March 24, 1871 William "Bill" Burchfield married Nancy Jane "Sissy" Jenkins. They settled in the mountain country above Jenkins Branch in Swain County.

William was the son of Ezekiel, who was born June 15, 1818 in Mitchell County. William "Bill" was 20 years old and Nancy Jane 16 when they met. After a short courtship they were married on March 24, 1871. Bill and Nancy Jane (Sissy - as she was called), had ten children who were all raised in Swain County. My grandfather, Caro Cleveland was born November 16, 1890 and passed away February 20, 1964. Grandpaw (Caro), was an avid fox hunter and loved to stay out all night and listen to the hounds as they crossed from one ridge to another.
In fact, the Burchfield Coat-of-Arms that we have adopted has what appears to be a Fox Hound poised at the top of the crest, and another hound on the center of the crest as though prancing beside it's owner. This same land that Bill and Nancy Jane settled on, about 100 hundred acreas, was formerly Jenkins' land and was given to them by *Charles "Doc" and Mary Jane (Polly) Nichols Jenkins, Nancy Jane's parents. This whole area of Swain County was sparsely settled and the Burchfields were considered early settlers to the region and made major contributions to the growth, progress and success of the area. There must have been some exciting times to. My dad used to love to tell the story of a trip that Bill once took that carried him up to Mitchell County. As the story goes, Bill had been visiting relatives for about a month when he started to make his way back to Bryson. While traveling, he becoming weary, decided to find some shettler for the night. As he traveled he came upon a cabin. The occupants of this old cabin invited Bill to spend the night and play cards with them. Reluctantly Bill agreed. While playing Bill began to notice that there was garments and clothing hung all around the cabin walls. He decided that these two men must be highwaymen (robbers),and told them that he was going to turn in. As the story goes, they advised him that he would just play cards for a while longer. Bill seeing that his chances were looking pretty slim that he would not get out of there alive decided that he would try to make a break for it. As he made his move to leave, the two men went for their long guns. As they did Bill went for his pistol, and as luck would have it, was able to get off a round at each of the scoundrels as he hit the trail. Well, he made it home safely, but it wasn't until fifty years after this incident happened that Bill finally recalled the story. He said that he didn't know if he had killed those two men or not. He figured that they lured travelers into their little hideaway where they finally robbed and killed them. He only knows that by the grace of GOD and Sam Colt that he was able to live the fifty years since. Bill and Nancy Jane lived in Swain all their lives together until Bill died on April 14, 1927. Nancy Jane lived another seven years and passed away on Oct. 17, 1934. Their legacy lives on. A new history is now being written by the descendants of those that have long since passed on.