Newspapers / Goldsboro Weekly Argus (Goldsboro, … / Dec. 3, 1914, edition 1 / Page 2
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GOLDSBORO'S GREATEST GALATAT (Continued from page one.) "A. C Davis, of the city bar, aa their spokesman, and in eloquent words and forceful gesture and thrilling climax es, as Is his wont J he performed the duty assigned him amid great en thusiasm and applause, the Junior Order being in attendance in full num bers and regalia. f i . Judge D. H. Bland, of the County Court, had been selected by the com miftaa n rerpivp this flasr. and he, in bis own always graceful manner of speech, accepted it m tne rouowms words: JUDGE BLAND'S ACCEPlANOt. ; ' v f "i - " :'n In accepting the U. S. flag, Judge D tj nion of our Countv Court, said: On behalf of the Board of County rnmmisiniiprfi whd are the custodians of this beautiful building.as well as the guardians of our county affairs gen erally, it gives me much pleasure to accept from the great: fraternity the flag of our country; The Junior Order nf AmoHonn Mechanics, as the name suggests, is distinctively an American Society. In the History 01 iratermty it will be noted above all others, I tMnV for its teachings of a genuine patriotism, too often neglected among n freo npfinlp,. and for its constant display and reverence for the emblems of our Nationality, I The tear 01 uoa and love of country are the foundation stones upon which the society has erected a splendid, structure and it is determined that Jno effort shall be spared to impress! these great princi ples, so essential j to the welfare of our Republic, upon the citizens of our State and Country: ) j i This beautiful Court House is in a very real sense, the property of the citizens of Wayne county, and, yet it also belongs to out State of which our county is an important part, and also to our Nation, of which our State is a distinct and important; unit. With no blush or apology to make for our past history, we feel a just pride in the great influence our : State is wielding in the National government today, and we are looking forward with confident anticipation to a yet more brilliant fu ture. It seems to me, therefore, to be eminently fitting that this stately build ing, the capitol of the great county of Wayne, should be adorned with the flag of our Nation along with the flag of our State, which has just been pre sented. This flag; represents those principles of government which our forefathers won and obtained through blood and tears, and of which we are the inheritors without efforts and with out price those principles which are proclaimed in ourj National and State Constitutions and I which guarantee to every man the right to personal liber ty, private property and equality be fore the law. Our system of govern ment is founded jupon. a recognition of the rights of the individual. It seeks its authority in those incalculable rights which God has given to every man. Its stability rests upon that sound discretion, innate honesty and natural sense of Justice wnicn exists, in vary ing degree, In every man. This Is the temnlfl nf Instice. in which those rights are asserted and maintained, or for feited, according as the law framed by our countrymen, applicable to the facts as found by our countrymen may di rect. - i T H not. therefore, fitting and oroo- er that this new and stately Court House should be adorned with the flag of our great Nation? Its inspiring col ors should be a constant call to every rnnntv officer to (render in every in stance the best service of which he is capable that our system of government may attain its most successful end. It should be a constant reminder to every Judge, juror, counselor and wit tides tlint iia pnnntrr demands of him within these portals at least, that de gree of honesty j and integrity upon which only a government such as ours ro r cnpppccfiilt v mnintninprt find which will secure to our fellowmen as nearly perfect justice as can be ad ministered hv human hands. Gentlemen of the Fraternity, in the name of our Commissioners and the citizens of our county, I thank you. Following Mr. Bland, Mrs. C. F Taylor, regent of David Williams Chapter Daughters of American Revo lution of this cityJ was introduced, and In the following teloquent words pre sented the pjible provided by Jher Chapter PRESENTATION OF BIBLE BY MRS CHAS. F. TAYLOR, FOR DAVID WILLIAMS CHAPTER D. A. R. Mr. Chairman and Board of Commis- missioners of Wayne County, N. C. Gentlemen: Onj behalf of the David Williams Chapter-of the Daughters of the American Revolution, of Goldsboro, North Carolina, we present this token of our interest in and love for the institution of justice and equity, an in stitutlon, which, next to national or colonial independence and the creation of a representative form of govern ment, was desired and made possible by the heroic and victorious struggle of our forefathers in the American Revolution. This book, the Bible, was their inspiration, teaching, as it does, the love of God,! home and country. It is, therefore, most fitting that in a court of justice its presence is consid ered necessary and proper. And, so long as the teachings of its Author, the great Law Giver, are accepted and followed, the service of this great in stitutlon, into thej hands of whose rep resentatives we commit this copy, will be conducted In accordance with the desires of those who established our Government and whose memories and deeds the Daughters of the American Revolution honor and perpetuate. The Chapter which we represent, es teems It a great privilege, in present ing this gift to you, to indicate the purpose of its organization. We desire In this manner to express our devotion to the administration of justice to - which this beautiful building is dedi cated. We wish to convey to you an expression of the high regard In which all the institutions of our community and State were held by the soldier and patriot whose name our Chapter bears, and to. pledge to !you, the representa tives of the County of Wayne, our as sistance In the teaching of righteous ness, Justice and liberty, and the doing of loving and kindly deeds, thus pro moting the moral and civic welfare of the home of our i fathers, and which will be to our children a precious heri tage. . ; I ; ' - L Mrs. T. A, Hensley then rose and handed the Bible to "Rev. J. W. Gard ner, saying: "As Loving Deeds, Officer, the presenting of this Bible is the first work of the Chapter." t ttt r maw Va1 han IA lected to accept this Bible, which he. did in an earnest ana eioquem i that thrlliea every nearer nuu uo often interrupted by spontaneous ap plauseespecially in his fervid words expressive of appreciation of the late Hon- W. T. Dortch, whose picture was displayed, life size., from the Judges rostrum, and eioquenuy reieneu w few moments later by Judge Robin son, that brougnt tears u inaujr who remembered and loved the great i ii -a rrr. t? -iVii Tiann stated that the picture was only exhibited today. but would at a suDsequeui. mw"" the bar be presented to the county to 11 0 4t A iUMIff be hung on me room. Judge Robinson then present ed Judge Daniels, who at once entered upon the delivery of his comprehensive and masterly address, after first ex pressing his appreciation of the com pliment bestowed upon him, by invtt- : V I fha rsslHOTlt JlldeB ! Of the district, though scheduled to hold oth er courts at this time, XO preniuc . this term, because of Its being the first court held in the , new Court House. Judge Daniels spoke in part as follows: j , -n-r.'n-.-'C'O TV ; TITOIT? FRANK A. DANIELS. Delivered at the Opening of the K Uoiirt no use iu njo i 80th, 1911. f J On this the 134th Anniversary of the holding of a Court of Justice in Wayne county, I regard it appropriate to refer briefly to the history of the county from its establishment in 1779 by virtue of an act of the General Assembly held at Halifax during the nrimSnistraHnn Jnf Richard uasweu the first Governor of the State of North Carolina. This act provided , that Dobbs Coun tv ( named after one of the Royal Governors) "should be divided by a line run throueh the middle part, from north to south, and that the western half should te called Wayne county" in honor of General Anthony Wavne. a distinguished officer in I the Continental army, and that the first session of the Court of Pleas ana Quarter Session should be held on the second Monday of i January, I7u, at the home of Joslah Sasser on Little River. Commissioners were appoint ed by said act to select a site and have built a court house, prison and stocks, i It may not be amiss to trace the decent of Wayne. As I have stated it is the western half of Dobbs county Dobbs county was formed from John son by the act of the General Assem bly of 1758, and included the territory now embraced in Wayne, Greene and Lenoir, all of which is described in the act! of the General Assembly as St. Patrick's Parish.! The court house, jail and stocks of Dobbs county were. in 1779, located about 12 miles from I Goldsboro, ! near Bizzell's mill, In what is now known as New Hope township, in Wayne county. After the creation of Wayne, the courts of Dobbs were directed to be held at the house, lately occupied btf VTak. Glasgow rVn - the! town of K'nston. I have talked with some of our oldest citizens,! who remember to have seen the ruins of the Dons county jail near the mill. Johnson county, named after Gab riel Johnson, perhaps the best of of our Royall Governors, was I founded in 1746 of the upper half of Craven which was in 1722 one of the nine precincts which were changed in 1738 to counties. Craven was one of the three precincts of Bath. All of these precincts were embraced I in J the Z rants of Charles II to his favorites. who were known as the Lords Pro prietors, and embraced a territory much wider than the North Carolina of today, and extended from the At lantic to the Pacific Ocean. So that Wayne may claim I Royal descent, if she wishes it. . A short account of the conditions in 1779 , and prior thereto, may enaLle us to better appreciate the difficulties und. advantages existing at the time of the establishment of the county, Prior to 1730, the only occupant of the territory now (known as Wayne county were Indians and wild animals At that time the population of the entire state was only 36,000. About that year settlers gradually began to come in, but there was no general movement of immigration before 1750 Among the earliest settlers were the Quaker , families, the Edgertons, Hol lowells. Pikes, Pearsons, Deans, Cox es and i others. At the time of the establishment of the new county, the population was about 5,000, one-fifth of whom were slaves. In 1790, according to the first cen sus of the United States, there were 4576 whites, and 1557 slaves, some of whom were probably Indians, or of Indian descent, at having been customary to hold Indians captured in war as slaves, which may account for the characteristic Indian ! features and color frequently observed in the descendants of former slaves, j The names of the heads of families are for the most part those best known to this generation. The largest slave owner was Joseph Green, who had 70. The Whitfields, Needham, William,) William, Jr., I and Lewis owned about 30 each ; Alice Base, Jr., 24; Edward Base, 10; Rich ard Base, 28; Charles Holmes,! 16; ravid Jernigan, 26; Stephen Jernigan 24 ; Richard McKinnie, 16 ; Mary i Mc Kinnie, 16; John Adkinson, 10; Wil liam Rhodes, 15; Elisha Pipkin,! 14; David Cogdell, 21; Thomas Carraway, 12; James Tinsley, 10; Burwell Moor ing, 9; Ishum L. Lane, 6; j William Howell, Sr., 13; James Hanley, 8; Etherdred Howell, 10; William Sher- rard, 24; James Edmundson, 19; Wil liam Fort, 10; John Sherrad, 16, John Minshew, 10; Isaac Woodard, 19; Eph- ram Daniel, 11: Jessie Aycock, 3; Shadrick Dickinson, 14, Bridgett Cobb, 15, James Cobb, 14; Nathan Cobb, 21; John Barefoot, 25; William Hooks, 14; Charles Hopkins, 10; John i Herron, Sr., 20; Sarah Ward, 17; Sarah Pope, 16; John Hanley, 11; William Alford, 11; Robert Hooks, 14; John Coarpen- der, 11; Moses Stanley, 12; and Eze chial Slocumh (an officer in the Con tinental army), 1. I ; I-.--- ) f In the foregoing list may be found the names of many of our citizens of today. There were many other slave owners whose descendants still live among us who owned from one to twelve slaves. The principal business of the country was hog and cattle raising, ; and the principal crop was corn, though a small quantity of 'cot ton and tobacco was grown and the turpentine industry Jwas beginning. A great epidemic In 1760 destroyed seven-eighths of the cattle j of i the State. The cleared areas were small, except in a few instances. The oldest clearing in the county, and probably at the time the largest, was the farm of Joslah Sasser, upon which the first court was held, which is now owned by Messrs. I. F. Ormond and E. B. Borden, and which has been, according to well established tradition, in continuous cultivation since. 1775, and probably prior to that date. , There were few roads and travel was usually by neighborhood paths on horse-back. Practically all the houses were built of logs. An order in Coun cil, March 31, 1726, provides that "For the saving of lands for the future, every house shall be fifteen feet long, ten broad, made tight and habitable of clapboard and logs squared, with roof and chimney place and a door place. The whole acre cleared well and the major part of it broke up and planted with either fruit trees or grain." In the towns, purchasers of lots were required to build houses 16 by 24 feet. Lumber was. generally sawed by hand and was scarce and ex pensive. There were few saw mills and North Carolina produced fcnly about 150,000 feet of lumber a year prior to 1750, and probably twice as much in 1779. In the older settled regions along the Cape Fear, Ncuse and Chowan a number of large and elegant mansions had been built and there was a degree of wealth an 1 lux ury enjoyed there which presented to the traveler a striking contrast to the humble homes and frugal liveg cf the people of this section. In 1730 there were only two water mills in the colony, and grain was generally ground in hand mills even to a much later date. Cloth: Dg, shoes and hats were made at home, home prown cotton, wv leather aid tha skins and fur of will animals being utilir.ed for the pur pos. 1 note that an item of North Caro lina Export Trade in 1753 was 30,000 deer skins. In 1784, 17 bags of cotton weighing 225 pounds each .were ex ported to England from Charleston, there being no export of cotton from any other port, and seized by the English Government on the ground that the United States could not pro duce so much. A traveler, writing just before the Revolution, says: "There is but little specie in circulation, there being no occasion for it; for a planter raises his own meats, beef and bacon, his own corn and bread, his drinks, cider and brandy, his fruit, apples, peaches etc., and a great part of his clothing. which is cotton." The cotton gin had a late introduc tion in this county; and before its ad vent, cotton was picked by hand from the seed around the fireside at night and a shoe full was the task for each memeber of the family from supper until bed time. My friend, Capt. J B. Edgerton, informs me that he en gaged in this pleasant past-time as late as 1845, and that growers of cot ton in the middle of the 40's hauled their cotton to Fayetteville to be gin ned. He remembers quite vividly that, as a boy, he accompanied his father's wagons on this long journey Some plantation gins operated by hand were in use. The card, the spinning wheel and the loom were necessities in every well regulated house, and of the matron of that day it might have been written as Solomon wrote in praise of the good wife : "She seeketh wool and flax, and worketh willing with her hands." "She layeth her hands to the spindle and the distaff." "She looketh well unto the ways of her household and eateth not the bread of idleness." ; In 1790 there were only four post offices in the State Edenton, New Bern, Wilmington and Washington,- and up to 1759 no post routes. Letters were carried by travelers from planta tion to plantation and forwarded as promptly as practicable, but the means of communication were inade quate and unsatisfactory. Official mail was carried by messengers or special carriers on horse back and at great expense. In 1755, upon the recom mendation of Gov. Bobbs, James Da vis, Printer, was employed for the sum of one hundred pounds, six shillings and eight pence, proclamation money. for one year, "To carry all public letters, expresses and dispatches relat ing to this province to any port there of, and every fifteen days send a mes senger to Suffolk, in Virginia, and to Wilmington:" There were four or five newspapers published in North Carolina at the be ginning of the Revolution, at New Bern, Wilmington, Halifax, Edenton and Hillsboro. The publication of the North Carolina Gazette was begun in New Bern by James Davis about 1751 or 1752. It contained according to its announcement "The freshest advices foreign and domestic," and was pub lished weekly. To James Davis belongs the honor of having set up the first printing press in North Carolina in the year 1749, and of having printed the first book in 1751, a "Revisal of the Acts of the General Assembly,1 known as the "Yellow Jacket." He was appointed postmaster at New Bern by another famous printer whose name was Benjamin Franklin. James Davis was a Virginian by birth and the ancestor of Mrs. Thomas W. Slo cumb, Col. Adam C. Davis and Jeffer son Davis, Esq., of Goldsboro, and James Davis, deceased, of Wayne. Among his descendants living in other communities, I have known James W. and Thomas C. Davis and their sister, Mrs. James Murray of Wilson. All of these have exhibited the high charac ter, fine intelligence and public and private worth, which characterized the first Editor and Newspaper and Law Publisher of the State. The publication of these newspapers was frequently interrupted and re sumed from time to time as great events stirred the minds of the people. Their intermittent appearances seem the result of scarcity of subscribers, who could read them, and the small and scattered character of the settle ments. The settlers of North Carolina were in large part as illiterate as the ba rons, who wrested "Magna-Carta" from King John and could not read it, nor sign their names to that immortal instrument which they adorned with their seals. It Is probable that at the time of the ( Revolution not one in thirty of the white citizens of .the colony above the age of twenty-one could read or write; as late as 1850 only one In seven could boast of those accomplishments. , There were no public schools, though as early as 1746 John Starkey, mmister of the established Church of England, introduced and procured the enactment by the General Assembly of a bill making an appropriation of ( 6,000 pounds for the establishment of free schools, but the money was spent for other purposes. Another appropriation of the same amount was made in 1754, but met the Veto of England, At the time of the establishment of Wayne County, there were, so far as our records show, only two schools in this State where there was any sem blance of public education. The char ters of the Academies of New Bern and Edenton each provided that free tuition should be given to ten poor children. Not until 1839 was there any Act of the General Assembly creating a public school system, and no poll or property tax was levied for the support of the schools until after 1850. It was provided that they should be sustained out of what was called the Literary Fund, consisting of the proceeds of the Swamp Lands, divi dends upon the stocks of certain cor porations held by the State, and the license tax on retailers, tavern keep ers and auctioneers, all of which for the year 1850 amounted to less than $125,000. After careful examinations of our histories and records, I am able to find no evidence that any school existed in Johnston, Dobbs, or Wayne prior to 1790, or that any was taught in Wayne until after the pass age of the Act of 1839, under which the public school system began Governor Martin wrote in 1775 "Literature was hardly known; there were in the province but two schools those at New Bern and Edenton," but as to the latter part of this statement he was evidently in error It is probable that some of the more prosperous citizens employed teachers in their families, who taught their children, and sometimes the children of equally fortunate neighbors, and it is probable that now and then a boy was sent to school at New Bern.Eden ton, Wilmington or in Virginia, where there were academies and even schools of high degree, as there were also in Guilford, Granville, Bertie, Rowan and Mecklenburg, but such education was for a limited number, and was com pletely out of the reach of the great masses of people, The establishment of schools had been rendered difficult by the policy of the English Government Governor Burrington was instructed in 1731 that no school master should be permitted to come from England to North Carolina to teach school with out the license of the bishop of Lon don, and this instruction was given to all subsequent Governors , ' In 1771 an Act was passed by the General Assembly to charter Queens College in Charlotte, but was vetoed on the ground "That this college, if allowed to be incorporated, will in ef feet operate as a Seminary for the ed ucation and instruction of youth in the principles of the Presbyterian church and the Board of Trade doubted whether the King should give that encouragement to the Presbyterians of North Carolina." The saine policy embraced Quakers, Baptist and Metho dists and had a depressing effect upon all efforts for the establishments of schools and colleges. The remoteness of the people from cities, their ignor ance, their poverty and indifference, co-operated with this selfish and un wise purpose. The Presbyterians of the West, more than any other denom inations, resented this treatment, and in spite of the displeasure of Gover nors and Kings, built and maintained schools and colleges, and prepared their - people for the great struggle soon to come for equality and inde pendence, At the time of which I speak, the influence of that other great factor in the upbuilding of mind and charac ter was feebly exerted. There were but few preachers of the Gospel, few churches, and the Sunday schools, like the free schools, had not arrived. The attempt to force on the people of the State the established church of Eng land was resented and its ministers were to be found only in the towns along the rivers In 1764 there were six ministers of this church, and in 1776, 18 in the eastern and northern counties. James ,Edmund!son, a .Quaker, r reached the first sermon ever heard in North Carolina, Quarterly land Monthly meetings were held in Johns ton and Dobbs by the Quakers prior to the Revolution, at which time they numbered 1,000 in this state. The Baptists came early to the state; the first churches organized were . Shlloh and ' Meherrin, and the next Kehuka Creek in 1742. Soon their ministers began to preach in this county, and by 1776 had established churches in every county In the State The Methodist church began in North Carolina with the ministry of Joseph Pilmon In 1772. In 1777 John King, John Dickens and Edward Pride were assigned to the Circuit of North Carolina, and at the end of the year reported to the Conference in the bounds of their circuit 930 members It is probable that some of these preached in this county, but I am un able to find any record of It.. In 1790 the Contentenea Circuit was formed of Greene, Pitt, Craven, Lenoir and Wayne, the ministers preaching mostly in private houses. The earl iest Methodist preacher in the county, of whom I have been able to learn was Phillip Hooks, who was a local preacher at Waynesboro in the early part of the 19th century. About 1830 there was built in Waynesboro a church which was used by all denominations. A striking illustration of the condi tions existing at the time is found in the fact that when Dr. Elisha Mitchell a Presbyterian minister and professor In the State University, on his travels through the State in 1827, spent Sun day in Waynesboro, he writes that on that day he "collected a little congre gation, and held forth to them at the Tavern.' Most sections of the country were destitute of religious instruction, and at this time none of the fine and up lifting influences emenating from the churches had been present long enough to have much effect upon the inhabitants of the county. The peo pie, however, were of English stock with all the virtues and vices or tnat great race, with Its glorious history hehind them and the nromise of a splendid future in this new land before them; with stout hearts and sound heads, with resources unknown else where, many of which they them selves did not dream of; and here they set out to conquer the forests, till the soil and build homes for generations yet to come. An-; unfriendly writer (Uharmersj says of them that' they were "desti tute of the kindly Influences of re ligion and of law and during the year 1749 North Carolina was found to be little better than an asylum for gug itlvea such are the unpleasant inci dents which occupy the story of an Inconsiderable settlement that grad ually filled with people as the law afforded protection to the vagabond. as everyone lived without control and all enjoyed in security what a trivial labor had gained." On the other hand the impartial historian, Bancroft, writes of them : "They were men who had been led to the choice of their residence from a hatred of restraint and had lost themselves among the woods In search of indepedence. Are there any who doubt man's capacity for self-government, let them study the history of North Carolina, its in habitants were restless and turbulent in their imperfect submission to a gov ernment imposed on them from abroad. The administration of the Colony was firm, humane and tran quil, when they were left to take care of themselves. Any government, but oi tneir own institution, was onpres sive. North Carolina was settled bv the freest of the free, by men to whom the restraints of other colonies were too severe; but the settlers were gen tie in their tempers, of serene minds, enemies to violence and bloodshed. Freedom, entire freedom, was enjoy ed without anxiety as without guaran tees; the charities of life were scat tered at their feet like the flowers in their madows, and the spirit of hu manity maintained its influence in the Arcadia, as Royalist writers will have it, of 'Rogues and Rebels' in the Para dise of the Quakers." It must be rememebered that the county was born in the throes of the Revolutionary War. Before its for mation and while it was a part of the County of Dobbs, a company of eighty of its citizen soldiers under the lead ership of Ezekiel Slocumb marched from his home, at the call of Col. Caswell, to join the Continetal forces in their attack upon the Tories and British at Moore's Creek, and. accord ing to our historians, were a part of the division that made the final charge across the Creek, and through the swamps, that completed the rout of the enemy and gained the first victory tor American Arms in that great con test. It was at this time that one of the most interesting incidents connected with our Revolutionary struggle took place, when Mary Slocumb, the wife of Capt. Ezekiel Slocumb, being left at nome with an infant child, fearful of the fate of her husband and his comrades, was unable to sleep and rising in the night, saddled a fine mare and rode from near the present site of Goldsboro, through the forest in the direction of Moore's Creek, about 100 miles, until she came within hearing of the cannon anouncing the begin ing of the battle, when quickening her pace she soon arrived at a clump of woods near the Creek and found there the wounded of her husband's com mand. She was greatly distressed at the sight of an apparently lifeless body covered with her husband's cloak, but, upon removing the cloak, discovered that, instead of her bus band, the wounded man was Frank Cogdell. Her husband soon appeared and remonstrated with her for her daring conduct. She remained a short time nursing the wounded, and then return to her home. At one time a British colonel had quartered his troops on her plantation and remark ed in her presence that it would make a fine est te after the war for some British officer; to which she replied that all he would ever get of her plan tation would measure only two by six feet. Captain Slocumb was present as a Continental officer at the surrender of Yorktown by the British. He and his wife, who was a sister of Charles Hooks, the Repre sentative in Congress from the Wil mington District, lived far into the 19th century, honored and respected; the husband serving in the House of Commons from Wayne in the years 1812, 1814, 1815, 1816 and 1818. They owned a large tract of land south of the Neuse River and West of the A. C. L Railroad, and lie buried in the family burying ground between Golds boro and the town of Dudley. But even before the Battle of Moore's Creek, the inhabitants of Dobbs were called upon to furnish soldiers to the Royal Governor Tryon for the subjugation of the Regulators There Is no evidence, however, that they responded to the call, or that any citizen of this section took part in the battle of Alamance. It seems that they resolutely refused. I am unable to ascertain whether they refrained, be cause they did not understand the quarrel, or because they were unwill ing to take part against the persecuted and rebellious Regulators. I find in the Colonial Records a copy of a letter written at the time the inhabitants of Dobbs were ordered to muster for service in that campaign in which it is stated that only seven men m all the county responded. find also that after the battle two of the Regulators escaped to Dobbs. and upon resisting arrest, one was killed by the Sheriff and the other captured I am sure the failure of our people to aid the Royal govenor against their fellow citizens was not due to their reluctance to fight. They furnished thdir full quota to the Continetal Army, a number of them were wound ed, and after the close of the war some of these were pensioned . by Con gress. Organization of the County. In the midst of the stirring scenes of the Revolutionary War the County of Wayne was organized, and. court was held, as the records show, on the second Monday of January, 1780, at Josiah Sasser's, pursuant to the Act of the General Assembly. The follow ing Justices were present: Robert Simms, Ethelred Ruffin, Jesse Jerni gan, John Handley, Thomas Williams Stephen Cobb, Joseph Sanderson and John Sheppard. Little business was transacted. On January, 1781, the Court appoint ed Thomas Grey, Stephen Cobb, Jo seph Sanderson, and Needham Whit field, inspectors of paper money. Dur ing the same session, having elected Robert Simms. as first Sheriff of the County, and James Cobb, Clerk of the Court, it was ordered that Thomas Grey, Stephen Cobb and John Hand- ley, Esqs., be appointed commissioners of confiscated property for this coun ty, and their bonds were fixed at 200, 000 pounds each (which Is equal to $1,000,000 each of our money) from which it may be seen that paper money was abundant but cheap, and that the few Tories in the county were in great danger of losing their property. I Jurorn were drawn to attend the! Superior Court to be held at New ord: '"Court adjourns in-course to Mr. Bern, ana mis emry appears oi rec Josiah Sasser 's on Little River." The Court again held Its session at Josiah Sasser's January 1782, and one of the most interesting orders is as follows: "Ordered that Needham Whit field and Samuel Blythe be appointed to Inspect the pool for the Insulng njiection." A session of the Court wa held on the second Monday of April. l&, at the home of Mr. John Herring on Little River, an adjournment hav ing been taken at the previous meet ing "incourse" to Mr. Daniel Her ring's; there is no explanation why having adjourned "Incourse" to Mr. Daniel Herring'si the court should have been held at Mr. John Herring's. At this term the will of Josiah Sasser was proven and Elizabeth Sasser, his widow, qualified aa his executrix. The Court again met the second Monday in July 1782 at John Herring's on Little river, and among other things William McKinnie was appoint ed Commissioner to collect the Specific Provision Tax as provided by Act of Assembly. October 14, 1782, the Court was held at Mrs. Elizabeth Sasser's, and among otner tmngs the following entries ap pear or record: "A deed of sail from John Grantham to David Jernigan for 60 acres of land is proved in court by the oath of David Jernigan and order ed to be registered." "An account of sails of the estate of Josiah Sasser, deceased, was turned into the Court by the Sheriff and ordered that same be recorded." . Our ancestors seem to have extend ed their views of independence and to have spelled according to the dictates or tneir consciences. This interesting record also appears at this meeting: ""'John Rowell, whose wife and daughter, complain ing that he had abused and threatened them prayed the peace of the State against him, he appeared and cross examined his daughter Sabra, and, not liking some answer, assaulted and beat her in the presence of the Court. He was adjudged in contempt and sentenced to three months in jail, and to give a bond for $1,000 in specie for nis good behavior. Session of January 13, 1783,.' was held at the residence of Samuel Blythe. Session of November 1783 was held at Stephen Cobb's. Among other mat ters to which attention was given, it was "Ordered that Joel Grantham name the inhabitence of Capt. pipkings district. Court was held at John Fleetwood's on Little river, July 12, 1784. At that meeting Joseph Pipkin. Needham Whitfield and Stephen Cobb report that they had let out the building of the Court House, Prison and Stocks to Col. Wm. McKinne for -335 pounds, ne being the lowest bidder. A session of the Court was held at West Point Monday, January 2, 1785, and again at the same place April 11, 1785, at which meeting Dr. Andrew Bass was authorized to keep a public ferry at West Point over Neuse river and to keep a house of public enter tainment on his land on" the north side of said river. I gather from the records that the Commissioners appointed by the Act of 1779 to select a site on which to have the Court House and Gaol and Stocks built, recommended, and had approved by the Court at a very mea gerly attended session a location which appeared satisfactory to them, and that at the next court, more largely attended than any court during the period under consideration, the said order was annulled, and in 1782 an Act of the Assembly was passed re citing the failure of the former com missioners to act, and appointing Ste phen Cobb, Needham Whitfield and Joseph Pipkin to contract for three acres as near the centre of the coun ty as may be for the Court House, prison and stocks, also to contract for building the same. From all of which it appears that a controversy existed respecting the location of the Court House. It seems that the, former Commissioners and three Justices of the Peace undertook the location of the County Seat to suit themselves but when the great body of Justices gathered they incontinently rescinded the order of the Court and procured the passage of the Act of 1782, re moving the old Commissioners and appointing new ones. On the 14th of February, 1782, An drew Bass, Doctor, conveyed to Ste phen Cobb, Needham Whitfield and Joseph Pipkin, Commissioners, three acres of land on the North Side of the Neuse river, as a site for the Court House, and the County build ings were built upon that site, about one mile from the corporate limits of the present city of Goldsboro, by Col.! William McKinnie. Some of our older citizens inform me that they remember very distinct- Iy this Court House. It may have been larger than the dimensions re - quired by the statute in the building of court houses, which was 24x16 c l ti e 1 tl. feet. It was a frame building, weath er-boarded and raised high above the ground on brfck pillars, leading large, open space underneath, in which space Capt. Thomas W. Slocumb, his boy friends and the goats used to play. At that time the County Seat had no name, except that of "The Court House," but in January, 1787, the town of Waynesboro was incorporated, as it is stated In the Act of the Gen eral Assembly, on the lands of An drew Bass, and It was provided In the act that Andrew Bass should convey to certain trustees, tc-wit: William Mc Kinne, Burwell Mooring, William Whitfield, Joseph Green, David Jerni gan, Richard Bass and and William Fellows, sixty acres of land, Including the three acres theretofore conveyed on the North side of the Neuse River, where the Court House and public buildings then stood, and specific di rections were given for dividing the said tract into lots, laying out streets and selling lots; the proceeds of sale to be divided between the Commis sioners and said Andrew Bass. The proceeds retained by the Commission ers were directed to be used for the Improvement of the town. The Com missioners were given large powers ; among others, were authorized to re move all porches and buildings that projected into the proposed streets, to make rules for the prevention of the running at large of cattle and hogs, and to prohibit the erection of stick chimneys. These progressive ideas were doubtless . carried out, though it is difficult to imagine that the rules prohibiting the running at large of live stock could have been very acceptable to the citizens of the new' town, if its inhabitants were the genuine ancestors of the residents of some of the towns and cities I have known, in which I have seen muni- cipal campaigns decided upon the question whether live stock should run at large upon the streets. Our records show a number of con veyances made by the Commissioners to settlers. Among others, ttt Rich ard Washington, John Wright, Fran cis Castex, D. G. W. Ward, Charles J. Nelson and Arnold Borden. Richard Washington, the leading merchant of Waynesboro and Golds boro, was the father of the late Col. James A. Washington, so well known and highly esteemed throughout the county, and the grandfather o Com mander Thomas M. WashingtonfLieut. Pope Washington, of the United States Navy; Mrs. James M. Allen and Miss Daisy Washington. John Wright was the father of Mrs. Lou M. Jones, Mrs. J. D. Brooks, and the grandfather of Mrs. J. W. Nash, and Mrs. Nellie Bernizer of Washington, D. C. Francis Castex was the father of L. H. Castex, F. L. Castex and Mrs. Winslow. D. G. W. Ward, a physi cian, was the father of Judge D. L. Ward and Wyatt M. Ward, of New Bern. Charles J. Nelson, a Bantist minister and prominent citizen, left no descendants' living in this county. Arnold Borden died in 1846, leaving nis widow, Maria Borden, and his children, Mrs. Harriet Dewey, wife of Dr. Charles Dewey; James C. Bor den, E. B. Borden, Mrs. Lou Korne gay, wife of W. F. Kornesrav: Mrs. John F. Miller and William H. Borden. He was one of the leading business men of Waynesboro and Goldsboro, and built the Borden Hotel, upon- the square on West Centre Street, Upon which the business houses of the Goldsboro Drug Company, Royall & Borden and Dewey Brothers and oth ers now stand. This hotel was the stopping place for travel by the old stage road from the West and East before the North Carolina Railroad was built, and from the North and South on the old W. & W. Railroad. After tbe death of her husband, it was conducted by Mrs. Maria Borden for many years. Among other residents of the town were John H. Powell, Mrs. Keziah Wellons, Dr. Daniel Cogdell, Mrs. E. A. Churchill and William Crawford. 1 The only living persons known to have lived in Waynesboro are L. H. Cas tex, E. B. Borden, Miss Sallie Churchill, W. W. Crawford, Mrs. Rowena Powell, of Goldsboro, and Mrs. Sophia Hutton, of Washington, D. C. Holding the First Court. The first Court was held at Waynes boro on July 9, 1787, The following Justices attended: Robert Simms, William Alford, Willis Bryan, John Beck, Absolem Williams, Richard McKinne and Josiah Jernigan Of the earliest settlers we have little in formation, but as far back as the memory of living man reaches the town contained a population probably less than 100. Its principal merchants were John Wright, Richard Washing ton and Arnold Borden, whose stores stood upon the river. C. J. Nelson conducted a buggy and repair shop. The home of Francis Castex, on the opposite side of the street, imme diately upon the river bank, and the homes of Washington, Wright ajid Borden, were the principal residences of the town. The Borden residence was afterwards moved to Goldsboro and is now the property of James W. Bizzell on Ash street. The Washing ton residence was also moved to Goldsboro and is now owned by Mrs. Clara Jones and is situated on West Center street. Richard Washington was the last resident to leave the abandoned town. The Castex residence was also moved to Goldsboro, and is now a part of the residence of Carl Gris wold, a descendant of James Gris wold. The only relic remaining of the old town is an ancient cedar tree standing on the bank of the Neuse River on the lot formerly owned by Francis Castex. The site of the town is now the property of Major H. L. Grant and upon it is located the brick manufac turing plant of H. L. Grant & Son. The old cemetery is on the plantation of Capt. J. E. Peterson. A slight glimpse of the town of Waynesboro is found in a letter writ ten December 28, 1827, by Dr. Elisha Mitchell to his wife, from which I quote the following: "I rode down to Bass Ferry and paddled about the river a while in an old crazy canoe, to see the lime stone about the mouth of Falling Creek, and then passed on to Waynes-, boro and put up at Isaac Hill's. Found there a young lawyer from Orange, who knew me and went with me to Mrs. Andrews, formerly -Miss Gunn, who was married in the meeting house in Washington the summer you were there. She lives just on the banks of the Neuse. On Sunday col- , iected a little congregation and held forth to them at the Tavern. Dr. 1 Williams and Tippoo Henderson and ' . . . . . j j. s Morris called upon me, and found them all very pleasant. Took my tea and Ispent the evening at Dr. Andrews'. Monday morning crossed the Neuse and got my breakfast at Mr. Griswold's. Griswold is a Yankee boy who came from Rocky Hill to Carolina,. as he married a girl of some property, failed, and now lives in rather humble style in Wayne. He does not appear to be efficient, and I doubt his wife regrets her having married a Yankee." The Dr. Andrews referred to kept a tavern at Waynesboro for many years and was a practicing physician and one of the most influential found ers of the present city of Goldsboro. One of his sons, Rev.S. G. Andrews, was a colonel in the Confederate States army. Another, George P. An drews, was a Colonel in the U. S. army. Another, John N. An drews, was a gifted Methodist preach er . and the fourth, B. Frank Andrews, a local Methodist preacher. Descendants of Dr. Andrews in the persons of Mrs. M. T. Breazele, Mrs. B. W. Southerland and Mrs. Fred Mintz.'live in Mount Olive, Wayne county, and there are other descend ants in this and adjoining counties. James Griswold, who was denomi nated a Yankee by Dr. Mitchell, who was himself a Connecticut Yan kee, appears not to have deserved the censure of Dr. Mitchell. On the con trary, he was one of the-most promi nent and influential citizens of the county. He was- chairman of the Court of Pleas and Quarter Sessions and for many years served as Clerk and Master in Equity. He was the -founder of a numerous and highly re spected family, several of whom still reside In Goldsboro. Dr. Andrew Bass, the founder of Waynesboro, was a delegate to the Provincial Congress of 1775, and to
Goldsboro Weekly Argus (Goldsboro, N.C.)
Standardized title groups preceding, succeeding, and alternate titles together.
Dec. 3, 1914, edition 1
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