USA > North Carolina > Rowan County > A history of Rowan County, North Carolina > Part 2
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HISTORY OF ROWAN COUNTY
others of a former generation. He sat under the preaching of every pastor of the Presbyterian Church since its organization-Dr. Freeman, Mr. Rankin, Mr. Espy, Dr. Sparrow, Mr. Frontis (by whom he was married), Mr. Baker, and Rev. Dr. Rumple, who was his pastor and friend for more than thirty years. He was a scholar in the Sunday School when Thos. L. Cowan was superintendent, and was afterwards a teacher and superintendent himself. Col. Philo White, his early protector, was a high-toned Chris- tian man, and he so impressed himself upon his youth- ful ward that he chose him for a model, emulated his example, and held his memory in cherished veneration to the end of his life. At the age of seventeen, Mr. Bruner was received into the communion of the Presbyterian Church of Salisbury, and in 1846 he was ordained a ruling elder in that Church, and continued to serve in that capacity through the remainder of his life. He was a sincere, earnest, and consistent Chris- tian, and faithful in the discharge of all private and public duties of the Christian profession. The family altar was established in his household, and he brought up his children in the nurture and admonition of the Lord.
Mr. Bruner died, after a lingering illness, March 23, 1890. His end was peace. As he gently passed away-so gently that it was difficult to tell when life ended and immortality began-a brother elder by his bedside repeated the lines :
25
JOHN JOSEPH BRUNER
"How blest the righteous when he dies ! When sinks a weary soul to rest; How mildly beam the closing eyes ; How gently leaves the expiring breath !"
In many things Mr. Bruner was an example worthy of imitation. His memory must ever shine as one of the purest, sweetest, best elements of the past. His character was singularly beautiful and upright. His life was an unwritten sermon, inestimably pre- cious to those who will heed the lessons which it teaches, and to whom grace may be given to follow his good example.
He was emphatically a self-made man. His learn- ing he acquired by his own unaided efforts ; his prop- erty he earned by the sweat of his brow; and his reputation he achieved by prudence, wisdom, and faith- fulness in all the duties of life. By his paper he helped multitudes of men to honorable and lucrative office, but he never helped himself. Politically, Mr. Bruner never faltered in his allegiance to those princi- ples to which he believed every true Southern man should adhere. Up to the very last he was unflinch- ing and unwavering in his love for the South, and in his adherence to the very best ideals and traditions of the land of his nativity. At no time during his life did he ever "crook the pregnant hinges of the knee, that thrift might follow fawning." In the very best sense of the word, he was a Southern gentleman of the old school. The old South and the new were all one to him-the same old land, the same old people, the same old traditions, the land of Washington, of
26
HISTORY OF ROWAN COUNTY
Jefferson, of Calhoun and Jackson, of Pettigrew and Fisher, of Graham and Craige, of Stonewall Jackson, of Robert E. Lee and Jefferson Davis.
For more than a half-century Mr. Bruner was at the head of the Watchman, and through its columns, and in other walks of a well-spent life, impressed his high attributes of character upon the people-not only of his town and section, but throughout the State. A fluent, able, and conservative writer, with but one hope or purpose-to serve his State and people faith- fully and honestly-he steered his journal from year to year, from decade to decade, from the morning of one century almost to the morning of another, until he made himself and his paper honored landmarks of this age and section. He was firm in his convictions, a bold and fearless advocate of the rights of the peo- ple, but at all times characterized by a degree of liber- ality and conservatism that won for him respect and friendship even from those who might differ with him in matters of Church or State. He recorded truthfully and without envy or prejudice the birth and downfall of political parties. He-inspired by a united effort to Americanize and weld together every section of this great Union-waxed eloquent in praise of wise and sagacious leaders, and he blotted with a tear the paper on which he wrote of sectional strife and discord. He chronicled with sober earnestness the birth of a new republic, and like other loyal sons of the South raised his arm and pen in its defense. He watched with un- feigned interest its short and stormy career, and then wrote dispassionately of the furling of its blood-
27
JOHN JOSEPH BRUNER
stained banner. He was ever found fighting for what he believed to be the best interests of his people, and advocating such men and measures as seemed to him just and right. An old-line Whig before the war, he aspired not to political preferment or position, but only to an honored stand in the ranks of a loyal and beneficent citizenship. Joining in with the rank and file of the white men of the conquered South, he was content to lend all his talent and energy in aiding them in the upbuilding of an impoverished section.
Blameless and exemplary in all the relations of life, a Christian gentleman, he met all the requirements of the highest citizenship-and what higher eulogy can any hope to merit ?
"The great work laid upon his three-score years Is done, and well done. If we drop our tears, We mourn no blighted hope or broken plan With him whose life stands rounded and approved In the full growth and stature of a man."
-MRS. BEULAH STEWART MOORE
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NO.13
ROWAN COUNTY
CHAPTER I
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GENERAL DESCRIPTION
It is but natural that the inhabitants of a country should desire to trace back its history as far as possi- ble. No doubt many of the citizens of Rowan-the queenly mother of more than a score of counties- would love to know the early history of their native place, the appearance of the country when first seen by civilized men, and the character of the original inhabitants. Having had occasion to make some ex- amination of early documents and histories, and to consult a few of the oldest citizens, whose memories are stored with the traditions of the past, the writer has conceived the opinion that many of his fellow- citizens would be glad to have access to some of these facts; and through the kindness of the Editor of the Watchman, a few sketches will be furnished for their entertainment.
We have a vague impression that the early white settlers found here a vast unbroken wilderness, cov- ered with dense forests, with here and there a cluster of Indian wigwams, and varied with an occasional band of painted savages on the warpath, or a hunting party armed with tomahawks, bows and arrows. But
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HISTORY OF ROWAN COUNTY
beyond these vague impressions we have little definite knowledge. Nor is it possible at this late day to rescue from oblivion much valuable information that could have been gathered a generation or two ago. Still there are scattered facts lying at various places, that may be collected and woven into a broken narrative, that will be more satisfactory than the vague impres- sions now in our possession.
The earliest accounts of the hill-country of North Carolina, accessible to the writer, are those contained in Lawson's History of a Journey from Charleston to Pamlico Sound, in the year 1701. Starting from the former place in December, 1700, he passed around to the mouth of Santee River in a boat, and thence up that stream for a distance in the same way. Then leaving the river he traveled up between the Santee and Pee Dee Rivers, until he crossed the Yadkin River at Trading Ford, within six miles of where Salisbury now stands. As there were no European settlers from the lower Santee to Pamlico, and as he often forgets to mention the scenes through which he passed, it is very difficult to trace his exact route. Still there are some waymarks by which we can identify a part of his course. Among the first of these is the High Hills of Santee, in Sumter County, S. C. Then the Waxsaws, Kadapaus (Catawba), and Sugarees, have left names behind them that indicate the spots he visited. The name "Sugaree" suggests the inquiry whether the ancient name of Sugar Creek, was not Sugaree, rather than "Sugaw," as found in old records.
3I
GENERAL DESCRIPTION
From the Catawbas, Mr. Lawson traveled about one hundred miles, at a rough estimate, to Sapona Town, on the Sapona River. Taking into account the distance, in a route somewhat circuitous, the size of the river, and the description of the locality, there can remain little doubt on a reasonable mind that the place in- dicated as Sapona Town was the Indian settlement on the Yadkin River, near Trading Ford. This view is confirmed by the names and distances that are men- tioned beyond the Sapona River, such as Heighwarrie (Uwharie), Sissipahaw (Haw), Eno, the Occonee- chees, the Neuse, which correspond exactly with places and distances as now known. It is true that Lawson says that the Sapona is the "west branch of the Clarendon, or Cape Fair River;" from which some have supposed that he meant the Deep River. On the other hand, it is a noteworthy fact that Colonel Byrd, the author of the "History of the Dividing Line," a man of varied learning and close observation, says that Deep River is the "north branch of the Pee Dee." The error in both cases is excusable, from the fact that the places mentioned are several hundred miles in the interior, and far beyond the extreme verge of civilization in those days.
The region of country before reaching the Sapona -- that is, the territory now occupied by Rowan County and those south of her-is described by Lawson as "pleasant savanna ground, high and dry, having very few trees upon it, and those standing at a great dis- tance; free from grubs or underwood. A man near Sapona may more easily clear ten acres of ground
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HISTORY OF ROWAN COUNTY
than in some places he can one ; there being much loose stone upon the land, lying very convenient for making of dry walls or any other sort of durable fence. The country abounds likewise with curious bold creeks, navigable for small craft, disgorging themselves into the main rivers that vent themselves into the ocean." (Lawson, History North Carolina, p. 80.)
Of the last day's journey before reaching Sapona, he says : "That day we passed over a delicious country -none that I ever saw exceeds it. We saw fine- bladed grass six feet high along the banks of the rivulets. Coming that day about thirty miles, we reached the fertile and pleasant banks of the Sapona River, whereon stands the Indian town and fort; nor could all Europe afford a pleasanter stream, were it inhabited by Christians and cultivated by ingenious hands. This most pleasant river may be something broader than the Thames at Kingston, keeping a con- tinual warbling noise with its reverberating upon the bright marble rocks." [Marble, in its general signifi- cation, means any kind of mineral of compact tex- ture, and susceptible of a good polish, whether lime- stone, serpentine, porphyry, or granite (See Webster). From his frequent mention of marble, as found in South Carolina and North Carolina, we infer that Lawson used the word in this broad sense, as applica- ble to granite, sandstone, slate, etc.] "It is beautified by a numerous train of swans and other waterfowl, not common, though extraordinary pleasing to the eye. One side of the river is hemmed in with mountainy ground, the other side proving as rich a soil as any
33
GENERAL DESCRIPTION
this western world can afford. Taken with the pleasantness of the place, we walked along the river side, where we found a delightful island made by the river and a branch, there being several such plots of ground environed by this silver stream. Nor can anything be desired by a contented mind as to a pleasant situation but what may here be found, every step presenting some new object which still adds in- vitation to the traveler in these parts." (Lawson, pp. 81, 84, etc.)
The foregoing quotation presents several points of interest. The first is that the country was not then- one hundred and eighty years ago-clothed with dense forests as we are apt to imagine, but was either open prairie, or dotted here and there with trees, like the parks of the old country. Along the streams, as we gather from other pages of his narrative, there were trees of gigantic height, so high that they could not kill turkeys resting on the upper branches. This agrees with the recollection of the older citizens, and the tra- ditions handed down from their fathers. A venerable citizen, now living in the southwestern part of this county, remembers when the region called Sandy Ridge was destitute of forests, and that his father told him that, when he settled there, about 1750, he had to haul the logs for his house more than a mile. Another honored citizen of Iredell, lately deceased, told the writer that he recollected the time when the highlands between Fourth Creek and Third Creek were open prairies, covered with grass and wild pea- vines, and that the wild deer would mingle with their
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HISTORY OF ROWAN COUNTY
herds of cattle as they grazed. A stock law in those days would have been very unpopular, however desira- ble in these days of thicker settlements and extended farms.
Another point is the exceeding beauty and fertility of the valley of the Sapona or Yadkin River. I sup- pose an intelligent man, who would read the descrip- tion of Lawson, standing on the Indian Hill on the banks of the Yadkin a mile below Trading Ford, could hardly fail to recognize in the surrounding scenery every feature of the description. Beneath his feet would be the mound whereon stood the Sapona fort, surrounded by palisadoes. A hundred yards southeast roll the waters of the stream into which Lawson feared that the northwest storm of wind would blow him. Around him, on the mound and on the plain below, lie innumerable fragments of pottery, with rudely orna- mented flint arrow heads, bones, shells, etc. Around him is a large level plateau of fertile land, perhaps one thousand acres in extent, a part of the famed "Jersey lands." Just above the ford is the beautiful island containing a hundred acres-the central part under cultivation, but its edges fringed with trees and clam- bering vines. In the center of the island he will find an Indian burying-ground, where numerous bones are turned over by the plow, and where Indian pottery and a huge Indian battle-ax have been found. Below the ford are several smaller islands, resting on the bosom of the smoothly flowing stream. The swans, beavers, deer, and buffaloes have fled before the march of civilization, but on the south side of the stream
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GENERAL DESCRIPTION
still stand the bold bluffs rising abruptly from the river bank. Some of these heights are now clothed with cedars and other forest trees, but one of them is crowned with an old family mansion, that was for- merly known as "THE HEIGHTS OF GOWERIE." At the foot of the hill is a spring of pure cold water, and nearby a mill, driven by water drawn from the river above by a long canal. A cedar grove waves its evergreen branches along the level stretch of ground opposite the island. Not many years ago a lady, with the hectic flush upon her cheeks, returned from a dis- tant land to visit for the last time her native place- the old mansion on the hill. She was accompanied by a gentleman residing in the neighborhood, who after her departure penned the following lines, in which he has interwoven a description of the surrounding scenery, and which he courteously furnished at the request of the writer.
HEIGHTS OF GOWERIE
Pensive I stand on Gowerie's height, All bathed in autumn's mellow light- My childhood's happy home ; Where Yadkin rolls its tide along With many a wail and mournful song, As its waters dash and foam.
And memory's harp tunes all its strings, When I catch the dirge the river sings, As it sweeps by Gowerie's side. And viewless tongues oft speak to me, Some in sorrow and some in glee, From the river's fitful tide.
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HISTORY OF ROWAN COUNTY
On yon isle, just up the river, Where sunbeams dance and leaflets quiver, Three fancied forms I see. That blest-that sainted trio band, Together walk adown the strand, And wave their hands at me.
A father 'tis, whom yet I mourn, And sisters two, who long have gone- Gone to the other shore. They beck me to the goodly land, Where, with them, I'll walk hand in hand, Ne'er to be parted more.
When from the fount hard by the mill, Just at the foot of Gowerie's hill, I drink the sparkling water ; Echoes from yon cedar grove, From which the sighing zephyrs rove, Say, "Come to me, my daughter."
CHAPTER II
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THE ABORIGINES
The earliest inhabitants of this country known to the Europeans were the wild Indians of the Catawba, Woccon, and Sapona tribes, with the Keyauwees on the Uwharie River, and the Occoneechees on the Eno. These were stationary, or at least had their home here. But over the whole country, from the Great Lakes on the North to the rivers of Carolina, there roved hunting and war parties of Hurons, Iroquois, Sinnagers or Senecas-parts of the great Five Nations-who were the terror of the less warlike tribes of the South. On the upper waters of the Tar and Neuse Rivers dwelt the Tuscaroras, the most numerous and warlike of the North Carolina Indians, occupying fifteen towns, and having twelve hundred fighting men. The whole Indian population of North Carolina, in the year 1700, not counting the Catawbas on the southern borders, or the Cherokees beyond the mountains, is estimated at about five thousand.
Mr. Lawson speaks of the Indians of North Car- olina, as a well-shaped, clean-made people, straight, inclined to be tall, of a tawny color, having black or hazel eyes, with the white marbled red streaks. They were never bald, but had little or no beard, and they allowed their nails to grow long and untrimmed. In
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HISTORY OF ROWAN COUNTY
their gait, they were grave and majestic, never walk- ing backward and forward in contemplation as the white people do. They were dexterous and steady with their hands and feet, never letting things fall from their hands, never stumbling, able to walk on the smallest pole across a stream, and could stand on the ridgepole of a house and look unconcernedly over the gable end. But with all their dexterity, the men had a supreme contempt for regular labor. Hunting, fish- ing, and fighting were gentlemanly accomplishments, and in these enterprises the men would undergo any amount of fatigue, but the hoeing, digging, and all arduous labor were left exclusively to the women.
Like the inhabitants of the Mauritius, as mentioned in Bernardin St. Pierre's "Paul and Virginia," they named their months by some outward characteristic, as the month of strawberries, the month of mulberries, the month of dogwood blossoms, the month of her- rings, or the month when the turkey gobbles. They had few religious rites, yet they offered firstfruits, and the more serious of them threw the first bit or spoon- ful of each meal into the ashes ; which they considered equivalent to the Englishman's pulling off his hat and talking when he sat down to meat.
The best view of the theological and religious opinions of the Sapona Indians, who dwelt on the banks of the Yadkin, is that given by "Bearskin," the Sapona Indian hunter, who accompanied the Com- missioners of Virginia in running the dividing line be- tween Virginia and North Carolina, in 1728. (See History Dividing Line, pp. 50, 51.) In substance, he
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THE ABORIGINES
stated that they believed in one supreme God, who made the world a long time ago, and superintended the sun, moon, and stars ; that he had made many worlds before. That God is good, and loves good people, making them rich and healthy, and safe from their enemies, but punishing those who cheat and tell lies with hunger and sickness, and allowing them to be knocked in the head and scalped by their enemies. He also supposed there were subordinate gods, or evil spirits. He believed in a future state, and that after death the good and the bad started off on the same road, until a flash of lightning separated them, where this road forks into two paths. The righthand path led to a charming country of perpetual spring, where the people are ever young, and the women as bright as stars, and never scold. In this land there is abund- ance of deer, turkeys, elks, and buffaloes, ever fat and gentle, and trees forever laden with fruit. Near the entrance of this fair land a venerable man examines the character of all, and if they have behaved well, he opens to them the crystal gate, and allows them to enter.
They who are driven to the left hand find a rugged path that leads to a barren country of perpetual winter, where the ground is covered with eternal snow, and the trees bear nothing but icicles. The inhabitants are always hungry, yet have nothing to eat except a bitter potato, that gives them the gripes and fills the body with painful ulcers. The women there are old, ugly, shrill-voiced, and armed with claws like pan- thers, with which they scratch the men who fail to be
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HISTORY OF ROWAN COUNTY
enamored with them. At the end of this path sits a dreadful old woman, on a monstrous toadstool, with her head covered with rattlesnakes instead of hair, striking terror into the beholder as she pronounces sentence upon every wretch that stands at her bar. After this they are delivered to huge turkey buzzards that carry them off to their dreadful home. After a number of years in this purgatory they are driven back into the world, and another trial given to them.
Gross and sensual as this religion is, it embraces the cardinal points of belief in a God, the distinction be- tween right and wrong, and the future state of rewards and punishments. But these children of nature had very few acts expressive of religious feeling, and those of the rudest kind. Lawson in his travels (His- tory of North Carolina, p. 65) was permitted to wit- ness among the Waxsaws a feast "held in commemora- tion of the plentiful harvest of corn they had reaped the summer before, with an united supplication for the like plentiful produce the year ensuing." This cere- mony does not seem to have been accompanied by any spoken prayers or addresses, but consisted of a feast of "loblolly," i. e., mush of Indian meal, stewed peaches, and bear venison ; and a dance. Their music was made on a drum constructed of an earthen por- ridge pot, covered with a dressed deerskin, and with gourds having corn in them. It was a masquerade, and their visors were made of gourds, and their heads were plentifully adorned with feathers. Some of the dancers had great horse bells tied to their legs, and small hawk bells about their necks. Modern civiliza-
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THE ABORIGINES
tion has not yet adopted the bells and gourd masks of the Waxsaws, but there is no telling what "progress" may accomplish in that direction. In these dances the men figured first alone, and after they were done capering, the women and girls held the ground for about six successive hours. Though the dancing was not "promiscuous," after the modern style, it was nevertheless accompanied by acts so unbecoming and impure as to render it highly immoral and corrupting.
In addition to this worship of dancing, Mr. Lawson says that the Indians were much addicted to the prac- tice of sacrificing chicken cocks to the God who hurts them, that is the devil (History of North Carolina, pp. 97, 98). But the only visible objects of reverence among the Indians were the bones of their ancestors, especially of their chiefs, which they kept rolled up in dressed deerskins, and carried with them wherever they went. Among some of the tribes they had a building called a "Quiogozon," in which they kept the bones of their dead kings, and as Mr. Lawson says (p. 324) their "idols," where the King, the conjurer, and a few old men were wont to spend several days at a time in practicing secret and mysterious religious rites.
Our country abounds in scattered relics of this de- parted race, in the shape of the blue flint arrow heads, fragments of pottery, and especially mounds of earth in various places. A gentleman of our county of anti- quarian tastes and accomplishments reports that there are several mounds in Davie County supposed to con- tain relics of the Indians. There is also another
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HISTORY OF ROWAN COUNTY
artificial mound near Mount Pleasant, beside a small stream, some sixty feet in diameter and six or eight feet high, but not containing any relics. Several mounds abounding with relics are known to exist in Caldwell County. One or more have been found in Montgomery County, near Little River, and it has been reported that large vases, or sarcophagi, have been recently discovered in one of them. In that same region beautifully dressed quartz mortars, supposed to have been used for grinding and mixing their paints, have been found. These savages were in the habit of painting their faces and bodies before going into bat- tle, that by their hideous appearance they might terrify and demoralize their enemies. And it can scarcely be doubted that this painting was used as a disguise, that it might not be known by the enemy who was the slayer of their fallen warriors; for the law of "blood revenge" prevailed among them, not much unlike that of the ancient Israelites. Hence it might prove in- convenient to be known as the slayer, as it was a fatal thing for Abner to be known as the slayer of the light-footed Asahel.
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