FOREWORD

Stephen Franks Miller, born 22 November 1805, was reared seven miles

above Trenton in Jones County, North Carolina. In 1822, he went as a

clerk to reside in Newbern.

He removed to Georgia, November 1824. He was admitted to the Bar in
1827. From 1840 to 1847 he edited the Monitor, a Whig journal pub-
lished at Tuscaloosa, Alabama. In 1848 and 1849 he resided in New
Orleans where he was associated in the editorial management of De
Bow's Review and the Daily Commercial Times. He is the author of
the BENCH and BAR of GEORGIA, (2 vols, 8 vo., Philadelphia, 1858);
"Wilkins Wylder: or The Successful Man," (1860); and of a memoir

of the late Gen'l David Blackshear.

COVER: Sarah M. Wooten

 
RECOLLECTIONS
of
NEWBERN FIFTY YEARS AGO
with
AN APPENDIX.

Including Letters from Judges Gaston, Donnell, Manly and Governor
Swain.

By Stephen F. Miller.

AUTHOR*S DEDICATION

To Jacob Gooding, Esquires

If you shall take the trouble to peruse this little sketch,
you will find in it the names of several hundred citizens of Newbern,
most of whom were personally known to you. After the lapse of fifty
years the survivors are but few. I am gratified that you are among
the number. Knowing your personal worth, and your high character as
a merchant from my boyhood, I take great pleasure in inscribing these
"Recollections" to you, with assurances of my profound esteem.
Columbus, Ga., Sept. 1873 The Author.

 

PUBLISHER'S PREFACE.

As an effort of memory, after the lapse of more than an
ordinary lifetime, these “Recollections™ may be considered somewhat
rare in extent and variety, embracing more than fifty occupations and
topics, with about three hundred names of residents of Newbern. The
author, in his nineteenth year, removed to Georgia, November 1824.
The following brief notice is copied from Appleton's "New American
Cyclopedia:"

"Miller, Stephen Franks, an American author and lawyer, born
in North Carolina (Nov. 22, 1805). In early youth he removed to Georgia
where he was admitted to the bar in his twenty second year, soon after

which the Legislature elected him Solicitor-General of the Southern
Circuit. When his term of office expired he became a citizen of
Alabama, where he continued the practice of his profession until

a severe bronchial affection compelled him to engage in other pur-
suits; and from 1840 to 1847 he edited the Monitor, a Whig journal
published at Tuscaloosa. In 1848 and 1849 he resided in New Orleans,
where he was associated in the editorial management of DeBow's Re-
view and the Daily Commercial Times. His health failing, he re-
moved to Oglethorpe, Georgia. He is the author of the"Bench and

Bar of Georgia, (2 vols., 8 vo., Philadelphia, 1858); "Wilkins

Wylders or, The Successful Mane" (1860); and of a"Memoir of the
late General David Blackshear."

 

 

 

RECOLLECTIONS
of

NEWBERN FIFTY YEARS AGO

One of the sources of pleasure to a man whose experience runs
through a period of three score years, or more, is to revive memories
of the Past, when his youthful mind received its first impressions,
which are indeed the most permanent and influential. My career in
life, from imperfect health to some extent, but mainly perhaps from
defective judgment, has not been satisfactory to myself, nor so use-
ful to others as I desired to make it. As to what cause soever may
have existed shaken by any efforts, or by any probable turn of for-
tune now at my command.

The amount of physical strength which I at any time possessed
has nearly departed, and the shadows of another world are daily in-
creasing upon my spirit. Yet cheerful in my condition, and resigned,
I have no complaints to prefer against my fellow-men for real or im
agdinary injustice. So far from it, I desire to communicate from the
stores of memory, and from the sympathies of my heart, whatever I
can to please or entertain others, by a narrative of scenes hallowed
in the freshness of youth, after the lapse of half a century, or more.

I was born and reared seven miles above Trenton, in Jones County,

 

 

 
North Carolina, and was occupied on a farm until my seventeenth
year, when, in 1822, I went as a clerk to reside in Newbern. My
"Recollections" then commenced (not on paper) and they will now he
arranged, for the most part, under separate heads, for more con-
venient reference to trades and professions.

MERCHANTS

1. Samuel Simpson was from the country, a portionless youth,
whose good qualities attracted the friendly notice of Toggart & Torrans,
leading merchants in the city. After serving faithfully as clerk for
a number of years, Mr. Simpson succeeded these men in business, and be-
came in his turn one of the most prominent and successful merchants. I
was Clerk for Mr. Simpson in 1823-24, and had charge principally of his
warehouses and the wharf attached to his shipping interests. His nephew,
Henry W. Jones, was chief clerk in the store. My employer was upright
in all his transactions, and very systematic and rigid as a business
mane His grandson, Captain John Kirkland, of Hillsboro, was Assistant
Quarter Master at Milledgeville, Georgia, when I saw him in 1864, en-
gaged in collecting and forwarding supplies to Virginia. He stated
that it required six thousand bushels of corn per day to sustain Gen'l
Lee's army. Henry W. Jones, he said, then resided at Petersburg. I
well remember when Mr. Jones was paying attentions to Miss Sophia
Bryan, whom he afterwards married. She was a sister of William Green
Bryan. Mr. Simpson had a clerk from Wilmington, named Lawrence D.
Dorsey, who quitted the store a short time before I went into it.

Gen'l Kirkland, who, in January 1865, acted a distinguished part in
the defence of Fort Fisher, was also a grandson and the second wife
of the Hon. M. E. Manly was a daughter of Mr. Simpson.

2.e John Justice occupied the corner opposite to Mr. Simpson,
and had a large country trade. He had two clerks, Benjamin and
William Cheney, who, in 1835, were wealthy citizens of Greene County,
Alabama. Mr. Justice married a daughter of the late Council Bryan
in the vicinity of Newbern. Mr. Bryan had a number of interesting

daughters, several of whom I shall have occasion to notice in the

course of my narrative.

3. Stephen B. Forbes was a short man, but had a long head, if
we may judge by the prudence with which he managed his affairs.

James E. Bettner was his clerk and afterwards became his partner.

Mr. Forbes, to the best of my recollection, also married a Miss Bryan,
and subsequently a Miss Tisdale (?). His son, Edward M. Forbes, be-

came an Episcopal clergyman, and in February, 1844, delivered a sermon
in Mobile before the Hon. Henry Clay, who was in the audience. A dau-

ghter of Mr. S. B. Forhes married Major George Bush Burgwyn Clitherall,
who was Secretary of the Alabama Senate in 1845, and more recently in
the Quartermaster's department in the Confederate Army.

4. Jacob Gooding was in business on Pollock Street, and was
popular among my neighbors for the good bargains which he offered, the
sound quality of his goods, and for the perfect fairness of his dealings.
I was directed to call on him when I had little commissions to execute
for my neighborss and I think I dealt more with Mr. Gooding, under such
circumstances, than with any other house. He was then a pale, withered
little man, with a kind face and very courteous manner. His efficient
and obliging clerk, Matthew A. Outten, afterwards went into business on
his own account. The image of Mr. Gooding has an agreeable distinctness
on my memory, and I am gratified to learn that he is still living (1873)
and quite active, though probably eighty years of age. He is one of the
old landmarks of Newbern with which my boyhood is associated.

Y- James G. Cuthbert was an Irishman, and had lost an arm. He
usually kept a good assortment, and though somewhat eccentric in his
manner and inclined to rough jesting, with a rich brogue, he had large |
transactions with country people who had great confidence in his in-
tegrity. He had sons growing up, who I think assisted behind the counter.

6. William Dunn had a conspicuous store on the corner cpposite
the old Episcopal Church, and appeared to be full of business, from
the number of vehicles waiting for accomodation. He had a clerk by
the name of Frank Shine, from Duplin County. Mr. Dunn was a strictly
honest man who considered the common practice of "Jewing" as dero-
gatory to the dignity of a man of integrity. On one occassion a
customer commending the goods exhibited to him asked the price, and
then inquired, "Can't you put it lower, Mr. Dunn?" "No," replied
the honest dealer replacing the bolt on an upper shelf, "I'll put
it higher!" But this was "fifty years ago".
 

 

 

 

-~ 5 -

7. John and Thomas McLin, brothers, kept adjoining stores,
nearly opposite the new (1824) Episcopal Church. T. McLin was
particularly neat in the display of his goods, and always on the
alert to trade profitably.

8. Joseph Oliver and Samuel Oliver, brothers, had separate
stores, near each other, between Dunn's corner and Simpson's corner,
on Pollock street. Their two clerks, John and Samuel Battle, sub-

sequently removed to Mobile, Alabama, where they acquired consider-
able wealth in commercial pursuits. One of the principal hotels

in the latter city is called the "Battle House" after one of the
brothers. One of them, John, married a daughter of Mrs. Clitherall
who was a sister of Mr. John F. Burgwyn, of Newbern, and subsequently
married another daughter of Mrs. Clitherall, the widow of George
Jones, formerly of Newbern. I became acquainted with Mrs. Clitherall
at Tuscaloosa, Alabama, in 1847, and also knew her son-in-law, Junius
A. Moore, Esq., who died there. He was a graduate of Chapel Hill,

in the class of 1816, and a member of the legal profession. A dau-
ghter of Mr. Moore married Joel Riggs, an officer in the State Bank,
and afterwards Comptroller of Public Accounts. A son of Mr. Riggs

is now Assistant Librarian of the Supreme Court, at Montgomery, and
is named in honor of his virtuous grand-father, "Junius Moore"

Riggs. Mrs. Clitherall was an English lady of great cultivation,
dignity and refinement. Her son, Alexander B. Clitherall was for
many years an officer of the General Assembly of Alabama, was a

Judge of the Circuit Courts, and the first Register of the Trea-

sury under the Confederate Government.

9e John Sneed, John Coart, John C. Kincey and Mr. Pittman,
occupied store tenements in a range of brick buildings opposite the
Bank of Newbern. Mr. Kincey married Miss Bryan, a sister of Mrs.
Justice. A daughter of Mr. Sneed married Dr. Samel Chapman.

10. Michael H. Lentes was a very clever merchant. He
married a sister of Gen'l John I. Pasteur. His store was near
Mitchell's corner.

Il. William S. Webb, who kept a fine store on Pollock street,
dressed fashionably, and made a genteel appearance. He was cross-
eyed, which seemed to increase the intelligent expression of his

face. It was said that he was quite proficient in mathematics.
He married Miss Mary Hall, one of the leading beauties of Newbern.
ae

12. George Seelye & Co., held large stocks embracing a
variety of goods so that any customer might be suited. Mr. Seelye

was a handsome man, and married Miss Elizabeth Finlay, a Roman
Catholic lady.

13. Robert Primrose & Co., were leading dealers in fancy
goods, and were, of course, popular with the ladies, who in great
numbers waited at the counter daily. Mr. Robert Primrose married a
daughter of M. C. Stephens, Cashier of the Bank of Newbern. The
Messrs. Primrose (Rob't and John, who constituted the firm) were
Scotchmen, and the remark is ventured that it was not their per-
sonal beauty which attracted the ladies to the store.

14, Jarvis B. Buxton had retired from business before lI
went to reside in New Bern in 1822. He was one of the first mer-
chants I traded with in my boyhood about the year 1818. [I lost
sight of him until thirty years afterwards, when I saw a volume of
sermons written by him while Rector of the Episcopal church in Fayette-
ville. In 1865, I became acquainted with his son, Ralph P. Buxton,
Esq., who was appointed Judge of the Superior Court under the re-
construction acts of Congress. My knowledge of the father and the
son embraces a period of more than fifty years. The Rev. J. B.
Buxton was a good and useful man, and his memory is held in affect-
fonate esteem by his parishioners, and by all who knew him. In
1865 his widow still resided at Fayetteville.

15. Thomas Wadsworth sold goods near the county wharf. His
eldest son, Thomas, went to New Orleans, where he became prominent
as a lawyer and politicians; and was supported for Congress. Pending
the election he became involved in a quarrel and killed a sea-captain
at the St. Louis Hotel, in 1847, or thereabout. He was tried for the
offense, and acquitted through the exertions of the Hon. S. S. Pren-
tiss, the eminent advocate and ex-member of Congress. Mr. Wadsworth
died soon after the trial.

16. Francis Lamotte was a French gentleman, whose eldest son
was of the paternal name, and chiefly managed his business. They
were much respected in trade and in their social relations.

17. William Hollister dealt heavily in sugar, coffee, iron,
salt, liquors, etc. He had two clerks, one of whom, John Johnson

Simpson Mason Brickell, was a splendid accountant, formerly of

 

 
a ee

Snow Hill. The other clerk was William H. Morning, whose mother
lived opposite the market. Mr. Hollister married a daughter of
Isaac Taylor, a wealthy retired merchant.

18. Jarvis, West & Co., were mostly engaged in shipping, and
had extensive transactions. Mr. John Spence West died in 1822, and
the firm thereafter was Moses Jarvis & Co., or Jarvis, Brown & Coc,
also probably carried on a larger business than any house in town.
Mr. Jarvis had a son, Moses Jarvis, Jr., whose thorough mercantile
training and regular habits bid fair to make him a worthy repre-
sentative of his bold and enterprising father. Mr. Platt H. Wick,
who married a daughter of Mr. Jarvis, was a relation of Platt Bull
the fat book-keeper in the counting room, who sang bass in the choir
of the Episcopal church.

19. Devereux, Chester & Orme belonged to the shipping class
of merchants, and had heavy dealings in that line. They occupied a
large brick store near Mrs.McKinley's residence. Mr. Stephen M.
Chester removed to the city of New York, and was a member of the
firm of W. W. Chester & Co., Carpet Dealers, Broadway, 1836. Through
the influence of the Hon. Francis Xavier Martin, Chief Justice of
Louisiana, (who in his youth was a printer in Newbern) Mr. Robert
V. Orme removed to New Orleans where he was accidentally killed by
falling through a trap door. Mr. George Pollock Devereux was stately
in his department, and had nothing to do, I believe, with the labors
of the counting room. His large fortune exempted him from that
necessity.

20. James Saunders occupied the store next to that of Mr.
Justice. He was captured on board of an American privateer in the

war of 1812-'14, and confined in Dartmoor prison, England. An eye-
witness to the shooting of American prisoners by the British guard,

he related to me all the circumstances of that unprovoked massacre.
Hig health was severely impaired by his cruel imprisonment, which
caused his death from consumption in 1823. Having acted as his
clerk for several months, my next employment, after his death, was
in the store of Mr. Simpson. Mr. Saunders was a clever gentleman,
extremely neat in his dress, and upright in his dealings. His de-

voted wife, who nursed him with great tenderness, was formerly

 
“ne

Miss Avis, a grand-daughter of Nathaniel Street, senior.
21. Elijah Clark, and his son, William W. Clark, had a store

up the Neuse, above Moses Jarvis' residence. They were good merchants,
Pp 9 ¥

and had a large country trade.
The list of names I have introduced under the head of "Merchants",

does not include all who were engaged in trade, many of whom will be men-
tioned under other titles in the course of these "Recollections." But

the principal houses have been noticed, so far as I can recall them.

LAWYERS

1. John Stanly was foremost in age and natural gifts. His
voice was strong, clear and musical, and his manner peculiarly grace-
ful and dignified. In repartee and sarcasm I never saw his equal. His
efforts in that line were absolutely withering. The composure of no
suitor, witness, or rival advocate could survive his pungent criticism.
Ever bold and fearless, he at once rose to the breadth of the occasion,
always wielding a polished scimitar with the energy of a giant and the
skill of an artist. He was a representative in Congress in 1801-'03,
and also in 1809-'ll, and is said to have given John Randolph trouble
in his peculiar vein. Mr. Stanly was often in the Legislature, being
twice elected Speaker of the House of Commonss and in January, 1827,
while on the floor in debate was stricken with paralysis, and wes
caught in the arms of Robert Potter. He was taken to the Speaker's
Chair, whence he adjourned the House. From that hour, he never was
himself again. On a visit from Georgia to Newbern in 1829 I called on
Mr. Stanly, whose noble features were distorted by affliction. He
tried to converse in his former commanding way, but failed. On parting,
he gave me a very correct lithograph likeness of himself, which I re-
tained more than thirty years, until it was lost by the wanton depre-
dations on my library and papers, in Oglethorpe, committed by Federal
soldiers attached to the Freedman's Bureau, in 1865. I much regretted
the loss of this cherished momento. Mr. Stanly died August 3, 1833,
aged fifty-nine years. His only daughter married Capt. Armstead of
the United States army, in defiance of his opposition. It is said
that he never forgave her. This worthy officer was promoted to the

rank of Brigadier General, and in her old age, Mrs. Stanly found a

 

 
Bee: a

welcome retreat under his hospitable roof in Virginia, where she died
about thirty years ago. Mr. Stanly had a number of sons, John, Alfred,
Frank, Edward, Alexander, Fabius, Cicero, and James. The former was
idiotic from his birth, and was confined in the house, helpless as an
infant, until his eighteenth year, or thereabout, when he died. Alfred
first removed to Alabama, and the last I heard of him he was residing
in Fairfax county, Virginia, where he was badly treated by the Yankees

in the early part of the late war. (?)} Frank Stanly became a Methodist
preacher. Edward was elected to Congress, and served from 1837 to 1843,

and from 1849 to 1853. He was Attorney General of the State in 1847~-' 48,
and was Speaker of the House of Commons from 1844 to 1847, from the county
of Beaufort. After his removal to California he again appeared in his
native State, holding a commission from President Lincoln as Military
Governor, in the hope it was alleged, of prevailing on the people of
North Carolina in 1862 to resume their allegiance to the Union. In this
object he signally failed, and becoming disgusted by an association with
the Abolitionists, and particularly shocked by Federal outrages in New
bern, he resigned his commission in despair and returned to California
where he was subsequently defeated as the Republican candidate for Gov-
ernor.e It is said that he took orders for the Priesthood in the Episco-
pal Church. He died within the last four years. The career of Cicero
Stanly has been mixed with much that is romantic and painful, from Texas
to Europe. Of Alexander (dead) and Fabius, (now Admiral U. S.N.) I
have not heard in many years. Mrs. Stanly was a country heiress with-
out cultivation or opportunity, and inherited from Martin Frank, her
father, large estates in Jones county which laid the foundation of Mr.
Stanly's prosperity. His nature did not harmonize with the taste of

his wifes for she was a shouting Methodist, and he a staid Vestryman of
the Episcopal Church. During the tedious affliction of Mr. Stanly, his
affairs became very much embarrassed, owing in a great measure to the
improvidence of his sons. Debts were pressed to judgment, and in this
extremity his warm personal and political friend, Mr. Gaston, protected
from sale the fine mansion in which he lived and died. Few instances
have occurred of reverses so unexpected to the public. The fate of
Mr. Stanly was perhaps not exceeded in bitterness of spirit by that of
Napoleon while lingering six years at St. Helena. Both were men of
boundless pride and ambition, and of extraordinary gifts. Mr. Gaston
on,

wrote a beautiful eulogy on the character of Mr. Stanly, which was pub-
lished. The last time Mr. Stanly addressed a Newbern audience was in
July, 1826, when he pronounced an eloquent discourse on the public life
of John Adams, which was published in pamphlet form, in connection with
that of the Hon. John H. Bryan on Mr. Jefferson.

| 2e William Gaston was an ornament of the Bar, of Congress, of
the State Legislature, and of the Bench of the Supreme Court, in all of
which positions the ascendency of his virtues, intellect and learning
was acknowledged. He was speaker of the House of Commons in 1803. In
his admired description of great men whom he met in Congress in 1816,
Mr. Re H. Wilder, of Georgia, referred to Mr. Gaston in company with
Randolph, Lowndes, Clay, Calhoun, Webster, Forsyth, and Pickney of
Maryland. It was my privilege to hear Mr. Gaston frequently in court,
wrestling with his great professional rival, Mr. Stanly, in all that
constitutes and tries the strength of character. I have heard no efforts
since equal in ability, logic and eloquence. My youthful imagination was
completely dazzleds and now, in my sixty-eighth year, I recall those
scenes as the greatest forensic triumphs I ever witnessed. In some
respects Mr. Gaston and Mr. Stanly were unlike. The former was diffident
and when he first rose to address the court or jury, he trembled percept-
ibly, but in a few moments he was self-possessed, and commanded profound
attention. In criminal cases he was often very pathetic, and I have seen
the tears roll down his face, while the jury and audience gave like’
tokens of sympathy. He increased the moral grandeur of his sentiments,
and in the brilliance of his reasoning faculties as his argument progressed.
He was uniformly respectful to suitors and witnesses, to the Court and to
his brethren of the bar. When he closed a speech, the whole subject
matter, both evidence and law had been exhausted by analysis and the mind
rested with perfect confidence in the conclusions uttered. There was no
touch of sophistry to mislead, and no mysterious phrase or look to be-
wilder the jury. All was luminous as a sunbeam. His face expressed the
benignity of soul which animated his whole life. Of his domestic re-
lations my knowledge is limited. The first Mrs. Gaston was Miss Hay of
Fayetteville. She lived but a short time. His second wife was Miss
Hannah McClure, who died suddenly in 1814, (leaving a son and two dau-
ghters - Elizabeth and Kate. From that time Judge Gaston remained a

widower. I do not remember to have seen any of Judge Gaston's daughters.

They were probably at school in the Catholic Seminary at Georgetown while

 

 

 
Se

I resided in Newbern. One of them married Judge Manly, and another
married Robert Donaldson, formerly of Fayetteville, and since a re-
sident of New York, to which city he removed many years before the late
ware Alexander F. Gaston, the only son, will be noticed more particu-
larly under the head of “Law Students." The third daughter, Elizabeth,
became Mrs. Graham of the District of Columbia, and Kate, the fourth
daughter, and only surviving child of William Gaston, the noble dau-
ghter of a noble sire - is still unmarried, of course, voluntarily so,
as she has always been greatly admired, and never more so than on a very
recent visit to her old home of Newbern. Owing to a seeming disability
imposed by the old constitution on Roman Catholics, Mr. Gaston never
held any judicial office in the State earlier than 1833, when, after
mature investigation, he accepted the office of Judge of the Supreme
Court. For eleven years he graced that dignified tribunal, until his
sudden death at Raleigh, in February 1844. A letter from Judge Gaston
to myself, written in 1834, was published in the first volume of "The
Bench and Bar of Georgia." The original is preserved in my collection
of autographs of distinguished men.

3. Edward Graham held a prominent rank at the bar, though when
I knew him he had somewhat retired, and appeared only in important cases.
I heard him but once in court, which was sufficient to convince me that
he possessed a vigorous mind and great elevation of character. He was
apparently the senior of both Mr. Stanly and Mr. Gaston, and earlier in
life was often employed. I loved to hear these renowned jurists on
intricate legal questions. Mr. Graham maintained a very fashionable
style of living. One of his daughters married the Hon. William H.
Haywood,spf Raleigh, and another married John P. Daves, Esq., of Newbern.
His son, Hamilton, will be noticed elsewhere. I do not remember the
year in which Mr. Graham died, as I thén resided in Georgia. He was the
second of Mr. Stanly in his duel with Governor Spaight.

4. Francis L. Hawks graduated at Chapel Hill, in the class of
1815, with John H. Bryan, Isaac Croom, Lemuel Hatch, Willis P. Mangum
and Richard D. Spaight. In due time, after a course of legal studies,
he was admitted to the bar, and at once stood among the leaders of his
profession. His voice was the richest imaginable, his language copious
and beautiful, and his manner very impressive. I was fond of hearing
him in argument opposed to the veterans Stanly and Gaston, and my feelings
were always on the side of the young prodigy, as I considered Mr. Hawks.

 
he

In 1821 he was elected to the Legislature as the Representative of
Newbern, and won laurels in debate. In 1823 he married a lady in Conn-
ecticutt, and in a few years settled in Hillsboro where he became Re-
porter of the Supreme Court. From thence he removed to the North to
New Haven, and thence to St. Stephen's Church, New York, and then to
St. Thomas', and had charge of St. John's Episcopal Church, Broadway,
New York. By his exertions to build up a large Female Seminary at
Flushing, under the patronage of his church, he became involved in
heavy personal liabilities, so that in 1844 when he was before the
Episcopal Convention at Philadelphia for consecration as Bishop of the
Diocese of Mississippi, some of the unpaid contractors of the Seminary
filed a complaint, which was triumphantly replied to by the Hon. John
M. Berrie, a lay delegate from Georgia. The Convention, however, de-
clined final action, and referred the matter back to the Diocese of Miss-
issippi. He afterwards was called to Calvary church 4th Avenue, which
was greatly in debts and by his unbounded popularity soon relieved it.

I wrote and published in a newspaper at the time a vindication of Dr.
Hawks, which is incorporated in the memoir of Judge Berrie, in "The
Bench and Bar of Georgia". The next I heard of Dr. Hawks he had been
called to New Orleans on a salary of seven thousand dollars as Rector
of the Church on Canal Street. For several years he was also President
of the University of Louisiana, with an additional income. From thence
he returned to New York and occupied a pulpit in a church in 8th street,
where he continued to discharge his functions as a clergyman until the
war of 1861, when he changed his residence, temporarily, to Baltimore,
from sympathy with his native South. After the war, he resumed his
charge in New York, where he died September 27, 1866, aged about sev-
enty years. One of his sons, Major Hawks, was in the Confederate Army.
Not only was Dr. Hawks one of the most eloquent speakers in America, but
he was also a chaste and voluminous author. Some thirty years ago, with
an introduction to the Archbishop of Canterbury, he visited England to
collect materials for a History of the Episcopal church in the United
States, a fragment of which may be seen in his biography of Bishop
White. Dr. Hawks has edited some very large works, among them, I be-
lieve, the Expedition of Commodore Perry to Japan, and others whose
titles I do not at present remember. The first volume of his History

of North Carolina appeared many years ago, and a second has since been

 

 
= os

published; but the war prevented the completion of the work. The degree
of LL.D was conferred upon him in the prime of life, and most worthily,
for he was eminent in letters as well as in oratory. He was the best
reader I ever heard. Even a dry statute was interesting under the music
af his voice. The church service no man could read better. In the ab-
sence of the Rector, Mr. Hawks, as early as 1822, used to read sermons
from the pulpit, which, to me possessed an interest outside of theology.
Subsequently I heard him deliver sermons of his own composition, first in
New York, 1836, and again in New Orleans, 1848. A great change had taken
place in his physical proportions. When I first saw him, attending court
at Trenton, in 1821, and during the time I resided in Newbern afterwards,
his frame was quite slender. When I saw him at New Orleans thirty years
thereafter, he was quite corpulent, with an increase of fifty percent
over his former weight. His gifts and labors considered together, the

ancient town of Newbern has never produced another son of such literary
accomplishments to adorn the age of her Gaston and Stanlys. When once
remonstrated with by a parishioner, how, (unwilling to resign his rector
to a more lucrative field to which he had just been invited) reminded
him that the "young ravens would be fed." "Ah, Yes!" replied the Rev-
erend gentleman, “but unfortunately there is no such promise for the

young Hawks!"

Se John Heritage Bryan probably came to the bar about the same
time that Francis L. Hawks was admitted to the practice by the Supreme
Court. I was not advised under whose direction, whether of Mr. Stanly
or Mr. Gaston, they prosecuted their legal studies. Certainly no two
young aspirants ever advanced more rapidly to professional distinction.

Mr. Bryan was very logical and earnest as a speaker. His popularity may
be inferred from his early service in the Legislature, and from the re-
markable fact that almost as soon as he was eligible he was elected to
Congress without his knowledge (he then being on a visit to Baltimore)
and to the State Senate at the same time. Serving from 1825 to 1829
with credit. He declined re-election to Congress. Mr. Bryan married

a daughter of William Shepard, a wealthy citizen of Newbern. After I
left in 1824 for Georgia, I lost sight of Mr. Bryan until I saw that

he had removed to Raleigh and that the Legislature had voted a sword to
his son, Lieut. Francis T. Bryan, for his gallantry in the Mexican war.

I have not seen Mr. J. H. Bryan within the last forty-nine yearss but
I have a distinct recollection of his ample forehead, his intelligent
eee ae

face and courteous manner. At a somewhat advanced age he died in Raleigh
a few years ago, leaving a character and example of great moral influence.

6. Wright Stanly was an old bachelor, and as it often happens
with that class of gentlemen, there was nothing particularly interesting
in his history. He was the only member of the bar in Newbern who wore
glasses all the time. I have heard him make speeches in courts, but I
retain no impression of them half so clear as of the flashes of his
spectacles whenever he turned his face in a new direction. His hair was
red - his deportment refined and agreeable. He was a member of the
State Senate in 1814. Perfectly honorable in his character, he had no
enemies, so far as I know. For the last thirty years, or more, he has
resided in Mobile as a practicing lawyer. His relations to the Hon.
John Stanly was not nearer than that of cousin. Probably Mr. W. Stanly
had experienced unkindness from the world, as I was informed by a gentle-
man who heard from his lips (while the topic of conversation was the
habit of fishes, the large devouring the small) the remark, that "fishes
were not the only specimens of animated nature that preyed on each
other; for man acted thus toward his fellow man." His widowed sister,
Mrs. Ward, and her children, lived with him, for whom he provided with
paternal liberality. His hospitalities were unlimited, and the color-
ed race never knew a better or more considerate master than was “Uncle
Rectus,” as the “boys” irreverently called him.

7. George S. Attmore, had been recently admitted to practice,
and gave promise, by his resource, will and active industry, to over-
come disadvantages which were manifest in competition with such astute
brethren as he had to encounter in the forum. By his marriage with a
daughter of Mr. Isaac Taylor, Mr. Attmore acquired an influence which
he turned to good account in his professional career. After Mr. Stanly
was disabled by paralysis in 1827, and some years later when Mr. Gaston
was elected Judge of the Supreme Court, when Mr. Hawks had gone into the
ministry, and Mr. Bryan had removed to Raleigh, the field was clear to
Mr. Attmore, and it was then that a high degree of success rewarded his
labors. By this time a new race of lawyers had grown up in Newbern,

of whom I cannot speak for the want of opportunity to witness their exer-
tions. Mr. Attmore has been dead several years. He had a son to repre-

sent his professional character and good name.
8. Hon. John Re Donnell was in good practice when he was made

 

 

 

 

 
ae ee

Judge of the Superior Court in 1819, which office he held until 1836
when he resigned. He was the first judge I ever saw preside, which was
at Trenton about the year 1820. On one occasion I had seen him before
he came to the bench, and that was when I sold him a load of corn in
market. After I had delivered it, he gave me a check for the amount;
and such was my extreme youth, that he asked me if I could read writing.
On my replying in the affirmative, he said, "You know then where to get
the money." It was the first bank check that ever greeted my vision.
Judge Dionnell was always in the habit of attending market to purchase
what articles of produce he needed, and was a man of strict integrity,
as well as a kind, considerate, generous neighbor. He was a rigid eco-
nomist, and by the skillful management of the large property which he
obtained by inheritance from an uncle, and by his marriage with a dau-
ghter of Gov. Spaight, he increased it probably to half a million of
dollars. His wife died more than thirty years ago. His son, Richard
Spaight Donnell, was a Representative in Congress in 1847-'49, and in
1864 was Speaker of the House of Commons. Judge Donnell never married
a second time. He was a quiet, unobtrusive, upright gentleman, and
used to bear with great equanimity the biting sarcasm which Mr. Stanly
was in the habit of thrusting at the court whenever it suited his policy.
At the time of his death at Raleigh, October 15, 1864, while a refugee
from his princely house and estates, after Federal occupancy in Newbern,
Judge Donnell was perhaps not less than eighty years of age. His life
was exemplary, and his abilities and integrity as a Judge secured him
a spotless reputation. 7

9. Richard D. Spaight held a commission to practice law, and I
have seen him attending the Superior Court in Jones county as well as in
Craven, but I never heard of his appearing in a case. He was very rich
and very diffident, and was not destitute of fair abilities as a grad-
uate of the University. His object in associating with the lawyers from
county to county, was no doubt to enjoy their society, and to improve
his mind by legal discussions which constantly took place in his presence.
I always suspected that Mr. Stanly was an obstacle to the professional
success of Mr. Spaight, as the former was a man of imperious temper, and,
as if not satisfied with having killed the father of Mr. Spaight in a
duel twenty years before, he seemed to delight in torturing the son by

look and gesture and intonations of his voice, when other methods were
ee

not devised. Mr. Spaight, however, avoided an issue, and once had the
pleasure of beating him for the Senate. By the death of his brother
Charles G. (who graduated in 1820) Mr. R. D. Spaight had a large access-
ion of property by inheritance. He first represented Craven County in
the Legislature in 1819, and from 1820 to 1834 - with the exception of
1823 and 1824 when in Congress he served continuously in the Senate, and
in 1835 he was elected Governor of the State, which was the last bestowal
of the office by the Legislature, as elections subsequently have been by
the people. Gov. Spaight the second died in 1850, aged fifty-four years,
and his property came to Judge Donnell's children. I never heard of any
imputation against his honor. He had filled some of the highest offices
in the Masonic Fraternity.

10. Vine Allen often attended the courts; but his modesty, or
the boldness of Mr. Stanly, kept him in the background. I will here take
occasion to remark that Mr. Stanly, with all his admitted greatness was
dictatorial and exacting toward young men, and even to those of riper age
who did not pay willing homage to his judgment. It was a fearful thing
to incur his displeasure - it was next to annihilation. Much as I ad-
mired his splendid gifts, I am not blind to this infirmity of his charac-
ter. Whatever might have been the influence, Mr. Allen was protected by
his wealth from the alternative of courting the favor of Mr. Stanly or
of retiring from the profession. I think Mr. Allen was President of the
Newbern Branch of the State Bank; at least I have seen his name on the
bills to authorize this opinion. He was in the Senate from Craven as
far back as 1813. When I changed my residence from Newbern in 1824, I
lost sight of Mr. Allen, who has no doubt been dead many years. He was
very neat and dignified in his appearance, and of tall, athletic frame.

I have said nothing of the political opinions of any member of
the bar, for the reason that I did not think it necessary, even had I
been of an age sufficient to mark this phase of character. Messrs.
Stanly and Gaston were both avowed Federalists. As to the other gentle-
men I venture no speculation, whether they were Federalists or Repub-

licans, the only parties in that day. My aim has been altogether diff-
erent, and entirely free from political bias, in sketching a group of
men who made the most vivid impressions on my youthful mind.

 

 

 

 
ae ae

PHYSICIANS .

1. Dr. John Boyd was prominent, if not the very leading
member of the healing art in Newbern. He was a fine looking gentle-
man, his hair a little more than half grey, and his complexion
fresh and pure. Apparently he was about forty years of age, and in
1864 when I again heard of him, he was still living, in good pre-
servation among the Yankees who held Newbern since 14th March 1862
to the close of the war. Dr. Boyd made his daily visits on horse-
back, usually in a gentle lope. His fine bay horse, well groomed,
and with elegant saddle and hangings, seemed to be conscious of the
dignity of his rider; for every movement was graceful, even to the
curve of the neck, and the manner of standing at the post. As a
bachelor Dr. Boyd was extremely careful of his dress, which was of
costly material and made up by skillful tailors. Nothing could ex-
ceed the whiteness cf his bosom. He shaved and changed his linen
daily, and call on him at any hour, he looked as if just from his
dressing room. A lady who happened to see his laundress at the iron-
ing table, counted thirty-six fine linen shirts, elegantly frilled
and crimped, belonging to Dr. Boyd. Yet there was no seeming dis-
play in his apparel. Every thing was in good taste, as became his
grave and polished address. His practice was very extensive. Dr.
Edward Boyd his brother died in 1823, leaving a family in Newbern.

2 Dr. Peter Custis was highly popular, somewhat blunt
and caustic in his manner, and the life of all social companies in
which he appeared. I think he married a daughter of Dr. Daniel
Carthy, whose death is said to have been occasioned by lock-jaw
produced by the trimming of a corn. I have no recollection of the
children of Dr. Custis. Dr. Thomas Carthy had just graduated in
Medicine when I first saw him in 1822. He was a fine looking gentle-
man, high spirited, and inclined to the code of honor. An affair of
the kind with Mr. R. D. Spaight, after I left Newbern, is said to
have progressed to a journey by the principals and seconds, but
was arrested by the civil process before the parties had reached
the scene of action in another State.

3. Dr. Edward Pasteur had, in a measure, retired from the

practice in 1822, after a long and successful professional career.

 
ee

He had wealth and great social influence.

4. Dr. Randolph Dick claimed to be a Virginian, and a lin-
eal descendand of the Indian princess, celebrated in history as
shielding Captain Smith from the uplifted tomahawk of her savage
father. The complexion of Dr. Dick warranted the inference that
his title of nobility was well supported. He was quite fashionable
in dress, and fastidious in exhibiting his person to the best advan-
tage. He had the tact, in his movements, of seeming to be always
in full practice, and may have impressed the idea on others to his
profit. His career soon interminated. Under the pretence of con-
summating a matrimonial engagement with a rich widow in one of the
upper counties, he left Newbern in the Fall of 1822, never to return.
He was apparently about thirty years of age. The deportment of Dr.
Dick, with his grave, thoughtful visage, would attract favorable
opinions anywhere on first sight.

5. Dr. (Frederick) Blount, somewhat peculiar in his habits
and disposition, had apparently given up the active labors of his
profession. He kept himself much at home, and was rarely seen in
the streets, except on an occasional drive or ride for exercise.

He married the mother of the Hon. John H. Bryan.

SCHOOLS AND TEACHERS

The Town Academy was large enough to accomodate several
distinct schools. Among the teachers and classes in the Academy,
and those who had rooms elsewhere for pupils, I remember the follow
ing gentlemens 7

le John Alonzo Attmore, whose acquaintance I formed in my
seventh year, when he taught school at the end of Parson's Lane in
1812 and '13, nine miles above Trenton in Jones county. I was one of
his tender pupils. The next time I saw my honored preceptor was in
Newbern. He always had a large school. Among the pupils of the Aca-
demy, I remember Charles B. Shepard, who was called "Coney" by his
schoolmates. Afterwards Mr. Shepard married a daughter of Frederick
Jones, and his second wife was a daughter of Judge Donnell. He re-
presented the town of Newbern in the Legislature in 1832 and *%33,

and in 1839 and '41 he was a Representative in Congress. In 1843

Mr. Shepard died at the early age of thirty-six years. Another pupil

 

 
2 16s

of the Academy was Frederick B. Blount, who removed to Mobile.
He married Miss James of a South Carolina family. In 1858 their
daughter Emily became the subject of newspaper notoriety, from the
attentions of Count Reviere who fought a duel (in armor) with
Captain Maury. Mr. Blount opposed the matrimonial intent of the
lovers; but his wife countenanced it from motives of family ambition,
to give her daughter the eclat of a supposed noble alliance. The
scheme involved many curious transactions in New York, Philadelphia,
Savannah, and Mobile, of which the newspapers furnished many romantic
details. Miss Blount was finally relieved from the persecutions of
the Count, who has since disappeared from public view. Mr. Blount
was a half brother of the Hon. John H. Bryan, and was long a pro-
minent politician and lawyer in Alabama, where he was much respect-
ed for his talents and social worth. He has been dead several years,
and his memory is revered by hundreds of grateful pupils.

2. Mr. John McMaster was a Scotchman, and a complaining,
harmless and learned sort of oddity. Even with the aid of glasses
he seemed to be very limited in the scope of his vision. In the
moral aspects of character I was not appraised of any defects in
this gentleman. His voice was shrill and piercing like that of
John Randolph and Vice-President Stephens. He had a number of
pupils in the class preparing for college.

3. Robert G. Moore was an Irishman who came to Newbern in
1818, and at once established a prosperous school. He was very urbane
in manner, yet decided and persevering in the enforcement of his rules.
I am informed that he had a long and useful career, as a teacher of
youth and editor of a Whig journal, the “Newbern Spectator", and that
he raised quite an interesting family. His son, Purser Robert S.
Moore, U. S. Ne, found an ocean grave, dying at sea, of yellow fever,
in 1843. He was the worthy representative of an honorable father.

4. Rev. Frederick Freeman was engaged in preparing young
men for college, which, I believe, was the distinct character of
his school. Possibly he had pupils of another description, and at
one time may have been principal of the female seminary, with assist-
ants. 1 am not very positive as to the class of his scholars. He

was regarded as an excellent teacher. His healthy complexion, serene

face and gentlemanly appearance I can never forget.
a se

S- Joseph Hutton appeared in Newbern in 1823 as a
tragedian in the theatrical corps of John Herbert & Son. He re-
tired from the stage and opened a private school. In 1824 I
pursued a course of mathematical studies under his direction, to
qualify myself as a landsurveyor. Mr. Hutton was a good writer
and speaker, and of a very commanding presence. On the 4th of
July, 1824, he delivered an oration in the Presbyterian Church,
which was much admired by the large audience. He is favorably
noticed in a volume giving biographical sketches of American Poets.
He died about the year 1827, leaving a wife and grown daughter, to
the latter of whom he had addressed, in the "Carolina Sentinel",

some beautiful stanzas, each closing, “My lovely daughter, Josephine."

This daughter, was for many subsequent years, an honored and beloved
instructress, in the town of Pensacola, inheriting her father's talent
for poetizing.

6. Daniel Drew, an Episcopalian, was a Latin, Greek and
Hebrew scholar, who opened a select school for instruction in the
classics. He had a number of pupils, but how many, or of what fam-
ilies, I do not remember. His profound learning and modest, refined
manners secured him marked civilities from Mr. Gaston and other lead-
ing citizens. Mr. Drew, although only a layman, is said to have been
quite a master in speculative theology, and was so gentle in his

address that he seemed to be unconscious of his vast acquirements. He
probably returned to England.

CHURCHES AND MINISTERS

1. The Episcopal Church was served by the Rev. Richard S.
Mason as Rector. In 1824 the large new brick edifice on Pollock
Street was dedicated by the Rt. Rev. Bishop Ravenscroft, the only
occasion on which I heard this excellent prelate. Among the clergy
present who assisted in the service was the Rev. Wm. Hooper, LL. D.,
Professor in the University at Chapel Hill from 1818 to 1838, at a
later period Professor in the South Carolina College, Columbia. The
choir of the church at the dedication was lead by Mr. James B. Ackroyd,
as organist. Most of the influential families in Newbern were repre-
sented in the membership ‘and pews of the church. Mr. Mason married

Miss Bryan, and I think removed to Albany, N. Y., for a short time,

 

 
a |

but he has long since returned to North Carolina, and the last I
heard of him, a few years ago, he was residing at Raleigh.

2. The Presbyterian Church had the Rev. Lemuel D. Match as
Pastor, though I have heard the Rev. F. Freeman, and others, é6ccasion-
ally officiate in the pulpit. Mr. Hatch married Miss Dickson, of Duplin
county, and removed to Alabama, where in 1835, he purchased, on long
time, a large plantation and negro property amounting to $80,000. The
place included Arcola, and a portion of the lands donated by Congress
to French refugees for the cultivation of the grape and olive. Several
of Napoleon's Marshals and Generals, with a few exiled noblemen, occu-
pied the lands in Marengo county3 but from some cause the experiment
failed. Mr. Hatch bought this property of Col. Ravesies, a Frenchman,
when the price of cotton seemed to warrant the trade. In a short time,
however, the price of the great Southern staple declined, and left
Mr. Hatch to struggle with embarrassments, as he had to pay the in-
terest of eight percent annually, besides providing for the principal.
He was a good man, and the only member of the Hatch family who had
assumed the labors of the pulpit. The church in Newbern had a very
efficient choir, consisting of S. M. Chester, Charles Dewey, the two
Misses Graham, Miss Mary Hall and Miss Wilkins, whose names I remember.

3. The Baptist Church was edified by the ministrations of
the Rev. Mr. Warner, who succeeded the Rev. Mr. Meredith in the past-
oral charge. Jas. Ce. Stevenson led the choir. He and Mr. Meredith
married sisters ~ Misses Sears. The last I heard of Mr. M. was many

years ago, when he was pastor of a Baptist Church in Savannah, Georgia.

His fine abilities and christian character made him quite a favorite
wherever he was known.

4. In 1822 and 1823 the Methodist pulpit was supplied by
the Rev. Ethelbert Drake, who was a stirring and effective preacher,
with a slight impediment in his speech. While master of a good style,
he cared very little for ornament. His predecessor in 1821, Rev.

Amos C. Treadway, was on a different scale, being quite fastidious
in his diction and delivery, in one of his sermons he declared, "I
had rather be a poor methodist preacher, travelling over the barren
hills of Carolina, receiving my one hundred dollars a year, than to
be a Prince seated on his throne." At the next Conference Mr. Tread-

way withdrew from the denomination and soon attached himself to the
oe

Episcopal Church. I afterwards saw him in his robes, reading the
service, and heard him deliver a discourse as a clergyman of the
Church of England. In 1824 the Rev. Francis A. Ward filled the
Methodist station, and at the ensuing Conference he was expelled
for immorality. On his way to the Conference at Newbern in the
early part of 1822, the venerable Bishop McKendree, attended by
the Rev. Robert Flournoy, of Georgia, passed a night at the house

of my father, James Miller, in Jones county.
ROMAN CATHOLICS

There was no house set apart by the Catholics for public
worship in Newbern, the membership being too small to support an
establishment on their usual scale of expenses and ceremony. At~-
tracted by a natural curiosity, and yet with motives of entire
respect, I was among a number of spectators in the audience as-
sembled at the house of Mr. Gaston on a Sabbath morning in 1822,
to witness, for the first time, the form of worship peculiar to
the Catholic Church. The priest who officiated, was, I think, the
Rev. Mr. O'Donoho. Of the twenty persons, or thereabout, who took
the consecrated wafer, kneeling, were a number of French, Spanish
and Portuguese residents. There was a moral sublimity in the
scene when Mr. Gaston partook of the sacrament in the midst of his
Catholic brethren of foreign birth and humble pursuits. Among the
communicants were Capt. Brugman and family, and Miss Elizabeth
Finlay. Subsequently I heard the Rt. Rev. Bishop England preach
in the Court House, and also in the Presbyterian Church, in the
gorgeous c&nonicals of his office. He was very logical and elo-
quent. A large golden cross was suspended from his neck. In the
Spring of 1866 I reverentially stood by the tomb of this eminent

prelate in the church-yard of St. Finebar, Charleston.

JEWS

There was no Synagogue in the town. The first Jew I remem-
ber to have seen was an old German trader named Davis, who in 1822
visited Newbern with jewelry, watches and articles of similar kind,
to sell. He had a very elegant dressing case which he said was
manufactured for the Emperor Napoleon, for which he asked $300, and

 

 

 

 
ae eee

he warranted it to contain forty ounces of silver in the finishing.
I do not know that he found a purchaser. At his request I wrote
several letters for him, addressed to merchants in New York, as

he said he was ‘unable to express himself in English, a fact to
which I could testify from the specimen he gave me in dictation.
Probably a number of Israelites resided in Newbern, engaged in
traffic of some description, but whose names and localities have

escaped my memory.
QUAKERS

The only number of the Society of Friends in Newbern,
were the wife and daughter of my uncle Martin Miller, who Lived
up Pollock street in the house formerly occupied by Capt. Dempsey
Wade. I have seen a number of Friends from Wayne, Randolph and
other counties enjoying their hospitality. They called names
without any prefix. For instance my uncle, who was a stately,
gray~headed man (said hy Allen Backhouse to be the exact resem
blance of Gen. Washington when he visited Newbern in 1791) was
Styled Martins my old aunt was called Cecilia, and my grown cousin
answered to Maria, not only when addressed by the seniors, but
when spoken to by the Quaker youths of fifteen and twenty. This
seeming abruptness was no departure from courtesy or good breeding,
in the estimation and practice of the Friends. Had they been in-
troduced to President Manroe when he was in Newbern, in 1819, they
would have called him Friend James. Thee, and thou, and thine,
was the language of conversation whenever their gravity would
permit them to open their lips. At table they invoked a blessing
in reverent silence. Their long faces and rigid solemnity of
deportment seemed to evince physical suffering. Joseph Everett
of Wayne county, was a rich Quaker who nominally emancipated his
slaves, but contrived to obtain their labor by a system of com
pensation which is said to have been more profitable to him than
Slavery itself. Friend Joseph was in the habit of driving to
Newbern every winter from 200 to 300 fat hogs, which he usually
sold from 3 to 5 cents net per pound. He was so skilled in esti-
mating the weight of hogs on their feet, that he frequently sold

without trying the scales, as all persons had confidence in his

 
i

judgment and integrity. He had a son, John Everett, who was
amiable and pramising. My cousin Maria Miller married Samuel Hill
of Randolph County, who gave freedom to her Slaves, twenty or thirty
in number, and sent them to Ohio. After his death she intermarried
with John Martin Franks of Onslow county. By her first marriage
my aunt Cecilia was the mother of James and Abner Harrison of

Jones county, the latter whom died in 1820, and the former in

1844. The widow of James Harrison, (Cassandra, my mother's sister)
died in the John Stanly house in 1861, and her youngest son, John
Martin Franks Harrison, late a merchant in Newbern, died at High

_ Point in Ootober, 1864, a refugee from his cherished home. He
married a daughter of the Hon. William S. Blackledge. While on

the subject of Quakers, I may notice that in 1822 a visiting lady
of that sect preached in the Methodist Church in Newbern, to a
large audience, the Hon. John Stanly being present. A few years
previously the Rev. Lorenzo Dow occupied the same pulpit. Since

my youth, in Newbern, I have become better acquainted with the
Friends elsewhere, especially in Philadelphia, and this additional
knowledge has caused me to entertain the highest respect for their
opinions and character.

TOWN OFFICERS

The intendant was David Shackelford, who, with a half
dozen commissioners, formed the police government. I do not re-
collect the names of the commissioners. Stephen B. Forbes was

city clerk, to the best of my remembrance, and James McMain, city
constable. ,

REPRESENTATIVES IN THE LEGISLATURE

In 1822 there was a very animated canvass, F. L. Hawks
being defeated by Edward E. Graham, his competitor for town re-
presentative, and R. D. Spaight succeeded over John Stanly for the
Senate, owing mainly, it was believed, to a hand-bill issued by
the latter, declaring that though five hundred gallons of liquor
was started against him he would not treat, as was then customary
in elections. At night there was a procession with music and

illuminated banners. On one of the latter Mr. Stanly was repre-

 

 

 

 
- %-

sented as stricken down by the Goddess of Liberty, who held a drawn
sword over him. After the street parade there was a great abundance
of punch given to the public at the residence of Mr. Spaight. John
M. Bryan and James C. Cole were elected Representatives for the
county. In 1823 Mr. Stanley, and 1824, Mr. Gaston was elected

borough representatives.

COUNTY OFFICERS

I was present in the court-house when James C. Cole
was elected Sheriff by the Justices of the Peace, the Hon. John
Stanly among the number, who voted for Mr. Cole. The latter gentle-
_man married Miss Kittie Snee , a half-sister of Dr. James G. Rowe.
James G. Stanly was Clerk of the County Court, and Claiborne Ivey
chairman of the Court of Pleas and Quarter Sessions, which tri-
bunal consisted of Justices of the Peace, and who were addressed
by the lawyers as "Your Worships". The names of the Clerk of the

Superior Court, Tax Collector and Coroner have slipped my memory.‘
BANKS

At the time of his sudden death on the fourth of February,
1819, Jas. McKinley was President of the Bank of Newbern. John
Stanly was elected his successor. Marcus Cicero Stephens was the
cashier, and Jno. W. Guion was the teller. Among the officers of
the Bank was Alexander Henderson, whom I saw in 1840 on a visit to
his son-in-law, Dr. Robert H. Dalton, of Livingstone, Alabama.
Lieut. Henderson, who perished in the massacre of Dade's command
by the Indians in Florida, in 1835, was a son of Wm. Henderson.
Samuel Gerock, senior, a gentleman of the olden school, who wore
breeches and cocked hat, was a book-keeper in the Bank.

Of the branch of the State Bank, John M. Roberts was
cashier and James Carney teller; Charles Dewey and Frederick J.
Jones.» Mr. Dewey married Miss Webber, and Mr. F. J. Jones married
Hannah, only daughter of Col. James Shine, of Jones County. Mr.

Dewey's beautiful penmanship was first known to me by his entries
in the band-books furnished depositors, stating their account in

the Bank.
HOTELS

1. The Washington Hotel, near the market, was owned and
~ 26 =~

kept by Mr. Joseph Bell. He had a number of regular boarders, be-
sides a large transient custom. The family name of his wife was

Slade, which accounts for the name of their oldest son, Samuel Slade
Bell, who graduated at the State University in the class of 1823. He
had another grown son, Washington Lovett Bell, and two grown daughters,
Nancy and Drusilla. The last time I saw Mr. Bell and his family was
about the year 1841, in Mobile, where they then resided.

2. Mitchell's Hotel, on the corner opposite the old Epis-
copal church, was a good deal patronized. Three of the sons of the
proprietor, Jacob, Charles and Harry Mitchell, removed to Alabama,
where they acquired wealth. One of Mr. Wm. Mitchell's daughters
married Dr. Loomis, and another married Basil Orme, of Trenton, who
drowned himself in Hatch's mill-pond. Robert V. Orme, of the house
of Devereaux, Chester & Orme, and William Orme, merchant at Trent
bridge, were brothers of Basil Orme.

3. Moore's Hotel, kept by Wallace Moore, at the head of
Broad Street, was a popular resort for farmers, and other members of
the community who preferred quiet accomodations, with a slight re-
duction of the usual charges. After the death of Mr. Moore, the
house was continued by his son, Lovick Green Moore, who married
Miss Nancy Hazzard, of Trenton. His oldest sister, Miss Sarah, re-
moved with him to Alabama. The other sister, Eliza, married Joshua
B. Oliver, son of James Oliver, sr., who lived across the bay opp-
osite Newbern. Samuel Moore was the youngest brother.

The rates of the hotels in Newbern fifty years ago, and
within a somewhat later period, weres $12.50 per month for board
and lodging, and $10 for board alone. To transient persons the
charges were $1.50 for man and horse-feeding; $1 for man alone s 30
cents a single meal, and 10 cents for lodging. Horse fed, 75 cents

per day, or 30 cents for a single feed.
MARKET

There was a large quantity of produce from the country
offered each morning (except on Sundays) at the Market House. Corn
and meal varied from 40 to 50 cents per bushels; flour, $5 to $6 per
barrels pork 4 to 6 cents per pound; beef from 5 to 7 cents3 bacon

8 to 103 chickens, 20 cents each; turkeys, from 50 to 75 cents and

 

 
= OF.

for extra large, 10 cents per pound; butter, 15 to 20 cents; eggs,

10 cents per dozen, and other articles in like proportion. The stalls
were kept regularly supplied with butchers’ meat of different kinds by
Wallace Moore and others who had slaughter-pens in the vicinity. Fish
were also in abundance; large white shad often at 10 cents a pair, and
fresh oysters at 50 cents per gallon. At the wharf oysters in the shell
usually sold at 20 to 30 cents per bushel, at which rates almost every
country cart and wagon carried home a quantity. No market in the
State was better furnished, generally, and in no town was living so
cheap to those who practiced a judicious economy. The house keepers
-of Newbern were noted for comfort and plenty at all times, and for a

liberal hospitality.
CUSTOM HOUSE

The entry and clearances of shipping formed an important
item. Francis Hawks was the Collector, and kept his office on Pollock
Street. He was the father of the distinguished Dr. F. L. Hawks, and also
of the Rt. Rev. Wm. N. Hawks, Rector of the Episcopal church in Columbus,
Ga. In 1822 one of the daughters of Mr. Francis Hawks married Walker
Anderson, of Hillsboro, who removed to Florida, and whose sons acted
with distinguished gallantry in the late war between the States. [ am
inclined to believe that Mr. Taylor, brother of James F. Taylor, and Mr.

Wilkins, were officers in the Custom House.
APOTHECARIES

The principal establishment for the sale of drugs and medicines
was owned by Dr. Elias Hawes, when I went to Newbern in 1822. That Fall
he brought with him from the North a gentleman, Dr. Sanders, who suc-
ceeded him in business. Dr. Sanders married Miss Drusilla Bell. After
his death she removed to Alabama, where I saw her in 1845 - her Bachelor
brother, S. S. Bell, residing in her family. It was common for prac
tising physicians in Newbern to keep their own medicine in a shop for
the purpose, and to sell in small quantities when persons preferred
buying of them, to ensure a genuine article. Dr. Hawes was a very
active and useful man, and after he retired from the drug store he
was appointed by the County Court to superintend the poor house in the

vicinity.
mS

MERCHANT TAILORS

1. Charles Stewart had the largest establishment of any
merchant tailor in town, constantly employing a number of journey-
men and apprentices. A daughter of Mr. Stewart married Major Cook,
and for awhile business was carried on under the firm of Stewart &
Cook. After the death of his wife, Mr. Cook removed to Alabama,
and in 1836 = '40 was in mercantile partnership with Thomas W. Kor-
negay, son of Robert Kornegay, of Trenton. Mr. Stewart had several
grown daughters, all of whom, with himself, were members of the
Methodist Episcopal Church.

2.» Spencer P. Willis and George W. Dixon, just out of
their apprenticeship, formed a connection in 1824 under the style
of Willis & Dixon, and had quite a run of patronage. They were good
workmen, prompt and faithful in the execution of jobs. Mr. Dixon
married Miss Antionette Hunt, and I think had a large share of public
favor for many years. He was a member of the Methodist Church.

3. John Lewis Durand worked in his shop opposite the Bank
of Newbern. He was a sedate man, very rarely seen in any promiscuous
crowd where light and jovial conversation was carried on. He employed
Skillful journey men, and always delivered faithful work and fashion-

able styles to his customers. Mr. Durand was much respected for his
personal qualities.

JEWELLERS

1. Col. Nathan Tisdale carried on the watch repairing busi-
ness, and was a gentleman of great reading and intelligence. He was
commander of the Fort at Beacon's Island, near Portsmouth, in the
war of 1812-1814, where hundreds of soldiers died from exposure, and
where nearly all the rest of the garrison had their constitutions ruined.
Col. Tisdale had several daughters, one of whom, I believe, married Jacob
Gooding, and another became the second wife of Stephen B. Forbes. His
son, Joseph W. Tisdale, was clerk in Mr. Gooding's store, and in addi-
tion to his elegant penmanship, he was very expert in making bales and
boxes. The pews in the Episcopal Church were numbered by his pencil in
the first style of art. Col. Tisdale, with his sons Joseph and Nathan,
and several unmarried daughters removed to Mobile, where I saw them

about 30 years ago.

 

 
a OO

2. Thomas W. Machen, had a shop for similar work, and
for the sale of articles of jewelry. He was very industrious and
regular in his habits. His son, Henry D. Machen, was a young gentle-
man of intelligence and of great propriety of deportment.

3. Allen Fitch, near the market, was an ingenious man, and
prided himself on his literary attainments. I think he was from the
North, and a relative of Mr. Fitch of Pennsylvania, who, many years
before Robert Fulton applied steam as a motive power, gave specimens
of success in that line, and predicted the triumph of steam in the |
propulsion of machinery. Mr. Fitch was inclined to solitude, or at
least he manifested no taste for society. He married a sister of Miss

Louisa Morning and of William H. Morning.
4. Nathaniel Waples, a gaily dressed widower and fashionable

man, came from Philadelphia in 1822, and lived at the Washington Hotel
several months before he indicated his artizan qualifications as a watch-
maker. He opened an office seemingly for the mere employment of his time
and afterwards married Maria, heiress of Edmund Mumford, a wealthy citizen
of Jones. Mr. Waples had seen the world extensively, and was quite in-
teresting in his social relations. His second wife was a most exemplary,

refined and gentle lady, Miss Susan Green, a daughter of Dr.

 

Green, of "Green Hall", Craven County.

CABINET MAKERS

l. Gabriel M. Rains had the largest Cabinet works in town. His
son, John Raines, graduated at Chapel Hill in 1823, and studied law, and his
sons, Gabriel and George, (since both Generals) completed a course as cadets
at the West Point Military Academy. Of the other members of his family I
have no knowledge, although I believe he had two daughters besides the
sons above mentioned. Gen. Gabriel Rains joined the Confederate army in
the late war, still lives in South Carolina, and is the inventor of the

"torpedo" system of warfare, which should insure him an immense fortune,

 

and for which Russia and some other foreign countries have been negotiating
with him. He is also the inventor of other warlike systems, one of which he
calls the "Peacemaker" as it must, if carried into operation, command and
control opposing armies. The world will learn more anon of the deep re-
searches of this man of science; it is hoped that the knowledge will be
acquired soon enough to inure to the benefit of the deeply-thinking

soldier and engineer. General George Rains, a brother of the above, who
«ak

was also a graduate of West Point, ard who quitted the U. S. service for
that of the Confederate States, was a brave and gallant soldier, and ex-
tremely useful during the war in the manufacture of powder in Augusta, Ga.,
exemplifying clearly that "the boy is father to the man", for as a mere boy,
his mother was wont to say of him, "George is certainly one of the best of
sons, but I can't keep the boy decent ; he burns up with his "chemicals",

as he calls them, the best clothing I can have made for him. I never feel
sure that he has a single suit not in holes." Gen. Rains is still an
honored citizen of Augusta, and there are perhaps in the whole land few

men who are more exemplary and more intellectual than Generals Gabriel
and George Rains.

2. Mr. Louis Oliver was also a cabinet maker, but on a smaller
scale, doing most of the work himself, which work exhibited skill and fi-
delity. He was somewhat advanced in years, and had a son who passed con-
siderable time at the North, learning the art of shaving and hair cutting,
who, after his return, opened a shop in Newbern. He was the first white

man 1 ever saw acting in the capacity of a barber.
CARRIAGE MAKERS

1. Robert Hay, an elderly gentleman, had a shop near the site
of the Colonial Governor's Palace, for the manufacture of vehicles of all
sorts - chairs, gigs, coaches and wagons. I have seen much of his work in
use, which was generally approved. He was a pious man, an Elder, and a reg-
ular attendant on the services of the Presbyterian church. A more devout
or better man than Robert Hay has scarcely lived on earth. Leading a life
of hard manual labor, his thoughts and communings seemed always to be of
Heaven. And there was nothing of the Pharisee about him, although he con-
tinually spoke to the most worldly, even to infidels who visited his work-
shop ( and all, from highest to lowers, loved to visit Father Hay ) of "the
dear Savior who gave his life for our sins," of "that blessed Mary who chose
the blessed part," of "John, that gentle, favored man, beloved of Christ,"
of "Peter, sad, presumptious wight , depending on his own righteousness,
which was but Filthy rags!" One characteristic anecdote of this good and
honest man occurs to the writer. In his old age, the earnings of his life
of industry were swept from him to pay the debts of a brother-in-law, an
insolvent bank officer. A leading lawyer of Newbern grieved, as were all

men there, at this catastrophe to a man so blameless, visited Mr. Hay at

 

 
ere

his work=-shop, where, bent with age, his face furrowed with cares and
hair whitened by the snows of perhaps eighty winters, the good old
Christian still wrought on, day by day. Greeting him sympathtisingty..-
the lawyer exclaimeds "This will never do, Mr. Hay. Your house must

be. saveds you cannot be turned out homeless in your old age, without a

 

shelter for your family. We must devise ways and means to save your
house, if nothing more." Leaning upon his implements of toil, with
bent head and deeply thoughtful, the old man suddenly turned his face,
full of emotion, towards his friend, exclaiming, in his strong Scotch
accent; "Weel, George, my mon, save my hoose if ye can, Georges but,

mon, SAVE my conscience first!" How many of this age would utter such
sentiments?

 

2. Samuel Gerock, Jr.e, was also engaged in this branch of man-
ufacturing, and I believe connected a blacksmith shop with his establish
ment, where most of the carriage springs and particular work came under
his own inspection in the process. His younger brother was named Charles.

3. John W. Chadwick carried on the same business, confining him-
self mainly to making family carriages and fine gigs, which he painted and
finished with considerable skill. His work compared favorably with that of
Northern shops.

MASTER BUILDERS

1. Martin Stevenson occurs most readily as one of the leading
mechanics of Newbern. He was much employed in the construction of fine
dwellings and offices where a great deal of ornament was necessary. He
was prompt, skillful and industrious, and highly respected. James C. and
Martin Stevenson, Jr., were his sons.

2- Mr. John Dewey, father, superintended, if he did not person-
ally work at the carpenter's trade, and possibly he connected with it the
manufacture of cabinet articles. I know that he was usefully engaged in
the mechanic arts, and that he maintained a good reputation.

My recollection of the other carpenters and builders in town is
too indistinct to enlarge the list.

BRICK MASONS

1. Joshua Mitchell was a brick mason, and as master workman
made many of the brick houses and chimneys erected in town. He had a

large family, consisting of his wife and four sons and seven daughters,

 
« 99%

all of whom attained man and womanhood, and some are still living. Alex-
ander was not a son of either Alexander, the elder brother of Joshua, or
of the latter, but of a younger brother, Elisha. Joshua and Elisha mar-
ried sisters, daughters of Joshua Willis, of Swift Creek, in Craven County.
Isaac C. Partridge married Elizabeth, third daughter of Joshua, who died
at Chapel Hill in 1872, leaving two sons and a daughter, Gales and Isaac
and Sarah. Gales is dead, Isaac has disappeared from the view of his re-
latives, and Sarah still lives and resides at Chapel Hill.

2. Bennett Flanner was among the leading men of his line, and
completed the new Episcopal church edifice in 1824. He was bold, fearless
and persevering. He moved on the scaffolding high in the air, apparently
with as much indifference as if standing on the pavement below. I saw him
stand erect nearly a half hour on the apex of the steeple, not less than
150 feet high, with no other surface of support than the twenty or thirty
inches diameter on which his feet rested. Mr. Flanner afterwards removed
to Wilmington, where I saw him in 1858. His son, Joseph Flanner, killed
Dr. Wilkins in a duel. The affair, I learn, originated in no personal

malice, but was entirely the result of political influences.
HOUSE PAINTERS

Though I have seen a number of persons, with brush in hand,
painting houses at Newbern, all their names have vanished from my mem-
ory except that of William Charlotte, who lived at the head of Pollock
street. In my tenth year I saw Mr. Charlotte painting the fine new man-
sion of Col. James Shine, in Jones County, in which he entertained Pres-
ident Monroe and suit in 1819, including the Hon. John C. Calhoun, then

Secretary of War.
GUN SMITHS

Upton Smith was the only workman of this class whose name occurs
to me. He was a Northern man, and seemed to understand the business. He
proved very useful to persons in the country, as well as to city sports-

men, in repairing locks and other injuries to their fowling-pieces.
MACHINISTS

Charles Roach was by far the most skillful artizan in town. He
was the son of an Englishman, and born on Swift Creek, with a head and

phsiognomy of striking case, very much resembling the busts of Shakespeare.

 

 

 
- O96 «

There was nothing in the most delicate machinery which his genius could
not accomplish. He made and repaired all kinds of books, from a valise
to a bank. It has been said that merely for amusement he used to pick

the locks of a night, and next morning the officers would find the doors
Qf the bank open, with old Roach standing guard, and with polite saluta-

tions, assuring them that nothing inside had been touched, which proved
to be the fact, although Roach had a bad moral character, and was fre-
quently put in jail for receiving stolen goods and trading with slaves.
He was a fine landscape painter, and would copy any object from nature
with wonderful accuracy. Had better principles influenced his life
marvelous faculties might have achieved for the good of mankind. But he
had chosen to degrade himself, and his name was coupled with infamy. He
was an object of terror to all who were acquainted with his character and
exploits; yet in his ordinary deportment he appeared to be the gentlest
and most inoffensive of all human beings, while his large black eyes
glistened like diamonds, and the expression of his mouth indicated the

pleasure which he felt in mysteriously annoying men beyond redress.

SADDLERS

i. Daniel Shackelford had an extensive tannery, and a number of
workmen employed in manufacturing saddles and harness. His store was near
the market, and his sales were large, owing to the variety and faithful
character of his work. He was for many years chief magistrate in the city.
By his first marriage with Miss Ernul he had several grown children, when
in 1824 he found a second companion in Miss Minerva, daughter of Lott Hun-
phrey, of Onslow County, a son of whom, Lott Humphrey, Jre, afterwards
married Mary, the eldest daughter of Mr. Shackelford, and removed to Tenn-
essee. The principal clerk and agent of Mr. S. in his large business, was
Brice Battle, who was fond of literature and excelled in Mathematics. He
married Miss Dudley in the vicinity and removed to Alabama.

2. John Templeton occupied the corner opposite the State Bank,
where he carried on the saddle and harness manufacture. He was a jolly,
fat, red faced Irishman, and quite a wag in his disposition, expending his
wit and humor with decided success in company. He had a very efficient English
foreman named Hutchinson, whose wife superintended a neat confectionary
opposite the Washington Hotel. Mr. Templeton's favorite toast, in the days

when "toddy" was frequently offered - (and yet there was but little
eT ae

drunkeness in the land) was “here's to all our absent friends, at home
and abroad, present or elsewhere." A great source of pleasure to him
was to fill the pockets of his broad, Square-tailed coat, with oranges,
confectioneries, etc., and when he met his favorites among the little
school girls on the street, he would "to the right-about-face", turn

his back, and busy little hands were soon rummaging in said deep pockets,
bringing to light the palatable treasures. There was, of course, no more

popular citizen among the juveniles, than the kind-hearted Irishman.

HATTERS

James Riggs manufactured hats opposite the Bank of Newbern,
and was proprietor of the only establishment of the kind in town. I
remember seeing large quantities of skins at his door, such as beaver,
otter, mink and raccoon. Forty ar fifty years ago silk hats had not
been introduced and all genteel coverings for the head were wrought of

fur material. Even the ladies adorned their heads in winter with beau-~

BOOT=MAKERS

1. Adam Scott was engaged in the boot and shoe manufacture,
and turned out handsome, substantial work. He had a son named Oscar.

His daughter, Amanda Melvina Fitzallen, married Andrew H. Richardson, a
member of the Legislature.

2. Elijah Scott, brother of Adam, followed the same occupation

and his work was equally popular. He had several beautiful daughters who

were very much respected and admired. Brice Scott, his son, was a clerk
in the store of R. McLin.

3. Francis Alexander kept a shoe store, though I have no cer-
tain recollection of his carrying on the manufacture. He married Miss
Nancy Bell. He had a brother named Enoch who, I believe, assisted in
the store. John G. Willis was a boot maker, just out of his apprentice-
ship, who I presume set up for himself. A man named Hutchins also worked

at the trade. I remember his son, a sprightly lad, who was educated by

some benevolent persons and I have understood that his future talents
and culture fully justified the kindness.

SAIL MAKERS

The shipping in port required sails to be made, adjusted and re-

paired, all of which was under direction of Lucas Benners Heritage, a gentle-

 

 

 
. 2.

man of religious character, who in my. presence committed to the flames
the first copy of Paine's “Age of Reason" I had seen, which he had
found on the table of a young friend in whose spiritual welfare he
took an interest. MR. Heritage married Miss Eliza, daughter of Rev.
Rufus Wiley, a Methodist preacher.

FAMILY GROCERS

1. Bothic Campbell Gillespie, a Scotchman, had a store near
the market for the sale of sugar, coffee, tea, molasses, and articles of
prime necessity to housekeepers. I learned the alphabet under his tui-
tion when in 1810 he taught school in Jones county, where he married
Mrs. Penelope Hargett.

After her death he removed to Newbern and engaged in business.
His second marriage was with Mrs. Lane. He had a nephew at school with
me, Dr. James C. Rowe, who married in Charleston a daughter of Judge
William Johnson of the Supreme Court of the United States, and removed
to Alabama, where he died in 1863, age 58 years. Mr. Gillespie was
pious and kind hearted, though very grave and somewhat austere in his
deportment. He was a member of the Methodist Church in which he held
official relations.

2. Allen Backhouse (pronounced Backus) also kept a store near
the market, stocked with articles for family use. He was a half-brother
of Mrs. Chapman. His son, John A. Backhouse, went to Mr. Hutton's school
when I did, and was a youth of great intellectual promise. He was an
orator from his boyhood. After graduating at the University in 1830 he
entered the ministry.

3. James A. McMain, in addition to the office of Town Con-
stable, exercised the vocation of a merchant in the sale of family art-
icles. He was a tall, muscular, well formed man, and kept his handsome
portrait where it could be seen by persons visiting his store. He was
good natured and popular. There was a corporation tax on dogs, which re-
quired the constable to kill all the canine species who were found in the
street without collars furnished by the Treasurer. By this regulation I
have seen many fine dogs, from the Newfoundland to the common Spaniel
perish under the club of the constable as with his strong left hand he
inflicted the penalty of the law in open market and elsewhere.

4. Mr. Jones, near the market, was represented by his wife
(who had children named Morris by a former marriage). She did the
purchasing of produce and articles in the market, and the drumming for
customers, and officiated as principal behind the counter, - Mr. Jones
acting as chief~clerk to his more active companion. Their son, Alfred
Jones, was a Methodist.

5. Captain Wicker was also represented by his wife in the
same vicinity. He was at home only during the intervals between his
voyages at sea. Their grown son, William, was something of a beau in
his dress, and quite pompous in his walk. All this was a mere matter
of taste, without in the least degree impeaching his moral worth. I
was then inclined to admire the grand carriage of Mr. Wicker, junior,
as he was so full of vitality and self-approbation.

6. William Duncan belonged to the market group of operators.
Besides keeping up his provision establishment, he was a note sharer
whose profits may be inferred by his exacting a discount of twenty-five
per cent on ninety days paper well endorsed. Persons in distress for
money at particular times yielded to his rates and nc fraud was imputed
to him. Of course he flourished in his finances.

7. George Ae Hall, James C. Stevenson, Daniel Jackson, Henry
Dewey and Charles Slover were severally in trade, but whether in the dry
goods line, or as family grocers, I do not remember. The names of a few
dealers near the wharf, and also in the upper part of the city, I never
ascertained or have forgotten.

8. Nathaniel Street, Sr., had a store in which he kept the
leading articles for family consumption. He was the father of John
Street, the lawyer, of William R. Street and Samuel Street, the latter
of whom owned the bridge across Neuse river known by his name. He had
a son, Nathaniel Street, Jr., who was a cadet at the West Point Military

Academy. Mr. William R. Street married a sister of James Saunders.
BOARDING HOUSES

Although it is quite probable that several housekeepers took
private boarders, I cannot recall but one - Mrs. Conner, who resided
between Justice's corner and the dwelling of Mr. Lamotte, on Pollock
street. One of her permanent boarders was Mr. Kay, a Scotch gentleman,
whose employment I have forgotten. He was a member of the Presbyterian
Church; and a story is told of him, that at a prayer meeting, while lead-
ing the devotions, he suddenly paused in the midst of his prayer, when

 

 

 

 
~ 27 4

it was discovered that he had accidentally blown out the candle by

which he was reading his beautiful petition. At one time Mrs. Conner

had a class of boarders who, though of very decent behavior, were not
usually given to religious observances; several of the actors of Mr.
Herbert's Theatrical Company in 1823, having become members of her family,
for the time being, among whom was Mrs. Waring the perfection of youth
and beauty on the stage. As I passed the door of Mrs. Conner daily, I
had the opportunity of seeing the popular actress unpainted. Her art-

ificial charms had entirely vanished.

James Barney, near the county wharf, kept a house of entertain-
ment for seafaring people, whose boisterous merriment, and good natured
singular phrases afforded amusement to passers-by, except when these
sons of Neptune quaffed too freely the fumes of Bacchus. On such occa-
sions they often had to be quieted by the police. Mr. Barney was a

droll wit himself, and knew well how to manage his noisy guests.
FRUIT SHOPS

A number of persons, mostly foreigners, had shops for the sale
of West India fruits. As I never had occasion to know much about them
personally, all their names have perished from my memory, except that of
Antonio, an Italian, who kept a handsome sailboat which he was in the
habit of hiring to pleasure parties. In this way I formed his acquaint-
ance. After I had left Newbern he killed a Mr. Johnson and was executed
for murder. Poor Antonio had deep blue eyes, a lively and expressive
face, and was obliging to patrons. The stiletto, so much used by his

countrymen in passion or revenge, proved his ruine
STEAM MILLS

The first steam mill erected at Newbern, or in its vicinity,
was that of William Shepard, who is said to have applied to this object
his share of the valuable cargo of a British merchant ship captured as
a prize in the war of 1812 by the celebrated privateer "Snap Dragon",
commanded by Captain Otway Burns, in which vessel Mr. Shepard was a
large share holder. His mill was situated on the Trent, about one mile
from the Court House. It was worked prosperously until a rival establi-

shment, on a larger scale, sprung up at Union Point, where the Neuse and

Trent rivers came together, which proved a great public accomodation, as
“a0 oe

well as a source of liberal income to the owner, Frederick Neasted,
a very enterprising German. I once saw Captain Burns on his way to
Raleigh, as a Representative from Carteret County. At the close of
the epitaph on the monument over the remains of Mr. Shepard, are these
words: "How silent the sleep of death!

How low the pillow of Dust !"

LAND SURVEYORS

Claiborne Ivey, presiding Justice of the Quorum, was also public
surveyor, and had the reputation of skill in his employment. John
Street had qualified himself, by diligent study and practice to
execute any description of land surveys that might be required. After
I had prepared myself in Trigonometry and the usual branches of Navi-
gation and Surveying, I took private instruction from Mr. Street, which
enabled me to manage the compass and field notes for that gentleman in
a most intricate survey of about three thousand acres of land on Swift
Creek, embracing several water courses where triangulation was nece-
ssarye This work was performed in the summer of 1824. I calculated
the area by latitude and departure, purposely avoiding the more con-
venient, but less accurate method of using Gunter's scale. When I
was on the eve of leaving Newbern for Georgia, Mr. Street was kind
enough to hand me the following papers

"This is to certify that Stephen F. Miller having prosecuted and
completed the study of surveying (both theory and practice) under my
direction, I believe him to be a good and accurate surveyor.

Signed: John Street. Newbern, N. C., October 29th, 1824."

With this certificate to introduce me, I was fully of the opinion
that it would make my fortune in Georgia, as fresh domains of land
were acquired from the Indians for distribution and settlement. But
circumstances prevented an offer for service, and after the lapse of
forty-nine years, disease has obliterated my early skill, and I am
now in a measure incapable of working out the necessary tables as a

surveyor.

MILLINERS

Mrs. Tisdale, wife of the Colonel, contributed the ingenuity of
her needle to the service of her lady patrons, and usually kept a

handsome supply of articles in the millinery line. Mrs. McLin (widow)
39s

had a similar establishment, and I believe Mrs. Conner added to her
boarding house cares her skill as a mantua-maker. At all events the
fashions were well maintained in Newbern, as the ladies were fine ex-

amples of taste and propriety in dress.

THEATER

The first performance I ever witnessed was in a Newbern Theater,
when in 1823 Herbert's dramatic company gave a series of representa-
tions. The actors whose names I remember were Messrs. Herbert, Sre,

J. Herbert, Hutton, Page, Drummond and Richards, and the lady per-
formers were Mrs. Waring and Mrs. Hutton. Mr. Herbert played Rich-

ard III, and was quite successful in genteel comedy in the character

of an old man. His son, J. Herbert, excelled in low comedy. Mr.

Hutton was stately in "Virginius", and in dignified situations, espe-
cially as a Roman Senator. Mr. Page sustained his character handsomely,
and was a good singer. I can never forget the melody of "Those evening
bells". Mr. Drummond was most effective in gay scenes, representing
fast young men, and Mr. Richards was exquisite as “Billy Fribble".

In Goldsmith's admired comedy, “She Stoops to Conquer", Mrs. Waring

made a brilliant display as widow Cheerly. Mrs. Hutton exhibited good
judgement and fidelity to nature in her personations. of an elderly dame.
such, I think, is a just outline of the leading qualities of each player.
Thomas A. Pasteur, a graduate of West Point, who commanded the "Newbern
Guards", derived so much pleasure from seeing Mrs. Waring on the stage,
that he followed her to Charleston to feast upon her dramatic exhibi-
tions. The last I heard of him, he edited a paper in Washington, Georgia.

There was a Thespian Society in Newbern, composed of young men
whose representations I also witnessed. In the “Honey Moon", James W.
Bryan did full justice to the young Duke Avanza, in the costume of a
Spanish cavalier. In the play or in the afterpiece, Alexander F.

Gaston sustained a character in knee-breeches. Persons who have seen
the figure of that gentleman, stooped in the shoulders, yet six feet
and four inches high and his knees bent inward, can well imagine the
comic effect he produced on the audience. It was the climax of the
éntertainment. John Rains was admirable as "Caleb Quotem". The

other characters I have forgotten.
6%

DISTILLERIES ©

In the upper part of town, the brothers, John Jones and Frederick
Jones each had turpentine distilleries which turned out large quanti-
ties of naval stores. When the wind passed over them, the atmosphere
in the vicinity was pleasant and refreshing from the odors exhaled as
the stills were emptied of their boiling contents, and the pure rosin
remained in solution.

As a personal reminiscience, I may add, that George L. Jones, son
of F. Jones, was a pupil of Mr. Hutton's school where I took lessons
in mathematics. The last time I saw him was about twenty-five years
ago in Tuscaloosa, Alabama, where his mother-in-law, Mrs. Clitherall,
then resided. After his death his widow married Mr. John M. Battle

of Mobile whose first wife was her sister.
LAW STUDENTS

During several years, with more or less constancy, several young
gentlemen were engaged in a course of reading in Mr. Gaston's law
office some of whose names I remember, viz: John Raines, Edward G.
Pasteur, Samuel S. Bell, Spyers S. Smith and Alexander F. Gaston. I
am not certain that Bryan S. Croom belonged to the law-class. He was
much in their company, and his taste, like theirs, was quite convivial.

John Raines removed to Alabama where he married Miss Bondurant, of
a French family, and was several years a Senator from Marengo County
in the Legislature, acquiring for himself a high reputation in debate.
His life was closed in its meridian in 1839.

Alexander F. Gaston married Eliza, a highly educated, beautiful
and accomplished young lady, daughter of Dr. Hugh Jones. After mar-
riage the lovers were settled on a rich plantation remote from city
influences. The young wife became an admirable manager, sold the
crops, laid in supplies and by water-craft visited Newbern on busi-
ness whenever necessary.

After the death of his first wife he removed to Burke County, in
the mountains, where he formed a second marriage. He has been dead

many years.
E. G. Pasteur, son of Abner Pasteur, was sober, studious and

exemplary, and was for many years Judge of the county court in

Green County, Alabama.

 

 

 
ae

P. S. Bell, though not a toper, never applied himself with energy
to any business, and if living, is no doubt a dried up bachelor in
spite of his social disposition.

Of Spyers Singleton Smith I have heard nothing within the last

forty years. So far as I know he was not addicted to open intemperance.

BOOK STORES

There was no competition, and the courteous Salmon Hall had the
entire market to himself. He kept the usual variety of books, in which
the trade was somewhat active. He had a “Circulating Library", volumns
of which he allowed to be taken away for a specified time at the rate
of five or ten cents for perusal. The first novel I ever read was
"Bracebridge Hall", by Irving, which I obtained from this library in

1822. Mr. Hall had a son named William, who, I think, succeeded his
father in business.

LITERARY MEN

Several gentlemen in Newbern deserve notice under this head, espe-
cially Hardy B. Croom and Stephen M. Chester,-who carried a newspaper
controversy on some moral topic with the elegance of scholarship and
the dignity of gentlemen. Mr. Croom was the son of Gen. William Croom,
of Lenoir, and graduated at the State University in 1816. He married
a daughter of Nathan Smith, a wealthy citizen of Newbern. In 1837,
while returning with his wife and two daughters from New York, where
the latter had just completed their education, they all perished on

the steamer Home in a gale off Cape Hatteras. A law suit lingered

 

in the courts fifteen or twenty years, was the consequence of this
calamity, which left no lineal heir to a very large estate. The main
question was, Who survived the other, Mr. Croom or his wife? If he
survived for even one minute, the inheritance was cast on his next of
kin3 and if she survived, all the property which she brought to her
husband on marriage would enure to her next of kin, the Smith family.
As to the fact of survivorship the testimony was not conclusive. The
last that was seen of Mr. Croom and his family group on the wreck, he
was standing motionless as a statue, his wife clinging on his neck,
and his daughters clasping his knees in the agony of despair. The
next wave carried them all overboard together, and they disappeared

from view. On the part of Mr. Croom's kindred the argument was advanced
neo

that as he was physically the stronger party; it was natural to con-
clude that he held out the longest while struggling in the sea. On

the other hand it was contended, that from the buoyancy of her dresS, :
the wife remained afloat beyond the strength of her husband, who had
been for many years in feeble health, and of a consumptive habit. The
case was tried in Florida, where Bryan S. Croom, brother of the whole
blood, resided in charge of the property. The decree or judgment was
taken up by writ of error to Supreme Court, and in the course of the
proceedings I believe the litigation was compromised - on what terms

f am unable to state. My impression is, that the deceased gentleman
was bred to the law. If so, his fine talents and acquirements would

no doubt have secured him a high position at the Bar, had not his ample
fortune and delicate health rendered the profession irksome to his genius,
and induced him to forego that sphere of ambition. His walk in society
was that of a hightened and chivalrous gentleman. His antagonist, Mr.
Chester, who in newspaper controversy was different in many respects,
yet not the less worthy in all the essentials of character, has been

already noticed as a merchant.

LEADERS OF SOCIETY

While I have adopted this title to indicate a certain line of
character which must necessarily exist in all communities, I am some-
what at a loss to apply it to Newbern where there was so much general
respectability. I will venture, however, to mention a few individuals
who, more than forty years ago, were prominent in fashionable lif@ and
wielded much social influence.

To begin with the ladies, I find myself drawn to Miss Carolina
Chapman and the two Misses Graham, who were equally conspicious in all
the advantages of person and accomplishment which give precedence. The
style they maintained was rather in advance of any other single ladies.
The equipage of Mrs. Asa Jones was perhaps more costly, and her dress-
ing was in proportion; but of course she did not aspire to any conquest,
and only preserved the exterior dignity of wealth. The daughters of
Mr. Gaston were then from home at school, and Mr. Stanly's only dau-
ghter was married, and resided in Virginia. Several other families
furnished handsome and intelligent young ladies. Miss Chapman mar~-

ried Mr. Waring, a merchant of New York.
Of the gentlemen then unmarried, whom I may designate as leaders

 

 

 
ee

of society, were R. D. Spaight, F. L.« Hawks, George Pollock Devereaux
and S. M. Chester. There were others as worthy, and perhaps not second
in intelligence, who had not so good an opportunity to assert their
claims to attention. There was no contest for leadership by individuals,
and each was arranged in the social scale according to merit and the

force of circumstances.

DUELLING TRADITIONS

1. In 1783, Gen. Richard Dobbs Spaight was a member of the Conti-
nental Congress; in 1785 he was Speaker of the House of Commons; in 1787,
as a delegate he signed the Federal Constitution; in 1788, he was a mem-
ber of the ratifying Conventions in 1792, he was elected Governor of the
State, and in 1798-1800, he was Representative in Congress when the Alien

and Sedition Laws were passed under the administration of John Adams. In

1802, Gen. Spaight and John Stanly took opposite sides in the political
Canvass. In common with the Republican party, Gen. Spaight denounced the
policy of President Adams, and Mr. Stanly vindicated it, and accused Gen.
Spaight of "dodging", on pretense of sickness when the vote was taken on
the objectionable measures. This led to bitter personalities in the can-
vass, and to a challenge which was sent by Mr. Stanly and accepted, and
the duel was fought on the same day, Sept. Sth, 1802 (a Sabbath afternoon)
behind the old Masonic Hall on the outskirts of Newbern. An eye-witness
(Thomas Brown, since Postmaster at Trenton) informed me that on the second
fire the bullet pierced the coat collar of Mr. Stanly. On the fourth

fire Gen. Spaight fell, mortally wounded and died the next day. Dr. Ed-
ward Pasteur, whom I have frequently seen, was his second on the field,
and probably his surgeon. Criminal proceedings were instituted against
Mr. Stanly, who, in a communication to Gov. Williams, stated the circun-
stances and the compulsion under which he acted, and his right to Execu-

tive clemency. I never heard of his being brought to trial. At the time

the duel was fought, Gen. Spaight was perhaps not less than fifty, and
‘Mx. Stanly was about twenty -seven years of age.

2. Of the duel in which Thomas Stanly was killed by Louis D. Henry,
[I have no precise information. It probably occurred about the year 1812
when Mre. Henry was not exceeding twenty-four years of age, and Mr. Stanly
was perhaps not his senior. The origin of the difficulty is said to have
been the playful toss by Mr. Stanly of a piece of cake across the table
which fell into a cup of tea and splashed the liquid on Mr. Henry's vest,
- ahs

at a party given by Mr. Gaston. A lady at the side of Mr. Henry made a
thoughtless remark which aggravated the trifle between personal friends.
An insult was imagined, a hasty reply given, and then followed a chal-

lenge to mortal combat which terminated fatally. On being consulted by
his young brother, it is said that the Hon. John Stanly advised the hos-

tile meeting. Mr. Henry died at Raleigh in 1846, at the age of fifty-

eight years.

3. Another tragedy occurred in which Richard Stanly, brother of the
preceeding gentleman, also perished by the code of honor. The name of his
antagonist, if I ever heard it, has escaped me, as well as the time and
place of the duel. My impression is that small swords were used, and
that the fatal meeting was in one of the West India Islands. I remember
that the widow of Mr. Richard Stanly resided in Newbern at the time her
daughter married George W. Howard, about the year 1824. As to the pur-
suits or intellectual promise of the brothers, Thomas and Richard Stanly,
or the moral qualities of either, I have not knowledge or information.

I conclude that they were pupils of the Harry Hotspur or Percy school,
who needed a counsellor less impetuous than their elder brother, whose
brow had been, encircled by a bloody wreath of honor. While the Hon.

Edward Stanly was a member of Congress, he fought a duel with the Hon.
Samuel] W. Ingle, a Representative from Alabama. Fortunately, neither

party was injured by the exchange of shots.
SWISS NOBILITY

Baron de Graffenried from Switzerland planted a colony in Eastern
North Carolina, the town of which, founded in 1709, he called "New
Berne", after the canton of Berne in his native country. Several of
his lineal descendants are living in the South. The late Dr. de Graf-
fenried of Columbus, and Col. B. B. deGraffenried, late Mayor of Mill-
edgeville, Georgia and the late W. K. deGraffenried of Macon, belonged
to this family stock. The Hon. Christopher B. Strong, of still nearer
blood, was entitled to the large possessions of the Baron in Switzerland
which he would probably have recovered had his claim been reported a few
years earlier. A history of this claim by the late Col. Samuel T. Bailey,
who visited Switzerland in 1840 to make the investigation, is given in
the memoir of Judge Strong, in the second volume of “The Bench and Bar of
Georgia". I am not appraised that any families now in North Carolina
trace their descent to the Baron, though I think it quite probable that

 
cae a
such relatives exist.

While in Newbern I frequently saw the Ipocks who lived in the vi-
cinity. They were regarded as a very obscure class of people. fFrrom
their features, complexion and habits they had the appearance of Gypsies,
and seemed to keep entirely to themselves, having as little communication
with others as their necessities would permit. I was not aware, then, that
the Ipocks belonged to the Swiss nobility who came over with the founders
of Newbern. I have since been informed, however, that such is the fact,
and I make this allusion for what it is worth, <- the original name being
Ebach. in Switzerland, which has degenerated into Ipock in the marshes and
brambles of Craven County.

FINE ARTS

1. In 1822 a collection of wax figures was brought to Newbern, and
displayed in Broad Street - two box wagons being placed side by side, and
the partitions removed. I read the bills announcing the exhibition of the
fine arts, and I became a patron. The Emperors Alexander and Napoleon,
King George IV, Queen Caroline, and Sir Henry Broughton her Attorney Gen-
eral, - the Rev. John Wesley, John Eleves, the eccentric miser, the Duke
of Wellington, Empress Josephine and Maria Louisa, Andrew Jackson, and
other historical personages, were listening in respectful silence to the
hand organ which was grinding delightful music within, and to the anxious
group of boys outside who clamored for admission. I had never before seen
life-size imitations of men and women dressed neatly and fashionably in
broadcloth, silks, laces and ornaments proper to their rank as if living
persons. To my artless mind it was quite a triumph in scientific manu-
facture. Many families and other persons visited the collection, which

was really a good thing of its kind.

2. The next display of the “Fine Arts" was altogether different. A
Spanish ship, laden with indigo, had been driven by stress of weather into
the port for repairs. Many of the crew seemed to have cultivated their
musical faculties, and of nights perambulated the streets singing, and
playing on their guitars in a strain which would have done credit to the
troubadours. The words were in Spanish and Italian, and the various qua-
lities of the voices, from the baritone to the falsetto, accompanying a
dozen guitars, formed a style of music as novel as it was pleasing to the

inhabitants of the good old town of Newbern. But these entertainments
were closed by a frightful tragedy. A man named Berry from a neighboring
~ 4s &

county was killed by one of the Spaniards. The offender was committed to
prison, and in due time was tried for murder. He was acquitted through
the exertion of that truly great lawyer, Mr. Gaston, who appeared for him

on receipt of one thousand dollars in doubloons, his fee on the occasion.

Se eparting from music an instant, I notice the visit of an accomp-
lished minature painter whose name, I think, was James A. Wiseman. In
many families no doubt, specimens of his work may be found. In his fine
personal appearance, he was himself a representative of Nature's best

school. He had a seat in the Presbyterian Church.

4. And now from painting I pass again to music, merely to observe
that James B. Ackroyd, a skillful composer, gave lessons on the piano and
organ to the entire satisfaction of his many patrons. He was organist in
the Episcopal Church, and married Miss Bettner. The last I heard of him,
he was residing in Memphis, where he raised an interesting family of dau-

ghters.
BEAUTIFUL WOMEN

But one opinion has prevailed among those who have seen the ladies of
Newbern - that they were exceedingly beautiful. Such I know was the fact
forty or fifty years ago, the period to which I refer. When so many could
be named to advantage, I will not discriminate, as comparatively few are
now living to contest my opinion. One incident will dispose of this deli-
cate question, which, though it places one lady on a high eminence, leaves

the rest in the sunshine without being at all obscured by the comparison.

Thomas H. Daves had deposited 125 loads of fertilizing materials on a
single acre of land in the purlious of Newbern, which he planted in corn.
The crop was truly luxuriant, and refreshing to behold. Nothing like it
had been seen in that part of the country. Mr. Graham, the sound lawyer
and finished gentleman, was in raptures over the growing corn which he de-
clared, next to Mary Hall, was the most beautiful sight he ever beheld.

So I pronounce on good authority, knowing the force of the compliment, that
Miss Mary Hall was the leading beauty of Newbern. The production of the
acre was 13 barrels (65 bushels) which was considered without a parallel

in upland agriculture. I think proper to add that after her marriage with
Mr. Webb, this admired lady became deeply pious, and that for more than
twenty years her companionship has been with angels in Heaven.

 

 

 

 

 
me ig
HANDSOME MEN .

No merit is claimed for the gentlemen I introduce under this
head, on account of their advantage of person; but I refer to names
for the purpose of letting the present generation know, who, in the
past, were looked upon as handsome men in Newbern. In this connection
I may specify Hamilton Graham, Alfred Stanly, George W. Howard, Bryan
S. Croom, Richard N. Torrans, James W. Bryan and Furnifold Heritage

Green. My sketch of them will be necessarily briefs :

1. Mr. Graham was the son of the lawyer I have frequently mentioned,
and as to figure, complexion and gentility he was one of the finest speci-
mens of young manhood. Having just returned from college, he had not en-
gaged in any pursuit at the time I used to reside in Newbern in 1824.

What has been his career, or whether he is now living, I have no means

of stating.

2. Mr. Stanly has been noticed in the sketch of his father, and I
have very little in addition to :remark concerning him. I formed his ac-
quaintance slightly in 1821 on board the schooner "Collector", Captain
Francis W. Nelson, on the passage from a Methodist camp-meeting on Adams
Creek, thirty miles below Newbern. The Hon. William S. Blackledge and
his family were on board. Mr. Stanly expressed a warm preference for
Mr. John P. Daves who was then a competitor of Mr. Blackledge for Con-
gress, which was natural, as his father had always been opposed to the
Blackledges, who were Republicans. Mrs. B. was the daughter of Edmund
Hatch, who resided within six miles of Newbern. Miss Maria Hatch, the
daughter of "Tennessee" Edmund Hatch, of Jones county, was also a pass-
enger, and the young Captain of the vessel was paying ‘er special atten-
tions. Twenty five years afterwards I saw Captain Nelson in Alabama, who
was then a grandfather, and his wife Maria a grandmother. At a later
period I shared the hospitality of "Tennessee" Edmund Hatch in Mississippi.

So much by way of association on the "Collector".

3. Mr. Howard was a great admirer of John Stanly, and to the best of
my impression pursued legal studies by his advice. At all events he mar-
ried his niece and I think removed to Tennessee, since which time I have
entirely lost sight of him.

4. Mr. Croom had fortune and leisure at his command, and if he stu-

died law at all, it was merely for form's sake without any desire to make
. 4G =

it a profession. He was the centre of gay companions in hich life and
freely criticized all church establishments and church people as being
under the influence of superstition. He married Miss Evelina Hawks, dau-
ghter of the widow Hawks, of Newbern, and removed to Florida where he add-
ed to his property, though the settlement he was called upon to make with
the Smith family somewhat diminished his revenues. He was open-hearted,

intelligent and agreeable in social intercourse. From Florida, Mr. Croom

removed to Alabama, and now resides near Montgomery.

5. Mr. Torrans was the son of an old and successful merchant, of
the firm of Taggart & Torrans, who had gone out of business and had been
succeeded by Mr. Simpson before my day in Newbern. All that I know of
young Mr. Torrans, wos in 1822 when I frequently saw him in company with
his friends Re S. Croom and F. H. Green, and understood that ne had just
returned from a Northern college. In person he was decidedly handsome,
and from that circumstance he is named in this classification. He was
reputed to be wealthy and highly cultivated; but I have never since heard

of him either in business or in any of the learned professions. I think

it probable that he died early in life.

6. James W. Bryan, brother of the Hon. John H. bryan, was tall and

slender and always made a fine appearance. He came to the bar after I

left Newbern, having graduated in the State University in 1824 in a class
of thirty-four with Thos. Bragg, afterward Governor of the State and Sen-
ator in Congress; William A. Graham, likewise Governor and also Secretary
of the Navy; Mathias E. Manly, late Judge of the Supreme Court and Edward
Dromgole Simms, who died in 1845 waile Professor of English Literature in
the University of Alabama. Mr. Bryan represented Jones county in the House
of Commons in 1836. I have not heard of him in many years. I am under the

impression that he removed to New York and engaged in commercial pursuits.

7. Mr. Green was the pexsonification of chivalry and was an obser-
vant of the rights of others as he was tenacious of his own. I believe
he was a graduate of the West Point Military Academy. He was tall and
spare in person and deliberate in his movements, as if every word and
gesture had a classical bearing. The First time I saw him was in 1821,
at the wedding of his relative Furnifold Green Herritage, who married
Penelope, daughter of Richard Koonce, of Jones county. Mr. Green mar-

ried Miss Laura Pearson from one of the upper counties, who was so beau-

tiful that complimentary verses were addressed to her through the Carolina

 

 

 
~ AO x

Sentinel, on her queenly appearance in the dress circles of the New-
bern Theatre. The last intelligence I had of him he commanded a gov-
ernment vessel stationed at the mouth of the Mississippi river, and at
New Orleans, for the enforcement of the revenue laws before the war.
Whether Captain Green is now living, and in service, I am not prepared

to say. He was a native of North Carolina.

SHIPPING

A number of vessels belonged to the port of Newbern, mostly engaged
in the coasting trade and in commerce with the West Indies. The docks
were frequently filled with shipping, and business on the wharves was

quite animated. I remember the names of only two schooners, the Collector,

 

owned by Captain Dempsey Wade, and the Java, owned by Captain John D.

 

Frion, a Frenchman. A son of the latter, bearing his exact name, removed
to Wetumpka, Alabama, where he was killed by a Mr. Jennings, in 1841.

His widow married D. Lyman Beecher, a lawyer of Wetumpka, whose memory was
so retentive, and his faculties for imitation were so perfect, that he
electrified the Tippacanoe Clubs in the Presidential canvass of 1840, by
repeating almost word for word, with voice and gesture, so like the ori-
ginal, that persons who heard the great speech of Col. William C. Preston,
at Macon, Georgia, pronounced it a faithful counterpart. Mr. Beecher
afterwards settled in New Orleans, where, in 1848, at a public dinner
given to Gen. Persifer F. Smith, on his return from Mexico, he offered

as a sentiment - "The Universal Smith Family.’ Although their name is

legion, the Hero of Contreras has performed deeds of valor sufficient

to immortalize them all".

SHIP CHANDLERS

It is quite probable that other merchants were in the habit of fur-
nishing ships with stores for their voyages, and supplying other articles
in the lines but I remember only the firm of J. Brown & Co., which con-
sisted of Jeremiah Brown and his brother Parsons Brown, whose business
location was near the county wharf. They had a clerk named Jeremiah
Allen. Mr. J. Brown was clerk of the U. S. District “curt for the East~-
ern District of North Carolina, over which Judge Henry Potter presided.

SHIP MASTERS

These gentlemen were usually excellent citizens, though some of them
were stern and reserved in their manners, while others of the craft were
~ 80 -
I remember Captain

pleasant in society, and full of wit .and humor.
Captain Willis, who

Jerkins, whose son Alonzo was a promising youth,
was the father of Abner D., and John G. Willis. His daughter, Mary,

was quite handsome. And there were Captains Wade, Frion, Wicker and

The latter had retired from command. His son obtained great

Brugman .
I think that Captain

celebrity afterwards as a traveller in the East.
Morris was also in the merchant service. Captain Hinkley had been

disabled by a wound in the war of 1812, and received a pension from the
Government. He boarded at the Washington Hotel. In 1824 I formed the
acquaintance of Captain Alexander Jones, who, after an absence of twenty

years had returned to Newbern on 4 brief visit.

the older school, about sixty years of age, wore large frills in his
He had commanded vessels

of whom

He was a gentleman of

bosom and similar adornments on his wrists.

a number of years from the port and knew all the old merchants,

he gave me a history. I walked with him to several wharves, and he point-

ed out the changes that had taken place. He was very polite and digni-
During his stay he

Capt.

fied in his manners, and interesting in conversation.
called on many families, all of whom seemed gratified at his visit.

Jones resided in the West Indies where he possessed a competency for old

that

age. The only regret I heard him express concerning himself, was,

he had remained a bachelor.

WEST INDIA TRADE

brandy, sugar, coffee, molasses, and arti-
the West India Islands in

The retail

Large quantities of rum,
cles of tropical production, were imported from

exchange for naval stores and lumber shipped from Newbern.

price varied occassionally; but the average may be stated at $1.50 per

gallon for best Jamaica rum; $3.00 for brandy; 10 cents per pound for

45 cents per gallon for molasses and 50 cents

sugar; 14 cents for coffee;
raisinS,

per bushel for salt. Oranges, pineapples, figs, bananas, almonds,

filberts, cocoanuts, etc., were in great abundance, at very moderate prices.

FREE PERSONS OF COLOR

Previous to the amended Constitution, in 1835, free persons of color

were allowed in North Carolina to vote in the same manner as white men

voted, for President of the United States, for Representatives in Congress,

and in the General Assembly without restriction; and for the Senate on

possessing the same freehold of forty acres of land which entitled a white

man to vote for Senator.

 

 

 

 
a Bia

I have seen Messrs. Stanly, Gaston, Hawks, Spaight, E. E. Graham
and other candidates paying special civilities to the colored voters;
nothing, however, to the extent of undue familiarity. The most pro-

minent free persons of color in Newbern weres

1. John C. Stanly, (known as Barber John, to distinguish him from
the great lawyer) was originally a barber by trade, and had acquired a
large property. He owned two or three plantations or farms, and a con-
siderable number of slaves, two of them, Brister and Boston, were skil-
ful barbers, and kept the shop in good reputation. They were both polite
and dressed neatly. Brister related the circumstance of Dr. Hugh Jones
once taking his seat for a shave, and, drawing the sword from his cane,
threatened that if he was cut or scratched by the razor, he would run
his sword through the body of the operator. The shaving was completed
without any accident. On being asked if his hand did not tremble with

such danger before him, Brister replied, that he had made up his mind
to save his own life by cutting the throat of Dr. Jones, if it became

necessary. He also made a remark as to the peculiarity of Bishop
England's beard, which I have forgotten. J. C. Stanly was a man of
dignified presence, and lived in fashionable style, his sons and dau-
ghters were well educated, and always making a good appearance as bright
mulattoes. No citizens of Newbern would hesitate to walk the streets

with him. He was uniformly courteous and unobtrusive.

2. John Stewart Stanly, eldest son of the preceeding had a large
store well stocked with goods, and transacted a heavy business. He was

correct in his dealings and customers had great confidence in his in-

tegrity.

3. John R. Green was a tailor, employing several journeymen and
apprentices, who turned out a good style of work. He was much respect-
ed for his modest, unassuming behavior, though he possessed wealth enough
to put on airs, had he been less deserving of public favor. He was a
bright mulatto, and always dressed in the latest fashion, making his own
figure an advertisement of his proficiency in the art of improving the

looks of man.

4. Donum Mumford was copper-colored, and carried on the bricklay-

ing and plastering business with slaves, a number of whom he owned. When-

ever a job was to be done expeditiously, he was apt to be employed, as
he could always throw upon it a force sufficient for its rapid execution.
a Roe
He owned a farm in the vicinity, and several houses and lots in town.

5. Sylvester Pimborton, the butcher, was in market at early dawn
each morning. His stall was plentiously supplied with meats which he
handled and cut with great dexterity, as he was called upon to try his
scales, from one pound to one hundred. He was uniformly patient and
accommodating, and always had a pleasant remark for those he served in

his vocation. Besides his trade as butcher, he was a good drummer and

on military occasions he was a conspicuous figure in the band.

There was quite a large population of the free negro class, who
lived chiefly to themselves in the outskirts of town. Some of them were
industrious and inoffensive; but the greatest number were idle vagabonds

who picked up a precarious living, honest or otherwise, as circumstances

permitted.
YANKEE INFLUENCE

The Northern character was not so infused into the business, or
schools, or churches, or society of Newbern, as to constitute any re-
cognizable element. There were some half dozen merchants from the North,
such as Mr. Lente, George Seelye, W. S. Webb and Mr. Pittman, and a small
proportion of mechanics and artisans; but they all seemed to be content
with our domestic regulations and never interfered, or even expressed
opinions showing that reform was necessary. At the period to which I
refer there was no Yankee intermeddling with slavery, and northern men
and women were received into confidence, and admitted to all social pri-

vileges, as their moral and intellectual worth might render just and pro-

per, without any discrimination as to nativity.

NEWSPAPERS

The CAROLINA SENTINEL had been established many years before I be-
came a resident of Newbern, and I had been a reader of it from my boyhood.
Thomas Watson and John I. Pasteur were the editors and proprietors. The
former was a mild, business gentleman who attended to the mechanical de-
tails of the office, while his partner was a Major General of militia,
and a vigorous writer. The first time any of my manuscript appeared in

print, was in the SENTINEL of November 2l, 1831, as follows:

larried in Jones county on 19th instant, by Benjamin
Harrison, Mr. James B. Shine to Miss Rebecca Harrison,

daughter of Simmons Harrison, Esq."
I had been a schoolmaster of the young couple, and I felt gratified

 

 

 
re ee

at giving their happiness publicity, and in SEEING MY OWN WORDS IN PRINT.
Mr. Shine afterwards resided in Newbern, and thence removed to Mississippi

where two or three of his sons volunteered in the Mexican war, and died

in the service.

In 1822 a few numbers of the MISCELLANEOUS REGISTER appeared, a

very small sheet issued by Isaac Cheek Patridge, who was learning the
trade of a printer in the office of the SENTINEL. Several communications

were inserted, one signed “Juventis", written by Frederic S. Blount, a
pupil of Mr. Attmore's academy. Two or three columns of poetry, by Allen

Fitch, adorned the little Register. The publication proved troublesome
to the office, and not at all remunerative, and was soon discontinued. Mr.

Patridge had rendered me service in proposing my name for a clerkship, and
had given other proofs of his attachment. He removed to Chapel Hill where

he published the HARBINGER in 1834 under the management of the University.
The last time I saw him was in the Summer of 1838 at the Brandon Springs.

He then resided in Mississippi, and was connected with a paper published
by Mr. L. A. Besancon of Natchez. In the following year he died of yel-
low fever. At the commencement of the late war, his son, Gen. Isaac M.
Patridge, edited a paper at Vicksburg, and was subsequently an officer

in the Confederate Army.
PLANTERS RESIDING IN TOWN

I do not pretend to remember all the gentlemen in Newbern who owned

plantations in the country. Some of their names occur to mes

1. George Pollock was among the wealthiest men of the State, own-
ing a half dozen plantations or more, and some fifteen hundred slaves.
He kept a well furnished mansion in town, in which President Monroe and
his suite, including Mr. and Mrs. Calhoun, and their two children Andrew

Pickens and Ann Maria, were entertained in 1819. At the public dinner

given to the President, Mr. Stanly proposed -

"Our distinguished guest, the President of the United States.

The laurels of his youth, unwithering as the amaranth, retain all their

luxuriance amid the snows of age."

Mr. Pollock passed his summers generally at Philadelphia and in
Europe, and probably in Newbern but once a year for a short time after

having inspected his plantations and their management. It was said that
~~ SA 6

the order of knighthood had been conferred on him by the King of Great
Britain, and that his true title was Sir George Pollock. As he never
sought or desired office, he was not incommoded by the constitutional
prohibition as to titles of honor and nobility from foreign Princes.

I saw Mr. Pollock only on two occasions, once in Newbern, and at an-
other time in his carriage on the road attended by two outriders in
livery. He was a tall square-built man, of striking Bhysiognomy, and
was a fine specimen of Nature's nobility, without the aid of Royal let-
ters-patent. He was accidentally killed in 1839 at his Roanoke planta-
tion, by a spirited horse rearing up and falling back upon him while he
was in the saddle. Mr. Pollock never married. His immense property was
inherited, I believe by the Deverauxs and Burgwyn families his next of
kine Connected with the visit of Mr. Calhoun to Newbern, I may remark
that his son, then apparently about ten years of age, afterwards mar-
ried a daughter of Gen. Duff Green, and that Anna Maria, then aged about
eight years, became the wife of Mr. Clemson, late charge de Affairs to
Belgium.

2. John Devereaux was the father of George P. Devereaux, merchant
of Newbern, and of Thomas P. Devereaux, a lawyer of Raleigh. His wealth
and dignified character had a sensible influence on society, and in busi-
ness circles his name was similar to that of Rothschild in Europe. When
I was a boy, he entrusted me with a package of deeds which I delivered to
Thomas Spaight, Register of Jones County.

3. John Fanning Burgwyn was by marriage connected with Mr. Pollock
and Mr. Devereaux, and was an Englishman by birth, or of English extrac-
tion. He was somewhat haughty in his manner, and judging by his fresh
looks and ruddy complexion, he was no doubt fond of good things at table,
including wine which then formed part of every gentleman's hospitality.

I have seen accounts of the gallantry of Captain J. H. K. Burgwyn, who
was killed in New Mexico in 1847 while attached to the first regiment

of U. S. dragoons; but whether he was a son of John Fanning, or of George
Burgwyn, who resided near Wilmington, I am not informed. The family was
high minded and patriotic, and I have no doubt whereever the blood pre-
vails there are good fighting qualities.

4. John P. Daves was of the number who held the highest rank in

society, as well from individual character as from wealthy connections.
He was brother of the whole blood to Mrs. Collins, of Edenton, whose

 

 

 
~ Ba i

husband was said to be the largest property holder in the State. Mr.
Daves was also a half brother of Mrs. McKinley widow of James McKinley
who died without issue, leaving the most valuable estate owned by any
citizen of Newbern. Aside from these influences, Mr. D. was constitu-
tionally of great elevation of character, and though popular in high
circles he was by no means a favorite with the masses. It was impos-
sible for him to condescend to electioneering ingenuity, and his de-
feat for Congress, in 1821, by Mr. Blackledge was the natural result.
His first marriage was with Miss Hatch; his second wife was a sister of
Louis D. Henry, and the present Mrs. Daves was Miss Graham. Mr. John P.
Daves died in 1839. The late Gov. Ellis married his daughter.

The residence of Mr. Daves, in Newbern, was on, or very near the
Site of the Palace of the Royal Governors of North Carolina, previous
to the Revolution of 1776. By design or accident it was burned down
long before my day; but it must have been a costly edifice, judging by
the size and quality of the stables, the brick walls which were more
than twenty feet high. The roof had fallen in, or was destroyed by
the conflagration; yet the walls remained in 1824, and I presume still
remain, as a vestige of Royalty interesting from the associations of
the past. Josiah Martin, an Englishman, was the last Royal Governor who
occupied the Palace. John Hawks, the grandfather of F. L. Hawks, was the
architect. General Miranda visited the Palace in 1783, and assured Judge
Martin, the historian, “that the structure had no equal in South America."
A beautiful engraved representation of it is given in Lossing's Pict-.
oral Field Book of the Revolution, Vol. ll, p. 364.

Se Thomas H. Daves, a brother of the preceeding centleman, was the
very reverse of him in popular favor, and had been sheriitfr of Craven county
just for the sake of mixing with the people, and doing them acts of kind-
ness. His fortune was sufficient to enable him to do without office of
any kind. He had a pleasant word for everybody, and seemed to declare,
by the benevolent expression of his face, that his own happiness consisted
in making other people happy. I am not clear enough in my recollection to
state positively whether he married Miss Bryan, or a daughter of General
Durant Hatch. I believe he married both, as he was at one time a widower.
Mr. Daves removed to Greene county, Alabama, where he died. [ do not re-

member his children, except that he had a son named Durant Hatch Daves.

6. Josiah Howard owned an extensive plantation in Jones county, and
~ Seo

had his family residence in Newbern,.where he passed a portion of his
time. His wife was Narcissa Hatch, who was a pious lady and a member

of the Episcopal Church, while her husband was averse to religion. At
her wequest the Rev. Re S. Mason attended the bedside of Mr. Howard in
his last illness, to offer him spiritual consolation if he desired it.
The minister, it was said, met with no encouragement in his labor of
love. He, H., died in July 1822, a post mortem examination was made by
Doctors Boyd and Custis, which showed a complicated disease of the chest.
He left two sons, George W. and James W. Howard, the latter of whom repre-
sented Jones county in the House of Commons in 1831 and 1836 and in the
Senate in 1842 and 1846.

Mrs. Howard was occasionally visited by a beautiful relative - Miss
Narcissa Whitfield, of Lenoir, just matured into womanhood, who was high-
ly accomplished, particularly excelling in musical gifts and culture. She
was too pure for earth - her disposition was angelic - and in 1823 her
gentle spirit ascended to Heaven. An intelligent writer (Mr. Lovick Vail)
published in the SENTINEL, a glowing, yet merited tribute to her memory,
in which he introduced with happy effect, a passage from the touching lines
of Dr. Young on the death of his step-daughter, "Narcissa". The parallel
between the lovely maidens, rendered the quotation from the "Night Thoughts”
very appropriate, aside from the identity of names:

"Sweet harmonist! and beautiful as sweet!

And young as beautiful! and soft as young!
And gay as soft! and innocent as gay!

And happy (if aught be happy here) as good!"

7. John Frink Smith was a gentleman somewhat advanced in age, and had
quite a large family of children. His eldest son I have noticed under the
head of “Law Students". The grown daughters were handsome and pious, and
with their father were members of the Methodist Church. The first time I
saw them was at a camp-meeting near Trent bridge in 1520, when the Rev.
Lewis Skidmore, the presiding elder, preached with his accustomed success
in revivals. Two of the Misses Smith became happy, and embraced their
father, who mingled his rejoicing with theirs at the altar. The scene
had a sympathetic influence, and many other Christians were similarly
affected. Mr. S. has long since passed to his reward, and his daughters
are probably with him to celebrate in heaven the joys which began on earth

in the service of their Redeemer. At this camp-meeting I heard a very im-
pressive discourse by the Rev. Henry B. Howard, of Wilmington, who had

 

 

 

 
~ 894

been educated for the bar. His infidelity had been subdued by a perusal
of the Scriptures induced by an old Christian servant, whose serene coun-
tenance after death told that he was happy. A full account of the exper-

ience of Mr. Howard appeared in the Methodist magazine.

8- Eli Smallwood was successful in accumulating property. His mar-
riage with Mrs. Blackwell, a Northern lady, took place just before my re-
moval from Newbern, and his character for shrewd financial management was
then well-established, although he was not, in 1824, probably over thirty
years of age. Whether he is still alive I have no definite information.
When I last saw Mr. smallwood, forty-nine years ago, I considered him a
fine looking gentleman. Time is quite capricious in its work on man, how-
ever lenient toward the softer sex whose faces, if permitted to represent
the youthful condition of their hearts, never grow old.

9. Asa Jones was a goodly specimen of the wise planter and the court-~
eous city gentleman. He was uniformly neat in his dress, as much from his

own individual taste, no doubt, as to pay tribute to that of his fashion-

able wife, who was Miss Bryan, one of the half-dozen Sisters, so frequently
in these "Recollections". Whatever may have been the congeniality of dis-

position between Mr. and Mrs. Jones for their mutual happiness, there was
a very great disproportion in their Size, as the former was a withered,

diminutive specimen of humanity, weighing about one hundred pounds, while
his better half was probably not less than two hundred on Fairbank's pat-
ent. Nothing in the way of personal contrast could have been more re-
markable. He was pale and emaciated, yet from the buoyancy of his move-
ments his general health seemed to be good, while Mrs. Jones had a com-
plexion rivaling the rose in freshness, and was not less cheerful than
her consort, though from necessity not so active. It has been said by
those best acquainted with her, that she was quite entertaining in the
drawing-room, with an address of peculiar affability. She appeared al-
most daily in her superb carriage and equipments, which rather eclipsed
all competition in town. The milliners liberally participated in her

large expenditures for the adornment of her person. She had no children
to share her affections, and therefore she was compelled to lavish them
upon some other object. Next to loving her husband, of which she gave
abundant prodf, it was natural that she should cultivate the fashions.

The last time I saw Mr. Jones was in New York in 1836, cordial and
gentlemanly as ever. Newbern could boast no worthier citizen.
« 59 -
OLD CITIZENS

Nathan Smith, Isaac Taylor, Nathaniel Street, Abner Pasteur, John
Jones, Samuel Garrick and John Frink Smith, were gentlemen more ad-

vanced in age, apparently than any other citizens of Newbern, within

my knowledge, in the years 1822, 23 and 24.
PASSING REMARKS

From the multiplicity of names introduced it is possible that some
errors may have been committed, especially in Christian names; but I
think the errors, if any, are not frequent. The events and circumstances
as related are accurate in substance, and I have no doubt many of them
will be recognized by most of the inhabitants who were then old enough
to remember, and who still survive. My object in referring so minutely
to pursuits, marriages, children and family incidents will not, I hope,
be misapprehended. The pictures in my mind have been given, not only to
recall the past more vividly as a source of agreeable entertainment to my-
self, but to afford the new generation which has sprung up in Newbern, or
from Newbern ancestors, a kind of local knowledge, more or less biograph-
ical in its scope, which probably might not be communicated by any other
witness. Nothing has been mingled with these "Recollections" either to
reflect on the memory of the dead, or to wound the sensibilities of the
living. What I have said touching manual occupations can certainly give

no offence to a healthy mind, which has worked its way to position from
a subordinate origin. Success of this kind is more honorable and merit-

orious in those who achieved it.

I have no doubt omitted names which ought to have been specially no-
ticed, and failed to chronicle many interesting particulars; but as I have
depended on memory alone in the narrative, after the lapse of half a cen-
tury, or thereabout, I may reasonably expect that no such ommission will
be attributed to design. On the contrary, I have endeavored to preserve
as many names and occurrences as I could remember, which I thought would

be interesting to others, as they certainly are to myself after so long

an interval.

With much propriety I could have introduced the names of many gentle-
men having social and business connections with Newbern who resided in ad-
joining counties. Among these I might include Gen. N. B. Whitfield, John

Washington, John A. Cobh,and Blount Coleman, of Lenoir; and Dr. Alexander
Sledge, Dr. Levi B. Lane, Simmons Harrison, Joseph Bryan, Nathan B. Bush,

 

 
- 59 «

Daniel Y. Shine, Simmons Koonce, John B. Hargett, Isaac B. Hathaway,

William B. Hatch, Frederick Isler Becton, Hardy Brown, Jacob Giles,

Nathan Foscue and William Harrison Green, of Jones county.

As an act of justice merely, I here mention James W. Carney and
Thomas B. Carney, brothers, who were clever and intelligent young
gentlemen, but whose vocation I am unable to specify. They were ex-
cellent scribes, and well skilled in accounts and bookkeeping, and I
believe they were employed in the Banks, or in some public office in

Newbern. James Knight Green was likewise a pleasant young man, appar~
ently well read, and blended in his manner something of the tragico-

comico, if such an expression may be allowed to denote a very original

and singular character.
CONCLUSION

Having completed my "Recollections", I may be excused for a brief
allusion to the misfortunes which came upon the people of Newbern, on
the capture of the town by the naval and military forces of the enemy,
on the 14th day of March, 1862. From an article in HARPER'S WEEKLY

illustrating the conquest, I make the following extracts

"The fruits of victory were six forts, thirty-four heavy

guns, six steam boats, and public property to the amount

of two millions of dollarse..e... The next day (March 15th)
was the Sabbath. By order of Gen. Burnside, all the churches
were thrown open, the army chaplains officiated, and thanks
were returned to God for the signal victory he had granted

the patriot armies."

Knowing the practices of the Union Amy, to desolate and plunder where-
ever they marched or conquered, I thought at the time of reading the order
of worship, that there was more form than piety in these Federal ministra-
tions in the sanctuary. While the army chaplains were proclaiming “peace

and good will to man," through muskets and cannon the terrified inhabit-
ants were flying from their cherished homes, with bleeding hearts, many
of them to suffer more than language can express, and some to die in ex-
ile. The gloom of that calamity still lingers over the town, and similar
fate to the entire South is yet spreading its pestilential vapors. I
speak without malice to the invaders and the spoilsmen. Newbern was the
home of my youth, and it is enshrined in my affections. I love its

ancient prestige; I love to think of the great and good men I have seen

and heard there, and I sincerely hope it may be my privilege to visit the
~ Cs
dear old place once again, and meditate among its hallowed monuments.

THE END.

APPENDIX

It has been my privilege to receive letters from several distin-
guished citizens of Newbern, three of which I here subjoin3; one from
Judge Gaston, in 1834, marked No. 13 from Judge Donnell, in 1855, No.
lls and from Judge Manly, in 1858, No. 11ll. I also received a letter
in 1858, No. 1V, from ex-Gov. Swain, who was then President of the Uni-
versity of North Carolina. As all these letters are so many connecting
links with the Past, the occasions of which are pleasant to recall, I

make free to insert them in the Appendix to my "Recollections of Newbern",
as a tribute to my native State.

HRHeHHHE HE

Number 1]

Raleigh, N. C.
Feb. 25, 1834

Dear Sir:

I received, a few days since, your very polite letter of 28th of
January, and have been in daily expectation ever since, of receiving
also the pamphlet to which you refer as accompanying your letter, but
which has not yet come to hand. Sensible of the proof of your esteem
which is given, by thus deferring to my opinion in a matter which con-
cerns the honor of the legal profession, I have not a little curiosity

to see the pamphlet, and trust that you will have the gocdness to trans-
mit it to me.

Your admiration of my deceased friend, Mr. Stanly, is well-founded.
He was indeed a great man, distinguished pre-eminently for acuteness of
intellect, capacity of conception, a bold, vigorous and splendid elo-

quence. How unfortunate it has been for his family, that he lived so
much for others and so little for himself.

For the flattering sentiments you have been pleased to express to-
ward me individually, I am very grateful. Although I have ever been

anxious that my conduct should be regulated by a higher and more certain

standard of right than the opinion of any set of men, I cannot but feel

 
ie ae

much satisfaction whenever I discover that I have obtained the appre-
ciation of those who are qualified to decide upon what is just and

honorable. I am, dear sir, very respectfully,

Your obedient servant,
Will Gaston

Number ll

Burlington, N. Jersey
Sept. 23, 1855
Dear Sirs
Your very kind letter of the llth instant, addressed to me at New-
bern, has been forwarded to me at this place, where (and at Philadelphia)
I usually pass my Fall months.

The number of the Review has not been forwarded to me, but I shall
meet it at home, a month hence, and will value it for the article to
which you refer. The memory of my relative, Gov. Spaight, is very dear
to me, because I knew him to have been one of those pure, amiable and
excellent men, and true patriots, so seldom found among the public men
of the present day. His son, my deceased brother-in-law, the last Gov.
Spaight, whom you may probably recollect, was, in all respects, worthy
of his name and parentage. He was taken from me within a few years, and

left me almost without a very near, or dear old friend.

I recollect your uncle (Martin Miller) very well, a very retiring,
unassuming and respectable man, with whom, I think, I Never had much
acquaintance. The incident to which you refer, of the check given you,
I do not recollect; but that you were the “obscure country lad," as you
say of yourself, would neither then, or at any time, have been any re-
proach in my estimation. I was an "obscure lad" myself, so far as for-.
tune, or distinguished parentage - distinguished, I mean, in its usual

acceptation. My Father was distinguished, in its true and better sense,

 

 

for integrity, and all that makes the truly good mans; and though not
highly educated, endowed with a good mind, well informed.

The Almighty has blessed me with a very large share of good fortune
through life. "Mens Sana in corpore sane," were enough; but in addition

to these, I have had much to be thankful for - good, kind, and useful

friends at the time I needed them and, true, I had to give up the best
and most valuable friend of all others, the portion of my joys and sorrows
“oo

at middle age - the period of life at which such a separation is the most

severe. May you never have any one, of which I recollect to have seen

stated to be the three greatest ills of life - "In youth to bury one's
Father; at middle age to lose one's wifes and being old, to have no son."

I thank my heavenly Father that he has, as yet, visited me with only one

of these ills. My Father, at a ripe and honorable old age, has been buried

but a few years. I am blessed with a SON, a respectable member of our Bar,
and three dutiful and beloved daughters. Enough of myself, however.

Of the names you mention at our Bar, Gaston, Stanly, F. L. Hawks, J. H.
Bryan and G. S. Attmore, only the latter remains at Newbern, a worthy, re-
spectable man, and still a member of the Bar. J.H. B. resides at Raleigh,
and the destiny of F. L. H. is a matter of history. You are right in say-
ing that my deceased friend and preceptor, in whose office I studied law,
was the greatest of all the distinguished members of our Bar. I knew him
well, and loved him much. I have had much opportunity of seeing and hear-
ing distinguished men. Our Gaston deserved better the enviable title of

the "truly great man," than any person I have ever known.

Very respectfully and truly yours,

John R. Donnell

Number lll

Hillsboro
July 12, 1858

Dear Sirs

I was gratified a few days since (before I left home) at the re-
ception of your letter of the 2d instant. The books to which you re-

fer, “The Bench and Bar of Georgia", were duly received at my house in
Newbern; and as my leisure afforded opportunity, I have taken pleasure

in looking over their pages. I am indebted to them for much agreeable
reading and information.

You are remembered in the Simpson family with kind and respectful

regards; and I may add, with a sympathy in, and a solicitude for, the
success of your pursuits. All take an interest in your welfare, and
desire for you a long life of eminence and usefulness.

The amount of judicial labor which a Circuit Judge in North Carolina

 

 
=~ 62 =

is at this day called upon to perform, is so great as to exclude almost
anything else. I have not seen, and have not therefore had an opportunity
of reading the letters as published in the Times. I hope to be able to do

 

so before long. The object of these letters, as indicated by you, is the
great want of the day - "to give high moral tone to the youth of the coun-

try, and to direct their energies aright." In this object you have my

     

hearty sympathy, and shall have such cooperation as my station will en-
able me to give.

No apology is necessary for what you are pleased to call troubling
me with your letters. They are received with pleasure, and I desire to

assure you of my sincere esteem.

M. E. Manley

Number iV

Chapel Hill
June 7, 1858

Dear Sirs

Saturday's mail brought me your letter of the lst, and the mail
of this date your two volumes, “The Bench and Bar of Georgia", to “
which your letter refers. The Volumes will be placed in the Univer-
Sity Library, as you requested, and will be regarded as a very wel-
come addition to our collections. I leave home tomorrow morning on
a journey to the extreme western counties of the State, undertaken at
the instance of the Trustees, who desire my personal attention to im-
portant interests there. I regret that the numerous and pressing de-
mands on my time will not leave me an hour, previous to my departure,

to examine your work even in the most cursory manner.

I knew the late Judge Gaston, and his friend, Mr. Stanly, person-
ally, familiarly, and, I may add, for one so much younger than either

of them, intimately. It may probably amuse you to learn that Judge
Gaston's letter to which you refer, is not new to me. I resided in

Raleigh in 1834, and well recollect his calling my attention to your
note, and the pamphlet which you subsequently sent him. I believe,
moreover, that I may make slight pretensions to a personal acquaint-

ance with you, having spent an hour at an humble cabin at the Blue
Ponds in Alabama with Judge Porter and yourself in June, 1847.
«he a

It is a source of great gratification to me to witness very fre-
quent evidences of the devotion which the natives of North Carolina,
wherever I find them, in prosperous or adverse circumstances, cherish
for the good old State. This institution owes no small proportion of

its patronage to the undying loyalty of her children “Coelum non ani-

 

mum mutant". Their allegiance they may change - their affection is

 

never withdrawn.

I sat down simply to write an acknowledgement, and am afraid that
if the smallest opportunity was allowed me, I would run into a dissert-
ation. Perhaps it is fortunate for you, that the necessities of my

position impose limits which at present I cannot pass.

D. L. Swain