Newspapers / The News-Herald (Ahoskie, N.C.) / Jan. 1, 1959, edition 1 / Page 90
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PAGE 4—THE HERALD. Ahoski©. N. C.—MILESTONE YEAR 1959 DRAWING OF FIRST FERGUSON PEANUT PICKER. DONE BY INVENTOR'S GRANDDAUGHTER, NANCY FERGUSON Ferguson, Bentholl Were Inventors: Peanut Picker Is Hertford First MURFREESBORO — It was a case of minds running in the same channel which produced an improvement of the age-old sys tem of picking peanuts by hand. Two men with similar ideas worked to adapt the simple prin ciple into a machine, but one got the jump on the other. It is coincidental that J. T. Benthall and Fenton Finley Fer guson, who invented the first peanut pickers, should both have been residents of Hertford. It was Benthall, who farmed near Mapleton, who first perfect ed his machine in 1904. He was followed closely in 1905 by Ferguson, who had been born in Maney’s Neck township and was living in Murfreesboro at the time. Benthall’s idea, it appears, was not original, but his adaptation of it to a machine was resourceful., The tale goes that Benthall liad watched a Negro named Ben Hicks, who could outpick fellow workers any day. Hicks stretched a piece of chicken wire across a box, took a handful of peanut vines and placed them on the wire so the peanuts fell through the mesh. A jerk diagonally upward parted vines from nuts, which were caught in the box. Benthall designed a horse-driv en machine in 1904 which would do this same work.—run the vines over a conveyor, shaking them so that peanuts would drop down to be caught. The first Benthall pickers were fashioned at Mapleton, probably in a blacksmith shop. Later parts were manufactured and assembled in ^Norfolk and Richmond. In 1906, however, Benthall es tablished his own company, the Benthall Machine Company, in Suffolk, center of the peanut world, and moved his home to Norfolk. Several Changes The firm has passed through a number of changes of ownership and management since then, and Benthall himself died in 1937. But Benthall peanut pickers rank today as one of the most-used ma chines on the market, A new idea, the peanut combine, was started experimentally in 1950 and grew to be 60 per cent of the company’s output last year. Fenton Ferguson was a farmer with a mechanical bent, who lov ed to invent things. Raised on the family farm in Hertford County a few miles from the Virginia line, Ferguson was 12 years old when the Civil War began. After marriage to Callie Worrell in 1869, they mov ed to her home near Newsoms, Va., where they became the par ents of eight children. Ferguson spent spare hours on the farm working on a guano sower, which he completed in 1875, and a few years later in vented a peanut planter. In 1887 when he was 38, Fergu son opened a little machine shop on William Street in Murfrees boro. It was there that he invent ed the combination fertilizer sower and cultivator, the first machine to cultivate both sides of a row at once. This invention was patented and put into production in Mur freesboro about 1892, and has made the Ferguson name famous. An outstanding farmer, Fergu son was often asked for advice by farmers in the county. His interest in improved agri cultural methods led to the in vention of his one-cylinder type peanut picker in 1905. In 1910, the Ferguson Manufac turing Company was established in Suffolk by Ferguson, his sons W. C. and E. C., and his son-in- law, T. H. Debnam. The Fergu son picker was manufactured there from 1912 until 1927. Many Inventions Small, household inventions were made by Fenton Ferguson in his own machine shop, but were never put into production. For his big family, he designed one of the earliest round “lazy susan” tables, with a stationary top and revolving top tier so each person could serve himself. Butter churns, a washing ma chine, a posthole digger and overhead table fly fan (operated See FERGUSON. Page 5 GREEN means GO GREENE means INSURANCE Both Green and Greene mean SAFETY. You can play safe when you wait for the green light and you play safe when you INSURE with Bill Greene. Your protection is uppermost in our mind . . . protection now and protection for the future . . . yours and your family's. See us for your insurance needs, we want to help you. Insurance of All Kinds GREENE INSURANCE AGENCY 202 W. Main AHOSKIE, N. C. Phone 2871 Since September 1, 1919 it has been our privilege and our business to serve the citizens of the Roanoke-Cbowan THIS YEAR WE CELEBRATE OUR 40 TH ANNIVERSARY We Join Our Neighbors in Celebrating the 200th ANNIVERSARY of HERTFORD COUNTY Many changes have taken place in our county during the past 40 years . . . many changes have taken place in our company since 1919 also. We' have grown together ... the economy of our county has grown and our facilities have been constantly improved in order to offer the best of serv ice to our fellow citizens. We appreciate the patronage and confidence of the people of this area through the years . . . THANK YOU I Barnes^Sciwyei' Srocer^ Ahoskie, North Carolina
The News-Herald (Ahoskie, N.C.)
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Jan. 1, 1959, edition 1
90
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