Frances (Stewart) Silver (abt. 1815 - 1833)

Born about 1815 in Wadesboro, Anson, North Carolina, United States

Ancestors

Wife of Charles Silver — married about 1830 (to 1831) in Burke, North Carolina, USA

Descendants

Died 12 Jul 1833 at about age 18 in Morganton, Burke County, North Carolina

Problems/Questions Profile managers: Joshua Hanna [send private message] and John Phillips [send private message]

Biography

Frankie (Stewart) Silver is Notable.

Frankie Stewart was born about 1815. She passed away on July 12, 1833 . She was the daughter of Isaiah Stewart and Barbara Howell. She passed away in 1833. ^[1]

The following comes from Find A Grave:

Folk figure. An Appalachian Mountain girl, Frankie died on the gallows for the grisly murder of her young husband, Charlie Silver, in what may have been a miscarriage of justice. Although neither the first woman to be hanged in North Carolina, nor the inspiration for the song "Frankie and Johnny", her story has been retold in various media, including a Swiss-produced ballet. Born Frances Stewart, the blonde 90-pound teenager was described as pretty by eyewitnesses, and her marriage at 14 to her neighbors' only son began as a love match. A year later she and the 18-year-old mountaineer had a baby daughter, Nancy. Charlie began to abuse alcohol, however, and was seen abusing Frankie as well. Shortly before Christmas 1831 she reported him missing, but a subsequent search of the couple's cabin revealed parts of his dismembered body. Frankie was arrested with her mother and brother, but only she was tried for murder and convicted. She later confessed that Charlie had come home drunk, and that she'd hit him with an ax after he threatened to shoot her and their crying baby. She then enlisted her relatives' aid in disposing of his body. Despite popular support for her acquittal, the State Supreme Court upheld the conviction, and the newly-elected governor dallied over pardoning her. She went to her death wearing a white dress--a gift from the wealthy ladies of Morganton. Frankie's father had intended to bury her on the Stewarts' land, but the July heat foiled his transport of her unembalmed body beyond its present location. Her surname is misspelled as "Silvers" on the granite marker which was placed on her grave in 1952 by the editor of the Morganton News-Herald. ^[2]

She was hanged in Morganton, Burke County, North Carolina, for murdering her husband Charles Silver with an ax. Frankie Silver, as she is known, is believed to have been the first white woman capitally executed in Burke County.

The Frankie and Charlie Silver Story and the Tolley Family

This story is written by Robert Bradley Clark, a direct descendant of the Tolley and Howell neighbors of Frankie and Charlie. See Story Notes below. The 'Frankie Silver Story' revolves around Frankie Stewart Silver and her husband Charlie Silver. Frankie was "famous" for killing her husband Charlie with an axe just before Christmas in 1831. This was one of the most sensational murders in North Carolina history and over the years a number of myths and legends have grown up around this horrific case.

George and Nancy Silver Cabin

Charlie and Frankie Silver lived in the sparsely settled, rugged mountains of western North Carolina near a place known as the Tolley Settlement. Charlie's grandparent's cabin, the George and Nancy Silver cabin, was less than a mile away heading away from the Tolley Settlement. The settlement was just a few cabins clustered in the never-ending dense woods of Burke County (later Mitchell County) less than a quarter mile east of the North Toe River and just over a half mile south of present-day Kona. Today, the Tolley Settlement has disappeared. It is a ghost town.

Daniel Tolley, his wife Sarah Jane Howell, his brother Francis Tolley, and Darcus Emaline Bennett, wife of Francis Tolley, lived in the Tolley Settlement, as did other Tolley kin folk. The Silver and Tolley families inter-married with other families in the area including the Willis, Howell, and Stewart families. One such marriage was between Elizabeth Howell and Jackson Stewart. Elizabeth Howell was the sister of Sarah Jane Howell Tolley and Jackson Stewart was the older brother of Frankie Stewart Silver. The following story is about Frankie and Charlie Silver and the Tolley family. ^{[3] [4]}

The story begins with Charlie, age 19, Frankie, about age 16, and their one-year-old daughter Nancy. In the days ahead of Christmas in 1831 Charlie went missing and his family wondered where he was. Frankie told her in-laws Charlie left for his Christmas liquor and had not returned. He was known to have a fondness for liquor and was popular with the young ladies. The area was blanketed in a heavy snow so the family and neighbors quickly rallied together to search for Charlie. Many feared that he may have been in a drunken state and suffered some misfortune. The search party looked everywhere but they couldn't find Charlie.

One day in early January 1832, when Frankie was out, her cabin was searched. Blood splatters and bone fragments were found. Over time, portions of Charlie's body were found under the floor in the cabin and outside around the cabin in different locations. These pieces of Charlie were buried at a nearby cemetery in Kona and eventually, as more pieces were found, they were also buried. In the end, there were three burials at the cemetery. Three old field stones mark the three graves. A modern stone with his name, birth date and death date is placed next to the old stones. With all the evidence found in and around the cabin, Frankie, her mother (Barbara Stewart) and her brother (Blackston Stewart) were arrested for murder. Then, eight days later, her mother and brother were released.

Graves of Charlie Silver

Some of the details of the killing are not settled to this day. During the trial, the prosecution claimed Frankie was a jealous wife seeking revenge. The law in North Carolina at that time did not allow the defendant to take the stand so Frankie Silver could not tell her side of the story directly to the jury. A lawyer spoke for her. Also, a man could legally strike his wife to provide "correcton" so wife abuse was not so uncommon.

The story remembered by some in the Tolley, Howell and Willis families suggests that Frankie was occasionally battered by Charlie during his drunken bouts. These neighbors believed that Charlie returned home just before Christmas in 1831 in a drunken state. He eventually laid down on the floor near the fireplace to warm up then fell asleep. Frankie had been abused to the point she could no longer take it, so she struck Charlie in the head with an axe. She then chopped up the body and started burning the parts in the fireplace. She continued to feed lots of wood into the fireplace to create immense heat to speed the process.

The story coming from Wayne Silver, a Silver family historian, suggests Charlie came home, most likely in a drunken state, and got into an argument with Frankie. He was soon very agitated with a crying baby and a complaining wife. He may have went for his gun threatening to kill them if they didn't quiet down. At the same time, Frankie grabbed the axe and whacked Charlie. Then she proceeded to chop up Charlie and burn the parts. He believed Charlie probably was angry but wouldn't have killed Frankie. And he believed that Frankie's actions to kill Charlie were probably a frightened reflex.

Daniel and Jane Tolley, along with Francis and Darcus Tolley, lived along a ridge a little over 200 yards away from the cabin of Frankie and Charlie Silver. With the uneven, sloping ground and trees, the Tolley's couldn't see the Silver's cabin, but could see the smoke as it floated above the Silver's cabin. During the days prior to Christmas in 1831 the Tolleys noticed an unusual amount of smoke drifting up above the trees coming from the direction of the Frankie and Charlie Silver cabin. It seemed that Frankie was using more firewood than normal, but they didn't think anything of it until later when they learned of the death of Charlie.

Frankie's trial started on March 29, 1832. The jury was initially deadlocked 9-3 for acquittal but soon after they were allowed to mingle then rehear some of the witnesses. The jury met again and found Frankie guilty. Her family was desperate and helped her to escape from the jail. They cut her hair and dressed her like a boy and headed for Tennessee in an old wagon. In spite of their efforts, she was re-captured a week later. The family appealed to the governor but got no relief. Frankie was hung in 1833.

Several of the Tolleys and other neighbors went to the hanging. Frankie had a piece of cornbread in her hand as she left the jail. As she walked up to be hung she handed the piece of cornbread to Grandma Tolley (Darcus Emeline Bennett Tolley). The Tolley family kept that piece of cornbread for close to a hundred years until it was burned up in a cabin fire.

Just before Frankie was hung she was given a moment to speak. Her father called out from the crowd, "Die with it in you, Frankie!". Those dramatic words were specifically remembered by Joseph Avery Willis, a descendant of the Tolleys present at the hanging. The gruesome event caused the words to remain fixed in the memory of the Tolley family and he learned them from his Tolley mother as a boy around 1920. He later shared them in the year 2002 as he told this sad story one more time... how it was a sickening, jolting experience for the Tolley family members who were at the hanging of Frankie Silver.

Frankie did die with it in her. She never implicated anyone in her family. Her silence reenforced the belief that Stewart family members were involved in the chopping and burning of Charlie Silver's body and possibly his murder. But, like so many details of the Frankie and Charlie Silver story, we will never know, with certainty, the full story.

Story Notes: This story passed down through the Tolley, Willis, Howell and Silver familes for generations. Wayne Silver, Joseph Avery Willis, and Robert Clark contributed to this account. All three are descendants from families that were neighbors to Charlie and Frankie Silver. They all shared their accounts with Robert Bradley Clark, the author of this story. The author is also a direct descendant of the Tolley and Howell families, neighbors of Frankie and Charlie.

Joe Willis and Robert Clark heard the story from their Tolley grandparents. These Tolley grandparents in turn heard the story from their grandparents - Francis and Darcus Tolley; and Daniel and Jane Tolley - who were neighbors of Charlie and Frankie Silver. The Tolley families lived in a place called the Tolley Settlement, a handful of cabins situated on an uneven ridge near Charlie and Frankie. Wayne Silver brought Robert Clark and his sons, Robert Bradley Clark and Bruce Clark, to visit the cabin site and share his knowledge of the Charlie and Frankie Silver story in March 2000. The cabin of Charlie and Frankie Silver and the Tolley Settlement disappeared over the years. Some stacked stones were all that remained of the Silver's fireplace. The site was in the woods, maybe a hundred yards off Highway 80, in Mitchell County, North Carolina. The Tolleys and Silvers lived just over a half mile from the old George Silver's cabin on the land awarded to him for service during the American Revolutionary War. The cabin still existed in March 2000. Wayne Silver was a Silver family historian and a descendant of David and William Silver, two half-brothers of Charlie Silver. David, William, and Charlie were all sons of Jacob Silver, the son of George Silver. ^{[3] [5]}

Sources

1. ↑ Wikipedia contributors, "Frankie Stewart Silver," Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Frankie_Stewart_Silver&oldid=1185357626 (accessed April 1, 2024).
2. ↑ Find a Grave, database and images (https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/8567288/frankie-silver: accessed April 1, 2024), memorial page for Frankie Stewart Silver (1815–12 Jul 1833), Find A Grave: Memorial #8567288, citing Devault Farm Burial Ground, Morganton, Burke County, North Carolina, USA; Maintained by Find a Grave.
3. ↑ ^{3.0 3.1} Silver, Wayne Edward. Personal recollection, March 2000, as told to Robert Bradley Clark during a visit to Mitchell County, North Carolina. Wayne led a tour of the old George Silver (1753-1839) home site, a visit to the Charlie and Frankie Silver home site, and a visit to the Tolley Settlement area. The George Silver cabin still stands today. The cabin was passed on to his son Jacob Silver with the death of George Silver. Jacob Silver is the 2x Great Grandfather of Wayne Silver. Charlie Silver was the son of Jacob Silver.
4. ↑ Barney Kaufman, "Silver Ancestral Home in Kona, NC," Silver Genealogy, https://homepages.rootsweb.com/~silver/south/ancesthome.html (accessed May 25, 2022).
5. ↑ Willis, Joseph Avery and Clark, Robert. Personal recollections, March 2002, as told to Robert Bradley Clark during a visits to Carter County, Tennessee.

See also:

• The Ballad of Frankie Silver (1996)
• https://www.newspapers.com/clip/13968055/asheville-citizen-times/?xid=637
• https://historichorrors.wordpress.com/2013/03/22/frankie-silver-murders-husband-in-1831/