Newspapers / The Franklin Press and … / June 16, 1955, edition 1 / Page 7
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?ROMANTICALLY SITUATED'? How Franklin Looked To Visitor In 1848 (EDITOR'S NOTE: How did the little mountain village of Franklin impress an outsider, back in 1M?? The answer it to be found to the following excerpts from a letter written by John Lan man, dated at Franklin In May, 1848. This was one of a series of letters written by 1 An man as he traveled through the mountain country.) The little village of Franklin is romantically situated on the Little Tennessee. It is surrounded with mountains, and as quiet and pretty a hamlet as I have yet seen among the Alleghanies. On the morning after entering, this place, 1 went to the post office, for the purpose of obtain ing a peep at the last number of the National Intelligencer, where upon the officiating gentleman informed me that I should find it at the office of a young law yer whom he named. I balled up on the legal gentleman, and found him, like all the intelligent people of the country, very polite and well informed. In speaking of the surrounding pictorial associations he alluded to a certain waterfall and added that the gentleman who referred me to him owned a plantation near the falls, on a famous trout stream, and was an angler. On this hint I sent a couple of hand some flies, as a present, to my post-office friend, and in less than i twenty minutes thereafter he j made his appearance at my lodg ings, and insisted that we should . go upon a fishing excursion, and I that the lawyer should accompany us. Horses were immediately pro- - cured, and having rode a distance of ten miles along a very beauti ful stream called Kul-la-sa-jah, or the Sugar Water, we came to the chasm leading to the falls. Here we tied our horses, and while my companions commenced throw ing the fly, I proceeded to the more profitable employment of taking sketches. ? * ? Leaving the intellectual out of view, the most interesting char acter whom I have seen about Franklin is an old Cherokee In dian. His name is Sa-taw-ha, or Hog-Bite, and he is upwards of one hundred years of age. He , lives in a small log hut among the mountains, the door of which 1 is so very low that you have to crawl into it upon your hands and knees. At the time the great er par( of his nation were re moved to the Far West, the "off icers of Justice" called to obtain his company. He saw them as they approached, and, taking his loaded rifle in hand, he warned them not to attempt to lay their hands upon him, for he would certainly kill them. He was found to be so resolute and so very old, that it was finally concluded by those in power that the old man should be left alone. He lives the life of a hermit, and chiefly supported by the char ity of one or two Indian neigh bors, though it is said he even now occasionally manages to kill a deer or turkey. His history is entirely unknown, and he says he can remember the time when the Cherokee nation lived upon the shores of a grpdt ocean, (the Atlantic.) and the color of a white man's face was unknown. Tells Of Mound Tn the immediate vicinity of this place may be seen another of those myterious Indian mounds which we find beautifying nearly all the valleys of this land. And here it may not be out of place .lor me to introduce the opinions Franklin people farmed right in town, some 60 years ago ? as this picture shows. This wheat harvesting scene, about 1898, is in West Franklin. The pic- ! ture tvas made facing north, the cameraman's back to "Summer Hill". In the! foreground is what was then known as "the Big Branch"; center the George A. I Jones home (now occupied by his widow and son, R. S., and family); left the Frank I. Murray home; right the present home of Mr. and Mrs. F. C. Cooper. Between the Jones and Cooper homes is the old Jones barn. Virtually all the land shown in this picture was then Judge Jones' farm. Note there was no Bid well Street then, nor had Palmer Street ? if there was such a .street at that time ? got this far west. Porter Street, too, was yet to be opened. The wheat shocks at right are about where Frank B. Duncan's The Franklin motel now stands. (Photo loaned by Gilmer A. Jones.) ~ ? The Franklin Story Told In 32 Ptgei Of Text, Pictures Tor 32 additional pates of the story of Franklin, in text and pictures, see sections B and C of this edition. concerning their origin which pre vail ai.iong the Indian tribes of the South. By some they are said to have been bull* by a race of people who have become extinct, and rere formerly used by the Cherokees merely as convenient places to have their dances and their games. A superstition also prevails, that In the ancient days every Indian brought to a certain place a small bark full of the soil which he cultivated, as a tri bute to the Great Spirit, who in return sent them a plenteous har vest. Some allege that they were the burial places of great warriors and hunters; some that they were crected as trophies of remarkable victories; others that they were built as fortresses; and others still that upon them were per formed the more sacred of relig ious rites. 'There is also a tradition exist ing among the Cl\erokees that these mounds formerly contained a species of sacred fire; and it is well known that an Indian has never been known to deface one of them, and to see them de faced by the white man always seems to make them unhappy. The only light <in the way of opinion) that I can throw upon . these mounds is, that they owe. | their origin to some aboriginal tcustom similar to that which hfts ! brought together the huge piles | of stones which the traveler meets with in various portions of the ! southern country. But all this in formation is traditionary, the builders of these mounds are un known, and all that even the wise of the present feneration can do is to look upon them in silence and wonder. The gentleman upon whose property the above mentioned Tells About Religious Life In Franklin Back In 1845 (EDITOR'S NOTE: Below arc excerpt* from the autobiography of the Rev. Roberteon Ganna way. who came here as a Metho dist circuit rider in 1M5 ? 110 year* ago. The printed volume b the property of Mrs. Horace Hurst, who loaned it to The Press.) I left Newbern circuit and went home, as stated above, and thence to Athens, (Georgia) to confer ence, in the fall of 1845, when I and where I was appointed to Franklin circuit, Macon county, j N. C. Some circumstances in my appointment this year were a little remarkable. The Franklin circuit was a little over two hun dred miles from my residence; and I suppose the appointing pow er thought I might have some objections to being sent so far from home. As such, I was con sulted on Friday evening on that subject, by brother E. F. Sevier, who X learned afterwards, was the mover in the matter of my being sent to that circuit. He asked me if I was willing to go so far. I told him I belonged to the Con lerence, and whatever they said I must do. I intended to try to do it; but I thought they might find work nearer home for such old folks. He left me. at that, and I was not prepared to say what they would do with me. On Mon day, brother D. Fleming consulted me again: he told me I was on the Franklin circuit; but that the Bishop would remove me, if he found out that I had any objec tion to going there. I told him that I did not intend to dictate to the Conference; that I would go wherever they sent me; though I thought they could find work enough for us 'me and my wife) nearer home. He also left me at that; and I did think it was prob able they would remove me. I asked no questions about it; but mound is situated is the nabob of the place, an intelligent man, and an old resident. I am now his guest and he lives in com fortable style, his dwelling being surrounded with a score or two of out-houses. He carries on an extensive .farming business, and is the owner of a goodly number of tidy, respectful, and industrious slaves. Though situated almost within rifle-shot of an impassable mountain, his residence is asso ciated with clover-fields, a well managed garden filled with flow ers and vines, ancient trees where sing the katydids in the evening hours, and above which swoop the joyous and noisy martin and the beautiful dove; and also with mea dow-fields, where herses and cat tle graze during the long summer day. Perpetual Chorus But there is one association connected with this farmhouse which is still ringing in my ears: I aliude to a perpetual chorus of an ever-lasting quantity of jack asses, peacocks, and guinea-hens. My host seems to have a pass ion for these apparently accident al or unfinished specimens of nat ural history; and I must say that I have never before been prvii leged to enjoy such unearthly music as I have on his plantation. The painful braying of a jackass awakens his household from their slumbers, and the same braying, accompanied by the screams of the peacock find guinea-hen. con tinues without ceasing until the twilight houf, when the whippoor will takes up her evening l$y. and ibe world lapses into, its nightly repose. Waited to hear the result at the reading, out the appointments. And. behold, almost the last call was "Franklin circuit ? R. Gan naway " Well the matter was set tled. This is what I thought re markable. ? my being consulted twice; and I believe the first and only time I was ever consulted; and I gave intimations that I would rather be removed. It seem ed to be fixed that I was to go there; and. if ever I have had clear evidence of the hand of the Great Appointing Power being in any appointment I ever had it -Was that; which I think you will see before I get through with the Franklin circuit. The greatest difficulty in my going so far. consisted chiefly in the transportation of our clothes to the circuit. We were usually sent somewhere not very far from the great thoroughfare, leading through the entire Conference: but this, the Franklin circuit, is above a hundred miles from that road; so that, whereas we usually could have things taken by wag ons, passing through the country, I now was reduced to the necess ity of buying a vehicle, of some kind, to move in. As such, my presiding elder took one of the preachers from the Asheville cir cuit, or somewhere in the District. <Bro. Chanceaulme.) and sent him to occupy, till I could get there. He went on, and labored till Christmas eve; at which time I met him. At old brother Jesse Siler's, and on Christmas-day, I commenced my work, at a meet ing house near Bro. Jacob Siler's. I will here gijje a sketch of the state of the Church, as given me by Bro. Chanceaulme. in transfer ring my charge to me. In the three hundred members of society, he said there were not more than one hundred professors of relig ion. He appealed to brother Siler, who appeared to have the same opinion. I am happy, however, to say that I think two hundred had professed; but. as he stated that they were cold, I found that true, to the letter. | My first, quarterly meeting com menced at Union meeting house, i the Saturday after the meeting | mentioned above, which was the first Saturday in March. I told all I could see through that week, to prepare for a week's tour. -I i was certain that I saw the bud | dings of a revival. The peoplp thought I was ignorant of the kind of folks I had to work wi'h. And that I was crazy, or an en j thusiast on that subject. Old bro ther Jacob Siler. who marked mv course as closely as any other man, laughed at my positive man ner of speaking of the revival. Well. Saturday came, and it was I a very rainy day. Sunday was I also a very rainy day. Brother j J. S. did not come to meeting on Saturday nor Sunday, as he lived some distance from the meeting house. I think he came on Mon > day. and said he had been think ing about my revival, and won dered what I would think, when we were defeated, by rain, of my good meeting. I told him I was glad to see it, particularly on Bunday; that it was the very life of meeting, and would prove one of the grand causes of a good meeting, and revival. "How will you make that appear?" I said. "Our meeting house is very small, and if it had not rained on Sun j day. we should have had as many again as the house would hold. ! or more, and those out of doors would have attracted the atten tion of those in the house, and , there would not have been half the good done: but as it rained, we had just an even house full of attentive hearers. The seed that was sown took root, and in the course of the week, it sprang up, aft I will endeavor to show before I get through with the Franklin circuit. We will now notice our pro tracted meeting in Franklin, that commenced Just four weeks from the first, at Union. I remember that Brother Jacob Siler asked what I thought we should do at Franklin. I told him we should have the greatest meeting he ever saw. He was very much tickled at my poor judgment of the |, people In that region. I made my calculations on those that were crippled at the other meetings. 1 I knew that we should have mourners in the very commence ment; and I have never seen it fall to be a good meeting, when we could have mourners in the , beginning. In view of that, 1 1 have uniformly had two or three I days' meetings, and generally ad- ] ministered the sacrament before 1 my camp-meetings, all around my i circuit, to start my camp-meetings i with mourners. Well, our meeting I began on Saturday, and we had mourners in the commencement; , and by the middle of the week, we had so many young converts at the place, and those from other meetings, praising God. and ex horting sinners, that the excite ment became so general, that there was but little use for preacn Ing, by the regularly authorized minister. , ? * ? Our protracted meeting at Franklin continued all the week, of nights, with increasing inter est. We seldom came together and broke up without several being happily adopted into Christ's spiritual family or kingdom. The number that professed-white and colored ? during the meeting ?were fifty-one. Many were set at liberty on their way home, that left the church with heavy hearts several nights; between ten ar.d twelve o'clock, the woods were made to resound with the high praises of God, falling from the lips of young converts, on their j way home, in every direction; and in the day time, the fields re verberated with loud doxqlogies and hallelujahs to God and the Lamb. Brother Jacob Siler said the woods and the fields, the hills and the valleys, were rendered vocal with hymns of praise, by all sexes, colors and ai^es. I will now give an amusin? re count of the manner I reprovec what I thought was improper con duct in professors of religion which took place sometime in the course, of the two years that i 'traveled Franklin circuit . Es ther Jesse Siler had a son f. j Emory & Henry College, and a j daughter in the Asheville Insti ; tute ? it was not Asheville Cc' j lege then. They came home f.o.n ! school about the same time and their good old mother. \vl:c doted on her children, jnade a I great supper for rhem and in vited about twenty of the yount people of the neighborhood, chief ly relations: and all but two cf i the guests were professors of religion . . and a large majority . of them were young converts of our revival, which was then in tolerably brisk motion. After sup | per, my wife and I went up into her room < for Brother Siler's ! was her home, at that time > . Her j room was over the parlor. The young people commenced amus- | ing themselves, I suppose in dit ; ferent ways. At length, they en gaged in a sport that caused them to laugh a great deal, and pretty loudly, and the play caused some romping; and I thought in all honesty of my heart, that it was wrong for professors of religion1 to be so wild; for let the play be as innocent as it could be. in itself, it would tend, to make Remembered When Asheville Had No Railroad (EDITOR'S NOTE: The fol lowing art It lr about the late Mrs. Rafm ("nnntn|h?iii and her memories appeared in The Asheville Citizen under a Frank lin dateline, in 1932. The clip pint *? loaned by John Cunn ingham.) Who remembers when enthusi astic orators, speaking for the cause of the Southland, urged the sons and daughters of Dixie to Stand loyal at home and on the field of battle? When linsey was a popular fab ric for milady's new outfit and usually was dyed with dye made from boiled walnut shells and bark for black and brown, and boiled maple bark for purple? When Asheville had no rail road or banks? "Aunt Sallie" Cunningham, of near Franklin, does, and much more. Ninety years old, but alert and active, she has lived through three wars and in watching al most a century of time go by, has learned and seen may inter esting things. Her full name is Mrs. Rufus Cunningham, but in Franklin she is known as "Aunt Sallie". When she was a small girl she attended school at the old Asheville Normal. Then there were no banks and the railroad had not come. Her father was the "station" minister in Asheville for the Methodist church and while the 'church) building was being erected, he held services in the courthouse. | She has spun many yards of the linsey cloth, made her own dye and dyed it, afterwards cut ting the fabric and sewing it into clothes. "Aunt Sallie" recalls when ora tors upheld the cause of the South in Franklin and urged the men and of this section to remain loyal. She has lived through three wars and recalls many details of them all. She married after the war. Her husband, a soldier, captured a color bearer at the battle cf Get tysburg and sent the flas into Raleigh after peace came the very least of it to rii":->-'e the mind, af.d turn it-frotr i)""er ?hir.ss. They could no*. in the smallest "ense be in ? '..ayin? ? rme cf mine. Well. I ?i'.'uaht it to be my duty to s'r.-? if I com''! . I ?ot up. ar.d commen ced walking the floor, ar.d slaving this chorus, which seemec to came :r.to rr.y mind at 'hat moment. "Shout ?lorg. and prey alone. ? . heaven-born soldiers. Shout alonsr. and pray along. ?r.r! pray bv the way. p-'v on. Christian:- c'oa't cet weary. Never ce' vred of of th*. Lore;." I think I had r.ot more than sung jthe whole tune, till 't-.p of tW youn? converts, a yoitni dv. came running upstairs, an'7 -one tc me. saying. I had no limd in it. uncle Gannaway. I v- i no hand in it. I said to her I have not charged you with anything. X then commenced singing "How happy are they whe their Savior obey. And have laid up their treasures above", &c By this time we had perfect silence below . . and it was but a very short time till the bell was rung for family prayers. BEG VOIR PARDON Elsewhere in this issue "Dixie Hall", the old home on Main Street, is referred to as the prop erty of Miss Hope Daniels. It is owned jointly , by Miss Daniels and her brother, James R. Daniels. This sketch of Franklin streets, as they were three-quarters of a century ago, was drawn for The Press by Ernest Rankin, aged 90. Mr. Rankin's memory was vivid on the subject , because it was 1879 ? 76 years ago ? that his family moved here. He was an impressionable boy of 14 at the time. - ? ? y ????? ?> The first train in history rolls into Franklin ? in the summer of 1907. Tech nically. this tram didn't get quite into Franklin, because then then depot ? tar paper shack in right background ? was outside the citv limits of that day. At extreme left is Phillips Bridge. It was a long, hard fight to get thj railroad really to Franklin. It first stopped at Prentiss, then at the"Y". th n at Phillips Bridge, and finally came to the present depot, just off East Main Street. The present depot site than was a sea of mud, in rainy weather, on the very outskirts of the town. Arrival of the twice-daily passenger train usually drew crowds of people, especially on Sundays. (Photo loaned by Mrs. \\ . M. Bryson).
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June 16, 1955, edition 1
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