Letters to Santa - 1909/1910

Today's article is a simple and sweet collection of letters to Santa written in 1909 and 1910 by Swain County children (in some cases with the help of their families), with an anecdote or two about their lives after childhood. Enjoy!__________________________________________________________________________

The Picklesimer Siblings

Leon Garrison Picklesimer (1905 - 1977)

Lavinia (Picklesimer) Cowan (1903 - 1965)

Leon and Lavinia were the children of Bryson City mayor Thomas G. Picklesimer and his wife Ellen (nee' Leatherwood). Less than a year after their letters to Santa were written, their father was killed when he started to jump off a train that was leaving the Bryson City station and was caught under the wheels and crushed to death. Their widowed mother subsequently moved the family to Jackson County. Leon's life was stalked by tragedy. In addition to the loss of his father at such a young age, he lost his wife, Sadie (nee' Bryson) in a tragic car accident in 1964 that nearly claimed his life as well as his daughter's. The same daughter, Kaye Ellen, died 10 years later at the age of 18 of complications from a congenital heart defect.

Source: Asheville Citizen-Times, 17 Dec 1994
(John Parris article)

Lauren Sylvia (Conner) Lee (1899 - 1932)

The nature of the childhood illness that Sylvia refers to in her letter is unknown. She married Carl Lee and had a child, Harry, who died 18 days after birth. Sylvia died in Virginia in 1932, and her body was brought back to Judson for burial. She was the aunt of Swain County historian Merrell Jenkins Riddle.

Source: Asheville Citizen-Times, 18 December 1909

The Roane Siblings

Hester Roane Fisher (1900 - 1987)

Margaret Roane (1907 - unknown)

Sam Roane (1903-1985)

Robert Roane (1904-1987)

 The Roanes were the children of Charles T. and Mary Belle (nee' Rogers) Roane. Charles was a US Marshal during Grover Cleveland's administration, and subsequently served as the sheriff of Macon County for 8 years. In 1909, he was running a hotel in Judson with at least 3 of his children. However, his eldest son, Sam, was living with his uncle Robert Roane and his wife Mary (Siler), who had adopted him. (Robert Roane was a 2-term Swain County sheriff, a state senator, and a co-owner of the Roane and Varner store in Whittier).




Source: Asheville Citizen-Times, 18 December 1909

Source: Asheville Citizen-Times, 21 December 1909



Source: Asheville Citizen-Times, 17 Dec 1994
(John Parris article)

By 1910, the family was living in Bryson City (according to these letters). Unfortunately, none of them (aside from Sam) appear in that census.  Sam may have been living with his uncle and aunt due to family discord or breakup. At some point before 1920, Mary and Charles divorced. She married Dr. Robert Orr and moved to Texas, taking some of the children with her. After Dr. Orr's death in 1921, she moved to California. The majority of the children seem to have followed - Hester and Robert both lived in California for most of their lives and died there. Sam, after a lengthy tenure in Western North Carolina, eventually made it to California and died there.

Source: Asheville Citizen-Times, 23 December 1910

Source: Asheville Citizen-Times, 23 December 1910

Merry Christmas!



Source: Pinterest



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Sources:

Ancestry.com

Asheville Citizen-Times, December 1909, 1910, 1994 (specific dates in captions)

Newspapers.com

Pinterest

Landscapes of Old Schools - White Oak (Updated)

At the request of superintendent Charles Carroll, a representative from the North Carolina Department of Public Instruction performed a complete survey of Swain County's schools. The survey was begun in September 1932 and ended in June 1933. The report produced provides fascinating insight into the state of schooling in our mountain county during the Great Depression, and even better - contains pictures of the schools that were visited. I will be using this report in upcoming articles to highlight the past (and current) landscapes of the old schools that once dotted Swain County.
(Note: shortly after publishing the original article on the school, Clifford King - mentioned below - called to update me on true location of the school, which is not what I had previously understood the location to be. He graciously volunteered to take me to the school site so that I could see it and take pictures. We made this trek today [11/25/2018] and I have updated the article accordingly.)

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White Oak #1 School

Source: Swain County Schools Consolidation Report (1933)

Swain County once had two one-room schools that bore the name "White Oak". White Oak #1 was situated at the confluence of Sawmill Creek and the Little Tennessee River. Thanks to Lillian Thomasson's extensive research for her book on the early educational history of Swain County, we can know with certainty that the school was operating  at least as early as 1892. It likely operated from at least 1890, as an article in the 1890 Swain County Herald mentions White Oak as a voting location.


Source: 1936 Wesser Quadrangle, USGS;
Discussion with Cliff King

During the time the school was in operation, no "School Board" proper existed; instead, the school districts were represented by "School Committeemen". During the year in which the consolidation survey took place, White Oak was represented by William Thomas Davis (1865-1952), William Roby Howard (1876-1952), and Abraham "Abie" DeHart (son-in-law of William Roby Howard), all of whom lived in close proximity to the school.


William Thomas Davis
Source: C Todd Young on Ancestry.com



William Roby and Susan (Slagle) Howard
Source: Swain County Heritage Book

Abie DeHart, wife Lizzie (Howard, daughter of William Roby Howard above), and children
Source: Greg Gilbert on Ancestry.com and Mother June (DeHart) Gilbert

Schoolteachers known to have taught at the school were Lucy Henry (as there were several Lucy Henry's living in North Carolina, her full identity is not certain), Vonnie West (1886 - 1976), and a Ms. Wilhide (first name unknown).

Vonnie West
Source: https://yellow.place/en/aunt-vonnie-west-mill-house-and-west-mill-post-office-franklin-usa

With an enrollment of 33 students and an average daily attendance of 24 at the time of the 1932/33 survey, it is certain that hundreds of Swain County children attended the school over the years it was in operation. Few of their identities are known, however, some are, including:

• Fred Ammons (father of faithful blog reader Ed Ammons)
• Rufus King (father of another faithful blog reader, Cliff King)
• Some of the children of Abie DeHart

Fred Ervin Ammons
Source: son Ed Ammons

Catherine (McHan) King with children Mary Jane and Rufus Veary
Source: Cliff King/Fran Rogers

Children of Abie and Lizzie DeHart
Back Row L-R: Lambert, Percival, George, and Onley
Front Row L-R, Ralph, Kate, and Arvil
Source: Greg Gilbert on Ancestry.com and mother June (DeHart) Gilbert

Another family whose children attended White Oak was that of William Roby Howard. Recently, I had the great honor of talking to his youngest child who is the only member of the family still living. Lexie (Howard) Winchester was born in January 1926 and attended the school for about 2 years - for 1st and 2nd grades (she went to the Bryson City School after the White Oak school was closed). At the age of 92, she is likely to be the last living former pupil there. She had some fond memories of the school that she shared with me, and I hope you'll enjoy them. In places I have moved text around to make the reading more linear, but Lexie's speech is copied almost verbatim.

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"I lived off 28 south, but there was a trail we always walked on to school. The schoolhouse was right on the Tennessee River. I walked about 2 and a half miles down there every day. I always kind of liked school, you know? I always went to school - I never laid out.  I was the only one of the 12 children who finished high school. They all quit when they got old enough - you could quit school when you got through the 7th grade. My other siblings - by the time they were grown, they moved other places where they could find jobs. There were no jobs here at that time.

Three of the Howard girls. Lexie is on the right and appears to
be around 6 or 7 - the age at which she attended White Oak.
Source: Lisa Sutton (daughter of Lexie Winchester)

There was one woman - Miss Henry was her name. I guess she was my 1st grade teacher. There was a Miss Wilhide who taught there at one time but she was not my teacher - she was there before I ever went. She taught 1st through 7th grades there. The school year went the same in the little country school schools as in Bryson City - 8 or 9 months.  The schoolhouse faced the playground - the boys played ball and the girls played whatever. There was no equipment of any kind. (Note: Rufus King reported that there was a swing that hung off the large oak tree that White Oak was named for, however, Lexie did not remember it. Lexie's son, Larry, stated that the boys would chase the squirrels up the tree.)


We were all in one big room - 1st through 7th grade. The older kids, like kids who were in the 4th, 5th, and 6th grades, when the teacher was working with the older kids, they helped the little First graders with their spelling and arithmetic. The older kids helped the smaller kids a lot while she was teaching the higher grades, like teacher assistants I guess. (I asked about corporal punishment here.) They used a paddle, because I know I got it used. The older ones, I don't know what they used. But the little ones, they would just paddle your hand if you were talking or misbehaving. I got a lot of little paddlings on my hands for talking.


(I asked if she remembered it being cold in the winter). Well, it certainly was (cold). There was a woodstove in the schoolhouse - it was heated I guess with wood. I don't know if they used coal or not. It was an old fashioned stove with a stovepipe going out the top. That heated the whole room. There was no insulation, I don't guess, in the building. It was one big open room with a wood stove in the middle, why, you wouldn't freeze to death, but it was cold in there. When it snowed and was bad, there were times that they didn't have school when kids couldn't walk to get there.


(I asked if the teacher had boarded in the community.)Yes, I remember Miss Henry boarded with an old Dehart family that was not too far from the school. She lived there with the old lady and her husband.  If she had a car, I didn't know anything about it.


(I asked about friends or other classmates.) I don't remember any girls my age (at school). There was one family who lived right across the river from the schoolhouse - their name was Cabe. They had several kids. I think the girls were older than me. They had a boy about my age (Percival) that I went to school with but there were 2 or 3 other kids in the family and sometimes they would come to school across the river in a boat and take the boat back to the other side of the river when they got out in the evenings. Further down from where they lived there was a bridge across the river - a swinging bridge, they called it, but it was a good ways down from their house. Lots of times they would come across the river to school in a boat and go back home the same way - it was closer."

Lexie Winchester (left) with her mother, Susan (Slagle) Howard
Look at the dresses - they appear to be made of the same fabric.
Source: Lisa Sutton (daughter of Lexie Winchester)

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Lexie would almost certainly have been in the 1st grade when the school survey was completed.  The inspector stated the following in his report about the school:

• Organization: Census 40, enrollment 33, average daily attendance 24. Percentage of students promoted 43.2%. There is 1 teacher; index of teacher training - 600. There are 6 grades and the school term is 6 months.
• Grounds: very inaccessible and wholly inadequate for school use.
• Building: poorly constructed, inadequately lighted; very bad in all respects. Fair pupil desks and seats. Water bucket with dipper. Toilets are over the river (Note: this was corroborated by Cliff King, whose father had told him this), the whole situation is deplorable.
• Recommendation: Make every possible effort to abandon this school at once. Consolidate and transport the students to the Bryson City School.

The White Oak for which the school was named.
Photo taken from the school site, looking toward the river.
Photo by Wendy Meyers

Swain County paid heed to the recommendation. White Oak #1 appears to have been closed in 1934 but the school remained standing for quite some time thereafter. For a time, at least one family called it home. Cliff King also recalled playing in the empty building as a child - remembering a blackboard painted on the front wall and a bell in the attic. When he was older, he boated tobacco from his brother's fields across the river and hung it to dry in the old schoolhouse.


Sadly, Cliff related that the school was burned by arson in the early 1960s.


The school site - the playground would have been in the foreground.
Photo by Wendy Meyers

Cliff King standing at approximately the site of the school's front door.
Photo by Wendy Meyers

Today, if you're willing to walk a bit and get a little wet, you can still visit the site of the old school. It's a beautiful, secluded, and peaceful spot along the river. Walk on the old road built by Joseph Welch and the old settlers of the county nearly 200 years ago - the road traveled by many a young child on their way to school. Stand on the river bank and touch the gorgeous old white oak the school was named for. Drink from the spring that supplied the students' water. Look across and up the river at the old tobacco fields and at the site of the Cabe home and imagine a little boy and his siblings setting out in their boat to come to school each day from there.

Looking upriver from the school. Floyd King's tobacco fields can be seen across the river in about the middle of the picture. The Cabe home sat on the hill to the right.
Photo by Wendy Meyers

And then stand in the playground area and imagine the children scampering about. If you sit still and listen quietly, you can almost hear their laughter.

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Sources:

Ancestry.com
Carol Cochran
Clifford King
C. Todd Young
Ed Ammons
Fran Rogers
Greg and June (DeHart) Gilbert (pictures of DeHart family)
Larry Winchester
Lexie Winchester (interview on August 18, 2018)
Lisa Sutton (pictures of Howard family)
Swain County, Early History and Educational Development (author: Lillian Franklin Thomasson)
Swain County Heritage Book
Swain County Schools consolidation report, 1932-33
United States Geological Survey (1936)

The Kerley Sawmill Explosion

In searching randomly for Swain County news from 125 years ago, I tripped across today's tale, one that, though sad, deserves to be told in order to honor the victims of this tragedy.


Most Swain Countians are acquainted with several large-scale logging and milling operations that existed in what is now the Great Smoky Mountains National Park - Ritter at Proctor, Norwood at Forney, Champion at Smokemont, and several others. However, many smaller operations using portable sawmills were also to be found in the mountains. These sawmills served a vital purpose for the community - producing usable lumber for building homes, barns, businesses, and other structures.


One such sawing business was located on Conley's Creek and was owned by Larkin Julius (L.J.) Kerlee. It appears to have begun operations by at least 1888, as an article in the Asheville Citizen-Times that year notes that 10 railcar loads of "elegant poplar lumber" from Kerlee had been shipped to New York. And according to the newspaper article below, some of his lumber appears to have been used to build the bridge across the Tuckasegee River in Whittier.


Source: Swain County Herald, 30 January 1890

The Kerlee family appears to have been prominent in the community, with members often making their way into the local papers. L.J. was one of three gentlemen tasked with the responsibility for holding the 1890 Democratic primary in Whittier. He was also a musician, as a newspaper article records Kerlee playing the guitar for a picnic for the Whittier School in 1890. (Though I have not researched it extensively, Kerlee [alternately spelled Kerley in other reports] was almost certainly a relative of Richard Manson Kerley, who was the first husband of Nancy Ann Conard - better known as "Nance Dude". Nancy's son, Will, settled on Conley's Creek in the 1920s.)


However, the Kerlee family's world was to be upended in 1893. On 22 September, the Murfreesboro Index (Murfreesboro, NC) had this sad news to report:


"The boiler of Kerley's saw mill, on Conley's Creek, near Whitter, Swain County, NC, exploded Monday (note: this would have been on 18 September) and instantly killed six men. Those killed are Richard Nichols, manager, of Asheville; James Kelley, Ben McMahan, Henry Smith, laborers; Jesse Gunter, farmer.

The accident is supposed to have resulted from too high pressure of steam. The mill was completely wrecked, the saws, carriage , being broken up and not a piece of the boiler was left near the foundation. The men were blown to pieces, and the fragments scattered. The number of deaths in this accident is greater than any that have occurred in this part of the state since 1883, when twenty-six men were drowned at the convict camps near the scene of the present trouble."

A steam-powered sawmill in Pennsylvania, circa 1895. It is likely that the Kerlee sawmill had a similar setup. Note the boiler on the right with the steam rising from it.
Source: http://www.pa-roots.com/southbend/burrelltownship/burrellscenes.html

Who were the victims of this tragedy?
The employees:

• Richard Nichols was born circa 1840 in Canada, and fought with the 23rd Michigan Infantry during the Civil War. He and his family relocated to Asheville, in the area known as the Tahkeeostee Farm (now the French Broad River Park) around 1890 and as of January 1893, he was working for the French Broad Lumber Company (likely the conduit to his employment in the sawmill). He left behind a wife and 7 children, 3 of whom were under the age of 18 at the time of his death. The estate he left was worth only $10 ($280 today). He is buried in the Riverside Cemetery in Asheville.

Just 8 months prior to his death, Richard Nichols celebrated the marriage of one of his daughters.
Source: Asheville Citizen-Times, 26 January 1893

• "James Kelley" was actually James O'Kelley, born 22 March 1864 in the Hominy area of Buncombe County. He was the son of Francis W. and Margaret Arminta (Young) O'Kelley. According to one account of the explosion, he was employed as a sawyer by Kerlee. At the time of his death, his estate was worth $200 ($5,600 today) and it appears to have been divided amongst his siblings. His brother, Walter, had a son in 1895 whom he named after his brother. He is buried in the Mount Pisgah Baptist Church Cemetery in Candler.

Probate record for James O'Kelley
Source: Ancestry.com

• Henry Smith was an African-American man from the community then known as "Coopers" (now Swannanoa) in Buncombe County. He was employed as the "fireman" for the mill on that fateful day. He presumably is the Henry Smith that married Matilda Patton in Asheville in 1881 and had at least one child, William, who was born in 1888. The newspaper reports that his body was returned to the Asheville area; as such, it is my presumption that he is buried in the South Asheville Cemetery, which was the primary designated cemetery for African-Americans in that area at that time.

The customers:

• Ben (born 26 March 1871) and Lee McMahan (Lee being the unnamed 6th individual killed, born 06 February 1875) were the sons of John and Rutha (Dillard) McMahan. Tragedy stalked this family. The boys' 2 year-old brother, John, died in 1882; their father, John, died in 1885, their brother, William Love, died in 1891; and another brother, General Pinkney, had just died in May 1893. It is difficult to fathom the grief their widowed mother must have felt when she lost these boys, particularly in such close proximity to the death of Pinkney. Neither Ben nor Lee appear to have been married. They are buried near their parents and siblings in the Barkers Creek Cemetery.
• Jessie Bowman Gunter (born 19 August 1867) was the son of George Marion and Elizabeth (Nations) Gunter. He married Tennessee "Tennie" Carringer of Graham County in 1889 and they had at least one child, Maggie, who was 3 years old at the time of his death (Tennie remarried in 1894 and stated for the 1900 census that she had 5 children, 4 of whom remained living. It is possible that the deceased child was also Jessie's.) He is buried in the Marion Gunter family cemetery in Whittier.

George Marion and Elizabeth Nations Gunter, parents of Jessie Bowman Gunter.
Source: Findagrave user "Troy", on GM Gunter findagrave memorial

As for the Kerlee family, after that sad day, L.J. stayed in the milling business for at least a time, as he's recorded as working as a sawyer for the Coffin and McDonald sawmill in 1896. By 1900 his family had returned to Buncombe County, and by 1910 they had made the permanent move to Skagit County, Washington, where he died in 1933.


What a sad day for the Whittier community.


(Postscript: The other tragedy referred to in the article above refers to the Cowee Tunnel disaster, in which 19 African-American convicts drowned while working to build the Southern Railway in Dillsboro. There is an excellent article on it located at this link.)

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Sources:
Ancestry.com
Asheville Citizen-Times, 17 May 1888.
Asheville Citizen-Times, 26 Jan 1893.
Asheville Weekly Citizen, 21 Sep 1893.
Bryson City Times, 03 Apr 1896.
Findagrave.com user "Troy".
Murfreesboro Index, 22 Sep 1893.
Muskogee Phoenix, 21 Sep 1893.
Pennsylvania Roots website:  http://www.pa-roots.com/southbend/burrelltownship/burrellscenes.html
Swain County Herald, 30 Jan 1890.
Swain County Herald, 05 Jun 1890.
Washington Gazette, 28 Sep 1893.

Vanishing Landscapes - Old Barns

Little by little, Swain County's history vanishes every year, both in terms of the loss of the people who once called it home, but also in the buildings that are torn down for various reasons. Lately I've been taking long drives through the county in search of old places to photograph before they, too, disappear forever. Today in lieu of a lengthy piece, I thought I'd share some photos of some of the old barns in the county - both past and present. Most of these are from the western end of the county.

If any of you, my wonderful readers,have particular memories of these barns or the folks who owned them, please do share in the comments or via email (oldeswain@gmail.com). Additionally, if you know of any old barns that you'd like to see photographed, please reach out to me and I'll be happy to do that so long as they are easily accessed (I'd love to do another photo series on them).

Enjoy!

Upper Brush Creek

Bryson Branch (note the antique car under it)

Cowan Wikle's barn in Lauada (just off NC 28)
Information provided by Bill Burnette

Old Deep Creek Road

Silvermine Creek

Wesser Creek

Lower Brush Creek

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Sources:
All photos taken by Wendy Meyers
Bill Burnette (ownership of barn in Lauada)

Swain County's World War 1 Dead - A Request

Cross at the grave of Private Fred Mathis
Meuse-Argonne American Cemetery and Memorial
Lorraine, France

Photo Credit: soilsister at Findagrave.com

Dear Readers:
The 100th anniversary of Swain County's active involvement in World War 1 overseas is upon us. Of the 22 Swain County soldiers who died during the "Great War", 14 died between September and November 1918. I think it's important to honor the enormous sacrifice made by these young men and I'd like to put together a couple of blog pieces (for fall publication) about them.

While I have most of the basic information on each of these soldiers (where they were from, date of birth, date and place of death, and cemetery), I do not have much additional information on the majority of them. That's where you and/or people you know come in. I would love to have pictures, letters, personal anecdotes, or any other additional information I can get that would bring them to life on this blog.

The names of Swain County's WW1 dead are as follows:

Barker, William Harvey
Bates, Everett
Cathey, Charles Clyde
Cochran, John Thomas
Franklin, Walter Isaac
Freeman, Caro (There is a good amount of information on Caro on his findagrave.com page as well as in the Swain County Heritage book, but I'd love more.)
Kalonaheskie, Joe
Kincaid, James William
Leatherwood, James L
Mashburn, Earnest Loyd
Mason, William
Mathis, Fred
Moore, Grady C
Queen, James Robert
Shuler, Finley
Shuler, William
Stephenson, William Berry
Styles, Andy
Turner, Floyd C
Wiggins, John W
Winchester, Benjamin Harrison
Youngdeer, Steve

If you or a family member/acquaintance are in possession of any material you'd like to see used to honor these brave soldiers, please get in touch with me in either the comments section (please include your email address), via email at oldeswain@gmail.com, or via the Facebook page. You will be credited as the source of the material when the blog is published.

Thank you for your consideration!

Best,
Wendy

The Lambs of the Tabor Cemetery

Today I was enjoying my last day of vacation and chose to take a drive out to an area of the county I don't get out to nearly as frequently as I should - the Highway 28 corridor going from Lauada to Franklin. I had no particular destination in mind but while on Brush Creek, I noted a tiny sign for the Tabor Cemetery on the left and decided to follow it. Upon topping out on a hill above the creek, I found one of the most beautiful and well-tended cemeteries I've ever had the pleasure of visiting. 

Photo credit: Wendy Meyers

I love looking at old tombstones - not only because of the curiosity I have about the lives of the people they commemorate, but also for the artistry of the stones themselves. Whilst wandering through the stones at this cemetery, I noted something 'different' here amongst the ones marking the graves of children. In older cemeteries, lambs are often seen on the headstones of children - most of the cemeteries in Swain County have them. However, the Tabor Cemetery has a very interesting array of lamb stones - at least 7 different types - such that I felt them to be worthy of their own blog article. Some of these are below.

I would encourage all who are interested to visit this peaceful cemetery and view the beautiful stones that, while unique, are a bittersweet reminder of the very tenuous existence of children in days not so long past in these mountains.

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Frank West was born on September 10, 1905, died on October 5, 1905 of unknown causes. He was the son of Henry and Minnie (nee' Marr) West. His parents are buried in the Woodlawn Cemetery in Macon County.

Photo credit: Wendy Meyers

Everett Bates Jr., was born on February 27, 1919, and died on January 1, 1921 of meningitis. He was the son of Everett Robert and Lillie (nee' Marr) Bates. Everett Sr. was shipped to the World War 1 front in 1918, leaving behind Lillie, who was pregnant. He died in combat in France in November of that year before his son was even born. His remains appear to have been repatriated, and are interred near those of Everett Jr.. Lillie was remarried (to Floyd Cunningham) in March 1921 and is buried in Swain Memorial Park.

Photo credit: Wendy Meyers

Troy Tabor was born on October 3, 1928, and died on December 22, 1928 of unknown causes. His parents are unknown (no death certificate was filed), however, he may have been the son of the Reverend John and Amanda (nee' Cookston) Tabor, who he is buried next to.

Photo credit: Wendy Meyers

John H. Watkins was born and died on March 17, 1929 of unknown causes.  He was the son of Emlis Floyd and Delsia Angeline (nee' Anderson) Watkins. His parents are buried in the Derreberry Cemetery in Cherokee County.

Photo credit: Wendy Meyers

Kathleen Tabor was born on October 9, 1942 and died on January 13, 1946 of diphtheria.  (Note: her death certificate states that she was born in 1941). She was the daughter of Verlin and Louise (nee' Welch) Tabor, who are buried next to her.

Photo credit: Wendy Meyers

Melvon Ray Burnette was born on January 11, 1945, and died on February 6, 1945 of pneumonia. He was the son of Don Melvin and Jessie (nee' Howard) Burnette, who are buried next to him. (Note: His tombstone may contain a misspelling, as Macon County birth records spell his name as 'Melvin'.)

Photo credit: Wendy Meyers

Robert Zane Nelson was born and died April 12th, 1962 of unknown causes. He was the son of John E. and Wanda (nee' Tabor) Nelson, who are buried in the cemetery with him.

Photo credit: Wendy Meyers

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Note to the reader: to reach the Tabor Cemetery, take US 19-74 west from Bryson City and turn left on NC 28 South at the old 'King's Grocery' (Texaco gas station). Drive approximately 5.5 miles and take a left on Brush Creek Road. Approximately 1 mile up the road, it will split, with Marr Creek going straight ahead and Brush Creek going off to the right - stay on Brush Creek. In about 0.3 miles, you'll see a sign for Dan Springs Baptist Church on the right. About 0.1 miles past that, you'll see a low sign for the Tabor Cemetery on the left. Take the left and follow the gravel road about 0.1 mile to the cemetery at the top of a hill.

As always, please reach out with any corrections you might have or other information/pictures you feel could add substance to this article.

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Sources:
Ancestry.com
Burnette family members (information on Melvon Burnette cause of death)
Ed Ammons (information on Robert Zane Nelson's parents)
Kathy and Ryan Bennett (information on Robert Zane Nelson's parents)
Newspapers.com

The Flu and a Murder

Note to the reader: some of the text is appearing in different fonts and sizes. I did not wish to hold up publication for this issue, but am trying to rectify the issue. Hopefully it will not be too distracting.

Flu season is in full swing now, and it seems to be a particularly deadly one. Swain County had its fair share of flu deaths over the years, particularly during the 'Spanish flu' epidemic of 1918.

According to death certificates filed with the state of North Carolina, influenza claimed the lives of 14 people (7 adults and 7 children) in Swain County during the 1919 - 1920 flu season (which I have arbitrarily defined as November 1919 through May 1920). This represents possibly one third to one half of the actual deaths due to the flu, as many deaths were not registered on actual death certificates in those early days. The most remarkable death associated with this flu season, however, was that of a nurse taking care of a flu-afflicted family.

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Columbus Lafayette Wiggins (October 1880 - February 25, 1920) was the son of Abraham and Clara (nee' Whiteside) Wiggins and grew up in Swain County. In 1906, he married Laura Alice Weeks (June 28, 1885 - Dec 31, 1964) and settled in the Qualla area (later moving to Deep Creek) to raise his family. On January 19, 1920, the census taker visited and recorded Columbus as being employed as a carpenter, married to Laura, and the father of 5 children (Ralph, Ila, Glen, Grady, and Millard).

Abraham and Clara Wiggins Family (Columbus is in the back row, second from the left)
Source: Ancestry.com user maryberrong

That year, the Needmore area was said to have been especially hard-hit with the flu. One of the afflicted families was that of James William 'Willie' Wikle (1878 - 1923), consisting of Willie, his wife Pearl (nee' Potts) (1885 - 1971), and their children Everett, Nancy, Earl, Mae, and Maude. They lived on Hightower Road in a home close to where Wikle Branch crosses under the road. Their  children attended the Hightower School.

Family of Thomas and Louisa (nee' Breedlove) Wikle, circa 1885.
Willie is on the far left.
Photo provided by Fran Rogers.

Willie Wikle with son Everett in his lap, circa 1907
Photo provided by Fran Rogers

Such was the apparent need in the Needmore area that it seems volunteers were recruited from around the county by the Red Cross to help provide care to those families affected by the flu. One of these volunteers was Columbus, who was paired with a girl whose name was only given as "Dehart", to provide care for the Wikles. It is unclear how many days he had been helping to care for the family, but newspaper accounts state that he had helped them "day and night". 

On February 26th, Columbus took a brief walk outside the Wikle home. Just prior to his return to the home, Willie asked Pearl, who was one of the family members afflicted with the flu, to turn her head to the wall. Newspaper accounts vary as to whether Columbus went to tend to Pearl or to two of the children upon his return, but all accounts agree that when he did, Willie attacked him with a knife and inflicted between eight and ten ghastly wounds, including four to the throat - killing him.

Probable site of the Wiggins murder, on Hightower Road past Wikle Branch

Photo taken by Wendy Meyers

The other possible location of the murder - in a home just across the road.
Pearl Wikle is recalled as having lived here after Will Wikle's death.
Photo taken by Wendy Meyers

Wikle was arrested within hours of the murder by Sheriff Rollins Thomasson and two deputies, and held at the Swain County jail pending a grand jury hearing. Two days later, he attempted suicide by slashing his own throat but failed to inflict enough damage to kill himself. What we would today likely term an "emergency hearing" was then convened at which Judge Thaddeus Dillard Bryson II rendered an insanity determination and remanded Will to the insane ward for criminals at the state prison in Raleigh.

Various theories were advanced for the murder, including:

• Jealousy or anger on Willie's part over a supposed romantic relationship between Columbus and the "DeHart girl" (note: according to the 1920 census, the nearest DeHart girls living in proximity to the Wikles were Will's nieces Mary Jane and Delsie);
• Religious differences, in that Columbus was a member of the Pilgrim Holiness Church (what we now know today as the Wesleyan Church) and the Wikles were not. Willie was infuriated when Columbus prayed over his family in the manner of his church; and
• Willie had become ill with flu and was so febrile that he had 'gone mad'. This is certainly what his brother believed, as shown in the brief letter below.

Letter to the editor of the Union Republican (Winston-Salem) newspaper, written
by Willie Wikle's brother John Riece Wikle from Duvall, NC
 (a small community in rural Macon County).
Published March 18, 1920.

At the time of his death, Columbus left behind his wife Laura, his 5 living children (the oldest of whom was 12 at the time of the murder), his unborn child, Ruby (born in June 1920), and his father. He was buried in the Deep Creek Cemetery.

In July of that year, Willie was reported to have returned from Raleigh to Swain County to stand trial. What happened after that time is unclear, as he does not appear to have gone to prison and presumably was sent home. Regrettably, no newspapers from the 1920's in Swain County are available to tell us the rest of his story. One of Columbus's grandchildren with whom I spoke said that Laura's attitude toward Willie Wikle's prosecution was, "If Columbus were here, he would say, 'Let the Lord deal with him'." 

NC Central Prison (year unknown)
Source: newraleigh.com

Willie and Pearl Wikle had no other children after the murder, and Willie died not too many years afterward, on April 26th, 1923. His presumed cause of death was a stroke (his death certificate records that his right side was paralyzed). He is buried in the Grave Gap (also known as Windy Gap) Cemetery along with many of his kin. Shortly thereafter, Pearl Wikle married Charlie Dehart (a neighbor in the community) and bore daughters Edna (1924-2014) and Pauline (1926-2007) and life continued on.

Ninety-eight years have now passed, but such was the impact of the murder on the isolated community that Columbus Wiggins' tragic demise is still spoken of today amongst the old Needmore families. With the tale's players long-dead, we will never truly know what drove one well-respected man to kill another on that cold winter day in February 1920.

Whatever the case, may they both rest in peace. 

________________________________________________________

Sources:
Ancestry.com user maryberrong (photo)
Asheville Citizen-Times, February 29, 1920
Edwin Ammons (location of the murder and of Duvall, NC)
Fran Rogers (photos)
Glenna Wiggins Trull, granddaughter of Columbus Wiggins (family's perspective on the murder)
Newraleigh.com (photo)
The Fayetteville Observer, March 12, 1920
The Union Republican, March 18, 1920 and July 15, 1920
The Winston-Salem Journal, February 26, 1920 and March 2, 1920