General Notes

John Gilreath was a soldier during the Revolutionary War.  He is listed on the 1771 Tax list of Bute County, NC.

John and brother William migrated from Bute County, NC to Wilkes County, NC about 1778-80.

Both brothers of John, William, Jr (Captain) and Alexander (Sergeant), received pensions for their participation in the Revolutionary War. John died in 1802 (about 30 years before pensions were granted).

Wilkes County, North Carolina, Will Book B, p. 83, 19 December 1802.
Names one child Sarah Dorety. Other children are named in a deed
from the heirs and legatees of John Gilreath to John Saint Clair, in
Wilkey County Deed Book L, p. 275, dated 18 October 1817.

John Gilreath, the eldest son of William, is first found on the 1771 tax list for Bute County, No. Carolina living separate from his father. As previously mentioned John signed the petition to separate Bute County into what later became Warren and Vance Counties. This petition was submitted in Jan 1779 to the Legislature. By 1780 John had moved to Wilkes County where he remained till his death in 1802. John's will mentions only one child, a daughter, Sarah Dorety. His remaining children are listed as signers of the deed to sell the land owned by John (where his widow, Johannah, still lived) in 1817. These children and their approx. year of birth were:
William - 1774 Benjamin - 1785 Nancy - 1775
Susanna Jacoway - 17?? Jesse - 1794 Gideon - 1798
All except Jesse moved to Whitley County, Ky between 1810-1820

John Gilreath was the oldest of five sons of William Gilreath.
His name is first found on the Bute County tax lists in 1771, living
apart from his father but in the same district as Benjamin Jones. No
record of his marriage to Johannah Jones has been found but there seems
to be general agreement among Gilreath family researchers that this is a
fact. After his marriage to Johannah Jones, it appears that they lived
on the farm of her father and mother. In his will, made in 1776,
Benjamin Jones leaves John Gilreath in full possession of the farm, for
his widow's behalf, and gives him a share of his personal estate. There
was clearly a close relationship between John Gilreath and Benjamin Jones.
Although in 1778, John and his brother, William, refused to sign a
loyalty oath in support of North Carolina and against King George 3rd, he
and two of his brothers were soldiers in the RevolutionaryWar. Why they
refused to sign the oath is a mystery, especially in view ofthe fact
that their father had been active in attending meetings of the Bute
County Committee on Safety. That same year, John and his brothers James
and William signed a petition to divide Bute County into what became
Warren andFranklin counties. The Carolina legislature approved and, in
1779, the partof Bute County where the Gilreaths lived became Warren
County. John Gilreath is on the 1779 list for the Smith's Creek and
Hawtree Creek Tax District with property valued at 507 pounds.
It is not clear when he migrated west to Wilkes County. The records show
that in 1780 he claimed 50 acres in Wilkes adjoining the land of Thomas
Hamrick. However in 1781, he was still on Captain John Colclough's tax
list in Warren County for 126 pounds and 8 shillings. Whether he was
physically present in Warren County at that time is not known.In any
case, sometime around 1780 he moved his family Wilkes County, following
in the footsteps of his father, brothers William and Alexander and three
of his brothers-in-law, Thomas, William and James Jones. Johannah's
mother,then a widow, went with John and her daughter.
By 1782, John is in CaptainNathaniel Gordon's Tax District, listed as
owning 100 acres and two cattle.Thomas Jones (Sr.) is also in this
district. William Gilreath, Sr. and hisother two sons, William, Jr. and
Alexander are in Capt. Abraham Demoss' district. The 1787 North Carolina
census for Wilkes County, Captain Trible's District, taken by James
Fletcher, lists the