James Belk
If old age is a sign of anything, death chooses its arrival. In reading the old pension records, it is surprising to note that certain warriors lived to be one hundred years of age!
These guys fought in the bloodiest battles, lost arms and legs, yet lived to a ripe old age. But it is more than that. The average soldier of this war had fought Indians on the open plain and built homes in the wilderness. They left their wilderness homes to go to war, often never returning. Instead, they took up land grants and rebuilt!
Many soldiers were not spring chickens! Some of them were boys who became drummers and aides.
When James Belk, an elderly veteran soldier of the American Revolutionary War, was among the honored guests at the Mecklenburg Centennial on May 20, 1875, he pronounced that he was upwards of one hundred and ten years old!
At this meeting, Belk revealed that he resided on the same tract of land in Union County, North Carolina, where he was born and raised, and that his father was one of the original settlers. A clue to his father's origin is the birthdate in an old Edinburg Bible (1720).
Belk recalled that his father was mortally wounded in the Revolutionary War near the North Carolina line. His mother, fearing the mournful result, visited the place of conflict and found his poor father severely wounded, lying in the woods near the roadside. She assisted him to their home but soon afterward had him transferred to the residence of his grandfather for better attention, where he died.
James Belk was another soldier who had many children. His first wife gave birth to ten children, and his last wife gave birth to twelve children.
Belk died on May 20, 1875, soon after the centennial meeting, at the age of one hundred and eleven years, three months, and five days!
Sketches of Western North Carolina, Historical and Biographical by C. L. Hunter
Links available to members of the Pioneer websites
LWT of Amelia Belk, Union County, NC