Articles in regional publications that pertain to a wide range of North Carolina-related topics.
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for "Kammerer, Roger"
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23454
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James Sherrod May was born in 1830 in Beaver Dam Township in Pitt County. His brother, Blaney Harper May, was born in 1836, in the same location. After moving several times with their family and receiving a local education, the two brothers each became farmers in Greene and Pitt counties, respectively. With the coming of the Civil War, both brothers joined the Confederate Army. Blaney enlisted in the 7th N.C. Volunteers in the spring of 1861 and was subsequently captured at Hatteras Island in August of that year. After he was imprisoned in New York and Massachusetts for several months, Blaney re-enlisted in May of 1862. Stationed at Petersburg, Virginia, he was mortally wounded and died in September of 1864. James May enlisted in the 63rd North Carolina in July of 1862 and was stationed in Wilmington. He died of \"brain fever\" in January of 1864. Luckily, the resting places of both brothers are known today; Blaney is buried in a Confederate cemetery in Petersburg, while James is buried beside his father, Rev. William Henry May, on the banks of Contentnea Creek in Pitt County.
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23455
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In 1901, the Greenville Banking and Trust Company was created when it established an office on Evans Street. At the time of its inception, the bank was headed by president Larry L. Moore and had a capital stock of $10,000. During the first quarter of the 20th Century, the bank expanded its business, catering to local farmers and merchants, and its capital, which reached nearly $150,000 by 1927. Throughout its early years, the bank was known for its lavishly decorated buildings and its security-conscious staff. With the coming of the Great Depression, many banks in Eastern North Carolina were forced to close their doors; the Greenville Banking and Trust Company, because of its good business practices and enormous stock of available capital, was able to survive and even expand. As the bank expanded into nearby communities such as Bethel and Snow Hill, its officers decided that a name change was in order. In 1938, the bank was renamed the Guaranty Bank and Trust Company. During the 1940s and 50s, the company continued to expand its business and became the largest bank in Eastern North Carolina with nearly $30,000,000 in assets. In 1960, the same year that the company built a new branch on the corner of West Fifth and Washington Streets in Greenville, Wachovia Bank and Trust Company showed interest in merging with the local institution. The merger became a reality later that year and the Guaranty Bank and Trust Company ceased to be.
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Record #:
23456
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In April of 1901, the Odd Fellows association of Bethel held a large lodge meeting. In attendance were fellow members from Greenville, Parmele, and Robersonville. The meeting took place at the Bethel Methodist Church and included a speech by Professor W.H. Ragsdale on the organization and intent of the Odd Fellows as well as an enormous outdoor dinner consisting of enough barbeque, ham, and chicken to feed nearly 400 people. Following the meeting, some members from outside of Bethel took a walk into town in order to find whiskey but discovered to their horror that the town of Bethel was a dry community and no liquor was available.
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23457
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The author gives a series of local stories which include the collapse of the drawbridge over the Tar River in Greenville in 1899. Apparently, the accident occurred during a test of the newly repaired and renovated structure. As the span fell, five workers were thrown into the water. Although four of the men were rescued, John Worsley of Rocky Mount was killed in the accident. The Wednesday Afternoon Club was organized by a group of young ladies from Greenville in 1910. Meeting in Miss Helen Forbes's home, the club's purpose was to encourage the ladies' practice of domestic arts, such as cooking. The old beech tree on the corner of Washington and Third Streets in Greenville was cut down in 1908 by the city because it was blocking the sidewalk. The age of the tree was unknown, but it must have been old indeed considering that even the oldest person in town could not remember when it was planted. There was a fight in 1901, between two local boys, Hill Horne and Hassell Daniel, over the water pump in the yard of the Forbes' house in Greenville. Brandishing a small knife, Hassell stabbed Hill in the chest. Luckily for Hill, his breastbone stopped the knife from going very far. Jim Anderson, a friend of the two boys, quickly broke up the fight. M.R. Lang, a Greenville merchant, devised something new for the ladies of the town in 1891. In his store, Lang had a box with a large bell attached to it. When a lady placed a penny into the slot on the top of the box and a handkerchief under the bell, the bell rang and a small amount of perfume was sprayed onto the handkerchief.
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Record #:
23458
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In 1994, William B. Kittrell and a few dedicated genealogists created The Pitt County Family Researchers (PCFR). This organization works to find and document Pitt County related family histories and genealogy throughout North Carolina and the United States. The Pitt County Courthouse burned in the late 1850s, making the task of collecting documents quite difficult.\r\nThe PCFR initially met in local churches and at Pitt Community College, however, the group ran out of space for its collections and moved it to the Sheppard Memorial Library in Greenville in 2001. After 10 years of growth and service to the community, the PCFR continues to seek out information relating to Pitt County genealogy and holds monthly meetings at the Sheppard Memorial Library. Additionally, the group sponsors yearly reunions for those who seek help in discovering their family's history.\r\n
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Record #:
23459
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Grigg T. Tyson (1854 - 1922) was a farmer near Ballard's Crossroads, and one of the first to advocate planting cover crops and saving the forests. He organized the Tyson - May Family reunion in 1920. Mrs. Grigg T. Tyson III donated narratives, maps, and other old papers of Grigg T. Tyson to the East Carolina Manuscript Collection, J.Y. Joyner Library, East Carolina University. This column is about Tyson's father, who orphaned when his entire family died from the typhoid fever.
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Record #:
23460
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As Pitt County becomes more urban, historic landmarks are disappearing. Pulling out an old map can help us remember the "obscure and unusual places" of Pitt County's past. Kammerer gives a large list of names of places and communities in Pitt County of which most no longer exist. This article features in particular, the towns of Keelsville, Toddy, and Maupin.
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Record #:
23461
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The author gives a synopsis of the various schools in Greenville’s history. Beginning with the Graded School in 1903, the Teachers Training School (or Model School) 1913, the first High School building 1916/17, the Fleming Street school burned in 1922 and rebuilt in 1924, West Greenville School on Chestnut Street 1924, fire destroyed the 1916 High School, Wahl-Coates School 1928, the Graded School burned in 1929, Eppes High School 1929, an addition was added to the Third Street School in 1949, South Greenville Elementary School 1950, and Rose High School 1957.
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Record #:
23462
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Kinchen Jahu Carpenter, a native of Rutherford County, N.C., served in Company I of the 50th North Carolina Regiment during the Civil War. During his service, from May 1862 to May 1865, Carpenter kept a diary of his experiences. The diary mentions numerous events, such as Carpenter's first days in training at Camp Mangum, the 50th's fighting in the Seven Day's battles near Richmond, as well as several expeditions in Eastern North Carolina. Carpenter mentions Greenville many times, as his regiment conducted numerous operations in the surrounding region in 1863, from Kinston to New Bern to Washington, always trying to outmaneuver the Union troops garrisoned in around New Bern and the along the coast. Carpenter and his regiment were sent west to Georgia in 1864, but returned to North Carolina to fight at the Battle of Bentonville in March 1865. The men of the 50th North Carolina, including Carpenter, received paroles on May 1, 1865 following the surrender of Lee's and Johnston's armies.
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Record #:
23463
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In 1950, Greenville resident Bryce Cummings, as well as his parents Mr. and Mrs. J.B. Cummings, appeared as characters in a work of western fiction, "Gee Whillikins," written by his aunt Mrs. Adda Mae Sharp of Denton, TX. Mrs. Sharp had already written several school textbooks for the Texas school system, but this was her first attempt at fiction. Later, Mrs. Sharp wrote several more works of fiction, including the Woodland Frolic Series. In February 1922, Greenville businessman George W. Hemby announced that he had patented a new type of coffin. This new coffin would have shelves on which to place flowers, a strip on top to place vases on, and would be easier to lower into the ground, as the ropes would unfasten themselves. Hemby also announced that this design was the newest of its kind anywhere in the county. In Belvoir Township in March of 1900, Mr. Jesse James went to the home of Mr. E.S. Lewis in order to marry his daughter. Mr. Lewis objected to the marriage, but James was not deterred, returning that night with his brother Sam to take Miss Lewis by force. When the two James brothers arrived, a gunfight broke out. No one knows who started the fight, but it ended with Mr. Lewis and Jesse James wounded and Sam James dead. One night in 1911, Greenville residents were awakened by three pistol shots. As it turned out, a possum had gotten into the poultry house of the Manning family. Miss Pink Manning had gone outside to investigate and, upon finding the possum, shot it three times; this caused the neighbors to believe that a burglary was in progress. In 1851, an outbreak of small pox was reported in Pitt County. Several residents suffered from the disease including: Mrs. Zilpha Brown, David House, Rev. Lanier Griffin, John Hardy, Oliver Dixon, Benjamin Cory, and Lewis Smith. In September 1858, sightings of the Aurora Borealis, with its brilliant display of colors, were reported in the skies over Eastern North Carolina. It was also reported that it affected the telegraph wires between Greenville and Tarboro. In May 1901, during a terrible hailstorm, it was reported that nearly 18 inches of black hail fell on W. Hartsfield's farm near Ayden, some of it almost 1.5 inches in diameter. Louis Flake came to Greenville with his family in October 1897 to have their pictures taken. While in the studio, the Flake family had nearly 187 pictures taken altogether, 17 pictures of each family member individually and 17 of Mr. and Mrs. Flake together.
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Record #:
23464
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In 1853, Spencer Harris, one of Pitt County's most affluent planters, built a new plantation house near Falkland Township off modern Highway 121. The house was built in the Greek revival style of the day. When Spencer Harris died in 1872, he left the house to his widow, Margaret, and their youngest son, William. William Harris, a prosperous cattle dealer in Pitt County, lived in the house until his death in 1905. The house then passed to William's brother, John Spencer Harris, who lived in it until 1908. In 1911, William Howard Harris acquired the house from his late father. The Lewis family became the property owners in 1923 and rented it out to the Garris family. In 2000, Judge J.B. Lewis sold the house to Tom and Jeanette Painter, who have restored the structure to its original appearance and grandeur.
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Record #:
23465
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Joe M. Butterworth, a merchant in Bethel in the 1960s, was a WWII navy buddy of President John F. Kennedy. Serving together on \"PT\" boats in the Pacific, Butterworth remembers Kennedy as \"just a fine officer and a fine all round fellow.\" Following the war, Butterworth and Kennedy kept in touch and Butterworth greeted the presidential hopeful when he visited Greenville in 1960.\r\nIn 1891, a trophy was created for the 1890 Baseball Club of Greenville to commemorate their previous season's play. The trophy, constructed by Robert Humber, was made up of a tripod of miniature baseball bats with a game - winning ball suspended beneath it. Mollie Rouse painted each of the players' names on the ball. To this day no one knows what became of the trophy.\r\nIn 1887, the Pitt County jail saw a unique business proposition come its way in the form of horse - trading. An inmate in the jail traded his horse, in the custody of the prison, for the horse of an interested party on the outside.\r\nIn 1903, the local newspaper in Greenville contained an editorial that commented on the lack of manners among the youth of the town. The unknown author, after mentioning several observations as to how Greenville's youth incorrectly acted towards one another, stated that \"we would like to see the present generation of 18 and 20 year olds acquire some of the gentility, grace and dignity of other days.\"\r\n
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Record #:
23466
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Born in 1878, Miss Mabel Barnhill of Bethel, N.C., became one of the state's first female pharmacists. Early on in life, Mabel knew she wanted to become a druggist but, following high school, she was denied entrance to the University of North Carolina because she was a woman. Attending Page's School of Pharmacy in Greensboro instead, Miss Barnhill won her license to practice pharmacy in 1906 and quickly went into business with her uncle in Bethel. When her uncle died in 1912, Mabel inherited the store and in 1917 opened a new store in Bethel known as \"The Matinee Drug Company.\" Said to be ahead of her time in her use of herbs to cure various ailments, Miss Mable Barnhill died 1941, having opened another store in Weldon, N.C..
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Record #:
23467
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In 1952, W.L. Mayo, a Pitt county tobacco and corn farmer, received the honorary title of \"Father of the Year\" by the Cincinnati Junior Chamber of Commerce. The reason Mr. Mayo was chosen for this award was largely due to his investment in his twelve sons and two daughters' education. Working his farm with the help of his family, Mayo was able to help his children pay for college. By 1952, seven children had already graduated, five from N.C. State alone, and two more were enrolled, the rest of the children being too young. Despite the fact that all but one of his sons had chosen fields other than agriculture, Mr. Mayo was not disappointed, as he stated, \"I let them make up their own minds what they want to do.\"
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Record #:
23468
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In 1926, John Lang, an 83-year-old Civil War veteran, spoke of his experiences as a soldier in the 27th North Carolina regiment. His memory brought back the story of the regiment's first colonel, who abandoned his men at Kinston, but was then replaced by Col. Cook, whom Lang and the other soldiers of the regiment liked very much. Mr. Lang spoke of his seeing Robert E. Lee on several occasions, a train derailment in the Virginia mountains, the time during the Battle of the Wilderness when a fellow Confederate soldier stole his ham, as well as the final days of the war when he was assigned to guard a train at Appomattox Station, VA.
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