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for "Greenville Times / Pitt's Past"
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22945
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The oldest tombstone in the county was that of Captain John Spier, who lived from September 1693 until April 1764, located near the mouth of Parker's Creek. The oldest burying ground is located at Yankee Hall Cemetery. Other old family cemeteries include. John Simpson’s cemetery on Hwy. 33 and the Col. John Hardee cemetery on what is now Tenth Street. In Greenville, two very old cemeteries were located between Evans and Cotanche Streets, about the site of the Attic nightclub. The few stones found were moved to Cherry Hill Cemetery. There was a cemetery found on Fifth Street at Reade Street and one where the railroad tracks cross in Fifth Street in West Greenville.
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Record #:
22946
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This group of local stories includes an account of the efforts of Mrs. Ben Lupton of Bethel to stop the sale and consumption of alcohol on Sundays. In 1896, W. W. Owens had an unusual turkey who set on chicken eggs. In 1902 someone was doing midnight shearing sessions on animals as a prank and someone sheared the horses of George Clark and Joseph Willis to look like mules.In 1897, Louis Flake came to Greenville with his wife and eight children and had 170 photographs taken. In 1884, R.S. Tucker of Raleigh was selling his Pactolus property of 2,129 acres--practically the entire community.
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Record #:
22947
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The first courthouse (picture available) was a house built by 1761. The site is located on Highway 33 East, in adjacent to the entrance of the Brook Valley subdivision. The second courthouse, built by 1775, was on the corner of Evans and Third streets. The third was completed in 1834 on Evans Street. A man named Croom who was trying to destroy a will inside it burned it in 1858. The fourth courthouse took a long time to complete. It was not finished until 1877. It was destroyed by fire on February 24, 1910. The fifth courthouse (picture available) is currently located downtown. Its 1,300-pound cornerstone was laid on January 26, 1911.
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Record #:
22948
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Henry T. King, the son of Thomas and Martha A. King, was born near Farmville on November 9, 1861. In 1889, he became one of Pitt County's first journalists. His first newspaper was The Carolina Banner, followed shortly thereafter by The Index. He ended his newspaper publishing with his more widely known King's Weekly. In 1895, he began collecting relics, especially Confederate money. By December 1898, he listed an inventory of all the historical items he had collected. The collection's whereabouts is a mystery.
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Record #:
22949
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This collection of local stories includes a description of a mad dog who crossed two counties in 1892, biting 25 dogs, 15 chickens and one man. A humorous story from 1886, about 58 loafers standing around and watching 5 other men load a safe on a wagon. Grifton, Pitt County was the most divided town in the US, being divided among two counties, three townships, two congressional districts, and two senatorial districts. In 1898, Jesse Smith, age 14 opened a dry goods store and in 1888, Novella Higgs, age 12, taught dancing lessons. Other stories include a balloon ascension in 1886 in Greenville and a list of earthquakes felt in Pitt County
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Record #:
22950
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Smithville was the first community in North Carolina to advocate secession; Greenville followed Smithville on January 11, 1861, with a 100-gun salute. Pitt County's diverse population made it a very important battleground in the war. In 1860, Pitt County's population consisted of 7,840 whites, 127 free blacks, and 8,473 slaves. G. B. Singletary formed the first military company in Pitt County, followed by the Tar River Guards and the Marlboro Guards. The first incident occurred on June 5, 1862, at Tranters Creek. Later that year, Yankees invaded Greenville on October 9th coming up the river in gun boats, raiding stores and arresting all the men in the Courthouse. The largest military activity was General Potter's raid in July 1863. There were skirmishes at Haddocks Cross Roads, Red Banks Church and Black Jack Church.
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Record #:
22951
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Horseracing and horse breeding have been an important form of revenue and recreation for the county. In the 1700s, most horse breeding took place in the areas of Greenville, Yankee Hall, and Penny Hill. Horseracing became so entrenched in Greenville's culture that the winning horse made the front page of the paper. Horseracing died out with the advent of the Civil War; however, the Greenville Pleasure Club revived it in the 1880s and 1890s.
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Record #:
22952
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Pitt County made a Declaration of Independence before Jefferson's, but was it the first? In early days of the Revolution 1774-75, 18 NC counties and four towns set up a Safety Committee. On August 15, 1774, the Pitt County Safety Committee declared that no man could be taxed without his consent. The Safety Committee was a group that raised militia, provided for the army's salt, gave relief to the poor, and handled education. They also tried people for offenses, routed out Tories, and appointed patrols to regulate slaves. They made a similar statement on July 1, 1775 and Aug. 23, 1775. However, the Pitt County Declaration of Independence was dated a month later than the Mecklenburg Declaration of Independence, which is regarded as the first Declaration of Independence in America.
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Record #:
22953
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Images of steamboats have become synonymous with the south. From those described in Huckleberry Finn to modern gambling steamboats, they seem to fascinate everyone. However, few know that these ships have had an important history along the Tar River. The first ship on the Tar was a sidewheel called "Edmund D. McNair." It operated on the Tar from 1836 to 1839. By the 1870s, steamboats traversed the Tar River frequently. The Clyde Line, Old Dominion Line, and Shiloh Oil Mills companies all constructed or put boats on the Tar. Twenty-three different boats traveled up and down the Tar River until 1915, when the steamboat era ended.
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Record #:
22954
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In the late 1880s a belled buzzard was among those that roosted on the courthouse and at Buzzards Roost. In 1889 there was a State Law prohibiting the eating of Bull Robins. W. R. Whichard and B. A. Carraway killed large turkey’s. T. J. Stancill and Seth Tyson killed large eagles. Edward Dudley and W. R. Whichard killed large snakes. A. J. Griffin and Moses Heilbroner had songbirds. Heilbroner’s could whistle the “Dilberry March.” Other stories relate various madcap animal adventures
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Record #:
22955
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In 1888, 750 eggs were brought to market in Greenville selling at 15 cents a dozen. In 1889, two stores shipped 1,200 eggs on a single day. J. A. Thigpen and J. J. Dancy had unusual eggs. In 1888, it was reported that the women of Pitt County used about 10,000 pds. of snuff a year at a cost of 50 cents per pound. At a rat killing in 1891, 185 rats were killed in one incident. Since the Revolution, women in Pitt County used powder in rocks in Belvoir township to dye their cloth. In 1878, Mr. A. Case found a Native American skeleton in a marl bed. Other stories include strange names as "Miniya Gainer Minetty Andrews Melvin Llewellyn Silvester Sherrod" and states that the Cox family gave all eleven children names that started with the letter "Z."
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Record #:
22956
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In this article, Kammerer summarizes the history and gives the relative location of all the past and present towns in Pitt County. Some of the towns named include: Alwood, Centreville, Congleton, Coxville, Dicksboro, Glendale, Grindool, Hanrahan, Hollands, Ira, Joseph, Keelsville, Langleys, Maupin, Parkerside, Pineboro, Pullet, Redalia, Rochdale, Rose Hill, Rountree, Standard and Winona. A map is included noting all the towns' locations.
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Record #:
22957
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An interesting cannon sits in the Greenville Town Common. Joseph Brickell is said to have used this twelve-pound cannon, made between 1760 and 1770, on his trading vessels during the late eighteenth century. During the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, the cannon was used to mark important events. Children fired it as a prank. Installed on the Greenville Town Common, it was dedicated on October 29, 1976.
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Record #:
22958
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Entertainment has been an integral part of Greenville since the late nineteenth century. Showboats and tent shows were the first major form of entertainment. This was followed by the age of theaters. In 1883, "Skinner's Opera House" opened, ushering in a new era for Greenville relaxation. In 1898, J.J. Perkins built his own opera house in the fashion of Cherry's Hall and Germania Hall. In October 1909, A.C. Payne later opened his "Pasttime Theater." These early theaters helped to establish Greenville's long-standing entertainment heritage.
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Record #:
22959
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The local inventive genius John Cannon Cox (1824-1896) developed many devices in his career. The first invention was a wheat threshing machine. In May 1858, he followed this with a gun that loaded itself and discharged thirty shots a minute. Both these inventions, however, never lasted as long as his "Cox Cotton Planter," patented in 1876. In 1869, Capt. Bryan Smith invented a cotton planter, as well as O. P. Humber in 1883. In 1884, the black community in Greenville devised and built a windlass to get water out of the river. In 1903, Jesse L. Jackson invented a tobacco barn alarm and J. P. Cullifer invented a cucumber-picking machine in 1963-1964.
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