DStitaeotanguoenaeas “BNA osoe genes OON NS TAMERICA ea LEIA a sees Re a NO: Ss FAP Sonoita es an Pn Outland House by Lois Outland Northampton Scene by Kitty Good ~< - ean inaet - ~— pore ; cca ene ir late ee ae ee Fas cent esto tie = ——*— er ir : : ~ : ; ee - . 7 ee _ . ee 5 as bine pps angen gerianehinc toy . : coh ot SE ee ee I Le OR Te aN ANS 4 : Tie doe gh bed face Si ene PEM aR panne en “ =s 4 ete a wigh etd Sk shite a YY wt ata ae gt _ ¢' aoe ne pee ees am ee J , . . — ee — sees ssa ae [ates aes ae NR iano emensoneers : : e co nee are * - . a oe a — a ae eae a rain till es a Sete SS eee a _ ——$S qq: led a of H ad 4 - —— = —_ = A & fio 457 - re ~ : a f ’ f P4 é « Z , s? ; o Pati teaaeavr ae NRE Ele. SA EG EAL TEEN AR, AS SME Bde SE ith EN as TART ME I rt ES ae TAR SPE Otel ES ead ete Sa ee Oo PS chet abe I) 5 RR er AR PLAN dala PAD ERS hls ee QP Segall eid ew he Ca RL Id dace BEE et IR RP a OO REE, Wher wae Cerne is EAA DO AAA LD, Oe RE Rt ” a ened co emer od Peasy, oe SAAC ESL IRL RELL TET LEE: 1 CLI OE NET NG I WR ARE A ScD LOE PN MRE RU ies FRE ate - PLIERS PE SEE NT i AT ‘Ai: AIOE | AEM AN DE is DRO ELD LEBEN ALMEIDA TITRE AC: PEL A TBI A BRE OIE ML ORE BEL A LI RB OE SN RES, BESTE LIH ALS OEP AL Si 8S AME LE NERS ~ hay ROT ce RET ahs GEST RTH: YOLEN he AE Bt BP ON ADEE ALE LENE TILDE IIE OER LOGE LGE OLE DELI ANSE LEED SALLIE COIL AMOR OAL gE LEAR A BGS MTEL ALE SOLE 6 3B LE OOF GRE Tit BELEN, BEALS EB Ng SME NE ANE 8 NS ERIS INE 0 PS RB LOE IRE HEE PIN CSI ATG 2 PTS ee A iB EAE TIE OSE AE BOB te SB Re eee fe Rew e Foreword Dear Reader, It is our sincere hope that you will with patience and understanding read this short explanation before reading this book. We would like to emphasize what this book is not as well as what it is. We emphatically state that it is not a history of Northampton County and is in no way intended to take the place of one. It has been called a, “glorified scrap book”’. Each member of the Northampton County Bicen- tennial Committee has worked hard collecting information from his or her part of the county. We have pleaded for information from our citizens and we hope that you con- tacted your representative. We are keenly aware that people, places, and things have been left out and for this we are sorry, but at the same time we know itis impossible to cover everything. Everyone will not be pleased, but we feel a duty to try to produce a publication that will in a small way increase our awareness of our county’s rich heritage. Though it be both negative and positive we feel we will accomplish something even if we call to the attention of our citizens just how much history remains to be written. Therefore, we solicit your un- derstanding. Just as we have found mistakes and contradictions by early historians of our area, we also know they will plague us. So, in essence, forgive out human frailties and know that all who have contributed to this book have done it for their love of Northampton County, remembering, “where we go depends upon where we have been”. E. Carl Witt, Chairman Northampton County Bicentennial Committee . | EE HER RANI Bot RNR NERF NN IBD ASL PORES SE 2 ERR, SEE STR ELIE FEAL REL ENOL STI TENA TOE SE ERIE LEE LENE IESE WRT LN EE LENE ONY TRENT I ER, TERETE MOY SREY BIE ARETE MT WE RN ED RNR HR SE AUTEN EMT AL SORT TP" aN FS DST OS ARTI ELE PEARLS RASTA SR PEG Tee ee Ee EO a SRR RT Le EO e eo om # % % Pe ae ~ Ss, A “ “) ah 5 aca id . ats my C ‘ ‘ % st ie e f ip Net cae rm a bs 3 ‘ % ex 2g ™ Beast, Beatin one ae a3 f 5 ms Sia eee CROP! Batis Ghul: GE >. Y > . ee ccaneaamane Cuma : se eee Rak AS yeas ae ; : Sar SME Bee: mae Terr . a 6 Z es ae vee e% ag aie $ i BF a aa * & 4 * ee sy Ged Fae Bie (i ROR ER PERS ge a ae a : ; ~~ 2 = hen ~~ ~~ ~ — * fe — - a ‘ - ~ “oe ~ “ — re — r. =~, - at > ~ ge a ~~ * ~ * * ~~ — a, z * #. Sad € ig - “ * en, hha i. ee ‘ ‘“ ee i ox ’ , Now Thank We All Our God God of our Fathers, known of old, we thank you for those intrepid souls who loved freedom to worship and the right to govern themselves more than their native land. Even as Abraham left his homeland and sought a “‘better place’’ so did our forebears come to America seeking a better place. Thank you for leading them to America, protecting them amidst all the vicissitudes of this wild- nemess land and for the new nation they wrought out under the leadership of God. Forgive us for our sometime — neglect and betrayal of our inheritance. We pray that you, our merciful and loving Heavenly Father, will heal our feverish ways, keep our star still shining and the dream of a better place in our hearts. May there be a renewal of faith in the destiny and purpose of these United States of America. Dr. and Mrs. R. Kelly White Northampton County i —— oe > ——_— I 4 SS ss . PLIES ELS EEE SEER LEER ITE TBS LONER ELLE MOE, IM AE ite ca EEE PTE NAS ESET gS TE Nes hk OI ES GR et me agit We arm e 2 NE il OP de TN AO i AP m “ DOD RE ANN A AN TIRE AEN TI AR RSE gh Th ei an fee z z - | e | | os | 4 er . wes LO TN AAT TE ST TENT E TERN RONEN. TT LOE LT IEE A ETE TOT ES NA a ANE POEM ODAC TEE EDEMA NC METRE RL OAR NANG NE — = ee , Q & ; aa 4 ae 4 . ce co Pe F 5 a JS a pat a — ~—e. ~ / RICHI AHN tee tT Ta Ea a St ihe AON IN, TE NR EI Pot wee ae Pe ate es eh na, (htuas-teniaeas, Rs Ti, WOM nk SAS Be CAE ie A the a TE a I oe pesecse — nil illite nei morse nmr mie aes ee ear = — Table of Contents I. General Histories and Listings II. The War Between the States 7 Ill. Judges IV. Jackson Area 55 | V. Garysburg-Gaston Area 93 VI. Rich Square Area 113 VII. Woodland Area 143 VIII. Conway Area 161 IX. Seaboard Area 181 X. Ending_____ 203 aon = coe ec ; ~~ las! eae Ba EL W. D. Edwards BS eA legac wget si A Ma at: W. W. Grant spo RRR Se OTR PRL ERE LL ELE RS LLL OE OL TE Siok Woe Redan acide iceman Sch en SANA ERAE OIE TA i Ee ea ani lia in rc ie esgic nme General Histories and Listings ee en mea “The Essential Northam pton’— A Portrait Drawn in Affection Who lives in Northampton? What kind of people are they? In the summer of 1947 these questions came winging across the Atlantic from a news reporter of the London Times. With love and affection, our own Bernice Kelly Harris, a resident of Seaboard and a writer of distinction, wrote an answer to these questions which was carried in full in the July 27, 1974 News and Observer and reads as follows: “The Essential Northampton’ — A Portrait Drawn In Affection” While the attitudes, modes, and conventions of Northampton do not differ from those of North Carolina in general, a sense of older cultures, of the grace and revel of other days, of land passing from heir to heir does seem to linger distinctively, giving flavor and piquancy to this section of state. The names of antebellum plantations, of old taverns and race horses, of the hunt, and of primitive peoples are as integral a part of local nomenclature as are Jackson and Rich Square and other little towns spaced through the county every few miles. Added to the more romantic labels, there are Urahaw, Wiccacanee, Potecasi, Occoneechee, and Meherrin, suggestive of wigwam days; Cutawhiskie. Bear Creek, Hunting Branch, Wildcat Swamp, Edwards’ Pocoson, Beaverpond, Paddy’s Delight Creek, Panther Swamp, Pin Hook, and Shell Landing, reminiscent of pioneer days when the hunt was subsistence as well as recreation. Families Stick Here The plantation idea which still seems to linger in the cultivation of the rich Northampton acres survives the plantation system and an older culture that is not otherwise entirely without material evidence, impressive if not provocative of extensive Old Homes and Garden Tours. While there is left only the site of Mount Gallant, plan- tation home of one of Northampton’s illustrous sons, with its slabs of English stone marking the resting places of their noted family, such tours would show homes considerably over a hundred years in which consecutive heirs have lived and are still living, family burying grounds on land still in the possession of great-great-grandchildren, site of holdings that have run to three thousand acres, and colored tenants still on land that was cultivated by their great-grand fathers under the slave system. Plantations first developed along the Roanoke and Meherrin Rivers and near their tributaries which served early planters as highways by which they could travel as well as receive cargoes of slaves brought directly from Africa. Local historians state that the river Negroes, living in what is familiarly known as “The Neck,” until com- paratively recently remained somewhat distinctive in character, preserving their own tribal lore and picturesque dialect. For instance, coming from a part of Africa where salt was unavailable, they were some generations acquiring a taste for the standard fare of fatback and corned herrings. These early settlers of Northampton, formed as a county from Bertie in 1741 and named for the Earl of North- ampton, were principally Scotch and. Scotch-Irish from the British Isles, and later from colonial provinces to the north came French, English, Scotch, and Scotch-Irish. Their descendants are the white population of the county today. However changed the distinctive manorial pattern, Garibaldi and Maretoc and Thornbury and Alvesta, Bull Hill, Mowfield, Big Gees and Little Gees, Odum Farm. Rogers Quarter, The Meadows, The Level, Over-the-Road Farm, among others, are still yielding cotton and com under those names and are as glib to the tongue of colored sharecroppers as are Conway, Woodland or Seaboard. Verona, home of General Ransom, is still in the possession of his family. Longview; home of Willie Jones Long — named for his nationally famous great-great- grandfather, Willie Jones — is a beautiful example of plantation continuity. In it are living the fifth generation, and on the land descendants of slaves have lived con- secutively, with slaves’ great-great-grandchildren _ still calling the Longview plantation home. Her People ‘Belong.’ Warren Place, rebuilt on the site of a plantation house more than a hundred years old and named for one of the early Northampton sheriffs, is the home of Gilbert T. Stephenson, whose great-great-great-grandfather came back from the Revolutionary War to this neighborhood — now called Pendleton — and whose great-great-grandfathers are buried on land still in possession of heirs. The Meherrin River road, from Margarettsville to Severn, is bordered at intervals with old houses that were once manors with slave quarters, The Nancy House, unoccupied but still owned by heirs, faces towards the river rather than the highway. The Jordan Edwards place and Rogers Farm are among other old houses still used by the family. These random examples of continuity and permanence, giving to Northampton people the feeling of “‘belongingness’’ can be duplicated over the county. Many old plantations, such as Branch’s and Deberry’s, and old plantation houses have passed into other hands or alien occupation. There is the Cotton house, built on Sutton Ridge, grant of land from the Earl of Sutherland; formerly distinguished by hand carvings and brass locks and a secret stair. It is now a shell, housing tenants. There is the Boone home, owned by heirs but unoccupied, closed and shuttered in embalmed stillness and dignity, preserving almost intact the furnishings and way of living of other generations. The Pace Changes. Likewise, Faison’s Old Tavern, according to local historians the lively scene in other days of much reveling, of cock fights and English pub conviviality, now operates prosaically as a filling station. Silver Hill, originally a famous race course to which horses were brought from points as far away as Long Island, is now tilled land on which nothing more dare-devil than farm mules plod. The Burgwyn family is only one exponent of the other culture, landed still if more nearly urban now in point of residence, inheriting several large plantations along the Roanoke River from their uncle, George Pollock, The Burgwyns came to Northampton from Craven County in 1840. Henry King Burgwyn designed the courthouse for the county, erected around 1850, and other members of his family have a distinguished record of service to county and State. Harry King Burgwyn of the 26th Regiment at Gettysburg was the youngest colonel to be killed in action, being only 21. Others have established banks, served as county treasurer, clerk of Superior Court, Representative and Senator in the General Assembly. W. H. S. Burgwyn, formerly legislator, has been judge of Superior Court for the past ten years. Northampton is not without representation in state and national affairs. Thomas Bragg was Governor of North Carolina and Attorney-General in Davis’ cabinet; his residence stands in quiet dignity not far from the court- house square. Matt Ransom, General and United States Senator, was the first Ambassador to Mexico, a post, the General confided to county acquaintances, created by Cleveland especially to favor him — with the better salary Involved in the higher rank. Political creation or not, diplomacy obviously suited the General. A legend has grown up in this locale around his hospitality, his diplomatic dealing with tax collector or importunate creditor. One sheriff it is alleged, ran on the sole platform that he would collect the General’s taxes if elected to office. Regardless of crass electioneering, the General’s home, Verona, stands as a symbol of the charm and hospitality of ante-bellum days. Land Sires Lawyers. The General’s, neighbor, Judge Mason, and E. C. Beddingfield were members of the State Railroad Com- mission, which antedated the present Utilities Commission and played an important part in the revolution that Overturned the Republican regime. In jurisprudence, the genius of Northampton seems to flower. Its citizens are inclined toward patronage of, rather than active participation in, the arts. A young portrait painter, Copeland, was gaining considerable reputation when he died. There has been a sprinkling of writers, journalists, local historians like the scholarly P. J. Long, formerly superintendent of education for a quarter century. But the judges — Mason, Barnes, Midyette, Peebles, Burgwyn — all the lawyers reflect the basic predilection of perthampton in respect to public life. The Northampton ayers, a significant organization of. adults from various parts of the county dedicated to the writing and production of one-act plays, were giving an impetus to one phase of cultural development when gas rationing interrupted and the drafting of players to other theaters of action. Currently, under the aegis of the Gilbert Stephensons who commute to Warren Place from Wilmington, Delaware, there is an embryonic plan to effect an organization for- whatever artists and patrons of art there are in this area, with cultural objectives. _ A county library serves every section of Northampton; agriculture, home economics, health and welfare depart- ments function under most efficient administrations. Consolidation has effected a good system of elementary and high schools for white and colored, with improvement in the literacy rate evident. Little headway has been made against adult illiteracy, though classes have been held in- termittently toward that end. Ihe sense of continuity and of goodly heritage is emphasized in the religious background. The map of Northampton is dotted every few miles with churches and chapels, some of them old. St. Luke’s and Potecasi and w Cedar Grove Meeting House are among the older churches, along with Concord, established in 1795, and Pinner’s and Sharon early in the last century. Baptist, Episcopal, Friends, and Methodist churches serve the county, white and colored, from Hebron in the extreme east to Roanoke Chapel in Occaoneechee Neck; and associations and yearly meetings and conferences cement the fellowships of a churched and religious people. The essential Northampton is not backgrounds and older cultures and well-known names alone, not altogether the college trained women and men that make up an im- pressive percentage of the citizenry; it is also the stout- hearted men and women who from some stubborn clearing or new ground made homes and a good life for their families without benefit of plantation slaves, those simple happy people who could stand at their gates and see every foot of land they owned, who loved land not too much to make footpaths across their fields to neighbors’ houses, whose land sense provoked no feuds over boundary or line trees. Northampton Is Broad. The essential Northampton is that colored man and woman of Jonesboro who made their bodies veritable steam engines doing public work and standing knee-deep in mud from sun to sun molding brick by hand, in order that they might acquire land passing from heir to heir; it is that indomitable old woman from Conwell’s Mill who peddled broomstraw and blackberries from door to door over the miles rather than go on relief; it is the harrowingly deformed man of Galatia who helped support his family with the sales of his quaint little baskets, made with his own afflicted hands, and who sang what he called a ‘mean bass,’ withal; or the man down Bynum Road who spent his life keeping peace, gratis, in preference to making peace profitably after it was broken. It is that 12 good-men-and-true who, shocked and angered and enraged over one of the most horrible crimes ever committed in Northampton or anywhere, because of the circumstantial element in the court evidence, returned on June 27, 1947 a verdict of first degree burglary with a recommendation for mercy for the colored criminal. Respects Human Dignity. It is the undaunted old matriarch who at 73 joined an adult illiteracy class that she might learn to read her Bible and sign checks; that gaunt aging share-cropper at Lassiter’s Fork still no nearer his dream of owning a farm, but continuing to make his current home a haven for homeless children of family connections and “‘some sort of how” to provide a living through depressions and panics for his family circle of 20-odd, not one of whom he would “shed” himself of; that kindly country doctor trading pills for plow beams the years his patients have more plows than money. It is that cornfield philosopher who, when challenged by a city resident with, “I bet I could lose you on the streets of Norfolk,”’ retorted: “‘I bet I could lose you in Fountain Creek, too!”’ It is those tired harvesters trudging along Drake’s Crossroads, of nights toward fireside fellowships with neighbors, a brightness of their own creating, a triumph of human spirit over bleak horizons of circumstance. The essential Northampton is, indeed, the spirit of the people who, not uncompromisingly heroic in equivocal situations, yet become veterans and casualties of Corregidor and Gaudalcanal and Normandy beaches and Iwo Jima. Essentially, Northampton takes pride in the record of its good and self-respecting colored people, in men like the late W. S. Creecy, for many years head of Creecy Institute at Rich Square and a sound and wholesome influence in his section ; like Ernest Sugg who for 20 years has taught in the three-teacher school near Jackson and built toward a better community ; like workers in the Willis Hare High School in Kirby township which has reports of excellent work: like J. N. Gill, under whose long administration Coates school in Seaboard grew into a four year high school, with agriculture and home economics departments. Record Brings Pride. There is pride, too, in the creditable record of race relationships through the years and in the jealous concern on the part of leading citizens for the fair treatment of colored people. There is a common saying in Northampton that the colored man stands a better chance in law than the white man. The facts, according to an outstanding lawyer in Jackson, seem to bear this out. It is his opinion that if the evidence in a case weighs about equally, a jury in this county will nine times out of ten tip the scales in favor of the Negro. The protective instinct and indulgence have on oc- casions risen beyond any brotherhood thesis and become down-to-earth practice. In adversity and in danger these have asserted themselves in behalf of the colored man. White men have rushed into danger, risking their lives during emergencies — notably to rescue tenants from flooded lowlands during river freshets — and they have responded to exigency otherwise when the response in- volved great burden. They have helped him build his churches and chapels and schools, provided clinics and hospitalization, cheered his achievements. In the same spirit and in the limit of his ability the colored man has reciprocated. Essentially a Farmer. The deep sense of land motivates Northampton. Northampton is a farmer. Of the 125,000 acres in cultivation, from an approximate total of 325,000 acres of farm and woodland, an average of 45,000 acres is planted in peanuts, 20,000 in cotton, 30,000 in corn — the three principle crops — while tobacco trails with 660 acres. The average cotton production is 450 lint pounds per acre and peanuts 1,200 pounds per acre. The diversification that was in evidence during the plantation system of farming collapsed after the War Between the States as a result of the demoralization of labor and depletion of capital. During the period of adjustment, crops which required the least labor and could be most readily converted into cash had to be grown, and cotton was king. The commercial production of peanuts began during the last two decades of the nineteenth century, and today Northampton ranks first among all other counties in the State in peanut production and seventeenth in the nation. The rich lowgrounds of the Roanoke and Meherrin Rivers, the well drained terraces, the fertile uplands and new grounds, the fine sandy loams and silty clays all present at harvest time a picture of pastoral and sylvan plenty that is idyllic. The agrarian idea is not gentle of idyllic in Northampton, however, but more nearly Big Business, highly specialized and scientific. The peanut shocks, shading from lacy green at digging time to weathered brown, at threshing, may emboss slope and lowground in picturesque polk-dot design, or like fat old ladies standing comfortable and ungirdled and fulfilled. But they are so because soils have been analyzed and the Norfolk fine sandy loams and Marlboro and Wickham and Altavista and Congaree silty clays adapted to right uses, because commercial fertilizers have been poured down, an average of 18 to 20 tons a farm per year; because winter legumes, rye and crimson clover and vetch and lespedeza have been used to the millions of pounds crops rotated; because they are money, five million dollars annually. Land Is Fertile. Likewise, cotton, lapping luxuriantly in the rows in August and fruiting toward white field and a million miniature Santa Claus beards, is investment, not eclogue, bringing in approximately two million dollars a year. Livestock and cattle breeds are being developed, notably on Holoman Farms and Tall Pines Plantation, with out- standing dairying at Longview; commercial turkey raising, a model being Rogers Farm near Severn, and poultry flocks and hatcheries add to the cash income, the total of which for all farm products is eight million dollors annually. While values are only approximately fifty per cent on the tax book, Northampton is rated as an eleven million dollar county. Farmer means investor, without bucolic connotation, necessarily; and farming is a corporation with highly specialized idiom and as intricate ramifications as a metropolitan syndicate. A sharecropper might easily daze a cosmopolite with his articulation of the idiom. It might well occasion no surprise, indeed, for the insignificant looking fellow at the hammermill to be heard referring to the theory of relativity or extrasensory perception; or the shirt-sleeved man at the disk harrow recalling that Carlyle’s “French Revolution” and Millay’s “Conversation at Midnight” were reproduced from ashes; or the fat farmer on the tractor opining on ideologies and theses of government. For graduates from Carolina and Duke and Guilford and State and Wake Forest come back to farm in Northampton — albeit from town homes, principally. They may be bankers, lawyers, legislators, doctors, merchants, druggists; but they are farmers, too, with as interesting assets, perhaps, from farms as from fees of office. Sense of Continuity. The sense of land is not all related to the business of dollars. Heritage is inherent, the idea of land transmitted from ancestors and transmissable to heirs. While North- amptonyseems to be a county of large farms and big landowners, actually 33 per cent of the farms are less than 90 acres, and only 16 per cent more than 100. The pattern even among the comparatively big landowners is no longer vicinal and compact, but bordered by various ownerships that keep the surveyor straightening out boundaries. Land is where they can buy it, and buy it they do big prices against competitive bidding. But the background is con- tinuity, land passing from heir to heir. The social design is conventional, though rockfish muddles, perhaps squirrel muddles too, seem to be a sectional basis for gatherings that are just picnics elsewhere. Peanut threshings are often the occasion for bucolic, old- fashioned feeds, of the layin-by of crops for big brunswick stews and barbecues; in the winter, hog-killings are — SS DSS 2 eet OR ee Fie SO . festivals of neighborliness, in town and county, with platters of “‘fresh’’ making the rounds like May baskets. Connoisseurs rate Northampton hams, cured by family or neighborhood recipes, quite as high as those with more famous labels. Deer hunts through the creeks and swamps of Northampton, fishing in the mill, bird hunting in woods and fields are seasonal diversion. Teas, bridge, luncheons, dinner parties, log cabin suppers are as likely to be county as neighborhood in scope, so close and so neighborly are inter-town contacts. It is a good county, this Northampton. Northampton History by Hazel Griffin During 1963 North Carolina is celebrating the 300th anniversary of the granting of the Carolina Charter. Through the celebration the state is expressing its con- sciousness of its heritage, history, and culture. Several counties are participating in the anniversary event with programs, projects, and displays. Northampton County too has its share of heritage even though much of its history is unrealized and certainly unwritten. The county, 504 square miles, was formed in 1741 from Bertie County, which was formed in 1729 from the Albemarle precinct. Thus, Northampton as a part of old Albemarle, is among the earliest sections of the state to be settled. The county took its name from George, Earl of Northampton, a British nobleman, the brother of the Earl of Wilmington. The two earliest deeds in Northampton were copied from the Bertie precinct records. Both concern land on the south side of the Meherrin River. Joseph Boon granted to Matthew Strickland a tract that was part of Thomas Boon’s 1723 patent, and Matthew Strickland deeded to Joseph Strickland a tract granted to William Boon, Nov. 11, 1723. The first deed recorded Nov. 21, 1741 after the for- mation of Northampton was by Rowland and _ Phillis Williams to Anthony Robinson, York County, Virginia, for land on the Roanoke River, the land being part of a land patent of William Brown.deceased, who sold the land to Williams. Other of the earliest land grants after the founding of the county were in 1742 to Thomas Wall and in 1744 to Richard Pace, John Smelly, and Robert Warren. Prac- tically all of the land was patented during the 1740-1790 period. Only small tracts were patented after 1790. Before 1741 however deeds indicate early owners of land. From the deed books the earliest mention of a land grant or patent in Northampton is that of Richard Braswell, 1706. Other early patents were held in 1712 by Thomas Howell; in 1718 by Phillip Jones of Surry County, Virginia; in 1719 by John Green, John Colson, Rebecca Braswell. Joseph Boon, Patrick Maule and Benjamin Williams; in 1720 by John Cheserby and John Farrow; in 1722 by Henry Baker and Edward Barnes; in 1723 by William Boon, Thomas Howell, John Lee, John Nelson, Richard J arnagan and Richard Washington (of the George Washington family); and in 1725 by William Ricks and Robert Edwards. Other land owners before 1741 were family names of Kerbey, Baggett, Hart, Hayes, Joyner, Glover, Bridgers, Turner, Tyner, Parker, Wheeler, and many others. In 1755, Northampton had a total of 1,736 taxables and 676 men serving in the militia. By 1762 there were 2,280 persons named in the tax list, 1,109 being white and 1,171 black. Of these only about 235 paid taxes. John Edwards was county clerk at that time. Names of the 1762 list familiar in Northampton today were those of Barrett, Barrow, Boon, Bridgers, Carter, Ellis, Davis, Daughtrey, Deloach, Faison, Gay, Garris, Gee, Griffin, Harris, Hayes, Johnson, Lassiter, Lewis, Mecham, Parker, Parks, Revel, Rogers, Martin, Long, Sauls, Sikes, Taylor, Vaughan, Vinson and Wheeler. By 1786, the population had increased greatly. The records of Eaton Haynes, clerk at that time, show a white male population of 2,346, white female 2,165, and blacks 3,709. With approximately 850 heads of households listed, the number of slaves averaged about four per family. The largest slaveholder was Allen Jones, who in 1768 advertised in the Virginia Gazette 1450 acres of good tobacco land and 200 acres of low ground on the Roanoke River. Included in the sale were dwellings and orchards of 500 peach trees and 200 apple trees. The fruit was used in those days for brandy making. Other large slaveholders were William Clements with 53 slaves: Harwood Jones with 49; William Eaton who lived at Eaton’s Ferry with 45; Priscilla Williams, 39; William Ruffin, 37; Mary Mason, 33; John Branch, 31; Henry Deberry, 30; Benjamin Edwards, 27; Jonas Wood, 26; James Wood, 25; and Joseph Wood, 24. Incidentally, it is believed that Woodland was named for the Wood family named in the list above. In 1794, the court minutes show that Northampton had then 445,647 acres of land, 1,587 free poll and 4,164 black poll. Also in the county were 148 ‘wheels of pleasure’. Forty-six town lots were listed as taxable. The first official census of the county was taken in 1790 by order of the newly formed national or federal government. The 1790 census showed Northampton’s population to be 9,981. The latest census (1960) lists the population as 26,811, a not remarkable increase for 200 years. The original list of the county’s 1762, 1786, and 1790 tax lists are in the Department of Archives, Raleigh. Northampton is more fortunate than many counties in the matter of preserved records, yet it is one of the few counties in the state whose history has not been put into book form. In fact, scarcely nothing of its history or people has been told. In 1974, the county had 339,986 acres of farm, woods, pasture land, with 296,223 acres in farm land, and 99,776 in cropland. In crops were peanuts 28,916 acres, cotton 26,446, soybeans 14,083 and smaller acreage in alfalfa, irish potatoes, and watermelons. Northampton leads all counties in the nation in peanut production. Turpentine and tar were vital commodities in the early days, followed by cotton. Timber sales have saved county farmers during depressions. Carl Goerch said, “Northampton is made up of agriculturist liberals.”’ This article appeared in The News, Murfreesboro, N. C. March 28, 1963. Prehistoric Northampton County Life in this area known as Northampton County had its beginning many centuries ago. The rich lands fed by her rivers and many streams were formed countless vears before the peoples of Northampton were married to this land. Two hundred million years ago our land was scraped by glaciers pushing their way down from the north. Evidences of this ancient invasion are found even today with large chunks of tumbled and worn petrified wood deposited in various sections of the county. Some of these pieces were brought here from as far north as the present state of New York. Northampton also has her own native examples of petrified wood which exhibit the fact of her dense and lush forests centuries ago. Mr. Q. J. Stephenson of Garysburg, who for many years has unearthed this county’s prehistory, has found twenty-five different types of petrified wood native to our county. Pine, hickory, and oak grew on our land thousands of years ago, even as today. A layer of blue mud lies over this age. Today streams have cut through the soil to expose this layer established before history. Within this layer, one can find numerous shells as evidence of the time when the ocean covered our land. The sea last covered this area thousands of years ago and its shore was just west of the present city of Weldon. Shark’s teeth at Watson’s Mill have been a curiosity for decades. Northampton’s soil still reveals shells, coral, whale bones and other examples of this domination by the ocean. The animals of the sea swam over this area until the sea receeded leaving the land once again to the land animals. Several years ago, Mr. Q. J. Stephenson, while setting mink traps, discovered a “log” sticking out of a stream bank. This “‘log’’ as he later discovered was the four foot long leg bone of a mastadon. From this site of what is now called “‘Garysburg Mastadon,” Mr. Stephenson has recovered a number of bones and bone fragments including a kneecap, a tusk, and a tooth (with enamel still on it.) Exactly when the first humans made their footprints in our land, is not certain. The rich soil and plant and animal life must have been attractive to those prehistoric wan- derers. Indian relics are abundant in our county and extend man’s existence here, back thousands of years. A significant find however, is that of an authenticated arrowhead of the Folsom period. This find could set man’s existence in our county back a hundred centuries. Indians in Northampton County English settlers in Northampton County encountered Indians. They were an agricultural people, but also depended on hunting and fishing, according to the writing of E. Lawrence Lee, in Indian Wars in North Carolina, 1663-1763, a 1963 publication. These people had an organized way of life, living in villages and towns which varied in size from a few to as many as two hundred or more. Each had a chief or a head man as leader. The In- dians had an uncomplicated life style before the coming of 6 ee es : ise a pa the whites, raising some grain, tobacco, vegetables and fruits with additional food provided by fishing and hunting. Surplus foods of all kinds were dried and stored in town storehouses for future use. They also depended on their surroundings to provide the materials for the tools which were fashioned from such things as stone and bones. Most of the history of these colorful people is unknown because they had no written language. The Meherrin Indians were the predominant tribe in Northampton County. Meherrin Indians Meherrin Indians came from the Susquehanna area be- tween Maryland and Pennsyvania about 1675, according to Roy Johnson, Roanoke-Chowan News, July 20, 1958. They were called Susquehannas. They came to the old Saponnic Town on the Meherrin River near Lawrenceville, Virginia. Historian R. D. Connor says the town (referred to by Johnson as Saponnic) was called Christina (now sp. Christianna) and was the home of the Saponi Indians. Connor also identifies the Saponis with the Nottoway River in present Brunswick County. The river divides Virginia and North Carolina. Colonel Byrd in his account of his surveying the state line refers to the Saponi Indian School at Christina. The school was fortified for protection against the savage Tuscaroras, but it was the Mohawk Indians who attacked the Saponis or the Meherrins in 1717, dispersing them. Some came into the Meherrin and Roanoke river areas of Northampton, only to be scattered by maurauding Catawba Indians about 1727. Some of the Meherrins settled on the Potecasi Creek, Urahaw and Cutawhiskie Swamps. Fragments of their civilization have been found on these waterways as well as on those in Hertford County, including Chapel Branch, near St. John’s. In 1775, colonial records show 28 Indians still in Northampton. Many mulattoes in the Winton area of Hertford and_ the Woodland area of Northampton are of Meherrin blood. Around Woodland the Pierce family is reputed to be of Meherrin ancestry. The earliest Pierce settler worked on the Wiley Jacobs farm and stated he was “part Meherrin”’. Believe it or not THE PEOPLES PRESS SALEM, N. C. SEPTEMBER 29, 1871 Wonderful Discovery A Cave of Dead Indians Mammoth Remains The following information is given by gentlemen of highest character and credit who have seen with their own eyes and touched and tested with their own hands the wonderful objects of which they make report. The workmen engaged in opening a way for the project- ed railroad between Weldon and Garysburg struck Monday about one mile from the former place in a bank beside the river a catacomb of skeletons, supposed to be those of Indians of a remote age and a lost and forgotten race. The bodies exhumed were of strange and remarkable formation. The skulls were nearly an inch in thickness, the teeth were filed sharp, as are those of cannibals, the enamel perfectly ES ne Ce nae eae ae preserved; the bones were of wonderful length and strength-the femur being as long as the leg of an ordinary man, the stature of the body being probably as great as eight or nine feet. Near their heads were sharp stone arrows, stone mortars in which their corn was brazed, and the bowls of pipes, apparently of soft friable soap-stone. The teeth of the skeletons are said to be as large as those of horses, one of them has been brought to this city, and presented to an officer of the Petersburg Railroad. The bodies were found closely packed together, laid tier on tier as it seemed. There was no discernable ingress into or egress out of the mound. The mystery is who those giants were ; to what race they belonged, to what era and how they came to be buried there. To these inquiries no answer has yet been made; and meantime the ruthless spade continues to cleave skull and body asunder, throwing up in mingled masses the bones of this heroic tribe. We hope some efforts will be made to preserve authentic and accurate accounts of these discoveries; and to throw some light, if possible, on the lost tribe whose bones have been thus rudely disturbed from their sleep in the earth’s bosom. Early Religion Before church buildings were constructed, ministers traveled the countryside staying in private homes where they preached. Methodist Thomas Coker who visited in the county in 1785 wrote in his diary of Bridges-Creek church which belonged to the Church of England, saying it was in low country where there were an ‘‘astonishing number of frogs and a high mortality rate’. Of Roanoke-Chapel, eight miles from the Virginia line, Coker said the talk there was chiefly of slaves. Between 1763 and 1775, Devereux Jarratt, an Anglican minister of Virginia and a forerunner of Methodism came into the county preaching a “peculiar doctrine in a peculiar manner, advocating remission of sins”’, according to Guion Griffin Johnson in Ante-Bellum North Carolina. Jarratt said he came regularly into the county and his revivals awakened the people. By 1778, the Roanoke Methodist circuit was in existence. Two other itinerant Virginia Methodists who worked in the county were Phillip Cox and John Easter. In 1788, Bishop Asbury reported that he found the people in Northampton easy to preach to and wrote “I know that God and Christ dwell in the hearts of the people”. In 1770, an Episcopal missionary found ‘‘New Lights Baptists” increasing rapidly in the county. In the early 1800’s camp meetings became popular and remained so until the Civil War. In 1808 Elder Phillip Bruce advertised a camp meeting in the county and requested those not accustomed to good behavior not to attend. Rules were set up for good conduct. Carriages and wagons met river boats to take passengers inland to the Camp meetings which lasted for several days. Between 1760-1790, the first Methodist, Baptist, and Friends (Quakers) houses of worship were built in North- ampton county. Early meetings of some of these groups were held in private homes and under brush arbors when an itenerant minister came into the area. The earliest church . aS ter ger . 3 ‘ “aOR - hago SAP nll a Hm OTS Sire epee ge, eC Sees PR TT ee eae ee eee see ta g thnke em Aiter be 2 me, Peps ang spe - aes > buildings were small, one-room weatherboarded structures. Some had dirt floors. The first Friends Meeting House was builtin Rich Square in 1760. The first Methodist churches were Concord (near Seaboard) and Rehoboth (near Jackson) in 1798. The oldest continuously used church in the county is Concord. The first Baptist churches were Potecasi in 1775 and Elam (near Gaston) in 1788. The church revival in the 1700’s coincided with that in ad- joining counties and in Virginia. In the 1820's the Methodists experienced another revival, and in the 1840’s both Baptists and Methodists had a spurt of growth. The last era of growth for these two denominations were in the 1880's and gain in the first decade of the 20th century. Although the Friends Society has had four meeting houses in the county, only the one at Woodland is now functioning. In the county the Baptists of the West Chowan Association have 18 churches, the Methodists 17, the Independent Baptists |, the Episcopal 2. The white Baptists have a total membership of 4,121 and the white Methodists 3,171. The Episcopal Church in Northampton County The history of the Anglican Church in Northampton dates from the establishment of Bertie’s Northwest Parish in 1727. The earliest recorded services were conducted by Peter Fontaine, chaplain with the party that surveyed the Virginia-North Carolina dividing line in 1728-29. Money for the erection of chapels was first raised in 1735-37. In 1759 the portion of Northwest Parish that lay in Northampton was renamed St. George’s, and that parish welcomed its first rector, William Fanning. By the time of the Revolution, St. George’s had a substantial parish church (situated near present-day Mt. Carmel Baptist Church) and four active chapels: St. John’s near Sum- merall’s Fork, St. Paul’s between Conway and Pendleton, and Bridger’s Creek Chapel below Bryantown. The rector when the Revolution began was Charles Edward Taylor, and the vestrymen bore such names as Atherton, Edmunds, Gee, Wood, Figures, Bennett, Pace, Hough, Williamson, Thompson, and Smith. Taylor’s loyalty to the American cause is attested by his service as chairman of Northampton County's Committee of Safety. After the Revolution services were held as long as clergymen were available, but the lack of a bishop and a general decline in religious sentiment brought an end to the Anglican organization in Northampton by 1800. Not until the 1830’s and 1840’s, some years after the Episcopal Diocese of North Carolina was formed, did signs of revival appear in the county. The bishops and_ neighboring clergymen made visits to the area and performed occasional services. In 1848, the Rev. William H. Harison was assigned missionary duty in the county, and soon a small church was erected in Jackson. When that building was consecrated as The Church of The Saviour by Bishop Levi S. Ives on May 4, 1851, the Rev. Frederick Fitzgerald took charge and led the new parish into union with the diocesan convention. Its first vestry was composed of Dr. William Barrow (senior warden), Thomas Bragg (later governor), Henry K. Burgwyn, John B. Bynum, Samuel Calvert (donor of the land on which the church was built), John Randolph, Thomas D. Sterling (who soon moved away and was replaced by David A. Barnes), and Edmund Wilkins (the only resident of the western part of the county). From 1859 through the Civil War the parish was served by Frederick Lightbourne, a native of Bermuda who lived at Thornbury plantation where, in addition to his church work, he served as tutor to the children of Henry K. Burgwyn. Throughout the pre-Civil War period the parish was noted for its work with the black population, par- ticularly those blacks who were the property of members of the congregation. Late in 1858, largely through the efforts of Edmund Wilkins, a mission was established in Gaston, where a small building was consecrated by Bishop Thomas Atkinson on May 7, 1859. In 1867 that building was moved from the dying town to a site adjoining the entrance to the Wilkins family’s Belmont plantation. From 1877 until 1890 both Northampton congregations thrived under the Rev. Gilbert Higgs. The Jackson church was enlarged, and at Gaston a new building was erected and consecrated as St. Luke’s on June 12. 1889. William TT. Picard, a _ respected Jackson businessman, served first as lay reader under Higgs and later as perpetual deacon. Through his efforts, services were held for several years in Rich Square, Margaretsville, Seaboard, Garysburg, and Pleasant Hill, but no permanent congregations were assembled in those places. On the night of September 29, 1895, the Jackson church was destroyed by fire, and the congregation was forced to hold services in its parochial school, where Miss Lucretia Whitfield taught for many years. Through the determined efforts of its members under the direction of William T. Picard, the Church of the Saviour was rebuilt in stone and ready for services by November 17, 1898. When the debt had been removed, it was consecrated by Bishop Joseph B. Cheshire, Jr. on June 19, 1904. At that time it was considered one of the best appointed churches in North Carolina; its windows, all installed at the time it was built. offer a remarkable display of stained glass of the period. The Peebles and Ransom windows are particularly im- pressive. In the first quarter of the twentieth century both Northampton congregations suffered from the removal of many families and individuals who had been members. But in the late 1920's, under the Rev. Lewis N. Taylor at Gaston and the Rev. deSaussure P. Moore at Jackson, the work of the Episcopal Church in the county began a modest revival. Today the Rev. Robert M. Bird serves both congregations. Although their numbers have never been great, these churches have consistently furnished North- ampton with responsible men and women for leadership in community affairs. Baptist Churches The 18 white Baptist churches are a part of the West Chowan association formed in 1882, which was formerly a part of the Chowan association organized in 1806, which grew out of the Kehukee association organized in 1796, according to Dr. G. W. Paschal. Only two churches date back to the 18th century, Potecasi (1775) and Elam, near Gaston, (1788). The Potecasi church was founded by the Rev. Lemuel Burkett. who organized Burkett’s church, later called Sandy Run if Bertie county near the Northampton line in 1750. Burkett also organized the Kehukee association of churches. Thé present Potecasi brick church begun in 1927 is the third house of worship in Potecasi. The second, a large wood structure with a slave gallery stands in a wooded area to thé rear of the present building. The first structure of battet board was in mid-town Potecasi. A brush arbor on the creek was used prior to the first board structure. Elam church; Gumberry, was organized in 1788 as Vasser’s meeting house (at that time nearly all churches were called meeting houses, only the Quakers have retained the term) and re“ organized in 1844 as Elam. Two houses of worship havé occupied the same site, the second being dedicated July 1920. Not until 1821, or 32 years later, was a third Baptist church founded, that of Mt. Carmel near Jackson. However it was a mission known as Smith’s Church as faf back as 1821. The large rectangular white weatherboard church was built in 1847 on the original five-acre plot. Begun during the first half of the 19th century were] Roberts Chapel 1848, Rich Square 1854, Hebron 1856; and Galatia 1852. Roberts Chapel at Woodard’s Crossroads was first an interdenominational ‘“‘missiod chapel’’. It is not known for whom it was named. In 1853 the site was deeded by the governor of North Carolina t0 the Baptists. On June | and 2, 1861, at the opening of the Civil War, Roberts Chapel, along with all Chowal association churches, observed two days of fasting and besought the protection of God against the ‘“norther® fanatics”. A new wooden church was built in 1871, burned in 1924, and replaced by a large brick structure on a new site in Pendlton. The present Galatia brick church was built in 1963. The Rich Square Church, first called Corinth, wa$ three-fourths of a mile south of Rich Square. It was organized in 1853 by 20 white members and 10 Negr@ slaves. In 1891, a part of the members built a place o worship in Rich Square. A few stayed at Corinth, which later became a Negro Methodist church. The present Rich Square church was built in 1951. Hebron, near Woodland: was first organized as an anti-mission body but latef reorganized as a missionary church. The small framé church was burned January, 1964 and replaced by a small brick structure the same year. A lapse of 34 years occurred before any additional Baptist churches were built in the county. In the late 1 9th century the Jackson 1882, Margarettsville 1889, Seaboard 1892, Creeksville 1892 and Severn 1896 churches weré instituted. Seaboard’s brick church was built in 1919. It some of the churches of this period deacons were referred t0 4 as “elders” and the governing committee as “‘presbyters’ * Twentieth century churches are Woodland 1902: Conway 1905, Lasker 1906, Ashley’s Grove (near Cot’ way) 1909, Bethel (near Seaboard) 1916. Lasker’s church was completed in 1908. Woodland’s wooden structure wa replaced by a brick one in 1949. Ashely’s Grove, named fot Ashley Liverman, had its origin from a Sunday School organized as early as 1892. Its first church building wa$ completed in 1911, but burned in 1968. A new brick church was dedicated on August 10, 1969, its debt being paid in 1970. In 1916 the average pastor’s salary was about $4.00 for pastoring one church, but a pastor would often serve from three to five churches. The Roanoke church near Rich Square, founded in 1885 had an enrollment of 30 in 1926, and was not mentioned in association minutes after 1936. Some Baptist ministers with long years of service in the county have been Dancy Cale, died 1931, with almost 40 years of service, Lonnie Sasser, and Charles W. Scar- borough. Some outstanding lay associational leaders have been J. T. Bolton of Rich Square, P. M. Fleetwood of Jackson, R. T. White of Conway, Miss Una White of Severn, and Noah W. Britton of Woodland. Methodist Churches Concord church near Seaboard and the Virginia line was the first Methodist meeting house in Northampton. A deed for the land was given June 12, 1783 by Howell Hobbs of Brunswick county, Virginia, to Matthew Myrick and Nathaniel Mason of Brunswick and Henry King and John Moore of Northampton. These same men signed a covenant on June 5, 1793 to construct a church building on the lot. The small white clapboard church is in use today, making it the oldest continually used church in the county. The second oldest Methodist church is Rehoboth, establsihed in 1798. Rehoboth was founded by Richard Whitaker, Jr. who was ordained March 4, 1804. The land for the church was purchased from Eliphas Lewis for one pound sterling and was deeded Agust 28, 1798 to the first trustees: Richard Whitaker, William Brewer, Absolam Grant, William Grant, and Matthew Griffin. The church was first called Rehoboth Chapel and was visited by Bishop Asbury four times. The present church was built in 1857, its slave gallery being removed in 1908. Tremendous growth in Methodism occurred between 1821-1839 when eight new churches were formed. The first of these were Pinners (near Rich Square) and Oak Grove (near Gaston) in 1821. Land for Pinners was given by Joseph Pinner. The original church remained in use until 1973, when it was officially closed but it is being cared for as a memorial by the United Methodists. Oak Grove has had three church buildings, the last being built in 1948. David H. Clements gave the land for the original church. In 1822, Zion church (near Conway) was built. It has had four church buildings. The first was a one-room log cabin with a dirt floor, the second was of wood built in 1828 on the site of the present church, the third was used from 1860 to 1950 when it was re placed by the present brick structure. In 1824 both Bethany in Milwaukee and New Hope in Lasker were founded. The Lasker Methodist Church, founded in 1909 merged with New Hope in 1966. Land for Bethany was given by Joel Pierce and his wife Jinny. In 1830, land was deeded for the Pleasant Grove church, but the building was not completed until 1836. Its present-day Gothic structure of wood was built in 1924. In 1839, both Sharon on the Severn-Margarettesville road and Severn churches were organized. Sharon was built on land given by Micajah Harris. In 1955 a new church was erected. The Severn Methodist church was first known as Providence or Northampton Chapel, (said by two Methodist historians of the county to be “interdenominational”) between Cross Lox and Ramsay’s Mill, four miles northwest of Mur- 9 freesboro. In 1915 a group of Providence Methodists built a church in Severn. The Jackson and Garysburg churches came into being about mid-19th century. Jackson, organized in 1845, is now in its third building, the first being a wood box-like structure with a small balcony. The present building was built in 1906. The Garysburg church was built in 1849 on land given by a non-Methodist, Major R. B. Gary. The church was used as a hospital in 1861 during the Civil War. Major repairs were made in 1956 as a result of Hurricane Hazel. During the late 19th century, five new churches were established: Lebanon, Seaboard, Shiloh, Woodland. and Rich Square. Lebanon, organized in 1878, was destroyed by fire in 1905 and rebuilt in 1907. The church, built on land given by Henry Meacham, was begun after North- ampton Chapel meeting house at Jordan’s Crossing was abandoned in 1855. Seaboard, organized in 1880, has had two houses of worship, the first in 1885, the second in 1922. Also in 1880 the Shiloh church came into being. It was remodeled in 1925, a new church was built in 1925 and another one in 1973. It has 300 members today. The first Woodland church of weatherboard was built in 1883 on land donated by deed in 1892 by Paul Harrell. The present brick church was completed in 1927. In 1896, the Rich Square church was built of wood but was later veneered. The last Methodist church to be organized in the county was Conway in 1904. The first church was on high- way 158 east, mid-town. The second church of stone was built in 1949 on highway 305 south. Several old Methodist churches have been abandoned. the oldest being Smith’s Old Chapel organized in 1794 to be used only by Bishop Asbury or “anyone whom he appointed”. The chapel was located across the road from Mt. Carmel Baptist church. Another abandoned church was Moore's Old Meeting House, established possibly in 1799 and located about half way between Jackson and yarysburg, opposite Longview Avenue. In the town of Gaston on the east side of Ferry Road a Methodist meeting house was established in 1849 but no longer exists. Also, near Pleasant Hill and Turner’s Cross Road a combination Methodist church and Masonic Temple was constructed on land made available by an 1851 deed. The 1939 records show that a Portuguese Methodist mission near Gaston- Garysburg was then in existence. Records show that in the early Zion Sunday School the “Blue Back Speller’’ was taught to aid the uneducated members to read the Scriptures. In 1828, people attended Zion from an area of over 150 square miles. Three of the trustees that year were from Hertford county. Also, in the early days of Methodism most of the churches in North- ampton, Gates, and Hertford counties belonged to the Virginia conference although the N. C. conference was organized in 1836. General Layfette stopped at Zion to shake hands with his well-wishers on his 1825 visit in the county. The Society of Friends Records show that the Society of Friends (or (Quarkers) was one of the first Religious Sects to establish a meeting house in the county. Guion Griffis Johnson in Ante-Bellum North Carolina reports Friends meetings in his leadership $10,000 worth of improvements have been made, and through cooperation with the other churches of the Circuit, namely, St. John A. M. E. of Conway and Allen Chapel A. M. E. of Jackson, built a new parsonage in Rich Square. The old Willow Oak School was located about 4 mile from the present Creecy High School. The building was of perpendicular slabs with a chimney occupying each entire end of the structure. The floor was of dirt with logs used for seats. About 100 pupils were in regular attendance, some walking to school as far as from 3 to 5 miles. Some of the teachers were: Miss Anna Skinner of New Haven Conn., Mr. J. W. Weaver of Rich Square, N. C., Prof. William Jennings, Phil, Pa., Mr. John Reynolds, Murfreesboro, N. C., Miss Annetta Taylor, Hampton, Va. and Mr. William Brewer, Rich Square, N. C. In 1899 Willow Oak Schooi was consolidated with Rich Square School to form what became the W. 5S. Creecy High School. The Willow Oak School was operated under the auspices of the Willow Oak Church. Full Text of Judge Burgwyn’s Charge August §, 1937 Gentlemen of the grand Jury: May I for a few minutes trespass on your time to talk about the County whose grand Inquest you are and whose history is dear to all of us alike, and yet I fear we are beginning to forget the fine examples set us by our forefathers in their great life work of building up a State such as North Carolina has become, and in providing the foundation upon which is based all that we have and are. Northampton is one of the oldest Counties in the State, formed from Bertie in 1741, there being only eight counties formed before it. Its history is full of the achievements of great men, a few of whom I shall call to your attention. One of its most distinguished citizens at its inception was John Dawson who died in 1762, and who was member of the N. C. Assembly in 1734, 1739, 1740 from Bertie, and from Northampton 1744-1752; Associate Justice of Superior Court 1751; Colonel commanding Northampton Militia; member of the Governors Council 1752-1762, and who married a daughter of Jeptha Atherton. Another, Allen Jones 1739-1798, son of Robin Jones of this County, Attorney General of North Carolina under the crown, and whose home was at Mt. Gallant in Gaston Township; member of the Colonial Assembly of North Carolina, and Senator succeeding Whitmel Hill of Bertie as President of that body, Member of the Continental Congress and Brigadier General in the Continental army. One of his daughters married Wm. R. Davie, Governor of the State and for whom Davie County is named, and another married General William Eaton, of this County, a general in the Continental army. Mr. Jones was also a lawyer and stood among the first men of his generation. One of his last official acts was in 1788, to vote for adoption of the U. S. constitution at Hillsboro, which his distinguished brother, Willie Jones of Halifax, voted against and defeated. Jeptha Atherton, Howell Edmonds, Drury Gee, Eaton Haynes, Samuel Lockhart, James Ingram and Robert Peebles all represented this county in the colonial” assemblies before the Revolutionary War. ! Of her regiment in 1776 William Eaton was Colonel, | Jeptha Atherton, Lieut. Colonel and Drury Gee, Major. | A list of some of her representatives and senators in the © State Assembly from 1777 to 1850 follows: I quote these — names because many of their descendants are now valuable citizens of this county. Senate—1777 to 1850 7 5 terms 2 terms 4 terms 17 terms 1 term 5 terms l term 3 terms 1 term 3 terms | > terms 2 terms 2 terms 3 terms 1 term 3 terms 3 terms 2 terms James Vaughan Samuel Lockhart Allen Jones Jno. M. Berford Henry Cotton William Edmunds Francis Dancy Howell Peebles Cornelius Moore Henry Boone John Peebles Exum Holoman CollinW. Barnes Heroa Faison William Lockhart William Moseley Jno. M.S. Rogers Jno. M. Moody House—1777 to 1850 5 terms 1 term 2 terms 3 terms 2 terms 2 terms 1 term 1 term 3 terms 9 terms 4 terms 5 terms Robert Peebles Jeptha Atherton Joseph Bryan John Dawson James Sykes James Vaughan Wm. R. Davie Robert Peebles William Ames Nicholas Edmunds Benj. Williamson Henry Cotten 3 terms 2 terms 2 terms 1 term 2 terms 3 terms 2 terms | term 1 term 12 terms 2 terms 1 term 2 terms Greene Turner Francis A. Bynum Andrew Jones John Peebles Cornelius Moore Henry Boone Allen DeBerry Thos. Barrow Thos. Peele R. B. Gary Thos. Bynum J. M.S. Rogers Jas. T. Haley Allen Pierce Samuel Calvert Wm. E. Crump Herod Faison Saml. B. Spruill Thos. Bragg, Jr. Edmund Jacobs 1 term 2 termS | 2 terms | 1 term 1 term 1 term 2 terms | i ton © pan B. Odom 2 terms Co. K 59th Regiment ert | E.J.p - Barnes | term James V. Sauls, Capt.; Wm. Vann Lieut.; Dallas nial Tho, eebles 2 terms Beale, Lieut.; W. T. Joyner, Lieut.; Bill Drake, Lamb s. J. Person 2 terms Bridgers, Abner Lassister, James Martin. nel, ein 2 brings us down to the year 1850 when the war Co. A jor. Pa " Scommenced to hover over this State and nation, soon Capt. Andrew Ellis, 3rd Battalion; Wm. J. Rogers, J. the “ reak- a war between brothers and state; on one side the W. Wright, John U. Webb. ese ‘North and on the other side the South. Co. A ible 95 In this Struggle North Carolina furnished over Capt. H. E. Hoggard, 4th Battalion; G. W. Joy. wr, ads troops to the Confederate army, and of these Lieut.; Daniel Ballance, Segt.; Jesse Parker. ies Stier County furnished nearly 1000. Not many of Co. 4 : rms of fe —" bore high office but all of them bore the brunt Jesse B. Boone, Capt.; Jesse T. Butler, Lieut.; James rms t ¢ lighting, and time permits me only to name a few of O. Odom, Lieut.; Jeremiah Gay, Segt.; J. P. Parker. rms . officers from this County who were as follows: oe “ms the ki F. Faison graduate of West Point, and Colonel of H. Halway, J. G. Holliday, Capt. J. T. Branch, Ad m ae, rt North Carolina regiment, fought throughout the Allen, J. A. Allen, D. N. Stephenson, Jas. Liles, B. F. “ms heeat after its termination located in Raleigh where he Martin, B. D. Stancell, Lamb Bridgers. a a oa honored oo ‘VMI q Literally hundreds of others, whose names were “dl Colonel of the 6th ag es sierra: ag as tege equally illustrious, and which time forbids my mentioning ms age, and killed - ' eh caus of Gack a oe * 9 63. to my own regret, but remember it is not always those who i and whose body was brought back ia =. ee: ca tual attain fame who are alone entitled to glory. Thousands of oil im the Confederate cemetery in Raleigh men whose names will never be written upon the pages of ms Capt. John H. Whitaker. kill eC. aoe Pa history are entitled to the everlasting gratitude of their a killed; W. R T Will; eet, Oat. oe ae h. people for their service to the State, and remember: killed - 1. Williams killed; Capt. Jas. B. Randolph, “Wh in: Godcullestay tiles teteoes m at Malvern Hill en God calls up “ms To stand before his face = RR erent Sear eta te vs ring from that hi ms ff Wm, p. Vick, ame = a oe These men were ee who fought for the right of a 190K Ricwintend Ca: 37 State to govern itself, and who believed that the framers of - Capt. John Rando “4 C ie ay Mere 1; the Constitution meant what they wrote therein, that the John Cal ges Lae Pence mag semi wers not expressly delegated to the Federal Government m vert, Lieut. W. H. Newsome, Lieut. Bishop, Lieut. 1” ; ial F. M. Spivey, Lieut J. A. Brid 1; W HI D> Bill were reserved unto the several states; the cause for which wil Sauls, E. . Vaughan = T Finale pia Phakic paler giages | these men, your forbearers and mine, fought and died is i 4+ b 2 Etener, £08, Eh. Gretta. not, as many think and some assert, the “lost cause of a ms C 32nd Regiment Co. C. dead Confederacy, but it is se a = the anes “a Jokes “ues John M. Moody, Capt. Jos. W. Coker, Capt. cause ss poe: union — —— : a ne nee ike oA - Ottley, M.D. L. Harris. TJ. 1. Harris. the “‘smile of a dream upon the wrinkled fac ; ms It was very meet, right and proper, that our legislature “ms L; Capt. Emory ie _ er % K. Stephenson should have designated a distinguished historian, Maj. ms cut. Joa, A. Garris Rob Gilli W, a Vi 4 John W. Moore of Hertford County, to compose a roster of ms Adbeal Grant. Sn ane ak | TOA ee our North Carolina troops, and I quote from a letter to him M 35th Regiment . written by a ee of the men who wore the ms att W, 3 rray, in regard to his work: ms Hill July 1, oo 7 — ras point: ye eae eed will show in part how North Carolina’s ms 1865, Ys Urigadier General 1863; Major Genera sons bore themselves in the last ordeal. There will be shown m Robert : the relative proportion of the troops to her population ms W.H. | Rina s oe £503. : capable of Mbit be arms and the long list of killed and ms and Captain ; gwyn, aid to General Thos. L. Clingman wounded, prove they were not in the rear in attack or in the Nes In Confederate army: Colonel of the 5th : , 3 arvle P V3 ms han y'and Regiment and 2nd N. C Troops in Spanish front in retreat. . m €rican War. ae e P “T have before expressed my high estimate of the ie 24th Regiment, Co. D conduct of North Carolinians during our war, but can ms D Major James A. Rowers killed ss 1864: po ae eulogy enhance the fair fame with which their names will ms “Berry, Albert Rogers pees Peele. R. TS P h descend to posterity? That their children and their m IO Dt e Deree children’s children may be WORTHY OF THEIR SIRES ms Col 26th Regiment is the nee Sree highest hope which I can offer for them. ms 2 ol, P ; : , : aithfully yours, mm °°. B. "Posted Sconay are BAe JEFFERSON DAVIS.” na Joseph MES Co. E And yet this County is one of the few, if not the only Cornelius S ockhart, Captain; Jacob Jacobs, Lieut. ; county in the State which has raised no stone to com- Peebles Pivey, Lieut.; Robt. Beale, Lieut.; E. J. memorate the valor and heroism of her sons. This should be 13 done: it is as little as we can do. ara SPRL ATA A SE Ree eR Res + Shite Ae ea hc eae aE ene ae ART ee Tel ad Te nee ah Ta ah ed ck eae aD nda dees en, ee ee ia le a ee OP A oot made a profound and lasting influence in that area. The first meeting house was built in Rich Square in 1758 on the triangle of the present downtown area on the main road between the Chowan and Roanoke rivers. The meeting house was moved near the Rich Square depot in 1869 and was sold in 1905 to Andrew J. Connor who used it for a printing office, the Roanoke-Chowan Times being printed there. The same year land was purchased from Connor for another meeting house which was used _ until 1936 when the meeting house was closed. Some of the Friends united with other denominations. Some joined Cedar Grove Monthly Meeting in Woodland which was established in 1868. Before 1868, Friends in the W oodland-George area were members at Rich Square. The present Cedar Grove house of worship was built in 1868, the two wings being added in 1965. In 1905, the Cedar Grove and Rich Square Friends differed with the N. C. Yearly Meeting of Friends in regard to the newly adopted manner of worship. As a result those who objected met as a body at Cedar Grove to form a separate Yearly Meeting, which meets annually in August at Cedar Grove. Friends who favored the new manner of worship (called progressive) affiliated with the small Eagletown Meeting House near Rich Square. The land for the house of worship was given by William Ward and his wife Hattie Elliot Ward. After 1946, no further records were kept. Its members dispersed to join other friends meeting groups. Later the church was destroyed by fire after it became the property of the Grace Independent Baptist Church. The Independent church was rebuilt in the early 1970’s. The Jack Swamp Meeting House was built in 1775 but the members disbanded in 1829, or as the Friends express it, ‘the meeting was laid down’. At one time the meeting house stood on a farm about one-half mile from the Pleasant Hill postoffice and later was used as a corn crib. ‘The minutes of the Jack Swamp body are in tact in the Cedar Grove Meeting House and also are on micro- film as are those of Cedar Grove and Rich Square Friends. Friends have been staunch in their beliefs about slavery and war. The slavery issue caused many North- ampton Friends to migrate to Ohio and Indiana, beginning about 1830. Their view of killing in war has extended from the Revolutionary War through the Vietnam War. Quakers have been equally strong in advocating education and establishing schools. After 1866 numerous private schools have been supported in the county as Brown, Outland, Elliot, Olney, Rich Square, Pinners, Vernons, Peele’s schools, and Aurora Academy, all in the Rich Square- Woodland vicinity. In 1769, the Rich Square Society had one person to serve as ““Treasure of Books’’, later called “Book Agent’, and still later librarian. The left wing of Cedar Grove Meeting house today contains a library and reading room. The Society had its largest membership between 1873 and the first decade of the 1900's. Fluctuations in numbers were caused by the establishment of new monthly meetings in Northampton as early as 1681. By 1750 quite a number of Friends had settled in the southern end of the county around Rich Square and Woodland. A few settled around the Jack Swamp area near Pleasant Hill and the Virginia line, but it was the southern group that has survived and ere ete etn peers Se sae eT other counties of the state, and by a strict discipline code. . . $9 o . + + \ Marrying out of society”’ (that is, outside the religious bod} without consent of the meeting house) was not allowed until t 1874. In the earlier days Friends were required to dre# ( plainly, to speak properly (not to swear), to attend services and to refrain from a frivolous and “sporty” way of life. Af late as the 20th century elderly Friends used pronouns “‘theé thou, thy”, wore simple but fine quality gray or blac clothing, minus any decorations or adornments. Ment bership is gained by birthright or choice. Black Churches Religion among the Blacks of Northampton Coun mainly reflects that of their ancestors. When they we slaves, most blacks were taken to the church of theb owners. Rarely were separate churches established places of worship for blacks. According to Presbyteri records of North Carolina the Burgwyns of Northampt County had such a chapel. More often the churches ha balconies just for the seating of the slaves. (It should bf noted that as a rule only a certain number of slaves fro ‘ fq ampton County Blacks are of the Baptist denominatio& The others are Methodist, Pentecostal Holiness a Jehovah’s Witnesses. Some of these churches began ver} soon after the Civil War ended. Black Episcopalians it Northampton County During the colonial period, clergymen of the Church J | England were active in Northampton County where they f ministered to the black as well as to the white populatiol! é Between September 29, 1771 and August 24, 1772, thé RB Rev. Charles Edward Taylor reported that he me R “112 white infants, forty-six Negro infants, two whit i adults and fifty-five colored adults” in the county. Speak C of the Negroes, he wrote that they were “very desirous ® instruction in their duty”’. yt Following the upheavals of the Revolution, the . Anglican Church declined considerably. Recovery did nol e begin in Northampton until the arrival of the Rev. Willia® }, H. Harison in 1848. Under his leadership, the Church of : the Saviour was built at Jackson and consecrated in 185) It had members from both races. , tie The Burgwyns, who had come to Northampton ® ,,, 1840, were especially zealous in forwarding the interests db the church and in working with their many slaves. Henry Ri King Burgwyn of Thornbury plantation on the Roanoke Ai River erected a chapel for his slaves and saw that regulat Se} services were conducted there. Prior to the Civil War. the BI rector of the church at Jackson lived at Thornbury and bo conducted services in both locations. The Rev. Frederick bu Fitzgerald, who had arrived in 1851, recorded that on the ad afternoons of three Sundays of each month he worked with in a black congregation at Jackson. On the fourth Sunday, he di instructed the group at Thornbury. ~ fre 7 Thomas Atkinson, Bishop of North Carolina, visited me Thornbury on several occasions to preach and to confirm In March, 1854, he reported that Mr. Fitzgerald was bein’ Sr. assisted by Daniel Murrell, a candidate for Holy Orders! the who was employed as a tutor for the Burgwyn childrem@ —— - © ete st Ti Readers He . : ‘ i aalte: STC TERE Y: iiesisaltaies Minis sr meen DRS LE ENC BOONE ARS OE DEOL DEERE BALLS OLA EEE RGAE LORAIN Roe MM Sie ae a z Es Ping Pea NIT ESE D LE AITITE ERED LE OS LEC LELS EERIE LNG GOOLE LEE LIES ADELE MLE LINE ALE ANP OM AEE NES 9 OCI, BE PD PG TS SOME II TE LOE: I Ae OE ete oa 5S NOEL EEE BREA RELATES TE IOAN IONS AE ABNER ERT hat, | ‘ ¥ \ ( h the , - “a Pe ae . ros oe a 3 ca " 2 ‘ . oe Pe ee. 3 a ‘ . a » | | a * F ’ ' ; : » © = ’ ~ . giz a Care) ‘a * Tt heer 3 , Bi 5 oe ~ - 4 - ad 7 : . - : ze , é F lap mare Rear hae . oI . : hy ia ; aes mee a —— oi be 3 j S ee OF, se i pa < in ” $ - x % af ¥ G ‘ va ~¢ ‘ ae be S " " - - me 1. - ; b Hy el a l} : ‘ . | f J : 1A j f , Lal ‘ire ’ i | 4 : . : 4 é , ) + ) : ALCL if ‘ cit ' ’ 8 ‘ | if A r f | : ’ | . | \ | yt) 4 4 if a i | ; ; ii at i¢ ‘ | riyrat + \ — a -, ver in . , ; . " i ‘ | ; ' i ‘ ‘ \ ii I | ‘ | | s ree i , U1) eC] V1) W OAK TI . lor whic! } rv ("4 ) ; } i y if i { rypiqyrié r¢ ; ne i | | ; | i , j | |S r¢ | ) mi a Ciay I ll Deside rain? y I | ‘ i ) } ’ ‘ p 8 - Cort | (i «¢ ; 8. | } \ } \ - oO. SOULN Nnicn 8duare. .. \ : ' ' : ) | : +} cy < ' | | Li i) i¢é¢ pat » PPULTICIITIL Otney made a | ‘ | ‘ tay ; ; ry ’ : , ‘ ; . " ; \ ‘ i ita iif Lal ¢ ¢ ‘ gtr s it Seat rm) 8 , > | i , Tf ’ ’ | i { reee / | in] ime nere LATA] rapt) >] i any i - h : a } " ' ‘ ‘ ' { i ' ‘ if btiitul 7 ' | ‘ . : : : , : } " fa . 7 . | . . 1 ¢ i ; ii ii a ' i¢ ) aul iiil { Leics LOYU : hard -T W ‘ K \ . \ | | © | i 4 . as . s y Tay 4 | ei 7 r | (yidy 4 : ii i / ii ft (OTT A&A . AI] oth wm | i \\ 8, < i" : iti , | ; : i ‘ } | . ‘ j ) ; ia I De the of d&2Z00.( ind vet A ~ at : ¥ ‘ 7 oe : i / | : r ‘ | ’ ; ' ) j i re | biti | ‘ YVILICT ¢ | i SS ea Soe cee - aS ees cde open ree on ehanienpiy eee agt I call to your attention the words of William Henry canvassing against Kenneth Raynor of Bertie and again iD Trescott engraved on the marble shaft in front of the State 1803 against Hon. David A. Barnes, and 1854 elected Capital, Columbia, South Carolina. as summing up in Governor of the State over General Alfred Dockery of eloquent truth the bravery and sacrifice of the men of the Richmond County; 1856 re-elected over Hon. John A South. Gilmer; 1860 U.S. Senator from this State; 1861 Attorney General of the Confederacy, dying in Raleigh in 1872. David A. Barnes, Lawyer and great advocate of the Whig cause. Member of our Senate and legislature “This monument Perpetuates the memory of those who defeating Gov. Bragg for this place in 1844; Judge of the True to the instincts of their birth, Superior Court in the trying times following the Civil Wars Faithful to the teachings of their fathers, and dying a resident of Hertford County, beloved and Constant in their love for the State admired by all its people. Died in the performance of their duty, who Matt W. Ransom, Atty. General of North Carolina at Glorified a fallen cause 26; member of the House from this County in 1858 and By the simple manhood of their lives 1860; Lieut. Col. of the First Regiment of State troops: The patient enduring of suffering 1861-Col. of the 35th Regiment, 1862- Brigadier General And the heroism of death, and who 1863 and Major General 1865; procuring the writ of In the dark hours of imprisonment Habeas Corpus from Judge Brooks which freed the In the hopelessness of the hospital, democratic leaders of the State from imprisonment iD” In the short, sharp agony of the field, 1870; U.S. Senator from 1872-1896; U. S. Minister to_ Found support and consolation in the belief Mexico and dying in 1904 in the Home Seat “Verona” on That at home they would not be forgotten. Oct. 8th. Caldwell, the great editor of the Charlotte Ob- | These for whom they died Subscribe to this marble ablest man, the man who did us more credit in the eyes of | The perpetual gratitude of the State they served the country. He is indeed the last of the Romans.” The undying affection of those whose lives Thos. William Mason, graduate of the Universities of _ The separation of death N. C. and Virginia; aide to General Robert Ransom in the Has shadowed with an everlasting sorrow. his generation in this State. His speech at the unveiling of | the Confederate monument in Raleigh, stands today as 4 | shining example of mastery of language, eloquence, patriotism and sentiment. Many times a member of the — House and Senate from this County, Democratic nominee for Lieut. Governor of the State and for U. S. senator. He Whom death could not terrify, died at his country seat “Longview”’ leaving behind to his Whom defeat could not dishonor children the priceless heritage of a “‘good name” and ; And let their virtues plead for just judgment mourned by all the people of his county. ; Of the cause in which they perished: Robert Bruce Peebles, Adjutant to General Matt W- Let the South Carolinian Ransom, Captain in the Confederate Army, one of the — Of another generation Remember leaders in the battle for survivorship, brave as a lion. That the state taught them representing the county in the legislature several terms and Let the stranger, Who may in future times Read this inscription Recognize that these were men, Whom power could not corrupt, How to live and how to die finally Superior Court Judge of N. C. He left his mark on And that from her broken fortunes the affairs of State and County, and fought on and on when She has preserved for her children there was nothing left except the will which said to him i The priceless heritage of their memories, fight on. ; Teaching all who claim the same birthright, Rev. William Grant, preacher and judge, who always — That truth, courage and patriotism Endure forever.”’ fought for the betterment of our people, temporally and spiritually. Then after the war came a struggle which required as much courage, physical and moral, as fighting on bat- tlefields; it was the struggle for survivorship from Reconstruction Government. In this, men of your county immortalized themselves. And many names are or should be forever inscribed upon the hearts of our countrymen. Robert T. Beale, Judge of the County Court with Mason and Grant. Thos. R. Ransom died as a victim of that political struggle contracting the fatality which ended his young life in the election day 1895. W. J. Rogers, democratic nominee for Congress dying TRAPS LORE S BS bak Ee lu ara Samuel Calvert, member of the Constitutional before the election after his nomination. f Convention 1835, member of the House of Represen- ee W. Peebles, State Senator, orator and lawyer 0 tatives, and long standing for the finer things in this life, ain ea 1G i pa Row a et Sr : and dying about 1881 a very great patriarch, he gave to the e ieopewd ue Sead Bey wpe 18 oP x ey rie g : Episcopal, Methodist and Baptist churches in this town the Se ee eee 30 g008 eee ; bits tet ‘Witch Pes nein ater: Member of the House and Senate many times, and father of Thomas Bragg, Democratic Elector 1844. canvassing our friend Hon. A. C. Gay. es ee : the State against W. W. Cherry of Bertie, and again 1848 Garland E. Midyette, Solicitor of the District and its : Superior Court Judge, literally dying in harness and almost : server said of him: “He was our fullest scholar, our most | accomplished diplomat, the handsomest man among us, the | Confederate Army; Captain therein; the greatest orator of | = te = o. ‘ [> On the Hench in the ner Vir. Buxton Midyette. » . . . ‘ . Raymond Gay Parker, Judge of the Superi — ——~ — ~~ - aw ~ s Young iriend ind like Judge Midvette. dving whil you man with hi full irmour on Frank R Harris and Calvert Peebles, both good lawvers nd both honored by t hig 1} ner | WI ate) t the House and Senate respectively Simon Fl; the. for over 20 vears Clerk of Court in this “County : Millard Stancell, Sheriff and Register of Deeds for many years; Wiley Fleetwood, Register of Deeds; W. H lovner Sheriff nf the (_ounty em be i the it il . : q ry ‘ : : ’ | Jas. S Grant and Wr. Carl Parker. members of the House; Ur. Mahlon Bolton, twice a member of the and one of the most bel en in our Cor Andrew ] ( MNOr, a private in the i . years published a newspaper in this unty and des nuch C] dit iS al one 10 } I al I S, : ancement W. Wear I rett Baugham., IT Marrell, E. B. |] issiter, Jno. B. Griffin, Jn W. Buxton Albert Va) n, Capt. A. J. Roundtree, G P. Burg ps ya L. Crocker, J. A. Burgywn, each Treasurer of th ( oOunty or many vear and man oth aes Vé . rapt mention | Livino SUrVIVOrs +t that « ar me a | ( alvel iy ‘ EME? State enator a Keg L¢ of Der ~tephenson several times a member of the House, and H L. J yner, Sheriff of the County for 30 vears, the longest ‘erm ever held |] this State House of Repre another ( lass sentatives. of gentlemen who We! a . ° ' 1t about doing good and whose iniluence was the country \4 ood. Jordan, Stephenson, Bryant, Moore, Whims. Bolton, McDaniel, and the late. beloved and lamented Henry Netterment of the condition of our people doctor Drs. Barrow, Copeland, Weaver. llis, Stancell. Ramsav. , B M'utrell, Morehead. Lassiter. Parker. \\t ilkins Lewis much to this Joyner. and others whose lives and characters meant county and State a hese men, and others, too numerous to mention Joined their hands and hearts and lived together and saved their country He who Saves ; es all t and all things saved Do Cc [ bless them; Who lets his country dle, ts al] things die: ind all things and their state. SavVeES his countrv saves himself, hings. if ol] dies himself ignobly -_ ° aa aying curse him. lt can truthfully be said of them tha ‘ mer . 500d light. they they fought the they finished their course. and which is more, , kept the faith ‘On m i LT fs +r? f A Theo: Jathers to their graves have oe Strife is ¢ lift Sterner gy rr? ) POUTLEe, eo er, their battle won. trials await the race. in their honored place { Moral warfare of] nd jolly of an evil time’ and |. ants of the the Cruimne 1 (grand y gentlemen of the Jury, are th ‘se men; many of you are the companions cde youth and for whom Sard but re: | 7) . rire : al affection. I nis county 1S as dear to yOu as it | have not only respect and IS to me: ll 2 ' a . . : i } Y)} “1 1l we were born; in it we live and in its bosom ‘ i diay lie Sleeping the earthly remains of those who were near and dear to us; its traditions are as sacred to vou as hey are to me and | have no hesitancy in placing its weal ind welfare in your hands. Education in Northampton Northampton County were con- schools 1n lirst ducted in private homes and there are no known records of hese However. DY the late 1700's and early 800’s icademies for boys and finishing schools for young ladies beginning to be established, especially in the North- umpton County Courthouse area ‘corded military academy in Northampton, and the second in the state of North Carolina, called the Wrenn Military Academy, was built by Tilbert Wrenn in 1795 on the site of what is now the Thomas Newsome home in Jackson. ‘Tilbert Wrenn came to Northampton County from Surrey County in Virginia. An editorial in the Raleigh QO 1810) shows that this school ran for at least Advertisements in the Petersburg Intelligencer, the Halifax Advocate. the Edenton Gazette, the Richmond Whig, and the Raleigh Register show that Northampton \eademv was established between 1831 and 1835 in Jackson, referred to then as the Courthouse Village. these early schools were Northampton Female Seminary, established in 1833 Richard H. Weaver, William B. Lockhart, Etheldred People, Issac Hall, Samuel B Shirley and Willie Langford constituted as the corporate body. Just outside Jackson, Robert and Ben Peele, sons of Issac Peele, opened Peele Academy from 1845 to 1855 in their country the instruction of vounger brothers and sisters and the sons and daughters of pee \nother O with Tisdale. Spruill, home for training and friends and neighbors. The Elms Dependency Samuel James Calvert operated a school in the mid- 1800’s in the pictured dependency of his home “The Elms.’ Miss Leathe Barrow and later Miss Lou Whitfield Saath tater hee line ha tehe tite iek len net nat taeda ton tox aed het a ted net het ike eon oe eens ann eee ee taught the children of the neighborhood in the one-room structure heated by an open fireplace. Miss Lou later taught for many years in the Episcopal Female Academy located behind The Church of the Saviour. In 1849 a young ladies’ finishing school called St. Chatherines Hall was opened and conducted by Misses Pattie and Anna Copeland in their home facing on the village green. This home now belongs to and is lived in by Miss Louise Skyes of Jackson and New York City. On March 15, 1870 Samuel Calvert deeded one acre of land in Jackson Township to Jerry Gary, William Barrow, and Burton Jones, the school committee, for the “‘sole and exclusive purpose of a school for freedmen and no other.” This school was located approximately on the site of the present J. S. Jenkins Cotton Warehouses. wr ee ner pet rer et ee ees ath ghee atm tnainah cinagontonc eigen ae at apes og neg: a local taxation and consolidation of school districts. I Northampton these innovations were adopted first by thos) sections along the railroads. Seaboard was the first district” to vote the special tax; then followed Gumberry: Margarettsville, Severn Pendleton, Milwaukee, Potecasl: and Woodland. Vultare was the first strictly rural district to vote in the school tax which made it possible to erect neW and larger buildings, employ more and _ better trained teachers and extend the three months term to six, and latel seven or eight. The State Department, in cooperation with the colleges, set up certain standards which, if met by the high” schools, would permit their graduates to enter colleges without examinations. Severn was the first Northampto®” High School to meet these requirements; Woodland, The Male Academy of Jackson was built near the present site of the Episcopal church in 1884. The school was burned in the great fire of 1895, but not before the young men of Northampton were exposed to training under three of the master teachers of the day, John Drake, An- drew Britton and Rev. Charles Fetter. In 1896 Jackson Female Academy opened with Miss Lou Whitfield as principal. So great was the influence of this good woman and fine teacher that the children and grandchildren of her former students still visit her grave in the churchyard of St. Luke’s at Benn’s Church, Surrey County, Va. to pay her homage. Although the constitution of 1776 provided for public schools, this provision lay dormant until 1839, when the Literary Fund had grown large enough to make a feeble beginning of the public school system possible. These funds were allotted to the counties and provided only for teachers’ salaries ($15 to $20 per month for a four month term). A county examiner was appointed, whose duty it was to pass on the qualifications of those who wished to teach. Samuel N. Buxton was the first ‘‘examiner’’ in North- ampton. Those applying to teach were mostly men. Some of these were real teachers; others were noted disciplinarians. There was no provision for buildings, furniture or equipment. Some schools were held in abandoned buildings and some in community constructed one room log huts. The furniture was sparce and homemade. It was this type of edifice that created the term “Old field school’. McGuf- fey’s Readers, Webster’s Blueback Spellers and North American Arithmetic were the textbooks of the day. Even this feeble attempt at public education ceased at the out- break of the Civil War. Private schools called academies or institutes main- tained in the several communities or neighborhoods were Northampton’s answer to the education problem im- mediately following the Civil War. These schools and those who taught in them constitute the back log of our present school system. The Seaboard community had Louis Foster, followed by W. C. Parker. Between Seaboard and Jackson, Robert and Ben Peele taught in their home. In Jackson, Charles Fetter, Andrew Britton, Misses Anna and Pattie Copeland, Miss Leathe Barrow and Miss Lou Whitfield held the fort against ignorance. Around the turn of the century, governor Charles Brantley Aycock really put the public school system of North Carolina on its way. Laws were enacted to permit neat ghee chic tact nee oh tet Se ee So ee ee OT ee Se ee ae chet apenas ~ stp eet rad 16 Jackson, Rich Square, Seaboard, Conway, and Gaston” followed. Through the years, the public schools have draw!) ~ ad many fine people to Northampton County, who have don) much to raise the cultural level. Many of these have gone 0®} to important places in education at the statewide level! Rich Square had Dr. D. B. Bryan who later served as Deal} of Wake Forest College for several decades; Severn had Kader Curtis, for many years superintendent of Wilso?} County schools; Jackson remembers W. B. Edwards, late!) president of Chowan College; many still recall the gentle} alert Hannah Starr of Olney School in Woodland; people #} Pendleton, Rich Square, Seaboard, and Jackson will remember J.R. Ware, who spurred them on to further studY in college and university; and Gaston can never forget thé vigor with which Mrs. L. L. Harvin urged them on to theif} best efforts. Northampton has been blessed by teachers wh? remained to become a part of our life, taking their place # the civic, cultural and religious life of our county. Nun bered among these are: Mrs. Pattie Vaughan Whit® Holoman, Grace White Stephenson, Bernice Kelly Harris] Jennie Williams Lewis, Ruby Fagg Flythe, “Bill” Pleasants Flythe, and Blanche Sloane Gay. Northampton Schools have also kept many of our finé people at home to devote their lives in loving and interested service to the training of the youth of the county. Among these are Miss Minnie Taylor, Maggie B. Bridgers, Audrey} Long and Spurgeon Clarke. Many fine business men have served, giving valuable time, thought, and hours of work to serve as school com mitteemen and as members of the county board of education. Some of these were B. J. Martin, E. B. Lassitef: W. E. Harris, Andrew Crocker, E. S. Bowers, A. L# Lassiter, W. Harry Stephenson, W. C. Conner, and many others. The first county superintendent of schools was Frank E. Foster of Seaboard, son of the noted teacher, Loui’ Foster. Mr. Wiley Fleetwood became the next superil” tendent and was followed by Mr. Andrew Conner of Rich Square. In 1897, P. J. Long of Jackson was elected! superintendent and served until 1939. Under the directio” of these fine and able men, the public school system Northampton grew until it covered the county like the dew: However, hard times and upheaval were on the way: The financial disaster of 1929-1933 made consolidation 0 the smaller schools in rural communities necessary: bringing hurt and heartbreax in many cases. After the staté | q i t D 4 e i took over the financial responsibility of public education in North Carolina in 1931, further consolidation was deemed educationally and financially wise, and the Supreme Court Decision of 1954 brought integration of schools to North- ampton County. 7 When N. L. Turner succeeded Paul J. Long as Superintendent of the Northampton County Schools on July 3, 1939, there were eleven union schools (schools which have both elementary and high school students) and forty elementery schools making a total of fifty-one schools. The number of teachers in the schools ranged from one to sixteen. During the 1939-40 term there were 232 teachers and principals employed and the average daily attendance the preceding year was 6,726 students. _ The members of the Northampton County Board of Education on July 3, 1939 were: Dr. J. Wesley Parker, chairman; J. A. Shaw, Dr. C. G. Parker, Claude Deloatche, L. F. Bradly, W. Harry Stephenson, J. A. Madry, W. F. Nelson, and R. V. Beale. Since 1939 the following, in addition to the present members and those listed above, have served on the Board of Education: B. F. Ricks, J. R. Woodard, G. L. Ricks, H. P. Stephenson, V. D. Strickland, W. C. Conner, S. E. Crew, Ralph W. Britt, James Hedspeth, C. G. Parker, Jr. J. J. Heller, Lawrence H. Taylor, Jr., and Marshall W. Grant. : In addition to Dr. J. W. Parker who was serving as chairman in 1939, Dr. C. G. Parker, W. C. Conner, and Scott Bowers have served as chairman. _ The present members of the Board are: Lynmore S. Gay, chairman: E. Scott Bowers, James M. Beasley, James H. Jones, Mrs. J. Roy Parker, Mrs. Diane M. Clark, and Grover L. Edwards. As the statewide school bus system developed and more funds, both local and state, were appropriated school officials and the citizens of the county realized that the schools would be much better in the event that they were consolidated into larger units. The trend toward larger and more effective schools has been developing through the years. At the end of N. L. Turner’s term as Superintendent in 1958, 233 teachers were employed. Under the able leadership of Superintendent Turner, the Board of Education, and citizens of the county, the number of schools during the period from 1939 to 1958 was reduced from 51 to 21. By consolidation the schools became larger and thus the educational opportunities were enhanced. The Gumberry High School was constructed during this period. E. D. Johnson served as Superintendent from 1958 until 1961. During his tenure improvements continued to be made in the schools. An addition was made to the Gumberry High School. When Roy F. Lowry became Superintendent July I, 1961 there were 21 schools. The Cool Springs School had been reactivated during the tenure of E. D. Johnson. During the last fourteen years under the leadership of the members of the Board of Education, citizens who believe in good schools, the staff of the schools, and the Central Office Staff, much has been done to enhance the educational opportunities of the students which were begun in an able manner by prior Boards of Education, prior Superintendents, citizens, and staff. There are now fourteen schools in the county as follows: Coates, Grades K-4, 11 teachers: Conway, Grades 0-8, 18 teachers; Eastside, Grades K-4, 11 teachers: Garysburg, Grades K-8 33 teachers; Gaston, Grades 6-12. 28 teachers; Gumberry, Grades 9-12, 23 teachers: Jackson, Grades 5-8, 9 teachers; Northampton County High School, Grades 9-12, 38 teachers; Rich Square, Grades 5-8, 14 teachers; Seaboard, Grades 5-8. 10 teachers; Squire, Grades K-5, 25 teachers; Willis Hare, Grades K-4, 17 teachers; W. S. Creecy, Grades K-4 and 9- 12, 29 teachers; and Woodland-Olney, Grades K-8, 19 teachers. There were 285 teachers and principals employed during the 1974-75 school term. Students who formerly went to six small high schools now attend the Northampton County High School. The Northampton County High School is a_ centralized educational institution which, like many of its counterparts in the county, is offering diversified and qualitative programs of education to its students. This school and the Gaston, Gumberry, and W. S. Creecy High Schools are offering more comprehensive programs than were possible before the schools were further consolidated. The Garysburg School is a modern elementary school and the newest one in the county. During the past fourteen years one or more additions have been made to the Coates, Eastside, Gaston, Gum- berry, Jackson, Squire, Willis Hare, and W. S. Creecy Schools. Additions or remodeling are now under way at the Eastside, Seaboard, and Woodland-Olney Schools. The value of the schools in the county has increased from $3,759,000.00 in 1962 to $8,981,600.00. This $5,222,600.00 increase in the dollar value of the schools demonstrates that there is outstanding support and leadership being given by the Board of Education members and citizens of the county. While the monetary value of the schools has become much greater the increase in educational opportunities for the students which has been steadily increasing since the beginning of the County School System is more important. In addition to the state supported schools there is operating in Lasker a private school called Northeast Academy. This institution founded in 1966 offers Grades K-12. Certainly the quality of education in_ the Northampton County Schools has been improving since the first school was established and is being improved each year. Old tecknon School FA eR eR et a eR ee A RR RR A eh eRe beg GOR Ee: Oy Ee pe TS PEE EE TEEN Tene OTE S rE PE oe Educational Report North Carolina Mebane 1896-7 1897-8 674 BIENNIAL REPORT OF THR tional purposes and in consequence the corporation be- came extinct. But daring its existence it exerted a strong influence for good.” In Wilmington, as in Newbern, Edenton and mvaity other towns dancing was considered 2 part of polite educa- tion. General Davie expressed much gratification that polished French refugees from Hayti and emigrants from France could be procured. One of the best markers in Wilmington appears to have been Clay, who, among other beautiful figures, promised to instruct in the miys- teries of Parsby’s Rigadvon. m NORTHAMPTON. Formed in ‘#741, from Bertie. Incorporated Schools.—Northampton Female Semi- mary, chartered 1833; North Carolina-Malée ind Female Academy, chartered 1836. The last of the above charters was amendatory of the first. It contained a donation by the State of a lét in the | town of Jackson. In'1839 James H. Wood advertised that he had sectited - the services of a lady Principal from Mrs. ‘Willard’s school ee wt Troy, N. ¥., and she would opes a schdol for females ae wt on his plantation. Board amd ttiition far five mouths $qo. fo a le. "Joliany ‘Piet taught for many years at Buckorn in ce. ge) ‘this county. He hada well earned reputation. “y Pi Rev; Charles Fettet was Principal of the Jackson Mate — "A eademy for four years, succeeding A. J. Britton. In 1878 -.'s ° ht-was elected Principal of the new Academy at Garysburg, "= "which position he held until the Fall of 1885, with the e+". ception: of one year. a Rev. Vernon Janson taught at Seaboard in 1880. Horses and Horsemen in Northampton County by Henry W. Lewis Tar Heel Stud Sired Modern Derby Champs vis Pe oe Sy, OR GAG oa SIR ARCHIE A likeness of Sir Archie and his Groom, Uncle Hardy, from a Contemporary Painting by A. From mid-eighteenth century (or earlier), when Councillor John Dawson of Bridgers Creek bequeathed his young horse Exum” to his son, until 1900, horses were a primary source of income and sport in Northampton County — income for breeders. sport for those who raced or put their money on the horses. On the whole, however, the rabies was more concerned with breeding horses than with racing them. : Soon after Jeptha Atherton settled at the courthouse in 1762, he acquired the imported stallion Janus, one of the sreat progenitors of the American turf, the sire of “an ‘umense number of short distance Racers, brood mares and stallions...” The significant characteristic of the early American race horses was their ability to run quarter-mile races; they were not long distance runners. Allen Jones of Mount Gallant plantation and his brother Willie of Halifax, sons of Attorney General Robert Jones of The Castle. both kept stables in Northampton. Closely allied to Gen. Allen Jones by family ties were the Haynes brothers, Eaton and Herbert. As early as 1770, the well-known Mark Anthony stood at Herbert Haynes's plantation. Katon Haynes bred Cleopatria by Druid and, in I811. bequeathed her to the distinguished turfman, Allen Jones Davie. Although there were a few quarter-mile straight-away “ourses in Northampton, there was little evidence of Organized racing in the county before 1800; local owners seemed to have raced their stock at neighboring Virginia and Carolina tracks. With the 1816 arrival of Sir Archie at the stables of William Amis at Mowfield plantation, in- terest In horses increased to fever pitch in the county. This foundation sire of the American turf” is too well documented to require discussion here. Suffice it to say that oe e ; e brought line fees to his owners, and his progeny made his 19 name famous throughout the racing world. In addition to Sir Charles, perhaps the best known of Sir Archie’s sons, the stud books record sixteen horses the great stallion got for Northampton owners; others were unrecorded. The names of some of those who held the Archie stock still have a familiar ring: Richard Crump, the Rev. the Col. Howell Peebles, Capt. James Exum, and Andrew R. Govan, in addition to William and John D. Amis who owned the stallion. Still another well-known breeder of the period was Capt. William Moody of Mount Forest, a plantation on the road from Garysburg to Petersburg. When the town of Jackson was laid out in lots on the Atherton courthouse lands, one of the principal purchasers was John White, whose hotel on the square soon rivalled the older establishment across the street at which Samuel Calvert had played host to Lafayette in 1825. At Silver Hill, a plantation adjoining the town on the south, White opened a race course. By 1833, the year of Sir Archie’s death, the flourishing Jackson Jockey Club was holding its meets at Silver Hill. Yage> @e> 2 Foundation sire of Amer ham . ’, 5 x . ; Ss “a i? ican Thoroughbred race ii ¥P B horses.including Timoleon, Bae a. ee a +e clr. a Rok f . ."2e@ Boston, Lexington, & Man fie #535 ce vee it ar. Died at Mowfields, Hage: OZT one mile N. in 1653. Sir Archie Marker As young men, the Burgwyn brothers, who inherited Pollock lands in Northampton about 1840, had an interest in horses and bred good stock, but they did not long pursue the turf. Thomas Good Tucker was the county’s pre- eminent horseman frona 1840 to 1860, and he maintained a lively interest until his death at 90 in 1897. From Tucker, Matt W. Ransom assumed leadership in Northampton’s horse circles. He bred and owned a number of well-known horses; among the names associated with his stables were Tar River, Bill Arp, and Red Dick. In the twentieth century local interest declined, but Andrew Jackson (Jack) Joyner, who left North Carolina to become trainer for George D. Widener, achieved an international reputation in the world of racing. ee Wh ee eet a eine rey eee ty Og hr eee ETE ORE RE TENET ee Omer re ererbs eat rene THE CELEBRATED HORSE Copy of Original Handbill Sil 5 for SIR ARCHIE. Sir Archie WILL STAND THE ENSUING SEASON At my Stable in Northampton County, North-Carolina, about three miles from the Court-House, nine miles from the town of Halifax. and twenty-one miles from Belfiel4, ‘irginia. He will Cover Mares at Fifty Dollars the Season, jable on the ¢ Jirst of January neat, or Forty-Five Dollars if in the Sea- von, (with one dollar to the Groom in_all eases. Such of Archie's Friends, that lives at a distance, will send their Notes with the Mares, payable vu the first of January next—Also, feeding of the Mares to be paid when taken away. The season will commence the first of February next, and terminate the Fifteenth of July — Extensive fields of Small Grain and Clover are sowed for the benefit of the Mares, (which may be left with the Horse) with the addition of graia grain (ceding, at 25 cents per pes away ene ‘Josures are provided for Mares with Colts.—No pains will be spared in taking noha pate care of Mares, Ac. which may be left, but ne responsibility for escapes or bees he SIR ARCHIE’S BLOOD, GREAT SIZE... Performance on the Turf, and celebrity as a Foal getter, are suffic'ent recom- mendations. : Ww. ILLLIiM eLVMIS. January 1, 16 Compiler Press... Nalifar, ¥. €. ~ " ——__— he} ‘a BROADISID® - 1817 THE LIF® AND TIMES OF SIR ARCHIE BY BLANCHARD - WELLMAN THE UNIVERSITY OF NORTH CAROLINA PRESS Jackson Jockey Club ol Mette On 4 i TAGE -SOR T OCEEY CLUB: } Ticket Poe Z — (.. 0) SPRING RA ACIS, L833, -. ft gee ye i » hed 64,52) Ui eLicwe pay to John White, ! - Proprietors ihe tecture . t oc ™ ep eay? Se ee a ee a a . Se ae aT = ea an me a at serpent enpreestnerenaereunnre neater cece essen eit eee ee toe wena ONV1L095 } Cd / pooauees5 i sae awe 6i6i 4D pe, pve SI1M37 M AUNIH 4g AYNLNSD HLNASLANIN SHI NI intel J ne VNITONVD HLYON ALNNOD NOLDNWVYHLYON 33H033NO290 WH 2eQNg NOSHOWE ALNNOD : Q40431Y3H ALNNOD : XVSITVH ‘; et eae od AVANOD @ i ; Oj OsI0OM ha ot / ‘ ° al © peer tidy "i : “te Melcher i *eeenee ca” ‘ F ee t Ne a7 NOLION Id *. oostuis ft 7 Qo. §U0}10H IW ; B¥OLS S.dnVD ' , i auvimnan orrnatel an ee ees F y 48) 40ND’. - ; treboy “DTT UAELIUVOUYA aw WH Q anvsvard "x, _02! g ¥ sents 4 VNITONVD HLYON Scotto VINISYIA 7 se * P of 4 ¢ «1 Ae2UesLmBT & Pv s ys e ALNNOD 371ASN33N9 / patel ae i : i ‘ ! WO PENI 24 ALNNOD NOLdGWVHLNOS PT Lo eee | Reo Pae + Lafayette in Northampton On February 25, 1825, General Marquis de Lafayette and his forty-five year old son, George Washington Lafayette, arrived in Norfolk and came by coach to Murfreesboro en route to Raleigh. In Murfreesboro the general stopped at the Indian Queen Hotel, but arrived too late at night because of muddy roads for the gala ball planned for him. He left Murfreesboro for his next stop, Northampton Court House, now Jackson. He went by way of Martin’s Cross Roads (now Conway) and paused at Mt. Zion Methodist Church to shake hands with well wishers. An official delegation met him at Northampton Court House where he dined at the Samuel Calvert Inn. The dinner was described as a “hurried excellent dinner with about 40 present’. The meal was concluded at 3 p.m. and the party left for Halifax. (Tom Parramore, ‘“The Roanoke Chowan Story”, ch. 14, in the Roanoke-Chowan Daily News, n.d.) The First Black Professional Writer in America George Moses Horton It is learned from the writings of George Moses Horton that he was born in what is now the Rich Square Township of Northampton County, North Carolina; the property of William Horton senior, who owned his mother and all her children. George Moses was the oldest of her children by her second husband. As a rule slaves did not know their ages, yet it is generally agreed that George Moses Horton was born around 1797 and as was true of most slaves he used the last name of his owner, William Horton. The Horton family, along with their slaves moved to Chatham County, North Carolina when George Moses was about six. Horton taught himself to read and write without the aid of a teacher. This was evident in his poor penmanship. Most of his learning was done while he tended the Horton family livestock. As he grew older he was given more demanding work and his only time to study was by a wood fire at night and on the Sabbath. At the age of nineteen or twenty George Moses began making regular visits to the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. As a compromise to his owner he agreed to sell fruits during his visits. It did not take long for the students to realize Horton’s unusual poetic ability. Tradition has it that James K. Polk (class of 1818, later President of the United States) was the first student to encourage Horton to improve his poetical . 2 , oe Af fue? is i arr ja cere Law . BE ’ a : se Vi } ‘ 7 ye Shige Drs Dyed” hart Litiund ve og Pe : ah. EES, Fat on ate dlgn£. | Are Kors isi "Dit lene, OO “Te ate 2 an ee eetiinestteeeemmiaantl i Beet. mth od BL g a 7 ~ War 4 eee Drone “ad (Li Lr = had intr meee One of Horton’s poems, probably written by a University of North Carolina student who wrote as Horton dictated. works. Many other students gave him books. Mrs. Caroliné Lee Hentz, wife of Nicholas M. Hentz, a faculty membef from Lancaster, Massachusetts, herself a poet, gave HortoD lessons to improve his natural talents. Augustus Alston, a university student from Georgia in the early 1800’s paid Horton twenty-five cents for a poem: “Thus did the slave become the first Negro professional man of letters in America and one of the first professional writers of any race in the South. For the remainder of his life he supported himself, partially and at times totally from the fees he collected.” His first published works appeared in the Lancastef Gazette. By the 1830's Horton’s works were appearing 1? © STi. gister. Because of his literary achievements first book, The Hope of Liberty, was published in 1827. An made to purchase Horton’s freedom but his impressive list of North Carolinians, including Governor - gees thought he was much too valuable to sell, therefore Swain, sponsored his second book, Poetical Works (1845). fe ag a slave until he was liberated by Sherman’s Although he continued to write until his death his third, the Pd _ 865. However, his master did allow him to leave largest, and last book, Naked Genius, (1865) was spon- a ea to write in Chapel Hill for which Horton was to sored by Union Soldiers. Pa) wa twenty-five cents a day. ith financial backing from white friends Horton’s Material taken from The Black Poet, by Richard Walser ‘q of 1e oa p Learning the alphabet while tending cows one of the’ e original sketches by artist Claude Howell illustrates $4 Richard Walser’s poet biography of George Moses Horton, the first black professional writer in America. This secretary is an illustration of 19th century Black This stylish secretary shows the present day artistic skills of © | workmanship. Black Craftsmen “The majority of Africans brought to early America were used for a hard labor force for the fields, although some were house servants. Still others were used as skilled craftsmen-such as spinners, weavers, garment makers for women, blacksmiths, coopers (barrell makers), and woodworkers. Some of the woodworkers fashioned fur- niture of great beauty and many of their furniture pieces are treasured antiques today. a 20th century Black woodworker. I re as == = bo] ~ — = — —— —= — Sa —aoat 3 ed — =n oon i tee 3 ae —— = te bd prion nd = = = ay ae Ea ee = 7 x as ae <— pone tr = — = == —_— er ~~ =e =e 2 to en] — aa = ae = = = =. == 2 ; = > <—— — abe sos = ——_ = = ae “ss ed & = = =< = oe — 4 = ea a = = = a —~ aol = — — Sliin- > a = sae — = —" 7 4 7 ss rym ad 4 oe we =a Railroads in Northampton we Phas known as “Bethany,” which is still the [he menu consisted of Lynnhaven oysters, salads, 2 f 1915 a e | ethodist Church there, was incorporated in cold meats, escalloped oysters, ice cream, cake, fruits, nuts, 2 Hezekiah A ae Milwaukee by an S.A.L.R. conductor, and raisins, together with a delicious article of North Z Wikeecs. asker, for the city of his birth, Milwaukee, Carolina champagne. The decorations, the arrangements, 2 Pendleton vor and the menu were the work of the ladies and their work 2 | adopted ; >» Was Incoroprated in 1893, keeping the name was simply perfect. These ladies were Mesdames M. M. in 1888 for the conductor in charge of the first Randolph, R. A. Weaver, W. P. Moore, John E. Moore, J. train to r Sideh an un the Roanoke and Tar Rivers Division of the A. Buxton, S. N. Buxton, B. S. Gay, James Scull, H. W. Sitter Lewis, and Misses S. E. Peebles and Pattie Peele.” Sev . er ; : aout n, first known as Cross Lox, later called Meherrin, The Toasts N ‘0 : = "porated in 1919 and renamed for Severn Ayers, a Mr. John Burgwyn MacRae was toastmaster and very ne) ww gracefully and intelligently did he preside. The toasts and responses were as follows: “Our Guests; response by Mayor C.G. Peebles; the Northampton and Hertford Railroad; response by Dr. H. W. Lewis. The Ladies; response by Mr. J. Burgwyn MacRae, Gumberry; response by Captain R. B. Peebles; the Press; response by Mr. H. B. Hardy of the North Carolinian and Mr. W. S. Copeland of the State. President Clark, Superintendent Whisnant of the Seaboard Air Line, and Mr. T. J. Anderson, general passenger agent of the same line, were also called for and gracefully responded. Everything went off without a hitch and the management was admirable. ‘The committee in charge were Messrs. H. W. Lewis, J. A. Buxton, J. B. MacRae, W. W. Peebles, B. S. Gay, G. P. Burgwyn, W. P. Moore, J. S. Grant, S. J. Calvert. R. A. Weaver and D. A. Jordan.” ‘Borjes orchestra from Norfolk furnished delightful music for the occasion.” ‘The Ball’ ‘After the banquet, a grand dress ball was given at the hotel and the belles and beaux of Northampton and ad- joining counties were seen in all their glory. Mr. George S. Urquhart, who was until Mr. Kell came, the “King of Gumberry” (if Captain Peebles is authority) was master of ceremonies and those who knew him needed not to be told that his management was superb. He was well assisted by Mr. E. J. Peebles, who has always been a general favorite with the young folks. Captian R. B. Peebles and his handsome wife and his charming daughter also contributed their full share to the enjoyment of the dance.” ‘Among the ladies present were Mrs. Dr. Moore, in lilac china silk; Mrs. R. B. Peebles, black silken train; Mrs. J. W. Weaver, white bengaline silk, pearl trimming; Mrs. J. T. G. Gooch, terra cotta silk; Miss Kate Prescott, old rose silk, cream lace; Miss Eliza Grant, cream cloth; Miss Nita Selden, blue and white crepon lace; Mrs. Charles Gay, cream cloth; Miss Wingfield of Portsmouth, cream crepon cloth; Miss Wilson, of Portsmouth, pink cashmere; Miss Mabel Picard, pink cashmere, lace, pearls; Miss Sallie Peebles, cream cash- mere and ribbon; Miss Sue Urquhart, cream cashmere and ribbon; Miss Dancy, pale green crepon; Miss H. Peebles, cloth and fur; Miss Annie Sancell, pink crepon, lace; Mrs. F. Kell, black silk; Mrs. Phil Meisel, black silk; Mrs. A. L. Bundy, cream silk; Miss Bena Gay, figured organdy, lace; Miss Mamie Lee, rose colored silk; Miss Hazeldine, steel silk; Miss Kittie Hazeldine, black silk; Miss Drewett, steel silk; Mrs. R. F. Keeling, brown henrietta and velvet; Mrs. B. H. Mock, black silk; Miss Lillie Grant, blue silk; Miss Annie Peebles, becoming dress of black.” “Mr. George P. Burgwyn, Mr. S. J. Calvert, Mr. B.S. Gay, Mr. Faison Calvert, Dr. Rob Stancell, Mr. William Barrow. and other citizens exerted themselves to the utmost to give everybody a good. time, while Mr. R. A. Weaver of J. P. Yaney & Co., and Dr. W. P. Moore fairly outdid themselves in acts of generous hospitality.” “Mr. J. W. Zeaver, Rich Square, was present with his bride. who was one of the prettiest women in the company. ‘Mr. Kenneth Barrow, an old Jackson boy, but now with the Norfolk and Carolina railroad, was on hand and received the cordial greetings of his friends.” “Mr. J. S. Grant, proprietor of the Cleveland Hotel conducts the “Administration House,”’ which is as populaf as its namesake.” Exactly forty years later on January 18, 1934 th® current manager, H. O. Carlton, announced the intende® abandonment of the Northampton and Hertford Railroad: Telephone Service in Northampton Old newspaper files peg 1896 as the year that the firs telephone service came to Northampton County. It was # that year that a stock company of local citizens wé organized and a telephone line from Jackson to Rich Square, via Bryantown, was erected. The company w4 composed of the following men: E. J. Gay (Judge Ballard S. Gay’s father), B. S. Gay (father of Archie C. Gay) J. W Buxton, R. B. Boyce, Albert Vann, P. T. Hicks, J. Be Griffin, R. A. Weaver, A. J. Conner, L. W. Boyce, Jam@ Scull, J. T. Parker, and W. P. Moore, and was incorporated on August 6, 1896 as the Jackson-Rich Square Telephon Company. Installing a telephone system in those days was 4 gargantuan task, but the following news excerpts show hoW well pure manpower could move when the notion struck them. Lasker, Oct. 1, 1896: “The telephone line from here # Potecasi works admirably. Work on the extension ™ Woodland is progressing rapidly.” Rich Square, same date: “The telephone line i proving a great convenience to our business men and * increasing the business of Western Union Telegraph Co. al this place.” Jackson, Oct. 22, 1896: ‘‘The Stockholders of th Telephone Company are well pleased. During the fi® month of service, 220 paying messages were sent over thf line (rate, 10 cents). Cotton quotations are received P telephone twice a day, and a full market quotation com® over Western Union twice a day.” In 1909, the Carolina Telephone Company came in! the county and installed the first switchboard in Jackson al the home of Mr. Jim Parker (where the Lloyd W. Warric# now live) and Daisy Parker was the first operator. Map) years later the central office was moved to the second flo% of the bank building and Helen (Mrs. Pete Stephensotl and Pearl (Mrs. George Tyler) Grant were the switchboat# operators. Telephone service is now available through Caroli™ Telephone and Telegraph Company to all Nort amptionians. Costs have increased two to three hundr@ per cent, the dial system is in, and direct dialing to all pa™ of the world is possible. However, calls from town to toW in the county carry a toll, and the service of the mode# computerized “switchboard” is subject to error and is nd | nearly so personal and accommodating as that rendered by Daisy Parker in her day. Tee — SEL ee a I ae ae ema Tae Aen ere fle ter ote . * Sha Lek tneeeature sa nn eee RE ee o Robert Jones, Jr. 1754—1760 Jat Post Offices in William Murphyee 17541760 Robert Jones 1761—(1761) Northam pton County ibe Si liés 1761—1762 the pai igalgy ae Anthony Armstead 1762 Nova n of the earliest postal facility in what is now Ly ee eee 1762 ade Mill) helt County is that of Wheelers Mill (Barrows Pe Pee a 1764-1765 | Bee eorge Washington received mail from this post Joseph Sykes 1764—65 Rag postat point) during the Revolutionary War. Henry Dawson 1766—1769 Gown early post offices were: Northampton County lind Banihal 1766—68 (Gaeatee nanny === 1864, Peoples Tavern Howell Edmunds 1769—1771 (Mee ee — 1819-1823; Diamond Grove —_ William Jones 1770—71 Miami (Livermac 9: 1827; Ingram (Stancil) — 1882; Jeptha Atherton 1773-1775 Newton) — 1888; Eagletown — Oct. Allen Jones 1773—1775 ~0, 1887-1906; Annetta — 1885. Che list of U. 5. Post Offices in the National Archives irst and Records Service is as follows: Pleasant Hill, April 15, General Assembly ch: Square, Jan. 26. 1831: Jackson. lan. 13. 7 Ses Gaston, Jan. 17, 1837; Garysburg, May 5, 1838; Senators ich Maieeies Dec. 5, 1839: Margarettsville, Dec. 20, 1851; Name Years be reaneard, Aug. 11, 1853; Woodland, Feb. 7, 1854; Allen Jones 1777—1779 ard mina June 11. 1884; Conway, Oct. 24, 1887; Pen- Samuel Lockhart 1779—1780 be eis May 3, 1888; Milwaukee, May 22, 1888: James Vaughan 1781 Be erry, July 15, 1889; Severn. Aug. 10, 1889; Samuel Lockhart 1782 ney =e. April 6, 1899; Henrico, Nov. 12, 1906. Allen Jones 1783 red Samuel Lockhart 1784 ye e o Allen Jones 1784—85 ga First Colonial Samuel Lockhart 1785 ee Allen Jones 1786—1787 ick Cou nty Officials John M. Binford 1788—1795 C - illiam Amis 1795 ne Recount — Issac Edwards } John M Binford 17961797 am. lic Registrar — James Dancy apedigags eo 7 BR ee Sea ee Benjamin Williamson 1798 awson John M. Binford 1799—1802 Henry Cotton 1803 ee Ce a i Free 1804 s lshetaee and Justices of The Peace siege Bite 1805—1807 n aie =William a William Edmunds 1808—1812 Howell Edmunds Francis Dancy 1813 Drury Gee Howell Peebles 1814—1816 Eaton Havnes Cornelius Moore 1817 Bennett Hil] ; Henry Boon 1818—1820 Hezekiah Houg] John Peebles 1821—1825 Allen Tigaes Exum Holliman 1825—1828 Thomas Low John H. Patterson 1828—29 Charles Th Collin W. Barnes 1829—1831 linea ; T. Hay! 1831—32 ewis Williamston nee F. enn add 1832 1834 Oseph W erod F aison Ji— a Name District Years ~ William B. Lockhart 1834—35 North Carolina William Moody 1835 Name District Years Governm ent, William Moody 5 1836—1839 Herod Faison : 5 1840—41 N I§85—I1 974 Joseph M. S. Rogers 5 1842—43 pf John M. Moody 2 1844—1847 i Orthampton County opi Ms Roses 5 18481851 of e Thomas J. Person 1 1852 4s am Olonial Assembly John B. Bynum 5 185455 i [Piere Years Thomas J. Person S 1856—1859 pt San Rp 1742-43—1752 Joseph M. S. Rogers 5 1860—61 ‘dl he maine 1742-43—1745 — W.S. Copeland 5 1861—1864 bf jaas , ‘wards 1746 John B. Odom 5 1864—65 “ames Washington 1746-47—1760 R. H. Garner . 1865—66 H. C. Edwards William Barrow Jesse Flythe George D. Holloman William W. Peebles George D. Holloman Samuel G. Newsom Thomas W. Mason Benjamin T. Copeland W. E. Harris S. J. Calvert Thomas W. Mason WWWwWwWwwwwuPrp Pin 3 1866—67 1868—1870 1870—72 1872—74 1874—75 1879—80 1881 1885 1889 1899—1900 1901 1905 North Carolina Counties Name District Benjamin S. Gay Calvert G. Peebles William H. S. Burgwyn William H. S. Burgwyn William H. S. Burgwyn Archibald C. Gay William H. Joyner Archibald C. Gay Archibald C. Gay Archibald C. Gay William H.S. Burgwyn Perry W. Martin Perry W. Martin 3 3 3 3 3 B) 3 3 3 3 3 m 3 Years 1909 1913 1917 192] 1925 1929 1933 1937—38 194] 1945 1951 1957 1963 Representatives Name Jeptha Atherton Robert Peebles Howell Edmunds Joseph Bryan Robert Nash James Vaughan Joseph Bryan John Dawson James Sikes James Vaughan Drury Gee William R. Davie Howell Edmunds James Vaughan Howell Edmunds Augustine Woods Nehemiah Long James Vaughan Robert Peebles John Knox Samuel Peele Halcott Briggs Pride Samuel Tarver William Amis Nicholas Edmunds Benjamin Williamson Henry Cotton Henry K. Peterson William Edmunds Years 1777 1777—1780 1777 1778 1778 1779—1780 1780 1781—1782 1781—1782 1782—1783 1783 1784—1785 1784 1784—85 1785 1785 1786—87 1786—1787 1787—1788 1788 1789 1789—1790 1790—1792 1791—1794 1792—1795 1794—1797 1795 1796 1797—1798 James Binford William Edmunds Henry Cotton James Long Howell Peebles William Edmunds Peter W oodlief Green Turner Samuel Tarver William Edmunds John Peebles Francis A. Bynum Charles Harrison Andrew Jones Green Turner John Peebles Peter W oodlief Cornelius Moore Henry Boon Richard Freear Thomas W. Jenkins John R. Moore William Moody Henry Abington B. C. Smith Allen Deberry William Sandiford Thomas Barrow Roderick B. Gary Thomas Peete Lewis P. Williamson Thomas Bynum John H. Patterson Joseph M. S. Rogers James T. Hayley Richard Crump John Moody Roderick B. Gary Allen Pierce 7 Samuel Calvert William E. Crump A. B. Smith Roderick B. Gary Herod Faison Junius Amis Edmund Jacobs Samuel B. Spruill Thomas Bragg, Jr. John B. Odom David A. Barnes Etheldred J. Peebles Thomas J. Person David A. Barnes John B. Bynum B. F. Lockhart Joseph R. Mason Marcus W. Smallwood Matthew W. Ransom William W. Peebles Samuel T. Stancil Samuel J. Calvert Jesse Flyth J. W. Newsome E. A. Martin 1799—1802 1799 1800—180] 1802—1804) 1803 1804—1803) 1807—1808" 1807—1808 1809—1810 1809 1810 1811—1812 1811—1812 1813—1811 1813 1814- 1815—1816 1817. 1818 1818 1819—1820 18221824) 18241826 1826—1828 1828—299 1829—1832) 183 1—32m 1831—32) 1832—39 1832—1834 1833—34 1834—1839 1834—39 1835—1837 1836—1839 1838—39 1840—41 1840—4) 1842—43 1842—1849_ 1844—1847 1846—1849 1848—1852 1850—5! 1852—1859 | 1852. 1856—5! 1856—1859 1858—186) 1860—1864 1862—1869 1864—69 1865—60 1865—60 1866—61 ‘ ee ee PEALE IPR BETA eT Pray aos ang Gato. ue ee een gh Ge ee Pe ge ee ate ASE TS ER LL RE PEPE ER eh mB Been nae SOREN Pee NEE EEG PERE ASS oa ae Le ee So a Pear eR att eat elie oes oe Roswell C 9. William Bottoms 1835—1841 , Bree 1868—1870 10. Thomas Hughes 1841—1845 008 kp... keynolds 1868-1870 11. John B. Odom 1845—1853 799 | Saif, ary Jones 1870—72 12. John E. Rogers 1853—1857 300 Burtor oo 1870—72 —_—13. Issac Peele 1857—1861 04 oR Hee Jones 1872—74 —-14. Noah R. Odom 1861—1880 037 A ; ice 1874—75 15. James D. Boone 1880—1885 009 Iwo. 1876—77 ~—«16. H. B. Peebles 1885—1887 0 Pah 1879—80 —-17.J. E. Buxton 1887—1890 064 Wiley Rite 1881 18. J. T. Flythe 1890—1921 306 | Gan — 1883 19. W. J. Beale 1921—1942 08 Rob B. > arker 1883 20. George P. Burgwyn 19421958 508 Peak - Peebles 1883 21. Miss Rebecca Long 1958—1966 OR yy. Uowards 1885 22. R. Jennings White, Jr. 1966—Present Oe kaye . 1885 10° - hawls 1887—1889 4 1 Rober ee wii “Registrars of Deeds Me Rebar 1889 1802-1807 W.. B. Lockhart 17 Roba i Stancill 1891 1807-1818 W. J. Dancy CR 1891 1818-1832 Hardy Cobb Mt Reeve c. 1893 1832-1834 John White oe eos. 1895 1834-1838 Shirley Tisdale Se War 1897 1838-1839 William B. Wheeler 8 PRP 1899—1900 1839-1842 John S. W. Long 18° aie e 1901 1842-1855 Samuel Calvert mM wt 1903 1855-1856 W. W. Peebles 19 Gates 7 1905 1856-1862 Benjamin E. Peele 20 | Mahlon Bo Midgette 1907—1908 1862-1863 George W. Bowers 31 Benj ie “wie 1909 1863-1868 Nicholas Peebles ae Jokes ) 1911 1868-1884 W. T. Buxton 94° ‘Tea. a menetn 1913 1882-1884 H. R. DeLoatch 267 William H. iene 1915 1881-1882 W. J. Rogers ME Josech B Sone 1917 1881-1886 E. E. Roberts 278 Mahlon B : en 1919—20 1886-1894 Millard F. Stancell 52 William “ ton 1921 1890-1894 J. W. Fleetwood 28 JamesS. G . Burgwyn 1923—24 1890-1902 E. E. Roberts 3m CarlP. Pa 1925 1902-1907 Millard F. Stancell sam (Jose oo 1927 1907-1932 S. J. Calvert ME Archibald Ce 1929 1932-1959 A. H. Martin 34 le 193] 1959- Wilson Bridgers 39 W sheen — 1933 5 , - Darbee 1935 5 . Hinton L. Joyne SE te Early Village and - fiarr 9] John R. Woorler saraegiee Settlem ent Names 'N ams a Pa e District Years Alto J re ry W. Martin 6 1969—1971 Annetta t mes G. Revelle, Sr. 5 1973—74 Bethany : Blakeley a Clerks of Bryans 9 Be 3 Cathcart + N uperior Court pis pooeeeds : ross Ox evern 5 Ortham pton County Diamond Grove (Margarettsville ) 2 +) Linas Duprees > 2 Wiis pe 1741—1745 Dusty Hill 3. Jepth Ones 1745—1775 Ganesborough TD gp bina Atherton 1775—1785 Gray’s fm 5 yon 4. Haynes 1785—1812 Green Plain 5 ames C. Harrison 1812—1823 Hains 6. John W 8 : y nN. Harrison 1823—1830 Hall's 7 /.Mattc 6. 8. R; t Calvert 1830— Harrells Corner ‘ “Uchard.H. Weaver 1830—1835 Harris Shop eRe eR Re Ree OL RN ee ee eee Ft EE ERE OR eRe ete REET EATER TE ee ET ee eee Ee ee Sees De ae oy Soe oe Bg eg ere rene eer ee hase has hb pcda bed aba ebebetitas sont chek eck tte Foe bh Be he be Re heme ne ee Rearend Page Age Paap Pane dnee Bay The + . <= Hawns Peeble’s Tavern (near Garysburg) Hunters John Peele Hotel (Rich Square) Ingrams Peterson's Inn (Garysburg) Liverman Pruden’s Hotel (Seaboard) later Stephensons Hotel Malones Crossroads (Garysburg) Rich Square Hotel (Rich Square) Baugham Hotel Martins Silver Heel Tavern (near Jackson) Miami John White Inn and Tavern (Jackson) Northampton County Court House Shoular’s Hotel (Rich Square) Oak Grove Bryantown Tavern Peebles Tavern Paites Mills and Ponds Pinhook Pricetown Bakers Jones Randolphs Barrows (same as Wheelers) Jordans Rices Beales Lightwood Knot Smiths Boones Paces : Springeut Bull Hill Spanns = Stancil Conwells Stephensons = Starke Woodard Shop Coickhacttn Sykes SS Turners Cypress Taylors Wildcat Deberrys W atsons Doo Little Plantations . " Ferries and Landings | Alvester Maratok Arrington Meadow Barnes Ferry Barnes Montrose Boons Ferry Bells Mount Gallant Bridgers Ferry Bellview Mowfield Burgwyns Landing Belmont Mud Castle Cottens Ferry Big Princeton Mud Hole Devereusx Ferry Bishop and Powell Occoneechee Wigwam Eatons Ferry Brittles Odoms (or Yellobies) Hills Ferry . Bryants Old Quarter John Edwards Ferry and Landing Bull Hill Over the Road Lower Shell Landing Diamond Grove Over the Swamp Manneys Landing Duke Lawrence Persons Moors Ferry Faison Polenta Norfleets Ferry Garibaldi Roger's Quarters Pitch Landing Gees Silver Hill Pollocks Ferry and Landing Grays Summerill Prides Ferry Hyders Thompsons (or Barrows) Pulhams Ferry Level Thornbury Raglins Ferry Little Gee Urquarts Shell Landing Gg Little Princeton Verona Washington Ferry | Lockhart White House Wilkins Ferry Longview Wilkins Sheriffs of a . | | Inns, Taverns, 5 Northampton County . and Hotels wee ) William Kinchen 1746 Blakeley’s Tavern (near Garysburg) John Duke 1754 it Burgwyn Hotel (Jackson previously Sam Calvert Inn Nathan Williams 1755-1750) i (Jackson) John Jones 1758 , Cleveland House (Jackson) Green Hill 1762 Cross Lox Tavern (Severn) William Allen 1764-1769 i E. T. Harrell (Rich Square) William Eaton 1772-177 Faison's ‘Tavern (Galatia) Drury Gee 1778 £ Gary's Hotel (Garysburg) Hezekiah Hough 1783 ( Gaston Tavern (old Gaston) Thomas Parker 1787 | Paul Harrell’s Hotel (Woodland) John Peterson 1789 Horn’s Inn (Rich Square) Thomas Bauet ( Boyette) 1800 30 PEE BL MEE i LEE TEEPE EE BE IMG RE SLID LOD ey SI Ee LE ALT DS ws AD 9 OS eS PR CRP TTY ete RAST . > a 4 ene a ato ee See Se. ice pen Taye eae Shai et hk op oa r a as. oS aaa th i = tect et ase oe ae oe Foon 2 ele a = . ee a bet aeat jt: Rae Pee ore Sy ae a ee si eg el te i ot terling Boykin Hed. Voba es 809 7 n Peebles 1817 ee H. Wood 1823-1826-1830 T. Grant 1869-1871 C.S.W ' - Waggoner 72 Tahseae te 18% tssoegatinn hh, ewsome 1873 L. Buxton 1885 W. H. Sm; h Me =e it 1886-1889 W f a 1889-1894 W oan faloe 1894-1900 Hine, fa 1900-1904 oe Joyner 1904-1934 yde Stephenson 1934-1950 1950-Present Schools and Academies Quakers had schools in mid 1700’s Wrenn Military Academy 1795 — Jackson Wack Grove Academy (near Mt. Carmel) 1831 E ampton Academy 1831 — Jackson Xum Outland School — 1831 Northampton Female Seminary — 1833 W “A Mes Academy 1837 (twelve miles west of Murfreesboro) e Academy 1845-1855 Jackson S Freedmen — 1870 Jackson oe College” — 1873 Conway Olly Grove — 1870's Newtown School — 1870's p0odland School — 1875 mp Forks — 1875 — Pleasant Grove ilwaukee School — 1876 Cedar Grove School 1877 — Woodland urg Educational Association 1874 Garysb Orange High School 1883 Woodland yreeksville School 1883 (Grange Hall) oe Male Academy — 1884 . €stunion — 1895 Eagletown Prete: Public School — 1888 nS Ea ee Fentons School — Garysburg Woodruff School — Bethel Occoneechee School Baughams School 1880 Rich Square Vann School 1885 Rich Square Lasker Graded School Mount Olive — Eagletown 1891 Boltons — Woodland around 1890 Dusty Hill School Business Directory for 1877—°78 Northampton County Population in 1870 — 14,749. White, 6,239; Colored, 8,510. County Seat — Jackson. Population — 181 White, 97; Colored, 84. County Officers Clerk Superior Court — Noah R. Odom. Commissioners — Jas. W. Grant, Claiborn Faison, Henry Copeland, Wm. Barrow, James A. Boone. Coroner — John R. Drake Register of Deeds. — Wm. T. Buxton. Sheriff — James W. Newsome. Solicitor — C. M. Cooke, 6th Dis. Surveyor — Norman Parker. Standard Keeper — Joseph N. Seldon. Treasurer — James W. Copeland. Courts Fourteenth Monday after second Monday in February and August, and third Monday in January. TOWNSHIPS AND MAGISTRATES. Gaston-Wm. E. Bradley, James W. Grant, Joe G. Lockhart. Occoneechee-Thomas W. Mason, T. C. Parker, James L. Lintor. Jackson-Issac Peele, W. S. Copeland, John T. Peebles. Roanoke-Wm. Grant, Andrew E. Peele, William H. Williams. Rich Square-Henry C. Edwards, J. C. Jacobs, Andrew J. Harrell. Wiccacne-William J. Rogers, Wm. H. Parker, James L. ich Square A; é Lassiter. . ae | Olney High S ha emy 1899 Kirby-Joe A. Garris, William J. Edwards, E. A. Martin. Rich Square Hin cate oot Seaboard-C.C. Daniel, Alex. H. Reid, W. J. Maddry, B. D. Pies € High School — 1894 Stancill. Meh t High School — 1894 Churches Names, Post Offices, Pastors and Denom. y Seaboard emale Academy — prior to 1896 Jackson, Jackson, W. T. Picard, Epis. Conway — Roanoke Institute — prior to 1896 Jackson, Jackson, John Q. Rhodes, Meth. Pendleton poe v7 PER 16 1896 Garysburg, Garysburg, John Q. Rhodes, Meth. SE Seinen. a — prior to 1896 Concord, Seaboard, W. P. Jordan, Meth. Bri te ing chool ion Prior to 1896 Fidelity, Margaretsville, W. P. Jordan, Meth. Woodland ot — prior to 1896 Creeksville Sharon, Margarettsville, W. P. Jordan, Meth. 65 Miss ton oe Providence, Murfreesboro, W. P. Jordan, Meth. 7am Pruden S.- emale Academy — Woodland Zion, Jackson, W. P. Jordan, Meth. Leathe — — Seaboard Pinners, Rich Square, John Q. Rhodes, Meth. = Seaboar q ae School — Jackson New Hope, Jackson, John Q. Rhodes, Meth. i Old Yaa at irae Rehobeth, Jackson, John Q. Rhodes, Meth. Frog Pond S ool — Pleasant Hill Pleasant Grove, Jackson, John Q. Rhodes, Meth. | choo] — Garysburg Mt. Carmel, Jackson, John N. Hoggard, Bap. 31 eR Re Re OR RT ete Cotes 2 pe pn ty te ee PTY Ce em ee er eres oe one . Potecasi, John N. Hoggard, Bap. Lawrence, Simon, Seaboard, Roberts’ Chapel, Murfreesboro, John N. Hoggard, Bap. Lambertson, W. A., Rich Square, Gallatia, Margarettsville, John N. Hoggard, Bap. Moore, J. D., Margarettsville, Hotels —— Bridgers & Co., Sea- oard, Maddrey, Sears & Co., Sea- board, PLS Norwood & Co., Rich Square, eo dik tines Offices Outland Wm. C., Rich Square, Barnes David A., Murfreesboro. — — ig th es dot Bowen. €. ia oe arker, G. T., Garysburg, Baste Willis, sete Peele, W. T., Rich Square, Beale Robert F- Potetail Peele, T. C. & Co., Rich Square, ete EE. amin Reid & Harris, Pleasant Hill, Gatling John, Jackson. : Person Thomas J., Weldon. Smallwood, M.W., Rich Square, Smith, J. P., Rich Square, Peebles Robert B., Jackson Peebles Willia: 1 W., Jackson. Stephenson, Wm. T., Seaboard, Ransom Gen. M. W., Weldon : Capitalist Vinson J. C.. Jackson. Stephenson W.T. & R. T., Seaboard, Manufactories. — Suiter, (J.L.) & Coker, (W.D.,) Manufactories, Post Offices. and Prop'rs. Garysburg Carriages, Buggies, and Harness, Jackson, Joseph N. Stephenson, Wm., U., Margarettsville, Seldon. Stancill, B. D., Margarettsville, Thomas, E. J., Pleasant Hill, Names, Post Offices and Proprietors. Jackson, Jackson, Robert A. Weaver. Garysburg. Garysburg, W. T. Kee. Cotton Presses, Jackson, W. H. Burgess. Wheelwrighting and Blacksmithing, Pleasant Hill, A. Thomas, E. J., Garysburg, Harris. Weaver, Robt. A., Jackson, Buggies, &c., Pleasant Hill, M.D.L. Harris. Ministers, Resident. — Wheelwrighting, Pleasant Hill, Price & Harris. Names, Post Offices, and Denominations. Coaches, &c., Rich Square, E.P. Copeland. Britton, E. R., Jackson, Undertaking, Seaboard, M.D.L. Harris. Flythe, Jesse, Jackson, Merchants Grant, Wm., Boon’s X roads, Names, Post Offices, Line of Business Fleetwood, Joshua C., Margarettsville, Andleton, A. R., Garysburg, Hoggard, John N., Murfreesboro, Buxton, Wm. T. & Co., Jackson, Rochelle, J. N., Jackson, Buxton, Jas. A. & Co., Jackson Mills. _ and Rich Square, Kind, Post Offices, and Proprietors Burgess, Wm. H., Rich Square, Flour and Corn, Garysburg, E.I. Thomas. Buxton, Jas. A. & Co., Seaboard, Corn, Jackson, S. B. Boone. Buffaloe, (W.H.,) & Bryant (M. W.,) Jackson, Corn, —, J. W. Copeland & Co. Bridgers, C. M., Seaboard, Saw Mill, Jackson, — —’s estate. Bridgers, Lawrence & Co., Flour and Corn, Murfreesboro, John C. Vinson. Seaboard. Flour and Corn, Jackson, Jas. I. DeLoatch. Blanchard, Jos. E., Woodland, Corn, Jackson, W. D. Edwards. Calvert, Samuel, Jackson, Corn, Murfreesboro, Uriah Vaughan. Capehart & Grant, Jackson, Corn, Margarettsville, Lewis D. Gay. Conner, Jas. W., Rich Square, Physicians Carstarphen, W. & Son, Garysb’g, Names and Post Offices Cook. H. H.. Potecasi. Barrow, William, Jackson. Drew, L. W. & Co., Rich Square, Copeland, Winfield S., Jackson Daniel, C. C., Pleasant Hill, Clement, W. W., Gaston. Edwards, Stevenson & Cc., Ellis, Andrew J., Garysburg. Seaboard, Jacobs, John C., Rich Square. Farmer, Jas. B.. Rich Square, MeNider, V. St. Clair, Jackson Farmer, Wm. H. & Bro., Rich Moore, C. G. C., Rich Square. Square, Ramsey, J. N., Seaboard. Futrell, Anderson, Rich Square, Stancell, Rob’t H., Margarettsville. Ferguson, B. L., Pleasant Hill, Squire, William R., Gaston. Grant, Wm. & Co., Jackson. Wilkins, E. W., Gaston. Hardy, W. H., Rich Square, Post Offices : Harrell, A. Woodland, Garysburg, Potecas Joyner, W. T., Rich Square, Jackson. (c.h.) Rich Square Lassiter, S. M., Rich Square, Margarettsville, Seaboard: Lewter, S. G., Margarettsville, Pleasant Hill, Woodland — 32 7 > . Names, Post Offices, and Principals : = Male Acad’y, Jackson, Chas. Fetter. acKson Female Academy, Jackson. Farmers. Post Offices and Names . Williams. ysburg-M. W. R 2. 3. ; Halifax-J. J. Long, deh ie nogin . “ackson— E. Jacobs, L. Calvert, A. Capeheart, G. P. purgwyn, Wm. Barrow, Dr. Winfield S. Copeland, J. W. ewsom, N. R. Odom, Wm. W. Peebles, A. J. Allen, G. B, Holoman, J. Flythe, R. M. Garner, William T. as uxton, H. T. Grant, Henry Boyce. Nee arettsville. — W. Rogers. “ orfolk, Va. — J. M. S. Rogers. Va. — J. J. Bell. ° tain A. J. Harrell, R. J. Beale, J. E. Magett, C. assiter, EK. Martin, M. Futrell, W. M. Beale, H. C. quare — J. N. Jacobs, J. T. Lambertson, T. snallwood, T. Lambertson Williams, T. Peel, B. aria J. Morris, H. T. Spivey, J. J. Jacobs, J. W. opeland, W 3 J. Brown, T. P. Elliott, Thomas Harrell. orrespondents Agr'l Dep't. Wm. Grant, Jackson; W. J. Rogers, Margarettsville. oe ‘i Land, Live Stock, and Values. Pec Actes, 313,804; Value, $1,449, 592; Town ee a $33,300. Aggregate. $1,482,892. rs, - — Horses, 1,899; Value, $124,934; Mules, 9100; -- $78,603; Jacks, 3; Val., $100; Jennet, 1; ~» $10; Goats, 18; Val., $18; Cattle, 6,081; Val., 628; Hogs, 16,087; Value, $32,154; Sheep, 2,030; a ue, $2,036. geri - Pleasantly undulating, lies along the Roanoke ‘ver, 1s well watered, plenty of water power, land senerally good and productive when well drained and cultivated. Stapl | Ne €s — Cotton, Tobacco, Corn, Potatoes, Wheat, and aval Stores. Newspapers Paper published in 1870 by Probe Barrow and Sam Tt in Jackson N Sancti a Reporter 1877-1879 Merritt Briggs and Sieh Wright editors. Sold and name changed to on Courier, Published in Jackson. - 1879(?) Published in Jackson. R Oanok Be ore Patron 1879(?)-1891 Published in Potecasi. R. I. eale and D. M. Beale editors. Seaboa M. “pay Reflector 1886-1889 Published in Seaboard by J. Msay and Will Maddrey. Pat ea and Gleanor 1892-1899 Published in Lasker then Rite foe with Andrew J. Conner as editor, Name sed to Roanoke Chowan Times. Roanoke Chowan Times 1899-1958 Published in Rich Square with Andrew J. Conner and Esther Conner as editors. Later merged to become Northampton Times. Northampton Progress 1917-1926 Published in Jackson with J. A. Flythe and Walter W. Edwards as editors. Northampton Enterprise 1930 Published in Jackson with Thad R. Howell as editor. Jackson News 1926(?)-1949 Published in Jackson. Editors include Mrs. Lloyd Howel and James Bateman. Merged to become Northampton Times. Northampton Times News 1949- Published in Jackson then Rich Square with Leonard O. Dudley as first editor. The Weekly Roanoke Chowan News of Northampton County 1961. Published in Conway. Roanoke Valley Sun 1960 Rich Square. Eugene and Jean Weber. Northampton County Com missioners Name James W. Newsom Edmund Jacobs George D. Holomon Lemuel H. Boyce Soloman Parker James W. Grant John T. Reynolds William Barrow Thomas Kee Thomas C. Peele Samuel N. Buxton J. S. Evans James A. Boone Henry Copeland Claiborne Faison William H. Parker Jeremiah Gay Andrew J. Harrell William E. Bradley William H. Williams James H. Edwards J. C. Jacobs R. T. Stephenson H. C. Edwards George Bishop W. D. Coker Joseph A. Garris William Grant J. A. Buxton W. P. Vick J. G. L. Crocker Paul Harrell W. L. Stanley Albert Vann Years Served 1868-1871 1868-1871 1868-1869 1868-1873 1868-1869 1870-1877 — 1880-1883 1890-1891 1870-1871 1872-1874 — 1877-1900 1872-1873 1872-1875 1973 1890-1892 1874-1875 1874-1877 1876-1877 1876-1877 1878-1879 — 1882-1884 1878-1881 1878-1880 1878-1879 1878-1882 1880-1883 1881 1882-1885 1883-1885 1884-1887 1885 1885-1887 — 1892-1896 1886-1887 1886-1887 1888-1897-1901 1888-1889 — 1892-1894 1888-1889 1888-1889 1890-189] C. R. Harrell Everett Baugham W. E. Harris B. D. Stancell J. R. Carstarphen A. R. Jacobs J. E. Drake B. M. Pugh I. P. Parker C. P. Stephenson G. M. Powell B. F. Martin W. T. Joyner J. M. Grant D. N. Stephenson John Fitzhugh J. G. Stancell J. T. Bolton J. O. Flythe C. J. Garriss W. T. Liles E. C. Parker H. S. Ellis W. G. Edwards W. F. Nelson R. W. Thompson H. D. Holoman J. R. Woodard John E. Boone P. A. Bulluck S. G. Baugham Grady P. Davis J. Grady Bridgers J. Guy Revelle Jasper Eley T. G. Joyner L. E. Bolton H. C. Guthrie John H. Liverman, Jr. H. C. Bottoms David E. Gay M. Thomas Flythe John W. Faison W. W. Grant William D. Edwards 1886-1891 1902-1908 1892-1896 1893-1896 1895-1896 1897-1899 1897-1899 1897-1899 1899 1900-1903 1900-1901 1900 1900-1901 1902-1903 1902-1908 1904-1908 1904-1908-1918 1918-1921-1931 1918-192] 1919-1920 192] 1931-1943 1932-1936 1933-1940 1933-1946 1937 1940-1956 1943-1947 1943-1948 1944-1956 1946-1950 1947-1959 1948-1953 1950-1962 1953-1972 1956-1958 1956-1961 1959-1962 1961-1970 1962 1962-1964 1964-1968 1968-1970 1970- 1970- 197 2- 1897-1899 1901-1908 1898-1899 1931-1943 1938-1944 1958-1966 — 1966- Northampton County Population 1790 — 9,981 1800 — 12,353 1810 — 13,082 1820 — 13,242 — 13,391 1830 1840 1850 1860 13,369 13,335 iS:Stz 1870 — 14,749 1880 — 20,032 1890 — 21,242 1900 — 21,150 1910 — 22,323 1920 — 23,184 1930 — 27,161 1940 — 28,299 1950 — 28,432 1960 — 26,811 1970 — 24,009 Present County Officials County Commissioners Jasper Eley, Chairman John H. Liverman, Jr. Vice-Chairman W. W. Grant John W. Faison William D. Edwards Charles Slade, Jr. — County Attorney Sidney T. Ellen — County Manager R. Jennings White — Clerk of Court C. Wilson Bridgers — Register of Deeds EK. Frank Outland — Sheriff Authors Mebane Holoman Burgwyn Nancy Froelich Hazel Griffin Bernice Kelly Harris Lucy Hollowell George Moses Horton Henry W. Lewis Robert Glenn Mulder Gilbert Stephenson Artists Kitty Good Done in true primitive style the canvases pictured by | Kitty Good reflect the life and the people of Northampto? — County, North Carolina, during the 1915’s-1930’s a§ } remembered by the artist, Kitty Good. Truly gone are thé — homes and the people. Much of the area now lies under thé | waters of Lake Gaston, and many fine old homes depicted are no more-either torn down, burned, or deserted and deteriorated. A native of Henrico, North Carolina, daughter of Mr and Mrs. R. S. Moody, and now a resident of Richmond: Virginia, Mrs. Good began painting at sixty two, and hef work was quickly classified as “‘true primitive’’ art. It ha§ been said that her paintings are amazingly three dime?” sional, though her style is flatly two dimensional. Remembered rural scenes in the upper reaches of Northampton County, North Carolina dominate her work: — Her largest, most interesting and intricate work, ( pictured : inside the front cover) condenses almost ten miles ® © countryside into a telephoto type perspective. Mrs. Good 4 accomplishes this technique by eliminating colorles * PE CSIR a RE ee eT Lh cai SPS Re MEE Se ae et ‘ sick. ae Saisie Ke re = j a While her sons were growing up, Mrs. Outland, shared generously of her time and talent in the cultural, civic, religious, and social life of Rich Square. She is a highly Se sedans, most of which are country homes, pias sis _ stores. The artist boasts of having known ES fag egro and White, in the ten mile area from the valued member of one of Northampton County’s oldest and Gaston Nt Saint Luke's Episcopal Church west of most highly respected clubs, The Rich Square Garden b » N. C. Each lovingly painted home, horse and Club. l ; : ex : '88Y. person, and cultivated garden row can be identified When her sons were in college, Mrs. Outland entered a y this Vivacious, gracious lady. ioe ’s paintings have been shown with honor in They g Juried shows in Virginia and North Carolina. ¥ were last seen in the Contemporary Primitives >» SO appropriate to the oncoming Bicentennial, at the Bergdorf Goodman Gallery, New York City, June class in Portrait Painting in Norfolk, Va. where she studied for several years under Lena McNamara. Portraiture is indeed Mrs. Outland’s forte. Her character studies and her pastels of children, as well as her Northampton scenes and landscapes, are making Lois Outland a well known North- ampton artist. 19¢ ee : — Michigan, Pennsylvania, North Carolina, and Recently, Mrs. Outland has taken art classes under Barclay Sheaks and Bettie Anglin at the Walter Cecil Rawls Library and Museum in Courtland, Va. : Griswold Outland is the only child of Mr. and Minin of Wendell, North Carolina. She is have nick r. R. B. Outland of Rich Square, where they sons, R Fey home throughout their married life. Two childr ry Outland, Jr. and James O. Outland, are the en of this marriage. Both sons are married and make th EG ane in Rich Square also. There are four grand- Item of Interest in Court Records Etheldred Martin received land grant from Governor Alexander Martin. Deed on file in Jackson courthouse begins as follows: Alexander Martin, Esquire, our Governor Captain General and Commander in Chief at Fairfield on the 29th day of October, in the seventh year at our Independence — 1782 Maj Mrs. Outland graduated from Meredith College with a or j ; Potent in Art. Here she studied under Art Instructor Ida For further research in Northampton history we suggest the courthouse records and the books by Margaret M. Hofmann. |! — bMS a ts atl eS ota a SS SS ee ee Rg ene Sea WNOIS 3303 SSVd3ONN OV3HYIAO Ovouive dNWD NOSItd SOOHIS OSNOD SOOHIS Y3HLO S3HOUNHD O3A08dHINN a30vEo . ; T3AVED ~ IS-S4 Py : 2 JIMS NMOL vy one | A, , NoLs¥9 \ OISIARy S3dAi GvOYN ALNNOD — 0, SAVMHOIH = UWLS ON3937 3YVNDS HID \ I BUVNOS, HDIy \ ONW1000M s C e oO NOOT2M OL + ‘ 7 1 SON] ANITH ALNNOD Sean? © dIHSNMOL dIHSNMOL 33H233NOI30 yusyv> ~ z ~ « > ° - ‘ = dIHSNMOL a 2 2” G 33NVIIIM, 4 dIHSNMOL YUH ANVSV31¢ vy LSI¢g 7 AG ALNNOD NOLGDWVWHLYON Teese ae ane cam a ee ne Hina Bax rar aaa hearst 2 ~ SE ee Re AS OEE ee Nl pacar sve met The War Between the States Sto te _—— The War Between the States Northampton County Word of North Carolina’s secession came to the people of Northampton just as crops of 1861 were coming up. War There was both jubilation and dread with all North- was here. hoping for quick end to the new _ hostilities. amptonians were enveloped with the spirit of the cause as many answered to the call of the Confederacy. A Northamptonian, Thomas Bragg, left Jackson to serve as our state's governor during the crucial years preceding the outbreak of war. He was then called on to serve on Jefferson Davis’ cabinet as Attorney General of the Confederacy during the early organizational period. Another Northamptonian, Matt Ransom was to serve as a commissioner from North Carolina to the Confederate government in Montgomery. Later he became a general and served in many campaigns. The only Confederate General born in Northampton County was Daniel Chevilette Govan, who served with the Western army before surrendering with General Johnston near Durham in 1865. Northampton had many distinguished persons serving during these war years. Yet it was the thirteen thousand “plain people” who lived on the Northampton soil who provided so much. One thousand troops were furnished by this county. Northampton became the site of several Confederate training camps. Troops trained at such Northampton camps as Camp Mangum, Camp David, and Camp Ransom, noted to be among the “‘best’ in the Confederacy. Northampton was in a unique position. The rich plantation and farm lands were to provide the much needed food and clothing materials of support. The County was crossed by the railroads which transported the sorely needed war materials brought into Wilmington and then shipped to General Lee in Virginia. It was because of this crucial railroad link that Union troops under the command of Colonel S. P. Spear invaded Northampton soil in the hot month of July, 1863. As he and 5000 troops tramped across Northampton toward the railroad bridge over the Roanoke River, Confederate Intelligence watched closely. General Matt Ransom and less than two hundred troops were sent to Northampton to stop this Union movement. On the morning of July 28, 1863 more Confederate troops stopped at a mill pond, called Boone’s Mill, to lunch and bathe. Spear’s forces nearly caught these men off guard as his cavalry approached. With some quick thinking on the Confederate’s part and hesitancy of the Union troops, the day was saved. For nearly three hours, we are told, intense fire filled the already hot afternoon air. Then as the Union began a flanking movement around the Confederate embankment, Ransom pulled a bluff which drove Spear to the decision to retreat to Winton without realizing his goal of destroying the railroad bridge. This battle preserved this section of North Carolina from the enemy’s presence for much time to follow. The crops of 1863 and 1864 were saved. Northampton was to be spared from any further occupation until the closing weeks of the war in the spring of 1865 when an army of 8000 Union troops moved into the Seaboard area and dug up embankments on the rail road. As the train approached, the danger was discovered: and the train with 2000 Confederate troops backed dow No shots were fired and the railroad was cut. The war was over for Northampton, but hard time were just beginning for the people of Northampton County" Boon’s Mill Ya The Civil War Battle in Gumberry that Never Took Place It was the Spring of 1865 and the closing weeks of the , Civil War. Northampton County farmers, among them Kinarell Howell, once again had put their fields in order for the new crops of cotton and corn. Howell’s land stood, as it doe today, astride the Seaboard and Roanoke Railroad, built & connect the Port of Norfolk with the main line road runnin south from Richmond into North Carolina at Weldon. One bright morning, excitement rang high through th® Seaboard area. A “runner” from Jackson, the county sealy brought word the Union Army was on its way. Soon, a “roaring noise came from the southeast audible from enemy troops, many of them mounted and some horses pulling artillery pieces, moved across io countryside and onto the Howell’s land. They stopp some on each side of the railroad tracks. Two pit ont age "SM tal i i ln ii “2 4 ir inh or Rs Sea asda Ib i rt 5 il a a "nts for big guns were dug on either side of the half a n es the rails themselves were ripped up for about ile, from Howell westward to the crossroads of It r : ° railroad uns about half a mile on the south side of the * NOw a part of the Seaboard Air Line. The great Mounds stil] , a S | are 12 to 15 feet j . reed pine forest hes et in height in some places. A sie ticks was never used. What could have Uninc sieaad ire — engagement was averted because had an ae eat the Confederates to the draw, and Howell's f rwhelming force to “cut” the railroad at 4 Ss farm before the Southerners got there. ‘mong those who knew the fortification is still there is the late ; | Mrs. L. W. Bryant (a veteran schoolteacher at Gast tein Tea “ii sreat-granddaughter of Kindred Howell) who “on the old home place. Recently, she ; ; Richmond y. she and a brother, deve oes W. J. Stephenson of Stood on the site and told of events of 98 years avo, as R Chita. related to them by their grandmother, Mrs. Stine Howell Jordan, who died in 1925. cured i sreat-grandfather (Kindred Howell) put all the leat in a big box and buried it behind the barn when word ca is ail me the Union Army was on its way, Mrs. Bryant ter time shaw), Stopped in my grandmother's fields. At that and @ ‘slnve sia: on the place with her father and sister, Aunt Rena w an Aunt Rena, who took care of the girls. “The Uri. ie froma neighbor for 50 cents a week. and placing $a Orces, after throwing up the breastworks from Norfolk e ng beside the railroad, waited for a train soldiers, who w ey knew it was carrying Confederate “Cre. ere trying to get to Weldon or Richmond. ollie Ghaee Howell talked to two of the Union a m “She: waiting. hey told him it would not because they i to take his family and slave and leave, said their tro — there would be no battle. Both officers the train aoe he 0 far outnumbered the Confederates on Was estimat ; - were sure there would be no fight.” (It compared es t ere were about 8,000 Union Troops, to about 2,000 Rebels on the train). ited the two officers in for coffee. The room Howell] inv Sat is still preserved, a part of the rebuilt ‘i Which they 10ome la . ¢ . ce w es piace which was moved several hundred yards from its Origin al sj te. F : * or al an hour or so. there were a series of “‘booms’ heard ; railroad wa, eankees tested their big guns guarding the “The Gis the range on the expected train. “Frain came slowly from Seaboard,” Mrs. Bryant of the fort ee ne flagged and came to a stop within sight began to bank 2 at could see the situation and the train “On up. Not a shot was fired. ¢ of the officers said. “Thank God, the war is over 48 far as toward Aa are concerned.’ The train backed out of sight the town of Seaboard.” wac . =e be one Confederate ou the train, whose » earby, and he jumped off and made a dash for “s captured by Union soldiers, the only prisoner taken. Mrs. Bryant’s grandfather, Henry Clay Jordan was a soldier on the train also. The gun pits as well as about half of the breastworks, have been leveled, but the other half still remains. Mrs. Bryant recalled that her grandmother said the fields had been broken up and laid off in that Spring of ‘65 when the Yankees came. The troops, horses, and artillery pieces trampled them so thoroughly that all the work had to be redone after their departure, and a late crop resulted, that year. War Story by Margaret Martin Womble. This is a true story told to my father by his mother, Mary Flythe Martin, daughter of Rev. Jesse Flythe. She was one of the children mentioned in the story who hid out in the woods. The original home of Rev. Flythe still stands near Northampton High School. The story took place during the Civil War period. The Methodist preacher, Jesse Flythe, was working in his grist mill at Creeksville Mill Pond, which was near the farm he owned. The Yankees came to Creeksville and caught him while he was at his mill. After capturing him and burning the mill and the bridge leading to it, they made him run on foot ahead of their horses for about a mile. Arriving at his home, the Yankees told him there was going to be a battle at Creeksville Mill Pond. (The battle never did take place.) He was then ordered out of his house. He took his wife and six children (Jim, June, Joseph, Jesse Thomas ‘“‘Simon’”’, Adrian “Ed”, and Mary Eliza “‘Molly’’) to the woods where he built a brush shelter. The Yankees took over his house. Rev. Flythe had hidden his meat in the kitchen loft. In a nearby graveyard he hid his brandy under a grave roof. When Rev. Flythe returned to his home in about a week, he found his molasses, flour, and meal turned out on the floor. He found that his meat and horses, except for one old nag, had been stolen. Then, upon his return to the graveyard, he noticed that some of the shingles were not on the grave roofs. The Yankees had loosened them while dancing on the roofs. Mr. Flythe raised up one particular roof, and upon seeing the brandy still there exclaimed, “Oh yeah, dag-nab-it, you didn’t get that!”’ Daniel Chevilette Govan from GENERALS IN GRAY by Ezra J. Warner Daniel Chevilette Govan was born in Northampton County, North Carolina, July 4, 1829, but was brought up in Mississippi, and attended the University of South Carolina. He joined in the gold rush to California in 1849 with his kinsman, Ben McCulloch, who was also to become a Confederate general officer, but Govan returned to Mississippi in 1852, and then moved to Arkansas, in 1861, where he engaged in planting. Raising a company, which became part of the 2nd Arkansas. Infantry, he became its lieutenant colonel and participated in all the campaigns of the western army, rising to the rank of brigadier general, bra EREOC REPL =. = 2 ee & Pane z. ae “3 = rom = = =. ~ = se inne a “= Fos = os es = i Bets = = = = s Daniel Chevilette Govan on February 29, 1863. He was captured at the battle of Jonesboro during the Atlanta campaign. Surrendering with General Joseph E. Johnston in 1865, General Govan returned to his plantation in Arkansas, where he continued to live until 1894, when he accepted from President Cleveland a post as Indian agent in the state of Washington. The last years of his life were spent in the homes of one or another of his fourteen children in Ten- nessee and Mississippi. He died in Memphis on March 12, 1911, and is buried in Holly Springs, Mississippi. Colonel Harry Burgwyn “BOY COLONEL” OF THE TWENTY—SIXTH NORTH CAROLINA REGIMENT Henry Burgwyn, known to friends and relatives as Harry, was born in Jamaica Plains, Massachusetts, on October 3, 1841. He was to give his life for his country at Gettysburg on July 1, 1863 well before his twenty-second birthday. His father, Henry King Burgwyn, married Anna Greenough, a native New Englander, and brought her back to Thornbury Plantation on the banks of the Roanoke River. Young Harry was one of a large family, and was educated at home until the age of nine when he was sent to 40 Baltimore to study at the school of The Reverend Fredericé Gibson. Burgwyn was noted as a bright student and was the® sent to the Episcopal School in Burlington, New Jersey: During these years war drums were becoming increasinglY loud and his father decided to have him educated at West Point. Though too young at age fifteen, he was privately tutored by General Foster whom he would later face as 4! enemy. Henry King Burgwyn 1841-1863 Boy Colonel of the Confederacy Burgwyn then returned to his beloved North Carolin# and entered the University at Chapel Hill. After graduatio he went to V. M. I. where he again distinguished himself 4 an excellent student. He served there as captain of the Cadet Corps, and was chosen to be guard at the executi? of John Brown. Upon graduation he began his short bt! colorful career as an officer of the Confederacy. In a letter to Governor Ellis of North Carolina, one ? his professors, Stonewell Jackson, praised him highly: -— oan, ick The object of this letter is to recommend Cadet H. K. Burgwyn of North Carolina for a commission in the Artillery of the Southern eD Confederacy. Mr. B. is not only a high toned ey: southern gentleman but, in consequence of the gly ite practical as well as scientific character of est us mind, he possesses qualities well caleulated oly to make him an ornament not only to the Ar- dil tillary but to any branch of the military service. T. J. Jackson” Burgwyn was commissioned a major and given Vommand of the camp of instruction for the Twenty-sixth North Carolina Regiment in Camp Crabtree, now the site of Crabtree Valley Mall in Raleigh. At age twenty he was 1 command of training the roughest most lauded regiment in North Carolina. At first the men of the Twenty-sixth feared him. because of his sharp military manner. They thought that he would expect too much of them. These “motions soon evolved into affection and respect for their youthful commander. Young Corporal John R. Lane, upon irst seeing him, described his commander: “This was our first sight of the com- officer, who appeared though young, to be a youth of authority, beautiful and handsome; the flash of his eye and the quickness of his movements betokened his bravery. At first sight, I both feared and admired him.” manding HENRY K. BURGWYN 4 Boy” Coionel of 26th ‘North Carolina Regt. Killed at age 2]. July I. _at Gettysburg. Home.” Thornbury, stood four miles south. CS GE, i Ras &; ee . s e.g ( sia fie ‘nt ™~ 4 ‘ gh 4 ‘ * 4 2 4 r. 14 sg . aS a i4 Fa E: yp) ; “J . a 5 - ¢ : 48 * ¢ Pac . ‘ 1 : Lys :é ‘ ¢ % # 2 yp SS € Me > rte % 4 & “ ‘ * + 4 7 ; it : ‘3 Ps et se? Pad d hl ae ap ar, Fe BY ig * E% 4. ‘d + 4 on a4 4 kis of Marker for the “Boy” Colonel 4] This was the beginning of the ‘Boy Colonel’s” short military career. He took command of the Twenty-sixth several times during various leaves by Colonel Zebulon B. Vance, his commanding officer, before he came into ful] command of the regiment at age twenty, when Vance became Governor. Burgwyn continued training his men and the Twenty- sixth became known as the best drilled regiment in the Army of Northern Virginia. This they were to prove many times over. In the Colonel’s last battle, at Gettysburg, he died gallantly on the field while striving to keep the flag from falling. His regiment marched head on into the Union troops, actually causing one entire Union regiment to flee in panic. The young Colonel’s last words were, ‘Tell the General my men never failed me at a single point.” The Twenty-sixth took its objective that day but when the day ended there were not enough of them to form one complete company, though they had driven three complete Union regiments and a battery of artillery from the field. On the first day the T'wenty-sixth lost 588 men killed or wounded and at the end of the second day only 80 ef- fectives out of 803 could report for duty. Burgwyn was buried in a gun case on the field. His family had the body exumed after the war and reentered in the Solider’s Cemetery in Raleigh. He was accorded the highest accolade, and was called the “Epitome of the Southern Cause.” A Commission in the War THE STATE QF NORTH-CAROLINA To. Laz ts — 42 _tctanus «LZ il | of Millie aaah en) County, Greeting: ¥ itp, reposing special trust and confidence in your patriotism, valor and military : : al P i “as kill, do hereby commission you « Sflaz PY Zoe Sr 2p ExD-a-s Ps y 2 “f s BE in the aby. Ke et de AIaka ae PES > e . = —_ . a ah Home Defencé to take rank from the -—# day of Lae el laa of North-Carolina Militia, for , 1863, and we do hereby vest you with the autho:ity appertaining to said office, to the end that you may promptly and diligently pertorm its duties, as prescribed by law; in the discharge of which all officers and soldiers under your command are required to yield you obedience. [nN witness wHeREOF ZEBULON B. VANCE, our (JOVERNOR, CAPTAIN-GENERAL and ComMANDER-IN-CHIEF, hath signed these presents, and caused our Great Seal to be affixed thereto a Done at our City of Raven, on thea” 7 dav se. a gaa” ip > ee — |’ an , in the year of our Lord, one thousand eight hundred and sixty-three. and in the eighty-eighth year of our Independence. BY THE GOVERNOR £ 7 Bey : Baik fc 2 Private Secretary. £ : 4 ed i he ‘ Rc. AA me, ! otf - Kuen ~ “ : ee: = | / oa z % ec & Fe = & = sadiattths the ict tiie aie General Matt W. Ransom ‘He was our fullest scholar, our most accomplished diplomat, the handsomest man among us, the ablest man, the man who did us more credit in the eyes of the country. He is indeed the last of the Romans.” ‘Adjeae’) § 1vadg pauojoyy 4q PUN0Ie’) YII0A] ‘uosyous fo uonedns2() = Yr een IBN TIN INE ceteermemancon: age Oo nee, rename = 3 t nel Oath of Allegience to the Union i taken by Confederate Soldiers } at the end of the War. PGR arcot dae : i f a . x A i f, x - 4 ; kb ‘ es ae oa ee jes ‘County of «fe ao ‘ Aerfe- . wep se State of.» Fests: Oe are -. . + eee ss +, 00 4 wilemnly swear thet I will support, protect, and defend the Constifetion and Gorerument of the United Stathe against ait © ® rks a guomies, whether domestic or foreign ; that I will boar true faith, allegiances, and Joynlty to the some, auy a@ifihanee, résbis , s ‘ : : & \ ¥ ¥ : n tion, or laws of any Séiip, Couvention, or Degisieiure, to the cont y wotwithetsuding ;.and further, that I wi as Lake S AL ORS OTE Pot ae ier Ree ass dE BSA ae HE i fe gf Buck 2 oy 8 SO GAP OR * ee an fe Fete re ORT 1 Oath of Allegience to the Union taken by Confederate Soldiers at the end of the War. ‘AA —— ee zZ - : 7 os = B= lates = — Ss eee ee ee ae a 3 = — iz = eS a a a agree ale we eS 5 as - SPREE ge RES Tg eT eS nates - z : = Sa tiisac “e is Ribot tiie 4 if igs AhEA ARMM ah GAARA HLA tA Bitild _ i whe. 4 t fy 4 Confederate General. hie United States Senator, 1872-95, and Minister js * dt hel "noi 4 General Matt W. Ransom Marker RANE Oe + ek eee eas ee eam ee 85 Om ates steat e N eieet Ee RE EEE eS Oe ete ee INCRE RT EN RNY RT EB eB oh fe wah yep ade nee ™ ena teeta ashe oun ttamiettasice teint en sone maaan toa Rec asie hima ese oh mae a the iy eres Bete vars Spars Saute taphortee mkt ae Northampton County War Dead » In Grateful Remembrance Of Those Northamptonians Who With Unselfish Devotion To Their Country Made The Supreme Sacrifice While rt. Serving In The Armed Services World War I through Vietnam Wray L. Askew Bivion Stedan Jones Lemuel A. Askew Melbourne Barry Jones Clinton I. Balmer Billy Jordan Lawrence W. Barnes Raymond L. Jordan ; Laurence G. Barnes Dillard Odell Joyner ’ James Gillis Barnes James M. Kee : Willie Robert Barrett Wilson Turner Lanier : Wilbur Bolton, Jr. Clanton C. Lassiter David L. Boone Donald N. Lassiter Henry B. Bottoms George W. Lassiter Joseph Harvey Boyce Charlie B. Laxton Wilson R. Bridgers James M. Lee James Luther Bristow William E. Lewter Willie Britton Lawrence E. McDaniel, Jr. Willie Lee Broadnax Thermon Miller Joseph E. Burgess Stanley Lee Nelson William Henry Camp, Jr. William P. Odom Elmer E. Chambless Jimmy Cox David Waverly Davis William Davis Clinton P. Deberry Wilbert E. Eason Lamont George Epps Thomas Benjamin Elliott, Jr. Robert F. Elliott Albert Everett George H. Faison Eugene Garris Rudolph Gorham George Grant Milton Harris James L. Harvey Joseph L. Holder William H. Hollingsworth Arthur Reuben Parker Edward R. Parker Joseph Thomas Peebles Matt W. Ransom III Wheeler Holden Rawls William D. Reams Robert Allison Rogers George Browning Rogers Jimmie N. Shaheen George R. Smith Charlie Culbreth Smithe Edward V. Stephenson Winifred Leo Sumner Wesley P. Terry William H. Warren George L. Webb William J. Wheeler James O. Williams 1) | | | ) i Pitt Be RE BR RGA MENT EOP INE i OD Ae a BAM Shieh 8 BEN PAL ES a a IE ae eal a «eek wf * 5 Ses > Be acing — é.. ee head ; . e * * a PTET PPE RES RE REE Dig ~ siete gets yy ey DORE ccinsiieiiceat a ‘TaCy a i Ps m. ite | ‘hiel , ever saw shi} He was ) th dead and Cou At the close North of th ] -_ 915 and as Was a by a defeated by <=. He was inten Was a memb . the f) er and these included the Methodist Church, Conf €mocratic Peeb Count rything that.” im above the fog Se Ss ee F_¢ x 4+ er ee eee operas a pa cm NE ipo RO te Tie Sa a ee of the war he returned to Northampton to hi 6 pesinegnge ‘anoke Biier is home “Longview” on the banks of the € ser . 4 ince Presiding Judge of the Inferior Court of € General ge from 1877 to 1885; and as a member ssembly of N. C. in 1885-1895 and in trustee of . ‘ 7 ee ; O the University from 1885-1909. He ocratic nominee for U. S. Senator Fate N. C. but Combinati “rg of Populists and Republicans was on Butler of Sampson County. S r + . . ely loyal to the organizations of which he B) Sah and lost cause of the Southern . pt. 25, 1860 Judge Mason was happily etty Gray, daughter of Major William pton County and to this union were born full of years, full of grace, full of atm akes a gentleman, a scholar, a Christian. ling hi truly said ee and useful and unselfish life, it may be lived — he was a ‘Sun crowned man’ who 3 in public duty and in private thinking.’’ Judge M . -“*ason died April 25, 1921 at Longview and is e hi ° . is wife in the Methodist churchyard at ed A Robert Bruce Posies Robert Bruce 7ner, of Northa a tesbles was the son of Ethaldred J. <3 ucretia Tyner, daughter of Nicholas pton County. Judge Peebles was born 49 on his father’s large plantation — Moorfield, on July 21, 1840. he Celebrated Horners School at He was educated at t Oxford, Granville County, N. C. and entered the University 59. From both of these of North Carolina in the fall of 180 ‘nstitutions he received high honors as a scholar. His stay at the University, however was cut short by the com- mencement of hostilities between the North and the South. He was at first a private in Company FE. 50th N. C. Regiment and was promoted for good conduct to a Lieutenancy in the same company. He was afterward made adjutant of his Regiment (35 N.C.). He fought at Pe- tersburg, Drury Lane, Bermuda Hundreds, and Plymouth and was the last man to leave Fort Stedman on March 25, 1865. At Five Forks he was made Asst. Adjutant General of Gen. Matt W. Ransom’s Brigade. He re-entered the University and studied law under the guidance of Hon. Wm. H. Battle, former Judge of the Supreme Court of North Carolina. He commenced his professional career on the First Monday in Nov. 1866 as Attorney for Northampton County. He appeared as counsel in many cases of great importance. He was active at the Bar and no man ever lived I o had more completely the confidence is cli ed. not only with ability, but with aggressive fidelity. He was an ardent and loyal Democrat, firm in his political opinions, as in all other matters. He was a member of the lower House of Representatives from Northampton County in 1866-1883 — 1891-1895 and served on the Board of Trustees of the University from 1865 until his election as Judge of the Superior Court in 1902. He was a lifelong member of the Episcopal Church of the Savior in Jackson and was loyal to it in every way. He was also a life long member of the Democratic party and one of its leaders in the County and State. On Dec. 7, 1875 Judge Peebles was married to Miss Margaret Cameron. She was the daughter of Paul C. Cameron of Orange County, one of the largest land owners and business men in the State, her mother being Miss Annie Ruffin, daughter of Judge Thomas Ruffin of the Supreme Court of North Carolina, who was recognized as the greatest Equity Judge of the State. Major Charles M. Stedman, his college mate at Chapel Hill wrote of Judge Peebles, * He never evaded responsibility but was positive in all matters when duty required him to act.’. He was absolutely sincere, devoid of cant, and hypocrisy. One of his chief qualities as a presiding Judge was a love of truth and fair play. The penniless litigant in his court had as fair a trial as the man of wealth and power. When elected Judge he carried to the bench qualifications of the highest order. In later years when the impartial an shall review the official loves of the Judges of our will cause to be recorded upon the pages ten for the youths who shall survive us, ranked with the best and f North Carolina. histori Superior Courts he which shall be writ that Robert Bruce Peebles greatest Nisi Pruis Judges o Judge Peebles died on June 29, 1916 and is buried in the Episcopal Church Yard at Hillsboro beside the grave of his wife. It is significant that on his tombstone are the words “Robert Bruce Peebles of Northampton County.” This I believe was his desire. Try eTETE VETER Mert ieety eer iete ey PEN PRT PEM OT TIM MINT Pere MY ra Born: Parents: Education: Family: Career: Religion: Garland Eugene Midyette Garland Eugene Midyette The Record January 17, 1874, Fairfield, Hyde County, North Carolina. Thomas G. and Margaret Spencer Midyette. Public Schools of Hyde and Martin Counties; Business School in Baltimore; Old Trinity College; and, Wake Forest Law School. Married Mary Buxton, daughter of Samuel N. and Elizabeth Peele Buxton, of Jackson, North Carolina, on May 7, 1902. Four children — Mildred Carter, Samuel Buxton, Garland Eugene, and Thomas G. Mary B. Midyette died December 18, 1963. Samuel Buxton died April 15, 1965. Licensed to practice Law, 1900; member of firm Gay and Midyette, Lawyers. Chairman Northampton County Democratic Executive Committee, 1904; General Assembly, 1907; County Attorney, 1910 to 1924; Solcitor of Third Judicial District of North Carolina; Resident Superior Court Judge for the Third Judicial District of North Carolina, 1924 to 1932. Joined Methodist Episcopal Church when young, always a loyal and devoted member; served as Superintendent of Sunday School and as Steward. Member of Masonic Order, Junior Ordel Knights ‘Templar. Of Heart attack, September 20, 1932, whilé holding Court in Elizabeth City. He was 59 The Man His father died when he was a child, his mother wh@® he was 14. He and his sister Margaret left Hyde County # live with Dan Simmons, a relative, in Williamston, N. He worked as confidential clerk and bookkeeper. He kept books for William Slade, saved his money and sent himself to old Trinity College. Following college, he worked for the mercantile firm of Buxton and Baugham p Rich Square, N. C. In 1899 he entered the law school al Wake Forest College, where, while still a freshman, he wae a member of the debating team for the debate with Trini College, an unheard-of honor. Upon receiving his law license, he went to Jackson, Ne C., and joined Benjamin Stancell Gay in the practice of law Gay died in 1916, and Midyette and W. H. 5. Burgwy® practiced together for three years. In 1919 Archibald Cref Gay, son of B. S. Gay, joined him in the practice of law. He was appointed Solicitor of the Third Judicial District, and served until 1924 when he was appointed to the post ® Judge of the Superior Court by Governor Camer™ Morrision. In 1927 Buxton Midyette joined A. C. Gay 10 continue the firm of Gay & Midyette. | Judge Midyette is reported to have had a brilli mind which, combined with his devotion to duty, willingness to work, and his honesty and integrity, won respect among the people, the Bar, and the Bench. It was # a Judge, however, that his talents bloomed. His reputatio” for fairness and knowledge spread throughout the sta One of his charges was widely circulated in the press 2” among the Bar as a model, not only of the law, but of how the law could be explained in everyday language so that! could be understood by the jury. He possessed a dry sense of humor. George Green; y the Halifax Bar, is quoted as having said that the first tim he saw Midyette, he was heatedly arguing with a telegraP clerk over who was the ugliest man to come from Mart County, Midyette or the telegraph clerk. His friend and adversary C. G. Peebles pronoun the following eulogy: ap! his hi ‘‘He came to this county in his young manhood, unknown, without wealth, without pull, without the influence or help of kin, and by the weight of his own ability, by his sterling integrity, by his indomitable courage, by his faithfulness to every trust imposed upon him, and by his unselfish, sunny and lovable disposition he won for himself in the hearts of the people of this county, a place unsurpassed by any man within its limits. ”’ William Hyslop Sumner Burgwyn he Easter Day, 1886, was very warm in Jackson. a Church of the Saviour was crowded for regular services rf for the baptism of Maria Greenough and William Hy$ o ¥ . 2 ra Baste ts ne POPE a RSE ech SD 5 ITE LY a EM ALE SOR EARL A BTEC AL TELIA NRE ALLE TELA OTARLE LE AOI: — ot * | : ° } | ¢( i j () 135i iudge DS if : | ’ J : i ) Ve | Hi VJider residents ol bd " i ' a ‘ if | | 4 if ; oii SIO tf | | Oe ia | , , | 4 ’ ‘ f . ’ ‘ > ; iS | Bee * { iti ja Kson he made a ’ % ° | 7 ' ant addi to the grand jury on the countys : : : | / 1" i »? 1 - ~ 1c ¢ burewvn Was Ie appointed 2 i ; : any ; : " 7 - . . -t 4 ‘ H Pc te Si J ' ‘ . £ it al | ye alts Ji ave he & | ‘ —" . . ‘vy _+ ’ “* . | / ra pecame anh emer: ind a very active one, nolaing op i {0 irt thougn State total of aimost torty years. | *% , { i] i 3 . . bt a4 ‘ - — “m™, sat Aad . i ; , Hl A : rils MILVaASSIVULALE ALLILUUGE LOV ird criminal detendants ind i! “— if a] -_ et , ] j l rie ii SIGe@S WI1tn Care 1n Clvli Matters i > iH | : ii Nn ri¢ 5 | i { i V\ as Dali { ” f Raymond Gay Parker | z= - OEE Es NEALE N SI ORT SCOR 20 RTS SIP UR BENE: - SEES AAO IN BRE LIRR ATE cs A EAN ad is — ; — 7 a om ? i iL . : 1 | f 18 | i —_ — f | "hh 1 u t % — - — _ a- ~ _ w + e —_ - o ~ ~ ~ P . i H 7 = ' . k > “ , a ~~ - “ les «a ; 7 an ) one a ae , : ; - . - ' s . : _— . = = - ' ’ | SPRY SEO RS ER oa % ares ” eens: ose cae ee + lai sae ' F ‘ ra . . » ™. ° § E has ‘o © S - — e- id _ ¢ — Ss 4 a a ” y meen , - : be ; - - ? 5 - ao ~ oad ; ¥ sega : : SARS 2 oer + © mt te - t j 2 wom 53 Fy - ‘ P ff - t > f - tf d ry - re Do C ae : | ee te ' x Sere? aie APSR ME MD LIT li RRO I A IO MRE SRNL, BO ILENE LPN GI BPR LE PEELS NT LE STE AER ARIEL LEE Ek NE BR ELE PERRIS ITTY IG POSEN IE IE CLANS MO ELITE LG EFI ILINS E OT CN AE! WOEE I! ALL TY Ballard Spruill Gay Ballard Spruill Gay was born February 8, 1902 in Atckson, N. C. He is the son of E. J. Gay and his wife, Lucy ““Tington Spruill Gay. He attended public schools of Northampton County, the University of North Carolina, ‘nd graduated from law school in 1925. Judge Gay prac- “ced lay lor a very brief period in Goldsboro, N. C. with the Honorable Kenneth C. Royall. He then came to his Native county of Northampton where he became active in the Practice of law. He served as Solicitor of Recorder’s & position until 1968, at which time he was nominee and was elected one of the District met Judges of the Sixth District of North Carolina; a POSition which he holds today. ios Judge Ballard 23 Gay has always been active in Civ; 5l0us and political affairs. He is a strong Methodist, a De hs . Nocrat, and a leader in the Masonic Order. Judge Gay ,.'8 known as a fair and kind Judge, always tempering lis } : Judgement with mercy. Judge G: arri ¢ jeve Hodgin of Goldsboro Judge Gay married Genevieve Hodgin. of Goid: : af 3 They reside at his family home place in Jackson, Robert McKinney Martin, Jr. M Robert McKinney Martin, Jr., son of Robert Kinney Martin, Sr. and Sadie Catherine Parker Martin, IO : : . . ? . ™ in Northampton County, near Conway, , pee Ser : : a Plember 8, 1912, graduated from Conway High School, 3 | » 7 . T e . - ‘oO “ttended YY ake Forest University, and was licensed to De + . — ~ 1 ° = . Practice law in 1937. He practiced law in High Point from 1920 res rs , ( a »® to 1967. Martin was Superior Court Judge from 196% 23 Robert McKinney Martin, Jr. to 1974 and was elected Judge of the North Carolina Court of Appeals in 1974 for an eight year term. Judge Robert M. Martin is the first native of Northampton County ever to be elected to the North Carolina Court of Appeals. While on the Superior Court bench Judge Martin held court in many counties throughout the State, and in every county in which he presided he won the admiration and esteem of all the people who came in contact with him. He is indeed a great judge, a fine gentleman and a judicial scholar. He always conducts himself on a very high plane of moral standards and judicial temperament, never forgetting that justice should be tempered with mercy. Judge Martin married Edith Mewborn ot Greene County and resides with his wife and children in Raleigh. North Carolina. James William Copeland James William Copeland, Democrat, was born in Woodland, N. C., June 16, 1914. He is the son of L. C. Copeland and Nora L. Benthall Copeland. He attended W oodland-Olney High School, graduating in 1930. Schools of higher learning attended by Copeland are Guilford College, A. B. degree, 1934; and the University of North Carolina Law School, J. D. degree, 1937. Copeland is a Lawyer and farmer; member of Hertford County Bar Association; North Carolina Bar Association: The American udicatureSociety; member of Council. N. C. State Bar, Inec., 1955-1957; Murfreesboro Rotary Club; American Legion; V. F.W.; Mayor of Woodland. 1940- 1942; Chairman of Northampton County Board of Elections, 1939-1942; Mayor of Murfreesboro. 1947- 1950; Chairman of Hertford County Board of Elections. 1946-1949; Member American George Lodge No. 17. A..F. & A.M. Murfreesboro, N. C.; Sudan Temple, A.A.O. N.M.S., New Bern, N. C.; Assistant Editor, North James Vi illiam Copeland Carolina Law Review, 1936-1937; Delegate to 1956 Democratic National Convention; Lieutenant, U. 5. Navy, 1942-1946; State Senator in General Assembly of 1951, 1953, 1957, 1959 and 1961. On July 5th he was appointed Special Judge of Superior Court of North Carolina, where he served with great distinction until December 31, 1974, when he was sworn in as a member of the Supreme Court of North Carolina. He was nominated in the Democratic Primary, 1974, and elected in the General Election of that year with strong opposition in the Primary and General Election. However, he was overwhelmingly elected. While a Superior Court Judge he held court in approximately 88 counties in the State and is the only native of Northampton County ever elected to the Supreme Court of North Carolina. While a Superior Court Judge he served on the Trial Judge’s Conference and The American Bar Association, 1968-1974. It can truly be said of Judge Copeland that he has made many contributions to the State, to Northampton County and to Hertford County, always conducting himself as a gentleman and a legal scholar, highly respected and admired by all that know him. He is an obedient servant of that stern mistress known as Law and Justice. Judge Copeland married Nancy Hall Sawyer of Elizabeth City, N. C. on October 11, 1941. They have three children Emily Robbinson Copeland Bagby, James William Copeland, Jr. and Buck Sawyer Copeland. Perry Whitehead Martin Perry Whitehead Martin, Democrat, of Northampton County was born near Conway, N. C., June 28, 1928. He is the son of B. R. Martin and Virgie Whitehead Martin. Martin attended Conway Elementary and High School, sraduating in 1945; Wake Forest College, 1945-1947; Wake Law School. 1947-1950, LL.B. Forest College Perry Whitehead Martin Lawyer. He was recipient of Freshman Orators Award at Wake Forest College and solicitor of Northampton County Recorder’s Court, 1954-1956. He entered the U. S. Army as Private in October of 1951, became trial Judge Advocate for 47th Division and from active duty, June 1954 as First Lieutenant. He served in the North Carolina Senate from 1957-1963. Judge Martin was appointed as Resident Judge of the Sixth Judicial District in 1972 by the Honorable Robert W. Scott, Governor, and elected in 1974 for an eight vear term. Judge Martin is now serving as Resident Judge of the Sixth District, which includes Northampton County. During the brief time Judge Martin has served on the bench, he has displayed great legal ability and judicial temperament. He conducts his court with dignity and fairness to all who come before him, and it is predicted he will become one of the great judges of this State. Judge Martin is active in civic Infantry was released yo =O, and religious affairs. He married Carolyn Calhoun of Cottonwood, Alabama, December 13, 1953. They have two children — Perry, Jr. and Lisa and reside in Rich Square, N. C. = Oe SLE pen Le: Pn aie ge ; ? ° ghee rear ort +> Pe sy Be ee seapleees Maat de bee de. bat 3 eee aa ae ‘ J ‘ — Sant Z pap Site T ht 3 : é . be dct ae ode SR eit EER eRe Ta ah Ee oA oe Ge gh Lg ERIE GALT ON Pe PRPS eS in 0 mtn Now pease fn nd 3 3 ij > 3 pce ears anes ; aia i Sete ee aya Ps DE PE ae net oe oe pe ok eh ely a Pokey pat tt oF leas Reape setae we eee sere oF “ peat Pinas - . weep owt t ped oat etn aes Pe eee aia eee ce acted uit icS 6 tag ey oe nt nat — - nape © pnd. : ; t amy bs : as feledes - : PEE LP de nye eS eet oa ae re ERE a Le ae ee Oe eRe PT STEREO Tee ST Pee ee SSS ee Se Jackson Area The oath) Northampton County Courthouse & Se Sag Northampton County Courthouse The Northampton County Court House of Classic Greek Revival architecture, so popular in America in the mid 1800's, was designed by Henry King Burgwyn, 5r., to replace the courthouse built in 1741, when Northampton County was founded. The cornerstone of the building was laid on September 29, 1858. It has served as the seat of the courts in North- ampton County with dignity and honor since the date of its completion in 1859. Many an illustrious name has resounded throughout its classic main room, and many a famous man has spoken from its rostrum. Built of locally made brick, the stately two-story structure has a magnificent broad, second-level portico behind four tall Ionic fluted columns. The balustrade was composed of handsome hand-turned spindles of North Carolina heart pine done in the shape of Grecian urns. The great wooden double doors, each section of which is carved into eight graceful panels, leading to the second, 56 or main floor, are wide and tall. A 12 pane window, 6 panes to each row, is above the doors, and above the window is 4 small greek type bonnet. Inside the court room on the second, or main floor a carved cornice of the greek style outlines the great 21 foot ceiling. Fluted flat columns or pilasters add beauty and dignity to the rear of the room where the judge presides. Six sreat windows, 12 panes per sash, with elaborate facing and cornices add to the Greek effect of “‘openness and grace. Almost 100 years after this beautiful building was completed Johnson and Waterman included pictures of the Northampton County Courthouse in their Early Ar- chitecture of North Carolina, copyrighted in 1941, with the following quote: “At the courthouse in Jackson the large scale of the columns gives the building a monumental quality which is rivaled only by the heroic portico of the Davidson County Courthouse at Lexington.” In 1938-39 the courthouse building was enlarged and remodeled with A. Wooten of Kinston as architect. A 40 by 380 foot wing was added at the back of the original building for additional office space. The center third of the Magnificant flight of steps was removed to give a front access to the ground floor level, leaving two flights of steps to the portico instead of one. The handsome carved wooden balustrade was replaced by a wrought-iron railing. ‘Two Two plaques on Courthouse wall smaller doors, one on each side of the great double center door, were cut to face the two sets of iron-railed steps. Between two and three thousand persons gathered for the dedication of the newly remodeled courthouse in August of 1939. The Hon. Eric Norfleet was Master of Ceremonies. Judge W. H. S. Burgwyn sat as the first Justice in the new courtroom and The Honorable R. Hunt Parker (Later Chief Justice) made the key address. Court Calendar SUPERIOR COURT, —FOR— Northampton County FALL TERM 1922 Judge J. Lloyd Horton, Presiding Hon. G. E. Midyette, Solicitor Speer neeerreterseeseteeeneesitenynenrmeienenspentenenterineneeen The Northampton County Museum “ , &. Northampton County Museum The Northampton County Museum was built in 1831 in a true, simple Greek Revival style of architecture but with local original features. Its architect is unknown. Built of locally made red brick laid in the Flemish Bond style, the two-room structure is well-proportioned. The front has three doors; the center and the right one lead into the larger of the two rooms. A fireplace is located on the left wall of this room. The ends of the building have stepped brick gables with little stone pyramids on the end of each step. In the center of each end there is a small half-circle, or arched, design in keeping with the gable pyramids. Each end has two windows of nine pane sashes with dark green shutters. Both ends of the building show splits made by the Charleston earthquake of August 31, 1886. The building was restored in 1950 in keeping with its original design. After Northampton’s new library opened Dec. 7, 1970, the right room of the old library became headquar- ters for the County Industrial Deveiopment Commission. The Northampton County Museum is now housed in the little Greek Revival building, built in 1831, in the south- west corner of the Courthouse Square. Preceding the museum collection it housed the Northampton County Memorial Library. The direction and history of the museum has been under the auspices of the Northampton County Historical Society. The museum collection first began with a nucleus of artifacts housed in a cabinet, built for that purpose by Mrs. Nancy Froelich, in the library. The next building site used for the museum was between the present museum and the courthouse. In September of 1964 the minutes of the Northampton County Historical Society show a revised committee for the museum. They were: Scott Bowers, chairman; G._ T. Stephenson, Mrs. Nancy Froelich, Bernice Griffin, Mrs. Bernice Harris, Mrs. Raynor Woodard and W. H. S. Burgwyn, Jr. In September of 1968 the museum committee was as follows: Mrs. Bennett Stephenson, chairman; Mrs. Eric Norfleet, Mrs. Scott Bowers, Mrs. E. W. Lewis and Mr. Tillman Cooley, Sr. By the fall 1969 meeting of the Historical Society, a screening committee consisting of W. H. S. Burgwyn, Jr.. Scott Bowers, Mrs. Lucy Hollowell, C. L. Cleaton, and 28 a SAM REY pe Eye OR IPT ETE IT ET a I, A EP CCA A NEE AEE I EE REI AIS DCE AS PAIR ASPET EINE SG 8 = a ME RRER eg INE TS NNR Mage: opt oe Mrs, Frances Midyette had been appointed. They were to list. the procedure for donating items for the museum. Items at this time were stored in the vault. As it was decided to wait for a proper facility before proceeding. The society Was urged by B. R. Burgwyn to secure an official com- mitment by the county commissioners concerning having « the old library building for the museum. At the spring 1970 ‘Storical Society meeting T. G. Joyner reported that the Museum had been granted the use of the old building by the County commissioners. In the fall of 1970 President E. Carl Witt of the North- ‘mpton County Historical Society announced _ the °pening of the museum for November 27. The museum was edicated at this time and opened to the public. Many museum items were displayed and the first exhibit centered “round laminated copies of ‘old newspapers. Charles Worth Bridges, III, of Jackson, was of valuable assistance 'N setting up the displays in the museum. The museum is ’pen daily during county office hours. lhe present museum board is composed of: Mr. T. G. Joyner, Chairman, Mr. W. H. S. Burgwyn, Jr., Mrs. Mildred Long, Mrs. Gertrude Jordon, Judge Ballad S. Gay, Mrs. Alice Odom, Mrs. Beatrice Branch, Mrs. Frank putland, Secretary, Miss Elizabeth Harris, and Mrs. “nnings White, Sr. Northampton County Museum Jackson Courthouse Green--Timeless Spot in Northampton History Two hundred and thirty-five years ago, when the Lule of the newly-formed county of Northampton were oking for the most accessible and desirable location for i County seat the present site of Jackson was chosen and © court village was established. They first named the village ““Northampton Court- house,” And it was here that the first Federal Post Office 'N the county was established in 1804. The name of the Village was changed to Smithville around 1814. However, Pi Post office remained Northampton Courthouse until ah when the town was incorporated and named for nd rew Jackson, hero of the Battle of New Orleans and ‘eventh president of the United States. If the magnificent old oak tree in the Bowers’ yard “ould talk, it would be able to tell us many interesting tales . the changes that have taken place around the Courthouse Ware over the period of so many years. It is the only landmark left from that early period. After the square was laid off and a courthouse built, "aturally the village grew around the square. And it is here that we find most of the oldest houses in Jackson today. _Mrs. E. S. Bowers’ home is probably the oldest theidence in the town. Eugene_Scott Bowers was born in $2 house facing the courthouse square on January |, 1874, This makes it 101 years old at least. The Bowers family had lived in the house prior to 1874, for probably Sur or five years. Mr. and Mrs. George Bowers, lived on their farm when they were first married, but tales of Nat Turner’s “up rising’ were still rife, and she was afraid. They moved to Jackson and lived in a house on the lot now occupied by Mr. P. A. Lewis while their house was being built. Mr. W. H. Picard and Mr. Bowers bought the lot known and recorded in old deeds as the Grove Lot and divided it. It was heavily wooded with a number of large oaks and other trees. Mrs. Bowers’ former slaves. two huge Negroes, went into the woods and cut the timber. The floors in the front portion of the house are the original ones. The plans for the house were taken from ““Godeys Ladies Book’”’ and she called it a Colonial Cottage. The contractor was a Negro, and was elected to the state legislature before he had quite finished. The front four rooms were finished, but an old house in the rear which was once the residence of Judge David A. Barnes was moved up to form the dining room and kitchen, a bed room, and an enclosed hall or porch. This part was torn down about 60 years ago, and rebuilt. All that remains of that “‘old building” are the large sills seen from the basement. Old glass panes with air bubbles and blisters remain and some of the interior wood work is original. The roof line is in the shape of a cross. Much of the house has had to be replaced, but the exterior look has never been altered except for the addition of a sun room on the South side. r 2 : set . HERAT HR Le: eueniee SN A PP a er CTR taeemta earner rcane mrs a — —— — — SS = y ieee atiahiatieeatienattiietiilinienie dete ats a eee ts ARE St 28S gt WRIT aces PE TE PS MRE ER EY ES DT aed PETIOLATE ST RE IY TS GT ET LE ONE MTN ET POTTER LSP OLE IT ATION OLE BE, BEE METI NTE TL TT ON I TM FSM ARLYN Dies AF SERRATE, ep ta I RP PE RET ROOT EE TI a ee ee a ee ee a SS ERE ee mepipneiyertenchcnmnes pee FANS Setatne REE ME TUL Ate ~~ Ray REE END L,I” EEN IS ON SEE INE PLONE DE NEEL Be ETNA Nils” TRE ‘ame. abot Wey iano a a ea arate seer none as AL Le EA a RT RE Ir eR anemone BD PONCE They ARR OPE PP RRR NNN: em a a ee oe ete SOME a OE ATE i PLN IE. CS OE, fait POS SER PWEDE AEE EE SS SF MENIFEE tate SP MEPS PR, DOM eR Re POET AMEN p, RODE AS a SHR 2 eee Resigs mes i< Ae 2 with sge pets Paes! Las STEER eee eM .2cge we RSET EE Rta Peer a FS hla acorn * tee = Sr Pee Seater TE SCE A ENE eR erent N eee ee Peebles House descendants ever since that time. In the mid-1800’s the house was enlarged by about four rooms and the upper and lower bays were added. The original porch was extended to. include the addition. In the “Gay Nineties’” Judge Robert Peebles added the “gingerbread” touch in preparation for the wedding of his only daughter, Annie, to Norfleet Webb of Hillsborough, N. C. | ney Jackson N { The old Faison house, built by Herod Faison more \. 2 rT than one hundred and seventy-five years ago, has enjoyed a ~ w rich and colorful history. Around 1870-1875 it was bought by George Pollock Burgwyn. At about the same time, his brother, Alveston Burgwyn, bought and moved into the Samuel Calvert house called ‘““The Elms.” Alveston Burgwyn never married, but George Pollock F'INAL CONCERT, | Burgwyn and his wife, Emma Wright Ridley Burgwyn, f ! Thursday Evening, June 24th er ener et ten ee Ee . You are invited to attend were blessed with a growing family, among whom was Northampton’s own Judge W.H.S. Burgwyn. Space made it expedient for the Burgwyn brothers, Alveston and George Pollock, to trade homes-Alveston, taking the smaller Faison house, and George Pollock moving his growing family into “The Elms”. 5 | Soe atte. AS | The Stancells were the next family to inhabit this V4 a house on the courthouse green, and so, it has come to be knowr as the Stancell House in recent generations. For the ne ne 4 rae past fifteen years it has stood forlorn and forsaken-empty.- NOOOAS However, the story brightens: Mr. and Mrs. W. R. Barnes cwey .. have bought the Faison-Burgwyn-Stancell house and are : restoring it in keeping with the style of the period in which it was built. Linda Whitley Barnes is the great, great, great, great, granddaughter of Herod Faison, the original builder. ee . The lot upon which Mr. and Mrs. P. Alston Lewis have built their home is among the oldest homesites around the Square. In fact, it was so long ago that no one has ever Invitation to a Concert at St. Catherine's Hall been able to trace the builder of the original H-house that ra * ae. 2 eee aE oe ee Tet ee EE ets eels riche ae TOT Mate aT ae bs é is AE RNS AP BRET TS SOREN, SIT ARR DA NERC ad erate Ree eee ETO aS RE 6 AN 5 OE EEN OP DPE UT. sce eants 7 ERE US RR eRe To LE a eS a Se TT LDS SR i a A SSRN SLO HATE LIT SL ETE He Se SR RWS“ — SAREE OR TRAC OR a aca ema ss a nisl EET USOT “ASE Se NS aaa si dee gee} ERS RB eae Khe “pe saress stood there. Soon after the turn of the century the old house was divided and the wings were moved to the Selden lots, between the Episcopal Cemetery and Second Street, where they were remodeled and are now the homes of Mrs. E. B. yrant and Mrs. Mary Maiden. The large house facing on the green from the lot where the Jackson Post Office now stands was built around 1840- 45 by Mr. Sam Calvert (great grandfather of Paul Calvert) for his daughter Elizah, who married Dr. William Barrow. lhe little house, with a front porch, which sat in the corner of the yard was built for the Doctor’s Office. Incidentally, it was in this smaller house that Northampton’s first newspaper was published and printed by Mr. Sam Calvert (Paul Calvert’s father) and Mr. Probe Barrow, when they were very young men. This house was once the Cleveland Hotel with Mr. J. S. Grant as proprietor. Burgwyn Hotel } JACKSON, Alte (BP geen? # og ugk twenty fourthe, 7 V4 : 1Sso2 LOU SLAM AI Soc knits side se ccatheatctin emn aee e JOHN J. LONG, MANAGERS: H. xn. “?URGWYN. C. G. PEEBLES. G. P. URQUHART. “~ Ticket to a Dance at the Burgwyn Hotel 64. Then, of course, John White's Tavern, the famous Hotel Burgwyn, in later years, stood nearby where the drugstore now stands. This beautiful old building with double rooms outside and its large horse and carriage lot covered most of the block on Jefferson Street from the drugstore corner to Seaboard Avenue. Its gracious hospitality and reputation for excellent food and elegant balls made it a mecca for travelers. It was a sad day for Jackson, when it burned in 1930. Diagonally across from the Courthouse green, stood an even older hotel which was owned by Jeptha Atherton and widely known at the turn of the eighteenth century. It was here that Lafayette made his debut in Northampton on his tour of the South in 1825. He was received with great fanfare, and among other entertainment provided him, was a sumptuous turkey dinner. ‘This relic of past days was burned on March 17, 1871. Both of these famous hotels are plainly shown in the etching portraying Colonel Spear’s Yankee Cavalry’s occupation of Jackson. This drawing appeared in Leslie’s Magazine in 1863. ac Ott cdcéte cotdiatly tineccda Jo eed a SESE fouae™ GA ——— Shag | Z Ht L. GCU!e+ low os Yours FIL OF at fo pra se Ler P i tuee ti 44 > cA Mees ae tee eae EOD 42 ght. Lee +4. o Pae I SGA. wf ea Pd oe tne a at aah gery a CW. , 4 i ; , GG. BO von. thei ie eee guys ~ SSRN lhe former Rectory of the Church of The Saviour in Although it has been altered federal architectural lines have Jackson is of federal design. from time to time, its basi been retained suilt about 1810, the house was purchased by the L854. opal Church in HK nis 5 i i 4 it is ten-room weatherboard house, painted white with green shutters, and it has a two-story rear wing to the done on the Originally a colonnade led from the front part of the house a two-story. right. Most of the changes in remodeling have been rear portion, a side porch having been added. ° | to a kitchen at the rear. Perhaps the most attractive feature of the house is its classic design entrance doorway with its pointed bonnet. here is no porch or stoop on the present-day house, the original federal stoop having been removed. The entrance hall separates two large drawing rooms, which have fine federal mantles, said to be similar to some in Charleston, South Carolina. Woodwork, wainscoting, pine floors and two exterior end chimneys — all of the original are in use. Originally the front door opened into a house reception hall with the main drawing room to the left and and small drawing room to the The second f] yO! ( ‘ioinally contained three. bedrooms. Mr. and Mrs. J. Abner Flythe (Ruby F.) Flythe pur- chased the house from Boone and her Virs, Mari , B imb . uly io 193 b. The deed homeplace of the late R. O. When the Flythes condition that except the front rooms upstairs refers to the property as the ()scar. Su h Boone. the ‘O” being for purchased the house ‘it was in bad everything was torn away were the kitchen and an open porch, known as a that led to the detached kitchen with a fireplace. Also, the enclosed stairway that led and downstairs. Torn away dog run,” from the front right room was removed and the present stairway was built. During the remodeling job, workmen were amazed to find the walls were insulated with sawdust. ‘Tom W. Henson purchased the house in 1967 from Mrs. Ruby Flythe and sold it in 197] to Clayton C. Marlowe of Rockville. Md. the author of the book “A Faded Portrait of Confederate Gen. Matt W. Ransom of North Carolina.’ The grove of old oaks and cedars forms an appropriate Viarlowe is setting for this stately and now well-kept structure. Mowrtfield Amis House. or “‘“Mowfield.”’ built about Jackson- The William 1770 is located one mile off the present-day Weldon road. It was built on the road that originally ran from Warrenton southeast to Jackson. William Amis built and designed ‘““Mowfield” in a style similar to that of the New Orleans style. Built of wood and the massive but handsome three-floor painted white. 66 structure is of an almost square shape, being slightly longer than wide. It has a steeply pitched roof extending over the second floor of the long two-story veranda which runs the length of the house. The porch, supported by eight slim columns, has a carved balustrade on both the lower and upper floors or decks. chimneys, each containing a There are three outside fireplace large enough to roast a whole hog or sheep. Huge hand-dressed timbers were used for beams, joists, and rafters. A center hall runs from the front to the back, there being three lofty-ceilinged rooms on the two main floors. A Winding staircase rises to the second floor, on which there formerly was a ballroom extending the depth of the house. The house stands today in fair condition surrounded by the remnants of spacious gardens, hedges, and tall trees. In the past, barns and stables were at the left and rear of the house, and behind the house was a race track. a family cemetery and a horse cemetery. Here it is said, “Sir Ar- chie’’, the Amis’ famous race horse is buried with silver shoes. It is also said Sir Archie’s stable was mahogany lined. The Amis family sold ‘““Mowfield” in 1834 and moved to Mississippi. Later owners were Sheriff Ethelred Peebles, Pat Ransom, and the present owner. Frank Meachan, of Weldon, N. C. Longview Longview 67 pith +h ninth FL aarp epr ete pa ser otvereretreeter AHHH dt itty tial ah Esta ETO D ‘Longview, a Georgian style plantation home, was built in 1827 by Major William H. Gray. It has been con- tinuously owned and occupied by five generations of Gray’s descendants. The present owner and occupant is Willie (pronounced Wiley) Jones Long, a great grandson of Willie Jones of Halifax County. William Gray Long, his wife, Mildred Terry Long, and their six daughters now reside in this gracious plantation home with Willie Jones Long, making the sixth generation of Gray's descendants to live in the house he built in 1827 The two-story clapboard house, painted white with green shutters, did have a Georgian style front porch, which was changed to “gingerbread” Victorian about 1870. The doors and window frames are true Georgian style. The first floor contains an “L’’-shaped hall, living room, dining room, and one bedroom. In 1915, a pantry and kitchen were added, and in 1950, a kitchen was added to the rear. On the second floor are five bedrooms and a sleeping porch. The downstairs hall of *“‘L” shape and the dining room have chairboard paneling. Each of the 8 rooms in the house had a fireplace. A former cookhouse, converted into a family room, has an 8-foot brick fireplace and exposed beams. The old kitchen with a large fireplace is about 30 feet from the rear of the house. Other outside buildings are an office building, a smokehouse, a salt house, and a wash- room in the back yard. | The original owner, William H. Gray, left the property to his daughter, who married Judge Thomas Mason. Mason, at his death, left the property to his two daughters, Betty and Ruth Mason. At their death the property went to Willie Jones Long, the present owner. Longview is about one-half mile off highway 158 between Garysburg and Jackson. Banking in Northampton Peoples Bank and Trust Company The first bank in Northampton County was _in- corporated by an act of the state legislature in 1850. It had the name of Jackson Savings Institute. The following men took part in the proceedings: John Randolph, William Barrow, James W. Newsome, Samuel Calvert, John B. Odum, David A. Barnes, John Calvert, John B. Bynum, Herod Faison, E. J. Peebles, James L. Buffaloe, William H. Gary, Thomas Garret, Isaac Peele, Henry K. Burgwyn, EK. D. N. Clarey, Henry W. Grant, James H. Cross, and William H. Whitehead. Under the provisions of the act, they were allowed a capital stock not to exceed the sum of fifty thousand dollars. From this modest beginning, strong and financially progressive banking institutions became the heart and center of progress for each town in Northampton County. The Bank of Northampton, serving agricultural Northampton County from Jackson, was organized in May of 1904. In the 70 odd year history of this organization, we find a virtual kaleidoscope of the history of small banks in eastern North Carolina. Included among the founders were the names of many prominent Northampton families, some of which were Barnes, Stancell, Flythe, Burgwyn, Peebles, Ransom, Stephenson, and Wilkins, as well as many others. From the beginning the bank developed a conservative policy and was highly successful under the exceptional executive leadership of Presidents William H. S. Burgwyn (1904- 1906), Jessie Thomas Flythe (1906-1917), Dr. Henry W. Lewis (1917-1927), Edmund Wilkins Lewis (1927-1955) and P. A. Lewis (1956 —). P. A. Lewis, president; Tillman W. Cooley, cashier since 1946 and executive vice-president since 1955; Eric Norfleet, vice-president since 1946; and E. T. Sumner. assistant cashier since 1955, were the officers of the Bank of Northampton when it merged with Peoples Bank and Trust Company of Rocky Mount, N. C., as of February 1, 1973. Peoples Bank and Trust Co. was organized in 1931 and now has 38 branches in 22 communities in this state. At the present time, it ranks as the tenth largest bank in North Carolina. Verona “Verona” on the Jackson-Weldon highway was built around 1852-1860 by General Matt Ransom in the Louisiana style of architecture. The house has remained continuously in the Ransom family and is now owned by Matt Ransom IV. A three-story house formerly stood on the site of Verona but was burned. It was built by Joseph John Exum whose daughter, Patty, married Matt Ransom. The home is built of brick, painted white, and is a long ‘L”’-shaped structure with one main floor and a basement, or ground floor, containing two rooms and a hall. On the main floor are a front and a back hall, two bedrooms, a dining room and a kitchen. On the left side one room projects about nine feet forward to form the short part of the ‘“‘L”’. At the front of this room is a floor-length window with a small covered balcony underneath the window. Eleven steps lead to the porch which extends across the remaining front of the house and is the most distinctive feature of the house. The porch has seven ornately carved pillars, and delicate filigree carved work joining them, and a simple low balustrade. The single-door entrance from the porch is flanked on PPT IOU SE REAP RN eRe HERO CCR ERR ERE RNR FAN go NE IERE atm rebadenstarmne T ee seee ts = SS > = mJ General Matt W. Ransom EE —— NER RETR RE S.CT RRR en eR RE EERIE LOIRE OB ote cox General Matt Ransom’s Tomb. (OQ Dr. Henry Wilkins Lewis (1856-196) In November 1879, after a brief medical practice in Lawrenceville, Virginia, Henry Wilkins Lewis came to Jackson to fill the vacancy caused by the death of Dr. Winfield Scott Copeland. From that date until his own death, Dr. Lewis served as faithful physician to the Northampton community. His devotion to his patients and unceasing efforts to keep abreast of developments in the treatment of disease led Sir William Osler, the most respected medical man of his day, to call Dr. Lewis ‘‘the ideal family physician.”’ In evaluating his work to eradicate hemorrhagic fever, national leaders in public health described Dr. Lewis’ success as a “deed for which America “an never perhaps bestow enough thanks.” The son of Benjamin and Ellen Wilkins Lewis, Dr. . VIS was born at Spring Bank plantation in Brunswick County, Virginia, on March 13, 1856. Although only 23 Years old when he settled in North Carolina, the doctor had had the benefit of the best medical training then available —~ first at the University of Virginia, then at the University of the City of New York, where he was awarded the M.D. degree in 1877. The practice of medicine seemed to come Naturally to Henry Lewis for, although his father was a lawyer, both of his grandfathers and several of his uncles ‘erved in the profession. His connection with Northampton ee initially through his mother whose family had owned toanoke River lands since 1803 and had lived at Belmont Plantation in the upper part of the county since 1814. fir In 1885 Dr. Lewis became Northampton County's a ‘t public health officer, a post he held while continuing Private practice — for 40 years. In this capacity he led ~ fight against the unsanitary living conditions that “Ntributed to the spread of typhoid fever and diphtheria; bd eats et Pt P wae wee eerie ties 3 Sei PSA Pe Pe Peete ads and he campaigned tirelessly for drainage to relieve the county of the stagnant pools in which mosquitoes bred. In state medical circles Dr. Lewis became a recognized authority on the killer diseases of the day; his published papers on the treatment of pneumonia and typhoid fever were remarkable for their scholarship and respect for the member of North Carolina’s State Board of Health, playing a major role in support of quarantine laws and in arousing public concern for sanitation. His effective work against smallpox won statewide acclaim. Dr. Lewis was a founder ) | | | | scientific method. From 1899 through 1907, he served as a | | | and first president of the Seaboard Medical Association of | North Carolina and Virginia, which he saw as a means for the continuing education of practitioners and for the | pooling of experience with the diseases endemic to the region. | Malaria, especially the virulent type known on | Roanoke River as yellow chills, challenged Dr. Lewis to , study and experiment with possible cures. In January 1899, speaking before the Seaboard Medical Association, he reported a breakthrough and later published his con- clusions in the North Carolina Medical Journal under the title “Malarial Haemoglobinuria — Its Treatment by Injection of Normal Salt Solution.” At the Johns Hopkins, Dr. Osler read the article and immediately wrote his ap- proval of Dr. Lewis’ thesis; widespread adoption of the treatment he developed led to the elimination of yellow chills on the Roanoke, on the Red River in Arkansas, and wherever else it appeared. In Jackson Dr. Lewis was a leader in the movement to obtain railroad service and to establish the Bank of North- ampton, in which he was a director from the first and for which he later served as president. As a farmer he took a strong interest in agricultural chemistry and the use of legumes. The concern he demonstrated for the physical health of his patients moved many of them to seek his counsel on matters unrelated to medicine. A close observer has written that ‘...more people went to Dr. Lewis for personal advice than anyone I have ever known.” A few days after his death on October 18. 1936, an editorial in The Jackson News expressed the opinion that: “His influence was felt in nearly all the business ac- tivities of our town and in many other places. [t seemed to stabilize and carry forward the business affairs of our people and section.”’ On July 16, 1884, Dr. Lewis was married in Port- smouth, Virginia, to Sallie Ann Ridley, widow of John Joseph Long, Jr., of Halifax. Their three children were Henry Stuart Lewis (1885-1947). Ellen Wilkins Lewis (1887-1932), and Edmund Wilkins Lewis (1889-1955). Mrs. Lewis died in 1924, twelve years before the doctor. Henry Wilkins Lewis Henry Wilkins Lewis, a native of Jackson, North Carolina, is the Director of the Institute of Government of North Carolina to which he has devoted twenty-seven years of his professional life. This: outreach-through teaching, consulting, and publishing is designed to enhance the quality of public serivce in the State and to help individuals in developing their capacity for that service. Following his early education in Jackson Public School and at Virginia Episcopal School in Lynchburg, he received t FO OO + Oe Hewes Oe oe © Fe Te + Oo Oe be oe Henry W. Lewis his A.B. degree from the University of North Carolina in 1937. and his J.D. degree from Harvard University in 1940. He was admitted to the bar in North Carolina in 1940, where he engaged in private legal practice with Mr. Eric Norfleet, Esq., for a year in Jackson and then served in the United States Army for five years. He was separated from the Armed Services in 1946, as a captain, and since then has served with the Institute of Government, having been made director in 1973. In 1958, he attained the rank of Professor of Public Law and Government. His major fields of research, teaching, and writing have been property taxation, organization of State agencies, legislature organization and procedure, and election law and procedure. Property taxation is of most importance in his career. He has served with three tax study commissions while working with the organization of State tax agencies. He served as consultant and draftsman of the commission on the Reorganization of State Government (1953-54) with emphasis on the Department of Revenue, the State Board of Assessment, the ‘Tax Review Board, and the Depart- ment of ‘Tax Research. His numerous publications connected with his profession include Basic Legal Problems in the Taxation of Property (1958); Property Tax Collection in North Carolina (two editions 1950 and 1951); In Rem Property Tax Foreclosure (with Robert G. Bryd, 1959); Judicial Review of Property Tax Appraisals in North Carolina (with Donald A. Furtado and others, 1966); Mandames and the Octennial Revaluation of Real Property (with William A. Camphell, 1967); Property Tax Exemptions and Classifications, (1970); The Annotated Machinery Act of 1971; The Property Tax: An Introduction (1970); Legislature Committee in North Carolina (1952); The General Assembly of North Carolina: Organization and Procedure (1952); Conducting Municipal Elections (1961); Primary and General Election Law, and Procedure: A Handbook for Election Officials (eleven editions through 1968), and An Introduction to County Government (1963; revised 1968). Mr. Lewis has also written Horses and Horsemen in Northampton before 1900, Northampton Parishes (a history of the Episcopal Church in Northampton County), and at the present time, he is completing a biography of his paternal grandfather, Dr. Henry Wilkins Lewis. Before becoming the Director of the Institute of Government, he served in administrative capacities. He was in charge of the Institutes Legislature Services in 1949, L951, 1953, and 1955. During Gordon Gray’s ad- ministration, he served on a committee to investigate hazing at the university and wrote a report that became rather celebrated. He took a one year leave from the University faculty of North Carolina, acting as liason official between the Board of Trustees and the University Administration, and also as a legal counsel to the president of the University, the Chancellor, and the Board of Trustees and the University Administration. He also served as a legal counsel to the President of the university, the Chancellor, and the Board of trustees on matters affecting labor relations and student disruption and discipline, the University’s television system was also under his super- vision. Since 1950, Lewis has been a vestryman and three times senior warden of the Chapel of the Cross in Chapel Hill, a member of the Standing Committee of the Episcopal Diocese of North Carolina for three terms, and three times Deputy of the Episcopal General Convention. He is a member of the advisory board of the Ackland Art Museum of the University of North Carolina, a president and twice member of the Executive Committee of the State Literary and Historical Association. He is a member of the North Carolina Museum of Art. Besides being astute in History, he is an art collector and an authority in genealogy. Jesse Thomas Flythe Jesse Thomas Flythe (1865-1921) was married to Acree Lassiter of Conway. To family and friends, for some reason lost to present memory, this man came to be known as “Simon”. For more than thirty years, Mr. “Simon’’ Flythe was Superior Court Clerk for Northampton County and, ac- cording to articles carried in the Roanoke-Chowan Times at the time of his death, was one of the best known and best beloved citizens of the county. When quite a young man, Mr. Flythe (a Democrat) was prevailed upon to become a candidate for the office of Superior Court Clerk, and though the county was Republican at that time (1891), he was elected and was reelected to succeed himself at every election until the time of his death. Simon Flythe was a_ powerful influence in the Methodist Church and devoted much time to its activities. He was engaged in various private enterprises and possessed the confidence of the public to a remarkable degree. J. T. (Simon) and Acree Lassiter Flythe had five sons: J. Abner Flythe (deceased); Dr. Allen Flythe (deceased); Arthur P. Flythe (deceased); Julian Thomas Flythe (deceased); and Sutton Flythe, a retired banker in Fieldale. Virginia. W. J. Peele. son of Isaac and Nancy Thompson Cobb Peele. was born on January 31, 1855 in Northampton County. His home was about three miles from Jackson. Situated on the main road from Windsor to Garysburg where passage was taken to Raleigh or Richmond. A shell of the home still stands. The Peele family was famed far and wide for its genuine culture and hospitality. Between 1845 and 1855 the Peele Academy was conducted in the home for the Peele children and the sons and daughters of friends and neigh- bors. by Robert and Ben Peele. W. Joseph Peele was a member of the first class to graduate from the University of North Carolina following the Civil War. He settled in Raleigh and continued his interest in civic, educational and cultural pursuits, becoming the president of the first North Carolina Historical Society and instrumental in the establishment of What is now North Carolina State University at Raleigh. Paul Jones Long Paul Jones Long, son of Martha Stephenson and James F. Long, was born on a farm in Northampton County near Jackson, August 4, 1868, and died September 29, 1951. He received his early education at the Grange Hall, in the Mt. Carmel vicinity, and at a school in Jackson known as The Male Academy. He attended the University of North Carolina with the class of 1895, and taught for Several years. Long became superintendent of Northampton County Schools in 1897, and retired in 1939. He led in developing the 65 school districts into a county-wide school system. He was a trustee of the University of North Carolina for 25 years and also a trustee of Chowan College. He was a Member of Jackson Baptist Church where he served as deacon, trustee and Bible teacher. He married Nannie Peebles, who died in 1947. They Were survived by three children. Mrs. Frances Howell] Parker Mrs. Frances Howell Parker is the wife of Mahlon =. Parker, Sr. Her children are Mahlon R. Parker. Jr. and Sarah Parker Martin. She now has four grandchildren. She is the daughter of the late William C. and Lizzie Taylor Howell. Mrs. Parker received her education from Seaboard High School. She has been a member of the Extension Homemakers Or fourty-two years and was a delegate to the National Extension Home in Orono, Maine. She has served on the cal, county, and district level as Vice-President and resident on the State level. She also served as Treasurer 4nd was a member of the State Council in 1967. In 1968, She served as State 2nd Vice-President and attended the National Conference as a delegate to Puerto Rico. She ‘erved as Vice-President and represented the State Council at the National Council in Blacksburg, Va. in 1969. In 1970, she served as State President. During this year the ‘Tganization celebrated its 50th anniversary at Memorial lo Scott addressed about 4,000 club women. She then tended the National Council in Las Vegas, member of the National Council. In 1971, she attended the Associated County Women of the World Conference in Oslo. Norway as an official delegate. There were 71 counties represented for a study of local and world problems. In 1958, and 1968, Mrs. Parker was the Northampton County “Woman of the Year.” She received the N. C. Homemakers Leadership award given by A and P Tea Company in 1968. Mrs. Parker served as President of the Jackson High School PTA. She is a member of the Seaboard Baptist Church and for 20 years served as Sunday School Teacher. Hinton Lee Joyner Hinton Lee Joyner was born in Seaboard. N. Rie, Northampton County on January 3, 1866. His parents were Allen Edward and Virginia Barham Joyner who named him for General Robert E. Lee and a Colonel Hinton, his Father’s Commanding Officer in The War Between the States. He was educated at Seaboard Academy, the schools of Wilson, N. C., and Richmond. Virginia. Joyner was married in early manhood to Helen Bridgers. The children of that union were: Linwood Asbury Joyner (deceased), and Bertha Joyner Parker, Seaboard, N. C.. Children of his second marriage to Mattie Reid were: Loretta J. Wester. Mary J. Bonner, Virginia Barrett, Louise J. Barrow (deceased). Joyner’s church connections were with the Pleasant Grove, Seaboard and Jackson Methodist Churches. He served as steward for many years in these churches. He was elected Sheriff of Northampton County in 1906, and served in that office for thirty years. During this tenure he never carried a gun on his person. After retirement from that office he served two terms as House member and for several sessions as Sergeant at Arms in the Legislature of North Carolina. Joyner was a delegate to the Convention in Chicago, Ill., where President Franklin Delano Roosevelt was nominated for his third term. Joyner died at the age of ninety-one and was known as “Mr. Democrat” of Northampton County. His concerns were always for the betterment of citizens of the County. “Sheriff Joyner Is Invited to Lecture”’ Hinton L. Joyner, sheriff of Northampton County since “the memory of man runneth not to the contrary,” had been invited to become a lecturer at the State University, the invitation coming by letter from Albert th actual experience to instruct them in the ways of the office. Quite a score for North- ampton, as well as the Sheriff, wasn’t it? Auditorium in Raleigh N. C. where Governor Robert W. at- Nevada, as a t \) Buxton Midyette Buxton Midyette (1903-1965), son of the late Judge Garland E. and Mary Buxton Midyette, a Jackson attorney received his early education in the public schools of North- ampton County. Upon graduation from Jackson High School, he entered Porter Military Academy, Charleston, S. C., for one year before attending the University of North Carolina, where he received his B. S. degree in 1924. He attended W ake Forest Law School and was admitted to the bar in 1927, where-upon he became a member of the firm of Gay and Midyette, Attorneys at Law, in Jackson. Midyette was a member of the Board of Law Examiners for 16 years and was chairman of that board for four years. He was a member of the General Statutes Commission of North Carolina from 1953 to 1959, and served on the Employment Security Commission in 1948 1949, He was also a member of the Northampton County, the North Carolina, and the American Bar Associations; the N. C. State Bar; and the American Trial Lawyers Association. The late Edward L. Loftin, Asheville attorney and 1965 president of the N. C. State Bar, said “the death of Buxton Midyette deals a severe blow to the legal profession, to the Courts, and to the entire state of North Carolina.” Resolutions honoring the life and memory of the Honorable Buxton Midyette of Northampton County were entered upon the minutes of a joint session of the General Assembly of North Carolina on April 22, 1965; of the Board of Law Examiners on June 12, 1965; and of a joint session of the N. C. State Bar and the North Carolina Bar Council on April 16, 1965. A chartered bus left Raleigh on the morning of April 18, 1965, loaded with members of the above mentioned groups, who, as a final measure of honor and respect, came to Jackson to attend the graveside service of their friend, and Buxton Midyette, who in their opinion gave to his profession and his commitments a full measure of time and devotion over and beyond the call of duty.” Buxton Midyette was married to Frances Saunders of South Hill, Va., on March 8, 1932. Buxton Saunders Midyette of Media, Pa., and Margaret Midyette Peery of Charleston, 5. C., are the children of this marriage. John Wallace Calvert | ee é . John Wallace Calvert John Wallace Calvert was born in January of 1857, the son of a woman, Kate Cross Calvert, belonging to Sam Calvert. The child also became part of the Calverts. Jack or Uncle Jack as he was later called was interviewed by many editors and authors during his lifetime. He was only eight years old at the time of The War when the Yankees came. He often described life and conditions in the south following the 1860's in lectures and conversations at schools, to individuals and _ to organizations. He was the first and only black coroner of North- ampton County. Uncle Jack served as coroner for four years. He was elected the first two years under the Republican Administration and again under the Democrats. Attempts were made to prevent his second election. A $2,000.00 bond was put up. It was then said that the Bonding Company would not take a black man’s bond. Uncle Jack went to the main office in Baltimore. Maryland, and found this story to be untrue. He also served a short while as Deputy Sheriff. John James Buffaloe John James Buffaloe (1881-1947) was the son of 4 former sheriff of Northampton County and postmaster of Jackson. He attended the Episcopal Institute under Miss Lou Whitfield in Jackson, and went on to the Graham Academy in Warrenton, N. C. trom there, he entered North Carolina State College, which he attended for one year. When John Buffaloe returned, in the early 1900's, to Jackson he was promptly employed as bookkeeper for E. S. Bowers Store. where he was considered one of the few men In the village who could ““figure’’. Later, in the 1920's, he was appointed postmaster of Jackson. In the early 1930's, he served as an official of the Works Progress Ad- ministration, as a Veterans Service Officer, and also Prepared income tax returns. John Buffaloe’s strong Democratic political con- nections gave him an early entry into high political circles on county, state, and national levels. When politicians needed help or wanted a job done, they contacted John J. His skill as a raconteur made him one of the best known ‘‘characters”’ in Northampton County. Even today he holds the crown as “Rockmuddle King” along the Roanoke, and many are the tales that are told of John Buffaloe and his day. Baseball was one of the loves of this man’s life, and he Played the game regularly until well into his 50’s. His most famous feat was mixture of joke and baseball. He was said to have hit “the longest home run in the sports history of orthampton County”. In fact, the ball landed in a moving boxcar and was carried all the way to Richmond! John J. Buffaloe married Alice Stancell in 1903, and their children are Alice B. Murphy (deceased), Elizabeth B. Howell (deceased), John J., Jr. (deceased) William (deceased). Louise Buffaloe Parker, James, and Ann Lewis Buffaloe Mangum. Eugene Scott Bowers Eugene Bowers was born in Jackson Jan. 1, 1874. His Parents were George W. Bowers and Emily Hill Bowers. t. Bowers was known as one who never faltered when Something had to be done for progress in his community. He attended public schools in Northampton County 4nd furthered his education at Trinity College in Durham. Mr. Bowers began his career as a merchant with J. A. : in 1893. He purchased the firm in 1897, and “Ontinued to operate it for over forty years. In later years ‘roy C. Grant became his partner. He kept ahead of Modern merchandising methods and thus had perhaps the largest trade store in this section of this county. He °xhibited indulgence, thoroughness, and trust in his business and private affairs. Eugene Bowers was a member of the County Board of Education serving for twenty years as its chairman. He ‘erved on the Jackson town council and was the vice- President of the Bank of N orthampton. Mr. Bowers was a Mason and Shriner. Active in church affairs, he was SUperintendent of the Sunday School of the Jackson ethodist Church for many years. On June 7, 1917, he married the former Miss Annie Jerome. daughter of the Rev. and Mrs. C. P. Jerome. Their four children are: Eugene Scott Bowers, Jr., Jerome Bowers, Robert Gray Bowers and Dr. Mary Blaire Bowers. Mr. Bowers died March 17, 1949. Mebane Holoman Burgwyn Mebane Holoman Burgwyn was born in Rich Square, North Carolina, and spent a happy childhood on her parents’ farm, with two sisters, a brother, many friends, good neighbors, and pets. She married after receiving a B. A. degree from the University of North Carolina at Greensboro, and she and her husband lived for a time in Woodland, North Carolina. Their present home on a farm in Occoneechee Neck is near Jackson. Their four children are now married. In 1960, Mrs. Burgwyn’s interest in young people led her back to graduate school at North Carolina State University and East Carolina University, where she received a master’s degree in Guidance and Counseling. Since then, she has worked in the schools of Northampton County as Director of Guidance Services. Her work has kept her in close contact with young people and with their problems of adjustment to a rapidly changing technological world. She also serves on the University of North Carolina Board of Trustees as a member of the Executive Com- mittee. Mrs. Burgwyn enjoys the variety of experiences possible in her way of life. Her work with the University and with young people is a constant challenge. She is vitally concerned with the quest of young people for values and patterns into which they may fit their lives. The beauty and excitement of farm activities give her great pleasure, and in spite of her many community, state, professional, and personal interests, she always has time for her children, grandchildren, and guests. SEAL GARB AR RR RRR re nk eee Re ene Re RE ee ee that mie eRe OE ERE ERE ty hy tee PEE TEE oat OER ee ee eee te ; SE eee eke ee Felis tablet cs sab Aico adh te sada ahah hi ck ha a hac ie rice arte eke ne ete Ee EE eT A Oe OE ccnp oboe and wie teeta aap ekateeh honda vabasineclon bebe tnapcateciae cientact eee ae en ere sae oe Saree ps beg 2 at. Fe Brode Horest Harrell And then in 1966 He had a winning streak, Soil Science Society Annual Award in Education, And Tarheel of the Week; Not to mention The National Association's Ode To Brode Distinguished Service Award; He's really earned these honors, For he’s worked so very hard. article taken from: Sunday Herald, Roanoke Rapids, N. C., Sun., July 28, 1974 “If my memory serves me well, And all my facts are straight ' ve bl The man is good at landscaping, And expert with rose-growing advice; He’s also a great Boss and co-worker; As a neighbor, he’s very nice. ‘Twas about 22 years ago Or somewhere near that date, That Brode Horest Harrell Moved his family with care And took a job that brought him here, To this our County, fair. He’s active in church and civic life, And all around good guy, Whenever there's something to be done They stayed a few years, then went away, He's sure to give it a try. But too late — our spell was cast, So in May of ‘Fifty-seven He returned to a full-time task. What do you say to a man like this: Who has shared all his time and skill? How do you acknowledge his giving of self? He put his all into his work A mere “‘thanks”’ just won't fill the bill. Things had to be just right Serving above and beyond the call of duty — After hours, weekends, at night. So, Mr. Harrell, we've gotten together To figure just what to do, To let you know that we really care And what we think of you. Sometimes, Susan threatened bodily harm, When her plans were blown astray. We made big plans to celebrate How many dinners went curdled and cold? And as one we all do say How many schemes lost by the way? Write down in the annals of history, We proclaim this “Brode Harrell Day!” Brode was concerned with all of Northampton ce er oa at ad would Agriculture has been the foundation of the economic nd aul phases of us agricutture system in Northampton County for more than two hundred And making good things grow. years, with cotton and peanuts now the basic money crops. Since this is true, it is not surprising that the Northampton Agricultural Extension Agency, is the most vital depart- ment of our county government. Down through the years, beginning with E. P. Gulledge, the county Agricultural Department has grown in usefulness under the leadership of the fine and able men. Among these is Brode Harrell who retired in June of 1974. Peanuts were really his specialty, With yields climbing higher than high, He’s been called “Mr. Peanut,”’ both far and near, The records will verify. He was always ready to try new techniques after 22 years of service “beyond the call of duty” to the With farmers to trust in his might; farmers of Northampton County. Quite often its’s been echoed the county or, In appreciation, admiration, and respect, July 26, “If Brode said it, it’s right!”’ 1974, was declared to be ““Brode Harrell Day” and more than 500 citizens gathered to pay him homage. Jeri G. Not only was he the advisor, Boone’s poem was read on this occasion. With know-how and knowledge, too, But personal friend, winning great respect From all of the people he knew. Jackson Physicians Active in all levels of County Agent Association, Dr. Willi B The National, District and State — Dr. Winfield © Cn He held offices in each division a V. St. Clair MeNider And in each he was Just great. Dr. Lawrence E. McDaniel iy, 37 3. heir He won awards both far and wide Dr. S. B. Boone We'll name you just a few: Dr. Henry Wilkins Lewis Northampton County Man of the Year Dr. Marion Henry Seawell In 1962; Dr. Carroll Bracey Robertson The Peebles Family The contribution to the history of Northampton County made by those who carried the name of Peebles would be difficult to estimate. Members of this family have left their footprints in every phase of recorded history in this County; religious and social; political and professional: agricultural and patriotic; educational and architectural: not to mention the joy of laughter brought to friends and neighbors through the sense of the humorous of some of the Peebles clan. The given name of Robert (Bruce) has come down through generations in the Peebles family. Records show that Captain Robert Peebles was one of the first three Northamptonians to receive commissions (June 11, 1776) at the outbreak of the Revolutionary War. On Aug. 12, 1776, this same’ Robert Peebles was one of Northampton’s representatives at the Halifax Congress. From 1777 to 1850, four men carrying the Peebles name (Howell, John, Robert, and Etheldred J.) served a total of seventeen terms in the House and Senate of the State Legislature as representatives from Northampton County The Honorable E. J. Peebles helped to found The Jackson Savings Institute (Northampton’s first bank) in 1850, and was also named among the founders of The Bank of Northampton in 1904. The Honorable W. W. Peebles was the leading spirit in bringing a railroad to the Jackson area. When his efforts were rewarded in 1894, and the “ompletion of the Northampton and Hertford Railroad was Celebrated at the Burgwyn Hotel in Jackson with a sump- tuous banquet and gala ball, there was a Peebles on every “ommittee for arrangements. Misses Sallie, Sue, and Annie Peebles were listed among the belles attending the grand affair. Some of the Peebles of Northampton were: Etheldred Peebles, Member of the Corporate Body of Northampton male Institute in 1833, and one time owner of Mowfield Plantation; the Rev. Howell and Capt. Seth Peebles, ~Wners and breeders of race horses; Robert Bruce Peebles, “aptain in the Civil War, lawyer and Judge; Calvert G. Peebles. lawyer and planter; John Thomas Peebles, planter 4nd owner of ‘Silver Heel’’; Rebecca Gatling Peebles, Charter member of Jackson Baptist Church; colorful humorist and delightful prankster, lawyer and planter, the Hon. W. W. Billie Peebles. The Calverts of Northampton Perhaps no family has made a richer contribution to the cultural, religious or civic life of Northampton County than the Calverts. Samuel Calvert, Esquire (1792-1881), son of Samuel Calvert and Mary Mosely Calvert of Southampton County, Virginia. moved to Jackson in 1823. He bought large acreages of land in and around Jackson and built a large and stately home called “The Elms”. Tradition places Jeptha Atherton’s residence at the site chosen by Samuel alvert for his home which was later occupied by the Burgwyns. Samuel Calvert and his wife, a Miss Proby of Southampton County, Virginia, had a large family in- cluding Margeannah Mosely (1820-1906); Elizah Rebecca (1822-19?); Samuel James (1824-1870): John Harrison (1828-1865); and James Proby, who died in infancy. Daughter, Elizah Rebecca married Dr. William Barrow. For a wedding gift, her father built her a stately house facing the Courthouse green, with a smaller house in a corner of the yard for the Doctor’s office. Daughter Margeannah Mosely married a Peebles. Son, Samuel James Calvert married Gulielma Rebecca Faison, daughter of Mariah Sheppard and Herod Faison. This latter couple stayed in Jackson and raised a large family, of whom Samuel James (1856-1944), lawyer and long-time Registrar of Deeds in Northampton, was one. Samuel Calvert (1792-1881) was most generous in his land gifts for the well-being of the citizens of the Jack- son area where he had chosen to make his home and to rear his children. He donated plots of land in the village to the Baptist, the Methodist and the Episcopal congregations upon which to build their churches. On March 15, 1870. he Methodist Church Episcopal Church te te Baptist Church deeded one acre of land to Jerry Gary, William Barrow and Burton Jones, the school committee of that day, for the “sole and exclusive purpose of a school for freedmen and no other’. This school stood near the present site of the John S. Jenkins Cotton Warehouse. From these gifts, we know that Samuel Calvert, Esquire, believed that worship of God and knowledge from books were the very foundation of the good life. These tenets have been handed down through the Calvert descendants and have enriched and blessed our — SSS ce RPP L Le ee ie es ye ee ey oes So: S s “ = SS: > « “J Pe Bese 3 » 8 SN < SS SAS SS SV “The Elms” Demolished — 1956-57 = ~ TN Calvert-Burgwyn 18 An Invitation to the Calverts’ Home county until this day. Samuel James Calvert, lawyer and Registrar of Deeds, married Sallie Wood Moore of ‘Mulberry Grove’’, Hertford County, N. C. May (Maizie) Calvert, teacher and postmistress; Sallie Moore Calvert Parker, ardent church and civic leader; Julia Munro Calvert, talented musician and dedicated leader of young people; and Paul Faison Calvert, the complete historian, are the children of this marriage who remained in North- ampton County. All are now deceased except Paul Faison Calvert. His going will close the story of the Calvert family in the Jackson area, spanning more than 150 years. oo Se WSS 5 SS SS House in Jackson aie " l ito! é ’resent f dl the spect we tring di Lé rein ; i . ji rt Gillam oj if {ssociate 5] . . CcCOounTY — he " ge Her owe ANN AA OLD LLL DDL AAT neti < me sanaaneae o PIPL a a a oR ] l ll Hi . , ¢ Y ~~ ees ~~ ie ‘ a, 2 ‘ Petheed , ’ : — "7 was ~~ , i — z 4 ‘ * he = Foe Cotton 9 A Northampton Custom From Another Century: When a death occurred in a family, notice of the arrangements was written in black ink on white paper, a black ribbon was attached. and the whole was laid upon a silver tray which was carried from door to door by a family servant. : : 7 = ap ween ; | 4 | ? ' : > 7 : Be, Te ey. rs Fi = - i % a ; : , ry i y : ii : | ‘ , : i i rf { , ' . ‘ i< :\ rh | ; > { ’ : . j rbd be r tt rig t /¢ ' ; ' . ‘ i é + >< ; . ’ . | < ' a ' | ‘ < 4 . : ' Gf 7; ‘= ‘ : 5 ; DEEL LANE CAMEL ASL SIE SCL G LEER! LT CNT A ES IK Pans anche ree Si Po — $20 hr haw: ae+ig Doce Teg? oi der awe Ce DR RTE ERS TRU EEE wn: During one of his terms in the Legislature, Mr. Russell Harris of Seaboard, who was much interested in our fight, was instrumental in passing a law making it possible for the County Commissioners to increase taxes | per cent on the 100, that fund to be set aside as a Library fund. But during the years 1944 through 1947, the Library only received $900.00. In 1948 the amount was increased to $1800.00. During this period, the town of Jackson started contributing $300.00 each year. They felt that they had more access to the Library than any other group in the county. Our Library was growing each year, and it was necessary to have a full time Librarian. Our present Librarian, Nancy M. Froelich has worked with us since 1945. During this time, she has studied at one of the State trained - Library schools and has become a_ qualified Librarian. During the war, our application was filed in the State Library Commission office for a bookmobile. We finally got ours in 1948. The bookmobile called for more help, so Mrs. Froelich, our librarian, was asked to find someone who could drive and also help with the books. A part time worker was secured. The County Commissioners gave us the use of our present headquarters just after the Court House was remodeled in 1940, but we only had part of the building. The Library was rapidly growing and more space was needed for books and equipment. A group of ladies, with representatives from Jackson Book Club, appealed to the County Commissioners for more space and also to have some work done on the building. Our present Com- missioners have been most cooperative, and, we think, very generous in restoring and completely re-decorating our library. This 1831 building is the oldest public building in the county and one of the best, architectually speaking, in the South (Greek Revival). We are immensely proud of what the County Com- missioners have done for Northampton and the Library. As Chairman of the Board of Trustees, I wish to publicly thank each Commissioner and also the ladies of the Jackson Book Club, who have given their time so generously in planning the re-decoration of the building and equipment. We feel that now our “aim” and our “goals” have been reached, we will try to get to the people in the county more and better books.” By 1965, the ‘‘aims”’ and “goals” of this dedicated eroup had been met so well, and the possibilities for enriched library service had become so great, that it was more than evident that a new and larger headquarters was needed in Northampton. Mrs. Nancy Moore Froelich, librarian since 1944, resigned as of Dec. 30, 1966. On Jan. 3, 1967, Frances 5. Midyette was officially named librarian with Lillian H. Pearce as assistant librarian and Evelyn C. Hull as part- time helper for bookmobile duties. On Feb. 20, 1967, Buxton Weaver, as chairman and spokesman for the Library Board, made a formal request of the Northampton Board of County Commissioners-Chm. Guy Revelle, and members David Gay, J. H. Liverman, Jasper Eley and Horace Guthrie — for a new and adequate library building. Expert, Frances Gish, from North Carolina State Library in Raleigh recommended 5,000 sq. ft. of space at the approximate cost of $11.62 per sq. ft. She reminded the commissioners that the Federal Library Act would put up 98 per cent of the cost of such a building, a if the plans were underway by July 1, 196 "n } 1 _ On March 6, 1967. the Board of County Com- missioners voted (by a 3 to 2 margin) to have North- ampton admitted into the Albemarle Region, made up of Bertie, Hertford and Gates Counties. At this same meeting Manager Melvin Holmes ‘‘to cooperate with the local library board in investi- the commissioners instructed County gating the construction of a new library building.” An independent Building Committee was and officially approved immediately, as follows: Charlie W. Bass of Jackson as Chairman; Beal Vick, Seaboard: Lois Lee B. Carpenter, Margarettsville; Kenneth Odom, Severn; Gay Wells, Woodland; Sylvia P. L: Hazel L. Lasker: Stephenson, Garysburg. >: iL issiter, Kuch Square ; Collier. and Virginia ‘| There followed three years of hopes high and low; complete delight and abject discouragement; problems of financial delays, weather difficulties and all the headaches attendant upon any building program. On Dec. 9, 1970, the beautiful new Northampton Memorial Library designed by W. D. Boone, Jr., Architect of Charlotte, contracted by D. G. Manning of Williamston, N. C., Revelle, J. H. David Gay, Jasper Eley and Horace Guthrie opened its North- and commissioned by Chm. Guy Liverman, 1 doors to bring library service to the citizens ol ampton County for years to come. Barbara Jean Davis of Jackson is the newest member of the Library stati She works as bookmobile and secretarial assistant to Lilliam Pearce. Our County Library Returning to Northampton County after an absence of over 00 years, except for frequent but comparatively short visits to my parents, to make our home. I have been impressed tremendously by the signs of progress of every kind on every hand. Of all the signs of progress I have seen already, after less than three months in the county, nothing has impressed me so much or so favorably as our county library. I have been impressed by the physical arrangement and equip- ment, by the selection of books, and by the enthusiasm of Mrs. Froelich and her associates. Another thing that has impressed me is the attitude of our people toward their library — not only that of the Board of County Commissioners in cheerfully providing aid for its financial support but also, and even more significantly, that of our people themselves. Farmers and other businessmen of the county have expressed pride in our — their — library. They have sensed What it will mean to their wives and children, as well as themselves, to have the best current and classic literature made available to them and, in fact. brought to their very doors through the bookmobile service. I, too, am genuinely proud of my native county, which Now once more is my home county, for making this wise and far-sighted provision for the cultural, educational. and, Withal, spiritual welfare of our people to match our economic progress. Gilbert T. Stephenson Pendleton, N. C.. Aug. 8, 1950 Nancy Moore Froelich Nancy Moore Froelich died and was buried on Saturday, May 23, 1969, but her spirit will remain as long as there is a Northampton County or a Northampton Memorial Library. All her life she gave to loving and learning about the people and places of Northampton County, and 25 years of her life were given to dreaming and building Northampton Memorial Library into the people’s University that it has become. Nancy Moore, daughter of Jenny Bolling Cocke and John Elliott Moore, grew up in Jackson at a time which she considered to be the golden age of the South. She was a vital part of a rollicking group of young people gathered from all Over the county, to ride, to hunt and to ‘dance. In later years it was fun to listen to her reminiscences of a certain fox hunt Or a special dance at the “old hotel’? on the corner in Jackson. During these years Nancy Moore never missed an item of history pertaining to the people she met or the Places she went. It has been said that she had forgotten more Northampton County history than most of us will ever know. Marriage to handsome Louis A. Froelich from Halifax in 1919, took Nancy Moore away from her beloved North- 4ampton County for a few years, but in 1926, she returned to Jackson with her husband and two small daughters, Nancy and Jenny Bolling, to look after her father and Mother in the old Moore home. Here she renewed her ties With the people of Northampton and began again to collect and store away items of historical significance against the day she would find the time to sort them out and write a much needed history of our county. Sad for us, this day never came. Cultural and literary activities drew Mrs. Froelich like a magnet. She never lost her interest in, and concern for. the churches and schools of Northampton. She was a par- ticipating member of the Jackson Book Club until her death. For years she wrote a column for the county newspaper called “Owl's Nest.’’ Her membership in Roanoke-Chowan Writers Group gave her many highly valued opportunities to meet with other writers of the state. As librarian of Northampton Memorial Library, she was widely known in library circles all over North Carolina. She was an enthusiastic member of the Northampton County Historical Society and hers was the moving spirit behind the society's efforts to open a Northampton County Museum. Remembering this, may we be spurred to new endeavor on behalf of the plans for such a museum. Wife, mother, friend and clubwoman, with dry humor and unforgettable personality. For all of these. but especially for her work with Northampton Memorial Library, Nancy M. Froelich will be long heloved and best remembered in Northampton County. Library Board 1941 Sap BR ar ? ee ag » RS ew : j y 2 * ; > 4 ® " : > 4 7 Left to Right: Mrs. Walter Barbee, Mrs. Nancy M. Froelich, Mrs. Ailene Brown, Mrs. Raby Flythe, Mrs. Genola Stephenson A Brief History of King Solomon Lodge Number 56 A.F. and A.M. of Jackson, North Carolina The historical period of King Soiomon Lodge Number 396 of Jackson, N. C., extends over a period from 1810 to 1975, a span of 165 years. King Solomon Lodge Number 56 was chartered by the Grand Lodge of North Carolina on December 10, 1810, when Benjamin Smith was the Grand Master. The Charter shows that Turner Byrum was the first Worshipful Master; John Nichols, the first Senior Warden, and Thomas White, the first Junior Warden, these being the three principal officers of the Lodge. For many years King Solomon Lodge Number 56 was the only Masonic Lodge in Northampton County. At the time the village which is now Jackson was known as Smith- ville, North Carolina. The Lodge numbered on its roster many prominent citizens from all sections of the county and met on the first Saturday of each month and on the second Tuesday evening of each month. The Saturday meeting was an afternoon meeting in order for the out of town members to attend and to go to their homes and to not have to spend the night. Later on the meetings were held on the Ist and ord. T Tuesday evenings. The lodge now meets on the first Tuesday of each month in the evening. Corner Stone of the King Solomon Lodge Number 56 The cornerstone for the building was laid in 1888, and, as far as can be learned, the meetings were held in the build- ing across the street from the Northampton County Library. This building was sold to Mr. M. L. Jernigan and renovated as a residence while the Lodge moved to its present quarters in the Flythe building. The second floor of the first lodge room, or building, was the lodge room and the first floor was used as a social hall and was used for par- ties and bazaars and church entertainments. There is an interesting history connected with the bell which is now used to summon the members to the meeting. The bell hangs at the window of the present lodge room. It was used at one time to announce the races at the race track t “Silver Hill,” located on the farm now known as the Peebles Place. When the races were discontinued the bell was moved to the Hotel Burgwyn and was rung to an- nounce the meal hour at the hotel, and also was rung or 54 | Pi , Ce. ASS Mea t P 7 > %y i 5 5 + ? / oy iy. y * f Wi hs it, 4 Bi ’ \ te Ps 7 fi be 4 Z 7 a e P ¥ wily % - * ; : ei 4 p j * id “Silver Hill” tapped to announce the Lodge meetings. The bell was rung three times to announce meetings. Since King Solomon Number 56 was chartered, masonery has spread and flourished in Northampton County, and four other Lodges have been chartered, namely, Seaboard 378; Potecasi 418; Rich Square 488; 924. and Pendleton 5 The 1940 Roanoke River Flood The Roanoke River has long played an important and beneficial role in the history and destiny of people living in Northampton County, but it has been dreaded for other reasons in time past. Even its name, an Indian word suggestive of death, conveys the nature of its treacherous impact upon the lives of many people throughout the centuries. Controlled now by the three dams which also furnish electric power to citizens of North Carolina and Virginia, and pleasure to thousands of people who ski and fish on the beautiful Kerr, Gaston and Roanoke Rapids lakes, the Roanoke flows peacefully between its banks toward the Albemarle Sound where it finally meets the ocean. The Bell Once Used to Announce the Races at But it was in August 1940, that people in this century Were introduced to the power and savagery of its waters on a rampage. Prior to that time people were accustomed to late Summer floods which usually came in September. Fed by rains in Virginia, which poured water from its red hills into feeder streams, the old Roanoke, almost every year, broke from its banks and backed slow waters into low lying fields So that farmers were forced to work on Sundays to harvest their corn, and those who lived or worked along its winding Courses watched and waited anxiously for forecasts of its expected levels of flooding. In 1940, however, when prospects for a bountiful harvest were viewed with unusual pride and high ex- Pectation, the rains came in early August and, by the second week, news of expected flood levels began to alarm €ven the most optimistic. Then, with unexpected swiftness the waters came, not seeping backwards into low areas as usual, but rushing down from Virginia in powerful surges, sweeping homes, barns and livestock down from the hills into the lowlands of Northampton and other counties. Families were caught ‘naware by the rapid rise of swirling waters, and *vacuation had to be carried out with expediency. Working feverishly, local fishermen and boat owners labored night and day to move families from their homes in the Oc- roneechee Neck to higher ground and were even then forced to call for service from the United States Coast Guard. which sent big cutters to assist in saving the lives of More than 1,000 people who lived there. Other areas of the ‘ounty were similarly affected but, miraculously, only one life was lost in the Occoneechee Neck when Gomez Rawls, ©n a rescue mission, fell from a boat and before the horrified eyes of many who watched from a bank was swept downstream and drowned. .... Flood waters swirled to the edge of the bridge. Wildlife did not fare so well. Rabbits, deer and wild turkeys, even snakes, sought higher ground but many were drowned. One small dog survived by climbing on a floating door and became a cherished pet of a family who named her Gypsy. Roads were closed, and those bridges which were not swept away in flood waters were considered unsafe. Power was cut off in many areas which created problems for those unaffected by the water. A portable broadcasting unit was set up at Mud Castle Hill where families were being landed with clothes or cherished items from their homes clutched in their arms. Reports were sent out continuously by radio across the state and nation. Approximately 2,200 people in the county were taken to local churches or to homes of friends and relatives where they were fed and clothed by the Red Cross, and concerned citizens of the county offered and gave their services. Food was cooked in big pots outdoors. Men, women and children slept on the floor of Roanoke Chapel in the Occoneechee Neck and in other churches throughout the county. Clothes were collected and distributed so that everyone had at least one change of clothing. Citizens and organizations rallied to provide help and comfort to the stricken families. Health precautions were taken. Homes were cleaned and disin- fected as waters receded, and new mattresses were provided to replace those sodden with red mud. Inoculations against diseases left crying children and sore arms for flood victims but insured their escape from typhoid and other diseases. Friends more fortunate whose crops were not touched by the flood offered food for livestock which survived the flooded areas. Many gave financial help to farmers whose entire investments in crops had been washed away by the muddy waters. Loyalty, generosity and friendship helped stricken families recover from the shock and tragedy of their experience. As alee i al , RPL PORATED PRT 5 aa e & wae tw SE IE NE EE PLLA FE MEARNS RTE TN ED TE TATTERED IRS «RN TK EN PS OE: IT ARE BIO SS, CNS RUS Ne eee ee ee t CoE a aka «RA cab, So SUR RE ae Rempel cere as Se ane pm RTA BG RR TH eae 2 ye Ng SAIES hg * GS ease. (ee RCTS, Beanie SF Dl ern: LL TE MR KS IR ER ER ER A TT SR AED TR APC MO SETS RIE RT ART SO RRR COE CRE LRT TIFT LF RET ENE I NT LE EMTS ERT LULL TS TREY GE ESA RN, LT LE IN, EL NLT EM IT RE OS NT EL IN SDS IIIS TT LST P< IY SME TL I MOI EEC LT TEI gees : eed STE eee Stee Ee aA PTE Man-Crushing Reptile!!! | (Came to be International headlines, with Jackson. N. C. dateline) >a Hee Caen elise iP etes aeatere Sisiet? BES ae a REE Ye olde woodcut—made expressly for our paper—graphically This engraving done by Miss Robin Clair, freshman at Chowan records beginning of Great Python Capture. Police Chief Elmo College, close by to scene of immortal battle with escaped cir- Wheeler is dragged through fast-falling dusk by 32-foot serpent. cus monster. By Roy Parker, Jr. Article taken from The Northampton County News, A Conspiracy Jackson, N. C., Thursday, October 6 and 13, 1955. Our correspondent brings you blood-chilling details of hour-long battle in woods near Jackson as saga of python Comes to close... “Now, what in the world would a person do after he Stole a 208-pound snake of the python ilk? Well, two employees of the Central Amusement Shows Carnival, which put on its show in Jackson last week. are Charged with trying to peddle the python to another car- nival in Petersburg. They sent it by railway express. This week the two men were waiting to be tried for ‘Stealing and taking away one snake, weighing 208 pounds, Valued at 1,100.’ _ ‘They were being held in Northampton County jail, Only a few hundred yards from the former carnival grounds. Jackson Police Chief Elmo Wheeler arrested Lobis Webber, 47, and Dominick Reo, 25, in Windsor, where the Carnival is now being presented. The warrant was signed by Pat Muszznski, an employee of the show which boasted the 28-foot python, billed as ‘the largest of its kind on the Cast coast.’ Wheeler said the carnival reported the giant serpent had been taken from its five-foot high box home Friday night. Tuesday the camival reported it had word that the Python had showed up in Petersburg. The two men were scheduled for a magistrate court hearing Thursday night (tonight). Both have denied taking the reptile. The victim of the larceny, a rather indolent creature of an off-green color, had been thrilling patrons of the carnival as the Jackson Fire Departmemt sponsored the show as a fund-raising gimmick. Johnny Ryan, owner of the carnival, told a reporter at Windsor that their snake-thievery must have been a con- spiracy between several people. Webber the handler, of the python and Reo were part of the group, he said. Miss Muszznski, a member of the girlie troupe of the show, said she had seen a mysterious panel truck parked near the carnival grounds early Saturday morning. Billed as “Stella,” the shapely carnival queen was a part owner of the absconded python. Reporters checking in Petersburg Tuesday night got no help, although the police there had earlier sent word to Jackson that a snake had been picked up there. Apparently, the owners of the carnival had inside information on who was the “receiver” in the strange larceny story; and were hoping to catch them with the goods(?). Ryan said that the python had been purchased by his show about three weeks ago from a Florida snake-dealer. Shipping cost for the reptile came to $125, he said. The carnival was located in Pennsylvania at the time. He said he noticed the snake was gone early Saturday morning when he noticed that the blanket under which it slept (pythons are subject to colds) was unusually quiet, peeling it off, he found his king-size attraction missing. Easy To Steal Explaining that it was actually easy to steal a snake, he said that an experienced handler can grab even the largest python by the tail and render it helpless, then stuff it in a sack, where it would remain uncomplainingly. The python, a non-venomous serpent which polishes off its victims by squeezing them ‘in its great coils, is native to several jungle areas. The stolen python was officially a “Regal Python’ and a native of South Africa. Pythons, much feared in horror fiction and movies, are SHIT H Titheat sate TEU HCH RTS REE actually rather lazy creatures, who engorge on huge meals and then lie quietly (and often helplessly) digesting their catch. Noble Ancestors Of a noble ancestry, pythons have been degraded to the side show trade in the entertainment world. The first Python, a terrible serpent of Greek mythology who slunk about Mount Parnasses, was slain by Apollo, greatest of the Greek gods, Because of this feat, Apollo was afterwards called ‘Pythian Apolo.’ The great temple at Delphi, chief center of Greek worship, conducted what were called ‘Python’ rites, and the words — derived from Python — have come to describe the state of frenzy which was characteristic of the rite. Strangely enough, present day pythons aren't very pythian. They even allow themselves to be shipped by railway express without being duly wrought up. Most Jackson folks hardly knew the snake was missing. The World Series, you know. In Windsor, those in the know say that, while the loss of the python is mourned by some snake-lovers, the warm- blooded charms of Miss Muszznski are providing sufficient thrills, few chills. One Week Later The Saga of the Python — which catapulted Jackson into nationwide headlines last week — added new color to the history of an already colorful section. By now, the story is well known, not only in its local dress, but to the people of the county. Newspaper, television and radio spread the story of the Regal Python, its disappearance ...its supposed kidnaping .. .its dramatic discovery ...and the heroic capture of the jungle denizen by local Frank Bucks. Headlines told the Saga for four days...radio an- nouncers breathlessly related the strange tale, television programs outlined the adventure. Editorial Comment The Saga brought editorial comment and _ provided discussion throughout the state. By ‘Thursday, the Greensboro Daily News thought enough of the incident to editorially comment on the fact that North Carolina communities were becoming bonafide menageries (an elephant, which escaped from a Charlotte circus had started the interest in wild animal-hunting in North Carolina. ) The News and Observer, covering the story with wide headlines, also commissioned its cartoonist to make merry of Jackson people — looking under their beds for the 28 foot reptile. And, as the story sank from the headlines to become local legend, the paper’s editorialist, in a serious vein, paid tribute to the men who had the courage to capture a monster capable of crushing them in its iron-like coils. Sunday, the Saga ended officially with publication of the details in the New York Times. In Jackson, Python Week was going down in history in fact and legend. Already a vast amount of anecdote was piling up along with eyewitness accounts; and the reports of the men who captured the snake. Story Begins The story began sometime early Saturday morning, October 1, 1955, By some means, the 28 foot snake — officially a ‘Regal Python’ — left its cage home in the 88 +. Rr tere terse et eterna nee ce cs ee carnival grounds of Central Amusement Shows. The carnival was preparing to pack the next day to go to Windsor; after a week in Jackson, sponsored by the Jackson Volunteer Fire Department. The missing snake caused strange emotions to boil among the carnival people. Monday afternoon, a Diana- like blond, by name, Pat Muszznski, by profession the queen of the carnival’s traditional girlie show, arrived in Jackson with a warrant for the arrest of Louis Webber, 47, the handler of the reptile, and Dominic Reo, a wiry New Jerseyite who was a helper with the carnival. The warrant, probably unique in American jurisprudence, charged the two men with ‘stealing or taking away one snake, weighing 208 pounds, valued at $1,000." Jackson remained calm as the story broke in the headlines Tuesday morning. It was assumed that the two men — locked in the Northampton County jail — had stolen the snake. The carnival owner, one Johnny Ryan, was convinced the reptile was being shipped to another carnival ...he sent undercover men to check shows as far away as Petersburg. The Trial But to no avail. Thursday night, in the small outer office of Northampton County Sherrif’s department in the courthouse at Jackson, the two men faced shapely (and now ‘Mrs.”) Muszznski, and another older, but blond, lady — Mrs. Alezeanne Leocobio — as a collection of standers-on, interested law officers, and reporters waited to hear their stories. Mrs. Muszznski told Justice of the Peace, Howard Rogers that she saw Webber and Reo early Saturday morning hanging around the snake's sleeping quarters. Webber, distinguished, despite three days ‘in solitary’ in the Northampton County jail, said it was ‘a deliberate frame. Reo told an involved tale of helping Webber put the snake to bed (covering him with a blanket), darkly hinted that a carload of unknown Negroes had done off with the snake. Jackson Police Chief Elmo Wheeler, later to become a hero of the dramatic capture, said he had ‘done everything he knew’ to find the reptile. Jaypee Rogers said he was going to bind the two men over to the October term of Northampton Superior Court on Mrs. Muszznski’s ‘positive identification.’ But then, realizing that she would have to miss the footlights of the carny show in order to testify, the lithsome carnival queen decided to drop charges. She had before had two hurried conferences with a mustachioed man named ‘Angelo,’ who seemed an angel to both the accused men. Angelo paid the costs, and Webber and Reo left with the rotund angel of mercy. The two carnival beauties swept out of the room. As the room cleared (some of the by-standers rushing to get another look at the carnival queen as she coolly saun- tered to her car), Chief Wheeler vowed that he was going back to the carnival area and make a thorough search. And the stage was set for the capture. Meanwhile, headlines, radio and television told the story of the missing python. Handler Webber gave clues — he said the snake would not venture far from its sleeping grounds; he told how to grab it by its scaly tail to render it helpless. He pointed out that pythons eat only rarely, but also assured those interested that the snake was capable of crushing a man in its coils. Still, Jackson remained calm. Only Wheeler, and reporters, sniffed the air and pawed for further word. That is, until late Friday evening, October 7. The Capture Bob, a birddog, broke the case. Practicing for the hunting season, due to open in a week, Bob — owned by Rufus Jones — was going through a series of dry runs in a wooded area beside the former carnival grounds. Suddenly, he got the shock of his canine life. Calm in the face of quail, a rock when scouting for the skittish, birds, Bob yelped excitedly when he came upon 28 feet of Regal Python, curled in a monstrous pile at the foot of a tree. Jones investigated. ..looked...ran...informed Jailer John Wheeler. And the capture was on. Chief Wheeler and Scoopy Grant, lanky mortician and and former baseball star, tore to the python-haunted copse with the jailer and Jones. Wheeler, remembering Webber’s expert advice, grabbed the reptile by its tail. So did Grant. The python stopped being lethargic. It charged away. ..and the two would-be Capturers were dragged for several feet. Then, their Frank Buck natures gave them ideas. A rope was looped around the tail-end of the reptile. Wheeler valiantly strove to loop the powerful coil around a tree. Now Grant raced back to get more rope. The snake reared its head nearby Wheeler as he held onto the nether end... Wheeler fled. ..returned...others joined the fray. By the light of a fire, as the October sun went down, the history-making python capturers loaded the snake into a casket box, brought by Grant. Heaved onto a pickup truck, the casket was taken to the Jackson Funeral Home. Several hundred people — now finally excited over the town’s greatest adventure since the Battle of Boone’s Mill, (1863). hovered around the safari group, and the legends, anec- dotes and straight stories began to flow. By late Friday night, the python was resting again in its Cage home on the carnival grounds in Windsor. Firm Legends Already, firm legends had been established. One told of thé famous ‘fleeing society,’ and the ‘take-off section.’ These groups, who labored to hold and box the python, were qualified when they ‘flew’ or ‘took off’ when the giant monster squirmed near the escaping-point. The heroic hold- on tactics of Wheeler and Grant when the python was first grabbed qualified them for well-deserved praise. Even handler Webber was leery of handling the python — he normally used a rake, or forked sticks. Bob, the birddog, qualified for deserved praise by heroically standing his ground at a creature new to even his expert store of animal lore. One old saw was dispelled — an eye-witness was im- pressed with the fact that several Negro men valiantly aided in heaving the monstrous coils of the reptile into the box, doing away with the legend that Negroes are inordinately afraid of reptile flesh. Rename the Scene? Town fathers were discussing renaming the wooded area in which the adventure came to its spine-tingled end. The area is the beginning of a vast stretch of partial swamp 5&9 SS SETS ND: LITE 2 PP srs. et? ; s a CA mee ot a = RRs a a sore Ba fight lees ted eee ete stig known as ‘Edwards Pocosin.’ Suggestion is to rename at least the small section of it ‘Python Pocosin,’ in honor of the feat. Reputations were made and added to by the Saga. For the first time, a Northampton County Justice of the Peace court became cloaked with new dignity. Dapper Webber began one of his speeches at the Thursday night trial with: ‘If it pleases the court, Your Honor...’ Nothing like that had ever been heard in the usually- informal atmosphere of JP jurisprudence. Jailer John Wheeler, known to be a stickler for the law, was quoted as saying, when asked to grab a section of the heaving snake: ‘I can’t grab anything without a (com) ‘mitment.’ (This story is only typical of the waggish — usually untrue — tales that have been growing.) The books on pythons would also have to be slightly rewritten. Pythons — Wheeler, Grant, and others will tell you — are not as docile and easy-going as you have heard. Cast Of Characters The cast of characters was something no fictionist — not a Runyon, a Faulkner, not even a Dickens — would attempt to paint. The sharp Webber, for all the world like what he was, a snakeman and a girlie show barker (he gave his address as simply: ‘USA’ ) .. . the mysterious Angelo, who chastized all the principals for being in court at all... the queenly prosecutrix, looking more like a virginal high school sophomore than a bump-and-grind artist. . easy going Wheeler and hunting enthusist Grant. having the adventure of their lifes as they hung onto the cold-blooded visitor from the African darkness. . Bob, the dog... and, most important the leading character — ‘the largest of its kind on the east coast,’ black, spotted with gold, half-blind as it went through its annual shedding period, coiled in an Eastern North Carolina piney swamp, 10,000 miles from its equatorial birthplace. The Saga added spice to the life of Jackson (for some reason described by the wire service reporter as a ‘sleepy little farming town.’ No such adventure has been recorded in the supposedly wide-wake metropolises...while thousands of city folks hung on the headlines to hear the latest from the tiny town). Wag Field Day Wags had a field day. Both Wheeler and Grant were victims of telephone tricksters, who called fake inquiries about the affair, disguising themselves as reporters. R. T. Cochane, the town’s reigning practical joke king, caught Wheeler with such a call. Elmo talked to a person who identified himself as “T. E. Jones of the Associated Press in Charlotte.’ While Elmo was talking over the phone in the back room of the Jackson Drug Company (Cochran’s liar) to ‘Jones,’ Cochrane played reporter from 4 telephone behind the store’s soda fountain, only a few yards from the intrepid officer. The Saga was sure to go down in big letters in the historical annuals of the 200-year-old county seat, along with the Nat Turner Insurrection, the battle of Boone’s Mill, the 1930 fire, and a thousand and one other legends, tales, stories, adventures, and everyday happenings that make up the story of Jackson. 4 PUPP TUTTI aio anak ay AREA H ; § A} Py ip Matis SE way flee LSS rs = AE bs sigagiags € ie SP ROLE SF Pm a r ‘ EP ak PLP a eo | : gi a Af C2 ae a Peeling 22AT7/ ors er Sora L797 v7 Z / y, - AS ff oy Se ay +2 ad WA / 39 ? L7A2Z ,) p fe -y0)7 >U, ‘ i Pa Vd . YL tA A J 4 “4 Z St Pa , me oe eee Bike” i, The Self-Perpetuating Boone’s Mill House, Law Firm 1876 - 1965 Jackson, N.C. as Sign that Hung Above the Office Door Benjamin Stancell Gay opened a law office in Jackson in 1876. Some years later, a young lawyer, Garland E. Midyette of Fairfield joined him as partner. The law firm of Gay and Midyette functioned until 1916 when Mr. Gay ded. Archie © Gay, son of Mr. Gay, graduated from law school at Wake Forest, and immediately after passing the bar, went into the army in World War I. Upon his return, he entered partnership with Mr. Midyette and the firm became Midyette and Gay, lasting until Mr. Midyette became judge. In 1927, Buxton Midyette, his son, joined Archie Gay and Midyette. This firm lasted until the death of both in 1965, covering in all a period of 89 years. Boone’s Mill House (Jackson) mi —— pa Ae ek te eh . Roy Re fat rere pimps ; nt S:2 Sew rae: Chee Lise bee Te, Laie keke bie Pee eae Rae ee a tees ee * absheih pea Me rk a cc re reat pth ited A eb ed et cds t ee c Ses. sys cease : ; DEP EA ate Sets Fab h then, et b Sabai eet st esse oe ety a Sd ee EEE 0 Labs abana EA z Spits fir oF Did chaed Se Spas a Cape gee aknort stad eight ego cree he : et iS ; ; Mitte tre ; eB Se 3 : : eee —_ P rupt y ea We ES gre art se5s = as ~ ao : ps2 nos ete Bagh oa . — - - mace Ulta a Garysburg - Gaston Area PRETEEN LER LE LEE TEE ELE TE EE REI OEE EB BD ak ea a ee ee Be ca sey ay ee ie FS aA I nt ns te et re a ae th olen hin te i i ttn Sa ie bn Ret. te Noke ie ne bag nae Suge ege ay te fo ea og gy rel Bone iim nace tnrse en pe aoe Garysburg first appears in the official records as a post office named Peeble’s Town established sometime between 1818 and 1825. Peeble’s Town, or Tavern as some sources refer to it, was located on or near the banks of the Roanoke River South of the present intersection of U. 5. Highways 301 and 158. Although it cannot be taken as conclusive, a foundation and enough broken crockery to indicate a public house were found about a half mile from the river beside ‘the railroad cut”’ on the old Jackson-Weldon Road in the 1930’s when a farmer prepared a field where tradition said the tavern had stood. The name of the post office was changed to Blakely Depot on September 20, 1833. There is no known reason for the change, but it may have been because the Petersburg and Roanoke Railroad or the post office changed the name. In any event, the town was the southern terminus of the railroad and was probably quite prosperous. Because it was between the railroad and the river it served as a major market for Northampton and a point of interchange for commerce. It was during the Blakely days that the Garysburg community became more socially aligned with Halifax County than Northampton County. The next major river landing below Blakely was the town of Halifax and there must have been a good deal of interchange, for marriages between residents of the two towns were quite frequent. Indeed it was a native of Halifax who settled in Northampton who gave Garysburgh, (as it was spelled until 1892) its new name in 1838. Roderick B. Gary became the operator of the hotel (now the Collier Place) and did well in his new home. He served Northampton County as a representative in the State House for 12 terms between 1777 and 1830. Sometime in the 1840's, the river site was abandoned and people began settling in the present Garysburg. It may have been that the completion of the Weldon Bridge for the railroad ended the necessity of the river location and the residents moved inland to get away from the malaria-carrying insects. ie le erate ier a SAY SAE ST a So ae nee Garysburg In any event, Major Gary donated an acre of land to the Methodist Episcopal Church opposite his hotel as a new home for the congregation of Moore’s Chapel located four miles east of town across the road from Longview. “Mr. W. T. Key is proprietor and strives to please and entertain the traveling public.” Gey ee ar ee Garysburg is growing and signs of im- provements are apparent in many directions. It has a flourishing male school under the charge of Prof. Fetter, and now that St. Catherine’s Hall is to be removed from Jackson to this place, they will have a female school, also. And when it gets the new railroad from the sound to this place, it will be quite a flourishing town.” However, the new railroad from the sound crossed the existing north-south road in Weldon not Garysburg. During the late nineteenth and early twentieth cen- turies Garysburg grew to contain several general stores (mercantile), a drugstore, a bank (The Farmers & Mer- chants), a saw mill, a stone and gravel company, a public school, a doctor’s office, and a lawyer's office. With the advent of the automobile, The Great Depression, and the completion of the U. S. 301 bridge over the Roanoke River, Garysburg went into a decline. The Church was completed in the 1850’s and is the only white church established in the community to this day. During the Civil War, Garysburg was important because of the railroad. A camp was established for Confederate troops north of the town and trenches were dug near the river bridge to protect it from attack. The church was converted into a hospital and used by Con- federate soldiers from North Carolina and Virginia, some of whom are buried in the churchyard. Following the War, Garysburg was still a prosperous town. The editor of a Petersburg, Va. paper wrote in 1881, after attending the Ellis-Coker wedding: Seas We made the Garysburg Hotel, -which is one of the best country hotels in the state — our headquarters.’ Gaston Old Gaston The site of old Gaston, a former town in northwest Northampton on the Roanoke, is now beneath the waters of the Roanoke Rapids Lake. It developed as the northern terminus of the Raleigh-Gaston railroad, chartered in 1835 and completed in 1840. The town began to decline after 1865 when the bridge across the Roanoke River was burned, Gaston was named for Judge William Gaston (1778-1844). Modern Gaston At first called ““Camp’s Store”, in 1949 the name was changed to Gaston at the time of its incorporation. It was named for the township and the old town of Gaston, the site of which is about five miles west. Gaston is now a booming residential suburb of Roanoke Rapids. A few early names associated with the Gaston Area are: Shaw, Camp, Grant, Jordan, Allen, Vincent, Floyd, Squire, Moody, King, Wilkins, Hodges, High, Moore, Baird, and Tucker. OE eT aE e Garysburg Methodist Church The present day Garysburg Methodist Church was Major Roderick B. Gary who owned the Garysburg Hotel builtin 1853. A deed for the land on which it was built was and was town postmaster. The trustees who accepted the registered September 8, 1849; the land being the gift of land gift from Roderick Gary for the construction of a 95 Methodist Meeting House in March 1849 were John B. Odom. Heriod Faison, Jeremiah Drew, and Benjamin Ellis. The land included a passageway twelve yards wide from the public road, the passage to be in front of the meeting house. The 1853 building replaced an older one formed shortly after the Revolutionary War and called Moore's Meeting House or Moore's Chapel. This building was said to be located about halfway between Jackson and Garvsburg opposite Longview Avenue on highway 158. It was in existence by 1788 when Bishop Asbury visited there and reported in his Journal that there were sixty members at that time. Asbury also visited Moore’s Chapel in 1795 and 1808. The majority of the members voted in the 1840s to move the church to Garysburg, which by that time had grown into a bustling town with the Seaboard and Petersburg Road intersecting there, along with a hotel, a post office and other business facilities. At times during the period from 1861 to 1865, the church was used as a Confederate hospital, in which the women of the community served as an “Aid Society” for the benefit of North Carolina soldiers billeted there for training. he soldiers were extended local hospitality and apparently were welcome in the church congregation. en pi ee On May 14, 1861, William Dorsey Pender (later General) wrote from Garysburg to his wife Fanny: A Mrs. Moody sent me some nice cake and excellent strawberries today, and has asked me several times to call out to see her. She has invited me to dinner twice, but I have not had time to go. Her carriage will be sent for me whenever I can go. You can see I am not suffering. and again on May 18: .. .today is Sunday. . .I shall go to church today if it does not rain too hard. . . The white board church with a steeple and green blinds is structurally the same as when it was built on the pattern of 18th century New England churches. In 1905, when the church underwent extensive repairs, the old slave gallery was removed but the original ceiling was preserved. After hurricane damage in 1954, the old clear-paned windows were replaced with stained-glass memorial windows. A neat, well-kept cemetery adjoins the present church. The Moody House The Moody House The Moody House on the Gaston-Garysburg Road is one of the few fine plantation homes still standing in Northampton in a good state of preservation. Although the exact date of its construction is unknown, Dr. H. B. Grant, whose family once owned the plantation, says it was built before 1800. Called “Woodland,” the plantation evidently was the scene of much social entertainment. The large twelve-room weatherboarded structure with its six-room basement bears 96 evidence of its being used for large gatherings of a social sort. Originally built in an ““L” shape, the house was purchased by Jack Moody who rebuilt it between 1848 and 1855. Since then, no changes have been made. It was purchased by Newitt Grant in 1889 and sold by the Grant heirs, in 1950, to the Tudor family who lives nearby. The house, often referred to now as the “Grant House,”’ is unoccupied. The outside white paint is faded, but the wood, et as well as the interior, is in very good condition. On each of the two main floors the rooms are ex- pansive. From the long Victorian front porch entrance, é Moody House — Front Hall double glass doors with side and upper window panes lead into a spacious airy hall with a wide stairway and an ornate medallion of cast iron, painted white. in the ceiling. The fifteen-inch plaster molding used in the hall and downstairs is of a fruit design, made in Petersburg, Virginia and shipped to the plantation. The baseboards are of mar- bleized painting. The original paint was still on the woodwork when the house was sold in 1950. There js no evidence that it has been repainted since. The two large rooms on the left of the main floor are divided by folding shutter doors so that the rooms can be used en suite for a ballroom or lavish gatherings. In the front left room the mantle is of marble. One mantle on the second floor is of the Adams design; another is Victorian. A horizontal hall extends across the rear of the main portion of the rear two-story wing which has a separate stairway. A full basement of six rooms with a hallway through the center, a wine cellar and fireplaces, is falling victim to disrepair. The kitchen, which forme rly stood ji the yard about 100 yards northwest of the main house. is now northeast of the house in a field and is used as a farm house. All other outside buildings have disappered. Two old oaks remain as sentinels. The June 7, 1877 Murfreesboro Enquirer contains a news story of a tragic happening at the Moody house. Jesse D. Brantley, described as a ‘ ‘gentleman of very quiet and peaceful disposition,” shot John (Jack) M. Moody In an open duel. Brantley, the story goes, had testified against Moody, a ‘‘prominent man.” The two met in the road and had words. Both were armed. It was re ported that Moody shot at Brantley after Moody was injured. It is said that blood stains from the wounded Moody can still be seen on the floor of the front right room of the house. les House 97 Miles House The Miles House, located on highway 46 between Gaston and Vultare, was built by W. M. Miles in the very early 1800’s. It has been retained by the family, as the will of Miles states that the house must be willed to one of his descendants. The large, two-story house, about 500 feet from the road, is of simple classic design. ‘The main (front) part is of beaded weatherboard. The rear wing is of molded weatherboard, and by its structural design appears to be older than the main part. The first floor consists of four large rooms and a center hall, from which a stairway leads to a second floor hall and then to a large attic with two small windows at each end. Another stairway leads from the rear wing to the right bedroom upstairs. The four windows on the second floor front are not proportionally spaced. The porch is of a stoop design with a painted arch of the Federal period. At the end of the four corner eaves is a carved design dropped about 14 inches. The window sills are of a thick carved heart design. A unique feature of the interior of the main part of the house is the raised paneling used on the doors and the wainscoting, which is an unbroken panel. The original paint, polychrome of red-gold-black colors has never been painted over. The mantle in the room to the right of the entrance hall is of elaborately carved pine. The original large box iron lock with a small brass doorknob is in use on the front door. The stairway balustrade is turned and decorated. A simple but odd feature is a cat hole that leads from the back porch to the dining room in the rear wing. The name “W. M. Miles” has been cut into a window pane in the kitchen. Gary - Collier House - Hotel J The Gary-Collier House in Garysburg was built in 1840 by Roderick Gary. It is an immensely long rectangular two-story house with a two-story wing built later to the rear on the right side. Room additions have also been made to the left rear. It is of white clapboard and has windows of average or slightly underaverage size and no shutters. A porch extends across the front and right sides. Its many chimneys are both ex- terior and interior ones; the exterior ones being gabled. ty, Sie - ; gi tite Gary-Collier House-Hotel ~ Sol ; For many years it served as a hotel, as it was on the railroad, and Garysburg thrived as a commercial and traveling center because of its being located on a main travel road and on the railroad. It was sold to a Yankee Hunting Club, then to Bill Kee. In 1910, J. R. Collier purchased it. His heirs own it today. ss _§_———————————— = Squire House ‘ : " rs te ot Squire House...Too Late The Squire House, located on the Gaston-Vultare road separates the two large front rooms, and behind the main (highway 46) is a one story structure of Greek Revival hall is a horizontal hall which lead to a long side porch Style. The house is soundly built on a deep stone foundation (since destroyed) which ran the length of the two large rear which has been plastered over. It contains four large rooms rooms. T’he back hall also leads to the rear wing of two and two halls on the first and only floor. The main entrance rooms and to the tall deep basement, approximately 9 feet 99 high. ‘Two rooms in the basement were completed and contained fireplaces. A portion of the basement under the rear wing was left open. This open section was used in later years for a buggy shelter. The three chimneys are interior ones. The front porch of oak flooring is of the stoop type of the Greek revival style. The front left room was at one time the finest of the rooms. It still has intact at the top of the walls a two-foot border of wallpaper with a stencilled gold-leaf design. The woodwork was originally cobalt blue. The corners of the door frame are carved in a “whirl-a-gig’’ pattern. The house is no longer in use and is falling into decay. Its builder is unknown; however a Sebastian Squire purchased land there on the north side of the Roanoke River in January 1791. Vincent House F op : Fi f 7 aye oF fh The Vincent House was built in 1766. This date can be found on the fine chimney on the south side of the house. The house was built by the Vincent family of the Emporia section of Old Isle of Wight County, Virginia, probably on an original Crown grant. The two story house of weatherboard is of the Spanish Colonial design, with a gambrel roof and three front dormer gable windows of nine panes. Originally it was a split-level; the ““L”’ section on the front over a basement being lower than the other section. This basement once contained the kitchen and dining room. “ve “pie , pre 7 ere Venue ee Constructed with wooden pegs, the house contains two flights of walled-in stairs. The five original rooms consisted of two rooms on the second floor, three on the first, and the basement. There are two outside chimneys of T-shape stack and two inside chimneys. The foundation is of field stone and flint. The bricks are of English bond. Some illegible writing is on the chimney near the dated brick. It perhaps indicated the name of the builder or architect. The Joel Lane house in Wake County is a replica of the Vincent House, with the exception of its having only four original rooms, two on each floor. Both houses have two halls. Allen Jones of Mt. Gallant One of the most influential leaders during the struggle for independence in this country was General Allen Jones of Northampton County. Born December 24, 1739, and educated in England at Eton, he was the son of Robert (Robin) Jones, Jr., who served as attorney-general of the province of North Carolina under the Crown. Robin Jones owned the plantation ““Mudcastle’’ on the banks of the Roanoke River in Northampton County. Allen Jones’ brother, Willie, owned an estate known as the Grove on the 100 other side of the river in Halifax County. The country estate of Allen Jones was in Northampton and was known as Mt. Gallant. Though politically active as a member of the Colonial Assembly prior to the Revolution, Allen Jones became a political force during the war. The North Carolina Provincial Congress met four times prior to the Declaration of Independence on July 4, 1776, and once after the declaration. Allen Jones was a delegate from Northampton Pk roa at all five congresses. During the third congress, on the ninth of September, 1775, Jones was elected Colonel of North Carolina Militia for the county of Northampton and was named to the Committee of Safety for the Halifax District. In less than a year, and shortly before the Declaration, he was promoted to brigadier-general and received command of the Halifax District. Because he had no military training, General Jones distinguished himself less as a soldier (though he saw Service in the field) than as a statesman in his home state. Allen Jones represented Northampton in the first State Senate at New Bern on April 7, 1777. Re-elected senator several times, he became Speaker on August 12, 1778. He Andrew Jackson Ellis, M. D. Born May 17, 1834 at Blakely, then a busy settlement on the Roanoke River, Dr. Ellis was one of seven children of Robert Allen and Mary Person Ellis. He received his education at the Warren Male Academy and the University of North Carolina where he became friends with Matt Ransom (later General, CSA and U. S. Senator). Dr. Ellis received his medical degree from the University of Pennsylvania in 1858. From then until his death on November 18, 1912, except for three and one half years in the Confederate Army, he practiced medicine in the vicinity of Garysburg. His family moved to Garysburg from Blakely in 1840. His first marriage took place November 8, 1859 to Sarah J. Ramsey. The couple had two children, Andrew, Jr., and Minnie. He helped to organize an artillery company for service in the War between the States and was named Captain of Company A, Third Battalion and served in that capacity 101 os es ee nt, House of General Allen Jones. Three Miles iH] . wea. | | ) West of Gaston. was elected a member of the Continental Congress on October 25, 1779. Allen Jones was_ instrumental in the drafting of the State Constitution and was strongly in favor of the state’s adoption of the United States Constitu- | tion in 1788 and 1789. Allen remained a federalist in contrast 1} to his brother Willie who became the leader of the extreme | if Republicans of that day. He has been described as a lawyer Wi of learning and ability and of flawless character. He stood Hi among the first men of his generation. Married several times, Allen Jones left many descendants. His daughter, Sara, married William R. Davie, later Governor of the state. He died at his estate, Mt. Gallant, in Northampton, on November 10, 1798. throughout the war. He fought at New Bern, Wilmington, Richmond, and Fredericksburg. Clark, in History of the Several Regiments and | | Battalions from N. C. in the Great Civil War, gave the Wie following eyewitness account of Dr. Ellis in battle. “The writer was sitting on his horse on and near the left of the road, watching the effect of shells firing from a small brass field piece over the heads of the 17th North Carolina, as that gallant regiment was advancing and engaging the enemy. Occasionally, a shell came screaming from a rifled field piece of the enemy, stationed about two thousands yards down the road and in full view of Ellis and others of us. For a little while it seemed as if the enemy was to have all the fun when a sudden and sharp command from Captain Ellis attracted my attention and, looking around, I saw him straighten himself in his saddle, and with his gun dash down the narrow road towards the enemy. Every once in a while he would wheel into position, his lead horses sometimes falling in the deep and wide ditch, go into battery. fire a few well-directed shots, and then he was again leading his gun ata gallop, only to go into battery and fire again.” When Clark caught up with Ellis, he was standing beside the captured gun petting it with ‘the glee of a boy’.”’ After the war, Dr. Ellis returned to Garysburg and resumed the practice of medicine. On the 16th day of December, 1885, he married again, to Margaret Bell Fitzhugh, and of this marriage was born one daughter, Margaret. Dr. Ellis was active in the affairs of the County and town and particularly the Garysburg Methodist Episcopal Church of which he was a steward for thirty years. He helped organize The Farmers & Merchants Bank of Garysburg and served as its president from 1906 until his death. A friend wrote of him “In Memoriam” published in The News & Observer, November 29, 1912. ‘“T knew Dr. Ellis in every walk of life — as citizen, as doctor, as Christian, as neighbor, as husband, as father, as friend, and in every sphere of life. I do no violence to truth in saying that he came up to the truly ideal standard. His religious faith and views were known to all men. He was a Christian in every sense of the word. . . .He was a thorough Democrat, a devoted North Carolinian, a lover of the South, an enthusiastic patriotic American, whose heart glowed with love for the human race and burned with a desire for its advancement.” He died suddenly November 18, 1912 while treating a child in the Pleasant Hill community. A.N. Rice A. N. Rice (Ananias), was born in Wilson County, May 28, 1870 and came to Garysburg, around the year 1885. Since he was interested in getting an education, he 102 attended a local school and later became a schoolmaster, as it was called then. Teaching was not his only attribute. He was also a farmer and a contractor. He was attributed with building Longview Dairy between Garysburg and Jackson. He built and-or repaired many houses and other buildings in Halifax and Northampton Counties. With an old truck chassis as a foundation, he built the first school bus in this county for high school students (black). This bus transported students to Northampton County Training School at Garysburg. A. N. Rice, after his first wife's death, was married to a Miss Maggie Bradley. To the first marriage was born one daughter, to the last, three daughters and seven sons. Three of the sons preceded him in death. He was a member of the Roanoke Salem Baptist Church, of which he was clerk until his death. Dr. Wester Ghio Suiter 1892 - 1962 Doctor Suiter was a native of Garysburg, graduate of Weldon High School and Trinity College, and he received his medical degree from the Medical College of Virginia in Richmond. During World War I he served overseas as a Captian in the Army Medical Corps. After the war he moved to Weldon and began his medical practice in 1919. Granville H. Johnson 1870 : 1962 Granville H. Johnson Granville H. Johnson was the second oldest of four brothers. He attended the public schools in Northampton County. He was married to Alice Jordan, and to this union one boy and three girls were born. After Alice’s death, he boys. He was very active in church and civic work. He serve as clerk for the Parkers Chapel Baptist Church for over 4 years. He served as Justice of the Peace in Northampton County from 1896 to 1900. Johnson was widely known as lecturer and public speaker, imparting the wisdom of his years of study and experience to the present generation. Rev. J.W. Blacknail A ¥. Rev. J. W. Blacknall The Rev. J. W. Blacknall, was headmaster of the R. I. Walden private school in Garysburg from the early 1900’s to the early 1920’s and pastor of the Roanoke Salem Baptist Church from the early 1900’s until his death in 1933. He was married to Cora Louise Walden and was the father of five children. His footprints are left in Garysburg and Occoneechee Townships. Rev. Wesley Porch The Rev. Wesley Porch, son of the late Mr. and Mrs. Elijah Porch was born on July 1, 1872 in Northampton County. As a youth, he attended the Walden School in Garysburg, North Carolina. He also attended the Bricks School in Enfield, North Carolina. During the summer months, he attended the Elizabeth City State Teacher’s College. In the year of 1897 he started a teaching career which lasted for thirty-two years. He began his teaching career in a small wooden framed school called the Morning Star in the Pleasant Hill Community. In the year 1908, he began teaching in the Vultare School where he held the position of principal at different intervals. His teaching ability was also extended to the Thomas School in the Camp Store Com- married Negolia Mitchell and they had five girls and five d 0 a Rev. Wesley Porch 1] ze munity known as Gaston, North Carolina. In 1914, he was called back to Vultare School to teach. His ideology and belief in the advancement of education led to an additional classroom at his request. Also feeling the = need for parents to understand their children and _ their | educational problems, he established the First Parent- : Teachers Association in the community. 1 From there, he went to the Oak Grove School in the | Oak Grove Community as principal where his educational | influence was felt for several years. In 1926, he went to | teach at the Ransom School in Jackson, North Carolina. | There he also held the position of principal. In the year of i 1929, he retired from his teaching career ii He was married to Rosa Lee Ellis of Pleasant Hill, on March 15, 1899. To this union ten children were born, five daughters and five sons. Four of his daughters and one of his sons survived him. The daughters are Mrs. Piccola Love, Mrs. Pocahontas Harris, Mrs. Ellis Lawrence, all of | New York, and Mrs. Bernice Shearin of Garysburg, North | Carolina. A son is also living, Mr. Wesley Porch, Jr. of Jamaica, New York. During the early years of his marriage he was called by | God to the Ministry. He served as minister at the Jerusalem Baptist Church in Virginia. He was a member of Coolspring Baptist Church in Gaston, North Carolina. He departed this life at the age of 75 on April 24, 1948. William Henry Joyner ii} William Henry Joyner was born in Enfield, Halifax le County, September 16, 1867, the son of Dr. Henry Joyner | | and Anne Pope Joyner. His grandfather was Col. Andrew | |e Joyner. William Henry Joyner’s father died when he was eight months old and his mother died a few years later. His early childhood was spent with his maternal uncle, Howard J. Pope. He attended school at Horner’s Military Academy 103 Thomas H. Joyner where he won the distinction of standing first in all of his classes. In 1890 he married Miss Bettie B. Garysburg and to this union were born four children: Mrs. Nancy Suiter of Weldon, N. C., the late Henry Mercer Joyner of Garysburg, N. C., the late Mrs. Margaret Mc- Dowell of Scotland Neck, N. €., and Andrew Joyner, who died in infancy. After the death of his wife he married Miss Mary Ann Suiter of Garysburg, N. C. To this union were born: William Lewis Joyner of Rocky Mount, N. C.; Mrs. Mary Virginia Brown, Mrs. Emily Pierce, Mrs. Ann Selden, Mrs. Dozene Pierce and Mrs. Constance Metcalfe, all of Weldon. N. C.: the late Miss Mildred Joyner of Jackson, N. C.: William H. Joyner, Jr., Plymouth; N. C.; the late Jack Joyner of Statesville, N. C.; the late Joseph Joyner, and Thomas G. Joyner, Garysburg, N. C. Mr. Joyner was a man of strong Christian character and high moral standards. His personality was beaming with love for his fellowman. In his early life he was a planter and merchant of Garysburg but in later years he severed his connection with the commercial world and stuck strictly to farming and working for the upbuilding of his community and his county. He was known probably by every man, woman, and child in Northampton County and was loved by all who him. Garris of knew His political career, which did not carry him further than the State Capital in Raleigh, was marked with un- selfish service for his fellowman. He not only helped the white people but was responsible for the advancement of the black race, educationally, around Garysburg. In 1900 he was elected sheriff of Northampton County by the largest majority ever accorded a candidate in the County at the time. He served as mayor of Garysburg for and held every office in Northampton nineteen years 104. County except those of Clerk of Court and Registrar of Deeds. He was a delegate to the House of Representatives in 1917 and served in the State Senate in 1933. Mr. Joyner was Chairman of the Northampton County Democratic Executive Committee for forty years and the State Executive Committee for many years. He served as a Member of State Board of Agriculture and a Director of the State Fair, which he co-leased from the State in 1933. In the movement to organize the N. C. Cotton Growers Cooperative Association he was one of the pioneers and one was member of Democratic of the first directors. Upon his death in December 1933, at the age of 67, it was said of William Henry Joyner that he was the highest example of the type of good, honest, and substantial leaders who are responsible for making North Carolina the state that it is today. Garysburg Educational Association Garysburg School Building On April 9, 1879, seeing the need for a school building in Garysburg, a group of citizens met to form an educational association. T. W. Mason, W. H. Summerell, James D. Garriss, J. T. Person, J. L. Suiter, E. J. Peebles, James W. Grant, and W. D. Ellis each held a share in the association in the amount of twenty five dollars. The Association obtained one acre of land from W. D. Ellis and his wife, Fannie, who received as payment for the land four shares in the association and the sum of one dollar. The Association was known as the Garysburg Educational Association. Black Schools The first Black Private School to prepare Blacks for teaching in Occoneechee Township of Northampton County was the Richard I. Walden School about two miles northeast of the City of Garysburg, N. C. At that time after the seventh grade, one was allowed to teach. One of the first teachers in the Occoneechee Township was A. N. Rice, the son of a slave who came to this part of Northampton County at the age of seventeen. Rice finished school and became the first Black teacher to teach in a little two-room school for blacks, about a mile south of Garysburg, N. C. The school was called the Frog Pond School because it was right on a pond where one could hear the frogs croaking loudly in the spring. It was.also right by the Seaboard Railroad where it still stands. Before the twenties, one and two teacher schools were being consolidated and students were sent to this private school, until the Northampton County Training School was completed. At that time Rev. J. W. Blacknall was the Headmaster, and also pastor of the Roanoke Salem Baptist Church. In the meantime another private school sprang up, the Walter Williams Private School, between Garysburg and the Roanoke River Bridge, which was called Person Town. It has been torn down. In 1926 or 1927 William Greene became principal and said the school needed a bus to transport children from different sections to school. He kept trying to get the School Board to provide a bus but P. J. Long, School Superin- tendent along with the other Board Members refused. So A. N. Rice told the principal if the county would provide the chassis he and his men would build the body for the bus. It was the first black school bus in the state. The Raleigh and Gaston Railroad “Tr ar a ns os Mp ee ‘ eee ee OF RO 6 0 I RAIA AL OO On OA MAME AE, RRM ‘~ 38O sw ym eye ~ ed ~ § atlled to# a CLG RUM é . i Z * - . {/ ip ie The Raleigh and Gaston Railroad was chartered December 21, 1835, with an initial authorized capital stock of $800,000. The company was organized on February 4, BM RAL IOH & GASTOS MAIL 3 ee fo : ry "a i ‘fee Z ae nr, weed, SS P Cae WA: *. f ey, 7 4 ! RED BOREERD 0A; of the bf the “RQAAD CO. trandfergly Vi nly onthe : hieohd GY 4 e8 e Wervivy, OW the Mbt ven C8 of. third Cer Wficat: buses, Ahad a MeUnthigh and Caen atl oad IS bot mate = y (yo / ER ong: Poaiheanyp: tha ee Me pa fC AOUY tie . ae 5 giaie y, ee 5 4 ‘ ¢ Jf : ee , 4 105 ERIBY BEB SION OG BOD IN DIRS) HOBBES TOS SRNL. SIETOUO THESE LION Nid SELEREREBN BBB A BESS OAS BE eX L iD 7 I IP POY OO DOES DPBS OES EE TS ST FS OIE OS SP Se I Pl OLS ew RTP NS Scath Pesiee e “ ee te oo . bot 8 tee ed ea ee : Be pw a pg « ene s%: Wir eee . 4 6 ine 6 ee nae “4 oes y- 2 Bu - ~~. . ‘ ‘ m == a < 4 at POSES SP OOOO QNDE LILO LIIDP PA SOOOSIOISLE DE IO. cS : Sass t i é 7-28 ee Se eaeegena eee © oe Cx 208.0986 9009889 POCSOMOA OOOOH 2209900 co >) ange eres ee wes A A Of the’ Capital Stock Y Ye ; ) ‘ | i { ee al 4, tI dO 1836, in Raleigh with George W. Mordecai as President. Work was begun within the year. The railroad, 85 miles long, was completed and opened in April, 1840. q- VAR cnsront e Jones kd ad Tic The, yiwoimns ir \ \ CS ‘'r eg, 4 | Jtenderson.. F IE ee tat, OT 5. : ‘ os | 2 ; ‘ + oe. ne 4 Railroad Map fee Avent y4 “5 et 2 per FB pag Jae tirern | / Mune Sven ee a YON Ro Sa a" e | pe ie = Ciikeadonia weeds tie te E Vihesintoris Mis Pe Cente ages t - x Dh eee G < >it “n& oki. . . a... 2 > nda En fn D: . 7 ¢ A hy at , 1% ri Y, I GSU auld Hail a Aub “ML Ali “ALG RAILIcGADS. cn 7,» fj ™ re rae PB ‘eal abeda / tide £3 tapes th toaeemt, <. Gea 106 > a eet , aieLepeitatetpeetevateuret areolar adyaaice at! ic peed Peete ta ba targtay apcde li ere feel tail Mune t Hy HUM ti TMM ace Hat ee ee ae er orcors aes Although prohibited by law in both North Carolina and Virginia, dueling as a means for settling personal disputes persisted in both states until well into the nineteenth century. Along the border, duelists could slip over into the adjoining state, fight, then slip back with little danger of apprehension and prosecution. It would be an error, however, to assume that every challenge produced an encounter; in actuality the number of duels fought, though undocumented, was not great. If the principal figures were well known, however, the story of their meeting was told and re-told. And this has been the history of the duel between two Virginians — George C. Dromgoole and Daniel Dugger — fought on November 6, 1837, in North- ampton County, North Carolina. Dromgoole, a lawyer and militia general, had served one term in the United States Congress as Democratic Party representative from the Virginia district that en- compassed Brunswick County. Dugger, a Whig with a taste for horses and sport, was at the time both owner and keeper of a hotel in Lawrenceville. The opening incident in the drama took place during an entertainment at his hotel late in the summer of 1837. Dromgoole, who expected to seek a second term in Congress, was present, but on this purely social occasion political talk was taboo. ‘On this special evening (Mr. Dugger) was at the head of his table and carving a fowl. Some ill-advised guest addressed to him a political question. The decanter had circulated rapidly, and Gen. Dromgoole who sat im- mediately at Mr. Dugger’s right hand and who had drunk freely, said (before Mr. Dugger could reply) in a loud voice, showing complete intoxication — ‘Dugger! Damn Dugger as a political mentor! Why he is below infamy and beneath contempt! ‘These words had scarcely passed (Dromgoole’s) lips when Mr. Dugger struck him fiercely across the face with his open right hand, knocking him from his chair and half across the room, and then threw at him the carving fork as he tried to rise... .” Dromgoole’s love of the bottle was well known in his district, and the ruffled feelings were quickly patched up by friends of the two men — or so they thought. But as the race for Congress grew more heated, Whig newspapers took up the incident and called Dromgoole a coward, asking “Could a man who would tamely submit to such an in- dignity be entrusted to protect the rights of a brave and proud people?” The general wrote Dugger asking him to publish a statement setting the matter in its proper light; Dugger failed to reply. When Dromgoole made a peremptory demand that Dugger do so, Dugger refused, and Dromgoole sent him a challenge which Dugger promptly accepted. This set in motion the etiquette prescribed by the dueling code. Each principal chose a second: Hiram Haines, the colorful editor of a Democratic newspaper in Petersburg, served the congressman; and Thomas Goode Tucker, a young lawyer who had moved from Lawrenceville to Northampton County, served Dugger. W. H. E. Merritt, another Lawrenceville lawyer, filled the role of ‘‘advising friend.” The seconds prepared written terms for the meeting. Tucker, for Dugger, insisted that the cartel The Dugger - Dromgoole Duel contain a provision that the parties fire until one or the other should be *‘killed, mortally wounded or so disabled as to be unable to fire.’’ Haines, for Dromgoole, protested this as unusual and murderous, but to no avail. Dugger then obtained a three-week’s postponement of the duel while he went to New York on private business. Dromgoole, who wore spectacles, was not considered a skilled marksman, so Haines used the three-weeks interval “to teach his friend the use of his weapon.” Strangely, Dugger “‘never seemed to realize and appreciate the responsibility of the event he was to face... .” The seconds arranged for the duel to take place at Mount Rekcut, ‘Tucker’s plantation between Eaton’s Ferry and the town of Gaston. Two days before the meeting, Dugger arrived at Gaston from New York and went im- mediately to Mr. Tucker’s. Neither he nor his second had thought to obtain the services of a doctor in the event Dugger should be hurt, but Dr. Frederick W. Harrison, who had been called in for Dromgoole, got in touch with Dr. W. Webb Wilkins of Belmont plantation near Gaston who agreed to be present with Harrison for whatever help might be required. On the morning of November 6 the six men — prin- cipals, seconds, and doctors — arrived at the site, “‘a level plateau on the banks of the Roanoke River, as smooth as a carpet...’ about half a mile from Mr. Tucker’s residence. ‘The parties greeted each other with a stern and polite civility. Messrs. Haines and Tucker conferred together for a few minutes and agreed upon the ground and stuck up the pegs. The distance was ten paces, which they stepped off together. They then, in the presence of each other, loaded the pistols, two pairs of which Mr. Haines and Gen. Dromgoole had brought. Mr. Dugger came unprovided. A coin was tossed for word and position. Mr. Tucker won the word and Mr. Haines the position.” ‘The combatants took their positions and the seconds handed each a pistol. Mr. ‘Tucker placed himself midway between the combatants and some yards out of the line of fire. Mr. Haines advanced to the remaining case of loaded pistols, and taking one in each hand placed himself in a similar position and opposite to Mr. Tucker, and an- nounced how the word would be given... . “Should either of you fire before the word “‘fire,” or after the word “stop,” he falls by my hand.’ ‘Both men were as cool as a summer’s morn. Mr. Tucker gave the word. There was but one report as heard by those present. There was a commingled report as heard by those at a little distance, and who suspected what was taking place. Who fired the first shot is not known. ‘As the smoke lifted Mr. Dugger was seen to stoop forward, and then pitch heavily face foremost to the grourid. ¢.." He had been hit in the armpit. As Mr. Tucker and the doctors moved Dugger to a wagon to be taken to his second’s house, Gen. Dromgoole called to Dr. Wilkins, ‘‘Is he badly hurt?’’The doctor answered,, “‘I fear he is, sir. I do not think he will live to get to the house.’’ At this Dromgoole exclaimed, ‘I regret it exceedingly,” then left the field with Haines to return to Washington as soon as possible. Dugger survived for twenty-one days. Under the terms of the cartel, Mr. Tucker was supposed to keep Mr. Haines informed of Mr. Dugger’s condition. When he failed to do so, an argument ensued between the seconds, and Haines challenged Tucker. Tucker declined to meet him, and newspaper. It is significant that no effort was made to prosecute Gen. Dromgoole, and that he was re-elected to Congress four more times. He died on April 17, 1847, one month short of his fiftieth birthday. SA halla cs’ sas “ay re £7 Shee metry GI MI? boregeg re py 9777 2t7 Lo ~yrrve ay oe Bo la pink pryny WY +4924 Bay Y Uf yeitel | 7A erie ae | DOG 7 PP04, oe ; Srepeerayt199 poe 7 Oey ey Gay et, —empagi/’ we Mime tianl alee G79? f 72, be ip ona Sosa meat «8 Lo LYZED aor ee 9 2D e721f, 4gune7 Dott fi ALY Of de iF thls, d Saaz IVI. om or OOP 65 he fl see a aces tH tog 4 prt VP 4A]P if gover 7 a FP ORD i las es 7p i ear! Pest Le Ms a . Spear L7G ec a AT fl > 1 : 2 L 4g ’ ~ = j > a Stabe’ . * ae I . .. ~ $ | bs ae : » i ~ - 7 ax - j ~ ~ a * - - 7) - , . —_ . . aa “4 i] r ’ J ; P : ~ - . | a . . ~ " - l Po - ~ - = a ~ - tome aa ~ — i - " " - ‘ - “ y ee j < . . 4° f et age + } ~ oe! j a ~- ni on “— - S 1 * ~ ~ pawns ™ = F os : j Z = ws _— > — ~ —_ - - > i > > —- x a j saad ; eS ‘ . » ‘ ¢ ~- -_ | a = 4 » - oa n | f : ~ — 1 : { : i 5 - on . ania minditeionentlteetaain R ic 4th vn hp thermo > PEP ET ATT toile ah lhe th oR ol oo ries? F mY; a : Ca Sree ne OE PO ee TD Nae ar BaP TA ee etebar eae pe oe Rat ea etches oh Wa Slr ne ad oP oat aaa ‘ Bac ng page tae pe phe sae e RS e a os Teed e sgh Hatin eS OIG 1s gels eel gts Pe yh ye eras ~ ook oa 4 a Te ae eee ee nyse a apie eee PS — h Square Area i By Sh Sar nes. LEP EVEN SARS, iat fe ted o= : rade : ate See ae eae Set ol th a ; BREE Poa aeye areas 2 at a os ee oper SENT seer At i at ned eb oye cue ahms, History of Rich Square The exact date of the founding of Rich Square is unknown, but it can be placed between 1717 and the recording of a deed with the name Rich Square thereon in 1766. It is difficult to fix an exact date because in those days land transactions often were not recorded for years, if ever, because travel to the county seat was slow and land transactions were affected by scripts between the parties concerned and also by wills. Many times the terms, scripts, and wills were used interchangeably. In 1741, the same year Northampton County was formed from Bertie, a group of area landowners expressed the need for a meeting house for worship and a trading center. These landowners were Maules, Randolphs, Norfleets, Lawrence, Cathcarts, Perrys, Hunters, and Dukes. Isaac Hunter owned 640 acres referred to as ‘‘the rich fertile square.’ The two main roads of the area crossed the Hunter property which became known as Hunter’s crossroads. For the sum of “10 shillings of current money” the society of people called Quakers bought one acre of land near the crossroads for the purpose of building a meeting house. The names Demcy Hunter, his wife Unity, Thomas Knox, and Robert Peele appeared as trustees for the Quakers on the transaction. The meeting house was built, named Rich Square, and recorded in the county seat on November 29, 1759. The monthly meeting was formed October 10, 1769, with John Peele, clerk. Marmaduke Norfleet purchased a tract one mile in each direction from Hunters’ crossroads and established a trading center. The name Rich Square appeared on this deed recorded in 1766. The trading center consisted of a general store, a blacksmith shop, and a grist mill. Items were bought with pounds, shillings and pense, in current Virginia money, or by bartering. The crossroads of Rich Square were on roads leading from the Roanoke to the Chowan Rivers and from Cottens ferry to Hills ferry. Other family names thereafter appear in the records as people moved down from Virginia. Copelands, Baughams, Peeles, Outlands, Elliotts, Leakes, and Parkers. All of these were Quakers who came to help establish the new meeting house. Farming was the chief occupation and the people lived simply. yet the meeting and trading center grew. The meeting handled most disciplinary matters of the time as. there were no local lawyers. The first doctor in the Rich Square area was Dr. William Cathcart, who inherited the large medical library of Dr. Gabriel Johnston, Governor of North Carolina from 1734 to 1752. The first doctor to live in town was Dr. Windfield ~ caseload The first doctor’s office was built around 1850. It is now owned by Dr. R. B. Outland, Sr., and serves as a private museum. Around 1800 a Quaker school was built near what is now Eagletown. It was one of the first schools in Northampton County and was named Union School. Families continued to move to Rich Square coming down from Virginia and the eastern counties. A new Quaker meeting was built three-fourths of a mile east of the old one. Old Press religious matters in the yearly meeting. Mr. A. Jackson Conner bought the meeting house in 1904 and operated a printing office for the Roanoke Chowan Times. Other religious denominations moved in. The Methodists built a church at Pinners to the north in 1820 and the Baptists built a church called Corinth in 1853 to the South. These were the mother churches of our present-day Rich Square churches. Cotton became the chief crop and the counties’ first gin opened shortly after the Civil War. The first peanuts were brought into Northampton County at Rich Square from Southampton County, Virginia in 1880 by Mr. James Outland. Rich Square was incorporated in 1883. W. S. Norwood was elected first mayor along with four town commis- sioners: Everette Baugham, J. W. Buxton, L. J. Davis. and Watkins Roberts, a black man. The first high school in the county was built on John Buxton’s land in Rich Square in the late 1800’s. About the same time W. S. Creecy also purchased land from John Buxton and built and opened the Creecy Academy for blacks. Mr. Andrew J. Conner was the prime mover in the This meeting dissolved when the members split over county-wide education program and became known as the 114 ESE OO IE. SEE PSO MOPS BS ee EIN Ta LE SEE. ANNE, i ites AY EDS ANI LEI PEST ET RT Br PE ET TEES TE SEDO SEN LET EET OE SETI ET ENT RE SW: PA AT TR ta OL INE ee Oe te aa an Oh sa of CS bi Rie BE. Northampton County from 1785 to 1808. According to this report, the old Pinner’s was built in the late 1700's or very early 1800's. Pinner’s is the mother church of the Woodland and Rich Square Methodist churches, and one of the oldest church buildings in the county. It was officially closed in 1971 but is retained as a memorial by the United Methodist Churches. Outland House The Outland House, about one mile north of Rich Square, on Highway 258, sits approximately one-third of a mile from the road amid a pecan grove with a background of pine trees. Of a small, simple country-style, the house is built of clapboard and has two stories and a wing to the right of two rooms. Three rooms are on the first floor and one on the second. It has simple wainscoting, mantles, a front porch, one inside chimney in the main part, and two end chimneys, one for the main part on the left and one at the end of the wing. The house was built in the 1770’s by Josiah Outland, who came from Isle of Wight County, Virginia, in 1770, to marry Millercent Peele, daughter of John Peele. The house remained in the Outland family until the last Outland owners (the last being Leroy, his brother Frank, and a sister-all unmarried) deeded it by gift to Ed Harrell of Rich Square in 1947. It is now owned by Milton Harrell of Rich Square, son of Ed Harrell, and it is in a good state of preservation. Three original outbuildings with shingle roofs remain on the premises. It is said that the date of its construction can be seen on a chimney brick. The painting on the inside front cover of this book, by Lois Outland, is of this home. Lassiter House Lassiter House The house was built in 1857 by W. S. Norwood, first mayor of Rich Square. It later became the home of Dr. and Mrs. E. W. Lassiter. The present owners are Mr. and Mrs. 116 W. C. Conner, daughter and son in law of Dr. and Mrs. Lassiter. The house is in excellent condition. if | | Tey P a § ™ 4 os Goat » Sat 3 eT MSE. 4S SE AGRE Seal aR ICSE Poe OPEN Di T ES IE ET ITN, OE IE eR IES DIN BREIL EPE PUNY AIMS. a RARE: saree Oe Mkt at PR FOX a PART Bice = ES Te a Lae rT ARE UIA ‘er me 2 ss Re E ———E —— aes eR: i ~~ « = ~ * « ee © ~ Fi 4 * a n> 4 oti ja fe) f CC ———— ea oe Sn TO ect I a Re & i: ~ JEUNE OSI AREAS a fan 4 NA OE TRIP CP CME aE EME. RR aN See a RN 2 ay Gs PT Ei, lO: Bee Sik es att ee ie aut cintaéta re ‘ oe ane - a —e — iii cat foe a . PEPE ON wi E ag nis Roh py a SOIR SDE. BOSE: TE Se FOB Pe a are A Thi lS A PRRs th NTs I ot in Cet BOTT FR RS GALE RT GRR Ae & ed et es eee SRLS Fil A PR MAERK 8 RTA SETI LATIN UN ELLE POET LBA OLE LEED REE RE DN ECF EET BE PER: APSA A SSE IY ORE IL SA EE OMS PRAT EI 2.5. OWN 0 OE PER GO wi . | ’ » Fy . nad ier an outstans WwW. S. Creecy and W.S. Creecy School © Yj ee Sees 7 he W. > Creecy S< hoo] Was organized in 1899. lt crew out of the consolidation of the Rich Square School and the Willow Oak School. The Rich Square School was located just east of the railroad track at the present location of the First Baptist Church and was conducted by Mr. G. G. Maggett. Lhe Willow Oak School was located about one- fourth mile from the location of the present school. About one hundred pupils attended. Inadequate seating made it necessary for some of the pupils to remain outdoors at all times, thus making it difficult for passers-by to determine recess time. It is interesting to note that the first consolidated school was the result of a misunderstanding. Funds that had been raised to construct a high school at Jackson were mistakenly turned over to the Rich Square community and were used to construct a two room building where the football field is presently located. Later two upstairs rooms were added. Professor L. Sessons, the first recognized principal, named the school, the Rich Square Academy. During the administration of the fourth principal, Mr. W. H. Morris, a girls’ dormitory was built in 1903. Mr. Thaddeous Langford built the dormitory and the first benches used in the school. Lindsey Hill was the first and only graduate in 1903. The school was expanded during the administration of the sixth principal, Mr. William Spencer Creecy, Sr. with a larger school building in 1913, a boys’ dormitory, dining hall, and principal’s home. Mr. Creecy also changed the name of the school to Rich Square Institute in 1913. Other improvements during his administration were an eleven room brick high school with a large auditorium (seating capacity for five hundred) erected in 1931; an eight room brick elementary building in 1934; and an eleven room brick teacherage in 1940. Mr. Creecy's administration also helped bring about academic expansions as well. He began the first school library in 1927, in one of the classrooms. Miss Viola Taylor (Mrs. P. A. Bishop, Sr.) was the first librarian. A trade department was added. He also purchased a private bus for the transportation of students. In honor of Mr. Creecy’s many years of service to the community, the state department changed the name of the school to W. S. Creecy School in 1938. The same year the first county school bus was given to the school. At the death of Professor W. S. Creecy, Sr., March 10, 1940, his oldest son Mr. W. S. Creecy, Jr., was made principal and remains the principal to the present time. Under the leadership of Mr. W. S. Creecy, Jr., the school continued to grow. The elementary school was standardized, neighboring smaller schools were con- solidated into the school, and an agricultural building and a gymnasium were erected. A modern high school build- ing was built in 1955 to replace the one destroyed by fire. The Roberts Brothers Three brothers, sons of Watkins and Maretha Roberts. became outstanding black citizens during the 1800’s. In 1883 Watkins, Jr., became one of the first commissioners of Rich Square when it was incorporated. Exum E. Roberts owned a store in Rich Square and was elected Registrar of Deeds of Northampton County in 1886. Winfred was ii ae. Fa Se See wakes. ASS ~ ang age ag SS coat SS al F ij d = SPY, RAK Gt’ WEA A. tae atte oF i w~ 2s a LS a RS REET AEN * . is So Va RE as Se ee SS EE % SAE Ses: es SS First Doctor’s Office in Rich Square 3. Dr. C. G. C. Moore, 1850 4. Dr. Weaver o. Dr. R. Baugham . M. Bolton . W. E. Lassiter, 1907-1918 . Q. H. Cooke, 1919-1940 . J. C. Vaughan, 1919-1945 . R. B. Outland, Sr., 1936- . B. E. Stephenson, 1945- Black Doctors in Rich Square Dr. J. M. Pope Dr. H. A. Parrish Dr. Genora Lassiter (woman) Dr. Lawrence H. Wynn ee ee Exum Roberts Dr. Samuel Peete appointed the first black postmaster of Rich Square in Dr. Samuel Peete came from England to the county in 1886. Roberts Street in Rich Square is named for these the 1730’s. With the exception of a few years in Sussex. three brothers. Virginia, he remained in the county until 1767 when he went to Philadelphia. From there he returned to England in Doctors in the 1775 to sell some property and to buy medicine. Then the Revolutionary War broke out. Dr. Peete started back to Rich Square Area North Carolina on a French ship, but was captured and taken back to England. In 1778 he got permission from li tte 3 Dr. Windfield 8. Covelandl Before 1850 King George to travel to Northampton. Dr. William Cathcart and his House Dr. William Cathcart, who studied at_ the University of Edinburgh, Scotland, came to Northampton in 1732. Decribed as ‘“‘accomplished and attractive’, he married Penelope Maule, daughter of William Maule, a large land owner, a surveyor, a justice, and a high sheriff. William Maule is said to have built the frame portion of the Duke-Lawrence house in Eagletown in 1716. Maule died, leaving the house to his daughter who married Cathcart. In 1749 Cathcart sold the house to John Duke who added the exterior of brick imported from England. Duke willed it to a daughter who married John Lawrence. Subsequently, the house became the property of Amos R. Peele in 1847, of Elias Elliott in 1851, of Troy D. Shoulars in 1890, of Ronald Chappell in 1928, of Dr. Q. H. Cooke, Sr., in 1937, who willed it to his son Dr. Cook, Jr., whose heirs presented it to the Murfreesboro Historical Commission in 1974. Rich Square Drug Company Rich Square Drug Company was the first store in the county with a prescription department over which a registered pharmacist had charge. Mr. James Cener Bolton, the first registered pharmacist, was a native of Rich Square. He was a graduate of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. He opened the store for business in James Cener Bolton 1904 and rendered a service that was distinctly a credit to the town. Mr. Bolton was a progressive, public-spirited citizen who believed in progress and contributed much toward the upbuilding of the county. Rich Square Business Men, Early 1900's Rich Square Business Men, Early 1900's 3-Dr. M. Bolton 4-Albert Vann 5-Everette Baugham 6-A. Jackson Conner ae 8- front row ]-John Shoulars 9. 3-Thomas Bolton 4-Joe Weaver Back row 1-Gurney Leake 9. bo bo if After the Civil War there was a cotton gin, operated by railroad track. Later this operation was run by electricity horses and owned by Mr. J. H. Burgess and a Mr. Heaton. from a local electric plant, also owned by Mr. Conner. These men were from New York and were called “car- After Mr. Conner’s death in 1931. the gin was sold to petbaggers” by the local people. The gin was located where Mr. N. L. Stedman, Mr. Fletcher Gregory, and Mr. R. W. the Creecy School now stands. There was also a horse- Outland. Mr. Outland was manager of the gin. After Mr. drawn gin, on the Aulander Road, owned by Mr. W. M. Stedman’s death in 1942, Mr. Outland bought his interest Norwood. In 1883 there was a cotton gin, known as the in the cotton gin and in 1946, Dr. R. B. Outland. Sr., bought Bingham Gin, located where the Flat Iron building now out Mr. Gregory’s interest. | stands. The present gin was built in 1965 on the same site and Around the turn of the century Mr. Andrew J. Conner is owned by Dr. R. B. Outland. Sr., Dr. R. B. Outland, Jr. owned and operated a cotton gin, grist mill, and sawmill, and Mr. James O. Outland. Mr. James O. 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ORO. Hast * HOD 3! RD DE a ee 0 2h RP ee S245 Eagletown The area of Northampton County, east of Rich Square and extending to the Hertford County line, was settled early in the 1700’s. It was on the main traveled road between Rich Square and Winton and was settled mainly by Quakers who were farmers migrating into the area from northeastern North Carolina and southeastern Virginia. Area residents sometimes referred to the community as Quaker Road. Family names of some of the early settlers were Jenkins, Britton, Parker, Dunning, Elliott, Copeland, Outland, Ward and Brown. Around 1887, the community acquired the name of Eagletown, the origin of the name is unknown. When railroad service was opened into Rich Square in 1887, application was made and commissjon was granted for operation of a post office called Eagletown at the J. T. Elliott General Store. Mail was brought from Rich Square to the post office for distribution to residents of the com- munity. It operated until 1906 when mail began to be delivered by Star Route and a postal station was set up two miles east at Annetta, later known as Minton’s Store. This station served until 1914 when RFD took over postal delivery from Rich Square. Early residents of the area obtained their supplies by river transportation to Winton or Murfreesboro until the railroad was extended to Rich Square. Small general stores were opened to make supplies more easily available to the area residents. One of the earliest stores was opened by William C. Outland before 1870. A store was opened in 1880 by J. T. Elliott, who also operated a sawmill and cotton gin. Other stores in the community were operated by Jordan Smith and Mag Bryant, whose husband Wiley, ran a blacksmith shop. Walter Outland operated a store which Highway 305, North Carolina, First Improvemen $i Eagletown — J. T. Elliott Store — Residence and Yarns of 2 e ae, 5 % —_ ome | ’ 1 wig wii 3 me, 7 . James Thomas and Roena Elliott 127 _rarerereerge tne ieee er eee a eeNann was later moved and operated by Roy Joyner. The last store Progressive Friends Meeting until 1951 when it was “laid to be operated in Eagletown was by J. B. Edwards. down" (closed). The church was located on the present site General Cornwallis. on his march to Yorktown, came of the Grace Baptist Church. through Kagletown and camped on property now owned by The early property owners built well constructed descendants of Thomas P. Elliott. The oak tree under homes and some of them still exist today. Several homes or which he camped was known as the Cornwallis Tree. A interior parts of homes were moved and used by the cannon ball left on the property is now owned by Mrs. Williamsburg, Va., restoration. The Maggette house built in Harold Keefer. 1¢30 and at one time home of Henry T. Outland, Sr., was In 1904 J. T. Elliott began to observe, record, and dismantled and moved to Richmond. Virginia, about 1930 report weather conditions for the area to the U. S. Weather and restored as a part of the Historical Restoration Project Bureau as a “cooperative weather observer.” Rainfall at the Country Club of Richmond. The brick for the house records are still kept by members of his family. was imported from England and hauled to the site from The Friends Meeting at Rich Square split in 1904 and Norfolk by an ox cart. One brick from the house dated the Progressive Friends bought a lot from W. A. Ward and 1730 is now in the Quaker Corner at the Museum in built a meeting house in 1905. It continued to serve as a Raleigh. Duke - Lawrence House : ‘+ ~~ “ao ~~? Duke-Lawrence House 128 ot TT. ,,.aseeaetintttenanasssiisteaseiiiimemmiamaa A —=§=§ sc SS nn a hes — EE en The Duke-Lawrence House, 2 miles east of Rich Square on the Aulander-Rich Square highway, is of Georgian design, built of Flemish bond brick with glazed headers and of clapboard, and is of ““T”’ shape with six large rooms. The oldest section of frame is thought to have been built by William Maule in 1716. The section of 114 stories with a brick end, interior end-chimneys, and blind end walls was built about 1750 by John Duke. The newer or later section with 3 floors including a full basement corresponds architecturally to the original section but all three sides are of brick mortised by oyster shells. The 3- story section originally had a stairway enclosed in the chimney recess that connected the three floors. The roof form and corresponding elevation of the newer section is a unique feature of 18th century architecture. It is thought that the newer section was built in the 1770’s as John Lawrence, the owner then, was married in 1768 and had eleven children. It is supposed he needed additional rooms. John Lawrence married the daughter of John Duke and she inherited the house. Also unique is the fact that the house is of the split-level design. Called a “3 bay” house, it has arched windows and doorways. Originally the house had a porch which faced south, on the old Cornwallis Road, which no longer exists. At present, the rear is seen from the highway. The structure is about 200 feet off the road. The old cemetery is to the present rear of the house. All compound buildings have been destroyed. The original interior paneled woodwork has been removed and is now a part of a Georgian residence which is a part of the Willow Oaks Club in Richmond, Virginia. A walnut cabinet, the pine flooring, doors, and the fireplaces — all in a good state of preservation — were sold in 1937 and placed in a Georgian brick house which is the focal center of the Richmond club house. John Lawrence, who came into possession of the property after John Duke’s death in 1787 (date his 1783 will was recorded), was a descendant of Thomas Lawrence, baronet and merchant of London. John Lawrence came into the Eagletown community by 1757 from Isle of Wight County, Virginia. The Duke-Lawrence land holdings have been estimated to be about 6,000 acres, which in time have been sold and resold in small portions. It was retained by the Lawrence family until 1847, when it was owned briefly by Amos R. Peele who in turn sold it in (1851) to Elias Elliot of Chowan County. The Elliot’s daughter, Mrs. Lee Shoulars heired it. The house itself and a small acreage was sold to R. A. Chappell in 1928, and he sold it to Dr. Q. H. Cooke in 1937. Chappell sold the interior the same year (1937) to the Richmond club. Dr. Q. E. Cooke of Mur- freesboro is the present owner. The exterior is still in a good state of preservation. Manning Cooke of Rich Square, son of the late Dr. Q. H. Cooke, in a brochure on Rich Square, states that the frame portion of the structure was built in 1716 by William Maule, Esquire, who was granted a patent for the land. He died leaving one daughter who married William Cathcart, who in 1749 sold it to John Duke, who added the exterior of brick imported from England and the interior of hewed virgin heart-pine. He bequeathed it to his daughter who married John Lawrence. The house is variedly referred to as the “Brick House”, the “Elliot House” and the ‘‘Shoulars House’’. It is, ac- cording to legend, said to be haunted. basement. Copeland was a Quaker, and the story is that the secret passageway was used to protect slaves who sought their freedom. The Henry Copeland House, about two miles east of Rich Square on the Aulander-Rich Square highway, was built in the 1850's. It is said that the date, 1857 was on a chimney. Henry Copeland moved to the county from Chowan County in 1843. In 1842, he purchased from John Lawrence 218 acres of land on which he built his house. In 1859, he purchased 218 additional acres. The one and one-half story English manor cottage was built of clapboard, with two outside chimneys, and a partial basement. It was said to contain a secret stairway to the Lucy E. Lucy E. Hollowell is best remembered for her work in education and geneological research and writing. Born Lucy Hines Elliott on January 9, 1895, at Eagletown, N. C., she was the daughter of James Thomas and Roena Howell Elliott. She attended Aurora Academy and Rich Square High School, graduating in 1912. She entered Chowan College in the fall of 1912 and received her degree in Education in the spring of 1914. She furthered her education by attending summer school at East Carolina in Greenville, N. C. State at Raleigh, and Woman’s College at Greensboro, N. C. She began teaching in 1914 at Jackson, N. C. and went on to become principal of Webb School in Orange County, Old Trap School in Camden County, Hobgood School in Halifax County, Smith’s Chapel School in Eureka, and Woodland Graded School in Wayne County. In 1925, Lucy married John Franklin Hollowell of the Genoa Station near Goldsboro, N. C. After his death in 1933, she returned with her three small sons — John, Edward, and Hugh to Eagletown to live on the farm. ollowell EE 130 The roof of the house extended over the porch, which was typical of the Edenton area. A hall extended through the center of the house, two rooms being on each side of the hall on the first floor. No structural changes were made in the house. The last owner was Will Boone. The house burned in 1975. She returned to teaching in 1943 and taught in Northampton and Bertie Counties until 1953. Again in 1962 and 1963, she was called upon to teach French, Chemistry, and Physics at the Rich Square High School. One of her greatest pleasures was in giving special in- struction to students in various school subjects, and she was often called upon for help. Upon retiring from teaching full-time, she turned to one of her life-long interests — the tracing of family histories, or genealogy. She compiled and printed not only the history of the Hollowell Family and the Elliott Family, but also did much research to compile or help compile histories of the Outlands, Peeles, Edwards, and others. She assisted in writing a history of the Cedar Grove Meeting at Woodland for use in the observance of their bicentennial in 1960. Her final work was the book The Descendants of Dr. Samuel Brown, which includes historical data on the formation of Northampton County. She died, after a brief illness on June 22, 1972. Sg Gnate we e ee a oe ees, Schools in Eagletown Since most of the residents of the community were West Union. Its trustees were Elias Elliott, John Peele, and Quakers and they desired educational opportunities for Henry Copeland. their children, they organized subscription type schools in A few years later a private school was built and opened the area. As most children had to walk to school, the on a site a few hundred yards west of the West Union buildings were placed to serve small areas and were one or School and was named Aurora Academy. This school had two teacher units. both elementary and high school students. A teacherage Around 1800 Union school was built on land pur- was built a short distance behind the school where teachers chased for seven dollars. It was a one room log and clay and boarding students lived. Aurora operated until 1907. building with a fireplace and log benches. In 1850 this Mount Olive school, located about two miles east of school was replaced with a larger frame building known as West Union, was built and opened in 1891 as a one teacher . PROGRAMMER — . goat CE ERCISES OF Tw AURORA LITERARY ENTERTAIN MENT. 0:0 r0. A Recitation—Oar Phalete0 8, nine ae =n Same Outland. fy 8. A Concert Recitation—To-day,__..__._ Sophronia Jeanette and others. .-. ».: 4 A Charade to be guessed ‘by: the Audience... 4... mun inens # >. 6° “An Essay—The Value of Liftle Things, ~~ ats ow ain a= Bertha Cppeland, (6. A Dialogae—How the Grown Folks Mindéd...__ tig dade cone idetiwcwe “9. A Recitation-—Nellie’s Prayer, .._... wane enn gen enema Anniic OoRtand. 8. A Dislogue—trying to keep up Appearances..___..._..-__ wtepenee . 3). “ee &, An Eseay—-The Right: Perpose,. 22... Julianna Pesle. 25, 10, Belgetious from Sweet Cicfly:- I BI sai eae acc bipbiscs ls lsies ale -" "Act I, Josiah’s NI iis ies tite his dea gal Pina shite dma neice nwt’ hase Act H, Samantha’ Iuterviews Pres. A rth pts. is ships inn cc cenbiic Se a Bes 4 “a LL} An Original Deckamation-An Estimate of Poe's | Genius_.Mary D. Holmes» . WS. A Dialogue—The Rival Speakers. sialetchaieeiaaieaisatieeteieee Eee : . 48. A Declamatioo—Patriotiom,.... oo... 202. uo 2-2. Lelia Smith, > 44. A Dialogte—The Bridal Werte at ke ae 16. A Recitation— Marguerite, .__. tome quae enn. a anaopies lola Outland. sa 16. An Address—The Object of Education,__..____ «--ge5eeChas. G. Cook. e 3 An Bxercise—The Banrier that Weloomes the bay OD mt, The ‘Aarora Borealis,.-_. ......_..._.. Elwood Copeland, Kesie Smith. thy : ation—Is Life Worth rhe, eS 9 Peele. Puceline—-The Witches Daughter... 0-8 . catia orids. Great Men, ._...._,...-..-Ernest. Copeland’: - aie to gueesdd bythe Audience... --pocsinn ua en OREN AEN anata rath —An Tdeat oy oe Outland. se" LEONE ILE IMO EH ELE LEME NY SERIES BREA TI MS PLIES coe FORM He age PONS fo - 2 iam St BANS AGES : ea pth eR FRG args BES Ry Rae a 9p ee ee ee Deas a a oe hool, operated by tl | | ling was moved again one mile east to land purchased est Union school | id from Elwood Copeland. It operated with two teachers and opened, bu e Vu | ntinued to be called West Union. It was closed in 1925 meetil n L904 ' nen tne public schools were consolidated, and the pupils — red to Ri } Square. EEE RES TE DAD ATS TET ANCA ITE GLEE LOSE TLE TEE LG TITLE BEDE ELDEST LD AIL ALE EN NEE NIE GEC ELE AI EAE: IEG AE TELL NG ES IP ELITE C LIE LLL NE BELLE OEE LL LILLE DLL IEEE LEED LLLED LSE LOE LIANE LD ILEL LENSE NDE LOL GE NELLA LE LAA DELLA LL LE LALA LEDER! EI LEN LEELI LALLA LAL DE ATTA OE: + ‘& e 2s e ts 4 - = 3 2. a Pace ae ELE RRS LT PNB TY OPT he LS lag pa Me i TO ag Pa Sa aay a a aL a Bryantown After the formation of Northampton County in 1741, settlers moved down from Virginia and purchased land for farming and raising cattle. Some of the names, appearing on records of people who settled in the area northwest of Rich Square, later known as Bryantown, were Baugham, Spivey, Pledger, Capehart, Smallwood, Bolton, Holloman, Boyce, Bryan, Peele, Newsome, Teneal, Cotten, and Leakes. A stagecoach route ran from Virginia across the Nottoway and Meherrin Rivers into Northampton and to Bryantown where travelers rested at the tavern before crossing Pollocks Ferry and going to Calidonia and Halifax. Many a thirst was quenched in the tavern. There was a general store and a school located in the area in the early 1800's. Records have not been found to determine the origin of the name, however it is believed to have been named for a family of Bryans who were among the early settlers in the area. The fertile farm lands on and near the Roanoke River made farming quite profitable. As other areas developed many of these families moved to other parts of the county, however some of the land is still owned by decendants of the early settlers and one of the large plantations bears its original name, Montrose. Peele House Peele House The Peele House is located about three miles west of Rich Square, on Bryantown Road. It was probably built before 1792. The house and 495 acres of land were bought in 1817 by James Peele from Jethro Bass Jr. At any rate it is likely the house was built in the very late 1700's or very early 1800’s. Built of clapboard, painted white, the large two-story, eleven room house with a left wing is in very good con- dition. It has the original clear-glass window panes, simple wainscoting, some marbelized mantles, pine floors, and a porch which extends almost the length of the house. It was built without any room moldings. On the first floor are two sets of double-swinging doors, and a similar door leads to the large attic. The house has a partial basement. Six rooms are on the first floor, and five are on the second. The hall runs ra through the center of the first floor. From it a stairway to the second floor divides at a landing, one section going to the rooms on the right, and the other to the rooms on the left. In each room is a fireplace. There are four outside chimneys on the main portion and one for the wing. On the grounds are aged oaks and one original outbuilding, a milkhouse to the left of the left wing. The only change in the structure has been the removal of a rear room and a back porch. The double door to these remains. The present owner is Dr. Julian Edwards, Rich Square. The Peeles were Quakers, and it is said the house was a favorite of visiting Quakers who came for the annual Yearly Meetings in August. ars _— cows . Stasty a nee = = al Ps “Ss 2 - 2 te ee E xs — —_ "Fy - = = ———— —e = — = _ ——, cae ——— vi Sa — ss > a ae <——— A RT OTS A AE EE SERB SRE RTS SS a - ~ oo ee ee ee SSS SS" eee we fh So A a a ES ak a nd ir cael ee EE ceonasmesennapiecinnstaateaae IR emma “ P —— ooo == ccaieeneene rere = <=. ~== = at === = - Lassiter Hill ascending a rather high hill, was the horse and buggy trai we te which passed the Leake-Lassiter Plantation, a part of the Briant Lassiter Plantation. The house on the right as you } turn on the same road was known as the Joe Lassiter House . which stands today in a state of disrepair. Joe was the son ol Briant Lassiter and the brother of Olivia Lassiter Leake and father of Robert ‘‘Bob’’ Lassiter, one time barber in Rich Square. Later, Jake Lassiter, a brother of Joe and the father of Penelope ‘‘Nell’” Huggins, wife of Edgar Huggins, who was in Hardware Business in Rich Square, lived there. James Randolph Leake, husband of Olivia Lassiter Leake, operated a mercantile business on his plantation, and was widely known for his hospitality. He also operated a cotton gin, a grist mill and a sawmill along with farming. James Randolph, better known as Uncle Randal, served in the cavalry during the Civil War and lost his mustache in a scuffle, due to a powder burn. Walter Gurney, the youngest son of James Randolph Leake, remained at the home until his father’s death. ‘This son had married Theresa Evelyn Smith, daughter of Jordan and Harriet Outland Smith from Eagletown. In 1907, this family, including the elderly, widowed Deléwtdd autter Tosee 1763 mother moved to a new home on Bryantown Road in Rich Square. The farm remained under his supervision even Lassiter Hill begins at what is known as “Roxobel though he became a business associate in the grocery store Fork,” which turns left off highway No. 258 two miles out of Baugham & Leake. of Rich Square towards Scotland Neck. This road, The Briant Lassiter house was build in 1763 of unplaned . . rere © * eeea - ‘ BEBBE: pes SORES EE DC ERR TOPE ECE EE. Fs cee : : ¥ ri i. eeeae ‘ ESRC EST SE ee ORS PEs Be Site ‘ PALTTE ARTEL ESR RL ELGG iE} ajeent é , y ; Bell es . 2% =. x 134 weatherboard and has never been painted. It is located house with the date, 1763, inscribed thereon. Many residents about one mile off the Roxobel Road. It is in a fair state living in Rich Square today are descendants of the Lassiter- of preservation, belongs to Robert Vann, and is used as a Leake family. private club. Robert Vann has a brick taken from the old First Boy Scout Troop in Northampton County Troop No. 1, Boy Scouts of America in Rich Square, Northampton County, North Carolina, during 1913-1914. Organized in America, 1910. R. S. Proctor, Scoutmaster ; C. C. Hunter, Assistant S. M. Mason Baugham Everette M. Leake Robert Baugham Troy Liverman Wilton Benthall Woddley Merritt Edward Boone Allen Shoulars Vernon Draper Donald Vann J. Everett Hunter J. Buxton Weaver “BE PREPARED” es WOODCRAFT As Boy SCOUTS OF AME RICA - NATIONAL HEADQUARTERS: NEW YORK rant i This | - to ee that’ a, Gi yees Lee HAVING MET THE REQUIREMENTS inland on THE NATIONAL co ONC f, OF THE BOY SCOUTS OF AMERICA Is HER ; a eel Ufa, 7474 es tA fh es ae CCU Pbetons 7 IN ACCORD NCE WITH THE RULES AND RE HONORARY PRESIDENT - : PRESIDENT HONORARY VICE-PRESIDENT CRIEF SCOUT Se | me Ve ~on ales , MO RARY VICE-PRESIDENT NATIONAL SCOUT COMMISSIONER © {J CHIEF SCOUT EXECUTIVE — 135 eR I EE SE TR EEE en Lasker Lasker was settled about 1850 under the name of ‘“Alto.”’ There is some doubt as to just how the name was changed. Some say that it was changed to Lasker for Hesekiah Lasker, conductor on the S. A. L. railroad. But, the most widely accepted story is that the “‘Las”’ was taken from the name Lassiter and the ‘“‘ker’ from the name Parker, both families being quite prominent in the town, and joined together to form the present name of Lasker. The township was incorporated in 1895, as verified by the original charter and seal now in possession of the town clerk, Millard Lassiter, and is now the smallest incor- porated town in the county. The E. S. Bowers notes state, ““The people of Lasker must have come straight from England and settled there.” It is said that, ‘“‘they used many expressions of ‘Elizabethan English’ as ‘kine’ for cows. When trading at Mr. Bower's store in Jackson they used ‘sixpence’ and ‘tuppence’.”’ They were artisans and noted for their tubs, bread trays and other articles of wood. Around 1890 there was a craftsman in Lasker called “‘Bread Tray Britton.” Lasker at one time was the epitome of the shopping world in this part of the county. The J. J. Parker Store, it is said, had everything a person would want or need including a much prided Millinery Department where a lady could choose a basic hat and also choose the accessories with which it was to be decorated. The hat would be fixed while she waited or did some other shopping in another depart- ment. ‘There were also other general stores, the Bank of Lasker, a Junior Order Lodge Hall, a lumber mill, a resident doctor and drugstore, a cotton gin, and a public school. Between 1892 and 1896 other businesses included: Books, Conner and Vaughan; General Merchandise, Conner and Vaughan, Vaughan and Britton and J. J. Parker; Photographer, Benjamin F. Britton; Millinery, Mrs. J. H. Spivey; Fresh Beef, J. H. Lane; Horses and Mules, J. W. Parker, Parker and Draper; Corned Herring, C. E. Davis; International Savings, Loan and Building Institute, P. T. Hicks, agent; Mutual Beneficial Association of Richmond, Va. (loans), C. E. Davis. The last store to close was that run by the heirs of Eugene Lassiter. It closed July 1, 1974. Doctors to serve Lasker were: Dr. Moorehead, Dr. L. E. McDaniel, Dr. McNider, Dr. Whims, Dr. Liverman, Dr. W. E. Futrell, and Dr. J. A. Fleetwood, Sr. Lasker Graded School Y |. fee a} <{ Presented tos NORTHEAST ACADEMY vr Ta lpm e r v AY € LASS {ter and : ‘ Mrs. Nita Jenkir Lasker Graded School The public school was known as the Lasker Graded School, (1885 ?-1944) and at one time was the largest in the county, with grades one through eleven available. Northeast Academy stands on this site now. The forerunner of the Northampton News, the Patron and Gleaner, had its beginning in Lasker from 1892 to 1899. It was published by Mr. Andrew J. Conner in the back section of the house that is now the home of Mrs. Ethel Bridgers Smith. 136 Roanoke Baptist Church located between Lasker and Rehobeth was organized in 1885 and disbanded at the end of 1930. Lasker Methodist Church was organized in 1909 and was a part of the Northampton Charge until the church disbanded in 1966. The Lasker Baptist Church was organized on March 28, 1906, because it was felt that ‘‘a Baptist church was needed in the town.” [t occupies its second building on the same site, and the wood for the present building came from trees cut from the church lot eee & = and also from trees donated by members. The exact year of the organization of New Hope United Methodist Church is not known, but records do indicate that the first building for worship was a log structure. Located just outside the town limits, this church occupied the third building on the same site. This building, begun in 1872 and completed in 1874, is now a part of the present sanctuary. Rehoboth United Methodist Church, originally called Rehoboth Chapel, occupies its second building on the same site on land purchased from Eliphas Lewis, August 28, 1798 for one pound sterling. It is the second oldest Methodist church in the county. Lasker’s post office was commissioned in 1884 and during these 91 years has had only six postmasters. Home Demonstration Club Progress has always been important to the ladies of Lasker and to those in other surrounding communities. It began with work centered around what was called the Torrato Club. Lasker is surrounded by many communities such as Rehoboth, Penhook, Dusty Hill, and Daughtry’s Crossroads. 13 ‘ C. rit i \! lat-Saturday, April last Hayker, N. penn —_ gut for past favors. Yours to srrur. om _ #. Parker, “ * ~ ol ~ i hially tnvited te attend muy Hillineru W un the above dates. Hillineru WO humtkiauy 1 j. Hlarch Hasker zt ai j 4 in Yow ure cor riz Constitution and By-Laws VANCE COUNCIL, No. 162, a OC; UW A. MR. LASKER, N. C. 1908. Ree ae eR eR E Has MERE SLE Ba SPS RENE SORE SAREE lS AT RPE SET NN SS Sh ERNE OE AAR ROL oT aL AL HOARE NE OE ER SRM sero -— - " oe rea ete kent sree GOALS ANGLO, SETAE IGEN He at See ae — aed eee Old Lasker Baptist Church An Example of a Typical Small Planter’s Homestead The acreage was approximately 500. The house was a story-and-a-half plain federal design. The entire farm compound was at the planter’s doorstep. One entered the house into a large sitting room with an enclosed stairway in one corner. To the right was a bedroom. The doors were flat paneled with H and L hinges and both rooms had flat-paneled wainscoting. The entire second story was one room used by the girls in the family. A door to the right of the bedroom led outside to the kitchen. Behind the kitchen was a dirt-floored smokehouse, pegged and dovetailed and of rough boards approximately eight inches by three inches. This main house complex stood on a low rise at the end of a cedar lined lane. Along the main road in front of the house ran a rail fence and a plank board gate. Two catalpa trees shaded each side of the gate. Going up the lane a twenty foot square log barn, with a lean-to shed on either side, stood to the left. Across from this to the right, was a log, two story stable with a slab roof. The ground portion was open in the center with stalls on either side. A loft covered the entire upper frame. Further up the lane on the left stood two offices. One was used as the living quarters for the sons, the other’s use is uncertain. To the right of the house, on the other side of the kitchen, was the barnyard. The cemetery was located behind this. The graves faced east with the servants buried in the front half and the family buried in the back half. It was marked by a cedar tree and grave houses. In front of the cemetery were located three servant’s quarters, at least two of which were log. In 1860 there were seventeen slaves. In front of these and to the right was a second barn. This was the main storage barn and buggy house. Cotton fields ran behind this entire complex. Corn fields framed the right side. Directly across the road from the gate was a log brandy house. Apple orchards and grape vines were located to the left of the lane. The apple orchard could turn out about eight barrels of cidar a day in the fall. This example of a small planter’s homestead, in fact, belonged to Jeremiah Daughtry (1810?-1892), magistrate and son of an early Northampton County school teacher. The descriptions and drawing are factual and a number of the buildings are still standing. The house now belongs to Mrs. Retha Bridgers Flythe and is located at Daughtry’s Crossroads, one mile north of Lasker. Daughtry - Bridgers Smokehouse Daughtry-Bridgers Smokehouse (circa 1800) 139 Ly? he Any | ,* \ y i) \ | \j } | me i a if ee: \iil Vaal | ¥ f i} 1 | ! } t D4 } aooewasaa@ ood ti y q | (|| | 4 Hi | a | a ‘ae Pal I i ti | | bh | a | {| a mB!) Al | | iM Mt itt ij | WE ee ee ee ee Are ORT 140 Rehoboth Rehoboth, from Mrs. E. S. Bowers’ notes made in 1950 from Jackson patronized this store as they did Mrs. H. R. Rehoboth was a thriving community at one time. Mr. Deloatche’s millinery shop. The heart of the community was Scull had a good mercantile establishment there. People old Rehoboth church. Rehoboth Methodist Church aoe - » “ne : . — oe gh ite f, ; . we ze ae. a ; Fe PATS bales Pee hod 3 Rehoboth Methodist Church is the second church to occupy the same site on land purchased from Eliphas Lewis, August 28, 1798. The original church, erected in 1797, was a mere box-like structure without plaster or paint. Bishop Asbury in his journal reports on his four visits to the Chapel — his visits were in the late 1700's and early 1800's. The 1798 structure was removed in 1857 when the present one was erected. The present building had a slave gallery which was removed in1908, when other im- provements were made. In 1934 a six-room educational building was added to the present one. which is constructed of wood and painted white. Rehoboth was the second organized Methodist church in the county. It was organized by Richard Whitaker, a deacon ordained by the Methodist Bishop Asbury, in 1798. 14] rs = ried +i SSIS eee Sted 2 aS So aes pe a ee ee Sa - SPE SOS a 9 S eck Seek ’ E22 bb Sannin bp he Sen tet og hee re sheneetoen cere! Spr a gens, ‘Ss OS i TASES SEP DRIER NT ee er". = =. “oor lang tr grein tpi: - nia has sata vatentias Seite air ter er a Me OE Se yaa Son Ba ~~ > eC eae EB. 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ENT PLES NAT PEP PLS ES LT PORTE FITTER Tw oo, aoe ee Eee TES ene sh nate Defies oo a . om / ; j jit CPN DR FET OID ee bene rs PONISI AR Aah REPRE GIT ET SO Pat ne SNM om me a SAN RE TT ROY BRE EAR ORI A ES AIT ML SO EOE OS TM MRR IT SOON, SRE TM ES LT A NL TL RE ST NNT TS LO ATES TY SRN wT HE HTT . 7 me : COOL AMEE 9 “ _ ee 3 sc ORAITES OUD ARE ENR BATE x AL SRERS t-% (SO NL REO, ORLA: EAE A NTR IE SRS PAT NEE IG AT ERTIES ALE IEE ME LOS RGA ED ER = AN GIAO BOM PAE Dae VD PR CA PTY ae C8” $I RR C TR YC R O OF F RDA OTS AS ae RNS ROT FUR Ng PI ONE TEED, Ae APE Pa OO PIB RN PRINS PENT EAA SBA ET RARER SR RT PR I a oR al DE POI RN PRAT RAE LUT RA ET le BEL ST 6 APG TEATRO NI SAREE LE Et A Ln Fakes ATM RE y ig g & : a fi ccs — 2 Sse SM Sie OG pI EEE! Ee LIRR VEE ae PE PA EN TNE OPE MNT OY EE har te rn ans 3 Se a ee Son = Pa z . ae arta DEEPER BR AE PPI AOE OLE Bn, -_ SREP MERE: BK Sig \ \ ) From a strictly agricultural community the two villages have grown to become the industrial center of the county, with over 500 workers employed in its six major factories alone. They are Woodland Manufacturing Company, caskets, organized in 1895; J. M. Brown & Son, baskets, 1913; Parker Manufacturing Company, caskets, 1932; Tar Heel Casket Company begun after World War Talon Zipper Company, 1953, Industrial growth has Il. reorganized in 1967; and Daber Shirt Company, 1972. been augumented by the strong Farmers Bank, begun in 1906, which merged with the North Carolina National sank, July 1973. Complementing industry and the bank, other growth signs have been its school system. Early schools were the Quaker Outland School, 1867; the Woodland Grange School, by 1880; an academy for young ladies, 1890; and the merging of the Quaker Olney and the Woodland public school, 1917. A survey about a decade ago showed that 75 percent of the adults had attended college. Further complements are a National Guard Armory builtin 1961, a community building and center built in the 1930's, a fire and rescue department begun in 1940, active men’s and the Quaker Restaurant, a variety of mercantile shops, two peanut women's civic clubs, House drying warehouses, a sausage plant, and other small businesses, plus the tri-county airport three miles south. The two villages pride themselves on their neat, well- kept homes. The oldest home in Woodland is that of Judson Carter, known as the Outland house, built in 1792. In 1971, Woodland received from Governor Robert Scott an award as a community making progress as a prerequisite to industrial development. Since then a water line to George has been completed, a $50,000 addition to Peele-Outland-Carter House Peele-Outland-Carter House 145 . V. G. Armory, Built in 1961 in Woodland the zipper factory has been added, a housing development and zoning plan have been proposed, and two plots have been purchased for perpetual care cemeteries. W oodland is said to have had the first graded school and the first brick store (that of Ezra G. Griffin) in the county. Outstanding men who have contributed to the civic, business, and religious life of the community have been J. Guerney Parker, J. M. Brown, E. L. Timberlake, Julian Parker, R. W. Blanchard, Dr. W. R. Parker, Dr. C. G. Parker, E. G. Griffin, C. J. Vaughan, R. C. Benthall, L. C. Copeland, J. H. Liverman, S. R. Motzno, Dr. J. L. Outland, John B. Griffin, W. H. S. Burgwyn, Sr., W. H. S. Burgwyn, Jr., Irvin Blanchard, Sr., C. H. Griffin, R. M. Griffin, John Outland, Dr. John Stanley, and Tom Daughtry. ” iy 3 F he a ty e es , ae eS *% rai : 2 4 : H THE PEELE-OUTLAND-CARTER HOUSE in Wood- land was built in 1792, the date being on a chimney brick now in the possession of Mrs. Pauline Outland Holloman of Woodland. She is the daughter of the late Dr. J. L. Outland. one of the owners of the house. The six-room structure of weatherboard is made of hand-hewn timber put together by nails made by a blacksmith. The framing is made from big logs squared by broad axe, and studded by ripsaw. The 14-inch sills were also squared by broad axe, mortared, and fastened with white oak pegs. The front porch is of 16-inch feather edge weatherboarding. Some of the original H-hinges are still in Abraham Joyner House y eorte: use. [he paneled doors are put together with oak pegs. Four of the six rooms belong to the original house. The two upstairs rooms are reached by the original stairs. The original cypress shingle roof has been replaced. The house was probably built by John Peele, Sr., (deceased 1804) and given to his son John Peele, Jr., who sold it to Jacob Jordan in 1834. Jordan deeded it in 1838 to Isaac O. Outland, who deeded it in 1887 to John L. Pruden, who deeded it to Dr. John Lewter Outland in 691. Isaac Carter purchased it in 1905. Today it is owned and occupied by Judson Carter, youngest son of Isaac Carter, and his wife Margaret Aman Carter. Abraham Joyner House THE ABRAHAM JOYNER HOUSE near Woodland, built 1800-1810, is a small farm home located about 500 feet from the Woodland-Aulander highway and is about l'4 miles south of Woodland. It isa one and one-half story weatherboard home, now in a poor state of preservation. It has two outside chimneys, one to the south, and one at the center rear. The windows are small. It has never been changed structurally, and originally was painted brown with white trim. It has no cellar or basement. It has five rooms on the main floor. The entrance hall at the right end extends the width of the house and contains a fireplace and a short stairway to the attic over the room. This room may have been used as a kitchen. The main and largest entrance door is to the left of the entrance hall. If there was a stoop at this entrance, it has been removed. The main room contains a fireplace, and a stairway to a second floor room above it. To the left of the main room are three small rooms. The present owner is Roger McDaniel. After Abraham Joyner’s death in 1850, the house was owned by his daughter's husband, a Futrell, and his heirs. Abraham Joyner’s daughter died shortly after she inherited the property. Cedar Grove Meeting House, Woodland, N.C. CEDAR GROVE MEETING HOUSE of the Friends Society was erected in 1868 in the town of Woodland on land given by Cornelius Outland. Simple, in the New England style, it is a white structure, originally of one room. Two wings and green blinds were added in 1965, the south wing being a library 146 and repository of records, dating back to 1715, the date that the parent meeting-house body of Rich Square met in its first meeting house then under construction. Also, in 1965, a single entrance of double-doors replaced the previous two double-door entrance. On the original grounds were a well house, a shelter for Cedar Grove Friends Meeting House. Built in 1868. Right and Left Wings Added in 1965. horses and carriages, and to the south, a school, known as The interior is simple but comfortable, all pews have Outland School for Friends. The well house still’stands. velvet cushions. At the center front, elevated pews for the Surrounding the Meeting House is a grove of cedars elders called “facing benches’’, face the congregation. To and oaks, probably planted in the beginning days of the the right and left of the elevated pews are other pews which Society. T’o the left of the main structure is a small separate face the elevated center ones. structure used for meeting house functions such as the preparation and serving of meals, and the latticed well- house, which presumably once covered a spring, as many The church records, dating back to 1751, have been underground springs are found in Woodland. placed on micro-film. Harrell—Benthall—Whisnant House Harrell-Benthall-Whisnant House, Late 18th Century or Early 19th Century. 147 LPS LEV AP LI SHAOGO SAYS RE REN CR RONG DINE » ‘ » > > SBN RI RE, ST SMES EFT NS LY GALORE SECESSION RR TERETE MRL RT OMT et a EL TMS NTIS A Rr AO ORIN Ae PR INR RLM TR SYR OIE eT RTI RII AT II 1D TD AION ALAS ETI ATE MONEE TY TAPER, A NE NO TI SDA eB PEF OR te et ER RAE I a ET IT BS RA RE A TR a RE ei EL ROTTED _ ~ — } | » 4 | ; é | | | | | | | | | Mata PaaS As ee ee Damen oe NH Mies ees mos mek f tus santa d A gt “Mt ‘ ONS ARTA I SAE TTR LO RAM AR LIE MMVI EIGN MIT LE, AIT NL EER LOTTIE! SALINE A EE BERETS SOD OE EEE LEED LL SLANE LEAL NEP EET MEDEA LOPE INES IETF LIEV EL ELA E O TNEESEB IO TIE RL. DRL GPR ON LU MG RELI AMET TELE op NG ABE ORIOL EE The Farmers Bank Woodland, N.C. In the fall of 1905, John B. Griffin called together a small group of men to discuss the organization of a bank in Woodland. In December of the same year, the group met again with Griffin acting as chairman and Noah W. Britton as secretary. Charlie H. Griffin and Cola J. Vaughan were ap- pointed to solicit subscribers for a total of $5,000.00 in stock. On January 5, 1906, the stock was fully subscribed and the name “The Farmers Bank’ was chosen. On January 15, 1906, the bank was chartered to operate for a period of thirty years, with John B. Griffin, Noah W. Britton, J. L. Outland, William F. Outland, and C. H. Griffin signing the charter. ‘The charter was renewed in January, 1936, for a period of nine hundred, ninety-nine years. John B. Griffin was elected the first president of the bank and served until his death in 1918. He was followed by S. Norfleet Parker of Potecasi, who served until his death in 1943. W. H. S. Burgwyn became president suc- The Alpine Theatre as it Now Appears. THE ALPINE THEATER. the first motion picture ceeding S. N. Parker and served until the bank merged with theater in Northampton, opened in Woodland in 1922 in North Carolina National Bank in 1972. the old Woodland school building. It was opened by Shares of $100.00 par value stock were subscribed by Charlie Gould of New York. Gould ran into debt and W. John B. Griffin, forty-one shares; J. L. Outland, five Magnus Joyner of Woodland, owner of the building. took shares; W. F. Outland, two shares; and one share each by over its operation in the fall of 1923 and managed it until N. W. Britton and C. H. Griffin. The par value of the stock 1929, when talking movies became the vogue. In 1925 became $50.00 in 1923 and $10.00 in 1934. During that Joyner opened a theater in Rich Square which he sold to period the stock split several times. Charlie Myers in 1928. Eventually theaters were opened in John B. Griffin, W. F. Outland, N. W. Britton, An- Conway. Jackson, and Gaston. Today Gaston is the only drew J. Connor, E. G. Griffin, J. M. Odom, Everette B. town in the county with a movie theater. At the Alpine in Lassiter, W. E. Spivey, and Cola J. Vaughan were ap- the days of the silent movie, the pictures were chiefly of pointed the first directors of the bank in 1906. The bank comedy and the Wild West and were shown only on began operations that year in a brick store building Saturday nights except for “‘specials’’ shown on certain belonging to Ezra G. Griffin, on the corner where Lee's Friday and Saturday nights. Music was provided by a self- Exxon Service Station now stands. player piano. A new building was constructed in 1906, and was Some of the favorite tunes were ‘“‘Under the Double used by the bank until a new modern structure was com- Eagle’. “El Capitan’ and ‘Red Wing.’’ Admission was 20 pleted in 1959. and 35 cents (free for anyone 14 years and under). W. F. Outland was the bank’s first vice-president, followed by E. G. Griffin, C. J. Vaughan, and Dr. C. G. Parker. Irvin T. Blanchard became the first cashier, serving from 1906 to 1911, and again from 1916 until his death in 1934. C. H. Griffin served as cashier from the time of Irvin Blanchard’s resignation in 1911 until he retired in 1915. R. M. Griffin became assistant cashier in 1915 and was promoted to cashier at the death of I. T. Blanchard. He retired as Executive Vice-President in 1963 but is still serving on the board of directors. C. G. Parker, Jr., Vice- President, succeeded R. M. Griffin as head of the Woodland office. After the bank’s merger in 1972, Parker was transferred to the Raleigh office of NCNB and was succeeded as City Executive of the Woodland office by W. Gay Wells, Jr., Vice-President. Wells resigned from the bank on October 31, 1974, and Raymond C. Benthall, Jr., loan and marketing officer of the Woodland office was promoted to City Executive and became an assistant vice- president. H. D. Burgwyn became cashier and manager of ian Sta — it SE ES the Murfreesboro office in November, 1953, succeeding ‘ Tt ‘ Ay « 3 es Herman Babb, who suffered a heart attack and died just Down in 19950. prior to that time. At the retirement of R. M. Griffin, H. K. 149 Burgwyn became Executive Vice-President, in which capacity he was serving at the time of the bank’s merger. He is presently a Senior Vice-President and City Executive of NCNB’s Murfreesboro office. At the time of the merger of The Farmers Bank with North Carolina National Bank on July 28, 1972, the bank had grown from the original $5,000.00 in capital stock to $600,000.00 in capital stock, with deposits of $16.3 million. The Farmers Bank stock was exchanged at merger at the rate of one and one-quarter shares of NCNB stock for each share, with NCNB’s market value at that time of 72.50. Growth of the bank has been marked by its acquisition of the Bank of Potecasi in 1930, by its opening of an office in Murfreesboro in 1934, a drive-in branch in Mur- freesboro in 1956, as well as the move from the original building in Woodland to a new building in 1959, a new building for the drive-in branch in Murfreesboro in 1956, and a new downtown building for the Murfreesboro office in 1963. Directors of The Farmers Bank at the time of merger were Edwin P. Brown, Bob F. Hill, H. K. Burgwyn, J. William Copeland, R. A. Parker, and Dr. Bruce E. Whitaker, all of Murfreesboro, and W. H. S. Burgwyn, R. M. Griffin, C. G. Parker, Jr., John S. Vaughan, Dr. John H. Stanley, and W. G. Wells, Jr., of Woodland. A number of other prominent men of the area have served the bank during its sixty-nine years of operation, including E. G. Griffin, W. F. Outland, C. J. Vaughan, and Dr. C. G. Parker, who were all vice-presidents and directors during their years of service. ‘The only woman ever to serve as an officer of The Farmers Bank was Mrs. Lilla T. Griffin, who was assistant cashier at the time of her death in December, 1959. The bank is still serving the people of the area, and is still growing, with only minor set-backs through depression, recession, and prosperity. Woodland Thumbnail Sketches CORNELIUS OUTLAND, (1829-1873), wife Sarah Copeland, large landowner, led in building Cedar Grove Meeting house. His brother, ELIJAH OUTLAND, (1825- 1897) and wife Margaret Ann Griffin, gave land for the (Quaker school in 1867 and for Cedar Grove Meeting House. JOHN BRYAN GRIFFIN ( 1848-1918), first mayor of Woodland; founded Farmer’s Bank; Trustee Chairman, Guilford College; organizer of Progressive Friends Meeting house, Eagletown; donated land for Jerusalem Baptist Church; merchant; large landowner; and sawmill and gin operator. Wife, Millie Beal. Son of Ephraim Griffin. NOAH W. BRITTON (1860-1933), wife Minnie Skiles; Wake Forest graduate; principal of Woodland Academy in 1880’s and early 1900’s and of Potecasi High School; Director, Farmer’s Bank; town commissioner, 1906; clerk of West Chowan Baptist Association, 20 years; Superin- tendent, Hertford County Schools, 20 years. WILLIAM H. SUMNER BURGWYN, JR., born 1916; Wake Forest graduate; World War II Navy veteran; 150 began law practice in Woodland, 1944; member of Senate, 1951; Solicitor, County Recorders Court, 1953-1954; District Solicitor, 1959 until present; director of Woodland branch North Carolina National Bank; vice-president, county historical society. Wife, Lucille Poole, In- dependence, Va. EDWIN PIERCE BROWN (1903-1973) son of Walter J. Brown; graduate Guilford and Haverford colleges; manufacturer of baskets; moved to Murfreesboro where he expanded his manufacturing business; Trustee Chairman, Guilford College; Director, Chowan College; Roanoke- Chowan Hospital, Murfreesboro Historical Commission, North Carolina National Bank; lay leader, Cedar Grove Friends Meeting House. Wife, Dorothy Heath. De ae Re Re eh a ae a ee ee, ee ee ee er orete oe Bi Cilften Parkecef Weadlind DR. CLIFTON GENO PARKER (1877-1968) graduate of Medical College of Virginia; practiced medicine in Woodland, 57 years; member of county Board of Education, 22 years (retiring 1961) and on Woodland school board several years; worked diligently for years for a consolidated high school; Vice-President of the Farmers Bank, 1913-1968; president of Woodland Cooperative Bonded Warehouse; member of Potecasi Masonic Lodge, ao. 418, Odd Fellows and Woodman of the World; Chairman of Board of Deacons, Woodland Baptist Church; of county, state, Seaboard Medical societies; Fellow of the American Medical Association, publisher of medical articles; received 50-year pin from Medical College of Virginia. Students of Woodland-Olney school contributed pennies, nickels, and dimes for a school flag in his memory. In the school is a portrait of Dr. Parker, donated by his family, and a plaque honoring him and Ezra G. Griffin (1874-1943), both of whom were dedicated to education. Wife: Mary Elizabeth Parker. Children: Mary Lois Meacham, Helen F. Yeargan, Janie Lewis, Clifton Geno, and the late Dr. Charles Parker. However, Dr. ate “Cliff” called hundreds of Hertford and Northampton citizens “my children”. He was well-known for never having lost a pneumonia patient during the time before antibiotics were discovered. DR. WALTER RALEIGH PARKER, graduate Medical College of Virginia; World War I, Navy, 1917-1919; town commissioner 14 years; county Board of Education, 2 terms; trustee Chowan College, 26 years and board chairman, 6 years; practiced medicine in Woodland, 1919- 1937; county health director, 1937-1969; leader in establishing Tri-County Airport four miles south of Woodland, and in founding the Pine Valley Nursing Home at Potecasi. He is most noted for his influence in reviving Chowan College after World War II. Wife: Mary Ella Copeland. JOHN STANLEY, M. D., born in South Carolina; graduate of the Citadel, 1950; the Medical College of South Carolina, 1954; began practicing medicine in Woodland, 1955. Served as mayor, 15 years; helped organize and became acting director of Roanoke Chowan Mental Health Service; medical consultant and later act- ing director of Northampton County Health Department; director of North Carolina National Bank; lay leader, Methodist church. Wife: Geneva (Neva) Applewhite. JOHN HENRY LIVERMAN, county commissioner from Dec., 1962, to present; Woodland town commissioner, 1953-1955, treasurer for the term; area board chairman, Roanoke Chowan Mental Health Services for two years; member of the board since 1968; Sunday School Superintendent and deacon, Woodland Baptist Church. Wife: Patricia Bryant. Others who contributed significantly to their community: George Harrison Parker, Guerney Parker, Julian Parker, Walter J. Brown, Mrs. Ailene Autry Brown Griffin, Mrs. Daivd (Christine) Brown of George; Cola J. Vaughan, Rabon C. Benthail, Jack Harrell, Ezra G. Griffin, Mrs. Ezra (Mary Brown) Griffin, Irvin Blanchard, Roger W. Blanchard, William F. Outland, Dr. Quinton Cook, Isaac Carter, Charlie Griffin, Walter Reinhardt of Woodland. All of the above are deceased except Mrs. David Brown, the county's first home agent, and organizer of first 4-H clubs. Hazel Griffin The writings of Hazel Griffin of Woodland have been in the field of history, magazine articles, newspaper feature stories, and book reviews. , In 1959 she published a history of the Griffin- Blanchard-Outland families of Woodland, and in 1974, The Village of Woodland-George. Her articles have ap- peared in North Carolina English Teacher, North Carolina Folklore, and North Carolina Education. Her feature stories have appeared in daily and local papers. In 1972 she wrote a series of articles on Old Northampton homes and public buildings. She has contributed a number of articles on 18th century Northampton to Northampton Cousins. For several years she was a book reviewer for the News and Observer. Miss Griffin received her B. A. Degree from Chowan College and master’s degree from North Carolina State 151 University. She did postgraduate work at the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill. Her vocation has been teaching English, world history, speech, and journalism. She taught in high schools at Lexington, Rocky Mount; Needham Broughton in Raleigh, and Fayetteville. She also taught at Chowan College and North Carolina State University, where she earned her degrees. She retired from North Carolina State in 1965 but did part-time teaching at Chowan until 1968. She also taught at Chowan between 1949-1951. At North Carolina State she served as adviser to the student publications board. She has held membership in various professional organizations and in Delta Kappa Gamma, an honorary society of women educators, and is a member of the Roanoke-Chowan Writers Conference and the North- ampton Historical Society. She is a member of the Woodland Baptist church and a Sunday School teacher of adults. Her hobbies include flowers, antiques, and reading. She is the daughter of the late Mr. and Mrs. Nathan E. Griffin of Woodland. Medical Men Serving Woodland MEDICAL MEN SERVING WOODLAND. Dr. Godwin Bryan, 1880’s; Dr. R. W. Joyner (1842-1911); Dr. A. J. Ellis, moved to Garysburg; Dr. J. L. Outland (1856-1944) physician, druggist, postmaster; Dr. C. F. Griffin (1869- 1937), John Hopkins graduate, moved in early 1900's to Winton; Dr. Jordan Griffin (1867-1930), Philadelphia Dental School, practice in Woodland began 1895, moved to Edenton, served as representative and senator in state legislator, president of Virginia-Carolina Peanut Growers association; Dr. Quinton H. Cooke (1879-1930) practiced early 1900's, moved to Rich Square; Dr. Jacob J. Jacobs (1869-1954) dentist early 1900’s, moved to Roxobel; Dr. C. G. Parker, (1877-1968); Dr. W. R. Parker; Dr. John Stanley. Potecasi Potecasi is a small village in the southeastern part of Northampton County. Origin of the name is unknown. It may well be that the name came from the Algonquin word Pohake since the Potecasi Creek was known by early settlers as Pohake Creek. Tradition claims that Potecasi means the “parting of the waters.” Some of the earliest families -the Beales (also sp. Beel), Smellys, Fennels, Majettes, Bynums, Buntins, Powells, Blanchards, Woodards, Odoms, Joyners, Bridgers, and others-purchased land in and around Potecasi as early as 1745 and even earlier. Part of the land patented to Sam Ellson dates back to 1723. Most of these families came from southeastern Virginia counties of Surry, Sussex, Isle of Wight, Southampton, and neighboring counties of Virginia. _ The name Potecasi has been spelled variously in wills and deeds as Potticasey, Pottecassi, Potecasti, Pottacasie, Poticasa, and Pottecassey. 2d RE 22 RRS NPT ARN ey ee SEY 9 ae 3 Boggs . Se ac ee 2 HA eke Ee ie: ; RE, ed The second of three Baptist churches sits today to the rear of the present brick one, built in 1926. It was built in 1808 or thereabout as Jordan Beale donated the land for it that year. Built of wood, it was painted white many times but because the boards were of hardwood, the paint was not retained. The church was remodeled many times, and the slave gallery removed. It has two double-door entrances and a steeple of moderate height. ote, be tae The Second of Three Baptist Churches in Potecasi, Built About 1808, Standing at the Rear of the Present Church. placed on the Sandy Run Church Roll. The first church was not on the site of the second and third churches but was nearer the center of the village of Potecasi and was located ‘Yon the Creek’’, according to one present-day church member. Prior to the building of the first church, the congregation worshipped under a brush arbor. The first structure was built in batten-board style. The first church was organized by the Rev. Lemuel Both the first and second churches had hand-made Burkett of the Sandy Run Baptist Church, Roxobel, N. C. pews. A single narrow board was used for the back of a in 1775, and 150 persons were baptized. Their names were pew. | The Maggett—Jenkins House | THE MAGGETT-JENKINS HOUSE, three miles from Potecasi on the Jackson road, was built in the late 1700's. The original Sam Maggett purchased land, a part of the Sam Ellson grant on the Meherrin River in 1745. The Maggett family came from Isle of Wight County, Virginia. A later Sam Maggett died at the Potecasi home in 1847. In 1904, the once 2,000 acre estate, reduced to 600 acres, was purchased by Andrew J. Jenkins. It remained in the Jenkins family until 1971, when it was purchased by W. O. Coombs. The Georgian style house of white weatherboard contains eight rooms, five on the lower floor; six fireplaces ; two hand-painted mantles, four of oak; 12-foot ceilings; wainscoting in the parlor, dining room and all halls; chair railings in other rooms; wide “‘riff’’ pine floor boards; heavy oak doors; hand-hewn sills; homemade hinges, locks, and bricks. A ‘‘stoop’ porch marks the entrance. A porch extends across the long right wing. Original compound structures were a two-story business office, a two-story kitchen (both with fireplaces), a smokehouse, milk house, vin, and carriage house, most of which have been lost. An avenue of cedars leads to the house, once noted for its gardens of flowers, shrubs, and herbs, and a variety of trees. Maggett and Jenkins cemeteries are at the rear of the house. 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Se atete bette teeth y praia At him tieE MEEPS MPea athe Pag te ed 2 EERE ITS 8 see Maggett-Jenkins House Jordan Beale Home BUILT BETWEEN 1797 AND 1822 ELE EIS ES om eS 4 i eee SSS = Sere Home of Jordan Beale, Potecasi The Jordan Beale home was built on the main road in The plantation complex. included spinning and Potecasi by Beale, a wealthy planter from Isle of Wight weaving houses, a smoke house, milk houses, a three-room County, Virginia, in the late 1700’s or early 1800's. Its office with two fireplaces, and a summer house or gazebo. style is typical of plantation homes in Virginia. Slave houses extended from the house to the present Beale’s 153 Grocery store. The lawn was landscaped with numerous shrubs and trees, was enclosed by a picket fence and had brick walls. The house was a two-story building of 8 rooms, 5 large fireplaces. three chimneys, 2 stairways, wainscoting of extra wide boards in every room, and a long front porch. All the lumber was hand-planed, sills were hewn and wooden pegged. Bricks. nails, hinges, and all hardware were made at the home. Jordan Beale’s estate of 1,270 acres was divided in 1859 among his children: Eliza B. Blanchard, Angelina B. Outland. Henrietta B. Boone, Elizabeth B. Holomon, Dallas M.. Ferdinand C., Robert I., Willis M., John R. Beale and Mary B. Bryant. Jordan Beale’s parents, Robert and Holland Brewer Beale were married in Isle of Wight County, Oct. 29, 1789. After Jordan Beale’s father’s death in 1797, his mother married Jeremiah Bradshaw on Feb. 4, 1802. One of their daughters, Martha, married John Parker, Sr. Their children, Jesse, Council, Solomon, William, James, Martha, Harriett, and John Parker, Jr., settled in Potecasi, Woodland. Menola, and surrounding areas through the influence of their half-uncle Jordan Beale and became leading citizens. John Parker, Jr., was the last of the Parkers to come to North Carolina from Virginia. In 1901 he moved to Potecasi and bought the Jordan Beale homeplace. John Parker's son Robert bought the place in 1903 and had it in his possession until 1969, when his heirs sold it to Dewey Hobbs who now uses it as the central building of his grain-feed business. The E.B. Lassiter Lumber Company In 1895 Employees of the E. B. Lassiter Lumber Mill Made $10.00 per month. THE FE. B. LASSITER LUMBER COMPANY, established in Potecasi in 1881. has been operated by the family since then. The founder used a steam engine, named Gladys. to haul logs from the woods to his mill. After his death in 1915. his three sons, Lloyd, Willie, and Everette Bruce (all deceased now) operated the mill as well as a 154 cotton gin and a commissary until 1930. Bruce became operator of the lumber mill that year, adding new equip- ment and expanding its processes. In 1960 the mill was incorporated with Cornelius Everette and Estus Bruce, sons of Everett Bruce, joining the business. Everette Bruce died in 1961. The mill, one of the oldest family-owned businesses still in operation in Northampton, has served the Roanoke-Chowan area and Virginia for 92 years. The Pine Forest Rest Home THE PINE FOREST REST HOME of Potecasi was the “brainchild” of the Rev. J. E. Dailey when he was the pastor of the Potecasi Baptist Church in the 1940’s. He took his idea to Dr. Walter Raleigh Parker, then county health director, who suggested soliciting funds from subscribers, Walter J. Brown being a leader in the movement. Potecasi School, then abandoned, was _pur- chased, renovated and opened for non-profit use in 1949. The Riverside Manufacturing company of Murfreesboro, headed by Edwin Brown, provided between $65,000 and $75.000 in credit for furnishings. Ronald Chappell of Potecasi has been secretary-treasurer since the opening of the home. Mrs. Elma Railey was the first home manager. Under her administration enough profit was realized to build the front **L” sun porch. The only other manager has been the present one, Mildred Grant. The home, opened for ambulatory guests only, has always operated in the black and has been the subject of a Saturday Evening Post article. Potecasi Post Office POTECASI POST OFFICE. The Potecasi post office was established on December 5, 1839. The postmasters and their appointment dates are: Jordan Beal, 1839; George D. Holloman, 1858; Cornelius Lassiter, 1859; Mrs. Eliza Beale, 1866; Henry H. Cooke, 1871; Everette B. Lassiter, 1876; B. W. Langford, 1897; William R. Griffin, 1898; Dallas M. Beale, 1906; William P. Blanchard, 1911; Grady E. Parker, 1914; Cornelia Beale, 1921 (name changed by marriage to Mrs. Cornelia Joyner, 1928). The National Archives and Records Service contains no entries after April 16, 1928; however Mrs. Joyner held the post until the recent appointment of Mr. Aubrey Vinson. Thumbnail Sketches of Potecasi Personalities JORDAN BEALE, born Isle of Wight County, Virginia January 10, 1792, son of Robert and Holland Brewer Beale. Died December 22, 1858, buried in Beale cemetery in Potecasi. Reputed to have been married three times but only one marriage record has been found — that of his marriage to Eliza Copeland (1811-1898) on March 29, 1842. He owned thousands of acres of land and large numbers of slaves, their quarters extending the length of the main street of Potecasi; he was a merchant, justice of the peace. and first postmaster of Potecasi. The epitaph on his tombstone is written in Latin. ROBERT I. BEALE, son of Jordan Beale; justice of the peace; lawyer ; editor, Roanoke Patron, 1884-1885, founded at the “‘Old Jordan Beale Homeplace’’, 1879. DALLAS M. BEALE, son of Jordan Beale, merchant. editor, and publisher, Roanoke Patron, 1890-1891. DR. CHARLES G. POWELL, dentist in the early 1900’s, practiced in his home, now owned by Cornelia Joyner and located on highway 35 between Potecasi and Woodland. Moved to Ahoskie where he practiced many years, Wife Vashtie Cale, daughter of the Rev. Dancy Cale, well-known Baptist minister. DR. PAUL PARKER, son of S, Norfleet Parker, physician in Erwin and Burlington, N. C. S. Norfleet Parker was President, Farmers Bank, Woodland. DR. GEORGE HARRELL, son of Cola and Molly Harrell, practiced medicine in Murfreesboro for many years. “AUNT” BURT ARRINGTON, beloved woman lived to be 112 years old and was sought for her memory of local history after she was past 100. Her parents were slaves at the Jordan Beale home. Died about 1970. GRADY E. PARKER, cashier of the Potecasi Bank, which closed its doors during the depression of the 1930s. Postmaster. OTHERS: R. L. Powell, S. N. Parker, Lloyd Lassiter, A. T. Jenkins, Fred Jenkins, C. W. Blow, Grover Joyner, Mrs. Ira Jenkins, ElPena Parker, and others made contribu- tions to the village of Potecasi and to the county. gree te Holly Grove--Ashley’s Grove Community ae . > Sea Holly Grove School students, 1900 in Front of Second Holly Grove School. The community of Holly Grove, four miles east of Woodland, is made up of farmers and rich loamy farm land, some of which borders on the Potecasi Creek. East of Holly Grove is another rural community, Newtown, in Northampton County. After the Ashley’s Grove Baptist Church was built in 1910, the name Holly Grove became almost extinct and the place today is more often referred to as Ashley’s Grove. Settled in the 1700's, the most common 155 family names have been, and still are, Revelle, Futrell, Liverman, Joyner, Askew, and Vann. Evidence of the cooperative spirit of this tightly-knit community is found in the construction of a community club house. The present club house, the second one, was built about 1967. Stanley Sauls, who purchased the first club house, gave the money for the second club house. Guy Revelle, Sr., gave the land, and the whole community gave free labor and made donations. Burned Bridges. Four wooden bridges once spanned Potecasi Creek in the Holly Grove section (now on highway 258). In 1863 when Union soldiers were marching from Winton to Weldon, confederate soldiers burned the bridges to prevent the northern troops’ crossing. They were forced to go to Benthall’s Bridge to cross the creek. Thus, the name “‘Burned’’, or more familiarly ‘““Burnt’’, was given to the bridges. On the eastern side of the creek is a bluff, oak and birch trees and a sandy beach which through the early 1900’s was a favorite spot for picnics, swimming, fishing, and baptizings. On the trees are carved names, initials, and dates. The four wooden bridges have been replaced by one concrete bridge. Revelle’s Hill Baptist Church for blacks is also on the eastern side of the creek at Burned Bridges. It was formerly called the Creeksville Church. Charlie H. Revelle gave the land for the church on the condition it be used for a church. The white people aided in its construction. Later some members left to join the old Nebo congregation, now known as Creeksville Church, and the old Creeksville Church is known as Revelle’s Hill Baptist Church. Miami Post Office was established at Newtown, be- tween Holly Grove and the Hertford County line. At the time Conway did not have a post office, but there was one at Stephenson-Sykes Mill in the 1840’s. Mail was carried to Miami three times a week. It became a central stopping place between Rich Square and Murfreesboro with five established stores. The post office was later changed to Liverman’s. Holly Grove School, known first as a “District” school, was built about 1850. Prior to that, Mrs. Nancy (John H.) Joyner conducted a private school near Beale’s Mill, which merged with the Holly Grove School. Pupils attended from Holly Grove School Holly Grove School Between Woodland and Mu near Milwaukee to the Big Dam near Newtown. The schoolhouse was a crude one-room structure with two windows on either side and a front and a back door. Long benches of two unfinished boards served as seats, the back bench being reserved for lunch pails. A board, attached to one wall, served as a writing desk for all pupils. Near the door was a pail of water and a gourd dipper or coconut shell for drinking.About 1881 the original building was taken apart and used to construct another school. The new school was given the name of Holly Grove by one of the pupils. About 1904 a second room was added and the term lengthened from two or three months to four months. The building was burned about 1913 and replaced by a three- room “L”’-shaped building. In 1920 high school students began attending high schools in Conway or Woodland. By 1923 the term was eight months for grades one through nine. In 1930 grade students went to Conway. Six years later the Holly Grove school was burned after serving as the focal center of the community for over one hundred years. Holly Grove’s Famous Baseball Team. In the early 1900’s Holly Grove was famed for its baseball team which drew large crowds of both women and men from a wide area. The games were played at the corner of the road near the “Old Revelle Homeplace”’. For three years the team, coached by Heywood Joyner of Woodland but then a resident of Holly Grove, did not lose a game. Joyner received his athletic training at Oak Ridge Military Academy and Guilford College. On his unbeatable team were W. C. Sauls, Harvey Beale, Jack Liverman, Tony Woodard, Walter B. Futrell, Walter E. Futrell, Z. W. Storey, Dillie Pope, Lewter Revelle, Lonnie Joyner, Brater and ‘amma Vinson, Cephus Norfleet, and Wesley Futrell. Mike and Tommie Vinson were umpires. In those days rt as + —— att boro, About 1913, the Third See BS rfrees 156 Futrell-Revelle Home, ‘Holly Grove Community, Late 1700’s by David Futrell. every community and school had a baseball team and the competitive spirit was lively. A. M. Beale’s Mill was one of several in the past years on Potecasi Creek. Run by water power, Beale’s operation included a grist mill, saw mill, and cotton gin. Nearby was a general store and a fish pond. Two water mills, one known as Moore’s, were on the William A. Futrell farm, now owned by Guy Revelle, Sr. The mills have been destroyed, but the dams remain. Old Homes in Holly Grove. The Futrell-Revelle home, the oldest, known as the “old Revelle place’, built of weatherboard in the late 1700’s by David Futrell and his wife Elizabeth Jenkins, has never been changed struc- turally. The main part of the two-story house has four rooms on each floor. The center first-floor hall is divided into a back and a front hall with an enclosed winding stairway in the back hall. A colonnade divides the present kitchen from the main house. Across the kitchen front is a porch. A long, somewhat narrow porch, which may not be the original one, extends across the front of the house with delicate spindle-like scrollwork on the underhang. The interior was wide-board flooring, chair rails, some low paneling, and a pine ceiling board. The original chimneys have been replaced but the window panes are original. Several old elm trees line the driveway. Six outbuildings are standing; the two to the right of the house are one-and one- half stories. The one nearer the house with a fireplace and exposed blackened beams was the original kitchen. James Revelle, born 1813, and his wife Louvenia became its owners in 1851, Louvenia having inherited it from her father, David Futrell. James Revelle owned 13 slaves in 1850 and many acres of land when he died in 1895. In 1803 David Futrell wrote an arithmetic book which is now owned by Guy Revelle, Sr., a direct descendant of James and Louvenia Futrell Revelle. The house is now owned by Miss Molly Gay. Built in Another Futrell-Revelle home, now the home of Guy Revelle, Sr., was built about 1830 by Lemuel Futrell who married Mary Moore in 1818. The descendants of Lemuel Futrell, the Morris Futrell and William Augustus Futrell families lived in the home until it was purchased in 1948 by Guy Revelle, Sr., and his wife Pearla Futrell Revelle, who altered the structure in 1952 by adding the two-story columned porch and the two-room left wing and by removing the old kitchen. The original house remains struc- turally the same with its pegged sills, wide floor boards, and pine ceiling. Other old homes in Ashley’s Grove are those of Charlie H. Revelle, over a century old and lived in by members of the Revelle family until its recent abandonment. The Ashley Liverman home was built in the mid 1800’s on land purchased from Matthew Johnson. The one-story ‘‘L”’- shaped house is now in disrepair and is occupied by a tenant. Another old home in need of repair is the Jesse Vann home, built on Tom Atkinson land and deeded by Jesse Vann to his nephew, George Askew, who built the house of one and a half stories with two outside stacked chimneys. It was purchased by William H. Vann, later occupied by the Jesse Vann family, and is now owned by Clifton Vann, a nephew of Jesse Vann. The land around the house is now owned by Luther Vann of Murfreesboro. Other old homes are the Tommie Joyner and the John H. (Jack) Joyner homes. The kitchen of the Jack Joyner home is older than the front part. The private school in which the wife of Jack Joyner, Nancy Hudson Jordan Joyner, taught, was in the yard. The only change in the Tommie Joyner house has been the building of a new kitchen. The Joyner homes and the Ira W. Futrell home near the church are a century old. All of these houses are in the area of Ashley’s Grove Baptist church and the burned-down Holly Grove school. wai Rage spel Nt a i ; i 4 2 Futrell-Revelle Home, Now Home of Guy Revelle, Sr. Built about 1830. Porch Added by Revelle in 1952. ORE A ato ye te & * ORME NS ORANGE! LEEPER LO LLANE Lip LOE A AN eet ist cai, + i te ce bln Se igang tocol lanes: ebicae tne agrarian sis ee - PS Senn MRO NR mater ONON gma neg mmcrtit ame ae a ag Aimee age Stee: a Se: The Teachers and Three Pupils of Quaker Olney School at George. Pupils Wore Bibs on Aprons. Only persons Identified are Josephine Griffin, Center Front, Who Later Married W. H. S. Burgwyn, Sr., and Teacher Sally Payne. Photo About 1890. 158 ey 7 Ae YAR, SEPT A ILS: SE te TPO ket 5 a CES, hue Is i ART Pe ETA RS, ave Pea et Wes - EAE P I ENE SS ERO A LN ITS AR BN NS i Oe PE et aia ee SERA ARES EP TNS SD FALE LORIN LLL RT AI ReaD OS EE it PTI Se LIE EP PY MELEE PERN, DOT EY 3 qeinetets Danetnewee | a, | , rh Hi i} ) | ie i i | ye Hi | | aan) Une e Bit a Hi ¥ ri 4 | : | i bi 160 i : SB er ae gS til be kek ERE RS Ser TET ee en ep ti er eee te eee ete rere ee TEN 8 FOLIC, FLSA Ty TE gm em Rae Renn Rare ey eas EE ORE RL RESET EES 2 PLONE SHEMET Bh: HERES Dom Mev gee wey hos Be eh oy Boy Top Rt on TT he Pwr SS oe a ae pe Tee Se BY Ee REHM IRE LEER E SPIELE LET PLOT PT ETN FT MEAT FPN TEN IT me pews: oes Tn Fy Stra gee greta te int ih ed Pa Pete Pattee tee es og et ge Pats 3 eres pe Ea OT GE tT GA aoe ae I SO EINE Re BS Ae ee are ge ee oe a ae ik de ag sre atria eet een ashe stents ted eta e oe pk metes we gd rast ST al eh dae peeled ete whee ee me ane) a ee Se ee’ ens Fe He OIE TEP ER ALN Pe Se Se en eee ae ak ad pat eee ee or Se pa rt AS Ee LE oe nee ee ee na AF A rth iat oh art a ot ok Ke ee ease Shear «a Stee SO Sle sae ee tae gece ee “ee gt se Fane sige a eee sla a cee a eet omen 39> Tr pes ae “es eh et ee cn sb Sesll inlining baetiel RES eine ehomat oe : al eae a cea ates pe i tae oe Beats ae ek eae eae ied EEE en ee pen Pe SE Se Sie ea hae to ee TAP a Se Rete ie reel En ee ee ee eee ole arg ig en nee ap en nr ae oe Ba a ni wh ot cst ah hea ia ieee ranted 2 = SPT oe leet ee : SESS" a a ° ‘ et ene NIN - > . . woven . ss sie ci AAR A. MR mA OR = a —— ree — nian een : st : zi = ' | | | | | | ’ I —— Q ee se é 69 < ve * © $3 i i | 161 Conway Conway was settled around 1835. It was then known as Martin’s Crossroads, also called Kirby. The year of 1888 brought a railroad to Kirby. The railroad stretched from Boykins, Va., to Lewiston, and a small depot was built for each community. The conductor of the train decided that the depot at Kirby should be called Conway, from the name of a relative of a chief railroad official. The government was petitioned that the post office be called Conway also. Kirby became Conway to coincide with the depot. The first post office was located in Mr. Abner Lassiter’s Store in 1878. Mr. Lassiter was the first post- master. The train mail clerk, a black, used his influence to have Rachel Vaughan, also a black, appointed as the postmistress of the second post office. It was located in her home, a few miles outside of Conway. After three months, the post office was moved to the store of William T. Bridgers, who was appointed post- master. The name was changed from Kirby to Conway Post Office at that time. The first school in the Kirby-Conway area was called Grange Hall School. The second was called Log College, whose first teacher was Miss Crump, grandmother of E. W. Martin. The third was a wooden two-story building located where Floods Funeral Home is now. The fourth school was a two story brick building which is now Conway Elementary. Conway has had several doctors to serve their com- munity. Possibly the first was Dr. D. H. Reid; Dr. Paul Clifton Brittle, Dr. Joseph Anderton Fleetwood, and Dr. Joseph Anderton Fleetwood, Jr., have followed him. Conway’s authors and writers have been Dr. and Mrs. R. Kelly White and Dr. and Mrs. Gilbert Stephenson. Its contributions to the House of Representatives of N. C. have been the Hon. R. Jennings White, Hon. John Raynor Woodard, and Hon. J. Guy Revelle. Conway has also produced many fine attorneys at law including R. Jen- nings White, Edgar W. Martin, Russell H. Johnson, Russell H. Johnson, Jr., Bruce C. Johnson, Dr. Gilbert Stephenson, and Judge Perry W. Martin. The mills and ponds about the area are Stephenson- Sykes Mill and Pond, DeBerry’s Mill and Pond, Vaughan’s Mill, and Doo Little Pond. When Gov. Robert Glen went to speak at Conway in 1907. there was no band for the occasion, but almost overnight one was formed by Milton Flythe. The band became famous as the Conway Cornet Band and for several years played for public events far and wide. Conway was incorporated in 1913. The first Mayor was Mr. Jim Parker. Mr. W. A. Davis was the first policeman. The population was 400. It is now over 900. Conway never had any hotels or taverns although Mr. Abner Lassiter’s home served as hotel to salesmen and other travelers passing through the town. 162 Kirby Township Goes Back to Early 1700's THE OWL'S NEST by Nancy M. Froelich OLD KIRBY CREEK has been quite a factor in North- ampton in its day. Even now, it can boast of three mill sites-Deberry’s, Stephenson-Sykes’, and Watson’s. Though I believe the mill at Watson’s has been completely aban- doned. THE NAME “KIRBY” AS A family name has not been prevalent in Northampton for quite a long time. I have often wondered how the large township, and second largest creek, in the County, acquired that name. Well, at last, my curiosity has paid off, as the following article, taken from the September 20, 1906, Roanoke-Chowan Times tells the story. “ONE OF THE TOWNSHIPS in Northampton County is named Kirby Township. This township lies on the East side of the County next to Murfreesboro Township in Hertford County. A part of the dividing line between Hertford County and Northampton County is along the run of Kirby Creek and Turkey Branch. The latter in ancient times was called Turkey Creek. This stream is on the east of the old Meredith Watson tract of land. The name Kirby is derived from the Kirby family who lived and owned much of the lands along these creeks.”’ “IN 1712, THOMAS Kirby, Sr., received a patent for 1,200 acres of land lying on the Hertford side of Turkey Creek. In 1713 Kirby conveyed to Henry Wheeler 125 acres of this patent lying on Turkey Creek and on the South side of the Meherrin River. One of the witnesses to this deed was Richard Washington. On July 14, 1716, Thomas Kirby and wife appointed their son, Thomas Kirby, their attorney to acknowledge the execution of this deed.”’ The Martins of Martin’s Crossroads-- Now Known as Conway A Civil War map in the Library of Congress, Washington, D. C., shows Martin’s Crossroads where the town of Conway now is. It acquired its present name when the Seaboard Airline Railroad came through the town. A deed in Northampton County Courthouse records the purchase of land by JOHN MARTIN in 1742. He purchased other lands and received, in 1762, a land grant of 675 acres on Patty’s Delight Creek from Earl Granville, one of the Eight Lords Proprietors of Carolina. Patty’s Delight Creek is shown on local maps and the present Robert M. Martin Farm is a part of this original land grant. John Martin, Jr., was born around the time of the Revolutionary War. Their children were Matthew, Jonathan, and Kinchen. Kinchen, born 181 1-died 1882, is buried in the Martin cemetery just west of Conway. He was the father of 12 children. His home, now dismantled, was built prior to 1850 near the present cemetery. Eleven of his children were born in this home. Kinchen’s daughter, Sarah Elizabeth ‘Sally’, was strong in character and a leader in her community. A real rare , PPK int hoe eee eI i teaabeg de ar hast Fs * oe Oe Pele WEE RAS a aaa I, AE I Es ot Peds fa te det ieee ee ~ 5 ih a sR = CRESS BP Fer a rast “ en a é Beas PEELE BA SONS A ES ape E,W RS at a eee EL REE rE IE I, REA SRS I ARR A CC g mene me AD = rete a es aE ee ieee os ee eee i Pe E ; ay q i fy J7is ai'\ f { pid Se j i7 L7iL KK {> yr? . ty = é = 4 yy : ' * Phas de ! 4. Se Aer EE ARE TO AT A TH fe Ab APA Py NEw, ta " LEED BENS PRS BELLS TET res SR. ONE PRES LDPE IMA OLE MIB 2 ; a ® ‘ : ; ‘ : t : : ; ' : i : / 4 * iA : Bi | s 7 3 j Ed a : S : : : : aR MA aR A NE ARE NR OOS IP NA EEE SEN. LE EPELLE LOE LPELLL LIOR LE ALLELES Parpey sper ORININ ESE TNL IRN SID. CNL EBOON #2 +d; PIS PETE Hs SRG A GIS O LE ROTEL SAN PT RS ERIE ETAL EDEN CEE AINE PE BAO I I ‘ EES oars aes ms c a AEE NDA SATE L ETE Le LTT a aT I TT TL TE TTS TT I TL I I I I I IN NT TE TE IS NEE ORO EC LOT LE IO A EL I Ti NTT TN LS LT LTC TT IE LOT ITE LTO EDEL LIE! LOG EL LOC OOD ELE LN, % 2 £ Ps a & HN ’ re pe ras THE MICHAEL HARRIS HOUSE, near Seaboard, is an English-type cottage built by Michael Harris about 1812. It has been occupied by four generations of his descendants, the present owner and occupant being Miss Zenobia Harris. The house is a ten-room, two-story structure with an attic at the back of the house. There is also a basement, bricked for use in case of a storm. It has nine dormer front windows and six in the back. The house has the original fireplace, wide hardwood board floors, hand-made doors, old locks, high ceilings, and the original foundation. Some of the original latches and window panes are still in use. An unusual feature of the porch is its sloping at the ends to shed water. The kitchen and dining room are under a separate roof, being separated by two porches. Michael Harris and his two brothers left England in 1812 to come to America to join friends and relatives. They landed in Virginia and were on their way to Georgia when they stopped at an inn in Jerusalem, now Courtland, Va. There Michael Harris met Betsy McLemore and fell in love with her at first sight. After a few days the brothers said they were rested and were ready to continue their journey to Georgia. Michael told them he was in love and that he wanted to stay on and see if he could persuade Betsy McLemore to marry him and so the brothers left Michael in Jerusalem. In a few weeks, on September 21, 1812, Michael and Betsy were married and starting for Georgia to make their 186 4 ae Michael Harris House home and to join the other brothers. They came by Concord Church, North Carolina, where a revival was in progress and decided to stop over for a few days to attend the services. [he neighborhood received them warmly, and they were entertained in the homes. Michael was impressed with the hospitality of the people and the rich farm land and said if he could buy some land he would like to remain in that community rather than proceed to Georgia. A_ large landowner offered to sell him 300 acres of land, and he built the house that still stands on the property. Michael Harris farmed and practiced medicine, being considered a good doctor by the neighborhood. He used roots, herbs, and medicine from England. The office where he treated his patients was located in the yard near the residence and was still standing until a few years ago with its wooden cases around the walls where he kept his medicine. Michael and Betsy Harris had six sons, three of whom settled in the Concord community. These being Ab, Hard, and Frank. The other three sons, John, Kit, and Ben went to Georgia to join relatives there. Later, two of these sons went to Texas to live. There are numerous relatives of the three sons who remained in the Concord community and who are living in the Seaboard area at present. Michael and Betsy Harris are buried in the family cemetery a few yards from the Harris residence. ~ eh maven LP APR page DT sachet ida y heb, “ ts) wn GP teed SA acne _ ee goer PUL FURR PPO ee oR ca eee COL a—_—-~-eeeeeeeee ee ET APTN ERE POT EERE RL SE ete THO 96 oer i g ‘ 4 : a PE Ee ORE RE ES ONE OY ESO A AR RE RIP NEB AE RH SO AN I A RE BO ROR LEE LR AL EE EE LLL TC CE TEE A A TO IO LE TO: I EEL I, RL OBE TTS SNS AMS HS OLA | i i | eA SE ED ES Se ST present towns of Seaboard and Gumberry the railroad reached Gary s Depot (Garysburg) in 1836 and in 1837 r , ' . f ' \iter the completion ol the bridge across the Roanoke > ' River, the train began running into bank. Weldon on the south the difficulties. Unfortunately company encountered numerous financial In 1843 the railroad was sold at public auction and was purchased by Capt. Francis F Rives who took immediate steps to close it down. In 1844 } ville and began destroying tracks. When news of this ; > | : . - reached Portsmouth, a train was dispatched with citizens of that town who repaired the damage and stopped the vandalism. In 1845 an advertisement announced that the Railroad again was in operation over 63 miles between Portsmouth and Margarettsville, where a change was made to Four Horse Post Coach, operated by Mr. Willis ry cn a st ARRAS eee 8 Be. esti Sledge, for the 17 mile journey on to Weldon. This portion of track was completed in 18449. During the days prior to the War, prosperity ruled the railroad. Trains were loaded with cotton, tobacco, corn. wheat, barrel staves, and other products of the Old North State. With the bombardment of Fort Sumter on April 11, 1861, the Seaboard & Roanoke Railroad pledged its loyalty to the Confederacy. At one time during the War in 1865, a detachment of Union troops attempted to invade Weldon the East, | the and Roanoke too heavily guarded and so turned its attention to trom found town bridges over the the destruction of the track northward from Garysburg to Gumberry. They received word of a trainload of Con- federates on the way, so the enemy was encouraged to retreat toward Jackson and off the Seaboard right of way. In 1896 it was decided to determine the performance of a new type of American locomotive: on a special run from Weldon to Boykins, the speed of 87 MPH was achieved. i ae First Bank Building in Seaboard THE FARMERS BANK OF SEABOARD, now merged with The Bank of North Carolina, N. A., has played an important role in the growth and development of the Seaboard area. It has met the financial and business needs of its customers through the years and has maintained a close relationship with the community. According to minutes of the bank, a group of interested citizens in Seaboard met in Grubbs’ Storehouse on Thursday, January 4, 1906, to plan the necessary steps to establish a bank for the town. Mr. Thomas J. Powell was appointed chairman of this meeting, and B. S. Stancell served as secretary. The following business was transacted: The Farmers Bank of The new bank was to be ealled 188 Seaboard and was to have a Board of Directors consisting of fifteen men. ‘The capital stock was to be $6,000.00 with no stock-holder to hold more than two shares of the capital stock except by order of the directors. Application for incorporation was made to the State of North Carolina, and on March 16, 1906, The Farmers Bank of Seaboard was incorporated. The bank opened for business on May 19, 1906, with total resources of $17,884.87. Among the depositors on the first day of business were the following: J. W. Leake, P. H. Rose, J. W. Magee, Bettie H. Ramsay, W. L. Stephenson, W. R. Stephenson, W.F. Grubbs, J. L. Harris, J. O. Rogers, Crocker & Harris. C. P. Stephenson, M. D. L. Harris & Son, C. B. Vick & Co., H. C. Maddrey, John E. Bradley, W. M. Britt, and J. H. Ramsay. The bank building, in 1906, was a brick struc- ture approximately 18 ft. by 27 ft. It was divided into a lobby, working space with one window to serve customers, a vault, and space for directors’ meetings. Ihe entire building was heated by one coal stove in the lobby. There was not a piece of machinery used; all the work was done by hand, including the posting of all the individual accounts without the use of a single adding machine. H. R. Harris performed all the work in the bank until 191. His salary was $35.00 a month for a number of years. In 1950, the location of the bank was moved to Main Street.and a modern building was constructed with adequate working space and equipped with modern furniture and fixtures. At that time the resources of the bank had in- creased to $1.400,000.00 and there were five active em- ploy ees. In 1970 the present Williamsburg-style bank was constructed at the same site with an attractive exterior and interior. The resources are approximately 414 million dollars. and all the various banking services are available to the customers. There are six full-time employees. Dr. J. N. Ramsay against the fort. A few days after the fall of Sumter he secured an honorable discharge in order to enter the service of his own state. On his way home he learned of the evacuation and burning of the naval yard at Portsmouth. He hurried on to Virginia, where, offering his services, he was appointed assistant surgeon, in which capacity he served at Fort Norfolk until the secession of North Carolina. Then returning home, he assisted in organizing a company in his county and was commissioned First Lieutenant. He was in battle in Plymouth, North Carolina and at Battery Wagner, Charleston Harbor. Immediately after the latter fight, he was promoted to captain. Going w ith his regiment to the defense of Petersburg and Richmond, he received a severe Officers of The Farmers Bank of Seaboard Around 1925. wound in his left foot at the battle of Drewry’s Bluff. Upon Left to Right: a Ae 2 Rogers, Leon Spencer, Elmo Crocker. partial recovery he was assigned to duty as Assistant and H. R. Harris Surgeon at Greensboro, North Carolina where he served until the close of the war. He returned to the practice of medicine and to his business and agricultural interests in and around Seaboard, Dr. JN. Ramsay North Carolina. ee ; He was married to Bettie Harwell Phillips in 1865. This couple became the parents of four children: Maggie, John T., Joseph H., and Bettie Phillips. Dr. Ramsay died February 26, 1904. DR. JUNIUS NAPOLEON RAMSAY, M. D., was born near Seaboard on March 31, 1836. He was educated in the common schools, preparatory to entering The University at Chapel Hill, where he was graduated in 1807. Two years later he was graduated professionally from the University of Bernice Kelly Harris Pennsylvania. He began the practice of medicine in Seaboard and Jackson and was well launched im his BERNICE KELLY HARRIS, a distinguished and gifted professional career when the first alarm of war followed the -esident of Seaboard in Northampton County, passed away movement for independence of the Southern States. This in September 1973. She was a beloved, adopted daughter of movement he sympathized with and supported. Not the countv since she came to teach in the high school at content to putes ste of = _— sone he went n Seaboard in 1917. In 1926 she married Herbert K. Harris. Charleston. South Carolina, and enlisted as a private with eae Fear ae TEE yet Fg a es ag eee ' the Palmetta Guards. He was stationed at ke famous coos Naeem Se ee a aa toe od te Stevens Iron Battery during the bombardment of Fort center’, ‘n the Mt. Moriah Community, and from there Sumter. It is believed Dr. Ramsay fired the second gun she went to Cary High School and later sraduated from 189 After graduating from Meredith College, she taught briefly at Beulaville and Maiden, and then she taught English and coached plays at Seaboard for ten years. As a child she was interested in writing, but it was not until she had courses under Dr. Frederick Koch cf the Carolina Playmakers at Chapel Hill that she ventured into serious writing. The result was a collection of Folk Plays of Eastern North Carolina which in production delighted many audiences. After her marriage there was an interval of feature writing for Raleigh and Norfolk newspapers, and she conducted a play-writing class among her friends in Seaboard. Then she wrote her novel, Purslane. This was the first novel the University at Chapel Hill Press published, and in 1939 it won for her the coveted Mayflower Cup. Purslane also had the distinction of being published in London under the title of Pate’s Siding by G. P. Putnam Company. After that first novel Mrs. Harris wrote Portulaca. Sweet Beulah Land, Hearthstones, Wild Cherry Tree Road, Janie Jeems, and Sage Quarter. Many readers consider her last novel, Southern Savory, her best since it is more or less her autobiography. She also wrote stories for Colliers and Pageant (Magazines) and The Saturday Evening Post. Her Christmas stories, The Very Real Truth About Christmas and Santa On The Mantel, in booklet form, still make delightful reading for the season. Her play, The Yellow Color Suit, was produced as an NBC Television matinee. For ten years she taught creative writing classes at Chowan College in Murfreesboro. During this time she inspired many to write successfully them- selves, and the classes under her editing wrote two books, Southern Home Remedies and Strange Things Happen. Mrs. Harris received numerous honors. In 1966 she was awarded the GOLD MEDALLION, known as the Bernice Kelly Harris Meredith College in 1913. At the time of her death she was known throughout the state and afar as a noted author of feature articles, short stories, plays, and novels, and as a capable teacher of creative writing. Her many friends, with love and esteem, continued to call her ““Miss Kelly’* — such was her close fellowship and accessibility. She touched and influenced others. Home of Bernice Kelly Harris 190 Governor’s Award, since it was established by the legislature for outstanding achievement in literature in North Carolina. In 1968 Meredith College honored her with a gold seal pin as a distinguished alumna. Also she received honorary Doctor of Literature degrees from the Wake Forest University and the University of North Carolina at Greensboro. There were other tributes. Her personal contributions and services in the community with hurch and civic life that evaluated. Truly, she was one of Northampton County and were such they cannot be most distinguished valuable citizens. J.G. L. Crocker i , F , os tile i Gig me: ays Te, é Rhee * -_ & Le i 9 ee es oF a apg : < te. Bey P ad * @ dee é igo ve Crocker a 4 oe Among the most influential and beloved citizens ol Seaboard in the latter part of the 19th century was Mr. J. G. L. Crocker, a man of great vision and ability. He was born in Seaboard on June 29, 1850, the son of Joseph and Annie Maria Buffaloe Crocker. He attended school in a one-room log building near Cyprus Swamp where there were only benches with no backs and a large fireplace across one wall. His teacher was Mr. Lewis Foster, father of Mr. Frank Foster, a well-known the community. His education was interrupted by the Civil War. but he was a great reader and became well-versed educator -in Seaboard in many areas. Mr. Crocker was in the mercantile business for many years, first in the firm of Crocker and Maddrey, and later as Crocker and Harris. Mr. Crocker held the office of County Treasurer for many years and served as county commissioner, a member of the County Board of Education, the first president of The Farmers Bank of Seaboard, a charter member of the Seaboard Masonic Lodge and a_= steward, and Sunday School Superintendent of the Seaboard Methodist Church. He served in all these capacities with honor and distinction. 19] Mir. Crocker Was married to Miss Nettie KF utrell on May 21, 1879, sons and one daughter. and there were born to this couple six Mr. Crocker died on January 22, 1920, leaving a host of triends and a rich heritage to his oe his his counsel were sought on many matters. He Was ‘amily and to ; | .] } o,e : community. He was a highly respected citizen, and ana Known tor neeaq advice his generosity and Kindness to any person in Henry Russell Harris my Rg ple ag hg Henrv Russell Harris HENRY RUSSELL HARRIS was born in Northampton County on July 8th, 188) He was the son of William Fxum and Bashaba Boyce Harris. He graduated with an A. B. Degree from Wake F« rest College in 1903. where he was an outstanding athlete. He studied banking under Colonel Burgwyn at Rich Square and in 1906 helped organize The Farmers Bank of Seaboard. Cashier from 1906 to 1920 and as until his death. Although he was not listed in the bank’s He served there as President from then resources, his good judgment, sound policies, and wise counsel He headed four War Bond drives, using his time and energy unselfishly, doing what he thought was his patriotic were its greatest assets. duty. From 1915 to 194] the board. During the earlier part of this period Seaboard had he served on local school a Special Tax District which enabled Seaboard to become one of the best schools in the State. Seaboard was one of the first schools to have Vocational Agriculture. In the Seaboard Baptist Church he served as Sunday School superintendent, as Secretary and Treasurer, and for many years as a Deacon. In civic activities he served as Town Councilman for 10 years, during which time substantial progress was made = ll es se IN AAP CC TERA OS Bs LEMS SEE IRE RG IA LET SEARLES POT IE” Bil AB PEAT PEI AT SO a ICS AYR ITI AF ¥ : SE RAR FEED PS HPO REET TR I PEE PO ES TEL 4 ta > eed it PER Bis BAT Bat 368 FT PEN RL? LEE EE AEE POR KR OE, OF SETI ti . r, v Pe “ \ } ; me s ar z > re rt . . \ i we = me - AOE NR ARAN 20 8 EEE z K ° % - ee a - “ < LJ " : , _— - “ be > 5 nt 4 = _ = om - = = f . - - “ s . f i 5 _ eT ra . nih 4 . . . . ‘ . ie ~ : : ' ie al of + ae - —_ f 7 F « ae ~ ~ - - - j q ee a MW i a . ; “ . § mane . . j ~ -~ = ec . — . 5 4 = r - - ” a é ‘ ee 5 fe 5 * b « a & a @ - f a i Ry v = 1 : 7 ‘ Pie: ~ - < _ * g q } . — ‘ » | s “ j S * t we A ~ 3 « . ye re f 2 j < 4 -— \ aaneed ~ ~ = , ne ad < ; : + J S “a . — “ - — 7 - a cad ” ~ ~~ a - om - — - ee — F i. ns _ - : - 2 “~ m 4 - j ~ “ steal ‘ = 7 - - ~~ . . = ~ il oe . ; . ~ # a 4 -_ - w — _ % we - - » « a“ _ ¥ i “ ’ = “_ ~ " em “= Ps - ? < ; - at - ‘ “ K _ ie... - j _- ‘ as J r Y 3 one emo er * < a . < as . — f i & ~~ " —~ a - - ' . in s “ - - . i - a i me © ~ a = 4 apc he - aa — » as - My ema y . < aa ’ . f s » < od ~ ' - . 1 wy - = . ——~ ~ a J % a 4 os = > - - J poe - J —_ ~ J i. aS L 4 — - ‘ a - f i % ” - auf L » = “~ . , L me hn if - ~ ~~ - _- - i a - - aa A ’ — a a ” ; —~ 4 | io \ es ‘ % > ~ . “ w= i. ‘ = J weer ae > i , “ > - —— bs _ J . = ef _ = . dmaed = - 4 - od a + - + - —~ , ’ - = i - 7 wd -" - _ ~ f ~ 3 J ‘ “ — a 4 : f — ce P . - amy j 4 € gt -_ 4 a - -~ ~ it a ~ - — — ’ : 4 " om J 4 ‘ 2 nt —pnne wn _ =e od ¢ - — ~ a ” i g : . — a 7 “ ’ = - ween ; ; , - = a ~ 4 Fi ¥ _ - . f = —— i ; _ = * a > ba “ae” ; ; 7 < ¢ a » - « o— ‘ ' — id = a poe a " - - “ + j f ‘ * a a J — - - “ a a bas . - if - mtn - “ ™ — > = — e pus —_ same _ = - j + ; tom ts ~~ . we ar —_ J ~ ~~ _ , ” : 2 - — ~ - a oad + - . - carer et i be s i put —~ ~ J * 7 - —~ ~ . — ; . - a 7 ‘ - — - atmo - ow “ “ a iy ~ ~ . - “ - a ~ ~ a ~ = poe » .. ~ pat . = 4 vu < + a * “ ~* ee = => . + , ™ _ ~ » a —_ a é & - —~ _ , = s a . = a, o os _ - mvt _ a 4 me » _ 4 ~ —s 0 bes * . . - , ~ — , ‘ a ~ -* a ~ -- J p= ° ” * ~—_ — + _ — 4° o—_ oa pa - - | a 4 - - ¥ » fnoons sf a A¢ - » ’ >. oe ee ' =_— . _ _ : 3 me ~ . - , pm s pa f Sone : ua 4 won - = 7 =~ me . st . 7S = - ~ ~ om. ~ e pat - " on - - 4 — “ . * mi _ —_ quam ~— < J ~~ i ant > teal L hace f ~ - ~~ a) ~— - - =. m “ 4 a —— — ~ — oan o . “ em “ - oy 7 + wee aee _— 2 | 7 ~ = = -_ | — - ~ - 7 = - > on “ * - ™ — in — 4 ~ = i ad - aad Sd —o om 7 _ = ake a oo DN Yo Se a or “ae p= a bk . a ‘ £ ~ en - 4) * : - ~ - > OF « & 7-7 = — Pat -“ O a : > = ” ~ ~ —_— - ind i) —d al “ aon - _ od —_ , a ~ woe : _ — — o' = one ~ a ~ © om * ~— ¢ h o Z - - ~ “ . — = s ae! _ “ ee mnie = =, me ” a hee = a vemos _ Ea - —s ba ~ spe as oi r ~ @ * a e = b. 3 - team = FA ~ - > ; - _ - 4 ea _ —~ ee é - = ~~ — = — ~~ a a - -" ’ ’ a - ‘ J com ' - _ —~ ~—— — ~ . — _ ~ eed - - y = ~~ ~~ ad ae Sonali ~ _ J ~ ~ , — Ss * rs ; “ > x = : = S g 4 * od . — ~ mm =~ © « nes | «a aod ~— a - a _ i — ” a Retend saline od + te “~ > , ; : ~ - —— ‘e+ ‘ a oe a a ad « a oe — o ame - = ~ - a = = oan - ~ ox: es : J ~ — _ . ~- e one = = ~ - a ~ a - : — E oe “ raat ‘ ~~ = a - poms ~ J 2 L - — ‘ thes _f - mms ~~ eed oe ——— - _ 7. - _ ae = - | “ a — ». ~ iL i 4°) . ane ~ pan . >| * ¢ “ —_ ~—— r= we ral - ~ a ” mt 4 a =| | a pee s p< yo = = —_ - a ~ g o ™ f — ro , J > 4 Pte a _— —- a0 ~ we ~ a) o oe 7 ~ ; ~ vw _ “ j a .§ See a 4 - on ms > pes = 2 j meme Ms a a & ~e h— f 1 CO a a J — — — - r emcees af 7 . ao te an tilen . = _ 3 > : ~~ e = ane _ ome im ¢ eons a ae — = aera - o > 7 a - -— . ~ asa ~~ —_ ~~ J = ay =s = , ne = . - na . - out = . aon en! © ou ot — ou a - ~ — - 7 as m~ < = y see ~ 7 —— ae - — —— = - — — pa — s - ’ ws ~ ¥~- ae ha S —- wa eS ~ ated ~~ pan - - - —~ * —_ . - ¥ * sed — — 4°! ant pa J = aa - ond nd r- ate et pm a . i . 4 ee » - > > Ne = 4 « ~ - _ — — “7 es f ~ - - om = ’ a — - oa a 1 —< - al ee “s ae. om) rom ~ — RPA A EE AE El ala IS Pat A MEST ROE RCIA BASE BE eA SOO AE tet OS nT Re a A ame OP ate On Radel EL Sas RR TERM aE bi RD OAL BORE A NOM EEE 00 RIG Se AMES EMO DORI BaP AA ENT IES De ie PE EL ET EE NG IR ee ID Ia ett A ek RN RR 5 ST 3 RE Aik Oh, eS SRE Rtg nal) Nee REE TLS SE AEE AAR NTI RE ae ORR IE TE 0 > SEAR OR ONT AIS NG DLO NT NC NETS OE NP en Set es se ee oe ee ae Sl be FO PEE SDE LE OO ee ee ae ee a ee Methodist Episcopal Church, South; as a Master of Seaboard Lodge Number 378; as a Shriner and Knights Templar; as a member of Laurel Camp W. O. W. Number 486: and as President of the Northampton County Medical Society 1920-21. He was active in the North Carolina Medical Association and was a fellow of the American Medical Association. Dr. Parker strongly supported good public schools and at the time of his death was a trustee of the University of North Carolina. Left to Right: Mrs. Bertha Joyner Parker, Carl Putnam Parker, Jr. and Helen Parker Smith Dr. Parker married Bertha Helen Joyner, the daughter of Sheriff Hinton Lee Joyner and Helen Bridgers Joyner. Their four children are Helen Bridgers (Mrs. Clarence McKittrick Smith, Newberry, South Carolina); Carl Putnam Parker, Jr., M. D., Salisbury, North Carolina; Sarah Constance (Mrs. Frank Bancroft Thomas, Raleigh, North Carolina); and Marshall Joyner Parker, Seneca, South Carolina. Dr. Parker’s widow still lives in Seaboard as one of the town’s outstanding and colorful citizens. She was a charter member and first president of the Woman’s Club of Seaboard. was active in the American Legion Auxiliary, and was nominated for the North Carolina Mother of the Year Award. She is active in the Northampton County Library, the Northampton County Historical Society, and in the Seaboard United Methodist Church, currently serving as a member of the Board of Stewards. She was honored with a life’s membership in the Woman's Missionary Society and by having one of the church circles named for her. 193 ee ee —_ - . - : = ee Sete Bet ates tet of ht ket de hie e ae eed Mount Zion Baptist Church and Jonesboro Community The black people of the Jonesboro Community worshiped about one mile from the present church site without being organized. The people were given the present site by a white landowner in 1865. Aaron Good, who was a member of his former master’s church, organized the church, which was known as Mount Zion. Long logs were cut and used for seats; with tops of trees a brush arbor was built. As time moved on, a small church was built. Rev. Richard Walden was the first pastor. He served for many years. When he became ill, Rev. S. G. Newsome, who was a member of the church, served as pastor. Several years later Rev. Hiram Clements was called to serve as pastor. Rev. Clements served until 1920. In 1921 Rev. F. L. Bullock of Enfield was elected as pastor. He still serves. Only four ministers are recorded as pastors of the church that serves the community between Margarettsville and Seaboard. Pharoah Jones bought land and built the first house of boards in the community. As a result the community was called Jonesboro. The school for blacks was on the church ground for many years. As time moved on, an acre of land was pur- chased on the Hannah Jordan tract of land, and a one-room school was built and named Jonesboro. Jonesboro school erew to two rooms by 1914. The two rooms served the community until the Rosewald Fund became available. Then Richard Ivey sold the School Board two acres of land on rural road 1325, where a four-room school was built. In the early 1900’s almost all of the land of the community was owned and cultivated by blacks. Richard Ivey built a country store where people went to buy their everyday needs, to play checkers, and to discuss the events of the day. However, Sundays found every family attending Sunday School at Mount Zion. No one black wants to claim credit for the progress of the community, but the “Team Work” which started when the community was organized in 1865 has caused the community and church to survive many difficult times. Since the schools have been consolidated, one of the Ivey heirs bought the old Jonesboro school and donated it to the community for a Community Center, which serves many uses. People to Remempber-- Seaboard W. D. BARBEE — Principal of Seaboard High School for fifteen years, beginning 1913 — Supervisor Vocational Education for North Carolina — Member, North Carolina Legislature — Active member of Seaboard Baptist Church — Director of Farmers Bank of Seaboard — community leader aR TE RO ORR RO SA AT TT TN A VSP i 5 | R. W. EDWARDS — Prominent merchant for fifty years Seaboard | Active in Seaboard Methodist Church — Director of Legislators: Judges: | Farmers Bank of Seaboard for half century H. R. Harris Ee Da Ler MRS. RUTH VICK O'BRIEN — Leader in community ~s iS x — a esi affairs — Teacher at Seaboard High School for 15 years — W. E ce Writers: Active member of Seaboard Methodist Church iit eek i Mrs. Bernice Kelly Harris Doctors: F DR. M. R. STEPHENSON — “Horse and Buggy’ doctor Dr. M. R. Stephenson Historic Buildings: for many years practicing over a wide area around Dr. Carl P. Parker Ramsav House Seaboard — Trustee of local school for many years — Dr. C. L. Vick Concord Church Active member of Seaboard Methodist Church Dr. J. W. Parker Mt. Carmel Church Dr. Edward Boone MRS. R. M. MADDREY — Active in Seaboard Baptist Dr. Crocker Maddrev Church — Writer for early county newspapers under name Dr. J. N. Ramsay of “Old Zick” Dr. Robert Stancell : Dr. R. B. Blowe PAUL H. ROSE Founder of Rose’s Stores — lived in Dr. T. J. Stephenson Seaboard during his boyhood and young manhood days — His first store was a lemonade stand on legs, operated in 1 R Bary Seaboard and carried to various locations by his father H. X. arris, Jr. G. F. Crocker FRANK FOSTER — First superintendent of Northampton Luther Bass County Schools — At one time Checker Champion of wide Willie Mack Faison area F. R. Harris C. T. Johnson, Jr. Lawyers: Paul H. Rose President and Founder of Rose's Stores Mrs. Pauline Joyner Hart Postmistress in Seaboard = : around 1900 = my se teta Met ta tt TE TET k Hiatt: i a aR Ar apt ay a vita} Mae Ty 194 =. ey a Le AN OE ER A ER A OE RBA Te aA en SSSTEPETER ES ee seine 5 cia hahdoes ia bea Snes in tee gg patna House and Family Group in Seaboard, 1892 Margarettsville One of the earliest settlements in Northampton County was in Margarettsville, near the Virginia border. Settlers from Greensville and Southampton counties in Virginia followed the Meherrin River in the late 1600's and early 1700’s and found fertile lands for farming. The community was officially named ‘‘Margaret’”’ when an official of the Seaboard railroad came there to inspect the railroad after the line from Portsmouth, Virginia, to Margarettsville was completed. Upon learning that the community had no name, he named it Margaret for an attractive young native girl, Margaret Jordan. Residents later added the “‘tsville’, making it the longest name of any postal town in the state. About one mile from Margarettsville is a crossroads which took its name from the once-prominent plantation, Diamond Grove. The plantation crossroads once had a post office, established January 25, 1827 (said to be the first in the county). In 1836 the name of the post office was changed to Margarettsville. Diamond Grove was also a stage stop and trade center. The plantation was named Diamond Grove because its structures stood among a grove of oak and elm trees planted in the shape of a diamond. Two old houses remain to attest to their original features. One is a Revoluntionary period frame home of two stories, a ‘jump’, and shedrooms. The other, built later, is a spacious two-story rectangular-shaped home, built in front of the older one. Diamond Grove was owned by Dr. William J. Johnson before the Civil War. Dr. Johnson was noted for making the plantation a horse racing and social center. The property today belongs to the J. E. Piland heirs. Near Diamond Grove is another relic of the past, the forsaken manor house of a Captain Rogers. However, on the road between Diamond Grove and Cross-Lox (also called Lots, now Severn) is the well-kept 18th century Georgian home built by the Branch family, later owned by the Rogers family and known as the Rogers Home, and now owned by the Joe Gay family. 196 To the northwest of Margarettsville is Turners Crossroad, once the site of several stores and plantation homes and gaiety rivaling that of Diamond Grove. Only two of these homes are standing: the ““Doc’’ Stancell house and one owned now by Richard O. Glover. The latter was formerly a Methodist parsonage, later the home of John Green Stancell. The Margarettsville community, which extends about three miles, has two churches: the Sharon Methodist Church begun in 1839, and Margarettsville Baptist Church founded in 1889. The Baptist church was destroyed by the August, 1932, tornado. The present Sharon church was dedicated in 1955, replacing its old 1870 structure. In the past the community had several stores, a lumber company, and a baby-crib factory owned by the Gray brothers. Today there are only two grocery stores and several agricultural businesses, including a gin and three peanut buying stations. Although Margarettsville is a quiet, rural community today, it can point with pride not only to its rich past, elegant social life, and rich farm land, but to its having the county's first early twentieth century brick school. Another of its firsts in the county is its being the only place in the county where a President of the United States has stopped and talked. President Benjamin Harrison, while traveling through by train on a hot day, stopped briefly, and strolled to the shaded lawn of the Spivey home near the tracks. In his rolled-up shirt sleeves and red suspenders, he talked informally to the small crowd that gathered. One old timer says, “Perhaps Margarettsville has seen its better days, but we love it as it is”. The remark is borne out by the fact that many former residents retire there. many history buffs visit there to see the old plantation-style homes, and many people come to search for Meherrin Indian artifacts. Margarettsville is more than a wide place on Highway 186. _ ™< oak i] $ BESO i MeL B.S MN ER NP ESLER ON IVA PRE GOIN. EAE OI ces EAPO EE ROTO SLL IE BEET He} were ads be Ne Ot + x ais ca GEO RE IPT RE Lean EEL EELS 2 TLS EI BOOB LIE seers eereuereet a tee I I A HET LL OL LEE EOI LLL LADLE t 8 § § Hi bf ! 8 a Fi aed Be Wats PD ‘Lay rt Ne aa aS A RH ant Se WaPasSaR FRET “wrome Pa se area a a iS + Cea A Tia ea A Bi aa as EAE ARRAY EINE ATRUF NEA RE AIRS NE GTO A RAE AEE IES BEN a iN RITE! PRINTER aN Fh BRR cer eR 2 SR me Dr. J.N. Ramsay Essay On Patriotism Written In Chapel Hill March 1, 1855 “Patriotism is the love of one’s country; that devoted attachment which stimulates man’s heart and puts in his veins the strength of a Lion. It is a flame in man’s bosom, though when dying out will rekindle at the slightest touch and flash with sparkling luster when the cause of country is intimated.”’ ee neh eee hat cleawk ok 4a Monet ee “Gh «EES See pine ores carat - Ce eet a ee eer tt ree ere eae Sen FE aaa gas eae pe ee TOL Sa . a . ee : Os ee eS ae ee EO athena 2 Se OI A DOO Te a ae cerns Bee ieee SD glia OE SPER EE OOD: nee oe =~ piace Sees = ae ima ; Ror a a ee are eer - = 5" BE oe, bed east gt Be Dad wieder nna ee a ae ee Fe ened neal 54 Fier eerie eae Pa as ae one ates a oad - ae ee eee —t aie an oe eet ene er a NR 0 yt — — — an Ted a ee wi ne ee eee ee ee ee ero a an oye heen _ A i gh Re Ee Be ES EPR LE SL ORE ae OP ae Oe em E * ae ~ r- : - = + * " fone + eres Puig? z a eng ag A Pee etal Sah 2 “ = nose er = ae = earn hee eer) i “3 — fat ha Cag a so nanan penn onal ae aren a ade Se ae Re ea nae Be hae Pa Pe pe ot ee Oe poset ses a AF a ie Si oe pee one nies A435 of “ed Fed Fae + =. es x 3 ia 7 ener ats - - a _ 7 ,. 3 ms ee a . . 7 re é * a &. — erect POSER ; — pnp geen Te ene a OR aT A I hy nr enn ace te oe RR EOD CE LT ee ree eters ts eR ET MEET oe —o , . > , _ 2 epee A SHS EEREGEE LAER ES CLEP RT Ee Pe en dan ae ene a ea OTS AT a LO SO I LO NL che ioe 2 aah are rotons 0 gee oooh cette pontine ghd atogt ae Faas eens z 3 : ee ee ELIE Meet Ae On Le Le Oe ee ee ee Eee eee Pe 3 Lescay pigisse ree reee cere a a ee aa EE EE EE EAN SE eee ee re Bre ree ee oes pe Oe I a eg RR Sr Te eR ee aE a IE Fr re a ehe his seit ie easels eae eats “Soa ’ { } : i \ 7 | | : } _ a = >= Ae Se Se OO = te 4 Sr = . ee NEA et et ma nee ome a + eta ns Se a tT at a a ad ‘ ag et pep mtn oe ck mee set pms ra = = — - a bc eb aes ee eae pas shes a — ee nthe once — ne ee ae Te eR AE I ITE OP PI EAE RE ED REE TG pay tones, : ss ee xt See een © Og ade Negra re haat an ot a bn een Pete Nhe tego at a pe wart Pete the Se ee anlage tea ahaa, Sc en See ee en ae oe oe aes nn aS ce pe me oe a AO OO I IS OL OE ee gna Pll adres Pinner oe oe ee gate oe see oe he Oe TO sind tae e ne OS eae : ing ie aT SE eee, ED Sale doo Peete Bema Ne eS lees Sah 5 8 aS RA cg Saag ND PN I Le aie . Se AT Pts ae See eee ETO NA Ce Pa A EN TN ee Fae Sn In addition to the names listed as contributors to this book I would like to express my great appreciation to all of the commissioners who have helped make this book possible and especially to Mr. Jasper Eley, chairman, who has taken special interest and followed it through to completion. I would like to thank the library and staff for allowing us to use the Buxton room as our headquarters and for all of their patience and help during our two month stay. Thank you’s are extended to each member of the Bicentennial Committee for the diligent work and research they have put into this project. { appreciate the work of Polly Eley and Gen Stanley as secretaries to myself as editor of this book. I would like to thank the photographers who graciously gave their time and talents in capturing many of these pictures for our use. I would also like to thank the Registrar of Deeds office, the Clerk of Court’s office, the Farm Bureau, and Mr. Ellen and the County Auditor's office for their time and help. To Tob” Powell and the Herald Printing House office 1 say thanks for their time and efforts in making this book possible. Knowing it is impossible to name everyone who has had a part in putting together this book I wish to thank each and every contributor. This book could not have been done without the combined efforts of numerous people. E Cal Witt E. Carl Witt Editor CONTRIBUTORS TO Footprints in Northampton Mrs. Taney Brazeal Miss Polly Eley — secretary to editor Miss Gen Stanley — secretary to editor Mr. John Powell North Carolina Department of Archives Mr. James Elliot Moore Mr. Thad Eure Mr. A. J. P. Edwards Mrs. Frances Ramsay Magee Mrs. Bettie Harris Eastwood Mrs. Nettie Alice Taylor Moody Mrs. Nancy W. Crocker Mrs. Mary T. Carlton Mrs. Mildred C. Westbrook Miss Zenobia Harris Mrs. Helen Bridgers Parker Smith Mr. Christy L. Cleaton Mrs. Bertha Joyner Parker Mr. Henry Russell Harris, Jr. Mrs. Olive Kelley Mrs. Rosalie Upchurch Mr. Lawrence McDaniel Ramsay Mrs. M. N. Carpenter, Jr. Dr. M. Crocker Maddrey Rev. J. P. Morgan Mrs Russel Vaughan Mrs. Fannie Bryant Mrs. James Bridgers Miss Lola Wheeler Mr. Walter V. Daughtry Mrs. Jessie Holoman Daughtry Mrs. Essie Warren Mrs. Therman Lassiter Miss Rebecca Long Mrs. A. C. Gay Mr. Roy F. Lowry Dr. Henry W. Lewis Mrs. E. S. Bowers Mr. P. Alston Lewis Mrs. P. A. Lewis Mrs. Katherine Moody Good Judge Ballard S. Gay Mrs. Rod Jordan Mr. J. Roy Parker, Jr. Mrs. Bertha J. Parker Mrs. Louise B. Parker Jackson Book Club Mrs. John Wesley Parker Dr. Bernice Kelly Harris Mr. Curtis Bass Mr. and Mrs. W. G. Long Roanoke-Chowan Times Mr. and Mrs. Grady Bridgers Mrs. Russell Johnson, Sr. Mr. and Mrs. Frank Meacham Froelich Column ‘“‘Owl’s Nest” Mrs. T. T. Stephenson Mrs. Aileen Autrey Brown-Griffen Dr. Gilbert T. Stephenson Miss Louise Boone Mrs. E. B. Grant Mrs. Miriam Pruden Mr. Russell Johnson, Jr. Mrs. Frances H. Parker Mr. Q. J. Stephenson Registrar of Deeds Office Clerk of Court Office Mr. Bartlett Roper Burgwyn Mrs. W. W. Grant Mrs. Boyd Robinson Miss Lucy Ellis Mrs. R. O. Harris Rev. Charles Morrison Bob Robinson Mrs. Bernice Shearin Mrs. Geneva Blacknall High Mrs. Catherine Robinson Mr. Hansel Johnson Mr. Thomas G. Joyner Mr. Wilson W. Handing Mrs. Mary R. Kelton Mr. Jacob L. Rice Mr. Robert B. Robinson, III Mr. Jack Faison Mr. S. G. Baughan Mrs. Lois Outland Mr. and Mrs. Edward Hollowell Mrs. Clara Leake Mrs. Olive Askew Mr. and Mrs. W. C. Conner Miss Alice Elliott Mrs. Dorothy Outland Mr. Ronald Brown Mr. Manning P. Cooke 204 Miss Mabel Branch Mrs. Ruby Bishop Scott Mrs. Joanna Maggett Mrs. Viola T. Bishop Ms. Maizie Calvert Boone Mrs. O. B. Spaulding Mrs. Fannie T. Newsome Mr. and Mrs. W. S. Creecy, Jr. Mr. M. C. Ashe Rev. L. O. Saunders Mr. Marvin Eric Barrow Mr. Rodney Barfield Mrs. R. Jennings White, Sr. Mrs. R. Jennings White, Jr. Mrs. Gilbert Stephenson Dr. and Mrs. R. Kelly White Mr. and Mrs. Abner Lassiter Dr. and Mrs. J. A. Fleetwood, Sr. Dr. and Mrs. J. A. Fleetwood, Jr. Mr. John Raynor Woodard Mrs. Rod Jordon Mr. Wilson Bridgers Mr. Jerry Hedspeth Mrs. Edward Womble Mrs. Will Stephenson Mrs. J. B. Stephenson, Jr. Mr. Dudley Barnes Miss Ola Mae Johnson Mr. Frank Womble Mrs. Willia P. Futrell Miss Janie Revelle Mr. Obed Futrell Mrs. Janie Shearin Mrs. Taney Brazeal W. Guthrie Maddry Mrs. Irma Odom Miss Brownie Coker Mrs. J. M. Attkinson Mrs. Margaret B. Cooley Mr. Felton Turner Judge Robert Martin Mrs. Effie Strickland Mr. L. C. Copeland Judge W. H. S. Burgwyn Mr. Bruce Lassiter Miss Rachel Brown DOP RI . EEE e—~v_V_V_—V_Vv—CV_VCC ellen CRON AE BLS. NEAR A ICN EG 8 A RRO I cr PERE NED OEY GACT ARIES TIERED RE APOGEE NT ORT OEE ES LEE ET AL OL EF DNL ONL RDS LL OPE CE RE fe aoe, ED. Vine ANU LUO NR I A EAA NEES i SAAS LL ABE ALD STUER ME LSE YALU AN AM IEE ADE Nk NAAN PODER REO LOREEN STEELY LE LEILA ERE LLL OEE LD SELINGER EE AMEE CELE A ET OER SR RET OLA OF ARIA a aS ME A GI ak PRE ROSS NPE VOR SUES DOES LAAT IETS: PHOTO CREDITS Mr. Jerry Hedspeth Mr. John Litchfield Miss Jan Raby Mr. Lee Hansley Mr. E. Wright Emory, Jr. COVER DESIGN Miss Gen Stanley Picture of Polly Eley and Gen Stanley, as secretaries, . working on “Footprints In Northampton.’ 205 Pid ee. Kore eee ean RCN Stk. cuenta ie Be hore Bete re : Soe sigialtse rane ght Ee A MMR ARES ein HS ees =a aa eons oe Pe Fe hi ie ee 5 = ee eet ty z te si 7 Pee 2 See ee = = ’ a _ A _ _ en ee ens te ” — a = _ - ae = —_ - = — — *3 ~~ Se as Sg ES a. eee ee a — = =~ Se Se A — ssi Binas ee eer 2 os mene ohn ? ; é Judge Y nM. Burgwyr Sr be ths noun sino seen 2 ae e J P ; 1 Frances Vid yette Charles Y Bridgers., IT] Velma Harvey Aiea iaaeman ie Nth isthe 206 a PERE PG LIED TNA AAO ETE SAG ANNE NN eR IRIE PRT MCR EIR NS AL METRE EEE ST 1 ae SETH RRR, EET OST LTE fonee Ci TRY CHE I: Hy LE PE LE REE RT HE Nac AS BT PE DA Rie TE PS, TES IRI EE x 3 » PRE IER IL LIE AE NENG IE FT BIR ERE TR ME TS SIM spt & " ; ~ ‘ e 3 ~ ae “gaye Y é Jutland ‘ | Dorothy ae 5 A FR ERR OO TRAE IO TTR RENEE AS ET AMO AN ALE POTN E LEAL. LLP DN EEL LEE LLDEE ET AMEE $y a REET abeth Harris had Alt Vet dl Stanley oo Notes 208 =~. 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