The Killing of Willie DeLozier (13 October 1888)

William L. "Willie" DeLozier (center) with sister Lillie Ivalee (on left) and brother John Cleveland
(on right). The picture was taken circa 1885.
Source: Elise DeLozier Palmer (daughter of J.C. DeLozier)

Early on in my research, I came across this fascinating little article in a North Carolina newspaper about the shooting death of an 18 year-old young man in Swain County. 

Source: The Daily Evening Patriot (Greensboro, NC)
16 October 1888

Various iterations of this article appeared in other North Carolina newspapers. I was intrigued, as I knew that the DeLozier family had lived in the Judson area and so attempted a great deal of additional research to see what else I could find out about this young man's death - and came up empty-handed. Then a couple of years later, I picked up the book, "Ash, Ashe, Stillwell: A Genealogy", a genealogical history of some of the families who had lived in the Judson and Almond areas of Swain County.  Hidden among the book's 425 pages documenting family members and their progeny, I came across exactly what I had been looking for. As it turns out, a relative of the author, John Reid Ashe, had written to him while he was authoring the book and wanted to share an old family story with him. 

It was on the death of Willie DeLozier. I'd hit the proverbial jackpot. 

I hope you will enjoy Choice Stillwell Parker's letter (below) as much as I did. 

___________________________________

"I've heard my Daddy speak of his Aunt Emmoline Delosier many, many times. Also of how her son, Willie, met his death at an early age. He told us that Willie had dated a Sandlin girl a few times, while at the same time some other boy was dating her. He said that someone gift wrapped a pocket knife and mailed it to the Sandlin girl. Now in those days this was considered an insult, so her brother Matt, carried the knife back to Willie Delosier. Willie assured Matt that he had not mailed the knife to the girl, that it was not his knife and he had never seen it before. Matt carried the knife back down to the general store and left it there. A few days later the knife was received through the mail by the Sandlin girl again, all gift wrapped as before.

On a Saturday afternoon, shortly thereafter, Matt Sandlin showed up at the general store, sat around and talked for a while, and was heard to say he was going over to spend the night with Willie and would kill him while he was there. Matt arrived at Willie's late in the afternoon and after supper they were sitting around talking and Matt asked Willie to go hunting with him the next morning. Willie agreed. Willie did not know the girl had received the knife a second time and no idea what was going on in Matt's mind.

When morning came, Willie fixed breakfast. His mother was in bed sick with mumps, I believe it was. Willie went up to see about his mother and found her with a headache. He tied a handkerchief around his mother's head and told her of his plans to go hunting with Matt. His mother didn't want him to go, she said she didn't 'feel right about it'. Willie assured her he would be alright and would be back in a little while.

Mary Rebecca Emaline (nee' Stillwell) DeLozier, 
mother of Willie DeLozier.
Source: "Ash, Ashe, Stillwell"

Matt borrowed a gun from Willie and they set out for the field below the house. They said when Aunt Emmoline heard the shotgun blast a little later she said 'Oh, Lord! He's killed my son.' In a short while Matt came back to the house and said there had been an accident. Said he accidentally shot and killed Willie.

Willie was brought to the house and friends and neighbors came in, bathed, dressed, and 'laid Willie out'. In the evening when the community gathered to visit with the Delosiers, Matt was among the crowd but for some reason he would not go in to look at Willie as other friends were doing. When someone asked him why, he said he would rather not see Willie dead. Now, some of the men and boys who suspected what had happened on that hunting trip got together and decided they would make Matt go in and look at Willie. When they forced Matt to look at Willie, blood started oozing out through Willie's white shirt at the spot where the heart is (Willie was shot through the heart). This, they said, was proof that Matt had murdered Willie.

They carried Matt to jail and had a sort of trial, but since no one saw what happened in that field, he came clear. But my Daddy always said, he and everyone else around there, knew Matt Sandlin had made his threat good and killed Willie Delosier."

                 Choice Stillwell Parker in "Ash, Ashe, Stillwell", by John Ashe

Documentation of the inquest for Willie DeLozier
Source: Swain County Herald, 14 February 1889

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In a sad twist of fate, Willie was killed exactly three years (to the day) after the death of his father, Jesse Ridings DeLozier. Willie, his parents, and many other of his family members, are buried in the Judson section of the Lauada Cemetery. 

Note: The Matt Sandlin referred to in the tale of Willie's death was almost certainly Matison W. Sandlin (alternately recorded as Madison B Sandlin) (1869 - 30 July 1894), who was related to the DeLoziers by marriage (his brother, Will, was married to Nancy Caroline DeLozier). The Sandlin girl referred to would have likely been one of Matt's sisters: Mary (born in 1873) or Rachel Annie (born in 1874). He married Mary Lawing in Cherokee County, North Carolina, in 1891. In early November 1893, Sandlin, who was then living in Clay County, engaged in a quarrel with a neighbor and drew his gun to shoot the neighbor but instead struck the neighbor's 5 year-old son, killing him. He fled and was captured in Chester County, Tennessee, in June 1894 and was brought back to Murphy. He died of typhoid fever in the Cherokee County jail on July 30, 1894, while awaiting trial for the child's death.

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Willie DeLozier Headstone, Lauada Cemetery
Source: John L Mathis for findagrave.com

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Sources:

Ancestry.com
"Ash, Ashe, Stillwell: A Genealogy" by John Reid Ashe; published 1977.
Asheville Weekly Citizen, 09 November 1893
Asheville Citizen-Times, 19 June 1894
Elise DeLozier Palmer and Amy Palmer Evans
Marion Record, 17 August 1894
Newspapers.com
Swain County Herald, 14 February 1889
The Daily Evening Patriot, 16 October 1888
Wilmington Morning Star, 07 August 1894

A Simple Act of Love - a Civil War Story

On Valentine's Day this year, someone very dear to me who knows well my fondness for history and folk music sent me a beautiful love song set during the Civil War. The song, "Yankee Bayonet", by The Decemberists (click on the link to be taken to a recording of it), tells the story of a Confederate soldier from Oconee County, South Carolina, who fell in love but then went off to war and died at the Battle of Manassas (also known as the Battle of Bull Run). Listening to the song (which I instantly loved) reminded me of a Civil War story I'd researched in 2017 with a family hailing from Swain County, and I thought it would make a great article for this blog.

Elise (nee' DeLozier) Palmer at the grave of her 

great-grandmother, Nancy (nee' Monteith) Hemphill. 

Source: Amy Palmer Evans (daughter of Elise)

Members of the DeLozier Family at the Fryemont Inn, celebrating Elise's 93rd birthday in 2019.

Source: Wendy Meyers

Through my research over the years, I have developed a very close relationship with the DeLozier family whose roots lie deep in the area of Swain County that became Judson. Only one DeLozier born in Swain County remains living, and that is Nina Elise (DeLozier) Palmer, who was born at Judson in 1926. Her parents were John Cleveland and Roxie (nee' Woody) DeLozier, who were merchants in Judson up until 1928, when they moved to Buncombe County. Elise's maternal grandmother, Mary Ellen (nee' Hemphill) Woody, lived with the family much of the time and Elise was privileged to spend a great deal of time with her grandmother as she grew up. Mary Ellen's father, William Nulin Hemphill, was the Civil War soldier about whom this blog article is written.

Mary Ellen (nee' Hemphill) Woody with two of her DeLozier granddaughters

Source: Elise DeLozier Palmer

According to census records, Nulin was born around 1835/1836 and grew up in Haywood County (the reader is reminded that much of far Western North Carolina was part of Haywood County at that time). In 1851, he married Nancy Angeline Monteith and began to raise a family. The 1860 census places he and his family of four (two children, Allen Clingman and Sarah Jane had joined the family by this time) in the Webster district of Jackson County, where he was a farmer. His real estate holdings at that time were worth approximately $200 and his personal assets were worth $125. Little Mary Ellen joined the family on May 11, 1862. Just two months later, the family's lives were uprooted by the Civil War.

Nulin Hemphill family in the 1860 Census

Source: Ancestry.com

On July 11th, 1862, Company G of the North Carolina 69th Infantry Regiment (better known as Thomas's Legion) was mustered into service, and Nulin would likely have taken leave of his family at that time. In 1863, his unit passed back through the local area and he was able to come home for a brief visit with his family. The story of Nulin's picture, which was taken during that visit, is told by Elise in the video at the link below. (Click on the link to be taken to YouTube, where I have uploaded it. The quality of the video is not high due to my having to compress it, but I think it's still far better to have Elise telling the story on video than for me to present it in a transcription.)

Elise tells the story of William Nulin Hemphill's picture

William Nulin Hemphill (c. 1835 - December 20, 1864), great-grandfather of Elise DeLozier Palmer

Source: Elise DeLozier Palmer

Nulin was evidently not well during his brief stay, and soldiers came to the house to retrieve him. As they headed off, Nancy ran out of the house to kiss him and to give him a blanket. That was the last time she saw her husband.


Thomas's Legion was largely charged with defending the passes of the Southern Appalachian mountains. Unfortunately, their defense of one of the most well-known passes in the country, the Cumberland Gap, failed. On September 9th, 1863, Nulin's regiment was surrendered to the Union. From the Cumberland Gap, Nulin's regiment was transported north to the famed Camp Douglas in Chicago, Illinois. It was an immense prisoner of war camp for Confederate soldiers and was known as the "Andersonville of the North". (For those readers who do not know, Andersonville was a notoriously brutal prisoner of war camp for Union soldiers.). There, Nulin and over 400 other members of Thomas's Legion lived in utter squalor, bitter cold, and brutal conditions until either the end of the Civil War - or their death. Camp statistics indicate than one out of every seven soldiers imprisoned there died.

Sadly, Nulin did not live to see the end of the war, and instead perished 5 days before Christmas on December 20th, 1864, having spent over a year at Camp Douglas. He was initially interred in a grave just outside Camp Douglas, however, after the war, the remains of many of the soldiers who died there were exhumed and re-interred in a mass grave at the Oak Woods Cemetery. There he now lies surrounded by approximately 4,275 other Confederate soldiers; a large memorial marks their final resting place far from their Southern homes.

Marker for Confederate soldiers who perished at Camp Douglas

Oak Woods Cemetery, Chicago, IL

Source: Wikipedia.com

Nancy remained a widow until 1870, when she married Edmond Thompson in Jackson County. Together, they had another three children and eventually moved to Swain County, to the area that is now the North Shore of Fontana Lake. There, Mary Ellen Hemphill met and married Augustus Poole Woody (who lived in the greater Forney Creek area) and bore Roxie - mother of Elise.

It is ironic to consider that, had he survived another 5 months to the end of the war, Nulin would likely have made his way back to his family, several other children would likely have been born, and the family may well have stayed in Jackson County. It is almost a certainty that Mary Ellen would never have met Augustus Poole Woody and that the trajectory of generations to come would have been dramatically altered. As such, when one thinks of Nulin, I think it's important to not only honor his service, but also to honor the bittersweet fact that without the loss of his life at the young age of 29, the DeLozier family (and many other families) as we know them would not have come about. And that would be a sad thing indeed.

John Cleveland and Roxanne Myrtle "Roxie" DeLozier
(Parents of Elise DeLozier Palmer)

Source: Elise DeLozier Palmer

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Sources:
Ancestry.com
Amy Palmer Evans
Elise DeLozier Palmer
Findagrave.com
Fold3.com
Susan Williams Gray
YouTube.com
Wikipedia.com

Witcher's Chapel - Easter Morning (April 21, 1889)

This Easter morning service exactly 130 years ago was nothing akin to the type of Easter service typically held at churches in the modern day. However, it also seems entirely appropriate to celebrate the homegoing of a clearly beloved community member on the day of the Resurrection. Best wishes to all my readers for a blessed Easter!

Interior of Palmer Chapel at Cataloochee

Souce: npplan.com

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"Rev. P.P. McLean held a memorial service in memory of Eli Collins at Witchers Chapel Sunday April 21^st 1889.

The morning broke in full splendor, solemn quietude pervaded the land. Before 9 o’clock the stillness was broken by the call to Sabbath school. At 10:15 we repaired to the place appointed where the men of God should stand forth and speak in memory of a sainted brother. The services were opened by appropriate singing after which the minister arose and said, “We might, as one of old, ask what it is that has caused this large assembly to come to the house of God this beautiful Sabbath morning. We presume it is because a servant of God has been called home to rest.”

A very appropriate hymn was then announced which was followed by scriptural reading suitable to the occasion. Then was read the life incidents of the deceased brother, followed by another hymn sung by the minister. He then announced the text and proceeded to its discussion which was clear, able, and forcible, making vivid to the minds of his hearers things that have been passed far down the vale of time.

The audience was large and attentive. A collection amounting to $3 was taken for foreign missions. Reception of members into the church, three. The services were concluded by appropriate singing and prayer.

Anonymous"

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Notes:

Witcher’s Chapel was located in close proximity to the area which later became Judson and was almost certainly named for the Methodist Episcopal minister William Witcher, who at one time resided in Macon County.

The Witcher’s Chapel Methodist Episcopal Church South was located on the south bank of Alarka Creek and on the former Parch Corn Flower/Flour reservation (which Thomas Wentworth Pledge Poindexter was living on prior to the Cherokee removal) – which later became part of Judson. In September 1858, Elizabeth Poindexter, widow of T.W.P. Poindexter sold, for $1, a half-acre parcel to the trustees of the Witcher’s Chapel Methodist Episcopal Church South (consisting of Joel Sawyer, Edward DeLozier [her son-in-law], John Anderson, and James Ingram) for the purposes of constructing a church house for both school and church purposes. The building served for several decades as a church, school, and meeting-house for the community. 

Newspaper announcement of service times - Witcher's Chapel Methodist Episcopal Church South

Source: Swain County Herald, 24 January 1889

The name “Witcher’s Chapel” disappears from the written record (in the records that I have been able to access) after 1891. It is possible that it later became the Judson Methodist Episopal Church.

Eli Collins (ca. 1807 – 1889) was originally interred in the Judson Public Cemetery. At the time of Fontana Lake’s impoundment, his grave was identified (though was apparently only marked by a fieldstone). No discernible remains were found, therefore, it is likely that a symbolic shovelful of dark earth was dug and placed in a new container, and reinterred in Lauada Cemetery.

Judson, NC (1938). Thanks to Don Casada for identification of the church and cemetery.

Source: NARA Southeast

 ________________________________

Sources:

Ancestry.com, Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) Cemetery Removal Records

Macon County, NC Register of Deeds

National Archives and Records Administration, Southeast – TVA Records

Swain County Herald, 25 April 1889 

In Memoriam: Eliza Poindexter Turk - a former slave

Several years ago, when perusing some of the Tennessee Valley Authority cemetery relocation records, I chanced upon a particularly fascinating one. Among the records from the DeLozier Cemetery (located in Judson) was one of a former slave named Eliza - to my knowledge the only officially documented former slave buried in the entire Fontana Reservoir. In honor of Black History Month, I thought I'd share the little we know of her story.


Photo by Tracey McCracken Palmer

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Early Life
Eliza was born into slavery in the early 1830s (records vary and ages are notoriously inaccurate, particularly in the case of slaves), likely in Macon County. She is recorded in multiple sources to have been mulatto (half black, half white), and was almost certainly the daughter of a slave woman and a unknown white master. Her first documented master was Thomas Wentworth Pledge Poindexter, who had moved to Macon County from Surry County prior to 1830.

She first appeared on the written record in a slave transaction when she was 8 years old: on January 10th, 1838, Thomas Wentworth Pledge Poindexter (who by then had settled in the area known as the 'Parch Corn Flour' Indian reservation - close to the modern-day Alarka Boat Dock), sold to James Poindexter (likely a close relative), 2 "colored" girls. "Sally" was a black girl 10 years of age, and Eliza was a described as a "yellow" or mulatto girl 8 years of age. Their sale price was $1100, which is nearly $30,000 in modern currency. On January 11, 1838, he purchased them back. The purpose of this odd transaction is unknown.

By 1844, she had come back into the possession of James Poindexter. A deed records him mortgaging Eliza and Sally, along with 217 acres on the "Parched Corn place", a bay mare, and 19 cattle, in order to purchase some land tracts from one Tyra Davis. By 1850, she likely was back in the possession of T.W.P. Poindexter, as the 1850 slave schedule records a 19 year-old female among his slaves.

1850 Slave Schedule showing 3 slaves in the possession of T.W.P. Poindexter.
Eliza is likely the 19 year-old female.
Source: Ancestry.com

Young Adulthood
In 1851, T.W.P. Poindexter died and Eliza probably passed into the ownership of Edward "Ned" DeLozier, who had married Poindexter's daughter, Betsy, in 1834. This cannot be certain as I have been unable to locate Poindexter's will, however, a 25 year-old female is recorded in the 1860 slave schedule among his 4 slaves, as are a 12 year-old female, a 4 year-old male, and a 3 month-old female. Who were these children?

Between approximately 1855 and freedom, Eliza gave birth to at least 4 children (dates of birth are approximate): Jiff (b. 1855), Jonathan  (b. 1856), Arbazenia "Arvy" (b. 1860), and Caroline "Callie" (b. 1863). The identity of the father(s) of these children is unknown, however, as the children were all mulatto like their mother, it is almost certain that their father was white. Based on birth dates, 2 of the children listed in the 1860 slave schedule may have been Jiff or Jonathan, and Arvy.

After Freedom
It is highly probable that Eliza did not gain her freedom from slavery until sometime in December 1865 or early 1866. Abraham Lincoln delivered the Emancipation Proclamation on January 1st, 1863, however, North Carolina did not approve the 13th Amendment  (that abolished slavery) until December 4th, 1865 - almost 3 years later. On October 1st, 1866, Eliza married (giving her last name as Poindexter) a former slave from Georgia, J. Clark Turk. Though how they met is unknown, he was likely among the many former slaves making their exodus from the farms and plantations of the Deep South toward the North during the early Reconstruction Period.

1870 US Census for Welch's District, Macon County showing Clark and Eliza Turk and children.
Source: Ancestry.com

Clark and Eliza Turk appear to have settled in the same district in which she had been a slave - the 1870 census shows them in the "Welches" district of Macon County and farming, with property valued at $125 and personal belongings valued at $100. Eliza's 4 living children born prior to her marriage were residing with them at the time, along with a son, Jesse, who had been born in approximately 1867. I do not think it coincidence that he was given this name, as Jesse was also the name of one of Ned DeLozier's sons (Jesse Ridings); he was born in 1847 and Eliza may have cared for him in his childhood.

After 1870, there is no further documentation of Eliza's life. Clark Turk is known to have remarried in 1874. Therefore, as single fathers with young children usually found new spouses quite soon after the death of a wife in that day and age, it is likely that Eliza died sometime around 1873. She was buried in an unmarked grave in the DeLozier Cemetery amongst her former masters, mistresses, acquaintances, and possibly children and former fellow slaves - seemingly lost to history.


Jesse Ridings DeLozier (1847 - 1886)
Source: Elise (DeLozier) Palmer

Bringing Eliza Back to Life
As is well-known, in the early 1940s, Fontana Dam was built by the TVA in order to help power Alcoa's wartime production of aluminum. Prior to the lake being filled, the vast majority of the individuals buried in the cemeteries to be flooded were removed to other cemeteries. The Judson Public Cemetery and the adjacent DeLozier Cemetery were among the cemeteries that now lie under Fontana Lake's waters. Tom DeLozier, son of Jesse Ridings DeLozier, was the individual who identified the graves in the DeLozier Cemetery for TVA. Amongst all the unmarked graves in the cemetery (many of whom were identified as "Unknown DeLozier" or "Unknown Poindexter"), Tom identified the grave of Eliza - noting that she had been a slave. Despite the fact that a number of former slaves are buried in Swain County, very few of their graves are actually known and/or identified. The fact that Eliza's was identified by a member of the family who had had been born in the same year in which she likely died, led the family and I to the supposition that she may have been seen as more of a family member than a slave.

Eliza's grave relocation record
Source: Ancestry.com and TVA

Kim Palmer and Scott Evans setting Eliza's stone. Kim is the great-grandchild of Jesse Ridings DeLozier.
Scott is the husband of Amy Palmer Evans, who is also a great-grandchild of Jesse Ridings DeLozier.
Photo by Wendy Meyers

After sharing this amazing finding with the DeLozier family (who has helped me enormously in my Judson research, who is exceptionally invested in their family's history, and of whom I am extremely fond), all agreed that Eliza's grave should have a permanent marker rather than the anonymous white cross currently marking it. After locating her grave via the TVA maps (many thanks to Don Casada) and obtaining a small headstone for her, several members of the DeLozier family (some coming from 2 hours or more away), Christine Proctor (head of the Lauada Cemetery Association and a cousin through the Woody line), and I gathered at the Lauada Cemetery on October 28th, 2018 - a gorgeous fall day - to place her stone. A base was prepared and the stone set, a brief overview of her life was given, a fitting poem was read (below), and flowers were placed on her stone. It was a simple memorial, but deeply meaningful to all those that gathered there.


In quiet contemplation, the life and dignity of this once-unknown former slave was restored, and she will now live on in perpetuity thanks to the family whom she served over 150 years ago.

Perhaps if Death is Kind

(read by Amy Palmer Evans at the dedication)

Perhaps if Death is kind, and there can be returning,

We will come back to earth some fragrant night,

And take these lanes to find the sea, and bending

Breathe the same honeysuckle, low and white.

We will come down at night to these resounding beaches

And the long gentle thunder of the sea

Here for a single hour in the wide starlight

We shall be happy, for the dead are free.
by Sarah Teasdale




Lily DeLozier Gray placing flowers at Eliza's grave. Her father, Joshua DeLozier Gray,
is behind her. Josh is the 2nd great-grandchild of Jesse Ridings DeLozier; Lily is the 3rd.
Several of the family members have old family names as part of their own.
Photo by Wendy Meyers

L-R: Tracey McCracken Palmer, Christine Proctor, Amy (Palmer) Evans, Elise (DeLozier) Palmer,
and Kim Palmer (Josh and Lily are behind him).
 Elise is the granddaughter of Jesse Ridings DeLozier; her children, Amy and Kim, are his great-grandchildren.
Photo by Wendy Meyers

L-R: Amy (Palmer) Evans and husband Scott; Asa Gray and wife Susan (Williams) Gray.
Susan is also a great-grandchild of Jesse Ridings DeLozier.
Photo by Wendy Meyers

Eliza's Descendants - A postscript for those interested
Jiff - disappeared from the records after the 1870 census. There is a remote possibility that he could be one "Jiff Harris" - a mulatto man living in the Durham area at the time of the 1880 census who was the same age as Eliza's son. This Jiff Harris had a 2 year-old daughter named Callie (and Callie was the name of one of Jiff's sisters). If this Jiff is one and the same, he had obviously changed his name upon departing the area.

Jonathan - disappeared from the records after the 1870 census. Despite much digging, I cannot locate him anywhere.

Arvy - married Wilkes/Wilson M. McCoy on November 22, 1877 in Macon County. They settled amongst the black community that was established (post-Civil War) in the Cowee area of the county. She had at least 7 children (birth dates are approximate): Lassie (b. 1879), Lulu (b. 1882), Charley (b. 1885), Fannie (b. 1886), "J" (b. 1890), Hettie (b. 1891), and Arie (b. 1893). She probably died sometime between 1893 and early 1900 (based on her husband's apparent remarriage in November 1900). She is likely buried in an unmarked grave in the cemetery of the Pleasant Hill African Methodist Episcopal (A.M.E.) Church, based on the fact that her husband is known to be buried there.

Callie - married George Conley on December 22, 1883 in Macon County. They settled in the same community that her sister Arvy lived in. She had at least 1 child, a son, Gordia "Gordie" Leander Conley (1885 - 1971). As George was remarried in January 1893, Callie likely died in 1891 or 1892. Since her son is buried there, Callie is also likely buried at the Pleasant Hill A.M.E. church.

Jesse - only 5 or 6 when his mother died, he relocated to Jackson County upon his father's remarriage. Heartbreakingly, he can last be seen at the age of 12 in the 1880 census living in the Webster district and working as a farm laborer for another family. As with his half-brothers, he disappeared from the record after this time. He may be buried in an unmarked grave in the Parris Cemetery in Jackson County, where his father is buried.


Eliza likely has many hundreds of descendants throughout the country, however, as is so common when researching African-American families, most simply vanished from the written record. Sadly, Gordie Conley's line is the only one through which living descendants can be documented.

Mount Pleasant African Methodist Episcopal (A.M.E.) Church in Macon County (West's Mill area)
At least one of Eliza's descendants is buried here - likely more.
Photo by Wendy Meyers

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Sources:
Ancestry.com
DeLozier family (including Malvary Morris Gamble and Lynn Morris Sullivan, who are not pictured above)
Don Casada
Macon County, North Carolina Register of Deeds
Tennessee Valley Authority records

The Icy Winter of 1876-1877

It has been bitterly cold here in Swain County for the past 7-10 days, so much so that many small streams in the area are completely frozen over in places, and the rivers appear to be on their way. I have been watching ice floes float down the Tuckasegee River for several days now. During this week, I was reminded of an account I had read in a family history book that pertained to a particularly cold winter in Swain County, and wanted to share it with my readers. I hope that you will enjoy this little sojourn into the past.

Ice on the Tuckasegee River at Governor's Island, 1/5/2018

Wendy Meyers

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The late John Reid Ashe (1908 - 1988) and his wife Wilma McHan Ashe (1914 - 2004) were prolific researchers, writers, and promoters of family and county history. In fact, one of the original driving forces for the Swain County Heritage Museum was Wilma Ashe, and it is very unfortunate that she did not live to see her dream come to fruition. The paternal side of John Ashe's family ran deep in the Judson area, and he wrote about his family and the history of the area in a very comprehensive book entitled "Ash-Ashe-Stillwell, A Genealogy and History". In the book, he records the story of the winter during which his grandparents, David (1856 - 1926) and Candace ([nee' Stillwell] 1862 - 1939) Ashe were married (they married on December 28, 1876).

David Reed and Candace (nee' Stillwell) Ashe

Source: Ash-Ashe-Stillwell

"Dave Ashe married Candace Stillwell in 1876. In those times the newlyweds usually lived with the parents of the groom until a 'Log Rolling' could be planned and a cabin of their own built. This winter turned out to be one of the coldest on record. All streams were frozen over solidly. Holes had to be cut in the ice daily to obtain water for survival."

Amos Ashe (note: father of David Ashe) had a roller mill powered by water. On sunny days all men pitched in and chipped ice from the millrace and the overshot wheel. Only a small amount of grain could be ground before it refroze and this was divided among those who needed it most. 

Amos Ashe Millrace, 1909

Source: Great Smoky Mountains National Park Archives and

Western Carolina University Special Collections

Amos Ashe Mill, 1909

Source: Great Smoky Mountains National Park Archives and 

Western Carolina University Special Collections

On their first trip home to visit her parents after they were married, they rode horses. They crossed the Little Tennessee River twice and 'Never a hoof broke through the ice'. Spring came early. Gardens and field crops were planted when the spring thaw came. Huge ice jams formed and backed water and ice floes into the fields and gardens. At that time, the streams were lined with virgin timber. This ice chipped the bark and wood from them and many of the huge trees were completely destroyed."

________________________________________________________________________

Sources:

Ancestry.com

Ash-Ashe-Stillwell: A Genealogy and History by John Reid Ashe (Note: this book is available for viewing at the Marianna Black Library in Bryson City)

Findagrave.com

Great Smoky Mountains National Park Archives

Swain County Marriage Register

Western Carolina University Special Collections

Election Day in Swain County - 1884 (Another scandalous election!)

In what is sure to be one of most scandalous elections in history, I thought it might be interesting to get a view of what an election looked like in Swain County in the 'Old Days'. This account comes from the observations of a traveler coming through Swain County on Election Day, November 4, 1884. But first, a little background......

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Grover Cleveland (1837-1908)

Source: Library of Congress

James Blaine (1830 - 1893)

Source: Library of Congress

The race for the presidency was a very tight one, waged primarily between the Democrat nominee, New York governor Grover Cleveland and the Republican nominee, former U.S. Senator James Blaine of Maine. It was also an election notorious for partisan mudslinging. Below is a brief look at the papers of the day (I've put some links for further reading in blue).

"Mr. Simeon Talbott....is in this city, and being approached on the subject of New York politics, said, "Yes, I know Cleveland, perhaps better than any man living. Maria Halpin is my sister-in-law. The story told in the newspapers is literally true, and the half has not been told. Grover Cleveland did seduce my sister-in-law under a positive promise, while she was living in Buffalo. This I know to be true, and Cleveland afterward paid the $500 to me for Maria Halpin when legal proceedings were about to be instituted against him......about six weeks ago, Cleveland wrote me a letter urging me to make a statement showing that he had always treated Mrs. Halpin well, and promised me anything I would wish in case he was elected."

The Leavenworth Weekly Times, October 9, 1884

'Another Vote for Cleveland' political cartoon by Frank Beard

Source: 'The Judge' (New York), September 27, 1884

"The man to withdraw, if anybody, is Mr. Blaine. The propriety of his withdrawing is no longer a matter of argument. The missing Mulligan letters printed this morning showed that he used his high office in the House of Representatives to advance his personal interests, that he peddled information of contemplated legislation to speculators, the understanding being that he should share their profits.........he begged his partners in business in the most humiliating terms to spare him the penalty of an exposure - in fine, that he knew when he did it that if the fact were to become public it would ruin his political fortunes forever." 

The New York Graphic, October, 1884

James Blaine Political Cartoon by F. Oppen

Source: Gettyimages.com

Considering the geographical isolation of most of the men of Swain County at the time (the reader is reminded that women did not have the right to vote until 1920), it can't be known to what extent these scandalous charges might have influenced their decisions. Regardless, they turned out to play their role in an historic election, as noted in our traveler's account (and drawing), which was printed in 'Frank Leslie's Illustrated Newspaper' on November 29, 1884.

'North Carolina - Scene at a Mountain Election Precinct in Swain County'

Source: Frank Leslie's Illustrated Newspaper, November 29, 1884

"The polling-places of such out-of-the-way districts as Nantahala precinct, Swain Co., N.C. (note to the reader: this would have taken place at Judson), where our sketch was made on the day of the late Presidential election, are not provided with all the modern conveniences, nor are the honest voters addicted to vain pomp and personal display. The sacred privilege of the franchise is exercised in an old wagon-shed, adjoining a corn crib. The 'judges' - he is a small man, indeed, in that section of the country, who bears a less important title than that of judge or colonel - seated on a bench, are the inspectors of election. Each guards a tin coffee-pot, which serves for a ballot-box. Occasionally a judge leaves his seat and circulates amongst the crowd, electioneering, coffee-pot in hand. Refreshments, in the form of ginger-cakes and cider, are to be had on the premises, and such a thing as a drop of blockade whiskey is not, we presume, wholly unobtainable. The gathering is a mixed one, and includes a paroled convict in uniform, who probably is employed in the construction of a railroad in the vicinity. There is not much style about the balloting up there in the mountains, but in the great national result the votes count just the same as though they had been cast in a crystal and nickel-plated ballot box in a brownstone-front polling place in the city." 

A total of 10,060, 145 voters across the country (and 268,356 in North Carolina) turned out for the vote. Over 60% of Swain County's electorate (I do not have the voter numbers at this time) voted for Cleveland, contributing their share to North Carolina's 11 electoral college votes that went to the Democrat. Cleveland won the popular election by relatively little (48.85% of the electorate, compared to Blaine's 48.28%) but won in the electoral college by 37 votes (219 to 182). The election proved historic in that it was the first time a Democrat had been voted into the highest office in the land since the election of 1856.  

Graphic of 1884 Vote by County (Swain is the eagle-shaped county on the Tennessee border)

Source: www.nhgis.org by Tilden76 (located on Wikipedia)

No matter what your political leanings or possible disgust with the current candidates, if you've not already done so, get out there and vote. November 8, 2016, should be just as interesting as November 4, 1884.

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An interesting note for the reader: Apparently the 'judges' in the Nantahala district decided that tin coffee pots were no longer suitable for voting after the 1888 election. On January 7, 1889, the Swain County Commissioners provided Amos Ashe (most likely one of the 'judges' described in the short article as he lived in Judson) $4 for making election boxes. 

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 Sources:

Frank Leslie's Illustrated Newspaper, November 29, 1884

Getty Images (gettyimages.com)

Library of Congress

National Historical Geographic Inhgis.org

Pinterest

"Presidential Ballots, 1836-1892" by Walter Dean Burnham. Johns Hopkins University Press, 1955, pages 247-57.

Swain County Herald, January 10, 1889

'The Judge' (New York) September 27, 1884

The Leavenworth Weekly Times, October 8, 1884

The New York Graphic, October, 1884

Wikipedia (wikipedia.com)

The Life and Tragic Death of Ben Enloe

Today, September 8th, 2016, marks 100 years since the death of Benjamin F. Enloe, a member of one of the most prominent families in Swain County during the 1800's and early- to mid- 1900's.

Ben Enloe, circa late 1890s/early 1900s

Source: Laura Taylor

Frequent readers here know of my fondness for the Judson area, because I grew up about a mile from there. One of the most wealthy families in Judson was headed by William Aesoph  'Ace' Enloe. Readers are likely familiar with the Abram Enloe family as being among the early settlers of the Oconalufty Valley, relocating there from Puzzle Creek in Rutherford County sometime after 1810. Ace, one of Abram's grandsons, was born in the Oconalufty area in 1847 and likely lived in that greater area until sometime in the 1890's. He married Margaret Clarinda Conner, with whom (according to the 1910 census), he had 12 children.

William Aesoph 'Ace' and Clarinda (Conner) Enloe

Source: Laura Taylor

Ben, one of the 'middle' children, was born on June 9th, 1879. During his childhood, Ben would have been expected to contribute heavily to the family's day-to-day work: helping in the garden, gathering firewood, hauling water from the spring, feeding the livestock, and similar activities. His responsibilities would have increased as he grew older. The census records note that he was literate so he almost certainly attended school; an 1890 newspaper article noted that the Oconalufty school ran for 5 months out of the year. The Enloes probably also attended church at either the Oconalufty Baptist Church or at the Hughes Chapel Methodist Episcopal Church. Sometime in the late 1890's, Ace moved his family to the Judson area, purchasing the Amos Ashe property and mill. Ben probably had a role in running the mill prior to his departure from the area.

The Enloe Mill in Judson, circa 1910

Source: Great Smoky Mountains National Park archives

The Enloe Mill in Judson, circa 1909

Source: Great Smoky Mountains National Park

Ben had left Swain County by 1900, as the census that year showed him working as a coal miner in one of the 8 coal mines near Big Stone Gap, Wise County, Virginia. By 1910, Ben had left the coal mines and moved much closer to home, living in Asheville and working for the Southern Railway as a fireman. Also called a stoker, the fireman's job was to shovel the coal that powered the steam engines. The job required close coordination with the engineer in order to ensure that the engine was adequately powered for all operations, stoking the fire higher when more power was needed, and making sure that the train didn't explode. Often firemen worked as apprentices to the engineers and were sometimes allowed to operate the powerful locomotives under their supervision.

Engineer and Fireman/Stoker on a tourist steam locomotive in Colorado

Source: The Durango Herald

By the time he was 37 in September of 1916, Ben was an engineer for the railroad, responsible for managing the very complex steam boiler and controlling the speed of the train, a massive vehicle that could weigh thousands of tons when considering the engine and cars. The engineer had to know the location of signals, curves, crossings, and changes in uphill or downhill grade along his route in order to safely control the train. The job was a good one, earning Ben, a lifelong bachelor with no family to support, a comfortable salary.

A Southern Railway freight train near Black Mountain, circa early 1900s

Source: Alibaba.com

On the night of September 8th, 1916, Ben was backing a work train in toward the Biltmore train station, likely getting ready to head to his home. Unbeknownst to him, freight train #172, pulling several loaded coal cars, was having difficulty ascending Buena Vista hill 3.5 miles distant from Biltmore. The engineer of the freight train realized that it was not sufficiently powered to make the full ascent and attempted to avert derailment by pulling the engine itself just off the track, leaving the coal cars on the track with their brakes set.  Unfortunately, the brakes did not hold and the train began to hurtle backwards toward Asheville, picking up a great degree of speed along the way despite the valiant attempts of brakeman N.G. McGalliard to reset the brakes.

Coming into view of Ben Enloe's work train, which was situated on a small bridge at the Fairview rail crossing, McGalliard realized that disaster was imminent and jumped clear in the nick of time. Unfortunately though, Ben and his flagman Erwin Pitts did not escape in time and were instantly killed upon the collision of the trains. Pitts' body, buried under tons of coal, was found rather quickly. However, Ben's badly scalded and mangled body, found buried underneath both the work train's engine and the coal, was not recovered until the following afternoon despite what were described as frantic efforts to find him. The wreckage of the trains was spread over a good distance along the track, and the work engine was said to be torn up such that it looked as if it was made of cardboard.

A coal train wreck, circa early 1900s

Source: Norfolk and Western Historical Society

Ben Enloe's death certificate

Source: Ancestry.com

Some of Ben's family arrived in Asheville on September 9th in order to accompany his body back to Swain County, where funeral services were held the next day. A cemetery committee chaired by D.K. Collins provided a burial plot for him in the Bryson City cemetery. Two days later, Ace purchased the plot and additional space for other family members to be buried in as they passed away.
Probate records indicate that Ben had $500 (almost $11,000 in today's currency) to his name at the time of his death. His father, Ace, was the recipient of Ben's entire estate.

Signature of Ace Enloe on Ben Enloe's Probate Record

Source: Ancestry.com

Over the years, Ace and Clarinda, along with some of Ben's brothers and nephews, joined their brother and son in eternal repose in the family plot, a peaceful place with a beautiful view of the mountains. For those interested in visiting, the plot lies a short distance behind the cemetery's angel and in line with the Everett family graves. And if you do choose to visit, spare a moment to reflect on the young man buried here, cut down in the prime of his life in such a tragic manner.

Tombstone of Ben Enloe in the Bryson City Cemetery

Source: Don Casada

I would like to recognize the significant contributions of Laura Taylor to this blog. Laura, a great-niece of Ben Enloe, has contributed significant family history and numerous photographs of the Enloe family that bring this blog entry, and especially Ben Enloe, to life.

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Sources:
Alibaba.com
Ancestry.com
Don Casada
http://amhistory.si.edu/onthemove/exhibition/exhibition_9_8.html
Laura Taylor
The Asheville Citizen-Times, September 9, 1916
The Charlotte Observer, September 11, 1916
The Durango Herald
The High Point Enterprise, September 11, 1916
The Tennessean, September 1, 1890
Western Carolina University Special Collections