In 1800 Andrew Tuttle, hearing
tales of the rich lands beyond the Appalachians, came to North Carolina with
Benedict Bristol, another New Englander. With a wagon filled with dry goods,
trinkets, and other peddler's commodities, they came South as traders. The two
found this so profitable that they made three more trips back to New Haven, Conn.
for goods. Trade in those days was lergely barter-in exchange for goods, the
young men received rabbit, mink, coon, muskrat, and deer skins. These were in turn
bartered at trading posts for a profit. On one such trading trip through the
valley, Tuttle stopped at a log house which stood where the present Tuttle house
now stands. There he met Elizabeth McCall, and they were married in 1809. His
partner, Benedict Bristol, married Elizabeth's sister, Jane. and they had several
children. After her death, he married another Elizabeth McCall and founded a
well-known Burke County family. Andrew Tuttle was very well educated and taught
a school in Yadkin Valley on the old Patterson estate. Soon he settled on the
same farm where he met Elizabeth, bought adjoining land until he became the
owner of a large estate. In 1822 he purchased a large tract of land including the
land from Abram Littlejohn where Littlejohn United Methodist Church now stands.
In 1814 he became a magistrate, the appointment an honr, his neighbors regarding
him highly.