N W of Ansonville, North Carolina.

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