PERSPECTIVE
Widow Billups has
second marriage
As owner of the land upon
which she lived, Exum Elliott
was in a position to assist his
widowed sister Elizabeth
Billups. With the outbreak of
war, he was given responsibility
for the welfare of many others.
appointed a member of the
providence committee for
Ballahack District in
Perquimans County. The
committee was to furnish food
and necessities to widows whose
sons had gone to war, to wives
whose husbands had joined the
fight, to any family whose
economic survival was
jeopardized by a breadwinner's
patriotism.
A similar committee in the Up
River District included Andrew
J. Ownley, a recent widower in
whom the widow Billups was
interested. Ownley had visited
the widow's farm several times
in 1858, for he had attended her
husband's estate sale, had been
one of the commissioners setting
i>ff her year's provisions, and had
been the deputy sheriff in
attendance on the jury alloting
her dower.
In March 1865 Elizabeth
(Elliott) Billups married
Ownley. They would have one
child, Eugenia. By 1870 Elizabeth
was a widow the second time, but
her financial position was
perhaps better than it had been
ten years earlier.
According to the 1870 census,
Mrs. Ownley had the use of 125
acres improved land and 75 acres
of woodland, the farm being
valued at $800. Production was
low, but the farm did make one
bale of cotton, the up and coming
crop of the day.
Works on the farm was then
done by John U. Delaney, a
twenty-one year old who made
his home with the widow and two
of her daughters. Two years
later, in September 1872,
Delandy married hi8s boss'
daughter Mary Lousia Billups.
* In January 1873 the Delaneys
came into sole possession of 83
acres including the old house
John Bogue built. Mrs. Delaney's
mother continued to live with
them until her death in 1879; at
her sale Delaney purchased
some of the family heirlooms,
including three of 10 pictures
which were signs of gentility in
those days.
Before his own death in May
1900, John M. Delaney married
twice more, choosing widows
Elizabeth Bagley in April 1887
and Harriett Dail in December
1889. The last added her own
three children to the Delaney
household, until she moved to the
home of her third husband.
In 1902 Joseph L. Delaney
became sole owner of the house
which had been his father's and
his grandfather Timothy
Billups'. The house was then one
hundred years old. Delaney sold
the house and 64 acres to Thomas
Martin Ward in September 1913
for $1,250.
A native of Chowan County,
Ward occupied the house until his
death in 1932. He bequeathed it to
his son Herbert L. Ward, whose
ownership for 47 years from 1932
to 1979 was the longest in the
history of the house.
The John Bogue House, built in
1802, has been owned by Bogues,
Jordans, Whites, Billupses,
Delaneys, and Wards. It is one of
the oldest and least spoiled
buildings in Perquimans County.
With a little help, the ancient
dwelling should see the
completion of its second century
and the start of its third.
T aking the time
to enjoy life
A few days ago, I had the
opportunity to visit some of the
places that were such an
Important part of my childhood
days. Places that then seemed of
little importance now bring back
many memories.
??Points?
of View
by:
BILL NIXON
Many of the once familiar
landmarks have changed
considerably since those days
gone by, including the house
where I was reared.
I suppose what caused me to
take a few moments and review
past years was thoughts of an
upcoming family reunion. It has
been years, too many years,
since we've all been together.
And it will probably be many
years before we do again. This
meeting will be quite special.
When I tell people that I am
; one of thirteen children, they
? often gasp, and comment how
? wonderful it must have been to
?! have grown up with so many
brothers and sisters. I usually
agree, though it was not always a
? joy to have to share with so many
the few material things afforded
I a family of such size. It was a
Joy, and still remains so, to share
memories. Memories that
/ touched each of us in a different
way.
'I Our meeting will bring back
; many of those memories. Each
; of us will recall some time in that
; period that was very special to
!? us. We'll have lots o I fun
;? remembering. And well make
; memories that day to carry with
jj us, back to the present life that so
?; often reflects little of what our
^ lives were made of then.
? So often, we hear people iay
? they long tof the "good old
I days." As Is so often the caw, we
tend to remember fondly days
(
gone by. It seems we remember
most of the good, while having
removed the unpleas;ant
memories from our mind. I think
we often long for the old days
because of fear of facing the
future. In days gone by, there is a
knowledge of what happened,
and there is a sense of being able
to control events by removing
from our minds those things we
wish to forget. The same is not
true of tomorrow, the day that
never comes.
You could say that I am a
believer in today. I believe any
impact we will have on the past
or future depends on what we
make of each day. Our acts today
will set the pace for tomorrow.
Today's actions will also become
the memories of the past.
There are many proverbs that
encourage us to make the most of
eacy day we have, to assure
when day is done that we can
look back over the past hours and
pinpoint certain
accomplishments of the day. And
then, according to some thinking,
we can rest in peace, knowing we
have made the most of every
hour.
I don't agree with this thinking.
I believe that every day should
include some time that has been
reserved for nothing. A few
moments, or if necessary, hours,
that do not have to be pre
planned. A few minutes that
belong to no one but ourselves.
In today's world, too much is
made of achieving. While I don't
approve of an individual being
shiftless and laxy, I also find it
hard to understand a person that
finds little Joy in life for fear of
having wasted a minute or two.
There is little progress made if
we spend too much time thinking
about yesterday or tomorrow.
The only day we have is the one
we are living in.
If we would all take
a few moments each day to
really see the things around us,
our faith in this world would be
renewed, and probably our
spirits as well. We miss so much
by trying not to miaa anything.
Swapping is fast becoming the new trend
Swapping has become the
name of the game in the little
town of Hertford.
A Chat
With Jane
By
V
Jane
Williams
Kids are trading everything
that they can get their hands on.
Baseball cards, Atari
(Registered Trademark)
cartridges, records, clothes, you
name it and kids will trade it.
Ladies are swapping recipes,
babysitting duties, household
hints, clothes, and soap opera
inform atiop (and so are quite a
few men and teen-agers that I
know), along with numerous
other items.
Men are swapping golf clubs,
lawn mowing, shop talk, fishing
tales, political views, and the list
goes on.
The biggest swap going on in
Hertford right now though would
have to be the office swapping.
It's no big secret that we at
THE PERQUIMANS WEEKLY
have swapped our old location
for a new dwelling at 119 W.
Grubb St., but we're not the only
business that is on the move.
To make room for us,
Riverside Insurance Agency
purchased the lot that was owned
by Carolina Telephone and set up
their new office in a trailer just a
few doors down and across the
street from our location.
Crafton Matthews, Jr., owner
and operator of the agency -
which in addition to an insurance
office is a collection agency for
Carolina Telephone and Pyrofax
Gas, noted that the purpose of his
move was to gain additional
parking for the added number of
customers that now frequent his
office due to the phone company
and gas company collections.
It seems a little ironic that
after a year or so of not being
able to pay phone bills at the
phone office, a new office that
will accept phone bill payments
would open up in the same
location. Now you've just got to
remember where you used to pay
your phone bill and head back to
the same place.
Crafton isn't the only
insurance agent to grab up a
better location for himself
though. Allen and Becky
Winslow, the proprietors of
Johnson-White Insurance
Agency, have vacated their
building on Market St. and
moved to a new locaion in the
nucleus of Hertford on Church St.
in the offices adjoining Hertford
Hardware and Supply Co.
The Winslow's hope that their
new location will prove to be
more convenient for their
customers, while giving their
shop additional exposure to the
downtown traffic.
The swap that got everybody
else into the moving spirit was
the pending move of Greggory's
5, 10, and 25 Cents Store into the
building occupied by White's
Dress Shop and the move of
White's into the building
occupied by Greggory's.
Although this move was
announced prior to any of the
other business moves, it has not
yet taken place.
Willie and Doris Ainsley, the
owners of Greggory's, are
currently in the process of
liquidating their inventory
before moving into the smaller
location where they will
maintain a few of the lines that
they have carried throughout the
years, such as confectionery
items, magazines, and picture
framing.
Irene Meads, proprietor of
White's Dress Shop, is looking
forward to the additional space
for displaying merchandise and
dressing rooms that will be
afforded her in her soon to be
new location.
I'm sure that each of these
businesses have encountered the
headaches that The Weekly rap
into when we began moving into
the new shop. Keeping a business
above the ground in this day and
age is tough enough, but trying to
keep the business going and get
everything relocated to a new
location is a tough job.
We've had our share of
"moving day blues", and we've
still got a lot left to do, but this
too will be remedied in time.
We'd like to extend an
invitation to you to attend our |
open house on Friday, from 10:00
to 12:00. We may not have
everything completed by that
time, but we'd still like for you to
drop by and get familiar with the
new place.
We know that it will take some
getting used to before you will
automatically remember to visit
us on Grubb St., since many of
you have been going to '
Courthouse Square for nearly 50
years, but we hope that our new
location will prove to be more
convenient for you in the future.
Letter to the Editor
(Editor's note? The following
letter, addressed to Mr. Durwood
Reed ? Perquimans County
Finance Officer, was brought to
my attention by Mr. Reed due to
the significance of achievement
that was made by the
Perquimans County Department
of Social Services in cutting the
Medicaid error rate for the state.
This newspaper would like to
commend the Department for
their diligency in handling the
potential problem of Medicaid
error in the county. )
Dear Mr. Reed
I want to share with you my
congratulations to your County
Department of Social Services
for its zero Medicaid error
record for the period of October
IMS -March 1964.
You and I can credit your
county department's diligence in
making accurate determinations
of eligibility for Medicaid clients
as a significant factor in North
Carolina's receiving national
recognition for its low 1.4 per
cent Medicaid error rate.
Governor Hunt has issued a
press release which touts North
Carolina as having the 10th best
rate in the country.
We attribute the success in
part to the counties' reception of
a review of sub-set of cases
outside the records selected for
official federal reporting.
The sub-set of cases are
reviewed in what we call
Corrective Action Record
Review or CARR. Our QC
analysts read records in the sub
set and provide the county with a
report of findings on each case.
No error* are charged to the
counties in this review.
The analyst reviews his
findings with the county staff at
an exist interview and makes
suggestions to the county for
checking out potential error
conditions and corrective
measures the county can take to
prevent errors.
The counties have b4?n
extremely positive about this
review as Is evidenced fan the
greatly improved error rate. In
April ? September the error rate
was 5.9 per cent. The decline to
the current rate of 1.4 per cent is
^ a significant reduction!
The Division appreciates the
fine work your county is doing. I
am personally very pleased with'
their record.
Sincerely,
Barbara D. Matula
Director
State of North Carolina
Department of Human
Resources
Division of Medical Assistance
410 N. Boylan Ave.
Raleigh, N. C. 27603
THE
PERQUIMANS WEEKLY
119 West Grubb Street
P.O. Box 277
Hertford, North Carolina 27944
Published Every Thursday
By Advance Publications, Elizabeth City, N.C.
Jane B. Williams
Managing Editor
Ken Castelloe Cindy Leicester
Advertising Manager Circulation Manager
SUBSCRIPTION RATES
Annual - In County - *8.50
Annual - Out-of-County - *9.50