COURTING IN A BUGGY

By Kemp Plummer Battle

     Those who have tried it say that there is no better courting time and place than in a light buggy drawn by a spirited team. But let the amatory youth take a waning from the mishap of a friend of mine. He borrowed of his grandfather a barouche and pair and took his lady-love on a four mile ride, determined to bring love matters to a focus. After skirmishing around with preliminary sweet speeches, he turned his head to gaze into her face while he asked her to share his life. As he did so he discovered that the boy, whom he had employed to hold his horses at the house of his girl, had jumped up behind and was listening with grinning delight to all tender words. The shock was so great that the opportunity was lost—and as matters turned out, lost forever. My readers need not weep over this story. "Mrs. Grundy" said that the young lady would have refused him. 

[From FamilyOldPhotos.com]

     Another "smart" young man driving over Franklin street saw a cow lying contentedly in the way. He thought he would show his skillfulness as a driver by running one wheel over her side. Much to his grief the animal suddenly rose, upset the vehicle, and turned him and his lady-love sprawling into the sand.

     Unfailingly courteous, too, were the beaux of fifty years ago. I give one specimen of this: A lady friend of mine was taking a ride with a student of the forties. The buggy wheel ran into a deep rut on his side of the road and threw the lady with some violence on him. She said, "I beg your pardon, sir!" He replied with evident sincerity, "Not at all disagreeable, madam!"

Kemp Plummer Battle was born in Louisburg, Franklin County, NC. He was valedictorian of the 1849 class of UNC. He worked at UNC as a tutor, as a lawyer in Raleigh, Wake Co., NC, and as a trustee to the University. In 1876 he became president of UNC.

[Taken from History of the University of North Carolina by Kemp P. Battle; 1907]

The Portis Gold Mine

            The North Carolina gold rush began nearly 20 years before the California gold rush. The first public notice of gold in Nash County appeared in the Weekly Raleigh Register 10 Nov 1831. It said: “A new Source of Gold. — In the land of a Mr. (John) Portis, in the vicinity of Ransom’s Bridge Post-Office, and near the place where the Counties of Nash, Franklin, Warren and Halifax join each other, a very rich deposit of Gold has been discovered. One piece weighing several pennyweights has been found and smaller pieces in great number. It is said to be quite common to make $5 a day, and there are nearly twenty different places where the precious metal can be obtained in sufficient quantity to reward the searcher for it.”

Gold Nugget
Taken from Minerals Education Coalition website:
https://mineralseducationcoalition.org/mining-minerals-information/minerals-elements/gold1_90782147/

            The State Chronicle, Raleigh, NC 29 Jan 1893 told the story of the Portis mine’s beginning:

            Years ago a peddler stopped at the mud-thatched cottage of a poor shoemaker in the County of Franklin. The shades of evening were falling and he enquired if he could obtain food and shelter for the night.

     "We are very poor, stranger," said the old cobbler, "but if you can put up with such accommodations as we can give you, we bid you welcome."

     The peddler accepted the hospitality, and after a scanty supper of plain and coarse food, laid himself down on a straw bed on the floor to sleep. When he arose the next morning, the family was astir and he asked if they had a pan or bowl in which he might bathe his face and hands.

     "No," replied the cobbler, "we have neither. When we bathe, we usually … go down to the spring and remove a little sand in the branch and wash."

     The peddler took a towel and went to the spring, used a little sand to wash his face and hands. He was struck with the appearance of numerous bright, shining particles in the water. He took a handful of the sand with him to the house and asked, "What is this?"

     "I don't know. Some says it's gold and some says it ain't."

     “Why don't you have it tested? I believe it's gold."

     The old cobbler, John Portis, had the test done and sure enough, it was gold. …

            John Portis, a shoemaker, knew nothing of mining, but it is believed that he was able to find enough gold to support his family. According to the Henderson Gold Leaf, Henderson, NC 26 Oct 1911 Portis leased the property to Plum Austin for ten years. Austin worked the property by moving the dirt with ox carts and wheelbarrows, and removing the gold by rocking and “long toms.” In ten years he was said to have found $500,000 of gold. [A rocker box was a wooden box with riffles along its bottom. Water was poured in from the top and as the box rocked the gold would settle behind the riffles and lighter elements would wash away. A “long tom” was similar except longer and using running water in a stream to wash the gold out.]

Gold Panning
Shutterstock
https://www.shutterstock.com/image-illustration/gold-rush-panning-california-1849-engraving-237233470

            John Portis died in 1850, and Thomas K. Thomas acquired the mine. He worked it for about 15 years, still using the most basic of tools and methods. Nevertheless, U. S. mint records showed that the Portis Mine sent $1,000,000 to the Charlotte mint before the Civil War. Other records indicate that another $1,000,000 was used in trade, making the output, according to estimates, at about $2,000,000. Most of the gold that North Carolina had during the Civil War came from the Portis Mine.

            In 1868, the mine was sold to Stephen G. Sturges and William E. Sturges of N. J. An article in The Wilson News, Wilson, NC, 14 Dec 1899 mentioned that “Raleigh people now own most of the stock in the Portis gold mine.” Over the years, various names were mentioned as having an investment in the mine, and the ownership seems to have varied. Each change in ownership brought changes in the methods of extracting the gold.

            An observer in 1866, described the operation this way: “Mr. Platt (an officer of the Portis Mine Company) had a steam saw mill in full operation in just three weeks from the day the machinery left New York, which, taking into consideration the distance from the railroad and the nature of the roads over which the machinery had to be hauled, is a remarkable feat. They had also completed a two story building, seventy by thirty, built from material sawed at their own mill since it was erected some six weeks ago.

911 Metallurgist
https://www.911metallurgist.com/blog/long-tom-sluice

            “The machinery to be used in mining is a new invention recently patented by a Newark manufacturer, which, if as successful as the experiments promise, is destined to work an entire revolution in the process of surface gold mining.”  The process used quicksilver (mercury) to extract the gold. [The Daily Standard (Raleigh, NC) 20 Oct 1866.

            By 1888, a new process, the Wheeler process, had been invented and was being tried at the Portis mine. This process, according to an article in The Charlotte Observer 5 May 1888 increased the yield from .50 per ton to $2.52 per ton. This was because the Wheeler process did not allow fine gold to escape. Mr. Sturges, owner at that time, wrote that the process was really wonderful and that he could find no fault with it.

            The Wilson News (Wilson, NC) 14 Dec 1899 revealed that new owners had installed a 15-stamp mill. The oar was crushed and then washed by sluice. It was being proposed that a hydraulic plant be installed.

            There were plans, in 1912, to be able to process 1,000 yards of soil per day, with an eventual plan to process 5,000 yards per day. Mr. Elmo Weir of Philadelphia, who was one of the investors, said in an interview “North Carolina, which has hitherto been famed for its pitch, tar and turpentine, will shortly be famed the world over as a producer of the ‘yellow metal.’ [The Farmer and Mechanic (Raleigh, NC) 6 Aug 1912

            According to NCpedia, gold became difficult to extract from the red clay at the Portis by the early 1900s. A final effort was made by the Norlina Mining Company. Although the latest techniques were used, “the cost of the mining operation exceeded by one-third the value of the gold recovered, and the mine was closed in 1936.”

Railway Notes

            Maj. John C. Winder says that the rock crusher to be used in breaking up stone with which to ballast the track of the Raleigh and Gaston RR has arrived and is being put in position just this side of Franklinton (Franklin Co.). It will be able to do rapid and effective work. It is proposed to abate no effort to put the road-bed of this excellent line into as nearly perfect condition as possible. Mr. Albert Johnson is in charge of the crusher, which is at a large quarry. The stone will be broken by the powerful machine to a proper size and then will be placed as ballast all over the ties, making a solid, firm, dust-free rail-bed. The work will be thoroughly done, and it will probably take two years to complete it.

[News and Observer (Raleigh, NC) 28 Jun 1883]

Rock Crusher Patented in 1883

http://www.google.com.na/patents/US273478

DIED

PHILEMON HAWKINS.

            At his residence, in Warren county, North Carolina, January 28, 1833, Philemon Hawkins, the last of the signers of the Constitution of the State of North Carolina in 1776. He was born on the 3d December, 1752; and, at the early age of sixteen, was sworn in as Deputy Sheriff for the county of Granville, and performed the whole of the duties of that office for his principal.

            He belonged to the troop of cavalry at the battle of the Allemance (sic), which was fought on the 16^th of May 1771, and for the distinction he merited on that occasion, was presented by the commander-in-chief, Governor Tryon, with a beautiful rifle.

            Before he was of age, he was elected a member of the general assembly for the county of Bute. [Bute County was subsequently divided into Warren and Franklin Counties.] He continued as a member of the legislature, mainly from the county of Granville, with the intermission of two years only, for thirteen years. The last term of his service was at Fayetteville [Cumberland County], in the year 1789.

            He raised the first volunteer company in the cause of American independence, that was raised in the county of Bute, and which consisted of 144 men. In the year 1776, he was elected a colonel of a regiment by the convention at Halifax, and in that command performed many services; but ultimately left the army, and continued to act as a member of the legislature.

            He was a member of the convention which ratified the Constitution of the United States, and frequently a member of the executive council. He was a man of strong mental powers, which he retained to the last, and possessed an accuracy of recollection, which enabled him to be the living chronicle of his times.

[The American Register by Joseph Blunt, 1835.]

JUST RECEIVED
 

A FINE lot of Buggy and Wagon Collars and

 for sale by J. J. MINETREE.                          

   Louisburg, Sept. 27^th, 1854.                   

[Weekly News (Louisburg, NC) 10 Feb 1855]

Returned.—We learn that the two boys whose ambition led them to assume the life of tramps, were, by direction of their fathers, arrested at Franklinton [Franklin County] on the Raleigh & Gaston Railroad and held to await the arrival of Officer Goodwin, who left yesterday morning to escort the young prodigals homeward [Wake County]. We have not heard that the fatted calf will be slain.

Cornerstone of the Raleigh and Gaston railroad building of Raleigh, NC
From Wikipedia, "Raleigh and Gaston Railroad"
 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Raleigh_and_Gaston_Railroad

[From The Observer (Raleigh, NC) 3 Mar 1878]

A Kind Deed.

     Corporations are said to be "soulless", and it is quite the fashion to denounce railroad corporations especially. However much cause there may be for this we will not now argue, but we are pleased to know that many of the officers of these much abused corporations have souls and hearts that should put to blush their traducers. We copy from the Raleigh News and Observer the following notable illustration of how some railroad officers care for their employees:

     Mr. Alexander Bailey is a section master on the Raleigh & Gaston road. He was a soldier during the war and was severely wounded in the leg, which wound never healed. During the life of his good wife she nursed and kept the wound soothed to such an extent that it never interfered with Mr. Bailey's duties as section master.

Map found at Southern Specialty Maps
http://southernmaps.home.mindspring.com/maps/r&grr.htm

     Some time since he had the misfortune to lose his wife, and being always busy with his duties as the only head of the family and overseer on the road he could not give the wound proper attention. This neglect, which was unavoidable, caused a severe inflammation to ensue which soon became so bad that Mr. Bailey could not use his leg in walking. He procured a strap which he suspended from his shoulder to support the lower part of the leg after being bent a the knee and substituted a wooden leg from the knee and went on with his work from which he had not missed but one day in twenty years, on that day a sheriff summoned him to appear at court as a witness.

     Not long since President Robinson of the Seaboard Air Line, Maj. John C. Winder, general manager, and Capt. Wm. Smith, superintendent passed over the road on an inspection trip. Their train stopped at Neuse*, which is on Mr. Bailey's section, and he with his force was there at the time. President Robinson noticed that Mr. Bailey's leg was suspended by a strap and asked the cause. Mr. Bailey told him all about it. Mr. Robinson then asked why he did not have it amputated. Mr. Bailey replied that he would like to have it done but was not able. He could not afford to lose the time and pay the bill. The inspection train then came on to the city.

Help For Mr. Bailey

     There was some consultation among the officials and a short time after Mr. Bailey was sent for to come to Raleigh. He was provided with comfortable quarters at St. John's hospital. Mr. Bailey did not exactly know what this business meant. Soon after he arrived some prominent physicians called upon him and consulted him about his wound. It was found that he was not in a condition to undergo the operation of amputation then, and he was put upon treatment for the case.

     In a few days his leg was amputated, which of course confined him to the hospital for some time. A nice awning with cot, &c., was provided for him in the hospital yard where he could get the benefit of the fresh air with comfort and convenience when he was weary of the house. A nurse was employed for him, and he was made to spend several weeks there as pleasantly as possible.

     He has just returned to his home, but is as yet unable to work. When he returned a check was sent him for full time work, as though he had not missed a day from duty, and in addition to this a bill for medicine and attendance has just been paid, amounting to about $300. All this was done by the Raleigh & Gaston Railroad Company for an employee whose services they knew how to appreciate. Mr. Bailey is not at work, but his salary is paid him regularly by the company, and a man is employed in his place at a full salary until he small be able to resume work.

* Neuse was a crossroads in north central Wake County, named for the nearby Neuse River. It was probably located near where the railroad crosses the Neuse River.

[Taken from The Chatham Record (Pittsboro, NC) 18 Aug 1887]

Theodosia Alston Lost At Sea

The Patriot, a refitted privateer schooner, slipped out of Georgetown, SC on 30 Dec 1812. There were two passengers—Theodosia Alston, wife of SC governor, Joseph Alston—prostrated by grief at the death of her 12 year old son the prior June, bound for a visit with her dearly loved father in New York—and physician Timothy Green. Captain Overstocks, assisted by NY pilot, Coon, planned to complete the journey in about 6 days. Because of the British blockade of the coast, Gov. Alston wrote a letter to the British navy begging safe passage for his wife.

In early January, the ship encountered the British fleet near Cape Hatteras, off the North Carolina coast. Gov. Alston's letter was offered, and the British officers allowed the ship to continue on its way. Howev­er, a strong storm that same night scattered the ships of the British fleet, and the Patriot disappeared forever. What befell Theodosia Alston? Legends grew around the disappearance of the ship and its ill-fated passenger. One story had the ship breaking up off Cape Hatteras. Was it lured there by ruthless Outer Banks looters with their false lanterns? Or was the ship boarded by pirates and its passengers and crew forced to walk the plank? Some residents of southern Virginia claimed that the body of a beautiful woman washed ashore after the storm. Theodosia?

          A less likely story has Theodosia buried in Alexandria, VA with a tombstone inscribed: “To the Memory of A Female Stranger Whose Mortal Sufferings Terminated The 11th Day of October,  1816 Aged 25 years, 8 months”. The story tells of a veiled woman leaving a river packet with a man in Oct. 1816. They took rooms in Gadsby’s Tavern. Later, a doctor was called and the mysterious lady, said to closely resemble Theodosia, died without revealing her identity. Was she making her way to New York in disguise?

            The true story will probably never be known, but one piece of evidence survives. In 1865, Dr. W. G. Poole of Elizabeth City, NC was called to treat an old woman at Nags Head, NC. As payment, she gave the doctor a painting of a lovely young lady — later identified as Theodosia. The woman said the Patriot had run aground at Ocracoke with her rudder lashed down, her cargo still in place, and a table still set in the cabin. Bankers stripped the ship; the portrait went to the woman’s husband as his part of the loot. What are we to believe?

The Nags Head Portrait of Theodosia Burr hangs
in the Lewis Walpole Library in Farmington, Connecticut

Who was Theodosia Alston?

            Theodosia Alston was the only daughter of Aaron Burr, Vice President of the United States under Thomas Jefferson, best remembered for the duel in which he killed Alexander Hamilton. Widowed early, Aaron Burr lavished his affection on Theodosia, planning in detail her intellectual and social development. She was one of the best educated women of her time and well-suited to her position as hostess and companion to her highly successful father.

Taken from an unidentified 1890 American History Book

            In 1801, Theodosia married South Carolina plantation owner Joseph Alston who entered politics at Burr’s suggestion. Their only child, Aaron Burr Alston was born the next year.

Theodosia's Northeastern North Carolina Connection

            Theodosia did not adapt well to the heat and humidity of the South Carolina Low Country and she made frequent visits to New York to visit her father—a journey that took 20 days. The route took the travelers through North Carolina by way of Fayetteville, Raleigh, Louisburg, Warrenton, and to Petersburg, VA.

Theodosia and Aaron Bur corresponded frequently. The following is taken from a letter Burr wrote to his daughter from Warrenton, NC on October 27, 1804: We parted at Fayetteville. The morning following I started one hour before day, the moon showing us the way, and, at about seven or eight in the evening, was at Raleigh, being full fifty miles. … I reposed till nine the next morning, and came the next day only to Louisburgh (twenty-nine miles), where I slept in the little up-stairs room which you once occupied; but there is a new landlord. The Jew is broke up. The wind had been two days strong at northeast, threatening a storm … So I lay abed again till nine, and, after breakfasting for two hours, set off at eleven in all the storm. At twelve it began to snow, and continued to snow most plentifully till night. …got here about five, being twenty-five miles.  … My landlord has just been telling me that Swartwent passed here eight days ago. They were three in the stage, all very apprehensive of being overset, as they were to start at two in the morning. In the excess of caution, they desired the landlord to give no rum to the driver. The landlord promised, and gave orders to the barkeeper. When the driver arrived, he called for a dram; was refused, and told the reason. Resenting this indignity, he swore he would get drunk, went to a store, bought rum, and got drunk. Set out at two, and overset the stage the first hour. The passengers were bruised, but not very seriously injured.”

 

This portrait of Aaron Burr was taken from "Aaron Burr," the Wikipedia article.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aaron_Burr

         Aaron Burr earlier had become enmeshed in unsavory deals that wrecked his fortunes and reputation. He went abroad for several years. When he returned in 1812, it was only to receive the news of his grandson’s death. A message from his son-in-law, dated Jul 26 said: “… One dreadful blow has destroyed us; reduced us to the veriest, the most sublimated wretchedness. That boy, …who was to have transmitted down the mingled blood of Theodosia and myself…that boy, at once our happiness and our pride, is taken from us… is dead. We saw him dead. My own hand surrendered him to the grave; …My present wish is that Theodosia should join you, … as soon as possible.” And, “Theodosia has endured all that a human being could endure, but her admiral mind will triumph. She supports herself in a manner worthy of your daughter.”

            Theodosia wrote to her father on 12 Aug: “…I wish to see you and will leave this [place] as soon as possible. I could not go alone by land for our coachman is a great drunkard and requires the presence of a master, and my husband is obliged to wait for a military court of inquiry. …”

            During the autumn, Theodosia’s health became precarious. Timothy Green, a physician and friend of the Burr family, journeyed to South Carolina and wrote Burr on 7 Dec 1812, “Mr. Alston seemed rather hurt that you should conceive it necessary to send a person here… you had learned your daughter was in a low state of health, and required unusual attention… I had torn myself from my family to perform this service for my friend. …” and on 22 Dec: “I have engaged a passage to New-York for your daughter… We shall sail in eight days.”

            When Joseph Alston heard nothing from his wife, he wrote to her from Columbia, SC on 15 Jan 1813: “Another mail, and still no letter! I hear, too, rumours of a gale off Cape Hatteras the beginning of the month. …” He wrote Aaron Burr on 19 Jan: “Tomorrow will be three weeks since, in obedience to your wishes, Theodosia left me. …in the privateer Patriot, … Is my wife, too, taken from me? … My wife is either captured or lost.” He wrote Burr again on 25 Feb: “…My boy—my wife—gone, both! This, then is the end of all the hopes we had formed. …”

            Matthew L. Davis, in his Memoirs of Aaron Burr (1836), said, “…the unfortunate Theodosia was never again heard of, except in idle rumours and exaggerated tales of her capture and murder by pirates. These reports, it is believed, were without foundation. The schooner on board which she had taken passage probably foundered, and every soul perished in a heavy gale which was experienced along our whole coast a few days after her departure from Georgetown.” Officially, Theodosia was never heard from again. However, some time later, two murderers who were hanged in Norfolk, VA are said to have confessed to being on a pirate ship that overtook the Patriot and sent all passengers and crew over the side. In 1850, an old resident of a Michigan poorhouse confessed to tipping the plank on which Theodosia walked into the ocean. He said: “…We captured the vessel in which this lady was. When told she must walk the plank into the ocean, she asked for a few moments alone, which was granted. She came forward when told her time had expired, dressed beautiful in white, the loveliest woman I had ever seen. Calmly she stepped upon the plank. With eyes raised to the heavens, and hands crossed reverently upon her bosom, she walked slowly and firmly into the ocean without an apparent tremor. …”

Last Will and Testament

            Joseph Alston died in 1816. His brother, William Alston, sent a trunk to Aaron Burr with a message: “…he never had the courage to open …some things that belonged to your daughter Theodosia; …” The trunk contained a letter from Theodosia written in 1805, directed to “My husband. To be delivered after my death. I wish this to be read immediately, and before my burial.” The letter reads, in part, “…something whispers me that my end approaches. …I have some few requests to make. … Burn all my papers except my father’s letters, which I beg you to return to him. …Speak of me often to our son. …I charge you not to allow me to be stripped and washed, as is usual. I am pure enough thus to return to dust. Why, then, expose my person? Pray see to this. If it does not appear contradictory or silly, I beg to be kept as long as possible before I am consigned to the earth. …”

[This story appeared in The Connector, Newsletter of the Tar River Connections Genealogical Society in the Summer 1999 Issue.]

Plea for Aid
Local Militia in Dire Straits

War of 1812

The following counties of the Detached Militia were called into service at Norfolk, Virginia by orders in September of 1814 - Bertie, Chatham, Edgecombe, Franklin, Gates, Granville, Halifax, Hertford, Johnston, Martin, Nash, Northampton, Orange, Person, Wake, and Warren. Those from Chatham, Orange, and Person were ordered to return to their respective homes before they arrived at Gates Court House, the place of rendezvous.

ADDRESS

To the citizens of the counties of Hertford, Bertie, Martin, Northampton, Halifax, Nash, Edgecombe, Johnston, Warren, Franklin, Granville and Wake, and to the patriotic citizens of North Carolina generally.

The undersigned take the liberty of addressing you in behalf of the volunteers and drafted militia, detached from the several counties above named for the service of the United States, and now stationed under your command at Norfolk. — It is known to you that these men were suddenly called from their homes, without being afforded an opportunity, and many of them not possessing the ability, to make the necessary preparations for a six months tour of duty at an unknown season. The United States do not furnish clothing to the militia in their service—most of your friends and neighbors, therefore, who have repaired hither, to the post of danger, are entirely destitute of the clothing necessary to protect them from the inclemencies of the approaching season. Already they have suffered much from the want of these conveniences which their situation required, and we take pride in saying they have born those sufferings with a cheerfulness, patience and constancy, highly honorable. It will be impossible for them, however, to withstand the rigor of the approaching season unless they are provided with blankets and comfortable woolen clothing.

The only means by which we believe the wants of these troops can be speedily and effectively supplied, is by the appeal which we now make to your benevolence, patriotism and humanity—an appeal which we are sure will not be made in vain. We cannot believe that your patriotism will suffer the brave men, who have marched with such alacrity to the post of danger, and who are willing to risk their lives in their country’s defense, to perish by the severities of the season for want of the common conveniences of life… when it can be so easily afforded—We seek voluntary contributions from you, therefore, either in woollen clothing and blankets, or in money, at your discretion. Let receivers be appointed in each county, and let them transmit, without delay, the amount received, together with the names of the generous donors, to one of the field officers, who will be responsible for its faithful distribution. You will thus enjoy the sweet reflection of having snatched from the grave many a suffering soldier, and of having performed your duty to your country, to your friends and neighbors, whose gratitude will follow you through life.

We are, with sentiments of the highest respect, Your obedient servants,

D. McDonald, Col. 1^st Reg. NCDM

A. Joyner, Lieu. Col.

Jos. F. Dickinson, Major

John C. Green, do. (?)

James Iredell, Captain

John J. Inge, Captain

John Bell, Captain

Harry Bryan, Captain

John Green, Captain

Isaac Watkins, Captain

John L. (?) Laughter, captain

John F. (?) Walker, Captain

H. G. Williams, Captain\

Cantonned near Norfolk, 20 Oct 1814

[Political Synopsis, 17 Nov 1814, Tarborough and North Carolina – The War of 1812 website: http://www.carolana.com/NC/1800s/antebellum/war_of_1812_military_units.html]

Mrs. Joe Person's Remedy

Alice Morgan Person - An Extraordinary Woman

“My life has been out of the ordinary run of woman’s life. Circumstances have forced me to the front, where I have met both Knights and Cowards. Circumstances have compelled me to stand my ground and fight the great Fight single-handed and alone. …” This is in the Foreword of Alice Morgan Person’s autobiography, The Chivalry of Man as Exemplified in the Life of Mrs. Joe Person, the story of Alice Morgan Person and “Mrs. Joe Person’s Remedy,” from 1858 until 1892.

In the Preface of her book, Mrs. Person gives us a glimpse of her life: “…For fifteen years I have led a drummer’s life, have come into contact with all manner of mankind, high and low, rich and poor, patricians and plebeians, knights and cowards, and it must be an opaque nature that could not, in turn, learn a lesson from each, as they came along. …”




Alice Morgan Person was a colorful woman who met life’s challenges head on. She succeeded as a business woman—at a time when women were supposed to stay close to the hearth; as a talented professional musician—when women were supposed to play sweet melodies for dinner guests; as the primary provider for her family of nine children—not to mention producing the children; and as an example of what a determined woman could do—when women had few such examples!

Mrs. Person’s primary business was the manufacture and sale of “Mrs. Joe Person’s Remedy,” a well-respected patent medicine. In 1872, she was given the mixture by a neighbor who convinced her to use it to treat her gravely ill daughter, Josephine. Her daughter survived what was thought to be a fatal illness, and for the next six years Alice Person gave the remedy to friends and family and observed its success in the treatment of a variety of illnesses.

In 1878 she registered the remedy’s trademark with the U. S. Patent and Trademark Office, making it official that she was now a business woman. She continued to sell “Mrs. Joe Person’s Remedy” until 1910 when, at the age of 70, she sold the trademark and the formula to her son, Rufus.

Alice Person’s career was not an easy one. At first, she sold her product locally. Her children helped her prepare the mixture. In February 1882, filled with big dreams of expanding her market, she approached several doctors in Raleigh, seeking their help in performing supervised trials of her remedy with the expectation that, having seen its usefulness, they would prescribe the medication. They turned her down, and, for several months, she seemed to have lost her buoyancy about the future of business. However, in the fall, she traveled to Charlotte for the same purpose, and there she was more successful.

In Charlotte, Alice tried a more direct approach. She had only a few circulars describing “Mrs. Joe Person’s Remedy” and could not afford to print more, so she attached a label to each one that asked the recipient to read and save the circular which she would pick up the next day. She then left them at every house along a prominent Charlotte street. The next day, when she called to redeem her circulars, she was invited into many homes to talk about it, but she didn’t sell a single bottle. However, within two weeks of returning home, she began to receive orders from Charlotte doctors whose patients were asking for it. She had developed a successful marketing strategy which she continued to use.

Mrs. Person’s story is one of many ups and downs. She spent a good part of her life on the road, visiting towns and stopping at houses throughout the area of North Carolina east of Charlotte and in central South Carolina and Central and eastern Virginia. She kept a record of the places she stayed—those that were satisfactory and those where she would not stop again.

She worked with several partners, all of whom turned out to be unsatisfactory—one embezzled from her, one failed to pay her the agreed on price for his partnership, and one didn’t understand her business methods. Despite these setbacks, she persevered and somehow managed to provide for her family.

Before the Remedy

Alice Morgan Person’s beginnings were ordinary enough. She was born in Petersburg, VA in 1840. Her father was often in financial straits, but she seemed to have received a good education for that time. She married Joseph Arrington Person in 1857 when she was 17 and he was 42.

Joseph, who was from Franklin Co., NC, was well-to-do and he and his bride made their home at Greenwood, his 466 acre plantation. In her autobiography she says: “…I found that my lines had indeed been cast in pleasant places. Not a care, not a responsibility, not a thought or fear for the future did I have.”

But this ideal life did not last long. The Civil War was just around the corner and change was coming for the Person family. Joseph suffered a debilitating stroke in 1863 and was no longer able to look after his growing family. Alice says, after the end of the war: “At one fell stroke our means of income were swept away and we were left … with only a tract of land, which my husband was powerless to look after, and a family of little children depending upon us. Our income became less and less and I knew we were powerless to stem the tide. My husband’s condition improved so that he could walk around some, look after his stock, hitch his horse to the buggy and visit his neighbors, could saddle his horse and ride to town, but, as a man of business, his career was ended.” [Joe Person died on April 8, 1884. A few months before he died, Person signed the documentation necessary for Alice Person to register herself as a free trader. This was not possible without her husband’s permission.]

As the years passed and the Person family continued to grow, Alice felt she had two choices: try to make a living on the land, with the help of her children, or sell the land and use the money to continue their way of life. She chose the latter. But the money could not last forever, and she began to dream of what she could do with her marvelous remedy. And so, when the time came, she was ready.

How did she know what to do? How did she know about registering her trademark and formula? How did she arrive at a design for the packaging for her remedy or know where to get it? How did she know how to write the circulars that were her main tool for selling her product? How did she have the courage to leave home and live the life of a door-to-door saleswoman? It is hard to imagine where her knowledge and strength originated.

Her Music

Alice Person was not satisfied with a single career. Beginning in the mid-1880s, she found a way to add to the family income with her piano-playing ability. She began traveling to fairs and expositions where she was employed to demonstrate pianos. She also played regularly at a hotel near Kittrell, Vance Co., NC. In 1889, she published an assortment of her musical arrangements, Collection of Popular Airs as Arranged and Played Only by Mrs. Joe Person at the Southern Expositions. From then on, she was busy selling both the remedy and the music.

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Mrs. Person’s son, Rufus, joined his mother’s business in 1887. By that time, the operation had been set up in Kittrell, N. C. In 1898, the Kittrell laboratory burned and had to be rebuilt. In1904, mother and son moved the enterprise to Charlotte. In 1910, the company was incorporated as the Mrs. Joe Person’s Remedy Company and in that same year, Rufus leased the remedy and trademark to Guy Barnes. After Mr. Barnes died in 1916, Rufus again took up the reins and continued the company as the sole proprietor. It was finally closed in 1943 when no buyer could be found for it.

Seeing the West

Alice and her sister Lucy traveled to San Diego in 1908 to visit the grave of her brother Rufus who had died there after eating poisonous mushrooms. The sisters made a second trip out west in 1911 and were in Santa Fe, New Mexico, on their third western journey when Alice Morgan Person died suddenly of a stroke on June 12, 1913. Her sister brought her back to Charlotte for burial.

Preserving the Memories

Beginning in October 2007, several people donated material about Alice Morgan Person to the East Carolina University Library. This included copies of her musical publications. In 2009, David Hursh, head music librarian and associate professor at East Carolina University’s J.Y. Joyner Library, published a biography of Alice Person which also included her own autobiography. The book is Good Medicine and Good Music. He also assembled a digital collection from the material in the Alice Morgan Person Collection. The music she played at the expositions around the south can be heard by accessing the ECU Digital Collection at: http://digital.lib.ecu.edu    Select Alice Person: Good Medicine and Good Music, Browse, and select Collection of Popular Airs and Plantation Melodies  or Transcription of the beautiful song The blue Alsatian mountains. Click on Audio File(s) to hear any of the songs in the collections.

Source: The material for this story was taken from Good Medicine and Good Music by David Hursh and Chris Goertzen [McFarland & Company, Inc., Publishers: Jefferson, North Carolina and London] 2009.

The illustrations were taken from the Alice Morgan Person Collection (#1116), Special Collections Department, J. Y. Joyner Library, East Carolina University, Greenville, North Carolina, USA which can be found at: http://digital.lib.ecu.edu/special/ead/findingaids/1116/1116.pdf

The University of North Carolina also has a collection of Alice Person papers in the Southern Historical Collection: Collection Number 03987, Alice Morgan Person Papers, 1872-1972. A description of this collection can be found at : http://www.lib.unc.edu/mss/inv/p/Person,Alice_Morgan.html

HAZARDOUS TRAVEL

"GREAT FLOODS—TAR RIVER

HIGHER THAN EVER BEFORE"

Louisburg, NC

November 1887

The water in Tar River exceeds its banks, and by 6:30 PM on November 2, 1887 the bridge at Louisburg [Franklin County, NC] is washed away. Reports follow with the loss of Cedar Creek Bridge, Sandy Creek Bridge, Cypress Creek Bridge, and all other bridges over Tar River.

Mill pond dams are breaking up at Jerre Perrys and Cliftons. Jacksons mill pond is nearly destroyed. The forebay at Laurel Cotton Mill along with the saw-mill has floated away.

Reports are coming in of untold thousands of bushels of corn lost in these high waters. M. S.l Davis reported the loss of forty head of sheep.

[Taken from the Franklin Times, November 2 & 4, 1887. First printed in The Connector, newsletter of the Tar River Connections Genealogical Society, Summer 2004.]

Wood Thieves

WOOD STEALERS— Those lazy night-walkers have commenced their attacks on wood piles very early in the season. We were told by a gentleman on the street a few days back that his wood pile had been visited the night before and a wagon load of wood already cut for the fire had been carried off. In these days of inventions, can't someone invent a plan by which these troublesome fellows can be caught without putting one to the necessity of watching in the cold for them? The article will meet with almost as ready sale as Messrs. Barrow & Pleasants Steam Washer. Good time to make a fortune, Let us have the machine.

Since writing the above Mr. M.S. Davis, the gentleman who had the wood stolen from him offers a reward of ten dollars for the thief. We hope he, she, or they may be caught and that a lodgment with Mr. Thompson in the State Prison and to keep warm during the winter by breaking rocks for the building.

[Franklin Courier, October 3, 1873. This story appeared in the Spring 2006 issue of The Connector, newsletter of the Tar River Connections Genealogical Society.]

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A search for the Steam Washer mentioned in the above story turned up the following advertisement from the Feb. 23, 1882 issue of the Salisbury, N. C. Carolina Watchman.  This machine was the invention of Mr. T. J. Meroney.



THIS MACHINE is a plain wooden tank lined with copper or galvanized iron, with perforated pipes in the bottom for the admission of steam, with corrugated Roler, made of same mettle, and of sufficient weight. This Roler gathers the air while passing back and forth over the cloths, forcing air and water through the fabric. At same time the steam is thrown up through the perforated pipes underneath from the bottom of the tank. There are wooden strips between the pipes so as to protect them and form a smooth bottom in the tank.

The process is simple: any one can operate the machine. First, soap the cloths and distribute them evenly about four or five inches thick in the tank. Turn on enough water to cover them—turn on steam, and mover the Roler back and forth until the water is colored. Turn the valve and let the water pass off. Add fresh water, and repeat this three or four times, and you find the clothes are thoroughly washed without the slightest injury, for there is no rubbing process employed, the Roler having rounded edges so as to prevent any wear or cutting. A lace handkerchief can be washed as well as a bed quilt.

This machine is in operation at Meroney & Bros. Machine Shop where they will be manufactured at as small a cost as possible. Any one having a steam boilerf in operation can use one of my machines at small cost and with satisfactory results. One person can do the work of ten wash somen in one day and do the work better.

- It is also a good wool-washer.

- State and County rights for sale by the inventor.



Found.

One set of false teeth. The owner can get them by calling on J. W. King and describing the same, and paying for this notice.

Source: Franklin Times, 2/4/1887

Wake-Franklin County Line

Give Me Franklin, or I'll give you Death!

Franklin County, North Carolina was once a part of Bute County, but in 1779 the General Assembly eliminated the name of Bute and divided part of the area between Franklin and Wake Counties. Surveyors hired to run the southern boundary line of Franklin got along very nicely till they reached Osborne Jeffrey's plantation of several thousand acres. He saw the surveyors at work and asked what they were doing.

When they told him they were running the Wake-Franklin County line, he asked, "Where will it put me?"

"In Wake County," they told him.

"I'll be damned if it will," he said. He went in the house, and returned with his shotgun. "Now, you run that line so that I'll continue to live in Franklin or I'll blow your brains out."

This story was taken from The State Magazine, November 8, 1941. It was published in The Connector, newsletter of the Tar River Connections Genealogical Society in the Fall 1997 issue

Aunt Abby House

Aunt Abby House was a familiar figure around Raleigh, Wake County, North Carolina during and after the Civil War. A search of the internet for Abby House will return a number of hits. This version of her story was written by Rev. R. H. Whitaker, DD in his book, Whitaker's Reminiscences, Incidents and Anecdotes. Recollections of Other Days and Years: Or What I Saw and Heard and Thought of People Whom I Knew, and What They Did and Said, which was published in 1905. [This book can be found at Google Books and includes other interesting stories.] Rev. Whitaker actually knew Aunt Abby in her later years and much of the story is from what she told him.

A Once Turbulent Woman Whose Life Closed in Peace.

Aunt Abby House is remembered by many, and what she did and said, especially in the last years of her life, are …closely connected with the history of the war and the days of reconstruction, … I rode by the little cottage a few days ago in which she spent the last days of her life. It stands beside a ditch near the old Fair Ground, and was built at the expense of a few Confederate soldiers who appreciated her kindness to them during the war, when she, with the bravery of a Moll Pitcher and the tenderness of a Florence Nightingale, served in the double capacity of soldier and nurse, doing deeds worthy of places in story and song. …

Aunt Abby House was a native of Franklin County, born the latter part of the eighteenth century, according to her statement, being, as she once told me, "a right smart gal, enduring of the time of the war of 1812; big enough to have a sweetheart" That sweetheart, she said, went to the war, and the news came to her that he was sick at Norfolk, Va., and, she said, she walked every step of the way from Franklin County to Norfolk to see him, arriving there the day after he was buried.

"O, yes," said she, "I was a right smart gal enduring of that war; but, I can't tell you exactly how old I am now." The conversation in which she gave me this information occurred in 1877.

I have heard that in her early days, and, indeed, through most of her life, she was a turbulent woman; fond of contentions and law-suits, and that she was able to stand her ground in the court-house, on the court-house grounds, or anywhere else, and that no man could beat her swearing, when things did not go to suit her. Indeed, she had not stopped the swearing habit when I first knew her, when she was quite old.

I knew but little of her before the war; but, during the war she began a career that brought her before the public; and, until she died in 1881, there were few women in North Carolina better known.

The first time I remember seeing her after the war, was at Franklinton, at a district conference. Some one was preaching, and in the midst of his discourse he bore down pretty hard on certain sins, especially that worst of all sins, taking the name of God in vain, showing how worse than foolish was the habit some people had of cursing at everything; even some women, so far forgetting their sex sometimes as to use bad language.

About that time Aunt Abby, with a cane in each hand, bounced up and went toward the door, about half bent, making as much noise with her feet and two canes as a horse could have done. She halted just outside the door until the services closed, and as the congregation passed her, she was giving the preacher fits, and fully demonstrating the fact that cursing was no new thing to her. That was in 1867 or '68. From that time I saw her frequently and began to be on speaking terms with her, as I frequently saw her on the train. She never bought a ticket, and the conductor rarely ever got any fare from her. If she had a quarter, she'd give the conductor that, and if he hesitated as if that were not enough, she would threaten to hit him with her stick, and he would move on.

On one occasion I heard her ask General [Matt] Ransom for half a dollar, at the depot, just before the train left. The General, in a sort of teasing way, said: "Aunt Abby, I don't think I have half a dollar."

She stepped back and looking him full in the face she said: "Matt Ransom, you know that's a lie; and I'm going to tell your wife about it the first time I see her."

The General ran his fingers into his vest pocket and pulled out a dollar and gave it to her, saying, "That's the nearest I can come to it, Aunt Abby. Will that do for you?"

She held it in her hand a second, dropping her head as if in deep thought, and said, "No, that won't do. I'll get it changed."

"No," said the General, "you may need the other half sometime. Keep it."

She replied, "Matt Ransom, I always did say it, you are a gentleman, every inch of you," and the last I saw of her she was crawling into the car.

Aunt Abby's war record will soon be forgotten, as the brave men who wore the gray are falling out of ranks every day, and there will be, very soon, none left to tell how faithfully she ministered, in her rough way, to the sick and wounded men on the Virginia hills. I heard it said of her that she was present at several battles, and that she was as cool and self-possessed as any veteran, and that, on one occasion, while the fight was going on, she was seen, in a very exposed place, holding a horse. Some one said: "Old woman, you'd better get out of here before one of those shells tears you all to pieces."

"I ain't gwiue a step. I told [the] Colonel I'd hold his horse till he came back out of the fight, and I'll do it, shells or no shells."

While that may not have been literally true, it would not be saying too much of her, that she would have done just such a daring thing if occasion had offered.

Everybody heard during the war how anxious Aunt Abby was about her nephew who was in the army, and how she importuned Governor [Zeb] Vance to help her get that nephew out. She was a constant visitor at the Governor's office, and he treated her so nicely, that she became a life-long admirer of him. Governor Vance, at her earnest solicitation, did secure a furlough for her nephew, upon the condition that she would be sure to send him back to the army when the furlough expired. But she did not do it.

One snowy day she walked into the Governor's office, stamped the snow off her shoes, and sat down by the fire, seeming to be in a deep study. All at once she turned to Governor Vance and said: "Zeb, that boy can't go back to the army, he's got the consumption right now, and he'll die in less than a week if he goes back."

"Ain't that boy gone back yet?" asked the Governor, in astonishment.

"No, he ain't, and he can't go, for I tell you he's got the consumption."

The Governor put on a grave face and said: "That will never do. I gave General Lee my pledge of honor that if he would give Marcellus a furlough he should certainly go back when the time was out, and you promised me that you would send him back; and here it is a month over time and he not gone. That will never do, Aunt Abby. General Lee will never have any more confidence in my word. Marcellus must go right back."

"Well, Zeb, won't you write a letter to old Bob [Robert E. Lee] and tell him how it is?"

"Go bring Marcellus here and let me see him, and if I think his case is as bad as you say it is, 1 will write a letter."

In a few days Aunt Abby brought Marcellus in, and just as he expected, there were no signs of consumption, but a very well-looking man stood before him. The Governor wrote a letter to General Lee which sounded all right to Aunt Abby, but, when read between the lines, meant that the young man's complaint was largely imaginary, and was superinduced, doubtless, by his abhorrence of hardtack and gunpowder; in other words, that Marcellus was fit for duty.

As the Governor handed her the letter, he said: "Now, Aunt Abby, take this to General Lee and let me know what he says when he reads it. The General don't like me much, and he may try to make fun of my letter." She said she'd do it; and out she went, Marcellus following; but in a few days she came again, saying as she entered the Governor's office: "Zeb, they took that boy and put him right back in the army, and he's gwine to die in less than a month."

"Did you show General Lee my letter?"

"Yes, and when he read it he sorter smiled, and I raised my stick, jess so, and said: 'I dare you to laff at Zeb Vance's letter, I'll crack your head in a minit, if you do. Zeb told me you upstarts up here didn't like him.' "

"And then what did he do?"

"Why, he pretended like he thought a sight of you, but under the circumstances he reckoned he'd have to take the boy back into the army; and so he tuck him right in."

Aunt Abby was with Lee's army when it surrendered, and gave me a very thrilling account of it. She said they told her that she must wave her handkerchief to let the Yankees know that she was willing to surrender, too.

"Did you wave it?" I asked her.

"Not much. I shook it so, a time or two, and then I stuck my hand behind me. Then I shook it again, and put it behind me. I never was so mad in all my life as I was when one of them Yankees came along and sed to me, 'Old woman, you needn't mind about shaking that rag any more, we don't care whether you surrender or not.' I said, 'Drat your mean soul, if I had a gun I'd shoot you off that horse and leave you here for the buzzards to pick.' "

"And then what did he say, Aunt Abby?"

"He didn't say another word, but rode off looking as cheap as if he'd stole a sheep."

When Aunt Abby arrived at Raleigh from Greensboro, after the surrender, the city, of course, was in the hands of the Yankees, and, as she was getting, off the car at the depot a Yankee soldier, seeing an old woman hobbling out, went to help her down. She raised her stick as he approached her and said, with an oath that shocked him, "Don't you come any nigher, if you don't want your head cracked. No d—d Yankee shall touch me."

Not long after her return she went to headquarters to see the Yankee officials about some horses that had been taken from her. The Governor's office was being used as Yankee headquarters, and to that Aunt Abby went. When she entered the door, the room being full of Yankee officers, she stopped, leaned on her cane, and with a contemptuous look gazed all around. Of course every eye was upon her, and they waited to see what she wanted.

At length she spoke: "Yes, here's where gentlemen used to sit, but now it's a den of thieves." Then, in a very commanding tone of voice, she said, "I want my crap critters."

"Your what?" asked a Yankee.

"My crap critters—my horses, you fool; my horses you infernal thieves stole from me."

"Ah, that's it; you want your horses. How many did you lose?"

"Two as good as ever pulled a plow," she replied.

"Well, madam, just go down to the lot and pick out two of the very best horses there."

"I won't do it. I'll go and get two of the poorest sore-backs I can find. I won't take a fine horse. No Yankee shall ever have it to say I got back more than he stole from me."

It was about 1875 that Aunt Abby made a profession of religion and joined the Methodist church. I saw her not long after, and in our conversation, I told her that in her new life she would have to avoid the saying of bad words. … She finally promised that she would try not to curse at all. I then told her she must forgive everybody and try to live in peace with all men. She said she would forgive everybody but Bill Holden.

"Why not forgive him?" I asked.

"Because," she said, "he treated Zeb Vance so mean."

"But," said I, "you and Zeb, too, must forgive him."

"I hate him too bad," she said, "to forgive him." And, then, she added, "Don't the Bible say that God is angry with the wicked every day?"
"Yes," said I, "but you are not God, and you don't know that Mr. Holden is wicked."

She said she'd try to do the best she could. I do not know how it came about, but she did forgive Mr. Holden, and in her older age, when she was dependent largely upon charity for the necessities of life she had no better friend than he, and there were none she thought more of than she did of him.

Aunt Abby occupied a conspicuous place in Tucker Hall, the day Governor Vance took the oath of office, standing very close to the Governor and watching his every movement with a concern that could only have been equaled by a mother for an only son; and when the Governor, repeating the oath after the Chief Justice, came to the end of it and said, "I will, so help me, God," Aunt Abby, looking upon him with more than a mother's interest, said, "That you will, honey, that you will."

During the "Centennial of Methodism" here in Raleigh in 1876, three of the bishops of that church attended, and, daily, all three of them sat on the stage, in Metropolitan Hall, where they were seen and heard by the thousands of people who came to participate in the proceedings at that most interesting occasion; and, on the same stage, over to one side, there sat an old woman whose eyes and ears caught everything; who sometimes smiled and sometimes cried; whose bunchy figure, old-time clothes and fly-bonnet attracted the attention of everyone who entered the hall.
…

It was said that Aunt Abby was on very intimate terms with President [Jefferson] Davis, and always called him "Jeff," when in conversation with him; and it made no difference to her whether callers were allowed or not, to see the President, she'd manage somehow to see him. She heard the ex-president was at the Yarborough House on one occasion and went to see him. The meeting between them was amusing, for the reason that she gave him a pair of her home-knit socks, and was anxious to know of him when he expected to have another war.

I do not vouch for the truth of it, but I heard that she went to Washington City during Grant's administration to see the gold chair she heard that the President sat in. That was before she professed religion, quit saying bad words, and doing ugly things. She got into the White House, saw President Grant, and then turning and looking about she asked, "Where's that golden cheer?"

The President said he didn't know.

She said, "There's one here somewhere, for Joe Turner told me so, and I know he wouldn't tell me a lie; and I've come all the way from North Carolina to see it, and I don't want to hear any more of your lies about it. Bring that golden cheer right out, and let me see it and sit down in it."

After a long parley with the President, she was forced toleave without seeing the "cheer," but she always thought that Grant hid it from her. She knew there was a golden chair there somewhere, for Joe Turner told her so, and Joe Turner would not tell her a lie.

In the last days of Aunt Abby she was a quiet, gentle-minded old lady and seemed never happier than when in a prayer-meeting. She opened the doors of her little cottage for prayer-meeting services, and seemed to enjoy, as much as anyone could, the hymns, prayers and exhortations. She was sick for quite a while before she died, but 1 don't think she suffered for the lack of food, medicine or attention. I went to see her a few days before her death, and as I was taking my leave of her I remarked that I was going away from the city for a few days.

"Then," said she, "I'll tell you good-bye for good, for I won't be here when you come back, but will be with Minnie," alluding to my wife, who had died a little while before. And holding my hand for a moment she asked: "Do you want to send her any word?"
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