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.

__________________________________________________________

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.

___________________________________________________________

"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)

________________________________________

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.

__________________________________________

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)

Back to School in Swain County

Swain County Schoolbuses, circa 1927

Source: Asheville Citizen Times, February 6, 1927

__________________________________________

It's that time of year! The children of Swain County (including my own) have returned to school to start the 2016-2017 term. In lieu of a lengthy blog post this week, I'm sharing a few old pictures and notes/stories about the schools in Swain County in the late 1800s and early 1900s. Please note that 1) the pictures are not necessarily related to the text; and 2) some of the pictures are not of the highest quality, as they were pulled from old newspapers and old books.

Enjoy!

_____________________________________________

Hightower School/Church on Needmore Road (still standing as the Hightower Church)

Photo provided by Linda Banwarth (with many thanks for this priceless piece of history).

___________________________

What follows is an account of 'Bill Hamilton's'  first day of school.'Bill' appears to have lived in the greater Japan/Almond/Judson area and wrote about those communities for the Bryson City papers in the late 1800s.  As I cannot place a Bill or William Hamilton in Swain or Graham counties in the appropriate time period via the census records, it is possible that 'Bill Hamilton' was a pen name.  He was a very articulate man, and therefore it should be noted that his story below is strictly written 'tongue in cheek'. I have copied it verbatim from the newspaper in which it appeared.

"....My father, seein that I needed some schoolen, started me ter school, my first time in life so a week or so before hit was ter commence my good old mother, who was taken, hit seamed a relarm in amount of interest in her 'dear sun' learned me the A.B.C's and by good management and acasional use of the rod of kerection, succeeded in learnin me the alphabet, so on the morning school commenced. She fixed me dinner, consisten of a corn dodger, a piece of meat, and a quart bottle full of Butter milk and off I put ter the school house four miles distant.

In due time I arrived on the spot, quietly deposited me dinner under the door steps of the old log school house, and in I went, thinking I was a lucky boy, and one god had endowed with extra ordinary mental ability as soon as matters of that kind are ever done. I tooked a seat and that teacher told me to 'off with hat' which I did with rapidity, and flutter bation of mind. Then turning to me lesson (The Alfabet' and axed me what tha first letter was, I studied a little looking first at teacher then tha letter, and ter save me from Halifax I couldent annountit for him. Now said he 'You get this letter in your mind so you can tell me what it is by dinner time,' and left me ter work out on me own edecation with fear en trimlen , so I ruminated and spelt, quirked, twisted and choked and spelt at the tarnel old letter and never did make hit out. For I hade clean forgotten the name of hit, when dinner was announced I was one of the fust ter leave my seat. Fur I was a gitten tarnations hungry, an made for me dinner basket under the door steps, where I had place hit that morning, and lo and behold the tarnations free goer Hogs, had done wound that matter up. Havin clearned up every speck of dinner septen that big bottle of milk, which was found atter some sarchin.

Durin play time I axed a boy what the name of the fust letter was, and I kept sayin it over til the teacher hollered 'Books' and in we all went, me with the balance, still sayin over that letter. Dreekly that 'teacher' cum ter me, says 'Bill ye got that letter yet.' An I looked and every body in the house was looking right at me, I got excited, could feel me heart a beaten in me years, occasionally turnin blind, last I made out to get me mouth off and say 'A' very well said the teacher what is the next. Here I stalled again, Last he said 'what is it that stings boys sometimes' 'Yellow Jackets' said I. 'Oh you num skull you Bees' don't you know, so that is 'B'.

Now it is of no use ter say, that I said no more lessons that afternoon, and went home that evenin, proud ter say that I had at least gone to school one day in life....."

Bill Hamilton's Letter, The Bryson City Times

August 7, 1896

___________________________

Fairview School, 1938

Source: National Archives and Records Administration, Georgia

First Almond School circa 1926/1927 (A newer school would be built shortly after this picture was taken, prior to the impounding of Fontana Lake; the new school sat on the current site of the Almond Boat Dock. The newest Almond School, where my brothers and I went to elementary school and where my parents worked, is now the site of Southwestern Community College's Swain County Campus).

Source: Asheville Citizen Times, February 6, 1927

________________________________

Here's a description of a typical school day at the Cherokee Training School:

'.....The weekday program of exercises fitly illustrates the excellence of the superintendent's management, and explains the high order among schools which the Cherokee training school has attained. It is as follows; morning bell, 5 o'clock; breakfast, 5:30; industrial work, 6 to 9; school exercises, 9 to 11:15; dinner, 12 n; industrial work, 12:30 p.m.; school exercises, 1:30 to 4; industrial work, 4 to 6; supper, 6; recreation, 6:30 to 7; evening study, 7; evening prayers, 8; retiring bell, 8:30.'

Donaldson, Thomas. Indians, Eastern Band of Cherokees of North Carolina. 1892

Cherokee Training School and Students, circa 1889/1890

Source: Report on Indians, Taxed and not Taxed in the United States (Except Alaska), 11th US Census, 1890

The Old Soco Schoolhouse near the Macedonia Mission

Source: Report on Indians, Taxed and not Taxed in the United States (Except Alaska), 11th US Census, 1890

__________________________

Here is a snippet regarding very early schooling in Swain County in an article written about John Sadoc Smiley, Swain County Schools' first superintendent:

  ".....In 1871......there were 15 primary schools, with teachers doing work through the seventh grade. It wasn't until Lucian Holmes, a college graduate, came here to teach the Bryson City school that it went higher. Mr. Smiley received his education in the little one room schools, going to his first school in 1854 in Macon County; his second on Little Alarka and in 1856 was in school at Cold Springs, these three being the free schools of Macon County at that time. (The reader is reminded that though these locations are known to be in Swain County today, they were in Macon County at the time - Swain County was not formed until 1871)  Mr. Smiley....taught the first school in Bryson in 1871-1872 that had a four months term. In those days the teachers were examined by a County Board of Examiners. In 1881 the office of County Superintendent of Public Education was created and the place given to Mr. Smiley which he held for nine years. His opinion was that he wasn't 'literary enough, but that he went ahead and did the best that he could but was criticized anyway'. He worked for uniformity of textbooks; for a higher standard of teaching and for a longer term. Mr. Smiley says that folks hadn't been used to schools and (he) thought that they ought to be as long as a working day, from sun-up to sun-down. The first schools opened at 8:45 and closed at four. In speaking of the work of some of the pioneer teachers, he said, 'their work was noble'."

Article on John Sadoc Smiley, written by Anne D. Bryson

Asheville Citizen-Times, May 6, 1928

______________________________

Reverend John Sadoc Smiley, circa 1928

Source: Asheville Citizen-Times, May 6, 1928

Source: North Shore Historical Association newsletter, 1990

 ____________________________________________________________________

Sources:
Asheville Citizen Times, 1927 and 1928
Linda Banwarth
National Archives and Records Administration, Atlanta
North Shore Historical Association newsletter, 1990
Report on Indians, Taxed and not Taxed in the United States (Except Alaska), 11th US Census, 1890

Going to School in 1866 near the Judson area

I spend a great deal of time searching through old newspaper articles at Newspapers.com.  This site is where I located all the articles used for my last blog entry.  I've come across a plethora of articles recently pertaining to the old communities in Swain County, and thought I'd share one today about a gentleman who went to school in 1866 in the area where the town of Judson later came to be.  (Note: This area would have been part of Macon County at the time, as Swain County was not created until 1871.)   Regrettably, the author of the article is not identified.  However, the article appears to have come from the "Midland Methodist", which was an early newsletter for the Methodist church in the Holston Conference.  

For a point of reference, we have a map of the area dating to 1837, which was provided to me by my excellent friend and research partner, Don Casada.  This map was created by a group led by Captain W.G. Williams, who surveyed the area in preparation for the Cherokee Indian removals in 1838.  Don finds this map of particular interest because the Shearers whose home lies in the area that became Judson were almost certainly his 3rd or 4th great-grandparents.  He obtained this treasure from fellow researcher Lamar Marshall, who has done extensive work on the mapping of Cherokee trails established prior to the removals.  As the land in this area had been legally open to white settlement only since 1819, households other than Indian were few and far between (note that there are only 5 in the immediate Judson area).    In 1866, the population would have been undoubtedly been larger, but not significantly so.  Nevertheless, there were obviously enough children in the area to constitute a school.



Source:  Captain W.G. Williams survey, 1837 (provided by Lamar Marshall)

Returning to the article, this delightful read is quite humorous, and provides an interesting look into early schooling in the area which would become Swain County in 1871.  I hope you will enjoy it as much as I did. 

Merry Christmas to all of you!!

_____________________________________________________________________

'Going to School in the Great Smokies' (From The Midland Methodist)

Source:  The Caucasian (Clinton, NC) March 3, 1910

"I first attended school in the autumn of 1866.  It was taught by Ben Morgan, who is still living, and who has been for many years a Baptist preacher." 

Benjamin Lewis Morgan (1833 - after 1910) and wife Susan (Battles) Morgan in the 1880 Census (Nantahala District, Swain County).  Based on the neighbors listed in the census records, they clearly lived in the area that was to later become Judson.
Source: http://home.ancestry.com/

 

"It was taught in what was then known as the 'White House', not far from the present town of Judson, Swain County, NC.  I say town with due respect to other such places, and beg their pardon for such familiar and common use of this term; for while Judson is a very large lumber camp, the town is yet to be - mostly.  The white house was on the opposite side of the Little Tennessee River, about half a mile above and about the same distance below the mouth of Alarkee.  I have already stated in a former letter what while on a tramp through the mountains I had the privilege of standing on the spot, though the house is now gone.  It was a frame dwelling house, and at some time had been painted white, and the name stuck long after the paint wore off."



Frame House (Late 1800s, Iowa).  The school described in the article
may have had a similar appearance.
Source:  Herbert Hoover Presidential Library at
 http://www.hoover.archives.gov/LIW/pioneering/images/framehouse.jpg



"I shall never forget the morning I entered with my blue-back speller.  I had been told about the rules so often and of the dire punishment meted out to other offenders that I fully expected, as I had been often told, I 'would be thrashed within an inch of my life' the first day; and especially when I saw the teacher armed with a good switch about four or five feet long.  It turned out, however, that he was too kind to 'thrash' anyone; and he never whipped a boy through the whole school, although he carried his switch every day.  His kindness was his only fault.  There were a few things worthy of mention in this school.  First, nothing was taught but the spelling book, and each pupil was in a class by himself, except the spelling classes just before dinner and just before night.  Of course some of the pupils read what reading was in the spelling book.  Beyond that there was no reading.  Secondly, those who came to school first were first to recite; and as that was a point of merit, there was great hurrying to school in the morning.  I have been at school by 'sun-up' in order to be first.  When the teacher arrived and 'called books', he gave us a few minutes to spell over our lessons, and then called 'first'; and the first one to arrive went forward to recite.  Then he called 'second', 'third', and so on till every pupil had recited; then he called 'recess' and away went books as we scampered out for a game of 'base' or 'hickory race' or 'jumping the rope', which was only a grape-vine, or jumping 'half-hammond.'....

When recess was over the teacher called 'books.'  Other lessons were recited, and as soon as he was around he cried out, 'Get your spelling lessons,' just as if every lesson was not a spelling lesson!  Another peculiarity about this school was that every pupil studied aloud, and the louder he hollered the better he studied.  When the teacher called, 'Get your spelling lessons,' the fun began in earnest.  The small children were spelling in monosyllables; some were at 'baker,' some at 'horseback,' some at 'botany,' some at 'publication,' and some at 'immateriality,' and everyone spelling as loud as he could scream......."

The "Blue Back Speller" by Noah Webster (1857)
Source:  http://www.alephbet.com/pages/books/32946/noah-webster/elementary-spelling-book-being-an-improvement-on-the-american-spellin

A look inside the "Blue Back Speller"
Source:  https://openlibrary.org/books/OL7201212M/The_elementary_spelling-book.

"But the strangest part of this school was the Friday afternoon exercises.  This consisted in 'making manners.'  This I never witnessed in other schools, though I understand it was quite common up to that time throughout this region.  The object was to teach the pupils polite manners, and these were fashioned after the court manners of England.  When the hour arrived for this exercise, two boys were called out, and each chose a girl who was to act the part of his wife for the time and assist him in the exercise.  The first couple took their seats near the door, and acted the part of host and hostess; while the other couple went into the yard and returned as visitors.  As I remember, the gentlemen were always acquainted, but their wives were supposed to be strangers to each other and to the gentlemen.  When the visiting parties arrived, the host, prompted by the teacher, was to receive them according to the customs of polite and gentle society.  The gentlemen, both standing, shook hands with each other and inquired after each other's welfare in the most elaborate manner possible, making use of terms that neither one had every heard of before in his life.  Then in like manner the host presented his wife to his friend, who in turn presented his wife to the host, and then the host presented his wife to his friend's wife, and the matter was over.....Following this introduction, the visitor and his wife became the host, a second couple retired and came in as visitors, and the whole thing was gone over again; and so on till all had gone through the exercise.

I remember my first experience vividly.  I was asked to choose a partner.  I was short, thick, and fat.  I promptly chose Ann Anderson, who was six years my senior, tall and slim, and tow-headed.  We presented a picture worth seeing.  I was about seven years old, in long pants (never had any other sort) and wore "galluses," and was barefooted.  She was about thirteen years old, wore long skirts and a bib apron, which was nearly as long as her skirts, with her tow hair twisted into a knot and held in place with a horn comb.  We were the long and the short of the occasion.  The sense of shame was the only sense I had.  I pronounced words and inarticulate phrases, or tried to, that I had never heard before, not have I heard since....A boy who would pass that ordeal and live to tell it could face a field of muskets and never bat his eyes."



A Book of Good Manners (1845)
Source:  http://www.lib.udel.edu/ud/spec/exhibits/women/goodman.jpg

"But enough.  This is written only that the public may know something of both the mettle and the mold out of which and through which the men of the mountains were run."

______________________________________________________________________

Sources:

Captain W.G. Williams map (1837), provided by Lamar Marshall
Don Casada
http://www.alephbet.com/pages/books/32946/noah-webster/elementary-spelling-book-being-an-improvement-on-the-american-spellin
http://home.ancestry.com/
http://www.hoover.archives.gov/LIW/pioneering/images/framehouse.jpg
http://www.lib.udel.edu/ud/spec/exhibits/women/goodman.jpg
https://openlibrary.org/books/OL7201212M/The_elementary_spelling-book
The Caucasian (Clinton, NC), March 3, 1910

A Tale of Two Slaves (Part 2)

Continued from the February 2014 blog entry, "A Tale of Two Slaves" (Part 1).........

________________________________________________________________________

An Indentured Family

In October 1872, Ruffin indentured himself and his heirs to William and Ferebee Lovelace, an older couple likely known to the DeHarts for many years.  Per the deed, "Ruffin....binds himself and his heirs to furnish the said Wm. Lovelace and family with bread, meat, coffee, vegitables (sic), milk and surch (sic) other articles of food as may be produced on the farm and in case of sickness he is to furnish such articles of _______ as we Wm. & Ferebee Lovelace may require and can be procured.  The said Ruffin D. Hart....binds himself and his heirs to give all needful attention to the said Wm. Lovelace and his wife Ferebee Lovelace in sickness and in health to furnish them, the said Lovelace and wife ....with good substantial comfortable clothing.  ......to furnish Wm. Lovelace and family with firewood, to cut the wood up and place in the yard and makes fires when necessary.  This to take place during the natural lives of the Lovelaces ......" 

To be certain, this would have been a tremendous amount of work, however, in consideration of the Ruffin Dehart family's labors, the Lovelaces bequeathed them two tracts of land on the east side of the Little Tennessee River totaling approximately 124 acres.  Not only were the DeHarts to receive the land, but in addition, the agreement with the Lovelaces also provided them 24 head of hogs and 11 head of sheep.  William Lovelace also agreed to raise a colt for the DeHarts if Ruffin would feed her, ".....provided my mare lives".  In addition to the 100 acres they already owned, the start that this would have given Ruffin's family in a life would have been tremendous. 

A portion of the Lovelace / DeHart Indenture
Source: Swain County Register of Deeds Office

Minor Land Barons

Ruffin was not content with a mere 224 acres, however.  In 1884, he purchased an additional 100 acres of land 'on the waters of the Tennessee River', perhaps adjoining the Lovelace property. In 1887, Ruffin went on to purchase 200 acres in the same area from the State of North Carolina, it 'being part of the land lately acquired by treaty from the Cherokee Indians'.  This land was located somewhere in the area of the old Macon County line. During the period between his indenture to the Lovelace family and his purchase of an additional 100 acres in the Little Tennessee river, Ruffin, along with some friends and relatives, purchased, for $115, a two-thirds mining interest in a 450 acre tract of land in the Peachtree and Canebrake-area drainages.  It is likely that some of the family (probably Ruffin and Susan included) moved to this vicinity sometime thereafter, as a nearby area is referred to in old deeds as 'Ni***er Mountain' and older residents of the area knew it as 'Ni***er Cove'. By the time Fontana Dam was constructed and those families residing along the North Shore of Fontana Lake were removed, Jesse DeHart was the only member of the family remaining in the Peachtree area.

 

How a former slave managed to obtain land holdings of this magnitude is not known, but was almost certainly a result of exceptionally hard work on the part of the DeHart family.  It is additionally possible that the Deharts' former masters provided some degree of financial assistance; some evidence in the historical record (discussed in the previous blog posting and in this post) indicates that there was much goodwill between these families.

Jesse DeHart Tract on Peachtree Creek - TVA Survey (circa 1942)
Source: TVA Digital Files and Carol Cochran

 A Colored Man Defended by Whites

During the Reconstruction and Jim Crow eras in the South, the defense of a former slave by white individuals would have been a bit of an anomaly, but it seems that Ruffin must have commanded enough community respect to be an exception.  He found himself in court in April of 1874 along with his sons Henry and 'Alf' on an unknown charge.  What is known, however, is that Martin and Nathan DeHart (most likely two of the sons of Ruffin's former master, John) put up a bond for them. In 1881, J.D. Buchanan pressed a suit (the nature of which is unknown) against Ruffin and William Bryson; the men were ably represented by prominent area attorney Kope Elias (who owned a large farm in the area of the 'Ferguson Fields').  Buchanan dropped the suit, and was also forced to pay Ruffin for expenses incurred in defending it.



Court Record from 1874
Source:  NC State Archives and Don Casada

Uneducated Educators

In her book, 'Swain County:  Early History and Educational Development", Lillian Thomasson noted that school district records for 1881 (kept privately by then-superintendent John Sadoc Smiley), indicated a total of 59 colored children of school age residing in the county.  However, district records also show that between 1889 and 1900, only one schoolhouse for colored students existed.  This almost certainly indicated that a significant number of Swain County's colored students were receiving no formal education.  For the DeHarts, who could neither read nor write and who would eventually have at least 23 grandchildren (census records are not definitive), this cause must have been felt deeply.  On 03 Dec 1887  Ruffin and Susan deeded one acre to the school committee for District #1, "for and in consideration of cause and in promotion of education of the colored race.....for the use and purpose of erecting a school house for the aforesaid colored race".  As all pre-1908 official school records burned in a courthouse fire, there is no way of knowing whether or not the schoolhouse was built for certain; it is not shown in any of the post-1908 school board minutes. Given that the 1900 census records indicate that several of Ruffin's grandchildren were able to read, I personally would like to believe that his school took root and that education allowed his descendants to forge a better life for themselves than they would have had otherwise.

A Black Schoolhouse / Church in the Rural South, 1903
Source:  The Atlantic Monthly (Story Written in 1899, picture added later)

An End to an Extraordinary Life

Ruffin's life came to an end in 1893 at the approximate age of 67.  We know nothing of his death other than that he died without a will. Evidencing the respect Ruffin must have held in the community is the fact that Bryson City mayor and prominent citizen, Epp Everett, was chosen to administer his estate, the contents of which are unknown. Rather than a simple fieldstone, a fine engraved tombstone was erected for him, and another for his wife Susan, who followed him to the grave in 1895.  Today they lie interred in the Watkins cemetery with many of their children and descendants buried nearby.



Identified as Epaphroditus 'Epp' Everett
Pete Prince Collection, University of Tennessee Libraries

A Legacy

The annals of Swain County history record the lives of many of the county's former citizens, both prominent and 'ordinary'.  The Ruffin DeHart family's story is not to be found in these annals, and may be pieced together only by the most painstaking of research.  Yet I find their story a compelling one, exemplifying the triumph of the human spirit over adversity.  It is also an extraordinary story of friendship and respect between African Americans and whites during a time in which racial segregation was the 'Law of the Land' and the Ku Klux Clan instilled terror even in these isolated mountains. 

 

May this 'Tale of Two Slaves' inspire you to develop and cultivate the qualities that led an impoverished slave family to achieve overwhelming success in life and to leave a legacy to those who have followed them.

 

 

The Tombstones of Ruffin and Susan DeHart, Watkins Cemetery

 

 

Note to Readers:  I have put together a partial family tree of the Ruffin and Susan DeHart family on Ancestry.com.  If you are interested in viewing it (as it is set to "Private"), please message me via my 'oldeswain@gmail.com' address and I will send you an invitation.

 

_____________________________________________________________________

Sources: 

Ancestry.com

Don Casada

Carol Cochran

North Carolina State Archives

Pete Prince Collection, University of Tennessee at Knoxville

Thomasson, Lillian: "Swain County:  Early History and Educational Development"

Swain County Register of Deeds Office

The Atlantic Monthly, January 1899