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

Landscapes of Old Schools - White Oak

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.

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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 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. 

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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

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."

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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)

Lemmons Branch on a Spring Day

It makes me glad that so many of you have read and enjoyed the first part of Don Casada's tale of his father's move from Clay County to Swain County.  He has already written the second part of this tale, and I will be publishing it later this week.  But today, I'm simply posting a few pictures and words from an outing today with my family.

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A few weeks ago, I had the opportunity to interview Hazel (Lemmons) Cook, who was born on Mouse Branch and lived there for the first 8 years of her life. Those of you who mountain bike or hike will know that the waters of Mouse Branch that are not under the waters of Fontana Lake are located in the Tsali Recreation Area straddling Swain and Graham Counties.  Hazel's ancestors are those for whom the nearby Lemmons Branch is named.  At the time that TVA surveyed the Lemmons Branch area, there were two families still living there. 



1942 TVA map of Lemmons Branch area

One of the home sites is now underwater, but the other is not and is easily accessible off the road to the Lemmons Branch boat ramp.  My family and I decided to investigate today, and found a simply gorgeous site with an outstanding chimney.  While Mrs. Cook did not live here, some of her relatives did.

The old road leading to the home, which has clearly been maintained by the US Forest Service

 

The chimney, a field of daffodils, and a magnificent old walnut tree



The chimney was double-sided and remarkably well-preserved.



The home's spring was beautifully 'rocked in'.

 Mrs. Cook had mentioned visiting a small cemetery as a child that was close by.  The TVA map of the Lemmons Branch area corroborated her story (as shown above).  The cemetery is evidently referred to as the 'Welch #2' cemetery and lies on land that was owned by Forest Denton at the time of the Fontana Lake removals.  I could find no indication that this cemetery had been moved by TVA(likely because it was old, the graves were only fieldstones, and those buried there could not be identified), so my family and I set out to find the cemetery after our home site visit. 



Navigating the old Lemmons Branch Road heading to the lake



The Lemmons Branch embayment

Despite the fact that my husband and I had plotted the cemetery's likely location using Google Earth and the TVA map and almost certainly located the site of the cemetery, we were disappointed to find no fieldstones standing in the area....only an iron surveying pin nearby.


An iron surveying pin located near the probable cemetery site

That's OK though - it was a beautiful day, the sun was shining, the daffodils were in full bloom.....and now the elusive cemetery has given me an excuse to go back.  'Twas hard to be disappointed.

Daffodils in bloom at the Lemmons Branch home site

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Sources:

Don Casada

Carol Cochran

Google Earth

TVA Map # 504-21