AN IREDELL NEIGHBORHOOD A HALF CENTURY AGO 1845-53
By Captain H.A. Chambers of Chattanooga, Tennessee
The Landmark
Statesville, N.C.
April 20, 1900
The elders of the Bethesda congregation, as I remember
them at the time under consideration, were John Patterson, George S.
Robeson, Ebeneezer McNeely and Isaac Witherspoon. I am not sure but that
Jesse McNeely was also an elder. Certain it is that he often acted as
clerk (“clark” it was pronounced) and sat immediately in front of the
pulpit. When the hymns were announced he stood up there and led the
congregation in the singing. There were several McNeely families who
attended this church and most of them were good singers.
Colonel William (“Billy”) King also often acted as elder on sacramental
occasions, though, I think, he belonged to another congregation. It was
the custom to have the elders present from other congregations to assist
in the sacramental services.
This habit of the people to attend the churches regularly made most, if
not all of the, God fearing people, whether they were members of the
church or not. There was no doubt of question of the Divine authority of
the Bible and no disrespect ever shown to the gospel or to the
ceremonies of the church.
Most of the Dutch of the neighborhood including Mr. Harkey, our near
neighbor, were Lutherans. I recall yet with what pleasure, in the
absence of other literature, I used to read the Lutheran Observer which
Mr. Harkey often kindly lent me and which was the Lutheran Church paper
published at Baltimore, Maryland. I also yet remember distinctly the
large plain letters in which the name of the paper ran across the front
page of the paper and also the general typographical appearance of the
paper.
This was before the establishment of the North Carolina Presbyterian and
my recollection is that the church paper usually taken by the some of
the neighborhood was the Presbyterian, published at Philadelphia. A few
many have taken the Observer from New York. This also was before the
time of the daily papers and daily mail in this locality. No paper was
then published in Iredell County. A few copies of the Carolina Watchman,
published in Salisbury by J.J. Bruner and possibly now and then of some
Raleigh papers or of the old National Intelligencer, published by Gales
and Seaton at Washington City would find their say into the Whig homes
in the neighborhood. I do not now recall the name of any Democratic
paper taken.
The first presidential canvass that I can remember was that of 1849
between Taylor (Whig) and Cass (Democrat). I have a very distinct
recollection of that. I remember, however, seeing campaign pictures of
Taylor and the battles and incidents of the Mexican War and of hearing
grandfather and other Whigs of the neighborhood discussing the
situation. I know that, from the discussions, I got the impression, as a
boy, which it took a long time to remove, that the Democrats of that day
were the legitimate descendents of the Tories of the Revolution.
I remember more distinctly the campaign of 1852 in which General
Winfield Scott (Whig) and General Franklin Pierce (Democrat), were the
opposing presidential candidates. William A. Graham of North Carolina
and William R. King of Alabama were candidates for vice president. Thus
it was “Scott and Graham” against “Pierce and King”. John Kerr was the
White and David S. Reid the Democrat candidates for governor of North
Carolina. I was then old enough to read such of the paper as reached my
grandfather’s house and, of course, believed everything in favor of the
Whig side which I read in those papers.
On one occasion during this canvass, my grandfather took me to
Statesville. The old court house stood in the center of the square with
the store of Thomas H. McRorie on the northeast corner, that of Samuel
R. Bell or Bell Brothers on the southeast corner, that of Joseph W.
Stockton on the southwest corner and a tavern----Grant’s, I think—on the
northwest corner.
A tall flag pole had been erected just south of the old court house
between the stores of Stockton and Bell and in the midst of the street
which now leads to the railroad depot. This old court house was the
biggest and grandest building and its spires the tallest that I had ever
seen. To my boyish view, the flag pole seemed to be several hundred feet
high. Across it about a half way up, a beam of timber held in place, as
I remember it, by ropes, somewhat in the fashion of ropes on ships as
represented in pictures,
During the day, some Statesville boy—P.C. Carlton, I think it
was—climbed up the pole and stood erect on the cross beam which seemed
to me to be of a dizzy height. I thought it a wonderful and daring feat
on his part.
To the top of the pole was attached a large flag upon which in large
letters was the legend “Scott, Graham and the Union”. There was some
speaking on this occasion from the old stand in the grove near the
Presbyterian Church. My recollection is that some men from Tennessee and
also Col. John A. Young of Charlotte, probably then still living in
Iredell, and others, made speeches in favor of Scott and Graham.
I remember well the night on which the old court house, Stockton’s
Store, and a number of other buildings near the square in Statesville,
were destroyed by fire. This great fire caused considerable excitement
throughout the old neighborhood. The whole western sky was brilliant
with light from the flames. The people of the neighborhood stood in
their yards which were lit up from the reflection from the sky and
discussed the great illumination. Some of the men mounted their horses
and rode to town to learn the cause.
This great fire and what the neighbors saw and heard about it was a
topic for discussion in the neighborhood for several months afterwards.
Among other things I recollect, that it was told on Mr. Stockton who had
lost a leg in an accident and used a cork or wooden one instead, that in
the excitement and in the effort to remove his goods from the burning
store, he forgot his lameness and would carry out a five cent bottle of
ink and carefully place it out of danger instead of removing more
valuable articles.
I also remember that once, during the time under consideration, the
people of the neighborhood were stirred up and excited over a brilliant
aurora borealis that passed across the northern heavens one night. Many
of them did not know what it was and watched it with feelings of awe and
apprehension. Some of the others spoke of one they had seen during the
Mexican War. Many of them looked upon it as an omen of evil and
prophesied dire calamities to the country.
Gong back to the presidential campaign mentioned above: the older
citizens will remember that Iredell County was strongly Whig before the
war as it has ever been Democratic since. I recall very few Democrats
before the war. One of these was my step-father Franklin Jones. He used
to take and read the Standard, published in Raleigh, by the late William
W. Holden, then one of the boldest supporters of the Democratic party in
the state. He also took a Democratic paper published at Winston. I think
it was called the Sentinel and the name of one of its publishers was
Alspaugh.
Being a strong Whig myself, it used to be my custom when I went on a
visit to my mother, to arm myself with as many papers as I could get of
Whig papers such as the Carolina Watchman, Raleigh Register and National
Intelligencer, so as to have their support in the good natured
discussion which I often had with my step-father and his boys.
It may not be improper here to say that Mr. Jones and his boys showed
their faith by their works during the Civil War. He was too old to enter
the army himself but all his sons then living in North Carolina were
faithful Confederate soldiers. In the neighborhood, as in the country
generally, the Whigs greatly preponderated in numbers.
I think of our near neighbor Mr. Harkey and probably a few of the Dutch
people were Democrats but all the others were Whigs. But this
neighborhood, also, like the balance of the country, when war came and
soldiers were needed, furnished its full quota.
To Be Continued
Transcribed by Christine Spencer, May, 2008
