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2013 1.pdf Davie Dossier, January 2013 page 1 DAVIE DOSSIER Issued by Davie County Historical and Genealogical Society Mocksville, North Carolina January 2013, Issue 1 SPECIAL EDITION: Enhancing a 1924 newspaper clipping Davie Dossier, January 2013 page 2 Davie County Historical and Genealogical Society President, Linda Leonard Vice President, Pat Mason Secretary, Pat Reilly Treasurer, Marie Roth Board of Directors, Claude Horn Dossier Editor, Marie Roth Webmaster, Marie Roth Our Website, www.rootsweb.ancestry.com.com/~ncdavhgs has these features: All the churches in Davie County Cemeteries in Davie County with locations Names on the War Memorial in Mocksville Index to Bible Family Records at DCPL Order blanks so you don’t tear up Dossier History of seven newspapers in Davie County Meeting Dates and Programs Guardian Accounts, Davie Co., 1846-1859 Apprentice Bonds, Davie Co., 1829-1959 1974 booklet about old schools in Davie Branson’s NC Business Directories for Davie Co. Sources for black family history Another Website about Davie County genealogy and history: http://wiki.familysearch.org/en/Davie_County%2C_North_Carolina Meetings are on the fourth Thursdays at 7 pm at Davie County Library History Room. PROGRAMS IN 2013: January 24: Power Point Presentation by Marie Roth “How to Write a History Book” February 28: Scott Douglas, Historic Interpreter of Fort Dobbs; Power Point presentation March 28: Follow up from October 2012 Dossier – Special Edition about Newspapers – two more newspapers were discovered from Davie County – The Hornet and The Mocksville Courier. The special edition was enlarged and included on our Web site: http://www.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~ncdavhgs/. Under “Other Links” you will find information about each of these nine newspapers. If you would like to receive your Dossier as a PDF attachment in an E-mail instead of a paper copy, please send an E-mail message to the editor at hildegarde39@yahoo.com . Please state “E- mail my Dossier instead of mailing a paper copy” and include your E-mail address. This saves money, time, postage, and paper. The April Dossier’s theme will be census. Davie County Public Library’s history room now has non- population census on microfilm: Agriculture, Business, and Mortality. We have previously had Slave Schedules. Local Members: We had a request to learn about the items in the history room and how to use them. We might have a workshop about this. Let us know (MarieBCR@gmail.com) if you are interested. Davie Dossier, January 2013 page 3 ENHANCING A 1924 NEWSPAPER CLIPPING Taylor Slye was kind enough to lend me a scrapbook that his Mocksville grandmother had kept through the years. I was able to find many things to include in my WWI book. I copied a few more articles, including this one that describes the celebration of turning on the electric lights for the first time in greater downtown Mocksville in 1924. This Dossier edition will enlarge on the article and hopefully, enhance it. I will include my research techniques that might help you to learn more ways to search. Mocksville Enterprise, January 30, 1924: Lighting Up Mocksville’s White Way Caused Enthusiasm It was when the Greeks and Romans assembled frequently in their spacious Gymnasia that Greek and Roman literature began to flourish. The large assembly of Mocksvillians, farmers, and others from different parts of the county, and many of those who had lived in Mocksville at one time or another as well as many of those who were “bred and buttered” in Davie but are now citizens of other places to join in the celebration of opening up the “white way” and turning on electric lights in the town by order of the mayor, evidenced the dawning of a new era in the town and county. The program was well conceded and specially executed. At 5:45 the Cooleemee Brass Band commenced playing on the “court square” where a large number of people had assembled including the Mocksville High School. The patriotic songs and demonstration by the Mocksville High School upon the turning on of the electric lights by Mayor Z. N. Anderson was well received by everyone. Retiring to the courthouse at 6:45, the court room was filled to overflowing, many not obtaining seats. The discussion of “Mocksville has electric lights and power, what can it do with it” by Mr. John Fox superintendent and manager of Southern Power Co., of Charlotte and Mr. Percy Bloxam, city engineer was well received and edifying. An interesting talk was made by Mr. M.R. Chaffin, the oldest citizen in town, if not in the county, being born in 1828. Jacob Stewart atty. “master of ceremonies” said that not to mention many other things which Mocksville has, it is conceded that the best chair of its class, high class, manufactured in the United States is manufactured in Mocksville by the Hanes Chair Company. That the plan of the new Mocksville High School building, with its department for agriculture and department for home economics and domestic sciences, is a model school building and it is conceded that Mocksville has one of the best water systems and one of the best electric light and power systems in the state. Time was, when away from home, we stated that we were “from Mocksville, a town between Winston-Salem and Charlotte,” but now sufficient to say “I am from Mocksville.” No one who has emigrated from Davie enjoys returning “to his native birth” more than Prof. Leon H. Cash, of Winston-Salem. He is at home on the platform whether in the hall of some one of the orders to which he belongs or in secular or a religious meeting. Among other things he prophesied a rapid growth for Mocksville, with good churches, good schools, and a good citizenship, railroad facilities, good roads, a splendid water system, and one of the best electrical systems in the state, just “watch Mocksville grow.” It was a pleasure to the large assembly to greet Rev. C.S. Cashwell who spent about ten years of his ministry in Davie county and who has more staunch friends in Davie than, perhaps, any other minister who ever sojourned in the county. He said that he could not forgo the pleasure of attending the celebration; that he was always interested in Davie county proceedings. That the preacher who remarked to him years ago that Mocksville would be a good place to hold a protracted meeting “because the folks had plenty of time to think” ought to see Mocksville now; that it was a pleasure to him to see the growth of Mocksville and he prophesied a rapid growth for the town. The administration of ex-mayor V.E. Swaim and Z.N. Anderson, present mayor was the subject of much praise by different speakers. The meeting was one of the most interesting enjoyable occasions ever held in the town. The spirit of the entire assembly seemed to be “GO FORWARD.” Photo of band from Jim and Lynn Rumley; see page 6 of this newsletter Davie Dossier, January 2013 page 4 Research on Ancestry.com about M.R. Chaffin “Old-Time School Books Given To Trinity College. [became Duke University] Fifty books used in the schools of North Carolina from 1820 to the time of the Civil War are found in a collection of textbooks numbering more than 1,000 recently presented to the Trinity library by Holland Holton on behalf of the grandchildren of M. R. Chaffin, who taught school in Davie and Yadkin Counties, beginning: in 1850. Given in honor of William Owen Chaffin, who first taught a North Carolina public school in 1843 in Yadkin County, and his son who followed him in the profession, the collection will bear the memorial plate, "The Martin Rowan Chaffin Collection of Public School Text Books." It is intended primarily for the use of the department of education of Trinity and for the use of the teachers of Durham and Durham County.” (submitted by RndyR7000) “M.R. Chaffin (1828-1925) served as County Surveyor and U.S. Commissioner for a number of years. Born in 1828, he ranked as one of Mocksville's oldest citizens. He walked to town from his home on Depot Street once or twice daily. Chaffin lived during the administration of 23 Presidents and cultivated corn in Mocksville near the public square when Martin Van Buren served as President. “(this article and photograph submitted by Debbie Gibbons) (This photo is on page 85 of Images of America Mocksville.) Genealogy of M.R. Chaffin: Death certificate: Martin R. Chaffin, born 25 November 1828, died at 97 years and 12 days of age on 8 December 1925; married to Emma Brooks who predeceased him. The death certificate lists his employment as Surveyor. Informant was Mrs. S.O. Rich of Mocksville. Cause of death: “Died Sudden from general debility to advanced age.” Undertaker was C.C. Young and Sons of Cooleemee. Father was Wm. Chaffin and mother was Temperance Hendricks. Charlie1840 (nickname of submitter) lists his name as Martin Rowan Chaffin and his parents as William Owen Chaffin (1803-1871) and Temperance Hendricks (1810-1833). He was married first to Mary Frances McClannen and they had a son, Frank R. Chaffin. His second wife was Emaline Frances Wilson Brock and they had seven children: Aura Barrett, Thomas Nathaniel, William Burtram, Jessie Brock, Clara Temperance Coon, Corinne Boone, and Helen Early. Sons of American Revolution application by his grandson is online. US Census can be found for each of his decade years in Mocksville. In 1920, he was 92, living with his daughter’s family, Samuel O. and Hellen Rich and their 5 children. Samuel was a commercial salesman. The 1900 census gives month and year of birth of each person – too bad they don’t all do that. FindaGrave.com has a photo of his tombstone at Rose Cemetery that Brian Nix entered online. Architecture Book has a photo of his house on page 195, 258 Depot St. and more info about him. Photo at right. SUMMARY: This is probably not one of your family members, but it helps to paint a picture of early Davie County. Everybody in the county is not represented by this much data on the Internet. The commercial business of Ancestry helps us learn a lot, but the researchers who submit photos and information are to be commended for their sharing. Perhaps you want to include your own family on Ancestry or some other online site. Genealogy is a wonderful way of helping other people and serving in a splendid way of life. Davie Dossier, January 2013 page 5 HANES CHAIR COMPANY Photo on page 33 of Images of America Davie “… the best chair of its class, high class, manufactured in the United States is manufactured in Mocksville by the Hanes Chair Company.” From article on page 3 of this newsletter. Growing Up in Davie County by Jamie W. Moore, Editor, page 168-169 contains a description of the 15 year old, William Jamie Moore (1902-2000) as he worked one summer at Mr. Jake Hanes chair factory. Included is a different photograph of the factory with mention of it being located on Salisbury Street. Davie County History by James W. Wall, page 329: “In 1914 J.F. Hanes, who had been secretary- treasurer of the Mocksville Furniture Co. and J.B. Johnstone, a stockholder in that company, organized the Hanes Chair and Table Company. Managed by the owners, the factory employed forty to sixty men and produced primarily cane-bottomed straight and rocking chairs, widely known for quality. Sold by the owners in 1936, it continued to operate under different names and managements until 1960, employing at times approximately 150 men. The property is now (1969) part of Heritage Furniture Company.” (There was also a Mocksville chair factory which began in 1901 and was near 416 Salisbury Street. Both factories burned at different times.) Left: Hanes chair given to History Room at library Right: sketch of Hanes Factory from 1956 catalog; words at bottom: Furniture Manufacturers since 1900. The sketch shows train tracks at the immediate left. Davie Dossier, January 2013 page 6 SOUTHERN POWER COMPANY Using Google Search, I found a book Power and the New South which would give you more information about the power company and the effect of having electricity in homes and cities. Images of America Mocksville, page 31, has a photograph of North Main Street in Mocksville showing the new electric poles and lines. COOLEEMEE BAND Cooleemee, The Life and Times of a Mill Town by Jim Rumley, page 255: “Erwin Mills sponsored The Cooleemee Concert Band. Many of the towns men and a few women belonged over the years. The instruments and wool uniforms were furnished by the mill company. They played on Sunday afternoons at Park Hill in the warmer weather and under the street lights at Christmas time.” The photo on that page lists Floyd Nail as director. TOOLS USED IN THIS DOSSIER Finding Latitude and Longitude: Coordinates of Chaffin’s house: 35.89420, -80.55945. Find location on Google Maps; put cursor on exact spot; right click your mouse; choose “Drop LatLng Marker” and you will be able to read the location. If I describe this location as approximately near the defunct Dodge car dealership, that information is already fuzzy. But L/L will always be there. When the architecture book was written in 1986, the house was still there. While you have this map or aerial view showing, click on Street View and you’ll see the area as it looked a few years ago. Google Earth program has several views through the years to see the changes. Books: having a comprehensive set of your own books and maps is wonderful. (See page 7) Being close to a library that has books, files, and film of your counties and surnames is important. Internet: Google has a long time goal of scanning every book that has ever been written. Perhaps some books you need are already. If you do a search for “Martin Rowan Chaffin” (use the quote marks), you will get 156 hits on Google. If you Google “Hanes Chair and Novelty Company”, you will find that they have scanned Images of America Davie County. That’s handy for researchers and dismaying for authors wanting to sell books. If you don’t have a subscription to Ancestry.Com at home or can’t go to a library to use it for free, you can search on www.familysearch.org where you’ll get 9 sets of information on Martin Rowan Chaffin. Notice also, that M.R. Chaffin is the same person. Using Google Images, search for “Martin Rowan Chaffin” in quotes, and you’ll get 11 images. A few are not on topic. Once in a while, you’ll get some smut, so look quickly. Digital Davie: http://digitalnc.org/exhibits/digital-davie has lots of old photos with search features. 1924: Search headlines and prices of items for 1924 at http://dmarie.com/timecap/. The first Winter Olympics began the next day in France. Prices: stamps cost 2 cents; bread was 9 cents; car $265 Sears catalog: in Google images, search for Sears Catalog 1924 and you’ll find so many pictures you won’t get anything else done today. You can order a “kit” to build a house. Images: The photo of the Chaffin house above was copied from the architecture book by using my iPhone. It takes better photos than my expensive camera. I then E-mailed it to my desktop computer where I copied and pasted it into the document. You can take photos of your computer screen if there is no other way to copy something. If you have an old video that has been digitized, you can stop the video at a certain spot and photograph it with your smart phone. In my school book, on page 47, that’s how I got that photo. That was the only possible source. If you copy an old newspaper, the photo will have lots of dots. There is a feature in PhotoShop called blur that will help you edit the photo into a better image. Newspaper articles in the History Room: I found nine newspaper articles about Hanes Chair in the file cabinets in the Davie County Public Library. A 1945 article described the five furniture factories in Davie County and the change from steam power to electric power. A 1952 article stated that 150 men were employed at Hanes, and they shipped out 500 desks per week. Annual payroll was $300,000. Davie Dossier, January 2013 page 7 .ORDERING ITEMS AND/OR PAYING DUES. (Out of state residents don’t pay state tax when ordering.) Title Author Non-NC NC No. Cost BOOKS: Davie County...A Brief History, paperback James W. Wall, 128 pages $9.00 $9.39 The Boone Families in Davie County Wall, Howell Boone, and Flossie Martin $8.00 $8.31 Davie County Marriages 1836-1900 Nancy K. Murphy $25.00 $26.55 Davie County Marriages 1901-1959 Nancy K. Murphy $25.00 $26.55 Davie County Cemeteries, a 2-volume set D.C. Historical/Gen. Soc. $55.00 $58.88 1860 Federal Census-Davie County Nancy K. Murphy and Everette Sain $20.00 $21.16 1870 Federal Census-Davie County Nancy K. Murphy and Everette Sain $20.00 $21.16 MAPS OF DAVIE COUNTY: Lagle Land Grant $8.00 $8.31 Hughes Historical, 1700's, drawn in 1977 $8.00 $8.31 J.T. Alderman, 1887 $6.00 $6.47 Wilson F. Merrell, 1928 $6.00 $6.47 POSTCARDS OF DAVIE CO. SCENES, (set of 8) $2.50 $2.50 $2.50 CD of all issues Davie Dossier since 1987 $7.00 $7.39 TOTAL NUMBER AND COST Make check to DCHGS and send to address at bottom of page. Prices include tax, postage, and handling. Davie County Heritage Book, non-NC resident cost is $45; NC resident cost is $48.10. Make check to Davie County Heritage Book. Use DCHGS address below. The Historic Architecture of Davie Co., non-NC resident cost is $30; NC resident cost is $31.94. History of Davie County, hardback, by James W. Wall, 449 pages; non-NC resident cost is $30; NC resident cost is $31.94. Make check to Davie County Public Library. Use DCHGS address below. The Civil War Roster of Davie County by Mary Alice Miller Hasty and Hazel Miller Winfree incorporates biographical and military service sketches of 1,147 Davie County Civil War veterans. Non-NC resident cost is $60. NC resident cost is $64.26. Checks should be made out to M & M Books and sent to Mary Alice Hasty, 105 East Bric k Walk Court, Mocksville NC 27028. Images of America, Davie County by Debra Dotson and Jane McAllister. 128 page book of old photos and descriptions. Order from Jane McAllister, DCPL, 371 N. Main St., Mocksville NC 27028. Make check to Jane McAllister. Non-NC resident cost is $26.99. NC resident cost is $28.69. Images of America, Mocksville by Debra Dotson and Jane McAllister. Book 2 features photographs in Mocksville and a few other Davie communities. The same ordering information applies as listed for b ook one. Looking Back at Davie County in the 1950s and 1960s by Charles Crenshaw and Ron Smith. This 304 page book of 700 photographs taken by Ron’s father, Gray Smith, will bring back memories of people and places in Davie County. The book is $40 (tax includ ed) and postage is $4 more. Mail orders to Charles Crenshaw, 421 Park Avenue, Mocksville NC 27028 History of Davie County Schools, 318 pages, by Marie Benge Craig Roth has photos, locations, longitude/latitude, names of students, and teachers. There is an 18 page index of 3,222 names. A chronology describes the evolution of the school system in Davie. Make check to Marie Roth for $40.26 for non-residents and $43 for NC resident. Order: 276 Park Ave., Mocksville NC 27028 . Davie County in World War One by Marie Benge Craig Roth has 670 biographies of Davie men and women who served, photographs, old letters, description of military bases, and extensive index. 400 pages. Make check to Marie Roth for $42.47 for non -residents and $45 for NC resident. Order: 276 Park Ave., Mocksville NC 27028. NEW BOOK: Davie County Veterans’ Memorial, by Marie Benge Craig Roth has lists of all war deaths and biographies and photos of WW2, Korean, Vietnam, and Beirut Bombing deaths. Tom Ferebee’s 32 minute talk at the dedication in 1987 is included. $31.23 for non-resident and $33 for NC resident. Order: 276 Park Ave., Mocksville NC 27028. Cana Connections, 201 pages, by Betty Etchison West; Life in Cana in the Thirties and Forties and Special People with Cana Connec- tions. There are many biographies and photos of people and buildings. Order from Betty West, 3532 NC Hwy. 801 North, Mocksville NC 27028. Make check to Betty West for $35, which includes tax and shipping. MEMBERSHIP for a calendar year is still just $5.00/year. Life Membership is $100 per person. We are 501(c)(3) an d dues are tax deductible. Below is a registration form for your use; checks, payable to the Society. DAVIE COUNTY HISTORICAL AND GENEALOGICAL SOCIETY (DCHGS) Send my copy by E-mail instead Davie County Public Library, 371 Main Street of paper; yes, no Mocksville, North Carolina 27028 NAME ________________________________________________________________________ ADDRESS _____________________________________________________________________ E-MAIL ADDRESS ______________________________________________________________ Davie Dossier, January 2013 page 8 371 North Main Street Mocksville NC 27028 Look at your mailing address label above. If the words after your name are “(Life)”, that means that you have helped our society financially, gained yourself a tax write-off when you sent it, and saved yourself (and the treasurer) a lot of trouble by not having to pay dues each year. The treasurer deleted all the people who had 9 or 10 after their names, because that meant that they hadn’t paid dues for several years. (She just deleted the names, not the people.) If you have an 11 after your name, you need to pay us $5 for the year 2012 and you could get ahead by paying $5 for 2013 before the end of this year. If you have a 12 after your name, that means that you are paid through the year 2012 and will need to send us $5 for 2013. Several of you have 13, 14, or 15 after your names, which means that you like to plan ahead and not miss any issues. If you have Internet, you could save us some money and trouble by receiving your copy of the newsletter in an attachment to your E-mail. Ten members are currently doing that. That saves about $40 per year !