Photograph Identification Project Entry #6

Girl Scouts at Bartlett Yancey Elementary School

Above is an undated photograph of the Yanceyville Girl Scout Troop in front of the old Bartlett Yancey Elementary School (long demolished). Click on the photograph for a larger image.

Can you identify these people? One of the troop leaders, Pattie Griffin Gunn (1895-1956), is to the far right.

For those who can handle large files this photograph is available in much higher resolution at Girl Scouts. This, hopefully, will facilitate identification of the young girls and their adult leaders.

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Don't forget the other photographs in this series:

1. Kids on a Rock

2. Old Tractors

3. Lady and Barefoot Boy

4. Little Rascals of Jones School

5. Girl Scouts on Square in Yanceyville
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As with respect to all the images that have been posted as part of the CCHA Photograph Identification Project, the owner of the photograph, through the Caswell County Historical Association, retains all rights. Accordingly, copying, posting, publishing, and any other manner of distribution or use is prohibited without first obtaining the express written authorization of the copyright holder. Contact the CCHA if you have questions.

Terrell Chairs

Above and below are images of what are believed to be authentic Terrell chairs from Anderson Township, Caswell County, North Carolina. Click on the photograph for a larger image. See also Terrell Chairs.

Claude Allen Plug Tobacco Factory

Click to See Larger Image

By 1857 Milton had five tobacco factories. No fewer, than thirteen tobacco warehouses, prize houses where the raw tobacco was packed into hogsheads, and tobacco plug and smoking factories appear on the 1893 Sanborn Insurance Map. By 1925 not one remained in business and most of the buildings had disappeared. Claude Allen's Plug Tobacco Factory on the east side of Bridge-Warehouse Street is the only existing factory building. The factory is a late nineteenth century vernacular Victorian one-story frame structure now used as a barn. Across the gable-end facade is a loading dock with a shed roof, and along the south side of the building is a lean-to storage shed. The only exterior ornament is the small, decorative louvered ventilator window in the upper facade. The interior is a large, unpartitioned space with machinery, work tables, plug molds and packing crates scattered about. The factory office, a miniature version of the factory, stands in the side yard.

Source: National Register of Historic Places Inventory--Nomination Form, Milton Historic District, 27 August 1973.

This may be the only tobacco factory standing in Caswell County.

For photographs of another Caswell County tobacco factory and background information on these once-prevalent industries go to Leasburg Tobacco Factory.

More photographs follow:

Will Yancey and Rennie Griffin

The following was provided by a direct descendant of William Rufus Yancey and Rennie Griffin:

These are my great grandparents, my father's mother's parents. Since this photo was a studio shot and they look to be quite dressed up, I suspect it is a wedding photo, making it in 1893. William Rufus Yancey was born 8/8/1847 in Caswell Co., NC and was one of 8 kids. His parents were William Yancey and Demarius Oliver. Shortly after his birth, the family moved to Springfield, MO. Demarius died there in 1850. Then the family moved back to Caswell Co., NC. In 1864, when William Rufus was 17 yrs. old, he was a Confederate soldier with Company G, 70th NC Regulars. He was mustered out after Appomattox. For the next 25 yrs., there is no record of where he was or what he was doing. Chances are good he was farming in NC near Yanceyville.

On 11/1/1893, in Robertson Co., TX, he married Elorenya (Rennie) Griffin. He was 46 and she was 26 at their wedding. Nine months and eleven days later, my grandmother was born - Lillie Pearl Yancey. Pearl was the oldest of six children. I was lucky enough to know four of them, counting my grandmother. They lived in Hamilton Co., TX near Pottsville, TX for years. Their family moved out to west Texas near Midland in about 1910, but they moved back to near Blum, TX (south of Ft. Worth) after only a couple of years. There lies my "almost rich" story.

In about 1990, my father and I checked the records of Midland Co., TX to find where the Yancey's had lived. Turns out they had a house in Midland and a ranch about 15-20 miles south of town. William Rufus would head out to the ranch on most Sunday nights and stay out there until the next weekend when he would return to his family in town. I wish I knew the details, but that arrangement did not work out. The family sold the ranch and moved back to north central TX near Ft. Worth. The multi-square mile ranch eventually became one of the most prolific oil fields in the continental United States - the Pegasus Field, discovered by Continental Oil Company and still producing oil to this day. Millions of barrels of oil have come from the field, none to my family. So close.

William Rufus died in 1918 in Hill Co., TX at the age of 71. My grandmother was 24 at that time and married to my grandfather. Rennie Griffin (daughter of Thomas Griffin and Angeline V. Smith of Robertson Co., TX) lived another 19 years and died in Cleburne, TX at the age of 70. She drew a Confederate soldier wife pension for many years.

For more on the Yancey family go to the Caswell County Family Tree.

Photograph Identification Project Entry #5

Girl Scouts on Square in Yanceyville

This is an undated photograph of the Yanceyville Girl Scouts on the Square in Yanceyville, Caswell County, North Carolina. Click on the photograph for a larger image.

The young lady to the far left is believed to be Maud Florance Gatewood (1934-2004) (daughter of John Yancey Gatewood and Mary Lea Florance).

The young lady to the far right of the first row (dark suit and white blouse) probably is Margaret Stroupe Upchurch (daughter of Norman Stroupe Upchurch and Margaret Arnold Yarbrough).

If Maud Gatewood was around 12 years old when this photograph was taken the year would be around 1946.

To see more on the Gatewood and Upchurch families of Caswell County go to the Caswell County Family Tree.

Can you identify others in this photograph?

Do you have great photographs like this to share?

To identify people in this photograph or to arrange for sharing your photographs contact the CCHA.
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Don't forget the other photographs in this series:

1. Kids on a Rock

2. Old Tractors

3. Lady and Barefoot Boy

4. Little Rascals of Jones School
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As with respect to all the images that have been posted as part of the CCHA Photograph Identification Project, the owner of the photograph, through the Caswell County Historical Association, retains all rights. Accordingly, copying, posting, publishing, and any other manner of distribution or use is prohibited without first obtaining the express written authorization of the copyright holder. Contact the CCHA if you have questions.

William Henry Hicks

William Henry Hicks

The photograph above is of Henry Hicks (left) and Arnold Rogers (right) at the celebration held to honor Henry Hicks on his 100th birthday. Click on the photograph for a larger image. [Photograph courtesy The Caswell Messenger]

The next image is an advertisement that appeared in The Caswell Messenger in the 1970's [also used here with the permission of The Caswell Messenger].

On July 30, 2006, Caswell County celebrated the 100th birthday of William Henry Hicks, born 30 July, 1906, to Sidney Thomas Hicks and Mollie Belle Roberts. The mother of William Henry Hicks, Mollie Belle Roberts, was a daughter of the famouse artist William Anderson Roberts.

In 1939, Henry Hicks married Juanita Catherine Crumpton (1905-1985).

Please share here or with the CCHA your stories about and photographs of William Henry Hicks.

Swicegood House

Swicegood House (Yanceyville, Caswell County, North Carolina)

This is a photograph of a wood-frame house that once stood just off the Square in Yanceyville, North Carolina, on a site that now is a parking lot between the decommissioned U. S. Post Office building and the group of buildings that includes the Lee Farmer law office, the old barber shop (business closed), and the Caswell Theater (business closed). Click on the photograph for a larger image.

This house, now demolished, is believed to have once been occupied by the Swicegood family. It also sereved for a seven-year period as the local Episcopal Church.

Before moving to Yanceyville, the Episcopal Church in Caswell County held services in the Milton building that now serves as the Woman's Club of Milton.


If you have information on the Swicegood House, the Woman's Club of Milton, or the Episcopal Church in Caswell County, please share it here or send it to the CCHA.
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Milton Episcopal Church: "Thank you ever so much, Rick. The windows were keyhole shape (as opposed to my earlier key shape) and I just loved that feature. My grandfather sold the tract of land that the church stands on. I would like to know who purchased it -- whether it was the  Diocese of NY or the local Episcopal membership. The church was left farm land which generated most of the income to support the church for a very long time. The membership was always small, and the few families who were members went mostly to the Presbyterian Church, because there was just one service a month -- first Sunday nights and 5th Sunday mornings. If I give you more info than you want feel free to delete it. They were the last church in Milton to use a pump organ."

Source: Jean Bradsher Scott 8 February 2014 Post to the Caswell County Historical Association Facebook Page.
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Swicegood House in Yanceyville, Caswell County, North Carolina.

It stood just west of the row of buildings that included the Caswell Theatre and Richardson's barber shop. Today this is an open lot. The next structure proceeding west on West Main Street is the now-closed "new" Yanceyville Post Office (possibly now being used as a church).

When the Swicegood house was demolished is not known. Nor do we know when it was built. Swicegood opened its Yanceyville funeral home business in 1923 and opened its Danville business in 1928.

Some will remember the Swicegood family and the children who attended Bartlett Yancey Elementary and High School.
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Interesting!

An earlier post here was devoted to Alvis Layton Ford (1929-1953) and the sacrifice he made in the Korean War. Another post explored the Swicegood family that lived in Yanceyville and operated a funeral home. How do these two posts relate?

Well, Barbara Ann Swicegood married Bernice Stanley Ford, brother of Alvis Layton Ford. Both brothers served in Korea. One survived.

Source: Caswell County Historical Association Facebook Page Post 4 December 2019.