William Ragland [30339]

  General Notes:

Lived in the Buckhorn District of Chatham Co. and established his homestead near "the Great Falls of the Cape Fear River". The census records the year after his death indicated that he was the seventh largest landowner in the county and ranked fourth in number of slaves. A letter written in 1974 by James B. Ragland of Sanford, NC, states that William's plantation was located on Buckhorn Creek in what is today the extreme southeastern corner of Chatham Co., about two miles north of the Cape Fear River, two miles south of the Wake Co. line and four miles west of the Harnett Co. line. He further stated that part of the original plantation is still owned by members of the family and that the family cemetery was still being used up until about half a century ago. It contains a number of unmarked grave stones from the earlier period, two of which are undoubtedly the grave stones of William and Sarah.

William married Sarah Avent [30396] [MRIN: 10176], daughter of William Avent [30397] and Sarah Moore [30398]. (Sarah Avent [30396] died about 1790 in Chatham County, North Carolina.)