Articles in regional publications that pertain to a wide range of North Carolina-related topics.
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for "Greenville Times / Pitt's Past"
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22930
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The first lodge in Pitt County and the first Masonic lodge in the State was at Crown Point, Pitt County in 1766. Thomas Cooper established this lodge. It was at Crown Point Lodge that George Washington spent the night in Pitt County during his 1791 tour. The next lodge was established before 1822 in Greenville and was known as the Sharon Lodge #78. After the Civil War, Sharon Lodge disbanded and the members transferred to Rountrees Lodge. The next lodge appears in 1874 as the Woodson Lodge Number 16 Knights of Pythias. In 1888, Greenville then had five lodges. The Greenville Masonic Lodge had a school. The Red Man Lodge formed in 1903, the Winterville Lodge formed in 1904 and the new Sharon Lodge formed in 1911.
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22931
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In this collection of local stories is a description of a local firm that promised a cure for the "liquor habit." According to the ad in 1894 for Greenville's Bedal Institute, an alcoholic could be cured in three weeks for only $60.00. W. W. Owens had an unusual turkey gobbler that would sit on chicken’s eggs. In 1894, a young man wrote a sweet note to his girlfriend and a terse note to his washer woman. He got the envelopes mixed up which led to mayhem. In 1907, grave robbers dug up the grave of Susan White near Grimesland, long supposed to be the sister of Blackbeard. At a church baptism, the minister returns to the church to find most of the communal wine missing and gives a sermon about “depraved people.” In 1901, a man came to Greenville in a new buggy. He tied his horse up and went on to his business. He later returned to find his horse tied up to a broken down buggy. No trace of the pranksters.
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22932
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The Spanish-American War may have been the United States' most successful war. The war was somewhat distant for people in Pitt County, excepting the local men who fought. This article lists these soldier’s names and in the 1930s the Pitt County Spanish-American War Veteran’s Organization was formed. There was also a Spanish-American War Auxiliary made up of wives of veterans. On July 30, 1932, a V.F.W. Post was formed in Greenville which took in the living veterans from all the past wars who saw foreign service.
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Record #:
22933
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Greenville once was known for making the best buggies in the state. Therefore, one of the greatest buggy builders was John Flanagan, born on February 6, 1829 to Thomas and Sophie (Turnage) Flanagan. John Flanagan established his buggy company in 1866. It became quite profitable. Upon his death on July 10, 1902, his son Edward Gaskell Flanagan took over the company. In November 1907, Edward Flanagan built a new factory (picture available) on the corner of Fourth and Cotanche streets. He manufactured buggies there until 1914, when the factory became a Ford, Oakland, and Buick dealership. The site later became a parking lot.
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Record #:
22934
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The Tucker family owned a flax wheel made by Charles Tull in 1788 and the McLawhorn family owned old counterpanes and shawls made by Betsy English in 1845. The Tugwell family owned a 100 year old gourd that a child could sit in. A local newspaperman, Henry T. King amassed numerous historical articles and several strange pieces of memorabilia. Mrs. Charles McLawhorn owned a miniature hand carved high-back chair carved about 1860 by Greene Letchworth. During World War II scrap drives, many citizens contributed firearms and other historical artifacts for the war effort. In 1961, at the Bicentennial Exhibition at the Greenville Art Center, numerous local relics were on display, including “Lafayette’s Chair” and Gen Bryan Grimes’ clothes.
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Record #:
22935
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In this group of local stories writer, Kammerer notes that Shirley Worth Porter, brother of the writer O. Henry, is buried in Ayden. Shirley Porter was born on August 6, 1860 near Greensboro, NC and was the oldest son of Dr. Algernon S. and Mary Jane Virginia (Swain) Porter. Affectionately known as "Shell", he worked as a bookkeeper with a tobacco company and the Ayden Lumber Company. His wife Laura died in 1931 and was buried in the pauper’s graveyard. He died in 1945 and was too buried in pauper’s graveyard, which was later taken into the Ayden Cemetery. Another story in this article tells of Frank Edwards putting down a down payment in 1953 on a car with a deposit of $1,200.00 consisting of half dollars. In 1901, W. G. Carson was the champion hog runner of Pitt County and a balloon ascension in Greenville in 1900 went awry and caused all sorts of problems.
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Record #:
22936
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All of the heinous crimes of murder, assault, horse stealing, and counterfeiting in Pitt County during the period 1774-1790 has been collected. In 1774, John Duff stole a horse from Henry Hodges. As punishment he District Court ordered him “to stand in the pillory one hour, be whipped 39 lashes on the naked back, both ears nailed to the pillory and be cut off, be branded on the right cheek with the letter H and on the left with the letter T.” Probably the worst of these crimes was a Mrs. Ann Tyson murdered her own infant with a shoe on April 27, 1780.
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Record #:
22937
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In this collection of local stories, John Handy, a black man, had a writing spider in 1887. Another story tells of a man named Lassiter from Greene County whose little seven year old son had eyes with the word "America" written around each pupil. In 1879, Gov. Zeb V. Vance helped advertise the award winning apple brandy of R. A. Bynum of Pitt County. Gov. Thomas J. Jarvis would also later do the same.
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Record #:
22938
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Pitt County has had its share of local inventors. In the 1880s, Allen Warren developed a new variety of grapes, the "James Grape" and Col. E. C. Yellowley developed the "Illium" grape. In 1894, Holman Bernard developed a new variety of popcorn. Other inventors include Josephus Edwards new metal sharpener; and Samuel Langley’s "back band," a combination planter, shaper, and andiron. In 1897, N. R. Corey invented a pea, bean and rice planter and in 1909, John Tripp invented a andiron. The tobacco industry spawned inventions. In 1891, Theophilus Bland invented a "tobacco hanger" to help dry tobacco. In 1953, Stanley Hathaway invented the “Hathaway Tobacco Harvester.”
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Record #:
22939
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In 1916, Drs. Charles O'Hagan Laughinghouse, Karl B. Pace, and M. T. Edgerton attempted to establish a hospital by advocating a bond issue for funds and the effort failed. In 1923, Drs. Laughinghouse, Pace, E. T. Dickerson, and W. I. Wooten mortgaged their property and borrowed money raising enough to build a forty-two room private hospital. The hospital opened on April 24, 1924, on Johnston Street in College View, with two full-time doctors. A nursing school operated there from 1923 until 1932. After the need arose for a facility for African Americans, the hospital officials renovated the basement, serving 12 to 15 patients and added a children's wing during 1933 and 1934. The hospital closed in 1951 after serving 42,216 patients.
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Record #:
22940
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A fascinating folklore collection, which includes several ghost stories concerning a haunted piece of property on Dickinson Ave. in the 1890s; the haunted clock of Luke Smith and how a smoky presence over a baby in a cradle killed it. In local legend, the Tar River would flood in odd years and eels used to mass migrate up the Tar River by the thousands. According to local superstition, if it rains on Friday at 12:00 p.m., it will rain Sunday. The first three days of January foretell the weather for the next three months. Bees as predictors of weather. There are old wives tales about proper days of the week for weddings and the meaning of sneezes on certain days.
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Record #:
22941
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Excerpts from some of the editor's favorite articles from 1985 have been selected.
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Record #:
22942
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Many churches of the past and present have had longtime, devoted members. The members of Briery Swamp, Flat Swamp, St. John's, Oak Grove, Hancock's, Galloway Church, Reformed Baptist, Black Jack, Elm Grove, Bethany, Great Swamp, Fellows Church, Reedy Branch, Greenville Methodist Episcopal, Greenville Baptist Church, Roach's Church of Baptists, Bethel Methodist Church, and Red Banks Church are listed.
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Record #:
22943
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Christopher Columbus Bland, more affectionately known as "Kit," a Pitt County native, enlisted in Brunswick County at the age of nineteen on July 15, 1864. As Fort Fisher was assaulted by Union ships, Bland tried three times to put the Confederate flag atop the fort. However, he was caught and sent to prison at Cape Lookout, Maine on January 15, 1865. He was released on June 3, 1865. Eventually, he took up residence in Ayden and married Cecillia (Betty) Boyd (a direct descendant of Betsy Ross). Apparently, Bland had war-blood in him because several people reported that he was "chumping at the bit" to enter World War One. To commemorate his bravery in the Civil War, a monument was erected in the 1920s at Hancock's Churchyard two miles east of Ayden.
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Record #:
22944
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Henry Lawson Wyatt lived in Greenville in 1848 but moved to Tarboro, NC around 1860. During the Civil War Wyatt enlisted in the infantry on April 18, 1861 and killed on June 10, 1861 at the age of 17. Many people claim that he was the first Confederate fatality of the war and established a monument in Raleigh in 1911 in his honor.
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