Milton State Bank Building Sold (1923 & 1924)

(click photograph for larger image)

Old Fleming Place Is Sold For $6,000

(Special to The Bee)

Yanceyville, N. C. Oct. 22 [1923] – Word reaching here from Milton is that the old Fleming house was sold at auction last Saturday afternoon to Lex Motz, a merchant of Milton, his last bid for the famous old place being $6,000. A quantity of fine old mahogany furniture was sold separately to a number of different people. Some of the pieces were valuable and brought good sums. The sale was largely attended not only by people of this section but by several people who came from distant states and who were interested if not in the building itself in its old traditions and history. It is understood that Mr. Motz intends to make some improvements and to occupy the home himself.

The Fleming place is one of the landmarks of this section. Years ago it was the North Carolina State Bank built by the state authorities and operated successfully by the Flemings for a number of years. That was in the day and time when the banking quarters were part and parcel of the residence of the bankers and the staff. It was a rendezvous for the surrounding territory such towns as Danville doing their banking at the state bank. The
building was of colonial type built of fine material with large and spacious rooms.

The Bee (Danville, Virginia) 22 October 1923 [click article for larger image]

Lex Motz was Alexander Hamilton Motz (1885-1973). He married Martha Frances Kerr (1883-1965) and they had a daughter named Mary Kerr Motz (1917-2005). The A. H. Motz store still stands on the Square in Yanceyville. Note that the Milton State Bank building changed hands again the next year, 1924, when it was purchased by Solomon Angle (born c.1902)
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The Bee (Danville, Virginia) 6 August 1924 (Page 3)
Old Fleming Home at Milton Again Changing Hands

The Old Colonial home of the Flemings at Milton, once the central bank of this entire section and which was recently sold at auction, has been purchased by Mr. and Mrs. Sol Angle at a private sale it was learned today. Mr. Angle well-known in Halifax county as a large land owner, cotton and tobacco and as the owner of the splendid old place "Glennburnie" is understood to have acquired the property at a price in excess of the former auction price and is planning to make a number of improvements which will not however destroy the fine old lines of the Fleming home. Water and electric light are to be installed and as soon as this has been done, the old home is to be occupied and reopened.

Mr. Angle owns some of the richest land to be found on the Dan River. The old Glenn place in Halifax county which he still owns was built in 1765 and is in a splendid state of preservation.
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The Sol Angle who made the purchase is thought to be Solomon Angle (born c.1902) and a son of Thomas Mayes Angle (1863-1929) and Eva Margaret Staton Angle (1869-1949). While he would have been a relatively young man to own so much real estate, it is thought that his wife brought considerable wealth to the marriage.

(click photograph for larger image)

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"Glennburnie" was near Milton and subsequently burned.

Query whether the "old Glenn place in Halifax county" is actually "Bloomsburg," the ancestral Glenn family home.


For more see The Original Bloomsburg.

Do not confuse "Glenburnie" (which was near Milton, burned, and is no more) with "Bloomsburg" (which remains standing today on U.S. 58 at Turbeville, Virginia, even though its size was reduced by fire in the upper floors).
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Note that the Milton State Bank Building discussed and shown above also has been known as the Ola Walker House. The following is from Milton, North Carolina: Sidelights of History, Charles B. Motley (1976) at 84-88:

Visiting in this home was a delight as Mrs. Walker is a delightful hostess. Mr. and Mrs. Edward W. Walker and children Stephen Edward and Lillian Celestia (Mrs. Homer C. Mauer of Danville, Va.) moved from Locust Hill, Caswell County, and purchased the stately home in Milton in 1936.

The home is unusually solid, every other brick is "headed in." It was erected more than a century ago, perhaps 1859-63, according to architectural design, picture below [shown above].

Mrs. Walker showed us some beautiful and ornate furniture, solid walnut and mahogany. Of Thomas Day's handiwork, two pieces are preserved, a round table is in two halves and contains a secret drawer, perhaps for silver.

There is a chest of drawers showing the thorough construction, the deep wine colored wood, reflecting again the excellence of Day's craftsmanship.

Stephen, the son, pointed out things of interest in the tastefully decorated home. Three windows, in the portion used as the bank, measure 8 1/2 feet high and 3 feed 4 inches wide. Twelve 1-inch steel bars are anchored vertically the full length of the windows and are reinforced horizontally with metal plates 2 inches wide. The vault may still be seen but has been ingeniously converted into a bathroom.

The post office was in the home when the Walkers moved there in 1936 and remained there until 1964 except for a short time when it was in the Caswell Hotel.

In the home of Stephen Walker, who lives on the adjoining lot, are various seeds (in the original package) brought from the store operated by his grandfather, Stephen Siddle, in Locust Hill. There are celery seeds from T. W. Wood Seed Co., Richmond, Va., dated 1896; also "Golden Trophy" tomato seeds from David Landreth & Son, Phila. Pa., dated 1892.

The Ola Walker home housed the Merchants and Planters Bank with Dr. J. A. Hurdle, President and R. L. Walker Cashier. At a later time F. B. Jones was President and Edd Hines Cashier.

There are two schools of thought as to the location of the Milton Branch of the North Carolina State Bank. Some are of the firm opinion that it was in the Walker home, that the State of North Carolina erected this home as a State Bank with living quarters for the banker.

Others are just as firmly of the opinion that the State Bank was never located in the Walker home but rather on the lot of the home which was later purchased by Albert G. Ferguson, on the corner of Broad Street and Warehouse Street (Sycamore St.). It is said that Ferguson dismantled the portion that was the Milton Branch of the State of North Carolina Bank when he renovated the home.

The writer is simply passing along opinions and shall leave it to others to determine the location of the Milton Branch of the North Carolina State Bank.

We also were advised by a knowledgeable Miltonian that there was a Bank of Caswell County located in Milton and perhaps in the Walker home.

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