USA > North Carolina > Lincoln County > The history of Lincoln County, North Carolina a series of newspaper articles published in 1935 in the Lincoln County News > Part 3
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Adam Keep, Michael Reep, Joshua Roberts, James Robinson, Henry Rumfeldt, Peter Scrum, John
period of the Revolution, when the cause of liberty seemed prostrate and hopeless in the South. The victorious British considered
South Carolina and Georgia re-
stored to English rule and were planning the invasion of North Carolina. It marks the turning
Stamey, Bartholomew Thompson, Charles Thompson, Phillip Till- man, Conrad Tippong, Robert Tucker, John Turbyfill, Charles Whit, John Wilfong, Joseph Wil- lis, James Wilkinson, and Elisha Withers.
(To Be Continued.)
LINCOLNTON, NORTH CAROLINA, THURSDAY, JULY 25, 1935
History Lincoln County (WRITTEN BY THE LATE A. NIXON)
INSTALLMENT NO. 9
Lincolnton And Lincoln County
When Tryon County was divid- ed the Tryon Court house fell in Lincoln County, but too near its western border for public conven- ience. The courts for part of the years 1783 and 1784 were held at the house of Capt. Nicholas Friday. His residence stood on the east side of the river, seven miles south of Lincolnton. The courts of July and October sessions, 1784 were held at the house of Henry Delling- er, and his spring house was de- signated as the "gaol." This spring house was a two-story af- fair, the lower stone, the upper logs; the upper story was used as the public jail. Some of the pris- oners escaping, the sheriff was or- dered "to make use of a room in Henry Dellinger's house to be strengthened for the purpose of a common gaol." The sheriffs, for protection against the escape of prisoners, from these very odd jails, always had entered on the court record their "protest against the sufficiency of said gaol." The site of Henry Dellinger's home is Magnolia, six miles southeast of Lincolnton, where the late John B. Smith lived.
While the location of the county seat remained an open question, the may of the county changed. In 1753, the western portion of the Granville domain was set up into the county of Rowan. Rowan in 1777 was divided by a line begin- ning on the Catawba River at the Tryon and Mecklenburg corner, thence up the meanders of the said river to the north end of an is- land, known as "the Three Corner- ed Island," etc., and the territory west and south of said line erect - ed into a new county, by the name of Burke, and the county seat Morganton, located fifty miles from the southeast part of the county on the Catawba. It being represented to the General As- sembly that "certain of the inhab- itants of Burke labor under great hardships in attending on courts 1781 he opposed the British invas- and other public meetings from [ ion of North Carolina, serving their remote situation from the with the rank of colonel. During 2
Mill and including the forks of the road leading to Cansler's saw- mill." The grant for same was made December 14th, 1785, to "Joseph Dickson in trust for the citizens of Lincoln County." The General Assembly, in 1786, grant- ed a charter for Lincolnton, recit- ing that the place is "a healthy and plasant situation and well wa- tred." The same year the town was laid off into lots. At the in- tersection of Main and Aspin streets the two principal streets of the town, was laft a public square on which the court-house was erected. The first hundred lots laid off the commissioners disposed of by a town lottery, the draft of which and the papers con - nected therewith are yet on file. Chances were taken by the prom- inent men of that day and also by many ladies; A specimen ticket reads: "This ticket entitles the bearer to whatever number is drawn against it in the Lincoln Lottery, No. 86, Jo. Dickson." The corporate limits have been twice extended in the last decade, and the western boundary now rests on Clark's Creek and the South Fork River.
In the history of Lincolnton and Lincoln County the name of Joseph Dickson stands conspicu- ous. The site of his homestead is; two miles northwest of Mount Holly ,on the line of the Seaboard Air Line Railroad. Gen. Ruther- ford, en route to attack the Tories at Ramsour's Mill, encamped at Dickson's the night before the bat- tle. He accompanied General Rutherford next day over the ground then vacant land, where five years later, the grant was made to him as proprietor in trust for the citizens of Lincoln County. He was one of the immortal heroes of Kings Mountain. With the rank of major he was one of the offi- cers that led the South Fork boys up the rugged northeast end of the mountain, facing with un- daunted spirit the lead and the charge of the enemy's bayonet. In
court house," in 1782 it enacted that all that part of Burke from Sherrill's Ford to the Fish Dam
Ford of the South Fork "and from thence a southwest course to Earl Granville's old line," be taken from Burke and added to Lincoln County. In 1784 a greater slice of. Burke was added to Lincoln. The line separating the counties began at the Horst Ford on the Catawba and ended at the same point in the Granville line. This is now a not- ed point, known as the "Three County Corner," the corner of Lin- coln, Burke and Cleveland, and is the only established point in the old Granville line west of the Ca- tawba River.
The act of 1784 appointed Joseph Dickson, John Carruth, John Wilson, Joseph Steel and Nicholas Friday, commissioners to locate the county town, which they did by entering for the purpose three hundred acres of "vacant and unappropriated land, lying ¿between the lines of Christain Reinhardt and Phillip Cansler in
this year he was elected county court clerk, which office he held the next ten years. He was chair- man of the committee that select- ed the site of Lincolnton, and the grant for the land on which the town was built was made to him. The grantor to all the original pur- chasers of lots is, "Joseph Dick- son, Esq. proprietor in trust for the commissioners appointed to lay off a town in the county of Lincoln by the name of Lincoln- ton." He was chosen Senator from Lincoln County in 1788, and con- tinuously succeeded himself until 1795. In 1789 he was one of the forty great men of the State se- lected by the General Assembly to constitute the first trustees of the University of North Carolina. He then served as a general in the militia. From 1799 to 1801 he was a member of Congress. December 27th, 1803, he sold his plantation of twelve hundred acres, and re- moved to Rutherford County, Ten- nessee, where he died, April 24th, 1825, aged eighty years, and was our county of Lincoln on both sid- buried with military and Masonic es of the wagon road leading from honors. the Tuckaseege Ford to Ramsour's
(To Be Continued)
History Lincoln County (WRITTEN BY THE LATE A. NIXON)
INSTALLMENT NO. 10
Lincolnton is situate 869 feet above sea level in the hill county of the great Piedmont belt. In the county are Reece, Clubbs, Daily, Rush and Buffalo Mountains; they are small peaks not larger than Hog Hill in the northern part of the county. From Lincolnton mountains are visible in almost every direction. On the northeast is Anderson's Mountain; in the southwest looms up King's Moun- tain, on whose historic heights was fought the memorable battle that broke the power of the Brit- ish crown; in line with King's Mountain to the south can be seen Spencer, Crowder and Pasour Mountains; in the north and north west are Baker's Mountain, Car- penter, and Ben's Knobs, and numerous peaks of the South Mountains; while in the distance in solemn grandeur lies the up- turned face of the Grandfather; and yet still farther away rise the far-distant peaks of the great Blue Ridge. . The Carolina and Northwestern Railway comes in from Chester, South Carolina, and runs northwesterly into the heart of the mountains of North Caro- lina; while from the east comes in the Seaboard Air Line, and ex- tends westwardly to Rutherford- 1 ton.
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Lincoln thus remained a large county until 1841, when the first slice was taken to form, with a portion of Rutherford the county of Cleveland. In 1842, Catawba was set up from Lincoln by an east and west line passing one and a half miles north of Lincolnton. In 1846, the southern part was set off into the county of Gaston, by a line to pass four and a half miles south of Lincolnton, and four miles of Catawba ceded back to Lincoln. The formation of these new counties reduced Lincoln to a narrow strip, ten miles in width with an average length of thirty miles, and it is with this strip that the remander of this narra- tive will deal. Lincoln County is bounded on the north by Catawba County; on the east by the Cataw- ba River, which separates it from Iredell and Mecklenburg; on the south by Gaston; on the west by Cleveland, and one-fourth mile of Burke.
1807 to Fall term, 1833, when he resigned. At the Fall term, 1833, John D. Hoke applied for the clerk's office, having been elected pursuant to act 132. Then fol- lowed the suit of "Hoke vs. Hen- derson,' 'in which Mr. Henderson was the winner. This was a fam- ous case. It decided that an office is property, and was not-reversed until 1903, and then by a major- ity opinion, two justices dissent- ing.
Pleasant Retreat Academy.
This school occupied four acres in the northern part of Lincolnton. From its institution it bore the at- tractive name of Pleasant Retreat Academy. The older students de- lighted to speak of its refreshing shades-the oak and the hickory interspersed with the chestnut and the chinquepin-and the spring at! the foot of the hill. It was charter- ed by the General Assembly, 10th December, 1843, with the follow- ing trustees; Rev. Phillip Henkle, Rev. Humphrey Hunter, Lawson Henderson, Joseph Graham, John Fullenwider, John Hoke, Peter Forney, Robert Williamson, Dan- iel Hoke, J. Reinhardt, Vardry McBee, David Ramsour, Peter Hoyle, Henry Y. Webb, George Carruth, William McLean, Robert Burton, John Reid, and David Reinhardt. In this school were trained a long roll of men whose names adorn their county's his- tory. Of its students --
James Pinkney Henderson, son of Maj. Lawson Henderson, sought the broad area of the "Lone Star State" for the full de- velopment of his giant intellect and won fortune and fame. An eminent lawyer, Attorney-General of the Republic of Texas, its min- ister Plenipotentiary and Envoy Extraordinary to France, England and the United States, Major-Gen- eral of the United States Army in the War with Mexico, Governor, of Texas, and at the time of his death United States Senator, he adorned the positions his courage and talents won.
William Lander, brilliant, impe- tuous and chivalric, was one of the foremost advocates of the bar and member of the convention from Lincoln County that passed the Ordinance of Secession. After-
First Superior Court Clerk
Lawson Henderson was long an
influential citizen, filling the offi-
es of county surveyor, sheriff, and clerk of the county and Superior Courts. He was a son of James Henderson, a pioneer settler, and
wards his splendid eloquence found congenial fellowship amid the fiery spirits of the Confeder- ate Congress. Lawyer, solicitor, legislator and member of the Con- federate Congress, he has a monu-
ment of love and affection in the
hearts of those who knew him. His was appointed Superior Court Clerk for life under the Act of As- sembly of 1806 establishing a Su- brother, Rev. Samuel Lander, was a man of broad scholarship, an educator of note, and a preacher perior Court in each county of the lof wide repute.
State. He served from April term
(To Be Continued)
LINCOLNTON, NORTH CAROLINA, THURSDAY, AUGUST 1, 1935.
History Lincoln County (WRITTEN BY THE LA TE A. NIXON)
INSTALLMENT NO. 11
Thomas Dews, when a mere lad, entered the State University, graduated in the class of 1824, taught awhile in Pleasant Retreat, and began the practice of law. He was drowned in Second Broad "Epitaph Of James R. Dodge, Esq., Attorney-At-Law. River, August 4th, 1838, aged 30 years, 2 months and 25 days. His "Here lies a Dodge, who dodged all good, remains lie in honor beneath a marble shaft, the tribute of a no- And dodged a deal of evil, Who after dodging all he could, He could not dodge the Devil." ble-hearted woman to the man who adored her while he lived, and marks the spot where rests her Mr. Dodge read the paper, turn- lover and her love. Judge William, ed it over and wrote on the other side:
H. Battle, knew Mr. Dews at Chapel Hill and often spoke of his talents and his genius. Toward the close of an address before the lit- erary societies at the commence- ment of 1865, growing reminis- cent, Judge Battle said: "I will oc- cupy a few more moments of your time in recalling from the dim re- collections of the past the names of a few men, each of whore was regarded as a college genius of the day, and who with well direct- ed energies, and a longer life might have left a name the world would not willingly let die. In the year 1824 Thomas Dews, a young man from the county of Lincoln, took his degree of Bachelor of Arts, dividing with Prof. Sims, Judge Manly and ex-Governor Graham the highest honor of the class. His parents were poor, and it is said resorted to the humble occupation of selling cakes for the purpose of procuring means for the education of their promising boy. After graduation, he studied law and commenced the practice with every prospect of eminent success, when unhappily, a morbid sensitiveness of temperament drove him to habits of intemper- ance, during one of the. fits of which he came to an untimely end. his name, which ought to have gone down to posterity on account of great deeds achieved by xtra . ordinary talents, will probably be remembered only in connction with a happily-turned impromptu epitaph." Yet it has gone down in history immortalized by his neighbor and friend, Col. James R.
.of paper, and passed it around to the merriment of the bar; and when Colonel Dodge had finished his speech, he found lying on his table;
"Epitaph Of Three Attorneys.
"Here lies a Hillman and a Swain, Whose lot let no man choose: They lived in sin and died in pain, And the Devil got his Dews" (dues).
Among the post-bellum stu- dents are Hoke Smith, lawyer journalist, Secretary of the Inter- ior, and Governor of Georgia; William Alexander Hoke, Asso- ciate Justice of the Supreme Court of North Carolina; William W. Shipp, Lietenant Tenth United States Cavalry, killed on San Juan Hill, Battle of Santiago, July 1st, 1898; T. H. Cobb, Beverly C. Cobb, David W. Robinson, Charles E. Childs, Charles C. Cobb and Lem- uel B. Wetmore, Lawyer; Silas McBee, Editor of the Churchman; Rev. William L. Sherrill of the Western North Carolina Confer- ence; William E. Grigg, banker; Blair and Hugh Jenkins, Charles and Henry Robinson, merchants; William W. Motz, architect and builder; William A. Costner, Thomas J. Ramsour, Charles M. Sumner, farmers and a long list of others.
The Pleasant Retreat Academy property has been transferred to the Daughters of the Confederacy for a Memorial Hall. In this there is eminent fitness, for among its students were William A. Graham, Confederate States Senator; Wil- liam Lander, member of the Con- federate Congress; Maj. Gen. Stephen D. Ramseur; Maj. Gen. Robert F. Hoke; Col. John F. Hoke; Col. William J. Hoke; Maj .!
Dodge a distinguished practition-
er for many years at the Lincoln- ton Bar. Colonel Dodge, was a son of Gen. Richard Dodge and Sarah Ann Dodge, his mother being a sister of Washington Irving, of New York. Those acquainted with the playful writings of Washing- ton Irving will not be surprised at the spontaneous retort of his nephew. But one residence separ- ated the Dews home from that of Colonel Dodge in Lincolnton. At Apirl term 1832 of Rutherford Su- perior Court, David L. Swain, af- terwards Governor, was on the bench and in the bar were Samuel Hillman, Tom Dews and Mr. Dodge. While Mr. Dodge was ad, dressing the jury, Judge Swain re- called a punning epitaph on a man named Dodge, wrote it on a piece -
Frank Schenck; Capts. James F.
Johnston, Joseph W. Alexander,
George W. Seagle, George L. Phif- er, James D. Wells, and others, making an honor roll of more than a hundred Confederate soldiers.
Lincolnton Female Academy was chartered by the General As- sembly December 21st, 1821, with James Bivings, Vardry McBee, David Hoke, John Mushatt, Jo- seph E. Bell, and Joseph Morris, Trustees. Four acres on the south side of the town were conveyed to the trustees for school purposes, and the two school properties were connected by # Academy street. The Female Academy like-
wise had a long and useful career.
1
It is now the site of the Lincoln- ton Graded School.
(To Be Continued)
History Lincoln County (WRITTEN BY THE LATE A. NIXON)
Ilows: INSTALLMENT NO. 12
Early Settlers And Churches The early settlers of Lincoln were of Scotch-Irish and German origin. There were but few of oth- er nationalities. They came in swarms, by "hundreds of wagons from the northwards." About the year 1750, the Scotch-Irish settle- ment covered both banks of the Catawba, so the eastern portion of Lincoln was populated by this race, while the South Fork and its tributaries-the remainder of the county-were contemporaneously settled by Germans.
The Scotch-Irish are stern and virile, noted for hatred of sham, hypocrisy and oppression. The German are hardy and thrifty characterized by love of home and country, tenacious of custom and slow to change. Both were a lib- erty-loving, God-fearing - people, among whom labor was dignified and honorable. A charm about these pioneers is that their heads were not turned by ancestral diz- tinction. They were · self-reliant and mastered the primeval forest, with its hardships and disadvan- tages. They became adepts in han- dicraft and combated the foes of husbandry in an unsettled region. They were the silent heroes who shaped destiny and imbued unborn generations with strength of Character and force of will. The early Scotch-Irish preachers taught the creed of Calvin and Knox, and the first place of wor- ship on the east side was Presby- terian. The pioneer Germans were followers of the great central fig- ure of the Reformation, Martin Luther, and the Swiss Reformer, Ulrick Zwingle, and the oldest place of worship on the west side is Lutheran and Reformed. Today the county is dotted with churches which, according to numerical strength, rank in the following or- der; Methodist Episcopal, Baptist, Lutheran, Methodist Protestant, Presbyterian, Reformed and Pro. testant Episcopal.
organists to lead the choir. In those days the congregation sung, being led by a precentor called the clerk, a man of importance, and the minister lined out the hymil. Four young men from Lincolnton attended a camp meeting. When the minister lined out a couplet of a familiar hymn, the congrega- tion followed the clerk, sung the couplet and paused for the next. The four boy filled with the spirit of John Barleycorn, paused not, but in well-trained musical voice, carrying the several parts finish- ed the stanza; then the second and the entire hymn to the dismay of the minister, the clerk, and dumb- founding of the congregation. A charge of disturbing public wor- ship was preferred in the courts, conviction followed and the offen- ders sentenced to sit one hour in: the stocks.
Most of the people in North Brook, the western township in the county, are Methodist Protest- ants, and they have one church, Fairfield, near the Catawba River. on the eastern side of the county.
Long Creek was the first Bap- tist church established in Lincoln County, either in 1772 or 1777. It is on Long Creek, one mile from Dallas. Hebron was organized at Abernethy's Ferry on the Cataw- ba about 1792. Six miles from Beattie's Ford was Earhardt's church, constituted in the 18th century. Abraham Earhardt, upon whose land the church was creat- ed, was an ordained minister and preached at his church and else- where. He married Catherine For- ney, sister of Peter, Abram, and Jacob Fornev, and owned more than a thousand acres of land, on which he operated a flouring mill, tan yard, blacksmith shop and a distillery. The Reinhardt place is now the home of Maj. W. A. Gra- ham. Today the Baptists have churches in every section, of the county.
over
When churches were few camp
meetings were held by the Pres- byterians, Baptist, Reformed, Pro- testants and Methodists. They have all been discontinued except one, the celebrated Rock Springs Camp Meeting of the Methodists in East Lincoln. There a great ar- bor is surrounded by three hun- dred tents, and the meeting has been held annually since 1830. It
is incorporated after the style of a town, and governed much the same way. It is held on forty-five acres of ground conveyed 7th August, 1830, by Joseph M. Mundy
to Freeman Shelton, Richard Proctor and James Bivings, trus- tees of the Methodist Episcopal Church, Lincoln circuit. The estate an owner has in a lot is condition- al, and ceases upon failure to keep and maintain a tent on it. The
meeting continues one week and embraces the second Sunday in
August. It is attended by all de- nominations from the surrounding counties by from ten thousand to fifteen thousand people. Deep re- ligious interest is manifest and many date their conversion from these meetings. Viewed from a so- cial standpoint this is also a great occasion. The old camp ground combines the best elements of so- cial life in the country, city and
summer resort. Rock Springs is
the successor of an older camp ground called Robey's which was situate near the Catawba Springs. The memory of the old people runs back to the time when the printing press had not filled the churches with hymn books, when there were no church organs, nor
The act of the Provincial Assem- bly in 1768, erecting that portion of Mecklenburg County west of the Catawba into a separate coun- ty by the name of Tryon, also created Saint Thomas Parish; and, according to the custom of that day, county and parish were co- terminous. While nominally under a church establishment, no clergy- man of the Church of England ex- ercised any pastoral care in col- onial days. In 1785 Robert John- ston Miller, afterwards known as Parson Miller, came to Lincoln, and became the religious teacher, lay reader, and catechist of the Episcopalians he found in the county. While avowing himself an Episcopalian, he received Luther- an ordination. In 1806 he resigned his Lincoln charge to David Hen- kle, a Lutheran licentiate, and re- moved to Burke. From 1785 to 1823, Parson Miller was almost the only Episcopal minister in this region. In 1823 John Stark Rav- enscroft was selected Bishop, Par- son Miller, being in the chair. The Bishop visited Lincoln County in 1824, and in the three parishes of Smyrna, White Haven and St. Pet- er's confirmed forty-one persons. In 1828 he again visited Catawba Springs and endeavored to collect the remains of the three old par- ishes in that neighborhood, but found it a hopeless task. While at
the Spring, he preached at Beat- tie's Ford and "on Sunday in the public room at the Springs to such
of the company as a very rainy day detained from visiting a camp meeting in the vicinity."
(To Be Continued)
History Lincoln County (WRITTEN BY THE LATE A. NIXON)
INSTALLMENT NO. 13
In the year 1835 Dr. Moses A. Curtis, the noted botanist, was stationed at Lincolnton. The year 1837 found him in another field. On the 2d of March, 1842, Col. John Hoke conveyed to "E. M. Forbes, Jeremiah W. Murphy, T. N. Herndon, Michael Hoke, Leon- ard E. Thompson and Haywood W. Guion, vestry and trustees of the Saint Luke's church in Lin- colnton, the lot on which Saint Luke's church yet stands. Its rec- tors have been Rev. E. M. Forbes, Rev. A. F. Olmstead, Rev. J. C. Huske, Rev. T. S. W. Mott, Rev. H. H. Hewitt, Rev. C. T. Bland, Rev G. M. Everhart, and Rev. Dr. W. R. Wetmore for forty years- from 1862 until his death.
Rev. Robert Johnston Miller was born in Scotland July 11th, 1758. His parents designed him for the ministry, and sent him to the Dundee classical school. Be- fore he entered the ministry he migrated to America, arriving in bored for many years as one of Charlestown, Massachusetts, A. D. our ministers had been ordained 1774. Soon after the colonies de- by the Bishop of the Episcopal Church as a priest at a convention of that church; that he had always regarded imself as belonging to that church, but because the Epis- copal Church had no existence at that time in this State, he had himself ordained by our ministry, with the understanding that he clared their independence and young Miller at once espoused the cause of liberty, and when Gener- al Greene passed through Boston, he enlisted as a Revolutionary soldier. He participated in the bat- tles of Long Island, where he was wounded in the face, of Brandy- wine, White Plains, and the siege of Valley Forge. With the army he travelled south, where he re- mained after peace was restored and the army disbanded. He began his work as a licentiate of the Episcopal church without author- His people of White Haven Church, in Lincoln County, sent a petition to the Lutheran pastors of Cabarrus and Rowan, with high recommendations, praying that he might be ordained by them, which was accordingly done at St. John's church, Cabarrus County, on the 29th of May, 1794. His ordination certificate reads; "To all to whom it may concern, Greetings; Where- as, A great number of Christian people in Lincoln County have formed themselves into a society by the name of White Haven
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