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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Dr. J. A. Hurdle is Dr. James Augustus Hurdle, D.D.S (1849-1925). He was a dentist who scheduled dental appointments all over Caswell County, North Carolina, at country stores, and he even scheduled clinics as far away as Roxoro, Person County, North Carolina. Much of his work was pulling teeth. His permanent office was later established at Milton, North Carolina, where he resided the latter part of his life. He also fitted glasses (spectacles) and did business from the Friou-Hurdle House in Milton.
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J. C. Allison who represented the Allison community of Caswell County is Joseph Carrithers Allison (1837-1916), a United States Civil War veteran, was the first United States Postmaster at Allison, Caswell County, North Carolina (which operated 1886-1909), was a Justice of the Peace (performing many marriage ceremonies), ran a general store, was a skilled woodright (specializing in caskets), and represented his community at the 1908 North Carolina Democratic State Convention. He married Tallulah Frances Hubbard (1852-1891) in 1871, and they had at least six children:

1. William David Allison (died young)
2. Edgar Archibald Allison (married Bertha Mae Hodges)
3. Joseph Littleton Allison (married Annie Susan Harrelson)
4. John Samuel Allison (married Martha Ollie Shelton)
5. Cora Mills Allison (married Henry Weatherford Harrelson)
6. Mary Susan Allison (married William Lester Harrelson)
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A. C. Davis is Alfred Coleman Davis (1854-1912) of Providence, Caswell County, North Carolina, a community that borders the North Carolina-Virginia state line and had a Danville, Virginia, mailing address.

The following is from The Caswell Messenger (Yanceyville, North Carolina), 1 May 1991:

Two tragedies scar the history of the Walters Mill on Hogan's Creek near the Virginia border below Providence. The death of David Allen Ware in 1932 and the total destruction by fire around 1965. Ware's granddaughter, Eunice Harrelson of Providence, remembers the fire that started late one Saturday night, probably set by trespassers, vandals, or malicious youth. The incident was a senseless loss. There was no electricity to catch fire nor were there flammables on the premises to combust spontaneously. The cause of the fire remains of suspicious origin. William Lewis Neal of Providence remembers the death of David Allen Ware in 1932. Ware's clothing caught on a set screw of the mill's shaft and he was battered to death. He had to be cut away from the gears of the mill; it was a horrible tragedy.

The beginnings of Walters Mill began long ago according to W. L. Neal. Azariah Walters after the Civil War owned plenty of land in Caswell County. Azariah Walters could practically walk from Milton to Danville on his own property. Walters Mill was built sometime around that time. A descendant of Azariah Walters took over the mill from Al Davis, grandfather of Yanceyville Mayor Curtis Davis, sometime after the turn of the century. Davis was a colorful fellow according to those who knew him, a jack of all trades. Davis would pull teeth, shoe a team of horses, run the mill, and keep a crew of workers busy in the mill and on the surrounding farms, all in a day's work. He lived just in sight of the mill. Al Davis died suddenly around 1912, his life's work is another fascinating story for another time.

High water marks carved in the foundation stone of Walters Mill revealed the dates 1850, 1899, 1910 according to Neal who remembers his father talking about the mill's beginnings. Neal, born in 1900, remembers as a child visiting the mill with his parents to buy flour. Cream colored water ground flour had a delicious flavor that was in a class by itself. The cities offered enriched, pure white flour, but Neal said nothing could compare with stone ground flour like that from Walters Mill.

David Allen Ware took over the mill from Al Davis and operated the mill till his death in 1932. The grandson of the first Azariah Walters then returned to manage the mill that his grandfather began 75 years before. The mill dam had eroded and Walters spent several years trying to make stopgap repairs to the upper section of the dam. Neal said the modern concrete did not hold up as the old fashioned mortar-mix of the 1800's. The repairs never held up properly.

The original race where water was funneled to the water wheel inside the mill remains to this day in place. The land where the mill rests is part of the estate of Claire Taylor, the deceased grandfather of Senator George Daniel.
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