Tobacco Curing Patent (1873)

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Corn Sheller Patent (1867)

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USS Caswell (AKA-72)

Generic Tolland-Class AKA

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USS Caswell Launched

Wilmington, Oct. 25.--(AP)-- Bearing the name of a county in the north-central section of the state, the U.S.S. Caswell slipped down the ways at 4:45 o'clock Tuesday afternoon at the yard of the North Carolina Shipbuilding company. She was sponsored by Mrs. W. H. Williamson, active civic, social and religious leader in Caswell county.

Source: Rock Mount Telegraph (Rocky Mount, North Carolina), 25 October 1944, Wednesday, Page 6.
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The USS Caswell (AKA-72) was a Tolland-class attack cargo ship (AKA) built in 1944 by the North Carolina Shipbuilding Company in Wilmington, North Carolina (keel laid 25 August 1944). The North Carolina Shipbuilding Company was created as part of an emergency shipbuilding program in the early days of World War II. The company built 243 ships, beginning with the Liberty ship SS Zebulon B. Vance, and including 54 ships of the US Navy. Most of the latter were attack cargo ships (AKA), amphibious force flagships (AGC), and ammunition ships (AE).

Bright Leaf

Bright Leaf (1950)

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Loosely based on the rivalry of tobacco tycoons Washington Duke and George McElwee, Bright Leaf follows tenant farmer Brant Royle, who returns home after his family is driven from its farm by tobacco baron Major Singleton and becomes a rich and ruthless tyrant himself. Royle and Singleton battle for their respective empires while Royle becomes obsessed with the Major's beautiful but devious daughter, Margaret. In the process he betrays Sonia, a business partner who loves him. The film, one of many epic melodramas produced by Hollywood at the time, was widely forgotten after its first theatrical release in 1950. Bright Leaf gained new attention in 2003, when it played prominently in the documentary Bright Leaves by filmmaker Ross McElwee, a descendant of the man whose life was reflected in both the novel and film. See clips at Turner Classic Movies.

Hunt Town School

Hunt Town School

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Photo 257. Hunt Town School Site. 3rd quarter 19th century. Site of one of the first post-Civil-War schools for blacks in Caswell County. Saluda Hunt, a black, was one of the first school teachers. Only visible remnant of the school is the the remains of a fieldstone chimney.

Source: An Inventory of Historic Architecture: Caswell County, North Carolina, Ruth Little-Stokes and Tony P. Wrenn (1979) at 163.

Yarbrough Millstone Dressing Patent (1860)

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Isabella Poteat Foster and Ernest Osber Foster

Isabella Poteat Foster and Ernest Osber Foster

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Isabella Poteat Foster (1902-1990) and Ernest Osber Foster (1899-1969) in 1919. Photograph courtesy Lynda Foster Snider, granddaughter.
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Poteat Family of Caswell County

Poteat Family

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Left-To-Right:

Front Row: Louis Walker Poteat (1898-1971); Robert Linwood Poteat (1909-1982); Erma Minerva Poteat Conner (1906-).

Middle Row: William Banks Poteat (1900-1967); Albert Lindsay Poteat (1865-1929); Minerva Ann Fitch Poteat (1873-1943); Isabella Poteat Foster (1902-1990).

Back Row: George Albert Poteat (1894-1947); Cornelia Elizabeth Poteat Davis (1896-); Frances Lindsey Poteat Ebbs Hobbs (1892-1969).

Additional children of Albert Lindsey Poteat and Minerva Ann Fitch Poteat not shown: Fletcher Fitch Poteat (1904-1969); Walter E. Poteat (c.1910-); John Clay Poteat (1912-1982); Mary Moye Poteat Cheek (1917-2000).
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Foster Family of Caswell County, North Carolina

Foster Family

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Left-to-Right:

Standing: Thomas Franklin Foster (1903-1971); James Earl Foster (1911- ); Ernest Osber Foster (1899-1969); Woodrow Wilson Foster (1918-2006).

Seated: Lillie Eva Foster Hudson (1906-1989); Nettie Ella Foster Hudson (1908- ); Thomas Tilden Foster (1876-1966); Annie Dillard Foster Satterfield (1901-1989); Mattie Womack Foster Hooper (1914-).

Date of Photograph: Before 9 December 1966 (death date of Thomas Tilden Foster).
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Boy Scouts: Caswell County (c.1969)

Caswell County Boy Scouts

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Photograph courtesy The Caswell Messenger.
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Ware-Matlock Letter (15 March 1866)

Letter Tells of Post-War Troubles 100 Years Ago

Mrs. Charles Moore, Huntsville, has in her possession a 100-year-old letter that was written to her great-grandparents, James and Martha Gunn Matlock by the Matlocks' son-in-law and daughter Ansel and Elizabeth Ware, who were living in Caswell County, North Carolina. Mr. and Mrs. Matlock came to Missouri in 1838 and settled in what is now the Ft. Henry community, northwest of Huntsville. The letter, dated March 15, 1866, is as follows:

Caswell County (North Carolina) U.S. Patents

1. Corn Sheller Patent 1867

2. Cotton Seed Planter Patent 1878

3. Cotton Seed Sowing Machine Patent 1840

John Boswell (c.1691-1740): Will

Transcription of John Boswell's will from Spotsylvania County, Virginia Wills vol. A, page 321:

In the name of God Amen the tenth day of January in the year of our Lord 1740. I John Boswell of St. Georges Parish in the County of Spotsylvania being very sick and weak in body but of perfect mind and memory thanks be given unto God. Therefore calling the mortality of my body & knowing that it is appointed for all men once to die, do make & ordain this my last will and testament, that is to say:

Paul Haralson, Jr. Revolutionary War Pension Application

Paul Haralson--Pension File, Revolutionary War: W1763, 11, pages (legible)

Pension Application (4 pages, legible and detailed):[Summary] Randolph Co. IL, Dec. 4, 1832. Paul Haralson resident of county aged 72 (on Sept 6): drafted in militia for 3 months; entered service as private Sept. 1779 or 1780 in regiment led by Col. William Moore at Caswell Courthouse. He enlisted in Company belonging to Captain Farquar; then marched out toward South Carolina to give a check to the Tories who were then [embodying] in many places in South Carolina and in the upper parts of North Carolina; marched

Jennie Jeffers Poole (1913-2010)

Jennie Jeffers Poole, age 97, of Dayton, Ohio, passed peacefully on July 28, 2010 after a brief illness. She was born in Yanceyville, North Carolina on January 25, 1913 to Isaac and Mary Fannie Jeffers. Jennie was a faithful member of St. Benedict The Moor Catholic Church for 41 years, where she served with The Ladies of Peter Claver and The Leisure Club.

Lambeth and Harvey (Yanceyville, North Carolina)

Title: Lambeth and Harvey
Years: 1836-1837
Call Number: AB.407
Location: 3B
MARS Id: 3307 (Record Group)
Quantity: 1 Volume(s)
Scope / Contents: General merchandise. Journal.
Subjects: Stores, Mercantile, Merchants, Consumer Goods, Business
Personal Names: Lambeth, _____; Harvey, _____
Corporate Names: Lambeth and Harvey
Geographical Names: Yanceyville, Caswell County
Housed: North Carolina State Archives (Raleigh, North Carolina)
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