USA > North Carolina > Buncombe County > Asheville > The Asheville city directory and gazetteer of Buncombe County: comprising a complete list of the citizens of Asheville with places of business and residence 1883-'84 > Part 7
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Superior Courts.
NINTH JUDICIAL DISTRICT.
J C L Gudger, - - Judge G S Furgeson,
- Solicitor
Times of sessions, as fixed by act of General Assembly of 1882-'83, are as follows :
-
Thos J Jarvis
-
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MISCELLANEOUS DEPARTMENT.
Buncombe county-13th Monday after Ist Monday in March and August, and 3d Monday in November, to continue 4 weeks E W Herndon, clerk
Cherokee-9th Monday after Ist Monday in March and August, 2 weeks
Clay-8th Monday after Ist Monday in March and August, I week Graham-IIth Monday after Ist Monday in March and August, I week
Haywood-5th Monday after Ist Monday in March and August, 2 weeks
Henderson-3d Mondays in March and August, 2 weeks
Jackson-6th Monday after Ist Monday in March and August, I week Macon-7th Monday after Ist Monday in March and August, 1 week Madison-First Mondays in March and August, 2 weeks
Swain-12th Monday after Ist Monday in March and August, I week Transylvania 4th Monday after Ist Monday in March and August, I week
Inferior Court.
BUNCOMBE COUNTY.
T F Davidson,
Chairman
J M Green and C B Way, -
-
Associate Justices
Mont Patton,
.
. Clerk
H B Carter, -
. Solicitor
Meets quarterly
Federal Court.
WESTERN DISTRICT.
R P Dick, -
Judge James E Boyd,
- District Attorney
Jno B Keogh, -
Jas E Reed, -
-
- Marshal
- Clerk at Asheville Meets semi-annually, at Charlotte, Greensboro', Statesville, and Ashe- ville-at the latter place in May and November
100
MISCELLANEOUS DEPARTMENT.
Legislative.
40TH SENATORIAL DISTRICT-COMPRISING THE COUNTIES OF BUN- COMBE AND MADISON.
I N Ebbs, of Madison, Senator C M McLoud and B G Gudger, Representatives from Buncombe co
North Carolina Representatives in Congress.
SENATORS.
Matt W Ransom,
- Weldon
Z B Vance,
Charlotte,
REPRESENTATIVES.
Ist district, -
Lewis C Latham,
Greenville, Pitt co
2d 66
-
Orlando Hubbs,
Newbern
3d
-
W J Green,
Fayetteville
4th
-
W R Cox,
Raleigh
5th
-
A M Scales,
Greensboro'
6th 66
-
C Dowd,
Charlotte
7th
-
Tyre York,
Gap Civil, Wilkes co
8th
66
-
R B Vance,
Asheville
R T Bennett, Congressman at large.
HISTORICAL SKETCH
-OF -
BUNCOMBE COUNTY,
NORTH CAROLINA.
INTRODUCTORY.
In the prospectus issued by the compiler of this volume, he did not promise to give anything but a "sketch" of the history of Asheville and Buncombe county. It would not be in keeping with a work of this character to attempt more ; but he leaves to abler hands the task of collecting the abundant materials, and compiling a history which shall be worthy of the theme.
The present imperfect sketch, however, will be, the anthor trusts, of some interest and value to the citizens of his adopted county.
GEOGRAPHICAL AND HISTORICAL.
UNCOMBE County, the richest and most populous of the counties in the western division of the State of North Carolina, contains 620 square miles, or 400,000 acres. It is situated on the Southern Plateau of the Alleghanies, and has a mean altitude of about 2,200 feet; the greatest eleva- tion, Big Craggy, is 6,100, and only in the bed of the French- Broad river does it fall so low as 2,000 feet above the tide.
The county was formed from Burke and Rutherford in 1791, and was named in honor of Edward Buncombe, a gallant officer in the war of the Revolution. Colonel Buncombe was . 14
P
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HISTORICAL SKETCH.
distinguished for his manly appearance, bravery, patriotism, and hospitality. Over the door of his mansion, in Tyrrell county, was inscribed the now celebrated couplet :
"To Buncombe Hall, Welcome all!"
The county which bears his name has never disgraced it, and has always been renowned for the courtesy of her citizens to the stranger and pilgrim ; like her illustrious god-father, Buncombe county "always keeps the latch-string on the outside."
At the date of its formation the county included nearly all that portion of North Carolina lying west of the Blue Ridge, now embraced in thirteen counties, with an area of almost 6,000 square miles.
At this time all the present State of Tennessee was included within the boundary of North Carolina; and a few years pre- vious to the foundation of Buncombe county some daring spirits, with Colonel John Sevier (afterwards elected first Governor of Tennessee) at their head, organized a "State," composed of about equal portions of North Carolina and what is now Tennes- see, and named it Franklin, in honor of the distinguished American philosopher-the North Carolina portion comprising a territory almost identical with that which was soon to become Bun- combe county. For four years there was contention between the " government " of the new State and the authorities of North Carolina ; Governor Sevier was arrested and brought to trial, charged with " high treason," but was never punished. The new State soon perished, and even its existence is now hardly a memory. The erection of the " State of Franklin " is a subject upon which historians are almost silent; but to the student it would, no doubt, present an interesting theme, and its annals should be preserved before it becomes too late, by the destruc- tion of the few records which remain of a very interesting event in our early history.
The first settlers of Buncombe county were mostly of the Scotch-Irish race; sturdy, industrious, independent, and fearless.
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BUNCOMBE COUNTY.
The latter qualification was needed most of all, for in those try- ing times a frontiersman lived in constant danger from the Indians, who gave him a world of trouble; and woe unto the unhappy pioneer who was caught napping by the ruthless Cherokees. Often did the settler return from a hunt to find his cabin a heap of smouldering ruins and his loved wife and chil- dren murdered-their ghastly forms making a mute appeal for vengeance.
Hunting was, of course, the principal, and indeed almost the only, occupation of the early settlers. The woods abounded in game of all sizes, and the rivers and creeks teemed with fish. A little patch of corn and a few vegetables were cultivated in the clearing around the cabin, but for sustenance the settler relied chiefly on the chase. His clothing often was composed of the skins of the animals which he trapped or shot, and happy his wife if she could boast a calico dress. As time went on, a little flax was grown, which, spun by hand and woven by the wife on a rude loom of home construction, gave him the luxury of a shirt. The wool of a few sheep, by the same process of manu- facture, furnished all the garments which were required in the primitive simplicity of these children of the forest.
For many years the progress made by this people was very slow. The difficulties attendant on reaching the mountains retarded immigration, notwithstanding the fascinating reports which had gone abroad of the fertility and healthfulness of the region. After 1820, when the attention of the Charlestonians was first directed to the southern plateau of the Alleghanies as a health and summer resort, more permanent settlers began to arrive, numbers being from East Tennessee. The completion of the Buncombe turnpike, in 1827, gave a fresh impetus to immi- gration, and from that period to the present, notably since the completion of the Western North Carolina railroad to Asheville in 1880, the county has rapidly increased in wealth and popula- tion.
To give an idea of the growth of population : In 1836 Bun- combe county included, besides its present limits, territory which
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HISTORICAL SKETCH.
now comprises the counties of Henderson, Transylvania, Madi- son, and a portion of Yancey. Owing to considerable politi- cal excitement a very full vote was polled in the elections of that year, and yet only 1,800 ballots were cast in the county. This would indicate a population of about 10,000; the same district to-day contains not less than 60,000 people. In 1850, before Madison, her last child, was taken from her, Bun- combe county, according to the United States census returns, contained a population, including 1,825 free negroes and slaves, of 12,738. At the census of 1880, 21,909 inhabitants were enu- merated in this county alone, and to-day not less than 25,000 peo- ple (21,000 whites and 4,000 negroes) call Buncombe " home." The increase in wealth has been still more strongly marked. In 1870 the assessed value of real and personal property in the county was $1,687,092 ; in 1882, $3,333,305 ; and the present year (1883), with a slightly higher ratio of valuation, it is esti- mated at $4,750,000-an increase of 180 per cent. in thirteen years.
Of the present industries of the county it is unnecessary to speak here, as a perusal of the " Commercial Directory of Ashe- ville " and the " Buncombe County Gazeteer," in other portions of this volume, will give all needful information on the subject.
The county is drained by many creeks and rivers, which, with the single exception of the French-Broad, are short and rapid, and subject, like all mountain streams, to sudden rises, which sometimes damage growing crops and wash off a few fences and haystacks ; but no devastating floods, like those we read of visit- ing other portions of the country, are recorded in the annals of this county. The only river of importance is the French-Broad, which, rising in the Blue Ridge on the borders of South Carolina, flows through Transylvania and Henderson counties, and reach- ing Buncombe county, it cuts it into two almost equal parts, pre- serving throughout a nearly northward course. For thirty miles above Asheville this stream is, with the exception of a few unim- portant shoals, as placid as a mill-pond, and is navigable, in high water, for small steamboats, of which there are two now plying
105
BUNCOMBE COUNTY.
its bosom. The French-Broad fell in for a very small share of the " river and harbor" appropriation ; but a force is now at work deepening the channel, and it is expected in a few years that enough work will be done to render the river navigable, at all seasons, between Asheville and Brevard. Below the former place, for fifty miles and more, this stream well earns the title of "Racing River " given it by the Indians, its course being a constant succession of rapids ; the fall is nearly one thousand feet in the fifty miles intervening between this city and Paint Rock, while in the same distance above Asheville it is only one hundred feet. The Western North Carolina railroad follows the French-Broad, in all its wanderings, from Asheville to Paint Rock, crossing it three times in forty miles, and gives the traveller an opportunity for enjoying some of the finest river scenery in America. The Swannanoa is the next stream in importance. Finding its source amid the rugged cliffs of the Black mountains, this lovely river flows through a region of unsurpassed beauty and fertility, and reaches the French-Broad at a point near Asheville, forming at its mouth a portion of the foreground of one of the grandest views on the continent. Cane Creek, Hominy, Sandy Mush, Big Ivy, Reems' Creek, Beaver Dam, and several other streams of lesser note, with innumerable " branches," serve to make Buncombe well watered and rich in fine bottom-lands. Springs of the purest water are found on every hand, and no farm can be found without one or more. Sometimes, when it is not convenient to the house, the water is conveyed in "pump-logs" to the very door-step at a small expense.
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HISTORICAL SKETCH.
FARMING-THE CULTURE AND MAN- UFACTURE OF TOBACCO.
OTHER INDUSTRIES.
HE Farmers of Buncombe county, although but few of them are rich, few are very poor, and they are, without doubt, thankful to that providence which has cast their lot in a land so highly favored by nature. Though, as we have said, not rich, they are. as a class, happy and independent. They all live well, dress well, and, if there is any virtue in big feather- beds, sleep well. What more, on earth, could man desire !
In this county can be grown all the cereals with the exception of rice, and of vegetables and fruits an immense variety. The apples of this and adjoining counties are unequalled in America ; and peaches, though a somewhat uncertain crop, are very fine. Potatoes and cabbages are now cultivated for the Southern mar- ket, an industry which the advent of railroads has made profitable. Although cotton cannot be grown, the climate is admirably adapted for flax, a much more profitable crop ; however, little or none is raised. The main products of the county are corn, wheat, oats, potatoes, and tobacco. The latter is now very extensively cultivated, some portions of the county having a larger acreage than others, but the soil of nearly all the uplands is well adapted to its growth. "Bright yellows," which rival the famous Virginia leaf, is the leading variety ; and very fancy prices, sometimes over one dollar a pound, are often obtained for superior grades in the markets of Asheville and other cities. In 1882, 500,000 pounds of tobacco were raised in the county, and the estimate for the present year is 700,000 pounds.
Conjecture is lost in the contemplation of what the tobacco industry will do for this county in a few years, at the present rate of increase. The culture on a large scale was only intro- duced in 1869, by S. C. Shelton, a Virginian, and the first factory (plug) was opened by the same gentleman the following year-
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BUNCOMBE COUNTY.
associating himself with Messrs. Hunt and Buchanan in 1871. Mr. Shelton, who is still engaged in the manufacture in Ashe- ville, in connection with Messrs. Jordan and Worth, has been identified with the tobacco interests of Asheville and Buncombe county from the beginning; he was the first to introduce the tobacco of this county into Europe, when, at the Vienna Expo- sition of 1873, he received a medal. W. T. Dickinson, also a Virginian, and R. V. Blackstocks cultivated some tobacco for market as long ago as 1856 or '57, and manufactured a small quantity of " smoking," sifted through a riddle, at the same time. Some years still earlier, in 1850, as found from the United States census returns, 8,619 pounds of tobacco were given as the product of Buncombe county ; this might, it is true, have been raised within the present limits of Madison. Very little, however, was done in the tobacco industry till within the last few years. Captain M. J. Fagg began manufacturing smoking tobacco in 1871, on Valley street, and continued in the business till 1874, when he abandoned the enterprise, to (as he says) his everlasting regret. He received a handsome silver medal at the State Fair, in 1872, over "Blackwell's Durham" and several com- petitors from Virginia. Asheville now manufactures celebrated and superior brands of smoking tobacco. In fact, the best judges say that Buncombe smoking tobacco leads the world.
The first warehouse for the sale of leaf was opened, in 1879, by J. D. Wilder and J. H. Carter, both Virginians. "The Pioneer " was a frame building, 50 x 100, and handled its first season 600,000 pounds of tobacco. The present floor area of Asheville's four brick warehouses is about 25,000 square feet, and the sales during the last season (1882-'83) aggregated 1,500,000 pounds, at an aver- age price of $11.75 per cwt. The coming year it is anticipated that not less than 2,000,000 pounds will pass under the hammers of Asheville's glib-tongued auctioneers. Many buyers from Winston, Durham, Danville, Richmond, and Lynchburg attend the market, while the home dealers amount, in themselves, to a considerable force. What is needed most, however, to gain for Asheville her proper rank as a tobacco centre is larger factories,
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HISTORICAL SKETCH.
or more of them ; not over one-thirtieth part of the tobacco pass- ing through the hands of her warehousemen being now manu- factured in the city.
Indeed, the manufacturing interests of Asheville and Buncombe county, in spite of almost illimitable water-power, cheap labor, and convenient raw material, are still in their înfancy ; but a new era is dawning, and soon we hope to see this most important interest to the success of a people receive from our capitalists the atten- tion which it deserves. The continued prosperity of our city and county chiefly depends on a vigorous move in this direction.
The timber lands of Buncombe compose over one half the area of the county ; an almost endless variety is produced, and many of the woods, notably walnut and cherry, find a ready mar- ket in the manufacturing centres of the North and of Europe. It is a pity, too, that we should send our lumber to Cincinnati or Philadelphia, and have it returned to us, slightly increased in value, in the shape of bedsteads and coffins, when those useful articles might as well be made at home! There are thousands of dollars sent out of our county every year to purchase car- riages and wagons, when there is timber enough in our own mountains to furnish two or three States the size of this with materials for vehicles and farming implements. Labor is abun- dant and cheap, living is cheap, and all that is wanting is capital and energy, and the "right men," to make " Buncombe wagons" or "Buncombe plows" known all over the country. The num- ber of carriages, wagons, and buggies annually purchased by citizens of this county amounts to several hundreds, and why should they not be made in Asheville? A finer opportunity does not exist, in the opinion of the writer, for making a small fortune than by the establishment of a manufactory of this descrip- tion in our midst.
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BUNCOMBE COUNTY.
INTERNAL IMPROVEMENTS.
RAILROADS, &c.
HE Buncombe Turnpike was begun in February, 1826, and the first toll-gate opened in October of the year Gu following. This, the best pass of the mountains before the advent of railroads, entered North Carolina over Saluda mountain, and passing where Flat Rock and Hendersonville now stand, reached Asheville, and thence wound its way, with the tortuous course of the French-Broad, to Warm Springs, where, leaving the river, it took a northerly route to Greeneville, Tenn. Along the river bank it was constructed with great difficulty and expense. The blasting of the solid rock, forming one side of the French-Broad cañon, saved the Western North Carolina rail- road, which now occupies the bed of the old turnpike from Marshall to Warm Springs, many a dollar in later years. The wealthy residents of Charleston and other South Carolina cities used this road in their annual pilgrimages to the Warm Springs and other popular resorts of the mountains, driving in their own carriages, generally in great state, followed by outriders and baggage-wagons. The coast residents of South Carolina had, however, discovered the attractions of our mountains, as a cool and healthy summer resort, several years before the Buncombe turnpike was built. To them, as well as to the wagoners who spent weeks on the way between Asheville and Augusta with their immense vehicles, drawn by six-horse teams, the comple- tion of this undertaking was a god-send, indeed. But those days are gone forever; the last toll-gate, which, after a checkered
15
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HISTORICAL SKETCH.
career, signalized by many a tumult towards the close, had hung on to the last, was abolished a year or two ago, and soon the very name of this celebrated road will be forgotten.'
As long ago as 1835 a charter was granted to a company, with General Robt. Y. Hayne, of South Carolina, at its head, to build a railroad from Charleston to Cincinnati, by way of the French- Broad valley and Cumberland Gap. The death of General Hayne on the threshold of the enterprise threw the project into confusion, and it was soon abandoned. Had not this unlucky event taken place at such an inopportune moment, it is possible that the railroad would have been completed at the time. Just imagine what a city Asheville would have been by now had this design been carried out! With the completion of the Spar- tanburg and Asheville railroad between the latter place and Hen- dersonville, (twenty miles,) and the gap between Morristown, Tenn., and London, Ky., (eighty-five miles,) filled out, the origi- nal project would be a fact It is to be devoutly hoped that the recent change in the control of the Western North Carolina rail- road may quickly tend to this desirable consummation.
The Western North Carolina railroad was first projected more than thirty years ago; its inceptors embracing, amongst other well-known gentlemen, Dr. Caldwell and Governor Moorehead. The State authorized the issue of bonds for three-fourths the stock, the remainder to be made up by private subscription. A charter was granted in 1854, the first ground being broken the same year. At the beginning of the late war Icard station had been reached. After many halts by the way, Morganton in 1866, Old Fort in 1871, Henry's in 1876, and Asheville in Sep- tember, 1880, successively heard the shriek of the " iron-horse " for the first time. But a year and a half more elapsed before connection was made at Paint Rock, the boundary line of Ten- nessee and North Carolina, with the East Tennessee, Virginia, and Georgia system of railroads ; and now, by the recent com- pletion of the Knoxville and Ohio railroad, Asheville is only twenty-one hours from Louisville. Eight years ago the writer travelled one thousand miles, ahd consumed four days' time in
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BUNCOMBE COUNTY.
making the same trip by railroad and steamboat, with twenty-five miles staging from Old Fort at the latter end.
BUNCOMBE COUNTY COURT-HOUSE, ASHEVILLE. [FROM A PHOTOGRAPH BY W. T. ROBERTSON.]
The main stem of the Western North Carolina railroad, 190 miles in length, was completed in the face of many difficulties incident to want of capital and harmonious organization. The original issue of bonds was for $4,000,000, but $12,000,000 have been spent so far in the work, with a great portion of the western branch to a junction with the Knoxville and Augusta railroad, still to be built.
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HISTORICAL SKETCH.
"THE PIONEERS."
N compiling this sketch, it is proper that the names of a few of those hardy pioneers who began the work of redeeming our county from a wilderness, and who laid the foundation of its present substantial prosperity, should not be omitted. More names would be given had it not been impossible to obtain the requisite data, although considerable trouble was taken with that purpose.
Daniel Smith, who settled at the mouth of Swannanoa in 1785, was one of the first white men to press the soil of the present limits of Buncombe county. He maintained a warfare, generally single-handed, against the Cherokee Indians for many years, and not less than one hundred are said to have "bitten the dust" from the effects of his unerring rifle. The red-men firmly believed that Smith bore a charmed life, and that it was impossi- ble to kill him. Many a " brave" has been heard to tell of the number of times he had taken fair and careful aim, at short range, with no effect, at the devoted form of the undaunted hun- ter. That superstition which is characteristic of all savage peoples, invested this wonderful man with a thousand traits which he did not possess, and stories innumerable were related 'round the fire of the Council Lodge, of the marvellous deeds of prowess and cunning which he had performed. Traps were laid for him ; parties were made up, sworn to take him alive or dead; but, though sometimes captured, he always made good his escape, and lived to see the county of his adoption cleared of his natural enemy. His son, the late Colonel James M. Smith (born 1787, died 1856), was the first child born of white parents west of the Blue Ridge, in the present limits of North Carolina. Another son, Moses, is still living, at an advanced age, near Asheville, and is celebrated for his remarkable skill as an angler.
John Patton, father of Montraville Patton, was born in
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BUNCOMBE COUNTY.
Ireland; he came to the United States about the close of the Revolution, and settled within the present limits of this county in 1790. He made his first clearing on the Swannanoa, near where " Patton's mill " now stands .. It is related that the river on one occasion rose so rapidly that his wife, who was preparing dinner, was obliged to flee from the cabin, leaving the partly-cooked victuals to the mercy of the flood. The Swan- nanoa sometimes goes on "a boom" even to-this day ; but there is no instance recorded in its later history of its having been in such a hurry about it. Colonel Patton purchased a tract of 300 acres near the mouth of the river, in 1795, from "Buncombe Bill Davidson," (the first senator from the county,) and removed to his new home the same year. A portion of this property is still in the possession of his descendants. The first court held in the county met in a building on his place, still standing, and now used as a stable. "To what base uses," &c. Colonel Patton was the first county surveyor of Buncombe, to which office he was elected at its organization ; he and his son, Fidelio, who suc- ceeded him, filled the position for fifty years.
Samuel W. Davidson, another Scotch-Irishman, the ancestor of a numerous body still living in this county, removed from near Morganton, to the place now owned by A. B. Fortune, on the Swannanoa, in 1786. His brother, James, whose lonely grave, near the line of the Western North Carolina railroad, is still pointed out to the traveller, was killed by the Indians soon afterwards.
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