PAGE TWO
SOME HISTORY OF THE
ROCK HOUSE IN STOKES
,Wa* Probably Most Magnificent Colonial House
In Western North Carolina —Erected By Col.
John Martin About Year 1770.
A few mile.* north of Quaker
Gap t® the west of Highway
No. 661 is the ruin of the once,
most magnificent colonial home
in western North Carolina and
which during the period cover
ed by the stirnnf daTs when
our great country was found
ed, was the social and political
center of a ten it orv nearly as
large as the whole state. This
house was really four stories
hivrh with an immense dining
room in the basement, filled
with historic china and silver
plate from early days of Eng
igh history, and in its wide
expanse many gay hours were
passed in tripping the stately
minuet. The building was
erected of native stone gather
ed in the neighborhood, over
two feet thick, and much of j
woodwork was hand riven
black walnut. The house was
on an imminence from;
which magniiiu nt views of
the Wlv.e Wall. Moore's Knob.
Hanging Rock. th Tories Den I
had. and the stone porch
with huge i illars faced thi>
panorama, toward the South.
This fast decaying ruin,
which must soon be restored
. r it will be lost to posterity,
is tht most substantial colon
ial remnant of the history of
the thousands of the Martin
family in America, and a fam
ily which wrought large in
establishing our country. A
glimpse of their history is in-
Vivsting.
The first to gain notoriety
in history was the son of Ro
man military tribune stationed
in Hungary, born '516 A. !>..
who became a convert to
Christianity and became a
great and good man. and when
the Pope wanted to set him up
as a Bishop he hid himselt
away in the forests. Later
Pope Martin 65t A. L)., named
him as a patron saint and in
stituted the festival of St.
Martin, which is observed on
November 11th by drinking
wine and eating roast goose.
Martin De Tours, came from
Normandy to England with;
William the Conqueror. Hei
was created a baron and heads!
the English family of Martins i
from which all the American
family came. Many of the
famiy have been Lords in tho
British Empire and remain
prominent to the present time.
Sir William Martin founded
the city of New Castle, Eng
land, and married a daughter
Art the wheel you will learn
something n in
fine car
. _ , „ . Scores nl motorists fiwh from examining and riding
In Baying . llud«m fa (h . |>(e- tnd the day Hudson
sJr™ w2Z, Do/- lh,: "P"*™ P° rio,mer their
lon a Car! You will rind this Hvdeon smooth, fast, peliable, bril
,. liant. Its fuel economy is unequalled in cars of ito
£ ■ fl* ij weight and powor.
~ But for the story of what Hudson will do that yon
A"* l> U P wouW not ask other cars to do will you pleas® take
All prkxtf. O. b. Detroit the wheel for any lest you desipe?
Buyers can pay for ears out of income at lowest available charge
for inter est. handling and insurant*.
PEPPER BROS.,
Dealers
DANBURY, - - N. C
r of the Prince of Wales, and
r Col. "Jack" Martin of Rock
, House, Stokes county decends
; directly from him. He was a
1 ' son of Joseph Martin, of Albe
- i marie County, Va.. who was
i ; sent here on a trading mission
- by his father Wm. Martin, of
I Bristol, England, to keep him
; from marrying a girl he did no l
; like in England. While here
;I he married Suzanna Chiles,
• j daughter of a prominent set-
I tier and remained.
Sir Oliver Martjn. brother
•I of Sir William Martin, accom
panied King Henry 11 in hi
conquest of Ireland in 1165 A
I)., and he remained and mar-
I. .'• :^sttrf^K^m t ,' i -' f wPST^y?^ft
m mm&Bm. | ®SggJ3j?^ i v^^' •■
"* > *•' ' " ""' : "'' " w, ' : ''' Jg:
li.,'.- *-
I>'- , i|[gKE :
\ •; l^lllll
ried in Ireland. and he is the
ancestor tf the other branch
of the Martin family in Amer
ica who defended through liev.
Hu>rh Martin and Jane Martin,
his wife, who came to New
Jersey and settled and their
two sons, Alexander Martin
and James Martin, who came
South 1750, Alexander settling
in Rockingham county and
James on Snow Creek, Stokes
county at the Old Lime Kiln
place.
The two families of Martins
settled in Stokes were intimate
socially and worked together
for upbuilding the country and
THE DANBURY REPORTER
fighting in the armies of the
: Revolution and the war of 1812,
and they took prominent parts
in establishing and maintaining
( local government.
Col. John Martin, popularly
called "Jack" came from his
fathers plantation in Albemarle
i county, Ya., in 1770 and began
building the Rock House. In
June 1784 he married Nancy
Shipp, of Surry county, and
brought her to the new home
which required several years to
i complete. Here in this vale
facing the Sauratown moun
tains he held a large tract of
land, manned by many slaves,
raising tobacco, corn and wheat
in large quantities and breed
ing and rearing the finest of
horses. Here were born and
reared his family consisting of
Thomas and Wiliam and Marv
Mail in.
Intimate details of the life
at the Rock House are highly
interesting history. During the
period of the Revolutionary
War, Stokes was a rendezvous |
of many Tories and John Mar- i
tin was constantly battling 1
them end the Rock House was |
repeatedly raided. The Tories ;
established a headquarters on
the mountain facing the planta
tion and besides raiding for,
provisions and supplies, thev!
seized and carried to their camp
girls and when they seized the
daughter of a white overseer
John Martin anil Joshua Cox
assembled the men in the vicin
ity and started hunting their
carefully concealed camp. One
niv r ht he noticed a fire on the
distant mountainside and set
his surveying compass on it.
Next morning they surrounded
this spot and there in a rugged
crevice was the camp of the
Tories and surrounding it they
killed or captured the whole
band and rescued the women.
John Martin and Joshua Cox
were close friends and constant
comrades in hunts, fights and
poitical campaigns ia which
they spent those excitng days.
Col. Martin was judge of the
county circuit court before his
death in 1822. He died fight
ing a forest fire near the Rock
House. He and his wife gath
ered together the slaves and
neighbors and were engaged
in fighting the fire when he
complained of being very tired
and laid down on a big flat
rock about a mile from home.
His wife went on to direct the
slaves and when they returned
he had expired.
The Rock House should be a
shrine for Sokes citizenry.
0000 woo
gooo WINSTON-SALEM'S sgg
0000 • 0000
1 PREMIER DRUG STORE I
0000 0000
0000 0000
0000 0000 A
0000 000) J
1 E. W.O'HANLON'S ¥
m m
m mi
0000 0000
0000 0000
Stokes county people when visiting the Twin-City will
0000 always find welcome at O'Hanlon's. For more than a 0000
0000 0000
0000 quarter of a century headquarters for the PUREST 0000
DRUGS at honest prices. 000$
flft 0000
0000 0000
if ssss
PRESCRIPTIONS FILLED by registered pharmacists ooVo
sss of highest reputation, and compounded with greatest OOYO
|||o care an d precision. _ mO
||| FULL LINE OF STANDARD MEDICINE PREPARA- s|o
M TIONS, FANCY TOILET ARTICLES, ETC., KEPT IN ||xo
1 A Modern Drug Store ||
XXXX Equipped to Satisfy Modern Needs at Lowest Prices xXs
LICENSES ISSUED
STOKES HUNTERS
Brought la $1,216.90 For Year
Used To Furthor Develop
ment of Game Resource* la
State.
Stokes county turned in to
the State Department of Con
servation and Development for
the year ending July Ist $l,-
216.00 from the sale of licenses
to hunters, according to data
sent out by the University on
the subject of the sale of hunt
ing licenses.
This income is all used in
further developing the game
resources of the state.
Forsyth leads all the coun
ties of the State with a con
tribution of $8,459.00 from
hunting licenses. Dare is low
j FOR SALE—
| FARM NEAR
| KERNERSVILLE
2 I have a farm of 50 acres within one mile of Ker.
q nersville. Has good 6 room house, packhouse, two
a tobacco barns, feed barn, crib and other improve^.
0 ments. Splendid well, also spring. 20 acres in
0 timber. Near good road, soon to be hard surfaced,
a and bus line for high school, 3..4 mile of church. This
0 land is extra fine for tobacco, and produces grain
0 exceptionally well. See me or write at once.
S R. B. KERNER,
0
£ Kernersville, N. C.
A 29aug4ws
WEDNESDAY. SEPT. 19, 192S
est with only $84.00.
For the season a total ot
126,035 resident county, 11,686
resident state, and 878 »on
resident hunting licenses were
issued. The grand total in
come from hunting licenses was
$204,000.00.
"Market is farm problem,"
says Secretary Jardine. He
might have added that due
precautions will b« taken to
see that farmers do not get
control of the problem in a
wav to interfere with the mar
ket control long resting in oth
er hands.
A village is a place where
everybody knows everybody so
well it isn't worth while to
snob anybody.
"There is more to Babe
Ruth," begins' a sports writer,
and the scales seem to bear out
the statement.