USA > North Carolina > Rowan County > A history of Rowan County, North Carolina > Part 14
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around until sufficiently twisted, and then letting the thread skillfully in on the spool. Or perhaps he would hear the creaking of the reel, with its sharp click, as it told when a "cut" was reeled from the spool. Or perhaps he would see a pair of huge "warp- ing bars," or "winding blades" slowly revolving, as they measured off the "chain" or "filling" of the next six hundred "slaie" of plain white shirting or copperas cloth, or it may be of "linsey" or perhaps "jeans." And then what efforts were put forth to secure the most brilliant dyes, and the fastest colors! The gar- den contained a bed of "madder," whose roots gave the brown or red dye. A patch of indigo furnished the blue. Walnut roots and bark, or maple bark, with a little copperas, supplied the tints of black and purple, or a little logwood gave a lustrous black. No "aniline dyes" were known, but roots, barks, and leaves lent their essential colors to the fabrics spun and woven by fair maidens and hearty matrons. The Fourth of July in those days was the grand holiday of the year. An orator was procured, and the Declaration was im- pressively read, and the daring deeds of the illustrious statesmen of 1776 were commemorated. It would be varied with now and then a military parade, with screaming fife and rattling drum, and now and then a barbecue. Early in the spring the good wives began to get up the Fourth of July suits for their husbands, each priding herself on having the most nicely dressed husband on that gala day. Old silks were cut up into shreds, picked to pieces, and carded with cotton to make a "silk mixed" coat. Vests with "turkey red"
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stripes, cut bias, and pointing like chevrons to the but- tons, were in the height of fashion. Knee breeches, with long stockings tied with garters, and shoes with huge silver buckles had not gone out of style in those days. The material of the breeches was not infre- quently a soft, pliant, yellow buckskin, very "stretchy" of a rainy day. The wife of a distinguished citizen of Salisbury in those days is said to have excelled all the rest by rigging her husband out on a certain Fourth of July in a full suit of "nankeen cotton," carded, spun, woven, and made in her own house. Another textile fabric of those days was flax. The flax patch, with its delicate blue blossoms, was a pleas- ing spectacle. And the flax was skillfully pulled, the seed threshed out, and in due time laid out to "rot." When the inner stem was sufficiently "rotted," the pon- derous strokes of the huge "flax brake" could be heard, and the swish of the scutcher as he cleaned the fiber with his sharp-edged paddle. And lastly, the heckling process separated the tow from the perfect linen. The flax-wheel with its "rock" wound with flax required the highest skill, and the product when bleached furnished the beautiful linen whose snowy whiteness was the pride of the most ambitious and thrifty housekeepers of Rowan. Her own attire was also made by her own fingers, and she was an adept in stripes and checks, knew how to insert gores and gussets, and if tall, how to eke out the cloth to the proper length. But finer articles were often needed for female attire than these home-made fabrics. Ribbons and laces, with satin and brocade, were also in
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HISTORY OF ROWAN COUNTY
demand from the looms of France and Italy. A leg- horn or dunstable, or perhaps a silk gig bonnet, prunella or morocco shoes, bound on with ribbons crossing coquettishly over the foot and around the ankle, and peeping shyly beneath the short dress, com- pleted her attire. And then, mounted on a spirited horse of her own, or may be on a pillion behind, she was ready to accompany her escort for a ten or twenty mile ride to church, to a wedding, a party, or a quilt- ing frolic. Those were active, healthful, buoyant, blithesome times, those early days of American Inde- pendence, and it is probable that the sum total of social and domestic happiness was greater than in these ad- vanced days. The more people help themselves, as a general rule, the happier they are. There is gladness in the successful ingenuity required to supply the real and artificial wants of domestic and social life. Some- one has recently said that the American is the only man that has ever had enough to eat. And now that he has got to the West, and can go no further without going to the East, he is turned back upon himself to grow and to prove what can be made of a man in a land of plenty. And those were days of plenty. The virgin soil brought forth bountifully. Herds of cattle and droves of swine fed at large, unrestrained by any stock law. Bears, deer, turkeys, wild geese, and ducks abounded. The Yadkin and the Catawba were filled with shad, trout, redhorse, pike, bream, perch, catfish, and eels, and the fisherman seldom returned without a heavy string of fish.
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Besides this, the early Rowan man was a man of faith. He may have been a little rough and free in his manners, but he had his religious beliefs, and his religious observances. On the western side of the county the Presbyterians had their churches-Thya- tira, Third Creek, and Bethphage, where Dr. McCorkle, Rev. Joseph D. Kilpatrick, and Rev. John Carrigan preached and taught the people the strong Calvinism - of their creed. In the eastern division, at the Organ Church, the Lower Stone, and elsewhere, the devout Lutheran and German Reformed churches and minis- ters led the people in the way of life. Salisbury could boast of but one church, the Lutheran ; standing where the Lutheran graveyard now is. It did not always have a pastor, but it was open to all evangelical minis- ters. Salisbury Presbyterians were a branch of Thyatira, and here Dr. McCorkle often officiated, and married his wife in this place. Schools were kept up and eminent teachers were employed to give instruc- tion to the young. In this way matters moved on with nothing more exciting than a popular election or a general muster, for several years after the close of the war.
CHAPTER XX
GENERAL WASHINGTON'S VISIT TO SALISBURY
The most distinguished visitor that Salisbury has ever welcomed was Gen. George Washington - the President of the United States. Wishing to see for himself the whole country, and no doubt hoping to grasp by the hand many of the war-worn veterans who had followed his standard in a hundred marches and battles, he planned and accomplished a southern tour in the spring of 1791. Irving, in his Life of Washing- ton, states that the whole tour was accurately planned, the places to be visited, and the times he would reach and leave each place, before he left Mount Vernon, and that he carried out his plan with the utmost pre- cision, not failing a single time. He traveled in his family carriage, perhaps the one that was on exhibi- tion at the Centennial in Philadelphia. He passed down from Virginia through North Carolina, South Carolina, and Georgia, near the coast, as far as Savan- nah, and returned through Augusta, Columbia, Cam- den, Charlotte, Salisbury, Salem, and so on to his home. Several incidents of this trip are worth record- ing. Upon his arrival at Charleston, it is related that someone unrolled a bolt of carpeting on the ground for him to walk upon. His severe republican sim- plicity revolted at such homage paid to a man. He-
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rebuked them for their adulation, informing them that such tokens of honor were due from man to his Creator alone. He, of course, refused to walk upon it. Many years after Washington's visit to Camden, the Marquis de LaFayette, "the Nation's Guest," paid a visit to the same town. The committee of arrange- ments were anxious to have every article of the finest quality for the distinguished Frenchman. A certain lady offered a quilt, somewhat faded, as a covering for his bed. The committee rejected it as quite unfit for so important an occasion. Gathering up her quilt in her arms, the lady began to retire, but repeating with indignant tones these words, "a greater and better man than LaFayette slept under this quilt. If it was good enough for Washington, it was good enough for General LaFayette." The astonished committee would fain have recalled their hasty decision, but the indignant lady, with her precious quilt in her arms, had disappeared.
As General Washington approached the borders of North Carolina, Capt. John Beard, of Salisbury, with the Rowan "Light Horse Company," set out for Char- lotte to meet and escort him to Salisbury. As the cavalcade was approaching Salisbury a little incident occurred of pleasing character. Richard Brandon, Esq., then lived six miles southwest of Salisbury, at the place known by our older citizens as the Stockton place, now owned by C. H. Mckenzie, Esq. The old buildings stood, till a few years ago, on the west side of the road, near a little meadow, about halfway between St. Mary's Church and Mr. Mckenzie's pres-
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ent residence. As the party neared this place early in the day, the President being then sixty years old, and wearied with his journey, and knowing too that a long and fatiguing reception awaited him in Salisbury, be- thought him that a little refreshment would strengthen him for the day's work. So he drove up to the farm- er's door, and called. A neat and tidy lass of some twelve or fourteen summers-a daughter of Squire Brandon, answered the call. The President immediately asked whether she could give him a breakfast. She replied that she did not know-that all the grown people were gone to Salisbury to see General Washing- ton. The President kindly assured her that if she would get him some breakfast, she should see General Washington before any of her people, adding pleas- antly, "I am General Washington." The breakfast -for the President alone-was prepared with great alacrity, and the blushing maiden had the pleasure, not only of seeing, but of conversing with General Washington, as she dispensed to him her bountiful hospitality.
This little girl's name was Betsy Brandon, the daughter of Richard Brandon. Her mother's maiden name was Margaret Locke, the sister of Gen. Matthew Locke, and the aunt of Judge Francis Locke. A few years after this, Betsy Brandon was married to Francis McCorkle, Esq., of Rowan, and some of their descend- ants still reside in Rowan, Iredell, and Catawba Counties. James M. McCorkle, Esq., of Salisbury, and Matthew Locke McCorkle, Esq., of Newton, are grandsons of Francis and Betsy McCorkle. The
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Brandons came originally from England, and the Lockes from the North of Ireland.
As General Washington approached Salisbury, on the Concord Road, some half-mile from town, and at a point near where Mr. Samuel Harrison now lives, he was met by a company of the boys of Salisbury. Each of these boys had a bucktail in his hat-a symbol of independence, and their appearance was quite neat and attractive. The President expressed himself much pleased by the boys' turnout, saying that it was "the nicest thing he had seen."
The illustrious visitor was of course the guest of the town, and lodging was provided for him at Capt. Edward Yarboro's residence. This house is still standing, on East Main Street, a few doors east of the Public Square, and nearly opposite the entrance of Meroney's Hall. The house is now marked by a set of semi-circular stone steps. Many have supposed that Washington stood on those steps and addressed the people. It is almost a pity that this is not the truth, but the fact is that those stone steps were placed there since 1830, by Sam Jones, who kept a hotel there. But the President did occupy that house for a night, and he did stand on steps where those semi- lunar steps now stand. And as he stood there the people from all the country around stood packed and crowded in the street, gazing with reverence and ad- miration at the soldier and patriot who was "first in the hearts of his countrymen." And as the people gazed the President stood bareheaded, while the after- noon sun illumined his hoary locks. And this was
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what he said: "My friends, you see before you noth- ing but an old, gray-headed man." Lifting his hand, with his handkerchief he shielded his head from the rays of the sun, in silence. That night there was a grand ball given to the President at Hughes' Hotel, at- tended by the prominent gentlemen and ladies of Salis- bury and vicinity-Maxwell Chambers and his wife, Spruce Macay, Esq., Adlai Osborne, Esq., Capt. John Beard, Edward Chambers, Joseph Chambers, Lewis Beard, Hugh Horah, Edward Yarboro, Miss Mary Faust, Mrs. Kelly (née Frohock), Mrs. Lewis Beard, Mrs. Giles, Mrs. Torrence, and many others whose names are no longer preserved in a vanishing tradition. There is still in the county a relic of this ball-a brown satin dress, worn by Mrs. Lewis Beard-the daughter of John Dunn, Esq. It is in the possession of Mrs. Mary Locke, granddaughter of Col. Moses A. Locke, and great-granddaughter of the lady who wore it. How far the "Father of His Country" participated in the amusements and festivities of the occasion, tradi- tion saith not. It was probably a mere occasion for a reception on his part, and we may well imagine that the "old, gray-headed man," as he claimed to be, hus- banded his strength by retiring early, and thus secur- ing the rest needful to fit him for his next day's jour- ney to Salem. Captain Beard and his Company of "Rowan Light Horse" escorted the Presidential party as far as Salem.
As the reader has incidently learned the names of a few of the citizens of Salisbury one hundred years ago, it will probably be of some interest, especially to
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those of antiquarian tastes, to have a list of the princi- pal householders of our city in those early days. Fortunately the mayor of the city, Capt. John A. Ramsay, has succeeded in securing a number of the old records of the "Borough of Salisbury," the earliest dating back as far as 1787. On the twelfth of March of that year, Messrs. Maxwell Chambers, Michael Troy, John Steele, and John Blake were duly qualified as town commissioners, and Matthew Troy as Justice of police. James McEwen was elected clerk, and Thomas Anderson, constable. The records are quite fragmentary, those of several years being lost. In 1793, the commissioners adopted several ordinances. One ordinance forbade the citizens to allow their hogs or goats to run at large in the streets, and any person was allowed to kill any hog or goat so found, and the owner sustained the loss. Another ordinance forbade the keeping of any hay, oats, straw, or fodder in dwell- ing-houses. Another ordinance required each house- holder to keep on hand, for use at fires, a number of leather water buckets, holding not less than two gal- lons each. And in this connection we have the first list of householders of Salisbury, graded according to the number of buckets they were supposed to be justly required to furnish. As the Chinese mandarin is graded by the number of buttons, and the Turkish pasha by the number of "tails" he wore on his cap, so the Salisbury citizen was graded by the buckets he was required to keep on hand. Richmond Pearson was ex- pected to keep four, and Dr. Anthony Newnan three. The following were rated at two each, viz .: Richard
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Trotter, Joseph Hughes, Conrad Brem, Tobias Forrie, Michael Troy, Andrew Betz, John Patton, Lewis Beard, Henry Giles, Edward Yarboro, David Cowan, Albert Torrence, Charles Hunt, William Alexander, Maxwell Chambers, M. Stokes, John Steele, William Nesbit, Peter Fults, and Michael Brown. The following householders were let off with one bucket each, viz .: Henry Barrett, Robert Gay, Matthew Doniven, Richard Dickson, Daniel Cress, George Lowman, John Mull, Hugh Horah, George Houver, Charles Wood, Fed. Allemong, David Miller, Mr. Stork, George Moore, John Beard, Mrs. Beard (widow), Leonard Crosser, Martin Basinger, Peter Faust, John Blake, Henry Young, John Whith, George Kinder, Jacob Utzman, Barna Cryder, Wil- liam Hampton, Samuel Dayton, and Charles Shrote. It seems that at a subsequent meeting of the com- missioners, Mr. Pearson at his own request was re- duced to the grade of two buckets, and Dr. Newnan, Peter Fults, and Evan Alexander to the grade of one bucket. These commissioners enacted stringent laws against "Bullet Playing"-whatever that was-horse racing, and retailing liquors on the streets. The taxes for 1793 were four shillings (50c.) on every hundred pounds ($250.00) value of town property, and four shillings (50c.) on every white poll that did not hold one hundred pounds (£100) value of town property. It was certainly not much of a privilege to be a poor man in Salisbury, in those days.
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HISTORY OF ROWAN COUNTY
According to the above list there were fifty house- holders in Salisbury in 1793. It has been usual to estimate an average of five inhabitants to each family. This would make a population of two hundred and fifty. But besides these white families, there were a few families of free negroes as well as the household servants in the various wealthier families. There were also a number of ordinaries, or village inns, in the borough, with their attendants and boarders. From these sources we may suppose there might be counted probably one hundred and fifty or two hundred more, making a total population of four hundred, or four hundred and fifty, in Salisbury at the close of the last century.
About the close of the Revolutionary War, in 1782, the records of the Inferior Court show the following licensed ordinary keepers in Salisbury, viz .: David Woodson, Valentine Beard, Archibald Kerr, Gasper Kinder, William Brandon, and Joseph Hughes. In those days the Inferior Courts fixed the tavern rates. The following are the rates for 1782: For a half-pint of rum Is. 4d; do. of whiskey 8d; do. of brandy Is .; one quart of beer 8d; for breakfast Is .; for dinner Is. 6d; for supper Is; for a quart of corn 2d; for hay or blades per day for a horse Is; for lodging per night 6d. A shilling was 121/2 cents. According to these rates, a dinner, supper, breakfast, and lodging, not in- cluding any spirits or horse feed, would amount to the sum of fifty cents. And, speaking of money, we notice
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that the commissioners begin, about 1799, to speak about dollars and fourths of a dollar, instead of pounds, shillings, and pence, indicating the substitution of the Federal currency for the sterling. About this time an ordinance was adopted disallowing sheep to run at large in Salisbury between eight in the evening and sunrise in the morning. The same year an "order" is directed to be published in The Mercury, thus in- dicating that a paper of that name was published in town. The location and the size of a market-house engaged the attention of the commissioners for several years. At different times it was ordered to be built on three different sides of the courthouse. In 1803 it was ordered to be erected on Corban Street southwest of the courthouse, between the courthouse and the next cross street ; to be thirty-two feet wide, and to be set on eight or more brick pillars. In 1805 the commissioners resolved to issue forty-two pounds and ten shillings (£42/10) in bills of credit, and employed Francis Coupee to print the bills. In 1806 they required every dog to be registered, and allowing every family to keep one dog free of tax laid a tax of one dollar on each surplus dog. Provided a dog should become mis- chievous, the magistrate of police was to issue a war- rant against him, and the constable was to kill him. None of these laws, however, were to apply to dogs "commonly called foists or lap dogs."
In 1811 the following citizens were divided into classes for the purpose of patrolling the town :
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I. Samuel S. Savage, captain; Peter Brown, John Murphy, Ezra Allemong, James Huie, John Trisebre, Jacob Smothers, and William Hinly.
2. George Miller, captain; John Utzman, John Wood, John Smith, John Bruner, Christian Tarr, and Horace B. Satterwhite.
3. Moses A. Locke, captain; John Faris, Henry Crider, Abner Caldwell, William Moore, George Rufty, and Henry Poole.
4. Jacob Crider, captain; Joseph Chambers, Peter Bettz, Edwin J. Osborne, Hugh Horah, Archibald Ruffin, and Samuel Lemly.
5. John Smith (hatter), captain; Lewis Utzman, George Utzman, Robert Blackwell, Epps Holland, Benjamin Tores, and Peter Crider.
6. Henry Sleighter, captain; Jacob Utzman, Daniel Jacobs, Abraham Brown, Andrew Kerr, Epps Robi- son, William Horah.
7. Robert Torrence, captain; Alexander Graham, Michael Brown, Horace B. Prewit, George Goodman, James Wilson, Robert Wood.
8. William Hampton, captain; John Albright, Willie Yarboro, Jacob Stirewalt, John L. Henderson, John Fulton, and William C. Love.
9. William H. Brandon, captain; Benjamin Pear- son, Michael Swink, Francis Marshall, Joshua Gay, Abraham Earnhart, John Giles.
IO. Daniel Cress, captain ; Abraham Jacobs, Peter Coddle, George Bettz, William Dickson, David Nes- bit, Stephen L. Ferrand.
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II. Thomas L. Cowan, captain; Joseph Weant, James Gillespie, William Pinkston, Francis Coupee, William Rowe, and William Davenport.
12. Francis Todd, captain; Thomas Reeves, Jere- miah Brown, Henry Ollendorf, Henry Allemong, George Vogler, and Charles Biles.
These were the able-bodied men of Salisbury in 1811-sixty-nine years ago.
CHAPTER XXI
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FAMILIES LIVING ON THE YADKIN RIVER ONE HUN- DRED YEARS AGO
Amid the ever-shifting scenes of domestic and social life, it is extremely difficult to get a picture of any one neighborhood. During the period of current life, events are regarded as of so little importance, and they are so numerous and crowded, that nobody takes the time and trouble to make a record of passing events. But when a generation or two has gone by, and chil- dren or grandchildren would love to know the history of their ancestors, only fragments remain. Now and then a curious chronicler arises, and by searching into records in family Bibles, old wills and deeds, and by the aid of some survivor of past generations stranded on the shores of time, succeeds in sketching an out- line of the old days. But the picture can never be complete, and seldom absolutely accurate. With such aids as these, the author of these pages proposes to give a running sketch of the people who lived in a part of Rowan County at the close of the last century.
About six miles northeast of Salisbury, where Grant's Creek pours its yellow waters into the Yadkin, there was a large farm and spacious dwelling, owned by Alexander Long, Esq. Somewhere about 1756, there appeared in Rowan County a man who is desig-
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nated in a deed, dated October 7, 1757, as John Long, gentleman. He purchased a tract of land-six hundred and twenty acres-on the ridge between Grant's Creek and Crane Creek, adjoining the township land. In 1758 he received a title from the Earl of Granville for six hundred and eight acres on the "Draughts of Grant's Creek." Also six hundred and forty acres on Crane Creek, adjoining his own. Also six hundred and four acres on Second Creek; besides some town lots in Salisbury-altogether between twenty-five hundred and three thousand acres of land. Accord- ing to records on minutes of the Inferior Court for 1756, p. 400, John Long had some transactions with William and Joseph Long, of Lancaster County, Pa .- perhaps brothers, or other relatives of his. According to deeds and letters of administration, his wife's name was Hester. These were the parents of Alexander Long, Esq., of Yadkin. In the year 1760, the Chero- kee Indians were on the warpath, and Col. Hugh Wad- dell was stationed with a regiment of infantry, at the new village of Salisbury, for the protection of the western settlements. Tradition says that John Long was killed by the Indians in an expedition against a settlement of them in Turkey Cove, on North Fork of the Catawba River, not far from Pleasant Gardens. The records of the Inferior Court of 1760, p. 293, have this entry: Upon motion of Mr. Dunn, ordered that Hester Long, relict of John Long, deceased, have ad- ministration of the estate of her late husband, John Long [and that] Martin Pipher, John Howard, and Thomas Parker be bound in six hundred
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pounds (£600). She took the oath of admin-
istratrix." Tradition states that Hester Long afterwards married George Magoune, by whom she was the mother of a daughter who became the wife of Maxwell Chambers. The Court records for April, 1763, p. 461, have this entry: "William Long vs. George Magoune et uxor., administrator of John Long." Alexander Long, probably the only child of John Long, was born January 16, 1758, and be- came heir to the vast area of fertile lands entered and purchased by his father. When he became of age he added to this large estate. In 1783 he purchased a tract on both sides of the road from Salisbury to Trading Ford, and in 1784 he entered six hundred and sixty-five acres on the north side of the Yadkin River. He first married a sister of Gov. Montfort Stokes, by whom he had one daughter, named Eliza- beth, who became the wife of Alexander Frohock, Esq., who was the sheriff of Rowan County. He was married a second time to Miss Elizabeth Chapman, a lady from Virginia, October 12, 1786. Besides his extensive landed estate, Alexander Long was the owner of a hundred or more slaves, and had a valuable ferry over the Yadkin at the mouth of Grant's Creek, besides valuable fisheries on the river. In those days the Yadkin abounded with shad, and immense quanti- ties were caught in Mr. Long's fisheries. He had a large family of sons and daughters-John, Alexander, William, Richard, James, Nancy, Maria, Rebecca, Har- riet, and Caroline.
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