Page Family Feuds Over Slaves: 1839

Page Family Feuds Over Slaves: 1839

In his Caswell County will, Thomas Page (1770-1837) bequeathed numerous slaves to his heirs (four children). However, it appears that daughter Millie Page (who married William Fullington and moved to Missouri) absconded with more than her allotted share. At least that was the view of her brother Josiah Page (1803-1870) who had been appointed by their father as executor of the will.

In 1839, Josiah Page brought suit against William Fullington (husband of sister Millie Page) with respect to slaves Milly, Mary, Eliza, and Mary's infant child. The Caswell County Superior Court issued a summons to be executed by the Caswell County sheriff commanding him "to take the body of William Fullington if to be found in your County and him safely keep so that you have him before the Judge of the Next Superior Court of Law to be Held for the County of Caswell . . . ."

How the dispute was resolved is not known.
_______________

The Caswell County Sheriff at the time was Thomas L. Lea (1806-1867), father of the John Green Lea who headed the Ku Klux Klan when Senator John Walter (Chicken) Stephens was killed in 1870.
_______________

This case was based upon a writ of detinue:

In tort law, detinue is an action to recover for the wrongful taking of personal property. It is initiated by an individual who claims to have a greater right to their immediate possession than the current possessor. For an action in detinue to succeed, a claimant must first prove that he had better right to possession of the chattel than the defendant and second that the defendant refused to return the chattel once demanded by the claimant. Detinue allows for a remedy of damages for the value of the chattel, but unlike most other interference torts, detinue also allows for the recovery of the specific chattel being withheld.

Caswell County Near Rock Bottom: The Community Clinic

Caswell County Courthouse

Caswell County Near Rock Bottom

The Community Clinic

In Carolina’s Piedmont, Yanceyville is just 40 miles northeast of Greensboro, 42 northwest of Durham. But it’s a different world. The ornate Caswell County Courthouse, completed in 1861, with its domed cupola and Romanesque arches, harkens back to an era when bright leaf tobacco (and later textiles) were king. That’s gone; nothing has replaced it. Once the wealthiest county in the state, Caswell is now near rock bottom; its small commercial strip has a vacant, defeated air. People who are employed drive well beyond Yanceyville to a minimum wage job or service sector job -- until the car breaks down and they can’t afford to fix it.

It’s also the home of the Caswell Family Medical Center, which has seized on every tool it can to walk the value-based walk and improve the health of not only individual patients but its broader community. The Caswell clinic is what’s known as an FQHC, a federally qualified health center. Pretty much everyone who walks in is low-income, though not all are uninsured partly because even without Medicaid expansion Obamacare boosted insurance coverage in North Carolina. Working with Blue Cross, the clinic has brought in data and dashboards for “population health,” making it easier to track a patient due for a cancer screening, or immunizations, supporting prevention and chronic disease management. But coordination is hard when local people scatter for work across such a broad region.

O. Henry: Connection to Milton, Caswell County, North Carolina

Click to See Larger Image

William Sydney Porter (O. Henry) Connection to Milton, Caswell County, North Carolina

Smith, C. Alphonso. O. Henry: A Biograpy. London/Toronto: Hodder and Stroughton, 1916.
_______________

O. Henry Biography: Ancestry

The image that accompanies this post is difficult to read. Here is the relevant text:

"The resemblances between O. Henry and his mother are still further revealed in these 'Memories of the Mother of a Gifted Writer,' sent me by Mr. William Laurie Hill:

"In the days of the old four horse stage coach and the up and down hill stretch of our country roads leading from one town or village to another, there were but fifty miles of road between the old Revolutionary village of Milton, North Carolina, and the more aspiring town of Greensboro. For a high type of social life old people, although 'stay at home bodies,' claimed many friends even in distant parts. In summer many of her homes were filled with visitors and in those halcyon days of peace and plenty it was a delight to keep open house.

"Milton could boast of having a spicy weekly paper known as the Milton Chronicle that carried its weekly message into all the neighboring counties. The editor was Charles Napoleon Bonaparte Evans, who originated the character of 'Jesse Holmes, the Fool-Killer.'* This character furnished sarcasm and wit in weekly installments that kept the young people always on the edge of expectancy. . . ."
_______________

* Readers of O. Henry will recall that in "The Fool-Killer" he says: "Down South when ever any one perpetrates some particularity monumental piece of foolishness everybody says: 'Send for Jesse Holmes.' Jesse Holmes is the Fool-Killer."  It is interesting to note that O. Henry was here quoting, unconsciously I presume, a saying originated by his mother's cousin. Charles Napoleon Bonapart Evans's mother was a Miss Shirley, sister of Abia Shirley. The familiarity of Greensboro boys with "Jesse Holmes" has here led O. Henry to ascribe a wider circuit to the saying than the facts seem to warrant. From queries sent out I am inclined to think that "Jesse Holmes" as a synonym for the Fool-Killer is not widely known in the South and is current in North Carolina only in spots. "I tried it out this morning in chapel," writes President E. K. Graham, of the University of North Carolina, 'on perhaps five hundred North Carolinians. Only three had heard of it." One of these was from Greensboro and cited Charles Napoleon Bonapart Evans as the author.
_______________

Source: "O. Henry Biography," pp. 30-31.
_______________

The famous author O. Henry (William Sydney Porter) and Milton's Charles Napoleon Bonaparte Evans (newspaper editor) are first cousins once removed. Evans's mother is a sister of O. Henry's grandmother (Jane Shirley and Abiah Shirley, respectively).
_______________

Want to read this book? It is available at the following libraries near Yanceyville, NC: Elon; Greensboro College; UNC-Chapel Hill; UNC-Greensboro.

"Rebels and Refugees" Maury Family in Milton, North Carolina

Click to See Larger Image.

"Rebels and Refugees"

Milton, Caswell County, North Carolina

It appears the Maury family was fleeing Richmond, Virginia, during the Civil War. Note the interesting description of Milton and the Donoho family.

If the Maury family took one of the last trains from Richmond this would have been early 1865 on the Danville and Richmond Railroad.

It appears the author of the letter referenced (and published on pages we do not have) already was in Milton, Caswell County, North Carolina, as early as July 16, 1863..

The "Miss Bella" mentioned most likely is Isabella Glenn Garland Donoho (1832-1886). She lived at "Longwood" near Milton, Caswell County, North Carolina.

The Mrs. Huntington referred to as a Donoho grandmother was a challenge. However, Mary A. Williamson was married twice: (1) to Archimedes Donoho; and (2) to Martin Palmer Huntington. Thus, when the Maury family came to Milton, Archimedes Donoho had died, and his widow had married Martin Palmer Huntington. Thus the Donoho grandmother now was Mrs. Huntington!

Caswell County Sheriff Jesse C. Griffith Arrested in 1867

Caswell County Quiz: Other than as in charge of the military district that included Caswell County after the Civil War (during Reconstruction), how General Edward Richard Sprigg Canby (1817-1873) more directly affect the county?

A year behind Canby at West Point was a cadet named William Tecumseh Sherman. A few more years behind Canby was Ulysses Simpson Grant.
_______________

During the autumn of 1867, [North Carolina Governor] Worth and [General] Canby became embroiled in a dispute over the military's intervention in the state's judicial process. The case of Caswell County Sheriff Jesse C. Griffith marked the culmination of their disagreement. Griffith's case originated in a wartime incident that involved a Confederate deserter-turned-Union scout named William Johnson. In early 1864, Johnson and two comrades deserted from the Confederate army and headed for Union-held Tennessee. During their flight, the three men entered a house and stole about $20 worth of food and $5 in Confederate currency. Whereas Johnson succeeded in making his escape, his comrades were captured and tried for burglary. They received a pardon after agreeing to rejoin the Confederate army.

Johnson, meanwhile, became a lieutenant in a federal regiment in east Tennessee and later served as a guide for Maj. Gen. George Stoneman's Union cavalry during its raid through western North Carolina. After the war, Johnson returned home to Rockingham County. He was arrested, tried for burglary in the Caswell County superior court, and sentenced to die. Johnson was then incarcerated in the county jail at Yanceyville under the watchful eye of Sheriff Griffith.

Caswell County Reign of Terror in 1872

New York Times, 12 August 1872, Page 1.

A Reign of Terror Inaugurated in Caswell County

Colored Voters Kept from the Polls by Their Employers -- Intimidation by the Sheriff and Other Officials -- A Large Land-Owner Compelled to Sleep in the Woods.

Danville, Va., Aug. 11. -- A meeting of Caswell County, North Carolina, Republicans was held, last evening, in an old log hut on the edge of the woods outside of Yanceyville. Between forty and fifty persons were present, George Williamson, a white man, tried to raise a disturbance in the town, and by the false rumors he spread made many of the negroes afraid to attend. Thomas J. Foster, Representative elect, was in the chair. A resident of Leesburg [sic] reported that William Long would not let his hands leave work on the day of election. The threats he used prevented fifteen from going to the polls. From Milton Township it was reported that John Lea also intimidated his workmen, causing a loss of ten Republican votes.

About noon, Sheriff Griffith arrested John Mitchell, colored, on the ground that he was a resident of Virginia. Evidence was produced that he was a legal voter in Milton, but the Sheriff tied him with a rope in front of the hotel and swore at him, and so frightened the negroes in the streets that most of them went home without voting. Soon after the same official arrested another negro on the affidavit of Yarborough [sic], his former owner, that he was under twenty-one years of age. His mother, who was in Yanceyville yesterday, says that he is in his twenty-fourth year. Both these men were lodged in jail, but the former has been since liberated on giving $100 bail.

John Walter Stephens Became Known as "Chicken" Stephens

How John Walter Stephens Became Known as "Chicken" Stephens

"My homeplace in Wentworth was the location of one of Stephens' residences there. His name was quite familiar there during my childhood but today mostly forgotten. He was a member of our Methodist Church there as he was later in Yanceyville. Sometime around the end of the war JWS killed the chickens of the town postmaster and merchant, Thomas A. Ratliffe. Supposedly, the Ratliffe chickens had "strayed" over to Stephens' yard next door. JWS killed the chickens and so the story goes offered them to a much-upset Mrs. Ratliffe who then had Stephens arrested and placed in the Wentworth jail for theft. The next morning JWS was released next door to Ratliffe's Store and had an altercation with the merchant.

"No official documents or contemporary news articles have survived from the time of the event as this happened around the end of the war - in nearly forty years research in local history and I've yet to find any documentation. Nevertheless by the time JWS moved from Wentworth to Yanceyville his nickname was duly applied. His mother soon joined the family in Yanceyville and suffered a very strange death - falling out of her sickbed and cutting her throat on the broken edge of a chamber pot. Many Caswell and Rockingham County residents suspected that her throat was deliberately cut - possibly by JWS.

"Ratliffe's family lived in Wentworth until 1987 and the story about JWS in Wentworth was essentially what has been given in other accounts."

March 15, 2011 AT 9:56 AM, Michsel Perdue

Posted to the weblog of Charlotte Observer Associate Editor Jack Betts.

Killing of John Walter Stephens: John B. Hemphill Testimony (1870)

Weekly Standard (Raleigh, North Carolina
Wednesday, August 31, 1870
Afternoon Session
State vs. J. T. Mitchell
State Evidence

John B. Hemphill examined. He lives in Person county, about one or two miles from the line; he arrived in Yanceyville about 9 o'clock on the day of the murder; went to the courthouse and went into the grand jury room and in the meeting in the morning, but do not know when it adjourned; he had his dinner with him; he first saw the deceased in grand jury room; he was on good terms with the deceased and believed his was my friend; he did not stay in grand jury room very long; went there to pay Mr. Jordan the balance on fee for levying on horse; he was in the meeting but once in the evening and saw Wiley and the deceased coming down as he was going up the steps; he stayed about five or ten minutes in the meeting; he saw Mr. Kerr standing up but he being deaf, could not tell who was speaking, and wanting to see Mr. Stephens on business he came down and looked for him at the front of the courthouse, and then from room to room, and all the doors were locked; saw Wiley in the passage; he, Mitchell and John Lee [sic] at the south door; they were talking and laughing; the sun was then was about 1 or 1 1/2 hours high.

John Walter (Chicken) Stephens

Chicken Stephens

My homeplace in Wentworth was the location of one of Stephens' residences there. His name was quite familiar there during my childhood but today mostly forgotten. He was a member of our Methodist Church there as he was later in Yanceyville. Sometime around the end of the war JWS killed the chickens of the town postmaster and merchant, Thomas A. Ratliffe. Supposedly, the Ratliffe chickens had "strayed" over to Stephens' yard next door. JWS killed the chickens and so the story goes offered them to a much-upset Mrs. Ratliffe who then had Stephens arrested and placed in the Wentworth jail for theft. The next morning JWS was released next door to Ratliffe's Store and had an altercation with the merchant.

No official documents or contemporary news articles have survived from the time of the event as this happened around the end of the war - in nearly forty years research in local history and I've yet to find any documentation. Nevertheless by the time JWS moved from Wentworth to Yanceyville his nickname was duly applied. His mother soon joined the family in Yanceyville and suffered a very strange death - falling out of her sickbed and cutting her throat on the broken edge of a chamber pot. Many Caswell and Rockingham County residents suspected that her throat was deliberately cut - possibly by JWS.

Ratliffe's family lived in Wentworth until 1987 and the story about JWS in Wentworth was essentially what has been given in other accounts.

March 15, 2011 AT 9:56 AM, Michsel Perdue

Posted to the weblog of Charlotte Observer Associate Editor Jack Betts.

Charlie "Choo Choo" Justice in Yanceyville: 1950

Click to See Larger Version

Note the names:

Clyde V. McKinney
Reverend H. J. Womeldorf
Jno. O. Gunn
Larry McMullen
S. M. Bason

Charlie Justice
Ralph Sadler
C. V. McKinney
Sam Shaw
Hoyt Moore

Donald Carver
William Lee Gunn
William Pittard
Duke Foster
Felix Cobb

Larry McMullen
James Slade, Jr.
Eilly Pressley
Johnnie Gunn, Jr.
John Fuqua, Jr.

Bobby McKinney
Fred Hinton
John Woods, Jr.
Andy Woods
John R. Nelson

Jimmie Hodges
Walter Rudd

"Warm Supper"

"Warm Supper"

The day I [John Green Lea] was arrested I was carried to Yanceyville and all the prisoners had been sent over to Graham except a few from Alamance who had confessed being Ku Klux. I was carried over to Graham the next day and all the other Caswell boys started to Raleigh next morning.

Late that afternoon Judge James Boyd, United States Judge, came and asked me how I would like to take a walk; that he had permission to take me out provided I would agree to come back. I agreed, so we walked awhile, finally coming to his house. he asked me to have a seat on the porch.

In a few minutes the bell rang for supper. I told him I had plenty to eat at the courthouse, that my friends had sent it to me, Mr. Banks Holt and others, but he insisted on my taking a warm supper and as soon as we finished eating he said to me, "Lea, I was a Ku Klux. I have disgraced myself and my little wife." I asked him how. "I turned State's evidence." Why did you do it? He replied "Moral cowardice."

When Kirk's men hung Murray up by the neck and they let him down he was apparently dead (he lived 20 years after this, but really died from the effects of this injury), they then came to me and put the rope around my neck and I wilted." He and his young wife both cried like a baby and Boyd said, "Lea, I will never expose you. I know you are the county commander in Caswell." I said, "Oh no, there are a great many Leas in Caswell; I am not the one."

Source: John Green Lea 1919/1935 "Confession" to the killing of John Walter Stephens.

"Bravest Man" -- Frank Wiley: 1870

"Bravest Man" -- Frank Wiley: 1870

The day the arrest was made in Yanceyville, late that afternoon, Lt. Col. Burgin with eight men went down after ex-sheriff Wiley, nine miles from Yanceyville; went in his tobacco field where he was standing and told him they had come to arrest him. He asked them by what authority. Burgin shook his pistol at him and said, with an oath, "This is my authority."

His men rushed on Wiley, who knocked down seven of them, but one slipped up behind him with a fence rail and knocked him down; they then put Wiley on a horse, bareback, tied his feet to the horse and whipped him nearly all the way to Yanceyville.

The blood flowed freely, he being in his shirt sleeves. Burgin told me that Wiley was the bravest man he ever saw. When they arrived in Yanceyville, that afternoon, Burgin took him into a room in the courthouse, ordered his men to draw their guns on him, and told him that if he did not tell who killed Stevens [Stephens] they would kill him. With his head straight as could be, he opened his coat, slapped his chest and dared them to shoot.

Source: John Green Lea 1919/1935 "Confession" to the killing of John Walter Stephens.

"Crowed Like a Rooster"

"Crowed Like a Rooster"

The night I [John Green Lea] reached Graham they put Sheriff Wiley and Josiah Turner in jail with a crazy negro who hollered all night long. They didn't sleep a wink. Next morning they were taken out to go to Raleigh and Mr. Turner kept repeating that the powers of the judiciary were exhausted and Col. Kirk told him to shut his mouth. He then flapped his arms and crowed like a rooster and said, "Well, I reckon I can crow."

Kirk then said, "Hush up that, fool" The militia detachment were terribly frightened, thinking that they would be attacked in Durham. They closed all the windows and barred all the doors.

Source: John Green Lea 1919/1935 "Confession" to the killing of John Walter Stephens.

"Dem Things Got Me Last Night"

"Dem Things Got Me Last Night"

The night after Jones was whipped the Ku Klux went up to see if he had moved, having been ordered to do so. There were three very worthy darkies living in the neighborhood, named Stephen Taylor, William Garland and Frank Chandler. They were carried up to the grave yard by the Ku Klux, where we had left our horses. I [John Lea] walked through the grave yard, placed my hands on Will's naked shoulder and it nearly scared him to death. He shook all over.

The next day Will came by my house and Capt. Graves, my brother-in-law, asked him where he was going. Will said, "Lordy, Mars' Billy, I'm going across the creek." "What's the matter, Billy?" asked Capt. Graves. "Dem things got me last night. They were as tall as the eaves of this house. I knows they came out of the graves, for I saw them with my own eyes and one came up and put his hand on my shoulder and his hands chilled me clean through."

Source: John Green Lea 1919/1935 "Confession" to the killing of John Walter Stephens.

"Cannon Were Fired"

"Cannon Were Fired"

While I [John Green Lea] and the three others referred to were being tried before the Supreme Court, on the lower floor of the Capitol, on the bench warrant issued for us, the trial of the prisoners from Caswell County taken by the writ of Judge Brooks, which was the third writ, was being held in the Senate Chamber, directly over us. Our case was dismissed and we left, cannon were fired, tar barrels burned, and speeches by a great many prominent men were made.

Judge Kerr's speech created great excitement and enthusiasm. Only Wiley and Josiah Turner went to jail. When I reached home, Sheriff Griffith, who had been a prisoner, came and summonsed me to go with him and we ordered the heads of the Union League of America to leave the county within twenty-four hours and they did so without exception, going to Danville.

Source: John Green Lea 1919/1935 "Confession" to the killing of John Walter Stephens

"No Pistols, It Was Raining"

"No Pistols, It Was Raining" 1870

"They failed to arrest me [John Green Lea] on the day of the general arrest, so I went home and the next day they came and arrested me and brought me to Raleigh. Major Yates came to my house with ten or twelve men and when he came to the house I was lying down, asleep. It was raining and my sisters came running into the house and told me there was a crowd of Kirk's men out in the yard. I rushed to a drawer and got my pistols, but my sister grabbed me and told me not to go out in the yard nor to try to use my pistols."

Source: John Green Lea 1919/1935 "Confession" to the killing of John Walter Stephens

The statement by John Green Lea that his "sisters" were at "the" house, his home, when Kirk's men arrived deserves further examination. First, one sister, Rebecca Anne Lea (also seen as Anne Wright Lea), married in 1865, and in 1870 was living at her own house, with husband William Griffin Graves.

But, it appears that John Green Lea may have been living with this sister at the time of the 1870 United States Federal Census (as was the baby of the family, George Addison Lea):

1870 United States Federal Census
Name: Ann Graves
Age in 1870: 26
Birth Year: abt 1844
Birthplace: North Carolina
Dwelling Number: 245
Home in 1870: Milton, Caswell, North Carolina
Race: White
Gender: Female
Post Office: Milton
Occupation: Keeping House
Inferred Spouse: Griffin Graves
Inferred Children: Bettie Graves, Graham Graves
Household Members:
Name Age
Griffin Graves 32
Ann Graves 26
Bettie Graves 3
Graham Graves 1
John Lea 25
George Lea 13

Perhaps the two Lea brothers were living with their sister in 1870 because their father, Thomas L. Lea, had died in 1867. But, if so, where was the other sister? In his "confession" John Green Lea refers to "sisters." Of course, it is possible that Lea misspoke or that the transcriber inaccurately made the sisters plural. There was another sister: Sarah J. Lea. But, was she alive in 1870? Her history is incomplete.

Until now, we had assumed that Kirk's soldiers had arrived at "Leahurst," the ancestral home of this family. That now is in doubt. See photograph of "Leahurst." However, the 1870 census shown above was taken July 12, 1870. The Kirk episode related by John Green Lea apparently occurred before that date. Were Lea and his two sisters actually at "Leahurst" when Kirk's men arrived?
_______________

"Leahurst" still stands and magnificently so. It is just across from the New Hope United Methodist Church (on Daniel Dairy Road, off Long's Mill Road).

Kirk Soldier "Deviltry"

"More Deviltry.--A correspondent from Yanceyville says, Kirk's Major arrested three more men yesterday (Sunday)--John G. Lea, Nat. Lea and Capt. T. N. Jordan, the last named for refusing to lend the Major a horse. That is a pretty piece of business, to arrest a man because he didn't choose to lend him his horse; yet it is no worse than a thousand other acts of lawlessness and indignity that have been practiced on our citizens."

The Wilmington Journal (Wilmington, North Carolina), 26 August 1870.

The John G. Lea arrested most likely is John Green Lea. His "confession" helped explain the 1870 killing of John Walter Stephens that resulted in the presence in Yanceyville of Kirk and his soldiers. See photograph.

Nat. Lea probably is Nathaniel Preston Lea, younger brother of John Green Lea. He was born c.1849. No death date is known.

Captain T. N. Jordan most likely is Captain Thomas Norfleet Jordan (1842-1903), who lost an arm in the Civil War. He served as Caswell County, North Carolina tax collector and treasurer 1870-1871.

John Walter Stephens Killing 1870

Implicated in the 1870 Killing of John Walter (Chicken) Stephens

Bennett, Tucker
Denny, James (Jim)
Fowler, Joe
Hubbard, Clay
Lea, John Green

Mitchell, James Thomas
Morgan, Pink
Oliver, Tom
Richmond, Stephen Tribue (Dr.)
Roan, Felix

Totten, Logan
Wiley, Frank A.

The "Key" to the John Walter Stephens Killing

The "Key"

In his 1919 "confession" (released to the public in 1935), John Green Lea stated:

"Stevens was then stabbed in the breast and also in the neck by Tom Oliver, and the knife was thrown at his feet and the rope left around his neck. We all came out, closed the door and locked it on the outside and took the key and threw it into Country Line Creek."

Who had the key? Was the person who provided the key an accomplice?

Marmaduke Williams Norfleet apparently was in possession of the key to the Master's Office/Room on the ground floor (southeast corner) of the Caswell County Courthouse when John Walter (Chicken) Stephens was killed in 1870 -- kept either at the Register of Deeds Office in the Courthouse or at Norfleet's retail grocery store in Yanceyville, North Carolina.

In 1891, Felix Roan confessed to being a party to the killing, and all relevant testimony supports the door to the Master's Office being locked when Stephens's body was found May 22, 1870. Thus, a reasonable assumption is that one of the killers had the key. Only one key is known to exist.

Felix Roan is a son of Nathaniel Moore Roan (1803-1879) and Mary B. Henderson (1817-1896). The sister of Nathaniel Moore Roan, Mary Comer Roan (1811-1859) is the mother of Marmaduke Williams Norfleet.

Thus, Felix Roan (who claims to have participated in the killing of Stephens), and Marmaduke Williams Norfleet (who had possession of the key to the Master's Office at the Courthouse) are paternal first cousins.

Did Norfleet give the key to his cousin Roan? Or did Roan by virtue of his family relationship with Norfleet have access to where the key was kept at Norfleet's Yanceyville retail grocery store?
_______________

Then there was some very convoluted and confusing 1870 court testimony about this famous key.

Norfleet, both Register of Deeds and Yanceyville merchant stated there was a cold snap in April 1870 and that he instructed his clerk, Robert Roan, to send Calvin Miles to the Courthouse to borrow some wood to use at the store. The wood was stored in the courthouse room where John Walter Stephens was killed the next month. This indicates that the key was at the store. Calvin Miles (col.) testified he got the key to get the wood from Robert Roan, that he got only one key, that he carried three "turns" of wood from the Courthouse to Norfleet's store, and that he returned the key to Robert Roan.

This Robert Roan is a younger brother of the Felix Roan who admitted the killing of John Walter Stephens.

Felix Roan Confession 1891

Murder Will Out.

[From the Raleigh Signal, J. C. L. Harris, editor, Thursday, March 31, 1892.]

After twenty years--The truth at last--The confession of Dr. Felix Roan--The murderers of State Senator John W. Stephens, of Caswell County--Governor Holden vindicated--The scene in the legislature of 1872--Other facts concerning this horrid political tragedy.

Raleigh and the State has been all agog during the past week over the confession of Dr. Felix Roan as to the murder of State Senator John W. Stephens, of Caswell County, on May 21, 1870. According to Dr. Roan the murderers were: Dr. Steve Richmond, F. A. Wiley, Sheriff of Caswell county; J. T. Mitchell, Dr. Felix Roan.

The history of this celebrated case is as follows:

The reign of the Kuklux Klan was at its height in this State during the year 1870. Many murders and numberless outrages of less criminal import had been committed the previous twelve months. The organization was so thorough and complete, and disguises were so well conceived, that it was almost impossible to detect any of the mystic Klan who raided by night and murdered, outraged, whipped, and terrorized without let or hindrance throughout the state. The jurors were so fearful of a midnight visitation that they promptly returned verdicts of not guilty whenever one of the Klan was put on trial. The terror inspired by these outrages lost the State to the Republicans in August, 1870.

Red House Presbyterian Church Dedication 1918

Red House Presbyterian Church (Semora, Caswell County, NC) was dedicated September 1, 1918. A pamphlet was published memorializing the event. But the pamphlet also included the "Sermon" D. I. Craig had given some five years earlier when the monument to Reverend Hugh McAden was unveiled at the church cemetery.

This "Sermon" contained biographical information on Reverend Hugh McAden and historical information on the Red House Presbyterian Church. A partial transcription is set forth at the end of this article.

Here is the "Introductory" by the minister in 1918, Numa Reid Claytor (1879-1949).

"In the Summer of 1913 a Committee of Red House Church was appointed to receive funds for the erection of a new building. And due to the diligence of the Committee and the liberality of the people, over $7,000.00 was raised. Mr. H. C. Linthicum, of Durham, N.C. submitted plans for the building which we accepted, and Mr. Henry Fields, of Roxboro, N.C. was given the contract for building. A few changes were made in original plan, which added $1,000 to the cost of the building. A number of friends gave time and labor to the getting of material and the result--the building which we today Dedicate to God as a place of worship.

"By God's Providence, for over a hundred years the Gospel of Jesus Christ has been preached at this Church, and may the effort of God's people in building this edifice result in the continuation of the preaching of the saving Gospel at this place for ages to come."

N. R. Claytor, Pastor
September 1, 1918

The Page Family in North Carolina 1685-1850

Page, Jesse M.. The Page Family in North Carolina, 1685-1850: A Compilation of Primary Records. Raleigh (North Carolina): J.M. Page, Jr., 1987.

The book is available at the University of North Carolina at Greensboro Library (Greensboro, NC). Pages 369-441 cover Caswell County. A sample page is set forth below.

PREFACE  ....................... ................. .  vi
GEOGRAPHIC LOCATION OF THE PAGE FAMILY 1685-1850..v
EXPLANATORY NOTES..................................vii
ALBEMARLE  COUNTY................................. . 1
ALEXANDER COUNTY...................................750
ASHE  COUNTY......... .............................. 757
BERTIE  COUNTY................................ ........ 2-58
BLADEN  COUNTY..................................... 719-720
BUNCOMBE  COUNTY ................................... 584-588
BURKE COUNTY ............................ ........... 556-569
CABARRUS COUNTY................................... 589-597
CALDWELL COUNTY...... ............................. 570-574
CASWELL COUNTY ....................................369-441
CHATHAM COUNTY.........................  ........... 340-357
CHEROKEE COUNTY ...................................751
CHOWAN COUNTY.................................. .707-716
COLONIAL RECORDS OF NORTH CAROLINA................ 356-360
CRAVEN COUNTY..................... ............... 97-99
CUMBERLAND COUNTY................................. 238-259
DUPLIN  COUNTY..................................... 224-237
EDGECOMBE COUNTY ................................. 59-96
FORSYTH COUNTY.....................................749
GUILFORD  COUNTY .....................................748
GRANVILLE  COUNTY ..................................   726-729
HALIFAX COUNTY ................. ................. 753
HENDERSON  COUNTY................................ . 752
IREDELL COUNTY.................................... 756
JOHNSTON  COUNTY................................... 100-139
LINCOLN COUNTY..................................... 575-583
MARTIN  COUNTY ....................................  730-747
MONTGOMERY COUNTY.................................260-262
MECKLENBURG  COUNTY................................718
MOORE COUNTY.......................................263
NEW  HANOVER  COUNTY................................699-705
NORTHAMPTON COUNTY................................ 264-265
ORANGE COUNTY.....................................755
PERSON  COUNTY.....................................  717
PITT  COUNNTY ...................................... 614-672
RANDOLPH COUNTY ..................................266-339
ROBESON  COUNTY .................................... 673-698
ROCKINGHAM  COUNTY................................. 725
ROWAN COUNTY ......................................722-724
SAMPSON COUNTY.....................................152-223
STANLY  COUNTY  ..................................... 598-613
STATE RECORDS OF NORTH CAROLINA...............361-368
STOKES COUNTY......................................721
SURRY  COUNTY...................................... 754
TREASURERS AND COMPTROLLER RECORDS................758-759
WAKE  COUNTY. .....................................   442-555
WAYNE  COUNTY ..................................... .140-151
PAGE  SURNAME  INDEX................................760-784
GENERAL  SURNAME  INDEX.............................785-849