This little Scrap-book of memories is
compiled from the records Of our first courts, supplemented with
facts culled from general history and the comments of the writer. It
is designed to revive the memory of the past, and to preserve and
perpetuate something, at least, of the early history and settlement
of Randolph county.
The Indian is taught to love the hunting grounds
of his fathers, and to hold in sacred veneration the traditions of
his tribe.
Our traditionary history is largely lost amid the rubbish of buried
centuries. The men who knew it are gone. The living know more about
what is to be than what has been.
No county in the State has ever won a grander or
a nobler fame, in the struggle for life and liberty, in the cause of
peace and freedom than Randolph. No county in the State possesses to
so great an extent the natural elements of wealth and prosperity as
ours. Vet she is comparitively unknown. Her resources are
undeveloped. Her history is unwritten. Her story is untold. Records
are destroyed. Information is lost. Facts are forgotten. Old men
pass away, even the prophets do not live forever, hence the
necessity of duplicating history. Within the last twenty years, it
is said that six per cent. of all the public records in the United
States has been destroyed by fire. With the comforting thought that
it possesses at least the merit of brevity, this little work is
submitted to an intelligent public with the hope that it may furnish
amusement or entertainment for a leisure hour, awaken a desire to
learn more of our early history, to collect and preserve ancient
relicts, stimulate a higher appreciation of our county and our
people, and excite our gratitude to a merciful Providence for the
blessings of civil and religious liberty and a home among the
historic rocks and hills and heaths of Randolph county, where
The hand of beauty crowns the farmer's brow,
And freemen rise in homage to the plow.
J. A. BLAIR
