Articles in regional publications that pertain to a wide range of North Carolina-related topics.
Search Results
552 results
for "Greenville Times / Pitt's Past"
Record #:
22915
Author(s):
Abstract:
Frequent travelers or commuters around Pitt County might have seen the two crossroads on Highway 43, Shelmerdine and Calico. These two crossroads have an interesting history. Shelmerdine began in 1901 and was named after May Shelmerdine, the sweetheart of W.A. West, who owned the local lumber mill. It became a town in 1903, with the lumber company's commissary store serving as the focal point. A 1905 report noted that the population consisted of 325 black residents and 175 white residents. Many Croatan Native Americans and African Americans also came into the town to work for the mill and lived in a small community called "Stumptown." In 1909, the mill burned, and the town began to decline. By 1950, the town had only twenty-nine people. Calico, originally called Calico Hill and noted as being a rough place, was owned primarily by George Washington Venters. His store sold more calico than any other store in the entire county. A post office existed there from 1882 until 1902.
Source:
Subject(s):
Record #:
22916
Author(s):
Abstract:
Many people know or might have known someone regarded and described as ancient. These ancient people are often centenarians. Pitt County has had many and its senior citizens have done some remarkable things. In 1794, William Taylor, age 114, died. Mrs. Frances Jenkins, age 108, died in 1830 and Elizabeth Moore, age 101, died in 1833. A certain Mr. Charles Harris, died in 1860 at 122 years of age. Blaney Baker, age 114, died in 1890. Fred Venters, a black man, was age 105 in 1911. In 1915, two of the oldest twins, James Berry and John Harry Whitehurst, age 77, Civil War veterans, lived at Bethel. There have also been some rather unusual marriages by older people. Some residents have given rise to large families. Jesse Abraham Stocks had 23 children, Reuben C. Bland had 34 children, and Alex Ogman, a ninety-year-old black man in 1940, was living with his nineteenth wife (she was only eighteen) and had forty living children.
Source:
Subject(s):
Record #:
22917
Author(s):
Abstract:
Greenville needed a fire department for many years before 1884, when their leader, Captain S. O. Mason, organized the first company, the Rough and Ready Fire Company. This group of men consisted of forty black volunteers carrying their own buckets. In 1896, the Hope Fire Company was founded. The Greenville Fire Company followed this company in 1902. A united fire company did not occur until A. J. Griffin took over the Hope Fire Company in 1902. After this time, the Hope Fire Company and the Greenville Fire Company united. A. J. Griffin was the first of many fire chiefs of a united fire company in Greenville.
Source:
Record #:
22918
Author(s):
Abstract:
Named after Joseph Lemuel Ballard (1819-1893), this rather small community was known as Walshville in the early 1850s. From February 1854 until November 1860, the post office was known as Pleasant Mount. In 1894 and 1895, the post office was known as "Joseph." Ballard had several stores, owned forty slaves and had bloodhounds to hunt for runaways. Before the Civil War, he buried his money to prevent Yankee thievery, but he was never able to find it after the war. Other people who lived Ballard’s Crossroads included M. A. Rouse, Gahazi Britt (who moved to Brazil with his slaves), John and Aben Slaughter, Henry and Richard Blow, Dr. James M. Hines and Dr. E. J. Blount. In 1872, J. C. Cobb had a store near Ballard’s Crossroads.
Source:
Subject(s):
Record #:
22919
Author(s):
Abstract:
Pitt County has quite a few mineral springs in its past. The most famous mineral spring was St. Andrews Spring, on Arden Nichols farm in Beaver Da township, which was established in 1885. In 1890, there was a spring on the plantation of J. B. Little in Pactolus township. Another famous spring was St. Abram’s Spring, near Ayden, owned by Abram Cox. In 1920, Amuzu Park developed at the lake of the former Forbes' Mill Pond. During this summer, it was so well known that season tickets could be purchased for $10 per man and $5 per woman; admission was free for children. The dam at the park was dynamited in 1927 and the pond was drained.
Source:
Subject(s):
Record #:
22920
Author(s):
Abstract:
Andrew J. Griffin, a Greenville jeweler, served on the CSS Virginia (known as the Merrimac) during its battle against USS Monitor. Griffin organized the Greenville Hook and Ladder Company in 1883. In 1884, Joe Fleming killed an owl with a five foot wing span. In 1885, a fox killed 40 chickens of J. G. Sheppard and 200 others in the neighborhood. In 1902, J. W. Smith, raised a thirty-five-pound collard that was eight feet in circumference at the Pitt County Poor House. In 1908, Jordan Hedgepeth and Perlina E. Cherry got married in a buggy. In 1926, seven Pitt County boys set out to see the world, without their parent’s permission. They wound up in Norfolk, VA where Travelers Aid notified their parents. In 1887, at a church service in Gardnersville, Pitt County, Frank Moore shot at John Coward, missing him and hitting the ministers hat on the pulpit.
Source:
Subject(s):
Record #:
22921
Author(s):
Abstract:
The article offers what the stores had for sale. In 1886 a shipment of oranges from Florida had two grapefruits, the first ever seen in Greenville. Cheap whiskey, wine and Syllabub, made from scuppernong wine and whipping crème, were the popular drinks. While eating oysters and turkey for Christmas dinner, people would enjoy various social activities with firecrackers blasting along with the fun. The social activities included dances, parties, late dinners and jousting competitions. One popular activity was decorating, using cardboard letters, holly, and evergreen to make ornaments and decorations. There were also Mummers and serenaders.
Source:
Subject(s):
Record #:
22922
Author(s):
Abstract:
Boston Boyd was born on Cotanche Street in 1860, the son of Essex and Jennie Boyd, slaves of Abner Boyd. He taught himself to read and write with the Bible. The Bible was almost Boyd's best friend because he used it in everything he did. In his life, he felt he was called to Christ. This righteous service was evident in his work as a Sunday school teacher for thirty-four years and in his books. He wrote three books in his lifetime, all about the power of God. His books are: "The Seven Wonders of the World: Discoveries of the Twentieth Century" (1903), "Search-light on the Bible with Natural Science: Discoveries of the Twentieth Century" (1905), and "Searchlight on the Seventh Wonder: X-ray and Searchlight on the Bible with Natural Science, and Revised Searchlight on the Seventh Day Bible and X-ray, by Organic, Supernatural and Artificial Science: Discoveries of the Twentieth Century" (1924). He also acquired a farm and rented thirty-six houses in Greenville all painted green. He owned a two-story house at 113 Reade Street.
Source:
Record #:
22923
Author(s):
Abstract:
In this collection of local stories, In 1885, two boys beat each other up with pieces of ham and an embalmed whale was exhibited in 1933. Another one is a notice from A. C. Jackson, Sheriff of Pitt County, about the rowdyism on Sundays at the local filling stations in the county. He said he would prosecute the owners and close down the stations on Sundays if they didn’t stop. In 1915, Mrs. E. S. Edwards of Bell Arthur had a three year-old child who smoked cigars for pain. He became known as “Gar-Gar Edwards.”
Source:
Subject(s):
Record #:
22924
Author(s):
Abstract:
Old rags in the Flanagan Buggy Company building may have started the one of the worst fires in Greenville history on Thursday, February 24, 1910. Flames swept through the city traveling north, south, and west destroying everything in its path. Luckily, local firefighters and the grace of God prohibited the flames from traveling eastward. Many local landmarks, including the courthouse and buildings on Evans Street, were lost to this fire. Remarkably, the fire was under control after two hours of fighting. Damages amounted to $15,000.
Source:
Subject(s):
Record #:
22925
Author(s):
Abstract:
A visiting minister, Josephus Daniels, attending a Methodist conference in Greenville in 1931 describes Greenville at the time of his visit. He compares his diary account with George Washington’s diary account of his visit to Greenville.
Source:
Subject(s):
Record #:
22926
Author(s):
Abstract:
In this collection of local stories, a farmer in 1925 deposits $1,515.21 in coins in the Greenville Bank and Trust Company. It took three money counters more than three hours to sort them. In 1894, there was a bed of granite that covered three acres in Falkland township. In the 1850s the granite was worked for mill stones, door stoops and the occasional grave marker. It was judged to be of fine quality and some of it was exhibited in the 1884 NC Exposition. Also in 1884, R. A. Bynum was selling the Centre Bluff Landing in Pitt County and a coon hunt ended with the cutting down of 18 ft. 7 inch round tree and the dispatching of an 18 ½ pd. coon. A meteor passed over Greenville in 1921 heading east and then exploded. The shock wave and earth tremor scared everyone. In 1888, S. M. Jones of near Bethel, had a milk cow that hated to be tied up to be milked; so it ate the rope.
Source:
Subject(s):
Record #:
22927
Author(s):
Abstract:
An 1894 newspaper article made local man Frank Skinner famous for a time when readers learned of Mr. Skinner's mishaps and adventures with his \"Billy\" goat.
Source:
Subject(s):
Record #:
22928
Author(s):
Abstract:
In the mid1880s, Leon F. Evans (1860-1940) got three people to plant eight acres of tobacco and to pay a Mr. Seal of Nash County for his idea of growing tobacco in Pitt County. Shortly thereafter, tobacco grew in popularity and more fields were planted. Consequently, Evans in 1886 built the first four curing barns in the county. In 1891, R. J. Cobb, R.S. Evans, and A. H. Critcher opened the Greenville Tobacco Warehouse (drawing available). Other warehouses soon opened.
Source:
Subject(s):
Record #:
22929
Author(s):
Abstract:
In this collection of local stories, J. J. Rollins, cashier of the Bank of Winterville in 1932 , talks of the aftermath of accidently locking a cat in the vault for a night. Ed Whitehurst, head carrier boy for the Daily Reflector, drove his 12 ft. outboard boat from Greenville to Bayview in 1932 to much acclaim and had a number of adventures returning home. In 1898, Grigg T. Tyson killed 62 hogs at hog killing and the heaviest weighed 410 pounds. The citizens of Pactolus township formed the “Good Citizens League” in 1921 in an effort to curb lawlessness. In 1947, Charles Lilley of Clay Root, bought a mule and taught it tricks. It became a local sensation.
Source:
Subject(s):