Caswell County Kerosene Street Lamps

(click photograph for larger image)

In the above Yanceyville, North Carolina, photograph, behind the people (up and a bit to the left), is a street lamp. This was identified as a Dietz "Pioneer" Street Lamp, which also was used in Milton, North Carolina. Below is a photograph of a Dietz "Pioneer" Street Lamp that once illuminated a street in Milton, Caswell County, North Carolina. It is owned by a Milton historian who graciously shared this photograph.

(click photograph for larger image)

Robert Edwin Dietz first began selling whale oil and camphene lamps and lanterns in 1840 at the age of 22. Robert and his brother Michael patented the first practical flat wick burner especially designed for the then new fuel oil, kerosene, in 1859. The following decade Robert sold his interest in "Dietz & Company" to begin manufacturing "Irwin Patent" tubular lanterns after buying the defunct Archer and Pancoast Company from a receiver in 1868. Since that time the R.E. Dietz Company manufactured hundreds of lantern models, and pioneered the automotive electric lighting industry. Source: Dietz Lanterns.

Below is a typical lamp:

(click photograph for larger image)

Note the street lamp in the above photograph of the Connally General Store display once exhibited at the Greensboro Historical Museum. The Connally General Store was in Leasburg, Caswell County, North Carolina. It was demolished in the 1960's, with the furniture, equipment, fixtures, and inventory donated to the Greensboro Historical Museum.

These lamps had to be tended daily: both lighted and extinguished. The person responsible often was referred to as the "lamp lighter," with respect to which poems and songs have been written.

THE OLD LAMPLIGHTER
The Browns

He made the night a little brighter
Wherever he would go
The old lamplighter
Of long, long ago
His snowy hair was so much whiter
Beneath the candle glow
The old lamplighter
Of long, long ago

You'd hear the patter of his feet
As he came toddling down the street
His smile would cheer a lonely heart you see
If there were sweethearts in the park
He'd pass a lamp and leave it dark
Remembering the days that used to be
For he recalled when things were new
He loved someone who loved him too
Who walks with him alone in memories

He made the night a little brighter
Wherever he would go
The old lamplighter
Of long, long ago
His snowy hair was so much whiter
Beneath the candle glow
The old lamplighter
Of long, long ago

Now if you look up in the sky
You'll understand the reason why
The little stars at night are all aglow
He turns them on when night is near
He turns them off when dawn is here
The little man we left so long ago
He made the night a little brighter
Wherever he would go
The old lamplighter of long, long ago
_______________

The people in the above Yanceyville photograph:

1. Henry Brandon (probably Henry Field Brandon, Jr. (1869-1942))

2. Eliza Katharine Kerr Kendall (1921-1997)

3. George Washington Oliver (probably the maternal grandfather of Eliza Katharine Kerr Kendall, who (the grandfather, that is) lived 1866-1952.

4. Will Burton (possibly former Caswell County Sheriff)

The building was constructed by Azariah Graves (1776-1837) and in 1922 was owned by Albert Yancey Kerr (1878-1942), the father of Eliza Katharine Kerr Kendall. It often is referred to as the Azariah Graves Storehouse.

Below is a rembrance by Emily Jean Bradsher Scott of her childhood in Milton, Caswell County, North Carolina. It was published 8 August 2007 as part of her Milton Memories series in The Caswell Messenger and appears here courtesy of the author and The Caswell Messenger (all rights reserved). The portion on the Milton lamp lighter was not set off in the original.

Milton Memories

Summer is here with a vengeance. The earth is parched and dry and the heat has a heaviness about it that weighs one down. Outside there is no place to hide from it. Lili (the new pup) and I agree that it is much more pleasant to be inside in a cool house with ice water and as little afternoon activity as possible. It was not always so. In the 30's and 40's on the streets of Milton, daytime activity slowed to a snail's pace. Our habits with food would kill us now, but then there was "dinner" in the middle of the day, vegetables, hot bread, perhaps a dessert. After the meal a cheese cloth cover was spread over the table and that meal was again there for "supper". The "cook stove" was not often fired up again. We survived that. How did we do it? Evenings families and neighbors gathered on front porches, usually a swing suspended from the ceiling, a few rocking chairs and often several people seated on steps.They cooled themselves with fans, slowly wafting them back and forth. Fans with advertising of stores, businesses and often funeral homes with religious pictures. Maybe there were palm leaf fans --real dried palm leaves, or elaborately woven fans, or beautiful ornamental folding fans. All quietly repelling the heat as best they could.

Conversation was casual and soft, bits of talk wafting out to the sidewalk, where there might be those who enjoyed a stroll after dark. There were sidewalks and there were also electric streetlights. Earlier the street lamps were lighted by an old man, Sam Long, who carried his ladder with him, leaned it against the lamp posts, filled the lamps, trimmed the wicks and lighted them. This was before my time, but I remember him well as the gravedigger for the town, shuffling along with a pick and shovel to carry out his ghoulish task.

Clothing was mostly cotton in some loose style made by our mothers. Gowns for the night were thin and gauzy and loose. Beds were warm to the touch when bedtime came, and often my sister and I slept at the foot of the bed to be nearer the window. Bedrooms were even hotter than downstairs and did not cool at night. We wore shorts, and my mother made us "beach pajamas" which were wide legged long trousers and "halter" tops, tied at the neck with cord. The back was bare with a tie from the sides. Streets were quiet and safe. Young people might drift back and forth between home and friends, but more often we gathered on the beloved "Corner" under the street light, just to talk. To laugh and tease each other. Conversation for the most part was quiet with sudden bursts of laughter at a joke or jibe. Occasionally a game of hide-and-seek would get going, but more often in the soft summer air there was just a gathering of contemporaries, more than just friends. More like extended family. One never needed to be lonely. There was always companionship on the corner. But the very best defense against the heat was our special swimming hole -- Big Rock, and it was a great place with a huge rock out into the creek. Deep enough to dive and the perfect place to spend the entire afternoon in summer, and everybody was there. It is easy to drift back to that pleasant time and feeling. We stayed in the water virtually the whole afternoon, came home completely spent and required to wash the creek water off. Then total relaxation until suppertime and the evening. We coped with heat as best we could and really did not think much about it. It was the way we were and the way things were then.

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