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POOL ROCK PLANTATION

Williamsboro, Vance County, North Carolina

Formerly Granville County

On April 15, 1800, John Taylor of Granville County paid £800 Virginia money to William Lanier for the 900 acres on Little Nut Bush "whereon Thomas Lanier at present resides." Taylor could not take possession of the property, however, until Thomas Lanier died in 1805 because of the provision for a life estate.
John Taylor was a retail merchant who specialized in the transportation and sale of spiritous liquors, particularly brandy, which earned him the local sobriquet of "Brandy Taylor". He was also a planter who lived at Jessamine Cot in northern Granville County where he raised his two sons John C, and James H. Taylor. James married Mary Eaton of Bloomsbury Plantation in 1827 and is said to have moved into the house near Little Nut Bush Creek. (Since the only manor house for the Nut Bush Plantation know to have existed previous to the 1820s stood on the boundary line, and since John Taylor the owner from 1800 to his death in 1837, lived on his plantation known as Jessamine Cot, the logical assumption is that the older part of the house now known as Pool Rock was constructed for James Taylor and his bride about 1827. John Taylor's will was probated in May Court, 1837 at which time all lands and slaves were devised to sons John C. and James H. Taylor. Before his death, John Taylor had added to the Nut Bush tract so that it exceeded 1,000 acres when it passed to James. Each son also received twenty slaves valued at $8100 per group or $16,200 total.
James Harvey Taylor and his wife Mary lived on the Nut Bush plantation a little over twenty-five years. Three daughters were born of the union: Susan (1830), Mary Elizabeth [Bettie] (1832), and Annie (1835). In August of 1853 Bettie Taylor married Phillip Thomas, her first cousin. The young couple lived with James H. Taylor and it was about this time that the newer portion of the present house was built. Presumably, James H. Taylor had the Italianate structure constructed for the newlyweds. Phillip Thomas died suddenly about a year after being married, leaving Bettie a widow at the age of twenty-two. In 1855 Bettie moved to Ashe County and placed her in charge of the Nut Bush plantation. Later that year, for natural love and affection, gave his daughter the tract of 1162 acres. Bettie Thomas married John Winnbush in 1857, and in 1862 they sold the plantation to Mary A. L. Sharp of Norfolk, Virginia for $15,000. The Winbushes then moved to Texas leaving the property in absentee ownership.