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THE LIBRARY OF THE UNIVERSITY OF NORTH CAROLINA AT CHAPEL HILL
LUX
LIBERTAS
THE COLLECTION OF NORTH CAROLINIANA PRESENTED BY
W. T. Auman
C971.76 W62a
FOR USE ONLY IN THE NORTH CAROLINA COLLECTION
Digitized by the Internet Archive
Institute of Museum and Library Services, under the provisions of the Library Services and Technology Act, administered by the State Library of North Carolina Grant issued to subcontractor UNG-CH for Duke University s Religion in North Carolina project In 2012 with funding from
http //archive org/details/whynotnorthcarol00auma
WHY NOT, NORTH CAROLINA:
A History Of
THE WHY NOT ACADEMY, THE WHY NOT MEMORIAL ASSOCIATION, THE WHY NOT COMMUNITY, and THE FAIR GROVE METHODIST CHURCH
by WILLIAM T. AUMAN and MINNIE S. STUART
WHY NOT, NORTH CAROLINA May, 1986
WHY NOT, NORTH CAROLINA: A HISTORY OF THE WHY NOT ACADEMY, THE WHY NOT MEMORIAL ASSOCIATION, THE WHY NOT COMMUNITY, AND
THE FAIR GROVE METHODIST CHURCH
by William T. Auman and
Minnie S. Stuart
WHY NOT, NORTH CAROLINA
MAY, 1986
0971,76 W620
Copies of this book can be obtained from Susan C. King, Route 1, Box 29, Seagrove, NC 27341.
Published by the Why Not Memorial Association
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
The following members of the Historical Committee of the Why Not Memorial Association played a role in the planning, research, writing, and publication of this book:
William T. Auman
Imogene Bulla
David Graves
Nell Graves
James B. King
Jane King
Susan King
Vernon King
Thomas Lawrence
Jack Mckenzie
Ruth Mckenzie
Donna Staley
-
TABLE OF CONTENTS
CHAPTER ONE: HISTORY OF THE WHY NOT COMMUNITY .5
CHAPTER TWO: HISTORY OF FAIR GROVE METHODIST CHURCH .. 23
LIST OF MINISTERS SERVING FROM 1859 TO 1947. .. . . 36
CHAPTER THREE: HISTORY OF WHY NOT ACADEMY .38
ANNUAL CATALOG OF WHY NOT ACADEMY FOR 1905-1906 ...... 43
LIST OF STUDENTS IN ATTENDANCE 1905-1906 .52
CHAPTER FOUR: HISTORY OF WHY NOT MEMORIAL ASSOCIATION 55
CHAPTER FIVE: INDEX TO PERSONS BURIED AT THE
FAIR GROVE METHODIST CHURCH CEMETERY
60
BIBLIOGRAPHY 67
INDEX
68
CHAPTER ONE: HISTORY OF
THE WHY NOT COMMUNITY
Distinguished by one of the most colorful and unique names to be found in any gazateer, the Why Not community remains today pretty much a bastion of rural America. Take away the paved roads, the few modern brick houses, and the telephone and elec- tric power lines, and Why Not would look much as it did a century ago. Prior to 1850, £ the Why Not community had little to distin-
guish it from the surrounding rural communities of southern Randolph County. But with the completion in 1853 of the Fayette- ville and Western Plank Road, which ran through the heart of the Why Not community, the tempo of life in the area increased. The plank road ran from Salem (now Winston-Salem) to Fayetteville, a distance of 129 miles, making it the longest plank road in the world at the time.
Why Not was officially born when a United States post office was established there in 1860. Postal authorities in Washington, of course, needed a name to designate the new postal station and SO, as tradition has it, area citizens assembled to settle on one . As the story goes, numerous names were suggested. Why not name it this, why not name it that. A great deal of time passed, but the group could not agree on a name. Finally Martin Auman (some say it was Alfred You; others say it was Noah Richardson) said: "Let's name it Why Not and let's go home." Everyone agreed
5
and with a good laugh, the assembly broke up.
The Why Not Post Office (a Confederate post office from 1861
to 1865) operated under postmaster Josiah Presnell until Decem - ber, 1866, when the office was closed. It reopened in April, 1877, under postmaster Thomas F. Allbright. Martin A. Cagle
became postmaster in 1892, and Mamie S. Richardson in 1898. The Why Not Post Office was discontinued in March, 1905, when the Seagrove Post Office took over the Why Not district.
Along with the plank road and the post office, another landmark in the birth of Why Not was the construction of Auman's Chapel, built in 1859 beside the plank road just south of where the Seagrove School now stands. The structure was called Auman's
to Chapel because Martin Auman furnished the logs with which build it. The name was changed to Mt. Moriah when the chapel became a regular church. Zachary Lineberry was the first preach- er. During the Civil War, Mt. Moriah was burned by deserters because the building was being used as a headquarters and shelter
for Confederate and state troops sent into the area to hunt them down. After the war, services were held in a building on the property of A. L. Yow and then at a brush arbor at Why Not. In 1870, Mr. and Mrs. William Tucker donated the land on which the brush arbor was located for a church site. The Fair Grove Church was built on it the next year.
During the Civil War, Why Notters were divided in
their loyalties. Few wanted to leave the Union, but when North Caroli- na seceded, most citizens supported the new Confederacy. But as the war dragged on, as the losses in combat and to disease mount- ed, as middle-age men with large families were forced into the
6
٩
ranks by an unpopular draft law, and as taxes and inflation increased, many area people opted for a cessation of hostilities, peace, and even reunion. Most of the residents were nonslave- holders who saw little sense in suffering or dying to maintain
slavery, an institution some believed to be morally wrong and
most believed to be inimical to the economic interests of inde- pendent white farmers, artisans, craftsmen, and laborers.
After the fall of 1862, Why Notters became engulfed in the
inner Civil War that raged between the supporters of the Confed- eracy and those who wanted peace and reunion. Murder, arson,
assault and battery,
and torture became common.
Two area anti-
Confederate leaders were William Owens and William Gollihorn.
Both lived near where the plank road crossed the Moore County line (Owens just across it, Gollihorn a few hundred yards on the Randolph side).
William Owens, ' a yeoman farmer with a wife and baby, led a desperate band of deserters, 1
draft-dodgers, and Unionists who 1 plundered and terrorized area Confederate loyalists. The fol- lowing letter written to the editor of the Fayetteville Observer vividly portrays the terror the Owens gang spread throughout the southern Randolph County area:
Why Not, Randolph County January 8, 1863
Things have grown so alarming . . [that] I dare not leave home as well as many others for our familys would be without what little Protection we might afford [them] . The Wretched and deplorable Condition of Treason,
Rebelion, Robery, and incendaryism . . . going on here is in creadable. But oh if you knew our Condition here you would say may the good Lord Deliver
them. Men [have been] shot, some Beat that Life has been Dispaired of, Property taken, Barnes and Fences Burned, and we take[n] from our Familys as Prisonors and Compeled by threats not
7
to talk nor act in no way against the out Laws and Murders. It would take days to give you all but sufice it to say it all abounds here in this named section of our old North State. . . One object I have is to let you know some of the outrages Comitted here since ordering the Militia officers to [arrest] and take Deserters and Enrolled men who have left their Companys without Furlows or orders. Some of our [militai] officers [were] shot, some [were] beat, and so it goes. Leiut. B. Prissly was Beat till Life was Despaired of for several days three weeks ago, and Last week his house [was] attacked, the windows Broken, his wife maimed by a rock thrown, and he [was] shot at in his escape. Capt Presslys Barn and . . grain Burned and his house Month Bare Headed and made to go all day through rain till they
Plundered. Capt Peter Shamburger was taken on the 30th Last viseted several Familys and secrued 9 guns and other Property.
The Widow Cole and Daughters Living on [the] Plank Road who has a
son
in the army was most shamefully treated and Robed of various
Household Property. [They] Kill[ed] her Cow, [dressed] it, taken the meat and left the Head and Hide at her door.
One Felow Put Down her Water Buckett and Jumpt booth Feet on it and Smacked it to the ground and all such Pitifull conduct. This is only what
Come under my own Notice and tis a very Small Part of what ig
going on. [I] will now give you my own case. On Monday last 18 men armed Came to my house threatened my wife and Mrs Harriss my Daughter who was with us on a Visit. I not being at home [they]
found my gun was Loaned out
to . . . Mr. John Lucas who
Lived about a mile from me. . Mr. Lucas had been out on a
deer hunt. They then marched him before them to my house. I had got home and they bound him not to speak to me, only to Deliver the gun which he did -- they demanded me to give it up. I Declined to do so as my own property. Four of them Cocked there guns and haeled them at my Breast my Wife and Daughter screaming. One advanced and seized the gun and I gave it up and stated you have deprived me of my property against my will. . They Cursed me and said if I behaved myself they would before two months restore me to the Bosom of Abe Lincon as Lasuraess was to Father Abraham but if they herd from me any more they would send me to the Devil where Secession Came from and my age only saved my Life.
Jas. S. Dunn 1
William Owens finally was captured in the spring of 1864, 2 jailed, and about a year later, hanged by a mob. William Golli- horn, a well-to-do farmer and justice of the peace, successfully eluded harm during the war, but one of his sons was captured by
Confederate troops, staked, and shot at what is now know as
"Gollihorn Springs," which is located near the present-day Sea- grove School house.
8
Captain D. C. Green of the Confederate Army accounted for
the capture and execution of Alpheus Gollihorn:
he fired upon two of our men with the intention no doubt of killing them while they . · . were moving upon him in his forti- fied position. If I had been present when he was first taken he would not have been brought to camp. But such not being the case he was brought before me. [The troops had orders to give no quarter to anyone who fired on them. ] I gave him the benefit of a Drum head court martial which condemned him to be shot to death with musketry on the 22d day [of] march [1865] at 4 P.M. (3)
Private William F. Walters of Company L, Third Indiana Cavalry, a companion of Alpheus Gollihorn, also was captured by Captain Green's men. Walters was a scout from Sherman's Army which was then only about forty miles south of Why Not. The United States soldier helped organize resistance against the Confederacy in the southern Randolph County area.
Walters was court-martialed by Confederate Army authorities in Asheboro soon after his capture. He was charged with being an accomplice of Alpheus Gollihorn in the murder and robbery of John Vanderford, a Confederate soldier from the Why Not area. The court found private Walters
guilty of robbery and of association with armed bands of deserters and robbers -- of resisting military authority
of the Confederate States and of being a leader and counsellor of
such armed resistance.
The military court ordered that Walters be "shot to death with musketry" which was carried out on April 1, 1865, in 4 Asheboro.
Men were not the only victims of the inner Civil War in the Why Not area. The women and children on both sides faced starva- tion, torture, rape, and even death at the hands of their en-
best account of the torture of a woman is found in emies. The
9
the case of the wife of William Owens, the boldest and most noted leader of deserters, draft-dodgers, and Unionists in the Southern Randolph County area during the war. Alfred Pike, Randolph County militia officer and deputy sheriff, tortured Mrs. Owens to force from her the location of her husband's hideout. When reproached by legal authorities for his abuse of the law, Pike retorted:
I went with my squad to Owens spring where his wife was washing & inquired of her as to Owens whereabouts, she said he was dead buried. I told her that she must show us the grave. She there- upon began to curse us and abuse us for every thing that was bad. Some of my men told me that if I would hand her over to them they would or could make her talk. I told her to go some twenty steps apart with them, she seized up in her arms her infant not twelve
she
put down her baby & went with them, they tied her thumbs together
behind
her
back & suspended her with a cord tied
to
her
two
thumbs thus fastened behind her to a limb so that her toes could just touch the ground, after remaining in this position a while she said her husband was not dead & that if they would let her I went up just then & I think down she would tell all she knew. she told some truth, but after a while I thought she commenced lying again & I with another man (one of my squad) took her yards to a fence & put her thumbs under a corner of some fifty
the fence, she soon became quiet and behaved very respectfully.
were flat and not sharp between which I placed her The rails
thumbs. I dont think she was hurt bad. This is all I have done
Sir, and now, if I have not the right to treat Bill Owens, his wife & the like in this manner I want to know it, & I will go to the Yankees or anywhere else before I will live in a country in which I cannot treat such people in this manner. (5)
The womenfolk of the Confederate faction also suffered numerous outrages at the hands of the deserters, draft-dodgers, and Unionists. One case occurred in January, 1865, when the wife of William Luck and mother of seven children was mortally wounded in a shotout with a band of deserters (Luck owned seven slaves) :
All quiet in this county [Randolph] except some deserters have been makeing a raid within the last few days down in the lower
part of the county adjoining Moor & Montgomery . . I am told they went to William Luck's house for the purpose of shooting him, and, his wife, in endeavoring to assist him, was shot by one of the deserters and is said to be severely wounded . . · Luck
10
months
old & swore she would not go -- I slaped her jaws till
shot one of the men dead. They are said, most of them, to have come from Moor & Montgomery ctys. They visited quite a number of other residinces and pilfered them. (6)
Despite the internecine strife and the destitution and near- famine conditions faced by their families back home, many a Why Notter served in the Confederate ranks during the war. One such was Riley Luther, 7 Luther enlisted in Company F, Forty-sixth Regi -
a small farmer, blacksmith, and father of two young children.
ment North Carolina Troops, in March, 1862. Fortunately for posterity, several dozen letters between him and his wife during
8
the war have survived. Their contents provide a look at the personal lives of Why Notters both on the war front and on the
home front. One of Riley's first letters to his wife Mary Ann came from Camp Magnum (a Confederate "boot camp") on April 21, 1852:
I drop you these few lines that you may know how it is with me. I cannot say that I am well for I have not been able to go on duty ever since Martin Auman left here. I have had a bad cold and sore throat and cannot rest well at night. (9) I want you to get Mrs. Presnell to make some cough medicine and sent it to me by J. D. Tucker if she knows what would be good for a cough. (10)
I want you to write back and let me know how you and the children and all the neighbors are getting along.
John Latham has got the measles.
He was taken before Martin
out and the measles went in on him and we could not get them
was
broke out any more till a few days ago but they are now broke out. He is very sick but with good care I think he will begin to mend in a day or two. He says that he would like for his pap to come out to see him. (11) Henry Vuncannon and Noah Graves are complaining of bad
colds and sore throats. D. W. McDonald is well and getting along well. (12)
I remain yours affectionately
Riley Luther
Let m ℮ know in next letter how all the neighbors are getting [along] planting corn etc R L
11
On June 15, 1862, Riley wrote Mary Ann from Drewry's Bluff
below Richmond where his regiment was building fortifications:
Thar is write smart of sickness here now in our ragment now.
Thar
is
some twenty or twenty five Reports themselves
sick
of
mornings. But thar is none dangrous Bad I dont think. John
Latham
has got a sore throte and is in the horse ptle.
Enoch
Noah Graves is sick. Jurns (?) Spencer is sick.
Alfred Presnell is sick. Them is all that is sick out of
our
git the wheat cut or not and whether it [is] good or
not. Tel Martin Auman that I have not forgot him yet.
Tel R. Presnell I gave him all my best Respects. (13)
In a letter dated July 3, 1862, from a camp near Drewry's
Bluff, Riley told Mary Ann of his role in the Battle of Richmond:
I Received your letters the 26th But I did not have time
to answer your leter Back. We was all fixing to [go] upp to the battle fiel. We have Bin marching six days all the tim[e] day and night. We have just got to our Camp this morning all wered
[wore] down. We was all formed in the line of battle three or
four times. But we never openled] fire at all. The Bumes got hert.
[bombs] flew over our heades all most like hail but none of us Thar was one struck the ground about twenty steps from me and threw the dirt over me.
We have drove the yankees back to there gun boats below Richmond on and now thare are trying to Come on the other side of Jameses River Between Richmond and Petersburg and are now expecting afight now here at the Bluff to day. I hear
the yankees Buming now down at the cedarpoint now. I cant tel how many fightes there has bin but thare has bin three big battles besides several skrumishes. We have gained the victories in all of them But with heavey losses on both sides.
Mary An I dont want you to bee uneasy about me. I dont think that thar is any of the Canon that will hit me. If all the balls and shot was to hit every time we all would be killed in afew minetes.
On August 3, Riley reported from camp near Petersburg that:
the neighbor boys is ginerly all well. Noah Graves is mending the last time I heard from him. I am glad to [k]now that you Received the money that I sent to you and that you paid Alfred Yow and Harbard some money . I shall send you some more money hom by Graves or Spencer.
In December, 1862, Riley Luther took part in the Confederate victory at Fredericksburg, Virginia. One Why Notter was killed and two wounded :
12
Garner is sick.
setlement. . . . I want you to write to me . . whether you can
I have nothing to write to you at presant any more than what I sapose you have hearn about the fight at Fredericks Burg. We had two killed out of my company. Lieutenant Weir was shot threu the head. David Russell shot dead on the field. John Hill was shot
threu the thigh and Spencers boy in the hip. I think that was all that got hurt in my company. Thar was eleven killed and seventy five wounded in my Reagement. (14)
You wanted to know whether I had to fight any or not.
[ I ] do not and I shaint as long as i can help it. I have not bin in ranks since before we left Peters Burg and I dont think thar('s] much danger of my having to go to [the] rank[s] for I am in the [blacksmith] shop every day pretey near doing work.
On September 6, 1863, Riley wrote the following letter to
Mary Ann from "Taylors ville. " He discussed personal problems and expressed concern for the well-being of his family. And for the first time, he asked about the deserters and peace meetings back home.
Dear Mary An. I now take presant opertunity of wrting you
afew lines to let you [k]now that I am in good helth at this time. About my Side and arm I got kickfed] the other day by amule and
my Side and arm is very Sore and I hope when these lines comes to hand tha may find you all well. I received your kind leter which was rote the 29th which I was glad to hear from you and that you was all well.
I have nothing interesting at this time to write to you. We are all generly well. Thare is as litle sickness in the reagmet
as I ever node at one time. My eyes is giting about well. I have the spectes that you sent me and I was very glad to get them and tel Randal that I will take good care of them until I return them. I am glad to that you have the whate thrashed and that you are amaking alitle some thing to eat at home. Times verey hard hear in Camp. We get nothing much but meat and bread. I am spending aheap of my money for something to eat. You need not to try to perpare any clothes for me. I can git them Cheaper here than you can make them and send to me. I want you to git Martin or Randal to go with [you] to harbards and git that wheat in you have got it and git one or another of there half bushel to measure it in.
I want you [to] write to me whether thar('s] any
Chance to
buy any wheat or not. I want you [to] tell
me what the Deserter [s] are doing and also what [is] the meaning of ther holding peace meeting[s]. I have got your mother apair of shoes. I will send them home.
By October, Riley was "seeing very hard times." His letter
to Mary Ann on the 25th, written from camp near Brandy Station,
13
Virginia,
expressed his concern about the family food supply and spoke of the heavy losses suffered in the Battle of Bristow Station:
We have had avery hard fight out here and has lost a great
many men. The loss in our brigade five hundred and forty eight killed and wounded. Sargent Spencer was killed on the field. We are seeing very hard times here now. We have verey cold bad wet
wether here now and nothing much to eat. I go to bed hungry and git up hungry. I only draw one struck point of flour a day and a small bit of beef for adays ration. I have seen the hardest times on this march that I ever seen in my life. I have had to
be behind all the time amending up broakdown work and had to buy what litle I eat. I want you to write som and let me [k] now how you are giting along and how much corn you have made and whether you have made anough of feed [for] the cow and yearlin or not and how you are off for money and whether you have got the Children any shoes or not and whether your Mother has any or not. I received my things that you sent [by] Lieutenant Spencer. I
have aplenty Clothes now. I want you Mary Ann to git some Wheat sowed if you think thar [is] any of the ground worth Sowing.
You will have to do which every way you think best for you to do for dont [k]now when I shal git the Chance to come home any I
more. You dont [k]now how bad I want to see you and the little Children. So you must do the best yo can. (15)
Riley wrote Mary Ann a letter on January 27, 1864, in which
he described the execution of a deserter and told of the court-
martial of several others, including a Why Notter:
Times very hard here. We have but little to eat. I saw a man shot last monday. He was tyed to a stake and twelve guns was shot at him which killed him dead. He was in the forty eight regt in our brigade. There is three more men to be shot saturday in my reagment. It all for deserting. Sentance was next past against Elijahy Luck this morning for him to war a ball and chain three years [and] do hard labor on the fortyfiecations all the time. (16)
Thar ['s] several in the gardhouse now waring balls and chains and toting logs of wood. And tha have to live on nothing but bred and water. It['s] two much for men to have [to] undergow at [but] we pore soldiers have to.
In April, 1864, Riley was in camp near Orange Courthouse, Virginia. On the 25th he wrote Mary Ann about some Why Not soldiers and about the results of a vote by the soldiers in
his regiment for the candidates running in a by-election for a con-
14
gressional seat made vacant by the death of Seventh Congressional
District representative Samuel H. Christain of Montgomery County.
I heard from John Hancock the other day for the first time since he left here. He is at Camp Jackson horse pitle. I sapose he is geting most well. I heard from him by aleter from Alen Presnell that he sent to Alfred. From the way the leter red tha
was both at the same horse pitle and that tha would soon [be] able to come to camp. You wanted to know whether the soldiers was alowed to vote or not. We all voted and Leach went ahed by alarg majority but whether it was left that way after the
poles was closed I caint say. (17)
Colonel James Madison Leach of Lexington, North Carolina, resigned his army commission in April to run as a Peace party candidate for the Congressional seat vacated by Christian. Leach was a native of Randolph County, a graduate of the United States Military Academy, and a former Whig Congressman from North Caro- lina in the United States House of Representatives. The Confede-
rate
Seventh Congressional
District which
Leach
represented,
included
the highly disaffected counties of
Randolph,
Chatham,
Moore, Montgomery, and Davidson, as well as Richmond and Anson
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