Abel, Thomas

THOMAS ABEL
    Born Aug. 5, 1759 in Shenandoah County, VA he enlisted there under Capt. Overton, Col. Ballard etc., and was in the siege of York and served against the Tories and Indians, etc., and in a number of hard battles of that conflict and was with Washington when Cornwallis surrendered at Yorktown on October 19, 1781.  After the war he moved to Buncombe (now Haywood) County, NC where on September 1, 1784 he married, in Pigeon River, Buncombe Co., NC Elizabeth Katherine Woodfin who was born March 9, 1763.  He established his home five miles southeast of the present town of Canton, Haywood County, NC where he and his wife lived and died, he on August 30, 1822.  They had nine children one of whom died before 1822.  In his will dated 1822 he refers to a son Samuel W. Abel, a step-son John Woodfin and seven daughters (names not given).  Della Hughes born Jan. 3, 1788 in Buncombe Co., NC was his 2nd child.  He and his wife are buried in the Locust Field Cemetery at Canton, NC.