Cruelly Murdered

While on a recent ramble in the Lily Branch Cemetery in Mitchell County, I came across the tombstone of Edwin Horton, born June 10, 1853, and died February 17, 1880. He didn’t just die, but, according to his tombstone, was “cruely murdered” [sic] on February 17, 1884.

How many of these types of stones are around?

I am aware of three, one in Avery County (Cranberry), this one in Mitchell (Lily Branch), and one in Yancey County (Old Zion).

The Cranberry Cemetery includes a stone for Albert Walser who was “murdered by George Hartley…No better man ever died for a more unjust cause.” Since George Hartley, the alleged murderer, escaped, changed his name, and never was punished for the crime, this stone likely served as the family’s way of making sure the crime was never forgotten. The unjust cause was evidently a dispute over horses. Walser ran a livery stable and accused Hartley of riding the horses too hard. The dispute escalated and ended with Hartley shooting Walser.

According to an article in the Lenoir Topic, in February 1884, John C. Miller, Stephen Burleson, and Edward Horton were killed by Edward Ray and Waighstill A. Anderson at the Flat Rock mica mine in Mitchell County. The disagreement was over ownership of the mine, and it seems , from reading the testimony presented during the trail, that Horton had been hired to work in the mine. Horton seemed to be in the wrong place at the wrong time.

The last stone is in the Old Zion Church Cemetery, off Upper Pig Pen in Yancey County. This stone reads “In Memory of John Hughes Born Oct. 28 1835 was murdered by John Murphy July 26, 1889. Aged 53 years 8 m. 28 days.” I could not find a paper trail for this crime, but I seem to recall being told that the murder was over a woman. Hughes was a Confederate veteran, a member of the 58th North Carolina Troops.

I have been in a lot of cemeteries across the eastern United States, and I do not recall seeing this type of public display in very many other places. Anyone else?

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.

Inscoe coming to town

I spent the weekend (Thursday through Saturday), selling books and talking to folks at the national reunion of the Sons of Confederate Veterans, held this year in Concord, North Carolina. I greatly enjoyed talking with the scores of people who came by my table. Many of them shared bits of their own family histories for future projects.

This Wednesday evening at 7:00 pm at Lees-McRae College in Banner Elk, Dr. John C. Inscoe will be lecturing on Appalachian Women and the Civil War. The program will be held in the Evans Auditorium in the Cannon Student Center. Inscoe is the author of The Heart of Confederate Appalachia: Western North Carolina and the Civil War, and Mountain Masters: Slavery and the Sectional Crisis in Western North Carolina, among many others. Inscoe is a Professor of History at the University of Georgia. This program is free and we are looking forward to it.

Overmountain Men

Finished the Mitchell County book. Now I can get back to blogging.

I took this photograph last week at the Mineral Museum at Gillispe Gap. This is the monument erected to the Overmountain Men.

Greetings folks! The past few weeks that I have been working on the Mitchell County book have been great. I have gotten to talk with and meet some wonderful folks. To all of you who live in other places who have called family members in the area and told them about the project, thanks! Some of the pictures have been spectacular, and I have enjoyed putting them into the book.

But alas, the scanning part of the program is coming to a close. However, I still need your help. I’ve gotten great photographs of Bakersville, Altapass, and Spruce Pine. I’ve gotten tons of photographs from Bear Creek Baptist, Bakersville Baptist, Bakersville Methodist, and Roan Mountain Baptist. I’ve even gotten a photograph of the Church of the Brethern. I’ve gotten awesome family photos of members of the Turbyfield, Buchanan, Pannell, Peterson, Wilson, Sullins, Henline, Woody, and Greene families.

There are still photographs out there. I am still looking for good photographs from Grassy Creek, Huntdale, Glenn Ayre, or Buladean communities, of pre-1960 sports teams from Harris High School, the buildings of the Wing Academy, and nurses from the hospital or Red Cross. Anyone have photographs of the old Mayland Fair? How about the Boy Scouts in Washington DC in 1950? Or the Street Car Diner in Spruce Pine? I have no football photos from Harris, Bowman, or Tipton.

I will be scanning photographs for the last times on Thursday, June 26, at the Spruce Pine Public Library, from 3:00 until 5:00 pm, and on Saturday, June 28, at the Bakersville Public Library, from 10:00 am until 1:00 pm. I will also be scanning photos at the Avery County Historical Museum on Friday, June 27, from 1:00 until 4:00 pm.

Got photographs? Please drop me a line. Got family in the area? Please give them a call and have them meet me one day next week. I have scanned a couple hundred photographs. I know that there are hundreds more out there, in attics, photo albums, and scrapbooks. Please help me get copies of these photographs so they can be preserved and shared.

Avery Heritage Festival

Greetings folks! The Avery County Heritage festival is this Saturday, in beautiful downtown Plumtree. Starts at 10:00 am. It is free and I hope everyone can make it.

Regards,
Michael
www.michaelchardy.com

Fire Towers

This past Friday, I had the privilege of hearing Peter J. Barr speak about his new book, Hiking North Carolina’s Lookout Towers (Blair, 2008). He was speaking at Black Bear Books in Boone, and his program included a power point program on some of the National Forest Service towers.

"In the second decade of the 20th century," Barr writes, "numerous lookout points established atop mountain peaks provided the first long-distance fire detection network in North Carolina." (4) In the early years, the fire detection networks were just the tops of balds or rocky mountains. As time went on, stone or steel towers were built to elevate and house the men, and at time women, who were employed to watch for fires.

There have been numerous towers erected across the Toe River Valley. Here are details, taken from Barr’s book, on those towers.

Avery County
Hawshaw Mountain, erected in 1934. Still standing, but not publically accessible.

Mitchell County
Devils Nest, erected, unknown. Dismantled and burned ca.1970.
Locust Knob, erected in 1974. Still standing, but not publically accessible.
Roan High Knob, erected ca.1936. Removed ca.1946.
Woody Knob, erected in 1959. Still standing, but not publically accessible.

Yancey County
Green Knob, erected in 1931. Accessible.
Mount Mitchell - more than one tower. A new tower is currently being constructed.
Phillips Knob, erected in 1961. Still standing, but not publically accessible.

Barr has written a good book. It is a hiking guide. While it has great history not found in any other source, it does contain a good bit of hiking data.

Now if I could just find my hiking boots....