USA > North Carolina > Scotland County > Laurinburg > Hill's Laurinburg (Scotland County, N.C.) City Directory [1959] > Part 2
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There is a legend to the effect that when the Scotch emigrants were nosing into the Cape Fear River at Wilmington and pushing their way up country, some one posted a sign which read, "The best land lies 100 miles west of here." The story goes on to say that most of those who could read came on to what is now Scotland County.
Finally, after the battle of Culloden, in 1746, the harsh treatment by the British Parliament and the bitter oath of loyalty required of all Highlanders, many more took up their abode in Cape Fear section, push- ing out gradually in large numbers westward into Rich- mond and the territory that was later to become Scotland County. This wholesale exodus of Highlanders is also described graphically by another American his- torian, J. P. McLean of Ohio, in his "Highlanders In America."
Hence, during the years 1746 and 1747, great numbers of Highlanders with families and families of their friends removed to North Carolina and settled along the Cape Fear River, covering a great space of the country, of which Cross Creek, later Campbelton, now Fayetteville, was the common center. This region
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received shipload after shipload of harassed, down- trodden and maligned people. The emigration, forced by royal persecution and authority, was carried on by those who desired to improve their condition by owning the land the tilled. (P. 107)."
There are some interesting bits of Scottish His- tory connected with Richmond County and the cele- brated herione, Flora MacDonald. Because of pecuniary embarrassment, Flora MacDonald and her husband, Alan MacDonald, were forced to leave Scotland. In 1775 they landed at Wilmington and settled at Cross Creek, now Fayetteville. A fire destroyed their Fayette- ville home, and they moved to Cameron's Hill, twenty miles above Fayetteville, in Cumberland County, but remained only a short while, moving to that section of Anson County which is now Richmond County. While residing at this place, Donald MacDonald, a relative of Flora's was commissioned as General in the service of his Majesty, George III. In February, 1776, General MacDonald issued a proclamation calling on all loyal Highlanders to join his standard at Cross Creek. The husband of Flora was one of the first of 1500 Scots to respond to the call, and tradition says that Flora ac- compained her husband to Cross Creek and by her personal animation and enthusiasm inspired the men to make a valiant, though disastrous, stand for their King at Moore's Creek Bridge.
During her husband's absence Flora remained at home among the wooded hills of upper Richmond County. It is not definitely established, however, that the two MacDonald children, who died of Typhoid Fever were buried some 17 miles north of Rockingham and whose remains were lately re-interred on the Cam- pus of Flora MacDonald College, Red Springs, were Flora's offspring. Most certainly, however, they were a close relation.
From the foregoing facts, however, one must not conclude that the entire early population of Scotland County were Highland Scotch and of pure Celtic strains. In the latter part of the eighteenth century, some Teu- tonic strains, English and lowland Scotch, and a small number of Welsh came by the way of Pee Dee River. and in later colonial times great numbers of Scotch- Irish from Ulster found lodgement upon the headwaters of Cape Fear and Pee Dee Rivers.
The white population of Scotland County today is largely made up of descendants of this early stock, with an uncommonly small percentage of foreigners. However, 50 percent or more of the entire population are negroes, most of whom descended from the early slaves brought into this country to tend the large cotton plantations. When the county was formed in 1900 the total population was 12,553. The 1950 census gives a population of 26,286.
In 1900 when Scotland County first began to func- tion, W. D. McLaurin was elected Sheriff and served in this capacity until his death in 1924. Charlie E. Muse
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was the first Deputy Sheriff serving from the summer of 1901-1903 when he resigned. Later in Dec. 1906 he became Deputy Register of Deeds under John D. Mc- Donald, who resigned in Dec. 1909 because of ill health, and Charlie E. Muse was appointed Register of Deeds. This office he held until death in February, 1946. F. B. Gibson, J. A. McKay, and Rod McRae were the first County Commissioners, Hampton H. Covington, Clerk of Court, Gilbert H. Russell, first Register of Deeds, and W. D. Quakenbush, F. P. Wyche, and A. F. Patterson comprised the Board of Education. Maxcy L. John was the first Superintendent of Public Education. In 1900, Hector McLean was elected the first representative to the General Assembly, while the second representative was the poet, John Charles McNeill, elected in 1903. Hector McLean was the first State Senator from the county, serving in 1905.
The earliest community developed in the county was around old Laurel Hill Presbyterian Church. This church, organized about 1807 by the Rev. Malcolm Mc- Nair, is situated on the Old Wire Road, so called be- cause the Postal Telegraph Company maintained its telegraph wires alongside, and the Mail Stage Coach l'an regularly on this road from New York to New Or- leans. A dinner house where stageline guests, including Washington, Lafayette, and other notables stopped for rest and refreshments, was maintained, and fresh horses procured for stage travel northward to Fayetteville, Raleigh, Richmond and Washington, and southward to Cheraw, Camden, Columbia, Mobile and New Orleans. The main highway was used by Sherman in his march from Atlanta. A Scotch Fair was an annual event at which home made and home grown products were bar- tered for up-county wares, and where a whole week was given over to merry making and recreation. One of the first merchants at Old Laurel Hill was James P. McLaurin. With the coming of the railroad, now the Seaboard, the settlement declined in importance and a new Laurel Hill was established a few miles westward on the railway line.
Cities and Towns
Laurinburg, the county seat, and the largest town in the county, is located in the central part, and was in- corporated February 12, 1877. It traces its origin as far back as 1785 when the first families settled on the present town site. It was fitting that this town should be the county seat of the new Scotland County because its name was derived from the old Scotch family of McLaurin, tradition ascribing the honor sometimes to one member of the family and sometimes to another. At any rate, the McLaurin family was perhaps the most prominent, both in wealth and influence, of any of the other clans represented in the county. The name of the town was written with an "h" on the end, as in Laurin- burgh, and was pronounced as if spelled Laurinboro, as Edinburgh in Scotland is pronounced. The Post Office was first named Laurinburgh, but later the last letter was dropped. As late as 1840, according to the papers
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of the late N. L. McCormick, there were only three dwellings, a store, a saloon and a few shacks in Laurin- burg. The Town's growth from that date was evidently rapid as a high school was established in 1852, and a boarding house and other buildings soon followed. In 1858, plans were announced for a railroad. The first train arrived 1861, just in time to carry a contingent of young men to war. This was the old Wilmington, Char- lotte and Rutherfordton Railroad that later became the Carolina Central Line. Growth slowed to a virtual stand- still during the Civil War, but picked up again at an accelerated pace after the peace and was incorporated in 1877. The town's growth since that time has been rapid, particularly in the past 20 years and is still grow- ing and improvements noted everywhere. It now has a population of 10,000 or over, with East Laurinburg's population 755.
Schools and Churches
Schools and churches have always had first place in the life of Scotland County people. Laurinburg began with a high school before the War Between the States, later with Prof. William Graham Quakenbush as princi- pal 1879-1900, drew its students from a 50 mile radius and was a great success. He taught many of the section's most prominent men and women-Governor A. W. Mc- Lean, Admiral Victor Blue, Secretary of Commerce Dan- iel Roper, the Johns and many others. A monument of the Court House here bearing the following inscription: "Erected by popular subscription to the memory of a private school master." is somewhat unique in monu- ments. Secretary Roper, before his death, called a re- union in Laurinburg of old Quakenbush boys and girls. An oldtime school master, stern but just, who seldom spared the rod and seldom had a spoiled school child. Today Laurinburg's school system is composed of Laur- inburg High School, Central Graded School, East Laur- inburg Graded School, all accredited, and Laurinburg Institute, the county's lone negro high school, however, others are under construction.
Churches
The churches and the life that revolves about them are perhaps the strongest pillars in the foundation of Laurinburg. The Presbyterian, Methodist, and Baptist are the largest of the churches with a cambined mem- bership of approximately 2500. Also Episcopal, Catholic and Holiness churches, all with sizable memberships are found here.
Laurinburg is the home of the Scotland County Memorial Library erected as a memorial to the sons of the county who served in World War 2. Two large plaques at the entrance of the building bear the name of every boy who served his country in this war. This beautiful building was completed at a cost of over $50,- 000.00 and dedicated December 12, 1950.
The medical needs are amply taken care of by the Scotland County Memorial Hospital located on McLean
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St. This hospital is a large four story building, 100 bed capacity, and is modern in every respect. It was dedi- cated January 28, 1951, and cost $1,200,000.00. A new and modern Nurse's Home has recently been completed at a cost of $203,000.00 which has not as yet been de- dicated.
Laurinburg has a City form of government with Mayor and town Council and City Recreation Commis- sion. A complete new white way along the Main Street business section was finished in December 1948 and the entire electrical system is operated by the townl. A coun- ty-wide produce market, a project of the town and the Laurinburg Merchants Association, was opened summer of 1948 and is a year round trading center for farmers in this area.
Laurinburg is served by one bank-The State Bank and its Roper Street Branch-and a new four story building on the corner of Main and Cronley Sts. was completed and opened for business in May, 1951.
The Laurinburg Chamber of Commerce, combined with the Merchants Association, works constantly to further the town's growth and progress.
No history of the town of Laurinburg would be complete with the mention of the Legion Park, first rate stadium completed in 1948 by the Scotland Post No. 50 of the American Legion and the scene of all community activity. They have recently built a new modern brick home in the Park, in which their regular meetings, dinners etc. are held.
Laurinburg has a full scale summer recreation program for white and colored children with first rate playground facilities. There is the community center, a former USO building, that is the center of community activities. There are three theatres within the town lim- its, and others in the county. One hotel and numerous tourist homes, courts and the lovely new Pin Acres Hotel and Tourist Court and Restaurant just south of Laurinburg on Highway 15 take care of the needs of the transient population.
Laurinburg has been called the "City of Beautiful Homes." New residential areas are growing rapidly with beautiful homes of all modern types. Large oak trees with branches overlapping above the streets wel- come the guests to "A Good Country for Good People."
The second largest town in the county is Gibson, located eight miles south of Laurinburg, the town limits and the North Carolina state line being identical. Gib- son is a very old community, the Pate family having settled here in 1769 on land received by royal grant from George III. The descendants of this family have continued to live here and are today contributing much to the industrial progress and social betterment of the town of Gibson and the county. The Gibsons compose the largest single group in this community. The ancestry of this famliy is of Scotch and English origin, the ori-
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ginal family emigrating from Scotland and settling in Virginia in 1846. Lack of railroad facilities kept the town from growing rapidly, and it was not until the latter part of the nineteenth century that adequate railroads were built.
In addition to the staple crops the county produces large crops of vegetables, including the famous Scot- land County watermelons and cantaloupes. Vegetable crops that are grown commercially are Sweet potatoes, Irish potatoes, tomatoes, which are usually marketed in late June and early July, and broccoli. Late crops of tomatoes are usually processed at a large commercial canning plant at Johns (Scotland County).
The tenant system of farming prevails with large farms tended by colored tenants or share croppers and 50 percent or better of the population is colored.
Melons and Cantaloupes
The history of the cantaloupe and watermelon indus- try in Scotland County is interesting. Cantaloupes have been grown on a large scale for about 40 years. From the first the crop proved to be profitable and the quali- ty of the loupes most excellent. Quality is affected largely by weather condition, but with a reasonable break from the weather man, Scotland County canta- loupes compare favorably with the best that come from producing areas in the United States.
Formerly cantaloupes were shipped almost exclu- sively by railway freight in refrigerator cars. Now most of them go to market by motor transportation. Growers get their planting seed usually from Colorado and do not try to produce them locally. For many years seed were grown for them under special contract in Colorado, and the growers would send a man there to supervise the harvesting and curing the seeds.
The story of the watermelons is not unlike the can- taloupes. It goes back 40 years or more. Someone plant- ed melons on a large scale, they produced well and sold well. Next year others planted melons and they soom be- came an important money crop. As high as a thousand carloads have been shipped from this area in a season. Sometimes the growers make money and sometimes they don't but they keep on planting melons. A good hay crop follows the melons and loupes, and Scotland Coun- ty farmers have been producing hay in excess of their own needs for a number of years.
An exclusive in vegetable crops here is broccoli, which is grown and shipped on a sizable scale every year. And radishes are grown on some farms each sea- son, as well as small crops of peppers, cucumbers and other crops that are marketed commercially.
Peaches and dewberries are also grown and ship- ped in large quantities from Scotland County.
Industry
The romantic story of the beginning of the textile
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industry in Scotland County (then Richmond County) is graphically told by Mr. Ralph Morrison of Laurel Hill N. C. Mr. Morrison has a wealth of information about the early history of Laurel Hill and Richmond Mills communities. The following is a reprint of a speech Mr. Morrison made before the Laurinburg Ro- tary Club, March 18, 1949.
Mr. Morrison told of the first dam and power plant at Richmond Hill, now the site of one of the Morgan Hill plants. Here Capt. Charles Malloy began operations at an early period, and after the Civil War started a small cotton factory. Here Mr. Morrison's father, Mur- dock Morrison, operated a gun factory, and for nearly five years of the Civil War manufactured guns for the Southern Confederacy. He had a contract for 25 guns a week, of the old musket type which the Confederates used in that conflict. Mostly the guns had to be built by hand, with only limited shop equipment and tools. Slave labor was used in the work, and Mr. Morrison says that there was one colored man in the plant who was such a skilled workman that he built and super- vised the making of all the gun stocks, which were fa- shioned and drawn from walnut and maple timbers. His father took as his responsibility the final inspection of the guns and setting of the sights.
When Sherman's troops came this way in March 1865, they destroyed the gun plant at Richmond Mill and took all the personal possessions of the Morrison household.
Incidently, Mr. Morrison told about the digging of a canal at the Richmond Mill by slaves which led from the big pond to the little pond in those days.
Mill Machinery From Shipwreck
The little cotton mill which Captain Charles Malloy first built at Richmond Mill about 1867, or later, was equipped with machinery that was found in a ship- wreck off the North Carolina coast during the Civil War, and it came from England. It fell into the hands of Captain Malloy, who, Mr. Morrison says he has been told, had an uncollected bill against the old Wilmington- Charlotte-Rutherford railroad for grading which he did between Laurinburg and Laurel Hill. The railroad got the machinery and turned it over to Captain Malloy in payment of the account.
It was rather simple machinery and the produc- tion was not too big or successful at first. About 1872 the late Mark Morgan, who was an experienced mill man, joined Captain Malloy in the operation of the Richman Cotton Mill. The thread was put out in skeins and baled in 5 1b. bundles. This Mr. Morgan and a trained corp of salesmen sold about the country from house to house and thus disposed of the output of the mill at that time.
Building on that foundation, Mark Morgan deve- loped the little cotton mill at Richmond into the Morgan
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Mills, and built plants at Ida Mills and Springfield on Gum Swamp. All these mills at that time were operated by water power. Thus the villages at Richmond Mill and Springfield grew up around the mills, and the op- erations have been expanded and continued to the pre- sent time. A few years ago the Ida Mill plant was dis- mantled and the machinery moved away, leaving the original Morgan Mills the plants at Richmond Mill and Springfield, which have been rebuilt, modernized and streamlined for modern day operations.
After the death of Mark Morgan a number of years ago, his grandson, Mr. Edwin Morgan, took over the management and direction of the Morgan Mills and un- der his administration these enterprises have grown and prospered. Additional plants have been built, or acquir- ed, and the operations expanded and extended to in- clude the manufacture on a large scale of a line of tex- tiles, cotton and rayon fabrics, and household textiles of one kind and another. A large plant has been added at Laurinburg, and the Heritage Weavers at the Old Laurinburg-Maxton Air Base manufactures a line of high quality bedspreads.
Waverly Mills Inc.
The Waverly Mills Inc., and Scotland Mills Inc., operate four large Textile plants at Laurinburg. The first cotton mill here was the Scotland Mill, built in 1899, with the late A. L. James spear heading the movement and serving as first President of the mill.
Others who have been associated with the textile industry here since its earliest beginnings were the late John F. McNair, industrialist and founder of the varied and multiplied interest of the McNair Companies, the late Jas. P. McRae, the late James A. Jones, the late George F. Avinger and others.
The Dickson Cotton Mills, now operated by the Scotland Mills Inc., was built in 1900, and named for the late Dr. Dickson, who practiced medicine here for many years and lived and operated a drug store near the Dickson Mill. The Waverly Mills were built in 1910, and the Prince Mill in 1920. This mill was named for the late Dr. D. M. Prince, of Laurinburg, and the second of the textile industries to be named for physicians who lived and labored here for many years.
In 1929 the four plants and companies were merged into one unit and one corporation, Waverly Mills Inc., and have operated that way since that time.
In 1939 the Scotland Mills Inc., was organized and took over the operations of the Dickson Mill and con- centrated its operations in the manufacture of sheetings and bed spreads.
Employment, Payrolls, Raw Cotton Consumption
The importance of the textile industry to Laurin- burg and Scotland County is hard to realize. Only in terms of payrolls, employment, the value of the finished
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products, and the consumption of raw cotton can we understand the reach of these operations as they vitally affect the livelihood of some 2,400 employees, and the life of the community where textile mill payrolls pour thousands of dollars into the economic bloodstream every week.
Four Corporation that own and control the textile plants, Waverly Mills Inc., Scotland Mills Inc., Morgan Mills, Inc., and Heritage Weavers, normally give em- ployment to about 2400 people, with an annual payroll of about $5,000,000. They consume 60,000 bales of cot- ton annually and three and a half million pounds of rayon yarns. The value of the products manufactured by these plants is roughly 23 million dollars a year.
The products cover such lines as dish cloths, pot holders, dish towels, cotton and rayon tire fabrics, grey and dyed yarns, hobnail bed spreads, wide sheetings, airplane fabrics, and fringes, as well as carpet yarns, insulating and plush yarns and knit tubing. The two men who direct and guide the policies of these several mills are Mr. Edwin Morgan, President and cheif ex- ecutive of Morgan Mills, and Mr. Helbert McN. Jones, President and Manager of the Waverly Mills Inc. The products of these mills are sold in the largest stores of the country, and nationally advertised in all the lead- ing magazines of the country.
Inventions and Improvements
The James Lytch Cotton Planter, one of the first successful planters to be used extensively and for many years, or until supplanted by more modern dry-seed droppers and planters, was invented and manufactured by Mr. James Lytch of Laurinburg, N. C.
The John Blue Farming Implements that have gained national recognition-particularly the Rex Dis- tributor still regarded by many farmers as the best, most accurate one-horse distributor was also invented and manufactured by Mr. John Blue of Laurinburg, N. C.
A Hester Cotton Stock plow was invented and pa- tented by a man of that name who lived at Johns, N. C., was a light, easy running plow used throughout this section in the early 29s.
Points of Interest
During the Revolutionary War a skirmish between Loyalists and Patriots was fought at the old Gilchrist Bridge, then known as Beatty's Ford, on the Wire Road, near Wagram on the Lumber River.
Old Stewartsville Cemetery between Laurinburg and Johns on U.S. Highway 501 is one of the oldest Scotch burying grounds in this area. It is said to have been se- lected as a site when a burying party from the lowlands, seeking a high and dry resting place for the deceased, dug a grave on a sandy spot. Honorable James Stewart and many McLaurins are buried there. The Scotch thistle adorns many headstones. Rev. Colin Lindsay,
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who was born in Scotland and came to America in 1792, and shortly thereafter settled in this region, is buried there. He was born, according to local tradition, several years after his Mother's death. As the story goes, his mother died, apparently in a cataleptic trance, and was interred in the family vault in Scotland. Later that evening grave robbers, seeking valuables, opened the grave and fled when she showed signs of life. She re- gained her full health and several years later became the mother of Colin.
On the Old Wire Road near Highway 15, four miles north of Laurinburg, is Laurel Hill Presbyterian Church, the oldest church in the county, organized about 1807. One of Sherman's buglers carved his name on the belfry 1865. Duncan McFarland, Congressman 1805-07, is buried in the churchyard.
Mummy of Ferrenzic Concepio is at the McDoug- ald Funeral Home in Laurinburg. He was an itinerant musician murdered by another member of a traveling carnival in 1909. Undertaker embalmed the body, but waited in vain for someone to claim it. It is in perfect state of preservation.
Grave of John Charles McNeill, 1874-1907, who was Poet Laureate of North Carolina, died in 1907 and was buried in the Cemetery of Old Spring Hill Church about one mile from Wagram, N. C.
Near the Spring Hill Cemetery is a small brick hexagon house which in the 1850s and 60s, was the meeting place of the Richmond County Temperance and Literary Society. On the hip roof of the building is a wooden goblet turned upside down. The Minute book of the Society, which has been reserved, provides in- teresting reading.
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