Davie Poplar: University of North Carolina March 1993

 Davy Poplar Sapling Planted in Caswell County: Oakwood Elementary School October 1993

In 1993 one hundred and four sixth-grade students, representing every county in North Carolina,* were invited to Chapel Hill, NC, to attend a ceremony celebrating the bicentennial of the University of North Carolina. Each student received a sapling from the famed Davie Poplar (an iconic tree located in the heart of the UNC campus) and shook hands with Coach Dean Smith (with a photograph taken). Laura Beth Hodges represented Caswell County.

The thought was these students would take the Davie Poplar saplings back to their home counties and plant them. UNC recently launched a project to find these students and document these "baby" Davie Poplars.

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*With 100 counties in North Carolina, why the number was one hundred and four is not understood.

Source: "Living in North Carolina: The Legacy of the Davie Poplar" by Brad Campbell in "Our State" (March 2024).

Thanks to Carroll Aldridge for calling this event to my attention and to Brenda Wood Hodges for providing the newspaper item in which her daughter was featured.

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Davie Poplar at the University of North Carolina

Confederate Soldiers Not U.S. Veterans

 Congress Never Designated Confederate Military Veterans as United States Veterans

While Confederate veterans received some benefits (widows' pensions, for example), they are still not recognized legally as U.S. veterans. While Congress provided for "headstones or markers at the expense of the United States for the unmarked graves" of Confederate soldiers in the Civil War, it did not confer on Confederate veterans equal status as U.S. veterans. The definition of "veteran," as specified by the U.S. Department of Veteran Affairs, does not include Confederate armed forces.

Any claim that Confederate veterans maintain the same legal status as U.S. veterans is false. Confederate veterans' widows and children received pensions after congressional action in 1958 well after the death of the last surviving Confederate veteran, but that action in itself did not declare those soldiers to be full U.S. veterans. The very definition of a U.S. veteran was never expanded to include Confederate soldiers –– even when they were granted amnesty by President Andrew Johnson.

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Public Law 85-425 (May 27, 1958) [https://www.congress.gov/85/statute/STATUTE-72/STATUTE-72-Pg133-2.pdf]

An Act

To increase the monthly rates of pension payable to widows and former widows of deceasetl veterans of the Spanish-American War, Civil War, Indian War, and Mexican War, and provide penslons to widows of veterans who served in the military or naval forces of the Confederate States of America during the Civil War. 

Be it enacted hy the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, That the Veterans' Benefits Act of 1957 (Public Law 85-56) is amended:

(e) For the purpose of this section, and section 433, the term "veteran" includes a person who served in the military or naval forces of the Confederate States of America during the Civil War, and the term "active, military or naval service" includes active service in such forces.

CONFEDERATE FORCES VETERANS

SEC. 410. The Administrator shall pay to each person who served in the military or naval forces of the Confederate States of America during the Civil War a monthly pension in the same amounts and subject to the same conditions as would have been applicable to such person under the laws in effect on December 31, 1957, if his service such forces had been service in the military or naval service of the United States.

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The last confirmed Confederate Civil War veteran, Pleasant Crump, died in 1951 at age 104. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Last_surviving_Confederate_veterans

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Determining Veteran Status: U.S. Department of Veterans' Affairs [https://www.va.gov/OSDBU/docs/Determining-Veteran-Status.pdf]

38 U.S.C. § 101(2) provides:

The term "veteran" means a person who served in the active military, naval, or air service, and

who was discharged or released therefrom under conditions other than dishonorable.

38 U.S.C. § 101(10) provides:

The term "Armed Forces" means the United States Army, Navy, Marine Corps, Air Force, and Coast Guard, including the reserve components thereof.

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BY THE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA.

A PROCLAMATION. December 25, 1868

Now, therefore, be it known that I, Andrew Johnson, President of the United States, by virtue of the power and authority in me vested by the Constitution, and in the name of the sovereign people of the United States, do hereby proclaim and declare unconditionally, and without reservation, to all and to every person who directly or indirectly participated in the late insurrection or rebellion, a full pardon and amnesty for the offence of treason against the United States, or of adhering to their enemies during the late civil war, with restoration of all rights, privileges, and immunities under the Constitution and the laws which have been made in pursuance thereof.

https://www.loc.gov/resource/rbpe.23602600/?st=text

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https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/factcheck/2020/06/29/fact-check-confederate-veterans-not-considered-u-s-veterans/3263720001/

https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/confederate-soldiers-veterans/

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Public Law 810 refers to Part II, Chapter 23 of U.S. Code 38 which states that the federal government should, when requested, pay to put up monuments or headstones for unmarked graves for three groups of people:

(1) Any individual buried in a national cemetery or in a post cemetery.

(2) Any individual eligible for burial in a national cemetery (but not buried there), except for those persons or classes of persons enumerated in section 2402(a)(4), (5), and (6) of this title.

(3) Soldiers of the Union and Confederate Armies of the Civil War.

No portion of the law confers any privilege other than markers for graves of Confederate soldiers, nor does it grant Confederate soldiers status equal to those of veterans of the United States military. As of 1901, 482 individuals (not all soldiers) were already interred in the Confederate section of Arlington National Cemetery. Being buried there did not, of course, confer any legal status as a U.S. veteran.

Children of John Hosea McNeill Kerr and Eliza Catherine Yancey Kerr

 John Hosea McNeill Kerr (1844-1924) and Eliza Catherine Yancey Kerr (1844-1927) had several interesting children. She is a grandniece of Bartlett Yancey (1785-1828).

Born in Yanceyville, NC. John Hosea Kerr (1873-1958): Graduated from Wake Forest (N.C.) College in 1895; studied law; was admitted to the bar in 1895 and commenced practice in Warrenton, N.C.; mayor of Warrenton, N.C., in 1897 and 1898; solicitor for the third district of North Carolina 1906-1916; judge of the superior court 1916-1923; trustee of the University of North Carolina; delegate to the Democratic National Conventions in 1932 and 1940; chairman, United States delegation to the Inter-American Travel Congress in Mexico City in 1941; elected as a Democrat to the Sixty-eighth Congress to fill the vacancy caused by the death of Claude Kitchin; reelected to the Sixty-ninth and to the thirteen succeeding Congresses and served from November 6, 1923, to January 3, 1953; chairman, Committee on Elections No. 3 (Seventy-second through Seventy-fifth Congresses).

Mary Graves Miles Kerr (1875-1965): Married Yanceyville Dr. William Oliver Spencer, M.D. (1863-1938). She graduated from Oxford Seminary as valedictorian and taught school in a private school in Yanceyville. In 1921 she was Regent of the Society of the DAR in the State of North Carolina; as vice-president of the NC Society of UDC she was in charge of their scholarship program; in 1921 she was guest speaker for the dedication of the Confederate Monument in Yanceyville. For some years she was society editor of the Winston-Salem Journal. After her husband's death in 1938 she was assistant collector of Internal Revenue for the Winston office. A Democrat, she had been chairman of the Forsyth Party. An ardent Baptist, Mrs. Spencer taught the young adult Sunday School class at the First Baptist Church, Winston-Salem. She was Mother of the Year for North Carolina. Her initials "MKS" are found on the World War I monument on the Square in Yanceyville. She wrote the "Lest We Forget" inscription.

Albert Yancey Kerr (1878-1942) served as Yanceyville postmaster and owner/editor of "The Caswell News" newspaper that he published in the Azariah Graves storehouse building that still stands in Yanceyville and has been used as a restaurant. See photograph. He is the father of Eliza Katharine Kerr Kendall (1921-1997), Mary Frances Kerr Donaldson (1923-2016), and George Yancey Kerr (1925-1986). The two sisters collaborated on several books documenting Caswell County records. They are must haves for any serious Caswell County researcher.

Martha Frances Kerr (1883-1965) married Milton and Yanceyville merchant Alexander Hampton (AH) Motz (1885-1973). The A. H. Motz building still stands today on the Square in Yanceyville. See 1935 photograph. Their only child, Mary Kerr Motz (1917-2005) was a Yanceyville fixture for many years, and her house still stands.

Nannie Emma Kerr (1885-1978) married much beloved Yanceyville physician Dr. Stephen Arnold Malloy, M.D. (1972-1944). See photoraph. Many children delivered by Dr. Malloy carry his surname as their middle name. After the arrival of Dr. Malloy in Yanceyville in 1897, the town had the benefit of two doctors for only a few years. Around 1906, Dr. William O. Spencer, M.D., moved his practice (and surgery) to Winston-Salem, NC. As Dr. Spencer departed Yanceyville around 1906 and Dr. Houston L. Gwynn did not begin his practice until after graduating from medical school in 1923, Dr. Malloy practiced alone for some 17 years. He undoubtedly was one busy physician!

The Missing Chapter in the Life of Thomas Day by Patricia Dane Rogers and Laurel Crone Sneed (2013)

The Missing Chapter in the Life of Thomas Day

By Patricia Dane Rogers and Laurel Crone Sneed (2013)

Late in the spring of 1835, a rising young African American furniture maker from Milton, North Carolina, named Thomas Day (1801–ca. 1861) traveled to Philadelphia (fig. 1). Under normal circumstances, it would have been logical for a professional artisan to visit this bustling commercial hub in search of new business contacts and the latest fashions in furniture making, but circumstances were not normal. After Nat Turner’s bloody insurrection in August 1831, white-on-black violence targeting free blacks and antislavery activity had increased and spread. It was dangerous for any free person of color, let alone a southerner, to be in the so-called City of Brotherly Love, where white mobs had attacked and demolished African American businesses and gathering places in that very year as well as in 1832 and 1834.

Day was in Philadelphia for a different purpose: to attend the Fifth Annual Convention for the Improvement of the Free People of Colour in the United States. This event attracted the nation’s most prominent free African American antislavery leaders, a group described as “men of enterprise and influence” who were on hand to forward an ambitious and wide-ranging platform. In the course of five days, the attendees formally called for improved African American access to schools and jobs and a boycott of sugar produced by slave labor. They railed against the growing number of proposed plans for African colonization by former slaves and free blacks and pledged temperance, thrift, and moral reform. The delegates also vowed to blanket Congress with a pamphlet campaign to outlaw slavery in the District of Columbia “and its territories.” Most emphatically, the group proclaimed its belief in universal liberty and racial equality: “We claim to be American citizens and we will not waste our time by holding converse with those who deny us this privilege unless they first prove that a man is not a citizen of that country in which he was born and reared.”[1]

Yanceyville National Farm Loan Association: 1917

 Yanceyville National Farm Loan Association

A Voice From Caswell County

Mr. Editor: What is known as the Yanceyville National Farm Loan Association, of Caswell County, has been organized. it comprises the following teritory: Yanceyville Township, Locust Hill Township, Pelham Township and Stony [sic] Creek Township.

President, R. A. King

Vice-President, J. H. King

Directors -- W. T. Williamson, Walter King, and Thos. Graves

Loan Committee -- J. W. Williamson, Rufus Graves and Washington Graves

All persons wishing to join the Association in the above territory must apply to S. P. Grogan, Sec. and Treas., Yanceyville, N.C., R.F.D. 1. The Association consists of a $20,000 loan. S. P. G. R. 1, Yanceyville, N.C.

The Union Republican (Winston-Salem, NC), 11 January 1917.

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This was a co-operative organization established by federal statute to provide loans to individual farmers and their families. Under the act, farmers could borrow up to 50% of the value of their land and 20% of the value of their improvements. The minimum loan was $100 and the maximum was $10,000. Loans were paid off through amortization over 5 to 40 years.

Borrowers also purchased shares of the National Farm Loan Association. This meant it served as a cooperative agency that lent money from farmer to farmer.

Womack Home: Christmas In The Old South by Martha Eliza (Marnie) Hatchett Bason

 Christmas In The Old South: Yuletide Season Brings Nostalgic Thoughts Of Joyous Event At Famous Womack Home

By Mrs. Sam Bason [Martha Eliza Hatchett (1896-1993)]

Yanceyville, Dec 14 -- The old farm house sets empty and forlorn by the side of the road as those of us who knew and loved it for so many years pass up and down the highway. The very sight of it brings to us a feeling of nostalgia for the old days, especially at Christmas time!

This old house was the home of one of Caswell County's most illustrious sons. The marker in front of the house reads, "Bartlett Yancey, congressman, state legislator, political leader, died in 1828 at the age of 42. His home and grave are here."

Wonderful Days

Bartlett Yancey's grandson, Thomas Pancoast Womack and wife, Mattie Hatchett Womack, later owned it and lived there. It was during this period that we shall do a bit of reminiscing.

Days of preparation for Christmas Day itself and the holidays themselves were wonderful days at "Summer Hill." "Aunt Mat" and "Uncle Tom" had no children of their own, but there were always some of the many nieces and nephews around. Christmas was the time, and "Summer Hill" the place for gathering of the clan.

For days before Christmas the kitchen with its big wood range was a busy, good smelling place. Aunt Mat and Cousin Jence (our old maid cousin whom we adored) were cooking cakes, pies, cheese straws, beaten biscuits, etc. Often this cooking went on until far into the night. The children shelled walnuts and hickory nuts, grated cheese and coconuts, of course tasting as we went along besides scraping bowls from cake batter and icings -- humming Christmas songs as we worked.

Yanceyville Baptist Church Building Final Services 1950

Final Services Will Be Held Today In Yanceyville's Old Baptist Church; To Give Way To Modern New Building

By Tom Henderson

Yanceyville, Jan. 28 -- The walls of Yanceyville's historic Baptist Church will echo some weepings and wailings, along with paeans of thanksgiving, Sunday morning when the pulpit is preached from for the last time and the doors officially locked, preparatory to tearing down the old building and breaking ground for the new, whose architectural magnificence and magnitude will more fittingly eulogize the living God and more lovingly express the denominational loyalties of a growing membership.

Perhaps those who are yet unrelentingly loyal to the ancient landmark, satisfied with its size and imposingness and loath to see it razed will find some consolation in the knowledge that the costlier edifice will arise in the same setting of the grove of oak and hickory donated by Thomas Graves in the long ago.

Many Noted Sons

Through the years this church has been the home-base shrine of the Kerrs, Poteats, the Graves and the Yanceys. From the portals have gone out into state and national life many who have become eminent in the professions of life. Senator Bartlett Yancey, Dr. Edwin McNeill Poteat, Dr. William Louis Poteat, Miss Ida Poteat, Judge John Kerr and Representative John Hosea Kerr, to particularize, learned much of their Bible beliefs from the teachings here.

It is no reflection on either the Primitive or the Missionary Baptists to tell that the founding fathers of the Yanceyville church were mostly Primitive Baptists who had pulled out of the Country Line Church, whose foundation rocks are yet to be found on this side of the creek near the nascent mill site of the late William Graves, now in the possession of the heirs of the late Billie Martin, an ardent and orthodox Primitive Baptist.

The late Dr. Billie Poteat once "commissioned" this humble scribbler to "search the records and find out the historical facts incident to the splitting-off of the Missionary church from the Primitive." Unfortunately, these irreplaceable records have either gone up in smoke or "gone with the wind."

Caswell County Visual Artists

Caswell County Visual Artists*

Cadmus, Shirley

Compton, Nancy Jean Poteat (1934-2023)

Ellison, Mary Elizabeth Moorefield

Gatewood, Maud Florance (1934-2004)

"Blue Lady" by Maud Florance Gatewood (1986)

Guthrie, Charles Edward, Jr. (1942-2018)

Rawi, Sayed Hussein (1954-2008)

Roberts, William Anderson (1837-1900)

Shell, James Allison, Jr. (1944-2019)

Smith, Yancey Gwendolyn Moorefield

Thomas, Willie Carolyn Ellerbe (1925-2004)

Watlington, Russell Carter

Williams, Benjamin Forrest, Jr. (1925-2017)

Williams, Margaret Ann Click (1930-2017)

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*Caswell County natives and those associated with Caswell County.

Caswell County Historical Association and M. Q. Plumblee Recognized 1980

 "The Caswell County Historical Association will receive an Award of Merit for a record of outstanding accomplishment in the areas of local historical publication, documentation and preservation.

"The award carries a special commendation for M. Q. Plumblee, its president during the six years in which the association has sponsored two acclaimed publications -- William S. Powell's When the Past Refused to Die and Ruth Little-Stoke's An Inventory of Historic Architecture of Caswell County.

Both books were done by scholars with funding from the association. The Powell book is now in its second printing.

The association helped sponsor the first county-wide historical survey in the state, and a considerable number of county properties have been placed on the National Register of Historical Places.

Plumblee, a retired school principal, is cited for his "quiet but determined leadership" which prodded the association into a series of successful ventures, the most recent being the establishment of a museum in the historic courthouse.

By Dr. H. G. Jones (For The Associated Press). Published in the Durham Sun (Durham, NC), 20 November 1980.

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Millard Quentin Plumblee (1906-1987)

Click image to see a larger version.

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Dr. H. G. Jones

Stories from the Smith-McDowell House (Asheville, NC)

 Stories from the Smith-McDowell House

In 2021, this immersive exhibit was on display in recreated rooms throughout the 1840s Smith-McDowell House and on its grounds.

In this virtual version, you can view the halls, stairwells, rooms, and grounds, and meet many of the people who walked these same pathways over a century ago and whose stories represent a microcosm of the history of Western North Carolina.

Stories from the Smith-McDowell House

Welcome 

Just a few miles north of George Vanderbilt's grand Biltmore Estate is a different kind of mansion–one that was nearly 50 years old when Vanderbilt's crew began construction in 1895. This house is now home to the Western North Carolina Historical Association.

In the 1840s, James McConnell Smith, who was rumored to be the first white child born west of the Blue Ridge in North Carolina, broke ground on a large brick country house on his property overlooking the confluence of the Swannanoa and French Broad rivers–just one tract of the more than 30,000 acres in the county he would eventually own.

Smith paid few people to build his house or run his many businesses. Rather he purchased people, whom he would enslave, to perform the work. By the 1840s, when this house was being constructed, Smith held at least 70 people captive.

Once the house was complete, the Smiths used the property as a vacation destination from their main residence in Asheville, about two miles away. The house only became a full-time residence for a family when James's daughter, Sarah, and her husband, William McDowell, purchased the house at auction in 1857 from her brother's estate. The McDowells continued to hold people captive on the property, which contained numerous outbuildings, including at least six "slave houses," until April 1865 when freedom finally came to people enslaved in Asheville.

The McDowells lived in the house until 1881, when, in debt after the Civil War, they sold the property. From that date on, the house saw a rotating series of occupants resulting in periods of grand renovations and serious neglect, that have added new chapters to the history that it holds.

Photograph: The McDowell Family outside their family home, 1875.

Yanceyville Telephone System: 1936

 Did Yanceyville have "dial system" telephone service before Danville?

Rise in Number of Telephones Business Index

Next to Postoffice receipts as an index to community business conditions the telephone company's volume of business is regarded as important. J. M. H. Morgan, local manager for the Chesapeake and Potomac Telephone company reports that 60 new telephones have been put in since the first of the year bringing the total number in Danville up to 5,196.

Of interest here is the fact that telephones in Yanceyville, NC, are being run directly from the Danville exchange through the dial system and without the necessity of going through an exchange at Yanceyville.

But officials of the company have stated that this does not mean the adoption of the dial system in Danville at any time in the immediate future. The Yanceyville situation was found to be more economically administered by installing the dialing system insofar as it relates to the telephones in the Caswell County seat.

The Bee (Danville, VA), 18 June 1936.

The Yanceyville Whiskey Fight: 1905

The Yanceyville Whiskey Fight: 1905

The Democrat says that petitions are being circulated in Yanceyville against the establishment of the dispensary, and that the ladies generally are signing it. The report of Chairman Bailey, which was adopted by the temperance convention last week, only favors dispensaries in towns of 4,000 or more, and then as a step to prohibition. He says:

"It is timely to make a declaration relative to the dispensary. I am sure of your applause when I say that we should declare that our aim is prohibition and nothing short of it. I have a higher aim, however, and that is the permanent cure of the drink evil. I believe in prohibition as the best remedy in rural districts and small towns. But I must believe in the dispensary or some other restraining and regulating substitute as a temporary step in towns of 4,000 population or more. And I have been forced to this belief by the history of prohibition in the United States. In a word, I advocate the dispensary as a step towards prohibition when experience has indicated that the step from high license to prohibition cannot be satisfactorily taken."

When the Yanceyville dispensary fight is carried down to Raleigh it may be that the Anti-Saloon League will take a hand against its establishment. Certainly it will if it is consistent with the report and views of Chairman Bailey, for Yanceyville is already a prohibition town, and with a population of probably less than 200.

The Reidsville Review (Reidsville, NC), 24 January 1905. 

Japanese Airplane Crashes in Caswell County: 1945

 Japanese Airplane Crashes in Caswell County: 1945

The airplane that crashed 1945 in Caswell County is called a Tony. It was German-inspired and came after the better-known Zero. It also went by the designation Kawasaki Ki-61 Hein: single-seat, single-seat monoplane fighter/interceptor first produced by Japan in 1943. It was faster than the Zero, had a higher service ceiling, but was not as maneuverable. 

The one that crashed in Caswell County had serial number: C/N 263. It was found by US forces abandoned at Tuluvu Airfield, Cape Gloucester, Papua New Guinea, on 26 December 1943. Because it was intact, in 1944 the US brought it back to the US to examine/study. During January 1945, C/N 263, after having been painted with US livery for test purposes, was painted back in pseudo-Japanese markings and evaluated against the Wildcat, Corsair, Hellcat, Tigercat and Bearcat, but the tests were suspended when bearing metal was found in the engine oil.

The aircraft crashed at Yanceyville, North Carolina on 2 July 1945, and was written off. I have been unable to determine why the airplane was flying over Caswell County.

The attached photograph most likely is the way the airplane appeared when it crashed in Caswell County. Also attached is a photograph of the airplane as it was found in Papua New Guinea.

Thanks to Curtis Rogers for sharing this story. He also provided the following:

"I was there on 2 July 1945. I saw the whole thing. The volunteer fire chief [Johnny] Harwood lived next door to us in front of the Baptist church.  We followed him down to the site where the Tony had just landed wheels up. We were the first on the scene. The pilot had gotten out of the plane and was smoking a cigarette. Shortly thereafter, a P38 circled the scene. That plane was escorting the Tony to its destination.

"The propeller was donated to the town of Yanceyville and for many years was stored in the basement of the historic Caswell County Courthouse."

The airplane crashed/landed in a field where the Bartlett Yancey High School now stands.

Williamson v. Fels, Superior Court, Caswell County, NC, March 31, 1870

 Williamson v. Fels, Superior Court, Caswell County, NC, March 31, 1870

It appears George Williamson and W. E. Williamson (as guardians of some person) sued Lazarus Fels in Caswell County Superior Court in 1870. A summons was issued, but was ineffective because Fels was outside the jurisdiction. Thus, the court through Clerk of Court H. F. Brandon pursued notice through publication, which would legally suffice to place on notice a person outside the jurisdiction of the court.

The dispute was over the nonpayment of $300 "due the plaintiff for the hire of slaves." Thus, according to the complaint, Fels had hired enslaved people owned by the Williamsons (or the person for whom the Williamsons were appearing as guardians) and did not pay for the use of such enslaved people. Fels apparently still owned property in Caswell County, and through this legal proceeding the Williamsons would be able to attach the property and use it to satisfy the claim, presumably by having the court sell the property.

How the matter was resolved in not known. Also not known is the person (or persons) the Williamsons represented as guardians.

The Greensboro Patriot (Greensboro, NC), 31 March 1870.

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The plaintiffs may be brothers George Williamson, Jr. (1824-1893) and Weldon Edwards Williamson (1832-1901). The defendant is Lazarus Fels (1815-1894). H. F. Brandon is Henry Field Brandon (1831-1900).

The U.D.C. Chapter of Yanceyville Meets: Mrs. George Oldham Hostess at Interesting Meeting

The U.D.C. Chapter of Yanceyville Meets: Mrs. George Oldham Hostess at Interesting Meeting 

(Special to Daily News) Yanceyville, Feb, 26 [1919] -- Mrs. George W. Oldham was hostess to the U.D.C.'s Friday afternoon at her home on West Main Street. The president, Mrs. George A. Anderson, presided. The chaplain being absent, Mrs. Oldham opened the chapter with prayer. Much business was discussed, dues were paid in for the coming year. etc. Mrs. B. S. Graves read an attractive poem, "My Boy," written by Mrs. W. O. Spencer, of Winston-Salem, who has a son in service overseas. Mrs Spencer was born and reared in Yanceyville, and her clever writings are especially enjoyed in the town of her birth. The chapter adjourned to meet with Mrs. Anderson on March 21. The hostess served a salad course, coffee and mints. Attractive favors, in the form of miniature hatchets, were given the guests in honor of George Washington's birthday. The evening was concluded with a number of selections on the Victrola. The guests were: Mesdames George A. Anderson, B. S. Graves, T. J. Henderson, W. F. Fitch, E. F. Upchurch, J. W. Wiggins, H. S. Turner and T. J. Florance.

Greensboro Daily News (Greensboro, NC), 27 Feb 1919.

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Mrs. Geeorge W. Oldham: Not identified, but lived on West Main Street in Yanceyville, NC. Possibilities:

1. Eula Kirkpatric Oldham (died 1941), wife of Reverend George Willis Oldham (1879-1964).

2. Mary Doherty Oldham, wife of George Washington Oldham.

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Mrs. George A. Anderson: Mary Elizabeth Slade Anderson (1873-1939), wife of George Andrew Andersson (1869-1945)

Mrs. B. S. Graves: Malvina F. Graves Graves (1870-1955), wife of Barzillai Shuford Graves (1854-1942).

Mrs. W. O. Spencer: Mary Graves Miles Kerr Spencer (1875-1965), wife od Dr. William Oliver Spencer, M.D. (1863-1938). The son in service referenced most likely is William Oliver Spencer, Jr. (1895-1975).

Mrs. T. J. Henderson: Alice Cleveland Slade Henderson (1884-1928), wife of Thomas Johnston Henderson (1883-1959).

Mrs. W. F. Fitch: Fannie Rebecca Moore Fitch (1881-1920), wife of William Franklin Fitch (1877-1956).

Mrs. E. F. Upchurch: Mary Constance Stroupe Upchurch (1882-1968), wife of Ernest Frederick Upchurch (1877-1960).

Mrs. J. W. Wiggins: Sallie Henry Womack Wiggins (1864-1929), wife of John William Wiggins, Jr. (1849-1923).

Mrs. H. S. Turner: Mollie A. Hatchett Turner (1869-1946), wife of Henry Stephen Turner (1868-1951).

Mrs. T. J. Florance: Nancy Kerr Lea Florance (1869-1939), wife of Thomas Jefferson Florance (1858-1926).

U.S. Census Reconstructed Records, 1660-1820

 U.S. Census Reconstructed Records, 1660-1820

Census Publishing’s staff started an enormous fill-in-the blanks project in 2003 when they began reconstructing missing decennial censuses for the early United States. Records in this database come from their efforts to both restore or re-create missing pieces of early censuses and actually create decennial “census” records for the years prior to 1790.

Census Publishing describes its method as a “two-phase approach”:

Information will be combined from many sources including, but not limited to: tax lists, legislative petitions, voter's lists, state and federal land records, military lists, etc., in order to construct the basic foundation of a list of potential heads of households.

Once the foundation is laid, the structure (members of the family, ages, birthplaces, etc.) will be built using records familiar to every genealogist such as probate, land, military, vital, and published histories and genealogies.

This database contains reconstructions for the following states (though the reconstruction is not necessarily complete for any entire state):

Alabama, Arkansas, Delaware, Georgia, Illinois, Indiana, Kentucky, Louisiana, Michigan, Mississippi, Missouri, New Jersey, New York, North Carolina, Ohio, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, Tennessee, and Virginia

Entries may include name, residence, age, gender, color/race, occupation, birthplace, whether a slave, and source information.

Source: Ancestry.com

North Carolina School Construction Projects: 1949

North Carolina School Construction Projects: 1949 (including a cannery)

In the late 1940s North Carolina faced an "acute deficiency" in its public school buildings. To address this problem the Federal Works Agency in 1949 completed architectural plans for 115 school building projects in 86 North Carolina communities. The projects, either new buildings or additions to present structures, would cost an estimated $15.4 million. Here are the Caswell County projects:

Yanceyville school building addition: $57,870 [school not identified]

Prospect Hill school building addition: $112,095

Providence school building addition: $48,800

Solomon Lea school building addition: $67,462

Anderson school building addition: $87,829

Archibald Murphey gymnasium-vocational building: $102,419

Bartlett Yancey School gymnasium-vocational building and cannery: $198,525

Caswell County school bus garage: $21,500

Cherry Grove School building addition: $65,270

Cobb Memorial School building addition: $135,693

In addition to these federally funded projects the North Carolina General Assembly was considering an additional $30 million to $50 million for school construction projects.

The News and Observer (Raleigh, NC), 4 February 1949.

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Photograph: Bartlett Yancey Elementary School (foreground), Bartlett Yancey High School (background). Image is not associated with the above newspaper article as both buildings were completed well before 1949.

Caswell County Board of Education Election 1949

 School Politics Hot: School Spanking: William Claire Taylor Rejected

History teaches administration of Caswell County schools frequently has been politically charged. The Superintendent position often has been precarious. Some lasted only weeks, while others had a long tenure in office. Some resigned. Others were fired. The year 1949 saw intense political confrontation. At issue was School Superintendent Holland McSwain (1903-1988).

For some reasons, not all of which are clear, certain factions in the county took a strong dislike to McSwain, who had been in the position since 1935 and generally was well liked and respected. The battle lines apparantly were somewhat geographic, with the Semora group leading the anti-McSwain charge, and the Yanceyville group among the staunchest McSwain supporters.

As constituted, the three-member Board of Education (which hired the superintendent) would not remove McSwain. So Caswell County's representative to the NC Legislature, William Claire Taylor, "packed" the Board. He had passed legislation expanding the Board to five members, with the extra two specified in his bill. With the additional members, the Board voted 3:2 to remove McSwain.

However, one Taylor-picked Board member (Julius Spencer Watlington) then resigned amid the furor, and the Legislature stepped in requiring a special Board of Education election. This was held in May 1949. While races in some districts were close, those in support of McSwain prevailed in all districts and his contract was extended for two years (until June 30, 1951).

Thus, McSwain spanked Taylor.

Photograph: Holland McSwain

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The next year, 1950, Holland McSwain announced his resignation as superintendent of Caswell County schools to accept a position as public relations and business manager of Flora MacDonald College in Reg Springs, N.C. He left with head held high after defeating the somewhat devious actions by William Claire Taylor.

Yanceyville Kiwanis Club: 1948

Yanceyville Kiwanis Club

In November 1948, the Yanceyville Kiwanis Club was formally launched. Ralph Aldridge was president and other officers included John S. Dailey, vice president, Fred L. Stuck, secretary-treasurer, and J. C. Alexander, J. Bradley Cook, Ralph W. Holmes, V. Frazier Williams, John A. Woods, James W. White, and Edward H. Wilson, directors.

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Some of the principals who took part in the charter night festivities of the newly formed Yanceyville Kiwanis Club Monday in the Yanceyville High School are shown here (left to right):

1. Ralph Mims Aldridge, President of the Yanceyville Club;

2. John Slade Dailey, Vice President of the Yanceyville Club; and

3. Fred Lee Stuck, Secretary-Treasurer of the Yanceyville Club;

Remaing men in photograph are Kiwanis International officials from various parts of North Carolina. Click image to see a larger version.

Durham Morning Herald (Durham, NC), Wednesday, 24 November 1948.

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Additional Sources

Burton, W. C., "Kiwanis Club Is Chartered: Yanceyville Group Holds Initial Meeting." Greensboro Daily News (Greensboro, NC), Tuesday, 23 November 1948, Page 24.

When the Past Refused to Die: A History of Caswell County North Carolina 1777-1977, William S. Powell (1977) at 427.

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"Bellfield" in Yanceyville, Caswell County, NC

"Bellfield"

The following story of Bellfield and friends Bell Siah and Andy Ferguson apparently is found in a letter from George Andrew Anderson (1869-1945) to his son James Ezekiel (Zeke) Anderson (1914-2005). Presumably this letter remains in the files of the Anderson family or was donated to the Caswell County Historical Association (CCHA), an organization in which Zeke Anderson and wife Sallie Gibbs Pridgen Anderson (1915-2012) were deeply involved (being founding members). The research library at the CCHA's Richmond-Miles Museum is named for Sallie Anderson.

Here is the story as published in 1948:

"Behind the [Caswell County] courthouse lies what is still called Bellfield, where more than 150 years ago [before 1798] Bell Siah and Andy Ferguson, two Irishmen from the old country, used to sit beneath a great sassafras tree or fish along the branch.

"There were never better friends than these. One day as they sat beneath the tree, which according to a letter written by George Anderson to his son Zeke Anderson, had a trunk 'like the torso of a human body, while outstretched limbs were human in their resemblance,' Bell must have told his friend that he was going to fashion a coffin for himself out of the tree. This he did, using axe and adze to hollow it out, and sweet gum and bee's wax to polish the surface; then he stored in the loft of his cabin.

[Photograph: Looking south behind the Courthouse toward Country Line Creek. Image not associated with the above newspaper article. Click image to see a larger version. Courtesy Tim Ross.]

"When the time neared for the coffin to be put to its intended use, Andy was there; and he listened to his dying friend say: 'I feel that my calling and election is sure, and I can smell the shamrock and the hawthorn blooming in the fields of Old Ireland.'

Confederate Dollar Scale of Depreciation, North Carolina: 1865

Confederate Money

Jokes are made about the value of Confederate currency/notes, which in many respects became worthless when the Civil War ended. I own many of these notes, some of which are of interest to numismatists.

However, what about contracts entered into during the Civil War based upon Confederate money? How were these contracts to be resolved? A scale of depreciation was adopted. Was the NC legislature being generous in only depreciating the Confederate dollar to 100 (100 Confederate dollars required to buy one gold dollar) in April 1865? Was this bill the final depreciation scale adopted? What about other Confederate states?

Confederate Dollar Scale of Depreciation: 1865

A BILL TO BE ENTITLED AN ACT TO ESTABLISH A SCALE OF DEPRECIATION OF CONFEDERATE CURRENCY.

WHEREAS, By an ordinance of the Convention, entitled "An Ordinance declaring what laws and ordinances are in force, and for other purposes," ratified on the 18th day of October, A. D., 1865, it is made the duty of the General Assembly to provide a scale of depreciation of the Confederate Currency from the time of its first issue to the end of the war, and it is further therein declared that "all executory contracts, solvable in money, whether under seal or not, made after the depreciation of said currency before the 1st of May, 1865, and unfilled (except official bonds and penal bonds payable to the State) shall be deemed to have been made with the understanding that they were solvable in money of the said currency," subject, nevertheless, to evidence of different intent of the parties to the contract [parol evidence]; therefore,

Be it enacted by the General Assembly of the State of North Carolina, and it is hereby enacted by the authority of the same, That the following scale of depreciation be and the same is hereby adopted and established as the measure of value of one gold dollar in Confederate currency, for each month, and the fractional parts of the month of December, 1864, from the 1st day of November, 1861, to the 1st day of May, 1865, to wit:

AND, WHEREAS, many grave and difficult disputes may arise between executors, administrators, guardians and trustees, and their legatees, distributees, wards and cestuysque trust, in the settlement of their accounts and trust, arising from the depreciation of Confederate currency, State Treasury notes and Bank notes, incident to and growing out of the late war; and that law suits and expensive litigation may be obviated;

Be it further enacted, That in all such cases the parties are hereby empowered to form a full and perfect statement of the case on both sides, which case shall be committed to the determination of one of the Judges of the Superior Courts, chosen by the parties, who is hereby authorized to consider and determine the same, according to equity and good conscience: Provided, however, That no part of this section shall be construed to estop or hinder any person from proceeding in the usual course of law, if he shall deem the same necessary.

A true copy.

J. A. ENGELHARD,

Clerk of Senate.

See: Branson

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The Confederate Note Case, 86 U.S. 548 (1873): Appeal from the Circuit Court for the District of North Carolina: Confederate Note Case

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60% From Printing Money

There are three sources of government revenue: taxation, borrowing, and printing money. Given that the Confederate States of America was established on the principle of states’ rights, many Southerners were suspicious of granting the central government powers to impose and collect taxes. With opposition from the general public as well as leading political figures, it is not surprising the Confederate government collected approximately only 8.2% of its total revenues from taxes. Tariffs, another potential source of tax revenue, were hampered by the Union blockade of Southern ports.

The Confederacy then turned to debt issue as a means of war finance. The South successfully sold some long-term government securities during the early stages of the war. Bond issues proved a limited source of war financing as Southern prospects diminished, however. Investors increasingly shied away from purchasing securities offered by a government with little or no tax base and a deteriorating military situation.

The government resorted to money financing as its primary source of revenue. Overall, debt issue and the printing press accounted for nearly 32 and 60 percent of the South’s total real revenues during the war.

Source: Confederate Finance and Money

Caswell County Board of Education: 1911

 Caswell County Board of Education: 1911

Yanceyville, April 6 [1911] -- "The county board of education was in session Monday, Messrs. C. H. King, chairman, T. J. Hatchett and R. I Newman being in attendance. A large amount of routine business was transacted and settlement was made with the county treasurer. Superintendent Anderson submitted a report on the general condition of the school work. The report indicates that the session just closed was the most satisfactory one in years."

The Reidsville Review (Reidsville, North Carolina), 7 April 1911, Friday, Page 1.

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C. H. King is Cary Howard King (1864-1959).

T. J. Hatchett most likely is Thomas Jackson Hatchett (1866-1932).

R. I. Newman most likely is Robert Ira Newman (1854-1934).

Superintendent Anderson is George Andrew Anderson (1869-1945).

It appears the Caswell County Board of Education was created in 1885 with George Nicholas Thompson (1832-1891) serving as the first superintendent:

"In June, 1885, W. W. Taylor, Henry F. Brandon, and Gabriel L. Walker were elected to the Board of Education for Caswell County and in July they met and organized. George N. Thompson was Superintendent of Public Instruction and he acted as clerk of the board. In the fall the board appointed three committmen for each of the school districts and the following year it was reported that the number of schools for both races had been increased. There were 35 for whites and 37 for blacks. An additional school district had recently been created bringing the total number to 37. The average salary for white teachers was less than $27.00 a month and for black teachers it was about $24.00."

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. 383-388. 

Caswell County Board of Health: 1911

Caswell County Board of Health: 1911

Yanceyville, April 6 [1911] -- "The county board of health, as created by the last General Assembly, met in the office of the superintendent of schools Monday. The board is composed of the following gentlemen: J. S. Harvey, chairman; Geo. A. Anderson, secretary, and B. S. Graves. In compliance of the law, Dr. J. A. Pinnix, of Anderson township, and Dr. J. F. Badgett, of Locust Hill township, were elected as additional members. The board will meet again on the second Monday in May at which time the county superintendent of health will be elected."

The Reidsville Review (Reidsville, North Carolina), 7 April 1911, Friday, Page 1.

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This is the first mention found of the Caswell County Board of Health. The newly created group selected as the County Superintendent of Health Dr. Stephen Arnold Malloy, M.D. (1872-1944).

J. S. Harvey most likely is John Shields Harvey (1864-1935). In 1911 he apparently was living in Pelham Township, Caswell County, NC.

Geo. A. Anderson is George Andrew Anderson (1869-1945).

B. S. Graves is Barzillai Shuford Graves (1854-1942).

Dr. J. A. Pinnix is Dr. John Alexander Pinnix, M.D. (1846-1931).

Dr. J. F. Badgett is Dr. James Farish Badgett, M.D. (1855-1933).

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Photograph: Undated image of the Caswell County Health Department building. Caswell Knitting Mills Inc. is in the background. According to Bill Powell's History of Caswell County, in 1970 a "new" Health Department Building was built.

Locust Hill Post Office Closed: 1911

 Locust Hill Post Office Closed: 1911

The News of Caswell: Our Yanceyville Scribe Has Store of New Items

"The office at Locust Hill, which has been maintained as a postoffice for many years, has been discontinued by the Department, and the patrons in the future will be supplied by the R.F.D. from Yanceyville."

The Reidsville Review (Reidsville, North Carolina), 7 April 1911, Friday, Page 1.

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The Locust Hill US Post Office began as Brown's Store in 1804, apparently operating in the store of Jethro Brown (1766-1828) [built by his father John Edmunds Brown (1733-1798)]. The first postmaster was John H. Brown, possibly a son of John Edmunds Brown. Jethro Brown became postmaster in 1818. While the name changed in 1846, query whether the location did. The first postmaster under the Locust Hill name was Stephen Neal. The last postmaster was William W. Hatchett (1859-1939).

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Brown's Store

Locust Hill Post Office Cancellation August 7, 1885

John W. Stephens Slain by Men of His Own Political Party and Not by Ku Klux

Says J. W. Stephens Not A Carpetbagger: Geo. F. Ivey Says Man Assassinated in Yanceyville Probably Was Slain by Men of His Own Political Party and Not by Ku Klux

(Special to The Charlotte Observer) Hickory, Oct. 12 [1935] -- J. W. Stephens, whose assassination in Yanceyville during the reconstruction days led to a declaration of martial law and indirectly to the impeachment of Governor W. W. Holden, was not a carpetbagger and there is evidence he was slain by men of his own political party instead of Ku Klux Klansmen, according to George F. Ivey, well-known Hickory manufacturer.

Mr. Ivey, a brother of J. B. Ivey of Charlotte, says he has information tending to prove that the "inside story" of the Stephens assassination, reported in a recent press dispatch from Danville, Va., is incorrect. The news story told of a deposition which Capt. John G. Lea of Danville made in 1919 and locked in a vault until it was disclosed after his death.

In his witnessed statement, Captain Lea, who was on organizer for the Invisible Empire in Caswell County in 1870 and who died several days ago at South Boston, Va., names Col. J. T. Mitchell and Thomas Oliver, now both dead, as the actual executioners of Stephens. The Lea statement, witnessed and attested by the late Col. Fred Olds, declares Stephens was condemned to die by the Caswell Klan which accused him of arson. The Klansmen swore never to reveal to others who participated in the enterprise until the last one was dead. Captain Lea was the last, according to the Danville story, succumbing at South Boston, Va., in his 92nd year. He did, however, make the deposition in 1919 at the urgent request of the North Carolina Historical Commission and locked in a vault.

Mr. Ivey, who formerly lived in Caswell County, is familiar with the circumstances of the Stephens death, or at least with the local stories there. The courthouse where the man was killed during a political rally is still standing and visitors are shown the very room in which the body was found. Continuing, Mr. Ivey declared:

No Carpetbagger

"J. W. Stephens was not a carpetbagger. A carpetbagger was a corrupt man from the North who came to the South at the end of the war with all his possessions in a carpet bag -- a valise made of carpet instead of leather. Stephens was a native of Rockingham County and was for many years known as 'Chicken Stephens' by reason of his being convicted of stealing chickens from Thomas Ratliffe of Wentworth. He left his watch and pistol to secure his fine, went to Caswell County and was duly elected a member of the Legislature, which was composed almost entirely of negroes and men of Stephens's stamp.

"It seems that at that time the election in North Carolina was held three months before the general election, and Governor Holden and his crowd were exceedingly anxious for the State to go Republican for its effect on the other Southern States. As the election drew near -- remember, it was in July -- the State seemed to be peaceful and there was no excuse for sending Federal troops to guard the polls. According to the story, believed for many years, Stephens was assassinated by his own party in order to have an excuse for drastic action. It was not intended to kill him, but when he recognized his assailants, his death became necessary.

Holden Told Bailey?

"Several years after this, Rev. C. T. Bailey, a Baptist minister, who was the father of the present North Carolina Senator, Josiah W. Bailey, and at that time editor of The Biblical Recorder, stated that Governor Holden, while in a penitent mood, told him that the Republican party had much to do with the crime and that the prosecution was discontinued because there was evidence which would incriminate influential members of that party. A public statement to this effect was published by Rev. Mr. Bailey early in October, 1876.

"It is said that history is never correctly written until long after the events have taken place, in this case, even after 65 years, it is not at all certain who killed Stephens. The statements of a man in contemplation of death (such as that of Captain Lea) will usually receive much weight, but there was no opprobrium attached to the deed in question and thousands of good men thought his death was well deserved. We must remember that the war had been ended only a few years and thousands of men had been killed legally. Much bragging was done about the exploits during the war, and a little about this matter would not seem out of place."

Major Lee Latta expressed the opinion that the minister referred to was Doctor Skinner, pastor of the Raleigh Baptist church, who reported the confession of Holden and that Doctor Skinner was severely criticised for revealing matters told him in confidence by one of his members. Mr. Ivey said it is, of course, possible that Holden told substantially the same story to both Doctor Skinner and Rev. Mr. Bailey.

The Charlotte Observer (Charlotte, North Carolina), 13 October 1935, Sunday, Page 31.

"From Days of Reconstruction: Story of the Arrest and Prosecution of a North Carolina Sheriff in Trying Days" by Captain Ball 1910

 "From Days of Reconstruction: Story of the Arrest and Prosecution of a North Carolina Sheriff in Trying Days" by Captain Ball

"I am here enjoying the fine air and scenery of a most beautiful country. Keuka Lake is a gem among the smaller lakes of New York State. Wild Indian tribes formerly had uncontrolled possession and one can look out upon this charming lake and almost can hear their war-whoops and in imagination can see the canoes of the dusky warriors darting across its pellucid waters.

"All fighting men have some sort of a battle-cry. I do not think the war-whoop would disturb me very much, for I have often heard the rebel yell, which, although disagreeable, was not wholly effacing.

"I lived for twenty-five years among the people who had uttered it and found them with hatreds and affectations like other people. While living there, many things worth of notice and remembrance passed under my observation. I now recall the trial of a North Carolina sheriff by a military commission in Charleston.

"I was employed in the years 1867-8 in the services of the Second Military district, comprising the Carolinas, as assistant judge advocate of the district, under General Ed. R. S. Canby. I have never seen General Sickles but once and I am sure he never heard of me. So the silly story that I was his private secretary was a pure invention. (The insufferable meanness of stating as the truth what is not known to be true, for a supposed political benefit, is inconceivable to honest minds.) It would have been no disgrace, however, to have been private secretary to General Sickles, many of whose General orders have been retained in the statutes of North Carolina.

Bank of Yanceyville Vault Air Conditioned: The Daily Times-News (Burlington, North Carolina), 25 Oct 1938

 Bank of Yanceyville Vault Air Conditioned: 1938!

There are a number of interesting things about the bank that Sam Bason built at Yanceyville in Caswell County . . . not the least of which is no doubt a seasonal banking policy . . . and at this time of the year the hourly schedule is no more than lettering on the windows a.m. to 3 p.m.

It is 'bacco time in Caswell . . . and growers home from widely scattered markets in North Carolina and Virginia want to stop by on their way home and make a deposit or visit the strong box in the vault . . . and a community like Yanceyville is one in which business is on a community plan, accommodating.

"Its just impossible for us to close when our patrons want to see us," Mr. Bason said. "Of course, it is quite different in the summer when the farmers are in the fields and only the town folk have their banking to attend to. The schedule [on the window] is then maintained."

]Photograph: Samuel Murphey Bason's Yanceyville Rotary Club photograph. It is not associated with this newspaper article.]

Back in 1921 when the bank was built, it was regarded as the best appointed of any bank in a town the size of Yanceyville . . . and even today some of the appointments are more modern than may be found in large city banks. its resources are about $500,000, falling down a bit during summer when it becomes necessary for some to "borrow" from savings to make crops, take care of farm and household necessities and so on.

"It looks like a fine spot for a holdup," a visitor remarked to Mr. Bason.

"Not so good," he answered. "You see, there isn't much money in sight on the counters at any time. Here is what we do with it. Put it through this slot . . . like posting a letter at the post office . . . and it will be fifteen minutes later before we can get a dollar of it.

"We figure that while the bank robber would be waiting for the lock to open, persons would enter the bank and he would be foiled . . . probably walking out and disappearing."

[Photograph: Bank of Yanceyville under construction. Image not associated with this newspaper article.]

The most valuable piece of equipment, however, is an electric ventilating system within the big vault, an emergency air conditioner "just in case."

"Sometimes," Mr. Bason continued, "a bank robber will force members of the office staff into a vault and slam the door in his face. That's bad! Experts say that a man might live in our vault without fresh air for a period of two hours . . . and if two persons were confined the life span would be cut in half. Imagine that!

"But you press this little button here and old air is forced out and new air forced in. It means that such a victim could live without discomfort almost indefinitely, certainly until rescued from the tomb."

[Photograph shows vault in background; not associated with this newspaper article.]

Sam Bason is a product of Alamance County, where he was reared on the Haw River . . . going to Caswell some twenty years ago to become an outstanding citizen of Yanceyville and the surrounding community. He has become thoroughly "acclimated" and wouldn't trade his business address nor his domicile for a swanky front on Park Row.

Now he has become a member of the highway commission from the fifth district . . . and that means laying plenty of bumpy roads and proposed trails on his office desk. It brings visitors by the individual, group and delegation, with a little petty change left on the counter at the drug store and sometimes at the grocers.

He's a genial fellow. He'll talk about the history of Caswell, the rural background, and the coming first industry . . . a hosiery mill . . . and he'll discuss national affairs in business and politics. And before you go, he'll say "Wait just a moment, I want to give you one of the latest road maps. It is a dandy.!"

"I'll say it is," remarked a visitor in his office yesterday. "It's the third one you've given me!"

The Daily Times-News (Burlington, North Carolina), 25 Oct 1938, Tue, Page 4.

Brothers W. B. Horton and W. P. Horton in NC Senate

 Brothers in NC Senate: W. B. Horton and W. P. Horton

The News and Observer (Raleigh, North Carolina), 9 Jan 1927

"Rather an unusual circumstance is that two of the members of the [North Carolina] State Senate are brothers. They are W. B. [William Banks] Horton, of Yanceyville, and W. P. [Wilkins Perryman] Horton, of Pittsboro. . . . 

The following is excerpted from the Chatham Record:

"Thomas Horton brought his wife and children to Chatham from Kansas City, when W. P. was a tot. Both the father and mother of the Senators are Virginians. But the wanderlust carried the father to Texas and later to Kansas City, where he was a merchant, till one Christmas he happened to visit his sister in this county [Chatham County, NC], Mrs. Pete Carter, and found the climate so much to his liking as compared to that of Kansas City, where the snow was then half-leg deep, that he straighway moved his family to Chatham and became a farmer, being located seven or eight miles from Chapel Hill.

"Here the boys grew up. When W. B., was a youth of seventeen or eighteen the wanderlust seized him and he ran away and joined the navy, in which he served 24 years. While Josephus Daniels was secretary of the navy in the first Wilson administration, it will be recalled, he opened examinations for midshipmen to the enlisted men, thus giving them an opportunity to secure rank along with the graduates of Annapolis. W. B. Horton, then having served for nearly a score of years, was fortunate enough to rise from the ranks and thus served as an officer during the World War.

"The war over, he resigned, studied law at the University and at Wake Forest, and began to practice at Yanceyville. He has already served a term in the house of representatives and now goes to the senate, thus rapidly rising in civil affairs after giving 24 years to the navy.

"W. P. can barely remember living in Kansas city and consequently feels himself a native Chathamite. He has already once ably represented his county in the senate [North Carolina Senate]."

History of Journalism in North Carolina: 1881

"History of Journalism in North Carolina: A Story of the Men Whose Labor Has Done More for Progress and Education in North Carolina Than Any other Body of Men"

The News and Observer (Raleigh, NC), 14 August 1904

In 1881, in response to an invitation from the North Carolina Press Association, Governor [William Woods] Holden delivered an Address on the History of Journalism in North Carolina, which will be of much interest to every reader of this edition of The News and Observer. It is, therefore, printed below in full:

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[Following are excerpts from the Holden address of relevance to Caswell County, NC.]

Among the oldest editors in the State is C. N. B. Evans, Esq., of the Milton "Chronicle." Mr. Evans was born in Norfolk County, Virginia, in 1812. He has worked as a journeyman in Columbia, S.C., in Raleigh with Philo White, in Richmond, Virginia, in Hillsboro, with Dennis Heartt, and elsewhere; and once was on the eve of going to Buenos Ayres, to work on a paper half English and half Spanish, but was deterred by a civil war which suddenly broke forth in that quarter. His first connection with the press as editor was with the Greensboro "Patriot." In 1835, when this paper was sold, Mr. Evans became the purchaser. He conducted the paper for sever years and sold to Lyndon Swaim and M. S. Sherwood.

The first paper in Milton was by a Mr. Perkins, in 1818. He was succeeded by Benjamin J. Cory; he by John Campbell, Jr., who died in Weldon a few years since. Mr. Kenyon succeeded Mr. Campbell, and the former having failed in 1831, Nathaniel J. Palmer, Esq., established the Milton "Spectator." Mr. Palmer died prematurely, from an accident many years ago, at his residence, Cherry Hill, near Milton. He was a native of Orange, a brother of John C. Palmer, Esq., of Raleigh, the latter of whom is a brother-in-law of Philo White.

In 1841 Mr. Evans rented the old "Spectator" office and began the publication of the Milton "Chronicle." At the close of the war the "Chronicle" stopped, and Mr. Evans published for two years a paper in Danville, Va. Next, with his son, Captain T. C. Evans, he published the Hillsboro "Recorder" for two years, and then sold to John D. Cameron. Next and last, in 1873 he revived the "Chronicle," and now, in his 69th year, he is still conducting the paper he established forty years ago. Mr. Evans, though by no manner of means a romantic person, has certainly led an eventful and romantic life. He is a capital editor. Like Xavier Martin, he sets up much of his editorial in his composing stick, without stopping to write it out. "Charley Evans," as he is called by his friends, could not do a dishonest thing if he were to try. It is the wish of the whole press of the State, whether he belongs to this association or not, that his last days may be his best days, and that he may long be spared to his family, his readers and his friends. . . . .

An editorial convention was held in Raleigh, November, 1837. The papers represented were the . . . "Spectator," Milton. [Other papers not listed here.] These men were so modest that their names were not even recorded in the proceedings. . . . .

I am painfully sensible, Mr. President, of the omission and imperfection of this address. I have referred only to the oldest presses and to the oldest editors and ex-editors, with incidental allusions to modern editors and writers for the press. I think have not commended unduly those I have mentioned. I regret I could not sketch the lives and services of all those laborers in the fields of mind, whether present or absent on this occasion. I would respectfully suggest that the Association appoint some one to continue the history of the press at each communication of your body, and when, in the judgment of the Association that history shall have been fully written, that a committee be appointed to condense it into a book, to be printed for perpetual preservation.

Among the dead, not already mentioned, trained writers for the press, but not editors, I recall the following: . . . Archibald D. Murphy . . . Bedford Brown . . . Bartlett Yancy . . . Romulus M. Saunders . . . Others might be added. Some of these were editors for a short time, but editing was not their profession. . . . Archibald D. Murphy was one of the finest scholars and writers of his day. Some of his ablest papers in the way of reports may be found in the journals of the State Senate from 1812 to 1818 inclusive.

Rabbit Shuffle Pond

Rabbit Shuffle Pond

Not to be outdone by "Frogsboro," "Rabbit Shuffle" now has an acknowledged location -- sort of. Click image to see a larger version.

Confederate Amnesty and Pardons

 Confederate Amnesty and Pardons

As Andrew Johnson assumed the presidency, his attitude toward Confederate leaders seemed to signify punishment and prosecution for the rebellion. Many southern leaders fled the United States, going to Mexico, Canada, Europe and other countries. He doubled the number of classes not pardoned under the Lincoln's general amnesty. Johnson's proclamation of May 29, 1865, for example, did not include anyone whose personal property exceeded $20,000. Several mitigating factors however led Johnson to greater clemency, such as the attitude of Lincoln for reconciliation and Secretary of State William H. Seward's similar leniency towards the former rebels.

"President Andrew Johnson Pardoning Rebels at the White House", Harper's Weekly, October 14, 1865.

Those excluded from general amnesty had the option of applying to the president for a special pardon, and much of Johnson's time was spent in granting those pardons.

The following oath was required under Johnson's 1865 proclamation:

I, _____, do solemnly swear or affirm, in presence of Almighty God, that I will henceforth faithfully support and defend the Constitution of the United States and the Union of the States thereunder. And that I will, in like manner, abide by and faithfully support all laws and proclamations which have been made during the existing rebellion with reference to the emancipation of slaves, so help me God.

There were exceptions to the granting of general amnesty:

The following classes of persons are excepted from the benefits of this proclamation:

First – All who are or shall have been pretended civil or diplomatic officers, or otherwise domestic or foreign agents of the pretended Confederate Government.

Second – All who left judicial stations under the United States to aid the rebellion.

Third – All who shall have been military or naval officers of said pretended Confederate Government above the rank of Colonel in the army or Lieutenant in the navy.

Fourth – All who left seats in the Congress of the United States to aid the rebellion.

Fifth – All who resigned or tendered resignations of their commissions in the army or navy of the United States, to evade duty in resisting the rebellion.

Sixth – All who have engaged in any way in treating otherwise than lawfully as prisoners of war persons found in the United States service, as officers, soldiers, seamen, or in other capacities.

Seventh – All persons who have been or are absentees from the United States for the purpose of aiding the rebellion.

Eighth – All military and naval officers in the rebel service who were educated by the government in the Military Academy at West Point, or the United States Naval Academy.

Ninth – All persons who held the pretended offices of Governors of States in insurrection against the United States.

Tenth – All persons who left their homes within the jurisdiction and protection of the United States and passed beyond the Federal military lines into the so-called Confederate States, for the purpose of aiding the rebellion.

Eleventh – All parties who have been engaged in the destruction of the commerce of the United States upon the high seas, and all persons who have made raids into the United States from Canada, or been engaged in destroying the commerce of the United States upon the lakes and rivers that separate the British Provinces from the United States.

Twelfth – All persons who at the time when they seek to obtain the benefits hereof by taking the oath herein prescribed, are in military naval, or civil confinement, or custody, or under bonds of the civil, military or naval authorities or agents of the United States, as prisoners of war, or persons detained for offences of any kind either before or after conviction.

Thirteenth – All persons who have voluntarily participated in said rebellion, and the estimated value of whose taxable property is over twenty thousand dollars.

Fourteenth – All persons who have taken the oath of amnesty as prescribed in the President's Proclamation of December 8, A.D., 1863, or an oath of allegiance to the Government of the United States since the dates of said proclamation, and who have not thenceforward kept and maintained the same inviolate – provided that special application may be made to the President for pardon by any person belonging to the excepted classes, and such clemency will be liberally extended as may be consistent with the facts of the case and the peace and dignity of the United States.

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The North Carolina Convention of 1865-1866 was convened to determine the minimum requirements for readmission to the Union.

State Convention, Adjourned Session, 14 June 1866:

"Mr. [Bedford] Brown presented a petition from a number of citizens of Caswell County, in favor of amnesty for offenses committed during the later war, which was read and referred to the committee on General Amnesty."