The Trip Home

Levi Pigott was born in Beaufort, Carteret County, N. C. on April 21, 1831. His father was a shipbuilder and a sailor.
Levi became a preacher in the Methodist Episcopal Church, South. He traveled from N.C. to Kentucky and Arkansas, back to North Carolina and to Virginia. The following story is taken from his book about his life and describes a journey from Arkansas to Beaufort, North Carolina about 1870:

"While in Arkansas, I learned of the critical illness of my mother in Beaufort, N. C., and I at once started for home. There were no public conveyances of any kind, and wagons and mules were scarce; but we obtained one to take our beds and baggage, and, there being no room for us to ride, we went in company with others who were carrying their cotton to market, to the town of Camden, Arkansas, twenty miles distant, from which town we were to take a steamer down the Onchita.

"On the road to Camden it began to rain. My son and I had to walk about ten miles over this road, which was undulating and of red clay, making it bad for pedestrians like us; and my wife had to ride lying flat on the top of a cotton bale, which was under cover, the old-time way of traveling, and it was an extremely rough ride.

"My son and I were soaking wet; but on reaching Camden we found a ''Jewel" —the presiding elder of the district, and a Jewel by both name and nature—who received us very cordially and entertained us all night right royally with brotherly love and affection.

"Well, we lodged with Brother Jewel that night, and next day took a steamer down the Onchita river; then into the Black river; then into the Bed river; next into the Mississippi; thence to New Orleans, a distance of eight hundred miles. It took us four days to make the trip, having to stop at many landings to take on cotton, until we had nine hundred bales.

"We arrived at New Orleans about daylight, and remained until five o'clock that evening. As we passed through the city on the train we saw many oranges growing in the yards. At the same time snow was falling fast in large flakes; and the snow falling and the oranges growing seemed to be a contradiction; but so it was.

"From New Orleans we went on to Mobile, Alabama, traveling over some long trestles — one was twenty-five or thirty miles, if I recollect rightly — across the bays that made in from the Gulf of Mexico.

"We arrived home safe and found my dear, precious mother in bed; but she was so overjoyed at seeing us that she got up and never was sick after that until her death sickness — about five vears afterwards."

[Taken from Scenes and incidents in the life of a home missionary by Levi Woodbury Pigott: 1901. The entire book can be found at http://openlibrary.org/]

AVIATOR FORCED TO STOP

AT BATTLEBORO

Young Airman From Langley Field

On Way To Wilson [in 1919]

A flying lieutenant from Langley Field, Va., whose name has not been learned, was forced to land in a corn field on the farm of Mr. W. B. Phillips, near Battleboro [Nash/Edgecombe Co., N. C.], Saturday afternoon, because of engine trouble. The airman and a fellow aviator in another plane were on their way from Langley Field to Wilson [Wilson Co., N. C.]. In making the landing the plane was slightly damaged, but the lieutenant escaped injury. The other airman proceeded to Wilson after ascertaining his comrade was not hurt, making the trip to the Wilson county capital safely.

Unknown airplane that crashed into a tree.

The two airmen followed the Norfolk division tracks from Langley Field to Rocky Mount. When they reached the city they took the wrong course, following the northbound tracks of the ACL [Atlantic Coast Line] instead of going south to Wilson. As the two flyers passed over the city headed north they created much excitement, large crowds watching them. When they had proceeded as far as Enfield [Halifax Co., N. C.] they realized they were going in the wrong direction and turned back. When they neared Battleboro engine trouble developed in one plant and the aviator was forced to make the landing. The other airman circled about until he got the signal that all was well, and then proceeded on to Wilson. He passed over the city late Saturday afternoon.

The damaged airplane was packed on a wagon this morning and taken to the station at Battleboro to be shipped to Norfolk and then to Langley Field. The aviator will probably accompany the plane back to the great U.S. army flying base.

Mule and wagon in downtown Battleboro. Date unknown.

Many people from the city went to Mr. Phillips' farm yesterday to see the plane, but because permission for trespassing was refused they were disappointed.

[Rocky Mount Evening Telegram, 7/14/1919. Published in The Connector, newsletter of the Tar River Connections Genealogical Society in the Fall 2006 issue.]

W. A. Parvin

A Steamship Captain

"We are informed that the Steamer Greenville, on her trip on the river, on Friday last, struck what seemed to be a log, but which afterwards proved to be a sturgeon, cutting him in two about three feet from the tail. Capt. [W. A.] Parvin, of the R. L. Myers, which went up behind the Greenville, discovered the fish floating head down and spouting blood from the stump of his tail. With the aid of cotton hooks …, the crew secured the prize and enjoyed fresh sturgeon the remainder of the trip."

The steamship R. L. Myers and her captain, W. A. Parvin, were frequently mentioned in the Eastern Reflector, a Greenville, Pitt Co., N. C. paper. Capt. Parvin sailed on several steamships. On 10/9/1889, the Reflector said: We were glad to shake hands with Capt. Bill Parvin the other day. It sounds like old times to hear the chime of his steamer, the Beaufort on the Tar [River] again. He is a clever captain." Later, on 11/27/1889: "Capt. W. A. Parvin of the Str. Beaufort sent us four cotton blossoms Monday. Very late for blooms, it strikes us, but there is no telling what our eastern section can bring forth."

On May 23, 1894, the following news: "The steamer Myers is on the ways at Washington [Beaufort Co., NC] undergoing her annual overhauling and repainting, and the steamer Greenville is making her trips. Capt. Bill Parvin, the veteran Master, is in charge with his fund of good humor and courteousness as exhaustless as ever."



R. L. Myers


The following story about Capt. Parvin appeared in the Reflector on 6/6/1894.

"Three Weigh 584

Capt. Bill Parvin, master of the steamer Myers, was whiling away some leisure time around the depot the other evening waiting for the train to come in. He had two of his little (?) boys along with him, and just for the fun of the thing, they tried the scales standing on the platform. The youngest, Dave, only reaches up in the neighborhood of 6 feet 2 and had just sufficiently recovered from a spell of sickness to return to work, but all the same he pushed the pointer down to 179 pounds. Young Bill is not so much for height, being hardly more than 5 feet 10, but when he stepped on the scales, the pointer wheeled around to 240 pounds and stayed there until he got off. The captain himself might not be called more than an average man in either height or weight, but he pulled down 165 pounds, which isn't any sorry summer figure. It's not an every day occurrence that you just happen to run up with three members of one family whose combined summer weight is 584 pounds. The Captain says some of the girls are almost as good at weighing as those boys."

Finally, 11/7/1889: "The Old Dominion S. S. Co. now requires all the officers in their passenger service to wear uniform. Capt. W. A. Parvin, the clever commander of the steamer Myers, was up town today for the first time in uniform, and his host of friends were greeting him with a regular Admiral's salute. The sleeves of the Captain's coat are ornamented with five gold stripes, each stripe indicating five years' service, showing that he has been in the continuous service of the Old Dominion Co. for a quarter of a century. Mr. Carty, engineer of the Myers also had five stripes on his sleeve, having been at his post twenty-five years."

[These Eastern Reflector articles were collected by Beverly Cole Parvin. The article was published in The Connector, newsletter of the Tar River Connections Genealogical Society, in the Fall 2006 issue.The picture of the R.L. Myers was furnished to The Connector by Harry Moore.]