Eddie Lois Houk

married Nina Nelson. [Group Sheet]

Leander married Anna Catherine Link. Anna (daughter of Aaron Link and Elizabeth Cole Phifer, daughter of Bersheba White and Joshua Link) was born 6 Jul 1825. [Group Sheet]

Amidas married Saddis S Link. Saddis (son of Sarah Genelia Link and Abel E Yount, son of Henry William Link and Catherine Rowe) was born 15 Apr 1845; died 26 Mar 1859; was buried , Link Cemetery. [Group Sheet]

Aaron married Elizabeth Cole Phifer. Elizabeth (daughter of Bersheba White and Joshua Link, daughter of Henry Phifer and Anna Cole) was born 27 Jan 1799, Rowan County, North Carolina, USA; died 8 Feb 1880, Catawba, Catawba, North Carolina, United States; was buried , Long View, Catawba County, North Carolina, USA. [Group Sheet]

Notes:

 

According to the book, Catawba County Heritage, Henry William Link, was a prominent citizen of the early Hickory Tavern time period of Catawba County. The town's name has since been changed to Hickory. It was Henry's son, Amidas "Mite" Crawford Link, early postmaster of Hickory Tavern who stirred interest among the townspeople to petition for changing the town's name.

Henry Link was instrumental in the beginning of Bethel Reformed church. In 1847, during the pastorate of the Rev. John H. Crawford, who preached in churches in this area, a meeting was held to plan for the erection of a church edifice. During the gathering in the woods, tradition says a snow began to fall exceedingly fast. From this fact the place for a while was called "Snow Hill." The families had been attending worship at either St. Paul's or Grace churches. They lived mainly in the area between the Henry's Fork and the Jacob's Fork of the Upper South Fork of the Catawba River. On 2 September 1848 the deed to the land was made by Lazarus Deitz to Jacob Shuford and Henry Link. The first church was small, being thirty-two feet long and twenty-two feet wide. It was in this church that Henry served as an elder and attended services with his family.

In 1859, the first dwelling house was built in a new town called "Hickory Tavern". This house was built by J. J. Sigmon for Henry William Link. Henry and his family resided in this house at its original location where the Bank of Granite now sits in downtown Hickory. The Link home had a long adjoining room at the rear of the house which was Link and Ellis's General Store. Mr. Link served as temporary postmaster for the town prior to the appointment of an official postmaster. The mail was brought by stagecoach to his house and upon arrival of the mail pouch, it was opened, the letters sorted and someone would stand on a box in front of the Link residence calling loudly the name that each letter bore. In the 1880's the Link house was taken down "board by board" and re-built on its present site at 443 2nd Avenue SW, Hickory. It now houses the 1859 Cafe.

There was no suitable building in the village for religious services, so Henry W. Link and Adolphus L. Shuford built what was called in those days a "stand." During the summer worship was held in the "stand" and in the winter in the Link home. This practice continued until 1868 when Rev. Jeremiah Ingold took the initiative in building the "Free Academy," near the old cemetery on the present First Avenue, S.E. Here in this building the Reformed Church was organized May 22, 1869. Henry W. Link and Adolphus L. Shuford had approached Rev. Ingold in 1860 to come to Hickory Tavern to preach the first sermon. Henry W. Link and Peter L. Rowe served as the first elders of the church with A. A. Shuford and Amidus C. Link as reflected in an article in the Hickory Daily Record the trip she made as a child to Hickory Tavern with her parents from their home sixteen miles northwest of Lincolnton at the organization of Corinth Reformed Church. She stated that they spent Friday night at the home of Mr. & Mrs. Peter Rowe, who lived where a part of Brookford now stands. Just after supper a severe thunder storm came up and lightning struck a large weeping willow tree that stood at the kitchen door. She also said that they were entertained in the home of Mr. & Mrs. Henry W. Link in the first dwelling house ever built in the town of Hickory. She also remembered the delicious strawberry pie that Mrs. Link served.

Prior to moving his family to Hickory Tavern, Henry owned a farm that was located off the old Shelby Road that leads from Longview to the Cooksville area. Interstate 40 now passes through part of this property. Henry set aside land for the Link family cemetery plus two surrounding acres on this property.

Henry and Catherine Link were blessed with eleven children;, six sons and five daughters.

Henry William Link was a loyal member of the German Reformed Church. Through his contribution to society a village began to form around a hickory tree and a lodging house called "Hickory Tavern" that was to become a major industrial hub of the foothills of North Carolina. Henry W. Link died June 28, 1884 and was buried in the Link cemetery with his other family members.

Sources: Hickory Daily Record articles dated April 29. 1919, November 26, 1948, 100th Anniversary Booklet o Corinth Church 1969, Manuscript -prepared by Mrs Sophia McLaes Link on file in the Library of the 'Institute o American Genealogy in Chicago, Illinois: 'Link family cemetery tombstone inscriptions; family knowledge. - Mr. & Mrs. James W (Janell Marlowe) Miller, Jr

Henry married Catherine Rowe 3 Dec 1828, Lincoln County, North Carolina. Catherine (daughter of Peter Rowe and Sabina Bost, daughter of Sarah Link and John Cline) was born 10 Jul 1808, Catawba County, North Carolina; died 13 Sep 1877. [Group Sheet]

Notes:

 

She was born in her father's plantation house which still stands today on the Herman Sipe Road near Conover, Catawba County.

Notes:

 

The bondsman for the marriage was Henry R. Darr.

According to records they had fifteen children total, of which five died during infancy. They raised their family on their large farm in the Henry River section of the county and south of what is now the town of Longview.