A Tale of Two Slaves (Part 1)



When I returned home to Swain County in the late 90's, my former husband and I purchased a log home at the very end of Licklog Road in the Needmore area.  It was 25 minutes from Bryson City and terribly inconvenient to our two jobs, but we were enchanted with the area.  Upon getting off Needmore Road and heading up Licklog, a gorgeous valley opens up, containing acre upon acre of beautiful pasture and scant houses.  Upon a hill overlooking the valley lies a small cemetery which I have always envisioned as a most peaceful resting spot for its tenants.  Along with several unmarked graves, the names on the stones include that of Breedlove, Ammons, Crisp, Grooms, and Burnett. 

A view up the Licklog Valley
(Source:  Point2 for homegain.com)

But the cemetery also holds the grave of Nathan Dehart, one of the most prominent and early settlers of the Needmore area .  He and his wife, Catherine, were among the founding members of the Brush Creek Baptist Church and eventually owned a tremendous amount of land in the area that later became Swain County.  Ownership of such vast amounts of land would have, by necessity, required help.  Much of their help likely came from their children and other family members, as well as from hired help. However, they also owned slaves.  This article is not meant as a sermon on the evils of slavery, for many of us, including myself, have slaveowners among our ancestors.  It is rather to shed light upon an interesting, but little known portion of Swain County's history (even though these events took place in what was Macon County until the formation of Swain in 1871).

Ruffin Darffin DeHart, and his wife Susan lie interred in the African-American section of the Watkins Cemetery among many of their children and grandchildren.  Their stones are old and crumbling, but their graves are marked - somewhat anomalous among many former slaves.  They were remarkable people, and much light will be shed on them in this series, but in order to appreciate their many accomplishments, it is necessary to take one back to their very beginnings.



Tombstone of Susan Dehart
Watkins Cemetery

Tombstone of Ruffin DeHart
Watkins Cemetery

The first mention of either Ruffin or Susan (that I have found to date) comes in a deed registered in Macon County, dating to November 26th, 1840.  In this deed, one Taylor McNabb sold a Negro girl, 'Suck', who was 8 years old and 'sound in body and health', for $400 (nearly $11,000 in today's currency) to Nathan Dehart.  On June 19th, 1853, Ruffin came to join 'Suck' as Nathan Dehart's property, sold by Elijah Revel for $700 (around $21,000 today).  Ruffin was described as having a deficiency in his hand, which was subject to cholic and pains.  Nevertheless, he was obviously well able to work, and work hard, for the price he commanded.  Ruffin and Suckey must have bonded and married quickly, for sometime around 1854 they had their first child - a son whom they named Henry.



An Appalachian slave cabin
(Source:  The Museum of Appalachia)

The conditions in which this young family would have lived will forever remain unknown.  Slaves in Appalachia typically lived in the same type of mud-chinked log homes in which poor whites resided - small, one room, dirt-floor dwellings that were cold and drafty in the winter.  They would have had little in the way of furniture - probably one bed and a table and chairs or log stools.  Their food would have been the typical mountain fare of the time - beans, cornbread, probably some pork from a hog they raised for the Deharts, perhaps some milk, and whatever else they were able to raise.  It is unclear as to whether or not the Deharts were kind or unkind slaveowners, but it is likely the case that impoverished white settlers in the area resented them (for they took away work opportunities) and treated them poorly. Frederick Law Olmstead, who is best known today for creating the lovely grounds of the Biltmore House, traveled about the mountain south as a newspaper correspondent during slavery's later years and noted this stong anti-Negro sentiment in a short article, which may be read here.

John Dehart, son of Nathan Dehart
(Source:  Swain County Heritage Book)

We shall now return to the Deharts.  Around 1855, Nathan moved the household to the Shooting Creek area of what is now Clay County, and at some point either sold or gifted Ruffin and Suck to his son-in-law, James Allen Shearer. Ruffin and Suckey welcomed a son, Alfred, around 1856, and a daughter, Sarah Jane, in August of 1857.  Their joy over the birth of their daughter was to be short lived.  On June 18th, 1858, the family was torn apart when Ruffin and Suckey were sold by Allen Shearer  to Nathan Dehart's son, John, for $1800 (almost $51,000 today), and returned to the Swain County area, apparently without their sons. 

In the 1860 slave schedule, John is noted as owning 5 slaves:  a 30 year old male, a 27 year old female, a 15 year-old female, a 3 year-old female, and a 6 month old male.  The identity of the 15 year-old girl is unknown, however, it seems likely, based on birthdates that the identities of the others are Ruffin (born circa 1828), Suckey (born circa 1830-1832), and their children Sarah Jane (born in 1857) and Thomas (born in 1860).   The whereabouts of their sons Henry and Alfred are not entirely clear. The 1860 slave schedule shows a 6 year-old boy in the ownership of Nathan Dehart in Cherokee County.  Nathan's will, also drawn up in 1860, contains provision for his 'negro boy, Henson', to go to no one but his children. It seems likely that 'Henson' and Henry were one and the same.  The same slave schedule records that James A Shearer had retained a 5 year old male slave, who may well have been Alfred.

In January of 1863, Abraham Lincoln's Emancipation Proclamation ordered the immediate freeing of all slaves in Confederate-controlled areas.  This was widely disregarded by many slave owners, and not until the passage of the 13th amendment, abolishing slavery, did the remainder gain their freedom.  We do not know when Ruffin and Suckey were freed, and much of what they did in the early years after emancipation are unclear.  We do know that Suckey changed her name to the more dignified 'Susan', and Henry and Alfred returned to live with their family.  The family may have stayed on and worked as tenants for John Dehart for a time, but by 1870 had moved down the Little Tennessee River with their 8 children and had acquired $200 worth of personal property.  They counted among their neighbors the William Crawford and Frank Leach families, and were the only black family in the immediate area.

'The 'Narrows of the Little Tennessee River' circa 1900
(Source:  Senate document 84, published 1902)

Upon the death of a neighbor, Alexander Crisp, in 1871, the Deharts purchased a 100 acre tract from his estate for $12.  Thus began a period of great prosperity for Ruffin and Susan, whose remaining 20+ years of life will be discussed in the next blog entry.

Postscript:  Those interested in reading more about the institution of slavery in the Appalachian mountains might find the following books of interest:

"Appalachians and Race:  The Mountain South from Slavery to Segregation" by John Inscoe
"Slavery in the American Mountain South" by Wilma Dunaway
_____________________________________________________________________________
Sources:
Ancestry.com:  1860 Slave Schedule and Census Records
Cemeteries of Swain County
Homegain.com:  Point2
Learnnc.com
Macon County Register of Deeds
"Senate Document 84:  Message from the President of the United States Transmitting A Report of the Secretary of Agriculture in Relation to the Forests, Rivers, and Mountains of the Southern Appalachian Region."  Available at: http://www.foresthistory.org/ASPNET/Publications/region/8/southern_app/index.htm
Swain County Heritage Book
Will of Nathan Dehart at http://archiver.rootsweb.ancestry.com/th/read/SCSPARTA/2001-02/0982542940
Swain County Register of Deeds

The Indian Creek Grist Mill

About 1.2 miles up the Indian Creek trail (about 2 miles from the gate at Deep Creek) one can see a large, marshy bottomland on the right, that has been previously cleared.  A lone boxwood stands in the middle of it, one of the only indicators of the prior life of the fascinating family that knew it as home.  Here once resided the Alfred Washington and Louisa (Conner) Parris family.  Alfred was born in Haywood County around 1834.  He was a Civil War veteran, being wounded at the Battle of Malvern Hill and subsequently furloughed.  He and Louisa arrived on Indian Creek with their young family sometime prior to 1874, and were some of the first white settlers in this remote area.  On Indian Creek, Alfred became a pillar of the community.  He was a founding member of the Indian Creek Baptist Church in 1874, donated land for the church and a nearby cemetery, donated land for a community school, and was a school committeeman.

Alfred Washington Parris
Courtesy:  David Lee on findagrave.com



Louisa (nee' Conner) Parris
Courtesy:  Ancestry.com

One of the interesting things that is little known about Alfred Parris and his home place is that in addition to his home, barns and other structures, he built a large grist mill here near his house.  Corn was life-sustaining for nearly all mountaineers from those early pioneers in the area up until very recent years.  Cornbread provided daily nourishment to the body (often twice a day).  Stock were fed on it, and hats and rugs and dolls were made of its husks.  For the purposes of consumption, much of the corn had to be ground.  Mortar and pestle were laborious and  impractical for providing the volume of meal required by a family, therefore, mills were by far the preferred method of obtaining cornmeal.  Many small family mills were built on branches throughout the Smokies, but there were few community mills....hence the uniqueness of the Parris mill.

Identified as the A.W. Parris Mill
Courtesy:  Pete Prince Collection, UT



Roy McClure Holding a Piece of the Parris Mill

There seems to be some discrepancy about the type of mill this was, but all agree that it was fed by a millrace that came down to it from the nearby Queen Branch.    An oral history given by Alfred Parris's grandson, Henry Davis, indicates that it was a tub mill with the wheel on the bottom, however, two oral histories given by Emma Parris Carson and Wesley Jenkins (both of whom were raised on Indian Creek) to researcher Pete Prince in the late 1980's indicates that it was an overshot mill and that the wheel was 12 feet in diameter.  This contention would appear to be supported by a find made by my research partner, Don Casada, who has located some of the gearing and remains of a large wheel at the site.  Additionally, there is an old postcard within the Pete Prince collection that identifies an old overshot mill as Alfred's.  Regardless, it would almost undoubtedly been very busy, as it was the only known mill to serve the Indian Creek community in the park.  The next nearest community mill was at the mouth of Deep Creek, over 4 miles away.  





Andy Kitchen
Courtesy:  Macie Michael

Several men served as the miller here.  Alfred built the mill and clearly ran it for quite some time.  After Alfred deeded the land on which his home and mill sat to his daughter and son-in-law, Laura and Dillard Wines in 1916, it seems certain that they would have taken it over.  In 1919, Laura and Dillard sold the land to Laura's sister and brother-in-law, Salinda Jane and John Columbus Kitchen.  An oral history given by Andy Cline, who grew up over the mountain on Stone Pile Gap, notes that Columbus ran the mill for some time, assisted by his son, also named Andy.  This is interesting because, as his picture demonstrates, Andy was blind due to a large brain tumor that eventually took his life.   Edna Wiggins (daughter of Andy Cline) remembers a time in approximately 1928, when her 9-year old brother, Sebie, had to make a trip to the mill when his father was ill; the Reverend Gaston Griffin (who was also a pastor for the Indian Creek Church) was the miller at that time.  We know little else about the mill other than that the toll was a gallon to the bushel.





Columbus and Salinda Jane (Parris) Kitchen (taken on Indian Creek)
Courtesy:  Macie Michael

The Parris mill seems to have been destroyed by some means (most likely fire) sometime between 1928 and 1930.  The North Carolina Park Commission records from approximately 1930 indicate that the only structures left at the site by that time were a four room log house and a barn in poor repair.  The Kitchen family had left some time before to work in the cotton mills of South Carolina, and a 90+ year old Alfred Parris was likely living with relatives in Swain or Jackson County.  Today, a few rusty pieces of metal are all that remain to tell the story of the mill's important place in the once-vibrant Indian Creek community.

In a brief anecdote in his tales of growing up on Indian Creek, Henry Davis remembers, "....They used to be a feller.....out on George's Branch up yonder.  He would buy corn at Bryson City and carry it all the way to granddaddy's mill down here to have it ground, when he could have it ground down there and had it towed so it wouldn't be so heavy.  But he wanted to bring it up down there.... I reckon he liked the miller."

Signature of Alfred Washington Parris
(North Carolina Archives)

_________________________________________________________________________
Sources:
Ancestry.com
Archives of the Great Smoky Mountains National Park
Don Casada
Macie Michael, great granddaughter of Alfred Washington Parris
North Carolina Archives, North Carolina Park Commission Collection
Swain County Register of Deeds
University of Tennessee at Knoxville,

The Depression in Letters

A few weeks ago, I took my children for a hike on the Kephart Prong Trail.  Beginning at a pull-off on the right about a mile past the Collins Creek picnic area, the trail is gorgeous, especially in the fall and spring.  On this day, our destination was the shelter that lies two miles up the trail.  But one of my favorite sections of the trail lies only about 0.2 miles from the trailhead.  The Kephart Prong Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) camp,  Company #411, was established on 25 May 1933 and operated continuously through 1942, at which time it was abandoned by the CCC but was subsequently used as a work camp for conscientious objectors during World War II. Several vestiges of the camp remain, including the signboard, boxwoods, the chimney for the barracks, and a water fountain. 

Chimney at Kephart Prong CCC Camp

The water fountain at Kephart Prong CCC Camp

The CCC, part of President Franklin Delano Roosevelt's 'New Deal' program, offered hope for economic survival to the families of young men aged 18 - 25.  First begun in 1933 and operating until 1942, the CCC employed these young men in natural resources work throughout the country.  The Great Smoky Mountains National Park was but one of the many natural areas that benefitted from this program.  Workers were sheltered, clothed and fed and paid a wage of $30 a month, $25 of which was sent home to help support their families.  For families receiving these monetary fruits of their sons' labors, the $450 this equates to in 2013 currency meant the difference between having a home (however humble) versus living on the street, or eating beans and rice versus starvation.  

The Great Depression hit Swain County hard.  Though those of hardy stock in the mountains, who were used to 'making do or doing without' weathered the time better than those in the cities, it was still an era during which families barely scraped by.  With unemployment in 1933 hovering around 25%, the opportunities presented by the CCC must have seemed like a god-send to desperate families.  Many in Swain County applied for the precious few positions available to 'local men' for work in the Smokies, or for work elsewhere.

John T. Needham
GSMNP Superintendent
Courtesy:  GSMNP Archives

CCC Recruits in front of Park Offices in Bryson City, 1933
Courtesy:  www.nps.gov

 The park archives at Sugarlands contain page after page of names of our county's men, young and old, who applied.  Some were interviewed, and many were not.  Most were turned down.  Eighty years later, a few of the letters of application to John Needham (acting park superintendent at the time) can still be found in the park archives, and that is what I have chosen to share with you today.  For ease of reading, I have transcribed these letters, however, in order to stay true to history, I have left their grammar and syntax as they were written. They provide a poignant glimpse of life in Depression-era Swain County.
 

Granville Isaiah Calhoun 1875-1978

May 22 1933
Mr. John T. Needham
Bryson City N.C.
Dear Mr. Needham
I wish to file my application for a forman place to handle the men on the road up Forney Creek.  I have had a lot of experience in building all kinds of roads here in this part of the country building trails in the Smokey Mountains wagon Roads and R-Road work.  I built the first 5 miles of Railroad up Hazel Creek for the W.M. Ritter Lumber Co. whos head office is in Columbus Ohio.  I worked for N. Carolina Mining Co. for most of 2 years and worked for the North Carolina Copper Mining Company and _____ there agent there for 33 years and am agent here for them now.  I dun open cut work and under ground work.  I had charge of 125 men for them while the was ________________ for copper and I had 125 men working under me when I was building R-Road for the W.M. Ritter Lumber co. on Hazel Creek in this county.  I have had considerabl experience in __________ powder and hand drilling with common labor.  I can do nice tunnell work under ground.  I am 58 years old, way (sic) 220# and am in good health.  I have had Typhoid Fever in 1908 and bin vaxinated since several times.  I have had Small Pox in 1910.  I never have had any venereal diseases in my Life.  I have had measls mumps.  Never have had Pneumonia..
If any further information is desired would be glad to furnish it.
Yours Truly, 
G. I. Calhoun

Granville Calhoun's second CCC letter, pg 1
Courtesy:  GSMNP Archives

Granville Calhoun first CCC letter, pg 2
Courtesy:  GSMNP Archives



 

 

 

 

 

 

 

William Thomas Cole (1887 - 1965)

(Forney) Bushnell
June 14 1933
Mr. J.T. Needham
I understand you are going to have some carpenter work done at camp here at Forney.  I would like to help you out in that line if you are going to be in need of a carpenter are another Blacksmith.  If you don't need a carpenter I have had a quiet a lot of experence with a drilling crew in rock - and blasting if you would need a man like that.  I live here at church by side of Monteith.
Yours 
William T. Cole
P.S. When you was here getting names I was not thru my corns but am most done now.

William Thomas Cole CCC Letter
Courtesy:  GSMNP Archives

James Monroe Cole (1888 - 1961)

East La Port, NC
June 15 33
Mr. Needham;
Dear Sir,
I am sending in my application to get work with Smoky Mountains National Park as a road builder or any forest work.  I was borned and reared in Swain Co., Have wife one child, mother and invalid brother whom look to me for dependence.  If can't get in just now hope you will file my applications & remember me, if you are adding on more men. 
Very Truly,
J.M. Cole
East La Port
North Carolina

James Monroe Cole CCC Letter, pages 1 and 2
Courtesy:  GSMNP Archives

Silas Henry Greene:  1896 - 1995

Judson NC July 25th 1933
Mr. Needham Park Mgr.
Dear Mr. Needham,
I would be glad if you can furnish me employment in the Park as I am a world war veteran.  Was over sea with the 30th Div, and have never had any help from the Gov.  I am in hard luck financially and I have a family of 7 to support.  If you can place me on any kind of job to help support my family will certainly apprecate the position.  Thinking you in advance for anything you will do for me in obtaining a position, of any kind of labor. 
I am yours truly
Silas Greene
Judson, NC

Silas Greene CCC Letter
Courtesy:  GSMNP Archives

Granville Calhoun, follow-up letter

Bryson City NC
Oct 25th 1933
Mr J.T. Needingham
Bryson City NC
Dear Mr. Needingham
I was told today that the new camp on deep creek had no Superintendant yet and that the place was going to be given to a local man.  one who nows (sic) the mountains and who has had experience in these mountains and who nows how to build roads and lay out trails in the mountains.  I think I could fill the place and handle the men all right.  I would apreciate a chance at the place and if I failed I would wilingly step down and let some other man take my place.  I looked for you this evening and did not find you to talk to about this job.  I can do the work ______________________as has been dun at Forney Creek just as good as any man, I think and would like chance at the job as superentendant same as Mr. Greer has at Forney.  Please let me know if you think I would stand any chance at getting the place. 
Yours Very Truly
G. I. Calhoun

Granville Calhoun's second CCC letter, pg 2
Courtesy:  GSMNP Archives

Granville Calhoun's second CCC letter, pg 1
Courtesy:  GSMNP Archives
















There can be little doubt that the simple prose contained in the letters these proud mountain men penned, imparts a much clearer depiction of the Depression in Swain County than mere statistics could ever hope to show.  Regrettably, I do not know whether these men were ever provided the opportunity to obtain the much-needed work they so desperately desired.  It is certain, though, that most every young man who had the opportunity to work for the CCC had a similar story to tell.

But with every trail these young men built, every road they constructed, and every seedling they planted, a ray of hope was borne into the lives of their families....who were impoverished not only of money but also of spirit during those bleak days of the 1930's.  These letters allow me to 'see' the Depression in Swain County and how it unwittingly helped to make the GSMNP the rare gem that it is today.  They make me appreciate our county and our park in a way that I never could have before.  I hope they will do the same for you.

CCC Camp 411 Enrollees in front of barracks
Courtesy:  www.nps.gov

________________________________________________________________________
Sources:
Annette Hartigan, Former GSMNP Librarian
GSMNP Archives
www.ancestry.com
www.nps.gov