goose
Return to Currituck Co.

Miscellaneous Newspaper Articles

True Republican - March 26, 1811

Baltimore Patriot - August 4, 1821; pg. 2
MARRIED - On the 14th ult. at Kinnakeet, Currituck County, North Carolina, by Pharaoh HARROW, ESQ. (more than likely this was Pharoah FARROW), Mr. Samuel STOW, aged 35, to Miss Judith SCARBOROUGH, aged 23--both of that county.

Baltimore Patriot - December 26, 1821; pg. 1
EDENTON, N.C. Dec 10.  SHIPWRECK
- On Friday the 9th of Nov. last, the schooner Captain's Boat, Greaves of Currituck, from Charleston bound to this port, upset in a squall in Pamptico Sound about 25 miles below the Marshes, and all on board perished.  Among the persons on board we learn were Mr. (nothing written) FISHER of Powell's Point, and Mr. Paules Emelous NEIL of this town, who was returning in the vessel with the proceeds of the outward cargo.  Two of the men drifted on shore at Chocknacomico Banks and were buried--one of whom from his dress, was supposed to be the unfortunate NEIL.  The schooner has since been boarded by the friends of the deceased but she appeared to have been scuttled and robbed of every thing on board.

Edenton Gazette - January 6, 1822
State of North Carolina.  Currituck County Court, Nov. Term, 1821.  John H. DOUGH vs. Samuel MANN.  Returned by the Sheriff Isaac BUTLER, "Levied upon three Negroes by the names of Polly, Eliza, and Rachel the property of the Defendant."  In this case it appearing to the Court that Samuel MANN hath removed himself out of this State, so that the ordinary process of law cannot be served on him.  It is therefore ordered by the Court that notice be given in the Edenton Gazette for three month, to the said Samuel MANN to appear, put in bail, and plead to this action at the next term of said Court to be held on the last Monday in February next, otherwise final judgment will be entered against him.  /s/ Spence HALL, CCC.  December 8, 1821.

Edenton Gazette - January 14, 1822
SHIP NEWS...Arrivals.  Capt. GRIGGS reports that the sch'r. Sea-Flower, Wm. SCARBOROUGH master, loaded with wheat for Philadelphia, was cast away on Currituck Beach the 5th inst.  Vessel lost, the crew and part of the cargo saved.   Capt. GRIGGS also reports that on the night of the 4th inst. during the snow storm, John MERCER of Powell's Point and his negro boy, who went into the pocosin 5 miles from home to feed hogs, in endeavouring to return, unfortunately missing their way, fell victims to the inclemency of the night.  They were found on the 9th about 50 yards apart, stiff and lifeless.

Edenton Gazette - January 21, 1822
Will be sold at Indian Town Bridge, Currituck County, on the 9th February next, one half of the schooner Rainbow, and materials, as she came from sea, belonging to the estate of Samuel SALYEAR, SEN'R., dec'd., at a credit of 6, 9, and 12 months, with interest from the date, the purchaser giving bond with approved security to the executors.

Elizabeth City Star - Tuesday, March 26, 1822, pg. 3

Baltimore Patriot - November 20, 1822; pg. 2
At the late session of the Superior Court of Currituck County, N.C. a free negro man named Moses FULLER was sentenced to the gallows for seducing and stealing in conjunction with several other persons, a certain negro woman slave, contrary to a statute of the state of North Carolina, making the offense death without benefit of clergy.  He is to be executed on the 29th ins.

Baltimore Patriot - June 24, 1823; pg. 2

The Elizabeth City Star - Weekly - May 15, 1824
MARRIED - In Currituck County on Sunday 9th inst. Mr. James H. HOLMES to Miss Rebecca WILSON.  On Thursday last in Tyrrell County Mr. Jonathan LINDSAY of Currituck to Miss Matilda MANN.

Baltimore Patriot - April 18, 1826; pg. 2
Zachariah FRIZZLE
, charged with the murder of Bennet FENTRESS a short tine since on Sewell's Point, and for whose apprehension a reward of $100 was offered by Mr. David FENTRESS, father of the deceased, was taken up on Thursday last at Powell's Point, North Carolina and has been committed to the jail of Norfolk County.

Baltimore Patriot - June 8, 1826; pg. 2

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Freedom's Journal (New York City, NY) - October 10, 1828
SUICIDE - We learn that Mr. Lemuel TAYLOR, an industrious and reputable farmer of Currituck county, N.C. committed suicide on the 19th ult. by shooting himself through the neck. He took his gun with him in the morning and went out, as he said, to shoot squirrels, and not returning in due season, search was made for him, when his body was found about half a mile from his house, in a thicket. It appeared that he had prepared a stick with a notch in it, to spring the trigger, and applied it after adjusting the muzzle of the gun under his chin. He has left a wife and several small children.

Edenton Gazette - January 27, 1829
MARRIED, at Indiantown, Currituck County on the 14th Dec. last Samuel FERBEE [sic], Esq. to Mrs. Jane BROCKETT, both of that County.  In Camden County, on the 8th inst. Doctor Gideon C. MARCHANT to Mrs. Emily TROTMAN.

Edenton Gazette - April 7, 1829
FOUND a short time since in Ketty Hawk Bay Currituck County a Yawl Boat built out of oak, 14 feet 6 inches long, 5 feet six inches wide, with a white streak of paint round her waist.  The owner can have her (on proving his property and paying a reasonable reward) by applying to M. SAWYER.

Edenton Gazette - June 2, 1829
Edenton: A man by the name of Adam DOWDY from Roanoke Island, put an end to his existence on Wednesday last in this town, by taking a large quantity of opium.

Edenton Gazette - June 30, 1829
Edenton:  Execution - John CHITTEM was executed in Currituck County in this State on Wednesday the 17th inst. pursuant to his sentence.

Edenton Gazette - July 7, 1829
MARRIED in Hertford County on Tuesday the 30th ult. by the Rev. MEREDITH, the Rev'd. James G. HALL of Currituck, to Miss Elizabeth WOOD, daughter of William WOOD, late of the former county.

Baltimore Patriot - November 7, 1829; pg. 2
DIED -
In this city, on the 2d inst., after an illness of several weeks, Captain Samuel MERRILL of the schooner Regulator, of Currituck, North Carolina.  He was sick on his arrival at this port and it became necessary for him to remove from his vessel to a boarding house where, for a time, hopes of his recovery were entertained by his friends, but those hopes were not realized.  He had left a wife and two children to lament his loss.  It will be consoling to his connections to learn that every attention was paid and every comfort administered to him during his last illness; his remains were decently interred in the Methodist burying ground.

Edenton Gazette - March 13, 1830
$15 DOLLAR REWARD - Escaped from the jail of Beaufort County on the night of the 24th inst., Miles SPIER, Churchill PURSER, & Thos PERRY.  The sum of ten dollars will be given for the apprehension of SPIER, five dollars for PERRY, and five cents for PURSERSPIER is a brother to Robert SPIER who was tried at Newbern for the murder of John WILLIAMSSPIER is a man of small stature, this visage, sallow complexion, and has a down look when spoken to.  He was born and raised in Pitt County, but has latterly resided in Beaufort; he is well known in both counties.  PERRY is about 18 years of age, thick set, light complexion and speaks quick.  He is a native of Currituck County and was committed under a Capias on a charge of assault and battery.  PURSER is well know in this county, that a particular description of his is deemed unnecessary.  /s/ Allen GRIST, Sh'ff.

Edenton Gazette - July 7, 1830
MARRIED - In Currituck County on the 31st ult. by the Rev. Jeremiah ETHERIDGE, Mr. Benjamin LAND to Miss Ann W. WILSON of Norfolk County.

Edenton Gazette & Farmer's Palladium- February 10, 1831
The schr. Gen. Jackson, Capt. Durant TILLETT, arrived at this port one day last week from Charleston, S.C.; the Captain in a day or two became indisposed and took lodgings at Mrs. GARDNER's Tavern and called in one of our most respectable physicians who, on the second or third day, pronounced it a decided case of Small Pox. Measures were immediately taken by the Commissioners of the town to prevent any intercourse with the house and on Monday night last, Capt. TILLETT died and was buried the following day. Every precaution was used that experience could suggest, and with such effect as in our opinion to prevents the possibility of a spread of the disease, and in this opinion we are sustained by the attending physician.

DIED - In this town on Monday night last, Capt. Durant TILLETT of Currituck County.

The Raleigh Register (Raleigh, NC) - Thursday, March 24, 1831
IN CURRITUCK - The Rev.. John A. SHAW of Newport, R.I., to Mrs. Mary SANDERSON, relict of Thomas SANDERSON, deceased.

Edenton Gazette & Farmer's Palladium- May 4, 1831
DIED - In Gates County last week, Mr. Decatur PERRY of the North Banks, Currituck County.

Edenton Gazette & Farmer's Palladium- December 21, 1831
MARRIED
- In Currituck County on the 15th inst. by the Rev. P.B. WILEY, C.R. KINNEY, Esq., Attorney at Law of Elizabeth City, to Miss Sarah E.F. DAVIS of Washington Point, Norfolk County, Va

The American-Beacon (Norfolk, Va.) - July 20, 1846
MARRIAGES - In Currituck County, N.C. by the Rev. Wm. REED on the 14th inst. Mr. Solomon ASHBEE to Mrs. Chloe COWELL.

The Old North State (Elizabeth City, NC) - Saturday, September 1, 1849
CURRITUCK COUNTY - Court of Equity, Spring Term 1849, Sarah HUMPHRIES vs David HUMPHRIES; Petition for Divorce.  It appearing that David HUMPHRIES, the defendant in this case, is not an inhabitant of this State and that subpoenas commanding his appearance before said Court to answer Complainant's Bill have issued twice from this Court and have been returned not to be found.  It is ordered by the Court that publication be made in The Old North State, a paper published in Elizabeth City, for the space of six weeks, commanding the said David HUMPHRIES to appear at the next Term of this Court.

The Old North State (Elizabeth City, NC) - Saturday, October 27, 1849
LANDS AND OTHER VALUABLE PROPERTY FOR SALE -
The subscriber, intending to leave the State, offers for sale on accommodating terms, his lands in Currituck County as follows: The Juniper Ridge Tract containing 800 acres of which 300 are cleared and 200 deaded.  On the premises are four good tenant houses, a large barn with necessary buildings, and the lands are in a good state of cultivation.  Also the John LAMB Tract of 450 acres, 200 cleared with good dwelling and out houses.  Also the Campbel Ridge Tract of 150 acres, 180,000 in cultivation and of very superior quality.  Also eleven fine mules, four horses and a quanity of stock of other descriptions.  Also a good four horse power, SINCLAREs patent, wheat machine and corn thresher, one double Rockaway and harness and farming utensils of all kinds.  Persons anxious to purchase can doubtless be suited as to terms by calling on James M. FEREBEE.

The Old North State (Elizabeth City, NC) - Tuesday, July 16, 1850
STATE OF NORTH CAROLINA, CURRITUCK COUNTY -
Court of Pleas and Qr. Sessions May Term 1850 - Caleb J. ETHERIDGE, administrator of Caleb ETHERIDGE, SR., deceased, vs. Andrew ETHERIDGE, Jasper ETHERIDGE, James WHITE and wife Maria, John GILMAN and wife Caroline, Lovey ETHERIDGE, Tully WILLIAMS guardian to Catherine ETHERIDGE and Adolphus ETHERIDGE, heirs at law of Caleb ETHERIDGE, dec'd.  It appearing to the Court that Andrew ETHERIDGE, one of the defendants, is an inhabitant of another state.  It is ordered by the Court that publication be made for six successive weeks in The Old North State for the said Andrew ETHERIDGE to appear at the next term of this Court to be held at the Court House in Currituck on the last Monday in August next and answer, plead, or demur or Judgment Pro confessor will be taken against him.  Attest: B.T. SIMMONS, CCC.

The Old North State (Elizabeth City, NC) - Saturday, October 26, 1850
LARGE SALE OF LAND, NEGROES, STOCK, &C. -
On Thursday, the 28th day of November next, I shall offer for sale all of my land lying in Currituck County together with all of my Negroes, stock, farming utensils and a large and commodious store at Sawyer's Creek.  Also a lighter that will carry about 100 barrels.  The land is of good quality and among the Negroes are some excellent farm hands.  Terms of sale and further particulars will be made known on the day of sale.  The sale will take place at my residence.  James M. FEREBEE.

The American-Beacon (Norfolk, Va.) - January 6, 1851
DISTRESSING ACCIDENT -
We learn from the Daily News that Miss Martha DOZIER, a young lady from Currituck County about 15 years of age, now on a visit to her sister in this city was dreadfully burned on Thursday morning, her apron having ignited whilst she was standing before the fire place.  Dr. Jas. P. WRIGHT a talented young physician was immediately in attendance and every resource and remedy of medical science administered.

Newbern Journal of Commerce (New Bern, NC) - Thursday, January 5, 1867

Important Arrests.  Mr. Mac Linsey, formerly a member of the North Carolina Legislature, and Mr. Joseph Baxter, both of Currituck county, were arrested near the Court House in that county on Christmas day by the Federal authorities, for being engaged in the capture and robing of a vessel during the late war, when they were not employed in the Confederate army.  A man named Moore was arrested some time since on the same charge, and is now confined in jail in Elizabeth City, where these prisoners are also to be sent. –Pet. Index

                                                                        Newbern, January 2, 1866

Editors Journal or Commerce: --

            The above item which appeared in your paper of the lst. (New Year’s Day) is so glaringly incorrect that I venture a statement of facts regarding the transaction alluded to, to which the attention of the Petersburg Index is particularly requested.  Hodge Owens was arrested at Roanoke Island on the 19th of December and was taken to Elizabeth City on the 22 of December.  Jordan Parker was arrested on Powell’s Point, not far from Currituck Sound.  John Parker was arrested at Buck Horn plantation, Currituck county.  Dr. Joseph Baxter was arrested on the 23 of December, at the place called Sligo, in Currituck County.  David McLinsey was arrested on the 24 of December, at his own house in Currituck county, near the court house.  They were brought before His Honor, Judge Brooks, at Elizabeth City for examination on Christmas day.  The examination lasted three days, and the accused were bound over in the sum of $6,000 each, for their appearance at Raleigh before the U.S. Circuit Court to be held the first Monday in June, 1867.  The above parties were arrested by myself.

                                    Very Respectfully,

                                                Robert C. Kehoe,

                                    United States Deputy Marshal.

 

P.S.—The above parties are charged with robbing and plundering the sch’r. Lottie in Currituck Sound, in the year 1864.

            The charge before Hon. Geo. Brooks, Judge of the District Court, was Peracy. [Piracy]

            The Government was ably represented by Acting District Attorney, McDonald.

                                                                                                R.C. K.

[Transcription provided by Jean Schroeder]

The Landmark (Statesville, NC) - September 27, 1875; pg. 1
CONSTITUTIONAL REFORM - Democratic Delegates to the State Constitutional Convention, Sept 6, 1875 --Currituck-W. H . COWELL

The Landmark (Statesville, NC) - January 1, 1877; pg. 1
A list of the names of the members elected to the new Legislature - Senate: William C. MERCER of Currituck.

The Landmark (Statesville, NC) - Friday, June 4, 1880; pg. 1
IS GOV. JARVIS POPULAR? (Raleigh State Journal) - Facts are stubborn things, and here are a few facts:
    In 1865 Gov. JARVIS was elected to the Andy JOHNSON convention by the people of Currituck, (his native county,) receiving every vote cast save fourteen.
    In 1866 he removed to Tyrrell county and in 1868 was elected to the Legislature unanimously.
    In 1870 he was re-elected to the Legislature from Tyrrell, beating RANSOM, who had turned Republican and carried considerable Democratic strength with him, on account of his personal popularity- and that too, notwithstanding that two strong Democratic precincts has been cut off from the county to make it Republican.
    In 1872, Gov. JARVIS removed to Pitt. Pitt county, it will recollected, was one of the most closely contested counties in the State, being carried alternately by both parties with majorities ranging between ten and twenty. In 1875, Gov. JARVIS carried the county by a majority of 127 over McCOTTER, the strongest man of opposition in the county, for a seat in the constitutional convention, receiving the largest vote ever given to any man in the county; and piled up this majority, in 1876, when a candidate for Lieutenant-Governor, to 258- again receiving the largest vote ever polled in Pitt.
    In 1876, he was elected Lieutenant-Governor, over Hon. W. A. SMITH, one of the most popular Republicans in the State, receiving a much larger vote than Gov. VANCE.
    In 1880, Gov. JARVIS advocated the sale of the Western North Carolina Railroad and took the responsibility of convening the Legislature in extra session to effect the sale. He successfully carried through that important measure in the face of persistent systemic opposition-101 of the 113 Democratic members of the Assembly standing by him, besides 31 of the 51 Republican members.
    Is not Gov. JARVIS popular?

The Landmark (Statesville, NC) - January 14, 1881; pg. 2
The Raleigh Farmer and Mechanic says: Capt. W. D. TATE of Currituck Court House, preached a temperance lecture the other day in this wise: He had been married without license, and having bid adieu to his bride of a week, crossed the sound to get legal documents. At Currituck his friends were jolly and celebrated his license by drinking to excess. A few days later he was found clinging to his boat, frozen stiff, and with his glassy eyes fixed on high Heaven.

The Landmark (Statesville, NC) - Thursday, November 24, 1882; pg. 1
In Currituck county a few days ago Miss HAMPTON, a 16 year old daughter of Mr. John HAMPTON, committed suicide by shooting herself in the head with a pistol.

The Landmark (Statesville, NC) - December 1, 1882; pg. 2
The Raleigh News and Observer says: To the stupidity or carelessness of some election officers there really seems to be no limit. At North Banks precinct, Currituck county, we are informed, there was actually no election held this year. There are about 70 votes cast at this precinct, all democratic.

The Weekly Economist (Elizabeth City, NC) - Tuesday, November 13, 1883; pg. 3 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Landmark (Statesville, NC) - Friday, November 16, 1883; pg. 4
The New Bern Journal learns that in Currituck County, Wednesday night of last week, a young man by the name of CREDLE was married, and after the ceremonies were over, the crowd in attendance got to drinking, a row ensued in which a young man by the name of BALLANCE was killed and another mortally wounded.

The Landmark (Statesville, NC) - Friday, November 30, 1883; pg. 1
THE HOMICIDE AT HYDE COUNTY WEDDING - THE DEFENDANTS ACQUITTED - Our State News column a week or two ago told of a killing at a wedding in Hyde County. The defendants were tried last week and acquitted. The editor of the Elizabeth City Economist, writing from Hyde to his paper, gives the facts in the case. There was a wedding in Currituck township. Dave CREDLE was the groom. Geo. HARRIS was his friend and "best man". Thos. BALLANCE, the unfortunate victim was a guest, unbidden to the bridal. He had been drinking some, but was inoffensive and was reputed to be a man of inoffensive character. He said he wanted to dance and called on the fiddler for a tune to suit him, which order was countermanded by HARRIS or CREDLEBALLANCE then said he wanted something to eat and was told to help himself. While eating he used some profane language, which seems to have been his only provocation. HARRIS and CREDLE then took him and by violence forced him out of the room. In passing a post in the piazza BALLANCE threw his arm around the post and refused to release his hold. HARRIS and CREDLE wrenched out a banister and beat him over the head, breaking his skull, so that he died in a few hours.  A singular providence has followed the family of the unfortunate deceased man. His mother is a woman of sixty-five. Her husband was killed a few years since in a personal encounter on the public road. A son was recently killed by a horse. A daughter was buried on the Wednesday of the week that her son was killed in Currituck township. And now, she, an old woman, respected and loved for her Christian life and character, is left alone and childless.  [I believe this and the previous article are regarding a wedding that took place in  Currituck Twp. in Hyde County, not in Currituck County.]

The Landmark (Statesville, NC) - Friday, February 8, 1884; pg. 1
They farm differently from our farmer up here. The Elizabeth City Economist says: Mr. R.B. FLORA, the herculean farmer of Currituck county, was still gathering corn on the 14 inst., and we hear he has seven hundred barrels to house yet. Mr. F. rarely gets done before February or March of the following year.

The North Carolinian - Wednesday, January 25, 1888; pg. 3

The Washington Post (Washington, DC) - May 3, 1891; pg. 1
SHOT WHILE RESISTING ILLEGAL ARREST - Norfolk, Va., May 2 - A mob of citizens of Currituck County, N.C. led by Charles BURGESS Thursday, attempted to arrest a negro, James L. DAVIS, who resisted.  BURGESS fired, mortally wounding the negro who died today.  No arrests have been made.

The Bibical Recorder - Wednesday, December 16, 1891; pg. 7

The Landmark (Statesville, NC) - Tuesday, January 12, 1897; pg. 1
THE DUCK INDUSTRY IN CURRITUCK - Raleigh News and Observer, 6th -- Mr. W.H. GALLUP, Democratic member of the House from Currituck County, who arrived yesterday, says that there are more ducks in Currituck sound than have been known in twenty years. There are about fifty batteries on the sound, and already this season it is estimated that about 75, 000 ducks have been killed, and they have netted the people of Currituck county in the neighborhood of $50,000. A party form the North have been shooting at the club houses they own. There are six club houses built by Northern companies in Currituck, and the owners have been having much sport, although gunning in the marshes has not been very good. If the season continues, good citizens of Currituck will make $100,000 on ducks this season. The ducks are mainly shipped North, and at the market in Currituck they sell for from 50 cents to $1 each. They are generally sold by the pair. "I hated very much to leave such fine sport to come to the Legislature," said Mr. GALLUP.

The Landmark (Statesville, NC) - April 20, 1897; pg. 2
CURRITUCK'S FAT BOY - Elizabeth City Economist -- Currituck is a great county. It was the keystone of the Democratic party for years and is so still. It produces the finest ducks, and geese, and swan and snipe, and bull frogs, and the oldest men in North Carolina and the most stalwart, heartiest, healthiest men in the State. And now to all these products it adds a product of a fat boy 13years and 6 months of age who weighed on April 6th 436 pounds. His name is Lewis T. LEWARK. He has 10 brothers and sisters whose weight ranges from 180 to 250 lbs.

The Washington Post (Washington, DC) - March 5, 1904; pg. 3
FISHERMAN SOLD FAMILY -
Norfolk, Va., March 4 - When John OUTLAW of Currituck County, N.C. became tired of his wife and two children some weeks ago, he sold the trio to his brother, Jerome OUTLAW.  He received in exchange two fishing nets.  The matter was reported to the authorities and warrants were sworn out.  The trial occurred at Currituck.  It developed the fact that John OUTLAW did not think there was anything wrong in the affair.  Neither did Mrs. OUTLAW nor Jerome OUTLAW.  When John OUTLAW became aware that there was a possibility of the transaction being annulled by the court, he gathered up his fishing nets and decamped.  Jerome and Mrs. OUTLAW were found guilty of illegal cohabitation but as the children are dependent upon the couple for support, no penalty was inflicted.

The Landmark (Statesville, NC) - February 17, 1905; pg. 3
The 8 year old son of State Senator BEASLEY, of Currituck county, mysteriously disappeared Monday and at last account no trace of him had been found.

The Washington Post (Washington, DC) - January 19, 1906; pg. 3
DIED
 - On Tuesday, January 16, 1906 at 12:30 a.m. at Currituck, N.C., Benjamin H. BUCKINGHAM, Lieut. Commander U.S.N.  Funeral services at his late residence, 1525 H Street, o Friday, January 19 at 9:30 a.m.  Interment at Laurel Hill Cemetery, Philadelphia.

The Washington Post (Washington, DC) - February 6, 1906; pg. 11
VIRGINIA WEDDINGS -
Suffolk, Feb 5 - Alonzo BAKER of Currituck County, N.C. and Miss Susie WILSON, daughter of Joseph T. WILSON, were married Sunday in Whaleyville, Va.

The Washington Post (Washington, DC) - September 8, 1906; pg. 1
LYNCHING PARTY FOILED - Elizabeth City, N.C., Sept. 7 - Joshua HARRISON, who was on Tuesday indicted by the grand jury of Currituck County for alleged conspiracy in the disappearance of Kenneth BEASLEY, the ten-year old son of Senator S.M. BEASLEY, was brought to this place about 10:30 o'clock Thursday night and placed in the county jail for safe keeping until he can furnish the $2200 bond required by Judge McNEAL who presided at this term of court.  There is a rumor to the effect that if Sheriff BERNARD had not brought the prisoner to this place last night, HARRISON would have been the subject of a "necktie party".  HARRISON is about 68 years old and was years ago acquitted of killing his father.  In that case, as this, circumstantial evidence was used to bring him within the pale of the law.  Sheriff BERNARD says HARRISON's open hostility to the BEASLEY family is responsible for his arrest on the conspiracy charge.  Kenneth BEASLEY has been missing for more than a year.  Scores of detectives have been employed on the case, but not the slightest clue to the whereabouts of the boy has ever been found.

The Washington Post (Washington, DC) - March 15, 1907; pg. 13
THREATENED BY HARRISON - Elizabeth City, N.C., Mar. 14 - The trial of Joshua HARRISON, charged with kidnapping and murdering Kenneth BEASLEY, the nine year old son of State Senator S.H. BEASLEY of Currituck County, was called this afternoon in Pasquotank Superior Court here.  The father of the missing boy was the first witness and by him the State attempted to establish as the motive the ill feeling between BEASLEY and HARRISON over certain liquor legislation which Senator BEASLEY had promulgated in the general assembly.  It was testified by the father that HARRISON had made threats against him.  The State will endeavor to show that he kidnapped the boy and afterward killed him, concealing the body.  Kenneth BEASLEY disappeared mysteriously from Poplar Branch High School in Currituck County nearly two years ago.  The lad had permission to go home at recess for lunch and started but never reached home.  Despite the most thorough search, which has been continued intermittently since, no trace of him has been discovered.  Currituck is a coast county, sparsely settled, and the lad's home was some distance from the school, the path lying through the forest.

The Washington Post (Washington, DC) - March 16, 1907; pg. 9
BEASLEY'S SON TRACED -
Elizabeth City, N.C., March 15 - In the trial today of Joshua HARRISON, charged with kidnapping and murdering Kenneth BEASLEY, the nine-year old son of State Senator S.H. BEASLEY of Currituck County, several witnesses testified to seeing HARRISON on the day of the alleged kidnapping driving along a country road with a young companion who answered in many details the description of the missing lad, even to the color of the cap and stockings the boy is known to have worn the day of his disappearance.  One witness testified that upon his approach to the buggy HARRISON threw a blanket over the boy, apparently to conceal him, and another witness testified to hearing HARRISON trying to calm and soother some one concealed under a blanket.  A witness for the State says he saw HARRISON driving rapidly in his buggy, holding between his knees a boy that answered the description of Kenneth.  Cross examination failed to shake the testimony of these witnesses.  In the attempt to further establish a motive for the alleged kidnapping, the State introduced R. LEVEN who said he heard HARRISON declare that BEASLEY ought to be tarred, feathered, and tied to a stake, and that he would like to apply the torch.  T.L. BAUM testified that HARRISON told him before the kidnapping that BEASLEY would be sorry he ever introduced the liquor bill in the legislature.  A.B. BAKER related to the jury a conversation with HARRISON after the kidnapping in which HARRISON said that the boy was not lost, and that he could lay his hands on him any time.  T.C. WOODHOUSE testified that HARRISON said to him after the boy disappeared that BEASLEY had not offered enough money for the lad's return.  HARRISON asked the witness to see BEASLEY and tell him so, remarking that it was expensive to keep the boy in the way he was being kept.  WOODHOUSE testified that HARRISON told him he could produce the boy at any time.  The defense opened late in the afternoon with the testimony of two sons of HARRISON who testified that their father was at home the day of the boy's disappearance.

The Washington Post (Washington, DC) - March 17, 1907; pg. 11
ALIBI HARRISON'S DEFENSE -
Elizabeth City, N,C., March 16 - The defense today, in the trial of Joshua HARRISON charged with kidnapping Kenneth BEASLEY, the 9 year old son of Senator S.H. BEASLEY of Currituck County, introduced a number of witnesses in the effort to prove an alibi.  Mrs. HARRISON, the wife of the defendant, testified that her husband was at home all day upon the day the boy disappeared.  Other witnesses for the defense testified that they saw HARRISON upon the two days following the alleged kidnapping and testimony was introduced to prove that HARRISON was not the man seen on the day of the disappearance by witnesses for the prosecution in a buggy with a boy resembling Kenneth BEASLEY.  One witness testified to seeing HARRISON in a Norfolk saloon on the day after the boy disappeared.  The defense closed and in rebuttal the prosecution called Mrs. S.M. BEASLEY, mother of the missing boy.  She said Mrs. HARRISON called upon her about a week after Kenneth disappeared and mentioned in the conversation that HARRISON had been away for a week.

The Washington Post (Washington, DC) - March 19, 1907; pg. 9
STATE ASSAILS ALIBI -
Elizabeth City, N.C., March 18 - In the trial today of Joshua HARRISON, charged with kidnapping and murdering Kenneth BEASLEY, the alibi sought to be established by the defendant was vigorously attacked by the prosecution.  E.W. ANSELL, whom the prosecution reserved the right to put on the witness stand, testified that on the day the boy disappeared he saw HARRISON driving in a buggy with a boy wrapped in a blanket.  He was positive in his identification.  Dennis BURFOOT of Norfolk, Va. testified that he was on the police force at the time of the kidnapping and that he met HARRISON on Cumberland Street at 2 o'clock Tuesday morning, the day following the disappearance and that he stopped and talked with HARRISON for at least 25 minutes.  HARRISON told him that he had come to Norfolk to put his boy in school and that his wife had been dead for two years.  Argument was then begun.  The case probably will go to the jury Wednesday.

The Washington Post (Washington, DC) - March 21, 1907; pg. 11
CONVICTED OF MURDER -
Elizabeth City, March 20 - After being out 9 hours, the jury in the case of Joshua HARRISON, charged with kidnapping and murdering Kenneth BEASLEY, returned a verdict of guilty tonight at 10 o'clock.  The concluding argument in the case was made for the State this morning by Solicitor WARD.  So eloquent was he in his arraignment of HARRISON that his auditors broke into applause, one of them being sentenced to jail for 5 days for contempt of court.  The judge concluded his instructions at 1 o'clock and the jury retired.  So long were they out that a mistrial was expected.  The trial has lasted 5 days.  Two years ago Kenneth BEASLEY disappeared from the school taught by Miss Nina HARRISON, daughter of Joseph [sic] HARRISON.  Since that day not a single trace of the boy has been discovered, although some of the best detectives in the country have worked on the case.  Suspicion was directed against HARRISON by reason of threats alleged to have been made by him against Senator BEASLEY in connection with certain liquor legislation which BEASLEY was influential in having passed.  Witnesses for the State testified to seeing HARRISON on the day of the alleged kidnapping driving through the country with a boy who resembled Kenneth.  The defense was an alibi which was vigorously assailed by the State.  HARRISON is a farmer of moderate means.  He is a brother-in-law of Thomas J. JARVIS, formerly governor of North Carolina, United States Senator, and Minister to Brazil.  JARVIS and former Gov. AYCOCK were among attorneys for the defense.  HARRISON has been twice before tried for his life.  The first charge was that of killing his father but it was not made until five years after his father's death.  It was based upon the affidavit of one man who said that as HARRISON's was being shrouded he placed his hands under his head and they were covered with blood from a bullet wound in the back of the head.  The body was disinterred, no bullet wound was found, and HARRISON was acquitted.  Some years afterward HARRISON was again arrested and charged with the murder of a boy by shooting him with a shotgun.  It was shown at the trial that the gun in HARRISON's hand was accidentally discharged, instantly killing the boy, to whom HARRISON was devoted.  He was acquitted.

The Washington Post (Washington, DC) - August 7, 1907; pg. 3
LICENSED TO MARRY -
Spencer C. GRAY, 31, of Corolla, N.C. and Blanche B. FULTON, 29, of Reidsburg, Pa.  Rev. C. Herbert Richardson.

The Washington Post (Washington, DC) - Sept. 20, 1907; pg. 3
HARRISON'S LAST PLEA -
Norfolk, Va., Sept. 19 - The body of Joshua HARRISON, who committed suicide here yesterday rather than serve a 20-year sentence in the North Carolina Penitentiary for the kidnapping of little Kenneth BEASLEY two years ago, was today taken to his home at Jarvisburg, N.C. by his wife and daughter.  The letter HARRISON wrote just before he shot himself was made public today.  It is as follows:
   
September 18, 1907 - "This day I have been notified of an unjust sentence of twenty years in the penitentiary.  I am an innocent man.  God knows it.  My family knows it.  I am about to end my life at my own hands.  No one is in any way responsible save the cruel ones who imposed the awful sentence.  May God bless my precious family.  I believe the world will be charitable to them all.  To the whole world I say good-by.  Whoever finds my body notify my daughter, Mrs. GALLOP, 192 Duke Street, Norfolk."  /signed/  Joshua HARRISON
    On the back of the note was written:  "I leave in my pockets 55 cents.  I want my effects returned to Mrs. Maggie GALLOP, 192 Duke Street"
    HARRISON's wife was visiting her daughter, Mrs. Maggie GALLOP, in Norfolk at the time her husband killed himself.  When Senator S.M. BEASLEY, father of the kidnapped and supposedly murdered boy, was made acquainted with the contents of the letter left by the dead man, he said: "I am convinced that he was guilty and 99 out of a hundred people in Currituck are of the same opinion.  He has been tried for murder before and he would have been tried for murder in connection with the disappearance of my little boy, for as sure as I stand here I believe he murdered my son.  The character of the man and the threat he made against me leaves no room for doubt about this in my mind."
    Senator BEASLEY is visiting his wife here.  The Senator said that he desired to deny the statement that he had HARRISON arrested for the illicit sale of whiskey, and also that they were opposing candidates for the N.C. legislature.  HARRISON was more than 60 years old, a man of some means, and leaves a large family.  He was a brother-in-law to ex-Gov. T.J. JARVIS and ex-Gov AYCOCK.  The latter in his argument before the Supreme Court declared that the trial had amounted to his client's having been lynched under the studious form of law, this being a figurative estimate of the demonstrations of public disfavor for the prisoner manifested during the sensational trial.

The Washington Post (Washington, DC) - August 22, 1909; pg. 1
SHOOTS REFLECTION IN GLASS -
Moyock, N.C., Aug. 21 - An unsuccessful attempt was made to assassinate Postmaster S.D. POYNER last night by an unidentified person who fired upon him through a bedroom window.  Fortunately for POYNER, it was the reflection of his head in a mirror across the room at which the would-be assassin aimed, the bullet shattering the mirror with slight injuries to a child sleeping in a nearby cradle.  Bloodhounds are on the trail and the guilty party may be summarily dealt with if captured.

The Washington Post (Washington, DC) - March 20, 1920; pg. 3
LIEUT. COL. ANSELL'S FATHER DEAD - Elizabeth City, N.C., March 19 - Henry B. ANSELL, father of Lieut. Col. Samuel T. ANSELL, died at his home at Barco, Currituck County, last night.  Funeral arrangements have not been made awaiting the arrival of Col. ANSELL from Washington.

The Washington Post (Washington, DC) - November 30, 1920; pg. 3
LAY DEATH TO GAME GUARDS - Elizabeth City, N.C., Nov. 29 - John WYCKER and Saint Clair LEWARK, guards at the Palmer Island Club's game preserve, are in jail here charged with the murder of Derwood S. GALLOP of Currituck County, who died Saturday in Norfolk. GALLOP and a friend were hunting ducks and, according to his companion, they encroached upon the game preserve unwittingly, the first intimation being a fusillade of shots from guards.  GALLOP received a dozen wounds but the other man was not injured.  WYCKER and LEWARK are charged with the shooting.  The authorities believed they would be safer in the jail here and they will remain in this county until the preliminary hearing is held in Currituck.

The Landmark (Statesville, NC) - February 7, 1924
FOUR NEGROES BURNED TO DEATH IN CURRITUCK - Elizabeth City, Feb 4.- Four negroes, including three women were burned to death and a fifth fatally injured in a fire that destroyed the home of John HARRIS, negro farmer, near Moyock, Currituck County, early Sunday, it was learned here today. The dead are Josephine HARRIS, wife of John HARRIS, and her young son: a sister of John HARRIS..Ida HARRIS and Al HARRIS. The baby was rescued from the burning house but was so badly burned he died last night.

The Washington Post (Washington, DC) - November  14, 1925; pg. 2
   
GAME WARDEN, CLUB SUPERINTENDENT AND GUIDE SAVED IN CURRITUCK SOUND - Norfolk, Va., Nov. 13 - Three men clinging to the housing of their sunken power boat in Currituck Sound, half dead from exposure and their struggles in a storm that whipped the water into a fury, were rescued by the schooner J.E. Sterling, enroute from Stumpy Point, N.C. to Norfolk last night.  They were D.W. SNOW, game warden of Currituck County; A.J. KOYNER, superintendent of the Swan Island Club; and G.D. CARSON. a club guide.  Capt. C.E. WISE and engineer Ben MIDGETT of the schooner put off in a lifeboat when they heard cries for help in the gale.  SNOW and CARSON were found conscious but extremely weak from their efforts to keep themselves and KOYNER, who was unconscious, above the water.  KOYNER was on the verge of delirium when taken aboard the schooner.  He had been at Currituck courthouse that day and SNOW and CARSON had gone from Swan Island in a 38-foot power boat Teal to take him home.  The boat was blown against some hidden piling and the bottom stove in.  She sank within a few minutes.  Only a few inches of the housing remained above the water.  "If we had been half and hour later" Capt. WISE said, "I am certain that the three men would have perished.  Their strength was almost gone."

The Washington Post (Washington, DC) - July 16, 1926; pg. 2
MAN ADRIFT IN BOAT IS SOUGHT AS SLAYER -
Norfolk, Va., July 15 - Adrift somewhere in Back Bay or Currituck Sound in a skiff, George WATERFIELD, sought as the slayer of pretty Bertha ANSELL, 17, belle of Knotts Island, is eluding a posse and half a dozen bloodhounds bent on capturing him.  WATERFIELD, it is alleged, killed Miss ANSELL and seriously wounded William M. TATEM, her escort, on a lonely road near Knotts Island Tuesday night and then escaped.  He is armed with a shotgun and a pistol and has plenty of ammunition.  Most of the inhabitants of Knotts Island have not been asleep since the shooting, many believing WATERFIELD might return and slay others.  Fred WILKINS, a resident of the island, says WATERFIELD told him there were at least two other he wanted to kill before he is taken prisoner.  The island shores are being patrolled by armed men, while others are in motor boats and skiffs seeking the fugitive.  It is charged that WATERFIELD killed the girl because of a grudge he had against her father.  The men had a quarrel and WATERFIELD is alleged to have sworn he would "get even" with ANSELL.

The Washington Post (Washington, DC) - August 16, 1927; pg. 2
GIRL BATHER, HEEDLESS OF WARNINGS, DROWNS  -
Norfolk, Va., Aug. 15 - Warned on account of delicate health, although she was a good swimmer, not to enter the surf at Virginia Beach, Miss Sadie JOHNSON, 15, of Corolla, N.C., was drowned yesterday afternoon.  Thousands of bathers were on the beach but non, not even members of her own party, missed her until she had disappeared; not did they hear her cry for help.  Fifteen minutes later her body rode in on the crest of a wave in front of the Coast Guard Station.  Efforts to revive her were futile.

The Washington Post (Washington, DC) - July 23, 1928; pg. 2
ROBBERS WHO SHOT MERCHANT SOUGHT -
Moyock, N.C., July 22 - Little headway had been made tonight toward apprehension of two youthful robbers who late yesterday held up and probably fatally wounded P.H. FLORA, merchant of Moyock.  They escaped in an automobile bearing a Virginia license plate.  The merchant was found unconscious behind the counter of his store.  He has been unable to explain circumstances leading up to the robbery.  Belief is held that the merchant resisted and was shot.  The bullet punctured both lungs.  Less than three weeks ago the Bank of Currituck in Moyock was held up by two young men who were soon afterward arrested in Norfolk, Va.

The Landmark (Statesville, NC) - January 27, 1933; pg. 7
YOUTH'S BODY IS FOUND IN ROAD -
Elizabeth City, Jan 24.- The mysterious killing of Branton WALKER, 22 year old Barco youth, was puzzling officials of Currituck county today.  A group of men, returning from a dance early Sunday, found WALKER's body face downward on a highway 100 yards from his home.  Dr. W. T. GRIGGS said the youth's skull was crushed as if by some blunt instrument. No other marks indicating violence were found on the body.  When found the body was lying in the center of the highway with arms stretched out above the head.

The Landmark (Statesville, NC) – October 27, 1933; pg. 6
SANFORD CRAIN IS JAILED FOR KILLING OF HIS UNCLE - Currituck, Oct. 24. - Sanford CRAIN, 26, of Bertha, is scheduled to be given a preliminary hearing in recorder's court here on a charge of murder as a result of the fatal shooting of CRAIN's uncle, Patrick H. CRAIN, Sunday night.  According to the report received here, the slain man was at the home of his brother, Thomas CRAIN, father of the accused man.  Thomas and Patrick CRAIN were looking over some papers when Sanford left the room about 6:30 o'clock.  A moment later a shotgun charge was fired through a window and CRAIN staggered to his feet crying "I'm shot."  He fell dead instantly.  Sheriff Howard FORBES was notified and Sanford was found near the slain man's home.  According to Recorder J.A. SUMMERELL, Sanford freely admitted the killing.

The Washington Post (Washington, DC) - February 23, 1934; pg. 4
RETIRED COAST GUARD CAPTAIN FOUND DEAD -
Currituck, N.C., Feb  22 - Capt. Humphries LEWARK, 60, a Corolla Coast Guardsman who retired four years ago, was found dead last night two miles north of Poyner's Hill Coast Guard Station by a searching party which set out after his horse had returned home at dusk riderless.  Death was believed due to a heart attack.

The Washington Post (Washington, DC) - October 19, 1935; pg. 1
Norfolk, Va., Oct. 18 - Three persons were killed when the automobile in which they were riding plunged through the open draw of the Centerville turnpike bridge last night and sank in 10 feet of water.  The dead were Miss Patsie WHITLOCK, 18, of Bonny Corner, Princess Anne County; James Jackson McLEOD, 18, who operated a filling station on Route 27 near Greenbriar Farms; and Frank FLORA, 27, of Moyock, N.C.  Firemen recovered the bodies of Miss WHITLOCK and McLEOD.  Fireman L.C. GREGORY of Portlock, who first dived into the canal, reported that the bodies were wedged in the front seat of the car. FLORA's body was not recovered until a wrecking truck had pulled the machine out.  Fire department crews worked for more than a half hour in an attempt to revive McLEOD and the girl.

The State (Raleigh, NC) - August 30, 1941
    OUR FOREIGN REPRESENTATIVES - THOMAS J. JARVIS - Governor of North Carolina, United States Senator and U.S. Minister to Brazil, was born in Currituck County in 1836.  He was educated at Randolph Macon College in Virginia were he graduated in 1860.  He enlisted in the Confederate Army and was severely wounded in the war.  He was a member of the Constitutional Convention of 1865 and 1875, member of the State House of Representatives 1868-1870, Speaker of the House in 1870, elected Lieutenant-Governor in 1876 and upon the resignation of Zebulon B. VANCE to assume office of U.S. Senator, became Governor, serving in that office for six years.  He was appointed Minister to Brazil by President Cleveland in 1885 and served until 1889.  He was appointed to the U.S. Senate to succeed Senator VANCE in 1894 and served out the term.  He resumed his practice of law in Greenville and died there in 1915.  He is esteemed as one of the truly great men of North Carolina.

Unknown newspapers
SIMPSON'S TO MARK 50th ANNIVERSARY -  GRANDY, June 4 - Mr. and Mrs. George V. SIMPSON, both 71, will celebrate their fiftieth (golden wedding) anniversary on Sunday, June 16, at their residence here and will hold open house to their friends from 2 to 6 p.m.  Mr. and Mrs. SIMPSON have 10 children, six boys and four girls, 20 grandchildren and two great-grandchildren.  All their children and the majority of the grandchildren are planning to be with their parents on their wedding anniversary.  If they do it will be the first family get-together at which all the children have been present since World War I.  The children are George K. SIMPSON and Horace SIMPSON, both of Grandy, Milton SIMPSON, USCG, Portsmouth, Va., Mrs. Rosa GRAY, South Norfolk, Marvin SIMPSON, Gadsden, Ala., Claude SIMPSON, U.S. Army, West Point, N.Y., William SIMPSON, USCG, New London, Connecticut, Mrs. Katie AYDLETT of Grandy, Mrs. Mamie LANE of Portsmouth, and Mrs. Gladys BATEMAN of Poplar Branch.  (Information kindly furnished by Benjamine O. Bateman, Jr.)

SIMPSON'S 50th WEDDING OBSERVED AT GRANDY HOME - July 16; Mr. and Mrs. George V. SIMPSON celebrated their golden wedding anniversary Sunday, June 16, at their home which was beautifully decorated with cut flowers.  The bridesmaid and best man when Mr. and Mrs. SIMPSON were married were present, Mrs. Martha Evans OUTLAW and E. B. COFFEE.  The six sons and four daughters of the family were present during the day and for the luncheon served to 65 and to which were invited friends and relatives.  The Rev. RAINWATER, pastor of Mt. Zion Methodist Church, and Dr. W. T. GRIGGS, their family physician for more than 50 years, were also participants in the day’s events.  During the afternoon, Mr. and Mrs. SIMPSON were hosts at a reception.  Mrs. Mark AYDLETT and Mrs. Otto BATEMAN presided at the guest book and received the gifts.  After being presented to the honorees the guests were invited into the dining room where ice cream and cookies were served from a table decorated with a three tier wedding cake and yellow candles.  NOTE:  The George V. Simpson's were married June 17, 1896 at 4:00 PM at the home of Mr. Dempsey Smith the bride's father.  Dr. Pitts officiated.  Witnesses were Martha Evans Outlaw & E.B. Caffee.  (Information kindly furnished by Benjamine O. Bateman, Jr.)

The Washington Post (Washington, DC) - December 14, 1946; pg. 2
DETECTIVE DIES IN AUTO CRASH -
Norfolk, Va., Dec. 13 - Detective George W. PERKINS of the Norfolk police division, was killed in a traffic accident on Route 522 near Winchester yesterday afternoon.  A companion, George LANTSES, was admitted to a Winchester hospital for treatment of shock.  The officer's widow, Mrs. Gladys PERKINS, is a Norfolk policewoman.  PERKINS was born in Moyock, N.C. on August 14, 1912.  He became a member of the Norfolk police division in 1936 and entered the detective bureau in 1942.  PERKINS and LANTSES left Norfolk for Pittsburgh early yesterday to return a prisoner.

circa 1949 newspaper  - Submitted by Judy Brickhouse

Arkie Baxter Ballance

circa November 1949 newspaper  - Submitted by Benjamine O. Bateman, Jr.

Unknown newspaper - April 1950  Submitted by Judy Merrell Brickhouse
[see death certificate for Connell Gray McHorney here and for Richard Gene Snowden here]


The State (Raleigh, NC) - June 10, 1950
CURRITUCK COUNTY - They named the county, the town and the beautiful freshwater sound on which it is located from the Indian word "Coratank" meaning wild goose, and for many years it has been know far and wide as a sportsman's paradise.  It looks a lot like parts of Ireland too, Edward DROMGOOLE, a Methodist circuit rider thought when he first visited there in 1783, so he named one of its villages Sligo after a town in his native land.
    Originally a part of the great county of Albemarle, the early settlers along Currituck Sound were jubilant when, in 1728, following the dispute over the boundary line between Virginia and North Carolina, William Byrd and his surveyors ran the line to include them in the state of North Carolina.
    Many years later, in 1850 to be exact, Currituck County began to become famous as the greatest wildfowl shooting territory on the Atlantic Coast.  In those days Currituck was already an ancient little village on "Courthouse Point", and the shire town of a great county 80 miles long.  Currituck's area then included Dare County's 300 square miles of land and 1200 square miles of water and Currituck County's Representative in the state legislature then lived on the north end of Roanoke Island.
    One hundred years ago courts in Currituck County were held twice a year in a large house located near where Currituck County courthouse, built in 1876, now stands.  The spring term of court, usually held in may, was called the "Cherry Court" from the large quantities of cherries consumed by lawyers, witnesses and interested spectators.  The fall term of court, held in October, was called "Chinquapin Court" because of the enormous quantity of these nuts that were consumed there.  Then, as now, the settlement at Currituck Court was an unincorporated village of a few houses, a general store, a courthouse and jail, overlooking the placid waters of the sound.
    Today the visitor to Currituck County whizzes along hard-surfaced highways or improved county roads, little realizing that for many years travel thorough this county was either by slow-moving boat or by horse and cart over roads that were little more than sandy trails.  An artist for a popular magazine 100 years ago visited Currituck and in addition to making some interesting pen and ink sketches of the countryside, reported that "the soil is rich and easily cultivated, a fresh sea breeze always checked summer's heat, taxes were low, and the inhabitants of this great county enjoyed health, happiness and contentment in no ordinary degree."  He made the trip through the recently opened Albemarle and Chesapeake Canal on a 50-foot vessel which had a top speed of 10 miles and hour.
    Much the same can be said of Currituck County nowadays.  There are still no incorporated towns but between Moyock and Point Harbor can be seen some of the most productive farms, the most progressive rural schools, and the best cared-for county roads in the state of North Carolina.
    The only bank in Currituck County is located at Moyock, "The Village of Cannas".  On Dudley BAGLEY's Highland Farm near this community, thoroughbred seeds and plants are cultivated.  Also near Moyock, on the edge of the Great Dismal Swamp, is "Pudding Ridge" where, until a few ago, lived an Amish-Mennonite Colony whose members settled there in 1907 after migrating from Pennsylvania, Ohio and Indiana.  They were called "hook and eye" Mennonites because they wore no buttons.  The men wore long hair, shaved only their upper lip, and refused to serve on juries, bring a law suit, hold public office, swear oaths, attend theaters or use tobacco or liquors.  The women were familiar figures along country roads and at public markets in their slatted bonnets and quaint dresses.  Only a few of them remain there today
.    A little south of Currituck courthouse on a slight rise of ground is Pilmoor Memorial Methodist Church, a neat little red brick building erected in 1928 with the assistance of Mr. Joseph P. KNAPP, wealthy New York sportsman and philanthropist, who has a home on nearby Mackay Island.  It marks the site where Joseph PILMOOR preached the first Methodist sermon in North Carolina on September 18, 1772.  It was the first church in the state to operate a Sunday School bus which picks up children the length and breadth of the Currituck peninsula and takes them to Sunday School.
    Coinjock is located at an important link in the intercoastal waterway on the banks of the Albamarle and Chesapeake Canal, and each season sees scores of Florida-bound yachts pass through this sheltered route.  Jarvisburg is the birthplace of Thomas J. JARVIS, Governor of North Carolina between 1879-1884, and Point Harbor is where the three-mile long Wright Memorial Bridge crosses the shallow waters of Currituck Sound to the Dare beaches.
    The inhabitants of Currituck County are extremely friendly and hospitable to strangers and while it is an intensely rural county, their outlook is unusually broad due to the steady influx of so many duck hunters from northern cities since 1850.  Nearly all of the county's business is transacted at the courthouse, past which moves a steady stream of tourists each summer bound either for Dare County beaches or to the Greyhouse Dog Races a little north of Moyock.  But otherwise Currituck County, established in 1677, has changed but little in appearance since it was first written up in a magazine of nationwide circulation 100 year ago.

The News & Observer  (Raleigh, DC) - Sunday, October 11, 1953 - Kindly submitted by Ben Bateman

The Washington Post and Herald Times  (Washington, DC) - March 31, 1956; pg. 18
LOIS L. BAUM -
Funeral services for Lois L. BAUM, 63, former D.C. resident, will be held at 2 p.m. today at the Deal Funeral Home on Georgia Avenue.  Interment will be in Fort Lincoln Cemetery.  Mrs. BAUM, who lived here for more than 30 years at 809 Longfellow Street, died Tuesday in Coinjock, N.C. where she was born.  She and her husband, Clair BAUM, a retired painter, went there about two years ago.  She was a member of the United Daughters of the Confederacy.  She is survived by her husband; two daughters: Lois B. BARNES of Washington Blvd. in Arlington, and Jenniewee B. SLAUGHTER of Huggins Dr., Silver Spring, Md.; four sisters and four grandchildren.

The Virginian-Pilot? - c. 1956  [Submitted by Anne Jennings]

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Daily Advance? - c. 1957  [Submitted by Anne Jennings]

N. ELTON AYDLETT ANNOUNCES CANDIDACY FOR STATE SENATE - N. Elton AYDLETT of Elizabeth City and prominent Northeastern North Carolina attorney, today announced his candidacy for one of the two First District State Senatorial seats subject to the Democratic primary to be held in May.  In making his announcement, AYDLETT became the first candidate to announce for the Senate for the coming term.  AYDLETT has a long period of public and civic service behind him, he as been mayor of Elizabeth City since June 1951, having been re-elected for a second two-year term in 1953.  The announcement came as no surprise to close friends of AYDLETT.  He has been thinking of running for the Senate for the past few years.  The two Senate seats are no held by William COPELAND of Murfreesboro, who has served the traditional two terms, and A.P. GODWIN, JR. of Gates County, who has served only one term.  AYDLETT was born October 25, 1902 at Harbinger in Currituck County.  He received his high school education at Poplar Branch and went on to the University of North Carolina in 1921 where he graduated with an L.L.B. degree in 1926.  He was admitted to the State Bar the same year and came to Elizabeth City where he was associated with the late Judge Walter L. SMALL in the practice of law until 1928 when Judge SMALL was appointed to the Superior Court bench.  He married the former Pantha HOUSER of Rutherfordton and they have one child, Miss Patricia Ann AYDLETT, who is also a graduate of UNC.  The candidate was appointed Clerk of Superior Court for Pasquotank County in 1928 and served in that capacity until 1946 when he resigned to become a partner in the law firm of McMulan and Aydlett.  He has been active in civic and political affairs for many years, having served as chairman of the Pasquotank County Democratic Executive Committee since 1943; director of the N.C. League of Municipalities; director of the Elizabeth City Boys' Club since its organization in 1937; member State Democratic Executive Committee; president of the Elizabeth City Chamber of Commerce, 1948 to 1951; past president Elizabeth City Kiwanis Club; past president Elizabeth [City] Concert Association.  He is a member of the Blackwell Memorial Baptist Church, Red Men and Elks Clubs.  "It is my sincere purpose and desire," said AYDLETT in making the announcement of his candidacy, "to represent the people of the entire First District in the next General Assembly of North Carolina, to the very best of my ability.  With 25 years experience in public affairs, I feel that I am qualified to serve in this very important office, representing all the people in the district and giving impartial consideration to every proposition that may come up affecting the district.  I shall appreciate the vote and support of the voters in the First District, and give my assurance that if nominated and elected, I will discharge the duties of the office to the very best of my ability."

The Daily Advance? - June 1956? or 1957?  Can anyone enlighted me on what year these photos were taken?  [Submitted by Anne Jennings]

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Daily Advance? - October? 1957 [Submitted by Anne Jennings]

The Washington Post and Times Herald  (Washington, DC) - January 2, 1958; pg. B2
RAY ADAMS, MERCHANT, SPORTSMAN  -
Ray T. ADAMS, 58, Washington businessman and sportsman, died Wednesday at Corolla, N.C. at the Whalehead Club which he owned.  He was president of R.T. Adams, Inc. here, a firm specializing in hotel meats.  He was also a member of the advisory board of the National Bank of Washington and of the Washington Board of Trade.  Mr. ADAMS belonged to the Albert Pike Consistory and was a 32nd degree Mason, Almas Temple.  Born in Norfolk, Va., he came to Washington in 1930 and in 1939 bought the Whalehead Club which he converted into a hunting and fishing resort.  He is survived by his wife, Eleanor, at home at 1823 Quincey Street; a sister, Elsie REITZINGER of Norfolk; a brother, Joseph ADAMS also of Norfolk; a daughter, Phyllis McBURNEY of Norfolk; and a step-daughter, Mrs. G.R. BUTLER of Takoma Park, Md.  Funeral services will be at 2 p.m. Friday at the Hines Funeral Home.

Unknown newspaper - 1959 [His tombstone in Moyock Memorial Cemetery states "Deputy US Marshal 1939-59"] Lower news article on Will & his pony submitted by Judy Brickhouse.

The Washington Post and Times Herald Washington, DC) - May 3, 1959; pg. C12
CLASS TRIP ENDS AFTER PUPIL DIES  -
The traditional visit to Washington of the Moyock, N.C. High School senior class came to an abrupt end Friday afternoon when a classmate who had stayed behind because of illness died of meningitis in an Elizabeth City hospital.  The 14 students arrived at Money's Tourist Home Friday and visited Mount Vernon and the Capitol before hearing of the death of 17-year old Barbara Ann SAWYER of Barco, N.C.  Barbara died less than 24 hours after she was stricken.  Saddened and disappointed, the seniors headed for home after a stay of 4 hours.  In Moyock, they and 200 others received triple sulfa shots against the disease.

The Washington Post, Times Herald (Washington, DC) - October 14, 1963; pg. B1
DEPUTY'S SLAYING LAID TO YOUTH -
Moyock, N.C., Oct. 13 - A 17-year old Norfolk, Va. youth was charged today with killing Currituck County Deputy Sheriff W.F. MORGAN with the officer's pistol Saturday night.  Sheriff Luther L. SANDERLIN said witnesses gave this account of the shooting: MORGAN, 61, was in his parked car when the youth left a dance hall shortly after 11 p.m.  The youth backed his car into the deputy's vehicle.  MORGAN was writing out a ticket when the two began scuffling.  Both tumbled out of the deputy's car and the youth seized MORGAN's pistol.  He forced the officer back into the car then fired two shots.  One struck MORGAN in the left eye, killing him.

The Washington Post, Times Herald (Washington, DC) - September 28, 1964; pg. D4
MARGARET W. HARRISON -
Margaret W. HARRISON, 57, died Saturday at her home in Moyock, N.C. after a long illness.  Miss HARRISON was born in Belhaven, N.C. and came to Washington in 1941.  She was employed by the Navy Research Laboratory for 18 years until her retirement in 1959.  She is survived by her mother, Martha W. HARRISON of Moyock; three sisters: Mrs. Wallace W. SMITH of Moyock, Mrs. O.W. WILKERSON of Asheville, N.C. and Mrs. Robert M. HOLLAND of Arlington; and two brothers: Robert T. HARRISON of Raleigh, N.C. and Derwood HARRISON of Bethesda.

Unknown newspaper - circa November 1964 [Article submitted by Judy Merrell Brickhouse(Carrie Boswood was born Nov, 21, 1874 & died April 14, 1974)

The Sunday Advance (Elizabeth City, NC) - Sunday. June 15, 1968; pg. 3 (kindly submitted by Linda Mansfield)

The Virginian-Pilot (Norfolk, VA) - March 28, 1982
     Paradoxical sets of tracks are evident in the woods of Martin's Point, N.C
     In the swath of the wide imprints of earth-moving equipment treads are the dainty elliptical hoofprints of the deer that roam the dense forests of the peninsula.
     Housing is coming to one of the last large undeveloped tracts in the Dare County section of the Outer Banks.  This is a 335-acres strip that lies on the east side of Currituck Sound immediately north of the Wright Memorial Bridge.  Martin's Point Creek (also known as Jean Guite Creek) is the eastern boundary. A motorist driving on the bridge, toward the beaches, can see the strip to his left.
     The point is about 2 1/2 miles long and less than half a mile wide at maximum.  But the important geographical statistic is that it has five miles of shoreline.  The developers have platted 385 building lots, 225 of them on the waterfront and 160 in the interior.
     While access to the point is still limited to four-wheel-drive vehicles, the developers are receptive to buyers in Part 1.  That's the section closest to U.S. Highway 158.  At the moment, $35,000 will buy your choice of 100-foot-wide lots.  The roads are being cut now.  These will be private roads built to state standards so they could be dedicated to public use if the families who buy there, if they wished, dedicate them (and the maintenance costs) to the county or state.
     When Part 2 of the development is ready, the prices will increase.  This is the northern end where the creek and the sound join.  The unusually large lots at the point are expected to sell for about $100,000.  
     The developer is Martin Point, Inc., a corporation with 11 stockholders.  Among them are principals in Sun Realty of Nags Head, a professional man from the Pittsburgh area, and an airline pilot who flies from Saudi Arabia.  They bought the tract in February 1982 for $3.5 million from the trustees of the Gravely estate, a tobacco-wealthy family from Rocky Mount, N.C.
     At the moment, Martin's Point is uninhabited.  But there remains visual evidence of its past when it was a plantation farmed with slave labor, when the little shipyard near the manor house built and repaired schooners and when the entire point and adjacent lands were a rich source of timber.
     About 1940, the GRAVELY family bought the 325-acre point with its century-plus house and converted it into a hunting preserve.  At the junction of the old dirt road entrance from the highway stands a concrete pillar inscribed with the word "Catco".  This is an acronym for China-American Tobacco Co., the Gravely family enterprise that later became a part of American Tobacco Co.
     This one-lane, dirt road is passable all the way to the northern point, but the travel is rough in a conventional automobile.  It follows the high ridge on the creek side and will be abandoned and allowed to return to the forest when the wide, new roads are built along the center of the land strip.
     As near as Martin's Point is to the ocean, the topography bears little resemblance to beach land.  It has a rolling, hilly contour.  Where the bulldozers have uprooted some of the gigantic hardwood trees, the soil strata show some sand, some clay, some peat moss, and some rich black loam.  The Point is with small freshwater ponds and some sizable lakes.  Waterfowl and turtles abound here.  Wild grapes in the woods attract all sorts of birds.
     Martin's Point's settlement is subject to legends, some probably factual in part.  Nevertheless, they have caused some treasure hunting. 
     Willis GALLOP (1764-1848) came to the point in his own schooner sometime in his early life.  It was popularly believed that the ship also bore chests of silver and gold of dubious ownership.
     Willis GALLOP died at 84.  He and his first wife, Mary, who died at 25 in 1808 [this is in error--Mary died in 1848 at the age of 73], are buried in adjacent graves in woods near their home.  Willis acquired a second wife, Polly, and huge land holdings, perhaps 6,000 acres that extended from Powell's Point to old Kitty Hawk village.  It certainly extended to Southern Shores (the north side) but the ocean side was considered virtually worthless.
     The early settler either bought or established a plantation on Martin's Point and either he or his son, Hodges, set up a shipbuilding and repair yard there.  Willis had four children.
     He wrote his will in 1844 and died four years later.  The will passed on the plantation and some slaves to Polly on condition that she not remarry.  Among other things she inherited were some furniture and kitchen equipment, three cows and calves, one third of the hogs, her choice of the dogs, a young mare with tack, the spinning stuff and loom, a small canoe, three hoes and a gun.
     Hodges was also given land and slaves, his mother's inheritance when she died or remarried, the schooner High Priest and her materials and an iron chest.  The other children were also left bequests and personal property but apparently in smaller amounts.
     The plantation house still stands about half a mile from the north end of the point.  An open porch now surrounds three sides, likely an addition made when the property was a hunt club.
     The Martin's Point or Jean Guite Creek is quite wide here.  On the shoreline and extending into the water are the remnants of a ship-launching and hauling railway.  [see pictures of this ship-launching railway here, compliments of Ben Bateman, Jr.] Rusting and marine-growth encrusted spikes that were used to secure heavy timbers on wooden ships are easy to find around the shoreline.  There is also a collection of smooth ballast rocks around the base of some large trees there.
     This is the site of a small marina the developers will build for the benefit of the property owners.
     Hodges GALLOP, according to local legends, had a fleet of schooners that were in trade between the east coast and the West Indies.  He might have been a blockade runner during the Civil War.  At least, according to old memories, when Gen. Ambrose BURNSIDE and his federal troops landed on Roanoke Island, Hodges GALLOP was captured.  He was beaten to try to force him to tell the location of his treasure.  They got nothing out of him.
     In his 1875 will, Hodges GALLOP split up the property among is heirs and directed that all of his "sea boats" be sold to pay for the schooling of his five sons.
     A LYONS family that operated an iron foundry in Newark, N.J., acquired much of the property around the turn of the century and tried a lumbering enterprise.  The reputed price was $6,000.  Then all but 100 acres was sold to Tunis Lumber Co., A Dr. GRIGGS from Poplar Branch was the next owner.  Then the GRAVELY family acquired the point - the 335 acres - about 1940.
     Paul BREAUX of Sun Realty, one of the stockholders of Martin's Point, Inc., said his associates were dedicated to preserving as much of the flora and fauna on the tract as possible.  They plan to domesticate wild ducks for the freshwater lakes and ponds by first clipping their wing feathers and then feeding them handsomely, while they regain their flying ability.
     Houses built in the development must meet the standards of the architectural review committee.  The minimum size will be 1,200 square feet.
     A shallow strip with 1,400 feet of frontage on U.S. 158 will be turned into an office park.  BREAUX said that Sun Realty would have an office there and that possibly a building contractor and a stockbrokerage-investment company would locate in the park.

The Washington Post (Washington, DC) - April 14, 1982; pg. C9
James H. (Larry) SULLIVAN, SR., a photoengraver with the Government Printing Office and the Lanman Progressive Co. in Washington for 35 years until he retired in 1975, died of cancer April 11 at his home in Moyock, N.C.  He had lived in Moyock since 1975.  Mr. SULLIVAN was a native of Washington.  He joined the old Lanman Engraving Co. in 1940 and transferred to the GPO in 1960.  He was a member of the Bethesda-Chevy Chase Rescue Squad and the College Park Moose Club. Survivors include his wife Henrietta of Moyock; four sons: James H. Jr. of Pensacola, Fla., Robert J. of Potomac and Terence M. and L. Casey, both of Silver Spring; two daughters: Mallory BLY of Arlington and Constance B. SULLIVAN of New York City; two brothers: Jeremiah of Washington and Louis of Bethesda; eight sisters: Kathleen McDUFFIE of Bethesda, Patricia SULLIVAN of Washington, Margaret OSWALD of McLean, Harriet ROSENBURG of California, and Betty HOUCK, Thelma MURPHY, Dorothy BROWN, and Estaire ISMER, all of Arlington; 12 grandchildren and a great-grandchild.

The Washington Post (Washington, DC) - August 17, 1982; pg. C7
Derwood D. HARRISON, 75, an auditor with the General Accounting Office's claims division for more than 30 years before retiring in the mid-1960's, died of cancer Aug. 14 in the Clemson Downs Health Center in Clemson Downs, S.C.  He lived in Clemson Downs.  Mr. HARRISON was a native of Moyock, N.C. and lived here for 40 years before moving to South Carolina in 1967.  Survivors include his wife, Clara L. who is in the Clemson Downs Health Center; a brother, Robert of Raleigh, N.C.; and a sister, Rena SMITH of Moyock.

The Virginian-Pilot (Norfolk, Va.) - July 25, 1991 by Ida Kay Jordan
   
A Brief History of Monkey Island
- Currituck County Attorney Ike McREE, a participant in last week's outing, marveled aloud that Currituck owns an island.  "It's not something I expected," said McREE, who grew up in Raleigh.
    The county acquired the island in 1987 from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service in exchange for 54 acres of marshland. The island was given to the federal agency by the Nature Conservancy.
    The tiny bit of land is described by Travis MORRIS, a local historian and real estate broker, as "the most beautiful island in Currituck Sound."
    Tradition has it that this seven-acre island was the summer home of the Pamunkey Indians. The local lore is given credence by the existence of an Indian burial ground on the island's north end and by the island's very name.  However, little was recorded about the small piece of land in the middle of the Currituck Sound until shortly after the Civil War.
    MORRIS, a member of a prominent local family, noted in a 1976 paper that his grandmother's grandfather, Samuel McHORNEY, sold the island in 1866 to Benjamin SIMMONS for $15.
    After several additional sales among Northerners during the next five years, the main part of the existing clubhouse was built. Morris wrote that his grandmother Carrie BOSWOOD, who died at age 100 in 1974, said the building had been there since she could remember.
    Around the turn of the century, the property was acquired by L.W. and W.A. DAVIS, who each retained a share when the club was incorporated in Virginia in 1919 with a membership limited to nine.
    Among those members was George HILL, president of the American Tobacco Co. His wife, Aquinas H. HILL, also became a member during the '20s.  Another member was T.B. YUILLE, president of the American Cigar Co.  Charles A. PENN, a Reidsville man who was executive vice president of American Tobacco and the perfecter of Lucky Strike cigarettes, joined in 1927.
    In 1930, PENN bought out the other members. His son, Frank, assisted MORRIS with anecdotes about the club.  Frank PENN recalled, for example, that Bob DAVIS, a New York Sun columnist and author of 28 books, continued to join his friends at the club even after he lost his eyesight. Legend has it that the sightless DAVIS would sit in a duck blind and, while his companion did the shooting, he would write down what was happening.
    Another frequent visitor was Irvin COBB, whose 125 books made him a household name by the 1930s. PENN said that when COBB and his friends came to the lodge, they would bring one cook just to make the biscuits, a regular cook and a butler.  PENN also remembered hunting with Elridge WARREN, former owner and publisher of Field and Stream magazine.  PENN called WARREN the best marksman he ever saw and backed it up with a story.  At a time when the bag limit on ducks was 22, PENN said, WARREN would take 23 shells with him. When asked what the extra shell was for, WARREN replied it was to give to his hunting companion.
    Members of the PENN family continued to use the island until 1974, when family heirs decided to sell Monkey Island, Mary Island, Lungreen Island and Raccoon Island, plus two miles of Atlantic Ocean frontage and about 2.5 miles of Outer Banks frontage on the Currituck Sound.
    The Monkey Island Investment Venture Corp., a group of investors from Texas, Oklahoma and Winston-Salem, paid $3 million for the package.
    Monkey Island, a private club since it began in 1869, was opened to the public for the hunting season of 1974. Travis MORRIS operated it with a staff of Currituck residents. 
But the Monkey Island venture was short-lived. A 1975 recession was hurting sales of beach property and the PENN family reclaimed many of its holdings. Later, the PENN's sold Monkey Island to the Nature Conservancy.

The Virginian-Pilot (Norfolk, Va.)  - December 13, 2000; pg. Y1  by Jeffrey S. Hampton
Scholarship Named After Currituck Educator
- When a young and pretty school teacher from Tennessee stepped off the train in Snowden, she didn't know she was part of the beginning of public education in Currituck County and that one day she would have a scholarship named for her.
    In honor of her 42 years as a beloved first-grade teacher, the late Tommie Gregory BRUMSEY will have a $500 scholarship fund named for her, established by her daughter, Barbara SMITH of Currituck. They say BRUMSEY was the first-grade teacher for just about everybody who grew up in Currituck County.
    Sam WALKER, a former school board member, had "Miss" BRUMSEY as a first and second grade teacher in 1945 and 1946.  "My mother and father requested her to be my teacher," WALKER said Tuesday, taking a few minutes from managing his grocery store in Sligo. WALKER, in a ball cap and long graying beard, leaned up against the ice cream box as he recalled his favorite teacher.  "They thought Tommie BRUMSEY was an excellent teacher, which she was," he said.  "She was very patient with children. She never paddled a living soul that I remember. She didn't need to."
    She bought tennis shoes, a rarity in those days, for a boy who came to school barefooted. Afterward, other boys who had shoes but didn't have tennis shoes asked her if she would buy them a pair, too. WALKER was one of those.
    WALKER remembered his mother threatened to punish him harshly if he didn't do better with his spelling.  BRUMSEY helped him improve until he began making 100s on every test, WALKER said.
    As a school board member, WALKER proposed establishing a hall of fame for Currituck teachers. The board declined after much discussion about the difficulty of making the selection process fair, he said.  "I would have nominated her to be the first one in the hall of fame," WALKER said.
    When BRUMSEY came here in 1922, she was recruited by Maude C. NEWBERRY, the first superintendent of Currituck County.  Joseph P. KNAPP, a wealthy northern businessman drawn to Currituck for the duck hunting early this century, built schools here and augmented teacher salaries until it was competitive with larger school systems, Smith said.
    NEWBERRY lured BRUMSEY, who then still went by her maiden name of GREGORY, from Tennessee to teach first grade at the new Currituck School. The same school is now Knapp Elementary School. The salary was $100 a month with a bonus of $100 a year from Knapp, a substantial amount in those days, SMITH said. Tommie GREGORY lived with other young, single teachers in the teacherage next door that now serves as the school district headquarters, SMITH said.  The building was so new it didn't have curtains yet, which presented a privacy problem for the young, single teachers.
    "They had to crawl around on the floor because workers were still over at the school," SMITH said. The young teacher was 5 feet 5 inches tall with black hair and hazel eyes, Smith said.  "She was really a sweet and beautiful woman, physically and otherwise, too."
    Many local men pursued her, but she married Carl BRUMSEY, a local farmer. They met at the Snowden store that sits across the road from the historic Currituck courthouse, Smith said.
    During BRUMSEY's career, she taught first grade at Currituck, then at the one-room school in Corolla, then at Poplar Branch, back to Currituck, then at Moyock Elementary School, where she finished her career in 1964. At one point, while teaching at Currituck, she served as the unofficial principal.
    The words that come to mind are 'gracious' and 'kind,' " said Jeanne MEIGGS, who had BRUMSEY as a first-grader in 1948.  MEIGGS is a former superintendent of Currituck schools.  "You did find out after a while she had steel behind that. But you seldom saw that because she was able to get us to do things she wanted us to do by asking us very nicely."
    SMITH has established the fund 10 years after BRUMSEY's death at age 88 through the Currituck Community Foundation, an affiliate of the N.C. Community Foundation. The scholarships will begin as soon as the $10,000 principal amount gains enough interest to begin offering a $500 one-time scholarship, probably by the spring of 2002. The fund will expand as the principal grows, said Peggy BIRKEMEIER, northeast region associate for the foundation.
    The Tommie BRUMSEY fund becomes one of three funds managed by the 2-year-old Currituck Community Foundation, a nonprofit that allows the highest possible tax deductions for donations, BIRKEMEIER said. An unrestricted fund and the Currituck County Library Foundation fund are still maturing with assets already approaching $30,000, BIRKEMEIER said. The N.C. Community Foundation has 700 funds statewide worth $53 million, she said. Local affiliates benefit from the resources of the state organization. 
Funds can be established for a minimum of $5,000, and donations to a fund can be for any amount.

Reprinted from The News & Observer in the Coastland Times - Sunday, Feb. 2, 2003 by David Cecelski
Elizabeth Sanderlin: Old-Fashioned People - Elizabeth SANDERLIN is 98 and going strong. She was born and raised in Moyock, a coastal village in Currituck County, a land of seaside farms and freshwater marshes just south of the Virginia line. When I visited her home in Shawboro, a few miles from Moyock, she vividly recalled the days when the train's daily stop was a grand event and when teachers washed young mischief-makers' mouths out with soap. Her strength and independence were forged in the 1920's and '30's, when, as a home demonstration agent, she traveled the region's backroads helping families on the edge of hunger and despair.

SANDERLIN joyfully described village life early in the 20th century, but she didn't leave out the mucky roads, the livestock wandering the streets, or the lack of indoor plumbing. And yet like so many of the oldest people I interview, she still made me wonder if somewhere along our state's path to superhighways, busy cities, and backyard hot tubs, we left something important behind.

"You think about living nearly a hundred year! Isn't that awful? I have enjoyed every one of them. I am still enjoying them. I was born in Moyock in the home, not in the hospital, in 1904. My father was a merchant. He operated a country store that had everything imaginable. He had a counter for medicine, a place for the candy, fruit, vegetables, dried peas and beans. On the other side of the store was dry goods, and then in the center of the store was the Moyock post office.

"Moyock was a quiet place, and the two churches the only thing I knew much about growing up. You had to make up your own entertainment, but it was always something going on. We had a train station--the Northern & Southern went through Moyock--and that was a gathering place for everybody at train time. You'd know you'd see your friends if you go to the station and gather there.

"We didn't have much of a street, and people stayed stuck. The roads were terrible. And when you came through Moyock to Snowden, you had to get out and open the gate, which was a cattle gate. People let the cattle go where they wanted. They didn't keep them closed up at home. "My father had a home built on Tull Creek Road. They put electric power in the house and the bathroom and we thought we had something. It had to run on batteries. We had a house out in the back with large batteries that operated the electric current. Run on Delco.

"The man that built the house was very peculiar. At night he slept in a nightgown and house cap, and he had an imaginary wife and children. He never married, but he would talk to them. he would get up mornings early and tell his imaginary wife, the baby was hungry, get that baby the milk. To hear him talking to an imaginary wife was funny to us, but he was an unusually smart carpenter and he did a good job. He was a good ol' soul.

"A lot of people drove up to Norfolk and worked at the Ford plant, and then we had some big farmers in Moyock. People used to grow their vegetables and corn, and they used to live at home. They didn't pay for groceries the way you do now. You raised what you ate. And when you went shopping, you took your eggs and your chickens to sell and buy your groceries. My father had a chicken coop out beside the store, and if they'd bring in chickens he'd buy them and put them in his chicken coop, and they did the same with eggs.

"We had a happy home. My mother's health wasn't good, but she was always enjoying life. My mother and father both came from happy homes, and that's what they brought to us when they were married, because we had a real good time and did things together.

"Every Sunday afternoon we'd go for a ride in a surrey, mama and papa and all the children, and we'd see what kind of animals we could see out of the clouds. I can remember a time mama was getting us ready and dressed to go and he had decided it was time to go see his sisters. He had two old maid sisters lived in Moyock. And we got ready to go and papa wasn't there.

"Mama said, 'Come on, let's drive right by him, play a joke on him.' And she didn't know much about the car and she went around the block and she rain in the ditch, and the way the cars were built that day and time, the wheel just turned up and broke. But I enjoyed the fact that papa came up laughing about it. He said, 'You thought you were going to leave me. You didn't do it!'

"We always had a house full of people, company coming in and church meeting. You never knew who was going to eat at our house because people would come from up the creek and other places to shop, and there weren't any restaurants over yonder. We lived right beside the store and daddy always said, 'Go off there, Mandy'll feed you.'

"I can remember going to school, so many grades in one room, and we didn't have running water in school and had the outdoor toilets and the pump outside. We had a very strict teacher, a woman that became principal of that school and made a high school out of it, the first high school in Moyock. She was smart as she could be, but strict. If she caught you telling a story, she washed your mouth out! She was a smart woman, and I learned to like her.

"People then were people. They're people now, but they were old-fashioned people. Different! Entirely different. I can't put into words because I talk funny anyways, but people were just different then. Everybody is for themselves now and they don't have time to think about anybody. What takes their time, I don't know, but it's entirely different now than it has ever been. I don't know why. I guess there's too much going on or something. People think more about themselves and making money than they do their neighbor. Used to be, you thought about your neighbor and your friends.

"My mother talked to us about the right way to live. She taught us to get out of life what you put in it. She taught us about staying happy, going to church, and not doing anything you'd be ashamed of. She taught me to see some good in everybody and tell them about it. There's some good in everybody and you should help them to bring it out, that's what my mother always said.

"As far as dressing up in clothes, that wasn't stressed. My mother held to learning and reading and music and doing the thing you should be doing. And she taught me I wouldn't have anything to worry about if I kept my mind on good things and did good things."

The Virginian-Pilot - Tuesday, August 26, 2003; pgs. B1&2 [submitted by Ben Bateman]

The Coastland Times - Thursday, July 31, 2003; pg. 6A

The Dailey Advance - Sunday, February 12, 2006; pg. 2C (Kindly submitted by Anne Jennings)

The Coastland Times - Thursday, March 16, 2006; pg. 3A

The Coastland Times - Sunday, May 28, 2006; front page & 6A
Gallop Descendants Push for Cemetery to 'Rest In Peace'
by Mary Helen Goodloe-Murphy
Small cemeteries are scattered across rural North Carolina: in the middle of farmland, close to homesteads, tucked into corners of special places.  On Memorial Day, some will visit those family cemeteries and place flowers and flags on the graves of those who died while fighting United States wars.  Some gravesites will not be honored on the day which is still known in some places as Decorating Day.  Family has scattered.  The land with these scared sites has been sold.  It's been subdivided.  If rules were followed, the family cemetery is marked on plats and recorded.  That's the case with two historic graves in Martin's Point in Dare County.  On lot 14a in the subdivision's second section are the graves of Willis GALLOP who died October 29, 1848 and Mary GALLOP, his wife, who die eight days before on October 12, 1848.  At the time of death, these two people were 81 and 73.  In 1984, Gallop descendants replaced the faded and hard-to-read gravestones with new ones, fenced the site and installed a concrete walkway.  The graves are visited by descendants scattered across the nation.  For example, Jean Owens SCHROEDER who lives in Eatonton, Ga., travels twice a year to Currituck County to visit the graveyards of her parents, grandparents and great-grandparents.  She includes a visit to the graves of Willis and Mary GALLOP, her fourth great-grandparents.  At a recent Dare board of commissioners meeting, some of those descendants spoke.  The group delivered to each commissioner a thick notebook with deed research, copies of North Carolina law and countless protest letters from GALLOP descendants.  Carlton NEWBERN told the commissioners that Willis GALLOP was a "native son of Dare County before there was a Dare County".  At issue is a legal notice published during April and once in May.  The notice stated that Jeffrey A. BAXTER intended to disinter and remove on or before May 13 the two graves of Willis and Mary GALLOP.  The descendants are adamantly opposed to the disinterment and have written countless letters to attorney Wyatt M. BOOTH stating their opposition.  Dare's commissioners have the ultimate decision.  Under current state law, any person owning the land on which "abandoned cemeteries" or burial grounds are located may disinter, remove and reinter graves after "first securing the consent of the governing body of the town, city or county in which such abandoned cemeteries or burial ground are located."  The GALLOP descendants asked the commissioners to deny consent.  County attorney Robert L. OUTTEN told the board that attorney BOOTH is on notice that before disinterment the matter must be brought before the commissioners.  He reported that there is no request from BAXTER or BOOTH for the commissioners to do anything.  OUTTEN pointed out that the statute speaks only to "abandoned" cemeteries for which no standards are spelled out in state law.  The cemetery issue is before the General Assembly.  During the 2005 session, a House Study Committee on Abandoned Cemeteries was formed with Rep. Carolyn K. JUSTUS from Henderson County chairing the committee.  Rep. Tim SPEAR has been appointed to that committee.  Legislation is anticipated in this session.  The issue presented by the GALLOP cemetery case is one before the House committee.  "If we continue on this current course of bulldozing over out history, in 50 years there will be no evidence that our forefathers even existed," states letters signed by GALLOP descendants from Harbinger, San Diego, Fredericksburg, Va. and New York City.  Current state law on the care of rural cemeteries, originally written in 1917, calls on county commissioners to prepare and keep on record in the office of the register of deeds a list of all "public" cemeteries and those public cemeteries which have been abandoned.  Boards of commissioners are required to take possession and control of all abandoned public cemeteries and to see that boundaries and lines are clearly laid out, defined, marked, preserved from encroachment.  Boards of commissioners may also appoint a board of trustees to carry out these duties and to accept donations for upkeep and beautification of such cemeteries.  Another section of the law speaks to access to and maintenance of private graves and abandoned public cemeteries.  The law gives a descendant of the person whose remains are reasonable believed to be interred in the grave, descendant designee or any other person who has a "special personal interest" in the grave or abandoned public cemetery with consent of the private or public landowner access to discover, restore, maintain or visit a private grave or abandoned public cemetery.  If consent of the landowner cannot be obtained, the law sets up a petitioning process through a county's clerk of superior court.  Dare County is not bereft of information about its cemeteries.  Two women, Lois Johnson MEEKINS and Amy Midgett GAMIEL, compiled a survey of gravesites throughout the county.  Annotated lists by villages describe the cemetery locations and gravestone markings and add information about families.  The listing is current though 1999.

The Virginian-Pilot - Friday, July 14, 2006
STEAMER HAS SAT IN CURRITUCK SOUND SINCE FATEFUL DAY IN 1912
by Jeffrey S. Hampton
On the morning of March 3, 1912, the steamer Undine was plying through the Currituck Sound when it hit a log that punctured a hole in its bottom. Water rushed through the hull, extinguishing the engine fires, according to a report at the time in the Virginian-Pilot.  The passengers - five men, a woman and a baby - left their breakfast and rushed for the lifeboats. It looked like the Undine might capsize, according to the report.  The skipper, identified only as Capt. WISE, settled the passengers quickly and assured them the steamer would not capsize.  Another steamer picked up the crew and passengers about five hours later. The Undine sank in about 10 feet of water and deteriorated until nothing was left above the surface.  No one died, and there were no daring rescues, but wrecks are relatively rare in t he Currituck Sound, despite the heavy shipping traffic that passed through in the late 1800s and early 1900s. The steamer represents a time when small ports along the Currituck Sound and some inland rivers bustled with maritime commerce.  In later years, modern highways and railroads helped transform the bulk of the boat traffic through the sound from commercial to recreational.  State underwater archaeologists found the wreck this week, settled on the bottom of the Currituck Sound less than a mile off Knotts Island.  The remains of the hull showed her to be a screw steamer 93 feet long and 17 feet in width, said Richard LAWRENCE, director of the Underwater Archaeology Branch of the North Carolina Department of Cultural Resources. A screw steamer uses a propeller rather than a paddle wheel. LAWRENCE found a propeller measuring 4 feet 8 inches in diameter with the remains.  This week's finds - a smaller and older sailing vessel also was found - make four dived on and recorded by state archaeologists in the Currituck Sound, LAWRENCE said.  For decades, locals on Knotts Island had known of the remains of the wreck, said Barbara SNOWDEN, a local historian. Fishing nets would snag on the tallest pieces. Tulls Creek resident Margaret PRITCHARD said her late mother remembered the boat's sinking, SNOWDEN said.  PRITCHARD's mother said the wreck could be seen by looking directly out of the front door of her Tulls Creek home.  On Tuesday, LAWRENCE and his crew were guided to the general area by Barbara SNOWDEN's husband, Wilson SNOWDEN, by cell phone as SNOWDEN stood in the hallway of the PRITCHARD family home, LAWRENCE said. The SNOWDENs have been instrumental in bringing attention to local maritime history and asked LAWRENCE to come this week.  The crew marked an area of 3,000 feet east and west by 600 feet north and south. Using a magnetometer, which detects metal, the crew found the ship. "We dove down and there it was," LAWRENCE said.  Many ships and boats have carried the name Undine, said Gregg CINA, assistant archivist at The Mariners' Museum in Newport News.  CINA provided a page from "Merchant Steam Vessels of the United States" that shows this Undine was one of 10 vessels with that name. The length and width help match this one with the first entry. The boat was built in 1872 in Petty's Island, N.J.  An undine is a water nymph in German mythology.  This Undine was headed to Coinjock from Norfolk carrying passengers and freight, according to the news report.  The wreck will be documented and recorded with the global positioning system. Later, archaeologists will return to explore the remains further for artifacts, LAWRENCE said.  State archaeologists have records for about 5,000 wrecks along the North Carolina coast and nearby waterways. About 900 have been located and dived on, he said.  Later in the week, LAWRENCE dived on another older wreck in the Currituck Sound. It's name is unknown. Currituck County resident James MARKERT found and marked it earlier using GPS, LAWRENCE said.   The sailing vessel of about 25 feet in length was likely built before the Civil War. The wreck will also be documented and dived on later for further research.


Photograph kindly submitted by Linda Mansfield.

The Coastland Times - Sunday, December 2, 2007; pg. 13A

The Virginian-Pilot - Friday, May 9, 2008
What’s in a name? | Currituck County | Moyock by Jeff S. Hampton
   
In 1785, the Rev. Thomas COKE wrote that he had preached in “Mowyock,” according to the late local historian Marion Fiske WELCH. COKE was close to spelling the town’s name as locals pronounced it, Mo-yock. People who don’t know better pronounce it Moi-yock. “They tell on themselves,” said Jim HALL, a native and historian of Currituck County’s largest community. Like many Currituck County names, Moyock comes from an Algonquin Indian name. It means “place of the oak on the trail” and appears on a map as early as 1735, Hall said.  Its beginnings as a commercial hub began about 300 years ago, when an industry in cypress shingles thrived along a creek there. For decades, the place was known as Shingle Landing. When a post office opened there in 1857, the official name returned to Moyock, WELCH wrote in “Moyock, a Pictorial and Folk History 1900-1920.”  These days, Moyock has a thriving business district along N.C. 168, just south of the border with Virginia. Moyock’s population was 4,647, according to the 2000 census, and it has likely increased. Currituck County saw its population grow 30 percent between 2000 and 2006.


                                  Shingle Landing Bridge behind the store

 

 

 
                                    Poynter's Store

The Virginian-Pilot - Monday, December 26, 2011
What’s in a name? | Bells Island
Just before dawn on a September day in 1718, Blackbeard the pirate and a few of his men with bad intentions rowed up to Currituck County farmer William Bell.  Bell survived a hand-to-hand fight with the pirate but lost his money and brandy. Nowadays, his family name lives on in the island named for him.  Bells Island is a scenic community of waterfront homes and a popular campground. A narrow road winds from N.C. 168 about five miles through an expansive marsh to the tip of the island.  Bell received a land grant from the Lords Proprietors in 1714 of 395 acres next to the Coinjock Bay, said Michael Hill, co-editor of the 2010 North Carolina Gazetteer and a supervising researcher with the state's Office of Archives and History.  Three other Bells received land during that period, but William Bell's grant is the largest and fits a description of Bells Island, Hill said.  "My best read of this is that William Bell got the first land grant of that property," Hill said.  Currituck historian Barbara Snowden believes that same William Bell is the man who fought with Blackbeard as recorded in a court hearing of May 27, 1719, in the Colonial and State Records of North Carolina made available online by the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.  Four years after getting the land grant, Bell of "Corratuck" testified of his clash with Edward Thache, captain of the sloop Adventure. Edward Thache was one spelling of the real name of Blackbeard, the pirate who sailed the Adventure after he scuttled his more famous ship, Queen Anne's Revenge. He was more often called Edward Teach.  Bell accused prominent official Tobias Knight of telling Thache about money Bell had on his periauger, a work boat used on the shallow coastal waterways. Knight tracked merchandise coming through ports and would have known Bell's cargo. Blackbeard and Knight knew each other well.  Two months before Blackbeard was killed, Bell was on his periauger in the Pamlico River just before dawn on Sept. 14, 1718. Thache, also in a periaguer, approached and asked Bell for a drink. Bell replied it was too dark to pour even if he did have something to drink. Thache called for his sword from his men and demanded money or Bell would be killed. Bell asked the intruder who he was and where he came from. Blackbeard responded he "came from Hell and he would carry him there presently."  Thache and Bell struggled, but with help from his men, the pirate overcame Bell and his two-man crew. Thache took 66 pounds in cash stored in a chest, 58 yards of crape, a box of pipes, a half-barrel of brandy and a unique silver cup. That cup was found on Blackbeard's sloop after his death, the account said. Bell also produced a piece of Blackbeard's sword that broke off into the boat as he was beating on Bell. But, the court ruled that Knight was not guilty of collaborating with Thache.  Bell returned to Currituck and continued farming his island until he died in 1721, passing the property to his wife and children.

No part of these records may be used for any commercial purposes. However, please feel free to copy any of this material for your own personal use and family research. If you find anything here that pertains to your families, I would strongly suggest that you look at the record on your own to check for errors or possibly other additional and helpful information.

USGenWeb

NCGenWeb

Return to USGenWeb

Return to NCGenWeb

© 2017
Kay M. Sheppard