Little Ida Galbreath and the Bryson City Cemetery

My family and I recently took a trip to the northeastern US, visiting sites such as Valley Forge, the Statue of Liberty, Ellis Island, the Freedom Trail in Boston, and the Salem Witch Trials Memorial in Salem, Massachusetts. Being the lover of history that I am, I often will take a stroll through a cemetery or two in the areas I visit (my children and husband are very tolerant of this unusual activity). On this particular trip, here were a few of the cemetery highlights:

• We visited the Granary Burying Ground in the heart of Boston and paid our respects to Paul Revere, Sam Adams, John Hancock, and the victims of the Boston Massacre.
• We visited the King's Chapel Burying Ground (again in Boston) and saw the grave of Massachusetts' first governor, John Winthrop.
• We visited the Burying Point Cemetery in Salem, Massachusetts, which is the site of Giles Corey's execution for witchcraft during the Salem Witch hysteria in 1692. We also visited Giles' first wife's grave while there.
• I visited (with my husband's wonderful aunt and uncle) the Revolutionary War Cemetery in Salem, New York in which 100 Revolutionary War veterans are known to be buried (and are all marked). Tradition holds that an additional approximately100 Revolutionary soldiers were buried here in a common grave: victims of the first day of fighting in the Battle of Saratoga.

Granary Burying Ground, Boston, Massachusetts

Photo by Wendy Meyers

I love all cemeteries, but older and more established cemeteries such as these have a particular draw for me.  I love to read the epitaphs and admire the interesting motifs graven upon the stones. Mostly, however, I love the great sense of history present in these sacred places - of times gone and cultures that will never again exist. I have such a great desire to know the people resting there for eternity. As a fellow cemetery lover and good friend of mine has stated, "I just like to sit down next to the stones and ask those buried there to tell me their story."

Swain County is very blessed to be filled with these types of cemeteries. The Bryson City cemetery, which overlooks town, is one of them. In this cemetery reside the mortal remains of individuals and families who are famous and those who are not; individuals who were teachers, lawyers, doctors, pharmacists, authors, and merchants; fathers, mothers, and children; saints and sinners; pillars of the community and ne'er-do-wells; veterans; travelers struck dead while visiting or conducting business here; criminals and murder victims; people who lived great long lives, and infants who never drew their first breath. The list could go on and on. Hundreds of graves are inscribed, bearing witness to the lives of those buried there. But at least 100 graves have only a fieldstone to mark them - the bodies entombed beneath known only to God now.

A section of the Bryson City Cemetery

Photo by Wendy Meyers

A special group of individuals from both within and outside Swain County has come together over the last year to found the 'Friends of the Bryson City Cemetery' (FOBCC), a registered North Carolina non-profit organization. The FOBCC is dedicated to preserving the cemetery grounds and promoting the town, county, and area history and the heritage associated with those buried there. Hundreds of volunteer hours have been invested into the cemetery by both FOBCC members and other interested individuals, students, and organizations. The cemetery is now being mowed and "cleaned off" on a regular basis, and a large number of previously unreadable stones have been cleaned and restored to a like new (or nearly so) condition (see this link for examples: http://www.diagsol.com/BCCemetery/Before_after.pdf). This historical and reverent place has truly been restored to the condition both it and its occupants deserve.

In addition to their cemetery maintenance and improvement activities, the 'Friends' are also actively engaged in an intensive and highly technical mapping of the cemetery; they are also collecting as much information as possible (obituaries, biographies, pictures, etc.) about those buried on the grounds in hopes of being able to publish a book about the fascinating history the cemetery represents.

One of the individuals buried in the cemetery is a little 4 year-old girl by the name of Ida Galbreath.  (Note to the reader: though locally we know the spelling of this family's name as "Galbreath", this appears to have been an aberration. The remaining members of the family are buried with the spelling of "Galbraith".) Ida's grandparents, Joseph M. and Elizabeth (Coleman) Galbraith appear to have been the settlers for whom Galbreath's Creek is named, as the 1850 census records their residing in that general area. Their son, Mark Coleman Galbraith (1854-1943), married Dovie Allman (1869 - 1938) in 1886. They and likely some of Mark's siblings appear to have run a hotel in the current area of the Bryson City depot that was called the "Galbreath Hotel", as indicated in a 1905 deed of sale. Mark and Dovie's first child was born in 1888 and Ida arrived next in 1890. She was the second of their 8 known children, and died in a freak accident on Everett Street on April 21, 1895. Her death was reported in the Bryson City Times later that week, as transcribed below.
 

Ida's grandfather, Joseph M. Galbreath and her brother Claude, circa 1900

Source: Ancestry.com user 'mcbowen'

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Sunday afternoon about four, while the people were lounging about, as is usual when there is nothing to do but walk, little Ida, the five-year-old daughter of Mr. and Mrs. M.C. Galbreath, was playing along the level sidewalk in front of Evereat’s (sic) store. Several other small children were with her.

There being no apparent occasion for alarm, no one paid any attention to the little ones.

James Meadows, who witnessed all, says Ida was leading the jolly little party on its way toward the bridge, and having missed the others from her side, she very naturally turned while running to see where the others were.  While her head was thus turned, her feet in some way became tangled, and in the presence of several spectators, the little captain of the band stumbled and fell.

Seeing that she neither made any noise or effort to rise, she was lifted to her feet; but no sooner had this been done than she stretched at full length, cast her eyes upward, raised one hand, gasped, and in fifteen seconds, died. Her neck was broken.

This is all the explanation anybody can give of the very strange accident.

The funeral services took place at the Methodist Church on Monday afternoon, and the remains of the little child, which, twenty-four hours before had been healthy and happy, were laid away in the cemetery to await the Resurrection.

The bereaved family have the deep sympathy of our entire community.

The Bryson City Times, April 26, 1895, page 1

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Sometime between 1895 and 1900 (1897 per the family), the Galbraiths moved their family to the Bridgeport area of Douglas County, Washington, along with Mark’s parents, two of his brothers, and his sister. They farmed in the area for the remainder of their lives and are buried there.

Should you choose to visit Ida's grave, you will note that her headstone bears a death date of July 1894 but as stated in the newspaper article above, her actual date of death was April 21st, 1895. This almost certainly indicates that she had only a fieldstone to mark her grave until the present headstone was placed many years (even decades) after her death, likely not by her parents (I don't believe that any parent could forget the date upon which their child died). Don Casada (current president of the FOBCC) visited Ida's grave on the day I found her death notice and thoroughly cleaned the stone so that it is now both readable and findable - and very poignant in its simplicity.

Headstone of Ida Mae Galbreath at the Bryson City Cemetery

Photo by Wendy Meyers

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Little Ida Galbreath is but one of the beneficiaries of the wonderful work being performed by the FOBCC. Many of my readers with Swain County roots have familial ties to others buried in the Bryson City cemetery.  The FOBCC would like to extend an invitation to all interested individuals and families to join in their efforts. Information on membership and an application may be found at this link: http://www.diagsol.com/BCCemetery/Join_FBCC.pdf.

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Sources:
Ancestry.com, and Ancestry user 'mcbowen'
Findagrave.com
The Bryson City Times, April 26, 1895
Swain County Register of Deeds office, Deed book 26, page 438

Keeping Warm at Rocky Point Ferry

All of the books in the 'Little House' series written by Laura Ingalls Wilder are undoubtedly some of my all-time favorites, which I still pull out to re-read to this day.  Some of my favorite 'scenes' from these books describe the times when Pa would play his fiddle on cold winter nights, having his girls dance to warm themselves before retreating to their icy bedrooms.

I thought you'd enjoy a similar scene from the Rocky Point Ferry, which provided passage across the Little Tennessee River from Graham County to Swain County before the impounding of Cheoah Lake in 1919.  Enjoy!

 

Crossing the Little Tennessee River on the Rocky Point Ferry
Source: www.grahamcounty.net

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"Nearly one mile below the mouth of Twenty Mile creek is Rocky Point ferry, presided over by that philosopher and musician, who is known far and near as Chris Linn. Chris lives just above the ferry, in a log cabin containing an entire room. The logs afford some resistance to the winds of winter that howl up and down the river, but the spaces between them afford none, and the wind goes shrieking through that cabin in a way to freeze the marrow in the bones of anyone but Chris Linn and his interesting family. Instead of allowing their marrow to freeze, they pile on the logs in the wide fireplace, and huddling around, let her howl. There are six or 7 children, the oldest being a beautiful girl of fifteen summers…There is no superabundance of clothing, even during summer, but that makes ‘no differ’ to Chris and his family. There is just one possible fly in the ointment of their contentment, and that is the breaking of fiddle and banjo strings. If those strings never broke the even tenor of their way would be uninterrupted. But banjo and fiddle strings will snap at times, and with them snaps happiness at that home. While the strings hold true and strong, the winds may howl and the river rage, but Chris with his fiddle and Miss Julia with her banjo defy them both with ‘jig chunes’ that would make an elephant dance for joy.  As Chris fiddles and Julia strums, the children dance before the fire, and ‘joy is unconfined’. The puncheon floor rocks and sags, the shadows play hide and seek with the ruddy firelight upon the cabin wall and the midnights of winter often find the inmates cutting the pigeon-wing and flinging the double shuffle with hearts as free as salvation."

'Bud Wuntz' in The Morning Post (Raleigh, NC), 16 August 1903

Chris and Matilda Mary Julia (nee' Farley') Lynn (probably circa 1910-1925)
Source: "Remembered Lives: A Narrative History of Our Family" by Duane Oliver

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Notes to the reader who is interested in exploring further:

1.  Christopher (1860-1925) and Matilda Mary Julia 'Tilda' (nee' Farley) (1869 - 1946) Linn/Lynn lived in Graham County, where they operated the remote ferry for many years. Despite living in Graham County, they received their mail at the post office across the river in Fairfax, Swain County. They were the parents of at least 8 children (6 boys and 2 girls), and of these, at least two of their sons, Boyd and 'Gard' worked as loggers for the Ritter Lumber Company.

2. ' Bud Wuntz' was the pen name (for the newspaper) for John Preston Arthur (1851-1916), the author of "Western North Carolina, a History (1730-1913)" (available for free on Google Books, or $0.99 on Kindle), and "A History of Watauga County, North Carolina: with Sketches of Prominent Families" (also available for $0.99 on Kindle).

3. Please reach out to me directly via email if you'd like to read more about the Linn/Lynn family than I have included here.  I have the article in PDF form and will gladly send it along.

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Sources:

Graham County history at http://www.grahamcounty.net/gchistory/04-townofrobbinsville/townofrobbinsville.htm.

"Remembered Lives: A Narrative History of Our Family" by Duane Oliver.  Copyright 1993.

The Morning Post (Raleigh, NC), 16 August 1903 on https://www.newspapers.com/.

Old Needmore in Fall

Before I get to today's blog entry, I wanted to share an update on a previous entry. Shortly after posting last month's blog, I was able to get in touch with Larry Stallcup, who is a genealogist extraordinaire for the Stallcup family.  Larry informed me that the picture of Almarine Stallcup that I had located was actually only one half of a picture, and that the individual in the other half was in fact Pansy.  Furthermore, the picture had been taken on Pansy's wedding day.  I was thrilled that Larry generously shared it with me and allowed me to post it on the blog.  You may see the updated picture here.

 

And now onto this week's posting.

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As Thanksgiving is right around the corner and thoughts of autumn seem to disappear the day afterward in favor of Christmas, I wanted to give fall one last salvo.  In October, my middle daughter and I took one of my favorite walks in the county - along the Little Tennessee River in the Needmore area.  In addition to its extraordinary physical beauty, this walk is extremely rich in human history that I have not yet explored in as great a depth as I would like to (but plan to).  This is essentially a photo essay but I will fit tidbits into captions as I am able.  I am indebted to Ed Ammons and David Dehart for sharing their historical knowledge of this beautiful place with me, so that I may pass it along to you.

The Little Tennessee River, viewed from the swinging bridge.

The swinging bridge, taken from the east side of the river.  Swain County resident Bill Burnett
grew up in a home that once stood adjacent to the bridge.

The road (beyond the gate) heading to the Burch McHan (1823-1895)/ (Doyle Hampton (1904 - 1977) place.

Sunlight shines through the fiery leaves of a sourwood tree.



One of several beautiful old fields along the road. 
The Doyle Hampton place sits slightly up the hill in the middle of this picture.

A hand-dovetailed log from a fallen outbuilding.

A bumblebee on one of the ubiquitous gentian plants blooming along the road. 



The chimney at the Doyle Hampton place, which remained standing until not many years ago.



The remains of an old barn at the Doyle Hampton place.

A grand old walnut marks a home site.

The tombstone of little Sarah Davis (01 June 1873 - 05 January 1874) in the original
Brush Creek Baptist Church cemetery.




Thistles in one of the old (still tended) fields along the road.



A rusted plow point harkens back to days when farmers plowed these fields with horses and mules and not tractors.

A maple leaf floats in the river.



A yucca marks an old home place near the confluence of Brush Creek and the river.



The Little Tennessee River, looking upstream. Ed Ammons shared with me a childhood recollection of crossing the river in an old flat-bottomed boat with a kerosene lantern on the way to a prayer meeting at Lon Dehart's.  His dog, Pooch, swam alongside.

For those who are interested, directions are as follows.  Turn left onto Needmore Road just before the junction of US19 (toward the Nantahala Gorge) and NC28 (toward Almond Boat Dock), and drive several miles.  After cresting the hill at the Maple Springs church, the road begins to head downhill toward the river and the parallels it for a way.  It then leaves the river for a brief distance then returns to parallel it.  Just before the road once again begins to head away from the river, you will see an old swinging bridge going across the river on the left.  Park in the small lot here, cross the bridge, and turn right to begin your walk.

I wish each of you a blessed Thanksgiving!