Providence Graded School (Caswell County, North Carolina)

Providence Graded School

"Soon after the turn of the century the General Assembly at various sessions passed additional laws to establish special schools or school districts in Caswell County. [One] such district was authorized in 1907 in Dan River Township under the guidance of J. W. Neal, A. C. Davis, Edward Ray, L. P. Goodson, C. B. Flintoff, and R. T. Wilson. . . . It was perhaps a sense of pride in their school that prompted the people at Providence in 1909 to persuade the General Assembly to change the prosaic name 'School District Number Seven' to Providence Graded School."

Source: Powell, William S. When the Past Refused to Die: A History of Caswell County North Carolina 1777-1977. Durham (North Carolina): Moore Publishing Company, 1977. Print. Pages 387-388.

Caswell County Delegates to the 1908 North Carolina Democratic State Convention

The Farmer and Mechanic (Raleigh, NC), 23 June 1908, p5, "NC Dem State Convention Delegates"

Milton: Dr. J. A. Hurdle; W. T. Bryant; M. C. Winstead; R. L. Walker

R.F.D. Milton: Dr. M. H. McBryde

Allison: J. C. Allison

Quick: A. R. Blackwell; E. B. Blackwell

Leasburg: George Connally; B. F. Stanfeld; S. P. Newman; N. C. Yearby

Pelham: D. R. Hinton; C. E. Rawley; S. P. McKinney

No. 4 Danville: E. S. Carter

R.F.D. Pelham: J. D. Gatewood

 
Semora: J. Y. Thomas; J. P. Williams; W. S. Taylor; C. K. Thompson

Stoney Creek: Capt. J. A. Lea; W. A. Maynard; Ed. Watkins

No. 1 Yanceyville: Thos. P. Womack

Yanceyville: F. W. Brown; Julius Johnston; B. S. Graves; A. Y. Kerr; T. J. Henderson; R. H. Slade; B. H. Graves; T. J. Florence; J. H. Kerr; Dr. S. A. Malloy; A. E. Henderson. G. L. Williamson; T. N. Fitch

No. 5 Danville, Va.: R. T. Wilson; A. C. Davis

Blanch: J. F. Walters

Hightower: J. R. Smith

Prospect Hill: F. R. Warren
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Dan River Institute

The Dan River Institute

The Dan River Institute in Yanceyville was incorporated in 1847 under the leadership of James Mebane, George Williamson, Thomas D. Johnston, Littleton A. Gwynn, Nicholas M. Lewis, N. H. Harding, Mitchell Curie, Nathaniel M. Roan, Robert B. Watt, and John H. Richard. The Institute was in operation to the spring of 1850, as the Milton Chronicle on June 6 announced that the "next session" would begin on July 8. The advertisement of this fact was signed by A. C. Lindsey and B. Gould, the latter undoubtedly the Benjamin Gould, graduate of the University of Vermont, who had joined the faculty of the Milton Male Academy in 1837. An 1867 directory lists 30-year-old Joseph Venable as principal of the Institute. Venable, a native of Oxford, was graduated from the University in 1857.

In 1872 Archibald E. Henderson was principal; he had attended the University in 1859-1861, but left to serve in the Confederate Army. He was superintendent of Caswell County schools during the period 1897-1905. In 1909 or soon afterwards, by act of the General Assembly, proceeds from the sale of the Yanceyville Female Academy were turned over to F. W. Brown, N. C. Brandon, and T. J. Florance to be used in repairing and improving the Dan River Institute which had been used as a public school since 1897. The original Dan River Institute was located on the grounds of the later Bartlett Yancey School.

Source: Powell, William S. When the Past Refused to Die: A History of Caswell County North Carolina 1777-1977. Durham (North Carolina): Moore Publishing Company, 1977. pp.369-370. Print. [Paragraphs added.]

People Mentioned (in order of appearance):

James Mebane
George Williamson
Thomas D. Johnston
Littleton A. Gwynn
Nicholas M. Lewis
N. H. Harding
Mitchell Curie
Nathaniel M. Roan
Robert B. Watt
John H. Richard
A. C. Lindsey
Benjamin Gould
Joseph Venable
Archibald E. Henderson
F. W. Brown
N. C. Brandon
T. J. Florance

Trial of Franklin A. Wiley (1825-1888)

The State Against F. A. Wiley
The Weekly Standard (Raleigh, North Carolina)
31 August 1870 (Pages 1-2) [Paragraphs inserted]

At an early hour on Monday morning the Supreme Court room began to be filled with a large and interested audience, to hear the preliminary examination, before Chief Justice Pearson, of the witnesses in the case of the State against F. A. Wiley, charged with complicity in the murder of the late Senator John W. Stephens, of the County of Caswell.

The only business, however, which was transacted, was the calling and swearing of the various witnesses, whose names we append as follows:

Anderson Graves, Julia Robinson, L. Hall, H. Lawson, Benj. Shaw, Mac Leith, Ruffin Hill, Ham. Johnson, H. Lee, Dolly Lawson, Jerre Graves, Lewis Evans, George Rowe [Bowe], Daniel Johnson, Grace Harrelson, J. McKee, George Bigelow, John Williamson, George Pinnix. Lee Hensley, Jerre Smith, J. Kimbro. P. Roan, Thos. Kimbro, A. J. Hooper, J. A. Henderson, Branch Pinnix, Thomas Bigelow, Alex. Fuller, Wiley Turner, Calvin Miles, Jno. B. Memphill, Richard Graves, W. H. Stephens (brother of the deceased), Mrs. Martha F. Stephens (wife of the deceased), Iverson Gwynn and Zack Hooper.

Mrs. Stephens returned to the hotel, while the other witnesses for the prisoner and the State were divided into two parties, placed under the care of officers, and it was ordered that no person be permitted to approach them save their counsel.

We observed his Honor, Judge Dick, sitting upon the bench with the Chief Justice.

The following lawyers appear for the State: Messrs. Badger, Bailey and McCorkle, Olds, and Hon. Nathaniel Boyden. For the prisoner: Messrs. Bragg, W. H. Battle, K. P. Battle, R. H. Battle, Watt and Withers and John R. Winston.

We append to this brief summary a diagram of the Caswell County Courthouse (lower floor), in which the murder was committed. The explanation accompanies the plat.

"Wife Hunts Her Runaway Husband"

People Mentioned

__________ Woodson
"Uncle" Nick Lewis
Mr. Prindle
Fannie Prindle Hancock
Alonzo L. Hancock
Miss Brasco


The Milton Chronicle, 29 March 1883, p.3

Caswell Academy

Caswell Academy (Yanceyville, North Carolina): Early Years

Source: Coon, Charles Lea, Editor. North Carolina Schools and Academies, 1790-1840: A Documentary History. Raleigh: Edwards & Broughton Printing Company (1915).

During this period [1790-1840] Caswell County usually had a good classical school within its borders. The first one mentioned in these documents is the Caswell Academy of 1803. Rev. Hugh Shaw, a Presbyterian minister, was its principal and Bartlett Yancey, a young Chapel Hill graduate, was the assistant. Yancey soon quit teaching and entered upon the practice of law, much after the fashion still followed by many who use teaching as a stepping stone to some other profession. It has so often been asserted by North Carolina writers that Yancey was the author of the Literary Fund Law of 1825, that I hesitate to utter a dissenting opinion. But the credit for the authorship of that law belongs to Charles A. Hill of Franklin, as I have said above.

After two years Mr. Shaw left the Caswell Academy and went to teach in the Hyco Academy, another Caswell County school. From 1805 to 1807, Sanders Donoho and James Bowles conducted the Caswell Academy with indifferent success. In 1807, John W. Caldwell, a son of the Guilford David Caldwell, took charge. He was advertised as "a profound linguist and a good teacher." James Kerr was his assistant in 1810.
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Tournament and Ball 1887

Tournament and Ball.

The young men of Yanceyville and vicinity are making arrangements for a grand tournament on the 15th (next Thursday). They have secured a splendid track near the academy from Mr. Evans, and Knights are expected from Milton, Prospect Hill, Danville, Pelham, Ruffin and elsewhere. The whole to wind up with a big ball and supper at Kerr's hotel. To give you some idea that the supper will be no second-class affair it is only necessary to state that Mrs. Kerr has that in hand. Let everybody come to Yanceyville that day. Col. A. E. Henderson will charge the Knights.

Source: The Caswell News (Yanceyville, North Carolina), 9 December 1887.


Tournament and Ball

The rain early Thursday morning kept many from attending the tournament, but by noon the men came out and very good crowd turned out from town and the surrounding country. If it had been a fair day there would have been 12 or 15 Knights, but only seven reported: Chas. Vernon, Knight of "Sunny South"; S. H. Williamson, "Night Before Last"; R. A. Pointer, "Silver Cross"; J. W. Vaughn, "Cosnicpelne"; E. L. Graves, "Yanceyville"; J. C. Pinnix, Jr., "Caswell': G. L. Williamson, "Billy Bowlegs." Col. A. E. Henderson charged the Knights. Every word was appropriate and it was clearly and impressively delivered. After several trial rides the contest began and in three rides Mr. Pinnix took 9 rings for Mr. Vaughn but his last ride was ruled out as not in time and first honor given to Mr. Graves with 8 rings, 2d honor to Mr. Vaughn, Mr. Pinnix 3d, and Mr. G. L. Williamson 4th.

Miss Nannie Mebane was made queen, Miss Alice Crowder 1st maid, Miss Ella Graves 2d, and Miss Annie Winston 3d.

The real pleasures of the occasion, to the greatest number, were at the ball -- enjoyment to those who danced and entertainment to those who went to look on, and, all, after appeasing the demands of the inner man from the well laded table in Mrs. Kerr's dining room, declared the tournament and ball a big success.

Source: The Caswell News (Yanceyville, North Carolina), 9 and 16 December 1887.

Click to See Larger Image

Whether this photograph is of the tournament described above is not known. However, it is of a tournament held at some time in Caswell County, North Carolina. The location may have been the original fair grounds in Yanceyville, North Carolina, but this has not been confirmed.

Photograph Courtesy: Florance Family of Yanceyville, North Carolina.

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Click to See Larger Image

Ivanhoe in Warren: Ring Tournaments at Shocco Springs

On September 15, 1857, the resort town of Shocco Springs in Warren County held the first known medieval jousting tournament in North Carolina. It did not involve riders knocking each other off their horses. Instead participants used lances to spear a three-inch ring off a post.

Such "ring tournaments" became fashionable among the well-to-do in North Carolina in the late 1850s and, after a hiatus during the Civil War, they experienced a revival that lasted until the 1870s.

The 1857 contest attracted contestants from as far away as Florida and Texas. Pageantry, costumes and assumed titles (like "the Knight of the Black Cross") combined with themes of chivalry, honor and the virtue of womanhood at the festivals. Many times they culminated in the crowning of a "Queen of Love and Beauty."

A newspaper account described the scene: "The Knights were splendidly accoutered, and as they flew past the stand with lances in rest their success was announced by loud cheers mingled with bursts of martial music, which irresistibly carried our thoughts back to the thrilling pages of Ivanhoe…"

Source: "On This Day in North Carolina History," North Carolina Department of Natural and Cultural History, 15 September 2018/ [https://www.ncdcr.gov/blog/2013/09/15/jousting-at-shocco-springs; Accessed 15 September 2018].

Color Photograph: Medieval tournaments like this one were the inspiration for the tournament at Shocco Springs and similar events across the South. Image from Tallahassee Magazine.

Alexander, Motz, and Robertson Families

The Caswell News, 16 Sept 1887.

Mrs. Alexander is Mary Royal Robertson (1830-1896), daughter of Dr. George W. Robertson, M.D. (1807-1855) and Sarah F. Allen (1803-1871). Both parents are buried in the Robertson Family Cemetery (Yanceyville, Caswell County, North Carolina).

In 1850, Mary Royal Robertson married Wallace Henderson Alexander (1824-1872). Two of their six children are mentioned in the article:

1. Mrs. Motz is Ella Alexander (1853-1910) who in 1884 married Charles Hampton Motz (died before 1900).

2. Mr. Frank Alexander (1868-1888).
The Misses Robertsons mentioned are sisters of Mrs. Alexander (Mary Royal Robertson). These six sisters never married and lived their entire lives together in Yanceyville at the Robertson family home, which probably stood at the corner of NC Highway 86 and Fire Tower Road. Of course, then there was no NC Highway 86, and Fire Tower Road was just a short dirt road that quickly turned into a trail that ran to the County Home Road. The Robertson Family Cemetery is adjacent to the home site.
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Not mentioned in the article, but nevertheless interesting, is that Mrs. Motz (Ella Alexander who married Charles Hampton Motz) would eventually move to Yanceyville to live with her six aunts after both her husband and parents died. A mentally handicapped brother, George R. Alexander, had already moved to Yanceyville to live with the six spinster Robertson sisters.

While living in Yanceyville, the widow Ella Alexander Motz came to know locally prominent widower Walter Nathaniel Harrelson (1859-1933), whose first wife Fannie Delilah Graves died in 1898. Ella Alexander Motz and Walter Nathaniel Harrelson were married in October 1902. No children are known.

Walter Nathaniel Harrelson was a very prominent Yanceyville merchant. He married Fannie Delilah Graves (1861-1928), a member of the pioneer Caswell County Graves family. His store building became Watlington's On the Square, initially operated by Julius Spencer Watlington.