Why two Horton Cooper Histories of Avery County?

Recently, Jimmie Daniels let me borrow her copy of Horton Cooper’s first history of Avery County. I’ve heard about this other history for quite some time, but I had never seen a copy.

The two books could not be any more different.

The first has no publication date. A clue to the age of the manuscript is found on page 15. Horton writes: Newland was established 25 years of age and has grown slowly…” Does Horton mean that Newland was established 25 years ago at the time of his writing? If so, that would date the manuscript to ca.1936. Horton also mentions that Harvey Clark, born ca.1843, was still alive and one of the oldest citizens of the county.

Horton makes mention on page 22 of the 1936-1937 school term. He also writes on page 68 that the area was served by two narrow-gauge railroads: the East Tennessee and Western North Carolina Railroad and the Linville River Railroad. So the book dates prior to 1940, either 1936 or 1937.

Horton’s first history of the county was written at the request of Mrs. Bonnie (H. C.) Ford, of Penland, NC. Horton wrote an “Apology” at the beginning: “This history was reluctantly started at Mrs. H. C. Ford’s suggestion: it was expanded from the sheer joy of writing; painstaking research was made in order that present and future generations might know and appreciate the story of life that used to be among the mighty mountains and hollows of this corner of God’s world; and it was with much work and worry typed, hectographed and offered for sale because the winds had failed me and I was obligated to take the oars.”

Interesting statement: “the winds had failed me and I was obliged to take to the oars.”

The book sold for $1.50. It is bound with green paper and brown binding. The “hectographed” pages inside are of the old purple ink that we used to find in our church bulletins.

I dug around online and could only find one other copy of this work. It is in the archives (closed collections) at Appalachian State University. They have also not hazarded a guess about the date, but say that it differs significantly from the 1964 book. It does.

I am going to make a couple of copies of the book, one for myself, and one for the museum. If you get a chance, stop by and give it a read. I actually think it is a better book than the second one.