Fewer Volunteer Firefighters (December 2018)
More than 70% of the firefighters in North Carolina are volunteers, mainly in rural communities such as Caswell County. However, according to the N.C. Association of Fire Chiefs, the number of new volunteer firefighters is declining 11%-12% each year.
The issue has become so pressing that the N.C. Association of Fire Chiefs and the International Association of Firechiefs have embarked on a two-year campaign to recruit volunteer firefighters.
Caswell County Volunteer Fire Departments
Sta 1 - Yanceyville - 304 N Ave, Yanceyville
Sta 2 - Milton
Sta 3 - Casville - 10886 US Hwy 158 W
Sta 4 - Providence - 6655 Old NC Hwy 86 N, Providence
Sta 5 - Prospect Hill - 11621 NC Hwy 86 S
Sta 6 - Pelham - 4895 Old US Hwy 29, Pelham
Sta 7 - Semora - 4997 NC Hwy 57 N, Semora
Sta 8 - Cherry Grove - 7074 Cherry Grove Rd, Reidsville
Sta 9 - Anderson Township - 225 Baynes Rd, Burlington
Sta 14 - Leasburg - 5783 NC 119 N, Leasburg
Monday, December 03, 2018
Caswell County Fair 1959
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Smiley's Amusements: August 17, 1959.
Advertising for, among others, the Caswell County Fair (September 21-26)
Source: "The Billboard: The Amusement Industry's Leading Newsweekly," August 17, 1959.
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Hanky-Pank — A game where every player wins a prize every time. The charge per play more than equals the cost of the prize, so an agent can lose all day and still make a profit. A 5¢ prize dispensed for every 50¢ play adds up to big profits! A mark who wins once can win a tiny plush, and then have an incentive to play more and trade in his small prizes for one larger prize.
Plush — Stuffed animals or other stuffed figures used as prizes (the term is in common use today in the toy industry). Note: Collins & Aikman in Person County manufactured "plush" -- the soft covering.
Source: Dictionary of Carny, Circus, Sideshow & Vaudeville Lingo
Sunday, December 02, 2018
Commissioner Andrew Sterling Carter Censure Resolution
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Whereas, on December 5th, 2016 Sterling Carter took office as an elected official representing the Citizens of Caswell County; and
Whereas, the Code of Ethics for the Board of Commissioners of Caswell County, North Carolina states the "Public Trust in its elected officials is essential to the orderly and successful conduct of the public's business and government["]; and
Whereas, NCGS 163A-1133 Limited access to the voting enclosure. Reads (c) Photographing Voted Ballot Prohibited. No person shall photograph, videotape, or otherwise record the image of a voted official ballot for any purpose not otherwise permitted under law. (2001-460, s. 3; 2005-428, s. 1(b); 2007-391, s. 23; 2008-187, s. 33(a); 2017-6, s. 3J); and
Whereas, Commissioner Carter did post a photograph of a voted ballot cast in the 2018 election on a social media site; and
Whereas, Article 4.4 of the Caswell County Personnel Policy reads "The purpose of this section is to ensure that county employees are not subjected to political or partisan coercion while performing their job duties, to ensure that employees are not restricted from political activities while off duty, and to ensure that public funds are not used for political or partisan activities.
It is not the purpose of this section to allow infringement upon the rights of employees to engage in free speech and free association. Every county employee has a civic responsibility to support good government by every means and in every appropriate manner. Employees shall not be restricted from affiliating with civic organizations of a partisan or political nature, nor shall employees, while off duty, be restricted from attending political meetings, or advocating and supporting the principles or policies of civic or political organizations, or supporting partisan or nonpartisan candidates of their choice in accordance with the Constitution and laws of the State and the Constitution and laws of the United States of America; and
Whereas, the Caswell County Personnel Policy is not applicable to the members of the Caswell County Board of Commissioners however this Board does not expect more of the staff that reports up through the Chain of Command to us than we do of ourselves; and
Whereas, Commissioner Sterling [Carter] has requested that several Caswell County Employees associate with him through his social media presence; and
Whereas, while also illegal, the posing of cast ballot by Commissioner Sterling Carter casts both political and partisan coercion on employees while performing their duties; and
Whereas, Censorship [sic] of Commissioner Sterling Carter is the most appropriate action the Caswell County Board of Commissioners can take regarding the previous actions and violations of Commissioner Sterling Carter;
[N]ow, Therefore, be it resolved by the Board of Caswell County Board of Commissioners;
That because of the violations and previous actions taken by Commissioner Sterling [Carter], [he] is hereby censured. Commissioner Sterling Carter admitted to, minimalized, and never offered an apology for the infractions.
The Resolution passed 5-2 with Commissioner Sterling Carter abstaining and Commissioner Nate Hall opposing.
Source: John Claggett, "The Watchdog," The Caswell Connection. Editor's Note: I have made corrections and insertions as either the text of the resolution was carelessly drafted or mistakes were made in transcribing it.
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Observations
1. No violation of North Carolina law has been established. No responsible North Carolina agency brought any charges against Commissioner Sterling Carter. The North Carolina Board of Elections issued a "warning." Thus, the claim in the censure resolution that Commissioner Carter's photogaph of his ballot was illegal, amounting to some sort of violation, is without merit.
2. A large portion of the censure resolution is devoted to the Caswell County Personnel Policy, which the resolution then admits does not apply to Commissioner Sterling Carter.
3. That Commissioner Carter admitted to taking a photograph of his ballot and posting it on social media in no manner amounts to a violation of any North Carolina statute until appropriately charged by a North Carolina law enforcement agency with jurisdiction and the necessary legal proceedings have run their course. Due process?
4. The censure resolution quotes from the Code of Ethics for the Board of Commissioners of Caswell County, but apparently does not base the censure upon that Code of Ethics.
5. Statutes in other states prohibiting photographs of ballots, exactly like the North Carolina statute cited in the censure resolution, resoundingly have been held unconstitutional by federal courts.
Saturday, December 01, 2018
Holloway-Jones-Day House (Person County, NC)
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So, how did the house come to be known as Holloway-Jones-Day?
The Holloway part is easy. The house probably was built for a James Holloway. His wife and three sons apparently inherited the property, with son David D. Holloway purchasing from his mother and brothers the acreage that included the house. Subsequently, in 1848, David D. Holloway sold the property to Moses Jones, thus providing the Jones part of the house name. A daughter of Moses Jones, Jane Jones, married John Bumpass Day in 1860, providing the Day part of the name.
Source: National Register of Historic Places Registration Form, 29 April 1988.
According to Person County tax records, the property is held in a trust, with the following person named as trustee:
Geraldine Howard
900 W. End Avenue, Apt 8D
New York, NY 10025-3562
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James Holloway married Nancy Dickson in 1809 (Person County Marriage Bonds). He was a farmer by occupation. From 1815 to 1832 he added some 2,314 acres of land to the legacy left him by his father. He sold around 1300 acres in 1835 and died intestate in 1840 (Person County Deeds).
He was survived by his wife, Nancy, and three sons, John A., William D., and David D. In October, 1840, Nancy Holloway was allotted 100 acres of land and the house for the duration of her lifetime. (Person County Deed Book 0, page 265). In 1842, James Holloway's land was divided among the heirs. Nancy, John A. and William D. sold 809 1/2 acres to David D. Holloway and in a second transaction, Nancy, William D. and David sold 234 acres to John A. Holloway (Person County Deed Book P, pages 19-20).
John A. died intestate in 1846 (Person County Estate Papers). It is clear from the subsequent settlement of the estate that the Holloway-Jones-Day House was not on the acreage acquired by John A. Holloway.
In 1848, David Holloway sold Moses Jones 150 acres (Person County Deed Book Q, page 398). We know from subsequent land transfers that this tract did include the dwelling now known as the Holloway-Jones-Day House. The 1850 Person County Census records head of household, David Holloway, age 38 and single living alone with his mother, Nancy (page 64).
We can only speculate on the construction date of the Holloway-Jones-Day House. One of the bricks on the east chimney is signed "D. A. Harris." This may refer to Drury A. Harris of Person County. Harris was born in 1806 (WPA Cemetery Records), married Catharine Lawson in 1833 (Person County Marriage Bonds), and died and was buried in Person County in 1874 (Person County Will Book 19, page 247; WPA Cemetery Records). The architectural evidence indicates a pre-1840 construction date, so Harris apparently erected these chimneys as a young adult.*
Moses Jones, who purchased the house in 1848, died around 1854. It is not known who occupied this house, since Moses apparently had another house nearby (Eaker, p.283). Moses and Joanna's daughter, Jane, married John Bumpass Day in 1860 and may have been given the house as a dowry (Person County Marriage Bonds). Family tradition recalls that John and Jane were living in the house during the civil War. The crossroads was known as Daysville by the 1870s. In 1883, Moses Jones, Jr. deeded the Holloway-Jones-Day House and 160 acres to John Bumpass Day and his sister, Jane, for $750 (Deed Book CC, page 464). They were living in the house at the time and according to the 1883 deed had been doing so for many years.
John Bumpass Day, born in 1830, served in Company E, 15th Regiment of the North Carolina Infantry and was wounded in 1864 (Confederate Service Records). After the war he returned to Person County. His house and the surrounding community, situated at a then major crossroads in the county became known as Daysville. A post office was operated out of Daysville from 1872 to 1892 (Postmaster List, page 286). Day was supposed to have managed a dry goods store during this time (Eaker, pages 219-220). Day and his brother-in-law, Moses Jones, Jr., deeded a tract of land in 1879 to the Shiloh Primitive Baptist Church (Person County Deed Book W, page 375). The church had been constructed several years earlier and stills stands in good condition on SR 1322 100 yards west of the Holloway-Jones-Day House.
Daysville did not survive intact into the twentieth century; only John Bryce Day's house and the Shiloh Primitive Baptist Church remain. However, Daysville should be remembered as one of the Person County's active rural communities in the late nineteenth century. John Bryce Day died in 1907. His house and the farm stayed in the Day family until recent years when the acreage was broken up. John Bryce Day'S greatgrandson, Donald G. Day, purchased the house and two acres in 1977 and 6.59 acres more between 1979 and 1984.
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* During the 1970s restoration of the downstairs fireplaces, soapstone lintels were removed from the segmental arches of the fireplaces. The initials "J. D." and "J. A. H." were carved in some of the soapstones. "J. D." could stand for John Bryce Day, a subsequent owner of the house; however, there were several John Days in the county during the mid-nineteenth century. "J. A. H." may refer to John A. Holloway, son of James Holloway the original owner of the house.
Source: National Register of Historic Places Registration Form, 29 April 1988.
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