Newspapers / The News-Herald (Ahoskie, N.C.) / Aug. 17, 1939, edition 1 / Page 11
Part of The News-Herald (Ahoskie, N.C.) / About this page
This page has errors
The date, title, or page description is wrong
This page has harmful content
This page contains sensitive or offensive material
^STORICAL EDITION HERTF.OE IN. C. PAGE -H—COVER i .istory e Early Life Hn The Town Of Ahoskie^ North CarolMff (Contimie-cl from page 2) a small frame strncnive. l)uilt by Postmaster Copeland on Avhar is nou' r.ast ISlain street, at the location of the E. J. Gerock store building. Records of the Postoflice Department at \V\ashin,;t.in rlo not reveal any salary figures for tlie first fe\v ' years the governmem. wcni in business at Ahoskie. I'he first year for tvhich figures are available, fiscal year ending June 30, 1893, the job paid Mr, Copeland enough for him to j)ay the expenses rtf a household that ^vas fast filling up tviili boys and girls, who were later to play a leading role in the life of the lotvn and tvhose interlocking families even to day ronfribute no small jioriion of Ahoskic’s population. At. any rale, Postmaster Copeland didn’t leave his farm and bring bis family with him to liie new town until 3 years after he was ■lamed to his ]x)stal job. fie tvas the totrn's first commuter as 'vcl! as its first po,stma,stcr, going back and forth Irom com- lination store-posuifficc to his farm, and oj^crating all three )f them. In 1892 he bought uj) more of the fieldsj^iund his little t(.wn lot and awarded a contract for a 3-stiPffesidence to the town’s new contractor from down in Bertie County. J. R. (iarretL built the house: time, "a week or so”, according to older residents tvho still tell tall tales about the s^viftness of buii”'v Garrett. The Coj^eland family mo^•ed to totvii the same year, and o])encd their large three-story home on C;hurch Street, opposite the present day \vhoIesale house of VV. II. Basnight k: Company. Another business -was added to the three in wiiich the Copelands already engaged—a rooming atid boarding house. Tims, the Copeland family produced another “first” for .Ahoskie. The mother in the itome was lamed for her management of this end of the family l)iisiness, and there was no lack of patronage during the years she ruled as molhci', manager, and delightful entertainer for her grow ing family of son.s, daughters, in-laws, and rooming-boarding guests. She was an energetic, jolly tvoman, in striking con trast to the quiet dignity of Postmaster Coj>eland, viio could sit as erect as a pole and iic\'er lose his stance, nor his dignity, ' as his sleek steed galloped uj) and down roads and through the iorcsts as he and his compiinions followed the dogs on their fox trails. He teas a lover of that .sport, which was at its height of popularity during his earlier married days; and. in fact, he re mained a good fox hunter until a fetv years belore his death, es’en after he had accjuiicd his sleek head of grav. Alter his retirement from the jjostoffee. he continued to operate iiis farm on the Winion road, built brick business houses on the Knvn lots he had purchased, entered the mercantile business; served as mayor, town commissioner, school trustee, justice of the peace, notar)’ public, tax assessor, and tvas counselor to his i'amilv and frieiids—white and colored—until he died. He was a member of all .Mioskie organizations and entered all phases of its lile. with one notable exception. f-Ie kept his church affiliation at Union daring all the years. He was a I>aj)tist, thougli his forbears tvere de^■out Friends. farm lands and forests, with ancestral homes that are still standing today. The Jenkins home is located farthest from the present day totrn and has never been in.side the totvn’s in corporated limits. The Mitchell home was and is still near the center of the town; and the Haves home tvas brought into fhc incorporation in 1917, when the limits tverc extended l)c- )’ond the original Itointdaries of the incorjaorated town. Today, tlicse homes are still owned and occupied by off springs of the original families. The Mitchell residence is the home of the widow of the late Dr. J. IT. Mitchell. Mrs. Lila freeman Fiey Alirchcll., wiio exercised the right of dower on this portion of the estate at the death of Dr. Mitchell. Mrs. Miicheil, the daughter of (he late James and Mollie Freeman, A PIONEER RESIDENT OF THE TOWN OF AHOSKIE JAMES CADMUS JENKINS, son of William C, and Nannie Hayes Jenkins, was born at Ahoskie, December 18, 1860, and ha,s lived here continuously ever since. He was married to Fannie M. Griffith in 1834, and soon thereafter built his first home in what is now Ahoskie, until that time living at the Jen kins plantation just south of town, -ater in life, he constructed’ an other town residence on Church Street, the home now belonging to his grandson, Louis M. Curtis. After the death of his first wife, V Jenkins married Miss Mary raig, in 1909; and, except for a rief residence near Aulander, tiiey have lived in town and on .e Jenkins farm since that time, -here are two daughters by the first marriage: Mrs. Raye Curtis, Washington, D. C., and Mrs. Doris C. Heckstall, Windsor, N. C. Mrs. Willard Turnage, of Lumberton, N. C., is the only child by the sec ond marriage. Mr, Jenkins received his school ing at the old'Aulander Aca4emy. Ke has spent a lifetime in farming pursuits, having taken over the ancestral place when a young man and directing its affairs continu- r.u.siy until loday. In the meantime, he has also engaged in the horse and mule calcs business. He Is a Fresbyterian, and attends services regularly at that church, ,nc ground for which was given by fiis forebears to the Baptist de- .;cr.ii;:atior.. He has attended services in the church since he was old enough to accompany his parents to it. A lover of sports and a genial companion to every generation since Ahoskie became a town, he is himself a wizard at the grand old game of checkers. Chapter III THE M AKINGS OF A TOWN Jaiiuar)’ 1. 1890, the new town had a railroad and a post- ^ office, but fetv persons. Perhaps the census tvould have counted ,|o to 50 tvithin tiie radius of the incorjioration that was to come 3 )’c.ars later. In the years preceding the acquisi tion of jxistal ;ind rail (acilities, practically all ol the land on ■which tlie Ahoskie of 1939 is built tvas otvned by three fam- ' -in ! WAYLAND HAYES Son of Richard Hayes LULA HAYES (Mrs. C. W. Gaither) Daughter of Richard Hayes ilies, natives to this area, which was the junction of roads con necting the then existing towns of Hertford and Bertie coun ties. The three tracts of land -were otvned by the Mitchells, Jenkinses and Hayes, and each contained a large acreage ol HAYES DESCENDANTS Left to right: Vernon H. Garrett, Mrs. Nina Hayes Rogers, and Ella Mae Garrett. I first married John Kiev, in 1889; and, after her first husband’s I deailn liecamc the wife of Dr. Mitchell, in 1905. The Jenkins home place is otvned by J. C. (Cad) Jenkins and is occupied by him and Itis family. He is the son of the late '\V. C. and Xannie Hayes Jenkins, the latter a member of the Hayes fam ily. The Jenkins land came down by descent to Nannie Hayes from the identical' family that settled the 'West and I North edge of the totvn. The Jenkins tract at that time the I postoflice was first e.stablished in Ahoskie included all but a [small slice of land on the South and Fast ends of town: em- i bracing the present J. C. Jenkins farm, and all of the build- ! ings of the heirs of the late J. R. Garrett. The family of the 'late James P. Brett own and occupy one tract of the ori- jginal Hayes land; the remaining portion of the other Hayes ! tract is owned and occupied by Ernest Hayes, a grandson of Re\-. Tiios. \\h'iglir Hayes, Methodist minister tvho moved here from Gates County and solved the seed that later re sulted in tlie organization of a Methodist Episcopal Church at Ahoskie years later. Thomas Wh'ight Hayes, the Methodist preacher, came over to Hertford County from the Reynoldson section of Gates County in 1830, and married a young tvidow who be fore her first marriage tvas Nancy Jernigan, a daughter of Miles H. Jernigan, grandfather of the late Thomas R. Jerni gan, Cpjisu! to Japan and China during Cleveland’s ad- .rftuTrrstration. H. Jernigan, Ahoskic’s present day postmaster). Ttvo of the .sons of the union between Thomas Wright Hayes and Nancy Jernigan, Thos. C. and Richard A., later became owners of the original home tract by inheritance and purchase from the A FIRST CITIZEN OF AHOSKIE ERNEST HAYES, was borti'in 1875 before there was such a place as Ahoskie, in a home that sat on the same gi'ound where his present residence stands, corner McGlohon and First streets. His parents were Richard and Ella Hayes. He received his education in the two-room schoolhouse that sat back of the old Baptist Church. (See cover page.) In 1902 he married Miss Vera Curtis, daughter of Rev. and Mrs L, M. Curtis, who came to Ahos kie in 1901. There are two chil dren, both living in Ahoskie: Mrs Fred Miller and Alton Hayes. Mr, Hayes’ entire life has been spent in Ahoskie, and most of it since becoming of age has been devoted to mercantile and farm ing pursuits, in both of which he is at present engaged. Mrs. Haye.'- iied in 1932. He is a member of the Metho dist Church, being the grandson oi the Rev. Thomas "Wright Hayes, a teacher and Methodist minister that came to Hertford Countj from Reynoldson, Gates County in 1930. His parents died when he was a young man and he and his sisters were roared in the homes of other members of the family. He still owns a portion of the old Hayes farm, much of which has been divided into town lots and sold off as the Town of Ahoskie developed its larg est residential area in that vicinity. He has several times served as a member of the board of com missioners of the Town of Ahoskie. JACK VANN One of the sons of the daughter of Luke McGlohon, whose home place later became the Mitchell property. deuce was built on the .same ground. The tivo sons—Ridtarcl and Tom Hayes—married three of the Montgomery sisters, daughters of a family long promin ent in the affairs of this county but tvhose direct descendants no longer live here. Thomas married Fannie G., and Richard was twice married, liisi to Ella and then 10 01i\c. Ella Hayes, sister of Richard and T'homas, married R. S. Baker, and settled in Ahoskie. Other children of •Stomas WTiglit Hayes left to make their homes in other places early in life. The children of Richard Hayes were: by his first mar riage, Ernest of Ahoskie. and Mrs. C. W. Gaither of Hertford, N. C.; by his second marriage, Nina {W. ^V.) Rogers of Ahos kie, and Bertha of Elizabetli City. There tvere three cluldren Dr. Jesse H. Mitchell and wife, Rosa Montgomery, mother of his children. born to the family of Thomas Hayes; a son. Ralph, tvho died early in life. Alpha Glenn who later married A. E. Garrett and noiv lives in Potvellsville, N. C.. and Stella 1.., the widow of the late James P. Brett of Ahoskie. The lands inherited and purchased from the other heirs by the two Hayes broth- ers—Tom and Dick—have been at various limes subdivided and portions of it sold off for re.sidential areas of the develop ing Ahoskie, though a con.siderable body of it still remains in the hands of their direct descendants, Ernest, a son of Dick, and J. Hayes Brett, gTand.son of Tom, both of tvhom today cultivate acres of their tracts as farm land despite the encroach ment of a totvn tvhich has taken practically all of the original farm within tlir^rrcorjxaratioiT. ’ ' ‘‘ The Jenkin.s land luis only j)artially been taken into oavn, bm that portion of it sold to J. R. Garrett is largely within the incorporation, ^vith sections of it developed into i'esidential areas and otiier acres still under cultivation as farm lands. J. C. (Gad) Jenkins still otvns the original tract ind lives at the old home place, a few hundred yards south of he town limits. The parents of J. C. Jenkins were W. C. and 'fancy Hayes (daughter of Thomas \VTigiit Hayes) Jenkins, md their original holdings include other property on the ■astern outskirts of the to^vn, part of it being the land on v'hidt the first Ahoskie Bajitist church (notv Presbyterian hurch jtropertv) tvas built and the larm land owned by G. R. Ddom and others on the Ahoskie-Potrellsville higlnray. The Jenkins family had sold off the latter tracts before the begin- ings of the totvn ' ■a-^irmg-Tt'.'\‘G.—]. Mitchell settled there after^m^narriage o Sallie \'ann. the daughter of the late John A. Vann of vVinton. The Mitchell family lived there until the early g2o’s when they moved to Buckhorn, Virginia. The other Mitchell proj^erty at the We.st end of totrn, ay in a most favored position tvhen Ahoskie tvas born. Much )t the totvn is built on the land and present day members of he family still otvii and control large and valuable portions if it. Dr. George ^V. Mitchell, son of the late Dv. Jesse H. COLONEL GEO. H. MITCHELL Father of Dr. J. H. Mitchell and J. Arthur Mitchell D. P. (PERCY) BAKER ■ An early Ahoskie merchant other heirs. There were too acres, and it was divided into 45 and 55-acre tracts. Richard Hayes taking over the former and Thomas Hayes the latter, tvhich included the original home site, now owned by J. Hayes Brett, a great-great-grandson of Miles 11. Jernigan. Richard Flayes erected a home on his tract, located on tlie spot w'here his son, Ernest Flayes now li\'es. 1 he house tvas burned years later and the present resi- Mitchell, gives tlie following background of the totvn and the Mitchell interests: \ Ahoskie, located principally ^ the Luke McGlohon farm, is bounded on the South by Ahoskie Swamp, on the west by the lands formerly belonging to Thos. Jenkins and Jim Jenkins, on the North by lands belonging to Richari^ and Thomas Hayes, on the East by lands belonging to Bill and Cad Jenkins . . . The Luke Mc Glohon farm, which was left in a division of the Luke McGlohon holdings to his daughter, who had married the father of Tom and Jack Vann and after his death became the wife of George H. Mitchell. The latter, familiarly known as ‘'Colonel” Mitchell, had previously married a sister of Mrs. Vann, and to that union several children were born, among them Dr. Jesse H. Mitchell. Of several children born to the union with Mrs. Vann, J. Arthur Mitchell was the only one to survive. On the death ofthe second Mrs. Geo. H. Mitchell (mother of the Vann boys. Jack and Tom), the Vann boys decided to sell their interest in the Luke McGlohon farm. Dr. J. II. Mitchell, who had meanwhile married Miss Rosa H. Mont gomery, purchased a five-twelfths interest in the farm, Colonel Geo. H. Mitchell a one-fourth interest, and J. Arthur Mitchell re tained his one-third interesl. From this time on Dr. Jes.sp IT. Mil- cJioIl rented the entire farm and made the present home his re sidence. The ownership of the farm continud the same after the purchase of the Vann boys' interest until the death of Geo. H. Mitchell, when a division was made giving J. Arthur Mitchell that portion on the east side of the railroad and Dr. J. H. Mitchell the maining part, on the west side of the railroad. Dr. Jc.ssc H. Mitchell gave the following brief account df his early life: “My father bronghl me I'lere when I was be- Ltveen five and six years old, in 1864. I wa.s born in St. Johns.^ .six miles from here. I suivcd here until 1877 and tvent off toJ school to .study medicine; after coming back, located in Beniel Goun:) iov \ .sliort iinic ;u!d have been Iiere regularly eveM since.” Hi.s h.alf-brothc.-,, J. Artliur Mitchell, has spent h^ entire life here, except for a few years at Winton, and.stT lives in the home that wa.s built in the early iSgo’s. He mar ried Mi.ss X'e’dc -k.skc'w, o!' Bertie Countv, June 14, 1892. The iollotving children of that union are living; Jesse L.ayton, C. A. I,., Theo, Mrs. \V. C. O’Briant, and Isie, all of Alioski^^ ,aiui L. .Mitchell m'' Potecasi. The children of I .Milt iiell have, witii the sole exception of the younges ^ iJr. (0:0. \V. Mitchell, who lia-es in 'Wilson, N. C., spent'their .ives here, ar;d each ha.s -married and reared families in the t'wvn on the jxircels of land that helped to form the old Luke -McGlohon farm. The cliildren, all by the first wife of Dr. J. H. Mitdiell—Miss Rosa Montgomery—arc: IJoyd M., Dr. Paul H., and Carl, of Ahoskie; and Dr. (feo. \\\ Mitchell, IFilson. I'rom these, then—the Mitchells, the Hayes, the Jenkinses —came the makings of the town of Ahoskie. There Were others living on adjoining farms tvho migrated later and joined tvith these pioneer families in building a toavn. Chapter IV GETTING A TOWN STARTED ¥ ON(f before there tvas any olficial recognition of Ahoskie as a lotvn fiHSg), .schooLs had been operating in and near the lotvn site. Doctor J. 11. .Mitchell maintained a private school near the front gate of the Mitchell plantation, and an old poplar tree still standing just inside the front drive to the home, on West Church street, marks the spot tvhere the school chiildren of that day played. Miss Emma Notvell tvas the teacher. Tiie school was supported by Dr. Mitchell and by tuition charges paid by the cliildren of other families on ad jacent plantations. There tvere other small schools located within short distances of tiie jirescnt totvn, each supplying the need of small areas, restricted in size because of lack of trans- Pioneer Merchant V. FI.ETCHER •POWELT. dnilLrUpH retail row in AhosSfie. It was he"* who started the process of bring ing outside capital into town for the purpose of building a “metro polis” out of the crossroads vil lage; and he exceeded his fondest dreams in accomplishing that end. He left Ahoskie years ago for Nor- olk, Va., where he died in 1932. Years after he left Ahoskie, he showed some more of than burning energy of his by forsaking the re tail business for a fling at univer sity trr'.ing—he went to school and graduated in optometry at Philadelphia, Pa.; and practiced that profession until FLia-.ytirfj'a««r'stin "liGes in Norfol| and his children reside at sevf points in Washington, Virgir 9 and iNorth Carolina. (See Early History cf Ahoskie in this edition. Other facts in the book, The Ahos-.. kie Era of Hertford County). portation facilities. The first public school in the totvn o£ Mioskie tvas built on jiropcrty adjoining the Baptist dinrcIi.^Q\j ft tvas a ttvo-room building, and today is serving as kitchen andUfl dining room for the granddaughter of “Lhicle” Isaac Netv- ] some, colored, an early settler. Early teachers in this school , tvere Mi.s,s Nannie Wilson and Miss Cota Stanwood. They taught the children of the first residents of the •official ' .'Vhoskie. ’i'oung Cad (J. G.) Jenkins, to whom had been left thi :staie of his late parents, seeking to free the jiroperty of lieW leld by Norfolk, 'Virginia? cotton factors, raised funds for tha jurpose by selling the timber rights on the Jenkins plantation o 'W'right PotVL.i, a Potvellsaille sarvmill ojierator. Powe^i .rcctcd a mill on the projicrty, on a spot within a few van'll of the ]>resent residence of the late J. R. Garrett, in i88h,^ earlier than thi.s, a gin and saavinill h;id been operated on the Luke McGlohon jilace somewhere near the intersection of Church and Mitchell streets. On the very eve of Ahoskic’s coming into official being, major caiastroiilie hapjicned to the Powell mill. In the early lart of 1888, the mill (loiler blew up, killed the liremai^ t'’ork Sessoms, burned the eyes of the o^vner, Pou^ell until he ost his eyesight, and severely burned Watt Holloman. Mack .\skew, a colored helper, tvas also slightly injured. It meant the end of the sawmill business for Wright Potvell; his eye sight gone and his mill v;rcckccl. It is recalled by J. C. Jen kins that he tvas lielping to haul logs from his plar the day the mill was blasted; and the dead and iijf removed to his home, tvhere they were given t Jesse Mitchell. At the time the mill explosion occuii operator—Fletcher Powell—tvas a ci^ W. W. Cockey, a large mercantile cj and Whaleyville, Va. On a visit ll ruins and to see his family, young of rebuilding the tvreck and expan| I (Continued on pal
The News-Herald (Ahoskie, N.C.)
Standardized title groups preceding, succeeding, and alternate titles together.
Aug. 17, 1939, edition 1
11
Click "Submit" to request a review of this page. NCDHC staff will check .
0 / 75