#52 Ancestors 2024 Week 4 Witness to History: Levi Agee--An Ordinary Life

 This week's prompt--"Witness to History"--may suggest someone who was deeply involved in the affairs of the country and impacted historical events.  But I am choosing instead to write about an ancestor who was not a mover or a shaker in his time. Rather, I am focusing on a man who was a simple farmer without a lot of influence who was nevertheless affected by the events of history in his lifetime. 

Levi Agee did not leave much of a record for his descendants.  He didn't leave a diary or letters that explained how he felt about the events he witnessed.  Even so, I'm going to try to put him in some historical context and speculate a little about how he might have been affected. 

Levi Agee, the 4x-great grandfather of my grandchildren, was the son of Matthew Agee and Mary Ligon, and great-grandson of the immigrant, Mathieu Agee, about whom I have previously written. He was born about 1790, the seventh of nine children, on his father’s plantation near the Blackwater River in Franklin County VA.  Franklin County, located in the Blue Ridge foothills near Roanoke, was formed in 1785 and named for Benjamin Franklin. 

The world into which Levi was born was full of changes as the new nation sought to establish itself on the world stage, building an economy based on industry and commerce and not just on agriculture. 

Washington Iron Furnace

Franklin County was already boasting some industry as the Washington Iron Works manufactured munitions for the American cause during the Revolution. Political parties were beginning to develop with the Federalists arguing for a strong central government and the Democratic-Republicans pushing for more states’ rights. George Washington was the president. In the election of 1790, in which Matthew Agee, as a landowner, was likely able to vote, the pro-Washington faction was able to retain control of both the House and the Senate. (Yes, there was an anti-Washington faction!)

The first national census in 1790 showed just about 4 million people living in the country, 95 percent in rural areas like Franklin County. The population of Franklin County was about 6800 people. Like most of the families in the county, the Agees were farmers, probably growing tobacco along with some food crops.

In the early 1800’s, Washington DC was established as the nation’s capital, and President Thomas Jefferson doubled the size of the country with the Louisiana Purchase.  Virginians Meriwether Louis and William Clark set out to explore the country and reached the Pacific Ocean in 1805. Their success was a source of enormous pride to Americans and inspired many future explorers and pioneers. I have to wonder if teenage Levi had dreams of being an explorer himself or if he was always content with a farmer’s life?

In his early 20's (1811), Levi Agee married Sally Maxey, the daughter of Josiah Maxey, in Franklin County. By this time, the country had grown to almost 8 million inhabitants, still largely living in rural areas, 10,700 of them in Franklin County.  James Madison was president. The states of Vermont, Kentucky, Tennessee, and Ohio had been added to the Union. Levi and Sally’s first known child—Permillia Agee--was born in 1814, while the War of 1812 was still being fought, although the war did not have much impact in southwest Virginia.  None of the Agee men served in the military in this period. 

By 1820, the US population was getting close to 10 million people, 12,000 in Franklin County.  The Agees, still living in Franklin County, had added 3 more children to their family: Lucy Levinia (1815), Susannah (1817) and their only son, Daniel (1818), 3X-great grandfather to my grandchildren. James Monroe was the President, advocating the Monroe Doctrine which opposed further colonization in the United States. Louisiana, Indiana, Illinois, Alabama, Mississippi, and Maine had become states.

Levi’s father, Matthew, died in 1823 at about age 76, and Levi may have received an inheritance at this time.  The Marquis de Lafayette, hero of the American Revolution, returned in 1824 for a grand tour of all 24 states, but it is doubtful that Levi and his family living in the countryside had a chance to see the great man.

Although Levi Agee was not a slaveholder, there were many in Franklin County. Nat Turner’s Rebellion in nearby Southampton County VA in 1831, which killed about sixty white people, probably scared the family and their neighbors. The 1830 Census shows the Agees still living in Franklin County with a young man and six young women (presumably their children) between the ages of 5 and 19.  They probably heard the news of the tragic siege of the Alamo in 1836 and the deaths of Davy Crockett and Jim Bowie, although it may have taken several months for the news to reach them.

By 1840, the country had grown to include 26 states, with a population of over 17 million. The Agee family had joined many other families in moving west, possibly because tobacco farming had depleted the soil of their farm. They didn’t move too far west, though, just to Mercer County VA (now West VA), formed in 1837 from Giles and Tazewell counties. In 1840, Mercer County had a population of 3181, a majority farmers and farm laborers, with a little over 100 enslaved people. 

The map below shows the Agee's migration route, ending in the small mountain town of Egeria.  In the 1880's, Egeria boasted a blacksmith, two cabinet makers, a general store, a machinist, a flour mill, and nine "principal farmers," one of whom was probably Daniel Agee. Egeria didn't get a high school until 1913 and its enrollment was usually in the teens. This is where Levi's great-grandchildren would have been educated. 

Martin Van Buren, William Henry Harrison, John Tyler and James Polk assumed the presidency during the 1840’s.  Polk having run on a platform of expanding US territory, Florida and Texas joined the Union, and the United States declared war on Mexico which refused to acknowledge the annexation of Texas.  While thousands of people rushed to California in 1848 in the grip of gold fever, the Agees were not caught up in this rush. All of Levi's children stayed and raised their families in or near the tiny town of Egeria in Mercer County. 

The 1840 Census shows Levi in Mercer County with a young man (his son Daniel), five young women (his daughters) and an older woman (his wife Sally).  Sadly, Levi suffered a serious mental decline, probably dementia, and by 1847, he was declared a lunatic and also had that designation in the 1850 Census where he is shown, age 60, living with his 65-year-old wife, Sally, and his 30-year-old son Daniel, a farmer, in Mercer County VA. By the end of the year, Levi was dead, and his son Daniel administered his estate. 

The inventory of his estate shows a modest list of farm property and livestock, totaling about $200. 

When Levi Agee died in 1850, California had just been admitted to the Union as the 31st state. The population of the US stood at just over 23 million people, still largely (85%) in rural areas. Zachary Taylor, a national hero for his victories in the Mexican-American War, was the president. 

At the time of his death in 1850, Levi had 16 grandchildren from his daughters’ marriages to the Hatcher, Cadle, Ferguson, and Meador families. Daniel Agee did not marry until 1855, after the deaths of both his parents. But he eventually married twice and had five children, including Alonzo Lee (Lon) Agee, the 2x-great grandfather to my grandchildren. 

Levi and Sally Agee were buried on their farm in Egeria, Virginia (now West Virginia), now known as the Agee Cemetery.  Many of their relatives and descendants are also buried there, including Daniel and Alonzo. 

Agee Cemetery, Egeria WV

  

Levi Agee led a quiet life, farming his land, surrounded by his children and grandchildren. Like most Americans, the enormous changes in the country around him did not disrupt his family to any great degree, but they did open up new possibilities for future generations of Agees in an expanding nation.