My grandfather was also a blacksmith by trade, until the onset of the automobile....A renowned French chef took him under his wing and trained him to be a chef. He went on to open several restaurants.
Thanks for putting up with my questions. I find family history to be so amazing. If you have any daughters or grandchildren about the Gr 4-8 level, I think they might enjoy the story I am Regina. It is the true story of a girl whose father and brother were murdered by Indians, and she and her sister kidnapped by them. The mother’s search for her daughters makes for the kind of story that stays with you long after the book has been read.
I appear to have found all there is to find on him, the history such as it is, is spotty, being frontier era with minimal governance established. He even disappears for decades in adulthood, as far as records are concerned. That surname has a reputation for difficulty among genealogists, who say they pop up and disappear like mushrooms in western NC and east TN. Hicks, Hickes or Hix, spelling varied. All strongly reputed to have Cherokee ancestry.