2017 3 I Davie Dossier, July 2017 page 1
DAVIE DOSSIER
Issued by
Davie County Historical and Genealogical Society
Mocksville, North Carolina
July 2017, Issue 3
1899, 1900, 1910, 1920, 1930, 1940 Spotlights
Random Interesting newspaper articles
Davie Dossier, July 2017 page 2
DAVIE COUNTY HISTORICAL AND GENEALOGICAL SOCIETY
President, Linda Leonard
Vice President, Margaret Cevasco
Secretary, Pat Mason
Treasurer, Marie Craig
Board of Directors, Claude Horn
Dossier Editor, Marie Craig
Webmaster, Marie Craig
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 nine 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
Other Websites about Davie County genealogy and history:
http://wiki.familysearch.org/en/Davie_County%2C_North_Carolina
http://ncgenweb.us/nc/davie/
Meetings are on the fourth Thursdays at 7 pm at Davie County Library History Room.
DCHGS PROGRAMS IN 2017:
January 26: Brent Shoaf, registrar of deeds
February 23: Lynn Rumley, “Pearson Cemetery in Cooleemee”
March 23: Tour of Jesse Clement house
April 28: Video made in 1991, “A Conversational History of Mocksville”
May 6: Help with Daniel Boone Festival
June 22: Bring a newspaper article or advertisement to share from the year that you were born
FUTURE CONFERENCES
Federation of Genealogical Societies: August 30 – Sept. 2, 2017, in Pittsburgh PA,
http://www.fgs.org/cpage.php?pt=43
RootsTech: February 28 – March 3, 2018 in Salt Lake City. https://www.rootstech.org/
It is not too early to make hotel reservations!
Family History Reminders: Summer is here. Lots of time to interview relatives while on vacation or at family
reunions. Take time to label photographs with names, dates, and places. Find your genealogy notes and include
them in your notes on your software genealogy program. Tell your children about family heirlooms in your home and
the family history attached to them. Upload your data to your own tree in FamilySearch.org. Help someone begin
their family history research. Tell your children about your love of family history.
In Memory:
One of our dearest members and a wonderful researcher and compiler of Advance history,
Edith Shutt Zimmerman, died on 17 June 2017. She was 99.5.
Our historical society honored her in September of 2012.
Her photograph and tribute are in the History Room of the library.
Obituary: http://www.hayworth-miller.com/obituaries/Edith-Shutt-Zimmerman?obId=1948202#/obituaryInfo
Davie Dossier, July 2017 page 3
1899
Apron party in Advance
Davie Dossier, July 2017 page 4
1900’s
Teddy Roosevelt’s
name was not listed as
President in this
Republican newspaper
because he was a
Democrat.
Davie Dossier, July 2017 page 5
1910’S
Davie Dossier, July 2017 page 6
1920’s
Davie Dossier, July 2017 page 7
REFLECTIONS ON THE GREAT DEPRESSION OF THE NINETEEN THIRTIES 1930’s
By J. Sidney Kirk, written in 1987
There were forebodings in the latter half of the 1920s
– for example, there were certain financial institutions which
experienced difficulties such as the closing in 1926 of a
Salisbury, N.C. bank. This was painful personally for all of
the savings of my parents were lost. These savings were
intended to secure my education and that of my brother and
sisters.
I entered the University of North Carolina that year
with some funds I had saved (from the street sale of
periodicals and a paper route in Salisbury prior to my family’s
move to Mocksville in 1925). I hoped to finance part of the
first year’s expenses. With “self-help” work plus the help of
my mother who returned to teaching school, I was able to
continue my education.
There were many bank failures in the early thirties.
Following the election of Franklin D. Roosevelt, the President,
by executive order, closed all banks for a time. I had been
employed in 1930 by the Westinghouse Electric Corporation.
By agreement, I was to return to the University, with a leave
of absence, to complete two courses required for graduation.
This was accomplished in 1931, but by then the depression
was more severe, and accordingly, I was not permitted to
return to my former position with the Westinghouse Corp.
For a year or so, I did some small electrical wiring
contracting. I was competent to do this since my degree was
in Electrical Engineering. The largest job of this period was
my contracting to put in electrical wiring in the County Home.
Also, I read meters for Duke Power Co. and rewound
defective starters for the Walker Motor Co. (Geo. Walker).
During the summers of my college days I had been employed
by the Sanford Motor Co. (Rufus B. Sanford, Sr.) to
rebuilding auto batteries, as was the custom in those days, and
to drive new cars from the Ford Motor Co ’s. assembly plant in
Charlotte, N.C.
Conditions worsened. The farming community was
extremely hard hit. Tobacco sold in Winston-Salem brought 3
to 5 cents a pound. Due to pride as much as anything, many
farmers sold their tobacco to town residents for less for use in
fertilizing lawns because of the high nitrogen content of the
tobacco leaves.
In the fall of 1932, the federal and state governments
inaugurated a relief program. I was selected by the acting
county welfare officer, Prof. W.F. Robinson, Supt. of Davie
County schools, to be the county administrator of the N.C.
Emergency Relief Administration. Mrs. Thomas O. Berry of
Goldsboro was appointed by the governor to be the State
Administrator. During the next several years, the agency
name changed to the Civil Works Administration (CWA) and
the Works Progress Administration (WPA). There were
several auxiliary programs such as the Civilian Conservation
Corps. (CCC), farm restoration plans (farm stock restoration),
etc.
In 1932-33, unemployment was very high, and many
were suffering for lack of food, clothing, medical care, etc. At
first the program was devised to bring as much direct relief as
possible. Later work projects were inaugurated to provide
gainful work for the unemployed. By today’s standards, the
average amount of direct relief payments and work relief
wages seem unbelievable, especially to the younger
generations of today. For example, skilled workmen such as
carpenters, masons, plumbers, plasterers, electricians, etc.
were paid fifteen cents per hour, and unskilled labor brought
ten cents per hour. These were trying times.
The staff I employed in 1932-33 consisted of a
secretary (Miss Mary Catherine Walker), a stenographer (Miss
Jane McGuire), statistical and file clerks (Miss Ossie Allison
and Miss Mary McGuire) and a social worker (Mrs. Russell
Bessant).
I was responsible for all relief activity in the county
under state and federal supervision. This included the
issuance of home relief orders to merchants for the direct
purchase of food and other necessities for destitute families
and persons in dire need. Also involved was the planning and
supervision of public work relief projects, including the
disbursement and accounting of all relief funds.
With a truck loaned by the city maintenance
supervisor (Ben Boyles) and under the direct charge of our
foreman (Jack Mooney), we secured and set out four oak trees
which now, some fifty years later, stand in the four grass plots
of the “town square”. These four oak trees are the most
unique reminders today of this period of time when the federal
and state governments were called on to render emergency
measures to combat hunger and hardship due to the generally
depressed economy which was the most severe in our history
in the opinion of many.
Another illustration of the times can be cited as
follows: county revenues were so low at this period that at one
time it became apparent that the tax receipts would not be
sufficient to pay the interest due on certain county bonds,
unless the larger property owners remitted their property taxes
when due. As a consequence, and without authorization, the
Board of County Commissioners ordered the county treasurer
to utilize the funds in the emergency relief budget to pay the
interest so that the county would not default in the payment of
this obligation. This action meant that authorized funds for
relief of the destitute population were not available when so
desperately needed.
In my concern over this problem, I suggested to local
merchants and the Bank of Davie that the issuance of
promissory script by the emergency relief office was a way to
avoid temporarily this hardship. This was agreed to by the
merchants, and by the bank which was to honor and hold them
for future payment. Several weeks later, the Erwin Mills of
Cooleemee made payment on its taxes. The relief account was
refunded by the county treasurer (Mr. D.R. Stroud), and all of
the script acquired by the bank’s cashier (Mr. Milton Call) was
redeemed in full.
The State Emergency Relief Administration
continued through several phases until its liquidation in 1936 -
37. It was my pleasure to have been transferred to Raleigh to
become the chief editor of the 544 page final history of this
organization. This published history, hard bound, was
distributed to all North Carolina libraries and high schools
existing in the state at that time.
Davie Dossier, July 2017 page 8
1940’s
Davie Dossier, July 2017 page 9
Title Author Cost N Cost
Davie County. A Brief History, paperback James W. Wall, 128 pages $ 6.50
The Boone Families in Davie County Wall, Howell Boone, Flossie Martin $ 8.00
Davie County Marriages 1836-1900 Nancy K. Murphy $25.00
Davie County Marriages 1901-1959 Nancy K. Murphy $25.00
Davie County Cemeteries, a 2-volume set D.C. Historical/Gen. Soc. $55.00
1850 Federal Census-Davie County Forsyth Genealogical Society $15.00
1860 Federal Census-Davie County Nancy K. Murphy and Everette Sain $20.00
1870 Federal Census-Davie County Nancy K. Murphy and Everette Sain $20.00
POSTCARDS OF DAVIE CO. SCENES, (set of 8) $ 2.50
CD of all issues Davie Dossier since 1987 $ 7.00
Maps: Prices below, postage is $5, mailing tube is $2
All four maps cost $12, for example
Lagle Land Grant Map, $2
Hughes Historical Map, 1700's, drawn in 1977, $1
J.T. Alderman Map, 1887 , $1
Wilson F. Merrell Map, 1928, $1
Davie County Heritage Book, cost is $45; Make check to Davie County Heritage Book.
Use DCHGS address below.
The Historic Architecture of Davie Co., cost is $30;
History of Davie County, hardback, by James W. Wall, 449 pages; cost is $30;
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 Brick
Walk Court, 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. Make check to Marie Roth for $40.26 for
non-residents and $43 for NC resident. Order: 276 Park Ave., Mocksville NC
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.
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.
Remembering Davie County Protection and Service Personnel by Marie Benge Craig Roth contains biographies of the
five law enforcement personnel who died on duty and also photos and descriptions of the monument erected in their
memory. The monument also honors all first responders in Davie County. Order: 276 Park Ave.; total cost $17.
Davie County in the Spanish-American War by Marie Benge Craig Roth contains biographies of the 15 men who
served in this war and the resulting war in the Philippines. Order: 276 Park Ave.; total cost $20
Cana Connections, 201 pages, by Betty Etchison West; Life in Cana in the Thirties and Forties and Special People
with Cana Connections. 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.
Looking Back at Davie County II by Charles Crenshaw and Ron Smith. $45. Mail orders to Charles Crenshaw, 421
Park Avenue, Mocksville NC 27028
DCHGS
371 North Main Street
Mocksville NC 27028
Davie Dossier, July 2017 page 10
Davie county historical/genealogical society
371 North Main Street
Mocksville NC 27028
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 dchgslist@gmail.com.
Please state “E-mail my Dossier instead of mailing a paper copy” and include your E-mail address. This
saves money, time, postage, effort, and paper.
The number beside your name, above, shows the year for which you last paid $5 dues. Example: if you have a 15 by your
name, you have paid dues through 2015. 2017 Dues are due now!
MEMBERSHIP for a calendar year is still just $5.00/year. Life Membership is $100 per person.
We are 501(c)(3) and dues are tax deductible.
Below is a registration form for your use; checks, payable to the Society.
DAVIE COUNTY HISTORICAL AND GENEALOGICAL SOCIETY (DCHGS)
Davie County Public Library, 371 Main Street
Mocksville, North Carolina 27028
NAME ________________________________________________________________________
ADDRESS _____________________________________________________________________
E-MAIL ADDRESS ______________________________________________________________
Send my copy by E-mail instead of paper; yes, no