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GENEALOGY COLLECTION
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ALLEN COUNTY PUBLIC LIBRARY 3 1833 02317 1728
THE GRANDFATHER PROFILE
By permission of the author and publishers of "The Carolina Mountains."
A HISTORY OF
WATAUGA COUNTY,
NORTH CAROLINA.
WITH
Sketches of Prominent Families.
-
By
JOHN PRESTON ARTHUR.
Written at the request of
ROY M. BROWN, W. D. FARTHING, W. R. GRAGG, G. P. HAGAMAN, W. L. BRYAN, F. A. LINNEY, P. C. YOUNCE, A. C. REESE, A. J. GREENE, R. C. RIVERS, J. S. WINKLER, I. G. GREER, T. E. BINGHAM, D. D. DOUGHERTY, M. B. BLACKBURN, L. GREER, J. W. HODGES, B. B. DOUGHERTY, C. J. COTTRELL, W. P. MOODY, D. J. COTTRELL AND R. L. BINGHAM
Who guaranteed all costs of publication.
RICHMOND: EVERETT WADDEY CO. 1915.
COPYRIGHTED BY JOHN P. ARTHUR, 1915.
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BIBLIOGRAPHY.
Allison means "Dropped Stitches in Tennessee History," by Hon. JOHN ALLISON, Nashville, 1896.
Asbury means Bishop ASBURY's Journal, 3 volumes, out of print.
4-13-64
Booklet means "The North Carolina Booklet," published by the State D. A. R. Society, Raleigh, N. C.
Bruce means "Daniel Boone and the Wilderness Road," by H. ADDINGTON BRUCE, McMillan Co., N. Y., 1913.
Cobb means Address by Prof. Collier Cobb before the American Geographical Society in New York City, April, 1914.
Clark means "North Carolina Regiments in the Civil War," by Chief Justice WALTER CLARK, Goldsboro, 1901.
Clark means "The Colony of Transylvania" in the North Carolina Booklet, for January, 1904.
Col. Rec. means Colonial Records of North Carolina, edited by W. L. Saunders, P. M. Hale, printer, Raleigh, 1886.
Crouch means "Historical Sketches of Wilkes County," by JOHN CROUCH, 1902.
DeRossett means "Sketches of Church History of North Carolina," by W. L. DEROSSETT, (Alfred Williams), Raleigh, 1890.
Draper means "King's Mountain and Its Heroes," by Dr. L. C. DRAPER, (Peter G. Thompson), Cincinnati, 1888.
Dugger means "Balsam Groves of the Grandfather Mountain," by SHEP. MONROE DUGGER, Banner Elk, N. C.
Fairchild means Ebenezer Fairchild's Diary of Trip from New Jersey to the Jersey Settlement, now in possession of Col. Wyatt Hayes, Boone, N. C.
Foote means "Foote's Sketches of North Carolina," out of print.
Harper means "Reminiscenses of Caldwell County in the Civil War," by G. W. F. HARPER, pamphlet.
Haywood means "Bishops of North Carolina," by MARSHALL DELANCEY HAYWOOD, (Alfred Williams), Raleigh, 1910.
Ives means "Trials of a Mind," etc., Boston and New York, 1854.
Kephart means "Our Southern Highlanders," by HORACE KEPHART, Outing Publishing Co., New York, 1912.
Manual means "North Carolina Manual," issued by N. C. Hist. Comm., Edwards & Broughton Printing Co., Raleigh, 1913.
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BIBLIOGRAPHY
Moore means "The Rhymes of Southern Rivers," by M. V. MOORE, M. E. Church, South, Book Co., Nashville, 1897.
Moore means "Roster of North Carolina Troops in Civil War," by JOHN W. MOORE, 3 volumes, Raleigh, 1882.
Morley means "The Carolina Mountains," by MARGARET W. MORLEY, Houghton-Mifflin, New York, 1913.
Murphey means "Papers of Arch. D. Murphey," 2 volumes, N. C. Hist. Comm., Raleigh, 1914.
Observer means Charlotte Daily Observer, Charlotte, N. C.
Rebellion Records means "The War of the Rebellion," Washington, D. C., 1897.
Rumple means "A History of Rowan County," by Rev. JETHRO RUMPLE, 1881.
Sheets means "A History of Liberty Baptist Church," by Rev. HENRY SHEETS, Edwards & Broughton Printing Co., Raleigh, 1908.
Skiles means "A Sketch of Missionary Life at Valle Crucis," edited by Susan Fenimore Cooper, 1890.
Smythe means "A Tour of America," by Dr. J. F. D. SMYTHE.
Thwaites means "Daniel Boone," by REUBEN GOLD THWAITES.
Warner means "On Horseback," by CHARLES DUDLEY WARNER, Houghton- Mifflin Co., New York, 1889.
Wheeler means "Historical Sketches of North Carolina," by JOHN H. WHEELER, 2 volumes, 1851.
Williams means "History of the Baptists of North Carolina," by Rev. CHARLES WILLIAMS, Edwards & Broughton Printing Co., Raleigh, 1901.
Worth means "Correspondence of Jonathan Worth, N. C. Hist. Comm." Edwards & Broughton Printing Co., Raleigh, 1909.
CONTENTS.
PAGE
CHAPTER I. The relation of Watauga County and its residents to remainder of the mountains. Early settlers in eastern part of State. Difference between eastern and western settlers. Our Yankee ancestry. Critics eager to find fault. Our annals. Difference between "poor whites" and "mountain whites." Cooperation has ceased. Moonshining an inheritance. Penn- sylvania "Whiskey Rebellion."
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CHAPTER II. Similarity of Indians to Hebrews. A study in ethnology and philology. Speculations as to the beginning of things. Indians never residents of Watauga in memory of whites. Cherokees parted with title to land long ago. Old forts on frontier. Cherokee raids. First white settlers of Watauga. Linville family and falls.
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CHAPTER III. The greed for land in the eastern section. Bishop Spangenberg sets out to get land for Moravians. He is misled and "wanders bewildered in unknown ways." Reaches delicious spring on Flat Top. Three Forks described. An Indian Old Field. Caught in a mountain snow-storm. Their route from Blowing Rock. Conflicting claims as to locality described. .....
CHAPTER IV. No direct Daniel Boone descendants. Other Boone relatives. Jesse and Jonathan Boone. Their Three Forks membership. Marking the Trail of Daniel Boone. Boone Cabin Monument. Locating Trail. Cumberland Gap pedestal. Boone's Trail in other States. Congress urged to erect bronze statue there. Boone's first trip across Blue Ridge. Probability of re- location of trail. Improbability of the carving on the Boone Tree. Boone's relations with Richard Henderson considered .....
29
CHAPTER VI. The Yadkin Baptist Association. Three Forks Baptist Church. List of its early members and officers. A great moral force in the community. Church trials, grave and gay. Other ancient happenings. First churches. Revivals. 71
CHAPTER VII. Order of the Holy Cross. Picture of Watauga Valley in 1840. Valle Crucis as first founded. Rt. Rev. L. S. Ives. Feeble and undignified imitation. Why Ives vacillated. Old buildings. Adobes and humble bees. Easter chapel. Spiritual
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CHAPTER V. Backwoods Tories. Samuel Bright, loyalist. Patriots feared British influence with Indians. Bright's Spring and the Shelving Rock. Watauga County once part of Watauga Settle- ment. Doctor Draper's errors. W. H. Ollis's contribution. No camp on the Yellow. Cleveland's parentage and capture. His rescue, etc. Greer's Hints, of two kinds. The Wolf's Den. Riddle's execution. Killing of Chas. Asher and other Tories. Ben Howard. Marking old graves by United States. Its niggardly policy. Battlefield in Watauga.
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CONTENTS
PAGE
starvation on the Lower Watauga. The Mission store. Death of Mr. Skiles. Removal of St. John's. Reinstitution of Mission, and School for Girls. Summer resort, also.
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CHAPTER VIII. Light on the Jersey Settlement. Meagre facts con- sidered. John Gano, preacher. Fairchild's diary. Adventures on road. Mr. Gano constitutes a church. A colonial document. Other ancient documents and facts. Letter from Morris Town, N. J., Church. The Fairchild ladies.
CHAPTER IX. Democracy of the religion of the mountaineer. Our morals, as appraised by others. Pioneer Baptists. The Farthing family. A family of preachers. Rev. Joseph Harrison. Cove Creek Baptist Church. Bethel Baptist Church. Other early churches. Stony Fork Association. White's Spring Church. Methodist Churches. Henson's Chapel. A family of Methodist church preachers. M. E. Churches. Baptists, Presbyterians, Lutherans.
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CHAPTER X. Formation of county. Councill's influence. Three New England visitors. Doctor Mitchell's geological tour. Tennessee boundary line. Boundary line and Land Grant Warrants. Running State line. Watauga County lines. Watauga County established. Changes in county lines. Avery County cut off. Jails and court houses. To restore lost records. First term Superior Court. Tied to a wagon-wheel. Roving spirit. Legislative and other officers. Watauga's contribution to Con- federacy and Federals. Population and other facts. Mexican War soldiers. Weather vagaries. Agricultural and domestic facts. Forests. Altitudes.
CHAPTER XI. Boone incorporated. Its attractions. Miss Morley's visit. First residents of Boone. First builders. Saw-mills for new town. The Ellingtons. Other builders. First merchants, J. C. Gaines, Rev. J. W. Hall. Post-bellum Boone. Coffey Bros. Their enterprises. Newspapers. Counterfeiters. 142
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CHAPTER XII. Too many troops for limits of book. Keith Blalock. Four Coffey Bros. Danger from Tennessee side. Longstreet's withdrawal. Kirk's Camp Vance raid. Death of Wm. Coffey. Murder of Austin Coffey. Other "activities." Michiganders escape. Camp Mast. Watauga Amazons. Camp Mast sur- render. Sins of the children. Retribution? Paul and Reuben Farthing. Battle of the Beech. Stoneman's raid. Official account. A real home guard. Mrs. Horton robbed. No peace. Fort Hamby. Blalock's threat. I59
CHAPTER XIII. Calloway sisters. Pioneer hunters. James Aldridge. His real wife appears. Betsy Calloway. Delila Baird. A belated romance. Colb McCanless, sheriff. His death by Wild Bill. Bedent E. Baird. Zeb Vance's uncle makes inquiry. Peggy Clawson. Other old stories. Joseph T. Wilson, or "Lucky Joe." "Long-Distance." An African romance. James Speer's fate. Joshua Pennell frees slaves. Jesse Mullins' "niggers." Cross- cut suit. Absentee landlord. "School Butter." Lee Carmichael. The musterfield murder. A Belle of Broadway. I86
CONTENTS
vii PAGE
CHAPTER XIV. Fine Watauga County scenery. Cove Creek. Our flowers. Valle Crucis. Sugar Grove. Blowing Rock. Along the Blue Ridge. Moses H. Cone. Brushy Fork. Shull's Mills. Linville Valley and Falls. The Ollis family. Elk Cross Roads. Banner's Elk. A trip on foot. Meat Camp. Rich Mountain. The "Tater Hill." The Grandfather and Grandmother. Graft- ing French chestnuts. Beaver Dams. Boone's Beaver Dams trails. Beech Creek and Poga.
209
CHAPTER XV. Ante-bellum education. Peculiarities of speech. We speak the best and purest English. Place-names. Kephart's dissertations. Ante-bellum pedagogues. Our schools. Penman- ship. Phillip Church. Jonathan Norris. Eli M. Farmer. Burton Davis. Todd Miller. The "Twisting Temple." Lees-McRae Institute. School-teachers. Normal school at Boone. Skyland Institute. T. P. Adams' long service. Silverstone public school. Walnut Grove Institute. Valle Crucis School for Girls. First agricultural instruction. Prominent in education. Lenoir School Lands. School-house Loan Fund. T. L. Clingman, a teacher. Mount Mitchell controversy. 243
CHAPTER XVI. Gold mines and mining. First owners of Cranberry. Iron forges. Iron bounties. Some old hammermen. Cling- man's mining. 263
CHAPTER XVII. First wagon roads. First across Blue Ridge. Caldwell and Watauga Turnpike. Yonahlossee Turnpike. Early road legislation. Earliest stopping places. First paper railroads. First railroad surveys. 268
SKETCHES OF PROMINENT FAMILIES ALPHABETICALLY ARRANGED 279
INDEX
357
ILLUSTRATIONS.
THE GRANDFATHER PROFILE. By permission of author and publishers of "The Carolina Mountains." Frontispiece
COL. WILLIAM LEWIS BRYAN, Historian and Trail Finder 26
DANIEL BOONE CABIN MONUMENT, erected by Col. W. L. Bryan, October, 1912. 32
THE OLD PERKINS PLACE, where Cleveland was captured. Photograph by Wiley C. Vannoy, Blowing Rock 60
THE WOLF'S DEN, where Cleveland was rescued. Photograph by Wiley C. Vannoy, Blowing Rock. 62
THE THREE FORKS BAPTIST CHURCH. Photograph by Wiley C. Vannoy, Blowing Rock 72
BISHOP L. SILLIMAN IVES, D. D. Photograph by John L. Vest, Forsyth County, N. C. 78
RESIDENCE OF REV. JOHN NORTON ATKINS, and former home of the late Rev. Henry H. Prout. 82
REV. REUBEN P. FARTHING 98
COL. JOE B. TODD, Clerk of the Superior Court .. 134
BOONE, THE COUNTY SEAT OF WATAUGA. Photograph by John L. Vest Forsyth County, N. C. 142
MRS. WILLIAM LEWIS BRYAN, who has lived in Boone since its organiza- tion, and for several years prior thereto 146
AUNT DELILAH'S LAST CABIN HOME. Photograph by L. G. Harris, 192
Cranberry, N. C.
HORTON FAMILY ARMS, AND EXPLANATION 206
THE BLOWING ROCK. From an oil painting by the late W. G. Randall .. 214
LAKE AND RESIDENCE OF COL. W. W. STRINGFELLOW, Blowing Rock, N. C. Photograph by Wiley C. Vannoy, Blowing Rock . 218
PEAKS OF THE GRANDFATHER MOUNTAIN. By permission of author and publishers of "The Carolina Mountains.' 234
THE YONAHLOSSEE ROAD. By permission of author and publishers of "The Carolina Mountains. 238
THE APPALACHIAN TRAINING SCHOOL, AND HOWARD'S KNOB, Boone, N. C. Photograph by John L. Vest, Forsyth County, N. C .. 248
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ILLUSTRATIONS
MISSION SCHOOL AT VALLE CRUCIS, N. C. Photograph by L. G. Harris, Cranberry, N. C. . 254
HON. THOMAS LANIER CLINGMAN. From Clark's "North Carolina Regiments." . 258
THE DEEP GAP, the gateway to Watauga. Photograph by Wiley C. Vannoy, Blowing Rock. 268
MAJ. HARVEY BINGHAM, Soldier and Lawyer.
282
HON. E. SPENCER BLACKBURN, M.C., Orator and Statesman.
286
DUDLEY FARTHING, Judge of the Court of Pleas and Quarter Sessions. . 308
HON. L. L. GREENE, Judge of the Superior Court.
312
COL. JONATHAN HORTON. Photograph by John L. Vest, Forsyth County, 322 N. C.
COL. ROMULUS Z. LINNEY, M.C., Wit, Orator, Lawyer and Statesman .. 328
THE MEN OF WATAUGA.
They told by the sibilant sea of the solemn
Blue mountains whose summits ascend to the sky, Where, cradled in solitude, world-weary pilgrims Might find perfect rest, undisturbed by a sigh. They told of savannahs as smooth as a carpet, Of golden fruits breaking their branches in twain; Of vast flocks of wild-fowl, the sunlight obscuring, And buffalo haunting the billowy plain.
They told of a land where the sweet-scented wild flowers Flash fair as the flame of a taper-lit shrine, Bedecking the meadows, bespangling the valleys, And climbing the mountains, the sun to outshine. But they told of a cruel foe lurking in ambush, For whose treachery nothing but blood could atone, Of fierce Chickamaugas and Cherokee bowmen, Whose swift, stealthy darts sang a dirge all their own. But the rivers and mountains, the dim, distant mountains, Rising range upon range to the ultimate sky- Could women and children surmount those blue masses? Could even strong men those grim rock-cliffs defy? Yes; North, west of Guilford, and South, west of Cowpens, Those mountains had yielded to Boone and Adair; McDowell and Shelby had led through the passes But to find them awaiting the "Hot-spur," Sevier. 'Twas the land that had haunted the dreams of the hunted For which all the homeless and hopeless had prayed- Untrammeled by custom, unfettered by fashion, Each man his own master, her mistress each maid. So, the hunter, his rifle and bullet-pouch bearing, Blew a blast on his horn and the hounds thronged around, The oxen were yoked, and on wheels the small household Started out to the West, a new Nation to found ! Through dim, ghostly woodlands and dew-jeweled meadows They eagerly followed the track of the sun;
They rafted the rivers and conquered the Smokies, From whose peaks they first saw the new homes they had won. They were men from Old Rowan, Burke, Craven and Chowan, Wake, Anson and Surry and Currytuck's lights ; And Mecklenburg sent of her sturdy young yeomen Such men as subscribed to our "First Bill of Rights." They girdled the forests, they drained the morasses, They builded of rude logs the Church and the Home --- Through labor and sorrow and sore tribulation- Faith for the foundation and love for the dome.
And while these be the Sword of the Lord and of Gideon, God's "Chosen" the heathen forever will smite; And in tears and in blood, with the lead of the rifle, The Saxon his deeds will continue to write. And soon, on the banks of the sparkling Watauga, Was cradled the spirit that conquered the West- The spirit that, soaring o'er mountain and prairie, E'en on the Pacific shore paused not to rest. For the first written compact that, west of the mountains, Was framed for the guidance of liberty's feet, Was writ here by letterless men in whose bosoms Undaunted the heart of a paladin beat ! J. P. A.
CHAPTER I. Several Forewords.
Our Home and Heritage .- Our home is a very small part of that vast region known as the Southern Appalachians, which a recent writer, Horace Kephart, has aptly called Appalachia. This elevated section covers parts of eight States, all of which are south of Mason and Dixon's line. It is in the middle of the temperate zone and, for climate, is unsurpassed in the world. The average elevation is about two thousand feet above tide- water. Blue Ridge is the name of the range of mountains which bounds this highland country on the east, though the western boundary is known by many names, owing to the fact that it is bisected by several streams, all of which flow west, while the Blue Ridge is a true water-shed from the Potomac to Georgia. The various names of the western ranges are the Stone, the Iron, the Bald, the Great Smoky, the Unaka and the Frog mountains. The United States Coast and Geodetic Survey has, however, of recent years, given the name Unaka to this entire western border, leaving the local names to the sections which have been formed by the passage of the Watauga, the Doe, the Toe, the Cane, the French Broad, the Pigeon, the Little Tennes- see and the Hiawassee rivers. With the exception of a few bare mountain-tops, which are covered by a carpet of grass, these mountains are wooded to the peaks. Between the Blue Ridge and the Unakas are numerous cross ranges, separated by narrow valleys and deep gorges. Over the larger part of this region are to be found the older crystalline rocks, most of which are tilted, while the forests are of the finer hardwoods which, when removed, give place to luxuriant grasses. The apple finds its home in these mountains, while maize, when grown, is richer in proteids than that of the prairie lands of Illinois.
Character of the Inhabitants in 1752 .- Bishop Spangenberg, in the Colonial Records (Vol. IV, pp. 1311-1314), wrote from
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A History of Watauga County
Edenton, N. C., that he had found everything in confusion there, the counties in conflict with each other, and the authority of the legislature greatly weakened, owing largely to the fact that the older counties had formerly been allowed five representatives in the general assembly; but, as the new counties were formed, they were allowed but two. It was not long, however, before the newer counties, even with their small representation, held a majority of the members, and passed a law reducing the repre- sentation of the older counties from five to two. The result of this was that the older counties refused to send any members to the assembly, but dispatched an agent to England with a view to having their former representation restored. Before any result could be obtained, however, there was "in the older coun- ties perfect anarchy," with frequent crimes of murder and rob- bery. Citizens refused to appear as jurors, and if court was held to try such crimes, not one was present. Prisons were broken open and their inmates released. Most matters were de- cided by blows. But the county courts were regularly held, and whatever belonged to their jurisdiction received the customary attention.
People of the East and West .- Bishop Spangenberg, in the same letter, divided the inhabitants of the eastern counties into two classes-natives, who could endure the climate, but were indolent and sluggish, and those from England, Scotland and Ireland and from the northern colonies of America, the latter being too poor to buy land there. Some of these were refugees from justice, had fled from debt, or had left wife and children elsewhere-or, possibly, to escape the penalty of some crime. Horse thieves infested parts of this section. But, he adds in a postscript written in 1753: "After having traversed the length and breadth of North Carolina, we have ascertained that towards the western mountains there are plenty of people who have come from Virginia, Maryland, Pennsylvania, New Jersey and even from New England." Even in 1752 "four hundred families, with horses, wagons and cattle have migrated to North Carolina, and among them were good farmers and very worthy people." These, in all probability, were the Jersey Settlers.
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A History of Watauga County
The Great Pennsylvania Road .- On the 15th of February, 1751, Governor Johnston wrote to the London Board of Trade that inhabitants were flocking into North Carolina, mostly from Pennsylvania, and other points of America "already over- stocked, and some directly from Europe," many thousands having arrived, most of whom had settled in the West "so that they had nearly reached the mountains." Jeffrey's map in the Congressional Library shows the "Great Road from the Yadkin River through Virginia to Philadelphia, Distance 435 Miles." It ran from Philadelphia, through Lancaster and York counties of Pennsylvania to Winchester, Va., thence up the Shenandoah Valley, crossing Fluvanna River at Looney's Ferry, thence to Staunton River and down the river, through the Blue Ridge, thence southward, near the Moravian Settlement, to Yadkin River, just above the mouth of Linville Creek, and about ten miles above the mouth of Reedy Creek. It is added that those of our boys who followed Lee on his Gettysburg campaign in 1863 were but passing over the same route their ancestors had taken when coming from York and Lancaster counties to this State in the fifties of the eighteenth century. (Col. Rec. Vol. IV, p. xxi.)
Our Yankee Ancestry .- As, to Southerners, all people north of Mason and Dixon's line are Yankees, there seems to be no doubt, if the best authorities can be trusted, that we are the sons of Yankee sires. Roosevelt (Vol. I, p. 137) tells us that as early as 1730 three streams of white people began to converge towards these mountains, but were halted by the Alleghanies; that they came mostly from Philadelphia, though many were from Charleston, S. C., Presbyterian-Irish being prominent among all and being the Roundheads of the South. Also that Catholics and Episcopalians obtained little foothold, the creed of the back- woodsmen being generally Presbyterian. Miss Morley says that so many of the staunch northerners-Scotch-Irish after the events of 1730, and Scotch Highlanders after those of 1745- "came to the North Carolina mountains that they have given the dominant note to the character of the mountaineers" (p. 140). Kephart says that when James I, in 1607, confiscated the estates of the native Irish in six counties in Ulster, he planted them
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A History of Watauga County
with Scotch and English Presbyterians, giving long leases, but that as these leases began to expire the Scotch-Irish themselves came in conflict with the Crown, and then he quotes Froude to the effect that thirty thousand Protestants left Ulster during the two years following the Antrim evictions and came to America. Many of these finally settled in our mountains, among them be- ing Daniel Boone and the ancestors of David Crockett, Samuel Houston, John C. Calhoun, "Stonewall" Jackson and Abraham Lincoln. He might have added, also, those of Cyrus H. Mc- Cormick, Admiral Farragut, Andrew Johnson, James K. Polk, John C. Breckenridge, Henry Clay, John Marshall and Parson Brownlow.
Huguenots, Germans and Swedes .- But others came also: French Huguenots, Germans, Hollanders and Swedes, who set- tled the British frontier from Massachusetts to the Valley of Virginia, the mountain men who counted most coming from Lancaster, York and Berks counties, Pennsylvania. "That was true in the days of Daniel Boone and David Crockett, and also in the days of John C. Calhoun and William A. Graham, of those of Zeb Vance and Jeter C. Pritchard. There has not been one whit of admixture from any other source. Blood feuds have always been absent. The Tiffanys have been able to draw on these mountains for some of their most skilful wood-carvers- a revival of their ancient home industries. I have heard in Pennsylvania within the last thirty years every form of expres- sion with which I am familiar in Western North Carolina, and some of them occur today around Worcester, Mass."1 Hence, we have in these mountains the sauerkraut of Holland and the cakes of Scotland.
Scum or Salt ?- So much has been written in detraction of the Southern mountaineers that ignorant people conclude that they are the very scum of the earth. In all the admirable things Horace Kephart had to say in his "Southern Highlanders," the Northern reviewers found but a few sentences worthy of their notice, and these were, of course, of an unfavorable nature.
before the National Geographic Society, in New York City, in April, 1914.
1 Dr. Collier Cobb in an address
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A History of Watauga County
These were quoted and commented on by a reviewer in the Review of Reviews for July, 1914. In the same number of this periodical (p. 49) there is a picture under which is printed : "Center Peak of Grandfather Mountain, in Pisgah Forest, re- cently acquired by the Government from the Estate of George W. Vanderbilt." As the Grandfather mountain is at least ninety miles north of Pisgah Forest, the ignorance of the publishers of this magazine of conditions in our mountains is apparent. Kephart's few remarks which caught the eye of Northern re- viewers were that "although without annals, we are one in speech, manners, experiences and ideals, and that our de- terioration began as soon as population began to press upon the limits of subsistence." An examination of the statistics of population and wealth of Buncombe, Haywood, Jackson, Swain and Cherokee counties in 1880, before the railroad was built, and of 1910, will convince anyone that "population has not yet pressed upon the limits of production." Kephart also said that our "isolation prevented them from moving West and gradually the severe conditions of their life enfeebled them physically and mentally." As opposed to that, Archibald D. Murphey says (Murphey Papers, Vol. II, p. 105) that North Carolina "has sent half a million of her inhabitants to people the wilderness of the West, and it was not until the rage for emigration abated that the public attention was directed to the improvement of" their advantages. This was written prior to November, 1819. Besides, anyone who will read the "Sketches of Prominent Families" in this volume will be convinced that Watauga County at least contributed its quota to the winning of the West. Miss Morley graciously records that, instead of deteriorating, the late George W. Vanderbilt put his main reli- ance on the native mountaineer in the development of his fairy- land estate, Biltmore (p. 149). "They were put to work, and, what was of equal value in their development, they were sub- jected to an almost military discipline. For the first time in generations they were compelled to be prompt, methodical and continuous in their efforts. And of this there was no complaint. Scotch blood may succumb to enervating surroundings, but at
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