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NO. 2
AFRIL, 1932.
VOL. 1
NORTH CAROLINA HISTORICAL AND GENEALOGICAL RECORD
A Quarterly Magazine of North Carolina Genealogy, Biography and Local History.
Published By CLARENCE GRIFFIN, Forest City, N. C.
Subscription $1.00 Per Year
Single Copies 35c Each '
CONTENTS, JANUARY, 1932, NUMBER
Queries 2
Editorial
The Wiseman Family in North Carolina 5
Mrs. Romulus Duncan.
A Political Broadside of the War of 1812
From the Lenoir Collection
Thomas Hutchins, Sr., Revolutionary Patriot 10
Clarence Griffin
A Clock That Kept Time for Cornwallis
14
C. R. Ross.
Bath Has Oldest Church in North Carolina
16
Gertrude Carraway
Some Difficulties of Travel in 1816
20
Governor Smith Buried at Night to Foil Creditors
22
Louis T. Moore.
Randolph County Has South's Oldest Cemetery
23
J. Worth Bacon.
North Carolina Military Forts and Defenses
30
Col. Fred A. Olds.
Will Honor Southern Leaders in Westminster Abbey of South 36 J. B. Hicklin.
Halifax Stands Out in History 40
Name "Tar Heel" Bestowed on Carolinians by British
H. W. Kendall.
New subscribers may have their subscription antedated to include the January number. Single copies, 35c.
31000
NORTH CAROLINA
HISTORICAL AND GENEALOGICAL RECORD
A GLEANER IN NORTH CAROLINA HISTORY
CLARENCE GRIFFIN, Editor FOREST CITY, N. C.
VOL. 1
APRIL, 1932. NO. 2
THE DEVELOPMENT OF NORTH CAROLINA RAILROADS
By COL. FRED A. OLDS Collector, N. C. Hall of History Raleigh, N. C.
The North Carolina Railway, was placed in an iron box, which Goldsboro to Charlotte, 224 miles, was locked and put in a safe in the railway company's office at what was then Company Shops, but is now Burlington, "not to be opened until a hundred years have passed." So there it is, awaiting the year 1951. the key was thrown away that day, on purpose. was chartered in 1849 and complet- ed in 1856, has been and is an as- set of profound interest and value to all the people of this state, because it is their greatest single invest- ment, as three-fourths of the stock It will have to be broken open, for is held by North Carolina. It was a close call to induce the legisla- ture to charter the road. as there was a tie vote in the house, which Calvin Graves, the speaker broke by voting "Aye!"
That vote made many enemies for him and for some time clouded his political life. He knew he had done a great thing for his North Caro- Tina but in those days there were many people who had no belief in public improvements. He had the honor of lifting the first spadeful of $200,000 a year, and January 1, earth for the road-bed. at "Greens- borough" June 4, 1851, and this earth Southern Railway, and extended to
The charter of this railway pro- vided that when $500,000 had been privately subscribed the state board . of internal improvements could is- sue $200,000 of state bonds, as its subscription. The present capital stock is 84,000.000, par value $100 a share, but now worth at least twice that figure. In 1871 the state leased the road to the Richmond and Danville, for thirty years, at 1836, this lease was renewed. to the
48
HISTORICAL AND GENEALOGICAL RECORD
99 years, at 7 per cent interest, the ly the Richmond and Danville rail- Southern paying all taxes.
The completion of this railroad was marked by a grand celebration, for a "dream" of Governor John Motley Morehead had been in great part realized of a line all the way from the sea w the mountains and he lived to see all of it built.
way) through T. M. Logan, W. P. Clyde and A. S. Buford, and the. road was leased by the latter to the Richmond and Danville (which was in 1894 bought by the Southern Railway.)
The plato need in 1831 the 8600,- 000 it got for its part of the West- ing expenses of the state govern- ment and so levied no state taxes. that year. Many people then thought this a wise thing to do, but this opinion was by no means unani- mous.
The Western North Carolina Rail- ern North Carolina railroad in pay- road was chartered in 1858, as the North Carolina and Western, and was popularized as "The Western Extension." It was to connect at Salisbury with the North Carolina railroad and extend to the Tennes. see line, by the best route. The work began at Salisbury and by 1861 had it had reached Old Fort, at
The Atlantic and North Carolina was chartered in 1856 to connect nearly reached Morganton. In 1869 the North Carolina road at Golds- the boro with the coast at Morehead eastern foot of the Blue Ridge. In City (named in honor of Governor July, 1879, it passed through the Morehead. ) It was the plan to make- Morehead City a big port and pour trade into it, but the railways took the trade. north and south. For a little while the North Carolina rail-
Blue Ridge in the tunnel at "Swan- nanoa Gap," all the work from Old Fort having been done by state con- victs. In 1880 it reached Asheville ; in 1882 it reached Paint Rock, on road and the Atlantic and North the Tennessee line, making connec- Carolina were under the same con- tion with the East Tennessee, Vir- trol, with A. B. Andrews as their joint superintendent, and there was fine business. But the general pol- icy of the railways then was to kill the ports in the south. ginia and Georgia railway (as it was then called.) This Western North Carolina road had another western branch, known as the Murphy, and work on it began at Asheville and
was completed to the Nantahala 1858 and there were large celebra- river in 1884, and to Murphy in tions of this event at Goldsboro, 1891.
This railroad was completed in
New Bern and Morehead City. The state owns three-fourths of the stock
In the summer of 1881 the state sold the Western North Carolina in the road. At one time it was held railroad for $600,000 to William J. by William J. Best, the "adventur- Best, an "adventurer," hailing from er," who was exposed and retired. New York, the sum representing the All he did was to build a wretched cost of its construction to that date. bit of road, which he named the Best assumed the mortgage debt "North Carolina Midland," between Goldsboro and Smithfield.
($850,000) and also the floating debt, and agreed to complete the The Charlotte, Columbia and Augusta was chartered in 1847 as road to Paint Rock and to Mur- phy by certain dates. He transferred the Charlotte and South Carolina. the road to what was known as the The same year the Atlantic Tennes- West Point Terminal Company (real- see and Onio was chartered, but in
HISTORICAL AND GENEALOGICAL RECORD
1863 its rails were removed, and Broad. It was the first railway to used, with some rails from sidings cross the Blue Ridge in North Car- elina. July 4, 1879, it was opened between Spartanburg and Hender- sonville. It was built by state con- victs and was the first one so built
on the Wilmington, Charlotte and Rutherford (later the Carolina Cen- tral) in building the Piedmont, be- tween Greensboro and Danville. The latter was really built by the Cod- in the United States, beginning mn 19:3. The death mais andone there convicts was so high that the legis- lature made a special investigation. Conviet labor has built about 1800 miles of railway in North Carolina. The total railway mileage in this state now approximates 5.000 miles.
The building was done by soldiers and by men impressed for service. Its construction was on the special recommendation of General Robert E Lee, as there was then only one railway north and south through North Carolina (the Wilmington and Weldon) which had that very year been "cut" by Federal raiders, and several depots burned. (Not until 1871 were the rails again put down on the Atlantic, Tennessee and Ohio )
The Piedmont raffroad had been chartered by the state convention, and not by the legislature. It was to become the "backbone" of the Piedmont Air Line and a "thorn in the flesh" to North Carolina, for the Raleigh and Gaston and the Wilmington and Weldon denounced it bitterly, as taking away their business.
The Atlantic and Charlotte Air Line was at first called the North Carolina Air Line. Once that whole system was called by the latter name.
The first action which the state of North Carolina took officially in regard to the chartering and incorn- oration of railways occurred in 1831. 100 years ago, when the governor or the board of internal improve- ments was directed to cause surveys to be made to find "The most eligi- ble routes for the Carolina Central and the Cape Fear and Yadkin Rail- roads; books to be opened in Wil- mington. Fayetteville, Salisbury and Lincolnton; to receive subscriptions for not over $2,000,000, for effec- ing communication by a railroad, or by railroads, and canals from Wil- mington through or by Fayetteville to the Yadkin river thence through or near Salisbury to Beattie's Ford. on the Catawba river."
The North Carolina Railroad company "from Beaufort by New and Bern and Raleigh and thence west- erly by the most convenient route" was incorporated at this same ses- sion of 1831. The capital stock was $2,000.000. Each of these three charters was for 30 years. work was
The Wilmington, Columbia Augusta, chartered in 1847, was re- organized in 1870 as the Wilming- ton and Carolina, but soon resumed its old name, and in 1895 was leased for 99 years by the Atlantic Coast Line. In 1888 the Wilmington and required to begin in two years and Weldon built what was known as 50 miles had to be finished in 10 the "Short Cut," between Wilson, years. Yet another charter N. C., and Florence, S. C., and made granted in this prolific year 1831 it the main line, thus leaving out to the Tarboro and Hamilton rail- Goldsboro and Wilmington. . road, capital stock $60,000.
The Asheville and Spartanburg In 1832 the legislature enacted was chartered in 1855 as the French the Virginia laws, which incorporat-
50
HISTORICAL AND GENEALOGICAL RECORD
ed the Portsmouth and Roanoke and at or near Fayetteville."
the Poterebing Railroads, both of In 1919 the North Carolina rai- which had terminals in North Car- road company was chartered, with olina.
$2.000,000 capital stock, from Golds-
There was a "rage for railroads," boro to Charlotte, to connect the
and Weldon railroad for in 1833 nine more were charter- Wilmington ed, these being the Lumber (proper- and the town of Charlotte, the state ly Lumbee) River and Cape Fear; to take $2,000,000 of the stock. And
Whiteville, Waccamaw
and Cape the Raleigh and Gaston railroad Fear; Cape Fear, Yadkin and Pee was required to effect a physical Dee; Greenville and Roanoke; Hal- connection with the North Carolina ifax and Weldon; Roanoke and Pal- at Raleigh.
It is of interest to here make a Seaport; Wilmington and Raleigh; note that the first "Plank Road" Roanoke and Yadkin.
eigh; North Carolina Central and
in North Carolina was chartered in
In 1835 there was another rail- 1849-the "Fayetteville and West- road movement, and seven charters ern." from Fayetteville to Salisbury; were granted. two of these being to capital stock $200,000; the road to the Raleigh and Gaston. and the be not less than 10 feet nor more Cincinnati and Charleston (to pass than 80 feet wide: the state to take . through Asheville and Lincolnton, two-fifths of the capital stock. The with Governor David L. Swain as plank roads did not lead, but fol- chief commissioner for North Caro- loved the rail roads. In 1850 there was a rush for them and 30 more
lina; it was given banking privi -- leges and some of the states through were chartered.
which its route lay were to be al-
In 1850 the legislature chartered lowed to authorize the building of the Albemarle and Currituck Canal another railroad in 20 miles of it. company, to connect that sound and Another charter was"to the Raleigh North river, rear Beaufort, with and Fayetteville, with $500,000 $2.000,000 capital stock.
The movement for railroads con-
authorized capital stock; and one tu the Milton and Salisbury, with $500 .. tinued, and in 1851 three were in- corporated: the Tennessee River, in. Danville and Junction, from a point Macon county; New Bern and Cen- and tral (between New Bern and Golds-
000. Then there were the Roanoke intersecting. the Petersburg Roanoke; the Portsmouth and Roa- boro) with $167,000 capital stock; noke and the Greenville (Virginia) Roanoke Valley, from Clarksville. and Roanoke, to Danville, thene? Va., to Ridgeway. N. C., capital to the Tennessee line, with $2.000 .- stock $300,000. In 1852 the state 000 authorized capital stock.
treasurer was authorized to sub- In 1836 a charter was granted the scribe $200,000 of stock of the Wil- Raleigh and Columbia, (S. C.) cap ital stock $1,000,000; another to the North Carolina. Central, capital stock $2,000,000. "from Beaufort mington and Weldon Railroad to the Wilmington and Manchester railroad. Another act the same year incorporated two important rail- harbor by New Bern and Trenton, roads; one the Atlantic and North thence through the center of the Carolina, Beaufort to Goldsboro. state and to the Tennessee line, in- with $300.000 capital stock; the oth. tersecting and uniting with the Cape er the North Carolina and Western. Fear. Yadkin and Pee Dee railway from Salisbury across the . Blue
51
HISTORICAL AND. GENEALOGICAL RECORD
Ridge to the Tennessee line, with witness the following lines; the Cas- $1,000,000 capital stock. But four well; the Chatham and Coalfields,
more roads were authorized this to what is now Cary; Greensboro
year; The Charleston, Blue Ridge and Leaksville; Greeneville ani
and Chattanooga; Charlotte and Goldsboro; Milton and Yanceyvill -. Cheraw; the Western (from Fay- Wilmington and Tarboro; the Uni- etteville to the ccal region in Moore versity of North Carolina. Then
ami C'hachain inunico; $300, 000; MORE THING & chOOK railroad Concord. and Anson county. building until 1867, when the con-
This same year a record number struction of the Wilmington, Char- of plank roads were chartered no lotte and Rutherford was authorized less than 32; one with an odd name, to be extended to "some point of the "North Carolina Steam Carriage intersection with the western exten- and Plank Road," from Fayetteville sion of the North Carolina railroad. to the coal mines on Deep river, the act of the legislature saying. "It is confidently believed that carriages run by steam can be successfully used on plank roads." at or near the town of Asheville; the work to be done solely by the company, without any aid by the state." Other railroads authorized this year were the Rockingham and the Raleigh and Gaston; Groenz- boro and Dan River: Northwestern; Yanceyville and Milton. (A charter was also given the "Fayetteville (Ter .- Street Railway, operated by An !- Chat- mal or any other power."
In 1853 no less than eight rail- Henry (Virginia) ; Oxford branch of roads were chartered and thirty cue plank roads. The railroads were the Wilmington and Charlot .; Atlan- tic, Tennessee and Ohio; Western North Carolina; Greeneville nessee) and French Bread: ham, Beaufort and Fayetteville: At- In 1868 the state was authorized to take $2 000,000 stock in the lantic and North Carolina: North Carolina and Western: Charleston, Western North Carolina (between Blue Ridge and Chattanooga. Salisbury and Asheville. ) In 1870 sev ral railroads got charters; The
. In 1856 plank road and turnpike companies were authorized to use Elizabeth City and Norfolk; Eden- ton and Norfolk; Shelby and South Carolina; and in 1872 the Charlotte
stone and gravel in the construction and repair of their roads (an ad- vanced step in highway improve- and Taylorsville: Halifax and Scot- 'ment.) And seven new railways wers land Neck; Raleigh and Fayette- ville; Yadkinville and Danville (nar- row gauge). Carolina was ordered completed from Old Fort westward and the contract was ordered to be let; Great Western ( Weldon to Char- lotte) ; Carolina Central ( Wilming- ton to Rutherfordton.) The conso !- idation of the Carolina Narros The Western North chartered, these being the Cheraw and Coalfield; Albemarle and Suf- folk; Mountain; Southern Air Lins; Salem and Germanton; Garysburg ond Windsor; Greeneville and French Broad. In 1859 charters were grant- ed the Dan River and Coalfield rail- road; Warsaw and Fayetteville branch of the Wilmington and Wel- don; Washington and Leaksville; Gauge and the Chester and Lenoir Wilmington and Manchester.
In 1861 the war between the north and south started, but this dd not stop chartering railways, a
was authorized (Chester, S. C., to Lenoir, N. C )
In 1875 the governor, Curtis H. Brogden and R. F. Armiiell and J. L.
52
HISTORICAL AND GENEALOGICAL RECORD
Robinson were appointed commits- lanta) and 24 minor lines. In 1889 sioners to buy the Western North hine minor lines, and in 1893 as many as 17 minor lines were chart- ered.
Carolina railroad, at a sale under a decree of the United States court, for not over $850.000; to issue bonds to that amount and to complete the two branches of the road-one to
In 1895 the Winston-Salem South- bound was chartered, from that point to Waesboro (jointly built by the Atlantic Coast Line and Murphy. the other to Old Fort. In the Norfolk and Western): also 10 1877 charters were granted the mino" lines; while in 1897 ten minor Piedmont and the Milton and Such- erlin, both narrow gauge. lines got charters and in 1899 14 of the latter sort but in 1901 there In 1881 seventeen small lines wers as many as 18 minor roads were given charters. A commission chartered, and in 1903 the number was created to sell the state's stock rose to 19, and was as large in 1904 in the Cape Fear and Yadkin Val- and 1907; and then fell to only six ley. The re-organized Carolina Cen- in 1909.
tral was declared to be a lawfully organized corporation.
In all, during the period between 1831 and the present time, the num- In 1883 the Norfolk Southern was ber of railways chartered was over chartered and also ten small lines, 300. Of these of course many fail- and Buncombe county was author- ed to materialize, but for many years ized to complete and equip the there was a wild desire for the Spartanburg and Asheville, from "creature" which so many stump Hendersonville to Asheville, In 1885 speakers proudly called "The Iron ten small railroads were given Horse," which now, alas! plays charters .. In 1887 the Georgia Caro- what the stump speakers also call lina and Northern was chartered "Second Fiddle," to rubber tires and (an important one, Monroe to At- gasoline.
3
53
HISTORICAL AND GENEALOGICAL RECORD.
A HISTORY OF OLD TRYON COUNTY, NORTH CAROLINA.
By CLARENCE GRIFFIN County Historian, Rutherford County Forest City, N. C.
(Note: In this sketch the fol- lowing abbreviations are used for convenience: "C. R." Colonial Records of North Carolina; "S. R." State Records of North Car- olina; "Ashe," Samuel A. Ashe's History of North Carolina: "Court Minutes", Minutes of the Tryon county court proceedings. The Court minutes are not paged. Throughout this sketch a difference in spelling of certain proper names may be found. They are spelled as found in different records which accounts for this.)
Evolution of Tryon.
The first permanent white settle- ments made in "Carolina" was about 1650 in the section eastward of the Chowan River.
On March 20, 1663, Charles II bestowed upon eight of his favorites all the territory in America between the thirty-first and thirty-sixth paral- lels of latitude, a princely gift in- deed, and worthy of the loyal friends who had devoted their lives and fortunes to the Stuart cause during From Bladen was formed four the dark days when that seemed counties, of which one was Anson. hopelessly lost. This grant embrac- created September, 1748 Anson ed all the land from a line just north county, when created, embraced all of the Albemarle Sound to St. the territory from where Lumber- Johns River in Florida. The eastern ton now stands to the Mississippi riv- and westerr boundaries of this im. er including the present state of Tenr miense tract were the Atlantic ocean essee. The North and South boun- and the Mississippi River respectiv :- daries of this county were Virginia ly He knew little for how many acres and South Carolina respectively.
these powerful lords were asking.
vince of "North Carolina" was di- vided into three "precincts" or coun- ties, Albemarle, Bath and Claren- don. In the first sub-division of that part of "Carolina," which has since the year 1729 been known as North Carolina, all the territory south of Albemarle and extending to the Cape Fear River was called "Bath Coun- ty", but its limits were undefined toward the south.
From a number of counties creat- ed from Bath was chat of Bladen. formed in 1734. Bladen precinct voos formed from Bath in November. 1782, but due to the controversial nature of the Council and governor. the bill did not pass. It is said that at that time there were not three free holders nor thirty families in Bladen (Ashe, Vol. 1, P. 23 4.)
Up until proprietary government ceased the county boundaries were und: finable, they were so vast. but on May 3, 1728, George II, of Eng- land, bought these lands and the boundary of the state of North Car- olina was partially surveyed.
In 1762 a bill passed the House of
On the dissolution of the Propri ?- Commons, dividing Anson county an i tary Government in 1728 the per- creating a new county of Meckler-
54
HISTORICAL AND GENEALOGICAL RECORD.
burg. A short time afterwards an- the almost negligible cultivation cf other bill was passed to the effect smail crops of Indian corn for sub- that "on and after April 10, 1769, sistence. the county of Mecklenburg shall be divided into two separate and distinct
By 1749 the Colonial legislature began to take an interest in this counties and parich s by a line be- western hinterland, and in Septem- ber, 1748, had established the first county west of the old Albemarle, Cart.cet and New Hanover county -- Anson county-out of the great county of Bladen, already mentioned.
ginning at Eurl Granville's where it crus .. s the Catawba River; and the said river to the line of the South Carolina line; and that all that part of the said county which les to the enstward of the said dividing line shall be a distinct county and parisli, and shall remain and be called Mecklenburg county and S .. Martin's Parish, and that all that part of the county lying to the westward of the said dividing line sh"Il be one other distinct county and parish and be called Tryon county and St. Thom- as' Parish." The act designated that Tryon county courts should be held on the fourth Tuesdays of April, July, October and January. (S. P .. Vol. 23, p. 769-70.)
Tryon county was named for a North Carolina governor under the British crown, of English birth.
1730-1769.
The evolution of the western North fighting men in the entire section from Virginia to South Carolina.
Carolina counties at once introduces a subject that grows, as one proceeds, Seven years later he thought there into one of intense and very absorb-
were then thirty times as many, and ing interest. Prior to 1749 the area said their numbers were increasing now covered by the present boun- daily. (Ashe. Vol. 1.)
With the coming of the Scotch-
daries of western North Carolina counties was not, technically, within Irish and Germans, from Pennsyl- the confines of any civilized com- vania the wooded hills gave away munity, and was not governed by any before the broad axes of these piou- law emanating from the struggling eers, and their fields of corn and other produce grew instead. Prac- tically all the settlements in the
colonists in Albemarle, the eastern nucleus of the colony of North Car- olina. It was, for the most part, a county were made along the cre:ks wild, unsettled section, whose only and rivers, in order that the rich, inhabitants were the savage Chero- fertile bottom land might be uti- kee Indians, who at that time had lized. Venturesome trappers and few, if any, permanent places of hunters from eastern North Carolina, abode, and led roving, wandering upper South Carolina and Virginia lives, depending unun hunting, and had already settled in the extreme
From 1734 to 1748 the few seat- tered settlers within the arta now comprehended by the western North Carolina counties, owed their alle- giance to the authorities of Bladen county-if indeed they ever thought to such matters. From 1748 to 1762 the authorities of Anson coun ty had jurisdiction over the wide open spaces of wilderness from the Catawba to the Cherokee Indian Nation, and beyond to the Mississip- pi, south. of the Cherokee nation.
By 1750 the settlers in Anson county had reached several hundred in number. In 1746 Matthew Rowan was in the western region and esti- mated that there was not above 100
55
HISTORICAL AND GENEALOGICAL RECORD.
western portion of the county as the northern colonies, while not a early as 1730. Large nummers of few penetrated this Arcadia through Scotch-Irish and Germans came dur- passes in the Blue Ridge mountains ing the next twenty years: the Gor- from east rn Virginia and the Caro- mans settling largely in the east rn linas. (Thwaite's Daniel Boone, .. portion of Tryon, while the Scotch- 14.) Irish settled in what is now Ruth- A: indicating the extension of pop- ulation a survey was made in 1754, to determine the number available for military duty in the colony, and Anson county reported 790 men as available, (Ashe. Vol. 1. p. 298.) This would indicate that there were a thousand or more families within the bounds of Anson. erford. These immigrants, coming in bodies, settled ir neighborhoods to themselves, scattered here and there throughout the wilderness, and main- tained their manners and customs, as well as their speech and charac- teristics, and transicited much of this to their posterity. During this period Pennsylvania was dominated largely by Quakers, why would mok- no preparations for defense against the Indians. When the Indians be. came hostile, through the influence of the French. the self'ers getting no protection from the Qu ka grv- ernment, sought more secure homes in western North Carolina.
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