Newspapers / Carolina Watchman (Salisbury, N.C.) / July 28, 1932, edition 1 / Page 7
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A Study Of Rowan County BY DELILAH McGEHEE Woodleaf, N. C. > Rowan county was formed in 1753 from Anson and named for Matthew Rowan, a pre-Revolutionary leader. It is bounded by the counties of Davie, Davidson, Stanly, Cabarrus and Ire , dell. Rowan lies west of the Yadkin River and South of its principal trib utary, the South Yadkin and resem bles the typography of Davidson. When Rowan was first formed it was almost an empire within itself. It included more than thirty coun ties, all of the state of Tennessee and as far west as the South Sea Island. Many counties and states have been formed. She is one of the largest coun ties in the state. The first settlers who came into the territory that was to be the county of Rowan arrived about the year 1737 and were of the Scotch Irish descent. They had come down the Shenandoah Valley into Virginia, on into what is now Guilford, Davidson, Rowan and Mecklenburg. These people settled to the west of the ridge on which Salisbury was af terwards built where Woodleaf and Mill Bridge are now located. Scotch Irish are the most numerous and lead ing people in the settlement. To the east came the great stream of German people. The first came in 1745 but a greater body came five years later. They settled beside the Scotch Irish. The two great people, the Presbyte rian, Scotch Irish and the German Lu theran lived side by side and worked industrially to make a civilization in the wilderness. They felled the trees, built their homes and provided for their families. In every community early provisions were made for the worship of God. West of Salisbury stand Presbyterian churches. In Salis bury is St. John’s Lutheran church, the oldest and largest Lutheran church in North Carolina. Salisbury sprang up in 1753 be tween the two settlements. It was named Salisbury after a town in Eng land situated on the banks of the Avon and near the Salisbury Plain, a dry chalky surface which accounts for the origin of the Saxon name which means a dry town. Salisbury'was incorporated in 175 5. No protecting laws were made until 1770. Then some of the laws were that no hogs should be allowed to run at large in the town. Each family should keep a ladder and two good leather buckets for fi;e protection. In 1880 Rowan was the most pop ulous county in the state, the popu lation being 20,060. The next largest county was Orange with a population of 16,362. There has been a steady growth from early begining until the present day. A period of 100 years has marked a great change. Wheeler says, "The pru dence of the German, the sagacity of the Scotch and the fiery ardor of the Irish were here united and were fit materials to form an industrious thrif ty gallant nati^p.” Rowan is still an agricultural coun ty; with the exception of Salisbury and Spencer there are no large cities. She is third in North Carolina in im proved machinery, sixth in the num ber of acres per farm cultivated, twenty-first in the value of farm lands, twentieth in the value of live stock owned. Its entire surface is drained by the tributaries of the Yad kin which traverses its territory in a southeasterly course. The middle and northern section which lie for the most part above the level of 800 feet, rising at one point above 1,00 feet, are characterized by an abundance of red clay soils and heavy oak forest, interspersed with hickory, walnut, dogwood, persimmon and sweet gum. The higher the part of the water shed has a good growth of short leaf pine and much virgin pine forests. The southeastern corner of the county is quite broken and traversed by low ranges of high hills, some of which rise in places to 1,000 feet and more above the sea. Th| culture of cotton occupies a secondary place in Rowan county. While the county is adapted to the culture and growth of cotton, still her farmers go in for "safe and sane” farming by diversifying and produc ing grain, grasses, and livestock. Row an produces annually around 10,000 bales of cotton, which is a very small percentage of her farm crops, taking into consideration her vast area. Some tobacco of the highest quality is pro duced in upper Rowan. This is also one of the finest grain growing coun ties in the state. The products from the farms are stanles: corn, wheat. tobacco, oats, potatoes and livestock Rowan is a fine wheat county and many of the farms are under a good state of cultivation. The kinds of fruits produced in Rowan are apples, peaches, pears, cherries, berries and other small fruits. The timbers are oak, hickory, ash, walnut, maple, pop lar and pine. Rowan county is noted for her pure bred livestock. It leads the state in Aberdeen-Angus, Hereford and short horn beef type cattle, while the Guern sey cow predominates in the dairy line. Dairying is one of the big features of the county, it being especially adapt ed for this purpose, mild, even climate and long grazing periods being de cidedly in its favor. Gold mining operations in Rowan :ounty were once carried on exten sively. The seat of the chief industry was of Salisbury. Shafts ranging from 300 to 800 feet deep, to linear dis tance of 1,500 have been credited with a production of more than $3, 000,000. This included the return from several mines in Gold Hill. The county also contains much fine gran ite. It is known far and wide and is used for roads, buildings, monumental work, engine beds, millstone, etc. The Rowan granite of which three kinds are produced, white, gray, and pink, has been used in many of the princi pal cities construction of the govern ment building in Raleigh. The Southern Railway runs through the county and at Salisbury, the West ern North Carolina Railroad, making connection with the west, begins. Sal isbury is the gateway to the west. The Yadkin Railroad connects Salisbury with Badin, Norwood and Albemarle, this giving the county railroad con nections in all directions. Salisbury, the county seat, has a population of 16,000 and is admirably situated for trade and manufacture, having un equalled railroad facilities for handling freight and passenger traffic. The southern railroads principal shops are located here, where all classes of repair work is done. Rowan County is dotted with pros perous villages and towns, among them are Spencer, East Spencer, Gran ite Quarry, Gold Hill, Cleveland, Bar ber and China Grove, Landis, Kan napolis, where are located several cot ton mills and other industries. STATISTICS Rowan county contains 315,028 acres of land, valued at $3,494,834, 14 mills grinding wheat, 39 cotton gins, 7,259 bales ^ginned in 1920; 64 miles of improved railroad, 2,515 bee hives; 4,819 horses, valued at $329, 789; 3,218 mules valued at $248,490; 10,187 dairy cattle, valued at $488, 073 12,592 hogs, valued at $130, intendent in 1891. . < Salisbury graded schools were op ened in 1880 where the first Baptist church now stands. The first graded schools were es tablished in Greensboro in 1875. The schools of the city of Salis bury were revised in 1897. Later a graded school was established at Spen cer. In 1919 the number of rural white schools was 80 and in 19 of them 728; 430 sheep valued at $1,390; 143 dogs valued at 1,$307. The state tax for property $15,3 58. 34; pension tax from polls $835.80; income tax $8,687.09; county tax from property and population—white: male, 17,5 59; female 17,270; colored: Dwelling 8,703; families 9,217. Rowan has made a marked progress in education for the white illiteracy was reduced 8 per 1000 persons in 1910 to 6.4 in 1920; Rowan today stands high in comparison with other counties in state of all things which are valuable and worthwhile. The first attempt at establishing schools was in 1768 by petition sign ed by 30 members, but it failed; an other was tried in 1770, but failed also. The first German teacher to come was Gottfield Arndt, who came to teach near the neighborhood of Argan church. He came about 1773 with Adolph Nussau, a Lutheran minister. Nussau resigned and Arndt entered the ministry and took his place in 1775. He served a« preacher and 'teacher until 178« when he moved across the Catawba into Lincoln coun ty. There he stayed until the end of his life. This German was anxious to build schools for they sent home for their teachers or people to come into the wilderness to build or teach their children. Carl August Gotlio Storch taught and preached at three Lutheran churches. He taught Hebrew in an academy in Salisbury which was or ganized at this time. Through all these many years the Germans kept up their schools. Teachers had been edu cated in the Universities in Germany. Until 1800 German language was the only one taught in the schools. The Scotch Irish established several important schools. David Caldwell opened a school in that portion of Rowan in 1767, which was after wards cut off in Guilford county. He was a native of Pennsylvania. He founded the college. An academy was established in Salisbury about 1785. - * We congratulate you on 100 years of Service < • • • First National Bank 49 Years of Conservative Banking Little is known of its early history. Rowan with seven other counties voted for schools between 1840 and 1846 but Rowan failed to get the bill across in her country for the people thought it awful to have to pay tax to educate their children and worse still to have to build fine schoolhouses, as they said. Rowan finally voted on the school plan in 1846 by a large majority. Calvin H. Wiley first state super intendent in 1853 said Rowan had been divided into 47 districts and schools were being taught in 46 dis tricts. The length of the school term was 4 1-2 months. The first teachers association was organized in 1856 and held its meet ing in Salisbury. Davis was the first county superintendent in Rowan. The schools closed during the war. They finally reopened after the war. Rowan at this time raised more money for schools than any other of the coun ties. In 1878 there were 74 schools in operation in Rowan county. The av erage teachers salary was $22.50 per month. The first summer institute for teachers was'held in Rowan in 1881. Guilford had a greater school valua tion Him Rowan and still has. In 1919 the number of rural white schools was 80 and in 19 of them the county in 1920. In 1923 there were taught some high school sub jects. There were 32 schools which had but one teacher; 36 of which had two teachers. Five schools had three teach ers and seven had four or more. The value of school property was $271,731. There were 243 teachers in the count yin 1920. In 1923 there were 116 schoolhouses in Rowan. IMPORTANT MEN OF ROWAN COUNTY Griffith Rutherford associated with Revolutionary history o f Rowan fought against the Cherokee Indians. He was a senator from Rowan in 1786; later moved to Tennessee.- There are counties in both states named for him. Matthew Locke devoted friend to the rights of the people was born in 1730, was a member of assembly, member of Congress at Halifax, which formed the constitution. He died in 1801 leaving a large family. Spruce McCay was judge of Su perior Court. Joseph Pearson, member of House of‘Commons. Lawyer by profession, member of Congress from 1809-1815. He fought a duel while in Congress over political matters with John J. Jackson. He was married three times, leaving seven children; he died in Sal isbury October, 1834. Archibald Henderson, an outstand ing lawyer, had a venerable appear ance, excellent character, always po lite. Charles Fisher, a lawyer, was sena tor from Rowan in 1818, member of House of Representative in Congress in 1820; member of House of Com mons in 1821; delegate to help amend the Constitution of the state in 183 5. DEMOCRATS MEET AUGUST 9th Chairman Odus M. Mull has called the state Democratic executive com mittee to meet in Raleigh, August 9, to elect new officers and lay plans for the fall campaign. A Laxative that costs NEXT TIME you need medicine to act on the bowels, try Thed ford’s Black-Draught. It brings quick relief and is priced within reach of all. Black-Draught is one of the least expensive laxa tives that you can find. A 25-cent package contains 25 or more doses. Black-Draught is made of ap proved laxative plants, firmly ground scr you take the medicine into your system just as naturally as you get nourishment from the food you eat. Refreshing relief from constipa tion Doubles for only a cent or less a dose—that’s why thousands of men and women prefer Tiled fold’s Black-Draught. Cut Out The Weeds In Lespedeza fields One sure way to lower the quality of lespedeza hay and to make it hard er to have the seed certified by the North Carolina Crop Improvement As sociation is to permit weeds to grow in the field without interference. "Lespedeza has come to be one of our important and valuable crops,” says Enos C. Blair, extension agrono mist at State College. "For that reason we should give attention now to the condition of the fields. If weeds are allowed to grow, they will certainly lower the quality of the hay and where the lespedeza is to be harvested for seed, the weeds will also be a great hin drance both in making it more diffi cult to get all the seed and in requir ing more recleaning to separate the lespedeza seed from the weed seed.” POLICE CHIEF GETS 14 YEARS Santa Cruz—Former Chief of Po lice William J. Walker stood before the bar of justice and heard himself sentenced to from 1 to 14 years in San Quentin for bribery. Obviously expecting probation, the sentence imposed by Superior Judge Atteridge came as a shock to the former police head, who confessed that he has accepted bribes from bootleg gers and gamblers during the past two years. His wife, who was in court with him, collapsed when the sentence was pronounced. With Police Commissioner Geyer, Walker was indicted by the county grand jury on evidence obtained by the sheriff, district attorney and the A. J. Kane Detective Agency. Walker made a detailed confession. Geyer, however, pleaded not guilty. Subscribe to The Watchman. Your Doctor Was I Your Cook-You Would I Never Need Medicinel __ Physicians and Scientists Now Know that the Body is Composed of Eleven Minerals and Six Vitamins All of which are Contained in Natural Foods. Lees Mineral Compound with Vitamins Supplies the System with a Balanced Proportion of the 11 Essential Minerals Com bined with Vitamins. CONTAINS IRON—for building rich, red blood-cells and a tonic upon the nerve centers. ! IODINE—as a stimulant to the thyroid gland and a preventive of rheumatism. CALCIUM—for the building of cartllege, bones, tendons and muscles. COPPER—which la a valuable treatment la eases of malnutrition and emaciation. CARBON—which Is a necessary element la the perfect balance of the body. MAGNESIUM—as a stimulant to the glands of the Intestinal tract and to ellatlaate metabolic poisons. MANGANESE—a valuable treatment In cases of deficient nerve nutrition and neurasthenia. PHOSPHOROUS—a valuable aid In treat ment of nervous exhaustion, neuralgia and skin diseases. POTASSIUM—which has a marked effect upon metabolism and la an essential to vital activity. SODIUM—which supplies the deficiency of phosphates and acts as a corrective of constipation. SULPHUR—an Important element In nu trition and an essential to the health of albuminous organs and tissues. SILICA—which appears In every healthy human being and la an essential element of the body. VITAMINS—without which, It la believed :he body w«^ld wither and die. A Food Vitalizer NOT A PATENT MEDICINE CONTAINS NO ALCOHOL Modern, Refined Foods, Improper Cooking md Poorly Balanced Diet Rob the Body )f these Essential Elements so Necessary to Health. Science finds New Way to supply These Deficiencies and Rebuild the Body. Medical science, constantly search ing for ways to prolong life, frequent ly come forward with startling state ments of their findings, but no more astounding announcement has been made in recent years than the state ment of an eminent Chemist who now declares that "There is no natural death. All deaths from so-called nat ural causes are merely the end point of progressive acid saturation.” An amazing statement indeed but a warn ing, that if heeded, should improve the health and well being, increase the joy of living, and prolong the lives of millions of men, women and children who might otherwise drag through a weary life to an untimely end. ACIDITY KILLS MILLIONS Health authorities now agree that 91% of all diseases originate in the stomach and are caused by poor cooking, Improper diet, and the eat* ing of highly refined food*. Tour doctor knows that the II essential Minerals and all Vitamins are con tained In foods In their natural state and could he live with you constant ly, carefully select and prepare ev erything you eat,' you would never need medicines of any kind. This being Impossible, science has been searching for years, trying to com pound a formula that would make up for the deficiencies of these vital ele ments—and at last their efforts have been rewarded. amazing new compound LEE’S MINERAL COMPOUND, a new and revolutionary formula, actu ally supplies the system with these vital elements so necessary to health and happiness. It contains the elev en essential Minerals in well balanced proportion, together with Vitamin A and Is an invaluable aid to nature In the building of blood, bone, nerve and tissue. Don’t Let Them count you cut: It’s So Easy Now to Be Strong and Healthy. Lee’s Mineral Compound Will Build You 'Jp tt will rid your system of excess acid, sweep away the dangerous poisons, supply the body with the needed minerals, stimulate the organs of digestion and assimi lation, build rich, red blood, clear the skin, give you a keen, hearty appetite, help you to get sound, refreshing sleep, restore health, strength and vitality and enable you to enjoy life to the fullest. Make This 10 Day Test Convince Yourself! Stop dosing yourself with "patent medicines,” harsh purgatives, oils and cathartics for Just 10 days. Go to your nearest Druggist and secure a bottle of LEE'S MIN ERAL COMPOUND. Take it regularly and watch the results. You'll be amazed at the feeling of renewed strength and vigor that soon appears. No narcotics or alcohol to "boost you up but a natural method of restoring health and energy. For sale by PURCELL’S DRUG STORES SALISBURY, N. C.’ and good druggists everywhere, or send $1.25 to Lee s Laboratories, 167 Forsyth St S. W., Atlanta, Ga., for large bottle postpai d.
Carolina Watchman (Salisbury, N.C.)
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July 28, 1932, edition 1
7
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