The Liles Family
by Larry Rhodes

Notes and Sources are presented as end notes. To read them as you proceed, click on note numbers within the text.

My research shows that Jonathan Liles seems to be the first of his surname in Nash County. One Charles Liles was on the tax list of Bute County in 1766,Note 1 although there is no evidence connecting this individual to the Nash County Liles family. There were six Liles families on the 1790 census of North Carolina.Note 2 Two of those families were located in Franklin County, which was formerly Bute CountyNote 3 and which shares a long border with Nash County. This seems a logical, albeit not proved, source for the family. Jonathan Liles' name first crops up in February 1829Note 4 appointed as one of the hands to work on a road from Turkey Creek to Lee's Chapel. The 1830 censusNote 5 listed as head of a household one Jonathan Lilse in Nash County. The marriage bond between Jonathan Liles and Matilda Stallings was executed on 26 September 1838.Note 6 Jonathan Liles was not to be found on the 1840 census;Note 7 however, by applying the Law of Spousal Proximity to this Jonathan Caroliles (plus the nearby presence of Gilbert Lewis who was always in his neighborhood) I am sure that this is the husband of Matilda Stallings Liles. Richard Stallings on the previous line is probably her kinsman. I have browsed the early Nash County censuses page-by-page, and did not see another listing for the surname Caroliles. In 1850 Jonathan's occupation was shown as sawyer.Note 8 The children of Jonathan and Matilda were Wesley 10, Kinchen 8 Jonathan 4, and Winney J 2. Also in the household were Edney Liles aged 52 and Penny Liles aged 36. Winney J was Winnie Jane, who never married and lived adjacent to Matilda and then William. She died in 1918 and was buried in the family cemetery. Wesley, Kinchen, and Jonathan Jr. enlisted in the 7th North Carolina Infantry Regiment, CSA.Note 9 Wesley was wounded in 1862 and again in 1863 at Gettysburg where he was captured. He was exchanged later in 1863; and was recaptured in hospital in Richmond in April 1865 and paroled. Kinchen was wounded in 1862 and was captured at Gettysburg. He was confined at Fort Delaware, Delaware until transferred to Point Lookout, Maryland in 1863. He died there of unknown causes 25 August 1864, and is probably buried in a mass grave. Jonathan Jr. was wounded at Reams Station, Virginia 25 August 1864, and after recuperation served until the end of the war. Wesley and Jonathan Jr. registered to vote in 1902 in Nash County.Note 10 I do not know the circumstances and dates of their deaths. The elder Jonathan's occupation in 1860 was given as cooper. The land where the family cemetery lies, which was likely the home location, is at a slightly higher elevation on ground that appears to favor a hardwood forest. It probably was an ideal location for a cooperage. As far as can be determined, Jonathan Liles never owned slaves. The locations of the graves of Jonathan and Matilda have not been determined; however, I am convinced that they were buried on the land where they lived, loved, and worked.

1. Ratcliff, Clarence E., compiler, North Carolina Taxpayers 1679-1790 Vol. 2, Baltimore: Genealogical Publishing Co., Inc. 1987; Page 120.
2. HeritageQuest Online, “1790 Census Index,” accessed by subscription through Kansas State Library.
3. Genealogical Services Branch, “North Carolina County Development,” Raleigh: State Library of North Carolina.
4. Rackley, Timothy W., Abstracter, Nash County North Carolina Court Minutes Volume XIII 1829-1830, Kernersville, NC: self-published, Page 14.
5. 1830 U. S. Census, North Carolina, Nash County, District 9; Series M19 Roll 123 Page 201, Line 4.
6. On microfilm in North Carolina State Archives, Raleigh, North Carolina.
7. 1840 U. S. Census, North Carolina, Nash County, No Township Listed; Series M704 Roll 366 Page 79, Line 30.
8. 1850 U. S. Census, North Carolina, Nash County, No Township Listed; Series M432 Roll 638 Page 260, Line 34f.
9. Jordan, Weymouth T. Jr., compiler, North Carolina Troops 1861-1865 A Roster Vol IV Infantry, Raleigh, NC: State Division of Archives and History, 1989, Page 458.
10. Rackley, Timothy W., Abstracter, Nash County North Carolina Voter Registration 1902-1908, Kernersville, NC: self-published, 1995, Page 4.