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.”

EIGHT KILLED WHEN TWO SEABOARD TRAINS CRASHED HEAD-ON

ALL TRAINMEN, NO PASSENGERS HURT; TWO ENGINEERS DIE

Nos. 81 and 84, Both Through Trains, Meet at Full speed Near Norlina—Locomotives Splintered Yet Sleeping Coaches are Left on Rails

___________________________

By W. Bost

            “Norlina, Nov. 19—Nos. 81 and 84, the fast through trains of the Seaboard [Railroad], tore into each other’s crew below Granite this morning at 3:54 o’clock and both have a toll of eight lives. [Granite was the first crossing south of the VA line. It no longer exists.]

            “Drawn by the Union Pacific type of the mightiest passenger engines, they charged each other a few yards this side the Virginia line, upon the high fill about half a mile beyond Granite. [Fill was material such as dirt or rocks used to level the ground for the track to cross.] Each with a weight of 216,000 pounds, pulling a string of ten cars, bore down up the grade and met where the strain was the heaviest. Railroad men estimate a million and a half pounds behind each engine when they came hurrying to the center of the fill. There is no piece of mechanism, however small, left on these beauties of iron and steel. The very numbers by which the machines are identified have been effaced.”

DEMOLITION AND DELIVERANCE.

            Amazingly, although the front of both trains was totally demolished, passenger cars remained on the track, completely intact. No passengers died or were seriously injured.      

            “Leaning low to take the grade upon one of the sharpest of curves, the engines met apparently well steamed. The very sight shows the fury of the plunge. The six-foot drivers, lying close to each other, mark the spot of earth upon which the lunge of the locomotives took place. They had a steam poundage of 200. They were keyed for a pull over the two hills. They met at the maximum of pressure down grade. The wheels alone are left of the wreck. They are but little hurt.”

            The demolition of the engines was so complete that it was impossible to see how they ended up placed as they were found. However, two men “declared that they saw the Beckham boiler rise to a height above the pine trees and fall fifty yards from the culvert over which the two trains appear to have met.

An Early Seaboard Airline Railroad Engine
Taken From Seaboard Airline Railroad History
https://railga.com/sal.html

            “Both trains, very long and heavy, must have gone furiously at each other. What prevented demolition to every day coach … no man can say. Not a passenger was actually hurt and some of them thought that the brake had merely dropped and that passengers on the Pullmans were aroused by the excitement of outsiders rather than damage to insiders.”

            …

The Northbound’s Blunder.

            Engineer Beckham, in charge of northbound train No. 84, was supposed to have pulled off the track at Granite, a short way to the south of the accident. Engineer Faison, in charge of southbound train No. 81, had the right-of way. So, instead of meeting at Granite, the two trains met on the track a half mile from Granite.

            The misunderstanding probably occurred because of a misreading of the orders, leading the northbound crew to believe they were to continue to Grandy.  “Whether he read the orders for meeting at Granite or Grandy, nobody now knows. The officials do not hesitate to say that their operator at Norlina, young Watson, gave the orders correctly and that they were read wrong by the northbound crew.

Engineers Beckham and Faison, killed in accident
News & Observer (Raleigh, NC) 20 Nov 1912

            “The body of the engineer [Mr. Beckham] was beneath the wreckage of two engine gears, the twelve big drivers and four trailers, a baggage coach and piles of timbers. The bursting of the steam pipes turned the water into the fill and flooded the place.….”

People Flock to Place.

            “The killing of only eight persons was the marvel of the people and there were a thousand there at any period of the day. Twenty-seven automobiles were seen in the road at one time, and the fields abounded in horses and buggies.

            “Two hoboes escaped. They are worth while to show the element of miracle that crept into every play. They declined to give their names, but took up collection and, walking to Norlina [Warren County], paid their way to the next point. They were riding the blinds between the first and second day coaches. They were battered against the wall, but barring dirty faces and bruised foreheads, they were none the worse for wear.

            …

            “The railroad men declare that the steel cars saved the passengers. Their weight kept them on the track and their strength prevented telescoping. Crashing on a curve, one sees no explanation for their standing up. But all were left intact and taken back to the stations.

            …

______________________

SCENE OF WRECK.

(By James A. Parham.)

            Norlina, Nov. 19.—…

Where the Collision Occurred.

            “…north of Granite station, which is about seven miles north of Norlina on the Seaboard’s trunk line from Richmond south. The scene is about one and a half miles south of Roanoke river and nearly twelve miles south of La Crosse, where engineer Faison receipted for his last order. Granite is the nearest station to the State line on the North Carolina side and the next station, less than five miles distant, is Bracy, in Virginia.”

[Taken From The Farmer and Mechanic (Raleigh, NC) 26 Nov 1912]

The Track and Curve.

            “Going north from Granite the track is straight for a half or three-fourths of a mile. Right on a fill perhaps twelve feet high, the track begins a fairly sharp curve which extends through a rather sudden cut. It was right about the beginning of this curve that the engines plunged into each other. Mr. Beckham’s engine was just ready to take the curve or was taking it, while Engineer Faison was on the curve just ready to leave it, and had just passed through the cut. The collision occurred right over a small culvert in the center of the hill. On account of the curve and the cut, a very sudden stop would have been necessary to avoid the collision at best, after the engineers could possibly have seen each other’s engines. Moreover, the shafts of light shot straight forward from the headlighter of the engines evidently crossed each other as the two approached almost at the very second the collision occurred.

Masses of Wreckage.

            “The two engines and tenders and three cars—all combination passenger and baggage or express—were demolished completely. The engines were of the Seaboard’s heaviest type, weighing 108 tons each. Both boilers exploded, both were completely stripped of engines, tenders, trucks, smoke stacks, steam chests, cabs, bells—nothing left but tubes of sheet iron, shredded and torn at both ends with sheets of iron sealed off from the sides …. They landed on opposite sides of the track. The engine driven by Mr. Beckham was carried by the contact and the explosion fully 100 feet back down the track and fell at an angle of about forty-five degrees with the track, its nose apparently and strangely having struck the ground first. It settled on its right side, which was buried a foot or so in the ground. The other boiler, that drawing train No. 81, settled nearly upright in running position and close beside the embankment and parallel with the track. Its back was split lengthwise by the explosion.

            “… This huge mass contained also the flattened, crushed remains of a tender, supposedly that of the northbound engine, which was battered and crumpled like an old tin pan, while the other tender, in the same condition, lay on the opposite side of the track. Fifty feet from the track lay one of the huge cylinders from one of the engines. Three hundred feet in the forest, on the east side lay large Y-shaped iron pipe that would weigh hundreds of pounds. It apparently had been blown over the tree tops and had fallen, without striking trees and half buried itself in the ground.”

…

Expressage Scattered.

            “Most of the chests and safes and strong boxes from the express cars were left intact, but the packages of merchandise, many of them, were demolished. Scores of dead chickens were scattered among the debris, while dozens of fowls that escaped with their lives, gaining liberty, were hanging around the scene of the catastrophe looking for food. Dozens of boxes of fresh fish and lettuce and other vegetables were demolished and scattered; also pork, beef, sausage, millinery, clothing, etc. etc. One dog was killed.”

…

[News &Observer (Raleigh, NC) 20 Nov 1912]

Wreck Hurls Woman Into a Man’s Berth

___________

Her Head Makes Clean Hole in Thin Partition—Headache Her Only Injury.

            “Boring a clean hole through the partition between two Pullman berths, a middle-aged woman hurtled into the berth in front of her when the two Seaboard trains crashed into each other Tuesday morning near Norlina. In the berth which the woman so unceremoniously entered was Lee Reinheimer, a cigar salesman, from Richmond, VA. Mr. Reinheimer was too courteous to ask the woman her name.

            The only unpleasant result of the woman’s plunge was a headache. The partitions between compartments of a sleeping car are made of light, but tough, material. The partition was not knocked down in the crash that sent the woman through it, but a space the size of her head and shoulders was jammed through. Her entrance was the first Mr. Reinheimer knew of the crash. He was slightly hurt, having a sprain on the little finger of his right hand.

[News & Observer (Raleigh, NC) 21 Nov 1912]

William Jennings Bryan, Biography
https://www.biography.com/people/
william-jennings-bryan-9229920

MR. BRYAN CALLS ON STRICKEN WIFE

______________

Of Engineer Beckham, Killed in Wreck

______

ENGINEER  BROUGHT GIFT

____________

To Mr. Bryan Monday—Fine Basket of Tomatoes—Nebraskan Orders Flowers

            “ … Hon. William Jennings Bryan* … was detained here for several hours on account of a wreck on the Seaboard near Norlina…. Yesterday morning he expected to leave Raleigh for Savannah on the 5:40 a.m. train, but the serious wreck near Norlina, in which Engineers Faison and Beckham were killed detained him in Raleigh all day, and he did not leave until last night.”

            “On Monday morning, shortly after 11 o’clock, Engineer Beckham called at the home of Josephus Daniels to see Mr. Bryan. He was a great admirer of the Nebraskan, and called to pay his respects and carry a basket of fine tomatoes. “I thought I would like Mr. Bryan to have something nice,” he said to Mr. Daniels, “and as good tomatoes are scarce at this season I brought you these.” Then he remained for a visit to Mr. Bryan, chatting pleasantly and happily, and left with hearty good wishes to Mr. Bryan, expressing the hope that he would one of these days see him in the White House.”

            “’I am greatly shocked and distressed,’ said Mr. Bryan when he learned of the catastrophe which resulted in Mr. Beckham’s death. ‘His splendid physique, his cordial manner and his geniality pleased me greatly, and as he bade me good bye yesterday morning, I little thought he would so soon be called from a world which he made happier by his cheerfulness.’”

            “Mr. Bryan ordered some lilies of the valley sent to Mrs. Beckham with expressions of deep sympathy to his wife and family. Later in the day Mr. Bryan called in person with Mr. Daniels at the home of both the brave engineers to add his sympathy to that which was felt and expressed by the whole city.”

*Willliam Jennings Bryant was an orator and politician. He ran three times for the Presidency of the US. He is well known for his participation in the Scopes Trial in which he opposed Clarence Darrow, arguing against evolution.

[News &Observer (Raleigh, NC) 20 Nov 1912]

Walter Clark—Fighting Judge and Women’s Rights Advocate

            Walter McKenzie Clark was the oldest child of Gen. David and Anna Maria Thorne Clark. He was born on August 19, 1846 at Prospect Hill in Halifax Co., NC, but spent most of his young years at Ventosa, the Clark plantation on the Roanoke River. 

http://www.carolana.com/NC/Courts/wclark.html

           At the age of 8, Walter was sent to school at Vine Hill Academy near Clarksville [later Scotland Neck] also in Halifax County. In a letter to his mother he wrote, “I go to Sunday School and church, and also clean my teeth every morning, and everything else you requested me to do.” In 1857, he was sent to Ridgeway School in Warren Co. and in 1859 to Belmont Select School in Granville Co., where he excelled in every subject. In 1860, at the age of 14, he was enrolled in Tew’s Military Academy at Hillsboro, Orange Co.

            Soon after NC seceded from the Union on May 20, 1861, Gov. Ellis called for volunteers to assemble at Camp Ellis, near Raleigh, Wake Co. He asked Col. Tew of the Academy to assign a cadet to act as drill master for the first contingent of raw recruits. Walter Clark—only 14 years old—was given the assignment.

            The Camp Ellis troops were organized into the 22^nd Regiment under the command of Col. J. Johnston Pettigrew, and Clark, known as “Little Clark,” was elected 2^nd lieutenant and drill master, where he served until November when he became drill master for the 35^th NC Regiment at Camp Mangum, also in Wake Co.

            In the summer of 1862, “Little Clark” became Col. Matt W. Ransom’s adjutant. The regiment joined Gen. Lee’s army and Clark saw plenty of action. He was present at the Second Battle of Manassas and took part in the capture of Harper’s Ferry. After that, the troops marched double-quick to Sharpsburg, where on Sept. 17, the bloodiest one-day battle of the war was fought.

            Clark later wrote an account of that day in which he told how he was pulled out of the line of fire: “All the mounted officers in the division instantly dismounted, turning their horses loose to gallop to the rear. It being the first time I had been so suddenly thrown in contact with a line of battle, and not noticing, with the smoke and uproar, that the others had dismounted, I thought it my duty to stick to my horse; in another moment, when the smoke would have lifted, I should have been taken for a general officer and would have been swept out of my saddle by a hundred bullets. A kind-hearted veteran close by peremptorily pulled me off my horse. At that instant a Minnie ball, whistling over the just emptied saddle, struck the back of my left hand which was still clinging to the pommel, leaving a slight scar… .”

      Gen. Ransom had a slightly different recollection. He said that a big mountaineer private ran up to Clark and pulled him off his horse, exclaiming, “Git off’n this horse, you darned little fool! You’ll git killed.”

            Later, when the regiment was in winter quarters near Richmond, VA with Gen. Lee, Clark wrote his mother asking for a pair of boots. The soles of his shoes had given away and his feet were partially on the ground. “I have thought my feet would freeze in these low shoes, for they keep no more water out than if I had none. It is folly to think that persons in the army can purchase at any time, anywhere, what they need.”

            At another time he wrote his mother, “ …we had to lie in an open ditch, the rain pouring down, without blankets or a mouthful to eat (and the enemy picking off every man who raised up to stretch his benumbed limbs) for two nights and a day …”

            Walter Clark resigned his commission in 1863 and enrolled at UNC. He graduated a year later, first in his class. He was reading law, although, as he wrote his father, “… I would not be entitled to plead until I am twenty one.” As soon as he graduated in June 1864, he returned to his regiment and continued to serve until he was paroled on May 2, 1865.

After the War

            When Clark returned to Ventosa, there was nothing left. The fields were a wilderness of weed. Federal soldiers had stolen the livestock and burned the mansion to the ground. David Clark’s health was ruined and Walter took over management of Ventosa and Riverside, near New Bern in Craven Co. He became the head of the family at age 18 and managed to rehabilitate Ventosa and keep his family—mother, invalid father and 8 siblings—together.

            In December 1865, at the age of 19, he wrote to the Raleigh Daily Standard: “The picture of abandoned farms, stagnated business, a dejected people and open lawlessness is fearful to contemplate. Gentlemen may go to Raleigh and legislate, but what does their collective wisdom amount to if the plow stands still in the furrow and the anvil rests on its block? …”

            In January, 1867, Walter Clark was admitted to the practice of law in Halifax Co. and opened his office in Scotland Neck. At 21, he was licensed by the Supreme Court. He soon moved his office to Halifax where his practice thrived.

“Miss Sudie”

            “[I] go up to Company Shops [Burlington, Alamance Co.] today for the purpose of seeing Miss Sudie Graham.” This was the start of Clark’s ardent 3 year courtship of “Miss Sudie” Graham. She lived in Hillsboro, Orange Co., far from Halifax, and Clark often told of catching midnight freight trains on his return trips.

            On Jan. 27, 1875, Walter Clark and Susan Washington Graham were married. Clark was a director and general counsel for the Raleigh & Gaston and the Raleigh & Augusta Railroads, and it was more convenient for him to live in Raleigh. The young couple had an inexpensive but comfortable house, and it was there they raised their family of 8—5 boys and 3 girls.

Stock Certificate

LaBarre Galleries:

 http://www.glabarre.com/item/Raleigh_and_Gaston_Railroad_Company/6029/p2

            Clark seemed to have boundless energy and enthusiasm. He and Gov. Holt purchased the Raleigh News, a daily paper which Clark managed for a number of years. He wrote an annotated Clark’s Code of Civil Procedure that was so well done every practicing lawyer had to have a copy. He compiled and edited the State Records of North Carolina (16 vols., 1886-97). He wrote a historical summary of Methodism in NC and represented the Methodist church at a number of national and international conferences. In addition, he found time to help his children with their lessons and take the boys swimming in Crabtree Creek.

Fighting Judge

            Clark was appointed to the Superior Court in 1885 and was elected, in 1889, to the NC Supreme Court where he served until his death in 1924. He was inflexible against all violators of the law. Recognized as a progressive, Clark was an ardent advocate for women, children and minorities. He had conflicts with such powerhouses as the American Tobacco Co. and several railroad companies, including the Atlantic Coast Line. He urged better child labor laws, once denying the right of an employer to plead that a child working with dangerous machinery assumed the risk incident to the employment, and when injured was barred from recovery.

Women’s Rights

            Walter Clark took an avid interest in woman’s suffrage, serving as legal adviser to the North Carolina League of Women Voters. He made his first speech favoring woman suffrage in 1911.

            In 1913, Clark spoke to the Federation of Women’s clubs in New Bern. He said, in part: “…The legal status of women under the common law … was simply that of a slave. A married woman under the common law owned no property, except after the death of her husband. She could make no contracts, not even for necessaries and not even with the consent of her husband. She could not will or devise her property. Upon her marriage the husband and the wife became one—and that one was the husband. He was master, the wife was a nonentity. The moment she married, he became entitled to all her personal property. He was entitled to the rents and profits of her real estate, which he could sell for his lifetime, or it could be sold for his debts. If she died, the husband still possessed the right to the rents and profits of all her realty for the rest of his life, while at his death she received only a child’s part of his personalty [personal property] and a life right, called a dower, in only one-third of his realty. … She could not appoint a guardian for her children, even when she outlived her husband.

            “As to her personal rights, the married woman came under the absolute control of her husband, who could chastise her if he saw fit, provided the chastisement inflicted no permanent injury. The reason given for this by Judge Pearson as late as 1868 was that it was the husband’s duty to ‘make the wife behave herself,’ and if he beat her without good cause it was held that the courts would not punish him, because it was too small a matter to take notice of, unless she was permanently injured. As late as 1868 it was held by our Supreme Court that if a husband whipped his wife with a switch no larger than his thumb he could not be punished.

 "Can this plaintiff discharge that duty when so authorized by an act of the Legislature and commissioned by the Governor? Or is she barred because she is a woman? Under the Constitution of the United States no one is debarred from holding any office from President down because of sex. What provision of the state Constitution will be shattered, and what detriment will the public welfare receive, if by legislative and executive authority a woman shall authenticate a certificate made by herself by impressing the seal upon a piece of paper? If the defendant were a man, he would not be debarred from holding this appointment unless he were an idiot, a lunatic, or a convict."

From a case heard by the NC Supreme Court in 1915

http://docsouth.unc.edu/nc/notaries/notaries.html

            “The first improvement came in 1848 when a statute ‘provided that as to women married thereafter, their real estate could not be sold by the husband nor for his debts.’ In 1868, the new constitution contained a provision that was intended to emancipate married women by providing that ‘a married woman should own her property as fully as if she had remained single; that she might will it, and that she could sell her personalty, but it was still required that she must get the written assent of her husband to convey her realty. This last restriction still holds in this state … .’ Despite the new provision, “the courts placidly proceeded to hold that the earnings from her needle or cooking, or otherwise acquired by her labor should nevertheless become absolutely the property of her husband, and that she could not sue for it.” It was not until 1913 that women were granted the right to their own earnings.

            In 1916, Judge Clark spoke in Greenville, Pitt Co. on the subject of votes for women. He argued, although women could not vote, legally they could hold any state office, as the constitution did not specify that office-holders must be men.

            Walter Clark died on May 20, 1924.

           

[From The Connector, Newsletter of Tar River Connections Genealogy Society: Vol. 12, Number 3: Summer 2008.

Sources: Dictionary of N.C. Biography edited by William S. Powell; “Soldier, Planter, Judge” by Gene Dugan, Ramparts, Summer 1998; http://docsouth.unc.edu/nc/clarkw/bio.html]

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.]

CENTRAL HOTEL---By A. Bellamy,

Warrenton, N. C.

HAVING again taken charge of my old stand in Warrenton, (Warren County, NC), I take this method of informing the public that I am prepared to give comfortable accommodations to all who may patronize me. Considerable repairs have been effected and others are in progress that will enable me to furnish excellent bed-rooms; my table shall be set with as good as the market will afford, and stables supplied with good provender and attended by experienced Ostlers. Thirty  years experience emboldens me to believe that I shall be able to give satisfaction to the public.

ANN BELLAMY.  

   Warrenton, Feb. 20, 1853.

[Semi-Weekly Standard (Raleigh, NC) Mar 2. 1953] 
_________________________

The following was written by Lizzie Montgomery in 1924.

THE BELLAMY HOTEL

“The information I have been able to obtain does not extend further back than 1840, as regards this old hotel. Some people consider it the oldest of all three of the hotels that were open for patronage (in Warrenton) when I was a child. It stood on the corner of Main Street and the cross street running from Main Street to Bragg. It fronted on Main, extending south to an old store building, used as the postoffice before and during the war, when Thomas Reynolds was postmaster. It was built of wood and was very ancient looking. It was quite a large house with upper and lower porches running across the entire front. The stables stood on the north-east corner of the lot, the present site of the town hall. I remember, as a child, that it was in this place that the drovers from Tennessee and Kentucky stabled the large droves of horses and mules when they brought them each spring to sell to the farmers of Warren and adjacent counties.

“In 1842 this hotel was kept by Mrs. Ann Bellamy. Her family consisted of her husband and three sons, George, Tom, and John Bellamy. George died during the war. John never married. He was a graduated physician, but I never remember that he practiced his profession. He was a very handsome man, always well and carefully dressed. He was a lonely man after his mother's death, and died alone in his room, upstairs in the small building used as a photograph gallery, immediately back of Hyman's store, on Main Street.

“Thomas was also a doctor, but, I think, never practiced but kept a drug store. He had a very nice one in one of the front rooms of his mother's hotel for a few years after the Surrender. He moved to Norfolk and married a Miss Grover of that city. They had several children. He returned to Warrenton for a summer in the eighties and took photographs. I have some of the old town houses that are his work.

"In 1842 Mrs. Bellamy's brother, Mr. Mayfield, was killed by her husband, it was said because Mr. Mayfield came to the defence of his sister when her husband was treating her very cruelly. She acted promptly in effecting his escape to Kentucky, by giving him a very good horse from her stable and all the cash money she had. He never made any effort to return. After this tragedy she built the house now owned and occupied by Richard Boyd (to the old people it was the "Cawthorn House") and moved there to live. She was a fine housekeeper and had one of the kindest hearts that ever beat in human breast! She leased the hotel for five years to Captain Peter J. Turnbull and later to H. G. Goodloe, returning to the hotel just before the war. All during that period her house was filled with refugees. She died there in 1868, quite an old woman.

“The Bellamy Hotel was entirely consumed in the great fire of June 21, 1881. On its site was built a plain wooden building called The Phoenix Hotel of two stories, and kept by Mrs. B. F. Long for some years. Stores were also built on the southern part of the old hotel lot.”

[Chapter 7, Sketches of Old Warrenton by Lizzie Wilson Montgomery, 1924.

http://www.ncgenweb.us/ncwarren/warrenton/chap7.htm]

The Etiquette of Visiting Cards

            In the practice of turning card corners, the upper left hand corner denotes "visits," and is used for an ordinary call; the upper right hand corner turned down means "felicitation," and is for a visit of congratulation; the lower left hand corner, "conge," represents a farewell call; and the lower right corner "condolence," expresses a desire to sympathize with bereavement. The rule most generally understood is the turning of one end of the card, which denotes a wish to see the ladies of the family.

 

Found at http://scloho1.blogspot.com/2008_09_07_archive.html

[Taken from the Centennial (Warrenton, NC) 19 May 1876]

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]

Among the Country High Schools

(Excerpts From Principals' Preliminary Reports for the Fall Term, 1913.)

BEAUFORT COUNTY

Principal A. W. Davenport, Pantego High School.

     Library and office room added. Betterment Association has made about $20.00 and bought six new stools, cost $50.00. Prospects are very bright for good year.

BERTIE COUNTY 

Principal J. B. Thorn, Jr., Aulander High School.

     $12,500 worth of bonds voted for a new building to be erected next year.

     Prizes offered for best piece of needle work and also handicraft. Two literary societies. School in a flourishing, prosperous condition

CRAVEN COUNTY

Principal, W. G. Gaston, Dover High School

     We need a dormitory very badly and we expect to have on in the near future. This is a find location for a High School. We have a large field to draw from. With little effort the attendance could be increased 50 per cent., I believe. We have had to turn down numbers, because we have no place for them. Our present capacity is reached. Our school has never been in better shape. There is no finer school community in North Carolina than Dover.

Dover High School, Craven County
Wikimedia Commons
https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Rural_public_high_school,_Dover,_
Craven_County,_NC_(6797187875).jpg

EDGECOMBE

Principal L. L. Hargrave, Battleboro High School.

     Spelling, writing, drawing, nature work, and sight-singing are taught throughout school course. Twelve pupils take typewriting. Physical culture is given free to school.

     Three more recitation rooms have been added this fall, one of which is fitted up for science. Sixty-five dollars has been contributed for apparatus for science classes.

     Within two years the school has about doubled in pupils, has doubled in teachers, and has more than doubled in classrooms. We now have two flourishing literary societies. 

GRANVILLE COUNTY

Principal R. P. Crumpler, Knap of Reeds High School.

     We have a piano and a music department this year.

HALIFAX COUNTY

Principal John T. Cobb, Enfield High School.

     There exists the heartiest co-operation between the school and the community. The Betterment Association is an active factor here and does great good. The trustees have ordered the fourth year to be added to the high school course, making the school run as a four-year high school.

Consolidated School, Halifax County
Taken from Eastern North Carolina Where Prosperity is Perennial INVITES YOU! http://docsouth.unc.edu/nc/ncencyc/ncencyc.html

JOHNSTON COUNTY

Principal S. E. Leonard, Kenly High School.

     School has use of dormitory free. Superintendent rents out rooms, employs a matron and runs a regular boarding house. He either makes or loses as the funds are his and not the school's. Five of the teachers and a number of pupils live in dormitory.

MARTIN COUNTY

Principal W. H. Mizelle, Robersonville High School.

     Since the close of school the latter part of April of this year, our trustees have added to the school building one new room, enlarged two others, tinned the roof of the entire building, painted the walls and ceilings of two rooms, put in seven coal stoves, furnished nicely the one new room, and done considerable general repair work. They have also improved the school ground.

NASH COUNTY

Principal Arnold W. Byrd, Mt. Pleasant High School.

     The dormitory is managed by a matron assisted by the principal and the assistant teachers.

     A Betterment Association has been organized and is doing valuable service for the school. Through its efforts we have secured a school farm.

Principal H. A. Nanney, Red Oak High School.

     The dormitory and mess hall are managed by a matron. Board is given at club rates, or at actual cost. A room rent fee of 50 cents a month is charged each student.

     We will vote on $10,000 worth of bonds Dec. 5 for the erection of a new school building. We hope to establish a Farm Life School next year in connection with the school. (Bond issue carried Dec. 5.

Principal J. I. White, Whitakers High School.

     Organized two literary societies, one for each sex. Have an excellent reading room. Increased our library. A very live Betterment Association, which employs and pays a music teacher. Attendance good. The first month we did not have any tardies and only seven absentees. Only eleven tardies last month.

Consolidated School, Nash County
 Taken from Eastern North Carolina Where Prosperity is Perennial INVITES YOU!
 http://docsouth.unc.edu/nc/ncencyc/ncencyc.html

PERSON COUNTY

Mrs. J. A. Beam, Principal, Bethel Hill High School.

       We have had some work done on our building and have put in  some equipment, but we greatly need a dormitory. We could easily double our attendance if we had it.Several boarders are scattered through the neighborhood now.

Miss Allene Patton, Principal, Bushy Fork High School.

       The school building was painted during the summer.

WAKE COUNTY

Principal T. E. Story, Bay Leaf High School.

     The dormitory is run by Mr. H. P. Thompson, one of the trustees. The dormitory alone just cost $1,750, but the lot (4 1-2 Acres) and a storehouse that is on it all cost $2,750.

Principal M. B. Dry, Cary High School.

     Boys pay matron of boys dormitory $9.00 a month for table board, and they pay the school $1.50 for room rent. Girls pay $8.25 for table board and $1.75 a month for room rent in the girls’ dormitory.      We are putting up a new school building, which, together with the dormitories, will cost $33,000. The old school building will be converted into 40 rooms for dormitories for boys. We are now paying rent on the girls’ dormitory, but we are going to buy it and enlarge it so as to accommodate 60 or more girls.

     We have bored a 200-foot well on the campus which will furnish 20 or more gallons of water per minute.

WARREN COUNTY

Principal E. P. Dixon, Wise High School.

     We have a hotel here for dormitory, but we are not using it. We started to open it, but the county took the appropriation from us so we could not secure another high school teacher. We let it stop. The County Board promises to give us the appropriation this year. What will be done I do not know.

WILSON COUNTY

Principal C. O. Armstrong, Bock Ridge High School.

     We are now converting old school building into dormitory. A part of fund raised by private subscription, and for remainder an application was filed for a loan.

[Taken from The North Carolina High School Bulletin, Volume 5: edited by Nathan Wilson Walker. January 1, 1914: University of North Carolina]