A Man Of Many Interests
I(r. Morris Daniels of
Stonewall became a con
servationist and ecologist
before it was the
“fashionable thing to do.”
15 1947 or 1948, Morris
Daniels started his Canada
Gi$se population, now
totaling 23 geese, with one
pdf.
Knowledgeable about the
Cdnada Goose, Daniels said
that the goose may live 30—70
years: his oldest is now 14
years old.
The aeese. for the m<>«*
part, mate f.r life Mow ’ er
should an accident befall one
of the pair, the surviving one
will take another mate.
Daniels said that he once had
a pair that was nesting; the
goose was sitting on the nest
containing the eggs while the
gander stood “lookout duty”.
The gander was attacked by a
blue heron, an enemy of the
Canada goose, which
“punctured” the goose in the
side and ran him away. The
goose needed a gander to help
with “child-rearing duties”
so she took another mate.
However, said Daniels, the
first gander somehow sur
vived and was hand fed by
Daniels until he was back on
his webbed feet. Although,
commented Morris, he
always had a limp. The three
geese “hung around”
together and there didn’t
seem to be any acceptance
problems between the old
gander and the new.
Daniels continued the story
saying that he was out
working in his shop late one
night and the injured gander
came, grabbed his pants leg
and pulled. Daniels said that
he didn’t know what the
gander wanted but that the
gander died several days
later.
Daniels’ geese can fly free.
He said that his geese visit
Jackie Cowell’s flock in
Stonewall and Cowell’s geese
visit his. Daniels and his wife
counted 117 geese in their
yard one morning. Daniels
commented that he has
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raised 50-60 geese since he
started. The pairs lay 4-7 eggs
each year; last year said
Morris, eleven eggs hatched
but 6 or 7 have died. The
eggs hatch in about 28 days
and both parents are
responsible for the care of the
young. The young stay with
their parents until they are
about 2 years old. At about 3
years of age, the geese find
mates.
Remembering another
incident, Daniels said that the
goose took the three eggs
which had hatched to get
some grass for their first
meal while the gander stayed
behind with the one egg which
didn’t hatch. Soon the
remaining egg did hatch and
father and offspring joined
the rest of the family.
They eat the com which
Daniels scatters for them but,
he explained, they are mostly
grass eaters.
The Canada Goose will
crossbreed with a domestic
goose. Daniels said that
sometimes he will see a goose
with marked like a Canada
goose but having a white
neck.
Daniels is understandably
concerned about the goose
hunters in Pamlico County.
Most of the Canada geese in
this county, he said, are
owned by someone although
they are allowed to fly free.
Daniels has visions of
repopulating the county with
geese to the extent that a
hunter wouldn’t have to
worry too much about
shooting someone’s goose.
“If,” he commented, “people
would leave our geese alone,
we could have an open season
in about 5 years.” He con
tinued by saying that the
geese have “got to get out
now” referring to the over
crowding taking place.
There is competition for
nesting places close to home
grounds since many of the
younger geese are now
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Morris Daniels and friends.
Morris Daniels with a few samples of his woodcarvings.
seeking out their own nests.
Daniels said that the geese
have to have a nesting place
with a pond and plenty of
'“grasses " for feeding and
owner-protected places are
becoming scarce.
Daniels said that tne area
has “been a ‘land of plenty’ ”
and that people need to take
from it, referring mainly to
hunting and fishing, only
what is needed.
He understands that a
farmer may have to kill deer
or raccoons which are
damaging his crops but he
doesn’t believe that it is
necessary to kill to the point
of causing a species to
become extinct in an area.
Besides his interest in
raising geese, Daniels also
has a pony, Jour sheep,
numerous chickens, and
hunting dogs.
CARVING A HOBBY
Carving is also a hobby
with, you guessed it, the
Canada goose a specialty.
Daniels said that he began
carving when he worked for
the railroad and has been
carving for 12-14 years.
Juniper and white and red
cedar are favorite woods. He
feels that some of his talent in
carving may have come
from his father who, Morris
Daniels has been told, carved
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in the >
the
some of the “gingerbread’
trim embellishing the 100
year old home. Daniels said
that he couldn’t be sure of this
since he never knew his
father who died when Morris
was only three months old.
“OLD MCDONALD’S
FARM”
School children sometimes
visit the Danielses to see the
geese and the other animals.
Once Daniels took a hen and
her three-day old bitties to a
kindergarten class at An
derson School. He later
received “Thank you”
drawings from the class.
Morris Daniels said that the
children passed the tiny
bitties around but that not one
bitty was hurt.
history buff
Daniels also spends time
reading and researching
history about the geese and
the coastal area. Daniels said
that young people should
spend more time with older
people <because their elders
have a lot to teach them.
The mute swan is so-called
because it is said never to use
its voice in captivity.
Soldiers in ancient Rome ate
garlic in the belief that it
gave them courage in battle.
Reels boro
(Cont'd from Page.0ne)
In the early years of Reelsboro, most of the people mad?
their living from farming, fishing or lumber.
Mrs. Buck said that many of the Reelsboro residents were
very well educated and included lawyers, school teachers
and ministers.
TRANSPORTATION
■ ; .1
In John Reel’s time, sailing boats, both passenger and
freight, would stop at Lee Landing on Broad Creek and
bring supplies. The boats would leave loaded with com,
cotton and other produce from the area.
About 1902, the railroad came through and began buying
up right-of-ways. When the tracks were laid, the Reel store
lay between the railroad and the highway. The tram hail
passenger cars and freight cars. The depot became the
gathering place for the local townspeople.
However, soon after the use of cars became more com
monplace, about 1920, the train, now used less for tran
sportation, stopped running passenger cars. And, even
tually, trucks began carrying much of the farm produce
that used to be shipped by freight train. The number of,
freight trains was also reduced. By 1976, all the trains were
stopped and crossing signs were removed.
SCHOOLS :;
Reelsboro had its own school for several years. The first.
school, located in the area of the present Hudson;
Manufacturing building, was for all grades and had on©
classroom upstairs and one downstairs. Later a wooden
building was built at the comer of Savannah Road and Lee
landing Road; that one burned in 1918.
Mrs. Buck, who said she started school in 1921, attended
school a church for two years until a new school could be
built. The new brick school was built on the site of the one
which had burned. , , _ , ,
About 1926, school consolidation began and the Reelsboro
7th grade class was sent to the Alliance school. Mrs. Buck
commented that this was the beginning of Reelsboro losing
its school.
In 1927, the post office in Reelsboro closed
another blow to the community - another part of its iidentity
lost.
FAMILIES
George Reel was the father of John Benton Reel and Lucy
Reel Barrow. Lucy Barrow gave the land on which the
Reelsboro Methodist Church now stands.
In a small cemetery behind the Methodist Church,
Reuben Barrow is buried. Reuben was the father of Henry
Barrow (husband to Lucy Reel Barrow).
Reuben Barrow came to the area from Greene County
about 1870 because a daughter married Nathaniel Greene
Brinson Grantsboro. He brought 5 children with him. He
was a school teacher, could speak 4 languages and had been
Clerk of Court in Lenoir County.
Most of the families who originally settled in Reelsboro
are still represented; they include the Holtons, Pipkins,
Moores, Caseys, Bennetts, Lanes, Lees, Reels, Brinsons
and Barringers.
UTILITIES
Electricity came to the area about 1925.
In the early 1900’s, Jqe Reel of Arapahoe installed
telephone equipment at his Arapahoe store for private use;
he wanted to be able to keep in touch with his father, John
Reel, in Reelsboro and ran a line to Reel’s Store.
Later, George Reel, brother to Joe and son to John, took
over Joe’s phone equipment and installed it in his home in
Bayboro. Eventually this service branched out to other
the county and was sold to Carolina Telephone in
the 1920’s.
T
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