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First PCHS
@ SCAN M E
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Perquimans High
to present ‘High
School Musical’
Thursday, Friday
seniors awarded
Godfrey, Winslow
scholarships
PAGE 7
HT dinner
boat’s arrival
now pushed
back to 2024
Restraining order blocks town from moving monument
Tillett granted opponents'
request to halt relocation
BY JULIAN EURE
Managing Editor
EDENTON — Even
though Edenton Town
Council approved moving
the town’s Confederate
Monument to a new site a
month ago, the controver
sial marker can’t be relocat
ed because of a restraining
order imposed by a Superi
or Court judge.
Town officials acknowl
edged April 19 that an order
signed by Senior Resident
Superior Court Judge Jer ¬
ry Tillett
March 24 is
preventing
the mon
ument’s
relocation
from South
Broad
Street to
Hollowell
Park on
West Queen Street.
“While Council has al
ready taken action, and we
are both eager and commit
ted to move forward, we are
currently under court order
that prohibits any monu
ment movement, so we urge
any concerned residents to
please exercise patience as
we move through this situa
tion,” Town Manager Corey
Gooden said in a statement.
The statement notes that
“recent publications have
accused the town of not
taking any action” to re
move the monument. The
statement didn’t cite spe
cifics, but a group called
the “Concerned Citizens of
Edenton” published a paid
ad in the April 15th edition
of the Chowan Herald that
said the following: “Council-
men: Honor Your Resolve.
Remove the Confederate
Monument Today!”
The town’s statement
details Edenton’s efforts
to move the monument,
including the unanimous
vote by town councilors
on Feb. 8, 2022, “affirming
an intent to relocate the
monument” after the
town’s Human Relations
Commission reconymended
the move “to promote racial
harmony.” The statement
points out that an attorney
for three groups opposed
to moving the monument
— the United Daughters
of the Confederacy, North
Carolina Division, Inc.;
the Sons of Confederate
Veterans, Inc.; and the
Colonel William F. Martin
Camp 1521 of the Sons of
See MONUMENT, A6
THE CHOWAN HERALD
A sign calling
for the removal
of Edenton’s
Confederate statue
is seen in front of
the monument
plaza in 2022.
Town officials
acknowledged last
week that an order
signed by Senior
Resident Superior
Court Judge Jerry
Tillett March 24
is preventing
the monument’s
relocation from
South Broad Street
to Hollowell Park on
West Queen Street.
Honoring the Patiences SK
TYLER NEWMAN PHOTO
Officials from Edenton, Chowan County and the N.C. Museum of History join Dr. Juanita Patience Moss (third from
right) and Joseph Lawrence to dedicate the Patience-Lawrence Monument in honor of their ancestors, Crowder
and Thomas Patience, both of whom escaped enslavement in Edenton and went on to fight for the Union in
the Civil War. The dedication ceremony was held at the Providence Missionary Baptist Church Burial Grounds in
Edenton, Saturday, April 22.
in bucket of water
Brothers fled slavery, fought for Union
Patience marker installed
at Providence cemetery
BY VERNON FUESTON
Correspondent
Edenton residents gath
ered Saturday, April 22, to
honor Crowder and Thom
as Patience, two brothers
who escaped slavery, joined
the Union Army, and fought
as privates in the Civil War.
Tire monument to the Pa
tience brothers is the result
of research by Dr. Juanita
Patience Moss, a retired
biology teacher from New
Jersey and descendant of
the brothers.
According to Edenton
officials, Moss’ historical re
search began after a 23and-
Me DNA test led her to sev
eral cousins in Edenton she
did not know about, includ
ing Joseph Lawrence Jr.
Comparing family notes,
Moss and her cousins
pieced together the Pa
tience brothers’ story.
Crowder, who was bom
in 1846, enlisted in the 103rd
Pennsylvania Volunteers, a
mixed-race unit garrisoned
at Plymouth.
Thomas, who was bom
in 1840, enlisted in the 5th
Massachusetts Colored
Cavalry, one of four segre
gated regiments allowed to
keep their state designation
before the organization of
the United States Colored
Troops.
The brothers served sep
arately during the Civil War
and never saw each other
again. Thomas, who lived
See HONORING, A6
Officials to decide soon on
possible criminal charges
BY JULIAN EURE
Managing Editor
EDENTON — State and
local investigators and the
District Attorney’s Office
will decide “within the
month” whether crimi
nal charges will be filed
following public release
Monday of an autopsy re
port indicating a 2-year-old
Chowan County boy died
last fall from drowning in a
bucket of water.
The March 30 medical
examiner’s report of the
autopsy performed on Di-
nari Don Keith Lindsey Jr.
indicates the toddler died
in October 2022 from “as
phyxia via drowning.”
The report also states
the child was found by law
enforcement officers “sub-
merged in a 5-gallon bucket
of water” after a caretak
er at a community center
“was unable to locate him.”
Chowan Chief Depu
ty John McArthur con
Gilliard third to
announce bid for
First Ward seat
firmed Monday that the
Lindsey child was found
submerged in a bucket of
water. Chowan sheriffs
officials previously had de
clined to confirm that.
The autopsy report also
indicates officials attempt
ed emergency measures to
revive the child.
Chowan sheriffs officials
have said previously that
the Lindsey child was in the
care of guardians who live
on Virginia Road, but have
declined to discuss other
details, citing an ongoing
investigation by the Sheriffs
Office and the N.C. State
Bureau of Investigation.
The Chowan Herald
previously reported that
Cornyeah Lindsey, identi
fied as the child’s mother,
said she had left her son
in the care of a couple
who live on Virginia Road.
Lindsey also told reporters
from WAVY-TV that her
son was found by deputies
“upside-down in a bucket”
that contained water and
that his feet were hanging
See TODDLER, A6
Children’s Fest draws 700 kids, parents
15th annual event featured
petting zoo, kiddie train
BY KESHA WILLIAMS
Correspondent
HERTFORD — A si
ren-squalling firetruck, a
small kiddie train and a
petting farm were among
the attractions at the 15th
annual Week of the Young
Child Children’s Festival on
Saturday, April 22.
The annual event is coor-
6 "89076 47144
Vol. 88, No. 17
WWW.PerquimansWeekly.com
@2021 Perquimans Weekly
All Rights Reserved
dinated by Chowan/Perqui-
mans Smart Start Partner
ship, a 25-year-old agency
that works with parents and
organizations to enhance
early childhood develop
ment and school readiness.
Sarah Williams, program
coordinator for Chowan/
Perquimans Smart Start
Partnership, said nearly 700
parents and children attend
ed the four-hour event at the
Perquimans County Parks
and Recreation Center in
Hertford, roughly 200 more
than last year.
Toddlers and kids
roamed from one
2 vendor station to
the other during the
event, arranging a
line of trains, flipping
See FEST, A6
KESHA WILLIAMS
PHOTO
Perquimans
County Sheriff’s
Deputy Faran
Sawyer tries to
block the sun’s
glare as her
3-year-old son,
Channing, tackles
the challenge
of matching
oversize plastic
rings at the 15th
annual Week
of the Young
Child Children’s
Festival at the
Perquimans
County Parks
and Recreation
Center in Hertford
on Saturday, April
22.
Pharmacist plans to run
in Edenton’s fall election
From staff repots
A third candidate has
announced plans to seek
the open First Ward seat on
Town Council in this fall’s
Edenton election.
Travis Maurice Gilliard,
head pharmacist at the Eden
ton CVS for the past 34 years,
said he plans to seek the seat
being vacated by current
Councilman Hackney High.
High has already announced
he will not seek re-election to
council but will run for Eden
ton mayor instead.
Gilliard joins Stephanie
Bergeron and Robert “Bob”
Turner, both of whom an
nounced their plans to seek
the First Ward seat last
week.
Gilliard, an Edenton
resident
since 1990,
said in a
press re
lease that
he’s origi
nally from
Charles
ton, South
GILLIARD Carolina.
A graduate
of Seventy-First Senior High
School in 1980, he attended
Fayetteville Technical Com
munity College in 1982 and
then the Medical University
of South Carolina’s College
of Pharmacy in 1988.
“I moved to Edenton
in 1990 after being ac
customed to larger cities
such as Fayetteville and
Charleston,” he said in the
release. “I honestly gave
Edenton four years, but
the town and its people
See GILLIARD, A6