NATHAN TABOR

Nathan Tabor had blue eyes and a fair complexion. He was a tough man, ready to fight if challenged. With his brothers, he went to the newly formed state of Kentucky seeking fertile lands to farm. It was there that he met and married Elizabeth. Their first child, Esther, was born in KY. Shortly thereafter, they moved to northern Alabama, again seeking fertile lands. Their son, James Sharpe Tabor, was born there. Again seeking greener pastures, they moved to Tennessee where they lived for six years. When he learned that Cherokee lands were being opened in the mountains of NC, he again moved his family. They settled in the Brush Creek area of Haywood County which became Macon and then Swain. Nathan assisted in the organization of the Brush Creek Baptist Church in 1832.

Two obelisk monuments mark the graves of he and Elizabeth in the Tabor Cemetery in the Brush Creek Community. These unique markers were ordered after his wife's death from a firm in Tate, Georgia. The firm apparently had a large backlog of orders as there was considerable delay in processing the order. Finally prepared for shipment, they were stored in a barn. Meanwhile the Civil War broke out and it became impossible to ship them. When General Sherman marched through Georgia burning everything in sight, the barn housing those gravemarkers was burned to the ground. The markers were buried in the ashes and forgotten. In 1928 a chance uncovering led to a search for the rightful owners. A descendant of the Tabors, Miss Hattie Tabor of Jasper, Georgia identified the stones and contacted her cousins in North Carolina. John DeHart Tabor made the arrangements for them to be sent to NC where they were finally installed over the graves of the subject - some 68 years late. The story of the markers appeared in the Asheville Citizen Times and the Atlanta Journal.

John Tabor was born in Goochland County, Virginia. He and Elizabeth Sharpe had these thirteen children: William S.(b.1761), John Jr. (b.1763), Hezekiah (b.1765), Solomon (b.1767), Mary (b.1768), Jonathan (b.1772), Jeconias (b.1773), James (b.1776), Thomas (b.1778), Margaret M. (b. 1779), Elizabeth (b.1783), Nathan (b.1784), and Elijah (b.1791).

William Tabor was born in Lunenburg County, Virginia. He died there on August 7, 1754. Rachel Womack was born on December 17, 1717 in Glouchester, Virginia.They had these eleven children: John (b.1732), Elizabeth (b.1737), William (b. 1739), Hezekiah (b.1741), Zachariah (b.1743), Judith (b.1745), Susannah (b.1747), Mary (b.1749), James, Thomas, and Joshua.

John Thomas Sharpe was born in Cecil County, Maryland. Elizabeth J. Alexander was born on January 8, 1726 in Cecil County, Maryland. She died on September 1, 1797 in Mechlenburg County, North Carolina. They had these twelve children: Elizabeth (b.1740), William (b.1742), John (b.1744), Walter (b.1747), James (b.1751), Joseph, Amos, David, Ebenezer, Samuel, Isabell, and Sarah.

William Tabor was born about 1671 in Lunenburg County, Virginia (possibly Henrico County). He died in April 1722 in Henrico County, Virginia. Hagar Stovall was born in 1685 in Lunenburg County, Virginia. She died on October 7,1723 in Henrico County, Virginia. They had two sons: John (b.1702) and William (b.1706). There may have been others.

Thomas Sharpe was born in 1689, probably in Scotland. He died in 1749 in Cecil County, Maryland. Isabella Wallace was born in 1690 in Scotland. They had these eight children: John Thomas (b.1727), Sarah Mary, Walter, Joseph, Samuel, Hannah, Edward, and James.

Sources:
Gravemarkers - Tabor Cemetery, Brush Creek Comm., Swain Co., NC.
George Leroy Tabor's 1955 manuscript.
Asheville Citizen Times - March 14, 1965 (Sect.D).

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