Major and North Carolina Quarter Master General John Devereux Jr.

From the book, Journal of a Secesh Lady, The Diary of Catherine Ann Devereux Edmondston, 1979, edited by Beth G. Crabtree and James W. Patton, page 109: Maj. John Devereux.

John Devereux was the eldest of 11 known children born to prominent and wealthy planter Thomas Pollock Devereux & Catherine Ann Johnson of New Bern & Halifax County, NC. His father owned several large plantations in NC and was US Attorney for District of NC, Justice of the Peace, and Presiding Justice of the Halifax County Court. John was a wealthy planter and lawyer in Raleigh. He married Margaret Lane Ashe Mordecai on May 24, 1842 and they were parents to 7 known children. John inherited a substantial fortune from his grandfather in 1844 and purchased the family plantation "Runroi" in Bertie Co. from his father in 1846. The couple also built a substantial Greek Revival home about that time on "Wills Forest" in Raleigh, a tract of land Margaret had inherited through the Mordecai's. The Devereux's spent winters at "Runroi" and summered at "Wills Forest". Margaret Mordecai Devereux wrote a book, "Plantation Sketches" which describes plantation life when she first came as a bride to "Runroi", filled with loving memoirs of the "way it was".

In the early 18th & 19th Centuries, the areas known as Brooklyn and Glenwood in Raleigh were part of the substantial land holdings of Margaret Mordecai Devereux's great grandfather, wealthy planter Joel Lane. Joel relocated his house to what is now Boylan Heights, and sold the state the land on which the new capital city of Raleigh was laid out in 1791. The area of "Wills Forest" reportedly got it name from 2 slaves. Around 1760 a slave ship wrecked off NC with only 2 slaves surviving -- Will and Mark. These 2 were cared for by Col. Joel Lane, and not claimed as slaves. Lane supplied their needs and built them a cabin on the corner of his property where they lived until their deaths. Because of Will's charm, the area became known as "Wills Forest". In the decades following the Civil War, John and Margaret Mordecai Devereux parceled out portions of their 150 acre "Will Forest" estate to their daughters and their husbands.

As already noted here, John Devereux, at the age of 42, served with the rank of Major in the Confederate States Army, and as Chief Quartermaster was responsible for providing NC troops with supplies, which included the state's very successful blockade running business. As Sherman's troops approached Raleigh at the end of the War, Devereux was a member of the delegation that surrendered the city.

Major John Devereux died in 1893, at the age of 73. His wife survived him another 17 years, passing in 1910, at age 85.